37. The Beast Horde. (3)

Dak, dak, tik.

I immediately laid the Ingrams sideways and locked the magazines.

Then, I crossed my arms tightly.

Shirr-

The horizontally laid magazines slowly tilted in the air.

I stood the Ingrams up and took out two magazines from my thighs.

I raised the magazines clutched in my hands and loaded them into the floating Ingrams.

Clack.

I grabbed the slowly descending magazines and inserted them into my thighs, then gripped the Ingrams.

I spread my arms.

Resting my fingers on the triggers.

And pulled.

Dak, dak, dak, dak!

“…Damn it.”

I stood the gun up and gritted my teeth.

It’s good to mow down the beasts charging from all sides.

But because the ones in front are getting shot in the head and becoming corpses, the ones behind don’t glow red.

The projectiles aren’t swirling like a tornado or anything, so they barely move when deflected.

No choice but to wait.

Acceleration ended.

Weruruk!

The death cries that burst out from all sides roared up.

And dozens of beasts with their heads shot collapsed simultaneously.

Blood splattered everywhere.

“Phew.”

“-Hun. Seong-hun? Can you hear me? Hey, Seong-hun!”

Huh?

I had forgotten.

Was I wearing this?

“Yes, I can hear you.”

“Are you okay? I kept hearing strange noises.”

I looked around.

The human beasts.

Some were crawling up from the river, but their numbers had clearly decreased.

Those approaching from the single-family homes on both sides.

I extended my arms and pulled the triggers.

Drrr…

“Oh, oh.”

So this was the real sound.

It sounded a bit like a “boo-woo” sound or something.

Dozens of beasts collapsed with their heads shattered in an instant.

The bullets are insanely fast.

“What noise?”

I turned and pulled the trigger again.

The remaining beasts were so few that acceleration wasn’t even needed.

Drrr.

“What’s with the chanting-like sound? It sounded like a group singing out of the blue.”

…What the hell is this?

“Chanting? Like a group singing?”

…What is she talking about?

“No. No one played any songs. Just a moment.”

I don’t feel like engaging in such trivial talk right now.

I want to focus on killing.

Drruk, drruk.

The nearby beasts were all dead.

Only a few slowly rising from the river in the distance.

[Level increased by 3.]

“…Oh.”

It looks like I killed over 150 of them…

…Huh?

Is that not the case?

I quickly looked around.

The collapsed human beasts.

From my experience of hunting thousands, I can roughly count them now.

There’s less than 100 here.

…Is that so?

I turned to look at the dead cat.

…Because of that thing?

That one beast is roughly equivalent to about 50 human beasts.

…Ah.

That makes sense.

The heads inside its body.

Each one counts toward the kill count.

So, that beast had eaten about 50 human beasts.

…Wait.

What about other beasts?

…Could there be ones that have eaten over 100?

Or even hundreds, or thousands?

…Do such beasts really exist?

I looked around.

No other beasts are in sight.

…No.

I’ve consumed too much stamina.

If something comes now, I’m in trouble.

That moment arrived.

A chill ran down my spine.

I turned to the side.

Nothing there.

The streetlights illuminating the village.

And beyond them, darkness.

Without even a moon, nothing was visible.

The unpleasant feeling didn’t go away.

I stared intently into the distant darkness.

…There’s light.

It appeared.

Clearly, it was there.

Again, light.

Two lights.

Red eyes.

And, to the left and right of the single-family homes.

In the darkness beyond the houses, more red eyes began to appear.

Countless in number.

My palms were tingling.

Something was trickling down.

Sweat.

I stood still.

Or rather, I couldn’t move.

I had overused acceleration because killing was so thrilling.

Not much stamina left.

Maybe three or four times.

With three or four times…

Could I escape from their range?

Tuduk.

Footsteps.

The streetlights illuminated its white fur.

It was a beast covered in white fur with a long snout.

It looked like a dog, but no dog that big could exist.

A wolf would be like a stuffed animal compared to it.

It was almost the size of a house.

It was far away.

Even so, I had to look up at it.

It looked down at me.

I also looked up at it.

We started a staring contest without blinking.

I heard some sound in my ear.

Whatever it meant, I didn’t care.

Not now.

At some point during the staring contest.

The white beast raised its head.

And howled.

Woo-oo-oo-!

…Howling.

Simultaneously, howls erupted from all directions.

Enormous sound.

It felt like my eardrums would burst.

Not just high-pitched sounds, but something that made my eardrums quiver.

Ee-jit.

I gritted my teeth.

Endure.

Hold on!

These beasts aren’t attacking me.

They’re just barking.

The howling stopped.

Tuduk, tuk.

On the other side of the white beast.

A brown dog.

No, a brown monster beast emerged.

It’s small.

No, smaller than the white beast.

But still the size of a house.

The brown beast approached the cat’s corpse.

Opened its jaws wide.

…Its teeth…

They seemed to number in the hundreds.

All the teeth protruded sharply, both upper and lower.

The beast grabbed the cat’s corpse in its mouth and briefly looked at the white beast.

Then turned around and left the way it came.

Disappeared into the darkness.

The white beast also turned around and walked into the darkness.

The red eyes in the distance disappeared one by one.

Sometime later, the chilling feeling faded.

“…Haa, hoo.”

Crazy.

Sweat poured down my face like rain.

Dripping from my chin.

Cold sweat?

Since the apocalypse began and after hunting countless human beasts, this is the first time I’ve felt this.

Overwhelming feeling.

The white fur beast looked like a Great Dane but much bigger.

Not that it mattered now.

I looked around.

In the distance.

Beyond the river, a darker wall in the darkness.

A large mountain visible there.

Noises were coming from there.

Ee-jit, kwa-jit, ee-juk, ee-juk.

It was eating.

The cat.

The human beasts crawling up from the river were no longer visible.

…All the beasts in this area, those crawling from the river, were all eaten.

How many did they eat?

Do the corpses with their heads shattered also accumulate?

Please no.

If so, we’ve just given them food.

“Hoo, haa…”

The corpses scattered in the open lot.

…No, that can’t be.

If eating corpses accumulated, they wouldn’t have left these dozens of bodies.

Then, there must be another reason for eating the cat.

Thinking that.

…Silent.

No sounds could be heard.

The unpleasant feeling was gone.

The rural village had returned to its quiet state as if nothing happened.

“…Phew.”

I slowly reloaded the Ingram magazines.

Just in case.

After reloading, I placed them on my thighs, grabbed the bow and duffel bag.

Anyway.

I’ll understand what kind of beasts they are and how to deal with them.

“Young man. Are you… okay?”

A single-family home in the distance.

An old man peeking through a slightly open window.

I raised my hand and nodded.

“Yes. It seems they’re all gone.”

“Th, thank you. Thank you, young man. Brave…”

…Brave?…

The pack of dogs had frozen me in fear.

Damn.

The pack was intimidating.

“I’ll take my leave.”

As I walked away, voices came from the single-family homes.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you, young man.”

“Thank you.”

…Did they all see it?

Did they see the shadow warrior too?

…Tsk.

Who cares.

I waved my hand and left the village, returning to the city.

When I arrived, it was around midnight.

The building where the Special Forces were waiting.

I pressed the elevator and said.

“I’m back. I’m going up.”

…No response.

“Hello?”

I tapped the plugged-in earphone.

…The battery was dead.

Ding-

I took it out and put it in my pocket, then boarded the elevator.

“Status.”

The 3 points I just gained.

I allocated them to agility, making it 12.

Level 97.

…3 levels left.

“Phew…”

I pressed the top floor and leaned against the wall.

“…It won’t work…”

What’s on my mind are the pack of beasts.

At least ten of them.

If they attack, I can’t handle them alone.

…Need my teammates’ help…

…No.

Even the Special Forces might not be enough.

The civilians would be of no great help, of course.

I need to meet the U.S. commander once again.

Thinking that, I got off the elevator and entered the house.

“Seong-hun!”

The members weren’t asleep.

Ga-yeon jumped up and ran to me.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

All the members approached me, asking if I was okay.

I replied appropriately and took off my shoes.

How exhausting.

Seong-gyu-hyeok asked.

“Was it a cat?”

Seong-gyu-hyeok’s face showed no curiosity or concern, just determination.

It was the expression of someone needing information about a potential enemy.

I nodded and said.

“You all know how to kill human beasts and monsters.”

The members nodded.

I continued.

“The beasts have heads all over their bodies. To kill them, don’t spare the magazines-shoot their entire bodies. Then they’ll die.”

The members’ expressions changed.

They seemed to be imagining something horrifying.

While they were reacting, I placed the duffel bag down and removed the lifting belt.

And added a remark.

“Explosives would work too.”

The members looked at each other.

Meanwhile, I was suffering.

I wanted to take a shower, damn it.

As I headed to the bathroom, I suddenly thought.

“What was that earlier?”

Ga-yeon looked at me.

“Huh?”

“What was that… singing sound?”

“Oh, that.”

Ga-yeon approached me and fiddled with her phone.

Then handed it to me.

“Hoo, haa. -Jjit, hee, tat.”

Huh?

Oh, my breathing.

And…

The sound of cutting the cat’s skin with a sword.

And clearly…

When I threw the sword and summoned the shadow warrior…

…Ah.

I had said to “kill it.”

At the moment I should have said that!

Suddenly, a harmony played.

It sounded like a string instrument harmony, or as Ga-yeon said, like chanting.

It ended very briefly.

Immediately after, my breathing sound played.

I stared at the phone.

…What is this?

Ga-yeon forced a smile and said.

“Must have been a crossed signal…”

…There’s no other way to explain this.

I nodded.

“It seems so.”