Surviving in the 121st Century - Chapter 58



Only Noblemtl

“···”

Jincheol, standing tall and looking at me, with his black armor thrown back with his chest sunken in, and Rabito, who was there, just blinked his eyes while looking back and forth between the two with a blank expression.

It was the moment when Jincheol was about to say something to him.

The black armor that had fallen backwards with a creaking sound was moving again. Steam spurted out from the gaps in the armor, and the limbs that had been scattered trembled and straightened up. It was as if the dead were rising from the pit of hell.

The black armored figure that had raised its body turned its gaze toward Jincheol. The black iron plates that covered its entire body also covered its face. However, its eye socket was round. The aperture of its single eye directed at Jincheol narrowed.

“What the hell are you doing?”

The next moment, the bastard’s gun was aimed at Jincheol, and Jincheol raised his right arm and activated a translucent shield.

With a low gunshot sound, numerous bullets stopped in front of Jincheol with a thud thud thud. New bullets struck the bullets that had stopped first, causing a brilliant spark to fly out. It was as if a flower bud made of sparks, a literal flame, was bursting out on Jincheol’s arm.

Jincheol ran forward with the shield in front of him. The shield didn’t last long. He couldn’t hold out until the guy had wasted all his bullets.

In an instant, Jin-cheol ran to the front of the black armor, and this time a white blade rose from the back of his right hand. There was a flash of light, and the middle part of the machine gun that the armor was firing was cut off. The bullet that was about to fire exploded in the chamber, and sparks rose from the armor’s hand.

Jincheol’s right arm, which had cut off the machine gun amidst the sparks flying in all directions, stretched out and aimed for Cheolgap’s single eye.

Surprisingly, the armored man avoided the stab by slightly turning his body to the side.

But the reaction after that was a little strange. The bastard couldn’t keep up with his own movements for a split second and was floundering. So Jincheol took a step closer and struck the bastard’s temple with his left elbow.

This time, he couldn’t dodge either. With a ding-ding sound, the thing’s body tilted to the side and staggered. However, just as it had just gotten up, the thing made a whirring sound here and there on its armor, and a sizzling sound of steam emitted, and then quickly straightened its posture with a fairly mechanical movement.

“What the hell. Is that a steampunk robot?”

[Kuaaaat!]

The voice of the thing rang out from inside the helmet that was worn inside out, whether it was a real robot or not. The thing reached out its hand to Jincheol while making a sound that was neither a shout nor a scream, as if it was grabbing him with its hand and tearing him apart.

Of course, Jincheol simply maintained the distance between himself and the guy by taking a couple of steps back. The evasion just a moment ago was amazing, but the reaction speed and agility of Jincheol and the Steam Soldier right now were incomparable.

The iron-clad hand grabbed the air one after another. It was quite fast, but it couldn’t catch Jincheol. Jincheol, who had withdrawn his sword and moved around, avoided the hand three or four more times, and then threw a left-hand jab while keeping his waist slightly bent backward. The sound of a ding continued, and the bastard staggered again.

Jincheol clenched and unclenched his left fist that he had used to strike and looked at the guy’s crumpled helmet. The iron plate was crumpled to the point where the shape of Jincheol’s hand was clearly visible, and the round eye was also broken, shedding shards of glass.

The guy was so shocked that he couldn’t straighten out his stagger. Just like before, steam was leaking out from his joints here and there, and his armor was forcibly trying to straighten his posture, but his staggering body couldn’t keep its balance.

Then, all of a sudden, he froze as if something had caught him and threw his arms down. At the same time, a dark red liquid gushed out from his crumpled face. It was a thick liquid mixed with blood and oil.

[···]

“The baby is pretending to be asleep. I can hear him breathing.”

As he said, the guy froze as if he was dead, but Jincheol could hear his breathing. Jincheol reached out to the guy’s face. The half-crumpled face of the helmet was torn off by his vicious hands.

Inside the helmet was the blood-covered face of Rabito. Blood was flowing out of his nose and mouth, and his eyes were wide open, staring blankly into space. Jincheol, who saw that face, took a step closer to the guy and reached out his hand.

“What? Are you really dead?”

At that moment, the bastard’s hand suddenly grabbed Jincheol’s arm. His eyes, which had been blankly staring into space, regained focus and a smile appeared on his lips. The bastard said.

“Got it···!”

At the same time, a mechanical buzzing sound was heard from the black armor, and a tremendous amount of pressure came from the hand of the one who grabbed Jincheol’s left wrist. It was as if he was going to squeeze and tear Jincheol’s hand off. That Rabito smiled with a bloody face.

“···?”

But soon his expression hardened. It was because Jincheol’s face, whose wrist was being torn off, was too calm. Then, Jincheol’s other hand suddenly grabbed the black-armored forearm. The bastard’s hand grabbed Jincheol’s left wrist, and Jincheol’s right hand grabbed that forearm.

And then Rabito’s expression distorted.

“Keuaaaa···”

With a thud, the arm of the armor was crumpled as if it had been put into a press. There was also a tingling sound of something small bursting out inside, and a push-it-a faint vapor was released. The bastard quickly tried to block Jincheol’s right hand with his free hand, but he didn’t move at all as if he were an iron tower.

Eventually, the sound of flesh bursting from the bastard’s forearm was followed by the sound of bones breaking. The bastard’s face was half-asleep, staring into space with truly disoriented eyes.

Jincheol said calmly while looking at that face.

“If you want to show off your strength, you have to do this much.”

Then his foot kicked the armored man’s chest once more. With a thud, the black armored body fell back several meters. Blood, screw fragments, and oil were scattered on the fallen leaves of the forest. The armored man and the armored man who had been stuck on the leaf litter let out a long puff of steam and stopped moving.

But the bastard’s arm was still in Jincheol’s hand. The arm made of iron had been ripped off from the shoulder blade.

Jincheol, who had been looking around with his arm raised, threw it away as if he was throwing away trash and turned around.

He saw Rabito and the Rabito children looking at him with blank expressions.

*

“Two days ago, three medium-sized airships appeared in the sky. They were Urata’s airships. And inside them, a bunch of those black armored men disembarked. They started shooting without warning. The camp people resisted, but our limited firepower was not enough to stop them…”

The name of the rabbit who was trying to protect the children was Domichi. He came to where the group was with Jincheol and slumped down as if his strength had been lost. When I asked him what was going on, the first thing he said was that.

Jincheol asked with a frown.

“Those black guys came and massacred all the camp people?”

“No, that’s not it. The ones who died were the ones who resisted at first, and the ones who died there earlier… Yes, the ones who died were people who had problems somewhere. They were sick, or old like me, or…”

Domichi’s eyes turned to the side. There, the three children who had come with him were looking up at Doljumeok, Maro, and the baby the boy was holding, looking at them with wonder. It was unclear whether it was their innate optimism or whether they simply did not yet realize their situation.

Jincheol also scratched his head as he looked at the children. The old, the children, and the sick were dragged into the forest and killed, and only the young and healthy were sorted out? It was a very bad story. It was a story that neither the dead nor the survivors would see a good outcome.

Then Ramien opened his mouth with a trembling voice.

“By any chance, was there anyone named Ipani at that camp?”

“What is this?”

Domichi looked as if he was searching for memories for a moment.

“Oh, that girl with the black hair around her ear? She was quite famous in the camp because of her pretty appearance.”

“That’s right! Black hair on the ear! That’s Ipani!”

Unlike Ramien who was delighted, his face still looked sullen.

“···The last thing I saw was a group of young people, including her, lined up in a square, naked. They were being loaded onto an airship like luggage.”

“···”

Ramien’s expression darkened. She muttered in confusion.

“Why? Why on earth do people···?”

Jincheol’s eyes sank. There were many reasons. Judging from the fact that they only picked sane people, they might be using them as labor, or they might be doing some crazy human experiment. Or they might just be trying to wipe out Jasoso. Originally, crazy things tended to have crazy reasons.

At that moment, Ramien, who was looking at the floor, suddenly turned around. Then, she approached the car and took out a gun from the back seat. Jincheol, who guessed what she was thinking, said.

“Just wait. It would be good to rush in right away, but shouldn’t we know a little more about the situation?”

“···”

She was looking at Jincheol with a very worried expression. It seemed like she couldn’t stand being worried about Ipani.

Jincheol couldn’t say anything more to Domichi, so he quickly asked him.

“There must have been a white Esai at the camp.”

“Snow? Did you come to find her?”

“Right. What happened to that woman?”

Domichi continued speaking with a groan.

“···The black armored men also said something similar. Where is the white Esai···”

“What? You’re not at camp?”

“She went hunting in the deep forest before their attack. She had been hunting many large and small animals in one or two days. Thanks to her, the camp people were able to stay hungry…”

Why was the woman who went to investigate the mass disappearance of Rabito hunting here? Jincheol, who was thinking about this, was soon able to guess the connection between the mass disappearance and this incident. Is Urata kidnapping a lot of Rabito from Jaso? Burying the ones that can’t be used? Then what does it mean that the Ironclads are looking for Snow?

What the heck. He’s trying to get rid of him like he did the pig doctor. It was a natural procedure to deal with someone who could be a symbol or leader in eliminating the pig doctor’s revolutionary army. Unlike what I heard from Solkain, it seemed like Urata was definitely going to take over Jaso’s land.

After organizing his thoughts, Jincheol moved his body and started to gather his weapons like Ramien. There were several grenades he had taken from the Pig Doctor’s revolutionary army, a large-caliber rifle (even that was a bit small for Jincheol), and the Sandesiya revolver he originally had.

Stone Fist said as he saw him move.

“Wouldn’t it be better to go to the city and call for reinforcements?”

“You go and get him. I’ll go and check the current situation myself.”

Stone Fist blinked as if he didn’t understand.

“You want me to go?”

“Then who else is going besides you?”

At those words, Doljumeok looked at Ramien. However, she was already armed like Jincheol and her eyes were shining with murderous intent. Even so, it was not as scary as Doljumeok looking blankly, since it was a rabbit with a frown on its face, but it was a sight that clearly showed her determination.

“···Um. I’m that female bodyguard.”

“Haha. Stop talking nonsense and just get these people in the car and go with them. We’ll need witnesses to convince the revolutionaries.”

Despite Jincheol’s words, Doljumeok scratched his bald head and looked at Ramien again.

“Employer. Am I really going?”

“···Don’t worry, I’ll pay you today’s wages.”

Only after hearing those words did Stone Fist move. It was as if he had been waiting for those words. Stone Fist, Maro, and the baby got on the truck, and the old man Domichi and three other Rabito children also got on. Looking at it this way, it was a really odd combination.

Jincheol could barely hold back a chuckle at the sight of the two of them, a rabbit that looked like it came straight out of a children’s cartoon and a gorilla with no manners that looked like it came straight out of a monster movie, crammed into a truck.

Doljumeok said to Jincheol before starting the engine and leaving.

“I’ll go and get some rabbits to clean up the mess, so just finish this quickly.”

“What do you mean by ending?”

“I know you’re going to get hurt anyway. Don’t get hurt for no reason.”

“···”

When Jincheol looked at him with a look of surprise, Doljumeok turned the steering wheel with an expression of nothing. Jincheol, who was looking at the back of the truck going down the bumpy mountain road, spoke to Ramien, who was standing next to him.

“let’s go.”

“···huh.”

So the two people’s footsteps headed towards the forest.

There was still some glow in the sky, but the forest was already dark. It was so densely packed, even though it was mostly coniferous trees.

Jincheol and Ramien were running fast through the dark forest. Jincheol, thanks to his heightened senses, was able to see clearly in the darkness, but Ramien ran briskly, even though she couldn’t see anything. In Jincheol’s eyes, she wasn’t running with her eyes open, but rather half-asleep, running without even realizing the danger. She must be worried about her lover, right?

Luckily, before Ramien was injured, the two were able to find a small basin formed by the ridges meeting each other, the only light in the forest that was sinking into darkness.

As I lay down on the fallen leaves and looked out, the first thing I saw was the camp buildings that were somehow built out of wood and the airship anchored there. It was closer in size to the Siapo reconnaissance ship that Jin-cheol had crashed in the past than to General Donchava’s battleship or the Comintern of the revolutionary army.

There were also a few boxes and supplies piled up around it, and there were also black armored vehicles moving around, clinking with metal.

The sight of people wandering around the camp seemed quite guarded. Perhaps the emergency was called because of the guy Jincheol dealt with.

“There are quite a lot of them···”

Jincheol frowned and muttered. There were quite a few black armored men. Just the ones I could see now were definitely over thirty, but if you included the ones I couldn’t see, there were probably at least over fifty.

In that case, it would have been difficult to just rush in and swing a sword. All the armored men were carrying heavy machine guns. Even in the era of Jincheol, the superhuman soldiers who were shot to the point of being rags eventually died.

In addition, there was the problem that we could not immediately tell where the residents of the camp were. If we had thrown a grenade and found that the residents were being held there, such a disaster would not have occurred.

At that moment, Jincheol’s sensitive ears heard something rustling. It was a very small and trivial sound. However, Jincheol immediately looked in the direction of the sound. His eyes narrowed.

“···Who are you?”

Next to me, about 20 or 30 meters away from where Jincheol and Ramien were lying, someone else was lying down.

If he hadn’t heard the sound, Jincheol wouldn’t have recognized the camouflage. It looked like fallen leaves and grass were crawling. Jincheol tilted his head and looked at the sight, and then suddenly the movement stopped.

And then, the next moment, the fallen leaves rose up. Jincheol’s eyes widened.

A camouflage suit that resembled a ghillie suit and an owl-like mask peeking out from under it. He got up and took off his camouflage suit like a new skin and ran quickly to the camp like a shadow. The jump continued naturally.

One of the black armored men standing guard turned his head but did not see the owl mask. The owl mask jumped up and spun around in the air before landing on the roof of a camp, but there was no sound like when he ran.

Then, a long spear emerged from the masked man’s hand, seemingly from somewhere. Then, it swung at the back of the head of the black armored man who was looking around with a strange feeling. The spear’s blade pierced through the armor and exited through the face.

From the dash to the landing and the subsequent attack, it was all a clean movement that was admirable. Jincheol couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

“Ohhh… Oh?”

The problem was that the owl mask looked this way as if it had heard the admiration.