Chapter 15 – Clan Establishment (1)
1.
“We are hunters.”
At the moment when Kim Tae Hoon gave his response.
Keuuuuuuh!
The mud troll’s agonizing cry shook the entire battlefield.
The soldiers as well as Kim Tae Hoon and Bang Hyun Wook turned to look at the mud troll’s body being run over by a dump truck.
That definitely should be a corpse.
Even after having turned the mud troll into a popped balloon, the dump truck could not be satisfied. As a result, it crushed the mud trolls body with its six wheels that were comparable in size to an adult male.
Having seen what had happened to the mud troll, was there any expression to describe the ‘body’ other than a muddy corpse?
There was no way that the body in front of them was a corpse, but at that moment, that corpse began to wriggle and its head began to reform. As soon as the snout began to reform, the weak cries of the monster could be heard.
It was like a nightmare.
“Euhaaaaah! Euaaaaahk!”
“W, we’re going to die. That thing is going to eat us!”
Those who had survived until now were those who had experienced nightmarish encounters several times, not just a mere one or two times.
The one called Kim Su Ji, she was the same.
‘What do I do now?’
Everything had been a nightmare from the start.
It was the end of the year, and it wasn’t even something on the front lines but in a metropolitan area. The monsters had attacked a military base in the city. There was no precedence, no manuals, nothing that the military could go off of in this time of crisis.
The damage at the start of the monsters’ raid was huge.
The brown goblins had immediately begun to attack the unarmed soldiers.
The worst part was that the mud troll had appeared and had attacked during an executive’s only new year party.
Most of the commanders responsible for giving out commands had fallen prey to the mud troll during at the time.
If Second Lieutenant Kim Su Ji wasn’t so strict with herself, she might have lost herself in the drinks during the party and ended up in the mud troll’s stomach.
Ever since then, Second Lieutenant Kim Su Ji had to pay a price to survive.
She had to lead the remaining survivors in battle. To survive, she had to live through nightmare after nightmare. It was especially so whenever she met the mud troll in battle.
‘Weapons don’t work on the troll.’
They had already exhausted all manner of weapons against the mud troll.
However, the mud troll never made any sounds that indicated it was being hurt despite the various different powerful firearms.
The only thing that could stop the mud troll was its own satiety.
Kim Su Ji wasn’t quite able to grasp a method to stop the mud troll.
The inside of her mind turned white.
“Rank and name.”
Kim Tae Hoon directly said to her.
“What?”
“Name.”
“K, Kim Su Ji, I am Kim Su Ji.”
“Rank.’’
“Second Lieutenant…… Second Lieutenant Kim Su Ji, the current leader of the remainder of troop 1121 sir.”
Kim Su Ji’s eyes changed.
Her intuition was telling her something.
‘He’s a soldier.’
The man in front of her, Kim Tae Hoon, was a soldier who had gone through rigorous training and difficult missions, or at least someone of a similar caliber.
There was something else that she felt.
‘He is definitely a soldier.’
She felt like she had seen Kim Tae Hoon before.
Regardless, as a soldier, Kim Tae Hoon’s voice was like a lifeline to her.
“I need information on that mud monster right now.”
In front of a commanding officer, a soldier had no need to worry.
“It is about 4 meters tall, strong enough to tear apart a human with its bare hands, and has the ability to quickly regenerate when wounded by bullets sir.”
“What firearms have you used against it?”
“Claymore mines are ineffective against it, but in the case of 81 mm mortars, there were visible signs of success, but the overall effectiveness of it was not very high.”
Keuuuuuh!
While Kim Tae Hoon and Kim Su Ji were discussing the monster, the mud troll began to regenerate more parts of its head and upper body.
The sounds of its cries became louder and clearer.
With that, the aura of fear that it exuded also became bigger and stronger.
The foot soldiers began to tremble. The soldiers were scared that they couldn’t even scream.
“Wow, it sure as s.h.i.+t isn’t a joke.”
On the other hand, Bang Hyun Wook expressed his thoughts about the mud troll out loud in front of the soldiers.
At the same time, Kim Tae Hoon spoke to Bang Hyun Wook.
“Bang Hyun Wook.”
“Yes, hyungnim.”
“Clean up the surroundings.”
“Ok!”
Without any hesitation, Bang Hyun Wook gripped his baseball bat. Bang Hyun Wook’s bat began to absorb the Energy that was flowing in his body. ‘Okay.’
Bang Hyun Wook knew now. If he wanted to survive against these monsters, he needed a more reliable strength.
So he strived towards strength. For the sake of survival, he strived to figure out different ways to utilize his body’s strength more efficiently and more effectively.
During that process, he discovered a method he could use to utilize the Energy better.
‘I know how to use the fellow in my belly now.’
Of course Energy could be use to strengthen his fleshly body, but although it was more difficult to do so, he could also wrap objects in his hand with Energy.
The result was that the power was enormous.
Bbaak!
The brown goblin’s head was in the way of Bang Hyun Wook’s swing, and its head was promptly smashed open like a rotten pumpkin.
Amidst the rain of flesh, blood, and spinal fluid, Bang Hyun Wook let out a shout.
“Bucheon High’s 5th batter Bang Hyun Wook has arrived! Come at me you motherf.u.c.kers!”
While spitting out those words, Bang Hyun Wook’s eyes changed.
If Bang Hyun Wook’s mind figured out how to utilize Energy, then his instincts learned how to dominate in a fight.
It was the law of the jungle, to kill a monster, you had to become a monster!
“Second Lieutenant Kim Su Ji, stop firing and be on guard.”
Turning his back towards Bang Hyun Wook, Kim Tae Hoon gave a command to Kim Su Ji.
‘Stop firing? Be on the lookout?’
It was a difficult command to understand.
The moment was crucial, the mud troll was in the process of regenerating while there were still around 20 brown goblins left in the vicinity, but he wanted her to stop shooting and be on the lookout?
“Everyone stand down! Get into a line formation and be on guard!”
But in the end, Kim Su Jin was a soldier, and like a soldier, she pushed down her doubts and gave the command.
Inevitably, there weren’t many soldiers who swiftly complied.
The infantry had still not overcome the mud trolls aura of fear, but they were still told to lower their weapons.
“P, put down our guns.”
“I, I will listen.”
At that moment, the only thing that got them to lower their guns was their military training and instincts that had been ingrained in them more than a hundred times.
The soldiers lowered their guns and pointed the barrels to the floor.
‘But still, it looks like none of the survivors are completely sane.’
That was the reason why he basically forced the soldiers to lower their weapons.
A mindless soldier on the battlefield was more dangerous than the enemy.
But still, Kim Tae Hoon was confident in himself. Even without the soldiers, he would at least be able to take care of the remaining brown goblins.
Kim Tae Hoon s.h.i.+fted his gaze away from the soldiers and towards the battlefield.
‘The mud monster is still recovering. Looking at its current speed of recovery, it should take another 40 seconds.’
He had checked the mud troll’s condition.
‘There are still twenty-one brown skinned goblins left. But more than half of them are seriously injured. They’re bigger and more aggressive than the green goblins from the super mall, but that’s about it. Any risks during combat are pretty low.’
He carefully inspected the location, condition, and number of brown goblins.
“Come at me!”
He also made sure to take a look at Bang Hyun Wook as he doled out ruthless violence upon the brown goblins.
‘Ahn Sun Mi…… looks like she’s on her way.’
He had also noticed and taken into account an SUV approaching from the distance.
After confirming the situation, he pulled out a revolver from his belt.
At the same time, he turned towards a brown goblin that was about a stone throw’s away that was rus.h.i.+ng towards him.
The moment his eyes landed on the brown goblin, its body stiffened.
Kim Tae Hoon had used a telekinetic chain to wrap around the brown goblin’s neck.
Kiig!
Suffocating, the brown goblin reached towards its throat. Meanwhile, Kim Tae Hoon calmly raised the barrel of the revolver and pointed it towards the goblin. Taang!
A crisp shot echoed out, a bullet hole appearing on the goblin’s skull.
An accurate shot!
It couldn’t be anything other than a perfect shot.
It was the Kim Tae Hoon who could make an accurate bullet hole appear in the head of a raging beast.
Although it was rather boring because the goblin’s movements had been restricted as a result of his Telekinesis, it was still the source of his confidence. Tang, tang!
Kim Tae Hoon’s effectiveness and efficiency with the revolver was so high, it almost made you feel pity for the brown goblins.
One shot one kill.
Instead of wasting multiple rounds on one goblin, Kim Tae Hoon only needed one shot to kill one brown goblin.
When six shots left the barrel, there were six bodies on the floor, a singular hole in each of their heads.
Chook!
Tilting the chamber out of the gun, Kim Tae Hoon swiftly reloaded the gun.
Meanwhile, Bang Hyun Wook was trying to compete with Kim Tae Hoon.
Bbak, Bbak!
“Oh yeah, a two-run home run!”
The two of them were like lawnmowers. A lawnmower that cut everything down indiscriminately.
Huirik!
Having finished reloading the gun, Kim Tae Hoon began shooting again.
It was a bit faster this time around.
Tang, Tang, Tang!
Kim Tae Hoon unceasingly pulled the trigger over and over again.
Before long, he had once again emptied the chamber. It was like he was performing in a quick-draw compet.i.tion to see who could consume ammo the fastest. Tang, tang!
Of course, of the five shots that quickly whizzed by, none of them were wasted. The bullets penetrated through exactly five brown skinned goblins.
Like that, Kim Tae Hoon had taken care of 11 goblins.
Bbak!
“I got seven of them!”
Bang Hyun Wook as the sound of him killing the seventh one faded away.
There were only three left.
Ggiiii!
Gieeeeh!
“Hyungnim, I’ll take care of two of them!”
Two of them ran towards Bang Hyun Wook while the other rushed towards Kim Tae Hoon.
For the last goblin, Kim Tae Hoon pointed the gun down.
Although there was still one shot left, Kim Tae Hoon holstered the gun.
Clenching his now bare right hand, Energy began to flow through his right hand.
Kim Tae Hoon’s fist turned black.
Black Skin!
The Black Skin that made his skin impervious to even knives covering his fist, he smashed his fist towards the spot above the goblin’s nose bridge and right between the eyes. Bbeuk!
With one first, he smashed the goblin’s eyes and crushed its eyes, caving in the goblin’s face. [TN: ONE PAAAAAAAWNCH]
33 points in strength, this was the result of the Black Skin ability he got from the black orc.
“Hyungnim, I’m done!”
It had only been thirty seconds since the battle had begun, and all the goblins had been cleared.
Having witnessed the scene, Second Lieutenant Kim Su Ji and the other soldiers stiffened.
‘Wh, what is that?’
‘What’s going on here? Are we dreaming right now?’
They were not suffering from fear, but rather from a sense of outrage.
‘J, just like that?’
It felt like a dream to see the annoying and troublesome goblins be taken care of so wholesomely.
Even though it was like a dream, it wasn’t like a nightmare.
The blood flow in the white-faced soldiers started again.
However, the most pressing matter had yet to be taken care of.
Keuuh, keuuh!
The mud troll.
Having restored its upper body, it was regenerating its lower body while staring at the humans with its orange eyes.
Keureureuh!
It was showing off its disgusting face and its desire to devour the humans.
“Ahn Sun Mi.”
Next to him was the SUV that Ahn Sun Mi had driven over.
“Pop open the trunk.”
“It’s opened!”
Chulkuk!
The SUV’s trunk promptly opened, from which Kim Tae Hoon fished out a plastic bucket.
Removing the container’s blue lid, a very strong gasoline smell wafted out.
Kim Tae Hoon tossed the plastic container towards the mud troll that was some distance away.
If judged by common sense, it would seem crazy.
The full weight of the plastic container wasn’t very light. But to throw it?
It wouldn’t reach. The scene wasn’t something people would even think of.
“Wha? What!”
But the plastic container that Kim Tae Hoon tossed flew through the air while spraying gasoline on the floor.
“S, stopped?”
What was surprising was the plastic container that had landed upside down right on the mud troll’s head.
Kwal Kwal Kwal!
The gasoline started flowing from the container, covering the mud troll like a waterfall.
Keuh?
The mud troll let out a confused cry, not knowing what the liquid that covered its whole body was.
Kim Tae Hoon took his revolver out of his holster and pulled the trigger.
Taang!
The last bullet in the chamber punctured through the plastic container.
Hareureureuk!
A fire blazed to life, swiftly spreading from the mud troll’s head and covering its body.
Keuuuuuuh!
The mud troll started to scream. It’s screams were full pain rather than fear.
At the same time, the mud troll’s body began to harden like pottery.
Kim Su Ji and the rest of the soldiers silently observed the scene, a lost look on their faces.
And Kim Tae Hoon…….
Chalkak!
Having taken a picture of the smartphone, the information quickly came to light.
[Mud Troll’s Flesh]
– A mud troll’s flesh houses an incredible healing factor. When applied to a wound, the injury will have hastened recovery, and when consumed, the user’s regeneration will greatly increase.
For the first time in all of history, this was the first moment that any human realized the value of a mud troll.