A Veteran Player is Needed in the Apocalypse

Chapter 65: The Promise (8)

The monster before my eyes was covered from head to toe in white fur.

A legendary-class monster, the Snow Giant.

As far as I knew, this guy shouldn’t be here.

‘Because it doesn’t attack humans.’

Humans are far too small to even be considered a snack for it.

Normally, it lives far from the zones, feeding on large-grade monsters, and it’s known to control the weather through the jewel embedded in its forehead.

‘So, was this sudden snowstorm its doing?’

It had the ability to manipulate weather, making it closer to a mystical beast rather than a typical monster.

But why had such a creature come all the way here, targeting these rookie officers?

‘Could it actually be a player?’

With a hint of suspicion, I activated the Character Viewer on the Snow Giant.

If it were a player, the Character Viewer would activate, but the system didn’t respond.

‘So, it’s not a player…’

The giant remained motionless, standing still even as I drew closer.

‘It’s observing something.’

If it had noticed something in this snowfield, it had to be the rookie officers.

Without slowing down, I leapt off the bike.

There was no way I could stop it safely anyway, given my short legs.

The bike kept going and crashed into the giant’s backside, but the creature barely reacted, only brushing the spot with its densely furred hand.

At least I didn’t need to worry about dealing it a blow.

‘After all, it’s still just a monster.’

I tumbled a few times on the snow, quickly regained my balance, and pulled the largest firearm from my inventory.

This weapon couldn’t fire in bursts, but it was loaded with rounds designed to melt through monster flesh and hide. If I hit it right, it could penetrate even the thickest monster chest.

Even a Snow Giant would have parts of its body that melted away helplessly if hit by this gun.

Of course, no matter how powerful, if I didn’t hit the jewel, it would be useless, which is why massive subjugation operations were required despite weapons like this being developed.

Even though the identification method was explained to detect the jewel’s location, no one but **BangguseokYeoBo** could make use of it.

At least the good thing was that this guy’s jewel was clearly visible on its forehead.

The bad news? Its forehead was ridiculously high up.

“Get down!” I shouted as I aimed for its abdomen and pulled the trigger.

The enormous nail-like bullet tore through its flesh, melting it, and pierced straight through to the other side.

“Ughhh!”

This time, it seemed to feel the pain as its massive body shuddered violently. Looking through the gaping hole in its middle, I saw the shocked face of **Lucas** and **Bones**, who was sobbing.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of Bones’ tearful face.

Lucas shouted at me.

“**Lord Haydam! Above you!**”

The gun I was using wasn’t capable of burst fire, so it needed reloading. I dropped it without hesitation and pulled a smoke grenade from my inventory, launching it over my head.

A thick cloud of smoke gathered above, blocking the monster’s vision. Its giant hand, descending through the smoke, grasped at empty air, unable to find me.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I sprinted close to its body and dashed toward the other side, intending to regroup with the rookie officers.

During that moment, I realized why the Snow Giant had come all the way here.

‘Those guys… it was them, wasn’t it?’

Through the organs that had melted away from my bullet, I could see the half-digested remains of large monsters oozing out.

They had crossed the crevasse zone while fleeing, only to run into the Snow Giant on the other side.

To avoid being eaten, they had fled back towards our zone, and the Snow Giant, chasing after them and consuming them along the way, had ended up here.

‘In the end, I won’t be able to find out more about those strange monsters.’

The only thing I’d confirmed was that the Snow Giant wasn’t a player.

If it had been a player, there wouldn’t be any undigested food left in its stomach.

However, as if proving it was indeed a monster from another world, the hole I’d made in its body was rapidly healing.

Even as I made my way around to the other side, the giant was still fumbling through the smoke, trying to locate me. With it distracted, I sprinted with all my strength to join the rookie officers.

“**Lord Haydam!**”

Lucas greeted me with a bizarre mix of relief and frustration on his face.

Unlike Lucas, who at least had a gun in hand, Bones was lying face down, bleeding from his shoulder.

“Why the hell is that guy still lying down?” I asked.

“Ah, well…” Lucas glanced awkwardly at Bones, who mumbled in a trembling voice.

“Just… leave me behind….”

Before he could finish saying “run,” I slapped him hard across the face.

Lucas looked at me in shock for hitting an injured man.

“**Lord Haydam!**”

“Stop whining, Bones. You can still move.”

Bones, instead of feeling wronged or angry after being slapped, hung his head.

“It’s because I’m like this that even my father abandoned me, isn’t it?”

“Bones.”

This time, I didn’t slap him. Instead, I placed my hand on his shoulder.

“Do you really believe that General Max, your father, tried to kill you?”

Bones’ eyes snapped wide open, his face full of surprise.

“You’re going to doubt your father just because of what that madman said?”

“Then… does that mean….”

“I don’t know the full truth either. But at the very least, I’ll find out for myself. I’ll see if my father really did abandon me.”

To be honest, I’d been skeptical ever since hearing what the 2nd Team Leader had said.

That’s because, as far as I knew as the former Cola Zone Conqueror, the 2nd Team Leader had never done anything that would warrant General Max threatening him. In fact, during my campaign to conquer the Cola Zone, the 2nd Team Leader had been a loyal Hayden faction officer.

In my opinion, the 2nd Team Leader had used General Max’s name to manipulate Bones, hoping to undermine General Max in the process.

General Max had a great personality and was highly trusted by the soldiers and officers alike.

If it were true that General Max tried to kill Bones simply because Bones didn’t obey him, other cadets who supported General Max would start to question him. It had to be a scheme orchestrated by pro-Hayden faction members.

There’s no way a mere colonel could have come up with something like this on his own…

‘Looks like Josef doesn’t plan to retire peacefully after all.’

Either way, just as I’d told Bones, the fastest way to settle this was to return and verify everything firsthand.

“Here, use this to give yourself some first aid.”

I handed Lucas a first aid kit from my inventory, and he looked at me with a fearful expression.

“Where the hell did you pull that from?”

He wouldn’t believe me even if I told him it came from my inventory.

“Just patch him up. We need to go rescue His Excellency.”

“W-What?!”

Both Lucas and Bones shouted at the same time.

Bones, having regained some of his composure, stopped as he picked up his firearm and asked me,

“Is His Excellency in danger too?”

“He fell into the crevasse over there. Luckily, he didn’t fall far, so he’s not seriously injured. We need to go and pull him up.”

“I’ll finish the treatment quickly.”

“Hurry up. Our lives are also on the line right now.”

Even with the Snow Giant looming in front of us, Lucas paled at the mention of the Commander being in danger. He practically poured disinfectant onto Bones’ wound, causing him to scream out in pain.

“Damn it!! Are you trying to kill me?!”

“Weren’t you just telling us to leave you to die?!”

Seeing them argue like this, it seemed both of their mental states had somewhat recovered.

‘The real problem is the Snow Giant in front of us…’

Lucas and Bones didn’t know what the Snow Giant was, so they could stay calm in this situation.

Perhaps, after watching me easily take down large-grade monsters like a cat catching a mouse, they figured I could handle this one, even though it was much bigger.

‘But… that’s impossible.’

Unless the thing lowered its head, there was no way I could hit the jewel on its forehead from down here.

I could try shooting its legs to make it fall, but there was no guarantee we wouldn’t get crushed by its collapsing body.

More importantly, while I could punch holes in its body, I couldn’t deal enough damage to throw it off balance.

Even if I shot at its legs, the wounds would heal before I could sever them completely.

‘What should I do…?’

Then something unexpected happened.

The Snow Giant, which had been flailing through the snow trying to catch me, suddenly lost interest in us and began lumbering off in the direction I had come from.

“Does that thing think Lord Haydam ran off that way?” Lucas said.

“Shit, I feel like I just lost ten years off my life,” Bones muttered, his usual self back, cursing in relief as the giant moved away.

But my expression remained grim.

It was fortunate that the monster’s low intelligence meant it passed us by, but the fact that it was heading in the direction I came from meant it was going straight towards the Commander.

Lucas and Bones seemed to catch on from my expression.

“Don’t tell me… is His Excellency in the direction it’s going?” Bones asked.

I nodded, and the moment I did, Bones dashed off somewhere. He quickly dragged out the bike that had crashed into the Snow Giant earlier and was half-buried in the snow.

“What are you standing around for? We need to follow it!” he shouted.

Bones, that guy—just a moment ago, he had been crawling on the ground, terrified.

Still, it was a relief that once his mental state recovered, he could pull his own weight.

If not, it wouldn’t have been worth the risk I took to come find him.

Lucas took the wheel, I jumped on the front, and Bones squeezed onto the back. As soon as we were all on, the bike sped off.

By that time, the Snow Giant had already gotten quite far ahead.

“What the hell is that thing anyway?” Bones shouted over the engine.

“Snow Giant! A legendary-class monster!” I yelled back.

“A legendary-class monster? Is that even a real thing?!”

“It’s not originally from this area!”

“My eardrums are going to burst! Both of you, shut up!” Lucas shouted, unable to stand our yelling over him anymore.

Though the Snow Giant took long strides, it moved slowly, so we were able to catch up quickly.

The problem was that catching up didn’t exactly provide a solution.

We stopped the bike at a distance where we could watch the Snow Giant continue walking.

“…How are we supposed to stop that thing?” Lucas asked, tilting his head up to look at the monster towering above us.

“Should we just ram it with the bike?” Bones suggested.

“I already tried that,” I replied, keeping my eyes fixed on the creature.

At this rate, it would soon reach the crevasse where the Commander was.

There was a chance it would just pass by without incident.

I had hurried after it because I was worried the tremors from its footsteps might cause another collapse in the crevasse. But now, the monster seemed to have slowed down, glancing around the snowfield as if searching for me.

‘I hope it’ll just go back to its territory quietly…’

We kept our distance, trailing behind it cautiously.

I judged that it was better to avoid provoking it and risk causing another collapse in the crevasse. It was smarter to pray that it would leave on its own.

But as if to mock my hopes, the Snow Giant reached the crevasse and began to reach down toward the cliffside.

“What… what is it doing?” Lucas asked, puzzled by the sudden action.

Both Lucas and Bones had confused expressions, but I knew exactly what the creature was trying to do.

Because I knew who was down there where it was reaching.