Natural Enemy (Part 2)
---
Three hours before turning back time — instead of killing the criminal, Kim Chomok chose to beat him within an inch of his life.
The alien who had his gun pressed against Kim Chomok's head wasn't in any hurry to pull the trigger. "You really think I'd waste my time killing the first type I've ever seen out here — one with muscles on his body? What's the point? My whole purpose in coming here is to round up unpaid labor, and if I kill you, that's all down the drain. The more middle steps we have toward mechanical ascension, the better. So the non-lethal round I fired at you was just to subdue you."
Still, he had to break through the black energy barrier wrapped around Kim Chomok's body — that much was the same. He packed as much energy into the shot as he could, even if it wasn't his full limit.
Taang!!
"Aaargh! What the hell?!"
The non-lethal round that had been aimed at Kim Chomok's forehead lost its energy on impact and bounced off his head before clattering to the ground. The shock was light — barely even the level of an anti-tank rifle sniper's grazing hit — but it was enough to rattle his nerves.
In nature, if you can't kill the same predator in one go, the payback comes whether you like it or not.
"...Huh?"
"Huh my ass! You son of a bitch!!"
Paak!!
"Ghk...!! Y-you just punched clean through machine armor with one fist?! How is that even—?!"
He had been relying on the armor covering his vital areas — defense built from the most cutting-edge materials on the planet. But that went to hell in an instant, shattering like crackers, and now a fist was embedded in his own body.
Uuuuuurgh....!!
And through that, he realized — all the suffering, all the grueling training he had endured to claw his way up to the core warrior rank.
"Gyaaaaaah—!!"
The crushing sense of loss — the feeling that everything was being ripped away — consumed his entire body. At this point, he could probably guess what was about to happen to his comrades too.
Meanwhile, the machine armor that had covered his entire body in one blow was shattering. The alien who had been flung into the distance was screaming in agony, thrashing on the ground.
"...Huh? When did I ever absorb this much energy before?"
Kim Chomok wore a stunned expression at the outrageous inflation of his physical abilities. With only the gasoline left in the fuel tanks and the clusters of weeds he'd sucked from the riverside, this was way beyond what he should've been able to manage.
It felt like the first time since he'd caught that mountain peak — an overwhelming sense of omnipotence.
[Hmph? My lady, what exactly did you absorb? I thought the time to slip back into sleep was approaching, but...]
She'd said she'd crush him and see, concentrating energy into her fist before swatting him — that was all. But living energy parasites inside the body were so startled they spoke up? Clean plant-based energy was being cleanly pulled out?
Any sane person would say "Stay calm, this is a resonance trap!" and run for their life. But unfortunately, the opponent was nothing but a rotten, incompetent degenerate wearing a sane person's mask!
"Wa! Human genetics! America, are you watching? There are human oil reserves right here!!"
'Murica, Fuck Yeah!!'
The crosses waved and democracy was about to be delivered as Kim Chomok grinned wide. Not the expensive, filthy oil from his own country's beautiful natural environment — but these guys, who had no reason to comply with the Geneva Conventions, were such fine nutritional snacks. Living, breathing "bio-energy" incarnate — criminals, no less, bearing the title of war criminal! With this much justification, not eating them would be a sin against heaven.
"We gotta suck up as much as possible before those bastards crawl under us!"
His thinking was plenty twisted, but the result would bring vitality back to North Korea's population. At this point, it went beyond treason — figuring out where these guys were was more important than the original reconnaissance mission!
[...I don't think there's anything wrong with turning kidnappers inside out and eating them, but... tsk.]
With a dazed expression, he started to wonder if his knight was okay with him having this much of a reputation.
"Aigoo! Leave the noble 'rescuing hostages while subduing criminals' angle alone! Don't you feel sorry for the residents?!"
The young man in black, whose conscience burst forth, slowly dragged the unconscious — no, the alien whose chest armor had been punched through — into the shadows of a building and hid his body.
No matter how inflated Kim Chomok's physical abilities had become, even if he'd ballooned to the point where his senior could've been a little jealous — attempting an all-out engagement when outnumbered in a battlefield full of unknown variables was a matter of intelligence.
KWAAANG!!
Tudududud....
"Come at me, you bastards...!!"
That kind of suicidal bravery was for the desperate people shouting "I showed you what Repmin's bullets taste like!" Only someone with one man and nothing to spare would dare charge a unit head-on. The enemies probably weren't even paying enough attention to him to bother.
"...Good. Since it's come to this, let's start with the ones who move around alone — the weaker ones first."
Instead of facing them all at once, it was better to hide, pick off the weaker ones one by one with surgical precision, like a stealth operation. When they noticed, they'd think: "Huh? Why is everyone gone?"
[My lady, you're making that wicked face again. Is this really for the sake of the residents?]
"Pfft, I'm just picking up a little side profit... shh, they're coming!"
He was taking advantage of the reality that, while they were fighting each other, only one or two could be spared to go look for defectors.
"...What? El-Veraz's last transmitter location was supposed to be here...?"
The victim who arrived at the last coordinates where a "Slave Found☆" message had been sent, based on the visor's information.
"Heh heh heh, got you. Come here!"
KWAJAJAJAK!!
"Ugh...!! Hrgh...!!"
In an instant, the helmet shattered, and shards jammed into his sealed mouth, leaving him unable to even scream. The armor that had been protecting his airways crumpled, cutting off his oxygen supply in a wave of agony.
But the pain greater than all of that was—
"...!!!"
Flail-flail...!!
The sensation of his innards being ripped out through the point of contact — along every blood vessel in his limbs, the feeling of a razor sliding through, a loss so profound it was indescribable. The agony was beyond bearing; he lost consciousness in under a minute, moisture leaking from his body.
But for the one who had been struck — for the alien — that brief moment probably felt like an eternity.
"Mm, well done! Alien energy is amazing!"
Kim Chomok felt the markers of growth surge through his entire body as his total energy climbed higher than ever before.
Swish...!!
"Mm, the purity is off the charts. My lady... agh! Don't poke your finger into my temple!"
He'd been feeling great for a moment, but a black horse's head had popped out of his skull and was poking him with a finger.
"You damn brat, don't just shove your face next to mine! Especially when my name has 'cho' in it!"
The timing was too perfect — the face had emerged right next to his temple. While it was understandable that Kim Chomok was complaining, the girl in black responded:
"Tch, if you have something to say, can't you just think it inside your head?"
"There's too much energy overflowing, if I don't use it up early, your body will burst like a balloon!"
"...I'm sorry. Please come out more often and talk to me."
He had to bow his head — she was saying this for his own good, like a mother.
"Mm, in the worst case I might have to tear apart your body again for repairs, but... I'd rather not."
Clang...
For the first time in ages since he'd committed petroleum terrorism on such a picky person — the girl in the black dress, who radiated an ominous aura no less intimidating than her outfit, stepped onto the ground with her own feet.
In an instant, the countless grasses around her withered and bowed their heads. But unlike Kim Chomok, who was still a picky eater, she slowly consumed everything around her like sand.
"You'll need to move faster if you want to maintain your presence in the real world, my lady."
"...Ugh, working hard is just not my thing."
The black horse, symbol of famine, stood upon the earth.
After that, the ambush operation — or rather, the so-called "manhunt" — kicked into high gear.
One by one, then another one — aliens in the unit started disappearing. They organized three-person reconnaissance squads to figure out where the suddenly vanished personnel had gone, but...
"A game of tag where the hunter tortures the hunted!"
Flail-flail...!!
The first one to enter the alley was neutralized before he could even make a proper report, and combat began.
"Who's there?! Damn, a native ability user?! Here...!!"
One of the two who had followed the first victim into the alley spotted Kim Chomok and shouted, but—
KWAAANG!!
"Hrg...!!"
"Shut your mouth. Let me drain your power."
Thanks to his strengthened fist, it was no longer a punch — it was effectively a pile bunker. If you caught an alien the size of a human arm with that at high speed, the best you could hope for was a moan that didn't even form words, blood pouring from the mouth as they collapsed.
What remained was the "patrol squad leader" desperately trying to find where the other two had gone — but—
Terreung!
"Get away... get away!! Don't you dare come near me—!!"
Throwing his helmet and everything else aside, the alien scrambled across the ground in retreat.
"I didn't even do anything and you react like that... it stings a little when you treat me like a monster."
When the girl in black touched his skin ever so slightly, a miracle happened.
"Kkueee...!!"
The long-eared alien, withered and twisted, collapsed to the ground having had all his energy completely drained.
"Mm, I can really taste the natural energy. How nice."
It was the first time she'd harvested energy with her own power rather than receiving it from someone else. As the girl closed her eyes, savoring the satisfaction rising through her body—
"...Can you taste energy too? I've never heard of that."
"It's only because you, as a reserve knight candidate, are still so inexperienced that you can't perceive it."
Kim Chomok dragged the two half-corpses over and approached the rendezvous point.
"Tch, so that's why you made such a fuss about the taste of oil..."
Thud!
In addition to the two he'd already taken down, three more. All equipment stripped, piled up at a location he'd chosen for containment.
He stared at their physical commonality, which was plainly visible, and clicked his tongue.
"...Come to think of it, I knew long-eared folks liked nature, but..."
Long, pointed ears. Humanoid creatures that use natural energy. Anyone would think of a certain race that appears in games and various media.
"Usually those aren't machine civilizations, so where exactly did their developmental path go wrong?"
"That's just prejudice. All living beings instinctively pursue what's comfortable, my lady."
"Ugh, you eat everything and anything, so you're surprisingly lenient... agh! It hurts!!"
If this information reached Earth, they'd probably call these beings "Machine-Elves."
"Well, from my standpoint, it's nothing but good news."
If it had been someone else, or another ability user, they probably would've had a hell of a time. The fact that most firearms, fire, radiation, and bacteria were blocked by machine armor was already annoying enough. Fundamentally, these were beings no different from ability users — they could fire energy-based weapons or enhance their bodies for close combat.
"If you lost, it's 100% confirmed slavery. Even if you won, the cost would've been massive. Probably."
No matter who showed up, continuous engagement would be out of the question. The best option after fighting once would've been to retreat for recharging.
"But against these guys, we're as good as dead."
"Isn't that right? We're literally their natural enemy."
And it just so happened that the one who had gone north for reconnaissance wasn't Jeong Ilhwan, but Kim Chomok. And his ability was essentially a hard counter at the racial level. Two ten-sided dice both rolling nines — a fumble within a fumble — just happened to land right now.
"Alright, let's head toward the main course. The gunfire's been getting quieter."
The kind of low-ranking soldiers they were, the commander would be even tastier. A race that had believed it could do in North Korea what it had done in America — the karma it had accumulated in pursuit of survival and, beyond that, ascension above countless other species — the time for instant settlement had arrived.