#091
Hot anger that he thought had dissolved over time suddenly surged. For a moment, everything in front of him seemed to turn blood-red.
It’s them. He had struggled to survive all this time just to kill those creatures. He hadn’t even expected to have a chance for revenge, but that opportunity had come to him on its own.
Eunseok stood up and approached the helicopter pilot.
“Excuse me! Please hover for a moment above that building! Just drop me off and then head straight to your destination!”
As Eunseok shouted, the pilot glanced back. Choi Hanseo, who had suddenly approached, grabbed Eunseok’s arm.
“What are you doing, Lee Eunseok!”
“I won’t be much help against A-class gate monsters anyway! It would be much more efficient to guard the escape routes for civilians!”
The hand gripping his arm tightened. Eunseok’s eyes involuntarily narrowed from the pain.
“I’ll just snipe from the building rooftop. And I’ll rejoin the team when it’s time to pull out. Don’t you trust me?!”
As Eunseok shouted over the propeller noise, a brief look of anguish crossed Choi Hanseo’s eyes. There was no time for this. People could be dying at this very moment. Eunseok’s eyes naturally became desperate.
“Don’t you trust me, Choi Hanseo!”
Eunseok shouted at Choi Hanseo again. Hearing this cry, Choi Hanseo’s face became complicated. Soon after, he nodded to the helicopter pilot. It was permission.
The helicopter briefly stopped above a five-story building in the center of the chaotic scene. Eunseok shouldered his duffel bag and sniper rifle case, preparing to descend. Having done this countless times before, he was ready in no time.
“Now!”
The pilot shouted. Just before jumping, Eunseok looked at Choi Hanseo one last time.
‘Be careful.’
Choi Hanseo mouthed. Eunseok gave a small nod and jumped into the air.
Landing on the building rooftop, Eunseok first secured the roof door so it couldn’t be opened. Creating a safe environment for sniping was essential.
From what he had seen in the helicopter, there were no flying types among the monsters that had emerged from this break. It was a sufficiently safe environment for sniping.
Eunseok placed his automatic rifle and sniper rifle side by side, then immediately found the best position and lay prone on the ground. After spreading his legs appropriately to take position, he picked up the sniper rifle and put his eye to the scope. Then he began searching for targets.
Aaagh-! Help us!
The screams of fleeing people rang out chaotically everywhere. It vividly brought back memories from his childhood. But he couldn’t get excited. Fortunately, his body, trained through years of practice and real combat, obeyed his rational control.
Eunseok calmly steadied his breathing.
Run faster! Hurry!
Police and soldiers who had set up barricades with cars desperately shouted at the people.
Eunseok aimed his gun behind the people running towards the barricades. The monsters were quickly closing in on the people. A few people who were running in fear tripped and fell, tangled with each other. He saw a monster charging towards them.
He aims, stops breathing. Then gently pulls the trigger as if caressing it.
Bang-!
The special sniper bullet made from gate byproducts precisely pierced the monster’s head.
Thud. The monster collapsed. The people who had looked bewildered for a moment soon got up and started running towards the barricades again. Eunseok searched for the next target without pause.
“Those on the second floor or above, lock your doors and hide inside! Those hiding on the first floor or below, evacuate quickly! It’s safe beyond the barricades! Hurry!”
The soldiers shouted repeatedly through megaphones.
Bang-! Bang-!
Eunseok mechanically blew apart the heads of monsters chasing people, one by one. With each monster he killed, the faces of his family flashed through his mind. The desperate despair from back then and the sweet euphoria of revenge rose simultaneously.
Those who had been hiding on the first floor, seeing the falling monsters, found courage and ran out of the buildings. Eunseok focused on securing their escape routes while watching them run towards the barricades.
Meanwhile, hunters, whether from the Ability Management Bureau or other guilds, began to arrive. The hunters crossed the barricades and scattered in all directions. The monsters started to be destroyed one by one under the hunters’ attacks. Now, the safety of this area was more or less secured. It was time to change position. Eunseok got up without hesitation and gathered his weapons.
Opening the roof door he had secured, he went down the stairs and out of the building. A street stained with red and green blood spread out before him. The corpses of monsters and people were scattered here and there. He had long since become accustomed to human deaths through numerous operations. But civilian deaths were a kind that was hard to get used to.
The images of his family members overlapped with the dead people. But there was no time for long reflections. Eunseok started running towards another point he had noted from the rooftop.
Here and there, he saw hunters engaged in battle with monsters. Instead of helping them, Eunseok focused solely on running towards his designated point.
The first floor of the building at his arrived point was already destroyed. Through the broken front glass window, he saw the back of a monster. As he aimed his automatic rifle, the creature turned around with a growl. In its mouth was a white human arm.
Ratatat-!
Eunseok blew off the creature’s head with an expressionless face. Then, gritting his teeth, he ran up the building stairs. Leaping up two or three steps at a time, he opened the roof door to find two people with small screams.
They were a young woman and a young boy. The two were hugging each other and trembling in a corner of the rooftop.
“A-are you a soldier?”
The woman asked in a trembling voice, seeming relieved that it was a person who had burst through the door. She must have thought so because he was carrying a gun.
“More or less.”
Eunseok nodded and secured the roof door so it couldn’t be opened. Then he quickly surveyed the street below. Certainly, this area hadn’t been cleared at all. It was sheer luck that he hadn’t encountered any monsters on the way here.
“W-what should we do? Should we run away now?”
The woman asked, tightly hugging the child.
“It’s safer here for now. Wait here.”
Eunseok said in a calm voice and lay down in his chosen sniping position.
After taking down four monsters, hunters began to slowly enter this area as well. His job here was done too.
As he was packing up his sniper rifle and preparing to leave, the woman holding the child’s hand hesitantly approached.
“Um… Could you take us to a safe place? As you can see, the child is too young to run well.”
As the woman said, the child was at an awkward age. Too big and heavy for the woman to carry and run, but still too slow to run alone.
In fact, they would have been fine staying here. As long as there were no flying monsters, the rooftop was safe. But it would be very scary to stay here with a young child.
Anyway, Eunseok’s goal was to clear escape routes for people rather than dealing with monsters. It wouldn’t be a problem to make a detour there before moving to the next point.
“Let’s go together. I’ll take you to the barricades.”
When Eunseok nodded, the woman’s face brightened.
“Thank you!”
Eunseok started walking in front, holding his automatic rifle. The woman followed behind, holding the child’s hand and taking small steps.
It was quite a distance to the barricades.
From afar, he could faintly hear the sounds of monsters and hunters engaged in battle. After passing one block without incident and turning right, Eunseok raised his hand as a signal to stop. Glancing back, he saw the woman trembling slightly, covering the child’s mouth with her hand. Fortunately, she was calm enough to follow instructions.
There was a monster half-buried in a convenience store on the first floor, making growling noises. It was a creature with a long tail characteristic of reptiles.
It was too risky to just pass by. But could he handle it at this close range? It wouldn’t matter if he were alone, but now he had civilians to protect.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
