NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 12
“Shall we begin?”
The voice, muffled by the gas mask, echoed faintly.
However, the two people tilted their heads, seemingly not having heard properly.
“Shall we begin!”
Only then did Ms. Sarah and Mr. James nod in agreement.
Today, tomorrow, and the tasks ahead involve securing the safe zone.
First, we planned to clear the bodies one by one from this central area, which connects various passages.
Mr. Curtis stood on the platform behind the barricade, and Ms. Sarah with us would provide cover.
Mr. James and I were planning to toss the bodies toward the spider territory.
“Huuuuk!”
They prefer fresh prey, but when there’s nothing else to eat, they devour the corpses.
When fresh targets fire guns to push them back, if you throw ‘bait’ into the area, they’ll take it even if it’s not fresh.
It’s almost like a symbiotic relationship.
“One, two, three!”
We threw the first body toward the corridor where the spiders appeared.
…
Ms. Sarah signaled ‘OK’ with her finger and retreated, then grabbed the next body.
With a splat, blood flowed from the broken head.
“Shiiiihk.”
As expected.
Whether it was the smell of blood or the vibration from the body falling, the spiders began approaching along the dark ceiling and walls.
After briefly prodding the body with their legs, they indeed tried to climb over.
– BOOM.
“Shik, sik…!”
The pump moved, ejecting shell casings.
As soon as one spider’s head exploded, the others immediately wavered and retreated.
“Get lost, you bastards.”
An emotion-filled voice echoed from within the gas mask.
Another gunshot rang out, and a spider hanging from the ceiling fell to the ground.
A steel bullet pierced its abdomen, splashing green blood everywhere.
“Shik, shiiiiik….”
“Please don’t shoot too much; we can’t afford to ruin the bodies.”
“I know that much.”
Sucking in and exhaling air through the filter, Ms. Sarah maintained her aim.
Throwing another pile of bodies, the spiders retreated a few steps, but…
– Tudduck. Dudduck.
The feet that had been prodding the bodies started grabbing clothes or flesh to pull them in.
Good.
“Please keep covering us, Mr. Curtis!”
Waving my hand, Mr. Curtis also raised his hand in response.
Occasionally checking behind, we threw about ten bodies.
“Uh, uh. They’re retreating?”
The creatures ignored the newly thrown bodies and continued to retreat.
Perhaps they deemed it sufficient.
“They’ll come back when they’re hungry. As the pack grows, food will inevitably become scarce.”
“What did you say?”
“They’ll come back later!”
After throwing about five more bodies, an odd sound caught our ears.
– Thud, thud, thud, thud….
Halting our breathing, the footsteps became clearer.
We set the body down.
“What’s suddenly…”
“Dad, the right corridor.”
Slowly pulling away from the spider den, Ms. Sarah pointed her gun toward the corridor.
Mr. James stepped forward, taking position ahead of Ms. Sarah after receiving a gun from Mr. Curtis.
“You take it too!”
And then, Ms. Sarah’s pistol.
With both hands gripping it, the muzzle pointed forward and firmly pressed against her chest.
None of us knew what might leap out.
“Help, help me! There’s no one!!”
“Prepare.”
The stock of rifles rested on the shoulders of father and daughter as if they were one.
Keeping an eye on the corridor behind and the entrance to the spider den filled with bodies, I also extended my arms to aim.
“Help me!!”
From the dark corridor emerged a shabby-looking man and…
“My god, what is that!?”
“It’s a land bat, shoot it!”
Though blind, its ears stood up like a wolf’s.
Its stubby mouth opened wide, revealing…
Arms that should have been wings grew into large scythe-like claws, a bat larger than a human.
– Boom. Tadadak.
But the specialized bullets designed for the spiders split its head in two.
Its heavily inflated chest was torn apart by rifle fire, and it collapsed.
If we’d been out of ammunition…
It’s too horrifying to even imagine.
“That’s a bat? More like a monster.”
“Isn’t a bat supposed to be more cute-looking?”
“Don’t let your guard down. These are pack animals.”
The fleeing man collapsed on the floor, curling up.
Clearly visible were various slashes across his body.
“We need to pull this man out of the corridor. Recheck the surroundings.”
“Mr. Curtis!”
In the end, Mr. Curtis, who had been watching from beyond the barricade, descended to check and guard each corridor.
“Father, the spider corridor. Sarah, rear. Mr. Xuan Woo, stay close to me.”
Under the ex-military man’s precise command, we took our positions.
“Do land bats make noise?”
“They scratch their necks to signal the pack. You’ll easily recognize it when they…”
“Keekeekeeek.”
“…like that.”
The man sprawled on the corridor lowered his head even further, trembling.
“We should pull him out from over there. He might die before we even reach him.”
Shaking my head at Mr. James’ words.
“We can’t go. It might be a trap.”
“A trap?”
“You’ve heard how bats use echolocation to map cave structures, right? Instead of eyes, they use echolocation.”
“…so?”
“It’s the same with these. Their eyes are practically useless, but they don’t need them.”
The terrifying reason for the narrow, dark bunker.
And the reason why grenades become indispensable once obtained.
Seeing a bat as big as a person dismembering and tearing flesh with its teeth naturally makes one afraid.
“And, the man sprawled on the floor. We don’t even know who he is.”
“But he was being chased by monsters -”
“That’s not for me to say, thanks to Mr. Curtis joining us. If this man regains his senses and approaches us asking for help, he’s worth saving. But in this situation with him being bait…”
He would have rushed in as soon as stepping into the corridor.
We would have had to either smash its scythe-like arms with our AP rounds as it charged or sever its reverse-jointed legs before aiming for the head.
But.
“Keeek”
“Keeek, keeek, keekeekeeek”
“Kak, kakak, kakak”
It seemed they were planning over there.
At least one of them likely intended to circle around via the other corridor.
We needed to reduce their numbers before that.
These creatures, having the sense to flee when odds are against them…
“Alright, let’s do this. Mr. Curtis and Ms. Sarah, you’ll need to cover me.”
“Should I check the corridor?”
“Yes. If necessary, AP rounds can destroy scythes. With pistols or rifles, you’ll have to cripple their legs first. Then, once they try to crawl, knock the scythes away from their faces and go for the head.”
“…Why are there so many that 5.56 won’t penetrate?”
Unfortunately, that’s how rifles are.
They’re versatile weapons for close and medium range against humans but tend to be ineffective against these bizarre creatures.
“Alright, Sarah, Father, forward. I’ll cover the rear.”
“I’ll pretend to retrieve the man.”
“Pretend?”
“If we get too close, creatures from the left alley will kill us. Even if we kill them, at least two more will surely come from the front corridor.”
“…”
“I’ll try to guide this person toward us. If anything leaps out, just shoot it down.”
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
Taking a deep breath and stepping forward…
A gloved hand grabbed me tightly.
It was Ms. Sarah.
“Hey, be careful.”
“Of course.”
Throwing off the gas mask, a slightly unpleasant stench of blood filled the nose.
We needed to clear everything before more time passed here.
Probably those large bat kids as well.
More work, damn it.
“You there!”
“…”
“Hey!”
“N, yes!”
Shining a light revealed black hair and blue eyes.
Are black-haired people with blue eyes this common?
Most are blonde with blue eyes, right?
Not even the guys from the Zero Empire.
“Can you make it over here?”
“Ah, no, I can’t. I can’t move. They’ll kill me if I move.”
“And staying there means you’ll be dragged away and killed.”
Naturally, he’s panicking.
The way to make him move is to present a bigger threat.
“You’re their bait right now, trying to lure us out. They’re using your injured kin to draw us out.”
“Please, save me.”
“If you don’t come to us, the moment we step in, they’ll attack. And we’ll die.”
I looked at Ms. Sarah and Mr. Curtis.
They were fully prepared to fire at any moment.
“Our safest option here is to turn you into a corpse.”
“…What?”
“To satisfy their hunger. To create an unfavorable situation for them, making them abandon the hunt.”
But I didn’t particularly want to kill him.
More people mean more tasks we can assign and more materials we can collect.
We already had restrictions on manpower due to an injured person and an elderly one struggling to breathe, so this ‘bait’ could be useful labor.
“So, if…”
“If you want to survive, crawl slowly toward us. Stand up, and you’ll either be shot by us or torn apart by them.”
“Will… Will you save me?”
“I’ll do my best to save you without jeopardizing my comrades’ safety. I promise that.”
Mr. Curtis raised an eyebrow slightly.
With a sarcastic laugh,
“If you stay still, we’ll make it quick for you before the monsters tear you apart alive. If you move, we’ll do our best to save you. It’s your choice.”
The man briefly bowed his head, muttering something softly, then nodded.
“I’m going to move now. Please… don’t shoot.”
Slowly, he began crawling with his blood-covered arms and legs.
And, as expected…
“Keiiiiik!!!”
The creature immediately covered its face with a massive scythe and charged violently.
The sound of Mr. James’ gunfire rang out from behind.
“Fire at will!”
With Mr. Curtis’ command, Ms. Sarah’s shotgun spewed fire.
– Crack. Bang.
The AP slug shattered the bony scythe and turned its face into powder.
The next one, leaping with its chest wide open, had a gaping hole in its chest.
“Kiiek, kik, kii -”
The sound of continuous single shots piercing the flesh echoed from behind.
After Mr. Curtis finished reloading the double-barrel, he patted Ms. Sarah’s back, prompting her to immediately turn around and support Mr. James’ corridor.
“What are you doing! I’m watching. Pull that scrawny guy out now!”
Alternating between the corridor and the man crawling forward, I grabbed his shirt with one hand while keeping my pistol aimed –
“Shit!”
Sure enough.
The last one lying in ambush immediately stepped on its own kin’s corpse and charged.
But.
– Bang, Bang, Bang Bang.
As the pistol bullets mashed its knees, the creature immediately stumbled and writhed in agony.
Its head promptly exploded from Mr. Curtis’ shot.
“Reload!”
The empty assault rifle magazine fell to the floor, and the sound of reloading echoed.
The sound of the bolt sliding forward reverberated.
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
“Clear.”
“Let’s move!”
Under Mr. Curtis and Ms. Sarah’s cover, Mr. James, his rifle slung on his back, and I supported the man.
His ragged clothes made it difficult to determine his affiliation.
Most refugee joining events were like this, but…
“Let’s clean and treat the wound first.”
“Shower room?”
“Shower room.”
An unprepared visitor has arrived at my stable community.