WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 117

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April Vengeance (5)

A decision he had put off again and again. Gyeoul invested in skills, focusing on increasing combat power. Even so, he could not get the same efficiency as before. The higher the grade, the fewer times he had trained it.

That pushed survival-type enhancement to a later date. That was why he had been saving up resources.

'No matter how strong my combat power gets, one outbreak could still put me in danger.'

It probably would not come to that, but Gyeoul still wanted to prepare in case 「Manifest Liberation」 failed.

In one worldview that had ended long ago, he once caught a flesh-rotting disease. In 「Days after Apocalypse」, where things no longer human roamed around hunting people, that illness meant social death. Back then he had even less room to maneuver than now. His insufficient, belated 「Disease Resistance」 had only stopped further progression.

[Civilians confirmed on top of the funnel.]

The pilot's radio came through. As the helicopter circled over the cruise ship, Gyeoul looked in the same direction.

On top of the funnel structure venting exhaust from the engine section, a handful of survivors waved at the sky. High and precarious. How had they even climbed up there? Many of the mutants wandering below the funnel had broken limbs. They were likely the ones who had failed the climb.

With survivors in such plain sight, the attack craft had no choice but to abort the strike mission.

A large number of mutants covered the tiered decks. Maybe they understood they could not reach it, because even while watching the helicopter, they did not scream. They only tilted their heads now and then and stared quietly. That reaction alone showed the pathogen from Australia was no less severe than the one in the Americas.

The pilot held fire.

[Do not shoot yet. Too many hostiles. Wait, and I will give you a better angle.]

The two gunners gave the okay sign. They were gripping support weapons mounted on either side of the fuselage. One had a heavy machine gun, the other a minigun. The latter fired four thousand rounds per minute. Six rotating barrels kept it from overheating.

The pilot suggested making one full pass first. They knew nothing about the internal layout, so they needed to observe as much as they could from outside before going in. Survivors trapped in cabins pressed themselves against the windows.

The Warrant Officer at the controls showed seasoned skill. The helicopter dropped almost to the waterline, moving like it was gliding as he checked for entry routes other than the deck. The sea surged so close it felt like they were on a ship themselves. Every time waves broke, spray splashed into the cabin.

[Boarding doors are open, but... getting in would be difficult.]

The pilot sounded disappointed. He was right. Five doors stood open low on the side of the hull, passenger entrances used when docking, or emergency exits.

Desperate people must have opened them. What happened after they jumped?

Each time waves crashed, seawater rushed into the ship. Still not enough to wash away the blood.

The corridor was slick with gore, like a shot from a cheap horror movie.

And in the middle stood things that looked human. They heard the engine and slowly turned. They came right up to the open doors, took the dangerous wind head-on, and seemed to measure the distance to the helicopter.

"They are almost no different from living people. They must have been infected recently."

The stiff voice belonged to the FBI investigator.

She was right. The mutants' skin had not rotted yet. The immune response had not even started tearing into their flesh.

Same on the deck. Gyeoul worried whether the investigator could handle it.

'Adults are one thing, but there are too many children.'

Her weapon was a shotgun, one that ripped targets apart with buckshot. Would she be shaken by seeing small children torn to pieces? No matter that they were infected mutants...

[What are your orders, Lieutenant?]

The pilot asked for Gyeoul's call. Where they would enter.

"Take us to the top deck. Clear around the radar mast first."

[Understood. Moving to firing position.]

The gunners on both sides checked their weapons, a precaution just in case.

The radar mast was the highest point on the ship besides the funnel. Fitting for a luxury liner, the area around it was lined with parasols and an outdoor restaurant.

What was being served now was human flesh.

How did he die at the table? A male corpse was being torn apart. Those things had been feasting, blood all over their tidy clothes, then stopped and stared up blankly.

Wheeeeeee. The electric motor whined.

"Guns, Guns, Guns."

The minigun operator repeated it three times to signal fire, then pulled the trigger.

Brrrrrrt-!

A torrent sprayed out. A massive wall of fire. It did not fire at a point, it chewed through an area, grinding the deck apart in an instant. Plague hosts were torn apart without mercy. Shattered heads, arms, legs, chests all mixed together in a brutal mess. Under broken lights, blood splashing across the deck looked like black darkness being flung down.

"..."

A groan that never became sound. The investigator's gaze froze. The heavy machine gunner, watching the minigun fire, glanced at her and mouthed something under his breath. Gyeoul read his lips. m-a-g-g-o-t. Rookie. Too harsh. Not being shaken by that scene would have been the abnormal thing.

'Right. Like me.'

Only then did Gyeoul finally settle. A world that had once been too effective on the boy had now become routine.

"Well now, what the hell is that."

The motor slowed, and the gunner's surprise snapped Gyeoul back to focus. In the path the barrage had swept, one thing staggered to its feet. A grotesque shape. Large build, skin packed with white spot-like marks. It was bleeding, so a few rounds had hit, but... special mutants? As Gyeoul focused on it, the gunner set his jaw and aimed.

Brrrrrrt-!

Unlike before, when he spread fire wide, this burst focused on one spot.

Like sand scoured away by wind, the thing broke apart. Hundreds of rounds chased it, battering it backward, rolling it across the deck, tearing it apart in real time. Its toughness was striking.

Kyaaaaaak! In its final moment, the monster screamed.

[Hm? Damn, the other decks are empty. They are running.]

The pilot's frustrated warning came in. The ones that had witnessed human firepower fled into the ship. Gyeoul had noticed too. With that level of intelligence, it was only natural. Still, how fast they moved was beyond his expectations.

'If they can coordinate like that...'

A Trickster, a Ghoul, or something on that level. That disciplined movement needed a higher individual capable of controlling ordinary mutants. The enemy was still unknown.

The deck reeked of death and silence. The helicopter descended and touched down for a brief instant. Gyeoul and the investigator jumped out without missing the timing. The helicopter did not stop even for a moment. It rose again immediately.

The pilot left them with support.

[We will rescue the people on the funnel first, then watch from above. Come up anytime if things turn urgent. Good luck.]

Before the investigator could even shake off her flight panic, her foot slipped.

"Ugh!"

She had stepped on a gallbladder. The deck was slick with blood and oil, torn human remains everywhere the eye landed. Gyeoul himself had stepped on someone's large intestine. Squish, and packed feces squeezed out. The stench did not get worse. It was already unbearable.

"You okay?"

Gyeoul held out his hand. The ship rocked slightly, and the floor was slippery. If she tried to stand on her own, one hand or the other would end up soaked in blood. The investigator gritted her teeth and took his hand.

They moved forward, dragging their feet. Gyeoul approached the aberrant mutant's corpse. Its body had been shredded by concentrated fire. Killed by sheer sustained force, the torn remains were spread over more than ten meters.

He needed to identify its traits. Gyeoul drew his Bayonet.

Tick.

He stabbed one of the strange spots. Hard struck hard. The investigator narrowed her brow.

"This is... bone."

It was. The white spots covering the skin were actually shallow, broad bone tissue under the flesh. Bone under bone. Even with flesh between layers, the stacked bones sealed almost every gap. A practical exoskeleton. Its muscles were thicker than those of a trained athlete.

At a glance, it looked like fatty, rotten pork.

"I do not know how many of these there are, but this is a problem. Personal firearms will not kill them easily."

The bone density supporting muscle beyond human limits was incredibly high. As she said, this was the kind of monster that would ignore most small arms and charge anyway. Even sustained shotgun fire could not guarantee a clean kill.

Did Australia already have this kind? If these things made landfall, would this new type spread to the mutants in the Americas too?

There was still a weak point. Gyeoul gathered several large chunks of the corpse.

"At least the joints are not protected. Of course. If they were, it could not move."

Then he grabbed the neck and twisted hard. Crack. Neck bones shifted out of place. A black tongue lined with Infection Protrusions spilled past the teeth. The neck also lacked dense bone coverage because it had to move up, down, left, and right. In some spots, when pressed, it felt soft, almost like cartilage.

"That weak point only matters to someone like Lieutenant Han, though..."

The investigator shook her head. She was tense, but not afraid. A woman who feared flying more than mutants. Gyeoul stood up from the corpse, and Agent Gibson said,

"Let's move. I have your six."

Twelve o'clock meant front. Six o'clock meant rear. She meant she would watch his back. She scanned broad angles with practiced awareness. Gyeoul searched for a route down one level.

The upper decks of the luxury cruise were an open multilevel structure. From the outdoor restaurant, there were two ways down to the next deck. Stairs, or the slide. The tube slide dropped straight into the swimming pool below. Its vivid colors stood out even at night, bright and patchy.

An infected boy was inside that opening.

Grrraaaak.

When their eyes met, he shrank back. It was likely a guarding motion, but his small frame made it look like fear.

Empathy was arbitrary like that.

What I feel from someone has nothing to do with what they are.

Gyeoul fired one shot. Thud! The head snapped back, blood and brain spattering the slide. Against the yellow-painted surface, it stood out even more.

The body was sucked into the tube. A moment later, splash! It fell into the water. Looking down over the railing, all he saw was one more corpse added to an already red swimming pool.

At that point, the helicopter approached the funnel. As expected, the pilot's skill was excellent. It moved at a constant speed matching the ship, with no visible acceleration or deceleration.

After watching the rescue and confirming they were checking infection status thoroughly, Gyeoul went down two flights of stairs. He killed two lookouts before they could cry out.

He used only one bullet.

Gurgle. Grrrk. The single shot pierced two throats in a line. The mutants coughed blood from their mouths but still thrashed toward him. Gyeoul waited calmly. As they stumbled and fell trying to reach him, he kicked them back. He kept at it until respiratory failure left them unable to move.

'Need to conserve ammo.'

There was still plenty of time before the passenger ship reached San Francisco. With luck, they might seize the ship's key sections and ride it all the way there.

============================ Author's Afterword ============================

#Star of Espionage

Do you know the Naver webtoon Star of Espionage?

Seriously, it had been a long time since I read a comic this full of childlike innocence.

Then I realized why R'lyeh never comes to mind. Cthulhu is afraid of this world's high school girls...

Someday I want combat power equal to at least three high school girls too.

Please check it out. It is a great comic.

#Q&A

Q. ToothbrushWithRice: @Park Woo-cheol old man-nim, how many gods have descended on you?

A. You are currently playing in a way where the God of Impulse Buying is dancing, so you are receiving blessings from a wide range of gods. In other words, you are Everchosen.

Q. Ca-mo: Could this be the chance for Gyeoul to encounter foreign mutants? Finding a nuclear submarine already sounds like a difficult mission, but now he is rescuing civilians too... that is intense. I am also curious why Gyeoul rescues civilians. Since events are unfolding like game quests, is he accepting them as a player because they are quests, or does he genuinely want to save civilians and uphold justice against unfairness, even a little? (truncated)

A. There are a few clues. One is when Gyeoul said, what do I have left now besides my heart. Another is the standard of what counts as human that Gyeoul talked about during the counseling section. And his confession: I did not know it myself, but maybe I was dreaming of fighting the world. There are a few more too. Try a full reread in 40,000 years. You might enjoy it. Hehe.

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