A Veteran Player is Needed in the Apocalypse

Chapter 59: The Promise (2)

I swiftly scanned the battlefield.

One of the large-scale monsters had already been slain, and in the distance, I saw the commander distracting the monsters, his black hair whipping in the wind.

After confirming that the commander was safe, I let out a sigh of relief.

‘He’s been holding up well on his own.’

I had wondered how they were managing against this number of large monsters, but it seemed the soldiers were following the commander’s orders, repeatedly firing and retreating, herding the monsters into one place and forming a circular defense.

This was likely the first time the commander had faced this many large-scale monsters, but his response was more composed than I had imagined.

Though his clothes were stained with blood, he didn’t seem hindered in movement, so it didn’t look like the blood was his.

The commander hadn’t noticed me yet, fully focused on directing the soldiers.

‘He’s held out better than I expected, but…’

This kind of encirclement was nothing more than a stalling tactic.

Even if they were lucky enough to maintain formation, they would eventually run out of bullets, and once that happened, the formation would crumble in an instant.

If I hadn’t arrived in time, both the commander and the soldiers here would have been in grave danger.

At that moment, part of the defensive line faltered.

“Ugh!”

One soldier stepped back and fell, causing others nearby to topple over, giving the monsters an opening.

A monster, not missing its chance, charged toward the fallen soldiers on the snow, its sharp, gleaming teeth bared wide.

“Ah, aaagh!”

Watching the terrified soldiers frantically crawl away in the snow, I pulled out a white grenade from my jacket and aimed it at the monster’s eyes.

This white grenade couldn’t deal significant damage to a large-scale monster, but since it was invisible to them, it wouldn’t dodge it if aimed directly at its eyes—making it perfect for drawing attention.

“Kiiiaaagh!”

As expected, the monster, hit squarely in the eyes by the white grenade, shrieked and turned towards the direction of the shot, catching both the soldiers’ and the commander’s attention.

I saw the commander’s face slowly twist in shock as he spotted me, fully armed, standing on the snowy battlefield.

“Haydam! Why are you here!!”

Well, I suppose it was natural for him to react that way, seeing his own son in a place swarming with monsters.

But I couldn’t afford to let ‘Father’ be in danger either.

My plan to secure my position as the successor depended on the commander staying alive to watch my back until I solidified my place here.

Of course, even if the commander were to die right now, I had the support of people like Daphne and Meursault, as well as the graduates of the Academy, so I wouldn’t have too much trouble in conquering the zone.

The problem was that I was still too young.

If the commander were to die now, the one most likely to become the next commander wouldn’t be me, but Meursault.

Hayden became the commander of Cola Zone because he married Daphne, the daughter of the former commander. And currently, the one Daphne had her eyes on was Meursault.

Although both Meursault and Daphne were currently favorable towards me, there was no telling how things might change once they reached the pinnacle of power.

‘And regardless, I promised Luna Moon that I’d protect Hayden.’

As I recalled the promise I made while retrieving the ring from Luna Moon’s grave, her portrait, bearing my mother’s face, naturally came to mind. But I quickly pushed thoughts of my mother aside.

Now wasn’t the time for idle thoughts.

No matter how skilled I was as a player, I needed to stay sharp to handle this many large-scale monsters by myself.

I loaded my gun, which had been slung over my back, and charged toward the monster racing towards me.

“Hey, hey!!”

“What the hell! Haydam!”

Shouts erupted around me as I ran straight toward the approaching monster instead of retreating from it.

I ignored them and slid across the snow, slipping under the monster’s jaw as it charged.

The reason I ducked under its jaw was that, after being hit by the white grenade, the monster instinctively tucked its jaw in to protect itself, instead of rearing back.

‘There it is.’

As I lodged a bullet under its jaw, the monster seemed to sense the danger and tried to turn around.

Judging by its reaction, I had correctly targeted the gemstone, but my gun, designed for someone my size to handle the recoil, lacked the firepower to fully destroy it.

That’s why I had instructed Meursault beforehand.

I shoot, and he follows up.

-Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots rang out in quick succession from not far away.

As he had promised, Meursault’s first shot shattered half the monster’s jaw, and the second bullet hit precisely where I had shot, striking the gemstone.

With a cracking sound, the monster’s body began to slump, and I quickly crawled out from under its jaw, shouting to the soldiers around me.

“Fall back!”

The soldiers, who had been frantically trying to protect me while keeping the approaching monsters at bay, heard my command and scrambled to get out of the way.

Two of the monsters they had been holding at bay were crushed under the massive body of the falling beast.

Although the remaining monsters briefly glanced in my direction, they didn’t seem particularly interested in me, likely because we were too few in number to pose much of a threat.

Instead, they focused on the soldiers, who had bunched together while dodging the fallen monster’s body.

“Huff, huff… Lord Haydam, please refrain from such reckless actions…!”

Meursault arrived at my side, panting heavily.

Without taking my eyes off the monster chasing the soldiers, I extended my hand toward Meursault.

“White grenade.”

Though it seemed like he let out a heavy sigh at my gesture, Meursault quickly handed me the firm, cold object.

I aimed the white grenade at the back of the monster’s head and fired.

The commander, who had realized I was deliberately drawing the monster’s attention, was glaring at me as if he wanted to tear me apart, but for now, this was the best course of action for both of us.

I took a brief glance at the commander, then shifted my focus back to the monster charging towards me, its gemstone glittering on the ridge of its nose.

‘That gem is so conspicuous, yet this monster has survived this long. It must be quite intelligent.’

It seemed like the monster had dodged the earlier shots by lifting its head.

Anyone could have noticed the gemstone in such a visible spot, so others must have aimed for it as well. Yet while its snout remained relatively intact, its jaw had been reduced to a bloody mess.

This one was even trickier to deal with than the monster from earlier, which had its gemstone under its jaw.

Humans, after all, couldn’t aim from above unless they were flying.

That’s why typical hunting strategies involved overwhelming monsters with firepower before locating and destroying the gemstones.

‘But I’m different.’

If I couldn’t hit it with my physical abilities—

‘I’ll leave it to luck.’

Before leaving it up to luck, I glanced at the commander standing behind the monster.

‘With the distance between us, it should be fine even if the title effect is briefly interrupted.’

I confirmed that I was far enough from the commander and switched my title from ‘Friend of Luna Moon’ to ‘Sharpshooter of Cursed Bullets.’

The last time I counted, I had three bullets left before reaching the seventh, so it wouldn’t be a problem to use one to deal with that monster.

As soon as I aimed my gun, the monster lifted its head, as if to show off.

But such a cute trick wouldn’t work against the ‘Sharpshooter of Cursed Bullets.’

Without hesitation, I fired, and the bullet pierced through the weakened area under its jaw, going straight through and shattering the gemstone on the ridge of its nose.

The monster collapsed in place as if its fuse had blown, and its body, unable to stop the momentum, slid across the snow, stopping right in front of me.

Meursault, who had approached to follow up with a shot, stared at me in shock as the monster fell after just one bullet.

“You…”

“Waaah!!”

Meursault tried to say something, but his words were drowned out by the cheers of the soldiers around us.

Even though there were still a few large monsters left, everyone was too busy marveling at me, the unexpected newcomer who had taken down two monsters in quick succession, seemingly forgetting the danger.

Thanks to me taking out two of them so quickly, the other team must have gained some breathing room as well.

The two monsters that had fallen when the first one I killed collapsed were now taken care of by the other soldiers who seized the opportunity.

‘Now, only four remain.’

After I killed two in rapid succession, the remaining four monsters had their attention fully drawn to me.

I checked my remaining bullets and shouted to the soldiers.

“Grab the injured and retreat!”

The soldiers hesitated for a moment, unsure if they should follow my command, but after seeing Meursault following behind me, they began to support the wounded and retreat like the tide rolling out.

With the soldiers gone, I saw three figures approaching me beyond the charging monsters.

It seemed the commander had delegated command to someone else and was now walking toward me, his gun aimed at the monsters. With him were Plato, his face flushed, and BangguseokYeoBo, who was somehow here, running as fast as his short legs would carry him.

‘No more using the Sharpshooter title.’

The ‘Sharpshooter of Cursed Bullets’ title ensures that the seventh bullet will always hit someone precious to me.

If by chance the seventh shot were to hit one of those three, it would be a disaster. Also, meeting the commander without having ‘Friend of Luna Moon’ equipped could cause unnecessary tension.

The moment I switched from ‘Sharpshooter of Cursed Bullets’ to ‘Friend of Luna Moon,’ something strange happened.

“…Huh?”

The four monsters that had been charging at me suddenly trembled and stopped in their tracks. Then, they began to back away, hesitating, before turning and fleeing, avoiding me as they ran off.

Even though the commander was walking right behind them, they paid him no mind and disappeared beyond the snowy horizon.

I lowered my gun, which I had raised in a hurry, fearing they might attack the commander, feeling utterly dumbfounded.

“What… was that?”

Unbelievably, those monsters ran away like terrified herbivores fleeing from a fearsome predator.

‘Why?’

Sure, I had titles that could instill fear in monsters and drive them away, but ‘Friend of Luna Moon’ wasn’t one of them.

Even if it had that kind of effect, there was no title in the Safe Zone that could terrify four large-scale monsters into fleeing.

Besides, I had been wearing the ‘Friend of Luna Moon’ title when I first arrived here. I had only switched briefly to ‘Sharpshooter of Cursed Bullets’ before switching back.

If ‘Friend of Luna Moon’ was the reason they fled, then the effect should have kicked in the moment I appeared.

‘I need to investigate this.’

Why did those monsters flee? Could this be related to the disappearance of the monsters from Team Zone as well?

I needed to get to the bottom of this.

‘But for now, I’m just glad they ran.’

Even for me, handling four monsters at once would have been too much.

As I stared at the direction the monsters had vanished, I could hear the soldiers shouting in disbelief behind me.

“D-did those monsters just flee because of Lord Haydam?”

“As if taking down two monsters with just two bullets wasn’t enough…”

“He drove away four large-scale monsters with just his presence!?”

Ah.

Another strange myth about my origins would surely be added.