Chapter 92: |
00092 <-- #Night by the Lakeside -->
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#Night by the Lakeside (11), Santa Margarita Lake
"Fire!"
In that moment, the world lit up in white. Lightning. In the black-and-white downpour, soldiers at the end of the diagonal line fell like characters in a silent film. Climbing the slope in a crouch, Gyeoul only shook his heads as they were struck. Instead of gunfire, it sounded like rain, and it felt like they were falling asleep. A quick death. The belated thunder then tore through all other sounds.
Gyeoul had targeted the two men at the entrenched position. Especially the mortar operator. He was sitting turned away, focused on handling the shells and unaware of this side.
The mortar operator's eye burst from the initial shot. The left gunner, turning in horror, had a shell embedded in his temple. His head snaps up on impact. He stares up at the sky, dead, then falls backwards slowly.
The survivors counterattacked. They were those hit at their bulletproof vests, wounded but alive, or were completely missed. There were nine of them, and they sought cover. The volley of fire coming for them was in the hundreds.
"Cover!"
Gyeoul, now covered in dirt, rolled down to the entrenched position. The mortar operator held a pulled pin grenade. Since postmortem rigidity had not set in, the corpse gently released the grenade.
There was only the mortar barrel. It had only a firing pin and a manual firing mechanism attached. The boy shook the barrel upside down. Rainwater entered through the muzzle and poured out. Then he loaded a shell into the muzzle. A slippery, cool sound. Holding the middle of the barrel with one hand and the trigger with the other, he pounded the opposite end into the ground. Gyeoul aimed at the retaliating enemies, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Although he had no [Heavy Weapons Skills], it was a close-range shot. The shell struck home, but it didn't explode. It was too close.
The edge of the trench collapsed. Bullets struck the soft ground. Even though the enemies only exposed their guns and fired, it was still menacing. Gyeoul fired back. The target was not a person but a shell. An explosive flash emanated from behind cover. Guns that were positioned on rocks and next to trees dropped down.
The problem arose next, perhaps due to the vibrations. Where the shells exploded, the ground shifted. The slope flowed. Startled enemy soldiers hiding there panicked and ran out.
And beneath them was a boy.
'Oh no.'
Gyeoul had to dodge too, but he couldn't expose his back to the enemy. Malice rained down on him. There were six of them. He hastily responded. Thud! A soldier hit in the chest fell. He wasn't dead, but he was buried in the ground.
Elliot's squad was also desperate. Other enemies fell one by one.
"Lieutenant! Take cover!"
It was unclear whose shout it was, and there was no time to figure it out. Furious rocks rolled down violently. Gyeoul clenched his teeth. It was too late to evade. Instead, he leaped head-on. As the rolling rock's edge reached him, he felt like sinking, but he succeeded in leaping again. Just barely. The third leap felt like trying to jump on water. Yet somehow, he managed to lift one foot.
That was the end. The rough current caught his ankle. In an instant, he was buried up to his neck. His chest felt crushed, and Gyeoul struggled to breathe. In the overwhelming sensation, the boundary between reality and illusion vanished. He reached out. Toward the sky.
The sky disappeared. It was dark, darker than night. The texture of the ground rose to his fingertips. His body didn't move. There was dirt in his mouth. His eyes stung. He couldn't breathe or make a sound.
His heart pounded madly.
'I don't have a heart.'
It was a pleasant illusion. He always had in mind that all sensations were just the results of contextual calculations. It was rare for this to fade.
Is this how it's going to end?
Gyeoul, undeterred by imminent death, disregarded the aftermath and immersed himself in this moment. Not thinking about suffocation helped erase thoughts. He pulled synchronization to the limit. A high synchronization rate meant intense, unbearable pain.
"Warning (Control AI): Excessive "Sensory Synchronization" in the current situation can be a cause of mental disorders. The control AI recommends resetting the synchronization rate for <<pain>>."
Don't. Don't say it. I don't want to hear it, the boy repeated.
"Warning (Control AI): The warning function for the mental health of the client is not configurable. Enhancing the happiness of afterlife-insurance subscribers is the primary purpose of this control AI."
Yeah. So don't say it.
"Warning (Control AI):"
The voice that rang directly in his head was cut off. But it was already too late. Gyeoul had lost the thread of illusion.
Thud, thud. The sound of digging into the ground was heard.
Something sharp struck the back of his hand. Beyond the cold dirt, someone's scream echoed. It felt small and distant, suffocating. But in reality, it was closer than perceived. Starting from the struck hand to between the fingers and up to the elbow, rain and wind were felt. For a moment. Someone grabbed the boy's hand and arm forcefully.
He emerged halfway out. Gyeoul wiped his face with one hand. His breathing resumed, albeit slowly. A little remaining dirt fell like a prayer, followed by a rough downpour.
"Jesus Christ! Are you okay, Lieutenant?"
Gyeoul nodded slightly for now. The other man, who still couldn't be seen clearly, showed great relief. He was offering a prayer to the gods. Someone was trying to support the young officer. After declining, the boy washed himself with rain. It didn't take long because of the heavy rain.
"Give me your hand for a moment. I'll wrap it with bandages."
Elliot spoke. Gyeoul finally checked the injury. Blood was flowing from the back of his left hand. It was a wound where the bone was visible. He moved his fingers. There was no impairment. Gyeoul handed his hand to Elliot without a word. Elliot took gauze and bandages from the emergency kit at his waist. His actions were so hasty that more things fell.
"Sorry. I tried to be careful, but I made a mistake in a hurry."
A soldier spoke to Gyeoul, offering an apology. It seemed he was the one who had struck his hand with the shovel blade. Still vigilant about the ongoing battle direction, he glanced back occasionally. Gyeoul reassured him.
"You don't have to apologize... Thank you for saving me," his words stuttered. It was his breathing.
After the emergency treatment, Gyeoul checked his equipment. The night vision, even though slightly twisted, was functioning normally. The pistol in the holster was unharmed, only the rifle was malfunctioning. The laser sight accessory attached was missing. Dirt had entered the barrel and chamber. Kneeling down, he quickly disassembled it. Holding the barrel with the detached suppressor, he vigorously swung it to shake off the dirt through inertia. Then he poured water into it. It would rust a lot later, but it was a gun soaked in rain anyway, and it was important right now.
The assembly was instantaneous. He reattached the magazine, pulled the charging handle twice, and confirmed there were no issues with the cartridge ejection.
"Let's go. There's not much time left now."
"Lieutenant, you look very tired. Why don't you take the rear?"
"Don't worry. I'm really fine."
"But you look..."
"It's not what you think, Elliot. It's a different reason, a very personal..."
Although Elliot was worried, the commander was Gyeoul.
The enemy, having lost forces repeatedly, could no longer overwhelm the squad even with numbers. Jeffrey's platoon held the line, and Elliott's squad, led by Gyeoul, opened up a crisscrossing fire.
The enemy was stuck in a minefield. A situation forced by reckless command. Considering the possibility of dam explosion if the sluice couldn't be opened, the combat engineers carried a lot of explosives. They were all laid out as traps.
Even in such a favorable situation, casualties occurred. Two members of Elliot's squad fell in succession.
"Ah! Fuck! I'm hit! I'm fucking hit!"
One screamed. Gyeoul looked for the enemy he had just shot. There was a final flash of fire, then darkness. It was quiet. Was he in the middle of changing magazines? Gyeoul waited calmly. The rain was so heavy. It was difficult to spot the heat signature from a long distance with the night vision.
Tatang! As the gunshots echoed, Gyeoul adjusted the reticle. He fired eight rounds in full auto. There was no way to tell if they hit.
'He's probably dead.'
The [Combat Sense] was positive.
"Upston! Upston! Damn it!"
Elliott clutched a body and screamed. On the other side, treatment for the wounded was underway. The firepower of the squad suddenly dropped. Gyeoul restrained the enemy with gunfire and saved the fallen. A round grazed his nose and went up. The penetrating round must have been stopped by his helmet. The shattered back of the head revealed a brain turned into mush. Gyeoul closed the eyes of the deceased.
The ground shook. A powerful explosion occurred from a somewhat distant place in the rear. A fountain of soil rose higher than the embankment.
What was buried under the explosive noise was caught in the ears belatedly.
[Chiiiiiii-]
A sharp noise like scraping metal. Gyeoul lowered the volume of the radio.
'Took the bait.'
Jamming signals or the Trickster's signal filled the radio. The dissonant tones, changing in height irregularly, lasted for about ten seconds before abruptly cutting off. The communication network fell silent.
But it was strange that it didn't die instantly. It was a trap with two plastic explosive sticks jammed. If it had been close, it should have been torn apart the moment the C4 exploded. There was no chance for a transmitter or the like.
'No. It's a cunning creature; it might have suspected something.'
Instead of touching it directly, there was a possibility that it used another variant as a decoy.
Gyeoul decided to be be careful when using the same bait again. In the interference signals emitted as the variant died, there might be information about the trap that killed it. Hoping there were no other Tricksters in the range of the signal was impossible.
"Damn bastards! Kill them all!"
Elliott's enraged shout. The enemies fired rifles towards the fortified positions.
The prisoners trembled in fear. Those who were previously disoriented experienced incontinence.
"Stop! Cease fire! The enemy is withdrawing!"
Gyeoul stopped the soldiers. A wounded soldier pointed it out.
"We need to chase and kill them!"
"No, we need to avoid them first. Everyone, look over there."
Gyeoul pointed to the darkness on the other side of the battlefield. Soldiers who looked in the direction the young officer pointed at shivered a moment later. Although it was hard to distinguish from the darkness, upon closer inspection, there were numerous movements. Due to the death of the Trickster, the mutants were spreading like wildfire.
"Anyone have flare grenades?"
"Is it a signal flare? I have three."
The grenadier stepped forward.
"Let me borrow them for a moment."
Gyeoul received his rifle. Loading the single-shot grenade launcher attached below the barrel with a red signal flare, he set the elevation for the grenade, aiming at the point where Captain Harris's forces were retreating.
Thump! The launched grenade flew vividly.
Gyeoul, fearing enemy gunfire, waited for the first flare to extinguish, then changed positions and fired the remaining two. There was no need for precise aiming. Gyeoul handed the rifle back to the grenadier.
"Well done."
"......."
The soldiers' faces, once filled with anger, now seemed to forget their resentment for a moment.
"Lieutenant... this is, um..."
Elliott hesitated and stammered. Gyeoul had no intention of reproaching him. Despite harboring enough hatred to want to kill the captain, Elliott still felt that humans shouldn't die like that.
"I think it's the retribution they deserve. And it's not like we didn't offer them a chance to surrender."
"That's true."
The corporal sighed deeply, wiping away his regrets.
It seemed that the enemy still hadn't realized Gyeoul's intentions. Did they even notice the approach of the variant group from the beginning? To prevent Captain Harris from going down too quickly, Gyeoul searched for an appropriate target. Excluding the ghouls, he aimed at one of the ordinary variants and fired a single shot.
Kyaahhhh!
A deliberate miss. The wounded variant lets out a long roar.
"Now, let's go back."
Gyeoul led the squad. As he tried to lift the remains of the deceased, another soldier snatched it away in panic.
"Sir, you're injured!"
"Injured? Oh, just this?"
Blood still oozed from his hand, cut by the shovel blade. The bandage was clumsily stained, and diluted blood dripped steadily in the rain. However, it didn't hinder moving people. Seeing the soldier's expression, Gyeoul gave up on persuading him.
Now, Gyeoul attempted to communicate with Jeffrey.
"David One, David One. This is David Actual. Do you copy?"
[...]
There was no noise on the channel, and there was no response. After a moment, Gyeoul realized his mistake. It was past midnight. Changing the frequency and trying again, Jeffrey's voice came through.
"David One, David Actual! No, Lieutenant! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. We've had one casualty and one injured."
[... That's unfortunate.]
"Jeffrey, how are things on your end?"
[Since you left, no one has died yet, but about to be. One lost his legs due to a shell...]
After a brief silence, Jeffrey spoke again.
[Anyway, thanks for the support. You arrived faster than expected. Looks like you're going on the offensive.]
"Let's talk about that later. Large groups of variants are approaching now. It might be better to withdraw your forces to the office."
[Withdraw? Instead of holding the defense line?]
"Can you hold it? How much ammunition do you have? There are quite a few variants."
[Well, not exactly abundant.]
"Then do it my way. There's no need to rush. Captain Harris is taking care of the fighting. I'll go down to the west and follow the road up. I'll contact you again about 100 meters ahead, so be careful not to mistake me for an enemy."
[Understood. Hurry back.]
Gyeoul ended the communication.
Gunfire was intensifying behind him.
---------------------------= Afterword =-------------------------—
(This part is machine translated.)
#Publishing Contract
This novel has entered into a publishing contract with (주)이미지프레임. It used to be known as the publishing house 도서출판 길찾기. It's been a while since the contract was signed, but I haven't mentioned it before because the schedule for serialization on other platforms wasn't certain. I didn't want to give false expectations.
For now, there are no changes to the title upon publication. The CEO seems to think the title is appropriate after reading it. Well, the first impression remains the same. Anyway, that's how it is.
The serialization on other platforms will start with the N모 site. It's scheduled to begin in about 3 to 4 weeks.
The manuscript requires some time for modification for this purpose. I'll try my best to avoid any disruptions to serialization, but I'm not very confident. It turns out that modifying already written text is not as easy as it sounds. Haha.
It will also be released as a physical book.
#Regarding Reviews
Even if you ask me to write one more line instead of a review, many incompetent writers often find themselves unable to write a single line of a novel during the time they're supposed to write a review. This amount of time doesn't really have much meaning...
Anyway, from now on, I'll reduce the Q&A section. I'll choose just a couple of questions. Today, since the review has already become long, I'll skip it.
Now, I should get some sleep...