Chapter 54 – Chicken Game

Chapter 54 – Chicken Game

I knocked on the Room Across the Hall, looking for Minju.

“Minju, please gather everyone.”

“Yes!”

The woman replied briefly.

Swoosh- Pop!

And then she immediately disappeared. She had gone to bring key personnel like Sua, Yongjin, and Seongjae.

Of course, she didn’t always know their exact locations, but this was an Apocalypse. Just like in the Military, reporting was fundamental when going somewhere.

So, with a little common sense, locating them wasn’t difficult. Once everyone gathered, I lightly explained the situation.

That an attack was coming from Gwangmyeong.

“An, an attack…? By people?”

Sua asked back, sounding a little uneasy.

Come to think of it, while she had been attacked by Monsters many times, this would be her first proper attack by people.

And now, people were more dangerous than Monsters.

Perhaps later, but the current Monsters had no command structure or concept of operations. Unlike the early days when they trickled in, now they gathered and came all at once, but they were still predictable opponents.

A man is a lump of water.

But humans are different.

They find weaknesses through reconnaissance, target them tenaciously. They use various strategies and tactics to torment their opponents, such as creating confusion through disruption or applying pressure and tightening their grip.

It was the same for man in his previous life. No matter how strong the monsters became, nothing was as terrifying as humans.

But of course, this time it was going to be different.

Therefore.

I answered her question calmly.

“They’re marauders.”

***

Meanwhile, at my words, Choi Yongjin bowed his head slightly and said,

“Gwangmyeong, you say… Are they those guys?”

“Oh, you know them? What were they like?”

When Minju asked, Yongjin shook his head.

“What do you mean ‘what’? They’re just marauders. And very vicious ones at that. They drive around in cars, going on expeditions far away to plunder. I’ve encountered them a few times on the road.”

He seemed to shiver slightly.

“The highway they operate on is called the Highway of Blood. They hang their victims and drive, leaving them covered in blood. They can talk, but they’re worse than monsters.”

“Gasp.”

Minju had a look of horror. Of course, I, who had been watching everything with an observation probe, was well aware of this fact.

I didn’t bring it up because there was no need to, but I didn’t think Yongjin was wrong.

These looters were nothing. Later, looters who were truly more monstrous than monsters would begin to appear.

They were so terrible that a former colleague who had an appointment ability even suspected mental contamination.

So, I had to get used to this quickly.

“They won’t be able to do that against us. Let’s finish this quickly.”

I lightly changed the atmosphere and…

began to explain the plan.

It was natural that a little bewilderment appeared on everyone’s faces the more I explained the operation.

“Is that really possible for the man?”

Even Choi Yongjin was stammering.

“No, no, even if he’s the man, he’s Siwoo. Shouldn’t we test him somewhere? Isn’t it too dangerous?”

Even Seongjae, who usually didn’t complain, was trying to stop me.

“Just trust me.”

I grinned at their worries.

***

On the Highway.

“Run!”

“Remember me!”

Like in a movie. Looters driving massive, scrap-heap-like vehicles adorned with iron plates and thorns.

They were rapidly closing the distance to the Castle.

But the Highway wasn’t just for them. They saw several peddlers passing by on the Highway, and, in good spirits, smirked and shouted.

“Kids! It’s the king of the road!”

“Ram them!”

“It’s red paint! Dye the road red!”

Fortunately, the peddlers seemed aware of their approach. It was rare for so many cars to be driving in this day and age, so they could hear the engine noise from far away and avoid them.

“Quick! Move the luggage first!”

“They’re coming! That’s enough, abandon that!”

“Get out of the way!”

They barely managed to remove most of the luggage they were moving, but-

Vroom-

Two shopping carts, left in the middle of the Highway and filled with various home appliances, became sacrifices to the Looters.

Clang! Crash!

The Man Water items, which I was curious about what purpose they were intended for, were now completely destroyed and scattered on the floor.

“Hahahahaha!”

“Did you see that! Did you see it?!”

The Looters cackled with excitement.

Among them, some were disappointed.

“Tsk, the roadkill failed!”

“What should we do? Should we go back and finish them off?”

However, Lee Doyul’s Adjutant shouted in a Castle-like voice.

“Leave them! Have you forgotten the Boss’s orders!”

“S-sorry!”

“Run at full speed without looking away!”

It was nothing less than a blitzkrieg.

The Men were running at full speed towards the Castle.

The Man’s goal was to occupy the Castle through an Ambush, without giving Siwoo time to react. Of course, The Man had been watching everything with an Observation Probe from the very beginning.

As long as the Observation Probe was there, an Ambush was nothing short of Fire Manipulation.

But the Looters, who had no way of knowing such a fact, were confidently speeding down the Highway.

Vroooom-!

* * *

An SUV leading the Marauder.

This Water vehicle, lightened with minimal armament, served as a scout to ensure that the cars following behind didn’t hit anything unintended.

True to its scouting purpose, the team consisted of the Driver and a sharp-eyed individual in the passenger seat. The Man was constantly peering through Binoculars, checking the road.

Of course, it was an important role, but it wasn’t that busy for The Man.

Since the Apocalypse, the roads had always been empty. In addition to The Man, work crews also patrolled and removed dangerous Water vehicles in advance, so perhaps it was an unnecessary role.

However, today was different.

The Scout, who had been lazily scanning the surroundings with Binoculars, spotted a small dust cloud ahead and tilted his head.

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, ‘huh’?”

“There’s something up ahead.”

“You crazy bastard! Aren’t you doing your job properly?! What is it?!”

“The man… I don’t really know…”

“Give it to me!”

The guy driving kept his eyes on the road and reached out his hand, asking for the binoculars.

The scout grumbled but handed the binoculars to the man. He wanted to see how well the man would do and then curse him out.

And sure enough—

“Whoa—?!”

The driver let out a monstrous scream.

“You’re going to ‘whoa’ too, so what—”

The scout started to attack, thinking this was his chance, but the driver waved the binoculars wildly, cutting off the man’s words.

“Hey, aren’t those guys the Volunteer Knights?”

“W-what?!”

Hearing the driver’s words, the scout snatched the binoculars.

And once again, the scout, looking ahead, said—

“Heh heh, it’s really them?”

He let out a laugh full of scorn.

“Those beggar bastards who just ride motorcycles.”

“Exactly! If you’re a man, you drive a car!”

As two groups using the roads, they had often encountered each other. There hadn’t been any major conflicts yet, but the Looters used to ridicule the Volunteer Knights as idiots.

“We have those volunteer beggar guys up ahead!”

“Yahoo—!”

“Heh heh heh! We finally meet them!”

“I heard you joined Lord this time!”

“Whew! What is this, a child’s game? Motorcycles!”

In this world, there were still Marauders who couldn’t let go of their prejudice against motorcycles. It was nothing short of ironic.

“Guys! It’s a battle!”

“Battle? No, it’s a massacre!”

“Massacre? Isn’t it just a roadkill of a herd of deer, like that guy?”

“Hahahaha!”

They were Looters, chattering excitedly. Meanwhile, the Scout, who was also smiling, picked up his binoculars again and-

“Huh?”

He tilted his head once more at the sight of the Volunteer Knights, who were now a little closer.

Unlike the man’s expectation that they would at most be clad in something like steel, wearing motorcycle suits and helmets.

The motorcycles were covered in black metal, and similarly, the riders were also wearing armor.

The metal plates on the motorcycles didn’t look that thick to the man. Nor were they covered in thorns like the Looters.

“They fight with that kind of equipment…?”

The Scout narrowed his eyes.

No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t shake off a sense of incongruity.

Even when they were clad in thick iron plates, they often had to abandon their vehicles due to the impact when they crashed into monsters or people.

At the very least, even as Marauders, they still used fire manipulation, and wearing seatbelts was considered one of the five most important rules, which said it all.

No matter how much they talked about not looking cool, you had to be alive to look cool or stylish, right?

However, he couldn’t find any such appearance in the Volunteer Knights, so it was natural for the Scout to feel a sense of incongruity.

“Come to think of it, they use horsewhip flails and guns as weapons?”

The Scout saw the weapons of the Volunteer Knights and remembered a scene. It was… the cavalry of the plains.

The image he had in his mind was of mounted archers who would gracefully ride past when approaching, striking with horseback flails, and shooting arrows when moving away.

However, the Volunteer Knights used guns instead of bows.

The Scout looked at his own vehicle.

‘A steel plate should stop a K2, so it doesn’t matter, right?’

As the military began to collapse, K2 rifles started to appear on the market. Most of them were either captured from former messengers or sold by deserters trying to get money.

It was even harder to find ammunition, which was a consumable.

They couldn’t arm themselves with a rifle, but at least they could test it. They knew what thickness of steel plate would stop a bullet.

As people who value their own lives, they were looters who naturally reinforced their vehicles based on that standard.

‘There won’t be any problems.’

The scout eventually shook off the negative thoughts and grinned.

* * *

Meanwhile, while the scout was thinking that, the distance between the Volunteer Knights and the Marauder vehicles was getting closer and closer.

And very close.

“Uh, huh?”

“H-hyung. They’re not stopping?”

“Oh, a motorcycle not stopping against a car?”

Both sides were not slowing down.

“What are they, do they have any sense?”

“Hyung! They’re actually getting faster!”

At this rate, a head-on collision was imminent.

“C-crazy!”

“Are they out of their minds?!”

“W-what do we do!”

Everyone looked at the adjutant.

He looked around in a flustered manner, then steeled his resolve.

“What do we do?! W-we’ll just ram them!”

After all, the opponent was a motorcycle.

The Marauder Legion was not only a car, but it was also covered in thick iron plates. There were many cases where hitting monsters didn’t cause major problems, so a motorcycle should be fine too.

“The people! The people! This is a chicken game!”

“We can’t back down against those motorcyclists!”

“Guys! We’re speeding up even more!”

It was when everyone started making a ruckus. Perhaps gaining confidence from everyone’s cheers, the Adjutant lowered his voice and shouted.

“Nitrous! Use nitrous!”

Everyone’s expressions brightened even more, and they cheered.

“Guys! Permission granted!”

“Kya ha ha ha ho!”

Kugwaaaaaang!

As nitrous oxide entered the engine, the exhaust sound became much louder. It was obvious that their speed had clearly increased.

“This is it!”

“Try to deal with this speed! This mass!”

“How’s that!”

The Plunderer Group shouted excitedly.

But the Knights merely approached silently.

The Looters felt a sense of unease again.

“W-what is it?”

“No way, are they going to keep going like this?”

“Are they really going all the way?”

“Hey, we’re really going to crash at this rate!”

“Damn it, hit the brakes!”

“Don’t hit them! We’ll get rear-ended if we do!”

“Then what are we supposed to do, you son of a-“

However, he couldn’t finish his sentence.

Kiiiiiiiiiiik!

Crash! Boom! Bang!

Impact.

This wasn’t just a multi-car pile-up.

Two groups of people had a head-on collision. But the motorcycles weren’t what everyone expected.

Vroom!

As if nothing had happened.

Motorcycles plowing straight through the wreckage of cars.

Bang! Screech!

“W-what! That’s impossible!”

“A-are those really motorcycles!?”

“Crazy, a motorcycle and a car crashed, why is the car losing?!”

The motorcycles quickly picked up speed again.

Vrooom!

Towards the cars behind them.

“D-damn it! Turn the car around!”

“B-behind us are cars!”

“Hey, hey! Move the car!”

Of course, the looters, who had been driving along the highway like a train, were terrified.