Episode 112 [ Miscarriage (3) ]
A huge wound that splits the chest.
Unfortunately, the woman didn’t seem to have time to leave anything behind.
Kyung-hoon placed a notebook and dog tag on the body. It was a disappointing result, but I was glad I could still pass it on. He briefly bowed his head toward the body and picked up the sniper rifle lying on the floor.
It was a gun that felt heavy. Fortunately, there were bullets left in the magazine.
However, there were too many bullets remaining.
It was clearly a 10-round box magazine, but bullets kept coming out.
A total of 50 shots.
Kyung-hoon looked at the magazine with a small mana stone attached with surprised eyes.
-It’s a space expansion magazine. The gun has been heavily modified. It looks like it was made by a great craftsman.
A sniper rifle with a large mana stone embedded in it and a space expansion magazine with a separate mana stone embedded in it.
Omar was still an impossible object.
Although I was researching hard, it was still too much to embed mana stones into the equipment.
The pattern engraved on the bullet was also slightly different from other bullets.
“Do you know what this is?”
-This symbol has no limit to mana absorption. It seems that this gun is not just a simple Awakened gun. Hearing Eve
’s words, Kyung-hoon looked at the mana stone attached to the gun handle.
“A properly made Awakening dragon sniper. “Is it a gun?”
I wanted to use it right away, but it wasn’t something to be used here. If
it had been outside and not in a cave, the owner of this gun might not have died so easily.
After checking the inside and outside of the gun, Kyung-hoon strapped it to his back. It seemed like it would come in handy soon.
Kyung-hoon returned to the cave. I walked in.
*
As expected, the cave was connected to the basement of the government building.
Strangely, the iron door at the entrance of the cave was dented outward instead of inward.
And the corpses of awakened people were seen inside the door.
“There are too many corpses.”
In other places, they were monsters that swept away even the remains. It was difficult to understand that a body could be left behind like this.
Tilting his head, Kyung-hoon passed through the iron gate and entered the underground building.
There was a large room in the basement of the government building.
The room was a mess.
Monitors, phone tables, and chairs were scattered everywhere, and the strategy map hanging on the wall was badly broken.
And at Kyung-Hoon’s feet, there was a nameplate rolling around.
The nameplate said [3rd Operational Command].
This was the 2nd Army operational headquarters in charge of the central region.
“Why is there a 3rd Army Operations Command in Daejeon? “It should be in Yongin.”
-It appears to be a temporary headquarters.
Kyunghoon looked around the room again and frowned.
It wasn’t because of broken equipment.
It was because of the scattered remains. Countless bones were scattered everywhere.
-It appears that the body was intentionally mutilated.
Eve also had the same opinion as Kyung-hoon.
Kyunghoon quickly looked inside.
And if there was anything that caught my eye, I stuffed it into my backpack. We swept up everything that could be information, including documents that looked like operation orders and notebooks.
Kyung-hoon quickly scanned the room and saw a half-open door.
It was a door with a door plate that said [Commander’s Office].
Kyunghoon opened the door.
There was a body in the room. It was a body lying face down on the desk.
Unlike the remains outside, the body was a desiccated mummified body.
‘Why are some corpses just bones and others are mummified?’
Kyung-hoon left his thoughts behind and approached the corpse.
A sword blade was sticking out of the corpse’s back, and a pen was held in his hand.
A piece of paper was slightly visible next to the prone body.
-Is this a will?
Kyung-hoon tilted the body back.
dump.
Dust rose from the body thrown back.
A sword hilt with the Taegeuk symbol engraved on it was stuck in the body’s chest.
-This is the Samjeongsword awarded upon promotion to brigadier general.
Kyung-hoon’s expression when he looked at the hilt of the sword was very unpleasant.
He forced his eyes off the knife and looked at the paper on the desk.
The paper had caked blood and messy writing written on it.
[I am…Yun Byeong-cheon, commander of the Republic of Korea’s 3rd Field Army.]
[…his death is unfair… he left the last words…]
The writings were intermittent and difficult to read.
[…The defense line on the border of Daejeon… collapsed. It was partly because of the enemy’s strong attack… but the biggest reason was because of the traitor inside.]
Kyung-hoon narrowed his eyes. It was a story I heard somewhere.
[…More like a spy than a traitor… He transformed into a human officer… and played a trick on us. I relayed the plan to the monsters and finally destroyed the headquarters… alone.]
Kyung-hoon’s expression hardened.
-It seems to be a doppelganger monster.
Kyung-hoon also had the same thoughts as Eve. He continued reading.
[…Finally, I took out the Samjeongsword and placed it on my chest… and left the headquarters. Tear apart my subordinates… The purpose of abandoning me was to make fun of me…]
-The reason the operation headquarters was destroyed was because of the infiltrating doppelgänger. It is now understandable that the emergency passageway was opened.
[I heard it through rumors… I couldn’t believe it. In the end, my carelessness wiped out the field army… Fortunately, the president and… escaped through the portal on the rooftop… to Busan, but I feel sorry for the rest…]
Kyung-hoon stopped reading. His eyes stared at one word.
[Portal]
“It’s definitely not a story about space movement, right?”
-It’s already been completed. There was no information in my database that it was complete.
“It’s a space shifter, right?”
-yes. I heard that such a device is under development. Unfortunately, my parent company is a communication AI that is independent of the network, so I don’t have much information.
Eve spoke as if making excuses.
But Kyung-hoon wasn’t listening to Eve’s excuses. He was thinking of the original world aviation crisis that would occur some time later.
“If this device remains, can we reverse engineer it?”
-As long as the pattern and device are safe, it will be possible to reproduce it with just me and the pattern creator, the Space Shifter.
There were pattern makers and space movers.
“That means it’s possible.”
-The premise is that the patterns and devices are safe…
Eve was speechless at Kyung-hoon’s words.
This was because a giant monster was nesting on the rooftop.
There was only one paragraph left. Kyung-hoon finished reading the text.
[If only the dimension shifters and high-ranking awakeners had remained, it wouldn’t have happened like this… It’s just a pity. Apologies to everyone….]
The article ends here.
At the last word, Kyunghoon tilted his head.
“Do you know what it means?”
-sorry. It’s not in my database.
Although the words left many questions, Kyung-hoon buried them deep in his heart.
-Are you going to check the portal?
Again, the portal was underneath the monster’s nest.
“What is your opinion?”
Unlike before, Kyung-hoon asked Eve’s opinion.
-Please wait a moment. Let’s take a look at the probabilities.
Kyung-hoon waited again this time.
After a while, Eve opened her mouth.
-The probability of success is around 30%.
It wasn’t that high. Kyunghoon scratched his chin. The green algae water did not seem to be good for the skin.
-The probability is low, but it would be better to proceed now.
The hand that was scratching my chin stopped.
“why? They say the probability is low….”
– Portals are items that will become important in the future. Moreover, as time passes, the probability decreases further. If you’re going to proceed anyway, it’s better to do it quickly.
If Gyeong-hoon was what the monsters were looking for, the longer it was delayed, the more dangerous it would become. It would have been better to deal with it quickly and leave.
“Good. Let’s come up with a plan.”
Kyunghoon clenched his fists.
It seems he couldn’t just leave this place.
*
Time has passed. The evening glow filled the sky.
The monster birds that filled the sky also scattered again.
There were still many people flying in the sky, but it was much quieter than before.
The monster that had spread its wings on the roof of the building also disappeared back into its nest.
The night seemed to pass so quietly.
puck!
Suddenly, a monster bird flying in the sky burst out.
A gunshot was heard later.
bang!
It was a sound coming from far north.
Caw! Kaaaaaaa!
Monster birds flying in the sky screamed, and monster birds flew from the ground into the sky.
puck! puck!
bang! bang!
But the monster bird continued to explode and the gunshots continued.
The monster birds began flying in the direction where the gunshots were heard.
The sound of gunshots was coming from the Expo Park, which had become an old scrap metal, across the Gapcheon River that runs through Daejeon.
*
Bang! bang!
When a firework exploded from the muzzle, the monster bird fell down.
The shield was of no use. The monster bird in the lead was destroyed no matter what it did.
“It’s not that easy…”
Kyung-hoon, who was shooting the gun, frowned.
The speed at which mana grew was too fast.
It was the first time I had run out of mana since I rose to Class A.
This sniper rifle was a great gun that could control the power of the bullet by controlling the amount of mana.
It was possible to arbitrarily control the power of anything from a regular Awakened rifle to a large-caliber tank gun.
However, the problem is that as it becomes more powerful, it costs more mana.
Even now, the power was lowered just enough to penetrate the shield, but the speed at which mana was refilled was not keeping up with the speed at which the gun was fired.
“If I’m not Grade A or higher, I’ll have to take a long rest after shooting one shot.”
The awakened person I saw in the cave didn’t seem to be as high of a grade as Kyung-hoon. It was clear that she used this gun with the feeling of killing with one blow.
Kyung-hoon fired a gun every time his mana was filled.
The number of bullets was decreasing and mana was running low, but Kyung-hoon continued to wait.
The monster birds got closer and closer.
Wow!
Eventually, the monster in the nest spread its wings. The monster raised its head and looked north.
Flames were shooting out of the old Hanbit Tower in the center of Expo Park.
pop!
And an explosion occurred in the monster’s head.
Wow!
“You’re saying this won’t break through?”
Kyung-hoon looked at the monster and looked disappointed.
The head of the monster whose flames disappeared was no different from before. It failed to penetrate the defense shield.
Kyung-hoon infused mana into the mana stone on the handle again. This time, I kept pushing in mana until I reached my limit.
puck!
At one point, smoke rose from the magazine.
-Overflow. Please stop.
Kyung-hoon clicked his tongue when he saw the smoking magazine. It seemed like he had infused more mana than the limit.
“I guess this too has its limits.”
-Of course.
“Well, the operation was a success.”
Kyunghoon smiled as he looked at the government building.
The monster spread its wings and was flying into the sky.
“Let’s get started.’’
-Yes.
At Kyung-hoon’s words, drones flew up from the ground.
There were more than a dozen drones.
And an unmanned machine gun installed in a nearby building pointed its muzzle toward the sky.
Preparation is complete.
A huge monster was flapping its wings and flying towards the Expo Park.
Kyung-Hoon created a silver hole in the floor.
Space movement door. The target is the basement of the government building. It was an operational headquarters.
*
Taang! Taang!
A gunshot was heard from afar.
A monster bird resembling a crow landed in the yard of an old house.
Unlike other monster birds, it was a monster that acted alone.
The monster bird tilted its head and approached the window in the living room of the house. The monster bird opened the window with its beak and entered the living room.
The house was surprisingly clean.
The monster bird crossed the living room as if it were its own and entered the master bedroom.
widely.
The bedroom door was closed.
Time has passed.
Squeak.
The visit was held again.
Inside the open door lay the mummified body of a middle-aged man.
Unusually, the corpse was not wearing any clothes.
Trudging. Trudging.
I heard footsteps and someone walked out the door.
It was a middle-aged man who looked exactly like a mummified corpse.
He was wearing an old officer’s uniform. Three bamboo flowers sparkled on his lapel. It was a colonel rank insignia.
He adjusted his hat and checked the sword at his waist.
It was the remaining one of the two Samjeongswords that were captured a long time ago.
He pulled out his sword and looked at his face on the blade.
The sword was still usable.
He was happy.
It has been a long time since humans appeared.
The thought of staining his sword with human blood made him smile for the first time in a long time.
Sigh.
The doppelganger inside the blade was smiling a distorted smile.
