Chapter 55 – Sudden Strike

Chapter 55 – Sudden Strike

“To crash head-on.”

Choi Yongjin couldn’t hide his bewildered feelings.

Siwoo told them to ‘collide head-on’.

That they could tear apart their cars.

But with everything they had done so far, and seeing their resolute expressions, Choi Yongjin, though puzzled, had no choice but to follow.

Of course, they couldn’t have known.

This was the most favored tactic of the man from the previous life.

And when the man himself took the lead and crashed in.

The man was once again flustered.

“Why is this actually working?”

***

For shock absorption, cars are designed to crumple.

That’s why when they collide with vehicles designed not to crumple, they often suffer terrible damage…

A prime example is North American school buses.

School buses, designed almost like armored vehicles solely for children, often inflict one-sided damage on opponents during collisions. That’s the untold story behind the photos circulating online.

And… the motorcycles that Seongjae spearheaded in modifying were like two-wheeled armored vehicles. So, a car, which was designed to crumple from the start, had no chance against them.

This was true even if iron plates were wrapped around them.

The Volunteer Knights’ motorcycles had their internal frames replaced with Mithril Alloy, and their exteriors used even stronger Adamantite Alloy, boasting a strength incomparable to iron plates.

So, there was no way the car could withstand it. It’s like wrapping a pudding in a chocolate shell; it’s useless against a reinforced hammer.

Of course, there was the issue of mass.

Adamantite was indeed heavy. Due to limitations in motorcycle engine output, not too much could be attached.

This was solved with speed.

If they were moving in the same direction, the impact could be reduced by the speed of my forward movement. But the impact of a head-on collision adds the opponent’s speed and my speed.

It doubles.

It was an enormous impact, but since the Volunteer Knights were wearing Magitech Armor, a significant amount of the impact was protected by mana.

The looters couldn’t do that.

Finally, the leaders among the Volunteer Knights’ riders all possessed powerful Vehicle Enhancement Abilities.

In particular, Choi Yongjin’s Vehicle Enhancement was overwhelmingly superior in all aspects. His confidence was the reason he followed Siwoo’s words, even if he had doubts.

And once he realized that the limit of his loyalty ability wasn’t this, Yongjin felt like a limiter had been released.

‘At this rate, I can try more things.’

He felt like he could fight even more aggressively from now on.

* * *

Meanwhile.

The Looters who lost the chicken game were sitting on the throne.

However, since the Looters were stretched out so long on the Highway, the Looters in the middle and beyond still hadn’t grasped what was happening.

“What? What in the world is going on up front?”

“Why aren’t the guys up front moving? It’s frustrating!”

“Did someone crash?”

“It doesn’t sound like a man’s voice?”

It was when the Looters were wondering about that.

“Hey, you idiots! Back up the cars!”

One Marauder from the front was running back frantically, waving both arms wildly. The other Looters, unaware of the situation, just scoffed.

“Why is that guy making such a fuss–“

Of course, until it happened directly to them.

Pshiiiiiiiiiiik-!

Suddenly, a powerful stream of water shot out from behind.

Kwaaaaaaaah-

?!

“It’s a Water Ability!”

“But it’s piercing through steel plates?!”

“H-how on earth with water?!”

Of course, the person responsible was Sua.

Following Seongjae’s suggestion, she had been practicing new techniques for a while, and finally realized a water jet cutter with her ability.

Blocking the rear with Minju’s ability, she began a powerful firepower projection, and covering fire from the Magitech Armors followed.

All of them were new weapons designed by Seongjae based on the K2.

Tatata tatatatang-

“A gun?!”

“Why are there so many bullets?!”

At first, the Looters were flustered, but even for them, guns were familiar weapons. They quickly adapted and began to respond.

“Forget it! Reverse! Back up and crush them all!”

Vrooooom-!

The cars, emitting black exhaust as if something was mixed in the fuel, began to reverse at full speed. As they gradually picked up speed, the men, feeling they had a chance, started to speak up.

“Alright, alright! Alright! Here we go!”

“At this speed, it doesn’t matter! We have steel plates against bullets!”

The men, with their pedals to the floor-

Whoosh- Pat!

They seemed to hear something for a moment…

Boom!

Crunch!

Screech! Crash!

The cars began to stop as if they had hit a solid wall.

“Oh, my head…”

“Damn it, did we decide to crash into a concrete wall?!”

“That’s what I was- huh?”

And the Marauder, who was turning around, was speechless.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Wh-wh-wh-why is that here?”

Because…

There was actually a concrete wall behind them.

“Gasp. Pant. Gasp.”

Although it had been prepared in advance nearby, only Minju was breathing heavily, as she had to move an enormous amount of mass.

“You worked hard, big sister. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Sua supported the woman and continued to deploy her abilities.

Pshhhhhhhhh!

The cars, now with nowhere to escape, were instantly slaughtered by the Water Jet. Literally.

***

Meanwhile, Lee Doyul was getting annoyed.

“Hey, send me a text on Apoin.”

“Yes, yes, Boss!”

The flustered subordinate quickly typed and sent a message to him.

Vrooom-

Seeing that, Lee Doyul’s expression soured even more.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s a problem with Apoin.”

“Th-that’s right.”

“These bastards. I told them to keep in touch. Why did they all suddenly go silent?”

He got up from his throne in the outlet. Feeling frustrated, he started punching the sky and pacing around erratically.

He stopped abruptly when-

Vroooooooooom-!

A loud engine sound was heard.

“Huh?”

Lee Doyul’s expression became even more distorted.

“What? Are these bastards coming back instead of going to the Castle?”

Vrooooom!

The engine sound was getting closer and closer.

“Ah, it seems so.”

The man serving next to him shivered and only looked at him for approval, merely agreeing with him.

“Well, a Lord is just a commoner with a nice house at best. Was he that scared of The Man? Do these bastards think I’m a joke?”

Lee Doyul growled menacingly.

“This won’t do. I need to go out and say something. We’re already low on fuel, what in the world are these idiots doing?”

It seemed walking back and forth wasn’t enough for Lee Doyul.

He strode towards the Outlet’s exit.

He felt something was off when he stepped out of the water and could hear the engine sound more clearly.

“Huh? I don’t think this is our car?”

“Excuse me?”

“Listen. Who tunes an exhaust like that? It’s not even a motorcycle. It’s loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.”

“De-definitely…”

Just then, as he was frowning outside,

Shhhhiiiiiiiiiing-!

Paaaaaaang!

Suddenly, a Sudden Strike fell from the sky.

It was a One-Horned Dragon.

***

“I wondered when he’d come out of the Water. And here he is.”

I chuckled.

Since I hadn’t secured the Transparent Essence yet, sending an Observation Probe indoors was still too much of a burden. At best, I could only spy on parking lots with large windows.

So, I had been watching for an opportunity to pinpoint the target, Lee Doyul’s location.

For some reason, he had just come out of the Water.

As soon as I confirmed that, I ordered the One-Horned Dragon to attack, and it died instantly without even a single scream.

This was also thanks to the Large-Class One-Horned Dragon, which, unlike the Interceptor, could glide and stay in the air for extended periods.

Meanwhile, thanks to me taking out the leader, Choi Yongjin, who arrived later, easily took control of the Outlet. The Volunteer Knights who entered the warehouse were also surprised.

“Wow, the amount of Water is no joke!”

“How did they collect all of this?”

Choi Yongjin simply replied to The Man quietly.

“Can’t you tell from the blood stains here?”

“Ah…”

Perhaps they weren’t the type to use vehicles for looting, as the nearby survivors had been completely wiped out. It was almost as bad as Siheung Ansan, which had been overrun by Monsters.

As for The Man, they also had equipment that they had worked hard to collect.

“Oh.”

“Wow.”

The Volunteer Knights, and even Seongjae, were surprised by this place.

The Man’s garage.

It seemed The Man had some mechanics, as this place, dotted with various repair tools, appeared capable of not only vehicle maintenance but also tuning and everything else.

Among The Man, there was something Seongjae was particularly eyeing.

“This is… Nitrous Oxide?”

It was a kit for tuning a vehicle to inject Nitrous Oxide.

“If I apply this… I could strengthen my Motorcycle even more, couldn’t I?”

Seongjae’s eyes sparkled.

* * *

Having successfully incorporated Gwangmyeong into my territory, I decided to focus on internal affairs for a while. The main thing I focused on was repairing the roads.

The best way to utilize limited troops was through Mobility. For example, instead of dividing 10 troops into two groups of 5, you fight with all 10 The Man, then quickly move to the next location with fast Mobility and fight with all 10 The Man again.

Naturally, as the number of troops I could deploy at once increased, I could overwhelm the enemy and minimize our casualties.

Repairing the roads also yielded collateral benefits.

That was, of course, Commercial Development.

With the Apocalypse, Humanity needed Water flow more than ever. It was about mutual supplementation for what each lacked.

Centered around Bucheon, which originally had a large survivor population, The Man’s Economic influence, spreading throughout the Seoul Metropolitan Area, even surpassed the Merchant Alliance in Suwon.

Everyone was benefiting from The Man, but.

The one who benefited the most, of course, was me.

Everyone was using Worker Bug Coins.

Based on that, I was also securing an enormous amount of Mana Stones, and there was only one reason for that.

‘Quickly gather Mana Stones and then run away further.’

Although I now had two Mana Facilities, that was only enough to operate three Large-Class facilities. I had to run Small-Class Production Facilities, Research Facilities, and manage an ever-increasing army.

To expand the Castle even further, increasing the number of Mana Facilities was essential.

‘Well… if I need more, I’ll just increase them.’

Coincidentally, there was more than enough land to expand the Mana Facilities.

I looked at the map and thought.

‘I can probably install about three in Incheon.’

Incheon was large enough, so three would fit with room to spare.

This would make my current available Mana Quantity 2.5 times greater.

However, that meant I would have to fight large-scale Defense Battles. Since the area to defend would be wider, I would also have to build a larger Castle.

But… I somehow didn’t feel like I could lose.

[Photon Condensation Research – Completed.]

Because the Advanced Research I had been doing with Laser Essence was now complete.