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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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“Ugh, it’s cramped.”
The military boat called the SOC-R Riverine was both big and small, depending on how you looked at it.
With the four-man crew, the special forces, and the US Special Operations team divided between the two 10-meter-long boats, you couldn’t even lift your arm without bumping into the person next to you.
The word “cramped” just came out of my mouth.
The Riverine was moving slowly up the river, keeping its speed as low as possible.
Farmland was right next to us.
Across the river were the forest and the mountains.
It felt like the things in those trees and bushes were watching us even now.
“Have all the monsters in the river come out?” Sung Ga-yeon asked from behind me.
I shook my head.
“Probably not. Considering the ones Captain Park herded and drowned on our way here, less than half of them must have crawled out last night.”
I looked up at the river in the distance.
I couldn’t see into the water.
It was just muddy water.
“It must still be teeming down there.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk, who was sitting next to me, said quietly, “It’s a good thing they’re slow in the water.”
I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
If possible, I just wanted to herd them all and shoot them in the head.
But I couldn’t swim, so I couldn’t go into the water.
“By the way, do you think the US military commander will keep his promise?”
I looked at Sung Kyu-hyuk.
How should I know?
How was I supposed to know what was going on in his head?
If he went back on his word later, I’d just slit his throat and kill all 400 of them, whether they were US military or whatever.
I said quietly, “He’d better. Otherwise, he’ll have to fight me.”
A smile played on Sung Kyu-hyuk’s lips.
The US military commander’s words flashed through my mind.
“One Chinook’s worth. Ten tons of personal firearms, ammunition, explosives, and support weapons. How about that?”
Ten tons.
From a few duffel bags to ten tons of weapons and ammunition.
The US military commander had added a few more words.
“As you know, what we can take is limited by what we can fit in the Chinooks. There’s a lot of food and combat vehicles left here. Including various additives for making ground and aviation fuel. We’ll hand all of that over too.”
…Aviation fuel.
Something we desperately needed.
“What about the residents?” Sung Ga-yeon had asked.
The US military commander had looked somewhat troubled and lowered his head.
“That is a difficult matter for us as well. We can’t take them to the United States, and we can’t just leave them here almost unarmed. What would you have us do?”
I had looked back and forth between Sung Ga-yeon and Sung Kyu-hyuk.
Neither of us had a good solution.
In the end, I could only suggest a compromise.
“Let’s talk about that after we succeed in the operation.”
“Yes. That’s wise.”
And then, I had shaken hands with the US military commander.
About 20 people in my hypermarket building.
And about 200 people in Seorae Village.
Ten tons of firepower, including personal firearms, heavy weapons, support weapons, various explosives and detonators, and different types of ammunition.
It was more than enough.
It was enough to deploy a hail of fire that could wipe out a zombie wave of the same scale as the last one.
There were still several military bases in our country that could be raided, so 10 tons was more than enough to serve as a foundation for defense and growth.
The problem was the animals.
I didn’t know how strong they were, so I couldn’t gauge whether 10 tons of firepower was enough.
I just had to face them and see.
With that thought, I watched the scenery pass by.
And I asked quietly, “Where are we going now?”
“He says we’re heading for the bat cave.”
I looked at Sung Kyu-hyuk.
“The bat cave?”
Sung Kyu-hyuk nodded.
“They say the wild boar leader roams the entire mountain range. The other animals follow the wild boar leader as if they look up to it. To lure it to the river, we have to find it first, but it would be difficult to get out if we went too deep into the forest to find a creature whose location is uncertain.”
“…Ah.”
I nodded.
“The only one whose location we know for sure is the giant bat that’s holed up in the cave.”
“That’s right. And it’s our top priority.”
He had said that we had to deal with the bat before we could send out the Chinooks.
I slowly nodded and looked at the mountain in the distance.
…A wild boar.
It roamed that entire large, wide mountain and forest?
We would have to deal with that one too.
“Can’t we just drop a bomb from a plane?”
As I muttered, looking at the mountain, Sung Kyu-hyuk answered, “All the pilots are dead. Only eight Chinook pilots survived.”
I clicked my tongue.
What a waste.
It would have been nice to blow up the entire mountain with a bomber.
A Chinook could do it, but it was a helicopter, so it was slower than a bomber.
If a swarm of bats came out, it wasn’t certain that it could get away.
“How did only the Chinook pilots survive?”
“The surviving pilots were almost all caught while they were running to the fighter jets to respond to the initial outbreak. There were a few pilots who survived that, but some committed suicide after their families turned, and others were bitten and infected in the first day or two.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk slowly shook his head. “The eight Chinook pilots were playing poker in Chinook 3 when the outbreak happened. They closed the door as soon as it happened, and that’s how they survived.”
“There must have been other Chinook pilots, right?”
“Yes. There were over twenty, but only eight are left now. We can’t expect any air support.”
I slowly nodded.
No air support.
…Then we’ll just have to do it ourselves.
It wasn’t like I had ever fought with anyone’s support before.
By the way, Sung Kyu-hyuk.
He knew a lot about the internal affairs.
…Ah.
He had talked a lot with that young American soldier.
So that’s how he had gotten so much information.
Natural information gathering.
Just like a special forces leader.
The Riverine went up the river for a long time.
It was only when it reached a bend in the bank past the residential area that it turned.
One after the other, they slowly made a half-turn and reversed direction.
Then, they slowly brought the boats to the bank on the side where the city was visible in the distance.
“We must have arrived?”
As I muttered, Sung Ga-yeon, who was sitting behind me, tapped me on the back and pointed to the mountain in the distance.
A valley and a cliff where two peaks met.
There, a black hole was gaping open, as if someone had dug it out with a giant spoon.
You couldn’t have made something like that even if you tried.
A bat dug that?
Wouldn’t it collapse?
The US special ops team members, each holding two firearms, got off the boat. Then, they climbed the small hill in front.
After taking positions on the rocks and stones on the hill, as high as possible, they raised the weapons in their hands to their shoulders.
…Anti-tank rockets.
Sung Kyu-hyuk smiled. “AT-4. Not bad.”
One of the American soldiers with an anti-tank rocket said, “Fire.”
At that moment, eight anti-tank rockets shot out with a burst of flame.
A deafening roar erupted, as if it would crush the earth.
The river water was pushed back by the shockwave, creating a spray.
At the same time, the leaves of the nearby trees shook violently.
I couldn’t even see them.
It was like a blur had flashed by.
The explosion from the eight rockets fired in an instant made even the trained soldiers flinch.
Whoosh!
I turned my head and looked at the cave.
A distant target, at least 2 kilometers away.
There, the rockets exploded.
Inside the cave, above it, and next to it.
With a thunderous roar, the explosions collided, sending a violent spray of shrapnel and rocks.
Thud.
The sound of something falling to the ground.
I looked at the rocks. The American soldiers were carelessly throwing away the launchers they had just fired.
And they were picking up new anti-tank rockets and putting them on their shoulders.
The American soldier said, “Fire.”
Boom!
An intense, ear-splitting sound tore through the air with a burst of flame.
Eight anti-tank rockets, streaking in a line that was both straight and not straight.
They exploded in the cave, which was still spewing white smoke in agony.
And a thunderous roar echoed.
Rocks fell, the cave collapsed, and a series of explosions erupted.
The American soldiers on the hill and the rocks threw their launchers to the side and, empty-handed, skillfully boarded the Riverine boats.
“Go, Go, Go!”
A special ops team member shouted after confirming that all the American soldiers were on board.
Rumble!
The engines of the two Riverine boats roared to life.
And at that moment, a shriek pierced the air.
It was like a sudden, high-pitched ringing in my ears, and also like the high-pitched cry of a baby.
The eerie sound bounced off the mountains and rocks, becoming a never-ending echo that enveloped us.
The crew members manning the heavy weapons on the Riverine boats aimed their guns at the direction of the sound, the cave.
At the same time, the Riverine boats started to move.
Rumble!
The cave, billowing white smoke like a cloud.
The cave, collapsed and shattered beyond recognition.
From it, a black shadow blotted out the cloud.
And a tearing roar once again pushed through the air.
It was such a jarring sound that I wanted to cover my ears.
“Ugh.”
The faces of the American and special forces members on either side of me contorted.
The shadow that blotted out the white smoke cloud.
From within it, black figures began to fly up into the sky like a swarm of locusts.
And then, it appeared.
Its unfolded wings.
Torn, holey, and tattered, leathery wings.
A giant beast, overwhelming the collapsed cave, its wings even catching the smoke cloud in a circular motion.
It flew up into the sky.
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