Chapter 48
Kim Seojun did not like reckless plans.
In the first place, there was not a single Soldier in this Space who liked reckless plans.
However, Kim Seojun had undertaken many reckless plans.
He hadn't wanted to, but the situations had forced it.
Anyway, Kim Seojun knew very well what being reckless meant.
‘It is more doable than I thought.’
From Kim Seojun's perspective, the current operation was by no means a reckless one.
The reason was simple.
‘Because I have the mini-map.’
As Kim Seojun stood atop Rocky Mountain, a mini-map appeared before his eyes, and on that mini-map, the presence of the Mogs was currently marked as red dots.
Therefore, Kim Seojun could tell.
How many Mogs were left inside the Queen's Nest.
Which side were they on?
In particular, Kim Seojun aimed for that.
‘The guards will all come out to protect the Queen.’
The Mogs remaining now were individuals more influenced by the Queen, which meant their loyalty to the Queen was extremely high!
As such, the sense of crisis and drive to act they felt when the Queen was threatened were bound to be extraordinary.
‘What is left after they all come out?’
One was the only thing not moving.
‘The Queen.’
Kim Seojun intended to move the moment that something came out.
‘This is?’
And that time came much earlier than expected.
That is, the moment Major Lee Hyena provoked them, the guards rushed out in large numbers.
Within the mini-map, the red dots quickly moved out of the Rocky Mountains.
‘To this extent?’
That reaction speed was unexpected even from Kim Seojun's standpoint.
‘Ah.’
At that point, Kim Seojun realized.
‘……The Queen is panicked.’
The Queen was also facing an unexpected situation.
‘I suppose.’
Come to think of it, it was natural.
‘It would be strange not to feel a sense of crisis when your subordinates suddenly disobey orders and move on their own.’
He didn't know exactly what the Chinese Headquarters had done, but it had now moved most of the Mogs under the Queen's control toward the Polish Headquarters.
From the Queen's perspective, wasn't this a situation she couldn't even dare to imagine?
In such a situation, she had no choice but to react sensitively and excessively to outside attacks.
‘I am lucky.’
From Kim Seojun's standpoint, the Chinese Headquarters had given him the opportunity of a lifetime, and he could not miss that chance.
Kim Seojun immediately went inside Rocky Mountain, into the Queen's Nest.
As he did, he tightened his grip even more, his tension rising.
‘It starts now.’
The Queen's Nest was truly a labyrinth.
Above all, the time given to Kim Seojun was not much.
When the entry time as well as the escape time was considered, the time given to him to reach the Queen did not exceed 15 minutes.
‘I will manage it somehow.’
Filled with such will and determination, Kim Seojun could soon hear it.
\[You have entered the Cave.\]
‘Huh?’
Along with the status window notification, the world seen through Kim Seojun's eyes changed.
\[The mini-map is changing.\]
‘Oh!’
The Cave, that is, the Queen's Cave Map, was generated.
The map of that labyrinth was generated.
The moment he saw it, Kim Seojun no longer did any thinking in his head.
Kim Seojun ran.
When humanity first encountered the Mogs, this was the very first topic humanity debated.
"Are Mogs truly intelligent beings?"
All the scholars gathered and talked about that topic.
"Mogs are intelligent beings! We must converse with them!"
Not a few among them babbled that Mogs should be treated as intelligent beings like humans rather than monsters, and that violence should not be used.
Just like the hippie phenomenon that cried out against war long ago, quite a few people came out shouting for peace with the Mogs, 'Love and peace!', and held a protest rally condemning the Space Marines who fired guns at the Mogs.
Of course, such bullshit did not last long.
The Mogs threatened humanity with extremely ruthless violence.
Naturally, the debate over whether Mogs were intelligent beings disappeared.
Also, the Mog's behavioral pattern was closer to that of ants or bees. There was a problem with putting it in the category of intelligent beings.
There was only one exception.
"The Queen seems to have intelligence."
It wasn't scientifically proven.
It couldn't be proven either.
The existence known as a Queen was, very fortunately, extremely rare to see even among Mogs, and ever since China caused an accident while researching a Queen, humanity has not tolerated unauthorized research on Queens, and such permission has never been officially granted.
Nevertheless, such words came from the mouths of the Space Marines fighting in the field.
They said.
"The Mogs under the Queen's control are different. It's not simply that they are stronger and move systematically, but you can feel an emotional aspect, like a desire for revenge or retribution."
The Queen had intelligence.
The Queen on planet Amotia was still the same.
Her appearance was no different from other queens'.
She had the form of a 10-meter-long larva.
Looking solely at her external appearance, one could not get a threatening feeling from her.
In reality, it was no exaggeration to say that the Queen was the weakest among the Mogs in terms of the physical aspect.
The problem was the abilities the Queen possessed.
An extremely powerful pheromone flowed from the Queen's body, and Mogs exposed to this pheromone became the Queen's guards.
Also, the Queen's body fluid was a powerful virus mass that turned even non-Mog lifeforms into Mog-like creatures.
And as mentioned earlier, the Queen had intelligence.
The terrifying thing about this intelligence was not that the Queen devised some grand strategy or anything like that.
Having intelligence meant she could feel anger, could specify the target of that anger, and could devise a way to vent that anger.
The Queen of Planet Amotia is the same right now.
Ppeubeubeubeubeu!
She was furious.
She was furious at a certain existence that had dared to take away a large number of her guards.
At the same time, she was feeling an extremely powerful threat to survival.
She was feeling fear.
Ppeubeubeuppe!
And that fact was that the Queen was feeling an even greater anger at the fact that she had felt fear.
In such a situation, when a human suddenly entered her nest, she naturally reacted violently.
Ppeubeubeubeu!
My children, crush them miserably!
Ppeubeubeubeubeuppe!
Ravage all the humans on this planet!
Ppeubeubeuppeuppeuppe!
Furthermore, ravage everything in this Space!
She gave the most violent order she could give.
Like that, all the Guards went outside.
It was around then.
Ppeubeu?
The Queen felt something enter her nest.
That was another ability the Queen possessed, detection.
The Queen could feel everything that entered her nest.
At that moment, the Queen thought.
Ppeubeu!
To let that existence come close to her.
That is, the Queen wanted to enjoy some amusement.
She wanted to personally tear, rip, and devour that human.
Only by doing so did it seem like the anger filling her right now would be relieved even a little.
Ppeubeubeu!
So the Queen did not send a signal for the Guards to return.
She just waited.
For the Human bastard to come to her.
As if responding to that, the ignorant Human came very quickly toward where she was.
Ppeubeubeu!
As the distance closed, the sound the Queen made changed.
She made a sound like pleasant music.
It was then.
Suddenly, the Queen saw it stop not far from her.
The Queen harbored a doubt about that fact for a moment, but that doubt did not last long.
Something started moving toward where she was again.
Ppeuppeuppe!
Eventually, it appeared, and at that moment, the Queen let out a sound filled with more joy than ever before.
While doing so, she spewed out what was in her body with all her might.
What she spewed out was none other than fear.
Fear (ability)!
She spewed out that fear that made the minds of all lifeforms facing it stop, and the Queen did not doubt it.
The only things that could withstand this fear were those that were not alive.
That was the reason.
Why could the thing that appeared withstand it?
Thud!
It was none other than U-gwang, the nuclear weapon.
Ppeu?
The moment the Queen was surprised by the appearance of that never-before-seen thing, suddenly, something rapidly escaping was seen by her.
At that moment, the Queen had an intuition.
Something strange had happened.
Here, the Queen naturally made a judgment like an intelligent being. She tried to escape this place and moved quickly.
She tried to run away from that impure thing.
However, that effort was soon crushed.
Ppeubeu?
The moving Queen could see it.
Ppeubeu!
There was the path she had to take to get out, and a single, incredibly massive battle tank was blocking that path.
One minute later, the Queen faced it.
BOOM!
The moment U-gwang exploded, the roar was not as loud as expected.
It was because it exploded inside the Queen's Nest, preventing that powerful explosion sound from going outside.
However, the moment that sound was heard, Kim Seojun shouted.
"Private First Class Park Boseop! Step on it!"
"Yes!"
At those words, Private First Class Park Boseop stepped on the accelerator more forcefully.
Vroooom!
The military truck, which had already reached its top speed, surprisingly let out an even more intense sound and started spinning its wheels here.
It was thanks to Jo I-Hyeon's Tuning.
Thanks to that.
The military truck moved faster, and the ground where it passed suddenly began to shake.
It was not a simple shaking.
As if that space had become zero gravity, rocks and Mogs, those massive things, began to float up.
And that was the moment they floated up and landed.
RUMBLE!
An intense earthquake occurred.
CRASH!
And the firm ground began to collapse, letting out an incredibly bizarre sound.
Kieeeek!
The Mogs standing on top of it also screamed and began to sink beneath the ground.
Vroooooom!
Only the military truck carrying Kim Seojun's Group was running without stopping at that moment.
Of course, Kim Seojun's Group was just as panicked.
Experiencing a nuclear weapon exploding in such close proximity was extremely rare.
"Staff Sergeant Kim, have you ever seen a nuclear weapon explode?"
"No."
Even Kim Seojun was like that.
It was a first for him too.
"It's exploding this close. I've seen it explode from afar three times, though."
Of course, that first time was different from the first time others felt it, and at those words, the remaining comrades let out hollow laughs.
The use of a nuclear weapon meant that a devastating situation had occurred on that planet.
In other words, it meant Kim Seojun had experienced such a situation at least three times.
"Really? Fewer than I. I've seen it about twelve times."
And in such situations, it was usually Psycher agents like Hawk Eye who stepped up for the cleanup.
That was why.
"More importantly, did you detonate it properly?"
Here, Noah Winston threw that question.
Because she knew.
"If you detonate it in an ambiguous spot, she might not die. The Queen's vitality is no joke."
She knew that the entity known as the Queen lacked attack power, but her defense was much stronger than a tank beetle's.
"You must have used a timer, right? If the Queen moved like a ghost and ran away to another place……."
Just hiding in another cave could significantly reduce the explosion power, especially in such a cave-like tunnel.
Kim Seojun knew it too.
"I did block the exit hole."
"Blocked it? With what? It would just break through anything ordinary."
"I figured as much, so I blocked it with a battle tank."
"Uh…… good job."
At Kim Seojun's words, Noah Winston sent no more concern.
The others were the same.
If he had made it that certain, it would be safe to say the Queen is now dead.
"That ability is seriously amazing. What do you have to do to make a Battle Tank pop in and out? Huh? Can a person not go in there? I want to go in once and see what it's like. If I can go in, can't you lease me about 10 square meters? I'll pay the rent properly."
Given that fact, Noah Winston now relaxed and even threw a joke, and at that joke, everyone held back a chuckle.
However, Kim Seojun's expression was different.
He still did not relax his expression.
‘There is no notification.’
Because even amidst this massive explosion, not a single notification was heard.
Honestly, this was unexpected.
If she had died from the nuclear weapon, she would have already died and the notification would have been heard.
However, even though quite some time had passed since the explosion occurred, there was no sign of a notification.
Gulp!
At that point, Kim Seojun swallowed his saliva.
‘What if?’
It was mentioned because it came to mind.
‘What if she has another ability?’
The possibility that the Queen had an ability to strengthen her body or a very special ability like teleportation.
It was not an absurd thought.
Wasn't Kim Seojun himself exhibiting the nonsensical ability of a Status Window right now?
Vroooom!
And that expectation became a certainty a little later, around the time when the chasing Mogs could no longer be seen.
‘I have to see this to the end somehow.’
However, from Kim Seojun's standpoint, there was now no choice, having still not heard the notification.
‘I have to stop the car, go, and check the mini-map. If she is alive, I have to deal with her somehow.’
Kim Seojun prepared.
"Private First Class Park Boseop."
He was about to tell Private First Class Park Boseop to stop the car.
It was that moment.
\[The battle has ended. Settlement begins.\]
‘Huh?’
Suddenly, a Status Window notification was heard.
\[You have eliminated 7,321 Mogdogs. You have acquired 7,321 points.\]
\[You have eliminated 3,123 Thorn Snakes. You have acquired 15,615 points.\]
\[You have recorded over 10,000 kills in this battle. 10,000 points are awarded.\]
Only then did Kim Seojun realize.
The notification was heard late because the system was tallying everything at once like last time.
Like that, Kim Seojun could hear it.
\[You have eliminated 1 Lightweight queen. A Diamond Ticket is awarded.\]
\[You have achieved the first kill of a Queen. A Diamond Ticket has been awarded.\]
\[Mission Conditions have been met. An Upgrade Ticket (transcendence) is awarded.\]
The moment he heard that notification, Kim Seojun let out a sigh of relief.
"Staff Sergeant Kim."
And then he could see.
The sight of Private First Class Park Boseop and his comrades looking at him.
In addition, they were in a more tense state than ever.
Kim Seojun had suddenly called out with a tense expression, and in such cases, nonsensical things tended to happen.
"You called for me, sir."
To his comrades asking for the reason in that way, Kim Seojun said.
"Stop the car."
"Yes?"
At those words, everyone grew even more tense, and Kim Seojun said to them.
"The mission is over, so let's have some ramen as a special meal before we go."