Chapter 99 – Nakdong River (3)

Boom. Rumble. Boom…

“F*ck, damn, sh*t, it finally broke through.”

As artillery fire gradually decreased, a soldier watching across the river with binoculars burst out cursing.

Hearing those curses, other soldiers sighed, and a soldier leaning against the wall casually spoke.

“It was a defense line that would break eventually. That time is now.”

The soldier who cursed gritted his teeth at his junior’s words.

“…Making depressing comments. If you want to die, die alone. I don’t plan to die yet.”

But the soldier with private rank insignia didn’t care whether his senior gritted his teeth or not.

“Well, dying or living is all the same isn’t it? This is hell anyway.”

“Damn, why is this crazy bastard in the reconnaissance squad. Squad leader! Please do something about this guy.”

When he absolutely wouldn’t listen to reason, he complained to the squad leader staring at the radio behind him.

“…What do you mean do something. His arms and legs are fine. Right now anyone who can hold a gun is an excellent soldier.”

When even the squad leader didn’t take his side, he took off his helmet and scratched his head vigorously.

White dandruff showered down with dust.

“No, these aren’t enemies we can handle with guns. We barely held them back until now by having the river and pouring artillery shells. We haven’t done anything with guns. Wonder how many we could take down even firing machine guns.”

At his words, a soldier sitting in front of the machine gun mounted on the bunker raised his hand.

“If I empty the ammo box I can take down four or five zombies. Though I might properly catch one skeleton if lucky.”

The cursing soldier, Sergeant Han, spat on the ground at the soldier’s words.

“Talking bullsh*t. I’ve never seen you take down five zombies with that.”

“I’d have to run away before that. Would I be alive if I emptied an ammo box?”

The squad leader sighed listening to their comedy-like conversation.

“You’re all doing well.”

These were reconnaissance squad members hiding in a temporary bunker south of the Nakdong River monitoring the zombie legion.

After learning ordinary guns had little effect on the dead, the military used artillery instead of guns as a method to stop the zombie army’s southward advance.

Of course, though that method couldn’t stop the undead army’s advance in plains, thanks to the natural barrier of the river, the Korean military could barely stop the undead army here at the Nakdong River.

With artillery as the main force instead of guns, the military converted infantry to reconnaissance.

The Korean military had deployed advanced reconnaissance assets like drones near the front line close to the DMZ, and those assets were almost all destroyed when the zombie outbreak occurred.

Thanks to that the Korean military had no choice but to deploy people for reconnaissance.

The reconnaissance teams were responsible for monitoring zombie movements and artillery support. They called artillery coordinates and handled destruction confirmation and error correction.

Though they stopped the dead’s advance at the Nakdong River through artillery and reconnaissance team members’ efforts, numerous reconnaissance team members died in the process.

If the enemies were ordinary undead it wouldn’t have been fatal, but among the undead were special flying types and “skeleton mages” that brought death.

When a mage raised his hand among ordinary skeletons, some reconnaissance soldiers across the river just died.

Dead soldiers immediately revived as zombies, so reconnaissance teams being annihilated was common.

The reconnaissance squad here too was like other squads, made up of survivors from shattered reconnaissance teams.

Though only squad-sized, the soldiers here were warriors who had gone through several harsh battles with the dead.

Perhaps because of that, discipline in the squad was nowhere to be found even looking carefully.

The sergeant who had been bickering with the machine gunner turned his head and spoke to the squad leader.

“Anyway let’s withdraw. Looking at this, seems we can’t stop them this time.”

Though everyone nodded at his words, the squad leader shook his head.

“Wait. The withdrawal order hasn’t come yet.”

The sergeant frowned at the squad leader’s words.

“You’re not thinking of waiting until the withdrawal order comes?”

“Are you crazy? Your bullet would end up in the back of my head then.”

The sergeant raised his hand stroking his rifle and scratched his head again at the squad leader’s words.

The squad leader glared at the sergeant then continued speaking.

“Still we can’t run away first. We’ll move when other reconnaissance teams start pulling back.”

The sergeant nodded accepting his words then advised the squad leader.

“Don’t watch too long. Those guys are moving differently from before.”

The squad leader came to the front of the bunker hearing his subordinate’s words.

He frowned watching the zombie horde pouring into the Nakdong River.

“Did the commander disappear? Before there was system to their pressure, but this time it’s brute force. If this is from command changing, the new one deserves getting shot.”

“Our defense line broke to that brute force though.”

“Did they stop showing off. Before it was like fighting humans, now seems we’re fighting zombie hordes again.

Actually this is scarier. A quantity offensive not caring about soldier losses, no way to stop it in short time.

The shells piled beside artillery must have limits too. Though artillery soldiers are working hard carrying shells, timing won’t match.”

Though the squad leader would have admired if the enemy command aimed for this, looking at it this was just pushing in zombies.

“Should start packing soon. Like the squad leader said, watch too long and we’ll become zombies.”

At the squad leader’s words, the sergeant shouted to everyone.

“Boys, he says pack up.”

The unit members started moving quickly. The unit members gathered their laid out equipment and disassembled the mounted machine gun.

While busily gathering equipment like that, one private asked a corporal beside him.

“But if this breaks, isn’t the Korean peninsula finished?”

The corporal shrugged at the private’s words.

“Well. They made defense lines hard around Busan outskirts so maybe they’ll stop them there?”

“That’ll only buy time though.”

“Well, buying time is enough. Just need to buy time for the higher-ups to escape by ship.”

The private asked again with a dark face at the corporal’s words.

“Can we go to Jeju Island too?”

“Well. Have to force our way onto ships somehow I guess. Still we should have better survival chances than civilians.”

The private forcefully nodded at the corporal’s words.

“Right. After the higher-ups it would be soldiers. But how many people south of the Nakdong River will survive?”

The sergeant packing up burst out shouting at the increasingly dark conversation.

“If you have time to worry come pack up. You’ll die here worrying.”

At his words the two closed their mouths and started gathering equipment.

When they had mostly finished packing like that, a soldier watching north of the Nakdong River instead of the sergeant suddenly said something strange.

“Oh, in that sky… Isn’t that a helicopter?”

The unit members looked at him with dumbfounded faces at the soldier’s words.

“What nonsense. There’s a helicopter? That’s impossible. The skeleton guy shot down everything that flies.”

Though the sergeant scolded the soldier on everyone’s behalf, the soldier didn’t take back his words.

Rather he pointed his finger at the northern sky.

“It really is a helicopter?”

And everyone’s ears heard helicopter rotor sounds.

Thud thud thud thud.

Surprised soldiers crowded to the front of the bunker.

People with binoculars raised them, those without narrowed their eyes looking at the northern sky.

“Twin-rotor helicopter. It’s a Chinook.”

The sergeant noticed the helicopter type first.

“Were there still Chinooks that could fly?”

“Wouldn’t there be some on Jeju Island?”

The sergeant scratched his head answering another soldier’s question. He didn’t know well either.

Fortunately other soldiers answered instead.

“Oh, that’s the latest model? It’s not our helicopter.”

“Right. It’s the latest Chinook. It’s US military.”

Two soldiers took turns showing off knowledge. They were soldiers who usually showed off military knowledge.

Other times they would have been cursed at for what use that was, but this time no one cursed.

They were all busy watching the approaching helicopter.

“Why did US military come?”

“Didn’t they all return home?”

“Heard they left Japan too.”

“Right? Why suddenly US military?”

“More than that, that’s north. The helicopter is flying from north of the Nakdong River.”

The soldiers discussing why US military appeared were all struck speechless at one soldier’s words.

“No way… Were there still living people in the north?”

Most soldiers here were soldiers pushed down from the north.

People who left family, relatives, friends all in the north.

They all believed people remaining in the north had died and become zombies.

The government on Jeju Island, officials in Busan all said so, and people in Busan all thought so too.

Because they couldn’t handle the guilt unless thinking that way.

“That can’t be. Probably a helicopter that went out scouting the northern situation.”

Everyone nodded with dark faces at the squad leader’s words.

While everyone implicitly agreed like that, a soldier watching the helicopter shouted again.

“Oh. The helicopter is being attacked.”

“Thought so. Did the death messenger come out?”

The soldier shook his head at the squad leader’s question.

“No. It’s a pigeon flock.”

The squad leader looked at the helicopter again with binoculars.

A bird flock looking like black clouds was pouncing on the helicopter.

“Right. Those guys were there too. They could barely fly when alive, but maybe because they lost weight they fly well now.”

A soldier blankly watching that sight asked the sergeant at the squad leader’s words.

“Will it be tough?”

“Tough. Though they’re just pigeons, they’re zombies so bullets don’t work well.”

Another soldier pointed at the helicopter at the sergeant’s words.

“But they’re enduring well. Plus those pigeons are falling well when hit by bullets.”

“Huh?”

The unit members watched the helicopter with tense faces at the soldier’s words.

As the soldier said, the helicopter caught in zombie pigeon flocks kept flying.

Flames rose from the helicopter’s windows, and zombie pigeons fell to the ground each time.

“Seems they might escape safely if they do well.”

Everyone clenched their fists at the soldier’s words.

“Keep going!”

“Just a little more!”

Though everyone cheered for the helicopter, unfortunately it couldn’t endure long.

“Ah. They got hit.”

Smoke rose from the helicopter’s engine and one rotor was torn off making the helicopter start falling.

Fortunately the helicopter had crossed the river by then, but couldn’t leave the riverbank.

“Oh, it’s falling this way.”

The helicopter with lost rotor fell at the riverbank in front of the reconnaissance squad.

Boom.

The helicopter landed on the riverbank.

Though clearly a helicopter crashing vertically with shattered rotor, strangely the helicopter seemed to reduce speed right before hitting the ground.

In the end, what landed on the riverbank was an intact helicopter for having crashed.

The squad leader made a troubled expression seeing the helicopter.

“What will you do?”

The squad leader asked back at the sergeant’s question.

“Those US soldiers should be alive right?”

“The body is intact so they should be alive.”

Curses burst from the squad leader’s mouth at the sergeant’s words.

“Damn, if they’re alive we can’t just run away. Move. Going to rescue them.”

The soldier who had been looking for a place to die made a glad expression at the squad leader’s words.

“So this is where I die.”

“Stop talking nonsense and move quickly. I’m not going to die!”

After driving his fist into that soldier’s head, the sergeant started running toward the riverbank leading the soldiers.

Though they ran hard like that, unfortunately they would arrive second at the helicopter.

What arrived first was a corpse golem that came out of the water.

“Whoa, a tank!”

“Guns don’t work on that thing. Just have to run!”

The soldiers screamed seeing the corpse golem, and the sergeant shouted to the squad leader behind.

But the corpse golem didn’t even care about the running soldiers and charged at the helicopter.

When the golem’s fist was about to shatter the helicopter’s body.

Bang!

The helicopter’s door shattered first.

The flying metal door struck the charging corpse golem’s body.

The corpse golem rolled on the ground with the flying door, and one person stood before the corpse golem raising its rolling body.

Flash.

White light brushed past the corpse golem’s neck.

The thick undead’s neck flying through air.

The corpse golem rising up fell to the ground again.

The sergeant stopping in place saw the person who cut off the golem’s neck and asked the squad leader.

“Does the US military use knights now too?”

Though it was an absurd story, the squad leader couldn’t say anything.

Because he had the same thought.

Before the fallen corpse golem stood a blonde knight wearing plate armor.