Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 350



Only Krnovel

Hiding the House in the Apocalypse Episode 355

145. Faith (3)

Snow had been falling all night on the ground, and sharp winds were blowing the accumulated snow away, creating a snow fog.

On the other hand, the underground here is completely dark.

The surroundings are quiet and even have an eerie ghostly vibe.

The Defender is in the lead.

He is said to have been active in this area with his team for quite some time.

Surprisingly, the Defender had a team.

One behind the defender and two following behind are his teammates.

They say that most of them are applicants and graduates of academies rather than schools, and are people who are united by their skills and hatred for fanatics rather than the character of the defenders.

The applicant refers to someone who volunteered to become a hunter after the war without even attending school.

If you consider that the Defender’s main enemies are humans rather than monsters, I don’t think this composition is that flawed.

In fact, they showed themselves here and there as quite skilled killers.

“It’s here.”

The sour smell of rotting corpses was lingering inside the train that had stopped between stations.

It’s the smell of a recently murdered corpse.

As expected, the bodies of the dead were hung in a row like meat in a butcher’s shop, tied to subway handrails and with white cloths covering their faces.

The number of corpses appeared to be over 50.

This is the work of a fanatic.

Like any other cult, they initially act kindly, as if they will take out your liver and gallbladder, but once they feel that you are completely subservient to them, they force you into a merciless state of labor and service.

Those who do not follow the rules or run away are executed by the fanatics in this way, leaving a lesson for those left behind.

However, the most recent body found was the work of a team of hunters led by the “Most Wanted” defender.

Attack the fanatics at the execution grounds, and send them to the same fate.

It is said that one of the Hunter teams was a former sect fugitive, so they were able to easily surprise and annihilate them.

“Ugh······. This is really disgusting······.”

A young woman following behind, armed only with a pistol, retches.

As you can see from the part with the eyes glowing alone in the darkness, this is a regular Awaken that followed us.

The name is Iharu. According to the person himself, it has a poetic meaning of summer tears.

When discussing with the Defenders in advance, we decided to treat this Awaken as a power that did not exist from the beginning.

Defender tried to devise a procedure to kill Iharu in case of emergency, but he did not agree to that.

Once we create a procedure, we tend to follow it easily without even realizing it.

Regardless of the current troubles caused by the regular Awaken, the regular Awaken is one of the few valuable resources left in our Republic of Korea.

We need to make it usable in some way.

“Just a moment. Wait.”

We took a break in another car of the train where the bodies were lined up, and checked the surveillance equipment that the Defender team had installed in advance.

and.

“Ugh······.”

A member of the Defender’s team pulled a gagged, haggard man out of a tightly closed box.

As you get closer, you can smell a foul odor of a mixture of feces, urine, and vomit.

Looks like he’s been locked up there for quite some time.

I checked the size of the box after seeing that it was not even able to properly control its body, and it was indeed small.

They crammed one person into that small space without any plan.

This could be said to be a cross-section of a brutal battlefield where not even a glimmer of humanity can be seen.

The Defender team members’ face-obscuring gear, including masks, gas masks, and sunglasses, doesn’t appear to be just for style or practicality.

“This guy is a messenger of the church.”

Just as the Manryu Guijong religion itself was named after a martial arts novel, the religion that follows that belief contains a lot of martial arts-related terminology.

Like a cult leader or a guardian of the law.

However, since it is not an organization established as a unified system like the Roman Catholic Church, the names within the denomination are different.

Some religious sects do not have any management positions at all, while others only have high-level management positions such as law enforcement officers. There are even religious sects like the one we are dealing with this time that are essentially run as a dynasty with a leader.

The title of Lion refers to a low-level managerial position regardless of the religious sect, and from what I understand, it refers to someone who is highly regarded within the religious sect for their religious beliefs rather than their personal abilities.

“Hey kid. Come on.”

A rough-spoken man tapped the lion on the cheek.

Another man practically stuck a water bottle into the lion’s mouth and forced it to drink water.

“what are you doing?”

Although Iharu expressed his disgust at the sight, I silently watched the Defender team members roughly handle the lion.

“He’s a real fanatic.”

The defender said a word.

Perhaps it’s because of strong faith.

This is a story about holding on to a doctrine that is nothing more than the nonsense of a madman by our standards more than life itself.

“Why are you keeping him alive?”

I couldn’t understand why they kept someone alive who had no chance of recovery.

In response, Defender quietly muttered in a voice as cold as his smile, with a bitter sneer on his usually expressionless face.

“Because I want to see his trust broken.”

“······okay?”

I thought it was pointless.

If it were me, I would have already ended that false belief with a bullet between the eyes.

however.

“Hehehe······.”

Soon something happened that made me understand the Defender’s feelings.

Even while receiving such cruel and brutal treatment, the fanatic muttered while drooling and pointing his finger at us.

“You don’t know anything. The reason why cracks appeared in this world. You pretend to know something when you don’t. You may be dying in ignorance······!”

puck!

Defender’s teammate beat him with a buttstock.

Even as he held his stomach and poured out his stomach acid, the fanatic did not stop muttering.

“It is no use trying to break my will. The fact that we are right is as universal as the sun rising in the east······.”

Thud! Thud!

The defender said a word.

“Don’t kill me.”

He looked at me.

“Because he’s this kind of guy.”

The Defender’s team member gagged the fanatic.

Looks like he’s going to take her with him.

Iharu said what I wanted to say instead.

“Are you sure you’re not going to drag this guy away?”

I stared at the defender.

“······Just. I want to show you. Can this fanatic still say the same thing after seeing his splendid religious order destroyed?”

The defender added, looking around at his teammates.

“We’ll take care of you. We’re all experienced and seasoned friends. And······ We’ve been through a lot with the believers.”

The Defender looked back at the tall man wearing a gas mask.

As soon as his gaze met, the gas mask spoke in a young voice.

“Those fanatic bastards raped and killed my mother and sister right in front of me. And I······.”

He took off his gas mask.

There was nothing where the nose should be.

Besides that, the traces of terrible abuse were still etched into her youthful face.

“······.”

I turned my gaze back to the Defender.

“Do whatever you want.”

It’s not my style, but I have no intention of getting involved in a revenge chain.

There are enough people.

If they can manage it well, it’s all good.

“excuse me.”

Iharu came up next to me in silence.

She waved at me.

Looks like he wants to whisper.

I bowed since I had no reason to refuse.

Along with the puff of breath, Iharu’s whispers pierced my ear.

“I’m really sorry, but do you know what’s in front of here?”

He nodded.

Iharu takes his mouth off my ear, makes a surprised expression, and then pretends to whisper in my ear again.

Let’s listen again,

“There’s not just one.”

It seems that the regular Awaken isn’t a very hot pants either.

The Defender had information he knew.

“There’s a dancer type. The natural enemy of you old school hunters.”

“······okay?”

“That’s not all. We also accommodate medium-sized dogs.”

“reception?”

“It’s like a hangar. You may not know because you’ve been away from the scene for a long time, but a stronghold built by a small infiltration type has a high probability of housing a medium combat type. It’s like deploying fighters to an airport built on an island.”

She added, her voice noticeably smaller than before, as she observed the situation.

“Aren’t the people here the lowest-ranking members of the Old School? Do you think a team fully organized by Old School standards can solve a difficult mission with a team that includes volunteers?”

I stepped away from her, looked down at her and said a word.

“You know a lot.”

“Of course. I’m the most elite among the kids here. I have more achievements than Ahn Seung-hwan.”

She unbuttoned the collar of her unbuttoned jumper and pointed to the badge attached to her left chest.

It has a mark that looks like a deer with horns on it, but it’s an insignia I don’t recognize.

“I know it’s a bit strange, but I, no, we don’t want you to die, Professor.”

“······okay?”

“If you, the so-called professor, die, morale will drop significantly. I understand that Director Woo Min-hee wants to keep us in check, but we don’t want to see this city destroyed either. We also know that. We can no longer return to Jeju.”

“······.”

Now, the doubts that had been piling up inside me are finally being resolved.

Why did these young people slacken their work for ridiculous and impossible reasons?

In short, he is asking for command.

The request is to have the regular Awaken take full command and let the rest of the personnel do the work, just like before.

Just like the latter half of my dispatch to China.

I don’t know much about that method.

Before Awaken came in as the boss, I returned to Korea and was recognized for my past achievements in Korea, so I was able to continue to lead the team.

But I also know the reality of the remaining battlefield.

The already high mortality rate of our hunters increased even more with Awaken taking command.

This is not to blame Awaken for his greed or incompetence.

This is because with the emergence of the central axis called Awaken, the doctrine of our hunter team changed to one focused on protecting Awaken.

The active doctrine that valued organic movement and creativity as before has disappeared, leaving only a passive doctrine of and for the Awaken.

That method may be effective against monsters, but the enemies we face include humans as well.

Fanatics and rebels relentlessly attacked these weaknesses.

Woo Min-hee understood that this method was not right.

Regular Awakens are rare, but now our Old School Hunters are also rare enough.

Hunters trained at the school were already few in number, but now their numbers have dwindled to the point where they are almost impossible to find, and the academy hunters created to fill that void are not free from the fate of extinction.

In a battle between monsters, where the gap between skilled and unskilled soldiers is greater than in any other area, the value of a single hunter is no longer what it used to be.

In an age where everything has become precious, Woo Min-hee called me to find a new point of contact.

Regardless of efficiency and the amount of public service, even my most vocal critics admit that the teams I lead have the lowest loss rates.

“······How many monsters have you killed?”

As I walked, I asked a question to a young friend who was ten years younger than me.

“Well, countless? I don’t care if they’re small or medium-sized. I’ve never killed a large one though.”

“So you think we can’t deal with what’s out there?”

“yes.”

Iharu nodded, looking at me with shining eyes.

“It’s physically impossible.”

“okay?”

“Yes. Even if you are a legendary hunter, a professor.”

She smiled.

“Keuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu······.”

Behind them, the bound fanatics can be heard laughing, even though they are gagged.

Soon the gag was released, and the fanatic’s muttering echoed through the darkness.

“That woman knows very well. As expected, she is the chosen one of God. She knows reality well. You cannot win. How can a human be a messenger of God······!”

puck!

He passed the beating hunter and motioned to the defender.

It’s time for battle.

The Defender’s team unpacked while recapturing the cultist and guarding the area around the tunnel.

Hunter gear.

Weapons of deformed shapes and purposes that have disappeared into the back alleys of the times along with our old school hunters.

I won’t deny that these guys are old-fashioned.

But they are the ones made from the blood we shed.

These are objects created after pondering over and over again how to kill the enemies of humanity more efficiently, while losing comrades and sometimes even parts of their own bodies.

Clank-

My friend, I took out a piece of equipment that I used often, although not as much as a pair of axes.

Mark Seven Happener.

This is our hunter’s spear that can defeat almost any type of monster if used properly.

I prepared two dishes.

and.

Kkieeeeeek—

Load the crossbow.

It’s a French-made hunting crossbow, not a crude homemade piece of equipment like a Judge Killer.

If someone suddenly asks why a medieval weapon, the arrows loaded into a crossbow will provide the answer.

Instead of a sharp tip at the end, it has a tiny camera.

Unlike drones that constantly receive and transmit radio waves, this method involves equipping a camera on a crossbow arrow that flies through the air without any power after being launched, taking pictures of the danger zone we want to know about, and then retrieving it via a carbon fiber rope attached to it.

This method allows you to get some, albeit insufficient, information without provoking the monster like a drone.

This method is a kind of evolution.

Just as monsters are constantly evolving to suit human ways, so too are our old school hunters constantly evolving to fight them.

Although the emergence of Awaken may have brought that evolution to a halt, at least our evolutionary path has not been completely eliminated.

Since we are out of active service, our methods will be “state of the art” and no longer advanced.

“······It’s a new model.”

After calmly examining the danger zone by firing the camera arrows several times, I found that there was a monster I didn’t know about over there.

It appears to be a large, irregularly shaped, mucus-like mass, but judging by its size, it is a medium-sized species.

Iharu looked at the blurry image that appeared on the tablet and suddenly said.

“Macrophage type.”

Iharu knew information about the new model.

She shook her head.

“I can’t help you with that either.”

“Did you intend to help?”

“Yes. I was asked to do it directly by Seunghwan. But.”

She shrugged.

She adds, her already shining eyes sparkling even more.

“That’s an away sniper.”

After hearing those words, the tied up fanatic lets out a eerie laugh while still gagged.

puck!

Amidst the merciless beatings, the eyes of the Hunters, including the Defender, are focused on me.

“······.”

I thought about it for a moment.

There are three beliefs clashing here.

The belief that humanity cannot defeat monsters.

The old school hunter believes that he can’t win against monsters.

And the belief that our ways were not wrong.

“let’s go.”

It remains to be seen which side is right.

.