Surviving in the 121st Century - Chapter 71



Only Noblemtl

The beast’s roar was the beginning.

A mass of pale masses began to run towards the rooftop building where Jincheol and his group and the soldiers were standing. Miguel and the revolutionaries immediately lined up in all directions. Compared to the terrified and struggling Urata soldiers, they looked much more organized.

Miguel shouted.

“Don’t you think they’re not friendly friends? Don’t hold back on your bullets! Fire!”

At that command, gunshots rang out in all directions. The gunshots rang out, sparks flew, and smoke rose. The white beasts running at the front fell down in a heap.

“Keep shooting as soon as you’re ready!”

Bullets rained down from the rooftops to the ground. In an instant, hundreds and thousands of bullets flew through the air, and the white beasts that were running towards them were torn apart by the bullets. Their blood was a thick liquid that was almost black, and when their own kind in front was torn apart by bullets, they ran forward, stepping on the black blood.

“Kueeeeek-!”

The sight of them rushing forward, screaming, covered in black blood on their white skin, had an uncontrollable vitality and madness.

Fear flashed through the eyes of the revolutionary army rabbis who saw that. Even though they were the ones dying at the rate of dozens per second.

“Help me! Airship! Get me on the airship! Those monsters can’t be defeated!”

The Urata Rabitos who were originally on the rooftop were even more afraid. They held onto the ropes and rope ladders that had been lowered down by the Comintern and crawled up, crying loudly.

As Jincheol was watching this, someone tapped his leg. When he looked down, he saw only Ai.

“We need to concentrate our firepower. It’s too spread out right now.”

When Jincheol gave him a look asking what he wanted to do, he picked up his cane and continued speaking.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we took over one of the four directions so we could concentrate our firepower?”

“···Should we jump in there?”

“This will be a good training session. Listen, Kapitan!”

He pointed a finger at Miguel, who was looking at him, and ran in the direction of the finger. Miguel must have understood what it meant even though he didn’t say anything, because he shouted at the soldiers in the direction Aiman ​​was running.

“3rd Platoon! Fall back and support other defenses!”

They were slightly frightened and were firing their guns forward, but at Miguel’s words, they put their guns back without hesitation. At the same time, only Ayman kicked off the rooftop railing and jumped down.

“You crazy guy. Is it okay to jump in there naked?”

Jincheol muttered as if he couldn’t believe what he saw, but his body had already jumped off the rooftop and followed Aiman’s lead.

Jincheol, who had fallen down from the 3rd or 4th floor, laughed as he discovered the owl mask that had landed gently next to him.

“Are you in your right mind too?”

“···”

Instead of answering, Snow drew his spear and charged straight ahead. Ahead of him, only Ai had drawn his longsword and was cutting off one of the white beast’s heads.

“Hand-to-hand combat in the 121st century? My specialty was rifles···”

As he spoke, Jincheol held a white-bladed sword in his right hand. The armor that had been creating a shield had blocked one cannon bullet and was now broken. According to the sorcerer Haita, it could be fixed over time, but for now, it was still unusable. At least it was fortunate that those beasts didn’t have guns in their hands.

“I don’t know, I don’t know.”

Jincheol’s body, which had been grumbling briefly, leaped forward. As he ran, the blade he swung caught three or four beasts’ bodies and cut them down in one stroke. Black blood spurted out.

“Kueeeeek!”

The sight of the beasts seen up close was even more repulsive. Inside the hollow eye sockets, blood-red corneas were shining if you looked closely, and the eyes moved in opposite directions, either with or without vision.

The pale skin had a strangely dark hue, which seemed to be due to the black blood flowing beneath it. The joints where it moved were wrinkled and yellowish fluid could be seen hardening in the wrinkles. There were about ten or eight of them that were rotten from wounds. I cursed when I stabbed them in the stomach.

“Fuck!”

“This is not the time to be fooled by the enemy’s appearance! These guys are much faster than you think!”

Aiman’s cry. As he said, the guys who were approaching him and fighting him were much faster than he thought. They were so tall that they could barely reach Jincheol’s waist due to their hunched posture, but they lowered their posture even further and ran towards him while almost touching the ground.

When they were running towards him in a swarm, it didn’t matter because he could just swing his gun and shoot them, but when he actually faced them and tried to swing his sword, the height was really annoying. Jincheol compensated for his weakness to some extent by moving faster. Even so, there was one who managed to dodge Jincheol’s sword.

“Keeeeeek!”

The guy who dodged the knife like that dug into Jincheol’s left side and tried to stab something into his calf. Jincheol’s eyes saw a finger-length blade sticking out from the palm of his hand. These guys have weapons?

At that moment, a blade suddenly came in and cut off the bastard’s neck. It was Aiman’s sword.

“A weapon is an extension of the hand. To be exact, it is like an extended hand or foot. It is about drawing new possibilities on top of the limited movements made by the limbs. It can also be said to be an extension of the will that goes beyond the limits of the species and extends beyond the body.”

The child who spoke like that was once again showing off the sword dance he had shown in the past. In the midst of beasts rushing toward him with palm-sized blades, he swung his longsword with his waist, shoulders, and entire arms, maintaining a distance that was neither too close nor too far from all the enemies around him at every step. The flesh and bones of the beasts caught in his path were cleanly cut away.

“That limitation. The thing you need to break the most right now is that racial limitation. For some reason, your body and your mind are currently out of sync. Your body is at the level of a master, but your mind is tied to the limitations of an ordinary person.”

He bent forward, placed his hands on his waist, and spun his long sword. It seemed more like a fancy dance than an attack. However, the spin decapitated four white beasts.

“In the Shushin Forest, far to the southwest of Sandesiya, there is a large beast with a beautiful long nose. It is called Ganesan, and although it cannot speak or be civilized, it is a very wise and intelligent animal. I believe that somewhere in the Shushin Forest, there is a community that they have created. In any case, among the thugs of Sandesiya, there are some unscrupulous men who capture Ganesan and make him work for them.”

Since it was not easy to even get close, the beasts pushed in with their bodies. It was a cruel strategy to kill one or two of them, but then attack the ones that followed.

Of course, Aiman ​​nullified that strategy by jumping backwards and swinging his long sword around. If anyone was caught in the trajectory of the long blade, they would be chopped down without a hitch, regardless of whether they were in front or behind.

“Those thugs kill the adult Ganesan and only capture the baby Ganesan to raise. One of the ways they do this is by tying the baby Ganesan to a short rope. When the baby Ganesan is tied to the rope from a very young age, the adult Ganesan will not go beyond the range of their movements even without the rope, based on their childhood memories. The limits have been set.”

While he was slicing through the beasts so cleanly, Jincheol was blown away and covered in black blood. He kicked away those who got close, swung his sword, dodged the daggers that dug into his legs, and slammed his fists down like hammers.

There was no such thing as a noble movement. The white beasts that rushed at him like ogres were killed more by his fists, kicks, and headbutts than by his sword. Jincheol grabbed the head of one of the beasts biting his forearm with his left hand and crushed it, shouting.

“So what you want to say is this!”

“You are a Ganesan. A Ganesan weighing tens of thousands of pounds. A mythical Ganesan who can level forests and cities with just a move, and can destroy castle walls with just a push. You are currently tied up with rope, but if you realize that the rope is nothing, you will wield the power to destroy heaven and earth.”

At that time, Miguel on the rooftop was radioing the Comintern. The flying battleship’s guns were aimed at the rooftop building. Miguel shouted.

“firing!”

With a loud noise of “thud-thud-thud,” a shell fell on the heads of the beasts that were swarming toward the building like a swarm of ants. With a “kwarung,” flames rose up surrounding the building.

Aiman ​​turned his back on the flames, swung his sword away, and looked back at Jincheol.

“What if Ganesan, who can originally break down walls with just his body, learns martial arts? You don’t need to learn any deep secrets. If you just learn the basics, you will become unrivaled. You will be faster and stronger than anyone else.”

“···”

He smiled faintly at Jincheol, who was covered in black blood and had a fierce expression on his face.

“So, what I’m saying is, watch carefully and learn by stealing. If you don’t want to end up in a mess like this.”

Jincheol also couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw that smile. An elephant that learned martial arts. That’s a really cool title.

*

After the Comintern’s cannon fire, the white beasts that had been swarming like ants retreated. They left behind only hundreds of corpses, but the Urata soldiers did not seem happy at all. Ensign Jarmen, who had been representing them from the beginning, spoke tremblingly.

“···There were already several cannon shots before the general retreated. This is just buying time. They will come again. Next time, they will hide in the dark and do it secretly···”

The morale of the revolutionary army was also low because they were so depressed. No one ran away or panicked because Miguel was in command, but they also felt fear at the sight of the beasts rushing toward them as if they did not know what death was.

Miguel decided to pick up the most intact corpse and examine it.

“Hmm… The eyes look like they’re half-formed, and there’s not a single hair on the skin. There’s pus flowing from the wrinkles, but it seems to be just secretions secreted from the entire body. It’s accumulating in the wrinkles and rotting away.”

He carefully examined the corpse of the white beast as if he had not gambled away his business card as a doctor. He even pulled out his dagger and cut open its chest.

“Hmm. This···”

“What is it?”

Jincheol, who was wiping the blood off his face with a towel—it was the handkerchief that Haita had given him—asked after seeing his serious expression. Miguel, who had been fiddling with his chin, slightly raised his head. Not only Jincheol and his party, but also the revolutionary soldiers and Urata soldiers were all focused on him.

He continued with a stern face.

“···The internal structure is so familiar. I thought so from the moment I saw their appearance, but maybe they are relatives of our species.”

“A relative of Rabito? Isn’t that obvious just by looking at these ears?”

“···”

As Jincheol said, it was obvious that they and Rabito had similar ancestors even without having to open their chests to examine their internal structures. After all, their large, long ears and skeleton were close to those of rabbits.

However, unlike Jincheol, who felt that it was nothing, the other Rabitos didn’t seem to feel that way. They were all looking at the beast’s corpse and Miguel alternately with a mixture of shock and fear.

“···First, let’s start by organizing the garrison. Everyone, stop looking and get moving!”

Miguel’s shout caused the rabbis to disperse. Jincheol was the only one left, wiping away the blood with an indifferent look. Jincheol shrugged his shoulders at Miguel, who was looking at him with deep eyes. What the heck. If you skipped time by ten thousand years, you’d probably think everything was just like that.

After one raid, more troops from the Comintern came down and began to build a defensive line around the building there, which used to be the city hall. They repaired the flimsy barricades and unloaded other heavy weapons from the ships.

Stone Fist got out of his truck, which had almost transformed into a tank. With cannons and machine guns and a body covered in iron plates, it was now truly an armored vehicle. And Maro was in the tank’s cockpit. He was the only one big enough to fit in the cockpit because of all the weapons he had to put in.

And while they were busy setting up their camp, new guests appeared. Citizens and soldiers scattered all over Rostang came rushing in after hearing the noise and explosions.

“Citizens of Jaso, this way! Citizens of Urata, soldiers, this way! Hey! You over there! Are you Jaso people?”

The revolutionary army accepted them all, but at the same time classified them by nationality. There was no other way. From their perspective, the Urata soldiers were war criminals.

It was not difficult to tell them apart; every one of them, with their gaunt, tired faces and rags, was a Jasoin. It was not uncommon for Uratains to disguise themselves as such, but such people were immediately reported to the other Jasoins.

“Oh, no! Me! I’m a Jasoin! My, uh, mother was a Jasoin! She was a Jasoin!”

Those who were dragged away like that resisted fiercely as if they were being dragged to the execution ground. The reason they resisted was clear. They seemed to believe that they would be treated the same way they had treated Jasooin. And Jincheol felt that their actions were not simply forced labor. Miguel also seemed to feel the same way and ordered his subordinates to find out the truth about this place, Rostang.

There was another busy person. Ramien caught everyone who came to the garrison and looked for Ipani. Thanks to her bodyguards, Doljumeok and Jincheol, they were all scared and answered obediently.

Most of the answers were “I don’t know,” but it still wasn’t without results.

“Oh, that woman? Well, I think I saw her in the western area. She gave me a piece of bread.”

A haggard-faced man said so. Ramien immediately looked for someone who had worked in the western district, and eventually met someone who knew the whereabouts of Ipani.

“···was caught.”

“yes?”

“I was taken by those monsters. Like so many others.”

He answered like that, burying his face between his knees. Jincheol quickly checked Ramien’s expression. He was worried that she might collapse again.

But she didn’t shed tears or break down, just had a slightly stiff expression on her face. She just went to find Miguel.

“···What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go underground.”

Miguel, who was giving various instructions to the gathered officers, glanced at Jincheol standing behind her. Then he sighed and said.

“It’s obvious why. Your lover seems to have been taken away···”

“Yes. I will go find her. But I think I should report to the commander here before I move.”

“disallowance.”

“···yes?”

Miguel continued, fiddling with the space between his eyebrows.

“Didn’t you feel it when you saw the battle just now? They are like beasts. They are enemies to be fought and killed, not enemies to be conquered. So rather than going underground to fight, it would be better to just destroy the underground entrance that is open again. There are two clear advantages to this.”

He said, spreading out the fingers that had been touching his forehead.

“First, it can prevent unnecessary sacrifices. The people we have already rescued are already in chaos. It will only get worse in the future. We must protect them. Second, it can completely bury Rahiman’s elite forces and the special forces that would try to rescue him even after his surrender.”

The second time, there were some parts that were not explained further because they were in front of people. That is, the gathering of meditation and the unidentified ‘special envoy’ could be buried underground. Ramien also understood the meaning.

But Ramien responded calmly.

“Whether you allow it or not, I will go. Not only to save Ipani, but also to save the countless people who were captured under her.”

“···”

As she said that, she took a step forward. Then, Stone Fist, who had no particular thought, followed her and took a step forward, and Snow, who had been quiet in the command center until now, also took a step forward. It seemed as if he was directly opposing Miguel’s intentions.

In an instant, the atmosphere in the command center became strange. Half of the officers seemed to agree with Ramien’s opinion, while the other half seemed to dislike her for opposing Miguel.

And at that moment, Jincheol saw the corner of Miguel’s mouth twitch slightly. It was a twitching that he would not have been able to see if it weren’t for his sensitive eyes.

A smile appeared on Jincheol’s lips. He was such a sly snake.