Hiding a Logistics Center in the Apocalypse - Episode 28
(Homeward (2))
[This item qualifies for the ‘Military Base’ category.]
[Calculating registration fee···]
Ding!
[The registration fee is 141 mana stones.]
Perhaps because it was armed.
It was more expensive than the helicopter I had received from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Fortunately, it was no longer a price that burdened me.
“Proceed.”
[Received 141 mana stones.]
[Remaining mana stones: 2,347.]
Swish!
The Black Hawk hovering in the sky vanished in the blink of an eye.
Just as I had expected, they were ones who had turned into half-goblin mutants.
Two pilots.
And two soldiers who had been holding miniguns in the transport bay were left in midair.
And then···
The law of universal gravitation pulled them in.
A freefall from a fifteen-story height without a single parachute.
“Kuwaaaaaaaaak!”
Together with the goblins’ characteristic nasal screams, they shrieked.
The gradually fading sound finally···
Crunch!
ended with a sickening crack.
They probably hadn’t died thanks to their Repulsion, but they must have taken quite a blow.
“I thought I was going to die.”
It was an ambush I hadn’t expected.
Had I not obtained Repulsion, I might have actually died.
Thanks to that, I had obtained an ‘armed’ Black Hawk.
It didn’t have the [Penetration] option yet, but there was probably nothing better for dealing with miscellaneous mobs.
Naturally, they were still down there.
Every time I descended a floor via the stairs, goblin-humans that popped out of nowhere fired rifles at me.
Ting! Tiing!
Brushing aside bullets that clung like flies, I drew Lancelot,
“Kill.”
“Kuwaaak!”
Their heads were sliced off like tofu.
Their numbers were roughly equivalent to a company.
Only after annihilating the rifle unit that had set up camp in the parking lot could I finally catch my breath.
Cold corpses.
They had already become food for my account.
I quickly assessed the situation.
“Who are these guys? I’m sure I finished off the 220th Brigade···”
There was no need to think long.
A force capable of firing guns at me, who was beloved by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Korea.
Only one came to mind.
‘···It’s the 1st Corps.’
They must have heard that the 220th Brigade had been annihilated.
Perhaps they had wanted revenge for that.
But the real problem was something else.
“Even setting aside the 220th Brigade··· are these crazy bastards really running amok all the way to Dobong-gu···?”
The 1st Corps headquarters was in Goyang.
But it was true that most of their forces were deployed in Paju.
And both Paju and Goyang were separated from Dobong-gu by Bukhansan and Dobongsan.
If they hadn’t come over Seoul, where the government forces were···
“···Then they’ve already devoured Uijeongbu.”
The house where my parents would be.
If they had arrived safely, my older brother and sister-in-law would surely be there as well.
“···Damn it.”
They were ones who defied human ethics, capturing people to use as sacrifices.
If my family had been captured by them?
I didn’t even want to imagine what came next.
“···Is something wrong?”
Lee Yong-su, who had emerged from the subspace, asked.
I briefed him and the noonas on the situation as well.
Then, I immediately dispatched the new helicopter.
It was the newly acquired ‘combat’ Black Hawk.
Lee Yong-su, sitting in the cockpit, took out a helicopter headset and asked.
“Will interception be alright now?”
“It should be fine. Their air defense line has already collapsed.”
Most of the anti-aircraft power here had been concentrated below Gangbuk-gu and Nowon-gu.
The path ahead would be much smoother.
Even if we were intercepted by some slim chance, there was a safety measure called the subspace portal.
So now was the time to move boldly.
“Understood.”
Whirrrrr!
Lee Yong-su hurriedly started the engine.
The helicopter passed Dobong Station and then Jangam Station.
My parents’ house in Yonghyeon-dong, Uijeongbu, wasn’t far in a straight line.
When we had gotten somewhat close to the destination, I summoned my phantoms.
They were ten vengeful spirits excluding Lancelot and Bedivere.
“Check the situation below.”
Whoosh!
The loyal phantoms scattered throughout Yonghyeon-dong like birds.
And before long, I was able to clearly ascertain Uijeongbu’s current situation.
Whooosh-!
Bone decorations fluttering in the wind swayed.
Buildings with a shamanistic feel, flames rising from them.
They were what those bastards called ‘Altars.’
That wasn’t all.
Right beside the altars, dome-shaped prisoner ‘camps’ were established.
Of course, the surroundings were guarded by soldiers who had turned into goblin mutants.
It wasn’t the first time I had seen them, but the problem was···
“How many of these are there···?”
The sheer number of them.
Uijeongbu was a place the 1st Corps had taken hold of before Dobong-gu.
Moreover, it was also a sanctuary where they could completely hide their movements from the government forces.
Paju and Goyang.
And the next area they had played around with as they pleased was this Uijeongbu.
Whooosh!
One phantom gradually reached the destination.
Uijeongbu, destroyed everywhere and consumed by flames.
Selfishly, I hoped that at least my parents’ house retained its warm, old feeling.
I hoped that the doom that had struck had not yet found that place.
But···
“···?”
That expectation of mine was cruelly shattered.
“What the hell is this···”
Was this the right house?
The phantom circled around the house.
The red brick house on the left, and the old local supermarket on the right.
Location-wise, this was definitely my parents’ residence.
Thick steel plates had been bolted over the front door, back door, and all windows.
It looked as though the house was clad in armor.
Pure goblins and half-goblin humans were united in their attempt to breach it.
Thud! Thaaang!
Clang!
They knocked on the steel-reinforced front door of the detached house with blunt weapons.
Naturally, it didn’t open.
Instead···
Whirrr-
With a strange mechanical sound, the roof opened,
Thud!
and an unidentified tower erected itself through the gap.
“···What is that?”
There was no time to be surprised.
Because arrows instantly shot out from small gaps in the tower.
Sshwick!
The flying arrows···
Thunk!
deeply pierced the goblins’ flesh.
And repeatedly so.
Sshwick!
Sshwick!
Thunk!
Thunk! Thunk!
The attacked goblins collapsed from the impact.
Broken, collapsed, and engulfed in flames,
the Uijeongbu area was completely smashed to pieces.
But my parents’ house alone maintained a fairly intact form.
However···
Thud!
Against the half-goblin mutants, that attack didn’t work.
Because those who had become quasi-8th Rankers were endowed with ‘Repulsion.’
“Kekekeke···”
The arrows fell to the ground futilely.
Smirking viciously, they stepped onto the detached house’s lawn.
They blocked the arrows, and the following horde of goblins easily occupied the yard.
Thoom!
Thud!
One by one, they took out blunt weapons and banged on the steel plates of the detached house.
It was the sound heralding the start of a full-scale siege.
Swish!
Swoosh!
The tower on the roof tirelessly fired arrows, but··· it was a futile battle.
Because they were quasi-8th Rankers who couldn’t be hit no matter how you struck them, and couldn’t be killed no matter how you stabbed them.
Thud!
Thoom!
The detached house that had become a ‘fortress.’
Cracks began to form in its outer armor.
“······”
I hadn’t known.
That my parents’ house could look this lonely.
I had never seen, nor could ever have imagined, such a desperate sight.
Still···
We weren’t too late.
Whirrrrr!
The sound of the helicopter cutting through the wind.
“Kuwaaaak···?”
The goblins hurriedly looked around with their short necks.
“These bastards···”
The symbol of a detached house is its green lawn.
The natural lawn yard that my father had tended to with great care, refusing artificial turf.
Not long ago, we had joked that we could raise a cow here.
But that refreshing scenery had vanished without a trace.
The yard was filthily covered in dirt and torn to shreds.
As if to replace it, they flaunted their bizarrely mottled green skin across it.
And I···
was determined to slaughter every last one of these contaminants mixing their profane green into another person’s yard.
Together with my ‘family.’
Clack!
The door opened, blatantly revealing the inside of the helicopter’s transport bay.
Sitting inside was the Skeleton Knight, Bedivere.
In his hand was a minigun of impressive size.
With 7.62mm ammunition draped all over it.
Whiiir-
The minigun’s muzzle spun rapidly.
And···
Brrrrrrrrt-!
Kraaak!
Kaaak!
Pwing!
Ping!
Hundreds of bullets per second swept through the goblins.
Those bursting everywhere covered the yard in cold corpses.
But contaminants still remained.
The half-goblin mutants that bullets couldn’t penetrate.
Having no choice, Lancelot took up the broom himself.
Slash!
Shwish!
Ssk!
He displayed his unique [Acceleration] ability and [Critical Hit] option.
Thick blood fountains gushed around.
The afterimages of his blade moving dozens of times per minute flickered like flowers that had just bloomed.
It was excellent landscaping that went quite well with the detached house.
And···
“Home invasion is legally punishable by death!”
Kim Sol, a blockhead who knew nothing of the law, took out an ‘electric swatter bat.’
Bzzzzzzt···
A faint blue light that drew in one’s gaze.
Over the evenly coiled electric coil, electricity dizzying to behold surged like waves.
Whoosh!
Kim Sol swung the heavily overcharged electric swatter bat widely.
Craaack!
Lightning sparks burst like powder.
Their heads were pulverized in an instant along with a cheerful impact sound.
An electrifying thrill, like something seen in a fighting game, lingered at her fingertips and in our eyes.
Using the barrier she made with her left hand like a shield, she was running at the forefront of genre fusion, like a fearless barbarian from an SF fantasy.
I couldn’t sit still either.
I picked up a weapon for the first time in a while.
[Pascas Axe (Small), price is 72,500 won.]
These were bastards that rifles couldn’t work on due to ‘Repulsion.’
I could have used a strengthened bowling ball, but I didn’t want to leave even the smallest scorch mark on my parents’ house.
Truthfully, it was also because I was being leisurely.
The battle was already flowing overwhelmingly in our favor.
The ones frightened by the electric swatter bat smirked at my plain axe.
But···
“Thwack!”
A neat hole was bored into the crown of the head.
I was already a true 8th Ranker.
I was completely different from the half-goblin monsters who had disguised themselves as quasi-8th Rankers.
Unlike with ranged firearms which couldn’t inflict damage, the axe I held directly seemed to properly transmit the power of my rank.
Even though they possessed the Repulsion of quasi-8th Rankers, my camping axe dug into the crowns of their heads more smoothly than ever.
“Kuwak-!”
Conversely, their attacks couldn’t leave a single scratch on me.
Because I held a higher grade than them.
“Hey··· at least get hit once!”
Ziiing.
The elder noona, a healer, was on the verge of losing her job.
Because neither I nor Kim Sol got hurt at all.
She merely waved her fingertips, from which healing poured like a cheerleader’s pompoms.
Meanwhile, Lee Yong-su, who had descended from the helicopter, clicked his tongue in astonishment.
“What is with this household···”
He was about to become a living witness to a historic family reunion.
And so, we finished cleaning the yard.
An overturned lawn, a barbecue grill toppled as if kicked.
A crumpled storage shed and broken bricks.
The once-familiar yard had just finished sweeping away the doom that had poured down like a typhoon.
The detached house covered in steel plates.
Thud! Thud!
I knocked on its front door.
And this was not a knock.
Inside the garbage can called doom.
Something that may have grown faint in the storms of time,
or perhaps something that may have lost its magnetic pull because we had grown too far apart,
it was a desperate question to confirm whether that invisible fence still remained.
Fortunately, there was an answer.
Screeeech···
The thick steel door slowly opened.
Through that gap,
the smell of home wafted out.