Rust - Chapter 1023



Only Krnovel

RUST [RUST]-1023

Ki-sun dried the sled heading towards the Merapi volcano in Indonesia alone.

[Is it a trap?]

“So he’ll be there.”

Looking at the way he was going back, he must have thought that if he dug a trap, Maru himself would definitely react. Then, would the emperor directly command from the trap? Or would he receive reports on the progress of the operation from somewhere else?

[Emperor Leon Bonnard?]

“okay.”

The type of person who believes that their plans will definitely succeed tends to want to see their achievements for themselves.

The more a person like that is faced with something that is too difficult for him to handle, the more likely he is to hide away or run far away.

[Do you know what that trap is? I must have lured you in because I was confident.]

“That would have been the case if it had been according to his plan. He probably intended to fight a war of attrition.”

After pushing a sinkhole monster into Korea and causing it to die, he lures it into a trap site near the Mpari volcano in Indonesia. There, he begins a thorough war of attrition.

The most certain way to capture Maru was through attrition and firepower. Cutting down the Garden of Death with firepower would itself be attrition. If he could trap them and beat them without them moving anywhere, that alone would increase the Emperor’s chances of victory.

[Is the trap one that limits maneuverability?]

“maybe.”

I don’t know how the trap works, but it’s likely a trap that traps you and then defeats you. If so, then just don’t get trapped.

[A volcano is involved. Just think of the Japanese case, airships and yachts couldn’t move properly because of the volcanic ash and dust. A ship made using the Merapi volcano might be dangerous.]

[Yes, there is a 78.34% chance that the enemy created a trap using a volcano.]

Kisun and the artificial intelligence Diana warned of a trap using the Merapi volcano.

‘It’s a trap using a volcano.’

“Then it will definitely be tricky.”

If the volcanic ash and dust from the recent eruption had piled up to several tens of centimeters, it would have been difficult to move at high speed. In addition, electronic equipment including sensors would have been damaged, and the breathing filter would not have lasted long.

“But isn’t that the same for them too?”

[There must be someone with powers related to the area or purification. In Japan, there are people with powers related to that area, so the survivors were able to hold on.]

After you’ve trapped me, I’ll hit you. Do you know where I am?

Ah- I see.

“I’m sure Emperor Leon Bonnard is there.”

[······?]

“If the Emperor’s powers are as we think, then without the Emperor, I wouldn’t be able to determine my position.”

[Spatial perception ability?]

If you don’t have the unique ability to identify enemy locations and use psychic powers to increase your hit rate, the trap won’t work. So there must be an emperor near the trap area.

“You need that ability to pinpoint my location and give the order to fire, as well as to compensate for the errors caused by volcanic ash and dust to hit the target. It’s definitely near the trap.”

[······.]

Knowing the trap and breaking the trap are two different things. What if Leon Bonnard’s trap is not like that? Can you break through the trap into the Garden of Death?

Maru, who said that he didn’t die to the sinkhole monster in Korea, was clearly confident. He said that his unique, throbbing intuition triggered and he spared death.

Just as Leon Bonnard tried to consume death by pushing a sinkhole monster into Korea, Maru mobilized the Crow Unit to destroy the Empire’s production facilities and supply warehouses as soon as Gi-sun went missing.

“And we have rats.”

[Trying to attack with a pack of rats? That’s too dangerous.]

Ki-soon thought of the swarm of rats that had shown up to clear the battlefield. A swarm of rats moving like an army, centered around a rat with glossy black fur.

They were even armed. The sight of a swarm of rats dismembering corpses and dismantling equipment in an instant was terrifying, even though they felt somewhat out of place compared to simple rats.

[Even if the rat is small, it is a mutant monster. You know that when a mutant monster eats a person, its mutation accelerates. If you release a swarm of rats, there will inevitably be some that cross the line. Considering the number of rats, there are bound to be some that stand out.]

“I know. Even if you cause mutations, a rat is still a rat. As long as the rats’ faith is united, there is no need to worry about the rat herd.”

[······.]

It is said that you can tell if a pack of rats has betrayed by looking at the influx of faith. So the plan was to attack the imperial army with a pack of rats.

“What would happen if he received a report that his elite unit, which he had raised with great care, had been eaten by rats? Would he still be able to guard the trap and wait for me to come down, or would he go to the North American battlefield to try to sort things out?”

[······.]

What will Leon Bonnard choose? To trap himself until the end? Or to save the elite unit that is becoming food for the rats and save the citizens of the Empire?

Maru planned to pay back the bastard with generous interest for what he had done.

The artificial intelligence Diana announced the start of the engagement.

[The Rat Unit begins engaging enemy units advancing towards Montreal.]

[The enemy uses biochemical weapons.]

As the rats began to attack, the imperial army, as if they had been waiting, began spraying gas.

[It seems like they’re preparing for a swarm of rats.]

[The enemy’s self-propelled gun was disabled by a trap.]

But they were not a group of rats who would just take it. Armed with rat-specific gas masks and weapons, they succeeded in neutralizing the self-propelled gun by using a trap.

[The crow raid begins.]

Ki-sun closed her eyes.

What happens next?

The rat hordes that had been strictly controlled by breeding restrictions were released into the open during this war. Can the empire stop the rat hordes that are pushing in with overwhelming breeding power? What if the crows take over the air supremacy?

It wasn’t something that could be done by holding out. If this attack was stopped, a swarm of rats would attack, at least 6 to 8 times larger, and when the sun rose, an army of ants worth hundreds of millions would swarm the empire.

So what choice will they make? The empire will abandon its emperor and surrender? That can’t be happening. That’s why Mr. Den left.

[Chi-ji- If you push it all the way, I’ll use the nuke. – Chijik]

“If you can write, write.”

We will intercept the missile the moment it is used.

The Holy Kingdom has been a country prepared for nuclear war since its founding.

[Chijijik- Is it hard not to kill? – Beep-]

“I have to kill him.”

[Beep- beep- beep- beep]

“I see the end. I bet he thinks so too.”

Communication with Kisun was cut off along with the assertion. It was the influence of the Indonesian volcano Merapi, which was getting closer.

[chichijijik- beep-]

Are they using telepathy to transmit orders?

‘Let’s go and take a look at that fancy table top.’

‧

‧

‧

The imperial army advancing to conquer Montreal was ambushed by a swarm of rats.

“Gas! Gas! Gas!”

A gas that spreads with a strong foul odor. The gas, made of sulfur compounds, is tolerable to humans, but is fatal to rodents.

Jjiiik- (ugh- nose- noseaaa-)

Tsk-tsk- (I can’t breathe-)

It was the result of research on how to exterminate rats and ants, as it was an empire that had once been slaughtered by rats and ants in New York.

Crackle- (I can’t see- I can’t see!)

Sizzle- (Ahhh- Oh my god-)

Rats suffered from gas accompanied by a strong smell of sulfur compounds.

“Okay. Keep spraying.”

“Don’t shoot. It saves ammo. Just step on it.”

The heavy engine noise. The sound of the caterpillars and the crushing and compacting sounds began to fill the fields. But that was only for a moment.

Click! Click! Click! (Gas! Gas! Gas!)

Sizzle! (Gas!)

The rats started wearing gas masks.

“What? A gas mask?”

Bang – The door of the lead armored vehicle was dented with the sound of gunfire.

“Are they the enemy?”

“No. There are no humanoid figures around the heat sensor.”

Tadadang-

Gunfire began to pour down toward the lead armored vehicle. The door that had been rustling but blocking bullets eventually broke through.

“Then what?”

“There are rats. There are a bunch of rats armed with what appear to be guns.”

What appears in the thermal image is clearly a heated stick being held by a rat. It is clearly a gun.

“A gun? A rat shot the gun?”

Before you can even say, ‘What the heck are you talking about?’, a swarm of rats rushes towards the self-propelled gun through the thick yellow gas.

Jjiiik- (God of Death!)

Jjiiik- (Praise death!)

The self-propelled gun tilted to one side with a powerful explosion and its tracks were cut off.

“Stop! Shoot!”

“Shoot them so they don’t get close!”

“Flamethrower!”

“Spray at the gas!”

The moment the hot flame touched the foul-smelling gas, it caught fire. It burned fiercely, as if the gas had been made of flammable material.

The horde of rats charging at the self-propelled gun writhed as their entire bodies caught fire. Boom- Boom- The bombs the horde of rats had wrapped around their bodies exploded, sending shrapnel flying like popcorn.

“Keep spraying the gas!”

“Fix the caterpillar. Quickly!”

“Get rid of the car blocking in front of you!”

“Huh? The engine won’t start!”

“The sensor went out.”

“communication failure.”

Bio EMP?

Did you burn poison gas to keep the rats away?

The commander looked around.

The gas created to catch rats was burning and the area was engulfed in flames.

It wasn’t just any gas. It was a special gas made for situations like this.

But how?

A bio-EMP explodes.

A swarm of rats swarmed nearby?

where?

In that fire?

Ddddd-

The command vehicle shook as if a small earthquake had occurred and tilted to one side. The moment the commander grabbed the handle, the vehicle tilted sharply and sank into the frozen ground.

“It’s underground. They dug the ground!”

It was said that they had dug not only through frozen ground, but also through snow and ice that had piled up to 4~5m. It was not something that could have been done with tens of thousands of rats. It was said that there were at least hundreds of thousands of rats.

The commander felt the hairs on his body stand on end. Hundreds of thousands of rats underground?

“Spray gas!”

“Put it in the crack between the ice!”

“Throw it into the hole. Quickly!”

A pack of rats rushing toward a half-buried self-propelled gun.

Jeeeeek! (Now! Charge!)

Jeeeeek! (Worship death!)

High explosives exploded, acid bombs exploded, caterpillars snapped and armor began to melt away, causing panic among the Imperial forces.

Explosions erupted from all sides. Gunshots and black smoke billowing from burning poison gas brought yet another death.

Kaaaak! (It’s over there!)

Kaaaah! (Bombing preparation!)

Bombs began to fall on the heads of the halting Imperial forces.

‧

Dan Brown’s eyes were bulging with blood vessels.

[Communication was lost with the unit advancing toward Montreal.]

[The troops advancing toward Buffalo also fell silent.]

[Cleveland assault force begins engagement. Requesting air support!]

“Air support? The Air Force is also entirely under the command of the Emperor… Huh- Isn’t His Majesty the Emperor commanding it?”

[Requesting support by transport ship.]

[Requesting bombing support using transport ships.]

You fucking Leon Bonnard. It wasn’t the local defense forces that were attacking the Holy Kingdom, it was the elite forces.

There is a saying that if you want to deceive your enemies, you must deceive your own troops, but shouldn’t you at least tell the person in charge of supplies?

What if you thought the troops that were invading Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee were elite troops and sent supplies there?

Let’s say that’s true up to that point. You say that military command is with the Emperor, but you keep the operational situation a secret, and then you tell him as soon as the situation turns unfavorable. What’s the point?

‘The Holy Kingdom had been preparing for the operation even before the crows attacked.’

Leon Bonnard was fooling everyone. The bigger problem was that the agent who had been posted near Leon Bonnard did not send this information.

‘There’s no way an agent would miss the point of swapping local defense forces and elite units.’

That meant the agent had either crossed over or been eliminated. Either way, it meant that Dan Brown’s eyes and ears were blocked.

Dan Brown didn’t think the Holy Kingdom would use rats, but it would bomb with crows. It was a kind of unspoken rule.

When Vladimir Kalin was working as a mercenary, there was a village that was attacked by a swarm of rats. The incident of a village being taken over by a swarm of rats that ate humans and mutated.

They are cannibals, mutant monsters, and they become stronger by eating humans. Whether that mutation is physical strength or increased intelligence.

So I decided to go with killing the mutated monsters and cannibals that ate humans, and I wasn’t too worried when I heard that the Holy Kingdom could deal with rats and ants.

It was thought that rats and ants would not attack humans. But that unspoken rule was broken.

The ones who attacked the Imperial Army were rats. What would happen if the rats ate the Imperial Army? Even without that, the rats of the Holy Kingdom had already mutated to a dangerous level.

What if they mutate further? What if the rats, who know human letters and can use human tools, mutate even further?

If rats had the explosive reproductive capacity to independently absorb human technology, they might have created civilization.

‘You said you had a thumb?’

A mouse that can use its forelimbs like human hands?

Is Vladimir Kalin crazy?

no···.

There were some crazy people on this side too.

‘Emperor Leon Bonnard. I wondered what confidence he had to attack the Holy Kingdom. Was it gas?’

Since New York was once almost overrun by rats, ants, and cockroaches, it was only natural to research ways to kill them.

It was a gas developed by a researcher who got the idea to drive away rats after watching a video posted on SNS and shorts.

It was a video of a hamster fainting after smelling the fart that women were raising. Not only hamsters, but most rodents, including squirrels, lose consciousness just from farting.

After it was revealed that most of the hamsters who had lost consciousness as if it were a joke had died, comments were posted saying that rodents are vulnerable to the sulfur compounds in farts.

Researchers got an idea from the video and succeeded in creating a special gas.

It is fatally toxic to rodents, but relatively mildly toxic to humans. It is not only toxic, but also has the added effect of paralyzing animals’ sense of smell with its terrible smell. So, not only rodents, but many animals lose their will to fight just from the smell.

Here, it has properties that make it heavier than air, so it doesn’t scatter easily even when the wind blows, and it’s flammable, so if you set it on fire, it turns into a sea of ​​fire. It was literally the perfect gas for catching a swarm of rats.

Since there is a gas that is effective against rats, you must have thought of fighting the Holy Kingdom. The problem is that even that gas is not enough to stop the rat hordes.

[They say the rat pack is wearing gas masks.]

[A flock of crows attacks the airship.]

Den Brown took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

“Evacuate people to the coastal city.”

In Dan Brown’s view, the unit that had advanced to the Holy Kingdom was already a dead unit. The priority now was not to do anything to that unit, but to evacuate as many people as possible.

[Are you trying to run away?]

[Are you going to abandon His Majesty the Emperor’s army?]