00062 --- The Little Prince in the Ossuary----=
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#Trap (6), Camp Roberts
"Wow, damn! Wasn't that an EMP just now?!"
A soldier in the back seat spat out expletives.
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) neutralizes all electronic devices within its range. There was no other way to explain the situation. However, it was shocking nonetheless.
Gyeo-ul thought.
'We need light.'
Illumination support was urgent. To prevent the impending chaos, the darkness had to be driven away first.
Gyeo-ul worked to recover the radio. Military equipment has some level of EMP resilience. Sure enough, after a few attempts, power returned to the vehicle-mounted radio. As soon as it started running, static burst out. It seemed there was some interference. Communication within the camp was still possible, but it would be difficult with the outside.
The moment Gyeo-ul grabbed the handset.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
There were three flashes from the direction of the mortar position. A few seconds later, three flares burst into the sky in succession. Each flare burned with the brightness of 525,000 candles, descending slowly, suspended by parachutes.
Simultaneously, Gyeo-ul leaned out the window. Observing broadly and shooting quickly. He needed eight bullets to take down five heads.
Even with visibility, other targets couldn't be confirmed. There seemed to be no more mutants inside, or if there were, their numbers were small.
That's right. From the time the 「Trickster」 was captured until this situation erupted, how many more could they have created in such a short span? If more widespread infection was possible, the attack method would have changed.
Any concerns about the refugee area were set aside. The two directors, especially Min Wan-gi, would have fully utilized the influence of the 「Gyeo-ul Alliance」.
Not just friendly organizations, but even hostile ones would have been prepared. In that case, a small number of mutants could be suppressed by sheer numbers.
"Over there!"
Gyeo-ul pointed in the direction where the sound of gunfire and explosions was most boisterous. The driver immediately turned the wheel.
Outside the camp fence was a chaotic scene. Especially along the borders from the northwest to the southwest, battles were fierce. The mutants seemed to have used the continuous line of mountainous terrain and riverside forest areas to approach the camp. Without such a method, there was no way to evade aerial reconnaissance.
Upon reaching the combat site, Gyeo-ul communicated briefly. It was to report their current position.
The soldiers who had taken over the position couldn't even greet Gyeo-ul. Without a moment's rest, they kept pulling the triggers. The horde of enemies, in this brightly lit night, was immense. Gyeo-ul joined in, his single-shot firing set apart from other soldiers.
Bang, bang, bang. With every gentle pull of the trigger, a mutant invariably fell.
It wasn't to conserve ammunition. They were firing the boxes, so hitting the target rate was unnecessary. There were so many that anything shot at would hit. Considering the aiming time, it was easier to fire frenziedly.
The problem was overheating.
"Control your firing rate! Do you want to see the barrels explode?!"
Just shouting wasn't enough. Gyeo-ul dashed between positions, tapping the topsy-turvy soldiers to warn about barrel overheating. Startled soldiers lifted their fingers off the triggers.
Since the start of the engagement, some had been spraying rounds non-stop. Though faint, a red hue glowed from the overheated barrels. The cold air was fortunate. Had it been summer, it would have blown apart by now.
"Private Titus! Just fill the magazines with rounds! Hey, you over there! Private Orsy! You too!"
The stacked magazines would soon run out. At Gyeo-ul's command after reading their nametags, two flustered soldiers nodded vigorously. Although the enemies weren't shooting back, they crouched low and crawled over to gather discarded magazines.
It couldn't be helped. That's what they were trained for. If anything, being able to move as trained in real combat was commendable. It was proof that the American training wasn't so sloppy.
"Fire non-overlapping! Don't get too swept up just because they're closing in for a moment!"
The imbalance in firepower was evident due to soldiers neglecting their assigned sectors while firing at seen targets. Once it started, it kept repeating.
Until they regained their roles, Gyeo-ul filled in the gaps.
The overwhelming firepower from three humvees was a significant aid.
Ratatatatatatata!
The firing sound of the .50 caliber machine gun nearby was no different from a string of explosions. The actual firepower was the same. The rounds were so large that it wasn't uncommon for them to pass through more than one target. Only a trail of corpses remained where the firing line swept through.
It's a shame the mutants weren't clustered together. If they were bunched up enough, a single 250-round belt could potentially kill a thousand targets.
Of course, that was a difficult expectation. The mutants were gradually getting smarter.
Meanwhile, at Gyeo-ul's position, a rifleman hastily uncapped a canteen. It was to pour over the overheated barrel. Hot metal met cold water, releasing a hiss of steam.
"Damn! Even the Taliban bastards weren't this bad!"
He seemed to be an Afghan War veteran. His voice trembled heavily. Understandable, given the overwhelming sight. Beyond the barbed wire, everywhere he looked, mutants were scattered and running. Their faces, lit grotesquely by each flare's glow, were horrific.
Gyeo-ul patted his shoulder.
"Stay calm! We're holding them off, aren't we?"
Then Gyeo-ul filled his gap. Surviving longer on a single magazine than regular soldiers, Gyeo-ul effectively plugged the void in firepower. An adjacent soldier was incredulous. Coincidentally, everything he aimed at had its head blown off by Gyeo-ul. Close range, no misses.
Waiting for Gyeo-ul to stop shooting, he turned to another direction, exasperated.
"How do you shoot like that?"
"Stay calm!"
"Calm?! In this situation?!"
The soldier emptied his magazine in five seconds. With this kind of pace, the barrels couldn't last, and magazines were running short. Even with a dedicated soldier refilling magazines, they were far from enough. With no magazine left to swap in, he immediately fired a grenade.
Thump!
The explosion took out four mutants. One barely out of the blast stepped on a landmine. It was a bounding type. The mine shot up higher than the mutant's head and erupted with a bang.
A cloud of earth and blood mist rose. It was vivid beneath the flare's glow. The direct lethal radius was about 30 meters. However, the shrapnel range extended much further. Dozens of mutants staggered or fell. Those that fell rose again, drenched in blood, running. It was from the flayed pieces of flesh as they rolled unforgivingly.
'At least that's a relief. If the illumination shots had been even slightly delayed, it would've been disastrous.'
Distance is humanity's weapon. The mutants, emboldened by the dark, breached half the minefield. Had the response here been minutes late, they would have already broken through the barbed wire.
Those crucial minutes shifted the situation dramatically. The scene beyond the wire was brutal. The ground was so littered with bodies; it was barely visible.
The sound of a jet engine passed overhead.
They must have flown in, suspicious of the broken communication.
For now, though, the Air Force was of no use. It was Danger Close to drop any bombs now. Perhaps they might offer close support at dawn.
The rumbling beneath reached up through the toes. It was the mortar fire.
The sound of exploding artillery varies based on distance. The 「Combat Sense」 classifies it automatically. Concentrated bombardment on one front indicated a crisis in that direction. Gyeo-ul read the 「Insight」 from 「Combat Sense」.
Equal on all fronts. It meant no side was particularly struggling. Otherwise, every side would be struggling. Given the situation here, it seemed unlikely to be the latter.
Just in case, judging that this side was stabilized, Gyeo-ul quickly boarded a Humvee. It was to listen in on communication. Gyeo-ul's personal radio was still out of commission.
The radio operator moved aside. The summary of previous communications wasn't much. Had there been something extremely urgent, they would have run to Gyeo-ul directly.
"The situation is stable. Just now, the Firearms Company took over the mortar position, and all companies joined the fight. At this rate, there shouldn't be any issues in holding them off."
"That's a relief. How about the refugee area?"
"I guess no news is good news? The last update was about boosting control through increased personnel at checkpoints. A few mutants were found, but the refugees had already taken care of them themselves."
"That's good."
Efforts in preparation paid off.
However, it was too early to feel assured.
「Roar!」
The beastly roar resonated. It was a 「Grumble」.
Even from afar, its sheer size was evident. It crawled up from the riverside and, with one dash, reached the boundary of the minefield. Letting out another roar, preparing for its next pattern.
Gyeo-ul promptly exited and took precise aim. The selector was on burst. Spending 20% of a magazine, he silenced it before it could start its charging pattern. Again, and again. Being outside, approaching to handle it was challenging, and there was no room for error.
One charge would carve a highway through the minefield.
Caught up in the moment, soldiers were pouring fire on 「Grumble」.
Most shots hit its torso — a waste. The mutants surged through the void left in other directions. Gyeo-ul sharply barked.
"If you can't shoot accurately, don't bother! I'll handle it!"
Through the gap in firepower, mutants poured in. Conceding they couldn't be stopped, soldiers triggered spike traps. Two Claymores affixed to the wire burst, obliterating mutants in two large fan-like areas.
There was a cost.
Clang-!
The already tattered barbed wire from internal shooting got finally torn by the trap's backblast. Pieces flew over the soldiers' heads. Some got hit.
Misfortunes mounted.
The flare went out, and before another could rise, darkness engulfed the sky.
'Damn it.'
Aim, reliant on light, suddenly went dark. The 「Grumble」's location was beyond the headlights' reach. Even for Gyeo-ul, sharply adjusted light was challenging to ignore.
「Roar!」
Finishing its roar, the 「Grumble」 charged, tearing through mines. Its speed was terrifyingly disorienting. One straight shot shattered a trench. A soldier who was too slow to dodge went flying. Rolling on the ground, there was no further movement.
Ratatat! Ratatat!
Stopping the 「Grumble」's rampage with three bursts of six rounds. As it paused to roar again, Gyeo-ul already had a pin-pulled grenade in hand.
A grenade thrown with full force lodges in its throat.
"Cover the front! Block the front!"
Facing away from the 「Grumble」 whose stomach erupted, Gyeo-ul urged his soldiers frantically. As the beast caught its breath, he briefly turned to toss another grenade into its blood-spewing, visceral maw.
The distance explosion within felt potent. Blood geysers erupted from its nostrils and mouth. A bursting eyeball protruded.
"Look ahead!"
Gyeo-ul ultimately yelled at the soldiers. Stricken by fear, they still fixated on the 「Grumble」.
Roars echoed from other directions. Distantly overlapping screams. The latter definitely human. Ensuring the soldiers securely covered the front, Gyeo-ul jumped into a Humvee.
"South!"
The driver floored it. Engines roared sharply.
Pop-
A flare erupted belatedly. Post workers at artillery positions were likely drenched in sweat. It barely lit 50 seconds per shot. To ensure no gaps of darkness, it had to be shot every 45 seconds. How much flare inventory remained was a concern. Hundreds must have been used up by now alone. The rounds must be running back and forth to the ammo depot. Better a grueling ordeal than death itself.
Gyeo-ul lowered his night vision.
Through the windshield, another 「Grumble」 came into view. It pushed through alternating light and darkness, currently tearing a soldier in half.
「Kaa! Kaa! Kaaa!」
Flinging the torn halves, intestines splattered. A lengthy gut splat onto the armored window, slapping against it. The driver momentarily gagged as the speed dropped, and without coming to a full stop, Gyeo-ul kicked the door and jumped out.
He somersaulted and sprang up like a spring, running on to unload seven precise rounds into its retreating mass. The 「Grumble」, however, was rarely alone. Regular mutants intercepted Gyeo-ul.
They were too numerous. As a segment of the defense collapsed, they surged in like a wave over a breakwater. Considering the fallen so far, this could be the mutants' final offensive. No next comes.
Thus, it was arduous for Gyeo-ul alone to break through while shooting. Grenades meant for the 「Grumble」 were pitched toward the mutant swarm as he rolled into a sandbag-covered position.
The explosion reverberated across his body.
Before him was a mutant with its upper body left. Its gaping maw was met with the rifle's butt. Then, drawing a knife, Gyeo-ul lodged it in the skull. The sound of bone crumpling. Brain matter flicked out. It was already dying, and this finished it.
A thunderous roar followed. Retrieving his rifle, Gyeo-ul exited forward. Immediately, the 「Grumble」 darted past, demolishing the position. One of its arms brushed Gyeo-ul's back, causing the boy to momentarily lose balance and tumble over a soldier's corpse. The body stirred, eyes opening. A mutant-turned soldier laid eyes on Gyeo-ul.
Crushing its throat with a knee, he positioned in a kneeling shooting stance. The dying mutant flailed but wasn't an obstacle for shooting. Gyeo-ul coolly aimed at the 「Grumble」 and fired. Snatching a grenade off the mutant soldier, he threw.
Soldiers, having undergone 「Grumble」 hunting training, approached the maimed beast en masse.
Meanwhile, regular mutants closing in on Gyeo-ul were busted apart, one after another. It was the Humvee's heavy machine-gun fire.
"Eat this, you bastards!"
A soldier hoisted a rocket launcher (Mk.777) onto his shoulder. Wobbling—its balance off. The warhead was abnormally large. For mutant hunting, no further thought was needed, only packing in the gunpowder recklessly.
Oh, boy.
Gyeo-ul shut his eyes. A flash so bright, the contours were visible even closed. Despite being significantly distant from ground zero, stabilizing his shaky body was tough. The shockwave molded by thermal expansion battered the mutants. It was a weapon to eviscerate bones and rupture insides with pressure.
The rocket bombardment didn't stop at one. A second, then third exploded among the mutants.
In the maelstrom's fringes, Gyeo-ul, barely steady, noticed a mutant rolled merely a few steps away. Something was wrong. Both eyes had burst. Blood trailed thickly from its ears, unable to stand. It seemed its semicircular canal was damaged by pressure. Gyeo-ul steadied his breath and lodged a bullet.
Soldiers restored the defense, exterminating the remnants.
Too many mutant corpses. From where Gyeo-ul could see alone, the numbers hit the thousands.
News arrived that the last 「Grumble」 on another front was dealt with. It was relayed by the radio operator.
"Luckily, they had a missile launcher there, overwhelming it with firepower. Even a 「Grumble」 can't withstand an anti-tank missile; it crushes anything—arms, legs."
The 'TOW' missile mentioned by the operator could penetrate a 60-centimeter-thick steel plate. Even with the 「Grumble」's physical resistance, full defense against this was impossible.
'If a "Gamma Grumble" emerges, it might not work......still, there's a long way to being that reinforced.'
Gunfire and explosions began to fade in most directions. Gyeo-ul felt the situation subsiding, letting out a sigh. The prolonged tension of maintaining intensity in a single battle was considerable.
What's noteworthy was the behavior of surviving mutants. A peculiar pattern of roars spread, and mutants, hearing the sound, began to retreat uniformly. It was unquestionably an organized withdrawal, leaving soldiers startled.
North of the camp, they even set fires along the Nacimiento River. Likely the work of the electricity-manipulating 「Trickster」.
Considering the wind direction, smoke enveloped the camp.
A lament came over the radio from Jeffrey.
「Wow, really...unbelievable. Pulling out all the stops. Bravo, damn mutants.」
Conversely, interference signals vanished. Naturally, distancing themselves from the camp and broadcasting interference would be a prelude to death by radio-tracking missiles.
Wary of potential ambushes, camp forces abstained from pursuit.
They have gotten over a bump. Gyeo-ul lowered his rifle.
---------------------------= Author's Note ---------------------------=
If you ask for continuous updates as a gift, the author might be worn out. But with this much volume, isn't it close to continuous updates already?
Help me...
---------------------------= Clacky's Corner ---------------------------=
Poor author-nim, being forced to write by his loving readers.