WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 263: Valley of Death (9)

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The plague-swarmed trenches grew in number with every passing minute of combat. Seen from the sky, it would have looked like dozens of crooked lines clawing toward the power plant. The foul-smelling mutants inside them, in the pitch-black night on the black earth, might have looked like white maggots boiling inside wounds cut into the ground.

Gyeoul, riding in the company command vehicle, gestured urgently.

"West! Toward Viper high ground!"

The engine note climbed sharply. The driver, jaw trembling, handled the vehicle roughly. The whole time they raced along the maneuver route inside the defensive position, thick shell casings poured down from the roof. Boom, boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom! The heavy machine gun fired in bursts toward the side as they moved. It was shooting at the trench entrances packed full below.

Shooooo-

A new illumination round burst. On the mountain slope, lit pale, the shadows of a plague horde that had gone around the battlefield stretched long. It was the only direction inside the crescent-shaped valley that sat higher than the base. The ridge descending toward the base had been named Viper because it looked like a snake.

Thanks to sensory correction, he could tell right away which side was most urgent. That was lucky.

[2-Actual! This is 2-2-Bravo! Squad leader wounded! Enemy has dug in to thirty meters ahead!]

A radio call from 2nd Platoon was looking for the platoon leader. Jin-seok’s reply came at once, with no regard for regulations or anything else.

[You cowardly bastard! They still have a hundred meters left! Use grenades, thermobaric munitions, whatever you have, and push them back!]

Gyeoul quickly searched his memory. 2-2, meaning 2nd Platoon’s 2nd Squad, was in a position he could not see from here. It was far outside the range of sensory correction too. Was it really thirty meters, or had fear warped their sense of distance? For now, all he could do was trust Jin-seok. The recklessness Captain Singh had warned him about worried him.

'Are the other bases safe?'

The question flashed through his mind. Had Calpine 5, whose communications were cut off, only been bait? If the mutants had done it, cutting communications here right before the attack would have been the better move too. Alpha Battery was still dropping heavy shells for them nonstop, and their connections to the other task forces were still alive. There were too many oddities to chalk this up to the trickery of cunning creatures.

There was no time to think it through. Gyeoul stopped the Humvee and compared what he saw with the tactical map on his PDA. When he pressed down with the pen, coordinates for the location appeared in less than a second.

"Mortar section! This is David Actual!"

Gyeoul took the radio and gave the mortar section a new fire mission.

"Gun One, keep firing illumination rounds! Gun Two and Gun Three, stand by!"

[Gun Two, Gun Three standing by, confirmed!]

"Coordinates! Oscar, Romeo, 6-1-9-5, 4-4-7-0, high-explosive fire mission, ten rounds for effect! Fire when ready! Break!"

Normally, the proper procedure was to wait for one round to land, check the impact point, and adjust the coordinates. But the target was a broad mass of trench lines, wide enough that a little error could be ignored. This was the mutants’ first time doing serious digging too, so their spacing was a complete mess. The paths clawed down from the ridge looked like a cramped, tangled maze. At least the maze was spreading slowly. Even for tough mutants, making a long detour outside firing range and climbing a much higher mountain could not have been easy. Especially not for the ones wearing heavy body armor in this heat.

Twenty mortar rounds fell in succession to the left and right of the watershed. Seven of them plunged straight into the ground. Dead or dying things were thrown out of the trenches soon after. One of them, flung aside and gasping, kept crawling down with both arms even while vomiting pieces of entrails from its mouth.

"Same coordinates! Keep firing!"

After confirming the accuracy, Gyeoul shouted into the radio and got out of the Humvee.

"Vehicle! Defend this position until further orders!"

"Yes sir!"

The Humvee gunner answered. Once attacks from the other directions were blocked, the mutants were concentrating their strength on this side. The Trickster lurking somewhere behind them did not even show a shadow. Soldiers who had been frozen with fear saw their company commander and looked relieved.

[Actual! Actual! This is 4-1 Alpha! Our grenade launcher has been disabled! Direct hit by a Deadler!]

Even though many radios were broken, the calls looking for Gyeoul did not stop.

"This is Actual! 4-1, casualties? Is defense impossible?"

[Two lightly wounded! One seriously wounded! We can continue the mission! But we need airburst support! Enemy numbers have dropped, but we cannot hold them off with only the M2 heavy machine gun!]

"Confirmed! I will readjust 4-2’s vehicle position, out!"

The Crisis Detection he felt from 4th Platoon’s side was not high. They did not seem to need reinforcements yet.

Things flashed and burned for an instant in midair even though they were not illumination rounds. Babies were being seared by lasers. Kyaaaaaak- Screams fell sizzling, spraying guts from ruptured bodies.

"Reloading!"

Near Gyeoul, the light machine gun, M240, gunner warned of a gap in firepower. White smoke rose from the gun. The gunner had been firing like mad with a five-hundred-round backpack magazine. In this heat, that was literally insane. It was a miracle the barrel had not warped. With shaking hands, the gunner opened a canteen and poured water over it. The panting lips had dried white. But the condition of the gun came before thirst.

Gyeoul sensed a line-of-fire warning and shouted with all his strength.

"Everybody down!"

Papapapapapak!

Sandbags in the defensive position burst in a straight line. Dry dirt poured over the heads of the crouching soldiers. Gyeoul slipped away from the tingling trajectory and swept his eyes over the far side of the vanished line of fire. The ones who had just opened fire were enhanced variants that had once been U.S. troops. They had overcome immune rejection, undergone repeated enhancement, and gained unusual intelligence. He had expected a day like this would come eventually. There were only five of them.

Tatata! Tatatatatang!

Gyeoul’s return fire killed four instantly, but the last one miraculously survived. It reloaded. Gyeoul reloaded too. But the ghoul roared in fury at the magazine that kept slipping out. Of course it did. It was holding the magazine backward.

Tang!

Gyeoul’s single shot finished it. Then he threw grenades one by one toward the direction where the rifle should have fallen, so other ghouls, if there were any, could not pick it up and use it. Gyeoul relaxed after seeing the explosions.

'That was a relief, at least.'

The monsters had no concept of firing in bursts, so they emptied their magazines in two seconds. Since they did not know how to aim properly, they had also exposed half their bodies to point-shoot. Otherwise, they would have been hard to handle.

And there had only been five. Since no cases had been reported until now, it must have been a card the cunning higher variant behind them had saved and saved before playing. The Trickster corpses were the same. The more they wasted here, the lighter the burden on the other fronts would be.

He had to prepare in case more appeared, but had they really secured that much ammunition? Survivors and stragglers had suffered because they had no ammunition.

The supply boxes dropped with locks attached were built to explode if forced open.

"Medic! Medic!"

A soldier had been hit by a grenade that bounced off the wall. Someone called for a medic in a ragged cry. It was not a serious wound, but it must have felt different to the person wounded.

The anti-aircraft gun, Centurion, deployed here was reloading. Technicians soaked in sweat inserted an ammunition belt into the feeder. The motor spun, and the belt was pulled in. They were loading 1,500 rounds at once. Gyeoul bought them that time. Taking a direct hit from a baby during loading would be a problem. The babies flying in burst apart in order from the closest. Even then, he was busy answering radio calls looking for the company commander and grasping the battle situation. He shouted an order to the communications soldier.

"Tell 4-3 Alpha to report their situation!"

After noticing gunfire had dropped in a certain direction, Gyeoul gave the order while bursting three warped babies in succession. The communications soldier contacted 4th Platoon’s 3rd Squad with breaths that sounded as if they might stop at any moment.

"Two personnel evacuated! Squad leader killed in action! Enemy pressure, haah, has decreased!"

Baaaaaak!

The anti-aircraft gun came back to life, and another umbrella of barrage spread across the sky where thunder had grown sparse. During that opening, Gyeoul looked down at the torn-up mountain slope and took the handset from the communications soldier.

"Technical team! Can the signal beacon operate now?"

[We replaced the circuit earlier! But the enemy EMP is still present, is it not?]

"Doesn’t matter! Turn it on first!"

[Understood!]

The situation was different from before. It must have been an unavoidable choice for the cunning higher variant, but there were now too many paths dug into the ground. The plague would be boiling inside each trench. A ghoul’s control range was narrow. If they could break that control for even one instant, just one...

"All units! Stand by to detonate Claymores!"

Gyeoul readied the Claymores.

Graaaaaaaah-!

The moment the signal beacon activated, the mutants poured out like a wave. Their foul sweat rode the wind and pushed in. One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds... As if another Trickster corpse had exploded somewhere, the Humvees sputtered and their engines died. But countless mutants were already in the soldiers’ sights. The slaughter began the moment they kicked out of the trenches.

"Shoot them all dead!"

Schultz’s shout came from somewhere. At the same time, the close-range Claymores that had not had a chance to be used until now detonated all at once. The slope packed with barbed wire was paved in new corpses and blood in an instant. The number killed in only a few seconds seemed like it had to be counted in the hundreds.

From that moment, the mutants’ momentum faded. It felt less like accumulated damage had worn them down and more like they were looking for another way to collapse the defensive line.

But the dry thunderstorm died down completely, and the sky returned to human territory. The communications soldier, who had been focusing on contact, held the handset out to Gyeoul.

"Support from the Apache flight. I think you need to take this directly."

There was no way they had arrived this quickly. It seemed they had been waiting in nearby airspace the whole time, rotating shifts. A voice he had heard once before came from the speaker.

[...I repeat. David Actual, this is Hammer Fall. We have been assigned a close support mission for your side. Break. This flight will enter the combat airspace via IP Pride as of now. ETA T-minus two minutes. Flight spacing nonstandard. Break. Available armament is 4,800 high-explosive rounds, 152 airburst incendiary rounds, and 8 Hellfire anti-tank missiles. Do you acknowledge?]

"This is David Actual. I acknowledge clearly. Out."

[Requesting confirmation of target information.]

"Line Golf, one or more Grumbles exist beyond the ridge north of the base. They are throwing enhanced variant Deadlers that have acquired gliding ability, so be careful. Break. Once the Grumbles are eliminated, we will stop our anti-aircraft fire. Break. From Line Bravo to Line Gamma, enemies of unknown scale are constructing trench lines. Engage that side at Hammer Fall’s discretion. Out."

[...Line Bravo to Line Gamma, enemies of unknown scale, constructing trench lines. Is that correct?]

The response sounded doubtful.

"Correct. Is there a problem?"

[No. Any additional information?]

"None, over."

[Confirmed. Ending transmission.]

Gyeoul checked the time. While they were communicating, the remaining time had shrunk, and they would now arrive in just over a minute. He still could not hear the engines because of the rugged terrain. The mutants crouching in the ground would be easy prey for an attack helicopter flight with far stronger EMP resistance. This time, there was no need to get close to the ground like in the great forest either. They only had to observe the mutants’ body heat with infrared and pour shells, rockets, and missiles into them from far away.

Kwa-rung!

The peak across the valley lit up like the moment of sunrise. A warped scream echoed with the roar of the blast. A new radio transmission came at once.

[David Actual. Grumble eliminated.]

"Good. Hammer Fall, enter in twenty seconds."

After replying, Gyeoul contacted the technical team and stopped the anti-aircraft guns.

At last, heavy engine noise began to echo through the valley, pounding against the ground. There was no way the cunning monsters did not know what that sound meant. Like a swarm of insects fleeing a natural enemy, pale and filthy plague began flowing down from countless cracks in the chaotic mountainside. The way they tangled together and rolled down was closer to liquid than solid. It was a flood of rotten bodies.

Crouching would only mean dying in the end.

Kwakwa-boom! Kwakwakwaboom!

From hundreds of meters away, Hammer Fall flight poured down precise cannon fire. Harsh static came through the radio Gyeoul was watching. Another electromagnetic pulse had gone off. But the barrage did not stop for even a moment. To the mutants, the four attack helicopters were invisible ghosts.

After firing until he had only one spare magazine left, Gyeoul confirmed that even the nearby ammunition box was empty and lowered the muzzle, which was giving off acrid smoke.

"Cease fire, all units. Maintain security posture only, and tell each platoon to check personnel and report."

"Yes, understood."

While the communications soldier relayed the order, Gyeoul sat on the edge of the defensive position and wiped away sweat. His heart, only a sensation, was still pounding fast.

Before his eyes stretched a night bursting, burning, and filled with death.

He hoped this had been the last gasp of the mutants remaining in the American West.

========== Author's Note ==========

#Jamming

The Trickster’s jamming was not shown in the main story partly because of the terrain, and there are other reasons as well. It will be mentioned briefly in the next chapter. It is not especially important, though.

#Q&A

Q. Eeiko: @Dan Dae-ho Was the unidentified platoon actually a horde of plagues? The combat scene came out of nowhere, so my brain is having trouble keeping up... Did communications get cut off, and then Gyeoul went over and immediately started fighting?

A. At the end of the previous chapter, Gyeoul said they should prepare to go provide support, then focus on their own work. They fought from their original position. I cannot say anything yet about Calpine 5.

Q. UnlimitedOne: @I see, so if you overload a corpse that died from overload, it can be recycled again, huh (.....) What a thrifty spirit of recycling. I wonder how the higher-ups will react if they get a report on this. It is a night where summer is hotter than ever and growing longer.

A. Guaaaaak: UnlimitedOne/I do not think it means overloading a corpse that died from overload. It probably means overloading a Trickster corpse killed by bombing or gunfire.

What Guaaaaak said is correct. It was explained that way in the main story as well.

Q. PumpkinPumpkin: @Looks like you got dragged into PC gaming again today...

A. My evil Programmer friend keeps recommending that I buy a PlayStation, but because my nature is good, I will never acquire a wicked object like a PlayStation.

Q. qgegegqe: @I went to Japan this time, and Disneyland and Akihabara were overflowing with childlike innocence. I am sure Virtual Reality overflows with that kind of childlike innocence too!!

A. In Virtual Reality, as long as you have money, anything can be provided.

Q. Hoch: @This is out of nowhere, but if you write a new work after finishing The Little Prince in the Ossuary, could you tell us what genre it would be?

A. I have mentioned plans for follow-up works through the Author’s Note before. Wilderness of the Interstellar Quarantine Officer, Like a Rhinoceros Horn, Age of Fire, Walking Nine Steps in Eight Directions, and so on... I have not settled on one yet, so it is hard to state with certainty what genre it will be.

Q. NoblesseBuffer: @Salt and Sanctuary is fun too, haha.

A. Dark Souls is enough for me...

Q. Gwangseoja: @I see, so you are preparing to gather childlike innocence and eat mala fried noodles...! I guess I still lack childlike innocence.

A. I am not eating something that vicious... What if I eat it, get an upset stomach, and cannot write the novel...

Q. Sasins: @If it is games, Ori and the Forest is a game that can give the author childlike innocence. Fantastic BGM, fantastic backgrounds and illustrations!! I recommend trying it!

A. That is a game I recommended to readers before... I think it is a problem that there are so many evil readers trying to trick the author this way.

Q. Chubaechu: @I ended up staying up all night because I wanted to read everything before my leave ended, haha. I pray that you receive my childlike innocence too and write more than 100 chapters by my next leave.

A. For there to be more than 100 chapters piled up, your next leave would need to be in roughly a year...

Q. LightAndTwilight: @I rushed through it, so I do not remember the contents well and am rereading from the start. I think this is top-tier among zombie stories. It is so fun, haha.

A. It falls far short of being called top-tier. Still, thank you for looking on it kindly.

Footnotes:

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