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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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Sung Ga-yeon, the younger sister of Special Forces Leader Sung Kyu-hyuk.
She finally looked at the face of the man holding her.
Her eyes filled with tears, her face crumpling.
“Brother, is that you?”
“Yes, Ga-yeon. It’s me.”
Even the iron-faced Sung Kyu-hyuk could show such an expression.
Right.
That’s what happened when family was involved.
…He wondered what his own sister was doing.
Sung Ga-yeon clung to her brother, sobbing.
Sung Kyu-hyuk said,
“You did well. You held on well.”
“How, how did you get here? There wasn’t a rescue operation. Did you come because of me?”
Sung Kyu-hyuk didn’t answer.
Instead, he stroked his sister’s hair and glanced at her ankle.
“You can’t walk, can you?”
Her ankle was swollen as if a baseball were lodged inside. When Sung Kyu-hyuk gently touched it, Sung Ga-yeon let out a pained moan.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead and body.
Sung Kyu-hyuk nodded and then gestured to the team members behind him.
He stood and opened the wardrobe.
The team members moved to Sung Ga-yeon’s side and held her steady.
“This will hurt a bit. Try not to scream.”
One of them unbuckled his belt and placed it in Sung Ga-yeon’s mouth for her to bite down on.
Sung Kyu-hyuk punched the wardrobe door with all his might.
Crack!
The door splintered.
He grabbed the broken wood and ripped it away.
Two pieces of wood.
The other team members unbuckled their belts and knelt near Sung Ga-yeon’s swollen ankle.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized.
Understanding what they were about to do, Sung Ga-yeon nodded and bit down on the belt.
Sung Kyu-hyuk applied the wooden splints to her ankle.
He wrapped the belts around it.
And tightened them.
“Groan…!”
Sung Ga-yeon trembled as if electrocuted.
Two team members held her shoulders while Sung Kyu-hyuk and another secured the belts tightly around her ankle.
The entire process took less than thirty seconds.
Trained professionals were definitely different.
He nodded and said,
“Rescuing someone is good, but you haven’t forgotten the mission, have you?”
The special forces members and Sung Ga-yeon looked at him.
He tilted his head towards the armory.
He said,
“Let’s go. Get the weapons.”
The team members nodded.
Sung Ga-yeon looked at him, then at the others, and nodded with a determined expression.
It seemed the presence of her brother and his comrades had given her courage.
Sung Kyu-hyuk handed his pistol to a team member and helped his sister up.
The five of them followed him down the stairs.
“But, but…”
Sung Ga-yeon spoke softly as they were about to leave the house.
He turned back.
Sung Ga-yeon was drenched in sweat.
She must have endured days without proper food or water, suffering from extreme tension, fear, and the agonizing pain in her ankle.
She surely hadn’t slept properly for days.
She asked,
“Who are you? Which unit are you from…?”
“Han Sung-hoon. Civilian.”
He answered curtly and stepped out of the house.
He heard Sung Ga-yeon’s surprised murmur from behind, “…Civilian?”
It seemed she didn’t know him.
It made sense if the special forces teams had separate missions and his existence was classified.
Sung Kyu-hyuk’s 2nd Team’s mission must have been to make contact with him.
In any case, there wasn’t time for explanations now.
The others remained silent as well.
They quickly headed towards the armory.
…Quiet.
He could hear faint sounds in the distance, but nothing close by.
That was fortunate.
He looked at the warehouse door.
“…Tsk.”
He didn’t like it.
The warehouse door was slightly ajar.
As if something had slammed into it.
He pointed at the door, looking at Sung Kyu-hyuk and the others.
They approached and examined the door, their eyebrows twitching or sighing softly in response.
They knew.
What would happen when they opened this door.
A warped door.
The moment it opened, a grating screech would erupt.
Almost every creature on this US military base would be alerted.
He looked around.
There was a park along the route they’d taken.
If they were discovered, the creatures would swarm from that direction.
He’d checked his status window earlier.
Almost fully recharged.
“…Ha…”
He looked at Sung Kyu-hyuk.
Sung Kyu-hyuk met his gaze.
He grabbed the warehouse door.
Then, he pointed towards the interior of the base.
That way.
The special forces members nodded.
Sung Kyu-hyuk helped his sister lean against the warehouse wall, releasing his hold on her.
Then, along with the other team members, they gathered around him.
He gently pulled on the door.
It wouldn’t budge.
Stuck fast, as if jammed.
…He had no choice but to use force.
“Ha…”
He took off his backpack and placed it on the road a couple of steps away.
Then, he unzipped it.
Six magazines.
He glanced sideways.
Sung Ga-yeon stood on one foot, watching him.
The team members were also watching.
He stepped in front of the door and looked at them.
Their eyes.
They confirmed their readiness to each other without a word.
He inhaled deeply.
He pulled.
Creeeeeeak!
“Go, go!”
Led by Sung Kyu-hyuk, the team members rushed into the armory.
He immediately drew his sword and moved to Sung Ga-yeon’s side.
Roarrrrr!
Screeech!
Roars.
A cacophony like hundreds of beasts howling at once.
And the drumming sound of running feet.
Crash! Smash!
The sound of shattering glass.
He quickly surveyed the surroundings.
From the park.
And from within the base.
Creatures were swarming from both directions.
“Gasp, Pant, Gasp, Pant!”
Sung Ga-yeon’s breathing became rapid with fear.
He gritted his teeth.
There was no helping it.
He spoke calmly,
“You’re about to see something strange. Just go with it.”
Sung Ga-yeon looked at him.
Confusion clouded her eyes.
He sheathed one of his swords.
Then, he took two magazines from his bag and held them in his right hand.
Sword in his left.
US military base to his left.
Two magazines in his right hand.
Park to his right.
Screech! Roar!
Roars and footsteps.
They were closing in.
“Gasp, Pant, Gasp, Pant!”
Sung Ga-yeon’s teeth chattered.
He clenched his jaw and waited.
They’re coming, they’re coming…!
“Graaagh!”
There they were.
Acceleration.
[Auto Cast: Acceleration]
Left.
A mere three to four meters away.
He flung the sword in his left hand sideways.
Whoosh!
From his fingertips, from his toes, shadows sprang forth, seizing the sword.
Kill.
The grounded shadow lifted the sword.
Bent its form.
And swung.
He looked to his right.
A horde of human beasts flooded the road, rushing towards them.
The small wave that had been teeming in the park.
He tossed the magazines into the air.
They floated slowly upwards, leaving his hand.
As soon as he released the magazines, he drew the Ingram MAC-10 from his right thigh.
And thrust it forward.
Before his eyes.
At the front of the Ingram.
A circular shape appeared.
Wherever it touched a creature, even a fingertip, it began to glow red.
He swept the submachine gun sideways and pulled the trigger.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
White flowers bloomed violently in the air.
They spread sideways, gradually forming a field of flowers.
The bullets drifted slowly from the gun.
The Ingram MAC-10, firing eighteen rounds per second.
The thirty bullets in the magazine pierced thirty heads.
The magazine was empty.
The gun clicked uselessly.
He immediately drew the other Ingram MAC-10 from his left thigh.
With his left hand.
This time, sweeping in the opposite direction.
He pulled the trigger.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
He’d lost count of how many times he’d used Acceleration.
It felt like more than five.
He emptied the magazine.
He immediately ejected both magazines.
And raised both arms.
The two empty magazines, ejected from the guns.
Floated slowly in mid-air.
He looked up.
The two magazines he had thrown earlier.
They were rotating relatively quickly, yet slowly.
He lifted an Ingram and aligned it with a spinning magazine.
And slammed it down.
Click.
The magazine clicked into place.
He did the same with the other Ingram and the remaining magazine.
Click.
He released both hands and caught the falling empty magazines.
And stuffed them into his back pockets.
The two Ingram MAC-10s hung suspended in the air.
He raised his hands and grasped them.
And then, the latest iteration of Acceleration ended.
“–Thud!”
Sixty human beasts crumpled before his eyes, spraying blood.
Behind him, he heard the thud of impacts and the squelch of flesh being pierced.
The sound of swords clashing and slicing.
And the sound of collapsing bodies.
Ahead.
Beyond the corpses, in the distance, dozens of meters away.
Screeech!
There were still more.
They were running.
Trampling over bodies, tripping over corpses, grabbing at fallen creatures, they charged forward.
Acceleration.
[Auto Cast: Acceleration]
He raised both hands, aiming ahead.
He pulled the triggers, spreading his arms wide.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
He saw roughly thirty or forty in front of him.
He’d lost track of how many rounds he’d fired.
He couldn’t stop firing to count them precisely.
So, he just kept shooting.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
After several activations of Acceleration, the magazines were empty.
White smoke curled from both Ingram MAC-10s.
Firing sixty rounds in rapid succession must have taken a toll on them.
But he had his Maintenance Gloves, no, his Dalgarim Gloves.
Maintenance was the least of his worries.
He lowered his hands and holstered the Ingram MAC-10s on his thighs.
Then, he extended his right hand to the side.
The creatures behind him.
Not many.
At a glance, twenty, thirty at most.
By now, it should be over.
Acceleration ended.
“–Crash!”
Dozens of human beasts collapsed en masse in the distance.
Whoosh!
A sharp gust of wind.
A sword materialized in his hand.
[Leveled Up 2]
“…Phew.”
The sword.
Covered in blood.
White smoke drifted from it.
He swung the sword down, flinging the blood off.
Splatter!
And sheathed it.
Shing Click
Silence.
…He felt a gaze.
He turned.
Sung Ga-yeon was staring at him.
Her face was expressionless.
Her eyes were wide.
Her mouth opened and closed, unable to speak.
Screeech!
He heard distant howls.
The sound of the warehouse door.
The echoing gunshots from the Ingram MAC-10s.
Even the distant creatures had been alerted.
“H-how…?”
Sung Ga-yeon finally managed to speak.
He looked at her.
He couldn’t find the words to explain.
He said,
“…They’ll come swarming again. Right now, just focus on escaping from here.”
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