Chapter 103
When I checked directly ahead of the cab, the gigantic pile of crudely stacked rocks on the tracks was colliding with the train's crusher, shattering and scattering in every direction.
Rather than targeting the train, it seemed the goblins had piled them up to target people walking along the tracks.
If I activated the crusher, it could easily grind up a pile of rocks like this, but—
'Because this is our destination.'
Since we'd come this far, I stopped and looked out the window.
Then, as if they had planned it, green-skinned goblins came pouring out from the bushes and from behind the building walls outside.
Each one was small and slow enough not to be threatening, but seeing them pour out all at once was quite imposing.
“Kieeeek—!”
"Kiiik!"
They were goblin bastards baring yellow teeth and carrying crudely sharpened daggers and clubs.
Even at a glance, there were dozens of them just among those swarming in from all directions.
There were so many that I wondered whether a dungeon break had occurred.
Even if these goblins were only a portion of those drawn in by the commotion, there were still dozens of them.
I returned to the passenger car first to let the snake beastkin know that this was the place I had mentioned to them.
When I entered the passenger car, the snake beastkin who had already looked outside were slowly rising from their seats one by one.
The large snake beastkin leader turned toward me, flicking a long, forked tongue.
“Open the door for us.”
Even though I hadn't told them, they seemed to have recognized this as the promised place after seeing the goblins through the window.
Their eyes gleamed with confidence.
I gladly opened the passenger-car door wide.
They began getting out of the car without a moment's hesitation.
Curious about how they would fight the goblins, I had a recon drone follow them and transmitted its footage to the cab's monitor.
"Will they really be all right...?"
"Meee."
Just then, Nabi came bustling into the cab, cradling a popcorn snack with a salty aroma in her arms.
She naturally perched beside me, dumped popcorn into her mouth, and fixed her gaze on the live monitor feed sent by the drone.
I too grabbed a fistful of the popcorn Nabi was holding, popped it into my mouth, and watched the monitor.
On the screen, the group of snake beastkin that had gotten off the train looked pitifully small compared to the goblins.
A force of only a dozen or so, barely enough to fill several rows of the passenger car.
The moment the goblins confirmed the snake beastkin's meager numbers, they grew cocky, encircled them in layer after layer, and waved their daggers while shouting mocking cries.
"Kieeek!"
"Heehee!"
"Ooo!"
"Annoying."
The goblins' taunts had the air of seasoned professionals.
Even their unintelligible shrieks and nasty faces were enough to grate on my nerves.
They were irritating enough that Nabi, watching through the screen, began to get angry at their taunts.
"Hiss—"
But the snake beastkin smiled mockingly at the encirclement and lowered their stances.
Their spines undulated grotesquely as though they were gathering strength.
And finally—the two groups collided head-on.
"Kieeeek!"
“Shaaah—!”
The result of the first clash was a miserable defeat for the goblins.
The large snake beastkin leader at the very front swept forward and cleanly severed the necks of three charging goblins with a single rough sword stroke.
That marked the beginning of the snake beastkin's merciless assault.
Their movements were not merely fluid; they were grotesquely smooth.
When a goblin stabbed at a snake beastkin's torso, the snake twisted its waist at an angle impossible for human joints, letting the attack slide past.
Then, using the recoil, it sprang forward like a released spring and either viciously bit into the goblin's nape with its venomous fangs or sliced through its neck with a sword.
“Kiek?!”
"Kehk...!"
Even as goblins overcome by the deadly poison collapsed foaming at the mouth, the snake beastkin's attacks did not stop.
Their huge, sturdy tails swept across the ground and lashed about like whips.
Whiiiip— Crack!
One snake beastkin leaped and struck hard with its tail, sending two goblins attempting to ambush the group from the side flying like cannonballs, their bones breaking as they crashed into the ground.
Their heavy, sturdy tails, which they could control freely, were terrifying whips as well as bludgeons.
Watching them hook a goblin's legs with their tails to knock it down, then drive a sword into its defenseless chest, it seemed they could move their tails just like their hands.
“Meee!”
Nabi muttered an exclamation of admiration while munching popcorn.
She was completely absorbed in the snake beastkin, as though she were watching a real movie.
The goblins' overwhelming numerical advantage was completely useless because they were so outmatched in combat, and they couldn't inflict any damage on the snake beastkin at all.
The area rapidly filled with goblin corpses, while the snake beastkin continued advancing.
Before long, the train cab had taken on the faint smell of popcorn and transformed into something like a movie theater.
After Nabi, who had been munching popcorn beside me, Ha-seon and the siblings Jiwoo and Sua, who had been watching from the passenger car, quietly joined us in the cab.
I wondered whether this was an acceptable sight even for the young siblings.
'They've already seen everything there is to see... What does it matter?'
We all huddled together and watched the battle footage being transmitted live by the recon drone.
‘...This is strangely entertaining.’
Since the apocalypse began, our only entertainment had been watching the ruined scenery pass outside the train windows or refreshing posts on the Survivor Gallery.
But I never expected watching a realistic battle unfold live on a screen to be this much fun.
The recon drone in particular seemed to have a sense for it, sharply swinging its camera around to capture the snake beastkin beheading goblins or smashing them with their tails, making the scene incredibly immersive.
It was practically an action movie.
"Oh, right. Have the other drones collect the loot dropped by the goblins."
At my command, the combat drones and sniper drones followed behind the snake beastkin, diligently picking up the mana stones that had fallen to the ground.
Through the screen, a snake beastkin stared dumbfounded at the drone as though the whole thing were absurd.
Why not? If they weren't going to use them anyway, I might as well use them.
Though the snake beastkin were dumbfounded by the drones' shameless looting, they continued advancing fearlessly toward the city where the goblins' stronghold was located.
Following the drone's camera, I saw the green-skinned bodies covering the streets grow denser and denser.
And finally, the camera captured a scene of goblins endlessly crawling out of the entrance to a gigantic movie theater building.
That seemed to be their main nest.
"That looks like way too many. Will they be all right?"
"Don't lose!"
Just as Ha-seon gazed worriedly at the monitor and Nabi, completely absorbed in the battle, cheered on the snakes, the snake beastkin began forming ranks in perfect unison.
The large-bodied snake beastkin and the sword-wielding ones took the front line against the goblins' numbers, while those positioned behind them raised their hands and created small fireballs in midair.
They were smaller than the fireball cast by the snake beastkin carrying a staff earlier, but with that many of them, they could still deal considerable damage.
"Shaak—!"
Boom! Boom! KWAANG—!
At the large snake's signal, the fireballs flew out and set the street ablaze.
"Kieeek!"
The goblins covering the street all the way to the movie theater entrance screamed and burned beneath the rain of fireballs.
Whenever a burning goblin thrashed around, the flames spread to other goblins.
The fact that there were enough of them to fill the street completely actually worked against them.
Because the fire spread so easily, the street instantly became a madhouse.
"Shaak!"
The goblins that approached the snake beastkin to attack were cut apart by their swords without mercy.
"Wow, they fight well. But when they fought me..."
When I spoke in admiration, Ha-seon looked at me with a slightly incredulous expression.
"...Didn't we give them absolutely no chance?"
"Ah."
Before the battle had even begun, Nabi and the drones had already crushed their morale.
Although the snake beastkin were putting up a good fight and even firing fireballs, they didn't seem able to muster the courage to enter the movie theater building.
The solid barricades piled up at the entrance were slowing their advance somewhat.
It wasn't enough to worry about, but the snake beastkin looked a little tired, so I decided to give them a small hand.
"Hmm, around here..."
Whirrr— Clack!
The ballista mounted on top of the train made a dull mechanical sound as it aimed at the barricade blocking the movie theater entrance.
The range was sufficient, and the aim was good.
The arrow I had loaded was merely a large, sturdy iron arrow I had made earlier out of boredom by roughly mixing mana stones and steel.
Even so, its power was sufficient.
Thunk—! Fweeeek!
With a high-pitched sound that tore through the air, the gigantic steel arrow flew at incredible speed.
But the arrow had more drop than I expected, and perhaps because it was moving so absurdly fast...
On the screen, the gigantic iron arrow flashed like lightning just above the head of the large snake beastkin leader, who had been enthusiastically swinging a sword.
"Sha, shaaaah—?!"
As the leader's heart leaped into its throat and the large snake beastkin flattened itself against the ground, the enormous concrete barricade blocking the group's path was pulverized into dust by a single shot.
That wasn't the end of it.
The steel arrow didn't slow down at all. It pierced straight through the outer wall of the movie theater, cleanly swept away the goblins trying to emerge from inside, and devastated the depths of the building.
Rrrrummmble...!
I heard the sound of the building's outer wall collapsing after being half-destroyed.
The group of snake beastkin, which had been laughing and shouting “Shaak!” at the goblins only moments earlier, all froze in place.
They slowly, very slowly, turned their heads toward our train.
The large snake beastkin leader, who had narrowly dodged the arrow by a palm's width, was trembling violently.
"...Whoa, that was my first time shooting something that far..."
I had meant to help, but I had unintentionally crushed the snake beastkin's morale yet again.
'So this is the problem with manual operation.'
I really needed to upgrade the ballista soon, too.
After that, the battle ended in an instant.
The goblins, having lost the will to fight, fled in all directions on their own, and the snake beastkin quickly mopped up the stragglers.
The snake beastkin claimed the entire movie theater building as their new home and achieved a perfect victory without a single serious injury.
That was enough to secure a place for the snakes' fresh start.
"I guess we'd better get going soon."
"That was fun."
"That was awesome!"
Nabi and Sua gave their reviews of the movie.
I felt as though I had watched a movie too.
I pulled the lever and started the train.
Koo-goo-goo-goong—
The train slowly began sliding along the tracks.
I opened the cab window and lightly waved toward the snake beastkin standing in front of the distant building and staring blankly at us.
I had waved with a measure of warm affection, but the snakes' reaction was strangely different from what I had expected.
The moment I waved out the window, the large snake beastkin who had become the new leader was startled out of their wits and roughly pressed the heads of their subordinates against the ground.
They kept their noses planted on the ground and did not rise until the train had completely disappeared from view.
'...Not the reaction I'd expected, but...'
Still, it seemed I didn't need to worry about them attacking humans.