Rust - Chapter 871



Only Krnovel

RUST [RUST]-871

After the declaration of the principle of non-interference by the Holy Kingdom, the movement to erase the influence of the Holy Kingdom grew stronger in the Empire.

As the fact that Vladimir Kalin, the Holy Kingdom’s King, had directly intervened in the Syracuse incident became known, the people of the Empire’s resentment toward the Holy Kingdom deepened.

Although the fact that they were being set up in the imperial city under the pretext of catching cannibals was dissatisfactory, the testimonies of refugees who had fled from Canada also played a part.

‘Even as the monsters attacked the city, the Holy Kingdom airship just watched.’

‘The Holy Kingdom made no attempt to rescue civilians.’

‘The Holy Kingdom has decided not to accept refugees.’

‘People were freezing to death in the bitter cold, but no one rescued them.’

‘The rats and crows of the Holy Kingdom attacked and drove away the refugees.’

There were quite a few people in the Empire who liked the Holy Kingdom. In New York City alone, how many times had they received help from Bloody Maru Kalin? Naturally, there were those who supported the Holy Kingdom, with whom they were still dealing, rather than the refugees who were very angry.

‘If they refused to rescue you there, there must be a reason.’

‘Well, they’re the ones who hit the back of the head of the Holy Kingdom. What good would it do to rescue them?’

‘If you think about it, wasn’t it the gentlemanly thing to do to send the refugees away? They were the ones who rebelled?’

‘I heard they’re kids who betray others on a daily basis. Is it okay for us to accept that?’

‘That’s right. What he did was strange.’

‘If you were in your right mind, would you have recognized a cannibal regime?’

‘It would be dangerous if they gathered together and formed an armed group…’

‘They said they were going to create a mercenary force and a volunteer army anyway.’

‘Our government approved that?’

‘You’re crazy. To recognize such an armed group.’

‘I don’t know when a terrorist attack will occur.’

The political and financial world wanted to use this incident to erase the influence of the Holy Kingdom.

‘The Holy Kingdom that abandoned humanity.’

‘Free Canadian League. They just wanted independence.’

‘How the Holy Kingdom ate Canada. They forced submission using survival as bait.’

‘The Holy Kingdom that colonized Canada. It established a government to rule Canada.’

‘A holy kingdom without human rights. Attacking refugees with swarms of rats and crows. Disperse.’

‘Animals take priority over humans. Drive out starving refugees and provide ample food for rats and crows.’

‘The survival-centered nature of the Holy Kingdom is false.’

‘Why did they expel refugees even though they had a powerful military and monopoly on technology?’

It was only a matter of time before negative rumors began to spread in the political circles of the Empire and the Empire itself, and as the rumors of the Holy Kingdom being torn apart and chewed up heated up public opinion in the Empire, information about a large-scale mobilization of troops arrived.

“The movements of the Holy Kingdom are strange?”

[Yes. It is said that a large number of troops were mobilized.]

Boston and New York, on the Atlantic Ocean, experienced temperatures of over -50 degrees Celsius. The Holy Land and Canada were even colder, at -60 to -70 degrees Celsius.

Even if you wear the best winter clothing, proper operations are impossible when the temperature is -60 to -70 degrees. But mobilizing large numbers of troops? Are you crazy?

“What is the reason for mobilizing troops?”

[It is said that they attacked the Mississauga and Toronto areas adjacent to the Holy Kingdom.]

Dan Brown ordered a closer look into the situation.

“Tell them to find out everything. Troop organization, armament, supplies, everything.”

[All right.]

‘Vladimir Kalin, who was pursuing safety, would not have carried out such a reckless operation.’

Safety and survival. That was the justification of Vladimir Kalin, the King of the Holy Kingdom. If he had not intended to freeze an army of 100,000 men to death, he would have prepared for it.

‘It’s a large-scale operation in the bitter cold. I hope we can get some good information.’

Dan Brown wanted to benchmark the Holy Kingdom military.

However, it was difficult to obtain detailed information. It was impossible to penetrate Hood and Samantha’s security. It was also impossible to obtain information by persuading the soldiers who participated in the expedition.

The Regeneration Unit and the Growth Unit were literally made of soldiers. Except for them, they were the infamous Guard.

Hacking was impossible, but planting people on the expedition was also impossible. Dan Brown changed his direction to linking up with the reserves or regular soldiers.

If the first line is difficult, then the second line. If the second line is difficult, then the third line is where we changed our direction to gather information. At least we were able to give the reserve forces and regular units a line.

Those who drew the line like that did not know important operations or information, but they could see how the situation was changing.

After a month, news came that the wolf packs that had taken over Mississauga and Toronto had been successfully pushed back.

“One month? You cleared the Mississauga-Toronto area in just one month?”

[yes.]

It was surprising that it was practically like a street fight. Considering the wide operational area and the thousands of mutant wolves, it was even more surprising. They were only 100,000 people, not even war machines.

[Moving east without disbanding the troops.]

“Where are you going?”

[They say they’re targeting Quebec.]

“Quebec?”

The testimony of the Canadian refugee came to Dan Brown’s mind.

“Quebec.”

Did you say the spider took over?

“Give us the information we have obtained. Tell us that you would like to send an observer to the Quebec operation.”

[All right.]

They said they would go to war with spiders when spring came, so there might be times when they would have to cooperate. Above all, it was unlikely that all of the 100,000 troops would be fully armed with exosuits or new core armor.

‘How were they able to deal with the monster wolf so quickly?’

Dan Brown wondered about that.

The Holy Kingdom said it would be grateful for the information the Empire sent, but declined the Imperial Army’s request to observe, meaning it would not share the information.

‘It’s a shame. But I gave you something. I’m sure something will come back to you.’

Because the give and take is certain.

His gaze turned to the sky outside the window. In the distance, he could see an airship continuing to gain altitude.

It was the appearance of the Empire’s new type of reconnaissance airship. The development of the stratospheric airship was successful, and its deployment had begun.

The success of the development of the stratospheric reconnaissance airship meant many things. It meant that the Empire would now have the air supremacy that had previously been monopolized by the Holy Kingdom.

Acquisition of airship technology that could operate even in extreme cold. Construction of its own wireless communication network. And it was the beginning of the revival of the Air Force.

======

======

Even after hearing the news that public opinion was in uproar in the empire, Maru remained indifferent.

‘With great power comes great responsibility.’

‘The strong should be tolerant of the weak.’

‘The Holy Kingdom must awaken.’

The idea that the imperial press was pulling together even the souls of the people seemed like a vulgar joke.

An empire that claims to be the descendant of the United States, which genocided the indigenous people, colonized the Philippines, worked in Mexico and South America, and even meddled in the Middle East and Africa, is talking about responsibility and tolerance.

These are really funny things.

Maru lightly ignored it.

Conscience. Morality. Humanity. Tolerance. They are all good words, but they were the words they had to say after they had said them first.

As soon as they could afford to eat and live, they immediately began to impose their views, but Maru had no interest in such justifications. What was important was the survival and safety of the Holy Kingdom.

“So there is no damage on our side?”

Whether or not the imperial political and financial worlds tried to restrain the Holy Kingdom, the consumer market was honest.

[None as of now. The amount being exported to the Empire has broken previous records.]

Even simple winter gear was like that. Even though it was a winter gear made with Nerf for export, it was so scarce that it couldn’t be sold.

Despite the imperial press’s ceaseless disparaging and beating of the Holy Kingdom, Holy Kingdom products were selling like hotcakes.

Diana’s report continued.

[The Empire’s new airship has successfully entered stratospheric orbit. It appears to be a multi-purpose airship for reconnaissance, communications, defense, and attack.]

Now that we can independently operate a wireless information and communication network and secure the right to provide it, we will soon be asking the Holy Kingdom’s airships to be removed from the empire.

[Information from Quebec has been sent from the Empire.]

“Quebec data?”

[This is a cross-check of testimonies from refugees who escaped from Quebec.]

At present, 100,000 troops were heading to Quebec, bypassing Montreal and Ottawa.

“Call a meeting.”

Everyone’s expressions changed as they read the materials sent from the empire. Kim Yang frowned as if he considered this to be data as well.

“You’re just making a fuss by talking long and without any nutritional value.”

Even though they cross-checked the testimony, it was meaningless to Ms. Kim. The number of spiders was unclear. She didn’t even know what kind of spider they were.

It wasn’t even clear how they were attacked. They just ran away screaming, and the only comment they could make was, “It was really scary.”

“You don’t have to be so harsh about it.”

“Then is this kind of data meaningful?”

Kim Yang made a face of disbelief at Na Ju-yeon’s words.

“Because I told you that there was a spider that moved in temperatures below -60 degrees Celsius.”

“···That’s information too? If Quebec was taken over by spiders, isn’t that obvious?”

Maru accepted what Kim Yang wanted to do more of.

“and?”

“There are spiders that can move at temperatures below 60 degrees and yet they are not spreading further in Quebec.”

Strictly speaking, spiders are not insects.

The spider species itself is a different species from insects, and it should be said that they are playing separately from insects in terms of genealogy. So, it is rude to call a spider an insect.

“It’s a spider, but it has some similarities to insects.”

When winter comes, it means entering hibernation.

Insects don’t move in winter. This was the established theory.

Likewise, spiders that mainly feed on insects were inactive during the winter. This is natural because there was no food.

However, the fact that a spider has appeared outside of the normal ecosystem is a situation that Na Ju-yeon explained as something to be wary of.

“The spider that took over Quebec is a spider that has become resistant to the cold, and its behavior is also unusual?”

Ki-sun was met with Maru’s suspicion.

“I guess that’s definitely the case. Their behavior is definitely strange. Why don’t they expand their territory? They’ve eaten Quebec, so they should know that if they attack a human city, there will be plenty of prey.”

Hood posted some material containing the behavior of some spiders.

“Maybe she’s laying eggs.”

“egg?”

“?”

The opinion was that they stopped expanding in order to increase their numbers using the cold as a shield. So there must be plenty of prey in Quebec. What if they are using it as an opportunity to reproduce rather than expand? The spiders’ behavior was understandable.

“You want to eat Quebec and increase your numbers with it?”

“Huh- Then I guess it would be better to hit it now.”

[It could be an enemy trap.]

“Enemy trap?”

[Spiders could be controlled by cannibals.]

“so?”

[The spiders in Quebec may be a decoy to test the Holy Kingdom’s ability to respond. At the same time, there may be attacks targeting the time when a large force is withdrawn from Quebec.]

It’s a method they’ve already used once.

“It’s different now. We were short on manpower back then, but now the Canadian defense forces have withdrawn and are guarding the mainland.”

Spiders were not like 1+1=2, but rather like 3, 4. They were difficult to deal with when a jumping spider and a web spider were combined, or when a poisonous spider and a ground spider moved together.

“Let’s start by clearing out Montreal and Ottawa before winter ends.”

And it was Maru who took the lead in securing spider samples in Quebec.

======

======

Heeheeeeeeing-

The black horse hated winter.

Of course, I wasn’t very dissatisfied because I had a lot to say, but I still felt ashamed that I only used my boiling power on females.

The strange year hadn’t come back since the toy (new core armor) came out. But my pride was hurt and I couldn’t let other guys ride on my back.

Even the human females, overflowing with abundance, were only looking at the winged ones and the dogs. Why? Why?

Heeeeeeeeeing-

In that moment, the black horse’s sense of smell caught a unique scent. It was a childish smell, but it was definitely the scent of a human he believed to be his master and close friend.

Purrrrrrrrr-