The Knight King Who Returned with Gods : Chapter 20
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode
20 Hunting Spider (3)
The
sandstorm that blew across the outskirts of the city did more than just obscure
visibility.
The
strong wind whipped the ground, shook the buildings, and even drowned out most
sounds.
It
was a perfect situation for a surprise attack on the invaders. The Yakt Spinner
made its way to the city's outskirts.
「Yappy. I'm here.」
The
'Last Order' handed down from the highest commanding authority.
As
the successor to that will, Yakt Spinner #10,253 must kill all the unknown
entities that invaded the city.
Resupply
could not be expected.
Repairs
are impossible.
Support
is non-existent.
The
only way to win is with maximum efficiency and minimum damage.
The
Yakt Spinner approached the hunters' camp slowly and cautiously, using the
sandstorm as camouflage.
The
hunters were on alert with their keen senses, but in the end, they were unable
to overcome the limitations of living creatures, and the Yakt Spinner had
city-wide cover.
Despite
its inexperience, the Yakt Spinner analyzed the camp thoroughly. There was no
chance for the machine to be caught off guard.
It
commenced a long-range scan and a real-time mapping of the enemy, counting and
identifying each and every one of them.
It
glided lightly through the flimsy perimeter, letting the sandy breeze carry it,
blending into the darkness and noise of the storm.
"Ugh...
I can't even see like this."
A figure
strayed away from the camp and was alone in a remote area.
Yakt
Spinner immediately examined the figure's readings.
This
new intruder wore metal armor, albeit a light one. Even more bizarrely, instead
of guns or artillery, this one was armed with a bladed weapon.
Threat
level: one.
However,
there is the risk of attracting their allies.
Yakt
Spinner had decided that when dealing with a large group, it was safer and less
risky to attack them individually.
"Huu~~!"
The
hunter, shielded from the wind by the building's exterior wall, hadn't noticed
the Yakt Spinner's presence.
It
was moving its huge body made of hard metal in a creepily silent manner when──
"Dude,
why are you pissing over there?"
"Huh?
Oh, Jackson."
The
crab-like body ducked again. The approaching figure, the creature called
Jackson, leaned in close to the previous hunter, seemingly overly friendly.
"Wha-
what? What is it all of a sudden?"
Although
he was a member of the same Black Mamba mercenary organization, Jackson was not
one to make such over-the-top gestures. Flustered, the previous hunter blurted
that out in bewilderment, but Jackson quickly whispered,
"Shhhh!
Shut up. Be quiet. We need to get out of here quick, unless you want to be
hunted down......."
He alerted
his colleague of the enemy threat in a voice barely audible in the wind.
Having
been warned by his comrade, he didn't even bother to look at his surroundings,
but──
「Ne...need...get...get──out─of─here─if you──」
-Apply
a noise filter to the speech file. Sentence reinterpretation complete. Play──
The
voice muffled by the sandy wind was processed through a noise filter and
analyzed into a clear voice file.
「We need to get out of here quick, unless you want to be
hunted down.......」
-Pak!
The
movement of the mechanical limbs and the snapping of something like a whip
were swallowed up by the sandstorm.
* *
* * *
It
wasn't until the twelfth victim dropped that the hunters realized the Yakt
Spinner was on the move.
It
was a sneak ambush on the outer perimeter of the camp, and thanks to a final
shout from one of the hunters who hadn't been killed instantly by the soundless
slash of the wire, the others found out.
"Aaaaaaaaaagh!!!"
-Swish!
The hunter
who had his lower half cut off by the wire cutters was still brandishing an
enchanted sword strike, but his struggle was meaningless as a massive shadow
fell over him.
"N-
no..."
A
pair of armored legs weighing over five tons each crushed the hunter of the
Black Mamba mercenaries.
-Boom!
Other
hunters, sensing the commotion, rushed over and found their fellow hunter
squashed to death and a Yakt Spinner that bore an eerie glow.
Its
limbs, caked with chunks of mushy meat, were creaking and squeaking as though
they hadn't been repaired and maintained in years.
The
sound resembled the wailing of the victim's soul trapped in the bits of meat,
sending chills down the hunters' spines.
"The
Yakt Spinner!"
The
shout, lost in the sandstorm, barely reached his comrades. The Yakt Spinner
spewed fire from its hideous killing machines.
-Chak!
Bang bang bang bang bang!
A
devastating barrage came from the 60mm machine guns. The heavily armored
hunters had their entire bodies blasted away, whereas the lightly armored
hunters were shredded limb from limb.
A
blatant overkill. So much damage was done to the hunters with excessive
violence designed to deal with armored machines, not people.
Even as the sandstorm's dirt hammered the pavement, the
sound of artillery shells landing had an eerie meat-grinding ring to it.
"Cover!
Take over!"
The
words were barely audible, but there was no fool among them who would remain
standing on the wide-open space.
They
hurriedly ducked into buildings to avoid the machine gun rounds that pierced
through the sandy wind.
The
Yakt Spinner's wide-angle lens assessed the hunters' paths.
Where
the most hunters were hiding, which buildings were deteriorating, how many
rebars were holding up the structure, ....and which ones would do the most
damage when they collapsed.
The
Yakt Spinner's railgun fired a shot, using an electromagnetic force for
supersonic acceleration.
-Bang!
The
projectiles from the 240mm railgun reached Mach 3 in an instant. A sonic boom
blasted through the building.
-Boom!
Precisely
five columns. The building began to crumble as if it had meticulously targeted
the vulnerable points of the hunters' hiding place.
"Ugh,
dam it...!"
Their
finale words were buried with the crumbling walls.
Hunters
with their superhuman physical prowess wouldn't be killed just by being crushed
by a building, but it was enough to incapacitate a dozen of them in an instant.
"What,
what the fuck, what kind of monster is that...!"
It
was impossible to leave one of these buildings. If they did, they'd immediately
fall victim to the machine gun bullets.
The
Yakt Spinner prepared to fire a second shot at the huddled hunters.
The powered-up
railgun was about to bring another building down to pinpoint when-──
"Get
lost."
Something
slammed into the Yakt Spinner with a loud sound like a cannonball being fired.
-Blam!
With
a heavy sound of impact, a limb of the Yakt Spinner buckled.
For
the first time since the surprise attack, the Yakt Spinner's wide-angle lens
sees the attacker: a gleaming gold-armored figure brandishing a massive hammer.
Hwang Gum-cheol.
-Kree!
The
smashed limb squeaked, signaling the inability of it to withstand the pressure.
But Yakt Spinner ignored it.
-Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
A
flurry of gunfire from the machine gun. Hwang Gum-cheol hoisted his shield to
block them. The 60mm bullets pummeled him without mercy.
-Kii?
But
Hwang Gum-cheol's shield was solid. It didn't even crack under the bombardment
of the machine gun.
"It's
a legendary-grade shield! Do you think it's going to be pierced by bullets?!
Geum-soon!"
"I
told you not to call me Geum-soon!"
Hwang
Yeon-ha's weapon was her fists. Her unique-grade gauntlets unfurl like a
ferocious lion's mane. It gobbled up magic power and generated a thrust like a
rocket propulsion.
-Boom!
The
fist, sparkling with golden magic, pounded on another of the Yakt Spinner's
limb. Its limbs buckled under the impact, rendering it momentarily unstable.
At
that moment, a magic circle unfolded in the sky.
"Good
job restraining it."
Combat
Mage Gil Tae-sung. A thunderbolt struck the Yakt Spinner, whose legs were
secured by the Hwang siblings.
-Zap!
The
thunderbolt struck the carapace's armor, sending a massive charge through it. A
deadly blow for a machine. The Yakt Spinner completes its self-diagnosis in 0.8
seconds and reached a decision.
「Emergency purge of overloaded powerline. Radar system
down.」
With
its best navigational system down, the Yakt Spinner was forced to rely on its
wide-angle lens to locate its enemies. This wasn't good when it was surrounded.
「Restricted utilization authorized. Activating RWR
equipment in the city. Relocate markings.」
It
activated the carefully constructed hardware that had been built over the years
in a city with crumbling infrastructure.
Observation
devices hidden throughout the city were activated and became the eyes of the
Yakt Spinner.
「Threat level 3, prioritize for elimination.」
"Oioi,
look at this bastard!"
"It's
escaping! Chase it!"
Weakened by the siblings' blows, Yakt Spinner evaded
their pursuit by climbing the surrounding buildings.
With
the multi-angle guns spec and dynamic warfare mode, the robot could weave in
and out of buildings, aiming its 60mm machine guns at specific targets.
Wizard
Gil Tae-sung. Machine gun bullets rained down on her, who was under the heavy
protection of the Black Mamba mercenary hunters.
"Heuk!"
Gil
Tae-sung shattered a bead-like item against the hail of projectiles fired at
her, and a transparent membrane unfolded.
-Bang-bang-bang-bang!
The
hail of bullets were deflected into improbable trajectories and landed in
random places.
"Wha-
what the......."
As
the Black Mamba mercenaries escorting her stared in disbelief, Gil Tae-sung
smirked.
"It's
a magic tool inscribed with distortion force field magic, developed to target
Yakt Spinner. It's absolutely impenetrable by firearms."
The
power of firearms comes from their rate of fire and accuracy. No matter how
many dozens or hundreds of rounds are fired, they are useless if the point of
impact is distorted.
'It is an expensive disposable tool, but
we are up against Yakt Spinner with a Red difficulty level. This much is
required──'
「Observing anomalous physics. Initiate calculation
operation.」
However,
the opponent is an AI killing machine. Having already faced three raids, even
the occurrence of something outside the laws of physics was an object of
calculation for it.
「Analysis complete. Strike points D15, S37, and F11.」
-Thud!
Thud! Thud!
Darting from building to building, evading the hunters'
pursuit, the short bursts of machine gun shots hit the warping force field.
It struck in a completely wrong spot, a far cry from the
usual haunting accurate markings.
But
the misdirected shots' trajectory bent with a whiz and struck the Black Mamba
mercenary hunters in the temples.
"Huck?!"
"What
the hell!"
The
trajectory of the bullet was completely unfathomable. The warping force field
curved the bullets into insane maneuvers and struck the hunters.
"No-
nonsense!"
'That thing analyzed it in such a short
time? Is that even possible?'
"Ma-
Mage Gil Tae-sung, turn off the warping force field! We can't defend!"
Artillery
bombardments came one after another. Not conventional firefighting, but
precision sniping, calculated by the city's computational prowess, a supercomputer
that no human could ever hope to match.
A
purely physical barrier would have been far better.
"Damn
it! What are you all doing?! Deal with it!"
Gil
Tae-sung shouted urgently, and the Hwang siblings and the Golden Lion Guild's
hunters immediately rushed to deal with the Yakt Spinner. But at that moment,
Hwang Gum-cheol saw something and yelled in alarm,
"Stop!"
"......?"
The
Golden Lion hunters, including Hwang Yeon-ha, stopped in their tracks at Hwang
Gum-cheol's hasty words, and they realized why he had said it.
'Wire?'
'It
didn't simply run away.'
'When
did it make all this?'
It
was the wire.
The
Yakt Spinner had left them everywhere as he made his way from building to
building, evading the Hwang sibling's pursuit.
It
was as if the entire area was covered in a giant spider's web.
How
insidious. In the few seconds when the hunters were trapped, the Yakt Spinner
pointed its railgun at Gil-Tae-Sung.
"N,
no...!"
Just
as the railgun's shells were about to initiate supersonic acceleration... the
Yakt Spinner's rear camera caught a strange object.
-Clop-clop-clop-clop-clop!
"Huh?"
Everyone's
expressions warped.
Four
outstretched, pristine snowy white feet.
Soft
mane fluffed up like cotton candy as you traced the silky white coat.
But
the muscles packed throughout its body gave the creature an intensity that was
far from endearing. It was──
"Hor...."
"Hor......."
"......se?"
""Horse?""
As
everyone stared in awe, a stallion of divine light, towering over them with its
majestically adorned armor, stood before them.
"Long
time no see, dear old friend."
Leon
wrapped his arms around the neck of the radiantly powerful stallion, and the noble
spirit gladly welcomed the old friend onto its back.
Stroking
its glowing mane, Leon pointed his holy lance at the Yakt Spinner and shouted,
"Hear
me, warrior!"
Though
the sight was ludicrous on the modern battlefield, the dense divine aura emanating
from the lance and the steed made the crowd's jaws hang open.
They
cannot explain it with reason, but only understood it with instinct. That this
was no ordinary existence.
"The
gallantry of charging as a lone warrior against a multitude of enemies! I, King
Lionheart, commend you!"
He
first praised the outstanding warrior.
"I
hereby bestow upon you the honor of meeting this Lionheart King, and the honor
of dueling with him. I decree that you may challenge this King, warrior!"
He
gave the right to challenge him to a duel.
Seeing this generous and merciful gesture from the
Lionheart King, Hwang Yeon-ha inadvertently blurted out her inner thoughts,
"............Are
you an idiot?"
At this moment, no one could deny that everyone was of
the same mind.
***
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