Lakefront Night (13), lake Santa Margarita

The cold was an old companion of soldiers. On a matured winter night, soldiers drenched in rain shivered violently.

Bang!

A gunshot echoed along the riverbank. It was the fifth shot. The boy who fired into the storm clouds slowly lowered his muzzle.

A soldier standing watch across the water raised his hand.

"They're coming."

What the sentry spotted was only the first. Gyeo-ul saw more. A searing mass was approaching. In the green world of his advanced night-vision goggles, death in human form stood out in hot metallic hues. Even with a rough estimate, the number descending the slope was in the hundreds.

'It could go into the thousands.'

While he was counting, a ruined scout spotted them from the other side. Kuaaaargh! Letting out a long cry with its whole body, it charged blindly forward, only to be stopped by the rushing river. The rapid current was only 10 meters wide—a distance clear enough to make out facial features. The mutant howled again and paced left and right like an angry man.

The squad leader asked,

"Should we shoot?"

"Wait, hernandez."

They could shoot down every one that came, but there was no rush. Gyeo-ul answered.

"Our mission is to lure them in. Wiping them all out isn't a bad idea, but...it will take time for all of them to gather anyway. For now, let's just watch. It's rare to observe mutant group behavior up close."

"Observation?"

"Yes, observation. We've experienced that individual intelligence has increased. I want to see how it manifests when they move as a group. Their level of communication, how they cooperate to overcome obstacles—if we study them, it'll help us later."

"Hmm. Feels like an animal experiment. Whatever it is, I hope it ends quickly."

"Just hang on a little longer, everyone."

Gyeo-ul encouraged the soldiers. When it looked like there wouldn't be immediate combat, the machine gunner, who'd been lying prone, shivered and shifted position. The ground must have been freezing.

The first mutant to arrive tried to ford the river. After dipping one foot into the current, then another, it hesitated on the third step. Whitewater foam quickly rose up to its waist. Swaying and faltering, the mutant finally staggered backward. Back on land, it roared wildly at the hosts it couldn't reach. The cry drew even more mutants. Their numbers kept increasing.

Gyeo-ul recalled the church in Paso Robles. If they had the same level of intelligence as back then, they would have rushed in recklessly. Or, if the first line stopped, those behind would have been pushed in by sheer mass and inertia.

"Click. Even in death, those bastards are a nuisance."

Guilherme's gloomy complaint was aimed at Harris's subordinates who had been overtaken. The corpses wore combat uniforms and body armor. Some even had rifles slung over their shoulders, though only hanging from their necks or shoulders, not gripped in their hands. All memory of life was gone, their intelligence degenerated. The fate of killers.

One soldier cautiously suggested,

"First lieutenant. Can't we at least deal with those ones first?"

"Wait. I'll do it."

"No, there's no need for that..."

Ignoring the end of the protest, the boy stepped forward. He pushed up his night vision goggles. The distance was clear even without them—a striking scene. White steam rose from the mutants' bodies, a product of their high body temperature.

Gyeo-ul bowed his head in silent tribute—a gesture for the squadmates behind him.

'Lichingen once said—a ritual is for the living.'

A few breaths later, he opened his eyes.

Tadak, tadak, tadadadak! The sound of teeth chattering. One of the infected soldiers twisted its head and stared at them, flicking a pitch-black tongue out.

Gyeo-ul counted the targets internally, waiting for all to enter the firing zone, then launched a sudden volley.

He aimed for the faces.

At rapid-fire speed, holes appeared in twenty-two different faces—foreheads, between the brows, eyes, noses, philtrums, throats. The one flicking its tongue was shot through the soft palate behind the roof of the mouth. The moment it was struck, the movement stopped. Blood streamed from its mouth, then it collapsed at the knees.

The hand is faster than the eye. After all the targets dropped, the remaining crowd belatedly grew noisy. Not that things had been quiet before, but now it was madness. Like the first that arrived, they strode back and forth, letting out threatening cries.

Finally, some tried to cross the river. Corporal Hernandez said,

"Chilling. I see why you wanted to observe."

He was watching the mutants cooperate, grabbing each other's wrists to form a chain into the water. Of course, it didn't go well—the most important strength came from the one at the end bracing against the current. The chain could never extend very far.

"Ghouls! Multiple ghouls at eleven o'clock!"

The sharp-eyed designated marksman's warning. Gyeo-ul tracked the direction with his gaze. Before long, he spotted the ashen enhanced mutants mixed in among the crowd. They had no special abilities, but they were tougher and smarter than regular mutants.

But one among them was no ordinary ghoul. The soldiers couldn't tell, but Gyeo-ul did. There were a few distinguishing features—it was a rank higher than any he'd seen so far.

'Beta Ghoul. Well, it's about time one showed up.'

He'd suspected their existence before, but this was the first time he'd confirmed it in person.

That Gyeo-ul noticed this after the soldiers was because his attention was elsewhere. In the woods beyond, there was a heavy movement. It was only a shadow in the darkness—if not for 「Combat Sense」, he would have missed it entirely. It wasn't a Grumble. The circumstantial evidence was clear. If it were a Grumble, whether mutant or tree, it would have already started Throw-ing things.

So what could it be? Why hadn't it revealed itself?

'I have no idea. There's so much different about this world setting.'

Though this wasn't his first unexpected encounter, the frequency was a problem. Rather than force things to fit what he knew, Gyeo-ul concluded it was a new, special mutant he didn't recognize.

"What should I do? Just blow its head off right now?"

Sensing it was being targeted, the Beta Ghoul shrank back behind the others for cover.

Unknown changes made Gyeo-ul hesitate. That thing might be different, too.

"Stand by for orders, fleming."

"Yes."

The designated marksman followed the target with his reticle.

Enemy numbers were still increasing. In the end, as expected, the horde would exceed a thousand. If the Trickster hadn't died, they wouldn't have been spread out this much.

They intended to lure in as many as possible.

The mutants kept failing in the same way, repeatedly wading into the swift water in lines.

The change came suddenly. A distinct, broken wail echoed and repeated as a long echo, and then, the mutants' behavior noticeably shifted.

The substance was an application of what they'd been doing. One chain of mutants was extended to its limit. After that, a new chain formed beside it. Thanks to slowed current caused by the first line, the second line could step one foot further. The third line formed in the same way.

The deepest water reached just below their noses. The fifth chain passed that point.

All of it happened within moments.

"First lieutenant! Orders!"

The squad leader's urgent cry. The mutants looked ready to cross the river. Given their numbers, other groups were trying the same tactic elsewhere.

How many steps had the first mutant to reach the river taken into the water?

Gyeo-ul issued his command calmly.

"Don't worry about the front—break the chains in the middle! The rest will get swept away!"

The soldiers understood at once. They focused their fire on the links leading from the water to the shore.

Papapapap! The gunfire raked over the river surface. Heads emerging above water were shattered in a row.

As soon as the first collapsed chain fell, the next one bore the full weight. The group was swept away en masse. It was like watching an overflowing dike—or dominoes. Kguwaargh! Uwwooorgh! Mutants flailed, floating along with foam.

It was chaos. The only straws the mutants could grasp were other mutants in the same predicament. They clawed at each other, struggling to climb up. The river now boiled with living corpses.

Then, another high, unique howl ripped through the air.

The ones still afloat on the surface shivered all at once, freezing in their poses. Only a few, who hadn't heard, kept thrashing about.

Gyeo-ul was momentarily puzzled.

'Metabolism suppression? At best, it'll only delay drowning.'

Mutants on land started leaping into the river in droves.

From upstream to downstream, in order, one after another.

It was not a mass suicide. As each leaped at the peak of their jump, they puffed up their chests and stiffened at once. Splash! They crashed into the water, then quickly floated back up from buoyancy. They became stepping stones. They were swept down in the current, but the entire riverbank was packed with mutants. Stepping on the ones floating downstream, dozens of mutants every second hurled themselves across. The splashes never ceased. Sick waves of flesh covered the river.

The surface was filling with corpse-like floaters in real time.

New mutants ran over the living bridge, glaring this way.

The soldiers fired on their own initiative. Grenades followed in quick succession.

"Frag out!"

At the warning, everyone ducked down. Grenades exploded underwater, on the surface, and across the river. Water columns shot up, scattering droplets thicker than raindrops. The river in the dark night grew even blacker.

"Shit, what the hell is this...!"

Cursing as he reloaded, the machine gunner spat out an expletive.

For a moment, even Gyeo-ul was appalled. A rare sign of agitation. The sheer numbers were simply overwhelming.

He realized something was wrong after emptying three magazines in ten seconds. Clack! The firing pin struck an empty chamber. There was no one left to shoot at in his assigned direction. Instead of reloading, he grabbed a grenade, pulled the clip and then the pin, ready to throw it where it was most needed.

But Gyeo-ul was at a loss—he couldn't find a good place to throw it.

One by one, the soldiers realized what was happening. The fierce gunfire entered a brief lull.

"What the hell is this...?"

Guilherme's stunned murmur.

Normal mutants were strong but clumsy. No matter how many floating corpses there were, they usually couldn't run across them—each step meant the platform wobbled or sank. Even for a healthy human, this would be difficult, impossible without Movement augmentation at a skilled level.

More and more of them stumbled and fell into the water.

There were limits to how far the floating debris could spread.

Gyeo-ul reflected. I was too narrow-minded, he realized.

A commander should maintain a broad view, even while firing. Just now, he failed to do that. His sight had been trapped inside his reticle while shooting. A commander was different from a mere combatant. A bad mistake.

'I haven't been this flustered in a long time.'

The mutant horde across the river had noticeably dwindled. Naturally, no matter how many there were—if dozens per second drowned, they vanished quickly.

Only then did the Beta Ghoul let out a cry. The mutants ceased their reckless leaps.

Not that it mattered—only a handful were left, scattered sparsely.

He tossed a grenade at them—the pin had been pulled earlier but he'd still been holding onto it until now. Boom! Across the wide blast radius, seventeen mutant infectees were felled at once.

The soldiers mopped up the rest.

The ashen enhanced mutant crawled along the ground. Wounded but alive, it stubbornly tried to escape. Gyeo-ul considered shooting it himself but called the designated marksman.

"Fleming. Take it out."

A bullet thicker than usual struck the enhanced mutant's head in rapid succession. Shattered skull and pulped brains flew everywhere.

---------------------------= Author's Notes ---------------------------=

#Just Notes

This episode will wrap up in the next chapter. Time for some audience Q&A and a past arc.

#Book Signing

A signing book was already too much—now a signing event? What are you talking about...

Why do people want to see me when I don't even look like Won Bin?

If anything, my appearance is closer to Cthulhu than Won Bin...

#Thermal Night Vision Goggles

I'll put up a description of how it appears in the series setting. Only read on if you can't imagine it for yourself.