#045
Upon reaching the rooftop, a helicopter was already waiting. The noise and windblast from the helicopter’s propellers, experienced after a long time, heightened Eunseok’s spirits.
The team members, seemingly accustomed to such emergency deployments, quickly gathered. All were heavily armed.
Once everyone was on board, the helicopter soared into the sky. Due to the intense noise, no conversation took place, and each member checked their equipment.
It didn’t take long to reach Bukhansan National Park. The helicopter landed on a helipad constructed on a high peak.
“Are you from the White Tiger Guild?!” a soldier waiting at the corner of the landing pad approached and shouted.
“Yes! We’re the White Tiger Guild’s 1st Combat Team!” Han Cheolyong responded loudly.
Meanwhile, the helicopter took off again and flew away hurriedly.
“What kind of mutant species are we dealing with?” Han Cheolyong asked in his normal tone once the helicopter noise faded.
“Well, it’s not just one species. So far, we’ve confirmed mutant roe deer, badgers, and moles. Even mutant insects are flying around. It seems to be a large-scale mutation. We’ve deployed the army to search for the cause of the mutation,” the soldier replied with a stiff face.
“Let’s go,” the soldier turned, lowering the muzzle of the gun slung over his shoulder.
They had barely taken a few steps following the soldier when-
Ratatata-! Bang bang-! Rata-!
A series of loud gunshots began to ring out from somewhere in the mountains.
“Seems like they’re engaging the mutants!” the soldier shouted, looking around. The echoes in the deep mountains made it difficult to determine the direction, and the soldier turned his head around. Eunseok, familiar with mountain marches and survival training, quickly gauged the direction of the sound and pointed.
“That way!”
At Eunseok’s shout, the team members immediately started running in that direction.
As soon as they left the flat helipad, a challenging mountain path unfolded. Eunseok and the team members ignored the existing path, heading straight towards the source of the sound. Both Eunseok, accustomed to all kinds of mountain climbing, and the other team members pushed through dense undergrowth, leaped up steep ridges, and easily jumped over rocks as they ran towards the gunfire. After running for about fifteen minutes, they finally saw soldiers frantically firing their guns.
What the soldiers were firing at was as big as a dump truck. It had horns on its head and overall looked exactly like a roe deer. But it wasn’t just a large deer. Its entire body was covered in fur that stood up threateningly like spines, and its four legs and entire body were grotesquely mutated. It looked nothing like a creature of this world.
“We’re the White Tiger Guild! We’ll take it from here!” Han Cheolyong shouted loudly. One of the soldiers who managed to hear and see them raised his hand.
“Cease fire! Cease fire! Everyone fall back!”
At the commander’s shout, the soldiers simultaneously stopped firing and began to retreat. The mutant deer, its entire body already covered in red blood from countless bullets, tried to charge at the retreating soldiers, but Han Cheolyong rushed in like lightning and blocked its path with his shield.
Kwang-!
The deer’s horned head and Han Cheolyong’s shield collided with a thunderous sound. Seeing the mutant’s movement blocked, the soldiers evacuated down the mountain in an orderly manner as instructed.
“Hyaap-!”
As Han Cheolyong began to grapple with the mutant, Moon Bora charged towards the deer wielding a long sword.
Woong-.
Moon Bora flexibly bent her waist and swung her long sword at the deer’s hind legs.
Crack-!
A sound like striking a giant log rang out. As if the bone had shattered, one of the deer’s hind legs bent. Bright red blood burst out like a fountain, drenching Moon Bora. The exposed red muscles of the deer’s leg entwined around the broken bone, supporting it as if alive. It was a grotesque sight.
The deer’s large, bloodshot eyes turned towards Moon Bora. Han Cheolyong swung his shield and sword, drawing the mutant deer’s attention to himself.
The team members, except for Ji Taeuk, began their attacks. Shin Jeongho, wielding a dagger and a short sword in each hand, leaped high and precisely stabbed the deer’s eyes, blocking its vision. Oh Seongeun froze the deer’s four legs, preventing leg attacks. Moon Bora shattered the frozen legs with her long sword.
To avoid injuring team members during close combat, Eunseok kept his assault rifle pointed down and focused on assessing the surrounding situation. It seemed that a considerable number of soldiers were surrounding the area, searching and holding off mutants, as faint gunshots could be heard from two different directions.
While gauging the directions, the giant mutant deer collapsed with a thud. Moon Bora, covered in bright red blood, leaped onto the slanted body of the fallen deer and plunged her long sword deep into the center of its chest.
The long, thick sword sank deep into the deer’s chest, leaving only the handle visible. The mutant deer let out a terrible scream, convulsed for a moment, and then went limp.
“Where to next?” Moon Bora asked Eunseok as she pulled out her sword. Eunseok pointed in the direction where a red emergency flare had been fired moments ago.
“Let’s go!” Han Cheolyong started running in the direction Eunseok pointed. Eunseok and the team members followed closely behind.
After running for about ten minutes, the gunshots grew louder.
“We’re from the White Tiger Guild!” Han Cheolyong shouted. The soldiers retreated while keeping the mutant in check, just like before. Han Cheolyong blocked the mutant’s path, drawing its aggro.
This mutant was half-buried in the ground. Wielding sharp claws, it appeared to be what was once a mole. About the size of the mutant deer, its claw attacks were quite threatening. Despite considerable suppressing fire, the creature only bled slightly from its outer skin, seemingly unaffected.
Kwang-! Kwaduk-!
The mole swung its claws, bringing down devastating attacks as if to crush Han Cheolyong. Han Cheolyong endured, blocking the tremendous attacks with his shield and deflecting with his sword.
Kang-!
The foot, seemingly holding multiple long swords, narrowly missed Han Cheolyong’s sword, creating a loud noise. Eunseok frowned as he saw red blood spreading on Han Cheolyong’s shoulder.
Not long after the team members began their attack, another red flare shot up nearby. And before it could fade, yet another red flare soared into the sky. Eunseok memorized the locations of both flares and determined the next destination based on distance and direction.
With Moon Bora’s final attack, the mutant mole completely ceased movement.
Ji Taeuk, who had been closely observing the battle, immediately rushed to Han Cheolyong to begin healing.
“Where to next?!” Han Cheolyong shouted towards Eunseok as he received healing, as if it were the most natural thing.
Eunseok and the team members frantically combed through the mountains, hunting mutants. Fortunately, the distances between the appearing mutants weren’t too great. They repeated the process several times: searching soldiers would discover a mutant, engage in suppressing fire while launching a flare, and the 1st Combat Team would rush over to take down the mutant.
The mutants themselves weren’t particularly strong. Or rather, it wasn’t that the mutants were weak, but that the 1st Combat Team’s attack power was far superior, overwhelming them.
As they were about to run towards the direction of another flare after taking down a mutant-
“Aaaagh-!”
Amidst the gunfire, a terrible human scream mixed in.
Hearing that scream, the team’s pace quickened even more. Fortunately, Eunseok’s well-trained body from years of practice kept up well with the hunters’ movements.
Aaaagh-! Aagh-!
Keep firing! Don’t stop firing!
The screams continued, and the commander’s shouted orders grew closer. Finally, as they pushed through the dense trees and arrived at the scene, more than half of the dozen or so soldiers were lying down, bleeding.
This mutant was completely different from the previous ones. What was attacking the soldiers was a swarm of bees the size of soccer balls. It was absolute chaos as what looked like over a hundred large bees flew around frantically, attacking the soldiers.
The soldiers, in a panic, were firing wildly into the air at the bees. Han Cheolyong rushed in between, raising his shield and letting out a battle cry. The bees, which had been scattered attacking individual soldiers, hesitated for a moment before all flying towards Han Cheolyong.
“Cease fire! Cease fire! Everyone retreat!”
The commander shouted. The soldiers put down their guns and quickly began to drag their fallen comrades away.
The team members all charged towards the swarm of bees converging on Han Cheolyong. Ji Taeuk used this opportunity to rush towards the retreating soldiers.
