Chapter 26

Chapter 3 For That Handful of Silver Coins (9)

***

“Uuuuuuuu!!!!”

Keseling frowned as he heard the wailing cries from the communal area.

“Second forms are up. Don’t panic and maintain formation. Snipers, aim for their legs. They’re just mindless monsters, after all.”

Keseling couldn't hide his displeasure as the battlefield grew increasingly chaotic. The battle was progressing well. The fire was steadily spreading, and while it was unexpected to find a mutant where the enemy had set up, it was a manageable variable.

Ping!

Just as he was about to shoot a bullet into the joints of a mutant charging at him, Keseling noticed something peculiar.

‘...A fuse?’

Squeak-

The burning fuse was pointing towards the mutant, which was reaching out its hand towards Keseling’s boots. Keseling could easily guess what it meant.

‘Those bastards are up to something-!’

Kaboom!!!

Before he could give an order, a massive explosion engulfed the area behind him.

***

“It’s in!”

“Hahaha! Eat this, you dirtbags!”

The professor gauged the enemy’s casualties as the entrance was engulfed in flames. The explosion was closer than expected, and from the situation, it seemed the fuel tank of the flamethrower had also detonated.

“Alright.”

“H, can we go in now?”

“What are you talking about? We need to get out of here.”

“What? Again?”

“Yeah. If the protective suits can withstand shrapnel from grenades, it’s hard to believe they suffered catastrophic damage. Instead, the raptors will definitely have to come into this alley.”

‘Because they don’t know we don’t have anything else on our side.’

All deception strategies are based on the fear that comes from uncertainty. The raptors had already taken a big hit from the suicide mutant, and the fear of taking more hits would be ingrained in their minds. If they didn’t want to suffer one-sided losses from the mutants, they had no choice but to enter the alley where the dome soldiers were.

“Those guys set the emergency exit on fire, so it’s hard to get out that way. We’ll leave the rest of the fighting to the dome and find firefighting equipment in the residential area to escape-”

“Hey, H, this way.”

“Huh? Already found it?”

“Yeah. It’s definitely this. The smell of engine oil.”

“What? Why engine oil? Can you even distinguish that in this chaos?”

“Just follow me. This is a hundred times more useful than any firefighting equipment.”

Before the professor and Vex could protest, Ian started moving, and the two of them eventually followed.

***

Crack!

“Hahaha. Lucky! The wall was already half-collapsed?”

“What kind of shelter is this, to collapse so easily? Hahaha!”

“With the great air-raid shelter being three levels underground, the residential area doesn’t need to be as sturdy.”

The building they entered was slightly larger than the other residential areas. Ian found and opened a garage door among the debris, grinning from ear to ear.

“Hahaha... Hahaha! I found it! I found it!”

“What?”

“The thing that will get us out of here, Romang!”

“Please, be quiet...”

As the professor, who had been searching elsewhere, crawled under the half-open garage door, he couldn’t continue.

“A truck, or is it a tank?”

“It’s a Hummer. Well, you’re not wrong. This thing is practically a tank.”

Ian smashed the window with the butt of his rifle and opened the door, then started checking the vehicle’s condition after opening the hood.

“Everything’s fine. We just need to replace the dead battery. Hey, H! Get that thing on the shelf over there! Bring it here!”

When the professor handed him the battery, Ian skillfully replaced it, then started the engine with a pocket knife.

Sizzle, sizzle-

Vroom!

“Hahaha! It’s working! The engine started!”

“So... we’re going to drive out of here?”

“What else? We’ll ram through that emergency exit and knock it down. If we can just get past the fire...”

“We can find another way out.”

While the professor and Ian were searching the garage, Vex, who had disappeared somewhere, returned and spoke.

“Think about it. If there’s a vehicle this big here, it must be big enough to fit through the emergency exit. Clearly, there must be another... another...”

“Another entrance?”

“Exactly! Another entrance! We saw several buildings like this on the way, so it means several of these vehicles came in. There must be a passage for moving this kind of equipment.”

‘Because they don’t know we don’t have anything else on our side.’

The professor slowly examined the mass of moving flesh. It seemed to be in a dormant state, possibly due to a lack of external stimuli for a long time.

“V, the lights aren’t on in the elevator, right?”

“Of course not. The power is off.”

“...It’s probably that.”

“What?”

“Over there. The lever next to that thing labeled ‘P/C’. That’s the power.”

“...Power Control. That’s it.”

Next to the writhing mass of flesh, there was a lever with a red handle. It seemed to be the power lever, as it was fully down.

“V, can you drive?”

“...No.”

“Then I’ll go wake up Ian or move him so I can drive the vehicle to the elevator. You try to turn the power on as quietly as possible and quickly come back to us. Got it?”

Snap-

Vex answered by raising his thumb.

After confirming that Vex was approaching the panel, the professor carefully moved towards the vehicle.

Crack, swoosh-

Every time the massive mass of flesh moved, a foul odor that made you want to tear your nose off was released. The professor watched Vex approach the mutant with a worried look.

‘A mutant that hasn’t been able to feed for a long time. The fact that it still smells of decay despite being a fully mutated form suggests it has been eating its own flesh. It might be weaker than a typical third form.’

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to fight now. With a body as big as two trucks, even moving would be a living disaster.

Click-

‘Ugh!’

The small sound of opening the car door felt like thunder.

“Ugh, ugh...”

“Shh! Hey, if you’re conscious, raise your hand.”

Ian, who had his head buried in the airbag, raised his left hand while shaking his head. The blood on the airbag and around his nose suggested his nose was broken.

“How... did it go?”

“Lower your voice. The situation has worsened.”

“...Worse here?”

“A third form, a big one. It’s still sleeping, so move slowly to the elevator.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to abandon the vehicle because of the noise?”

“We need to think about after we get out. We don’t know where the exit is, and if we end up among scavengers or other weirdos, we’ll need to escape.”

Ian, seemingly agreeing with the professor, started fiddling with the wiring.

Whoosh!

“Huh!”

“Behind!”

At that moment, bullets started pouring through the hole they had entered. A voice, more hoarse than a few minutes ago, could be heard through the gunfire.

“I’ll praise you! You little rats! You really fooled me! Always like this! There’s a pearl in the mud, a treasure in the trash, and a talent among the hypocritical dome bastards!”

A half-burned uniform and bloodied face of an officer appeared on the other side of the hole.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of bullets hitting the vehicle made the professor duck even lower, desperately trying to recall the enemy in front of him. The officer, who had appeared in such a state, was still leading the charge with gunfire. When he first appeared, his meaningless monologue and exaggerated gestures suggested he was the kind of fool who liked to talk before a battle.

“Hey! Raptor!”

Bang!

“Is it okay to stay here? I can hear your subordinates dying back there! There are only three of us here!”

He needed to make the officer talk. He had to act as if they were cornered and wanted to share this information before dying!

“Buy some time! Ridiculous! Only three of you! Of course, three ordinary soldiers would be meaningless, but a dome commander is different!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

‘Hmm... should I agree?’

“How... how did you know?”

“How? I saw through your strategy to lure us into urban combat! I realized you were dome rats when I saw you! But when I saw the mutant with the bomb, I understood! The massive explosion focused on one room was a grand move to deceive me! This place was a massive grave designed to trap and kill me, the great Raptor, Pedo Raptor Keseling, who is leading the charge!”

Rumble! Rumble!

“Alright! H! The engine is running!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At that moment, the lights in the ceiling lamps hanging between the management building and the residential area started to turn on simultaneously.

‘Vex? The timing... we haven’t even reached the elevator...!!’

Boom. Boom! Boom!!

The professor froze, still looking through the rearview mirror. Yes, with this level of noise, it was impossible for it not to wake up!

“...Floor it.”

“What?”

“Push it as hard as you can, harder than you’ve ever done in your life! The abomination is awake!”

In the rearview mirror, Vex was seen running frantically, waving his hands, with the abomination chasing him.

Rumble! Vroom!!!

“Running, are you? This is a dead end! As the leader of a group, you should die honorably...”

“Pack leader! Over there, to the side!”

“O--------Ohhhhhh!”

Squeal-

“Gaaaaah!”

“Aaaaaah!”

“What... what is that sound!”

The massive wailing echoed, making the pupils dilate. It sounded like dozens of heads attached to the mass of flesh were wailing as one, a bizarre sound that seemed to tear the eardrums.

“An abomination?! Why is it here?”

“We can’t handle that creature with our nearly depleted firepower!”

“Damn it!”

Keseling clenched his fists. He was so close. He was almost about to catch the rats who had put him in this situation...!

“...All troops, retreat.”

Keseling hesitated for a moment but, as a pack leader of the raptors, decided to put aside his lingering resentment.

“The dome commander’s fate will be left to that monster. V, I, and Hap... remember this. If you survive, one day, with these hands...!”

Crack!

Muttering the names of the enemies he had heard faintly from the battlefield, Keseling turned around.

***