Hm~ I found only 132 corpses with tags still on them. There were more under boulders or completely exploded, but I wouldn’t want to waste time getting the tags from each one of them. These must be enough.
Darius grabbed a broken flag of the Black Wind gang, and inside of it, he collected all the tags with the gang’s symbol, placing them together and making a bag on a stick. Afterwards, he took more pictures as proof, then went back to see if there was any possible bounty on these guys.
Free money it’s free money.
Being the first to discover the annihilation of the Black Wind gang, he could easily just assume the money himself while hiding the accomplishment, not wishing to end up being chased by the cult for having one of their bases destroyed.
But at this point, even if they discovered him selling the badges, they couldn’t connect their deaths to him, who was a simple human.
.
With the bag on the stick and his own large rucksack on the back, Darius went forward carefully to not be detected by monsters. After about half an hour of walking, he heard a loud engine. Looking from behind a building, he observed a military truck, followed shortly after by a wrecked military jeep of the Blue Spark. The truck was yellow with the symbol of a red burning dog head on it, drawn from the front, making Darius smirk amused at this sight.
The Infernal Dogs gang. How funny that, because this is the border, many gangs have placed their bases in the same city. While they raid the military reconnaissance squads, the monsters keep the army at bay.
The cult was able to create sonar-like devices, but rather than using them to detect anything, they used ultra-sounds to scare or annoy the monsters away while having no impact on regular animals or people.
Now that I think about it, it wouldn’t hurt to borrow some of those gadgets and get some more tags.
A crafty smile appeared on his face while he kept sight of the truck, following the cars’ trail.
As he expected, after following the cars, he was able to find another base for the bandits, this time a seemingly abandoned hospital.
I guess it’s time to hunt once again after a long time.
A dangerous glint appeared in his eyes while counting the explosives he had in his bag and coming up with a plan.
.
Three cars left the base and rushed down the deserted road, as there were no monsters around. A weird device in their car was emitting some type of sound that scared the monsters away.
"Oy Grim, what’s your next target?"
"They said a new-founded squad went out to train while hunting a few demonic beings."
"Pfft, so they just went out for some shooting practice?"
"Seems so. But who cares why they’re out? Our intelligence said that they went all the way to the edge of the city."
"Made of mages?"
"Yeah, newbies. A few bullets and they'll be dead like any other."
"Hmm what about that odd guy who went out by himself? They said he was walking our way."
"Who? That weirdo with the monstrous anti-tank sniper? I bet he’s dead somewhere inside a monster’s stomach. He went by foot when many die even inside tanks. He must be crazy."
"Pfft, yeah."
Six people laughed inside the car in the middle and continued forward down a curve in the road when-
-BOOM!-
"W-what the fuck?!"
"Brakes! BRAKES!"
"I pressed it!"
The first car in front of them suddenly blew up in the air, turning forward all the way with the wheels upwards, and out of panic, the second car’s driver made a quick turn, falling inside the trenches and remaining stuck.
"What the fuck… Quick! Arm up and let’s go! Cover the area!"
The leader of the armored car commanded his people, and all six stepped out of the car, walking warily while spreading out to have a view as large as possible of the area.
"How’s the AMS (Anti-monster sonar)?"
"Still active."
"Then no monsters should swarm us just yet... Shit, oy Toby, go check if those morons are still alive in the trenches."
"yes sir."
One of the people went towards the armored car and slammed onto the side window while shouting whenever they were alive. The door then flung open as it was seemingly stuck, and then two people got out in a hurry.
"Ugh! Fuck! Oy J! What the fuck man?! You got brakes for nothing?!"
"Ay, fuck off! You’re telling me you didn’t piss your pants after having shit blow up in your face?! Argh! I felt my innards almost burstin’!"
The driver shouted annoyed from inside the car while the two cursed annoyed at him.
Seeing them arguing like that, the leader quickly shouted at them to raise their guard, when a sharp sound of something cutting the air attracted the attention of everyone and-
-BOOM!-
Another explosion resounded as the engine of the car blew up, together with the ones inside and the two closest to the car.
"Ghaaah!"
The one named Toby, who checked to see the others, was set aflame from the explosion and quickly rolled to the ground while the others looked around, the leader shouting in a panic.
"They got a rocket launcher! Quick! Rush inside the trenches!"
"R-rocket launcher? What rocket flies with the speed of sound?!"
"I’d believe it more if you said it was a cannon!"
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Move it quick!"
Everyone quickly rushed towards the trenches when another bullet flew as a hole as large as two fists appeared through the chest of one of their comrades. The bullet crashed right at the feet of another bandit that was just about to jump inside the trenches, exploding and completely decimating his ankles all together.
"Gaaah! M-my legs! MY LEGS!"
"T-Tom! Oy! Tom is dead!"
"Ya’ll heard that bullet fly?! It was from somewhere above!"
"Atop a building! Quick! Disperse and check out the rooftops and windows of the buildings around!"
""Yes sir!""
The remaining three people dispersed, while the one with no feet was left behind after being injected with dopamine. He also tried to look outside the trenches, but other than deserted and ruined buildings, he saw nothing.
About 10 minutes passed without any other bullets flying by, and the others’ tension started to calm down. However, they were still on high alert as their whole squad just got whipped to less than a third of what it was before.
They went about while inside the trenches and peeked out to see if there was anything on top of the buildings or at least at the roofs, but nothing attracted their attention, which only made them more nervous.
As they continued on looking, the leader decided to get out and quickly run under cover. The others followed right after and slowly started to run inside the buildings and quickly go for the roofs.
Where are those fuckers…? We are just three now. They could easily wipe us out if they wanted to. Don’t tell me… are they playing with us?!
As he was thinking this, he suddenly heard more gunshots and the scream of one of his men from inside the building that was only 5 meters away. The two looked at one another and instantly rushed through the already broken window, easily grabbing onto the edge of the other building’s windows. As they were on the 4th floor before, they landed on the 3rd floor after the jump and easily pulled themselves up. The two former elite soldiers with well-trained bodies were also well equipped with combat suits and physical supporting gadgets around the elbows and knees to lower the stress on their bodies. All of this together made it possible for them to jump from one building to the next, akin to superhumans.
After they rushed through the room and onto the hallway, they went up two more floors only to find their comrade collapsed on the floor at the edge of the floor’s stairs, with bullet holes all over its body and the armor completely pierced through. The pool of blood that formed underneath seemed to have stained the boots of the killer, footprints being visible going between more walls on the same floor.
"Shit! Where is that motherfucker?! I’ll kill him!"
His companion was already more than just nervous, losing control and rushing towards the footprints.
In a way, the whole floor seemed empty, and there was no need to be cautious here since the external walls were almost completely collapsed, but a bad feeling made the leader shout agitated, wanting to stop his companion.
"W-wait! You moron, hold your ground-!"
-BAM!-
However, before he could rush towards his colleague, another gunshot resounded as a hole went through his partner’s head, blood splashing on his face while his partner fell down, still convulsing for a bit.
"You…."
Looking in the direction the bullet came from, he saw a young man in black full-body leather armor made to fight inside miasma-infested areas while holding a D-Eagle—a big gun that easily pierces even the hide of low-ranked monsters, let alone the helmet of some bandits.
Darius was aiming the gun calmly at the bandit leader and calmly smiled, while the bandit was doing the same with his rifle, both of them in lockdown.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Between the two, Darius was wearing highly protective armor while wielding a gun focused on penetration. On the other hand, the bandit was wearing basic armor with a basic rifle that had magic penetration, used to null spells, but for sure not to penetrate through a high-ranked armor. Both of them knew that Darius had the upper hand, which is why he was more relaxed while the bandit leader was already prepared for the afterlife.
"Your group was more chaotic than I ever expected. It simply made my work easier."
"… I wish you had your fun, bastard. Because more people are on their way here right now."
"Oh my~ so you’re bringing me more gifts? How kind."
"You piece of shit, mother fuck-"
-BOOOM~!-
Hearing his sarcastic tone, the leader’s eyes turned red and he started cursing Darius until another sudden explosion attracted his attention. He gazed confusedly around then at Darius, but after seeing his mocking eyes, his face paled.
"So those were your boys? They sure moved quicker than I thought. Too bad they ran over my explosives that I prepared just in case after I blew your friend’s chest."
"Y-you… what do you mean you prepared that? T-then, the others…"
The leader’s face palled as a thought flashed through his head, and Darius’ eyes seemed surprised, answering calmly,
"Others? I’m alone. I need no one to take you bastards down."
"J-just who are you…?"
"A pissed-off soldier that needs a car."
"A… car…?"
The leader froze in place, and Darius smirked while pointing his gun at his head. Furiously, the leader shouted his last words while shooting at Darius with no effect, Darius’ mid-ranked armor easily protecting him from normal bullets that weren’t even used for penetration.
"You mean you’ve done all of this just for a fucking car?! You mad fucker-!"
Afterwards, he fell with a hole in his head, no longer moving. With calm steps, Darius walked towards the body and went down to check on it.
Searching through his own pockets, Darius grabbed a cigar and lit it up with a lighter while sighing out annoyed, taking the bandit’s tag.
"Fuck. And here I thought I'd be able to stop smoking for good. This entire predicament just makes it such a pain, man."
Going back on top of a building, he saw another squad with two cars in flames, while the third one had their soldiers checking the area from a wider range. He was also able to hear loud footsteps inside his building; the bandits were most probably hearing the gunshots just now.
Round 2, I guess.
He then just grabbed a grenade, and after pulling the ring with great precision, he threw it right inside the trenches, where two of them were positioned. After it exploded, the two died instantly. Not wanting to wait for long, Darius shoot out a bullet in the air to attract the other’s attention from the explosion while placing his sniper with a shoulder guard on his back.
Darius took slow, deliberate steps toward the stairs while puffing on his cigar, sensing that someone else was there. Without even thinking twice, he fired additional shots through the wall, causing more groans of anguish and possibly some yells from his teammates to reverberate. The survivors fired back through the door after Darius already side-stepped and calmly reloaded his gun, waiting until the bandits burst the door open and rushed outside.
"Took your time."
Hearing a voice from beside the entrance, the bandit that rushed out with a bloody wound on his shoulder quickly turned with the desire to shoot, only to be met with a hole in his head, dropping dead while still holding onto his rifle’s trigger. After taking another puff, he threw the cigar, placed his mask back on to protect his face, and took out another grenade.
He couldn’t feel anyone’s presence from behind the entrance, but it was better safe than sorry as he pulled the key and threw the grenade.
-BOOM!-
Just as the grenade exploded, the stairs collapsed, and more screams resounded. After he went back inside the building, he saw the whole floor collapse, most probably because the building was already a wreck, with the shockwave being the last drop for that floor.
After jumping down inside the building, he started searching and confirming the bodies. Under the collapsed stairs and concrete, two corpses and one heavily injured bandit were stuck. A metallic bar that was used to make the arm bars of the stairs was now going through his shoulder, his whole body trembling and sweating profoundly while covered in dust and the blood of his companions. Based on the injuries, his companions must’ve died from either the first wave of gunshots or from the explosion, but all these details were now unimportant to Darius, who simply placed the gun at the cracked helmet of the bandit.
"N-no! Wait, please! Spare-!"
-BAM!-
Not waiting for a second more, he drilled a bullet through the bandit’s head, then took his tag together with the one from the other two corpses. He headed out through the window, then jumped off, and while grabbing onto the nearby building’s wall, he slid down until he reached the 2nd floor, from where he just jumped down with no trouble. Since his gloves had sharp claw-like finger protectors, he had no problem using them to attach himself to buildings to climb or just go down.
After walking towards the main street, he went to the undamaged car and ripped off the flag of the car, inside of which he placed all the tags he collected from the corpses around. To be sure that no one from the three great powers would attack him, he brushed off the bandits’ symbols on the car and went on his way. But not before taking as many tags off all the soldiers he could find and taking as many pictures as possible.
These guys got to have some bounty on their heads as well.
After he was done, he decided to just drive away towards the main road and all the way to the conjuncture between the demons' territory and the concrete golems.
-WHOOONG~….-
As he approached, boulders started to move on their own and distance themselves from him; the disguised golems finding the sound greatly displeasing.
Darius understood that was the effect of the gadget that was emanating a weird sound.
The Human Coalition has yet to create such an item, but they will be able to create something similar in the near future, even though the cultists will try to burden the creation of this gadget as much as possible.
It was only normal for the cultists to not wish for humans to use this gadget, so behind the scenes, they tried to buy the patents and destroy the inventions of the researchers who were able to come up with such discoveries that could keep monsters away. Afterwards, through bribing or threatening, they will silence the researchers and keep them from even talking about this subject. Those who tried to revolt by whistleblowing were either killed or cornered by the media, who called them mad and crazy. No such researcher was able to get out of this unscratched if they didn’t submit to them, but sooner or later, the wave of those who will desperately search for a way to keep the monsters away will come, and the demonic wielders will have no way to subdue this wave as long as they wish to keep their façade intact inside the humans’ ruling groups.
Now that I think about it... I almost forgot the main reason for coming here. I need crafting materials.
Driving deeper inside the golems’ territory, Darius parked his car beside a tall building and took out his sniper, walking up the floors. The building had about 8 floors, but he decided to stop on the third one and look outside the window. From there, he saw more suspicious groups of boulders near the ruined buildings. It was clear that the boulders were either moved there or gathered together for a purpose, as the buildings around them were either too far from them or still whole enough to not create such large molds of debris.
2… 6… 10, 11 golems.
He detected 11 suspicious molds and installed the huge sniper on the window, preparing to shoot. Locking onto one of the molds of rocks, he pressed the trigger, and a large hole appeared inside the mold, showing a shiny orb while the mold itself started moving and roaring as if in pain.
The following moment, the other 10 molds quacked and transformed into sizable golems that blinked around in confusion before succumbing to explosive bullets that blew out their heads, penetrated their chests, or simply destroyed their cores.
The quick shots made one think Darius was using a gun with a sound amplifier rather than a silencer, while the accuracy was top-notch as it always struck the joints of the monsters to take away their mobility. The ridiculous recoil cracked the concrete on which the gun was positioned, while dust rose with each shot. The shoulder guard was also starting to bend from the continuous shots, while Darius disregarded any defenses or cover, simply reloading in less than 2 seconds and shooting another round.
His body was quaking with each shot, but the armor was more than enough to absorb the shocks and make Darius feel like he was shooting a simple rifle rather than a literal anti-tank cannon-like sniper.
Fuck. Just blew up 1k rozoni.
Darius clicked his tongue after completely annihilating a golem’s core, then quickly loaded and went for the next one.
Finally detecting him, the golems rushed his way but quickly stopped as a weird sound made them dizzy and unable to advance further.
-BOOM!-
Another golem’s head got blown up, and so their numbers lowered again. Although the golems were able to regenerate as long as the core was not destroyed, even that required time; the amount of energy it needed was much more than what it took to move around.
Seeing that they couldn’t get any closer, one of the golems grabbed a boulder from somewhere close and tried to throw it at Darius. Even so, their aim was extremely poor, with the boulder landing on the first floor. Even so, Darius was somewhat impressed, continuing to shoot them down nonetheless.
They’re adapting. If the miasma creatures are especially dangerous for a reason, it’s because they can grow and evolve the more they live through their learning capabilities. Luckily enough, these bastards are still around the edge of the infested zone and barely got born, but the creatures inside the deeper parts are just ridiculous, as they are as old as the rift itself. Some even took humanoid forms, and it won’t be any fun dealing with them later.
Shooting golem after golem, Darius finally eliminated the last one, then quickly went out to deal the finishing blow with his rifle. Some of the first golems he shoot down have already regenerated enough to start fighting back again, but Darius just shoot them again and easily climbed their busted bodies, putting a bullet through their cores and loading his car with them.
-RUMBLE~-
As he was putting the last core inside the backpack and into the car, the ground started rumbling, and a sudden thought struck him: a sense of danger was making him act. He quickly started the car’s engine and drove away from there towards a more open area.
Just as he did so, the building he used for sniping down the golems has now completely collapsed. Or, more accurately, something from above crushed it, turning it into boulders and debris. Through the thick dust, a bigger golem with more distinguished features made its presence known, with its shining eyes visible like flashlights through dust. The golem itself was about four floors tall, while its eyes shone purple like streetlights.
Darius's concerns were immediately reinforced when he saw the robust-looking monster in the car's mirror. It looked more like a sculpture than a collection of stones. This golem was different from the others in that it had a real form, looked more aerodynamic and robust, and had more distinguishing characteristics like four limbs, two eyes, a pointed face, and a big mouth with iron bar fangs. To be honest, his body resembled a big stone-humanoid gorilla, but his head was more like a stone-shark.
"Right, I completely forgot about the field boss."
He clicked his tongue after remembering how in-game, once you kill too many golems, a field boss will spawn. The problem was that the information in-game wasn’t always similar to that in the real world. In-game, the boss would spawn only from 50 or more golems killed. Here, with more than 10 golems killed, you’d risk such an outcome.
There were three types of filed-bosses on the golems’ territory: the Stone Gorilla that just appeared, the Iron Spider, and the Earth Colossus.
From the three, the Iron Spider was the deadliest, the Earth Colossus the burliest, and the Stone Gorilla the strongest. Darius himself, if he had to choose to fight one of them, would rather go against either the Iron Spider or the Earth Colossus, as the Gorilla was both strong and quick.
But if one thing they all had in common was that one dumb special attack,
Just as he was thinking this, he saw through his rearview a strong purple-gray flash coming from inside the gorilla’s mouth.
"Ah damn’ it!"
Darius quickly made a quick turn behind more buildings, and just as he did so, a beam cut the building he hid behind, everything collapsing shortly after passing the area.