Call of Abyss

Chapter 6

There is no guard duty as peaceful as a Saturday afternoon shift.

Of course, nothing special usually happened during guard duty, but on Saturday afternoons, even the officers, except for the duty commander, didn't bother them, and the marines would either take a nap or rest in their quarters after lunch, making the entire unit quiet.

Private Song Tae-oh idly fiddled with the binoculars he rarely used while blankly staring at the coastline beyond the barbed-wire fence.

Imagining what he would do when he went home for leave in two days was the only way Private Song Tae-oh could pass the dull Saturday guard duty.

"What the hell is that? Private Song, give me the binoculars."

Sergeant Kim Min-jae spoke in an urgent voice and snatched the binoculars from Private Song Tae-oh's hands before he could properly hand them over.

Private Song Tae-oh turned his gaze to where Sergeant Kim Min-jae was looking through the binoculars.

Two black figures stood on the distant beach, but even at a glance, their strange appearance made it hard to consider them human.

Their hands and feet were long like a monkey's, and their faces seemed to have multiple tentacle-like appendages.

The two black figures stood still on the beach for a moment before suddenly charging toward Private Song Tae-oh and Sergeant Kim Min-jae.

"Sergeant, those things are running toward us."

"Damn it, Private Song! We need to shoot them. Those aren't people; they're monsters."

"Huh? But can we fire without the officers' permission?"

"Once they see those things, they'll understand. Just shoot already!"

At Sergeant Kim Min-jae's urgent command, Private Song Tae-oh switched his rifle to semi-auto mode and aimed at one of the monsters.

The speed at which the monster was charging was terrifyingly fast.

Bang!

As Sergeant Kim Min-jae fired first, Private Song Tae-oh decided not to hesitate any longer.

Bang! Bang!

Private Song Tae-oh kept pulling the trigger, shooting at the monster.

"What the hell are these monsters? Why aren't they dying?"

Sergeant Kim Min-jae shouted in a bewildered voice as he fired his rifle.

Despite the continuous gunfire from Sergeant Kim Min-jae and Private Song Tae-oh, the monsters showed no signs of being affected and kept rushing toward them.

At that moment, a loud explosion erupted in front of the monsters.

"Everyone, get on the truck now!"

Hearing a desperate shout from behind, Sergeant Kim Min-jae and Private Song Tae-oh turned their heads.

Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun, holding a grenade launcher in one hand, was waving at them from the back of a 1.25-ton truck, commonly called a "Dodge."

"Staff Sergeant Moon! What the hell are those things?"

"I'll explain on the way! Just get on now!

Shooting them with rifles won't do anything!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun fired the grenade launcher again.

The explosion slightly slowed the monsters down.

Taking advantage of the moment, Sergeant Kim Min-jae and Private Song Tae-oh hurriedly climbed onto the Dodge truck.

Corporal Jo Yong-gi and Private Shin Hyun-jun, who were sitting in the back of the truck with Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun, reached out to help Sergeant Kim Min-jae and Private Song Tae-oh get in.

"Move out!"

Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun shouted loudly at the driver.

The driver immediately started the Dodge truck as soon as he received the order.

"Staff Sergeant Moon, those things are still chasing us!"

Corporal Jo Yong-gi exclaimed in shock as he watched the monsters, riddled with bullet and grenade wounds, still closely pursuing the truck.

"I'll keep firing grenades at them! You guys keep shooting until they go down!"

"Understood!"

"Fire at will!"

Following Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun's command, Sergeant Kim Min-jae and the other marines started shooting at the pursuing monsters from the back of the Dodge truck.

Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun also continued firing grenades without stopping.

The deafening sounds of exploding grenades and gunfire echoed throughout the entire island.

After about ten minutes of desperate fighting while fleeing in the Dodge truck, the monsters finally collapsed on the road, seemingly exhausted.

"Staff Sergeant, what the hell were those things?"

Sergeant Kim Min-jae, catching his breath after seeing the monsters fall, asked Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun.

"About thirty minutes ago, some visitors came to the base.

They warned that monsters would invade the island and that half of their group had already been killed by them. They told us to prepare for battle.

Of course, at first, we thought it was nonsense and ignored them.

But then, just as they said, the monsters appeared, and many marines were killed by them.

We managed to take them down, but that was only the beginning.

Soon, reports came in that identical monsters were appearing all over the island and attacking the villagers.

So now, we're gathering marines and moving around to defend the island."

"No matter how much we shot them, they wouldn't die."

"Bullets barely hurt them, and they can even withstand one or two grenade blasts. That's the kind of monsters they are."

"Where the hell did these monsters come from? Could they be some kind of bioweapon from an enemy country?"

"Who knows... We don't have any answers yet. But right now, figuring out where they came from is less important than saving the villagers and protecting the island.

Also, all communication on the island has been cut off, so we can't contact the outside world. Until they realize what's happening and send reinforcements, we have to hold out on our own."

"All communication is down?"

"Yeah, strangely enough, not just military comms but also the internet and mobile networks are completely down."

"Someone must have deliberately isolated the island."

"And then released the monsters..."

Sergeant Kim Min-jae let out a deep sigh and turned his gaze toward the calm coastline.

Just thirty minutes ago, he had been casually chatting with Private Song Tae-oh while watching the shoreline, never imagining such a nightmare would unfold.

They had been talking about fun games and which girl idol group was more popular, thinking it was just another uneventful day.

But now, they had to worry about whether they would even survive on this island.

Everything had happened so fast that it felt surreal to Sergeant Kim Min-jae.

"Smoke is rising from the village."

"Damn it, have the monsters already reached the village?

Driver, step on it! We have to save as many people as possible!"

At Private Shin Hyun-jun's shout, Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun looked toward the village, where houses were clustered together.

The driver sped up, heading straight for the village.

As they entered the village marked by a sign reading "Sodam Village," the sound of sirens echoed throughout the area.

"Staff Sergeant Moon, the villagers are dead."

"Yeah, we were too late. All personnel, dismount here.

Our top priority is finding any survivors."

Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun and the marines got out of the truck, raising their rifles and scanning their surroundings.

Just then, a gunshot rang out from somewhere.

Without hesitation, Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun and the marines rushed toward the source of the gunfire.

In the middle of the street, a monster identical to the ones they had fought earlier stood, while a marine, bleeding on the ground, was still firing at it.

Behind the fallen marine, a man, a woman, a teenage girl, and a young boy, who appeared to be in elementary school, were trembling as they watched the fight.

"Lieutenant Kang Do-won!"

Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun shouted toward the marine fighting the monster.

"Is that you, Sergeant Moon? Kill this monster now!

If you don't, this family will die. They're the last survivors in this village."

"All units, attack!"

At Lieutenant Kang Do-won's command, Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun ordered the marines to fire.

The marines opened fire on the monster standing before Lieutenant Kang Do-won.

But the monster ignored the hail of bullets, grabbed the fallen lieutenant, and swallowed his head whole.

"Lieutenant Kang Do-won! You damn monster!"

Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun cursed as he loaded another grenade.

"Sergeant Kim! I'll distract it with grenades! Get that family to the truck and get out of here!"

"Staff Sergeant Moon, but—"

"Now! Or we all die here."

Without waiting for a response, Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun fired a grenade behind the monster and ran in that direction.

"You bastard! Come at me!"

As he fired bullets and grenades, the monster turned toward him.

"Sergeant Kim Min-jae, what should we do?"

"All former Marines will follow Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun's orders.

Rescue the villagers and evacuate this place immediately."

"Understood."

Watching the monster approach Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun, Corporal Jo Yong-gi and Private Song Tae-oh quickly led the terrified villagers to the Dodge Truck.

Sergeant Kim Min-jae made sure all the villagers and Marines had boarded the Dodge Truck before climbing into the passenger seat next to the driver.

"Corporal Lee Jae-won, it was you. Let's move out quickly."

"Victory! Sergeant, what about Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun?"

"Rescuing the villagers comes first. This is Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun's order."

In response to Corporal Lee Jae-won's question, Sergeant Kim Min-jae shook his head and spoke.

"Understood."

Corporal Lee Jae-won, hearing Sergeant Kim Min-jae's firm response, said nothing more and started the engine.

"Die, you monster bastard!"

At that moment, alongside Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun's shout, a grenade exploded with a loud boom.

Sergeant Kim Min-jae leaned out the window and looked toward the explosion.

The heavily wounded monster was gripping Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun, whose lower body had been torn apart, with its sharp claws.

The monster examined Staff Sergeant Moon Soo-hyun's body for a moment, then, realizing he was completely dead, lost interest and tossed his body to the ground before turning its gaze toward the Dodge Truck.

"This is bad. That monster is still fine.

We need to escape now!"

"Understood, departing immediately."

Private Lee Jae-won stepped hard on the accelerator, launching the Dodge Truck forward.

As the Dodge Truck sped away from the village, the monster, which had been watching it, dropped to all fours and began chasing after it.

"Marines, keep firing at the monster chasing us!

It's taken a lot of damage, so it won't be able to chase us for long."

Sergeant Kim Min-jae shouted at the Marines stationed at the back of the Dodge Truck.

Just then, with a sudden screech, the Dodge Truck came to an abrupt stop.

"Corporal Lee! What's going on?"

Thrown forward by the sudden halt, Sergeant Kim Min-jae turned to Corporal Lee Jae-won and shouted irritably.

"Sergeant Kim Min-jae, look ahead."

Corporal Lee Jae-won, pointing forward with a trembling finger, spoke to Sergeant Kim Min-jae.

Sergeant Kim Min-jae followed Corporal Lee Jae-won's gesture and looked ahead.

In the middle of the road, two wounded monsters stood waiting for the Dodge Truck to approach.

They were the same monsters they had thought were taken down before reaching the village earlier.

"These crazy monster bastards!"

"What should we do, Sergeant Kim Min-jae?"

"One monster is already charging at us, so we can't back away now.

Even if we have to ram through those two monsters, we must keep driving forward."

"Will that work?"

"I'll lean out the window and keep shooting at the monsters. Just get us out of here as fast as possible. That's our only option."

"Understood."

Following Sergeant Kim Min-jae's orders, Corporal Lee Jae-won once again stepped hard on the accelerator.

As the Dodge Truck charged toward them, the two monsters opened their mouths between their tentacles and let out sharp cries.

It was a bizarre sound, like a mix between the roar of a land predator like a tiger and the screech of a raptor like an eagle.

Hearing the monsters' cries, Sergeant Kim Min-jae felt chills run down his spine.

A fear that seemed utterly insurmountable for a human being suddenly gripped Sergeant Kim Min-jae's heart.

As the two monsters drew closer, Sergeant Kim Min-jae, forgetting even to fire his gun, reflexively shut his eyes tight.