The First Hunter

Chapter 48. Lightning Spear, Part I

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

1.

The reason why Zombies are scary can be seen in countless movies and dramas based on Zombies. There is no way to win against an immortal army that can not be killed by bullets, all they can do is run away. Because of this, in the war against Zombies, the climax is the moment when the place to run away to is no longer there.

The ammunition from repeated escapes and resistance runs out, and in the end, a situation arises where they can not flee, they can only make a fort to earn a few hours against the Zombies. As soon as they make the fort, the Zombies start to attack the fort. It is rather hopeful that the end is invisible.

The results are always the same. A lucky man escapes, and the ones who cannot escape are just victims of hunger that is never filled.

Eueoeoeo… The landscape of Birobidzhan was like that now. The small but beautiful city, with a population of seventy-five thousand and a trans-Siberian train passing through, had no survivors, but was instead a sea of Zombies, with thousands of Zombie monsters remaining there.

Eueoeoeo… What was even more creepy was that the overflowing Zombies and Zombie monsters did not show any movement. It was clear evidence that there was nothing for the Zombies to be interested in, and that the smell of the living could not be found anywhere in the city of Birobidzhan.

Peep! Peep! In that situation, a skinny mouse appeared. It seemed to be out to eat anything since it could not bear hunger anymore. Of course, the hunger disappeared as soon as it checked the Zombie monsters that were scattered everywhere, and the mouse’s run for survival began.

Woowoo! All the Zombies reacted and moved in pursuit. There was no cooperation among the Zombie monsters who had only one will: Kill whatever lives” They moved only for their own purposes, and in the process, they hit each other and fell, or were wounded.

Thump! In a corner of the alley, a large Zombie Orc fell, and the Zombie Goblins that followed were tangled up with it. Nevertheless, there was no stopping. The fallen ones tried to move even if they crawled, and those who could not crawl even screamed. In many ways, a sight that could not be seen in the human world, but it was simply a scene of hell.

Thump! A dot fell down from the sky.

Peep! Peep! The panicked mouse ran toward whatever fallen. It was not an attack. It was like reaching out for a rope that came down from the sky at the worst moment. The mouse instinctively realized where the chance to survive was at this moment.

The survival instinct of the mouse was correct.

Kerblam! As soon as the racing mouse reached the man’s feet, the ring around the man’s body exploded with thunder. The explosion blew away the crowded Zombie monsters, ruthlessly and harshly, and it crushed them.

Eueoeoeo… From the mouths of the Zombies, the eerie sounds began to come out.

The man took in a deep breath at the scene. Take a deep breath? It did not look like that. The swollen man’s chest was too big, and the man’s face was still, decisive. The man who took a deep breath to soothe his mind and soul, from tension and nervousness, was making an expression that was inappropriate.

Fufufufu! The man threw up his chest and a huge flame began to blow. In a moment, the flames started to seethe all over the place.

Eueoeoeo… In the flames, the Zombies began to cry out loud. The fire, of course, did not stop them; the Zombies began to rush toward the man, regardless of whether they were burning or melting. The rush of Zombie monsters, which had become fireballs, seemed fiercer. The great sea of fire seemed to be pushed toward the man who had appeared in the Birobidzhan.

In that hellish sight, the man was making something. A terrible mass of head-sized thorn ice was formed on his bare right hand, and a Golden Web from the man’s left hand was lined with a mass of ice thorns.

Whoo-woong! Whoo-woong! The ice flail that was made began to rotate around the man with a gruesome sound.

Poo-what! The ice flail shattered the body of the Zombie monster running in a very funny way. The bodies of the Zombie monsters with red eyes, as well as the Zombie monsters with orange eyes, were just crumbs in front of the ice mace wielded by the man. Even monsters with yellow eyes earned fatal wounds if they did not properly receive the ice flail.

That was how the movie started. The movie was called “Zombie Massacre”, starring the main actor Kim Tae-hoon.

2.

“Maybe if you make a movie out of what the boss has done, there’ll be a demonstration outside the theater where the movie is being screened.”

“Was it too cruel?”

“No, the Zombies were pathetic.”

Jang Sung-hoon, who was looking at the flesh of thousands of Zombie monster bodies that were hard to call a corpse now, clicked his tongue. “I always feel it, but you’re amazing.”

Zombie monsters formed nightmares. The only weakness that the monster had was its heart, but it had disappeared.

But the nightmare was just a joke in front of Kim Tae-hoon.

“There’s nothing great about it, but it’s more difficult for an ordinary monster to deal with.”

“Yes?”

“Monsters instinctively seek opportunities to live under any circumstances, so no one knows what living monsters will do, but monsters that become Zombies just move the same. They just move to kill what is alive, with no instinct for survival.” The black Eyes of Kim Tae-hoon were looking around thoroughly as he spoke.

Jang Sung-hoon carefully asked him, as if he felt a sense of it. “Don’t you think it’s hard to deal with Zombie monsters?”

“It won’t be easy.”

“It’s not easy, but is there a reason for the response manual to be complicated?”

Kim Tae-hoon did not answer. Even if he did not answer obstinately, Jang Sung-hoon would be able to reach the answer that Kim Tae-hoon had given. It was true.

‘Russia survived in the Monster Age, and from Moscow to Vladivostok, however, they have endured, at any rate.’

In Jang’s view, Russia was not a powerless country.

Could a powerless country have crossed over 9,000 kilometers in Siberia, sending trains from Moscow to Vladivostok, or using other means than trains, in a world full of monsters?

‘And there are more experiences and procedures for war with Zombie monsters than any other country.’

Russia fought against the undead monsters left by Chernobog, the Immortal Wolf. The response manual for Zombie monsters would be considered to be better than any other country in the world, even Korea. But such Russian elites were still beaten by Zombie monsters. Of course, the monsters could still be beaten.

‘It feels so easy to get beaten.’

But they shouldn’t be beaten so easily. The strength of Russia and the year they had endured did not allow it. There was a variable. In other words, if it was easily beaten, it meant that there was something unexpected in the manual.

‘The Six Snakes would have done the trick.’

Jang Sung-hoon was able to guess what the main factor of the variable was. There was only one thing left: physical proof. Here, it was necessary to find out the cause of death through the bodies of the Russian army guarding the Birobidzhan: whether it was a monster or something that killed them. That was what Kim Tae-hoon was looking for.

Peep! Peep! The squeak of a mouse softly filled the silent Birobidzhan.

Peep! Peep! Jang Sung-hoon, who was suffering from the repeated sound, made a sullen look.

“Boss, I think we have a mouse. Do you want me to catch it?”

At the words of Jang Sung-hoon, Kim Tae-hoon raised his hand instead of answering. Jang Sung-hoon was silent.

Peep! Peep! The squeak of the mouse sounded more clearly, and the squeak began to hover at some point.

Kim Tae-hoon moved to the place where the sound was coming from.

What was waiting for Kim Tae-hoon was a body that was already torn apart by monsters. The flesh was already ripped out, only the skeleton remained. Therefore, Jang Sung-hoon, as well as Kim Tae-hoon, was able to clearly understand the cause of death. They had seen so many different kinds of bodies, considering what the hole in the head of the body was like, be it by the monster’s teeth or bullets.

“Boss, how did you know the mouse would find the Russian corpse?”

“It is not going to eat a Zombie monster’s flesh.”

Of course, the moment they saw the evidence, they accepted the hypothesis in their minds as fact now.

“Well, I’m sure about this. It wasn’t a Zombie, but a person who attacked the Russians in the Birobidzhan: the Six Snakes, or someone else.”

In Birobidzhan, a man had killed a man here.

There was only one thing left… why.

“It’s a trap.”

“A trap?”

Kim Tae-hoon knew the reason well. “The rescue request was a lie, a lie to lure Major General Vladimir’s forces to Lake Baikal.”

“Did the lie work?”

“What makes a soldier move in the most terrible battlefields is not a sense of duty or loyalty to his country.”

Kim Tae-hoon had experienced it many times.

“It’s comradeship.”

Ten soldiers risked their lives to save one colleague. That is war. The soldiers at the front line don’t know what commanders think, and they don’t want to know. They don’t care whether commanders or people in power are talking about world peace.

They just don’t want to leave a colleague next to them, a colleague who has crossed the places of death together, and they don’t want to run away from the battlefield alone. The more desperate war became, the more such things remained.

It was a war against monsters. When a monster becomes an enemy, comradeship will soon be love for mankind.

Kim Tae-hoon was convinced. Among the cities near Lake Baikal, in Ulan-Ude, where the Tiger troops were made up of only the elites among the Awakeners were stationed, some guys might be waiting to kill the troops of Major General Vladimir.

‘This trap is not small.’

And they would not be cast-offs. They would be able men with the ability to use monsters to play games in the era of monsters.

‘They are able men who can handle legendary relics and who can kill a blue-grade monster at their discretion.’

“But boss, if this was done by the Six Snakes, why are they attacking Russia? Isn’t Russia the object of their conciliation? Do they need to make Russia an enemy?” Jang Sung-hoon asked a new question.

Kim Tae-hoon gave the answer that he had already given without worrying about the question. “Only humans who have some shortage will sit at the negotiating table.”

“Ah.”

“If they cut off Russia’s hands and feet, the men of power in Moscow will visit the Six Snakes again.”

“… crazy people.” Jang Sung-hoon, who spoke out the words, was surprised and looked at Kim Tae-hoon. “Boss, no way!”

At the surprised expression of Jang Sung-hoon, Kim Tae-hoon had a calm expression.

“No, wait! You’re going alone, aren’t you?”

Kim Tae-hoon still looked cool.

“You said it was a trap, and are you going to attack there alone?” Jang’s voice grew louder. “No, what are you going to do?”

When Jang Sung-hoon’s voice grew so loud that it could no longer grow, Kim Tae-hoon replied, “If I cut off the limbs of the Six Snakes, they’ll be sorry.”

3.

Ulan-Ude…

It was the capital of the Republic of Buryatia, a large Russian federal city, with a population of three hundred thousand.

It was a trade center crossing the Trans-Siberian Railway Network, and the Trans-Mongolian Railway connecting Mongolia and China, a place where facilities and resources were built to occupy an axis of the Russian aviation industry.

But there was only one image in most people’s minds about Ulan-Ude: a city with a huge lake called Lake Baikal! It was inevitable. In front of the oldest and deepest lake in the world, anything else would be just a little thing. The winter of Lake Baikal was magnificent. The frozen Lake Baikal boasted a very clear and beautiful color, like crystal.

A man was fishing on the frozen Lake Baikal. He was a strange man in many ways. Once the man had worn armor that was worth seeing in ancient China. On the other hand, what he had in his hand was a tool called a Vajra, used in ancient India. Finally, the man was a white man with long blond hair.

The white man in the blond hair wearing the ancient Chinese armor and the ancient Indian weapon… there was no word for unity anywhere in the man. But the most unusual and bizarre thing was the man’s fishing method. The man who made holes in the frozen Lake Baikal did not put a fishing rod in the hole.

Whack! He just kept digging holes. In addition, the man was not just digging holes, but making a square shape with holes, like a dotted line of stamps. Then, when the holes made a square shape, the Vajra in his hand began to vomit lightning.

Pazik, Pazik! The sudden appearance of the golden lightning turned into a throwing spear. The man put the changed lightning into the hole he had made. Then, with a huge burst of thunder, the cracks spread across Lake Baikal, which had been frozen hard.

But the cracks did not spread across the whole of Lake Baikal, because the man had blocked the cracks from spreading. Inside the square fence, the stunned and electrocuted fish began to float up, one by one. The man smiled slightly at the sight.

“Mr. Sergei.” A woman came up to him from a distance.

“The forces of Major General Vladimir have passed through Birobidzhan.”

“They are moving faster than I thought.”

“They seem to be moving with the best power available.”

“I’m sure they are. Without the Tiger Unit, Major General Vladimir and his forces in Khabarovsk would be dead.” With those words, he made a huge smile, looking east for a while. “I hope this will be a bigger fish than I thought.”