27. Commander.

“…!!”

 

 

A slowly falling arm.

Surely, that speed must be fast.

 

 

But the speed of perception,

His brain,

 

Is slow.

 

 

Negative emotions blooming.

And the desire to escape.

 

Because he witnessed something that should never have happened before his eyes, his brain denied the truth.

 

 

But stark reality doesn’t just disappear.

Rather, as a reaction, he perceived each pixel of time, even the smallest fragments, and the event was perceived slowly.

 

 

Clearly.

 

 

A fleeting moment that isn’t even a tenth of a second turns into 1 minute, 10 minutes.

 

 

 

Tuwoong!

 

 

 

With a heavy sound, the alloy prosthetic hand fell to the floor.

The sword that cut it off still aims at him with a gleaming sharpness, ready to reach out and take his heart at any moment.

 

 

Lips burning dry.

Along with a thirst that dries out the moisture, intense heat and pain surged from his lower abdomen.

 

 

Was he hit by the sword?

 

 

That’s not it.

Just condensed emotion.

 

Something that can’t be, something that shouldn’t be,

A blind vision that seems to deny the hope for it and the reality.

 

The pain of witnessing the shattering of the illusion that was finally created by squeezing those things together.

That is the pain.

 

 

 

 

“Since it’s alloy, it won’t hurt anyway, right? Lucky you.”

 

It hurts.

It hurts like hell.

 

You don’t know.

You still don’t know.

This pain of mine.

 

Just by looking…

Just by listening…

 

 

It stings,

Throbbing,

Twisting,

 

 

Finally coughing up hope…

 

 

You don’t know this pain.

You don’t even care.

 

 

A desperate cry.

It was like the heart of a car engine, roaring and pumping fiercely.

 

 

A miraculous movement that circulates through the blood vessels of the entire body, supplying oxygen to even the smallest, most minute areas.

His exploding emotion is exactly that.

 

 

Carried on the fiercely departing blood, it travels through every blood vessel in the body, gathering all the condensed resentment, emotions, desires, and aspirations, and reaches the lungs.

Burning all the essential elements such as energy, moisture, and nutrients in the body, it bursts into a scream of a scale never before seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is this what they mean by ear-splitting?

Is this what a lion’s roar from a martial arts novel feels like?

 

 

With just that massive shout, Han Sarang’s body staggered backward for a moment, and the squad members’ bodies stiffened.

 

And that’s not all.

 

 

Crumbs fell from the dungeon’s walls and ceiling, and the cries of monsters collapsing in the distance, quacking, could be heard.

 

 

“Keuk!”

 

 

It’s hard to move.

Just what kind of vocal cords does he have, or is it perhaps a type of skill? Her body was scared first.

Her confident face immediately hardened.

 

 

 

 

Hoo-oong – !

 

 

 

 

An arm swung heavily, taking advantage of the moment.

If one side was cut off, that means the other side is fine.

The solid prosthetic hand made of alloy is swung towards her head.

 

 

He has stats, he has buff effects, and he swings it without hesitation.

 

 

The swiftness was so great that she couldn’t possibly avoid it, and she was only allowed enough time to reflexively raise her arm.

Even that was difficult due to the stiffness, but as they say, humans display tremendous power in times of crisis? She barely managed to raise her arm.

 

 

Ppogak!

 

 

However, the alloy prosthetic hand easily broke the arm she had raised and transmitted the impact to her head.

She would have died instantly under normal circumstances.

 

But whether it was luck or the will to live, she reduced the impact by moving her head to the opposite side in that fleeting moment.

Of course, the biggest factor was that her arm broke and absorbed the impact before that.

 

 

“Keueup…!”

 

Strength drains from her entire body.

A dizziness that can’t even be compared to the staggering from before takes over her entire body, and thanks to her messed-up semicircular canals, her sense of balance is completely off.

 

 

In other words, she’s in a state where even standing is difficult.

 

 

But she gritted her teeth somehow.

 

If she collapses or retreats here, all that’s left are the weak (?) general squad members.

He’s already killed one person and attacked her, a key military officer, so 살인멸구 (salin myeolgu – wiping out the entire family) is essential.

 

If she doesn’t do something, the squad members will be annihilated.

 

 

“You were always like this.”

 

Hoo-oong – !

 

 

Again, the arm is swung.

This time, towards her side.

 

The broken arm can’t be used again.

It doesn’t even move.

So, all she can use is the super-vibration device she’s holding in her other arm.

 

She barely manages to defend herself, forcibly propping up her heavily disrupted nervous system, but that shoddy movement couldn’t stop him.

 

 

Ppeoeok – !

 

 

Terrible pain surged sequentially.

 

 

The side that was actually hit was just numb and didn’t feel much, but in the internal organs behind it…intense red pain was felt in the liver, pancreas, lungs, kidneys, etc.

 

 

And secondarily, her mind blew 3-4 fuses in a short moment of just a few seconds, reaching the heavily cracked ribs, stomach, duodenum, and the opposite kidney or lungs.

 

 

She fainted, then regained consciousness due to the terrible pain, then fainted again from the shock, then regained consciousness again.

 

 

Repeating that countless times.

 

All the energy she had was consumed by that alone.

 

Incapable of combat itself.

No, at this point, it’s a matter of life and death.

 

 

‘No…way…!’

 

 

She tries to grab onto the fading flame somehow, but fails.

 

“Wait for me. I’ll deal with you slowly. For life!”

 

 

His face, twisted like a demon, left those words and darted out.

A continuing bloodbath.

 

Terrible pain and screams were heard beyond her fading consciousness.

 

 

‘Again…again…!’

 

 

A scene from months ago flashed through her mind like a slideshow.

 

 

She couldn’t do anything.

And soldiers dying on all sides.

 

 

The command system was completely broken,

And only about one company was barely functioning, centered around her.

 

 

And even that couldn’t be protected due to incompetence,

And she couldn’t do anything but be taken hostage herself.

 

 

Hundreds and thousands of people died,

That many lives disappeared.

 

 

Even more civilians died.

A whopping 400,000.

 

The greatest happiness for the greatest number?

Bullshit!

 

 

What kind of arrogant nonsense are you spouting with such a pathetic ability!

 

 

 

 

Shaa-ak!

 

 

 

 

Finally, in her extinguished consciousness, she woke up.

 

“Kkeuaaaak!”

 

 

A place all dyed black.

There was nothing to see, but there was a lot to hear.

 

 

“Aaaak!”

“Save me!!”

“Kkyyaaak!”

 

Screams filling all directions.

 

It’s not just one or two people.

At least a thousand or more.

 

Up, down, left, right.

360 degrees of 360 degrees.

 

 

Screams erupted from literally every direction, tormenting her ears.

 

 

“Stop…!”

 

She covered her ears.

But it’s useless.

 

 

As if she never had hands in the first place, the screams pierced into her ears, and the intensity didn’t diminish at all.

 

 

 

“Kkyyaaaaaaaaaak!!!”

 

 

 

It’s like an explosion.

 

The shockwaves of a raging bombardment and grenades exploding everywhere.

A hail of bullets, etc., are each converted into screams and fly towards her.

 

 

Everything that exists in this world,

 

 

From atoms to electrons, atomic nuclei, quarks,

 

It seems that the very ‘existence’ itself has been converted into a terrible scream.

 

 

 

 

Everything in this world is made of screams-,

 

 

 

 

A world where such nonsense is taken seriously.

 

Even if she closes her ears, turns her head, runs like crazy,

 

 

Screams are always present wherever she goes.

 

 

No matter what she does, screams erupt from all directions, as if declaring that she can’t escape.

 

 

 

An extreme situation where she feels like she’ll go crazy even if she’s there for just one second.

 

 

Eventually, she knelt down.

In a state of utter helplessness, tears streamed down her face.

 

 

 

All those screams were created by her.

Because she couldn’t do anything,

Because she had no ability,

 

 

Because an inadequate person, an unqualified person, was brazenly sitting there,

 

 

The world has become full of screams like this.

 

 

That piercing self-reproach also became a scream and echoed from within her.

 

 

Even the sound of her heart, pounding and pumping fiercely with an unstable mental state, now sounds like a scream.

 

Her mind and body are collapsing together, endlessly collapsing,

Breaking down and breaking down again.

 

 

Now, being here itself,

 

 

In other words, her existence in the world is just pain.

 

 

An powerless, incompetent, weak person, just being there is simply too much to handle.

 

 

 

She even lowered the hands that were covering her ears.

Although it was meaningless, covering her ears was still a minimal struggle.

 

 

She has now given up even that.

 

 

 

 

It won’t work anyway.

What’s the point of doing it?

 

 

 

 

A terrible sense of defeat enveloped her entire body.

 

 

Octopamine surged, adding helplessness to helplessness,

Serotonin plummeted, and confidence turned into self-loathing.

 

 

Her mental breakdown is already solidifying into a physical phenomenon.

 

 

 

 

 

A situation that is impossible to endure.

 

A swamp.

 

She can’t get out of that deeply sunken place.

 

Unless someone helps her,

She can’t come out alive.

 

 

An extreme swamp.

A swamp of despair.

A swamp of screams.

A swamp of wails.

 

 

All become one and swallow her.

They reach out their worm-eaten arms and grab her, pulling her down.

 

 

The swamp alone is hard enough.

The screams alone are enough to make her mind faint,

 

Now, she is being pulled into an abyss that creaks only with screams.

 

 

 

Mental breakdown or physical breakdown is no longer the issue.

Now, it’s literally a crossroads of life and death.

 

A half-corpse slowly dying in despair, even her vitality and blood draining away.

A movable corpse that has lost all will to resist, think, or do anything.

 

 

‘Someone as incapable as me…might be better off not existing….’

 

 

Han Sarang relaxes her entire body, simply accepting it and being sucked into the swamp.

 

Enduring is too hard.

Resisting is too hard.

 

Let’s just accept it.

 

The screams,

The wails,

 

Let’s just accept all of that.

Accept it.

 

And let’s just fall into the swamp together.

Then she’ll be comfortable for life…no, forever.

 

 

Just when she made a resignation disguised as a decision, another slideshow flashed through her mind.

 

 

Soldiers dying.

 

 

Dying from being hit by a sword,

Dying from being hit by an arrow,

Dying from being hit by a thrown stone,

 

 

Dying with their bodies split in half,

Dying with their lower bodies blown away,

Dying with their necks blown away, hanging like rags on tree branches,

 

Dying

Dying dying

Dying dying dying

Dying dying dying dying

Dying dying dying dying dying

 

 

Dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying dying

 

 

 

 

 

Kwaaak!

 

 

Suddenly, her eyes flashed and she grabbed the slimy swamp with her hand.

 

 

“Shibal…it’s comfortable to give up…but I can’t….”

She gave it strength.

 

 

Kwaaak!

 

 

The other hand also grabbed the swamp.

Still, her body doesn’t come out.

No, in the first place, her hands are also being sucked in.

 

 

Still, she gives it strength.

Anyway, she gives it strength.

 

Whether she comes out or not…she gives it strength for now.

 

 

 

 

“Endure? What the hell are you talking about, you moron…”

 

 

Blood flowed from her tightly closed lips.

She felt that.

 

Something hot flowed down her chin.

 

 

Pain?

There’s no such thing.

 

Being in the swamp is a more distant pain.

Hearing those screams is a more distant pain.

These goddamn hands pulling her down are more painful!

 

 

So, just the blood from her lips is nothing.

 

 

“You can’t think about enduring…you have to think about winning…absolutely…you have to win no matter what….”

 

The images of the soldiers dying are still vivid in her mind.

That scene of hundreds and thousands of lives disappearing in vain is too clear.

 

And perhaps the same scene is happening outside her unconsciousness right now.

 

 

So…

 

 

“You have to win no matter what…! Win and protect! Everyone! This world!!”

 

 

Desperation comes alive.

The lost will comes alive.

The scattered strength gathers.

 

 

Her body…is coming out.

 

 

Hudeudeuk.

 

 

It’s all a black world so she can’t see it,

But she’s gradually coming out.

From the swamp,

Gradually.

 

 

“Get the hell out of here!!”

 

 

When she swung her arm, the arms that were pulling her fell off.

 

Cheodeok.