Chapter 372 – Exile (14)
Everything in the world seen from below the helicopter was frozen.
White snow and blue-white ice. Those two things alone form the curves of the earth.
When you stretch your hand out the helicopter window, you are met with harsh winds and snowstorms, and within a few seconds, your hand is covered in frost.
If my hands were bleeding, I would feel intense pain, but for me right now, the slowdown percentage is only displayed at the bottom of my field of vision.
The iron grip slowly decreased by 1% from 99% operation rate.
When you bring your hand into the helicopter, it recovers to 100% much faster than when you fall.
[What are you doing?]
“If you move with a completely different body, even trivial things become interesting. “You too, right?”
[…
Artemis shut his mouth as if he had nothing to say.
Because she fits exactly the example I described.
A series of actions that lead to graduation during childhood and adolescence.
Throw your body on the bed and kick your legs, run in a staggered rhythm, or play with your extremities such as fingers and toes.
Although she has been controlling herself recently, Artemis used to play with her body like a child, which did not suit her size.
She even asked me to ride her horse one time. She thought this wasn’t a good idea, so she immediately said to do it without it.
Of course I ignored her and forced her to ride on my neck.
At first, I thought, ‘Okay! Even though she was angry and said, ‘I don’t need it!’, She ended up being happy.
Her recollection of her cute memories was cut off by a sudden communication request signal.
“No matter what you do, it’s better than listening to these boring people.”
Radio calls were coming in non-stop from the communicator I pointed to. These are the Russian warlords who participated in this battle.
[Thanks to the administrator’s actions, millions of Russkiye people can now enjoy peace. Thank you again.]
“We are all abandoned by the country. “We are struggling to survive in the Far East, so we have to help.”
A communication comes from another warlord.
[It was almost like all the camps in eastern Russia were overflowing with widows and orphans who had lost their breadwinners. I don’t know how to repay this favor.]
“Have you ever heard the story about when the Nazis attacked them?”
[Of course! There is probably no nation that realizes that proverb more than we do.]
“Now we are each other’s only neighbors. If we fall, it’s your turn next, and if you fall, isn’t it our turn next?”
[Get those damn Chinese guys far away.]
The Russian commander’s cheerful smile shows a lot of goodwill toward this side.
For your information, the voice I am giving you a kind answer to now is not mine.
Artemis was responding on my behalf through voice modulation. Otherwise, I would have turned off the communicator a long time ago out of frustration.
Anyway, this conversation is just a greeting without any substance, so there is no need for me to deal with it directly.
[For that reason, we are sorry, but it will be difficult for us to provide military support.]
This is because the above expression of non-participation always appears at the end of a grand thank-you speech.
The northernmost Exile nest tracked by the drone carrier may be their source. It was very important to strike this place as quickly as possible.
However, even when this news was reported to the Russian warlords, none of them participated.
It’s not strange. The damage to the troops was too great, and there would be no reason to go on an expedition to the harsh snowy mountains at the end of the earth.
However, it was clear that if they were left unattended, they would grow into another threat, so someone had to go and wipe them out.
We are the only ones who can do that.
They are trying to eradicate Exile from the beginning, and they have the strongest military power.
However, it is not easy to ask for something from the perspective of those who first rejected the joint operation and then were saved.
No matter how thick the face is, it is natural as long as it is a human baby.
Thanks to this, excuses, thanks, and praise are arriving one after another through the communication channels of all kinds of warlords.
[At a moment of despair, he appeared majestically from the sky, allowing the soldiers to overcome their fear and fight. Other commanders were always complaining about tanks being the strongest and all, but we will understand the topic in the future. How dare you claim to be the strongest in front of the only army that rules the sky in this era.]
The Russian commanders poured out admirable flattery.
“There was an image of the people in the world being the most distant from flattery, but was it a prejudice? “These children would live well even if they worked as eunuchs in the Middle Ages?”
Artemis snorted at me, who looked dumbfounded.
[They must be desperate for fear that they will be asked to join in.]
“If we were going to fight in this frozen ground, we would have to provide a lot of winter clothing and other supplies, so I refuse even though it’s annoying.”
[Okay. The only thing in this world you can trust is us.]
If it is a place where human troop activity is easy, it can at least be used as a patrol or base guard.
However, now, with a bit of exaggeration, the situation has reached a point where it is close to the North Pole.
In an environment this extreme, it would be a hindrance to most military units.
This is because after leading a robot army for a long time, my preferred strategy and maneuver pace were raised to an inhuman level.
“By the way, there are no wild animals in sight. No matter how cold it is, this is too much.”
Even if you look down with the improved machine vision, you can’t find any animals.
I observed it alternately with motion detection vision, pheromone tracking vision, and heat detection vision, but nothing was caught in the vast snow field.
[They must have all been eaten. In the first place, they probably came down south and built a nest because they had nothing else to eat.]
“Wait a minute, one is caught.”
A heat source was vaguely discovered beneath the snowfield.
Is it about the size of a bear? There is almost no yellow, let alone red, and the majority is green.
With normal vision, all you see is a clean snow field, but it seems to be crouching tens of centimeters below the snow.
“I don’t think a bear would hibernate in a place like this, and it’s too big to be a rabbit or a fox.”
[Then it’s obvious, right?]
I stuck the gun out the helicopter window and aimed near the heat source.
Bang bang!
I missed and fired two shots for a 1% chance.
Puhwaak!
A moment after the bullet hit, it was Exile who jumped out, spreading snow as if exploding.
Immediately, the mounted machine gun on the side of the helicopter burst into flames.
It was torn apart, disgusting blood and bodily fluids splattering its white eyes. The corpse, burning with heat, was quickly pushed behind us.
[Arrived. This is where the defeated Exile last disappeared.]
A drone carrier that successfully completed its tracking mission greeted us.
Since it was frozen everywhere and the situation was almost at its limit, it was sent south and a newly brought aircraft took its place.
“Are there any signs of an ambush around here?”
[Nothing was caught. Nearby creatures would have dried up a long time ago, and neither prey nor intruders would have disappeared. There is no need to be outside.]
A large snowy mountain filled my eyes. It’s hard to find a single tree, and there’s only snow and ice.
Between them, there was a crack that could allow about 5 to 6 people to stand shoulder to shoulder.
[We can’t stay afloat due to weather and fuel problems. After dropping off the troops, I will wait on the flat ground 90 seconds away.]
After a long time, the rope was dropped, and the stalkers descended.
This is because you never know what will happen if you suddenly jump like usual.
The floor may collapse, and you may fall into an unexpected underground cave, or an avalanche may occur.
Troops heavily armed with large-caliber combat rifles and flamethrowers line up in front of the crack one after another.
Sappers carrying explosives that would blow up the entire nest checked the bombs.
We can’t leave out the flamethrower, who will give them a hellish sauna experience they’ve never experienced before.
It is a special soldier equipped with nozzles integrated into both arms and a fuel tank integrated into the back through modification. This is because a cave battle was assumed, which is prone to close-range surprise attacks.
Similarly, there is another special unit equipped with a fuel tank and nozzle.
The difference is that while the friend in front spews fire from both hands, this friend sprays poison gas with both hands.
The grenadiers armed with grenade machine guns were also filled with chemical bombs and flash bombs instead of high explosives today.
If explosives are used carelessly during combat, everyone could be buried alive, and since it is a sealed place, the efficiency of poison gas and flash bombs is maximized.
It is an asymmetrical tactic that is possible because the army is composed entirely of non-living things.
Buuuuung!
As soon as the last troops landed, the helicopter quickly disappeared over the side.
“Artemis.”
[Why?]
“I just called.”
But my best pilot, supporter, and wife are still by my side.
The ice was not slippery because all members of the unit were required to put spikes on their feet.
The refreshing winter breeze and the crackling sound that comes every time you walk are truly clear.
It doesn’t fit at all with the nightmarish situation we’re about to face.
We entered the crack.
* * *
Unlike the southern nest, which was coated with an unidentified hard substance, the walls here are all ice.
[There won’t be any near the entrance. In order to save energy, it would be better to stay in a place with at least some warmth.]
As Artemis said, the temperature gauge displayed on the right side of the field of view shows almost no change.
[If the temperature rises significantly at some point, strengthen your guard from that point on.]
Icicles were hanging all over the cave. Some are over 1 m long.
“This must be their lair.”
The snow that came in from outside was spread shallowly on the ground, and footprints from stepping on it remain.
Everything flashed white so much that I was confused whether this was an ice cave or a cave in the mountains covered with ice.
After passing through several passages and small cavities, Artemis warned me.
[The temperature is rising. Be careful.]
Although it was still a cave in the harsh winter, I could feel the insulation changing with each step.
Then, a huge cavity the size of a soccer field suddenly appeared in front of us.
[No enemy movement.]
A scout stalker reported.
“Oh my god.”
I responded with an exclamation.
There are enormous amounts of bones piled up throughout this large space.
These are remains that make the legendary elephant tomb seem like a joke.
[Bear, wolf, fox, dog, human, wild boar, grouse, wild cat, lynx, hedgehog, mountain goat, roe deer, deer, reindeer, weasel, marten, badger, raccoon, cat…]
Artemis analyzed the skull patterns and called out a list of animals that had been eaten. The list is so long that it seems never ending.
[… Mammoth.]
“What?”
A name that cannot be overlooked was mentioned.
Artemis printed an arrow on the right side of my screen.
When I turn my head to the right, there is a skeleton boasting a huge ivory. I’m not an animal expert, but at first glance, it was different from an elephant.
“Mammoths are extinct, right?”
[Of course. It really seems like we accidentally unearthed an ancient corpse buried alive in the ice.]
“Under! “Whether it’s alive or dead, if there’s even a piece of flesh attached to it, it’s very frustrating.”
[The good news among the bad luck is that there are no Exiles here because the surrounding area has gone extinct? If there were creatures to hunt, there would have been people eating here or throwing away their bones.]
We moved around the bones as much as possible to avoid making any noise.
“Do you see this?”
I pointed to something in front of my feet.
It is a dried, fossilized cocoon shell. There are bones hanging around it that would have been stuck.
[That’s not all. If you look closely, you can see traces of cocoons all over the bone tombs around.]
“If only this many had hatched…”
[That’s not it. No traces of cocoons are found in the entire bone tomb. Some may have been used as nutrients for hatching, and others may have been simply brought in as food.]
We passed a graveyard of bones that we couldn’t tell if it was a restaurant, a hatchery, or a garbage dump.
[Temperature rising. Still no enemy movement.]
Then the temperature rises more steeply than before. In addition, rock walls of mountain ranges began to appear instead of ice.
A flowing waterway has also appeared, and in some places, there is dried and twisted excrement.
If it were an ordinary soldier, his heart would have been pounding like it would explode, but perhaps thanks to having gone through so many grueling experiences, his mind is calm.
There is also the belief in a strong machine army that is with us.
That’s why he was able to remain calm even after passing through several passages and reaching the large cavity again.
There, the walls on all sides are covered with the unique hard material seen in the southern nest.
“…”
No matter where I looked, there were oval-shaped cocoons everywhere.
They were all different sizes and shapes, but the shell was translucent, so you could see inside.
Most of the figures crouching inside were basic Exiles, but there were also several monsters of shapes I had never seen before.
We also found a cocoon containing the baby tunnel monster we had captured.
“Grrrrng-.”
Soon, a soft cry came from the other side of the darkness.
