Chapter 487
Armed Gargoyle
The moment Mok Ke opened his eyes, he was met with such a shocking scene that his legs felt weak.
“…Ah, ahh…”
His throat gurgled, emitting meaningless sounds.
His pupils contracted, and his vision went black. Mok Ke stumbled to the ground—not just from the “flying kick,” but from the dizziness caused by his mind going blank, his legs buckling beneath him.
Mok Ke wasn’t afraid of corpses, nor of the dead.
As a Fourth Tier Calamity Stitcher, although he hadn’t graduated from school yet, he had already handled and pieced together many corpses. Even before he could speak clearly, he had been learning the art of sewing corpses with his sister and father. To him, human corpses were merely materials, no different from clay or building blocks.
He had a friend from a family of clockmakers. That fellow fiddled with pocket watches from childhood, and Mok Ke fiddled with corpses; to him, it was the same.
—However, this was the first time Mok Ke had seen a living person turn into a corpse.
The extraordinary dynamic vision of an Extraordinary allowed him to see everything. The old man’s face still held an expression of fear and shock, his entire body twisting and shattering under the flames and pressure. His body, crushed by the pressure, was like a tomato stuffed with a firecracker. The countless spurting bloodstains were like innumerable needles, and falling onto his own body felt like being nailed to the bone marrow.
Mok Ke couldn’t even distinguish whether the blood had gained penetration and impact power under high pressure, or if the pain he felt was merely an illusion.
He himself didn’t know what he was afraid of, but he knew that standing in the middle of the street was undoubtedly very dangerous.
So, even though his legs were starting to go soft and he couldn’t stand at all, his educated brain urged his body to flee from the shattered corpse almost by rolling and crawling.
He had only crawled two steps before realizing he hadn’t brought his box. So he crawled back, stood up hunched over while holding the box, and staggered towards a nearby civilian residence.
The moment he knocked, the door opened directly. Without asking any questions, the person inside pulled him in.
It was an old woman.
“Master Nobel!”
She exclaimed, “Are you alright?!”
“…Heh ah, ha… ha… cough cough cough…”
Mok Ke waved his hands repeatedly, unable to speak.
He let out heavy breaths, gasping for air like an asthma attack.
But what rushed into his throat was not fresh air.
—Only the smell of mud, blood, and gunpowder.
It made Mok Ke’s throat dry, and he couldn’t help but want to cough. He coughed until tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, like someone who had never smoked taking a deep drag of a lit cigarette.
After a while, he finally calmed down a bit. He asked in a hoarse voice, “What… what happened?”
He was surprised at how hoarse his voice had become; just speaking felt like it was about to break.
Mok Ke subconsciously touched his throat, finding it wet and sticky to the touch. His experience immediately told him it was the feel of warm human blood.
He blankly brought his fingers to his eyes, noticing that blood was dripping down them.
Mok Ke felt his vision blur, as if he couldn’t open his eyes. So he subconsciously wiped his face a couple of times randomly with his hands. When he lowered them, his hands were covered in blood.
“Those Star Antimony people who fuck pigs’ asses have invaded!”
The old woman shrieked, her voice hoarse like a witch’s, “There are dead people everywhere, don’t go outside!”
…Star Antimony people?
Mok Ke gradually pieced together some of the current situation.
Although he didn’t know why he had suddenly appeared here the moment he closed and opened his eyes, it was as if he had lost a period of time from his memory…
But looking at the walls, which had a strong rural atmosphere, this should be the countryside of Avalon.
Did I escape here alone?
Then, another irresolvable doubt arose in Mok Ke’s mind.
—Why would the Star Antimony army attack a village with no military garrison? Why would they directly use Alchemical Bombs to attack civilians?
This made absolutely no sense!
Military manuals stated that such actions were not permitted!
Who was in command?!
Anger and confusion welled up in his heart, and Mok Ke subconsciously clenched his fists.
“I…”
As soon as he spoke, his words got stuck in his throat.
—What could he say?
Comfort the other person by saying everything would be alright? But the bomb had just exploded before his eyes, and he was covered in blood.
Explain that it was abnormal for the Star Antimony people? Yet, familiar villagers had turned into fragments before his eyes.
Tell them everyone would be alright?
…But he could only exert Third Tier combat power now, unable to even unleash the full strength of Master Nobel.
Even if he could unleash it—what could he do?
But Mok Ke felt that he couldn’t *not* say something. The words were stuck in his chest, and if he didn’t speak, he would suffocate.
He looked around fearfully and confused, his fists clenching and unclenching. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do, nor where he was.
But at that moment, the old woman suddenly pulled him down.
Even an Alchemist who didn’t significantly enhance their physique was much stronger than an old person. However, with his mind in chaos, Mok Ke didn’t resist, and was thus pulled to the ground.
The next moment, Mok Ke held his breath, his mind a complete blank.
Because something he was incredibly familiar with appeared—
A ferocious, horned face, a skinny body like a monkey’s, and bat-like wings.
They had emerald runes glowing above their heads, their surfaces covered with a metal shell like an iron cage, and inside was flesh and blood that had become cold and dry from high-speed flight.
It looked as if a person’s skin had been peeled off and a metal coat had been placed on the outside.
And their arms were machine guns bound by iron hoops, with two bandoliers wrapped around their backs like capes.
Upon spotting them, they let out cackling screeches like monkeys and dived down.
In the darkness, flames spewed from their gun barrels. The old woman’s body was instantly torn to shreds, like a scarecrow.
“Mom! Damn it… I’ll fuck you, you damned monsters!”
A roaring middle-aged man rushed out from the house.
He held a hunting rifle in his right hand and pulled the trigger fiercely at the Gargoyle.
—However, these bullets were useless against them.
The bullets capable of hunting bears only managed to chip off an opening the size of a baby’s fist on the Gargoyle. The Gargoyles’ movements were not hindered in the slightest. They didn’t even stop pulling the trigger; as casually as watering a garden, they turned their gun barrels and the resulting barrage of bullets tore the man to shreds.
…This was precisely the operational detail Mok Ke had set.
Gargoyles had very low intelligence, so they couldn’t master complex weapon operation techniques, and using firearms was not among them.
But if it was just a command like “pulling the trigger,” it could be accomplished.
Aiming was too difficult for them, and if they waited to fire after detecting an enemy, the delayed reaction could easily lead to bullets not being fired. Thus, after testing six versions, Mok Ke chose the new idea of not releasing the trigger.
As long as the Gargoyle entered combat status and there were no targets to protect in front of them, they would not release the trigger. Even when turning their gun barrels, they would maintain a shooting state. The resultant barrage could easily weave into a large net, tearing apart anyone trying to escape, and this firepower was fatal to unarmored units.
…Tearing apart anyone trying to escape.
The scene of himself proudly explaining his new idea appeared in Mok Ke’s mind, his excited voice still echoing in his ears.
A violent wave of nausea made his abdomen cramp.
