Rust - Chapter 765



Only Krnovel

RUST -765

Maru looked at the cannibals running out in a hurry.

‘These things are strange?’

Judging from the clothes he was wearing and the fact that he came out of the bunker, he was clearly a high-level cannibal, but we were unable to determine his hiding place.

The higher-ranking entities I fought in North America used their dominance like radar, and had incredibly keen senses to detect the discomfort of hiding. These ones seemed to be lacking something.

‘Is it because the competition for survival isn’t as fierce in Korea as it is in the US?’

The United States is a country with gun freedom, and its mutant monsters are on a whole other level. Even wild boars are like hogzillas, and even the canines that roam the neighborhood are basically coyotes and wolves.

So, since he was a cannibal who increased his dominance by eating away at the existing power, he could be weak in actual combat.

It’s true that you never know what will happen if you fight a cannibal of the same level, unless the opponent is a normal person or someone with weak abilities.

‘Are you feeling unsettled?’

You may have lost your senses because you fought so fiercely. Sometimes, when you are extremely tense and then suddenly release the tension, your senses become dull.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

It was actually good. If they didn’t notice me even though I was getting this close, I could just sweep them all away at once. I had to sweep them away when the opportunity came.

The footsteps continued, muffled even the sound of the grass rustling.

The new Ripper suit not only has improved stealth capabilities, but it can also use ambient noise to mask the sound of your footsteps, making it literally noiseless.

The smell of blood vibrated from the bodies of those who approached close enough to touch if you stretched out your Eclipse. When you looked closely, you could see that there were many cannibals who had suffered serious injuries here and there.

Most of them had wounds that were torn and ripped somewhere, but most of the bleeding had stopped and new flesh was growing. This terrifying resilience was one of the reasons why the cannibals called themselves the new human race.

If they could only practice cannibalism, they would be virtually immune to these diseases, and would also have the ability to recover quickly, making them ideal for survival in a post-apocalyptic world like today.

If you can eat people, you can become stronger, and if you can eat people, you can increase your dominance.

‘Yes, if you can eat them.’

The moment Maru’s murderous intent appeared, the bodies of the men nearby stiffened.

A body that suddenly froze.

Frozen tongue and eyelids.

They were the ones who felt something brush past the back of their necks before the terrible paralysis that made it impossible to even roll their eyes had even lifted.

I didn’t feel any pain, maybe because my nerves were stiff.

It was just strange that my vision was spinning and that my colleagues next to me had no heads on their necks.

Thud- Thud-

As I take a step forward and cut, heads fall off just as they stand.

Because I cut it at a very slight angle from behind, it all fell towards the back.

“Okay. Since it’s come to this, let’s finish it this time.”

?

“Are you against it? Huh- Huh-huh–”

The representative, who had raised his head, sat down with a thud.

And then, silently, Maru cut off both of the representative’s arms from behind.

Ugh!

The representative jumped up like a salmon with both arms cut off. Maru cut off the man’s legs mid-thigh and kicked his torso.

The cannibal, with only his head and torso remaining, flew away with a thud and bounced off a pine tree.

Kkeuk-kkeuk-

The cannibal, who had been gasping for breath, begged for his life.

Maru, who had been stomping on the head of the groaning man, gave a soft warning.

[Quiet.]

Crunch- The skull is slowly crumbling.

The mouth of the cannibal, with only the torso remaining, was tightly shut.

‧

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‧

Kim Yang, who quickly came down upon Maru’s communication to form a siege net, immediately took care of the cannibal with only the torso left.

[I’ll upload this and extract the information right away. And all the nocturnal birds of prey are running away. What happened?]

[What happened… I cleaned them all up all at once because they were all gathered over there, but did it feel a little suffocating?]

Huh-

Kim Yang’s expression turned round and round at the word “killer.” According to Na Ju-yeon’s story, just a hint of murderous intent would be enough to make birds of prey flee.

[What kind of expression is that?]

[No. Yeah. No. Since all the birds have run away, I guess we can use the drone?]

[yes.]

[Okay. And since it’s come to this, using EMP… No. I was thinking that might be a good idea too.]

As soon as Maru’s expression hardened, it was Ms. Kim who immediately tucked her tail between her legs.

[There, Echo goes to the 3 o’clock direction. You can use drones, so deploy reconnaissance drones densely.]

A siege net began to form around Namsan Mountain.

‧

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Kwajik-

The chair shattered into pieces by the relentless kick and flew into the air.

Boom!

As if that wasn’t enough to appease his anger, the man slammed the solid wall and spat out curses.

“Fucking bastards.”

The Namsan bunker was completely reduced to ashes.

Flames were burning here and there, and the sound of fans turning and water pouring from sprinklers mixed together to create an atmosphere like a sinking ship.

“Emergency communication devices were all destroyed.”

“Most of the repairmen and regular soldiers are incapacitated for combat.”

“We have to go after those bastards. If we don’t deal with them now, they’ll definitely take over the unit.”

“What if they knew we were going to track them and were lying in wait?”

“We need to put the capable kids forward.”

“Do you think the guys who ran away after destroying all the wireless communication networks, communication devices, and even emergency phones would have just left them there?”

“Let’s go instead of doing this here.”

“I guess we’ll have to go anyway to find out whether he’s alive or dead.”

The dormitory for those with abilities who went down like that.

The shredded pieces of meat and scattered blood were evidence of the collar exploding.

“Look at this. Those kids killed the people with abilities.”

If we only consider the upper-level entities, there were about a thousand of them.

Even if you add up all the lower entities, it would be hard to exceed 20,000. In order to control a number approaching 40 million with 20,000, it meant that one new human being would have to manage 2,000 people. It was a virtually impossible number.

Even if we assume that the population is adjusted downward to around 35 million, it is the same. Since the calculation shows that one new human being would have to control more than 1,750 normal people, it is equally impossible.

So the new humans needed a way to control the general public.

‘Let’s start with the economy.’

‘Real estate sounds good.’

What is the reason why a minority has succeeded in controlling the absolute majority?

There are probably many factors, but the success of forcing most of the population into the metropolitan area and large cities was a big one. It was also good that they were induced to go to the metropolitan area and large cities voluntarily, rather than forcing them to do so.

They mobilized all the mass media to start by saying, “In the future, only the metropolitan area and large cities will be able to survive,” and “High-end real estate prices have been on an unwavering upward trend since the founding of the country.”

By moving out over 10 million elderly people and taking advantage of the empty houses created, young people from the provinces were encouraged to move to the metropolitan area and large cities.

After all available assets were concentrated in real estate, the economy was ruined. In a situation where all assets were concentrated in real estate, a real estate crash was essentially the same as a crash in all assets.

In such a chaotic situation, CBDC (central bank digital currency) was issued, and citizens had no time to resist and had no choice but to hand over economic power to the government and martial law command.

By concentrating the productive population in the metropolitan area and large cities and also concentrating fertile women in the same area, Korea quickly found stability.

In other words, a social order and power structure dominated by the new human race has been established.

As with all ruling classes, there were conflicts between factions and competition for supreme power, but there was a certain degree of fine line between them.

···Until now.

“Kaaaah- Thwack- F*ck- If those kids take over the unit and attack first, only our kids will die.”

A tone of speech that seems to have shed all pretense.

“Trying to warn with dominance doesn’t work.”

“Is this interference?”

The dominance unleashed by the higher entities, the high-ranking cannibals, while they were killing and killing each other canceled out each other.

“We have to chase them.”

“If you go this far, you’ll regret it for a long time if you miss it.”

“I don’t have any surviving subordinates nearby.”

“This way too.”

When a superior entity is in danger of death, nearby inferior entities will risk their lives to rush in, making a clean fight impossible.

As a result of the lower-level entities being torn apart in a fight to the death, now all the higher-level entities and high-ranking individuals had to move their bodies themselves.

“We’re going after them. We have to catch them while we have the upper hand.”

“Damn. I better hope they ambush us and don’t run away.”

If they go to the Bukhansan bunker and claim that this side started a rebellion, it’ll be another mess.

“That’s not possible.”

“Yes. If the Bukhansan kids notice the current situation, they’ll try to eliminate both sides.”

“If they had a conscience, would they have done this?”

“······.”

“······.”

“······.”

“Let’s chase after them.”

“I think we should split the group.”

There was no need to worry about defeating them individually. They ran away in a hurry while still wounded. Although their wounds healed with their own regenerative powers, they would have consumed a lot of energy, so if they were to fight again, this side would have an overwhelming advantage.

“Let’s divide into three groups.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard. Just hold onto their ankles so they can’t run away.”

We had to catch and kill them and directly control the nearby units. That was the only way we could keep Bukhansan in check.

‘It suddenly became a mess like this.’

Even when you think of the worst, what’s hidden inside is greed.

‘If only we could overcome this confusion…’

The pursuit, with hidden intentions, has begun.

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beep-

[Enemies spotted at 3 o’clock, 5 o’clock, and 9 o’clock directions.]

[Okay.]

[Drone. Unable to reach target.]

[Control becomes unstable.]

[Just find the location and retrieve the drone.]

It would have been convenient to just sweep it away with a drone, but that wasn’t possible.

‘Are those cannibals emitting some kind of biological EMP (electromagnetic pulse)?’

[Beware of dominance. Check for psychic blocking devices!]

Miss Kim warned.

[Check the mental blocking device.]

[No more.]

[No problem.]

[The number of enemies is different.]

The side with the most numbers was 9 o’clock. The side with the fewest numbers was 3 o’clock.

[Take the side with the larger number. I’ll take the side with the smaller number.]

When dividing groups, they were usually divided into groups of similar rank. In the current situation, they would have been divided into groups with similar total combat power.

If that’s the case, then there’s a story about an entity with strong fighting power moving in a small number. Maru went to the 3 o’clock direction, which was the direction with the smallest number.

[The 5 o’clock direction is a decoy and restraint. We will organize from 9 o’clock, which has many numbers.]

[ancient!]

[5 o’clock lure, 9 o’clock sweep. Copy]

The encircling expedition force quickly regained their position.

[Little chicks! Lift your butts and jump.]

[Check what the assistant AI shows!]

[Look ahead. Trust your comrades beside you.]

[Each person just has to do the work assigned to them in their respective positions.]

[advance.]

That’s how the expedition team encountered the cannibals.

“What are these kids?”

“Exosuit?”

“Get down!”

Tudududududu-

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo-

There was no surrender, no warning, no dialogue.

The expedition pulled the trigger as soon as they saw it. The cannibals were perplexed.

“If it’s an exosuit, it’s the US military.”

“Cease fire! We are not the enemy!”

“This is a South Korean military officer.”

“Hey, stop shooting and identify yourself.”

The cannibals requested to talk, but there was no way the expedition would accept it.

“Did you meet them first?”

“No. Maybe these guys are the ones from Dongtan.”

“No, they are not.”

They appeared as if they had suddenly fallen from the sky, but they probably didn’t move into the sky. It’s impossible to fly through a flock of birds. So how did they get there?

“You’ll know when you try it.”

“Everyone calm down so that there is no loss of dominance.”

It was a cannibal who radiated dominance toward the expedition team that was shooting fiercely. It was an ability that exerted dominance on the same new human race, and acted like a psychic ability on ordinary people.

Now that it’s high-level, it’s weak, but it could affect electronics like an EMP, potentially disabling either the exosuit pilot or the exosuit itself.

“?”

“Dominance doesn’t work?”

“Are you saying that all the guys who pilot exosuits are new humans?”

“No. I didn’t feel like my dominance was being offset.”

“Shouldn’t the exosuit be broken instead?”

“······.”

It was a disaster. Their weapons couldn’t penetrate the exosuit’s armor, and the expedition force pushed back and tightened its hold, forming a net that seemed to refuse to allow close combat.

The coil gun’s firepower was so fierce that the cross-section was burned as if by fire, and the affected area had to be scraped off with a knife to recover.

That too, several times. The 9 o’clock group, which had the largest number, began to melt away as the expedition force slowly peeled and gnawed at them, as if peeling apples.

The sticky siege that followed under Kim Yang’s command allowed neither escape nor resistance.

[Cleaning up completed at 9 o’clock. Report on the situation at 5 o’clock.]

[Lure successful at 5 o’clock. Currently engaged.]

She checked the combat situation with her HUD (head-up display) and immediately took action. She aimed for the 5 o’clock cannibal’s back.

While Kim Yang was catching the ones at 9 and 5 o’clock, Maru faced the top-level cannibal at 3 o’clock.

All numbers are four.

They were moving in a diamond formation. As I followed them, they were moving at a fairly fast speed, and my senses gradually became more acute.

‘I ran away because of those guys.’

The reason the ones we caught earlier ran away was probably because they couldn’t defeat them. The shadows on the floor were deep and secretly following the rear of the diamond formation.

“Scatter! There’s something behind you!”

The leader shouted as Maru’s Eclipse swung around.

Where-

A life that blooms with emotion.

The cannibals who were about to scatter in all directions froze as if they had turned into stone statues.

And then the death began.

one.

The cannibal at the very back had his head cut off.

two.

The guy who had been frozen in place as he ran to the right was torn to pieces diagonally.

And the eclipse fell on the guy on the left.

three—

An eerie feeling.

Eclipse, which was heading towards the left killer, changed direction like a swallow.

Teeeeing!

The stiletto aimed at Maru’s carotid artery entangled with Eclipse and screamed.

Kick

Squeak—-

The leader, who had suddenly recovered from his paralysis, bared his teeth and growled.