Chapter 70 – Choice (4)

“Pant, pant, pant…!”

After volunteering to be the bait, I ran without looking back until my breath was about to burst.

However, the distance between the mutants and me grew narrower as time went on.

No matter how much I possessed a body that transcended humans, I was still only human.

There was an unbridgeable species difference between me and the beasts—especially those mutated wolves.

Graaa—!

Despite my desperate efforts, the end of this unequal game of tag was slowly approaching.

Judging by the fact that the roars of the bastards fiercely chasing me could be heard this close.

However.

‘By now, I should be far enough away…!’

Until I was far from the main force of the bastards, I did nothing but flee without firing a single shot.

Only then, even if I killed them, there would be no additional ones coming after me.

‘Now!’

At the moment the snapping sounds of the wolves sent a chill down the back of my neck.

Bang!

The mana gun, burning blue mana, finally spewed sparks.

The gunshots echoing throughout the Ember did not stop at once.

Even after emptying a magazine in an instant, I was already preparing the next one.

‘Damn it… the accuracy is too terrible.’

Now was different from the time I comfortably sniped from the roof of the off-roader.

Rough breathing, shaking vision, a high-speed moving target, a body pushed to its limit due to using mana…

It was truly the worst condition.

Furthermore, the reaction speed of the mutants was on a completely different level from when we were on the snowfield.

It seemed to be because they recognized that I was taking an offensive posture.

‘But still, to not hit even a single shot.’

In fact, not a single one of the ten mana bullets I fired hit them.

This could be called the limit of my skill, but it was also because their perception and reaction were absurd.

If I showed a posture to fire, they detected the danger.

The moment I turned my gaze back, they evaded with irregular movements.

Then, there was only one way.

‘Shoot without looking.’

It was an absurd idea.

But I had one method.

It was to use mana.

“Argh…!”

Unable to endure the pain, I let out a scream.

The price of exceeding my limits and using mana sense again was encroaching upon me.

Instantly, my vision blurred red, and something flowed down from my eyes.

It was tears of blood.

The moment my thread of consciousness was about to snap from the pain that transcended imagination.

Crunch!

“…!”

I bit my lip so hard that the flesh was about to be torn off.

I turned my consciousness back to reality with a more physical pain.

Perhaps thanks to the fishy taste of iron as blood flowed down my throat, my mind snapped back to alertness.

Fortunately, the price of the immense pain was presenting me with a corresponding reward.

‘One in the rear, two on the sides?’

The positions and movements of the bastards were felt even without looking with my eyes.

Because they were mutants harboring magic stones in their hearts, they were captured by my mana sense.

Having sensed the positions of the bastards like that, I tracked their locations endlessly while hiding the mana gun inside my fluttering coat.

It was an attempt to hide the sign of attack so that they would be unable to react.

The direction of the muzzle was toward their heads or hearts.

Bang—!

There was a mana bullet that pierced through the thin coat, searing hotly near my waist.

Yelp!

Along with the sound of a giant body rolling on the floor behind my back, a groan of a mutant was heard.

Although it felt like I failed to hit the vital spot as I could still sense the wriggling magic wavelength.

‘It hit!’

I succeeded in sniping the bastard by utilizing mana sense and trickery.

Finally, a way out opened.

However, the joy of being able to live did not last long.

“Arghhh!”

Soon, a terrible pain came as if someone was poking my brain here and there with needles.

I maintained my mana sense for barely a minute, yet the recoil was immense.

It was probably because the damage had accumulated ever since I searched Section 12.

‘A-at this rate…’

It was hard to endure the pain any longer.

Due to my dizzy vision, I was even confused about whether I was running in a straight line.

Furthermore, the accumulated damage brought not only pain but also fatigue.

‘I shouldn’t… fall asleep… here…’

I felt my consciousness gradually fading away.

This was not something that could be helped by willpower.

I bit my lip once more to hold onto my consciousness.

However, lacking strength, even that did not go my way, and my mouth only fell open.

Bang!

I pulled the trigger of the mana gun with my barely moving finger.

It was the maximum shock I could deliver with the least amount of effort.

And naturally, the target was not a mutant.

It was myself.

“…!”

My eyes flew wide open.

My right arm, which was pierced and had a hole from the bullet, let out a terrible scream.

Yet even a scream did not come out.

Because I did not have the strength to do so.

Step, step, step…

Having barely awakened my consciousness, I continued to run.

My mind was so faint that I did not even know how my body was moving anymore.

The scattered mana sense was automatically retracted before I knew it, and it had been a long time since I lost track of the mutants’ locations as well.

One thing for sure was that death lay at the end of this struggle.

Since resistance and counterattack became impossible, it was a natural outcome.

“Heh, heh. Did I step forward for nothing…”

As death actually drew near, regret flooded in.

Regrets like, ‘I shouldn’t have stepped forward,’ ‘I should have just hidden quietly somewhere,’ or ‘I should have listened to Jeremy.’

However.

‘It was something I had no choice but to do.’

I was not stupid.

That was all something I had no choice but to do, and something I had to do.

Because this world, which had become even harsher than , forced me to make such choices.

If I had not stepped forward, if I had not made the sacrifice, the Ember would have surely been annihilated.

Whether due to the casualties from the mutants’ continuous attacks, or the military dictatorship of Yan Casellos and the leadership, whatever the cause was.

‘So, it is fine. From now on, let us leave it to fate.’

I did everything that was given to me.

Now I had no choice but to entrust my body to wherever fate led.

But it was not over until it was over.

Even in , I had never given up halfway even when the annihilation of the Ember was confirmed.

Because I endured and endured, trying to delay the time of doom, and eventually found an answer in the end.

There was a saying that if one was desperate, it would come true; if one struggled like that, unexpected opportunities also arose.

‘It was like that even in a mere game… I cannot go easily.’

Bang, bang-bang-bang!

Clinging to straws, I fired Jeremy’s mana gun wildly.

Although it was just a wish, and though it was highly unlikely, the hunting squad, having cleared all the mutants in the center, might hear the gunshots and come to rescue me.

It was a sort of signal flare.

Although it was a very slim hope, that was the only thing I could bet on right now.

Bang, bang, bang!

I continued to shoot, hoping someone would hear.

Thinking that since I had saved so many lives so far, wasn’t it time for me to be rewarded as well…

But should I say ‘however’, or should I say ‘as expected’?

A wish was just a wish, and hope was only hope.

Graaa!

Finally, reaching the end of Section 12, a newly appeared mutant wolf blocked the path in front of me.

It was the moment when any chance of survival completely vanished.

‘If I had made a different choice, would the result have been different?’

Sensing my end, I looked back on my choices and judgments until now.

Like, what would it have been like if I did this at that time, or what would it have been like if I did that then.

It was a review.

Placing the stones again from the first move to the last to find mistakes in a game of Go that had already been played.

There was no better way to improve one’s skill than this.

Of course, that only applied to games like Go or .

Reality happened only once, so one could not take back a move, nor overturn the board and start again.

However, this world was perhaps like a game to me.

“If I do it again, I could do better…”

At the end of life, I chuckled while having such thoughts.

Since the thought I had ahead of a horrible death was ultimately that kind of thought again.

Even I found myself absurd.

Bang, bang!

Like that, as I ran toward death while shooting at the mutant wolves rushing from all directions until the very end.

Boom—!

“…?”

There was a roaring sound that shook the entire Ember.

The heavy resonance, which felt like the atmosphere was vibrating, brought about an unimaginable result.

Thud.

“…!”

The head of the mutant wolf rushing from the front completely disappeared.

The corpse of the bastard, turned into a handful of flesh, stopped in front of me after losing its momentum.

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots reminiscent of cannons rang out again.

“Ah…”

The gunshots shaking heaven and earth were like the bell of salvation to me.

Because the bodies of the wolves pouncing from both sides stopped right in front of my feet, half-torn.

‘Did I survive…?’

I collapsed face down on the floor while falling to my knees with a thud.

It was not because the tension was released, but because I had no more strength to move.

Step, step—

The sound of the owner of the gunshots walking toward this side was heard.

However, I closed my eyes without even verifying the opponent’s face.

“Foolish bastard…”

I could tell without looking.

Who it was that saved me.

It was the moment when I thought that perhaps my choice was not wrong.

* * *

There were a man and a woman crossing the ruined city with a sniper rifle as large as a human body slung over their shoulders.

They were Jeremy Scott and Natasha McGrain.

“Stupid fool. You said you would make an Ember where people do not die, so are you not a person yourself?”

Jeremy spoke as if admonishing Aylen, who was held in his arms.

But no answer came back.

Because Aylen had fainted early in a disastrous physical condition and was hovering between life and death.

“Jeremy, the only visible major trauma is the penetration wound on his right arm, but his condition is more serious than it looks. Could there be internal injuries?”

Natasha, who followed, asked with a puzzled face.

Because his trauma was minor compared to his physical condition, which made it seem like he was about to draw his last breath at any moment.

To that, Jeremy spoke.

“I do not know either.”

Although Jeremy had experienced numerous injuries as a soldier, he too could not know the cause of the problem.

In these cases, internal injuries were usually the cause, but even after inspecting Aylen’s body, he could not find any particular abnormalities.

However.

‘Was it an illusion that I felt his heartbeat had grown strangely slow…?’

Jeremy was certainly feeling something strange.

The reason Aylen’s body had reached this state was mana exhaustion caused by excessive use of mana.

It was natural that he could not know, but he was feeling some sense of discord.

“We must take him to a doctor quickly. He might lose the use of one of his arms forever.”

However, brushing off the sense of discord as his own illusion, Jeremy had to move his steps.

Aylen, who had finally become a proper human and returned, might end up disabled.

However, reaching the center after running and running, he saw.

“Argh!”

“P-please! Please help me!”

“Just a little… please endure just a little longer!”

A cruel scene where the mutants were cleared, yet over a hundred people were groaning in pain.

Although Aylen might lose an arm, a cruel fate was unfolding where he had to draw the very last ticket.