Among the many stories from World War II was one about the Polish cavalry.
When people first heard the story of cavalrymen charging on horseback against vehicles covered in steel, they assumed the Polish soldiers of that era had been so backward they didn’t even know what a tank was, and that this was why Poland had ended up being occupied by Germany.
“During World War II, the Polish cavalry charged on horseback against tanks! What idiots!”
Of course, after the story became famous, people eventually learned that it had actually been a distortion spread by Nazi Germany and that the reality had been different.
No one considered the Polish cavalrymen who had charged against the tanks backward anymore.
The Polish cavalry of that era not only knew perfectly well what tanks were, but also used fairly effective anti-tank weapons. The horses were nothing more than a means of transportation.
One of Jan Zabłocki’s ancestors had been among those men who, during World War II, had ridden toward German tanks, and Jan had heard that story since he was a child.
Their descendants also took pride in the charges their ancestors had carried out.
“The blood of the Winged Hussars runs through our veins. The blood of those capable of charging against anything for their homeland.”
Jan Zabłocki was one of them.
Of course, another major factor was that the Polish Space Forces, hoping to attract young talent, had created a unit called the Winged Hussars that only the very best aces could join.
Jan wanted to display the image of the legendary Winged Hussars, the famous Polish cavalry, in space.
He took pride in that, and that was why Jan Zabłocki ventured into space without the slightest hesitation.
In other words, Jan had also been quite seduced by the prestige of the name and by the fact that simply managing to enter that unit meant he could earn a lot of money and become extremely popular with women.
His subsequent military life wasn’t bad either.
He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Winged Hussars unit.
In any case, Jan Zabłocki enlisted in the Polish Space Forces and distinguished himself as an ace in every respect.
His life changed when he became a lieutenant.
Lieutenant Jan Zabłocki was assigned to planet Palabo, and there he witnessed a Behemoth.
Since he was a member of the elite, the Polish Space Forces usually assigned him only to places he could handle without too much trouble.
Although they didn’t do much after arriving either.
At the time, the area where the Behemoth had appeared was quite far from the Polish headquarters.
However, the Korean headquarters, which maintained good relations with Poland, was within the Behemoth’s territory, so they went there to provide support.
Jan didn’t see it directly.
“A Korean Space Marine, meaning a mere soldier, saved a general from a Behemoth? What kind of madness is that?”
They could only observe the situation from afar.
Against an abnormal monster like a Behemoth, anyone who wasn’t a Psyker could practically do nothing.
That was when he heard a story.
“I don’t know if it’s true. But from what I’ve heard, it seems he’s pretty famous over there. They say he’s a fucking lunatic.”
“In a vehicle? He drove straight to where the Behemoth was?”
“The general sent out a rescue request, and a soldier who was nearby took a vehicle, went there, and got him out.”
Jan wanted to experience a life where he could throw himself into danger for someone else.
At the time, most people heard that story as nothing more than a funny anecdote, but Jan Zabłocki felt something different.
The story of a certain Korean soldier.
From then on, Jan Zabłocki began seeking out brutal assignments instead of peaceful ones.
“Three Tank Bugs are approaching!”
Until then, he had never found a place he could truly call hell.
But eventually, the price for deliberately seeking out reckless assignments arrived.
That moment was now.
With the Gate suddenly destroyed, a horde of Tank Bugs was heading toward the headquarters.
At that moment, Major Jan Zabłocki understood.
In the end, someone had to step forward and buy time against the Tank Bugs.
Meanwhile, the forces at the Polish headquarters had been drastically reduced by the sudden battles.
That day had finally arrived.
“I’ll buy time. Prepare the hover bikes.”
That was why he didn’t hesitate.
And the moment Major Jan Zabłocki looked down from the transport aircraft at the approaching Tank Bug horde, he realized something.
‘My ancestor definitely was a fucking lunatic.’
He immediately headed toward the Tank Bug unit at the head of three transport aircraft and fourteen hover riders.
‘And that Korean soldier too.’
Even more than before, he began to feel boundless respect for that Korean Space Marine.
It was impossible to charge at something like that while in your right mind.
The blood of the Polish cavalry.
Of course, that didn’t mean he was going to turn the transport aircraft around either.
They had already come too far to turn back and, one way or another, that blood flowed through Major Jan Zabłocki’s veins.
“Everyone, come back alive!”
That was why Major Jan Zabłocki said it.
The blood of those willing to advance for their homeland.
Wiiiiiing!
With that order, the fifteen hover bikes jumped out of the transport aircraft.
And Major Jan Zabłocki’s hover bike was the first to charge toward the Tank Bug horde.
“God, watch over us!”
***
“Two kilometers!”
As he charged, Major Jan Zabłocki shouted.
The time had come to enter combat, and Kim Seojun began eliminating, one by one, all the unnecessary thoughts filling his head.
‘A One Shot, One Kill mission……’
Upon hearing Private First Class Park Boseop’s words, Kim Seojun took a deep breath.
The first thing he pushed out of his mind was the mission the Status Window had given him.
The reward was extraordinary, but at that moment, Kim Seojun paid no attention to the mission.
Tank Bugs weren’t considered terrifying simply because they were gigantic.
‘It’s fucking impossible nonsense. Tank Bugs can withstand even artillery shells.’
In fact, to humanity, merely being large meant presenting an enormous target that was extremely easy to attack.
What was truly terrifying about Tank Bugs was their external defense, which couldn’t even be compared to that of Mogdogs, and even powerful explosives couldn’t easily penetrate that defense.
The same was true of the Gauss sniper rifle Kim Seojun was holding at that moment.
‘Even with this rifle, I’ll barely be able to penetrate its shell.’
It was like an extremely sharp needle. It could pierce a person’s body, but it couldn’t inflict a wound severe enough to kill them.
Even with the weapon in his hands, inflicting significant damage on a Tank Bug was practically impossible.
Without a doubt, a Gauss sniper rifle possessed power on a completely different level from conventional gunpowder-based weapons.
Of course, aiming for their eyes wasn’t easy either.
Even so, the reason Kim Seojun trusted the Gauss sniper rifle and had decided to provide support was because of the Tank Bugs’ eyes.
‘Except for the eyes.’
He literally had to take advantage of the blink of an eye.
They only opened them at certain moments, such as when they changed direction or when a major disturbance occurred.
For starters, their eyelids also possessed monstrous durability, and furthermore, Tank Bugs didn’t keep their eyes open constantly.
And even if he managed to hit them in the eyes, he still wouldn’t be able to kill them.
‘I’ll only aim for the eyes.’
In other words, from the beginning, Kim Seojun’s objective wasn’t to hunt the Tank Bugs, but to delay that army’s arrival at the Polish headquarters even a little.
‘Just by attacking their eyes, I can reduce their movement speed.’
He lay completely flat on his stomach in the back of the truck.
Then he took position.
At that point, nothing existed in Kim Seojun’s mind except the Tank Bugs’ eyes.
And he assumed a sniper’s position.
The recoil of a Gauss weapon wasn’t something an ordinary Space Marine could control.
Of course, Kim Seojun knew that.
That was why he had prepared everything he could to somehow withstand the weapon’s recoil.
Even the Gauss Rifle Lee Hyena had given him had to be used practically as if it were a shotgun.
And the recoil of that Gauss sniper rifle, far more powerful and belonging to a completely different category, was far beyond what an ordinary Space Marine could handle.
“Please get on top of me.”
At Kim Seojun’s request, Lee Hyena placed her knees and both arms on Kim Seojun’s body.
She pinned him down with the monstrous strength that allowed her to split a Mogdog in half with an axe.
With that, all preparations were complete.
In truth, it was madness.
And at that instant, Kim Seojun immediately injected himself with a Stimpak.
“I’m going to inject myself with a Stimpak.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Stimpak entered his body.
Normally, the recommended recovery time between Stimpak injections was 72 hours.
Because the moment someone ignored that recommendation and injected themselves with a second Stimpak, their physical endurance rapidly declined.
And normally, that interval was respected.
‘Ah, I’m tired. I’d better go to sleep today.’
Furthermore, when people spoke of a drop in endurance, they didn’t mean something like that.
However, Kim Seojun was injecting himself with his third Stimpak before even 48 hours had passed.
It meant literally becoming unable to move one’s limbs.
Of course, since this was the third one, the amount of time Kim Seojun had was limited.
‘I can’t expect the effect to last long.’
Had it not been for the increase in his Endurance stat thanks to the Status Window, it would have been impossible.
Even so, he didn’t care.
Because if he managed to stop even a single Tank Bug, dozens or even hundreds of people might survive because of it.
It was then.
Within that slowed world, Kim Seojun saw it.
A Tank Bug’s eyes opened.
The Tank Bugs had briefly opened their eyes because of the commotion caused by the hover riders of the Polish Space Forces.
Booooom!
Of course, it was only for an instant.
In that brief instant, Kim Seojun pulled the trigger.
Literally for the blink of an eye.
Fwooosh!
The bullet shot forward.
Its speed was absurdly high.
And the moment that sound was heard, the military truck driven by Private First Class Park Boseop shook violently.
Rrrrrrrrumble!
For starters, even the sound was completely different from that produced by a conventional bullet.
The recoil had been enough to make the vehicle stagger.
“Uaaaaah!”
Because the velocity of the Gauss sniper rifle’s projectile was several times greater than the speed of sound.
But the most surprising thing was that all of that had happened after the bullet had already struck its target.
Kiiiiirarararara!
A shriek began to emerge from the Tank Bug’s body.
So by the time Park Boseop began controlling the steering wheel to regain the vehicle’s balance, the result had already occurred.
To be exact, it wasn’t a sound produced by the Tank Bug itself.
In reality, due to the change caused by the Tank Bug’s pain, the Bomb Bugs it carried inside had sensed danger and were shrieking.
Upon realizing that, Park Boseop was about to exclaim.
Tank Bugs had no mouths.
It was then.
“Wow, this is fucking insane, shit!”
A second shot was heard, and the military truck staggered violently again.
Fiiiiiiiiiu!
The shot made Park Boseop swallow the exclamation he had been about to let out.
Lee Hyena was also surprised.
That was how sudden it had been.
‘If one of the Tank Bugs gets hit, naturally the others will open their eyes to check what happened.’
That was part of his plan.
But Kim Seojun was different.
Now only one remained!
Two Tank Bugs had lost their eyes.
The plan worked.
At that point, Kim Seojun hesitated.
Kim Seojun couldn’t predict how the third Tank Bug would react.
‘The third one……’
It was an opportunity that wouldn’t come again.
‘It opened them!’
Within Kim Seojun’s slowed world, he saw the third Tank Bug open its eyes.
It was then.
But then it happened.
‘Wait.’
Faced with that opportunity, Kim Seojun was about to pull the trigger.
Within that world slowed to the extreme, he noticed something strange.
Upon sensing it, Kim Seojun relaxed the finger with which he had been about to pull the trigger.
He had a hunch.
‘Could it be possible?’
One of the Tank Bugs that had lost its eyes twisted violently and collided with the Tank Bug that still hadn’t been attacked.
And then he saw it.
He waited for an instant.
Booooom!
Beneath the Tank Bug’s tough exoskeleton.
The impact caused both Tank Bugs to begin rolling sideways.
And as they rolled, during that situation unfolding literally in the blink of an eye, Kim Seojun saw it.
Among the enormous number of Bomb Bugs filling its interior, he saw three glowing with an intense blue light.
‘They’re armed!’
The Bomb Bugs completely filling its interior.
It was equivalent to a grenade whose safety pin had already been pulled.
They only armed themselves when the Tank Bug gave them the order.
Bomb Bugs never entered an armed state while they remained inside a Tank Bug’s body.
In truth, that was normally impossible.
And at that instant, Kim Seojun didn’t hesitate.
Much less would they arm themselves when subjected to an external attack.
However, in that unprecedented situation, the Tank Bug had either given the wrong order or the Bomb Bugs had reacted incorrectly.
Because any mistake could cause them to explode inside the Tank Bug itself.
Suddenly, Kim Seojun’s world was plunged into darkness.
Ping!
It was then.
He pulled the trigger while aiming at one of the Bomb Bugs glowing intensely blue.
The last thing to disappear would be his ability to think.
Kim Seojun had completely exhausted his Endurance, and all his senses began shutting down one after another.
That was only the beginning.
[The mission……]
And before even his thoughts shut down, Kim Seojun managed to hear it.
That was the last thing.
Babababooooom!
Kim Seojun lost consciousness.
Everything happened in an instant.
From the perspective of the hover riders of the Polish Space Forces, a monstrous roar simply erupted behind them without warning.
Kieeeeeek!
The first to turn his head upon hearing it was Major Jan Zabłocki.
With dozens of Mogdogs chasing him, Jan Zabłocki was luring them while deliberately controlling the distance so that it seemed as though they were about to catch him without actually doing so.
The Tank Bugs had suddenly begun exploding and overturning.
He turned his head.
And then he saw it.
At that sight, Major Jan Zabłocki couldn’t react.
The system composed of his reasoning ability and common sense was incapable of understanding what was happening in front of him.
What managed to move Major Jan Zabłocki at that moment was the blood of his ancestors.
The blood of the Polish cavalry made him understand one thing.
He simply couldn’t think.
The most terrifying part of that army had just been stopped.
‘They brought down the Tank Bugs.’
The moment he gave the order, the hover riders who had come with Major Jan Zabłocki—the eleven hover riders who were still alive—reacted.
That meant they no longer had any reason to remain in that hell.
“Everyone, retreat!”
It wasn’t a reaction born from thought.
Wiiiiiiing!
It was the instinct of soldiers hardened by countless battles, men experienced enough to have volunteered for an operation as absurd as that one.
For starters, Mogdogs were extremely fast.
And behind them they also had some particularly troublesome enemies—the Thorn Snakes.
They no longer needed to maintain a short distance to deliberately lure the Mogdogs, so the hover riders accelerated to maximum speed.
Of course, escaping from there wasn’t easy either.
Precisely because of that.
“Everyone, maximum speed! Run at maximum speed!”
If they managed to escape from there with approximately half their men still alive, they could already consider it a good result.
“Major?”
Toward the Tank Bugs.
After repeating that order, Major Jan Zabłocki changed the direction of his hover bike.
Everyone immediately understood what he intended to do.
On the contrary, Major Jan Zabłocki thought differently.
Major Jan Zabłocki intended to become bait to save his subordinates.
He didn’t hesitate.
‘God, thank you for giving me this blood that I can be proud of!’
He was even glad that he could become bait in that way.
Like a ghost, he dodged the Mogdogs lunging at him and the thorns fired by the Thorn Snakes, drawing the attention of all the Mogdogs and Thorn Snakes toward himself.
And the riding Major Jan Zabłocki displayed next was so extraordinary that it wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to call it divine.
It demanded a tremendous amount of concentration.
Put another way, four minutes was his limit.
He maintained that acrobatic run for no less than four minutes.
He bought his subordinates time to escape.
Finally, one of the thorns fired by a Thorn Snake pierced Major Jan Zabłocki’s hover bike.
The hover bike lost its balance and crashed directly into the ground.
Crack!
Major Jan Zabłocki’s body rolled across the ground like a stone.
It was then.
He prepared to fight to the death.
In that situation, instead of hesitating, Major Jan Zabłocki pulled out the rifle he carried on his back.
Thanks to his riding suit, he didn’t suffer any serious injuries, but by the time he managed to get up, he was already half-surrounded by Mogdogs.
And at the same time, a shadow appeared above Major Jan Zabłocki’s head.
Suddenly, the sound of a military truck rang out in the distance.
Vroooooom!
Bam!
The shadow landed right in front of Major Jan Zabłocki.
And the person who had just landed said.
“I’m reinforcements. Evacuate.”
The moment he saw that, Major Jan Zabłocki understood.
However, his bewilderment didn’t last long.
The person who had just appeared split a Mogdog that had already approached in half with the axe she held in her hand.
Upon hearing that voice through the translator, Major Jan Zabłocki naturally showed a stunned expression.
And he also understood that, before that person, there was only one thing he had to say at that moment.
‘A Psyker!’
The person in front of him was a superhuman capable of treating Mogdogs as if they were nothing.
“Yes, sir!”