WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 207: Survivors (10)

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At first, Gyeoul had considered going in alone, to minimize both live ammunition expenditure and the risk of losing personnel. But he did not know the enemy's numbers, the survivors' numbers and identities, or their condition. Alone, his ability to respond to a range of situations would inevitably suffer.

'With this much noise, I can assume there won't be an ambush.'

He had only circled the outskirts and looked from a distance, but as of yesterday, the streets had shown no sign of the plague.

Even the ones in Metabolic Suppression would have been drawn out by the commotion. If this were a large city, he would have needed to watch for organized surprise attacks by enhanced mutants, but this was only a small town where barely a thousand people had lived. Even if they came under sudden attack, it would only be scattered raids.

If things got too difficult, he planned to use their speed and break away. Even at their deepest point, they would only have to break through three blocks by the shortest route to get out of town.

In a lightless environment, soldiers with night vision also had the advantage over mutants.

The only bridge into town from the south had trees growing thick for dozens of meters on the far side. Gyeoul decided to pick a spot with less vegetation and ford the creek instead. At most, the waterway was only ten meters wide, and since it had not rained recently, it was not deep. The current was slow as well.

Five riders and horses crossed the water. Ripples broke just below the stirrups. Spray soaked their combat boots. Gyeoul, positioned at the front, cut through the tangled vegetation along the bank in one sweep.

As they entered the village by way of the road west of a low-rise apartment complex, a coyote startled and fled. The mutants' commotion was still to the north.

They rode up through the grass between the houses. A few times, they had to break through fences, since the mobile unit members' riding skills were not yet good enough to jump obstacles. That was how they entered a small baseball field, part of a schoolyard. Beside the campus, where traces of an old storm remained, three mutants that had not yet noticed them snapped their heads around.

Kyaaak, kyak, kyak!

They seemed to have broken away from the group after hearing the fence break. Scouts, apparently. Most likely, the main group included individuals at ghoul level or above.

With a few hand signals, Gyeoul widened the distance between himself and the unit members. He approached the mutants at an easy gallop. By starlight alone, it was hard for them to see him. The black Friesian horse melted into the darkness, and Gyeoul's clothing was different from ordinary U.S. military gear. He was still wearing Orca Black's pitch-black tactical suit. He held the iron bar twisted behind his back to minimize reflected light.

'I should have treated it with something nonreflective...'

He had not thought of it in time. Just smearing oil and ash over the parts he would not touch would have been enough. It was a belated regret, but it did not look like it would matter right now.

As the distance closed, the gray monsters pricked up their ears at the sound of hooves. But because he approached along the shadow of a building corner, they still did not spot him until he was within striking distance. Right now, Gyeoul was no different from a predator in camouflage. The muscles across his body tightened, gathering power.

An ambush. A heavy blow. Bone shards flew. The shattered skull tore through flesh. The mutant could not even scream before its brain was destroyed. The blunt weapon split the wind faster than the spray of brain matter. The remaining two mutants were smashed before they could turn their heads.

For the last one, he killed it by striking down on its bent neck. Severed cervical vertebrae clattered to the ground. Thump. The severed head rolled heavily. Gasp, gasp. Only then did the thing discover the spare host, rolling its eyes as it tried to scream. Even after seeing its own body kneeling without a head, it seemed not to understand what that meant. When no sound came out, it snapped its teeth irritably. Tadadadadak! But even that quickly faded. It was the process of a head dying after its supply of oxygen and blood had been cut off.

"I handled them. Close up again."

At Gyeoul's radio call, the mobile unit members rode closer. The soldiers cast disgusted looks at the gray bodies that refused to accept death and thrashed their limbs.

The radio reception was good. There did not seem to be a Trickster.

'「The Silent One」... No. Of course there wouldn't be one.'

What he had briefly worried about was a special Trickster that did not intervene in combat and instead preserved information. But without other Tricksters, that role was meaningless too.

They passed through a lonely playground where empty swings swayed and headed toward the discord among the houses.

Crash! The sound of breaking glass. Maybe because they were closer now, he finally heard human voices. They were so hoarse that they were hard to distinguish from the roars of the plague, but there was despair mixed with rough curses. They were speaking English. Gabe! Damn it! Hearing that, Gyeoul drove Xcel hard.

"Run! Full speed!"

They raced with the obstacle on their left. The wind was blowing from the west, so the scent it carried told him whether mutants were present. Preventing ambushes that way, he broke through another fence and charged in.

It was a house with an unusually large yard. Close to a hundred mutants had surrounded the big house. His enhanced hearing even caught the desperate struggle inside. Close combat without gunfire.

The plague swarm wavered at the mobile unit's appearance. There were too many to charge in immediately.

"McLaurin! Mason! Eleven o'clock, throw grenades!"

The gap created when some of the clustered mutants peeled away was a perfect chance to burst shrapnel. If they were packed too tightly, the fragments would be blocked by bodies and only kill a few, but not now.

Gyeoul pulled a safety pin as well. They had received redistributed supplies, but even Gyeoul, who had priority, only had two grenades. The grenade he hurled flew into the distance. He was confident he could make it explode overhead, so the density of the plague did not matter. His target was just inside the collapsed wall. He aimed at the mutants packed together there.

Kwaang! Bang! Kwakwang!

Three shrapnel explosions tore rotten bodies apart. The stench of gun smoke and altered blood surged all the way over from a distance. Even the horses, which had been acclimated to gunfire for several days, were startled by this. The mobile unit members struggled to calm them. One soldier barely avoided falling when the horse reared on both legs and cried out wildly.

Near the blast centers, blood-soaked corpses lay scattered. Outside the sparse circle drawn by the bodies, the things that had not managed to die went berserk.

Gyeoul gauged the direction to charge between them. The survivors inside must have heard that roar too, so they would realize rescue had come. They would not give up and let go of life.

"Morales! Take command! Keep your distance and fire! Prioritize the ones climbing onto the roof! Once you've used one magazine, withdraw and only handle the ones approaching!"

"Yes sir!"

Xcel kicked off the ground and pushed the world backward. His running hooves trampled over the edge of the explosion and the overturned screams. The plague hosts were smashed to pulp under the weighty charge.

Tatataang! Tatatatataang!

The supporting gunfire sounded like full auto as three-round bursts overlapped. Sunset-red tracer lines flashed over his head one after another. Mutants trying to enter the second-floor windows from the roof staggered all at once. Since it was shooting from horseback, the accuracy was not especially high, but it was enough if the hail of bullets startled them into losing their balance and tumbling down. At the very least, they would suffer light wounds.

Gyeoul suppressed far more enemies than the four shooters. By feel, he was moving at thirty kilometers per hour. Maintaining that speed, he struck every mutant within range. His offensive focused on disabling them rather than killing them. But with that much mass behind it, any hit was fatal.

Bbeoeok-

Unlike ordinary mutants, which left every vital point wide open, one clever individual crossed both arms to defend against the attack. Thanks to that, its crushed arms dug into its torso. Its ribs broke and pressed into its lungs. Gheok, kkek. Other mutants trampled the thing as it struggled to breathe. They were chasing Gyeoul's rampage.

In good conditions, they might have caught up to a horse in a short sprint. After all, plague hosts surpassed humans in strength and stamina. But the wounds left by the cavalry charge tripped the feet of the ones running. Dead or wounded mutants became obstacles. Human feet could not compare to horse hooves shod with steel horseshoes.

As he changed direction, Gyeoul spotted a ghoul at the rear, switched the hand gripping the iron bar, and immediately drew his pistol.

Bang!

A casing sprang away. The ghoul's eyeball burst like liquid. Only after he slid the pistol back into its holster and recovered his original posture did the ghoul's corpse finally fall.

After piercing the now even more disordered mutants in another straight line, Gyeoul turned his horse's head toward the front of the house. The ongoing struggle could be heard through the broken entrance. Mutants unable to climb the packed staircase paced irritably below it. These ones still had no interest in the outside.

Hyah, ha! The steed answered the rider's shout. A charge indoors. He lowered his body and passed through the rapidly widening front door. A hallway spacious enough for people was narrow for cavalry. Gyeoul thrust the iron bar he had drawn back as far as possible straight ahead. Bak! The forehead of the mutant that had turned around caved in.

As he passed the side of the staircase, Gyeoul broke the high railing diagonally above. The ankles beyond it broke with the railing, and the monsters crowding the stairs collapsed in a heap. Many went over the railing and fell. Gyeoul was already past them. Killing the ones charging at the narrow front with a series of attacks, he forced his way roughly into the wide space beside the living room, where the staircase began.

Taang! Tatataang!

Whenever the plague swarm surged in with the mass of many bodies, gunshots echoed without fail. Indoors, they were even louder. The moment he left the narrow hallway, Gyeoul's combat power reached its peak.

Mutants on the landing rushed down. But every place they could step was a mass of writhing bodies, so they only tripped and rolled down. Gyeoul struck the waist of one that leaped high and folded it sideways, then climbed the stairs while still mounted, swiftly stabbing to death anything that might harm Xcel.

Among the mutants he killed that way were three infected U.S. soldiers.

Their combat uniforms were filthy as rags, torn here and there and covered in blood, but they were even wearing ballistic helmets properly. From the look of their skin, which had not rotted, they had been infected today, probably here.

Kuung, thump!

He reached a spot right beside the rough curses that kept bursting out. Mutants filled the second-floor hallway and howled. The survivors had to be beyond the door the mutants were pushing against. Its hinges had already fallen off, so this was effectively a contest of strength between humans and the plague. The room was wider than the hallway. The humans had more stacked weight on their side, so they were somehow holding out.

Only now did Gyeoul get out of the saddle and one-sidedly slaughter the ordinary mutants. A few corpses broke the railing and fell. The cramped space was more disadvantageous to the plague than to Gyeoul. It was hard for them to make use of violence through numbers.

Crash. Once he dealt with even the ones pressed against the door in a single rush, the survivors spilled out of the room because of the force they had been desperately pushing with. They were dirty U.S. soldiers too. Terrified, they were slow to grasp the situation. Some screamed, thinking the door had collapsed. One even aimed a gun at Gyeoul and pulled the trigger.

Of course, it did not fire. There had been no warning from 「Survival Instinct」 or 「Combat Sense」. The bolt was locked back, exposing the open chamber.

'It doesn't even have a magazine...'

At a glance, these were people who had endured hardship for more than a day or two.

"Calm down! I came to rescue you!"

He did not want to waste time. The fighting was still going on outside. Gunshots came over the wall at intervals. They had to be struggling to conserve ammunition.

One Private staggered to their feet, then sat back down and looked up blankly.

"H-Han Gyeoul? Uh, Lieutenant... sir? For real?"

His outfit was different, so they were slow to recognize him. The dying light of a lantern shone on Gyeoul.

"Has anyone been bitten?"

At this question, the soldiers shuddered. Two faces turned miserable. One complexion was even worse.

Gheok, grrrk-

It had to be the very moment of final mutation. Gyeoul frowned and instantly thrust the iron bar forward. He hooked it into the mouth spilling stomach acid and shoved hard into the wall. Thud! The back of the head hit the wall. The face had its eyes rolling upward. Bulging veins and spasms showed the pain exactly as it was.

Gyeoul adjusted his grip on the weapon and struck upward in an instant.

Crunch.

As the cervical vertebrae came loose, the trembling body went limp. Broken front teeth spilled out, mixed with thick saliva.

The dead person's unit patch was one even Gyeoul had never seen before. A blue insignia on a red background. It resembled a railroad bridge over a river.

Gyeoul retrieved his weapon, drew his pistol, and asked the two remaining infected.

"If you have any last words, I'll hear them."

But the two only sobbed aloud. Shooting them dead right away would also be too cold, and likely to harm the remaining personnel.

"Who is the senior here?"

"M-Me, sir."

The person who raised a hand and stepped forward held the rank of Sergeant. The letters on the name tape read OSBORNE.

A U.S. Army Sergeant was skilled, naturally, and had plenty of combat experience. That was probably why Osborne looked relatively intact. After confirming that Osborne showed no signs of madness, Gyeoul handed over the pistol. He spoke to the sergeant, who accepted it in confusion.

"Take these two people's last words, and if they become dangerous, do what needs to be done. I'll clean up outside and come back."

At the part about doing what needed to be done, Sergeant Osborne's shoulders shook.

If Gyeoul had had the time, he would have done it himself.

But he could not exactly hand over a knife and tell them to save bullets.

Around the time he helped the mobile unit sweep away the remaining mutants outside the building, a radio call came in from Baker Company, which had reached the perimeter of Reyes Station, and two gunshots rang out inside.

============================ Author’s Note ============================

#Signed Book Shipping

Originally, I planned to send all 10 volumes at once, but I feel as if I have made the people who already applied wait too long, so I am going to ship the first 8 volumes first.

Finding the time is the issue, but I think I will go to the post office by Friday at the latest.

I expect they will arrive around next Monday or Tuesday.

#Ebook

They say volume 6 of the ebook will come out around the first week of May. The editor-in-chief said they are adjusting things so the serialization stays two volumes ahead of the ebook.

In the end, that means the more I squeeze myself dry, the faster it comes out...

Uh...

T_T

#Q&A

Q. BlueCrystal: @Was it maybe because the description back then was too brutal?? What was the part you deleted from the book version, unlike the serialized version? I wanted to compare them. I think you said a while ago that it was around chapter 20, but I could not find where you wrote it.

A. It was not because it was too brutal, but because it ran afoul of obscenity review regulations. There was talk about the brutality at first too, but later I was told I did not have to revise that.

The scene in question is in chapter 24. It is the part where Chairman checks the merchandise before trading Gyeoul's body.

Q. Calpis: @Physical book... I want a signed book... I want to curse my frontal lobe for not even being able to write something like a review. If I invade R'lyeh, can I get one??

A. The gate to R'lyeh was recently moved to Guri City, Gyeonggi Province. Haha.

There are many people who say they need a signature on their ramen coaster, so I am thinking of holding something like a signing event later.

Q. PigDada: @You do not have to answer this! You only need to tell us the publication schedule for ebook volume 6~~~ Anyway, I laughed so much at the "I only trust the author Force," hahaha. I told my husband about it, and he laughed with me and said the author is cute, hahaha. I am probably a year or two older than the author, and my husband is a bit older than me, so it should be okay for us to find you cute, right? Haha. Thank you always for the good writing. I always read it happily!

A. People are naturally cuter the more legs they have. Even Cthulhu drives people who see it out of their minds. It is probably because it is too cute.

I am truly happy that my writing has become something enjoyable for the two of you. I will keep doing my best. :)

Footnotes:

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