novelzi Chapter 20: Hunting the Spider (3)
Chapter 20: Hunting the Spider (3)
Chapter 20: Hunting the Spider (3)
The sandstorm that blew in from the outskirts of the city did more than just block the view.
The gusts of wind pounded the ground, shook the buildings, and drowned out most sound.
It was a perfect opportunity to ambush the invaders and Yakt Spinner made its way to the outskirts.
[Yappy. I’m done here.]
The Last Order, from the highest commanders was to kill all the unknowns that have invaded the city.
With no resupply, no repairs can be expected and support being non-existent the only way to win is with maximum efficiency and minimum damage.
The Yakt Spinner approached the Hunters’ camp slowly and cautiously, using the sandstorm as camouflage.
The Hunters were alert with their keen senses, but they were unable to overcome their limitations, and the Yakt Spinner had city-level backup.
Despite their inexperience, the Yakt Spinner analyzes the camp thoroughly and finds that there are no guards against machines.
It begins mapping in real time, with long-range scans and every single enemy number then it blithely sidesteps the flimsy perimeter and lets the sandy breeze wash over it, blending into the darkness and noise of the storm.
“Ugh....I can’t even see this.”
A puppet has wandered away from the camp and is alone in a remote area so the Yakt Spinner immediately runs the figure’s measurements.
The latest invaders were lightly built, but wore metal armor. Even more bizarrely, they come armed with bladed weapons, not guns or artillery.
They were only categorized as a level one threat but there was the potential to bring in allies.
When dealing with large groups, Yakt Spinner found it safer and less risky to attack them individually.
“Whoosh!”
Hunter, who was watching the perimeter through the windshield of the building’s outer wall, hadn’t noticed Yakt Spinner presence.
It moved its huge body made of steel in a creepily silent manner when──
“Dude, why are you peeing in there?”
“Huh, Jackson.”
Its crab-like body leaned back down.
The approaching Hunter, the entity called Jackson rubbed shoulders with him, pretending to be overly friendly.
“What, what, what’s going on?”
He was a member of the same Black Mamba mercenary organization, but not one to make such over-the-top gestures. Flustered, he says something, and Jackson shushes him.
“Shut up. Shut up. We need to get out of here quietly, unless you want to die.......”
He alerted his coworker about the threat in a voice barely audible in the sandstorm.
Having been warned by his companion, he took a step forward without even looking at his surroundings, but──
[I...have...to...dig...out...of...the...dragon.]
-Apply a noise filter to the speech file. Sentence reinterpretation complete. Play──
The voice buried in the sand was filtered out by the noise filter and analyzed into a clear voice file.
“They’re coming. Be quiet. We need to get out of here quietly, or we’ll be found.......”
-Pack!
The sound of a secondary joint moving and a whip cracking was lost in the sand.
* * * *
It wasn’t until the twelfth victim appeared that the Hunters realized that Yakt Spinner was attacking.
It was a grisly ambush on the outskirts of the camp, and the last of the Hunters to be cut down by the silent wire cutters was the one who didn’t die instantly.
“Off!!!”
-Kaaaaaah!
The Hunter who had his lower half cut off by the wire cutters swung an energized sword, but his struggle was meaningless as a large shadow fell over him.
“Oh, no.”
A pair of armored legs weighing over five tons each crushed the Hunter of the Black Mamba Mercenaries.
-Kwazik!
The Hunters, sensing the commotion, rushed forward to find their fellow Hunter disemboweled and Yakt Spinner glowing with an eerie light.
The joints, stuck together with chewy bits of meat, creak and squeak as if they haven’t been replaced and maintained in years and the sound sends chills down the spines of the hunters, as if it were the wailing of a victim’s soul stuck in a piece of meat.
“Yakt Spinner!”
The voice, muffled by the sandstorm, barely reached his kin but the Yakt Spinner attacked.
-Bang! Boom!
After a murderous barrage of 60 mm machine gun fire the heavily armored Hunters had their entire bodies bounced off, but the lightly armored Hunters were torn limb from limb.
The excessive violence takes its toll on the Hunters.
Even as the sandstorm’s dirt pounded the concrete, the sound of a shell’s impact imprinted itself in their minds as an eerie meat grinder.
The hail of machine gun rounds distorted into impossible trajectories and landed in the wrong place.
“What, what.......?”
As the Black Mamba mercenaries escorting him stared at the station commander in disbelief, Gil Tae-sung smirked.
“It’s a magic tool engraved with a distorted force field enchantment developed to target Yakt Spinner. It’s absolutely impenetrable by firearms.”
The power of firearms comes from their rate of fire and accuracy. No matter how many dozens or hundreds of rounds are fired, they are useless if the point of impact is distorted.
It’s a disposable and expensive tool, but he was up against Yakt Spinner with a difficulty level of Red so he must be prepared for this──
[Hazard anomaly observed. Initiate maintenance operation.]
However, the opponent is an AI killing machine that has already faced three raids, and even observations outside the laws of physics are subject to calculation for it.
[Analysis complete. Strike points D15, S37, and F11.]
-Thump! Thump! Thud!
Darting from building to building, evading the Hunters’ pursuit, the short bursts of machine gun fire hit the distorted force field.
It lands in a completely wrong spot, a far cry from the usual ghostly impact point but the distorted shell bends with a snap and strikes the Black Mamba mercenary hunters in the temporal region.
“Kuck?!”
“What the hell!”
The trajectory of the bullet was completely unexpected but the distorted force field bent it into an improbable trajectory and hit the Hunters.
“No way!”
He analyzed it in such a short time? Is that even possible?
“Mage Gil Tae-sung, turn off the distortion force field, we can’t defend!”
Artillery fire poured in one after another. Not a conventional firefight, but sniping with precision shots, calculated by a city maintenance supercomputer that no human could ever hope to keep up with.
“Damn it! What are you all doing? Deal with him!”
Gil Tae-sung shouted urgently, and the Huang siblings and the Golden Lion Guild immediately tried to eliminate Yakt Spinner. But at that moment, Golden Chul saw something and shouted urgently.
“Stop!”
“......?”
Huang Yeon-ha and the rest of the Golden Lion Hunters stopped in their tracks at Golden Chul’s urgent words, and they realized why he said that.
‘Wire?’
‘He didn’t just run away.’
‘When did he do all of this?’
Yakt Spinner had left wires everywhere as he weaved in and out of buildings to escape the Huangs’ pursuit. It was as if the entire area was surrounded by a giant spider’s web.
For a few seconds, the Hunters were immobilized and Yakt Spinner railgun pointed at Gil Tae-Sung.
“Ah, no...!”
Just as the railgun bullets begin their supersonic velocity...Yakt Spinner rear view camera catches a strange object.
-Dag-dag-dag-dag!
“Huh?”
Everyone’s faces twist as four pure white legs stretched out.
The soft mane flutters like cotton candy as they follow the downy white fur. But the muscles packed throughout its body gave the creature an intensity that made it impossible to ignore. It was──
“......Horse?”
“”Horse?””
As everyone watches in awe, a stalwart Stallion emerges, his sturdy frame and magnificently decorated shining armor.
“Long time no see, old friend.”
Leon throws his arms around the neck of the fierce Stallion, and the ancient god willingly carries his ally on his back.
Stroking its glowing mane, Leon pointed his holy spear at Yakt Spinner and called out.
“Listen, warrior!”
It’s a ridiculous sight on the modern battlefield, but the thick, sour aura emanating from the spear and the horse makes the crowd’s jaws drop.
They cannot deny it with reason, but understand with instinct that this was something else.
“The bravery of charging forward single-handedly against a multitude of enemies is praised by the Lionheart King!”
He first praised the outstanding warrior.
“I grant you the honor of dueling with this Lionheart King. I grant you permission to challenge me, warrior!”
He gave him the right to apply for the duel.
Seeing this generous and merciful gesture from the Lionheart King, Huang Yeon-ha inadvertently spat out her true feelings.
“............Is he an idiot?”
At this moment, no one could deny that they were all thinking that.