WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 410: Wind from High Places (8)

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Before dawn on June 26, Gyeoul sat inside a transport plane thirty-five thousand feet above sea level, looking at his pocket watch. In the quiet of the dim cargo bay, the tick of turning gears mingled with breathing that sounded louder than usual. It was because of the oxygen mask he wore ahead of the drop. In a high-altitude drop that would send them falling several thousand meters in a short time, breathing pure oxygen beforehand to lower the nitrogen concentration in the blood was essential. Otherwise, decompression sickness could kill them.

Beep.

With the electronic tone, the interior lights changed color. It was the signal that pressure adjustment in the cargo bay was beginning ahead of the drop. Gyeoul swallowed, clearing the muffled feeling in his ears. The rear ramp would open soon. In the red-lit cabin, the battalion staff climbed into the command armored vehicle loaded with piles of parachutes. Gyeoul followed them in. He sat down, secured himself with the belt, then looked at his watch again and waited.

About three minutes later.

The vibration climbing through his feet and back grew stronger. He could hear the hydraulic motor running. Along with it, the sound of the wind deepened. The inside of the armored vehicle hummed. After dozens of drop drills, this was all familiar. Gyeoul put away his watch and counted silently. Three, two, one.

Clunk! The locking mechanism released, and the armored vehicle slid along the rails of the transport bay. After the violent vibration came sudden weightlessness. Communications officer Evans, weak to this sort of thing, swallowed hard. During the first few drops, chronic motion sickness and nerves had led to vomiting.

It was understandable. The inside of an armored vehicle was cramped. They were trapped in a tight space and thrown from high altitude. It would be stranger not to be on edge.

The Russian airborne troops had not liked it either.

Under the conventional method they had trained for, when an armored vehicle was airdropped by parachute, the parachute was supposed to open the moment it left the transport plane.

The method used for Ground Zero Vacuum was different. The vehicle would freefall for a set time, and only after reaching a specific altitude would the parachute deploy. This was called HALO, and Gyeoul had heard this was the first time it had ever been applied to an armored vehicle drop.

Watching the high-altitude night view captured by the external observation camera, Gyeoul thought.

‘They said DEVGRU had similar experience.’

As expected of America’s most elite special forces, they had once managed this kind of drop while riding in boats. Aside from the drop zone being at sea, the overall conditions had been similar.

Put another way, the Independent Battalion, now proficient in such an unusual drop, had gained the bare minimum qualification to be called special forces. Combat strength was not the standard for special forces.

All that remained was real combat experience.

The U.S. command understood that too. Deploying the Independent Battalion was, in effect, the president’s personal decision, but if the troops were going to be sent anyway, they would not be sent in half-prepared.

That was the same reason Gyeoul now found himself looking down at the southern sky over Mexico’s central plateau.

Gyeoul said, “Isn’t it beautiful?!”

Most of the staff did not understand him. Only Major Singh, the deputy battalion commander, nodded while looking at the same view.

“It is a sight I would like to show my wife!”

Major Singh’s voice was tighter than usual, but it was a fine display of composure. The mention of a wife made Gyeoul think of Anne as he looked at the external observation monitor. The horizon of nimbostratus clouds lit by the moon and stars was tilted about thirty-five degrees to one side. It was hard to feel without any sense of gravity, but it meant the armored vehicle was plunging at that angle.

About a minute after the drop began, the parachute finally deployed.

Sudden pressure crushed down on everyone aboard. Gyeoul also felt a brief stab of breathlessness. Hanging from the parachute, the armored vehicle swung like a pendulum. It took a while for the swaying to settle.

About five minutes after that, the armored vehicle finally landed.

Thud!

The engagement began at once.

「Two o’clock, range eighty, fire!」

At the vehicle commander’s shout, the unmanned turret rotated. Boom boom boom boom! Heavy gunfire hammered the vehicle body. The sound of shell casings rolling over the armor was clear as well. Gyeoul shared the gunner’s screen through the console. Mutants bursting from the brush were torn apart.

Kyaaaaaak!

Hungry cries he witnessed firsthand. As if they had spotted the parachutes descending through the rain clouds, mutants came running in packs from every part of the bare mountainside. It was a sight he had not seen in a long time, and not one he was glad to see. It was not much of a threat.

The mutant horde was as vicious as ever, but its movements were also confused.

‘Rather than there being no individual exerting control...’

It felt more like they did not know how to deal with armored vehicles dropping all around them at once. This sort of assault had to be unfamiliar even to a Trickster. Even if it did understand, responding would still be difficult, since there was no way to know when or where the assault would come.

Boom!

Cannon fire rang out, followed by an explosion. An airborne tank that had just detached its parachute had fired a high-explosive round at close range. Thanks to the autoloader, its rate of fire was high, and with the engagement distance so short, aiming took almost no time. Death scattered wherever the night flashed. The tank moved roughly, covered in blood and flesh. Mutants struck by its mass were dragged beneath the tracks.

Gyeoul grabbed the radio.

“Each vehicle! Prioritize assembly over engagement! We are taking the hill on the right and heading south! Concentrate fire along the stream below it and the dirt road on this side! Ignore small enemies and keep moving!”

The armor on airborne armored vehicles and tanks was very thin compared to other armored vehicles, but even so, it was not weak enough for ordinary mutants to tear apart with their nails. It could stop bullets without trouble.

Gyeoul checked the tactical map. Based on the coordinates, they were 1.3 kilometers north of the assembly point. The Trickster’s radio jamming was faint. That meant the cunning bastard was watching from a distance. From its perspective, faking its distance was too risky. In terrain with repeated curves and ridges, it would have to come within their range.

‘Living shells will start raining down soon.’

The acid-resistant coating did not perfectly protect every part of the armored vehicle. Deadlers also had incendiary variants. The coating was weak to fire. That was why they could not stay pinned in place and trust their defenses. It went without saying, but acid babies had poor accuracy against moving targets.

“Blue signal, fire!”

At Gyeoul’s order, a signal flare launched from the command armored vehicle. It was bright enough to be visible across several kilometers. Flares from each company followed. If any vehicle had dropped in the wrong position, it would follow the light. Mutants would gather too, but they could not keep up with armored vehicles. By the time their numbers came in earnest, the troops under Gyeoul’s command would already be gone.

So far, no rescue signal had gone up. Their training had clearly paid off.

Bravo Company of the Independent Battalion, which had many Chinese members, assembled in a village named San Mateo Sosola. Charlie Company, which had many Japanese members, and Delta Company, which had many former Korean military personnel, would complete their first assembly at another village farther south. Finally, Alpha Company was scheduled to link up under its own power from a point four kilometers to the west. In other words, the most dangerous position had been entrusted to the troops Gyeoul trusted most.

The goal of this mission was for the units dropped in different locations to link up again and again over roughly eighty kilometers, growing in size as they went, destroy one of the mutants’ breeding strongholds, and ultimately support the Ranger Company that had secured Oaxaca International Airport.

Static on the radio grew heavier. Its strength had actually weakened, though, and it came only in bursts. The Trickster had no choice but to fear anti-radiation missiles.

「Multiple mutant hordes at twelve o’clock and ten o’clock!」

Gyeoul assessed the situation instantly.

“Break through! They are trying to herd us to one side! Do not stop for even a moment!”

If they detoured or stopped, that would be exactly what the cunning bastard wanted.

“David Actual to all units! Radio silence for one minute starting now! Report emergencies only!”

Gyeoul cut off communications. About thirty seconds later, after sustained gunfire and cannon fire, the armored vehicle column crashed into the wave of the mutant horde. The command armored vehicle also drove through mutants throwing themselves at it, crushing them with suppressive fire and sheer mass. Gyeoul and the others aboard felt the unpleasant inertia. Thud, thunk! Kweeeek! The lucky ones that had climbed aboard hammered on the top armor. One had all its limbs intact. Another clung on with only its upper body, gasping for breath. The observation camera on the unmanned turret filled with yellowed teeth. A pitch-black tongue licked the lens. Every Infection Protrusion was clear enough to make out. Then...

Thwack!

The mutant’s head shattered. Brain matter and body fluids sprayed over the lens and blurred it, but the situation was not hard to understand. Another armored vehicle had fired. Each vehicle poured small-caliber fire toward the others, scraping off the leech-like plagues.

Immediately after, a mass of distorted babies came hurtling down from the sky at two o’clock. Their path was slightly off, however. That was because this side had neither opened distance against the mutant horde nor detoured around it.

Gyeoul’s prediction had been correct.

‘I figured it would be somewhere it couldn’t observe us directly.’

That was why he had ordered silence even though radio communication was possible.

The acid and incendiary babies fought desperately to change direction. But Bravo Company was following Gyeoul’s orders and driving off the road along the watershed of a slightly higher hill. Because the impact point had shifted relatively higher, most of the sick babies failed to hit their mark and burst in the wrong places with wet cracks and thuds. Every face that broke apart was twisted with pain and rage.

After breaking through, Bravo Company stopped where old Mexico National Route 1350 met the stream. It was about ten minutes later that the rest of the force, excluding Alpha Company, appeared. Now only Alpha Company had to link up.

“Each company will establish defensive lines according to plan.”

After delivering the new order, Gyeoul opened the top armor hatch and leaned out. The drizzling rain was not enough to hinder his enhanced vision. As Gyeoul looked around, his gaze fixed on a certain rock. It looked like an ordinary stone, but something about it subtly stimulated Gyeoul’s sensory correction.

“David Actual to David 2-1-Bravo. Run over the rock at your three o’clock.”

The vehicle in question did not understand what Gyeoul meant and only moved after confirming the order again. As the armored vehicle approached, the rock twitched. In an instant, it changed into the form of a monster with the texture of stone and began to flee. Soon, however, the armored vehicle’s sudden acceleration crushed it under its wheels.

Kiaaaaaa.

Blood burst out. As the creature screamed, its limbs flashed through a variety of colors and textures in the span of a moment. Appendages with astonishing elasticity lashed the ground in every direction like whips. Pooled rainwater sprayed up noisily. Countless Infection Protrusions seethed across the surface of the appendages.

It was a real whipper, a special mutant.

This engagement was also suitable preparation for Ground Zero Vacuum because they were facing mutants they had never encountered before.

‘If I get careless, even I could be in danger...’

A presence that even Gyeoul’s senses could barely catch. Unlike the limited level of a Melville Ray, it clearly possessed a more complete 「Presence Concealment」. A trait that neutralized detection through sensory correction. Against something like an enhanced variant whipper, there seemed to be no method except carefully checking the surroundings. They would have to advance while putting a bullet into every suspicious piece of terrain.

Infection by a whipper was even more dangerous because it had an incubation period. It was the kind of monster that infected someone with a grazing touch from a blind spot using its long appendages, then waited for the infection to spread from within.

All troops had been briefed in advance, but in offensive force operations, dismounted combat would be best avoided.

The soldiers deployed on this front were not having an easy fight either.

The operations officer’s voice came up from inside the armored vehicle.

“Enemy movement observed from the front and three o’clock!”

Gyeoul shouted down.

“I see it! This is according to plan, so tell everyone to stay calm and wait!”

The static over the radio grew heavier than before.

The Independent Battalion currently had a small river at its back, and the bridge that should have crossed it was broken in the middle. There were signs of deliberate destruction. The culprit was probably one or more Grumbles. This, too, was the result of the cunning ones learning the importance of bridge piers.

In other words, to the Trickster, the Independent Battalion would look as if it had been pinned in front of a broken bridge.

‘Come.’

To attack the Independent Battalion in this position, the mutants would have to crawl out of their original stronghold. The high ground where the acid and incendiary babies were concentrated was especially important. Even if a Grumble threw a baby, there could be no other hill along the path if they wanted to put the Independent Battalion within lethal gliding range.

A short while later, new parachutes appeared behind the mutants, descending through the clouds. It was a drop on a much larger scale than the Independent Battalion’s. The noise from the battalion’s engagement had drawn in the nearby mutants, creating the perfect environment for a regiment-sized force to drop silently.

And as the final piece of the trap, Alpha Company appeared, all but blocking off the remaining direction.

With that, the long-stretched mutant column could no longer avoid an encircling attack.

Gyeoul closed the hatch, climbed back down, and picked up the radio.

“All vehicles, open fire! Shoot everything you can see!”

The Independent Battalion only had to hold here. Tightening the encirclement was the job of the Russian airborne troops, who had overwhelming numbers and firepower, and once it was fully tightened, the Air Force would finish things with a bombing run.

Footnotes:

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