Ch.2525. Preparation

“Nngh… Nngh…”

How much time had passed? Sergeant Kim rose from his position with groans, still feeling the impact of the explosion that came with the death of the giant self-destructing monster—and encountered a desperate reality.

“…Ah, aaah.”

Most of the defense facilities deployed at the first defense line were completely devastated by the explosion despite the protection of the psychic barrier, and the turret where Sergeant Kim was stationed was no exception.

“Sergeant Park… Sergeant Jung…”

His turret had its upper part completely torn off, and because of that, the two who had been operating the laser machine gun from above had their upper bodies vaporized while their lower bodies were reduced to rags scattered around.

In fact, his survival was a miraculous event resulting from several coincidences and variables overlapping.

Fortunately, since he was in charge of the laser cannon at the bottom, his upper body wasn’t vaporized, resulting in instant death. The laser cannon miraculously blocked fragments, preventing turret debris from piercing his body.

Additionally, to increase his survival probability even slightly, he had separately obtained and implanted a monster implant—modified from monster biological organs—from the civilian market, which, combined with military modification procedures, played a decisive role in his survival.

The tough hide on his skin (E) and synthetic muscle fiber coils (E) applied to his muscles increased durability, protecting his body from fragments that the laser cannon couldn’t block while reducing the power of the shock wave. The regeneration (D) monster implant installed in his heart quickly repaired his damaged body.

But even so, it would be difficult for him to accept the fact that he had survived as something to be happy about.

“…Huh, huhhh.”

Looking at the corpses scattered about, crushed like pork cutlets pounded with a mallet, Sergeant Kim unconsciously let out a groan filled with deep sighs.

As negative and depressing thoughts filled his head, Sergeant Kim silently recovered their personal belongings from the pockets of the two, then began picking up the weapons scattered on the ground.

Personal protection K101A9 laser submachine gun, a hunter knife crafted from Hunter Claw (E), and Sergeant Park’s custom energy pistol.

After collecting weapons that could protect his body, he held the laser submachine gun in his hand, forced himself to strengthen his resolve, and stood up—

Grrrrrr…

“…Fuck.”

Just then, a spider-like monster passing in front of him made eye contact.

Woong—Pibibibibibibibibi!!

Krraaaaaaaaaaaa—!!!!

He hurriedly aimed the submachine gun and pulled the trigger, but the submachine gun, which focused on firing rate and portability rather than output (firepower), couldn’t penetrate the thick exoskeleton of the spider monster.

Damn it!

So he hastily detached the stock of the submachine gun, threw it at the spider monster, and then drew the energy pistol from the holster at his waist and aimed.

Woooooong—Pheong!

Since it was an illegally modified energy pistol that consumed all the energy in the magazine in a single shot, and in an overcharged state at that, the high-powered energy mass that flew from the muzzle exploded upon contact with the spider monster, disintegrating it into pieces.

Chiiiiiii…

Clack!

“Damn thing…”

And right after that, he dropped Sergeant Park’s energy pistol, which had completely malfunctioned due to the side effects of the modification, and sat down on the ground with a sigh.

Since the fluid flowing from the exploded body of the monster was unpleasant, Sergeant Kim, looking for a cleaner spot, noticed something.

It was a monster that Sergeant Kim knew well. It had a spider-like body structure but with smooth skin, and its size was almost as large as a small passenger car.

Two legs protruding forward like pincers had sharp blades attached, and six eyeballs were symmetrically arranged near the mouth that split sideways.

In summary, this monster with a horrific appearance is the Heavy Hive Spider, the most commonly seen monster among the Hive Mind’s 8th-grade monsters.

“…Fuck.”

To be honest, if he had the right equipment, he could take down something like that by himself.

Although its carapace is hard, it can be penetrated with the high-output mode of a laser rifle, and even in close combat, with the assistance of a skeleton suit, he could overwhelm that monster with just a short military hunter knife.

But now, he doesn’t satisfy any of the above conditions. The laser submachine gun with high-output mode was thrown away, the energy pistol is broken, and the skeleton suit’s power unit is damaged and not functioning properly.

In other words, that monster is something he might not be able to defeat even if he fought with all his might in his current situation.

“This, this is so fucked up…”

As he muttered curses under his breath and drew his hunter knife, the monster, instead of making a monstrous sound, rapidly moved its antennae and lunged its massive body toward him—

—Pibibibibibibibibibibi!!!!

Suddenly, dozens of laser beams poured onto the Heavy Hive Spider, turning it into a honeycomb.

“What…?”

Though Sergeant Kim was confused by the sudden event, just by turning his head toward where the lasers were fired from, he could tell who had saved him.

‘…Sungkwang Guild?’

It was a giant armor painted in white and gold, with a large Sungkwang Group emblem drawn on one shoulder.

Sergeant Kim stared blankly at the giant armor, which seemed to be leading the rescue operation for survivors, along with soldiers in tattered skeleton suits similar to his own. Soon, he picked up the laser submachine gun that had fallen to the ground and joined the group of survivors.

With a sense of self-reproach for being the only survivor while his two comrades died, yet also feeling joy for having survived.

※ ※ ※

‘The first defense line collapsed, but the defense was successful… A new Hive Mind appeared, codenamed Bomb Spider, and another high-ranking monster appeared nearby. Identification results confirm it as an animal type, with a high possibility of conflict with the Hive Mind.’

To summarize the information Teresia sent me from the human side, that’s how it could be organized.

Unlike the plans in fictional works that fail day after day, my plan went exactly as I had planned, with just one variable—the breakthrough of the human side’s first defense line.

The human side blocked my offensive and misunderstood as I intended, and at the same time, I was able to give Teresia quite a lot of credit, solidifying her position in Korean society.

Teresia eliminated hundreds of low-grade monsters and 17 mid-grade monsters, and at the same time, successfully completed the rescue of 89 scattered soldiers, which even I hadn’t intended.

With the government trying to downplay the breakthrough of the first defense line in this incident, and with Teresia being just the right person to push forward, it seems she will be promoted as a hero for the time being according to the current ruling party’s intentions.

Well… even if I exclude the fact that I helped a little by manipulating things, taking down 17 mid-grade monsters with that old giant armor in one sortie is a miraculous achievement even by game standards, so it’s not a big problem.

Actually, I was more dissatisfied with the name “Bomb Spider” that humans gave me as my identification code.

No matter how much I mass-produced self-destructing spiders because I didn’t want to hand over resources, the name “Bomb Spider” felt too simplistic.

So while grumbling about that fact internally, I began to move the personnel I had prepared to secure a means to exert influence on Korean society in earnest.

And that personnel was precisely a few monsters among Teresia’s mercenaries whose characteristics were set to be particularly inconspicuous, which I had secretly diverted.

‘Move slowly toward the target.’

Three individuals… three monsters with appearances not much different from ordinary Korean men, approached the target, a monster department reporter from Daily Newspaper, chatting with each other as if they were friends.

He’s a war orphan with no family, and no friends with deep enough relationships to notice the changes at a glance. Even at work, he has no influence, so “replacing” him wouldn’t cause any particular problems.

Additionally, their current location was a temporary shelter converted from an abandoned city in Gangwon Province, meaning there were no functioning surveillance cameras and it was a secluded place with few people around.

This is… clearly telling me to just do it, right?

‘Administer it.’

[Y-you guys, what—mmph! Mmph!]

One of them restrained the reporter’s hands and feet, while another covered his mouth and fixed his body.

Finally, they inserted a thorn into the fixed reporter’s neck, injecting a drug to make him lose consciousness, and then put him into a backpack with spatial expansion, a space-type psychic ability. Half the job was done.

To complete the rest successfully, they needed to take this person to my secret base and replace part of his brain with a disguised bio-monster using the small biological organs there.

With this, the reporter became a puppet that moves according to my guidance without even being aware of it himself.

And this is precisely the core plan I am currently carrying out secretly, the so-called “Replacement” plan.