Chapter. 24. The greatest creditor (5)
****
Taang! Taang! Taang!
With a rough firing sound, the shotgun shell, which had fulfilled its purpose, roughly tore through the air.
“Brother Desmont! There are too many enemies! “Every one of them is a suicide bomber!”
“It’s not just cyborg disease!! While these bastards were out of sight, they went around the upper part of Area 47 and gathered people! “It looks like they captured refugees fleeing south due to radiation!”
One of the BDSM members screamed, his entire body covered in blood. He was covered not with his own blood, but with the remains of the humans who exploded before his eyes.
“Kaaaaaaah! Although it only looks good on the outside, they all seem to have undergone some kind of cheap modification. Since I don’t know which is a real cyborg and which is a dummy meat shield, I have to pour out my firepower blindly, but I will never be able to break through that way. “We’re already being pushed back, Captain.”
“You have an unusually long tongue.”
-snap.
Whi profit!
Ian responded to his subordinate’s report, also covered in blood, by throwing a grenade through the cover. The moment the hand was raised, a barrage of aimed fire poured into the bulletproof plate of the armored truck, causing sparks to fly.
“Half of us would have already gone to the goal if Bex hadn’t dragged the fallen guys in front one by one. When on earth do those fucking bastards ever shake their heavy asses properly? “I heard we also have groundbreaking means?”
“Don’t whine, kid. “Because the professor and the main unit received all the artillery fire, we were able to engage in combat while taking cover in a bulletproof truck.”
“…Please understand. “The guy who was always talking next to me is now on my body.”
“Nimiral.”
Excellent mute tech equipment, excellent teamwork, and thanks to the battle experience gained against Type 3 variants, they had pushed themselves this far, but they were now at their limit. Ian and BDSM, facing a mere 200 meters of iron at Raptor Nest, had to admit that they could not break through the flanks with their capabilities alone.
‘As expected, I didn’t agree with Professor Park’s unreasonable strategy.’
Even now, from beyond the temporary barricade! Pow! The sound of human Cremois fluttering bone fragments could be heard, but the ground was shaking from the artillery fire pouring in at hundreds of rounds per second in front of the Nest.
That idiot always makes plans based on self-sacrifice. ‘My body feels strange. Is there a person in the world who builds hundreds of tanks for ridiculous reasons like ‘I think it will work’?
Ian and BDSM were a group at the forefront of the mutant battle, and they knew a lot about mutant creatures.
‘Even if it’s bizarre, it’s still a living thing in the end.’
A fire-breathing variant. It’s interesting, but if you explode its head, you die the same way. When you open a pear, you will find the intestines, digestive system, and everything else you need. Even though ‘Professor Mutant Park’ was unusually strong, he still fell into the category of living things. At some point, we will reach the limit of our resources as living creatures, and eventually we will have no choice but to join the pile of meat on the battlefield.
“Damn it, just like President Young said, it was right to just blow it up when the spaceship took off. “Are you sure we can eat this before it goes up?”
“….tsk.”
Ian nervously spat out spit mixed with gunpowder.
In fact, as a person who knew better about the power of Raptor than anyone else, it was Ian himself who should have opposed Professor Park’s foolish plan more than anyone else. The success of the operation was uncertain, the sacrifice was certain, and in the extreme situation of war, that spaceship was a target focused on the too distant value of ‘the future of humanity’. This means that ‘Commander Ian Desmont’ was already fully aware that the probability of the operation failing was constantly high.
Nevertheless, even though I knew it better than anyone else, I did not oppose it.
-Well,
that’s because he still has a derringer loaded with one bullet hanging around his neck.
This was because a silhouette familiar to him hovered in front of the spaceship that had begun to appear in the distance.
There is a guy called “Gustave Al Harb.”
It wasn’t a nightmare, a drunken fantasy, or a drugged hallucination, but a living, breathing person standing on his own two feet just a few hundred meters away.
Perhaps that’s why he agreed to Professor Park’s plan. If it were the heartless commander Ian Desmont, he would have been against this extremely opaque operation, but now he was a man called Metal Joe. The heart, saturated with gunpowder and alcohol, had been beating very wildly and passionately for the past few years, as if trying to compensate for the years it had not been beating.
“Raptor…!”
Crash!
These personal reasons were a big part of why Metal Joe agreed to the professor’s ‘Operation Body Punch’. A personal desire to put a bullet directly into the heart of an enemy.
And the war paid the full price for such emotional actions.
Raptor Nest. The walls of the mobile fortress, where all kinds of abandoned vehicles and tanks were clustered, were made up of vehicles with their tops blown off and tanks with broken tracks.
They grumbled among themselves –
among them were old tanks that could still fulfill their role as fixed artillery batteries.
One of the old and rust-covered gun ports turned its head with difficulty, but Metal Joe, who was preoccupied with his rapidly dying friend and his enemy moving away before his eyes, did not notice it.
-Scary!
When his long war experience sounded the alarm, the black cavity-like gun muzzle was already staring at him.
thud!
The moment it spewed fire, all Ian could do was kick the budlam next to him to escape.
Squirt!
‘….Shit.’
Kwaaaaang!
Binge drinking and shock.
The Raptor tank crew’s artillery fire did not miss this time either.
Just like a long time ago when he used them to slaughter countless people.
****
Boom. Wow.
“….party! Medic!!!”
Explosion and blackout.
By the time I regained my senses, which I had lost for a moment, the gunfire that had already struck my eardrums could only be felt as a small rumbling on the ground.
This does not mean that the shelling has subsided. The sense organ that can feel it has become a rag of sin.
“Brother Desmont was attacked… by the tank division… -!”
“Sit-arm medic! “Is there a living medic somewhere!!”
Urgent voices and the sound of concrete forms being projected for temporary barricades. The moment he felt the hemostatic agent dripping further inside his chest, he realized that the bombardment had turned his upper body into a rag. Even Woojin’s latest Mute Tech protective equipment was not strong enough to withstand the tank fire that fell right in front of him.
“Guys… we need to use morphine…”
“Brother Tongue!”
“Leader!”
“….”
Beyond the familiar faces of his subordinates, a black-skinned Budlam was seen yelling on the radio. Armed trucks are lined up and an improvised wall is built with emergency concrete foam. Already in the makeshift camp, there were many comrades in similar or worse condition than him. It seems that while he was unconscious, Budlam gave up on breaking through and called in the rest.
‘…You stupid bastard. Even though it blocks infantry, it is poisonous to artillery fire. If I didn’t want to die while getting beaten up, I should
have forced my way through…’ I wanted to shout at the guy who changed the formation without saying a word, but all I could do was make an obscene noise come out of my mouth and I didn’t have the strength to utter a single curse word.
‘Is this how I die? Gustav With that guy right in front of you. ‘I can’t even touch it with my fingertips.’
Pain, tinnitus, and the feeling of dying were something I always thought about, so it wasn’t that shocking. Perhaps dying as a dog without accomplishing anything might have been a fitting end for him. Because countless people who died at his hands in the past died like that.
“Joe! Me metal! Oh hey…!”
“Huh huh huh….”
But. When an old, stammering voice came into his half-eaten ears, Ian felt as if the world he had half-left behind was grabbing him by the hem of his clothes.
“….all of it.”
“Fuck you! Don’t talk nonsense! “Focus on breathing-”
“The situation is.”
It’s funny, but what’s holding him back right now is ‘irritability’ of unknown origin.
Bex’s welcome voice. The appearance of that little guy covered in armor with the blood of his enemies and allies. An uneasy feeling that comes from the tone of voice that says everything is okay now.
“Why are we still alive from the Raptor that turned the tank’s firepower this way when we set up a turtle camp like this?”
“That, that…”
Wow!
“Professor, you did it! “The Raptor tank division is being torn apart!”
“The captain has performed another miracle! If we just wipe out the enemy’s main force like this-”
Quaaaaaaa-!
The subordinate’s words were buried in the blood-red column that split the night sky.
An unrealistic sight clearly visible even to Ian’s blurred eyes. Blood poured down from Professor Park, who had changed into a shape that looked like something I had seen before, and where it passed, there were only horribly cut pieces of metal left behind.
“…Is that him?”
“yes! “This is the same ‘Warlord’ as seen in the video!”
“Does that look normal?”
“….yes?”
“Hey you idiot. Is this such a big deal? Don’t you know the variant? “When I’m curled up here like an idiot- Cough!”
“Mama, don’t tell me…!”
The moment you raise your voice, the wound bursts open due to the pressure in your lungs. There was terrible pain, but I came to my senses.
‘It’s an unsurvivable wound.’
Only then did Ian realize that the large injection in his forearm was not morphine.
“Revival kit. “That was it then?” “Haha, there was one left. That’s what Nana lived with when she was in District 47….”
“Yes. “You, who had almost your entire side blown off, survived thanks to this.” “
So
, that means I won’t die right away even if I move roughly.”
“Oh, no! If you move, the wound covered with protein filler-”
Bwaaaaah!
It was Ian’s viciously clenched fist that flew towards Bex, who was reaching for his chest that was hollowed out like a broken bowl.
The weakened punch was easily blocked by Vex’s arm, but Vex seemed shocked by the fact that he had swung his fist.
“Shut up, Bex.”
“older brother! Damn it, is it because of the doping agent included in the revival kit!”
“You shut up too. You guys are my handpicked bunch of idiots, but you’ve never been more disappointing than today. “It’s so fucking bad I can’t close my eyes.”
“If you’re going to fucking get medicated and talk nonsense, you should just lie down some more-”
“Does that look normal? That! Professor Park, even after seeing that bastard doing that damn thing, you guys who know more about the type 3 variant than anyone else said, ‘Enough is enough! Professor Park will do it!’ “It makes no sense to just curl up like this!”
Blood came up to his throat once again, but Ian swallowed it with all his might. Neither Vex nor Budlam seemed to be able to raise their heads easily, as if they could guess something.
“You idiots!”
That made me even more angry.
“A variant is ultimately a living thing. This is a fact confirmed through countless bursting, splitting, picking, and disassembly! It’s a product of some unknown science, and it’s a naive, pestilent creature made of bones and flesh! “I know for sure what it will look like if I use that bloody beam like that without any control, and I know that…!”
Crash!
Even at this moment, another red bombardment was dividing the battlefield. The raptor’s gunfire had noticeably decreased, but Professor Park’s appearance was also noticeably changing.
Now, it looks like a large crystal-like mass has grown all over the body, which is now quite far away from the appearance of a humanoid monster.
Is there a cure? You only have to arrive before it completely changes?
It’s bullshit. If it is possible to return Professor Park to his original state, the cure is at a level that can return even a human being placed in a centrifuge and ground to its original state.
‘That idiot gave up on this and that.’
I had no choice but to see it that way. In the end, Professor Park did not pay attention to the people who tried to stop him and did too much, and these guys just looked at it as a good thing and said, ‘Professor Park will do everything!’ They were just reacting the same way.
“Cough! “You idiots who are so weak and needing nursing care…”
“…Calm down.”
-Slap!
Marley shook off Bex and picked up the firearm leaning next to his hospital bed.
“Just do it, do it, I left the war to you and came to watch. “If that bastard has harassed the tank, we have to figure out how to get in the gap.”
“It’s Joe Metal. “Damn it, please calm down!”
“Calm? The fucking calm is freezing! Are you going to just hang out here and wait for Professor Park to end the war? What next? Professor Park-Jeong-Jeong, who has grown up like that, is enshrined in a war museum and said something like, ‘Thank you so much at that time, my friend’? “Would you like to write a biography of the great hero Professor Park and erect a statue of him?”
“Oh my gosh, Vex. If that happens, I have no choice but to kneel in front of Miss Dana and pull the trigger on my temple as an apology, but I would much rather just roll over here than do that.”
“I know too! If you leave it like that, Hepburn… will never come back!”
Damn. If I knew, I wouldn’t be here like this.
Ian snorted as he fastened the bandana that was lying nearby.
“But, I hope you keep moving like this without taking any action. Even if Hepburn lives, you’re dead!!”
“…Joe! You’re hurt a lot more than I thought. “You can’t do anything with that body.”
Sreuk Sreuk Sreuk!
I put the belt on my shoulder, but the belt slipped off my shoulder as the flesh had fallen off in chunks and there was no place to put it on.
Bex’s eyes met him, somewhat uneasy but much firmer than Ian expected.
“I am not the Vex of old. “I stopped living like a fool obsessed with Hepburn and living like a psychopath who thinks everything else is good.”
“It’s all precious. First of all, I saved Joe who was dying right away. I also saved my BDSM colleagues who were dying on the battlefield. “Now I’m going to go save Hepburn, who ‘may soon die’.”
“….you?”
“Uh oh. I. That’s the order.”
Only then was Ian able to check Vex’s condition. A poncho raincoat with many pockets that I always like to wear. Inside, there was a lot of consumable equipment developed by Mute Tech, without any empty space.
Like a soldier walking into a battlefield with a belt and bombs wrapped around his body.
“This defensive position is effectively killing enemy infantry. The professor is reducing the tank fleet. When the enemy’s defense power is sufficiently reduced-”
“I will go in and cut off the head of the leadership myself. “Is that it?”
“….I’m what I’m good at.”
Bex, who has a small body and carries weapons that weigh about 40 kg, speaks with a determined face.
“…Ha, indeed.”
Looking at that guy, I felt like all the blood was draining out of my head.
‘It was just this guy. The one here who hasn’t been swayed by the madness of war.’
Professor Park is a strange man who lives in his own ideals. In the end, I am being swayed by it and throwing myself away again.
As for himself, he declared that he would live as a Metal Joe, but he was distracted by memories of his Desmont days, and as a result, his upper body became tattered and he was barely able to stand, relying on drugs and hormones.
Only the Vex did not lose their balance. He thought clearly, judged sharply, and did the best he could in a chaotic battlefield.
The numerous BDSM members lying in the temporary camp were Bex, who had traveled to every corner of the battlefield and dragged them to the rear, and it was Bex who had managed to save him by picking on the revival kit he always carried in his arms as he was halfway to the underworld. And next, he is preparing to run to the middle of the Nest, saying, ‘It is Professor Park’s turn, who has some time to spare until the complete change.’
For some reason, it feels like the guy I used to wear next to me every day has grown so much.
“…Khehehe. This is why it’s a good idea to meet and see women – LOL! “He changed completely after meeting the rabbit lady.”
“Stop talking bullshit, lie down.” Like a minor injured person. “If I don’t get the necessary treatment within a few hours, I will die…!”
okay. If you think about it, this guy was still in his mid-20s. A young man who is a few years younger than me and has not yet hardened.
“OK. Then, I’ll trust you and leave it to you, so just light a cigarette and go. “My shoulders are shaped like this, so my arms can’t go up.”
With that in mind, I took out a cigarette and put it in my mouth. Bex, looking a little relieved, took out a brass-colored lighter and pulled the tinder.
Click, click,
click,
“Hey, come a little closer.” “If I bow down, my intestines will spill out.”
“What a stupid way to turn a blind eye and get caught—-”
Stop it!
The moment Bex bent down to light the fire without any suspicion, the stun gun hidden in her sleeve hit the back of her neck.
-dump.
“….okay. “If you look away, you’ll be in trouble.”
In that brief moment, Vex’s grip on my wrist lost strength and she fell to the floor with an incomprehensible expression.
“older brother! Why Brother Bex…! “You’re crazy!”
“Look at this. Fortunately, I took it. boy.”
“That one?”
“This bastard picked up a lot of it and put it in his cloak. No matter how you look at it, isn’t a strong acid diffusion bomb suitable for an infiltration and sneak attack? “He doesn’t even wear environmental protection clothing because he thinks being lightweight is an advantage.”
A silhouette briefly passed through the guy’s cloak. Although others may not know, it was not an item that Ian, who had devoted himself to research and development with old Woojin, could not recognize.
“It’s not like an infiltration with survival as a guarantee. “I thought this kid might be a Middle Eastern terrorist.”
“Brother Vex was planning to go into the nest and die together?”
“That’s right. Anyway, the young guy learned only bad things from being around that guy.”
Jiik Jiik!
Ian kicked the fallen Vex with his toe, picked up a bulletproof plate, placed it on the empty belly skin, and wrapped duct tape around it. Of course, explosives were tightly packed into the small storage space attached to the bulletproof plate.
“If it’s self-destruction, is there any living, breathing human being who can do it better than me?”
“older brother!”
“It’s dented. “The Vex guy is a close-combat monster, so I had no choice but to cheat, but I can easily placate you as is.”
“But my brother’s condition is-”
“He’s been on medication that will last him for two hours no matter what he does.”
Hehehe, a sound of laughter that seemed to be leaking somewhere from the lower jaw came naturally.
Okay, this is it. Life as Metal Joe, not Ian Desmont. The past, which remained like dried residue, held him for a moment and shook him.
Clap, clap,
clap!
Bombs and gunpowder. Bullets and cigarette smoke. Wasn’t this all that defined the rest of his life?
“That guy, Vex… he took the wrong course.”
“If I had done something like a medic instead of an infiltration unit, I would have made a name for myself above the 14th Special Operations Unit.”
In addition, we can add friends who smile like idiots just by looking at each other’s faces.
“Are you really going? In that condition?”
“okay. “Professor Park, someone needs to go and topple that steel fortress before he turns into something like a ‘mysterious human mass.’”
“Then I can go! I’m in better shape than you, and I’m not so bad at exercising my body that I get knocked out! I will pay in full this time for saving my life when I would have been an unlucky scavenger and died suddenly after being shot! Give it away! hurry!”
“Damn. Budlam, you are a million years away from replacing me. “I’m stuck.”
“older brother!”
“I will take the most intact armored truck. If the enemy’s firepower has weakened enough for the Vex to dig in, it would be possible to hit them with a car. “You lead the broken kids and get out of the way.”
Budlam seemed to have said something more, but one of his eardrums had been ruptured by artillery fire, so he couldn’t hear it clearly when his body was turned.
“It’s just that this guy and that guy all go around looking for their wives and salting them. “I got screwed.”
click! Grung, purr!
“I’m going to go see my wife too.”
Buaaaaaaaa!
The engine of the modified truck roared like an animal, and the eight wheels of the large armored truck began to drive away, scraping the ground.
Kwajak!
As I broke through the concrete form that had become tattered by artillery fire, I could clearly see the battlefield approaching a lull.
Anyone could see that Professor Park looked close to his limit.
Raptor’s tank unit, which was like a wall of steel, was full of holes like Swiss cheese and was in dire straits.
Ian cheerfully brought the radio to his mouth, feeling his body temperature gradually cooling down.
Chiik-
[Channel-1. It’s Metal Joe. What are the preparations for the main unit?]
[I’m telling you in advance, if the equipment hasn’t been nailed down yet, I’ll turn the steering wheel and crush you guys first.]
Chiik-
[This is Ali Wilson, a signal sergeant in the main unit. Channel-1… Are you Ian Desmont?]
Looking at the condition of the signal soldier, it appears that he has suffered enough damage that a new soldier needs to take the radio. That one wasn’t easy either.
[Well, the equipment was in place, but the signal guide was hit by enemy fire. Emergency maintenance was carried out, but as it is, some errors may occur…]
Chiik-
[Oh, that’s good. That’s covered here. I will move the BDSM signal guide to the center of the target. The main unit just protects the equipment.]
Chiik-
[Recheck… Wind! Due to communication instability-]
Click!
“What do you mean by reconfirmation? “Listen carefully.”
I heard that the main unit’s equipment was ready, so that was enough.
While searching the glove box, Ian found the item he was looking for and grinned.
“I definitely need this.”
click!
I don’t know who they belong to, but I really like the sunglasses.
A new cigarette in my mouth and my precious triple barrel shotgun next to me.
The body, which had almost all of its upper body removed, was filled with bulletproof plates and bullets.
“If this were Metal Joe’s final drive, it should have been like this!!”
The bitter scent of acrid exhaust and cigarette smoke, and the vibration of the car running roughly as if it was going to turn over, shook his mind.
The eyes were fixed on the man who was surveying the battlefield in front of the spaceship. Ian was not a man who made the same mistake twice. It’s not about turning a blind eye.
Gustave Al Harb. Nothing else was in sight except him.
****
