Rust - Chapter 460



Only Krnovel

RUST -460

There were quite a few of them trying to nest in the Welland Canal.

The total number of people divided into three places was over 1,300. The number was strangely large, but what was more important was their state of armament.

“There are lightweight exosuits and even early Reaper suits?”

[According to the on-site summary data, that is the case.]

Information arrived eight hours after the operation ended due to radio interference. Maru immediately called a meeting and began checking Diana’s situation report.

“Upload the tactical camera footage first.”

The battle footage from Kim Yang’s perspective began.

The footage is dominated by bombings, assaults, and urban battles. The activities of the Sacred Crow Unit were impressive, and the attack power of Kim Yang and his guards was also considerable.

The part where we detonated the booby trap and dismantled it was quite a risky move, but the result was good.

‘You neutralized the booby trap and rushed in before the enemies could prepare?’

‘I guess they pushed it forward because they believed in the bulletproof and explosion-proof performance of the special exosuit… Isn’t it amazing?’

No matter how good the performance was, it was usually difficult to enter the area by detonating booby traps made of explosives such as claymore, grenades, and C4.

The pack of wolves that appeared at the end of the video was unusual.

Not only did they use the unmelted snow piles in the forest to ambush, but they also perfectly understood the stealth of the Ripper suit, even though it was an early model, and attacked.

‘Did you check the footprints? Or did you smell them?’

Anyway, it was surprising that they had figured out the Ripper suit’s hiding place.

“This is···.”

“···It’s scary.”

The scene where the exosuit was disabled was even more impressive. Even though it was a lightweight exosuit, it could easily move 300~400kg, but the wolf cleverly bit the head in one breath and twisted it, breaking the neck vertebrae.

“You’ve identified the exosuit’s weak point. Judging by the accuracy of your attack, you must have targeted it. Canines tend to aim for the neck, but I’ve never seen an attack like that before.”

The PD was shocked when he saw the video.

The common hunting method used by canines. It was not to bite the prey’s nape and hang on.

The wolves in the video moved in unison.

The scene where he catches the eye from the front, then swoops in from the side and back. The scene where he bites the helmeted head and twists his body to break the exosuit pilot’s neck is not only admirable but also terrifying.

“You seem to have the ability to analyze information. And you seem to have made decisions on the spot. Are all wolves like this?”

It was amazing to see the crocodile biting its prey and twisting its entire body, but the video that followed was even better.

As the wolf bit his head and turned around, there was an exosuit pilot who twisted his body along with it to prevent his neck from breaking.

Even that struggle to live was a futile resistance. The scene ended with the wolves nearby biting the exosuit’s limbs and fixing them, then twisting its cervical vertebrae.

“It’s almost as if they’re communicating directly···.”

Hood opined that wolves are more likely to be analyzing information and communicating immediately. Compared to mice, they are definitely better, perhaps even better than crows.

After hearing the opinions of PD and Hood, Maru asked the nurse.

“Can you tell if those wolves can communicate?”

“Huh? Huh? There. The sound is so quiet that I can’t hear it well···”

The nurse’s eyes widened.

“Diana. Can you make the noise louder on the wolves’ side? Please.”

[Yes, it is possible. Voice amplification will begin.]

A low, low-frequency growling sound was faintly heard.

“Huh? Huh? Huh-”

The pupils in her already large, round eyes were dangling back and forth. The nurse’s face was a mixture of a “what is this?” and a “worried” expression.

“Can you understand?”

“Ah- Also- the story of the things that follow behind and… It’s like a story about not touching?”

What comes after?

It seemed like he was talking about the direction where Kim Yang and his bodyguards were chasing after the runaway albatross.

“So you’re saying you can hear what the wolves are saying now?”

“Huh? Not quite, but a rat? Similar to that time···.”

Since I could tell the sounds the rats were making, I thought it might be possible that the wolves were there too, and as expected, the nurse was the one who noticed.

“Nana, get ready right away and come with me to the scene.”

“Huh? Yes.”

“Would you like to contact and talk to the wolf?”

“Yes.”

The PD was a little worried about Maru’s answer.

“Bringing in wolves when the crows haven’t fully settled in is….”

“I haven’t decided to bring them in yet. I’ll have to meet those wolves first and check things out before I think about it.”

You could tell just from the video that he was smart.

‘They’re the same guys we met when the Homeland Security blimp crashed.’

If you recognized Kim Yang or recognized his unique armored exosuit, and didn’t attack him because you recognized him, you needed to meet him.

======

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When we arrived at the Welland Canal skirmish scene, the clean-up had already been completed.

There were three locations, with over 1,300 enemies occupying three strongholds. Each stronghold had approximately 420 to 440 people.

Among them, the number of enemies equipped with lightweight exosuits was around 100. In total, it is said that they were armed with over 300 lightweight exosuits.

“Huh? You’re here?”

As soon as she got off the airship, Ms. Kim ran towards Maru, who was checking the scene. Maru started praising her as she held her head up straight.

“You fought against enemies ten times your size without any friendly casualties? That’s impressive.”

“Well… it was easy.”

Ahem.

Even though Maru had become king, Kim Yang had a hard time changing his tone when they were alone together.

Even though I speak properly to my subordinates, when I try to say that to Maru, something feels off?

But if I try to use honorifics, will the memories of suffering and rolling around together hold me back? And it also seems like using honorifics just makes me feel distant. Yeah.

Kim Yang, whose mind was subtly complex, spoke while glancing at him from time to time, but Maru didn’t seem to have any particular thoughts about her tone.

“A lightweight exosuit. Have I seen this before?”

“Virginia Langley? The Riser mercenary. You mean the one they used? Yeah. That sounds right.”

As Maru pointed out, it was definitely like that.

Ms. Kim nodded and answered.

“Ah- Now that I think about it, the Ripper suit was like that too.”

“···Really? This is true.”

It’s not like it’s some famous hate country somewhere.

‘We keep bumping into the Virginia side.’

He continued to be involved with Virginia Langley.

These should be caught, but they are basically rolling like a tactic, and most of the obvious locations are traps, so they are tiring.

This scene is the same.

When I looked at the situation, it was obvious what they were doing.

‘They were trying to take control of the Welland Canal.’

The Welland Canal was a canal that connected Port Colborne on Lake Ontario and Port Weller on Lake Erie, bypassing Niagara Falls.

The canal not only connected America’s heavy industrial areas, such as Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio, with the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area, but also served as a route that could eventually lead to the Atlantic Ocean.

In other words, if they controlled the Welland Canal and the surrounding areas, they could easily put pressure on the empire and keep the kingdom in check at the same time.

‘There was no reason why Virginia Langley would not touch such a strategic point.’

With 1,300 men, it would be difficult to completely control the entire Welland Canal area, but it was not impossible. Power is like cotton candy; if you stir it a little, it will swell up into something big.

“Once we establish the foundation and hold out for a little while, survivors who have risen up against the kingdom and the empire will gather. Since we have the firepower to catch mutant monsters, I thought the scale would grow on its own.”

“I think so. It was easy to deal with them because there were a lot of weak ones like civilians.”

Like the kids who ran away at the last minute and ended up as wolf food.

If only there were kids like that, the world would be so much easier to clean.

What came into Kim Yang’s sight was a nurse who was looking around and greeting a crow.

“It’s been a while, everyone.”

Kak-

Unlike the regular crows who were friendly to the nurse, the Sacred Crows who had been resocialized by the PD seemed to have little interest in her.

“Is everything okay? If you have any suggestions, please let me know.”

Joe-

Kaaaak-

They said that everything would be okay if I prayed for repentance, but it didn’t work at all. The nurse looked visibly flustered at the cold reaction of the crows.

“You brought Unit 2 because of the wolves?”

“For now, yes. It looks like the wolf I saw last time. I think it could be useful in many ways if we could communicate.”

An exclamation mark appeared above Kim Yang’s head.

“Ah! That’s a white one. But is that okay? I used to climb up on crows every once in a while.”

“I said wolves don’t do that. But that doesn’t matter.”

Indeed. The one in front of you is the King of the Sacred Ark Kingdom, and the one with the highest dignity. He is a being who can passively spread the ability to make people kind if necessary.

What is there to worry about?

Now it’s up to the wolves to worry.

Kim Yang put on the exosuit helmet that she had taken off and immediately transmitted the information. A map appeared on Maru’s HUD (Head Up Display).

[Location is here. I encountered it in the northernmost forest that I first conquered.]

[You didn’t show any aggression or anything?]

[The biggest one nodded as if he recognized them. The other wolf packs didn’t really seem to be after our kids either.]

So he said he had told the guards not to launch a preemptive strike if they encountered wolves.

[Well done. Then, if I go to that forest, will I be able to meet you?]

[That area is wolf territory, so they appear often.]

Maru took the nurse and Ms. Kim, who were standing there in a dazed state, and moved to the forest where the wolves were present.

The wolves were reportedly spotted in an area extending from Short Hills Provincial Park to Saint Johns Conservation Area.

The way there was easier than I thought.

[The roads are better paved than I thought?]

I thought there were no proper roads and lots of empty land, but that wasn’t the case. Suddenly, a golf course appeared. The scenery was like fields where the trees had been cut down.

From where we first encountered the area near London, Canada, it was about 130 to 140 kilometers away, but it did not look like a good place for wolves to live.

[There were no other animals?]

[There were more rats than herbivores. Oh, and birds too.]

[It must have been hard to find food lately?]

[I think so.]

The rat packs would have moved through the ice, so there wouldn’t have been much for the wolves to hunt. Considering how they had targeted Maru’s party in the beginning, they probably hunted people and animals without distinction.

Humans are also starving. Armed people would have attacked wolves and all, but when you think about the empty houses at that time, the winners were the rats.

But that was only until now. The rats who had been digging tunnels in the ground and ice all winter to suck honey were faced with disaster as the weather got warmer. They had to come up if they didn’t want to drown.

So, it would have been enough to just catch the overflowing rats, but it was a little strange that the wolves had come down to the forest near the city and were lying in wait.

[Just catching mice would be fine… No.]

The rats would have gone to the most advantageous place to survive. The place they chose was the city.

Armed humans defend against natural enemies such as wolves and carnivorous birds, and empty houses scattered everywhere serve as comfortable shelters.

With so many nutritious prey items in the form of humans, there was no reason why hordes of rats would not flock to the city.

[This is true.]

If you don’t have complete control over your cities and towns like a kingdom, they’ll quickly become a mess because of swarms of rats coming from all directions.

[Yeah, that’s right. The stolen hospital was like that too.]

As the hordes of rats swarmed the hospital, the mutant cats that had been eating them also swarmed in.

The survivors in the hospital were firing their guns to fight the monster cats and the infected, and the mutants were attracted by the sound.

Its scale has only grown to the level of cities or towns.

‘Things aren’t any better now.’

Because there are even cannibals.

Wolves were also needed to guard the long stronghold extending from northern and western Michigan to the St. Lawrence River in Canada.

As we entered the forested path, the distant, faint sound gradually grew louder.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

Kwaaaaang!

Maru looked at the nurse as the wolf’s barking continued without stopping.

The nurse blinked for a moment and then interpreted.

“Kill him! Get out! Get out! We have to stop him here! But… Uh… It feels a little urgent.”

[stop.]

Maru stopped the car.

[Go first. When you arrive, don’t approach right away, but wait behind. The nurse will prepare an interpreter.]

[Okay.]

“yes.”

moment

Kwaaaa …

A huge roar echoed through the forest, drowning out the howling of wolves.