35. Pyeongtaek U.S. Military Base. (2)

I could see the bullet.

It was spiraling through the air, heading towards me.

I raised my sword.

And I pushed the bullet away with the blade.

The bullet scraped against the sword, and white sparks flew.

Another bullet was heading towards my stomach.

I crossed my arms, deflecting the bullets to the side.

As I deflected bullets aimed at my head, my sides, and all around me with my sword,

A white cloud rose from the abdomen of the man standing far away, slowly dissipating.

And another white cloud rose.

I deflected every bullet aimed at me with my sword.

The acceleration ended.

The delayed sound of the bullets finally erupted.

Kwak-kwak-kwak-kwak-kwak!

“Phew…”

Sssss-

White smoke rose from both swords.

The edges of the swords were quite damaged from deflecting the bullets.

I slowly lowered my crossed arms and straightened my bent body.

The middle-aged man who shot at me was staring at me.

His eyes showed disbelief at what he had just witnessed.

His hand was still on the trigger.

No, he was still pulling it.

The magazine was empty.

Deflecting bullets with a sword is dangerous, even for me.

If I missed even one of the many bullets flying at me, it would pierce my body.

I bared my teeth and raised my sword.

Sssss-

Faint smoke rose from the blade.

I said,

“Put down your gun. I won’t give you a second chance.”

I waggled the tip of my sword.

The gathered people seemed not to hear me.

They stared with wide eyes and open mouths, shocked.

I lowered my sword and slowly walked forward.

“You really shot when I told you to? Killing people left and right? You’re crazy bastards. I told you to put down your guns.”

The people hesitated and stepped back.

The man who shot at me.

The muscular man shook his head and bared his teeth.

He glared at me.

The man shouted loudly,

“I missed! I didn’t shoot well! Damn, it’s been a long time since I last fired a gun! Hey! Shoot!”

What a lunatic.

The people hesitated and looked at each other.

After seeing me deflect all the bullets and the sparks flying, who would believe he missed?

“Shoot! Damn, shoot!”

The muscular man shouted, looking around.

“But… but he deflected the bullets, didn’t he?”

“Damn it! Do you want to die? If we back down here, we all die! Don’t you get it!”

The muscular man, veins popping in his neck, shouted loudly.

The people with guns hesitated and started to raise their hands.

“…Oh my God…”

I heard Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk groan.

“Seong-hun, it’s best to retreat! Seong-hun!”

Hold on, Sung Ga-yeon.

By the way, she wasn’t surprised when I deflected the bullets.

…Oh.

She had seen me deflect her bullets before.

She had seen how I fight up close.

I shook my head.

The people were being intimidated by the muscular man, slowly raising their guns.

I glared at the men raising their guns and activated acceleration.

[Automatic Cast: Acceleration]

About 20 meters to the men.

I bent my knees and sprinted forward.

The asphalt of the runway stuck to my feet.

The skill I gained from my Strength achievement.

I reached the muscular man in just three steps.

I raised my left hand holding the sword and wrapped it around the muscular man’s neck.

His left ear.

And my left ear were almost touching.

The acceleration ended.

“Damn! …Huh!”

I could feel the muscular man’s body stiffen through my arm.

Whoosh!

The wind from behind me, caused by my acceleration, hit the people a moment later.

The wind carrying dust blew through their hair and tickled their eyes.

“Ugh!”

The wind gradually subsided.

The dust slowly cleared.

The muscular man, whose neck I was holding, couldn’t move, only his eyes darting to look at me.

Sweat, whether from heat or fear, trickled down his cheek.

I whispered,

“…Do you want to die?”

I slowly raised my eyes to look at the old man in front of me.

The old man’s hand holding the gun was trembling.

I slowly glanced at the people.

They all looked at me as if they had seen a ghost.

I bared my teeth and said,

“If you don’t put down your guns, I’ll cut off your wrists.”

Thud.

The old man put down his gun.

The old man said,

“Everyone… everyone, put down your guns. Calm down. Listen to this… this person.”

The nearly thirty people hesitated, looking at each other.

But the old man’s words and the sight of the gun being put down seemed to spread.

One by one.

They started putting down their guns.

And the shovels and picks they were holding.

I slightly turned my head to the left.

Then, I looked into the eyes of the man whose neck I was holding.

He was close.

Close enough to headbutt him.

The man was blinking rapidly, sweating profusely.

Damn, this middle-aged man stinks of sweat.

I silently looked into the man’s eyes.

He also looked into my eyes.

Soon, he released the hand he was holding.

Thud.

The rifle fell to the ground.

Only then did I slowly release the man’s neck.

I glanced behind me.

It seemed they took that as a signal.

The Special Forces members burst out of the hangar, aiming their guns at this side, and quickly approached.

I quietly said,

“You already took your shot at me. I’m not killing you now, but I’m giving you a chance. Don’t move. I’ll kill you.”

The people couldn’t take their eyes off me and didn’t dare move.

The Special Forces members approached.

They collected all the guns on the ground and stood, aiming at the people.

Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk said,

“Kneel down and put your hands up where we can see them.”

The people slowly knelt and raised their hands.

Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk said,

“Don’t lower your hands. If you do, you will be immediately shot. This is a warning, and I won’t warn you again.”

The people with their hands up were quiet.

I slowly turned and walked behind the Special Forces members.

That’s it.

I’ve turned the tide, and the rest can be handled by the Special Forces.

Looking down at my sword, the smoke had stopped rising.

I sheathed the sword.

Swoosh-click.

I went to Sung Ga-yeon, who was at the back, and quietly asked,

“Why don’t we just tie them up?”

“No one brought cable ties for binding. They weren’t in the supplies either.”

“We looted a hardware store.”

“We used them all to build the barricades. There are none left.”

…Oh. That’s right.

I stood behind the Special Forces members, crossed my arms, and glared at the men.

Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk stepped forward and said,

“First, who are you?”

The muscular man who shot at me was deflated.

His shirt was soaked with sweat, and cold sweat was dripping down his face, showing he wasn’t in a state to answer.

The old man behind him said,

“We are people who farm here. Some are bar owners, some are neighborhood supermarket owners.”

Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk nodded and asked,

“Why did you aim your guns at us?”

“That’s-“

The sweating muscular man raised his head.

“Because we need weapons.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk tilted his head.

“Weapons? You already have plenty of guns. Do you need more?”

“…How can we feed ourselves with just ten guns? Look at these people. We barely managed to gather the survivors. It’s obvious we need weapons to survive, isn’t it?”

Sung Gyu-hyuk didn’t argue or contradict him.

He just nodded and asked,

“I see. How many survivors are there?”

“Nearly two hundred.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk nodded and glanced at me.

It didn’t seem to have any particular meaning.

He was probably trying to hide his surprise.

After all, 200 people.

That’s a lot.

Almost as many as in Seo-rae Village.

Sung Gyu-hyuk nodded and asked,

“I saw you facing off with the U.S. military from the sky. Did you come here to get weapons? Why were you facing off?”

The muscular man slowly looked up at Sung Gyu-hyuk.

“Why don’t you ask those bastards instead of us? They just threw us a few guns and told us to figure it out. Damn, they’re telling us to die.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk tilted his head and looked back.

Not at me.

At the pile of guns.

Sung Gyu-hyuk asked again,

“So, you came here to ask for more weapons. Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“You said there are a few hundred people. Why didn’t everyone come?”

The muscular man narrowed his eyes and glared at Sung Gyu-hyuk.

“Are you telling me to bring the kids, their moms, and the elderly? We risked our lives to come here. Even if we die here, we have to get the weapons. For all these people.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk nodded and asked again,

“Why isn’t the U.S. military base giving you more weapons?”

“Damn, how should I know?”

The muscular man ground his teeth.

“Every night, those things howl from all directions. We can’t even sleep. We have to go outside to survive, but when we try to get a can of ramen, they swarm in. They need to give us weapons. We’ve used up almost all the ammo they gave us. What the hell is this?”

…Howling at night?

What does he mean?

Sung Gyu-hyuk tilted his head.

“…They howl at night? What do you mean?”

The muscular man glared at Sung Gyu-hyuk and said,

“You said you’re from the government forces? You guys? You must be from Seoul.”

“That’s right.”

The muscular man looked at me.

“Well, with the huge population in Seoul, it’s no wonder there are people like you. I don’t know how you move so fast, but look. Are you some kind of Olympic athlete or something?”

Hmm.

It seems talking to him has made him less afraid.

But more importantly,

I’m not from Seoul.

I was just there because of school.

But I didn’t bother to answer.

The muscular man, who had been looking at me, took a deep breath and shifted his gaze to Sung Gyu-hyuk.

“You’re from Seoul. So, there are no howling things in Seoul at night, right?”

Sung Gyu-hyuk nodded and said,

“There are stores and places filled with them in Seoul as well. But I haven’t heard of them howling at night.”

The muscular man smiled, his lips curling up.

It looked both bitter and mocking.

“You must be from a comfortable place. Here, there are howling things. Every night, they crawl out from across the river, from the fields below, from the forests, and howl all around.”

“…What do you mean by ‘howling things?'”

The muscular man said,

“Stray dogs, birds, bats. All kinds of animals howling.”

The muscular man, with a look of unpleasant memories, took a deep breath and said,

“They even eat each other. If you see those animals attack and tear apart those zombies even once, you’ll understand. You can’t even sleep without a weapon in your hand.”

I couldn’t help but groan.

…Animals eating human beasts?