[This item matches the ‘Military’ category.]
[Calculating registration cost…]
Ding!
[The cost for registration is 141 Mana Stones.]
Was it because it came equipped with weapons?
It was more expensive than the helicopter I received from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Thankfully, the price no longer felt too burdensome.
“Proceed.”
[141 Mana Stones received.]
[Remaining Mana Stones: 2,347.]
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, the Black Hawk hovering in the air vanished.
As expected, the ones left behind were goblin mutants.
Two pilots.
And two soldiers holding miniguns in the transport bay were left suspended in midair.
Then…
The law of gravity took hold, pulling them down.
It was a free fall from the height of a 15-story building, with no parachute given.
“Kruwaaaaaaaak!”
With the goblins’ characteristic nasal groan, they screamed.
The sound that had slowly been fading away finally ended with…
Crack!
A pitiful crunch.
Thanks to their repulsion force, they probably didn’t die, but they surely took significant damage.
“I thought I was going to die.”
It was an unexpected ambush.
If it weren’t for my repulsion force, I might have truly died.
But thanks to that, I had secured an ‘armed’ Black Hawk.
It didn’t have the [Penetration] option yet, but for handling minor enemies, there wasn’t a better tool.
Of course, the enemies weren’t completely gone yet.
As I descended floor by floor via the stairs, goblin-humans would pop out of nowhere and shoot their rifles at me.
Ping! Ting!
I batted away the bullets that stuck to me like flies and called out Lancelot.
“Damn bastards.”
“Kuwaaaah!”
Their heads were sliced off like tofu.
It was roughly the size of an entire company.
Only after I wiped out the rifle squad that had completely fortified the parking lot could I finally catch my breath.
Cold corpses.
They had already become fodder for my account.
I quickly assessed the situation.
“Who are these guys? I’m sure I already finished off the 220th Brigade…”
I didn’t have to think about it for long.
There was only one force that could possibly open fire on me, who had the love of the South Korean military.
‘…The 1st Corps.’
They must have heard about the destruction of the 220th Brigade.
Maybe they wanted revenge.
But the real issue lay elsewhere.
“I can understand the 220th Brigade, but… these crazy bastards came all the way to Dobong-gu…?”
The 1st Corps’ headquarters is located in Goyang.
But in reality, most of its forces are deployed in Paju.
And both Paju and Goyang are separated from Dobong-gu by Bukhansan and Dobongsan mountains.
If they hadn’t crossed into Seoul, where the government forces were…
“…They must have already taken Uijeongbu.”
My parents’ house.
If they had arrived safely, my brother and sister-in-law would be there, too.
“…Damn it.”
These monsters go against human decency, capturing people and offering them as sacrifices.
If my family had been taken by them…
I didn’t even want to imagine what would come next.
“…What’s going on?”
Lee Yong-su, who emerged from the subspace, asked.
I briefed him and the others on the situation.
Then, I immediately deployed the new helicopter.
It was the newly acquired ‘combat’ Black Hawk.
Sitting in the cockpit, Lee Yong-su grabbed the helicopter headset and asked,
“Is it safe from interception now?”
“It should be fine. Their air defense lines have already collapsed.”
Most of the air defense forces in this area were concentrated below Gangbuk-gu and Nowon-gu.
The path ahead should be much smoother.
Even if we were intercepted, there was the safety measure of the subspace portal.
Now was the time to move boldly.
“Understood.”
Thududududu!
Lee Yong-su quickly started the engine.
The helicopter passed Dobong Station and then Jangam Station.
The house of my parents is in Yonghyeon-dong, Uijeongbu, wasn’t far in a straight line.
As we neared our destination, I summoned the wraiths.
Ten souls, excluding Lancelot and Bedivere.
“Survey the situation below.”
Whoosh!
The loyal wraiths scattered like birds throughout Yonghyeon-dong.
And soon after, I could clearly see the current state of Uijeongbu.
Whooosh—!
Bone ornaments swayed in the wind.
A building with a mystical, flame-lit, shamanistic aura.
What they called an ‘altar.’
But that wasn’t all.
Right next to the altar, a dome-shaped prisoner ‘camp’ was set up.
Goblin-mutated soldiers were, of course, guarding the area.
Though it wasn’t the first time I had seen such a sight, the problem was…
“How many are there…?”
There were a considerable number of them.
Uijeongbu was taken by the 1st Corps before they seized Dobong-gu.
Moreover, it had become a sanctuary where they could completely hide their activities from the government forces.
Paju and Goyang.
The next region they had recklessly played with was here, Uijeongbu.
Whooosh!
One of the wraiths slowly reached its destination.
Uijeongbu, ravaged, destroyed, and engulfed in flames.
Selfishly, I hoped that my parents’ house would retain some of its old warmth.
That the looming apocalypse might have overlooked that place, at least.
But…
“…?”
That hope was brutally shattered.
“What the hell is this…?”
Was this really the right house?
The wraith circled around the house.
To the left, the red brick house, and to the right, the old neighborhood grocery store.
By location, it was definitely my parents’ residence.
The front door, back door, and all the windows were reinforced with thick iron plates.
It looked as if the house was clad in armor.
Around it, pure goblins and half-goblin humans were working together to break in.
Bang! Bang!
Thud!
They knocked on the front door of the country house, reinforced with steel.
Of course, it didn’t open.
Instead…
Whirr—
With a strange mechanical sound, the roof opened,
Thump!
And an unknown tower rose up through the gap.
“…What is that?”
There was no time to be astonished.
From a small slit in the tower, arrows suddenly shot out.
Sssswish!
The arrow flew…
Thud!
And pierced deeply into the goblin’s flesh.
And not just once.
Sssswish!
Sssswish!
Thud!
Thud! Thud!
The goblins that were hit stumbled and fell backward in shock.
Uijeongbu, a region shattered, ruined, and consumed by fire.
Yet, remarkably, my parents’ house was still relatively intact.
However…
Bang!
The attacks didn’t affect the half-goblin mutants.
Those monsters had been granted ‘repulsion’ because they were quasi-8th Order beings.
“Kekekeke…”
The arrows pathetically rolled to the ground.
The monsters, grinning viciously, stepped onto the lawn of the country house.
They easily deflected the arrows, and the goblin horde that followed quickly occupied the yard.
Thud!
Thunk!
The monsters began pulling out blunt weapons, banging on the iron-plated exterior of the house.
It was the sound marking the start of a full-on siege.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
The tower on the roof persistently shot arrows, but… it was a losing battle.
These quasi-8th Order creatures couldn’t be hit, couldn’t be pierced, couldn’t be killed.
Thud!
Thunk!
The ‘fortress’ that my parents’ house had become.
Cracks were slowly starting to appear in the outer armor.
“……”
I hadn’t realized.
That my parents’ home would look so lonely.
I had never seen, nor imagined, it appearing so desperate.
Even so…
We weren’t too late.
Thudududududu!
The sound of a helicopter cutting through the wind.
“Kruwaaaah…?”
The goblins, startled, turned their short necks, looking around.
“These bastards…”
The symbol of a country house is a green lawn.
A natural grass lawn that my father had nurtured with care, rejecting artificial turf.
Not long ago, we used to joke that this yard was big enough to raise a cow.
But that fresh, peaceful scenery had completely vanished.
The yard was now dirty, covered in dirt, and in tatters.
Instead, these intruders were proudly flaunting their grotesque green skin as if to take its place.
And I…
I was determined to slaughter every last one of these filthy scum who dared to stain someone else’s yard with their unholy green.
Together with my ‘family.’
Clack!
The door opened, revealing the inside of the helicopter’s transport bay.
Sitting there was the skeleton knight, Bedivere.
In his hands was a massive minigun, fully loaded with 7.62mm rounds dangling from it.
Whirr—
The barrel of the minigun spun rapidly.
And then…
Thudududududududu—!
Keaahk!
Kaaak!
Piiing!
Ping!
Hundreds of bullets per second tore through the goblins, ripping them apart.
Their bodies exploded all over the yard, covering it with cold corpses.
But there were still impurities left.
The bullets didn’t work on the half-goblin mutants.
With no other choice, Lancelot took up the broom himself.
Shing!
Ssswish!
Sak!
He activated his unique [Acceleration] ability and [Critical Hit] option.
Thick streams of blood shot up around him.
The afterimage of his sword, moving dozens of times per minute, flickered like a freshly bloomed flower.
It was excellent landscaping that fit the country house quite well.
And then…
“Trespassing is punishable by death, you know!”
Kim Sol, who had no knowledge of the law but plenty of brawn, pulled out her ‘electric fly swatter.’
Bzzzzzt!
A soft blue light, captivating the eyes.
Electricity crackled dangerously along the coiled wire wrapped around it, creating a wave of energy that was dizzying just to look at.
Whooosh!
Kim Sol swung the overcharged electric fly swatter with full force.
Paaaang!
The lightning exploded, scattering into fine sparks.
The heads of the goblins were instantly pulverized with a satisfying crack.
It was the kind of electrifying thrill you’d expect from a fighting game, lingering in her fingertips and captivating all of us watching.
Using a barrier in her left hand as a shield, she fought like a fearless barbarian straight out of an SF fantasy, pushing the limits of genre fusion.
I couldn’t just stand by idly.
I picked up a weapon for the first time in a while.
[Pascas Axe (Small), priced at 72,500 won.]
These monsters were immune to rifle shots because of their ‘repulsion’ force.
I could’ve used an enhanced bowling ball, but I didn’t want to leave even a trace of soot on my parents’ house.
In truth, I was taking my time because the battle had already shifted overwhelmingly in our favor.
The monsters, terrified by the electric fly swatter, sneered at my plain-looking axe.
But…
Splat!
A clean hole was punched right through their skulls.
I had already become a bona fide 8th Order being.
I was fundamentally different from these half-goblin monsters who were merely posing as quasi-8th Order.
While long-range weapons like guns couldn’t harm them, the power of my rank was fully transmitted through the axe I wielded.
Even though they had the repulsion force of a quasi-8th Order, my camping axe sank into their skulls smoother than ever.
“Kwuack-!”
On the contrary, their attacks couldn’t even leave a scratch on me.
After all, I was on a higher tier than them.
“Hey… can’t you at least get hit once?”
Bzzzzzzt.
My eldest sister, the healer, was on the verge of unemployment.
Neither Kim Sol nor I were taking any damage at all.
She could only wave her healing-infused hands like a cheering stick, with no wounds to actually tend to.
Meanwhile, Lee Yong-su, who had just gotten off the helicopter, clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“What is with this family…?”
He was about to become a living witness to a historic family reunion.
And so, we finished cleaning up the yard.
The lawn, overturned and ruined, the barbecue grill knocked over as if kicked.
A dented shed and shattered bricks.
The once charming yard had just barely been cleared of the disaster that had stormed through like a hurricane.
The country house, covered in iron plates.
Thud! Thud!
I knocked on the front door.
This wasn’t just a simple knock.
It was a desperate question, posed in the middle of the trash heap that was now this apocalypse.
A question about whether that invisible barrier, which might have faded through the trials of time, or perhaps had drifted too far apart to maintain its magnetic pull, still existed between us.
Thankfully, there was an answer.
Creeeak…
The thick iron door slowly opened.
Through the crack,
the familiar smell of home wafted out.
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