WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 275: Boar Hunt (3)
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The other aircraft tucked in ahead of and behind the damaged plane, ready for another attack. If it came to the worst, they meant to trust their own airframes’ armor and shield it with their bodies. As a side benefit, their jamming capability was now concentrated around it.
[Alamo 3! This is Alamo Leader! Respond if you’re alive!]
The flight leader called the pilot who had been hit. The answer came back at once.
[This is Alamo 3. I’m not hurt.]
The pilot sounded calm, but the restrained voice shook badly. Since the pilot had said there were no injuries, though, it had to be either nerves or the vibration of the aircraft. Whooo. The flight leader’s relieved sigh made the comm channel crackle.
[Thank God. What’s your aircraft’s condition? Can you make it back to base?]
[The flaps are stiff, but I can still control it somehow. RPM on the left engine is dropping. And... hm, and it looks like I’m leaking fuel. Judging by speed... I think I’ll be barely bingo.]
Bingo was slang for the minimum amount of fuel needed to return.
‘The chance of dying is low, then.’
Gyeoul lowered the volume of the comm channel he shared with the flight. The attack aircraft called Thunderbolt was famous for being tough. Its pilot survival rate was especially high. Unless it had been blown completely apart, the pilot should be able to eject even in the worst case.
A new symbol appeared on the command terminal screen. It was the quick-response team, prepared for exactly this kind of situation. The problem was that they were in helicopters. Sending helicopters while surface-to-air missiles were flying sounded absurd, but they were flying at an extremely low altitude, practically glued to the ground. They swept past the company’s rear at high speed.
Beep beep beep beep. A buzzer drew Gyeoul’s attention. It was a signal that 2nd Platoon had found a Grumble and used anti-tank weapons. A solid red line extended from one of the vehicle symbols on the electronic map. The flight path of the launched missile. When a Grumble appeared, they did not need permission to use weapons.
As he controlled the spacing between platoons, Gyeoul asked, “Lieutenant Foster. Where do you think the enemy is?”
The enemy here, of course, did not mean the mutant horde. Foster thought for a moment, then pointed to a spot on the map.
“I believe they’re around here.”
The coordinates marked by the company operations officer were closer than expected. Just over the horizon. In terms of distance, it was only around five kilometers.
“Basis?”
“The power and tracking method of the missile the enemy used. If it had been a full-scale missile, Alamo 3 should normally have broken apart in midair. Also, flares alone partially fooled it, which means the missile had no radar of its own. So the conclusion is that they’re portable. Their maximum range should be roughly six kilometers.”
Gyeoul had not had many chances to learn things like this. It had not been included in his accelerated officer training either. That made sense. Where would surface-to-air missiles be useful in a fight against the plague?
“But I don’t think they fired from maximum range. If Alamo 3 had gotten even a little farther away, the missile would have run out of fuel. Accounting for evasive maneuvers, roughly five kilometers is the proper attack distance. Within five kilometers of the direction the missile came from, the only place suitable for an ambush is here, this mountainside.”
So the operations officer’s prediction was almost certainly correct.
Foster had been asked about something an officer should obviously know, so a faint trace of puzzlement had shown while answering. It did not last long. Foster seemed to remember Gyeoul’s special circumstances.
The quick-response team moved toward the point the operations officer had named at tremendous speed. Their symbols flickered as if teleporting every time the electronic map updated.
Even if they needed support, there were plenty of units closer than Gyeoul’s David Task Force. This side would not get a turn.
‘They’ll be treated pretty harshly...’
If any Chinese soldiers were captured alive, their treatment would be merciless.
This was not idle guesswork. The Chinese soldiers captured alive at Calpine 5 had already been treated that way. Because the confessions had been extracted without sparing torture or truth serum, because they had confirmed that Shangjiang Yang Yongbin’s remnants had no more nuclear or biochemical weapons, the current sweep had become possible.
Even they had not known the locations of their scattered comrades.
The Shangjiang seemed to have kept his troops’ ambush points secret even from his subordinates. Or perhaps they had never been set in the first place. If the goal was simply to create the Shangjiang’s specter, then where, what, and how they attacked would not have mattered.
Gyeoul, who had been coordinating company operations on the command terminal’s touchscreen, muttered as if to himself.
“It doesn’t feel much like I’m fighting.”
Touch and drag. In the control system modified for quarantine war specifications, the vehicles belonging to the task force responded nimbly to computerized command. It meant they waited calmly for orders even in the middle of battle. So there was no need to shout into the radio one vehicle at a time.
The communications officer, pale from vomiting, answered.
“Still, you’re doing well. The defense battle at Aidlin Base was an exceptional situation.”
Operations officer Foster added, eyes still on the terminal.
“I was warned before being assigned here, but I’m starting to think the higher-ups’ evaluation of you was too stingy, Major.”
“Warned?”
“Yes. You were promoted unusually quickly, after all. This may offend you, but...”
“No, not at all. I really do have plenty of shortcomings. That isn’t stingy. It’s cautious.”
The conversation ended there. Even if this was a one-sided pursuit and slaughter, it was not something a commander could take easy. Vehicles focused on the enemies in front of them kept breaking formation. Even against scattered mutants, pushing out alone was dangerous. He had no choice but to keep reminding them.
How long had passed like that?
“Alamo 3 says they’re making an emergency landing after all.”
At the communications officer’s report, Gyeoul frowned slightly.
“Emergency landing?”
“Yes! They say they’re landing on a two-lane road. It’s close to our task force’s attack route. Communications have now been lost... and Marigold has ordered us to advance to that location!”
The same order appeared on Gyeoul’s terminal. The predicted landing point blinked as a yellow symbol.
“Why didn’t they eject...?”
“Maybe the aircraft’s condition suddenly got worse. If gliding to a safe zone was difficult, an emergency landing might be safer. They can just stay inside.”
Attack aircraft that struck enemies within visual range were built to withstand anti-aircraft fire. So even if it came down in the middle of mutants, it should be safe. Assuming no Grumble or acid baby appeared.
In the end, they had to speed up.
‘It’ll be bad if casualties from the Chinese attack increase any further.’
Thinking that, Gyeoul measured the distance on the map.
“Twenty-one kilometers even by the shortest route... Too far. Lieutenant Evans! Any other support?”
“Alamo is returning because they’re out of ammunition. And, uh, Marigold says they’ll launch a Predator drone formation soon. Estimated time of arrival, thirteen minutes from now! Until then, we have to leave it to luck.”
Reviewing the terrain showed that they had to cross a stream ahead. It was a waterway that had not dried up even in this season, because an upstream dam had fully opened its floodgates to restrict the mutants’ paths.
The deep, rough current could not be crossed by mutants, and military vehicles could not cross it either.
Gyeoul narrowed his eyes a little.
“Anything besides Predators?”
“Nothing. It’s just us!”
The U.S. military was currently pouring everything into exterminating mutants. That meant higher units were tight on spare forces too. The quick-response team had already gone elsewhere.
The operations officer, having heard the exchange, looked at Gyeoul.
“What do we do? If we keep driving the mutants like this, Putah Point, the bridge over the river, will become a bottleneck soon. It’ll be hard to cross until we wipe them all out.”
The original plan had been to concentrate the mutant horde’s movement onto a pair of narrow bridges. They had discussed blowing up the bridges or dropping airborne troops to block them, but judged this safer than making the horde scatter in search of another route, or fighting a confused melee against a mutant horde whose path had been blocked.
In other words, if they wanted to shorten the time, they had to pass before the bottleneck formed.
The deputy company commander, grasping the situation, gave an opinion over the radio.
[Sir. Even if we ignore the mutants here and run at maximum speed, we’ll only arrive around the same time as the Predators. I believe it’s better to continue the operation as we are. The sky will buy us time until we arrive.]
“What if the enemy threat is greater than the drones’ firepower?”
[Aerial reconnaissance hasn’t identified anything... but the possibility exists.]
“Missiles can’t take down Deadlers.”
[...Yes.]
Deadlers, acid babies, were not creatures that only clung to Grumbles. Other units had reported cases of them clinging to ghouls. In those cases, they were difficult to distinguish even with infrared. Firing missiles at them was also hard because the target was too small.
“And what if the canopy or fuselage is broken and even ordinary mutants become dangerous? They call it a highway, but the road surface must be a mess. Do you really think they landed properly?”
[The possibility isn’t zero. Then will you divide the unit? It would also be bad if a gap opens on this side. If there’s an opening in the encirclement...]
If mutants leaked through the gap and appeared in the allies’ rear, it would become troublesome. It would not be a major threat, but they could not ignore it either, so the pursuit in this area would slow down. The point of reorganization would be delayed that much, and a great many mutants would escape alive.
Command must have issued the rescue order knowing that.
The rest depended on Gyeoul’s judgment as commander.
“We’ll send in the support service unit. I’ll pull out the engineering corps. Depending on the aircraft’s condition, it may have to be dismantled. We’ll need the medical team too.”
At this point, they could not be sure of the pilot’s condition. If the pilot was safe, that would be fortunate, but as commander, he had to always assume the worst.
‘Did attack aircraft have a fuel dump function?’
If not, they also had to worry about fire after landing. A pilot forced to come outside would have to face mutants with a single pistol. Assuming the pilot was well enough to fight.
“Captain, take command. We’ll meet again shortly.”
Nobody objected to Gyeoul’s decision to race ahead with them. The individual combat ability of the engineering corps was by no means low, but their equipment made them somewhat unsuited to ordinary combat.
[I wish you luck.]
“You too, Captain. Nothing much should happen, though.”
Gyeoul immediately called Lieutenant Montgomery of the engineering corps and Captain Jo Yun-chang of the medical team.
“You know the situation. The engineering corps and medical team need to move. Under my command, we’ll cross the river with a force exceeding an independent company. The engineering corps will take the front and flanks, and the medical team will follow. Understood?”
[Yes sir.]
[...Uh, hm, yes.]
“Leave slow vehicles behind and join up in combat formation.”
Captain Jo Yun-chang sounded deeply flustered. Jo was a skilled doctor, but not a skilled soldier. Like Gyeoul’s, Jo’s officer training had been accelerated. Still, it was something that had to be experienced someday. Military doctors and medics were professions that treated allies while fighting enemies directly when circumstances demanded it.
After exchanging a look, the operations officer grabbed the internal radio.
“Sergeant Dowell! Floor it to the coordinates I marked! I don’t care if the engine blows!”
[Are you telling me to break formation?]
“The engineering corps will cover us!”
Sergeant Dowell was an experienced soldier dispatched to operate the armored vehicle. So Dowell took the order to drive until the engine blew exactly as given. Gaaaang! At the sharply rising exhaust note, the communications officer put on a resigned expression. It was an urgent situation where every second mattered, but the officer was still carsick.
Boom, thud, kaboom!
The vehicle body shook wildly in every direction. Added to that was the heavy machine gun fire that made the interior ring. It was the remote weapon station of the command armored vehicle, which had rarely had a chance to fire until now. The heavy whump was the impact of the nearly twenty-ton vehicle crushing four mutants at once as it passed over them. They could not be seen on the external observation camera, but they must have been thoroughly mashed under the eight wheels. Blood splashed onto the observation lens, turning the darkness of night reddish.
‘In truth, this isn’t difficult.’
That was Gyeoul’s judgment. The Predators would take care of the Grumbles, and he was confident he could overwhelm everything else. It would be impossible alone, but with troops to command, yes. The time they had to endure was less than an hour, even by a long estimate.
========== Author’s Note ==========
#Today’s recommended song - Alex Boye, “New Born.”
#Too Stingy
I hate how stingy the food being sold lately feels.
First, jajangmyeon. In the old days, there used to be plenty of sauce left even after mixing the noodles, but these days there is so little sauce that I cannot even think about ordering a large portion. Even the regular size barely mixes properly. Naengmyeon is the same. There is so little seasoning that the noodles end up clumping together...
The neighborhood I moved to is especially bad. It does not matter what kind of business. They even put only a quarter of a ramen pack into rabokki... too much... sob sob.
I would rather pay more and have one tasty meal...
#Q&A
Q. UnlimitedOne: @So it’s a big piece of crap called Shangjiang Yang’s final arrangement. Wow, to the very end...
A. The Shangjiang is also someone who saw the same possibility of apocalypse that Gyeoul sees.
Q. fnlshsk: @Author, I had a dream today where Volume 8 of Ossuary was placed face-out in a bookstore, somewhere very visible, and Volumes 7 to 1 of Ossuary were lined up to the right. When can this dream come true?
How badly must a reader want it to dream about it!! ★Do a mass release★!!
A. Still, the ebook is out up to Volume 9. Sob. I can’t do a mass release...
Q. Eternal_Valkyrie: @Is that Chinese female general alive? And will they be able to reach Panama safely... It must be full of jungle, like the Vietnam War America failed in... shiver... from southern Mexico to Panama...
A. A specific character’s life or death is also a question about future developments, so I cannot answer. And yes, getting to Panama will be difficult... hehe. As always, you will know when you read it.
Q. Qvex: @Please let the Chinese Americans and innocent refugees be safe. If there is no childlike innocence even here... reality... It reminds me of the refugee issue in Europe.
A. That is right. Even though reality is in a much better situation, public opinion toward refugees is not good. It should be easy to imagine public opinion in the story.
Q. ElloirelLulKrantz: @If you serialize 40,000 years later, then you’ll be serializing on the Eye of Terrornet? I’ll be waiting in the Warp!!
A. Huh? Weren’t you already in the Warp?... That’s strange.
Q. SnowWind: @Throwing 13 coupons!! Buy yourself something tasty!
A. Thank you. I bought pizza last weekend. It had been a while, so it was good.
Q. qgegegqe: @Raid stories are popular these days, and unless there are magical elements like true physical immunity, advanced weapons really are the best.
A. That is right. Modern weapons are incredibly powerful. If you want to defeat things that can bounce tank shells with swords... they are already not human.
Q. KTH: @The final form of mutants I imagine / Major organs like the brain and heart move to the center of the body, where they are easy to protect with an endoskeleton and exoskeleton / Bipedal movement is bad for mobility and balance, so they use quadrupedal movement / Additional hands for tool use and climbing trees or walls / Tentacles and compound eyes with wide fields of vision / Humps that store nutrients / That is about what comes to mind. I do not know much about the endocrine side, so I pass it to the next person.
A. You are imagining a near all-purpose individual. In the story, they are moving toward specialization by individual, and I personally think that may be more efficient. Haha.
Footnotes:
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