Chapter.3 For that handful of silver coins (8)
***
“Pack leader reports.”
“okay. “What are the results?”
“Most of the small things were thrown away, 42 9mm Parabellum rounds, 33 5.56mm NATO rounds, and 6 homemade bombs obtained from the corpse of the scavenger who went before, and 6 other…” “
Ah, that was enough. “Take only the ammunition you can use now and throw away the rest.”
Fedor Raptor Kesselring, pack leader of the Raptor 2 Corps, interrupted his subordinates as they reported the resources they had collected. The guys who manage the Nest’s supply depot are always complaining about not having enough ammo, but there was no need to worry about that today.
“Any traces of the enemy?”
“On the first basement floor, we found 4 dead bodies from gunshot wounds, 3 bodies presumed to have died from ambushes, and 7 dead bodies from gunshot wounds on the 2nd basement floor, as well as traces of a large-scale firefight.”
“It’s a large-scale skirmish… What do you mean specifically?”
“yep. “It appears that there was an explosion using TNT or C4 in the auditorium next to the restaurant, and by the time we entered there were almost no viable variants left.”
“Is that so?”
Kesselring felt something was missing from the report. What he wanted and did not want at the same time….
“Which of the dead bodies were physically damaged?”
“…I did not understand the meaning of the command.”
“Even if it is a type 1 variant, if the number exceeds 100, getting rid of it is quite a task. In the process, it is common for a child to die from being bitten. “There are several corpses with signs of being attacked by mutants.”
“….0.”
“0? You mean there’s no one? Has it been processed?”
“yes. “All had penetrating head injuries.”
“Hmm. okay?”
Kesselring stroked his temple with a gloved hand. This is his usual habit when thinking.
‘The number of scavengers hit by the mutant is 0. Of course, since all of the scavengers who arrived here had great skills, mutations might not have been a problem… but the number of deaths was too high to think that was the case. The ones that survived even went through treatment to prevent mutations.’
His hand, which had been stroking my temple, suddenly caressed the corner of my mouth.
The corners of the mouth were raised.
“There are some people who are having fun.”
“Are you an enemy?”
“okay. I don’t know what kind of guys they are, but they went inside after dealing with another scavenger here. And the mutants who were attracted to the noise of the battle must have suffered quite a bit.”
It was commendable that they prepared explosives as well as I did, but in the end, that’s all. Seeing as the traces of the explosion were limited to one auditorium, it appears that all the explosives brought were used up there.
“That’s good news.”
“Are you saying that the number of enemies has decreased?”
“No, because the enemy is worth hunting. “It was a long-awaited external mission. How disappointing would it have been if the mission was just to come down and pick up fallen grains?”
My wife’s enemy. Good!
“okay. “What’s going on with you?”
The soldier who arrived with a restrained posture faced Kesselring in the same posture as the soldier who was reporting next to him and spoke.
“Pack leader reporting. The occupation of the second basement level has ended. “There were no particularly valuable resources that needed to be brought back.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Even if it had been there, those who went first would have swept it away. “Have you checked the exit?”
“yes. “There is only one entrance where we came in.”
“Then there’s no need to rush.”
Tap, tap, tap.
Kesselring took a deep breath as he walked down the still-hot hallway. The smell of gunpowder. The smell of burning flesh. Isn’t it the smell of the battlefield that I truly miss?
“I might be able to sleep well today. The person carrying the repeating firearm goes first, followed by the flamethrower and the sniper.
“What are the orders?”
“Kill and burn. “There are enough raptors living in this area.”
chuck!
A sharp salute followed, and a wave of black violence went down the stairs of the emergency exit.
***
Knock knock
“[Enemy found]”
‘It’s here!’
Even though I tried to calm down, my hands automatically started sweating when I saw those uniform uniforms.
He wears an all-black uniform and a mask that he always wears on his face. Even the scale-patterned epaulets unique to the Raptor Society. Among the numerous groups in the wasteland, the only group represented by ‘violence’. A part of it was now revealing itself.
‘…The atmosphere inside has changed.’
I could tell without looking. The sound of someone taking a breath. The faint sound of the butt being held. The tension of the battle flowing from within could be felt up to here.
Step by step. Step by step. Step by step.
‘Commander!’
A black coat, a square hat, and five shiny scale-patterned epaulettes. A man who seemed to have a high status at a glance was walking out at the head of the unit.
-chuck.
‘It stopped in a strangely safe place.’
The place where the man stopped was just over a hill with no diagonal line on the side of the shelter, which was on a lower level than the emergency exit.
The man leisurely put the cigar in his mouth, cut off the end, lit it, and spoke.
“Hello, friends.”
Fluttering-!
‘I noticed that bastard’s ambush.’
That positioning and the overtly provocative words. It seemed like he already had a general idea of the location of the Dome troops.
Dom’s troops seemed quite confused as they felt movement in the alley of the shelter.
Phew –
“Sometimes.”
He took a deep breath of his cigar and continued speaking, exhaling the smoke.
“It’s hard to understand what people are really thinking. “This seemingly self-evident fact is right in front of our eyes, but we can’t see it and expect others to not see it.”
He took off his white gloves, took out a stick grenade from his pocket, adjusted the timer, and said.
“Isn’t it a very simple fact? If someone goes in, there has to be someone who comes out. Judging by the corpses lying around, there were people who went in before us, but when we came down, there was no one there? “What would we think when we see that?”
Tirick Tik Tirick
“If at least some of them had made a lot of noise, they would have been fooled into thinking that the number of troops would have been reduced due to the battle…” The
grenade
thrown by the man flew gently in an arc.
“Isn’t this sloppy ambush almost like begging to be killed?”
“It’s a grenade! obscuration! Take cover-”
Kwaang-!
The grenade exploded precisely among the panicked soldiers.
Hwiik – Slam!
Dom’s soldier, unable to finish his sentence, soared into the sky and fell in front of Kesselring. He personally bent down, ripped off the dog tag from the corpse of a soldier with only part of his body flying off, and held it under his nose.
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
“Ah, this is truly wonderful. It’s the smell of a hypocrite’s burning soul. “People feel truly alive when they feel they are doing something worthwhile.” He raised his hand
like
a conductor toward his legionnaires who followed behind him with a clink
.
“Let’s go in, gentlemen. “Let’s burn all those poor beasts.”
Chiik- Hoohwaaaaaak!
As a signal, the tip of the flamethrower began to emit fire.
***
The professor was quite embarrassed. I knew the flamethrower was coming and I knew there would be a fight.
But I didn’t know that as soon as it arrived, it would start a fire like that, as if it would burn down everything around it.
‘Damn it, I thought about it, but you’re bringing a real flamethrower! ‘And in such a confined space!’
This is the 3rd floor underground. In a situation like now where all the buildings on the ground have collapsed and most of the vents are blocked, wielding something like a flamethrower like that is no different from saying you want to die from suffocation…
‘Wait a minute. That can’t be right…’
When I look around, I see that raptors always wear masks like Darth Vader. What if it’s not a fake Darth Vader but has some important function?
As the professor examined the mask, he saw a finger-sized tube connected to the back. The tube was connected to a small can-like thing worn on the waist.
‘What if it’s not the enemy but intentionally burning the surroundings? These crazy people… were they planning on using chemical warfare?’
If starting a fire and burning off all the oxygen can be considered chemical warfare, it was the same as a chemical bomb exploding in this sealed third basement floor. A terrible chemical bomb with a 100% fatality rate that suffocates anyone who is unprepared.
“Stop it! Aim for the flamethrower!”
The Dome’s troops also seemed to realize their opponent’s intentions, abandoned their passive appearance, leaned out from where they were hiding, and began to fire back. Kesselring seemed to laugh at that sight.
“When I set it on fire, the way it jumps out looks like an insect. Gentlemen, accept it, but do not be dragged away. We fire suppressing fire while maintaining a position on this hill where they cannot be hit by direct fire. “The remaining amount of oxygen is about 30 minutes, so use it from the moment it becomes difficult to breathe.”
Clap, clap, clap!
Taang-!
Tu-ta-ta-tang!
“Aaaah!”
“Gagging!”
It was overwhelming. Both the time and the terrain belonged to Raptor. Dome’s soldiers were slowly dying without being able to utilize the prepared battlefield.
What prevented the perfectly prepared massacre were mutants wandering around, attracted by the light and noise of the Raptor troops. Dom’s strategy of hiding inside rather than killing the mutant and avoiding the mutant’s attention as much as possible began to pay off.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
!”
The professor slowly got up as he watched the mutant moving towards the raptor over the concrete hill.
It’s an opportunity. Our only chance to get them off the hill.
“VI Slowly, we too are moving.”
As the battle intensified, mutants scattered around began to flock into the center of the battle, and the professor and his group also began to move slowly, hiding in the shadows of the group.
***
‘I expected it to be somewhat unbalanced, but I didn’t expect it to be this overwhelming.’
From my perspective, the best thing was a situation where Dom’s forces and Raptor’s forces were destroyed. I could prevent the Dom from taking over this place, I could avoid dying at the hands of the Raptor, and if I was lucky, I could have escaped with something in between.
However, if I continued like this, I would be unable to do anything and would suffocate to death as all my oxygen would run out.
The professor approached Ian, who was out of breath, clutching his favorite gun.
“I listen carefully. “If you want to live, you have to push the guys up that hill.”
“Whoa, even someone with half an eye can tell that.”
“And to do that, we have to drag them down that concrete ridge.”
Although they are suffering badly now, Dom’s troops are not completely destructive. If they could create an environment for long-term street fighting, the situation could be sufficiently improved.
“Among the weapons you have, are there any that can be of use now?”
“If it’s a grenade, there are a few… but it won’t mean much. The clothes those kids are wearing aren’t normal. You will suffer direct explosion damage, but damage from fragments will be almost negligible. “If I had to choose, you would have to detonate an explosive similar to the one I used in the auditorium earlier at close range, but since it is electronic, you can’t send it that far without a wire, and if you throw something else, it won’t reach that far.”
“So there’s no way….”
“So I told you. “If those bastards come, the only option is to attack them with a suicide bomb?”
“Are you saying that? Then who will carry the bomb? you? me? Or….”
“Geuuuh-”
.
.
.
.
“Oh.”
At that moment, the three people who left nodded without even having to say who went first.
***
The three entered the shelter alley, taking advantage of the attention of the Dom and Raptor variants on each other.
“Listen, although our actions are hostile to the Raptors, that doesn’t mean the Dom is our ally. “Our goal is to escape without being caught by either side.”
Quaaaang!
Patter!
The three lowered themselves further to avoid the falling debris and dug deeper. From now on, we had to be careful as this was an ambush area for Dom’s soldiers. They carefully dispersed and looked closely at the location where Dome’s soldiers were.
“I found it?”
“No I.”
“Damn, I couldn’t find H. “My head flew off.”
“I found V. It’s a corpse. Cleanly dead. Death from blood loss.”
“nice!”
The professor and Ian hurried to Vex’s side. The body had traces of a bullet penetrating the abdomen, and judging by the warm blood, it appeared that it had not been dead for some time.
“Am I ready?”
“3 bundles of 5 industrial dynamites. “How do you weigh everything here?”
“….okay. entire. “There will be no chance except now that the type 1 variant is attracting attention anyway.”
Ian quickly organized the fuse of the dynamite and attached it to the back of the body’s waist.
“Geueuugh….”
“Verdammter Abschaum (Goddamn bastards)! “It comes back to life!”
Vex said with a slightly confused expression as she looked at the corpse that was starting to squirm.
“Hepburn is ready, right? Using a dead person’s body is not normal. “It’ll come up in my dreams too, right?”
“Well, let’s just say I helped these guys get revenge. If you don’t die properly, the rule of the wasteland is to help you die cleanly, right? If it appears in my dream, I can at least feed it food for ancestral rites. “Let’s think about survival first.”
Hmm-!
Ian began to approach the front of the battle line, carrying the corpse that was just beginning to mutate over his shoulder.
“Take good cover!”
“I’m still doing it!”
Clack –
The professor, who nervously pulled the trigger of the shotgun handed to him by Ian earlier, ended up being uncharacteristically moved by the situation. I’ve forgotten this feeling since I’ve been using pipe shotguns for a while. This feeling of being able to trust your weapon. This feeling that clings to me like my own limbs. And finally, that powerful threat that not only pushes the enemy away but can kill them with certainty –
Taang –
Puhwaaaaaaak!
Power… power?
“What is this! Metal Joe! “What did you give me?”
Without thinking, the professor loaded the bullet that Ian had put in his pocket and fired it, and was frightened by the flames pouring out in front of him along with the bullet.
“Hehehe! What the hell! 12 gauge dragon breath bullet! how is it? “Even if this happens, let’s say my wife gives me a refund!”
The professor was at a loss for words as he watched the variant begin to catch fire while its chest was punctured by a roughly ground bullet.
Sigh-!
“Yikes!”
‘Let’s focus, focus!
Fisht-
“Ugh! “I ask you to provide good cover!”
“So, who said they would show off their guns?!” V!! Two variants in the left alley! One dome! I! “Did you get it right?”
“It passed! I can’t go any further! “This guy is almost awake!”
The professor measured the distance between the raptor and Ian by watching the corpse begin to move its hands and feet little by little. About 30 meters. Is it possible?
“…It’s not a matter of whether it’s possible, it’s that it should be possible. I! Do your best with all your strength! If you don’t do it, you’ll die! Throw it!”
“Whoop! “Kaaaaap!”
With an evil spirit, the corpse that had just begun to mutate flew through the air. He didn’t get very far, but as if heaven helped him, he fell behind the corpse of another Type 1 mutant and seemed to escape their gaze.
“done!”
“What should I do now?”
“What the heck!”
The professor spoke to Ian as he ran towards the Vex who were engaging Dome’s soldiers.
“We must pray! May our marathoner reach the goal!”
***
