Chapter 49

Chapter 49

The road to the transport section.

Those four hundred meters felt like four hundred kilometers.

Walking through the fog while it swarmed with monsters did not feel much different from walking on thin ice.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

BOOM!

Because fragmented noises could be heard in pieces due to the Fog Labyrinth’s spatial distortion effect, the tension only grew worse.

Noises that had occurred very far away sounded as if they were right beside us, and worse, they were not even intact. They were mixed together with all sorts of other sounds, so it was impossible to gauge where anything was happening.

Ahead? Behind?

Or to the left or right?

It was impossible to determine whether something was close or far away.

Because of that, it was only natural that everyone’s nerves were stretched taut.

And when people were tense, they were bound to make mistakes they normally would not make, to say nothing of frightened newbies.

TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

A sudden burst of gunfire pierced my ears.

Riiiiiiiing―!

Ugh.

A faint pain came with a ringing in my ears.

‘What is it?’

Whip!

When I turned my head in the direction of the sound, I saw one of the trainees firing continuous bursts into the empty fog.

......TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

The gunfire was brief.

Full Auto [Full Auto].

In other words, on burst fire, it took only about two to three seconds for a carbine rifle to empty one thirty-round magazine.......

But the sound of the gunfire that rang out in that short time was by no means quiet.

The flame spewing from the muzzle was not something we could ignore either.

“Haaa.”

A sigh escaped me on its own.

I did not intend to blame him.

It was something that could happen.

Newbies were not called newbies for no reason.

I understood, but given the situation, the problem was that we would have no choice but to pay the price.......

“R-Re, reload. I have to reload. Reload, reload............”

Tremble, tremble!

The trainee who had fired wildly without rhyme or reason fumbled for a new magazine with hands shaking like an aspen leaf.

Click, thud.

The innocent magazine hovered around the magazine well without being inserted.

Well, would you look at that.

He could not even handle his firearm properly yet, so there was no way he could reload while panicking.

“Get a hold of yourself, you bastard!”

THUD!

A nearby instructor drove a kick into the chest of the trainee who had caused the problem.

Flop!

At the very moment the trainee fell over disgracefully.

Slither!

Pale tentacles shot out from the fog and wrapped around the instructor.

Hissssss!

Before anyone could help, white smoke rose from all over the instructor’s body where the tentacles had coiled around him.

“Kraaaaaaaaaaagh!”

A desperate scream burst from the instructor’s mouth.

Ugh.

The smell of burning flesh stabbed my nose.

“You have got to be kidding me!”

Another nearby trainee swung a machete-shaped Spirit Sword and cut the tentacles.

Thud!

“Aagh, aaaaagh, aaaaaaagh!!!”

The freed instructor screamed again and again.

It did not seem as though his body had actually caught fire.

However, the places the tentacles had wrapped around him were marked as if they had been branded with a hot iron, and scars like spiderwebs spread across the skin exposed between his clothes.

Twitch, twitch, twitch!

Seeing the instructor seize like someone having an epileptic fit, I was certain that he was suffering unimaginable pain, even if I did not know the details.

The one who had caused the accident was the trainee who had immediately fired into empty air, yet the one paying the price was someone else entirely.

No, to be precise, all of us were paying for it.

What had happened to the instructor was only the beginning.

Slither, slither!

Pale tentacles shot out from everywhere.

“Aaaaaaaaaagh!”

“Uuuuugh!”

The escape column fell into chaos in an instant.

TAT-TAT! TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!

Everyone pulled their triggers, and bullets poured down like rain.

A firefight had begun before anyone realized it.

Swoosh.

Jellyfish larger than most people appeared from within the fog.

They were gigantic jellyfish that floated above the ground as if swimming through water.

‘Sea-Fog Floaters!’

Even I, experienced as I was, had never faced them before, but I had at least heard of them.

***

Seosin-myeon, Manse District, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi-do.

The waters off Jebudo.

“Thirty minutes until deployment!”

“Thirty minutes!”

Heavily armed mechanized infantrymen were waiting to deploy while mounted on military off-road motorcycles and tactical vehicles equipped with heavy weapons.

Around them, dozens of tanks were lined up with their barrels aimed westward, toward Jebudo.

Not far away, a large number of attack helicopters were also preparing to sortie, and dozens of self-propelled artillery pieces had completed their emplacement and were waiting to provide fire support.

Whiiiiiiiir!

In preparation for combat against flying monsters, hundreds of suicide drones were also darkening the sky.

It was a scene reminiscent of a large-scale all-out battle, as if war had broken out.

No, it was a war.

This was the era of great chaos.

The battle between humanity and monsters had long since entered a state of war.

Humanity was now fighting monsters day after day with the fate of the species at stake.

“Loyalty. Major General Lee Ikgu, standing by in front of the operational area for deployment.”

The field commander, Major General Lee Ikgu, received a call from the Defense Strategy Department and gave his rank and name in a voice taut with military discipline.

A two-star general.

Once someone reached the rank of major general, the so-called [two-star], military discipline usually loosened and they tended to put on a dignified air, but the person on the other end was far too high-ranking.

Ahn Gukseon.

The Minister of Defense Strategy of the Republic of Korea.

No matter how much of a two-star general Lee Ikgu was, in front of Minister Ahn, who had been a three-star general and now oversaw the national defense of the Republic of Korea, he was nothing more than a distant junior and one subordinate among countless others.

Moreover, was Minister Ahn not a First-Generation Hunter and a 7-Star Hunter, a being like the guardian deity of the Republic of Korea?

• You have worked hard.

“Not at all, sir. I am only doing what must be done.”

• Hearing that alone is reassuring.

“Thank you, Minister.”

• The reason I called like this is not to infringe on your command authority. Do not misunderstand.

“It is fine, sir. Please speak.”

• You have already been informed, but securing NOVA’s person is the top priority.

NOVA.

It was the temporary call sign the Defense Strategy Department had assigned to Eunseong.

Considering that the call sign of the unknown 10-Star Hunter on Hunter Link was Supernova, it was a clearly intentional name.

Of course, Eunseong himself would be extremely displeased by it.......

“I have secured in mind that securing NOVA’s person is the priority.”

• Good. Do your utmost. Once NOVA has been secured, I will leave everything afterward entirely to your judgment as the field commander.

“I understand clearly, sir.”

• Once NOVA is secured, there will be no need to drag out the battle.

“Pardon......?”

• The Abyss Clan will be deployed.

“......!”

Major General Lee Ikgu was startled.

Abyss Clan [Abyss Clan].

One of South Korea’s Five Great Clans.

They were an interest group that thoroughly pursued only the profits of their members.

Their mission success rate ranked within the top three in the Republic of Korea, and they also had a well-known reputation for a high survival rate.

However, because they spared no means or methods in the process, there were widespread rumors that if things went wrong, they would throw away even their comrades like old shoes.

“The Abyss Clan...... is moving?”

The reason Major General Lee Ikgu was surprised was that they were people who would “never” move unless money was involved.

They were a clan famous for cleanly ignoring even requests from the Republic of Korea, their own homeland, if the price and conditions were not right.......

• The negotiation process was difficult. Still, we reached an agreement that they would be deployed after NOVA’s rescue.

“Y-You worked hard, sir.”

Major General Lee Ikgu, as expected of a two-star general, could roughly infer what kind of negotiation had taken place without needing to hear it.

Though neither Minister Ahn nor Major General Lee Ikgu would ever bother saying that part aloud.......

***

Sea-Fog Floaters.

A monster said to appear when thick sea fog (marine fog) settled over an area where a Transference Phenomenon had occurred.

According to what I knew, despite being jellyfish, these things floated not through water but through fog, attacking humans as they drifted around.

The tentacles of a Sea-Fog Floater carried a venom that stimulated the nerves and inflicted pain. If you were struck by it, you would supposedly suffer the worst pain a human could experience for several hours.

Worse still, it did not end there. The aftereffects caused intermittent pain for several months, so those tentacles were truly vicious beyond words.

“Cease fire, cease fire! Do not waste ammunition. Use blades! Use your Spirit Swords!”

I shouted with Ether carried in my voice.

Bullets did not work on Sea-Fog Floaters.

Because they were made of more than ninety percent water and gelatinous matter, bullets simply passed through them pointlessly.

The holes the bullets left behind would recover in the blink of an eye.

My prediction was exactly right.

Slither, slitherrrr!

The Sea-Fog Floaters wildly swung their tentacles without taking any damage from the gunfire.

“Cut them! Just cut them!”

I gripped [Butcher of Madness], cut down an incoming tentacle, and slashed the closest Sea-Fog Floater from top to bottom.

Splaaash!

The Sea-Fog Floater split in two, and sticky, mucous body fluid poured out.

Hissssss!

As if it were acidic, white smoke rose from the ground, and a sour smell stabbed my nose.

Clink, clink!

Golden coins glittered.

[Secret Coin (Gold) acquired!]

[Secret Coin (Gold) acquired!]

……

[Secret Coin (Gold) acquired!]

There was no need to take out a card. A white weasel stretched out from the Deck and retrieved the Secret Coins.

It was not only the Sea-Fog Floater I had killed.

Clink, clink!

The dead Sea-Fog Floaters spilled out as few as two or three and as many as seven or eight Secret Coins.

‘Ah!’

Now I remembered.

Sea-Fog Floaters spat out Secret Coins or Etherium when they died, or Runes with a low probability.

That was why, if a Transference Crisis occurred near the coast, I remembered hearing that there were Hunters who would deliberately head there while praying that Sea-Fog Floaters appeared.

But that was only possible when one had enough skill to control the situation.

For powerful Hunters, Sea-Fog Floaters might be farming targets, but for me and my companions right now, they were threatening enemies.

Slitherrrrr!

Tentacles flew in from every direction.

‘Damn it.’

Even when I cut them down and cut them down again, the creatures regenerated their tentacles in the blink of an eye.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

“Aagh! Aaaaaagh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

Screams burst out from everywhere.

I had to admit it.

Because our group was composed mostly of Prospective Hunters, it was beyond our ability to face a swarm of Sea-Fog Floaters.

Fwoooooooooosh!

Ra Sihyeon was at least putting up a good fight, but no matter how much of a Mage she was, there was not much she could do as a mere 1-Star.

‘This is impossible.’

I judged the situation coldly.

Continuing the fight would be suicide.

There was no choice.

We had to retreat.

There would be people who could not keep up, but in the current situation, we would have no choice but to accept those unfortunate sacrifices.

“Retre......”

Clatter-rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle―!

A chain lined with blades shot past in front of me.

Clatter-rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle―!

The chain ruthlessly tore the Sea-Fog Floaters apart.

Splaaaaash!

Hissss!

The body fluid of the Sea-Fog Floaters, which had been ripped to shreds, soaked the ground.

‘This is.’

I turned toward the direction the chain had come from.

“I finally found you. Hoo.”

Call sign [Bloody Mary].

It was Choi Yura.

“Hey, Cha Eunseong.”

“Huh?”

“Am I your maidservant? That you would call me all the way here?”

Choi Yura growled as if she were about to devour me.