Hiding a Logistics Center in the Apocalypse - Episode 26
(The Knights of Camelot (3))
Hwooooosh…
The air defense bases on Bukhansan were completely engulfed in flames.
The cause of the fire was unidentified meteorites that had suddenly fallen from the sky.
Dozens of asteroids had smashed the anti-aircraft artillery that had been scanning the skies.
Kwaaaa!
That majestic roar was still going strong.
No, rather, it had grown several times more powerful.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump…
We were moving by helicopter.
Thanks to having smashed both the air defense bases and the guided anti-aircraft artillery that had formed the defense line.
And then…
“Now, this is where it really starts.”
Kwaaaaang!
Kwaaarrr!
Straddling the edge of the Black Hawk’s transport bay, I dropped all sorts of items stored in my subspace.
From 25kg chrome-plated dumbbells, fragmentation grenades, P999K radios, Korandos, Retonas, two-and-a-half-ton trucks, and even another Black Hawk.
I didn’t forget to mix in gravity-empowered fireballs either.
Kwaaang-!
As expected, the impact was devastating.
Accompanied by a piercing thunderclap, the falling objects blew away the ground itself.
Billowing flames of the explosion rose into the air.
It was a blow that had completely destroyed their main strongholds, but there was one fact more important than that.
Namely…
Ding!
[The number of Magic Stones you possess is 2,819.]
[The number of Magic Stones you possess is 2,827.]
[The number of Magic Stones you possess is 2,841…]
The steadily swelling balance in my account.
It had nothing to do with
From atop the helicopter, the retrieval range hadn’t reached.
Yet Magic Stones kept coming in.
In short…
“So this is the purpose of the Dimensional Account.”
“That is correct.”
Lancelot, sitting beside me, elaborated.
“If you have a Dimensional Account, you can obtain Magic Stones simply by severing the lives of other beings.”
A fully automated system.
Now, there was no longer any need to go out of my way to activate
All I had to do was listen to the sound of bowling balls falling and the final breaths of my enemies.
Magic Stones numbering nearly 3,000.
It was an unimaginable fortune compared to before, yet the frustration remained.
Because I had heard the following news from Pax:
[The number of Magic Stones required to achieve Level 4 is 10,000.]
‘It’s absurdly expensive…’
Making a mockery of my growth rate, it had leaped up tenfold again in no time.
I couldn’t even guess when the next level up would come.
We were almost at our destination now.
As the helicopter lowered its altitude, the enemies’ screams became that much clearer.
“Kuwaaaaack!”
A spine-chilling shriek.
What I was killing now weren’t people.
To be precise, they were things that had once been people.
Pointed ears had pierced through their skin, and lumpy green skin was plastered all over their bodies.
Beings that had once been human but had now become monsters beyond monsters.
Lancelot explained as follows:
“…They are Near-Eighth Hierarchy entities. Those who have undergone artificial modifications to obtain ‘Repulsion.’”
“Near-Eighth Hierarchy? Repulsion…?”
I asked back.
Two unfamiliar terms had just popped up.
Lancelot said:
“All dimensional beings possess a rank. It is expressed as ‘Hierarchy.’ And as for Repulsion…”
Seeing is believing.
As if to say it would be faster to see with one’s own eyes, Lancelot gestured with his gaze to Bedivere, who sat behind.
Click!
Bediverer grabbed a rifle stored in the transport bay.
Then took aim at the ground in a practiced stance.
Taang!
“…!”
The head of the mutant human with mixed green skin snapped back sharply.
I hadn’t realized that Bedivere, a medieval knight, was such a marksman, but…
In truth, there was something else more surprising.
“…It’s still alive?”
“What makes that possible is ‘Repulsion.’”
It would have been instant death for an ordinary human.
But these creatures possessed outstanding defensive abilities that could only be seen in skeleton knights.
Lancelot added:
“Repulsion is a kind of right. The right to be safe from beings lower than oneself. Of course, it is not absolute. Just as once, my lord slew Gawain.”
“So beings lower than themselves…”
In other words, it meant those mutant monsters were 8.5-rank nobles.
No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like they had followed a normal route.
Then, their plan to use prisoners as ‘sacrifices’ came to mind.
“So they offer sacrifices? To obtain that ‘Hierarchy’ thing?”
“I doubt it. If you use a shortcut, reaching the Near-Eighth Hierarchy isn’t very difficult. Rather, it is likely a stepping stone to climb even higher.”
It could be summarized simply.
The First Corps had crossed a line they never should have.
And on top of that, they were even preparing to offer their own kin as sacrifices.
‘They’re completely insane…?’
Beyond a coup, they were committing outright team-kill against all of humanity.
The half-goblins who had reached the Near-Eighth Hierarchy were no different.
Given the aide’s mention that they hadn’t been coerced in particular.
It meant they had joined the creatures’ plan of their own free will.
And so…
Before I knew it, we had arrived at Seokyeong University.
It was where the Brigade Commander of the 220th, who had directed this entire operation, was located.
The large central sports ground covered in green urethane.
There, the helicopter slowly descended, kicking up a circular wind.
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
Leaving behind the helicopter with its propellers still spinning, I hopped out onto the ground.
I intended to properly search for the Brigade Commander now.
As the ranking officer here, I would be able to dig up information about their plans too.
Of course, there was no need for me to take the lead.
----
[Lancelot]
Rank: [7th Hierarchy]
Description: [One of the Knights of the Round Table. Can be summoned through Camelot's effect.]
Attribute: [None]
Options: [Pierce], [Acceleration], [Immunity], [Command], [Critical Hit]
----
He was Lancelot, the strongest of the Knights of Camelot.
Unlike Bedivere, who had been an Eighth Hierarchy, only Lancelot bore the mark of the Seventh Hierarchy.
Whooooosh!
Goblin “mutant” soldiers began swarming in from all directions.
Tap!
Lancelot pushed off and shot straight forward.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!
Unlike me, who wrapped myself in the Portal like a shield, Lancelot nonchalantly ignored the bullets flying toward him.
Ting! Tang! Tiiing!
Bullets bouncing off helplessly.
Lancelot swung his sword.
Shhhhk!
Red blood mixed with green mucus.
The bodies of the half-goblin soldiers were bisected instantly.
Realizing their rifles didn’t work, the creatures charged with fixed bayonets, but…
Kaang!
Kang!
This, too, was useless.
As if coated in oil, their bayonets merely slid off.
Lancelot possessed Repulsion far stronger than theirs.
While Lancelot continued his battle with the soldiers, I called forth the specters once more.
Hwooo.
Ten specters circling around me.
“Find out where the Brigade Commander is. He can’t have gone far.”
Hwoooosh!
The specters scattered in an instant.
From makeshift barracks to the interiors of campus buildings, they would pass leisurely through obstacles like walls and doors to locate him.
Sure enough, within minutes, I discovered a Korando vehicle trying to leave the campus.
Perhaps because they had rushed out, the back seat was messily crammed with piles of documents.
But at the campus rear gate that his vehicle had reached…
“…?”
A scary teacher was keeping watch on a student playing hooky.
It was Bedivere, the giant one-armed knight.
“……”
The guy squeezed his eyes shut.
Bedivere lifted the Korando with one hand,
Hwi-ing!
And hurled it powerfully like a cannonball.
The Korando soaring through the air.
That magnificent sight concluded with a loud crash as it slammed into the green urethane floor.
Bedivere’s delivery was as swift and accurate as Pax’s
“Keugh!”
“Ugk…!”
The Brigade Commander of the 220th and his aide, who had been conversing with him, squeezed out through the gaps of the crushed car.
Perhaps thanks to the “Repulsion” Lancelot had mentioned, they were unhurt despite the powerful impact.
They merely calmed their startled hearts and let out dry coughs.
The guy looked around and asked me.
No matter how he looked at it, I must have been the obvious culprit behind this raid.
“…You… who are you?!”
He seemed curious about my identity, but even if I told him, there was no way this guy would know.
Come to think of it… I had just thought of something to flaunt a connection.
“It’s Major Kim. Sunbae-nim.”
“Fuck, why would I be your senior!”
He was more cool-headed than he looked.
Well, he was the type to capture people and use them as sacrifices.
I asked the guy.
“What the hell are you doing? Why did you turn into goblins? And what’s with the sacrifices?”
“……”
He didn’t answer.
I hadn’t expected him to, anyway.
I asked Pax to conduct a surprise audit.
“Register all the classified documents in that vehicle under
[Proceeding with registration in the ‘Military Unit’ category.]
[Calculating registration cost…]
Ding!
[The cost required for registration is 21 Magic Stones.]
“Proceed.”
Hwoooosh!
The classified documents were sucked into the retrieval portal, and the goblin Brigade Commander’s expression turned to shock.
“Ah, no…!”
“…?!”
Watching the classified documents disappear helplessly, the guy made a sudden move.
He took out a pouch filled with Magic Stones from his chest and opened it,
Munch, munch.
And began frantically stuffing them into his mouth, licking his grotesque goblin-like tongue like a madman.
“…What are you doing?”
I used
Strangely, the Magic Stones he had swallowed couldn’t be sucked out even by
“Kuwaaaack!”
He didn’t stop there.
Puk!
“…Grrk.”
Claws sharpened after becoming a goblin.
He plunged those sharp claws into his own aide’s neck.
Without a moment’s hesitation.
Puhwak!
The aide’s corpse lay cold and sprawled.
Meanwhile, the Brigade Commander’s body underwent repeated, mad transformations.
Crack, crack!
Red hair shot up spurting blood and tied itself into knots on its own.
Below his bent waist, thin arms grew long, claws and all.
If until just now his appearance had been a mix of human and goblin…
Now he looked far closer to a goblin.
And one that looked far stronger than an ordinary goblin.
Lancerlot said in a tense voice.
“He… has become an Eighth Hierarchy.”
But…
“What Hierarchy are you?”
“Ah, the Seventh Hierarchy.”
The tension vanished with the answer.
Because the Brigade Commander’s transformation had been so flashy, he had momentarily forgotten his own strength.
So there was no need to be swayed by such a farce.
“Kill him.”
“As you command.”
Hwoooosh!
The goblin Brigade Commander’s eyes went wide.
A black shadow covering his pupils.
Shhhhk!
Lancelot’s blade drew a long line…
The Brigade Commander’s body, which had been wriggling, stopped changing.
His head rolled across the floor.
“It’s a bit of a shame I couldn’t hear much of a story, but…”
I had already gotten my hands on the classified documents he had tried to take away anyway.
And he probably wouldn’t have told me anything himself from the start.
Then,
“What is this?”
Even though I had stowed them away with my
It meant they weren’t classified documents used by the military.
There were two types of documents.
Dozens of memo-sized old parchments.
And a single crisp A4 sheet.
Unlike the A4 document written in Korean, the parchment was inscribed with unfamiliar otherworldly writing.
Surprisingly, I could read and understand its contents without difficulty.
Both documents were…
[Dimensional Entity Registration Application]