26 . Yangju City

A shrill siren rang on the outer wall, alerting the men . The sharp warning signal sounded far and wide .

“This is not a drill! It’s the real deal! Hurry!”

The Captain hastily shouted at the top of his lungs . The soldiers ran around diligently, preparing the ammunition they needed in advance . Boxes filled with magazines were distributed to each point . The men checked to make sure the crew-served weapons were functional so that they could provide support fire when needed . The Captain surveyed the proceedings with an eagle eye as he barked an order through the radio in his hand .

“Report!”

— “Mortar operating normally . ”

— “Grenade launcher operating normally . ”

The Captain raised his binoculars . The monkey monsters menacingly crowded the roads, approaching steadily . There were undoubtedly over a few thousand . The artillery fire data calculated from the observation device were sent to the computers attached to the mortars .

“Are the mortars ready?!”

— “Data received! Ready to fire!”

“Fire!”

With the green signal from the Captain, the soldiers quickly inserted the sh.e.l.ls and backed away . All mortars fired at once . Immediately after it fired, the men inserted a new cartridge, their swift motions showing their training beforehand .

Loud explosions broke out in the middle of the horde . A destructive fire enveloped the area . Those who were at the center died before they could even scream . Chunks of flesh splattered across the sky, painting a b.l.o.o.d.y landscape .

Only now did the monsters understand that they were being attacked and scattered . Instantly hiding in the houses and buildings located on either side of the road, the monsters continued their advance . This smart trick made the mortar attacks less effective compared to before . Observing the situation, the Captain issued new orders .

“Prepare object 1 ~ 15 . ”

— “Trigger ON! Explosives ready!”

“Blast ‘em away!”

— “5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Firing!”

The buildings beyond the outer wall started to crumble simultaneously . Surprised by the collapse, the monsters scurried to escape, but it was far too late . Large blocks of concrete fell above their heads, blocking their advance . Unable to do anything, the monkey monsters were crushed . White dust clouds enveloped the area and vision of it became hazy .

— “Objects blasted . ”

The Kw.a.n.g Hwi Faction had already prepared for such a situation . Their simulation results showed that hostile forces could avoid direct confrontation by using structures outside . At first, the popular idea was to clear away any building that could be used to hide . But, Kw.a.n.g Hwi cooked up another devious plan .

He thought of letting the enemies hide in the buildings first . When they felt safe, he planned to activate the explosives that were prepared ahead of time, burying them along with the buildings . His scheme had worked perfectly .

The number of monkeys was drastically cut down as most were crushed to death . Those who couldn’t hide anymore charged towards the outer wall as a last-ditch move . The grenade launcher fired away, das.h.i.+ng their hopes . Even though they had dispatched sandbags below the wall, aftershocks still shook the grenade launchers .

The limbs of the monkey monster flew into the air as they were swept away by the bombardment, a testament to its destructive power . Meanwhile, the persistent ones that survived entered the rifle range . The soldiers, who had been patiently waiting, aimed and pulled their triggers .

Machine guns and a.s.sault rifles fired in unison, launching a hailstorm of bullets . The monsters that came close crumbled away one by one . Some managed to climb onto the wall, but they were drilled with holes by the soldier’s focus fire . The mortars that were firing occasionally went completely silent at this moment . This was because the soldiers in charge of operating them had grabbed their primary arms . Bra.s.s sh.e.l.ls rolled on the floor haphazardly .

The Captain clicked his tongue . At a glance, the battle appeared to be an overwhelming victory for the Kw.a.n.g Hwi Faction . However, from a cold, objective perspective, he knew they still had a long way to go . The monsters that broke past the carpet bombing from mortars and grenade launchers were only a few hundred . In response, the soldiers became too nervous and wasted a lot of bullets . While it was fine to squander some, it was difficult to tell what could happen, so they should be prepared for any emergencies . Who knows, one more bullet in the chamber could save their lives . It was a battlefield after all, not some playground or simulation .

“Cease fire!”

“Ceasing fire!”

After thousands of monkeys were slaughtered, the gunshots gradually died . The vicinity became silent, except a few nervous gasps here and there .

“Report casualties . ”

Each team reported back immediately . Naturally, there were none . After confirming the reports, the Captain changed the radio channel . Connecting to the Situation Room, he spoke to Kw.a.n.g Hwi .

“This is the Southern Wall Security Team . We’ve eliminated the monkey horde . Over . ”

— “Copy that . Good work, everyone . I’m sending civilians to clean the area . ”

Kw.a.n.g Hwi and the Captain both spoke in a solemn manner .

“Affirmative, commander . Thank you for your hard work . ”

Above the Captain, the Heron flew, capturing the whole scene .

『You have defeated 3500 Monkeys faster than anybody else in the world . 』

『As a reward…』

Kw.a.n.g Hwi flicked his finger and the notifications blocking his view disappeared . While he couldn’t get the reward for the first kill, he got plenty for killing en ma.s.s .

“Command System . ”

This was the function he recently unlocked after entering the Second Stage . Among the categories, Kw.a.n.g Hwi looked at the ‘Divisions . ’

He clicked on the detail b.u.t.ton . From there, he found a sub-category called “Southern Wall Security Team” under the Dongd.u.c.h.eon City Security Team . The names of soldiers deployed to the Southern Wall were all displayed from top to bottom .

“Yong Seok was there, huh?”

Yong Seok was one of the highest-ranking officers in the Kw.a.n.g Hwi Faction . Below him, other soldier’s ranks were displayed in order .

Choe Sang Lee

Loyal

Nervous

Southern Wall

Woo Jung Kim

Loyal

Nervous

Southern Wall

Chul Min Park

Loyal

Nervous

Southern Wall

Yu Jun Lee

Normal

Nervous

Southern Wall Portable Restroom

…

‘Their loyalty went up . ’

Kw.a.n.g Hwi certainly remembered that just yesterday, most of his men were ‘normal’ . But today, they suddenly became ‘loyal’ . Kw.a.n.g Hwi quickly understood why as it was not that complicated .

‘It must have been due to the recent confrontation with the Monkeys . ’

After going through a real battle and surviving the ordeal, their sense of belonging to the faction went up . Having an absolute victory must have affected them too . Kw.a.n.g Hwi carefully checked everyone’s loyalty . All of his direct subordinates had ‘absolute loyalty’ . Those who joined his group after the appearance of the monsters all had at least ‘normal’ loyalty . Thankfully, no one had ‘distrust’ .

Absolute Loyalty

Follows any orders . Will never betray .

Loyal

Follows most orders .

Trusts in the commander and superiors .

Normal

Will follow orders .

Distrust

Does not trust the commander .

Dissatisfied and could potentially cause a coup d ‘état .

It was a considerable advantage to be able to see the loyalty of the troops as a coup or possible disobedience could be prevented in advance . This was a real monitoring system, eliminating any uncertain factors .

‘Of course, it’s not like I would ever let a coup d ‘état take place . I must thwart any such attempts beforehand’

While Kw.a.n.g Hwi was still in Africa, he was the second-in-command of the mercenary group . He had plenty of experience in dealing with those under him and knew how to lead stubborn men . Seeing their boss lost in thought in the Situation Room, the subordinates carefully called out to him .

“Boss . ”

“Hm?”

“The Heron will arrive at Yangju City shortly . ”

“Connect to the screen . ”

The screen in the Situation Room showed the full view of the city . Monkeys were bustling in there . Initially, the city belonged to humans . But now, Monkeys were the ones who walked down the streets or peeked their heads outside the buildings . It almost looked like a settlement of monsters .

“Switch to infrared . ”

“Heron switching to infrared . ”

The pilot changed the camera mode and a black and white world came into view .

“It can’t detect any heat signatures?”

“The camera is operating normally . ”

The Monkeys, giving off no heat signatures, were marked in black . The Heron hovered around Yangju for a long time and no other heat sources were detected, excluding the occasional campfires . They were unable to find any survivors, either .

‘The other survivors mentioned seeing people being dragged elsewhere . That means the Monkeys must have taken them somewhere deeper . But why?’

The situation in Yangju was far worse than Dongd.u.c.h.eon . Looking down from the sky, there were more Monkeys than all the monsters combined in Dongd.u.c.h.eon . The whole area was teeming with them . They lived in groups inside buildings previously used by people and dozens patrolled the streets . They had a system of their own . The Monkeys carried weapons and there were even ones who appeared to be in charge . It was like a bee colony, with everything in order .