187
I entered Japa’s office building and climbed up step by step.
Swish.
I felt a presence and took out my auto-tracking pistol, muffling even the sound of my footsteps. For the first time in a while, I used my auditory vision to identify enemies in my blind spot.
The auditory vision wasn’t sharp enough to replace the eyes, since we hadn’t done anything crazy like turning cerebrospinal fluid into coolant yet. However, even just being able to see shapes and locations was of great tactical use.
‘Two people.’
I saw two intruders around the corner. I opened my eyes.
The duffel bag on my back was as still as an inanimate object. Even though it was about to engage in combat, Ragnata was still calm. She, like me, held her breath and hid her presence.
Well, that’s only natural. If you get in my way, I’ll twist your neck. After all, Ragnata is alive only because of my sympathy.
I pulled out my auto-tracking pistol and stuck the barrel out. The computer in the pistol recognized the two intruders and created a kill path.
The intruders didn’t even recognize my presence. There aren’t many warriors in the world who are good enough to deal with bullets flying from outside their cognition.
‘I waited and then… … .’
I listened for gunshots and explosions. Finally, when the appropriate loud noise rang out, I pulled the trigger.
Ta- ang! bang!
The tracer bullets curved beautifully and pierced the eye sockets of the intruders’ helmets. It was a level of precision fire that even a guardsman without a marksmanship expert could not have achieved.
“You’re carrying an expensive weapon.”
Ragnata said, whistling lowly.
“It’s not worth the money. It’s only good for auxiliary use.”
“But it’s the perfect weapon for you. You don’t have to waste your mental and concentration energy on shooting. It takes more effort and concentration to excel in a field that isn’t your specialty. You won’t be using a firearm against a strong opponent anyway.”
I wondered if I had brought Ragnata with me for nothing. Her insight was excellent. She saw right through me as if she had known me for years.
I walked out and examined the intruders who had just fallen. Their weapons were uniform, like soldiers. Not all mercenaries are haphazardly armed, but something was off.
‘Mercenaries of various races, but their weapons are unified… … .’
Because of my lack of information, I stumbled over the conclusion. In the meantime, Ragnata spoke up.
“Eavesdrop on the communication to find out what language is being used.”
I took off the intruder’s helmet. It was a Saura, a reptilian alien race with tough skin. It was my first time seeing one up close.
-Case, Alta! Ord Thea.
What flowed out from inside the helmet was an unfamiliar language. Since I was not well versed in alien languages, I brought the helmet closer to Ragnata.
“It’s the language of Tajirun. Sauras are usually stupid. It’s hard for them to speak another race’s language without a translator. Tajirun’s language is notorious for being difficult to learn. If my guess is correct, there must be another one communicating without a translator.”
I also checked the helmet of another intruder. This intruder’s race could be known even before he took off his helmet. It was a crawler with a body type that was difficult to hide even with a combat suit.
The same kind of language flowed out of the crawler helmet. I don’t know many crawlers, but… … Boyan’s father, Legor, lived in Border City for several years and still couldn’t speak human language. Or maybe he didn’t.
“Saura and Crawler are speaking Tajrun… … These are the Menoa Guard. The Foreign Legion, or more precisely, the Janissaries or Mamluks of the old Earth.”
I made a face that said I didn’t know what that ‘exact meaning’ was. Ragnata added.
“… … They are slave soldiers. They are private soldiers raised by the Menoa family of the Tajirun tribe.”
The Menoa family seemed to be the family from which Jafar was born.
“You must be famous because you can give me the answer right away. I guess you’re not an expert on Tajirun.”
I climbed the stairs, passing the corpse.
“Menoa is a family that makes a living from human trafficking. Because of this, they have a unique tradition that other Tajirun families don’t have. They select children with good qualities from their trade and use them as private soldiers. They treat them well as they train them harshly, so even though they are slave soldiers, they are very loyal.”
When I heard the explanation, the Royal Guard came to mind. In fact, drafted units like the Menoan Guard or Royal Guard were common.
“For someone so famous, he doesn’t seem that strong.”
“If they were truly excellent children, they would be sold for a high price, so they wouldn’t use them as soldiers. However, even in the Menoa Guard, the unit commanders are on a different level. They are said to be so excellent that they are even treated as members of the family.”
The more I heard it, the more familiar the story became.
‘… … Is it me?’
A man of humble origins, recognized for his talents, drafted and accepted as a member of the family.
I guess I’m not the only special person in this universe.
“The Tajirun are a commercial race. Do they also lend out their private soldiers as mercenaries for money?”
“The Tajirun have a reputation for being mean and cunning, but they do not like violence. They are not a race with a body that is suited for combat, and they tend to try to resolve most situations peacefully.
“There are a few businesses that they don’t touch, and one of them is the mercenary business. In that market, the Tajirun tribe is a one-sided consumer. Anyway, since the Menoa family even sends private soldiers, it seems that Jafar is the arch enemy of the Menoa family.”
Ragnata was convenient. He may have had his own ulterior motives for cooperating, but for now, he was willing to provide me with the information I lacked.
‘Jafar is from the Menoa clan, and was exiled for some reason. The clan even attempted to take Jafar’s life, but they later signed a non-aggression pact and maintained peace. And today, because that pact was broken, they were attacked again.’
The cleanup is over.
‘First of all… …Lapis’s safety first.’
It would have been fortunate if Lapis had evacuated in time, but she could have remained in the machine maintenance room or been attacked while sleeping in her room.
As I walked, I saw that the stairs had been cut off by an explosion. It seemed that it was not the work of an intruder, but a bomb that Jafar had set up in advance. Even if I went through other passages, the paths leading up to the upper floors of the building were broken or blocked here and there. They were all in exquisite locations.
“Ugh… … .”
The bodies of the intruders who had been caught in the trap were visible here and there. I personally took care of the seriously injured who were still breathing.
I reloaded my auto-tracking pistol, which I used for confirmation kills, and looked for another way out. I could have forced my way through, but I didn’t want to fall into a trap set by my allies.
And going up slowly like this and applying pressure from behind can help the situation.
‘Has Jafar been planting bombs here and there in the building all along? How can he do such crazy things…?’
It was eerie to think that I had been walking on bombs all this time.
I blinked as I checked the collapsed stairs and blocked paths. Japa Company’s office building was a building I also used to visit as if it were my own home.
As pieces of information came together, my mind opened up and my thoughts expanded.
As the internal map came to life, I could see blocked passages and bypass routes. Intruders coming from all directions would pile up and gather on a specific floor.
‘no way…….’
I looked up at the ceiling. Just above, the entire floor was used as a banquet hall.
Most of the passages in the building were blocked, so the invading troops were moving up in a single file. If they went up to the upper floors sequentially, they would have a high probability of being defeated individually.
If I were the commander, I would gather in the banquet hall, reorganize, and open another passage to ascend to the upper floors simultaneously.
And that was Jafar’s plan.
Kiiing!
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I hastily pulled out the Firelight Sword. Ragnata was puzzled by my actions. Even if she was smart, she wouldn’t have been able to predict what would happen next since she didn’t know the structure of Japa’s office building.
Kkwaduk!
I used the fire-light knife like a cutter. I forcibly drove the blade into the floor and used force to cut it.
Soon a hole big enough for a person to pass through appeared. The steel frame and concrete rim were boiling with residual heat.
Whoosh!
I threw my duffel bag down and jumped down. Just below was the space used as a steam room.
widely!
After landing, I immediately grabbed my duffel bag and rolled over to the side.
‘Shall we go down one more floor?’
Maybe all my guesses are wrong. No, don’t doubt it. My intuition has saved me many times. It will do so again.
I know about Japha. I know the layout of the building. I sensed ‘a certain intention’ from the location of the blocked passages. There is no doubt about it.
I rolled my eyes and found the refrigerator, which I opened. It was full of food from the Japa franchise.
Crunch!
I forcibly broke open the refrigerator drawer and pulled it out. Then I put the duffel bag containing Ragnata inside and closed it. Ragnata also seemed to realize what was going to happen.
And I… … .
Kwaaaaaang!
There was an explosion. It was an explosion of a scale incomparable to anything we’ve seen before. It was no wonder, because it was powerful enough to blow away an entire ‘floor’.
Boom! Bang!
Explosions occurred one after another.
No one would have guessed that they would plant bombs in the middle of a building. If there were any mistakes in the design or calculations or even poor construction, the entire building would collapse.
Kkeek!
I pulled out a metal table from the floor and placed it over me. I had to block the falling debris. If it were enough to blow away one floor, it would affect two or three floors above and below.
Oh my god!
The entire building was shaking and cracking everywhere. It was creaking, shaking, and breaking.
Kururururung!
The aftershock was so fierce that I felt my ears ringing. I couldn’t even hear the slightest sound.
Kwak! Kwung! Thump!
Debris continued to fall endlessly onto the table I was supporting with my arms. Soon I was trapped in a small stone tomb.
After a long time, the afterglow of the explosion subsided, and the smoky concrete dust rose like a smokescreen. Every breath felt like my airway was being scratched.
Creak, creak.
I pushed the debris away along with the table, raising the output of my prosthetic arm. It was a mess, as if an earthquake had swept through it.
This is what it was like on the second floor or lower. The floor where the explosion occurred must have been terrible.
CLANG!
I opened the refrigerator containing Ragnata.
“Tajrun prefers non-violent, peaceful solutions?! Oh, how filthy peaceful!”
I was questioned by poor Ragnata.
“There are always exceptions. Judging by your violent reaction, I think this was a trap designed by Jafar.”
I carried my duffel bag on one shoulder and climbed up the hill of rubble.
‘The building didn’t collapse because of the explosion. They had calculated that when they built the building.’
I stepped on the rubble and looked up as I went back to my original floor. The floor where the explosion occurred was right above here.
Thud, thud.
The ceiling cladding had collapsed, but the thick metal plates that separated the stairs were revealed. Unlike other floors, there were metal plates inserted between the floors. And they were solid plates without even a single joint.
Squeak, squeak.
The metal plate didn’t break in the explosion, but was merely dented and bulged. It must have been a special steel order to absorb the shock of the explosion. It looks like the banquet hall had metal plates inserted into the ceiling, floor, and walls.
‘It’s like a bomb exploded inside a tightly closed metal box.’
The power of the explosion would have been doubled. Few would survive in such a trap. It was bold and bold.
I finally got to see Jafar again. As I had felt the last time, he was a Tajirun who was far from being a sage. He was prepared to take risks if necessary.
Crazy, squeaky.
I forced my way through the rubble-clogged stairs and arrived at the floor where the explosion had occurred. Smoke mixed with rubble floated over the red, deathly ruins.
“Even though Menoa is a great family, the damage must have been considerable. An entire unit was evaporated.”
Ragnata said in appreciation. Every time I walked, someone’s limbs would be kicked at my feet, and spilled intestines would be trampled under my feet.
By roughly piecing together the torn body parts, I estimated that there were about eighty intruders on this floor.
There would have been casualties in other areas as well, as the intruders seemed to have stormed the Jafar Corporation headquarters in groups of about a hundred.
Swish.
I put down the duffel bag that was slung over one shoulder and pulled out the fire-light sword that I had put away. The heat from the surroundings was absorbed, and the heat shone sharply along one edge.
OMG.
I saw a pile of corpses artificially piled up, a meat grave, as if protecting someone from an explosion.
Buzz, buzz.
The meat grave shook. As the charred corpses on top fell away, the red corpses underneath were revealed. As each layer was peeled away, the corpses that had been less affected by the explosion were revealed.
“Ugh… … .”
A wounded man, groaning in pain, crawled out of the meat grave. I paid no attention to him.
A gruesome corpse, a less mangled corpse, a seriously injured person who is still alive. And of course, the next one is the ‘survivor’.
“It looks like a Matryoshka doll.”
Ragnata spat out a difficult word from behind.
Keying.
Someone stood up from the innermost part of the tomb. He was gasping for breath, carrying the corpses and the wounded on his shoulders and back. His blue eyes were shining from his shadowed face.
Perhaps that guy is ‘Lukaus of the Menoa family’. A violent man who came from humble slave origins and rose to the center of the Menoa family.
“I’ll give you about 10 seconds. Rest enough and then attack. You have to take revenge on your subordinates, right? They sacrificed themselves to protect their leader. Hmm, hmm, you’re great subordinates.”
I said, extending my Hwagwangyedo forward. Every time the stone dust touched the blade, it evaporated with a crackling sound.
Jafar’s Equusian mercenaries will be coming down here now. I intend to end the fight before then. I have no intention of letting anyone take that guy away from me.
