episode_0260

“What?”

“Gatling gun.”

“What about it?”

“A doctor made it, you know?”

“…”

“Seriously.”

Heize had told him this story while he was smoking.

There was a man.

A man with the titles of businessman, biomedical engineer, and inventor.

Seeing the countless young soldiers who perished during the American Civil War, he made a great resolve.

*If I create a terrifying weapon, won’t the enemies be afraid?*

To make them abandon the fight through overwhelming force.

Thus, a new type of weapon was born.

It was called the Gatling gun.

Heize explained that the continuous advancements from it led to the modern machine gun.

A new weapon born from one person’s desire for respect for life and peace.

Ironically, this weapon, contrary to its creator’s wishes, ended up causing even more casualties.

But this moment, at least, was different.

A deep roar!

Rapid gunfire!

“Damn it.”

The machine gun roared furiously.

The sheer firepower before his eyes made a crude word escape his lips unconsciously.

Flames erupted from the six muzzles.

The rapidly rotating barrels fired bullets without pause.

Clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink-

Spent casings and links endlessly fell around his feet.

Rapid gunfire!!!

The zombies in the direction of the muzzle were literally shredded.

Aiming for the head was difficult, but the destructive power compensated for it.

Thud! Squish!

Even a rough hit tore off limbs.

Even aiming only for the upper body made them fall over on their own.

Perhaps due to the powerful penetration, the ones rushing in behind also fell.

If he slightly turned the muzzle and fired, drawing a horizontal line, the zombies crumbled as they ran.

The zombies scattered, piling up like a dam bursting and collapsing.

Zombies that couldn’t cross a certain distance and were shredded built a wall of flesh with their bodies.

*…Are you watching, Richard?*

Your grand ambition is being proven in this small eastern country!

…He wanted to shout, but…

“Ugh!”

Intense destructive power and penetration.

A sustained rate of fire as long as bullets allowed.

And the immense power felt in his grasp made his body tremble involuntarily.

Trembling!

“Oh, damn it!”

He was really shaking.

It wasn’t a metaphor; his body was actually vibrating.

The absurd weight and incredible recoil were not the problem.

Even pulling the trigger with the RPM at maximum, his body wouldn’t sway, and the muzzle wouldn’t jump.

But…

*…His stomach was churning!*

Unexpectedly, the vibration was too strong.

It felt like having multiple electric massagers on their highest setting pressed against his head and neck.

*Ugh…!*

If he tried to suppress it with force, even his internal organs vibrated.

He endured, gritting his teeth in a different sense due to this unforeseen penalty.

Fighting zombies was one thing, but now he had an added personal battle, yet he could endure.

Thud! Thud! Thump! Thump! Splat!

The barrels rotated, spewing flames.

The fired bullets glowed reddish-yellow as they pierced through the zombies.

The high-speed bullets drew lines, slaughtering the zombies in their path.

In a short time, a wall of flesh was built from the zombie corpses.

Thanks to this, the zombie charge became disorganized.

At that moment, a gap appeared.

Bang! Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-bang-!!

Thanks to the time gained, they were able to finish reorganizing on top of the temporary wall.

The reorganized soldiers began to resume their concentrated fire.

Thanks to the wall of flesh created in a short time, the battle became slightly easier.

Whirring!

“Huu…”

Seeing the soldiers’ struggle, he stopped firing.

As he gently released his finger from the trigger, the furiously rotating barrels slowed down.

Perhaps unable to overcome the rotational inertia, 3-4 bullets fired on their own even after he released the trigger.

But that wasn’t what was important.

“…Wow…”

He was captivated by the black barrels spewing white smoke.

Its performance, worth enduring the vibrating internal organs, was extremely satisfying.

Visually and in practice, this weapon possessed a heavy, soul-stirring quality.

*Excellent.*

The performance, on another level, was extremely satisfying.

Such performance, and a penalty of this degree, was nothing.

Conversely, he also realized why people might be reluctant to use it.

*…It’s terrifying.*

Seeing the pile of spent casings and links at his feet made his heart sink.

The amount of ammunition consumed in such a short time was enormous.

He was thinking he needed to time his boosts well as he focused on the front.

The sound of gunfire from behind began to grow thicker and more intense.

He glanced back to see reinforcements running onto the temporary wall, taking positions, and joining the fight.

It seemed they had cleared the fight at the back gate and all converged here.

The attacks unleashed by the humans, who had taken up their positions in an orderly and dense manner, were truly effective.

As evidence, the zombies’ roars were gradually being drowned out by the gunfire from over a hundred firearms.

The zombies’ momentum slowly dwindled.

The grenade launcher attacks exploding further behind accelerated the advantageous situation.

“Don’t let your guard down, stay focused!”

Anyone could feel that this was the end of it.

But Sergeant Kim did not relax his guard.

Was it because of that?

“Sergeant Kim! Look, over there! Look there!!!”

The soldier, who had been Sergeant Kim’s eyes, was horrified.

“…”

The mound of corpses piled in the middle of the road was writhing and melting.

…He was so distracted he noticed it late.

“What the… hell?! Everyone! Attack that writhing mass of flesh!!!”

Sergeant Kim issued the order frantically, and a hail of bullets immediately poured onto the target.

His judgment was good, but that attack was useless.

He turned and shouted loudly to Sergeant Kim.

“Guns are useless! With grenade launchers!”

“?! Shoot the zombies with guns! Fire grenades now! Fire them now!”

He wanted to unleash the minigun, but there was a high probability it wouldn’t work.

As he hastily pulled out the grenade launcher and shouted, Sergeant Kim reacted immediately.

The soldiers all used their grenade launchers simultaneously, and he also aimed his.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

The soldiers concentrated most of their grenades and hit the target.

He also hit the mutating mass of flesh with all six of his rounds.

Boom! Boom!! Boom!!

The overlapping and powerful attacks and flames flickered.

“H-how could that be…”

*…As expected, it’s not working.*

It had suppressed grenade explosions and swallowed burning oil, so he’d hoped, but as expected, it was no use.

Despite the immense attack, the mass of flesh remained intact.

The writhing mass of flesh, as if to show off, slowly took shape, just as he had seen before.

When everyone was stunned and unable to do anything.

Splosh!

“Th-that…”

“…Damn it.”

Something charred spewed out from inside the mass of flesh, as if it were spitting out a foreign object with a tongue.

And the size of the flesh mass visibly decreased a bit.

Not only that.

Crackling-

Squish-

He narrowed his eyes, watching the bizarre mass of flesh.

The mass of flesh, detaching as if dough being pulled apart, split into two.

Immediately, it wriggled violently and began to rapidly form shapes.

Whoosh- Whoosh-

Seeing the infuriating sight, he quickly reloaded his grenade launcher.

“Destructive power? Then this is it.”

HEDP.

Powerful enough to contend with armored vehicles.

He loaded the HEDP rounds Heize had told him about and prepared for battle.

The zombie corpses piled in the middle of the road disappeared, replaced by two massive bodies.

Each slowly raised its crouched body, as if awakening from sleep.

“…”

An impressively large, stupid-looking head.

Its appearance and size were similar to the one he had encountered at Yongsan Base.

*A multitude of zombies gather…*

As the two massive zombies took shape, he could feel the panic rising on the temporary wall.

“Th-the combat sta—”

A monstrous roar!

The humans froze at the scream unleashed by just two creatures.

Pop-

“Grrrraaaah—”

Boom-!

A powerful explosion erupted on the face of one of them, which had been about to let out another roar.

Staggering- Thud-

As it stumbled backward and finally knelt.

Pop-

Boom-!

He fed another HEDP to the head of the remaining one, whose gaze had been drawn to the explosion.

“This one works, huh.”

The two creatures, struck in the head defenselessly, staggered greatly.

He liked the sight of them flailing their log-like arms and struggling.

Unfortunately, there was no more time to admire that sorry state.

Even at this moment, zombies were surging forward like a tide.

Since the center was wide open, that advantage was lost.

“All units, open fire!!!!!!”

The soldiers reacted to Sergeant Kim’s desperate cry, as he recovered his composure a beat late.

Once again, the disciplined, concentrated fire erupted.

Pop- Pop- Pop- Pop-

Boom- Boom- Boom- Boom-

Therefore, he focused solely on the giant zombies, showering them with HEDP rounds.

The regular zombies were pushed back sufficiently by the soldiers.

He quickly finished reloading while the giant zombies were staggering.

Meanwhile, one of the giant zombies, having gotten back on its feet, came thundering forward.

*It has to work.*

Rapid weapon swap.

He pulled out the minigun again and aimed it at the giant zombie.

Click-

A deep roar!

He pulled the trigger fully without hesitation at the giant zombie charging recklessly.

With a desperate hope that it would be effective.

Rapid gunfire!

Groaaaar!!!

*Good.*

The minigun’s firepower was effective even against that grotesque behemoth.

The giant zombie, taking the attack of the yellow-glowing bullets on its body, clearly slowed its charge.

Dark blue blood spurted uncontrollably from the hit areas.

When he shot its abdomen, its waist bent.

When he shot its chest, its upper body jolted.

It wasn’t an immediate killing blow.

But the minigun’s attack, specialized for mass slaughter, was definitely effective against the massive body.

Feeding it with high-speed continuous fire, the effect became apparent.

As he carefully adjusted the muzzle’s direction to aim for the head, the giant zombie took an unexpected action.

“That son of a bitch?”

It covered its head with both arms and charged again.

Its direction was clearly towards him.

It was comical for a zombie to ‘defend’ itself, but it was by no means something to ignore.

Rapid gunfire!

Chunks of flesh fell off the giant zombie’s forearm, which boasted tire-like tautness.

Even so, it didn’t stop and didn’t drop its guard.

Whoosh-

A deep roar!

As he changed the target to its knees, the giant zombie’s knees twisted with a cracking sound.

Thud-

As he aimed for the head of the giant zombie, which had stumbled and was rolling on the ground…

Thump- Thump- Thump-

The other giant zombie, which hadn’t fully recovered, was now charging desperately.

Thud- Crunch-

With each step it took, the zombies loitering in front exploded.

Thump-

Squish- Crack-

With another step, a corpse lying on the ground exploded, spewing its contents.

The grandeur of the giant zombie charging amidst the scattering guts and bone fragments in the air was majestic.

A monstrous roar-!!

A deep roar!!!

He quickly shifted the muzzle.

Rapid gunfire-

The attack, changing direction while drawing a curtain of bullets, shattered its incredibly thick leg.

Thud-

Groaaaaaar!!!

The giant zombie, with both knees shattered, thrashed on the ground where it had fallen.

He tried to aim for its head, but…

“Ah, damn it.”

Seeing the barrels glow red-hot, he took his finger off the trigger.

He quickly stowed the minigun and drew his sword.

*…Will it work?*

He felt sorry for the sword, overworked and on the verge of breaking, but two times would be enough.

He just needed to sever the neck supporting that ugly face.

The giant zombie, with both knees shattered, crawled across the ground, approaching.

Other zombies trampled the massive body, but it didn’t even faze it.

The one with one shattered knee hobbled and fell repeatedly, yet still approached.

Just as he was gauging the timing to break through the zombies.

Whizz-

“!”

Swish-

Thud-

The giant zombie violently grabbed a corpse from the ground and threw it.

The corpse-projectile, which he dodged by twisting his body, hit the temporary wall, and the wall was heavily dented.

Whizz-

Bang-

A missed corpse-projectile hit the iron gate, tearing it open and tilting it.

*Going in.*

It was then he decided that timing or no, he had to get close to those two.

Whoosh- Whoosh- Whoosh- Whoosh-

The sound of helicopter blades rotating, accompanied by powerful wind stirring up dust.

The sole helicopter at Geondae Shelter appeared above the temporary wall.

The helicopter, making a loud entrance, stopped overhead, drawing the attention of the zombies.

The moment it immediately turned its body and hovered in the air.

Whirrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

A minigun spewed fire from the helicopter’s door.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Dirt and stone fragments flew high.

Bullets fired in lines across the ground swept away the zombies.

The bright yellow lines soon cleared a path, and that path led to the giant zombies.

“Hup…!”

Dash-!!

The moment he saw the path, he propelled himself forward.

The giant zombies reacted as if to flail, but.

Rapid gunfire!!

Their backs were pounded by the hail of bullets pouring from the helicopter.

Taking in the gunfire, which seemed like a signal to stay put, he closed the distance in an instant.

He leaped into the barrage of bullets raining down near his body.

As soon as he rapidly approached, he didn’t hesitate to move his hand.

Swish-!

“Screeee—”

Slash-

“Groaaargh—”

Thud-

Clang!

The sword, cutting into the second giant zombie’s neck, finally broke.

“Kraaaaargh!!!!!”

The creature, ignorant of pain, seemed to recognize that it was a vital spot and thrashed violently.

But he stepped on the back of the prone creature and reached out.

Grab-

Squeeze-

He gripped both sides of the broken sword stuck within, pulling with all his might towards himself.

Thrust- Rip!

Perhaps because he couldn’t swing it properly, the sensation was less of cutting and more of tearing, transmitted through his hand.

Thump-

The blade dug into his grip, but he didn’t stop.

Snap-

“Hyaaah!!!!”

Splat!!!

A massive, tire-sized head, spewing dark blue blood, flew into the air.

Grab-

With one hand gripping the broken blade and the other the massive head, he quickly moved away from the spot.

“Huuu…”

Standing before the precariously holding iron gate, he turned around to see the same situation as before unfolding.

Zombies unable to cross a certain distance.

Corpses rapidly covering and piling up.

Adding to that, aerial support from the helicopter.

“…”

By the soldiers’ hands, the zombies fell helplessly.

From the helicopter, patrolling a certain area in the air, bullets were intermittently poured down.

The battle, which had continued for about 5 minutes, ended as if a lie when the helicopter withdrew.

Bang bang bang-!!

Thud…

“…”

“…”

The sudden silence stifled even everyone’s breathing.

Before their eyes were once again hills and fields of corpses, filled and piled high.

No ear-piercing roars could be heard.

Nothing could be seen moving, let alone twitching, in front of them.

This time, it’s definitely over—

“Situation clear-!!”

Sergeant Kim’s hoarse voice, having exchanged radio messages.

Whooooaahhh!!!

With the soldiers’ mighty cheers, the battle was truly over this time.