BW C234

Chapter 234

Taemuk inhaled the thick stench of blood and surveyed his surroundings.

There weren’t many monsters left now—excluding those that had fallen into the pit, only around two to three hundred remained. The Jeokudae soldiers had taken their fair share of injuries, but fortunately none seemed critically wounded.

As Taemuk strode toward the pit, he signaled to the soldiers with a glance. Immediately, they began herding the scattered shikgoe toward it.

“Kaaahhhk! Kak, kaaak!”

“Kkiik, kieeeee…!”

The shikgoe screeched in frustration, but perhaps they had realized they couldn’t win. Little by little, they retreated. Eventually, they reached the pit—and tumbled straight in.

Before long, the deep pit was filled with shikgoe. They struggled desperately to climb out, but Jeokudae soldiers stabbed spears and swords into their skulls, killing them one after another.

It didn’t take long until every shikgoe capable of attacking had been killed. All that remained were the ones forming the sphere. Even now, it retained its shape.

“Captain. What do we do with that?”

A soldier approached and asked.

“We tear it apart.”

Taemuk answered flatly before leaping into the pit. Several soldiers followed him. The others stayed outside, standing guard and keeping watch across the river for the main shikgoe force.

Taemuk crushed dead monsters’ skulls and torsos beneath his boots as he made his way toward the sphere.

This entire operation had been built for one purpose alone—to uncover what was inside that sphere.

The unknown meant danger. It meant threat.

Just as they had suffered because they hadn’t fully understood the fan-type shikgoe, they needed answers now.

Taemuk hoped Hoeun’s guess was right—that inside was the king of the shikgoe, the one issuing commands to them all. If that was true, killing it here would end this exhausting war.

And if that happened…

He’d spend the rest of his days holding Hoeun.

Spring was still in full bloom, so they could go flower viewing. In summer, he’d feed him peaches. Sweet, soft peaches felt perfect for Hoeun’s tastes. He hoped autumn and winter never came—Hoeun hated the cold.

Or maybe they could just move south, somewhere warm.

Thinking that, Taemuk grabbed one of the shikgoe forming the sphere by the nape and tried to yank it free.

It didn’t budge.

They seemed tightly entangled, pulling against each other.

“Oh?”

Taemuk raised a brow. He shook blood from his hair, glanced upward, then planted one foot on the creature, lowered his body, and drove his fist down.

Crunch!

The monster’s helmet-like skull exploded. Thick blood poured from the shattered cavity.

After ripping off the dead creature’s head, a hole finally opened in the sphere.

But there wasn’t enough light, and the opening was too small to see inside.

Only a sour, stale smell wafted out—something disturbingly similar to fermented fish.

They needed a larger opening.

Taemuk killed the creature beside it and tore its head off as well. Without needing orders, the nearby soldiers began doing the same.

There were roughly two hundred shikgoe making up the sphere. After killing, crushing, and tearing apart around fifty of them, something inside finally became faintly visible.

But only faintly.

The sun had already set during battle. Night had fully fallen, leaving everything dim.

“Flashlight.”

At Taemuk’s command, a soldier quickly switched one on and placed it in his hand.

Taemuk shone the beam into the sphere.

And the moment he did—

“….”

He lost his words.

The soldiers did too. Someone even sucked in a sharp breath.

What lay inside was unlike anything they had ever seen.

It was so grotesque that describing it was nearly impossible.

Still… if he had to explain it, it was some kind of mass.

The outer layer of shikgoe clinging together was already a mass, but this was something else.

This was one singular entity.

A single enormous lump the exact size of the sphere they had been protecting.

But it didn’t have a clear shape.

It was vaguely round, but not neatly circular like a rice ball or snowball.

It didn’t look solid either.

It wriggled and pulsed like an enormous droplet of liquid.

But it wasn’t exactly liquid.

It was translucent, tinged with a sickly yellow.

What could he even call this?

…Ah.

That’s right.

It looked exactly like a giant glob of phlegm someone had spat out.

A disgusting comparison, but no better description existed.

Inside that phlegm-like mass was something dark—many things—but it was impossible to tell what.

Several Jeokudae soldiers pressed their flashlights closer.

Only then did its contents become clear.

“My god…”

A soldier muttered in horror.

Taemuk frowned.

Inside the mass…

Were shikgoe.

Tiny ones.

Each was only slightly larger than Taemuk’s palm, but their black bodies and wide helmet-like skulls were unmistakable.

There were thousands of them.

“They look like… baby shikgoe.”

“Yeah. Babies.”

That meant this giant round mass was essentially…

An egg.

An egg containing thousands of baby shikgoe.

They wriggled inside the sticky substance, growing.

“Ugh… disgusting…”

One soldier visibly shuddered.

Another gagged.

But Taemuk simply stared at the egg expressionlessly.

Now he understood why they had guarded the sphere so desperately.

Even beasts protected their young.

After staring at it for a while, Taemuk suddenly lifted his brows and looked across the Amnok River.

Beyond the river, hundreds of spheres sat atop the heads of tens of thousands of shikgoe.

Did every one of those spheres contain babies?

Thousands in each?

“Ha…”

Taemuk let out a hollow laugh.

If those creatures hatched safely, it would be catastrophic.

There were already enough to make one’s skin crawl.

If their numbers increased further…

Humanity itself might end.

They had to destroy them.

Before they matured.

No matter what.

With that thought, Taemuk shoved his hand straight into the egg without hesitation.

The soft mass swallowed his hand whole.

The sensation was revolting.

But he didn’t pull back.

He shoved his hands into shikgoe skulls like it was nothing—there was no way this would stop him.

“Captain…”

A soldier looked at him nervously.

Taemuk ignored him and groped around until he seized one baby by the head.

Then he yanked.

Splurt—

With a wet sound, the creature came free.

The baby wriggled in confusion, as if it had no idea what was happening.

It looked horrifyingly like a cockroach.

Its teeth were small, sharp, and densely packed.

Just looking at it made their skin crawl.

Then suddenly—

Its eyes snapped open.

And it screamed.

“KIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!”

The shriek was impossibly sharp.

Every soldier recoiled.

Some covered their ears.

Even ordinary hearing suffered from the sound.

For Taemuk, with his heightened senses, it felt like needles stabbing straight through his eardrums.

“Fuck…”

Grimacing, he reflexively hurled the creature away.

Its screaming stopped.

But something louder replaced it.

Across the river, the shikgoe erupted into chaos.

Absurdly, they sounded exactly like parents whose child had been stolen.

“Kak! Kaaaahhk!”

“Kiek! Kkiik! Kieeek!”

The shikgoe grew increasingly agitated.

They looked ready to throw themselves into the river.

The current was still strong, but if all hundred thousand charged in at once, at least ten thousand might make it across.

Taemuk frowned.

It was too dark to see them clearly.

He could only judge their frenzy from the vibrations beneath his feet and their furious shrieks.

The only thing visible was the sea of red eyes flickering in the darkness.

After a moment of thought, Taemuk kept his gaze fixed across the river and spoke.

“Prepare fire.”

At once, half the soldiers inside and outside the pit ran off.

The others continued killing the remaining shikgoe forming the sphere.

Soon, light flickered in the distance.

Taemuk turned.

Soldiers stood lined up with bows.

Each arrow tip burned with a fist-sized flame.

They drew their bowstrings, aiming toward the opposite bank of the Amnok River.

The soldier at the front looked to Taemuk.

Taemuk gave a small nod.

The soldier shouted.

“Fire!”

The arrows launched all at once.

Shiiiiiiik—

Heavy with force, they shot forward at incredible speed.

As they flew over the river, the flames reflected in the water, making it look as though the number of arrows had doubled—and the light along with them.