Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 237
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 237
52. Changes in Rondel (8)
The Reiers County that had moved to Earth was part of the Walter Kingdom.
The Walter Kingdom is a nation located at the southernmost tip of the Defteron Continent, where our Rhinehearts Empire sits among Rondel's four great continents. First, an entire domain vanished, and now Earth's military has come over as well.
Truly, it's become quite the hotspot when it comes to Earth, isn't it?
"Earth's soldiers, huh... something feels ominous. I hope they don't go around acting all high and mighty."
A fantasy world, a society where social status exists.
Rondel is a place where people from Earth can easily be mistaken for easy prey.
But if they go around causing trouble and end up running into a Vanga... well.
An ordinary infantryman wouldn't even be able to recover their bones.
Gregory, who had delivered the news, nodded in agreement at my concern and continued.
"Fortunately, the deputy captain appears to be a level-headed individual. They've been moving with maximum caution, deploying scouts in pairs."
"So the size of the military unit hasn't been confirmed exactly?"
If they had a complete picture of the enemy's information, Gregory would have attached it at the beginning of his report.
But the fact that he didn't meant they still hadn't fully grasped the soldiers' situation.
In other words, he judged that reporting took priority over perfect accuracy.
"That's correct. So far, only two pairs of scouts have been spotted. However, given the small number of scouts and the lack of any special equipment beyond personal firearms, the unit's size doesn't seem very large either."
"Any other distinguishing features?"
"They appear to be a well-trained special forces unit. And based on the builds of the members spotted so far, they're all estimated to be women."
"A special forces unit composed entirely of women?"
Could it be something like a security detail?
I tilted my head and held out the back of my hand, and Gregory adjusted his terminal, sending the data to mine.
"What's this?"
Naturally, the material he sent included photos and videos.
They appeared to have been taken from a great distance, and the footage showed two soldiers of small stature moving around a thicket.
Their faces were painted with camouflage, making it hard to tell their exact appearance, and the way they avoided approaching the city and only observed through binoculars was extremely cautious.
Next, I examined the photos.
In those photos, the enemy's equipment and gear were captured fairly clearly.
However, there were no insignia on the special forces' uniforms that could confirm their affiliation.
To my eyes, which only knew K1, K2, M16, and AK rifles, they were weapons I'd never seen before.
Even South Korea's special forces, I heard, use German-made rifles rather than domestic ones, so it's only natural that people wouldn't know about this.
"Aside from the fact that they're clearly women, there's no standout information to be found."
In the end, I rose from my seat.
"Where are you going?"
"They've been confirmed entering the Harssion Forest near Count Einer's domain in the Walter Kingdom, but haven't been spotted since."
The Blue Moon rangers should be moving around by now, yet the fact that they haven't been found suggests either the captain is highly capable, or they're hiding in an unexpected place.
"Wait, is the Harssion Forest the place where the Harssion Earth Dragon appears?"
But the name suddenly sounded familiar.
So I had to narrow my brow and ask.
"Ah..."
"Damn."
The Harssion Earth Dragon is a massive monster shaped like a ragworm.
Though they are few in number and tend to avoid humans, if anything approaches their territory, they will swallow it in one bite no matter how unwanted the human may be.
In other words, as long as you don't intrude on their homes, there's no problem but the worrying part is that the Harssion Earth Dragon's lair looks just like an ordinary earthen cave.
It struck me that a special forces unit unfamiliar with local conditions wouldn't be unreasonable in hiding there.
Gregory, catching on to my concern, hardened his expression.
"I'll move personally. Pull back the troops."
"Understood."
I immediately left the office and headed to the room next door.
There, Arcia was watching a drama she had airlifted from Korea this time.
"You heard the story, right?"
For her, a Grand Master, hearing our conversation through a single wall wouldn't pose any problem at all.
At my words, she nodded and stood up.
"Let's go."
And so, we moved out to personally rescue and quickly secure the unidentified special forces unit.
* * *
An earthen cave wide enough for a full-grown man to run around with both arms outstretched.
Kang Min-hee and her squad members sprinted through that cave as if being chased by something.
"Damn it! What kind of monster is that?!"
They ran with dismayed expressions, while behind them, a hair-raising scraping noise rang out loudly.
-Chachachachak!
A sound like hundreds of cockroaches chasing after them.
That noise was rapidly closing the distance.
At that, Kang Min-hee, positioned at the center of the formation, pressed herself against the wall and aimed her muzzle rearward.
-Pshoot!
A grenade fired from the rifle-mounted launcher flew in a near-straight line, and an explosion soon echoed along with a tremor that shook the tunnel.
"KWAANG!"
Startled by her attack, one squad member spoke up.
"Did we get it?"
Those ominous words that should never be spoken.
Kang Min-hee shouted "Ah, shit!" and bolted.
And the dread became reality the earth dragon's vicious mouth, a sucker-like maw full of fangs, came into view.
The Harssion Earth Dragon was a high-ranking monster, even among monsters Drake-class.
Moreover, in Rondel, physical force was considered inferior to supernatural ability, so even taking a grenade head-on left not a single wound on the dragon.
Thanks to that, the faces of Kang Min-hee and her squad hardened even further.
With rifle bullets and even grenades doing nothing, all they could do was run.
"KYAAAAAA!"
How long did that game of tag almost caught, never caught go on?
A squad member running at the very rear was grabbed by the dragon with a scream.
At a time like this, an ordinary unit leader would boldly abandon the captured subordinate for the sake of the rest, but Kang Min-hee couldn't do that.
Believing the current situation was her own fault, she ordered suppressive fire to rescue him.
"Concentrate fire on the lower belly!"
-Tatattatatang!
Nine guns opened fire all at once.
But the dragon didn't budge as if hit by BB pellets and they were forced to witness the horrific sight of their comrade's upper and lower body being torn apart right before their eyes.
"Damn it!"
Indeed, they should have chosen to flee rather than rescue.
In the end, Kang Min-hee failed to rescue her squad member and missed the window to escape as well.
"Sergeant! Lead the squad and run. I'll buy as much time as I can."
With that, she gave the order to the sergeant the second-in-command and platoon leader taking responsibility for her wrong decision.
But the platoon leader thought differently.
Though their abilities had inexplicably gone haywire, Kang Min-hee was the teleporter who had brought them here so abandoning her would be the worst choice, erasing any chance of return.
Rather than obeying the order, the platoon leader grabbed Kang Min-hee by the collar and tossed her to the others.
"Stay safe."
Then, leaving a furious Kang Min-hee behind, she charged at the dragon, firing her gun.
"Lee Ji-hye!"
The squad members forcibly dragged the Company Captain who was screaming the platoon leader's name away from the spot.
"God damn it!"
A curse was inevitable.
Not only had they been dropped onto unfamiliar land by her own ability, but now a subordinate had thrown away her life for the hope of return.
And on top of that, the very ability that mattered wouldn't work so the guilt was overwhelming.
It couldn't all be blamed on Kang Min-hee, but she felt a deep sense of responsibility and berated herself.
-Chachachachak!
What's more, even with her comrade as bait, not even a minute passed before the monster's movement sound returned.
"I'll go."
She despaired again as another comrade threw away her life.
"Huh?"
But then.
Was it a miracle?
Or a hallucination born of fear?
Before the fleeing group appeared like an angel a handsome man radiating a faint glow from his entire body, along with an immensely beautiful woman.
They couldn't comprehend what was happening out of nowhere.
So Kang Min-hee and her squad, faces streaked with tears of terror and grief, could only stare in bewilderment.
"Kang Min-hee?"
And when the man's name for her flowed from his lips, Kang Min-hee blinked her eyes like an idiot.
Of course, she wondered, "How does he know my name?"
"Ah! The monster!"
She snapped back to reality, remembering the monster her comrade was still fighting after throwing herself at it.
"Ah, that thing?"
With that relaxed voice, Kang Min-hee and the rest of the squad members' bodies floated up into the air without warning.
Before they even had a chance to react, they began drifting back along the path they had fled down through their comrades' sacrifices.
"What are you doing!"
This was the road they'd barely escaped through and now they were going back?
Naturally, Kang Min-hee had to shout at the mysterious man and woman who clearly possessed supernatural abilities.
But what happened next left her and her comrades speechless.
-Kiiieeek!
"So this is an earth dragon."
Against the horrible monster with blood smeared around its mouth, the man merely flicked his finger and the creature's head, resembling a ragworm, twisted 360 degrees like a wrung-out rag and was torn clean off.
"Huh?"
That was the only reaction Kang Min-hee and her subordinates could muster.
A monster that had been overwhelmingly powerful, taken down with a single gesture.
"Krrrgh."
But that brief relief didn't last.
The sound of a comrade who had thrown herself into danger to save them drew everyone's gaze.
"Ah... ah..."
What came into view next was too horrific to look at with open eyes.
Her body was twisted in unnatural directions, and one arm had been torn off, splattered flat against the wall.
Anyone could see she had no chance of surviving.
Tears spilled out on their own.
But then.
"Revive."
The moment those short words came from the man who had been dragging them through the air, a change occurred in the comrade who had been dying in agony.
Her twisted body returned to its proper form, and her torn-off arm began regenerating like a lizard's tail.
The squad members, who had been weeping hot tears, swallowed dryly and stared with wide eyes.
"Wh-what?"
The most shocked person wasn't the squad members watching the recovery it was the woman herself.
She tilted her head in confusion, flustered.
But she had no time to celebrate her own recovery, because
"Looks like there are two more?"
she was lifted into the air along with her comrades and carried back along the path they had fled.
"Ah, these two are dead."
Moments later, the squad members, who had been dragged along without a single word of explanation, arrived at the spot where the first casualty a squad member and the sergeant who had given her life lay.
They had clearly witnessed the young man perform a miracle by bringing someone back from the brink of death, but they didn't expect him to be able to do anything for these two.
Because as the young man said, those two were already dead.
"Sergeant Lee, Corporal Han... I'm sorry. This is because of me."
Bringing the dead back to life that was a miracle only a god could perform...
"Resurrection."
"Huh? What?"
"Am I... alive?"
The miracle happened.
"H-hik!"
The corpses of the two dead swelled up like balloons, then returned to their fully intact state.
At that, Kang Min-hee let out a scream rather than a cry of joy.
"Consider yourselves lucky. Resurrection can't be used if more than three minutes have passed since death."
Whether he knew how the squad felt or not, the handsome young man flashed a bright smile.
"W-who exactly are you people? Are you angels?"
She couldn't help but ask their identity.
In response, the silver-haired, blue-eyed man shrugged and answered.
"Me? I'm Minki. Kim Minki."
"What?"
"Your cousin, Kim Minki."
"??????"
Even with that answer, Kang Min-hee's brain seemed to refuse normal thought, unable to process it.
Adrian let out a dry laugh at the sight and snapped his fingers.
-Flick.
And just like that, as if by a lie, the surrounding scenery changed from the grim death cavern to a study decorated with lavish European aesthetics.
It was a teleportation ability all too familiar to them.
"First, let me say welcome to Rondel."
Adrian gazed steadily at the South Korean soldiers and waited for their thoughts to settle.