Rust - Chapter 715



Only Krnovel

RUST -715

Maru, who infiltrated Richmond with the same plan as Ki-sun, first headed to Montrose on the outskirts of the city.

The city formed on the border between the city and the outskirts, and was divided into Richmond and Montrose by a single road. Montrose was a neighborhood that was virtually connected to one another, just as Seoul and Gwangmyeong, Seoul and Hanam, and Seoul and Goyang were divided by a single road.

There’s plenty of time to check in and get back, as they’re having a meeting with the militants at Church Hill Academy in Montrose Heights.

Maru headed straight to the Montrose family’s stronghold.

‘The meeting was held at the school, but the armed forces used a local restaurant as their hideout?’

The Sportsman Restaurant & Lounge, a typical American country drinking establishment that combines a neighborhood restaurant and an arcade, was, as Ki-sun had expected, devoid of all its main characters.

A rippling shadow seeped into the empty stronghold, save for a few guards.

The first floor was nothing special. It was just the usual messiness you see in a city that collapsed after failing to endure the apocalypse.

Perhaps it is the end of the world where there are so many people who want to become the law themselves. Maru headed underground, leaving behind the person who had been dragged in from somewhere.

As Ki-sun had predicted, the Montrose family was likely to be stuck with spiders. The Sandstone Clan next to them was no exception.

The reason was simple: Not only were the missing people concentrated in those two neighborhoods, but Richmond International Airport was nearby.

‘Because there’s an international airport?’

‘What was mainly occupying the airport?’

Flocks of birds or rats. If they were mutant spiders that used special webs and venom, there was no reason they wouldn’t use the airport as their hunting ground.

Humans were a delicacy, and their staple food was rodents, birds, and insects. Richmond’s spiders grew in power based on this abundant prey.

Maru walked down the stairs as silently as if he were walking with cat-like steps. Sweat was dripping down his body, perhaps because of the vampiric tights he was wearing underneath his ripper suit.

?

The sweatdrops on the raised floor were greedily absorbed by the vampire-like bodysuit. The sweat should have disappeared quickly, so it should have been refreshing, but the subtle sensation made Maru furrow his brows.

‘This is different from the simulation.’

It felt a bit strange that the tights were not only sucking blood but also the sweat of the person wearing them.

The moment he was about to step onto the last step, Maru’s heart rang a dull warning sound.

Thump-

!!!

The feet that had been stepping lightly began to climb up the stairs again.

Micro lasers swept across the entire area from the helmet of the Ripper suit. Spider webs were revealed as the red and blue lasers passed by. Thin spider webs the size of a human hair filled the entire basement floor.

bingo.

The Montrose family had evidence of their collusion with spiders all over the floor.

What about the Sandstone Clan then?

Maru headed to Highland Springs High School, the hideout of Sandstone Glen.

On the way to Highland Springs High School, I could see the Richmond International Airport. The airport, which had been completely burned down by the Ravens’ napalm bombing, was visible from a distance as a cotton-candy-like mass of cobwebs rose up.

The story goes that as soon as the main force of the Holy Kingdom withdrew, they were putting up a structure made of spider webs. How could the spiders know that the main force of the Holy Kingdom was withdrawn?

If the Sandstone Clan and the Spiders hadn’t been connected, they wouldn’t have been able to raise the structure so blatantly.

‘It seems that they decided that the venom supplied by the spiders was more valuable than additional supplies.’

If the spiders were making web structures in the area that the Sandstone Clan was in charge of, there was no need to go to the main camp. The very sight of it now was proof that the Sandstone Clan was also in league with the spiders.

‘That guy Kisun. Don’t worry about it.’

Maru walked to Church Hill High School where the meeting was held.

‧

‧

‧

The meeting ended quickly.

The spider potion distributors, centered around the Montrose Family and the Sandstone Clan, were seen surrounding Ki-sun, Yang Kim, and the guards.

What was most annoying was that there were many armed groups other than Montrose and Sandstone, and they did not seem to take Kisun’s side.

In just 2-3 months, the Holy Kingdom went from being a grateful country that had saved them and given them supplies to a country they wanted to exploit.

‘Even if we say ‘Long Live Capitalism’, is it possible to be this clueless?’

Even if you don’t know anything, the Holy Kingdom was a country. As a citizen of the United States, is it because the memory of being part of the most powerful country in the world makes you make such a stupid choice?

The United States of America is already dead. There is nothing left but the Holy Kingdom, the American Empire that inherited the spirit of the United States, and the Confederacy of cannibals and vampires.

Maru’s eyes turned cold as he realized that this was the result of his education targeting the survivors of Richmond.

‘Spider venom-based drugs are being released too quickly.’

‘You’re saying that you just have to kill the babies that were stuck to the spider. Just kill them all.’

‘···It’s important to catch those who are outwardly visible, but it seems more important to catch those who can make the medicine.’

‘Should we focus on producers rather than distributors?’

‘There’s a high probability that they’ll come to this meeting together.’

‘Why?’

‘If you and Miss Kim want to capture the guards, you’ll need Spider’s help.’

Maru thought back to what Gi-sun had said. But so far, he had not been able to find any trace of the spider. There was no warning from his senses, and there was no obvious murderous intent.

Ki-sun’s speech began in front of me.

“With the support of the Holy Kingdom and the Empire… we have combined our efforts to drive out the spiders… and now we have succeeded in creating safe zones throughout Richmond… Richmond has become a safe city.… The Holy Kingdom and the Empire are in charge of supplies….”

A rough voice cuts off Ki-sun’s calm speech.

“Hey, Mr. Performance-Based System. Your words are good, but how can we believe them? You said you would provide ample supplies, but then you changed your words to Performance-Based System?”

Starting with those words, people began to criticize Ki-sun. From things like, “I can’t trust the Holy Kingdom,” to “They say it’s a performance-based system, but they take spider webs and byproducts, and the exchange fee is too high.” The conference room was filled with noise in an instant.

The gruff voice that had interrupted Gi-sun’s speech at first spoke to her as if to say, “Have you seen the response of the people here?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Our performance-based gentlemen and the people there want our performance to improve a bit.”

Something rippled behind the people who were slowly pressing down.

Maru opened his eyes wide for a moment. It wasn’t something rippling. Something that changed its surface like a chameleon and settled down silently.

It was a spider that slid down from the ceiling. One, two, three, four, five spiders landed behind the people… In an instant, they began to increase in number.

When Maru raised his head and looked at the ceiling, he saw a line of spiders descending with webs attached to their tails. The spiders changed their camouflage colors in real time, just like chameleons.

I didn’t know this spider species existed, perhaps because they were wiped out by crow bombing and carpet bombing with airships.

‘No. Was there?’

Spiders silently surrounded the area. So there were Gi-sun, Ms. Kim, and the armed group including the royal guard. Behind them, chameleon spiders surrounded them.

Thump— thump-thump-

My heart was slowly starting to warn me.

At that moment, a rough voice echoed from behind.

“Hey. How long do I have to wait?”

A slightly slurred pronunciation answered in a gravelly voice.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Spiders? You said you’d support spiders.”

“I will support you, but not capture you alive.”

“What? What are you talking about now?

“If we want to keep the Holy Kingdom in check, we must use other methods.”

“Are you planning to kill me? Are you crazy?”

A rough voice rushed towards the muffled pronunciation, but fell down after taking only a few steps.

“Hey. Dog… You crazy bastard. I told you I couldn’t handle it if you killed that thing. You said that.”

“Ah. I said I could kill him, but I didn’t say I would.”

A spider web began to form around the mouth of the rough voice that had been spewing curses as if his mind was clear but his body could not move.

“Eup. Gae-heup. Heup.”

The last thing the gruff voice saw was spiders swaying like chameleons, spinning webs over his comrades who were lying paralyzed, stiff and falling.

‧

‧

‧

Kim Yang was about to shoot the moment the raspy-voiced idiot started to yell at her. Even if Ki-soon, who was standing on the podium, hadn’t sent a hand signal telling her not to shoot with her backpack on her back.

She had the thought, ‘Should I pretend not to see the signal and just shoot?’, but she restrained herself as the voice that came to her reflexively said, ‘Let’s think before we shoot.’

And thanks to her restraint, we get to see the mess. The armed groups that betrayed and the spiders that are beating up the leaders of those betrayers.

Should we say that those who control the spiders have defeated those who have betrayed them?

What was even funnier was that they were doing this in front of him and his bodyguards, who were armed with exosuits.

Ants were frankly a formidable foe. With strength that was tens to hundreds of times their own weight, their unique formic acid, and their numbers that were impossible to answer.

Even though they were armed with exosuits, ants were not confident that they could handle an endless battle of wits, while spiders were relatively easy bugs to catch.

Spider webs are tricky, but napalm grenades are all you need.

Even though I saw the Holy Kingdom fighting the spiders, I believed in that one thing and kept talking about capturing them, and that was stupid. Not only that, but the spider-controlling bastard who was looking at me like he had caught them all after saying it was good was also stupid.

[How long do I have to wait?]

[Maru has arrived.]

[Huh? When? No. Okay.]

Kim Yang sent a signal to the guards that the highest dignity had arrived. The morale of the guards, who had been surrounded and tense, soared. If Kim Yang was an idol to them, Maru was a god.

[Administer cardiac stimulant.]

[Okay.]

Kim Yang and the guards were ready to rush out at any moment, administering cardiac stimulants to prevent cardiac arrest at the signal of the emergency.

In that brief moment, those who had surrounded the Holy Kingdom forces were overpowered by the spiders.

I don’t know how they deployed their unique paralyzing toxin, but it only took a few minutes for the armed group to be completely incapacitated.

There were no gunshots and no proper resistance.

All that remains is a body that has frozen in an instant like a block of wood.

“Hoo- You’re not paralyzed? I guess that’s true for those armed with exosuits, but I thought you’d be paralyzed.”

The unique, muffled pronunciation was directed at Ki-sun.

“Are you Chinese?”

“In a world like today, who is more important than anyone else?”

“Those behind are cannibals.”

“Wow, you have such an amazing eye for detail. How did you recognize it all at once?”

Instead of answering, Ki-sun placed both hands on the platform in front of him. The moment the bracelet he was wearing lit up, a high-pitched electric sound resonated through the platform.

A voice choked up by the sudden situation cried out.

“Catch it.”

The chameleon spiders that were running around injecting venom into the fallen people turned their backs towards Gisun and sprayed webs.

But the exosuit hidden in the stage swallowed Ki-sun faster than that. The fan-shaped spider webs wrapped around the exosuit that swallowed Ki-sun.

[now.]

At the signal of Ki-sun, Kim Yang’s 12.7mm machine gun opened fire.

Tudadadak-

The image of Ki-soon’s knees exploding with his slurred pronunciation and the image of Ki-soon being dragged to the ceiling with his exosuit wrapped in spider webs intersected at the same time.

And it seems like he had expected this kind of trap

Puhwaaaaaaaaaaah-

Napalm flames rose from Kisun’s exosuit.

[uh?]

??

[Spider web?]

!!!

It was a mistake to think that the napalm flames would burn away the spider webs and allow Ki-soon’s exosuit to slip through them.

The spider web withstood the napalm flames, and Ki-soon was dragged straight to the ceiling.

[Catch those guys before me.]

Ki-sun shouted at Kim Yang, who was trying to fly up with a jetpack.

moment.

Inevitable death began to fill the conference room.

Squeak—

Two cannibal heads, guarding the slurred speech, rolled across the floor.

Thud- Degul-

I could slowly see my rolling head becoming entangled in the spider webs on the floor.

It was a mixture of the feeling of time having stopped and the feeling of a crushed heart beating wildly, desperately trying to survive.

I feel like I’m going to die.

Die. Die. Die.

Take it easy.

Ah- fuck—

Even as she said that she was going to die, one corner of Kim Yang’s mouth slightly went up.