🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 209
“Damn it… this isn’t some kind of death flag popping up, right? Ha…! Ha…!”
At the spot where part of the airplane’s fuselage had fallen, O Su‑heon ran urgently toward a wing fragment that was sending up curling black smoke.
He had no idea how much blood had been lost, but from the way the ranker’s vision kept wavering even with a ranker’s stamina, it was clear things had reached a dangerous level.
[Fatigue: 82]
[Warning! You are approaching a critical condition. Retreat to a safe area and treat injuries.]
[The degree of bodily damage is severe.]
Sure enough.
Her fatigue had already reached a level that would be classified as critical for ordinary hunters.
‘Maybe it’s from looking at that wing fragment — I have no feeling along the nape of my wing. My left arm might even be dislocated; it won’t move at all. This is insane.’
In fact, O Su‑heon had been injured by flying shrapnel during the parachute drop. To make matters worse, the place she’d landed happened to be an area teeming with packs of hyenas.
That’s when their pursuit had begun.
Vroooom!
Even now, the sound of bikes tearing across the sand grated on her nerves.
They were at a distance that was neither too far nor too close — like big predators tiring out a large prey by making it keep running.
After she’d ripped the necks out of a few who got too close as a warning, they kept harassing them like this.
‘If we take care of them, it has to be all at once, all together.’
But could she really manage in this state?
Her radio item had stopped working — maybe due to magic interference. Her spine hurt and her legs were starting to tingle…
She worried that charging in wrong now might only expose her weaknesses, but O Su‑heon clenched her teeth and steadied herself against the urge to give in.
She couldn’t close her eyes in this foreign land.
Her son and husband were still waiting for her back in Korea.
Her husband had once wanted to be a broadcast producer, but when she said she wanted to go back into the military, he put his dream aside without hesitation and focused on childcare.
He gave up his own time for her. She didn’t want to make that grateful person shed tears.
She tightened her grip on the sword.
[Legacy, “Plum Blossoms in the Snow” is beginning to awaken!]
The scent of the snow‑plum that symbolized her trailed faintly with each step.
Huff… huff—
Her breath scattered like sand.
Kang Tae‑gyun.
A former member of the Cheongnoe Unit and Z Team’s tank, he had a comrade slung over his shoulder.
“Don’t die, Geon‑oh. Hang on. Just a little more.”
He could feel the warmth leaving him.
The blood had already dried to a black‑sand color instead of red.
“You’re going to die a virgin and become a bachelor ghost if you croak here. In the desert, there aren’t even virgin ghosts to go around, you know? Huh? So pull yourself together.”
“You son of a—… Who’s calling me a virgin… I’m not… damn it.”
Nam Geon‑oh weakly raised his drooping head.
Kang Tae‑gyun’s face brightened.
“Hey! Are you coming to?”
“Fuck, would I come to in front of the River Three because some idiots are saying they’d do a spirit wedding for me if I died? I’d be humiliated in the afterlife, so I came back. Happy now? Thank you, you bastard.”
“Alright. Glad you came back. But you are a virgin though, aren’t you?”
“Hey! I’m not! I did stuff when I was a kid—”
“Shouldn’t we exempt holding hands with your kindergarten sweetheart on the grounds of conscience?”
“You—!”
“Shh!”
Kang Tae‑gyun abruptly clapped a rough hand over Nam Geon‑oh’s mouth and flattened himself to the ground.
Wheeerrr.
The high whine of a UAV hovering like a bird overhead grew louder.
Through his goggles, a reflected flash shimmered over the distant sand dune.
A thermal imaging detector.
The enemy was looking for them.
“What are you gonna do?”
“Catch it. Stay here.”
Kang Tae‑gyun shoved Nam Geon‑oh down behind a sand ridge and pressed himself flat.
“One drone, altitude thirty meters. Distance… two hundred.”
His main weapon was a hammer.
But a hammer was too heavy to take down a drone that far off. He didn’t have a long‑range skill.
Nam Geon‑oh used poison skills, but he was barely able to move now.
In the end Kang Tae‑gyun pulled out the M4A1 he carried as a support weapon.
“You think you can do it?”
“I’ll have to.”
“You awful shot though…”
“Then will you shoot for me?”
“You’ll break my ribs.”
“I said I’ll do it.”
Kang Tae‑gyun smiled encouragingly.
Nam Geon‑oh pressed his lips shut.
His fellow and friend was big but earnest — not the kind of city novice who just came to Seoul; well, having come from Muju, Jeollado, maybe he was a country boy, and he’d protest, but on the battlefield he’d been more merciless and cold than anyone.
Kang put the barrel on the sand, steadied his breath and, on his second exhale, pulled the trigger.
Bang—
The bullet split the air.
One of the UAV’s propellers shattered and its trajectory wavered. Metal fragments scattered like rain.
“Got it…!”
But that was the problem.
Light. Sound.
And heat.
Across the desert, from where the sand was billowing, dark dots rose up in unison.
“…shit.”
“This is fucked. Damn, why are there so many? Goddamn bastards.”
Nam Geon‑oh twisted his mouth in annoyance.
In his sight, dust churned and the roar of engines closed in on them.
Vroooom!!
Two vehicles mounted with machine guns crested the sand dune heading their way.
Kang Tae‑gyun hastily hoisted Nam Geon‑oh onto his back.
“Hey! What’s the plan?”
Nam Geon‑oh startled.
“We’re going all the way. We can’t die here.”
“What are you talking about? Leave me—”
Nam Geon‑oh wanted to tell him to leave him behind, but when he looked into Kang’s steadfast eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Only then did he recall what pain Kang had once endured.
Four years ago.
During the Ice Palace raid, the man had lost his partner.
Those innocent eyes were now resolute.
“Don’t ever say that again.”
“…okay. Then carry me. I’m not getting carried because I’m afraid of being hit by you, you know? Say something!?”
“Later. For now, bite down. You can bite your tongue.”
[Legacy, “Wood Prince of the Great Flood” activates to boost speed!]
Whoosh—
Before he could finish, Kang Tae‑gyun drove off fiercely across the sand.
Their destination was a valley in the desert not far away.
Breath tore.
Vision trembled.
Rat‑tat‑tat!!
Bullets scoured the sand and kicked up spray.
Shouts from the enemies as they herded their vehicles closer reached them.
Pow!
“Tae‑gyun!”
“I’m—fine! This is nothing!!”
A stray round narrowly grazed Kang Tae‑gyun’s flank.
His legacy was a folktale, “The Wood Prince.”
Just like the heavenly maiden who descended and mated with the spirit of a tree to bear a son, quickly sprouting wood fibers along his side, the fibers rapidly grew and healed his wound.
By the way, the Wood Prince, as kindhearted as Kang, later rescued many animals during the great flood and was repaid in kind.
“Tae‑gyun! They’re almost on top of us!”
“Damn—!!”
Just as Nam Geon‑oh’s shout grew louder as he looked back,
Kwaaang!!
An explosion ripped out behind them.
One of the UAV fragments that had fallen earlier, still holding fuel, detonated late.
The resulting blast sent a storm rolling, mixing sand and fire and blowing one armored vehicle away.
Kang Tae‑gyun used the gap to roll to the ground. He held Nam Geon‑oh tight and dove behind a rock.
“Ugh!”
“You okay?”
“You gained weight, didn’t you? Why’re you so heavy… ugh.”
Kang and Nam exchanged light banter and caught their breath.
They checked where the remaining armored vehicle was headed, when—
Crackle.
『…Answer… …me? …ra. …Are you there?』
Their radio, which had been dead, suddenly emitted a signal.
Kang and Nam’s eyes met mid‑movement.
Kang hastily brought the brooch to his mouth.
“Responding. Two survivors. Northeast of the desert’s entrance. One enemy vehicle, one drone. Engaged.”
A hush for a moment.
That tiny interval felt like an eternity.
Was it just a random coincidence?
Just as a shadow of worry crept back over Kang’s face,
Crackle.
『This is Cloud 1. It seems the jet succeeded in clearing the magic interference. We just rescued Bolt 1. Maintain position. We’re coming to you. Repeating, we rescued Bolt 1. Maintain your location. We will proceed to you.』
“…!”
“…!!”
Kang and Nam both clenched their fists.
Cloud 1 meant Kim Min‑jeong; Bolt 1 referred to O Su‑heon.
If two rankers — one specialized in cover and the other in infiltration — were in the same place, there would be nothing more to worry about.
‘So Min‑jeong was the one who caused that UAV fragment to explode earlier!’
Crisp and ferocious as ever.
“…Good.”
Kang smiled with satisfaction and pulled the hammer he’d been carrying free, gripping it with both hands.
The enemy engines swelled again. They were approaching.
The sandstorm still howled, but to him it looked like hope.
As long as his comrades survived,
the battle was far from over.
It was only the beginning.
Kim Min‑jeong’s movement had been very fast.
‘Lucky. I never imagined the one on the transport debris would be Senior Oh.’
She’d been so relieved when she found O Su‑heon.
Even considering protocol and the fact she needed to gather teammates, meeting a reliable senior put her at ease.
Of course, Su‑heon was injured and many enemies were pressing in, but for the relatively uninjured Kim Min‑jeong that wasn’t an insurmountable obstacle.
She had also prepared large healing potions for the wounded.
Thanks to that,
O Su‑heon could be treated enough to move, if not fully healed.
Afterwards, the two focused on gathering the scattered forces.
Whoosh—
When O Su‑heon swept away pursuing forces like a whirlwind,
Bang! Rat‑tat!!
Kim Min‑jeong’s covering sniper shots followed, tearing through enemy heads in an instant.
The enemy formations, which had been trying to slowly encircle them, began to crack.
‘And the magic interference ended faster than expected. Either Senior Jang hit them from the rear quickly, or his device disabled all their equipment.’
Crackle.
『This is Cloud 1, Z Team respond. This is Cloud 1, Z Team respond. We are currently—!』
In the wasteland,
Kim Min‑jeong’s voice reached Z Team and the remaining fragments of X Team and Astra who had been left behind and hadn’t yet been found.
The discovery of Kang Tae‑gyun and Nam Geon‑oh was made in that process. Z Team’s veteran Seo Aeri also joined without major injury and became a solid blade for them.
Thus,
the gathered number already exceeded ten…
『Repeating. This is Cloud 1. We will move to northwest A2 point. Repeating. This is—』
They moved west to speed up the assembly.
It was a location that Lee Hyun had designated as the rendezvous in emergencies.
A site known for frequent U.C.O. appearances,
the Palmyra ruins.
‘No matter how dangerous this seems, it’ll probably make it harder for the pursuers to follow. There’s no safer place right now.’
To hide something well, you find the darkest place under the lamp.
Kim Min‑jeong quickened their pace even more.
‘Senior, come back safely.’
She thought of Lee Hyun with equal parts faith and worry.
‘But,’
Then Min‑jeong frowned slightly.
‘Uhm Gi‑seon — where the hell did that guy fall? I can’t see his face anywhere. I hope he didn’t get into some other trouble…’
Meanwhile, at that time—
Eom Gi‑seon was—
“Heh heh heh, if I clear this place up, I can recover the points I lost with my sister, right?”
He had drawn his half‑sword not far from the sniper observation tower.
Sssrrr—
Having landed successfully on the ground, he’d relied only on his “senses” to find where the enemies had gathered…
He’d obtained the skill [Beast Sense] after refusing even vacation, taking intense training under Executive Ho. It specialized in tracking the origin of bloodlust the enemy left behind.
Eom Gi‑seon planned to infiltrate the sniper observation tower alone and eliminate all the SAMA meeting’s lackeys.
That would be a big help to Kim Min‑jeong, who was surely busy gathering scattered teammates.
It was a perfect chance to make up for his disappointment the last time he’d been caught by Lee Hyun while on a date near the company.
“After that, I couldn’t even hold her hand properly… I’m the manly man, Eom Gi‑seon. I won’t just let it go.”
He glared and dashed toward the observation tower, but—
“…Huh?”
He froze mid‑run, startled.
The tower where he expected enemies to be posted was—
Crackle! Crackle!!
Rumble—
Already in the midst of being utterly wrecked.
“Ahhh!”
“Help me!!”
“Mo‑monster…! Get the hell outta here!!”
Tanks and armored vehicles were exploding one after another, machine guns losing power and hitting only the ground. The concrete tower was collapsing wholesale.
Needless to say,
Lee Hyun was at the center.
Each time she swung an axe far larger than her height, a slaughter unfolded that felt like a scene from a different world.
Shwaaack—
“Captain! Stop! Sto—op! Leave some for me! Save some for me! Huh!?”
Eom Gi‑seon dashed desperately.
