Chapter 116: O Bloody Boom Blada (3)
Ians plan to follow the path of flames until he met his end failed miserably.
The war had ended. Without a winning or losing side, just gone! All of a sudden.
How long do you plan to wait pointlessly like this?
Despite Gustavs grumbling, Ian merely revised the plans. According to the scout team, the 13th brigade had also been disbanded. So he needed to organize additional troops in order to guard that side of the
The wars over. You know that too. After that random nuke fell between the two sides and made a mess, we didnt receive any orders, nor did the enemy move. Its all over. The flames that burned the entire world finally finished burning through the entire world and died out. Oy, you listening?
Ian once again ignored his statement. The enemy still existed. Now that the enemys chain of command was broken, they would be able to annihilate them without much damage. Of course, that was the case for their allies as well, but the unit he led and the self-declared bodyguards were still faithful to him, so if he managed to organize even the small group properly
There! Are! No! More! Enemies!
Riiiip!
Past the torn map were the furious eyes of Gustav. Ian could see his reflection inside the mans eyes. The man who looked unusually startled was himself.
Ian put down the pencil that was crackling under the pressure of his hand.
If there is no enemy What am I supposed to live for now?
What?
What reason is there for me to live now? As a pickpocketer, a child that did chores at an orphanage, a college student, a mercenary, and a commander. It wasnt that long of a lifetime, but if I were to choose one of those lives, I would certainly say it was when I lived on the battlefield. But if there are no enemies, then the soldiers that fight and the commander that leads those soldiers are no longer needed. So what is supposed to satisfy my thirst now, Gustav?
Gustav Al Harb. He was a soldier in a similar situation to Ian. As the Commander of the 8th Allied Forces, he was well-liked and managed to survive until the end of the war. They completed several operations together, so they were able to talk on the same page. If he had to put a name on their relationship, it could be called friendship. Excluding the friendly feeling the word held.
My goodness, am I really talking to Ashfield right now? The elderly and children that you burned would be crying tears of blood if they saw this!
Ian couldnt understand Gustavs problem. What do the dead have to do with this?
Seeing Ian unable to understand what he meant, Gustav shook his head as he let out a laugh, which sounded more like a sigh.
Well. Youve always been this way, Ashfield. I say this is for the better.
Whats good about this situation?
Ive thought for four whole days about how to persuade a hardhead like you, but I dont need to anymore.
Gustav collapsed on the chair opposite Ians. The words that came out of his mouth were about a topic that Ian had never thought of.
Ashfield. Lets form a military organization together. You want enemies? Then you have to make allies first. Arent allies what make a clear boundary between you and enemies?
By military organization Do you mean mercenaries?
Its a little different. Do you know whats going on in the world right now? There are weird zombie-like organisms called mutants wandering around, and aside from a few select locations, the radiation has made the land inhabitable. The government, the law, and anything related to rules and restrictions are all gone. Its a world controlled by power now! And were the commanders of military forces, basically at the peak of power. Commanders without an organization or higher-ups to order us around.
There was certainty etched in Gustavs face. As if he were reaching out to his future self, Gustav clenched the air.
We can become the center of it all. Soldiers are those who follow commands, and if someone gives them a clear objective and order, all of the scattered soldiers will gather around us. We can become the peak of a world controlled by power and logic! You and I!
Then the enemy who will be the enemy that we fight?
Hah!
Gustav laughed while listening to Ians question.
That question wasnt even worth asking. Enemy? The entire world will become our enemy! The era of battle of all, by all, and for all is coming upon us! The war isnt over! Rather, it just started!
Bang!
With an enthusiastic declaration, Gustav swung his two arms down on the desk.
Join me, Ashfield. I will give you an enemy that will satisfy your destructive desires.
His eyes were burning with determination. Realizing his hands stopped shaking at some point, a smile spread across Ians face as well.
So under the dim, blinking light, the two men shook hands. Gustav Al Harb, the man who was called Raptor among the soldiers, did not lie. His charisma gathered the soldiers who no longer had an objective under their command, created the Raptor Society, and started a war against the world.
Keheheh. Doesnt the name tell you everything? A man called the Raptor and the Raptor Society. Gustav was a man with ambition. Of course, that didnt matter to me, since all I wanted to do was burn and explode people. It was a win-win deal. And so the Raptor Society was created under a system based on a military organization, and I assumed the position of Swarm Alpha along with three additional division commanders.
Haahhh
The liquors sharp alcohol scent shot up his nose with the cigars dense smoke. Im drunk. For sure. Whether its the alcohol, nicotine, or the vibes of the chilly morning.
It was pretty satisfying. Gustav kept his promise. There was a surplus of enemies, and looting the supplies that the survivors stocked up was far more profitable in the early stages than staying put in one place. The Raptors were powerful and rich, which attracted more people. When I learned of the existence of an enemy called the Dome, counting my 10th birthday, and the day I saw a nuclear explosion with my own eyes, it was the third time I laughed aloud in my life. It was because I was certain after seeing those ridiculously strong guys. That these turtleshell guys were going to fight with me until the day I die!
Monster. His enemies called him an emotionless monster. He didnt understand why back then. All he did was choose the most reasonable option, but why did not only the enemy but also the allies fear him so much?
A year from then, I survived as the Raptors Swarm Alpha and was treated as the main face of the Raptors. It was horrible, but I considered it a meaningful life back then. Because I thought that I was fulfilling the reason I was born into this world. It was a rewarding, fulfilling life filled with blood and war. Until the third explosion happened.
The third explosion?
Its a thing.
He didnt need to look at his friends faces to see their confusion. How could he explain this emotion? You could say it was just a superstition, but Ian believed that the word explosion was connected with his fate. There were four explosions that changed his life. The third was a few months later, after meeting her.
Ian Desmont was a man who could talk for days straight about explosions, but he didnt have an interest in anything else. If he had to decide, then it would be to strive to achieve peak efficiency and rationality.
That was the reason he chose to eat and sleep with the average soldiers instead of the facilities provided for the higher officials. Large, spacious hospital rooms. Fancy meals. Werent they all a waste? It may have been a boost to morale had it been provided to all soldiers, but it was only a privilege given to a small number of officers.
The reason Ian was able to meet Molly, who had been working in the hospital as a nurse, was because of his frugal habits and the countless wounds he gained from taking part in every single battle possible.
I-Im cold I dont want to die, m-mom. Momm
Y-you can just take it, sir!
I see.
Ian picked out a silver revolver from the wall displayed with all sorts of firearms and headed out. Once he felt the cold and heavy touch of the object, he could feel his resolve harden. One shot. Just one shot, and the discomfort that had been brewing in his heart will be gone. How clean and efficient that was, wasnt it?
When he was close enough to see the green cross in the distance, he was even humming. He was going to meet her soon. What should he say? Should he just shoot her? Or should he point out every single reason why she needed to die? Like how they bickered about the value of life back in the ward.
There isnt any need to lecture her, but a word or two should be fine. Thinking about it, isnt she the only one who was able to bring me joy aside from explosives? Hm this was all avoidable, it should be enough. If she hadnt made me realize she was such a nuisance, then she wouldnt have died in the first place.
Reaching a clear conclusion with his usual cold logic, Ian opened the doors to the ward with an unusually pleasant feeling.
Slaapp!
Between the smell of a mixture of alcohol and blood, a sharp noise rang through the ward.
Aww, our little missy nurse. That must have hurt. Right?
Aghh!
So why didnt you just listen the first time? Were patients too.
The tense atmosphere made Ians pleasant feelings fade away. No, it wasnt just erased, but replaced with a tight, knotted feeling that he had never felt before.
Five soldiers. Without a single wound on their bodies, they were surrounding someone on the floor.
I came here because my dick was killing me all night, but what? Dont cause a scene in the hospital and leave? Is that how you treat a patient?
You should be prepared for this much as a woman in the Raptors! Pretending youre so clean and pure! Did I ask you to marry me? Lets just enjoy the moment together, alright?
Oy, Dickson! Quit trying to sweet talk the girl and just bring her in!
Aaghh!
And when the swollen cheeks of the all-too-familiar womans face came into view as one of the men dragged her up by the hair
Snap
With the feeling of a string snapping inside of his head, Ian felt a dark, sticky feeling envelop his entire body, from inside of his mind to the very tips of his fingers.
He couldnt see anything. The patients that stared as he charged in with the guttering roar of a beast, the startled soldiers, or the epaulet on their shoulders only given to the personal bodyguard of a Swarm Alpha. He just hoped that his habit of shooting for the head would make their deaths less painful.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
When he regained his senses, there was a hole through all five of the soldiers heads and another shot through the one that had grabbed her hair. He killed them all, but the thought that he needed to do something continued to circle through his mind.
Past the corpses that were shaking and spewing out their dirty blood, Ian approached her. He didnt even know why. His stimulated brain merely delivered him fragments of information, unable to produce complete thoughts.
Why did I do that? Theyre allies. But it was the right thing to do. But why? What meaning did that action have? I dont know. This revolver does its job well. Right! Revolver. I had a goal. It was related to the woman in front of me. Before I finished the goal with the revolver, I was going to say something
The woman was curled up in a corner of the ward floor, which was now pooling with blood, shivering. Seeing that, a small part deep within Ians heart started to feel uncontrollably anxious. He needed to do something. If he didnt do something!
[I dont want to kill people!]
Ah
In that moment, Ians mind gave up on making proper thought processes and just started to spit out anything that came into his mind.
T-this is!
Click!
Clang, c-clang
It couldnt be helped!
Ian threw the revolver out of his hand and continued to spew out whatever he could manage. The shell casings that fell out of the revolver let out a sharp cry, but that wasnt his business anymore.
A-as one of the leaders of the Raptors, I have a duty to protect its members!
That was a lie. There were over a truckload of soldiers that he threw away like old shoes based on his needs.
Those soldiers were threatening you, who is working as the Raptors medical worker, and that is an act equivalent to sacrificing the countless lives that your hands could save in the future, so I had no choice but to remove them from the Raptors! Its not just meaningless murder!
Feeling his heart racing even faster and faster, Ian realized what one of the discomforting feelings inside of him was. It was fear. The anxiety that came from killing five people in front of a woman who hated killing and considered life precious.
Ian couldnt believe himself right now. Killing an ally? First time. Lying? First time. Shaking in fear to the point he couldnt breathe properly? First time. Feeling fury to the point that everything in front of his eyes darkened? First time. And
So I wish you could reconsider.
For Ian, it was definitely the first time his heart beat this hard.
I know as well. That Im just an empty shell of a person hidden behind the title as Swarm Alpha. I spent my entire life using what little I had in order to fill this empty void! Yes! I thought that this was enough enough to be a satisfying life! Until now!
Ian reached out his hand. The moment he saw those small shoulders trembling in fear, his body moved before he could even think.
After taking off his coat and placing it around her shoulders, Ian carefully wrapped his arms around her body. The little granules of discomfort that had been slowly building up in him spilled out like a waterfall as Ian pulled out the deepest feeling he had been hiding.
But when Im next to you. I feel the desire to change, that maybe even though I was a cold-blooded monster my entire life, I can become a human as well.
She was a woman who gave her best even to those who had no hope. Seeing her sacrifice herself to even those that could not be saved, Ian had imagined it. Maybe, if it were that woman, she just might be able to give her heart to an empty-hearted corpse like him.
To Ians sincere confession, the woman slowly raised her head. Kneeling in front of her, Ian held her in his arms as if he were confessing his sins to an angel, as if he were clinging to the last hope in his life.
So, please just give me one chance. The chance to have you live alongside me
Squeeze.
Feeling the guilt and humiliation slowly suffocate him after barely managing to breathe out his confession, Ian was no longer able to continue talking. Within his arms, he felt her presence embrace him back. That was a promise more beautiful than a hundred words could make.
Like how a newborn lets the world know of its presence through its cry, Ian poured out his tears within her warm embrace. In the 22 years that have passed since his sister died, not a single person has hugged him like this.Fịndd new updates at novelhall.com