Chapter 21
Encounter Battle
A few minutes had passed when Baek Saebyeok suddenly slammed on the brakes and turned the steering wheel.
With a screech, the gray-green jeep came to a sideways stop.
Yong Yeohong and Seong Geonwoo had already fastened their seatbelts while the car was speeding, so they didn’t get thrown around. However, inertia still caused their bodies to tilt to one side.
Before they could fully process the situation, Baek Saebyeok spoke in a calm, deep voice.
“The terrain up ahead has changed!”
Jang Mokhwa noticed it too.
Ahead, an enormous, dark swamp stretched endlessly. Strange-shaped trees scattered throughout the area blocked vehicle passage.
The giant swamp seemed to have expanded, swallowing the original road entirely.
Looking left or right, the edges of the swamp were invisible, making it impossible to know how far they would have to detour. If they wanted to escape the area now completely engulfed by the swamp, returning to the original road might be the only option.
Just as Baek Saebyeok was about to suggest turning back and continuing in reverse, Jang Mokhwa shouted.
“Seong Geonwoo, grab a metal rod from the trunk.
Baek Saebyeok, use the car’s hood as support and prepare to aim at its eyes.”
No one questioned her orders. Everyone trusted their team leader and carried them out with lightning speed.
Geonwoo unbuckled his seatbelt, leaned back, took a metal rod, and handed it to Jang Mokhwa, who had stepped out of the car.
From the moment they saw the rod, the team had been curious. They wondered why their leader had chosen a strange metal rod instead of a tent.
Baek Saebyeok pressed her orange rifle against the hood of the jeep horizontally, bringing her eye to the scope with swift movements.
Then, she caught the metal rod with her left hand and began stretching in place.
A massive snake, covered in thick black scales, was rapidly approaching.
The surrounding air seemed tainted with the fishy smell emanating from its body.
As the terrifying black swamp iron snake prepared to release its venomous mist, Jang Mokhwa stepped forward two steps with the metal rod in her left hand and charged fiercely.
She stopped abruptly and threw the rod with all her force at the snake.
At the same time, a clear, dazzling, thick arc appeared between her left hand and the rod.
The arc extended, surrounding the metal rod with crackling sparks.
The metal rod became a thick silver-white lightning bolt, streaking through the air toward the black swamp iron snake. It resembled a divine punishment falling from the sky.
The snake sensed danger, but perhaps judging the attack non-lethal, it twisted its body, dodging only with its head.
Bang!
The metal rod, now enveloped in silver-white lightning, struck the snake’s long, thick body.
Jang Mokhwa alone could not pierce the thick scales of the black swamp iron snake with the rod. But the rod carried a terrifying electrical current.
The silver-white light illuminated the surrounding dark-gray mud, and countless currents spread throughout the snake’s body.
The gigantic, grotesque iron snake froze stiff in place.
Though unplanned, Baek Saebyeok, already prepared, didn’t hesitate. Adjusting her aim slightly, she firmly pulled the trigger of the orange rifle.
Bang!
A yellow bullet shot toward the snake’s left eye.
Already covered in the electrical arc, the snake could do nothing but watch the approaching danger.
The bullet pierced its vertically slit pupil and shredded its brain.
The arc quickly dissipated. From the snake’s gaping mouth came a scream unlike any normal snake’s.
Then its body collapsed violently. Nearby trees toppled with loud crashes as the thrashing snake hit them.
Soon, the snake’s movements ceased entirely.
Jang Mokhwa, looking at the stunned Seong Geonwoo and Yong Yeohong, smiled and massaged her left arm with her right hand.
“Even a biotechnological prosthetic like this electric eel arm comes in handy sometimes.”
Not far from Seong Geonwoo’s group,
The boss and his subordinates, wearing military exoskeletons, could hear gunfire and screams. Following that, they felt faint tremors and the sound of trees falling.
The boss, clad in the exoskeleton, showed a pale expression.
“It’s done. They’ve reached the hardest stage.
Now is the moment! Charge!”
Inside the sparse forest,
Near the swamp lay the corpse of the massive snake. Its previously fierce and terrifying appearance still lingered in Yong Yeohong and Seong Geonwoo’s eyes.
Watching them regain their senses, Jang Mokhwa smiled and spoke.
“From that previous accident, I lost not just my hearing, but also my left arm.”
“No way.”
Yong Yeohong shook his head unconsciously.
“So… you’re saying this is it? The black swamp iron snake just died like this?”
Until a few seconds ago, he had said nothing, expressed no thoughts. Now, questions poured from him.
He couldn’t accept that the majestic black swamp iron snake had been killed in the blink of an eye, even though it was fortunate.
Jang Mokhwa glanced at the twisted corpse of the black swamp iron snake and smiled.
“I’ve never told you this, but except for a very few creatures in the wild or forests, the greatest enemy to humans is… other humans. Unfortunately, the black swamp iron snake isn’t among those few.
In a way, the ultimate predator is humans themselves.”
As she finished speaking, she suddenly turned her head toward a direction she sensed something from.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
A man wearing a military exoskeleton, carrying a heavy submachine gun and a machine gun, ran toward where the gunfire and screams had erupted.
Two large motorcycles flanked him like wings, and a black SUV followed at a distance. It seemed they intended to observe during the battle and only intervene to clean up afterward.
Hayoon and Gilseon’s group trusted the exoskeletons completely. With them, they believed the boss could easily handle exhausted relic hunters and the black swamp iron snake on his own.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The boss, wearing the exoskeleton, saw the scene reflected in the crystal goggles attached to his helmet.
The black swamp iron snake was at least 15 meters long, twice the thickness of a standard water container, covered in thick, black scales, and lying silently on the roadside. Broken trees, scattered blood, and brain matter surrounded it.
The gray-green jeep was parked sideways tens of meters away. Two men in gray camouflaged uniforms stood by the doors, holding black assault rifles.
A tall woman with her hair tied in a single bun rubbed her left shoulder with her right hand, standing between the jeep and the snake’s corpse. Naturally, she was closer to the jeep than the corpse.
She turned to look at the men.
Meanwhile, another woman stood behind the jeep’s hood, holding a rifle and aiming the scope in this direction.
‘Turning the scope?’
The exoskeleton-wearing boss felt the veins on his forehead twitch and immediately dodged before he could think.
With the exoskeleton’s aid, he leapt 7–8 meters to the right.
Bang!
The bullet fired by Baek Saebyeok pierced the spot where the target had just been and embedded itself in a tree behind it.
Dodging the bullet mid-air, the boss quickly assessed the situation and felt a wave of shock and regret.
‘Why is everyone unharmed? The black swamp iron snake… was it really killed that easily?
How could they defeat it so fast and even be having a conversation? How did they do it?
Without an alert system, I would’ve been shot and killed just now without even reacting!’
He quickly made a decision.
Seeing their incredible skill in handling the black swamp iron snake, he resolved to charge and overwhelm them with firepower.
If he ran away now, his exoskeleton would protect him, but Hayoon, Gilseon, and the others wouldn’t survive.
Moreover, he didn’t think he could surpass the snake’s strength even with the exoskeleton. He might be faster, but his power and attack were far weaker.
If the black swamp iron snake was defeated so easily by them, could he really escape safely?
The moment his feet hit the ground, he raised the machine gun and unleashed a barrage of bullets at them.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Mud flew everywhere, and holes appeared in the gray-green jeep’s doors.
Before Baek Saebyeok fired and the boss dodged, Jang Mokhwa, who had first noticed them, drew her UNION 202 pistol, braced her legs, and sprinted toward the snake’s corpse like a cheetah.
She chose this path because hiding behind the jeep would take too much time, and crossing the lines of fire would allow better mutual support.
Additionally, the snake’s corpse offered better ballistic protection than the jeep.
Unfortunately, she had to wait to use the electrical energy of her biotechnological prosthetic. After a maximum energy discharge, it required some cooldown time. Therefore, she needed an alternative method to deal with the immediate threat.
If you want, I can continue translating Chapter 21, Part 2 next—it gets even more intense.
Do you want me to continue?
