Chapter 162
It was instant death, so sudden not even a scream escaped. The air turned icy, as if drenched in cold water. Squad members with little combat experience froze on the spot.
“Daevin!”
Two nearby squad leaders shouted and charged at the creature, their eyes bloodshot, curses spilling from their mouths.
The death of a comrade who’d fought alongside them for so long was enough to blow away all reason in an instant.
Screeech!—
The creature had only one weak point: its digestive tract.
While one squad leader lowered his body to strike at its legs, the other thrust a pump-action shotgun toward its gaping maw.
At that moment, Ironfist’s sharp claws pierced both squad leaders’ abdomens almost simultaneously. Their eyes wide open, they died on the spot.
In an instant, three squad leaders were lost. Elder Yong, forced to watch his subordinates fall before his eyes, snapped.
“Damn it! Everyone fall back!!”
Elder Yong grabbed a shotgun, slung a mutant grenade over his shoulder, and charged at the mutant. Chul-gu followed close behind. The mutant, seeing its prey charging head-on, reached for the old man.
“Squad leader! Watch out—”
Cries of warning rang out all around. The mutant’s ferocity seemed ready to rip Elder Yong apart.
But Elder Yong saw nothing else. All he wanted was to kill the monster before him. He spat curses at the mutant, thinking, ‘Do you know how long it takes to train a squad leader, you bastard?’
Just as the creature’s claws were about to grab the old man’s face, Elder Yong’s body suddenly vanished, dropping low to the ground.
He fired in that instant, aiming directly for the mutant’s knee joint.
Bang!—
The old man braced against the heavy recoil.
The shotgun’s pellets struck the mutant’s armored shell.
But the effect was minimal. The mutant, unfazed, swung at Elder Yong again.
“Old man!”
Chul-gu leapt and pulled Elder Yong out of harm’s way. The creature’s powerful strike smashed into the ground.
Screeeeech!—
Annoyed that its prey had slipped away, the mutant opened its jaws and roared. Meanwhile, Chul-gu rolled on the ground and managed to jam a mutant grenade right into the creature’s mouth.
‘Chew on this.’
Boom!
A heavy jolt ran through the handle.
He’d buried it as deep as he could, but a shard from the creature’s mouth grazed his face shield. Luckily, it missed, but then the mutant’s thrashing became a new threat.
It was a close call.
“Captain!”
At someone’s desperate shout, Elder Yong, now in position, aimed his shotgun at the creature’s belly and fired. As the mutant hesitated, Chul-gu quickly retreated.
“Are you just going to stand there and watch, you bastards!”
With Elder Yong’s roar, a barrage of gunfire erupted from the squad leaders.
Rifle bullets hammered the mutant’s shell like rain. Grenades exploded here and there.
The creature staggered, still reeling from the explosion inside it.
In response to the fierce resistance, Ironfist leapt furiously at a squad leader, but the squad leader, now regained his composure, dodged nimbly.
It was thanks to the efforts of Elder Yong and Chul-gu.
The second attack, and the third—none of them landed.
The mutant’s attacks were no longer effective.
Victory was in sight.
A battle with the highest level mutant. Search Squad 4, made up solely of skilled warriors without a single immune, had won.
This victory would surely bring a reward equal to the blood shed.
Elder Yong and his direct officers fired their triggers in a trance.
But they celebrated too soon.
“Damn it! Get down!”
The staggering mutant seemed to recover, and now leapt not at the squad leaders, but at the new recruits in the back.
“……Huh?”
Flesh was torn and blood spurted.
The creature hopped like a flea, punching holes in the survivors’ stomachs one after another. As soon as it mingled with the survivors, further gunfire was impossible.
“Ah, ah….”
Squad leaders stared at the mutant in despair, squad members collapsed helplessly, and the fallen returned as zombies.
Those guarding the entrance were beset on both sides, inside and out.
Collapse came in an instant.
Zombies tore through the frontline fighters, clearing a path.
‘Everyone’s… going to die.’
A new recruit, moments from death, muttered this while looking down at his blood-soaked abdomen.
That terror spread like a plague, snuffing out hope. Screams, blood, and flesh blurred together like smeared paint.
Lives were snuffed out.
“Ah….”
Olivia just stood there, blankly watching the mutant approach.
‘Am I… going to die?’
‘Why?’
‘Why did I even come here if this was how it would end?’
‘Why go through all that suffering just to die so helplessly?’
Fear and a directionless regret wrapped around her like a web.
“You idiot! If you don’t want to die, move!”
Elder Yong stepped in front of Olivia. A set of claws sank into the old man’s abdomen.
Clang!
No, it struck, not pierced.
The heavy, thick armored vest protected his guts, but the shock was still severe. Elder Yong rolled across the ground, trailing blood. His whole body rang with pain.
Catching his balance, Elder Yong cursed in frustration.
‘Damn it, I can’t move anymore.’
His whole body was numb from the shock, and it felt like more than one bone was broken.
As the mutant approached the fallen old man, Olivia instinctively pulled the trigger. Even knowing she’d die, she had to act. Her body moved on its own.
The mutant, shot in the head, glared at her with a snarl.
She trembled like a leaf.
‘Sorry… Mom.’
‘It’s all over,’ she thought—when the survivors’ ears were struck by the sound of hope.
Ratatatatata—
The distant sound of a helicopter rapidly closed in.
Before it even landed, bullets rained down from the helicopter’s open door, picking out zombies mixed among survivors with pinpoint accuracy.
It was Sergeant Ong.
Standing beside him, Yohan stared grimly at the mutant. He spoke slowly, as if ready to tear it apart.
“Hajin, the mutant.”
“Yeah!”
“Sweeper, Noah, support the entrance.”
“Roger.”
“Ong, Seri. Provide covering fire.”
“Yessir.”
Except for the two covering fire, the other four jumped out before the helicopter even touched down.
The helicopter, having dropped off Squad 1, landed smoothly by the flag.
Yohan was the first out, dashing straight for Elder Yong.
Three more figures followed like lightning, support fire pouring out.
The two marksmen began shooting, picking off the zombies in the melee with deadly precision.
Sweeper and Noah quickly rallied the people and pushed the line back.
They hunted zombies as if unfazed by bullets whizzing past. Their trust that friendly fire would never hit them was absolute.
Yohan, tossing throwing knives from afar, cleared the zombies near Elder Yong, then supported him.
“Are you all right?”
“Of course not, you brat.”
“Were you bitten?”
“Hell no. If I was, I’d be hugging that bastard’s head and kissing it with a grenade.”
“How many shots did you get in?”
“One.”
One.
Nowhere near enough to wear down Ironfist’s durability.
Such a high cost for so little.
A bitter failure.
They’d swept the area so many times and never found a mutant, but here they were.
If only they’d come sooner, or if Squad 1 or 2 had been here, things would have been easier.
Half the force was lost, and more importantly, many key squad leaders were injured. In terms of lost fighting strength, it was the biggest blow in recent times. Even Yohan, who rarely lost his cool, felt his hands trembling.
Yohan looked around. He saw Hajin locked in a power struggle with Ironfist.
Hajin’s face was bright red, ready to burst.
Clasping hands with the mutant like wrestlers, Hajin screamed and let go.
The mutant’s fist cut the air.
Hajin ducked just in time.
Whoosh!—
A chilling sound sliced through the air.
Hajin ducked, then threw a punch of his own.
“Ugh….”
He groaned without realizing. It felt like hitting a boulder.
Yohan turned away. His job was to hold the mutant’s attention until the front line was stabilized. He would fulfill that role no matter what.
The muzzle of his gun spat fire.
With Hajin marking the mutant and the others mowing down zombies, Chul-gu and the remaining squad leaders gathered the survivors.
“Elder, block the entrance with a car.”
“But if we close the entrance, the fence will collapse.”
“We’ll finish it before then.”
Normally, it made sense to leave the entrance open to keep zombies off the fence, but not now.
They had to take down the mutant before the fence gave way.
Elder Yong nodded at Yohan’s determined words.
“Move!”
Trucks bracing the fence now blocked the open entrance. As the vehicles moved, zombies were crushed beneath the wheels.
With the entrance closed, zombies clung to the fence, shaking it violently. The wall looked ready to collapse at any moment.
“Noah! Sweeper!”
At Yohan’s call, two people ran in from both sides, surrounding the mutant. Hajin, exhausted, retreated from the creature.
“Good job.”
“Took you long enough.”
A murderous aura radiated from all four.
The mutant, bothered by the humans blocking its path, shook its head and screeched.
It swung its claws at Sweeper, who dodged as if swatting away a child’s fist, widening the gap again.
Meanwhile, Noah fired an anti-mutant net gun. The net flew precisely into the path of the charging mutant, tangling its legs.
As the net snapped, the mutant’s footwork faltered. In that moment, Sweeper smashed its head, knocking it off balance.
“Haah!”
Hajin and Yohan charged. Hajin roared, slamming the creature’s forehead, while Yohan shoved a mutant grenade deep into its throat.
Screech! Screeeeech!—
The mutant writhed like a shark out of water.
Even as three people pinned it down with all their strength, its entire body thrashed violently.
‘Not yet.’
It wasn’t deep enough. To finish it, the grenade needed to go even deeper. Yohan strained to force it farther inside, when suddenly a shout came from afar.
“Move!”
Noah appeared, dragging a five-pound sledgehammer. Swinging with both hands, he brought it down hard. The hammer soared and crashed to the ground, and all three jumped away as they turned their backs.
Thunk! The impact, then a deafening explosion. The mutant grenade drove into the creature like a nail, then detonated.
Fragments ricocheted off its suit.
“One more!”
The mutant howled in agony.
Everyone watching was left breathless at the sight of them ganging up on the mutant.