novelraw Chapter 112 : Chapter 112
Chapter 112 : Chapter 112
Chapter 112 Culling
Riman didn't even lift his body from the chair.
He just swung magic with both hands.
The movement was static, and the motions were concise.
But the result was destructive.
CRASH CRASH CRASH!
ZZZRT!!
Lightning and explosive flames burst inside the warehouse.
“Huuuk...!”
“Fu, fuck, what is that...?!”
“Damn it...!”
Those retreating in fear.
Those rushing in instead.
And even those who could neither do this nor that.
Their attitudes were varied, but all of them were being thrown toward the same ending.
THWACK!
SLICE!!
“Guk...!”
“Sa, save...!”
Those who chose to flee hurriedly retreated toward the exit.
Toward the warehouse door that was still open.
Seeing that, Riman said quietly.
“Saya, close it.”
BANG!
The warehouse door closed by itself.
Saya, who was waiting near the door, closed the door and latched it from the outside.
The door became a wall, and the retreat was blocked.
Curses burst out from the fugitives' mouths.
“This damn...!”
“Move!”
BANG!!
A person holding a shotgun and a person with superhuman strength attempted a door breach.
However, the door didn't budge.
Because from the production stage, it was a door made of considerably high-strength material.
And it was they who remodeled this door, and further, this warehouse itself.
They were caught in their own trap because they made the door uselessly sturdy without expecting that they would be trapped themselves.
While the fugitives were flustered in front of the door like that.
Some personnel were still rushing toward Riman.
Though calling it 'some' was awkward, as there was only one person.
Because the rest who attacked were all dead.
“This bastard...!”
A wolf beastman swung his claws toward Riman.
An enhanced human injected with wolf genes.
Using his unique defense and intuition, the guy somehow squeezed through Riman's magic alone.
Like that, the guy succeeded in achieving the rare feat of approaching within a 2-meter radius of Riman.
“Die...!”
SWISH!
Claws imbued with mana exploded toward Riman.
Riman quietly reached out his hand toward the rushing claws.
And the very next moment.
SLICE!
The sound of bone and flesh splitting simultaneously burst out.
Meanwhile.
“Urgh... the door won't open...”
“Move! I’ll break through!!”
At that time, near the door.
Finally, someone capable of breaking the door stepped forward.
He attached a plastic explosive held in his hand to the door.
He intended to blow the door away completely.
And at the moment he was about to insert the detonator and change the explosive to a detonatable state.
[Ice Bullet]
CRACKLE!
A lump of cold air flying from behind froze his hand and the explosive whole.
“What...!”
THUD-
And at that time, something round rolled in among them.
It was a head.
A wolf's head, no, a wolf beastman's head.
“This...!”
“Damn it!”
They turned their muzzles backward all at once.
Riman was standing there.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
Muzzles spewed fire, and mana burned at Riman's fingertips.
Mana becomes fuel to create black fire, and the fire soon scorches the space.
The warehouse was covered in carnage.
A while later.
CLANG!
The warehouse door fell off with a shock.
And smoke and pitch-black flames rising thickly from behind the door.
Riman walked out through them.
Carrying a man on his shoulder.
A man whose whole body was bound with duct tape.
That man wasn't Cha Hak-jun's private soldier.
He was a reporter dragged here by the private soldiers.
Riman cut the duct tape wrapped around the man's body.
The man bowed with trembling legs and said.
“Th-Thank you...! Really, really thank...”
“But how did you get caught by guys like this, mister?”
“That... while digging into Mayor Cha Hak-jun's corruption, I accidentally...”
Riman nodded as if he expected it.
“By the way, did you hear anything while being dragged here by these guys?”
“Heard anything? That, first off, I was stuck inside the trunk all the time so...”
“Hmm...”
After pondering for a moment, Riman asked.
“Anyway, it means you have quite a lot of materials related to Cha Hak-jun's corruption, right?”
“Yes. I backed them all up, but...”
“That, you shouldn't reveal it at the current point.”
“...Yes. I know that too.”
Because he was dragged here trying to reveal that.
“But the time to reveal it will come soon.”
“Pardon?!”
“I will contact you when the time comes. So please give me your contact information.”
The reporter handed his number to Riman with a slightly bewildered expression.
Riman, who checked the number, said.
“Stay hidden for the time being. Don't work either.”
“Yes.”
“Then that's all. Saya!”
WHIRL!
Saya, who was waiting outside, quickly flew to Riman and wrapped around him.
Riman stroked Saya's head once, then said as if muttering.
“With this, Squad 5 is also finished.”
Saying so, Riman took out his phone.
There, the movements of other squads and the points predicted as bases were recorded.
“Next is Squad 6.”
Riman immediately began to move toward the next prey.
* * *
“......”
The man lost his words in front of the warehouse.
He was one of Cha Hak-jun's secretarial staff.
He came to the base because Squad 5 couldn't be contacted at all.
“Crazy...”
All dead again.
Just like Squad 3 annihilated in Room 303, Squad 5 was also all murdered.
Inside their own warehouse, at that.
“Damn it, how did he find out even here...?!”
This was a thoroughly hidden place.
A place no one knew except a few close aides of Cha Hak-jun and Squad 5 members until now.
The location of such a place was compromised.
‘Where on earth did the information leak...? Is there a traitor perhaps?’
STOMP, STOMP-
The secretary went inside the warehouse.
The smell of blood piercing his nose.
Sprawled corpses.
And amputation, burning to death, electrocution.
Even the murder methods varying for each corpse.
‘The same.’
The Squad 3 personnel who died in Room 303 also died in this way.
Utterly inconsistent causes of death.
Looking only at the traces, it looked like a massacre by a group attack, but the CCTV didn't say so.
The culprit was only one person, Leman White.
‘That guy is hunting the Mayor’s private soldiers...!’
But there was still an unsolved question.
About how on earth he found out the locations of these private soldiers.
‘Location tracking through hacking communication devices? Or betrayal? Or surveillance using drones?’
Several guesses popped out, but it was unknown which of them was true.
Then there is only one thing to do right now.
‘...First, I need to spread this matter to all squads to prepare for attacks, and then turn off all power to communication devices.’
The secretary immediately spread the relevant instructions to all squad members.
And reported to Cha Hak-jun in the form of report-after-action.
For now, this was the best the secretary could do at his level.
* * *
At that time, an abandoned building.
Squad 6 was temporarily residing there.
And naturally, they had also checked the instructions sent by the secretary a moment ago.
“Everyone checked the message, right? Turn off phones, and turn off GPS functions on body cams too.”
“But our phones, aren't communication devices encrypted anyway so they can't be tracked? There are signal modulation devices too?”
“...Because of that, calls kept static-ing so we turned them off.”
“Ah.”
“Anyway, so the youngest went to the market to get communication equipment to use temporarily. It's about time he returns...”
BANG!
At that moment, the door was torn off and flew away.
Standing on the threshold of the torn-off door was Riman.
The moment they saw Riman, deep confusion and anger appeared on the squad members' faces.
The squad leader shouted.
“It’s that bastard!!”
CLICK!
All squad members assumed battle stance at once.
And were swept away by Riman in an instant.
CRASH CRASH!
Roar and vibration swept the inside of the building, and thick death settled like dust.
“Squad 6 hunting complete.”
After finishing another hunt like that, Riman spoke to Saya.
Currently, Saya was searching a city block while staying far away from Riman.
To find the next prey.
“Saya, found them?”
“Shaa!”
“Okay, Squad 7 location confirmation complete too.”
Riman immediately began to move again.
Riman's steps were urgent.
Because this hunt was practically a fight against time.
‘Soon Cha Hak-jun's side will realize that all cell phones and notebooks of Squad 3 members were taken by me.
Then they will know how I grasped the locations and movements of all squads. Then naturally, they will set up countermeasures.’
Therefore...
‘I must finish all hunts before those guys respond.’
Still, fortunately, one piece of luck followed.
‘These guys, turning off the power of all communication devices they possess.’
Of course, it was a measure taken because of hacking risk.
But then communication among themselves gets blocked too.
They blocked the possibility of mutual cooperation and joint operations through information exchange with their own hands.
‘Well, good for me.’
Finish the situation by defeating them individually before they prepare countermeasures.
Thinking so, Riman jumped out the window.
* * *
Squad 3, Squad 5, Squad 6 hunting complete.
Squad 7, Squad 4 pursuit and annihilation complete.
Squad 1, culling of all members disguised as a traffic accident complete.
And the last remaining Squad 2...
“Huk, huk...!”
...Annihilated leaving only a single survivor.
And that survivor was running toward the City Hall.
With his whole body covered in blood.
“Huk, huk, Mayor, M, Mayor!!”
“Eek, what, what is that bastard?!”
The guards at the City Hall main gate post were appalled seeing him.
Because they didn't know who he was.
City Hall guards were public servants selected through an official recruitment process.
On the other hand, the personnel belonging to the private soldier squads were personnel Cha Hak-jun secretly selected and operated separately.
Therefore, there was no interaction between guards and squad members at all, and thus they didn't know each other's existence.
So the guards had no choice but to enter alert mode seeing the person running toward them.
“Stop! If you don't stop, we shoot!!”
“Call the Mayor!! Quickly!! I’m from Squad 2...”
BANG BANG BANG!
The guards' muzzles spewed fire.
Bullets shattered the Squad 2 member's knee, and the squad member screamed and rolled over.
“Kuaaaak! M, Mayor!!”
“...First, contact the Mayor’s office.”
Like that, Cha Hak-jun came to definitely feel the seriousness of this situation.
“...Squad 2 is annihilated too?”
He heard the report that Squads 3 and 5 were massacred just before.
But not long after that, even Squad 2 was massacred?
“...As a result of the investigation, the deaths of all members of the remaining Squads 1, 4, 6, and 7 have also been confirmed, Mayor.”
“......”
The secretary's voice reporting was trembling.
Cha Hak-jun, who heard the secretary's report, buried his body in the chair backrest with his eyes tightly closed.
After a long silence passed like that.
Cha Hak-jun asked.
“...All dead?”
“Th-That is correct.”
“All dead?”
“Pardon? Ah, yes.”
“All dead?”
“Yes. Mayor, that, that is...”
“All, dead, you say?”
Cha Hak-jun picked up the glass nameplate placed on the desk.
THWACK!
And struck the secretary's head with it just like that.
Again, and again.
Every time he struck, new blood was painted over the transparent glass.
Only after cracks appeared on the nameplate that collided with the skull several times did this beating stop.
Cha Hak-jun held out the nameplate to the secretary and said.
“Hey, clean this and bring it back.”
But the secretary only flinched and said nothing.
KNOCK KNOCK-
At that time, someone knocked on the Mayor's office door.
A visit from a young clerk in charge of various light chores under Cha Hak-jun.
Cha Hak-jun said to come in.
“Eek...!”
The clerk who entered turned pale just like that.
Cha Hak-jun said to him.
“Do you want to get promoted?”
“Pardon? Yes...?!”
“Contact your mom. Say you got promoted to secretary. Congratulations, hey.”
“Th-That is...!”
“Now, first task.”
WHIRL-
Cha Hak-jun took out a phone from the fallen (former) secretary's pocket and threw it to the new secretary.
“Contact ‘The 3rd Orphanage’ with that phone.”
Commonly known as ‘Black Orphanage.’
A special troop training institution for those in power disguised as an orphanage.
The personnel there began to move.