Hunting the Spider (6)

4.7% success rate, that was the probability of Yakt Spinner being able to defeat the Special Entity named Leon.

That's the odds for a fighter that's lost its legs and wire cutters. In fact, that's including the fact that it would self-destruct due to a battery surge.

However, there was a trick that boosted those odds to 93%.

Yakt Spinner had a large stockpile of explosives, about two tons that it had buried for use in the event of a final push, when it could no longer produce or maintain ammunition.

Though it was beyond the scope of his calculations that the final self-destruct target would be a single threat, Yakt Spinner would not hesitate to risk everything to fulfill his last order.

-Bang!!!

A boom echoed throughout the city as two tons of explosives went off at once, instantly burning away all the oxygen in the building.

The sturdy buildings shatter, the pressure of the explosion violently pushing the air out of the way and sending out a powerful shockwave.

All buildings within a two-kilometer radius of the explosion's center are gone, and all buildings within 10 kilometers are crushed or cracked.

The shockwave extends outward for 20 kilometers, blowing Hunters who are resting from injuries to the ground.

Smoke from the explosion was sucked up as air once again filled the vacuum created by the crushing fire in the atmosphere.

Explosive smoke billowed upward as a huge hemispherical cloud of dust spread in all directions like a mushroom.

No one would survive that blast.

It was an obvious guess.

* * * *

Unit JS-10,253 was manufactured 1,038 years and twenty-two days ago.

Unlike its factory-built siblings, the intensely intelligent Yakt Spinner was built for the civilization's final showdown.

The Yakt Spinners of the 112th Unmanned Armored Regiment, including their commander, 10,253, had only one order: never let the center of the city be unsealed.

Ensure that what is sealed in the heart of the city is never unsealed and do so by any means necessary but they were never given the chance to fulfill the order.

As they were being produced and transported from the factory, the enemy attacked, destroying the train and more than half of them before they could be put into service.

No. 10,253 would have been destroyed without a last-minute emergency start by the transporter.

"Protect the city! Go! Do your duty!"

The transporter was devoured the next moment.

Taking over the command module, 10,253 accessed the integrated network system. With the 37th's remaining forces, it cleared the raiders and headed for the city.

The sky was filled with gray dust, and the ground shook from time to time from the explosions, hindering their ability to maneuver.

Near the top of the cliff, a comrade was buried with the collapsed earth.

The Red Menace attacked from all sides, at all times.

Surrounded by an endless stream of enemies and mechanically slaughtering them, a mushroom cloud rose.

He entered an emergency evasive maneuver, but was unable to prevent half of his teammates from being caught in the shockwave.

[JS-10,244 Unable to process. Contamination level 8, lethal to civilians.]

[JS-10,185 Core damaged. Level 14 radioactive material overflow.]

Most of them were contaminated and decontaminated late. They followed the logic and calculated the damage to the citizens if they entered the city and agreed.

[Contaminated entity to cease activity immediately. Commence self-destruct sequence.]

[Execute order from interim commander JS-10,253. Initiate self-destruct sequence after friendly units have departed.]

The late decontaminated units buried themselves in the ground and self-destructed.

The city they arrived in was under attack and 10,253 gave the order.

[Initiate fire support to friendly forces. Defend the city.]

Twelve machines entered the fray and were able to repel the enemy. They became the city's heroes.

"Yakt Spinner! Yakt Spinner!"

The people cheered the killing machines that had saved them.

The story of the drone that sniped and killed the enemy leader in a desperate situation, and was willing to throw itself to save a citizen from the aftermath of an explosion, was a fable that inspired hope in the city.

They became a symbol of hope and knights of steel that protected the people.

The regrouped Yakt Spinners, under the command of their commander, defended the city.

They defended and defended and defended, until there was nothing left to defend when the final battle was over.

The defense system was only 3% operational and less than five citizens remained but most of them mortally wounded.

The chance of survival was 0% and the last inhabitants of the city would die.

"Yappy. This is it. Last order."

The commander, roughly ignoring the blood throbbing in his bitten arm, gave his last order.

He explained why the city was being raided over and over again, what it was sealed and built upon.

And that the seal must never be broken,

"Guard the seal. Do not let anyone approach."

– May future survivors not be as foolish as we were.

As they fell, one by one, the end came.

The city in the middle of the wilderness had only one drone left.

JS – 10,253 had done its duty faithfully.

Do not allow the seal to be broken.

Protect the seal. Protect the city.

Eliminate anything that approaches the city.

To conceal the sealed section, a maintenance shop was built on top of it, and explosives were placed to bury it in case of emergency.

Using the knowledge in the database, it repaired the city's defenses, refurbished its body, and crafted supplies using auxiliary joints and facilities to replenish its railgun shells and ammunition.

It was lucky to have a mine near the city so it could make cheap black powder.

Prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare, for an enemy that could come at any moment.

That's how it survived for a millennium.

In the aftermath of the explosion, the dust clears and the intruder walks through the wreckage, unharmed.

Holy Law <Protection of the Arrow Shield>

The absolute defense against ranged attacks neutralized even Yakt Spinner final self-destruct and it even protected the Yakt Spinner itself.

He swung his iron sword to break the seal on what was sealed 'beneath the workshop'.

"This is what you were meant to protect."

He poured cement to bury it, built a workshop over it to conceal it, and finally detonated an explosive to bury it.

Today, with no cipher left to unlock the protocols, the vault has been cut open with an iron sword.

What was revealed was a black sphere that seemed to condense endless darkness.

Black smoke billows from it, contaminating life with its overflowing residue. This is not a nuclear reactor or radioactivity. This is the thing that threatens the city, the thing that has poisoned the human world.

The Wisdom Orb.

This is the gate's closing condition and the reason for Yakt Spinner millennial mission.

-Chirp! Chirp!

Yakt Spinner dragged its half-destroyed body, inching closer to Leon.

Forcing its severed joints to move, it wrapped its broken wire cutters around Leon's ankle with its remaining secondary arm.

There was no power left to pull it. Even if it had any energy left to fight, it had a 0.00% chance of taking down a level 5 threat.

Knowing this, the machine lurched forward, intent on taking Leon down.

"Still trying to fight?"

Leon turns to face Yakt Spinner, holding the black sphere.

The camera eyes, now down to one, stared at the sphere from start to finish.

Leon closed his eyes as he watched the machine struggle to get the sphere out from underneath him and retrieve it.

"How long have you guarded this, how many years have you fought?"

As if empathizing with the years, the knight watched the machine before him wordlessly.

The time it had spent repairing itself, tearing itself apart, repairing itself again, replacing itself… its indomitable will deservedly rewarded.

"You have fulfilled your mission to the end."

He sincerely lamented his inability to communicate with the machine before him. How could this honorable one not be called a knight?

"A knight of loyalty and a knight of faithfulness, your service is beyond measure, and all living things are indebted to you."

Leon raised his holy sword as he knew that the sphere of evil could only be cut by it.

-Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The neatly sliced evil screamed in agony and vanished as the Holy Grail, the purifier of evil, absorbed it and finished it off.

...…

Yakt Spinner was silent.

What must the machine be thinking, witnessing the destruction of what it had kept sealed for so long?

Without a word, Leon conjured holy water from the Holy Grail.

Pouring the holy water, Leon humbly steps forward and drops to one knee in full reverence.

"Sir Yakt Spinner, I solemnly declare that your quest is complete."

The seal was broken.

Never let out one of the things that destroyed the world. It was what powered Yakt Spinner for a thousand years.

Now it's gone, and there's no need to keep the seal.

The Last Order has been brought to an end after a thousand years.

-Chirp! Chirp…!

The last remaining camera eye blinked. As if it knew it was finally over, freed from its fate.

[Yappy, you are a hero to the city.]

[Yappi! Thank you for protecting the city!]

[Yappy!]

"May you rest in peace...."

The voices that remained in the old, worn memory module came to an end.

* * * * *

[Quest cleared]

The Hunters scratched their heads at the sudden message.

Cleared? What? Does that mean they've defeated Yakt Spinner?

The Hunters, still reeling from Yakt Spinner guerrilla warfare, couldn't believe it: the vicious killing machine had fallen?

But at the same time, they remembered the anachronistic knight who had stared down at them with a misguided, arrogant gaze.

Who else but him could have defeated the machine and completed the quest.

"He was a good man until the end."

Golden Chul acknowledged him honestly. Although Yakt Spinner was an unfamiliar enemy, it was a formidable foe that even he, an S-class Hunter, couldn't do much about.

If he could clear it alone against such a monster, the future of Korea would inevitably be centered around him.

"Let's prepare to withdraw, everyone!"

He was encouraging his tired men when a man appeared in the distance.

"What is that?"

The man was carrying the wreckage of a massive piece of machinery… the remains of Yakt Spinner that must have weighed tens of tons.

"Ohhh…! Your Majesty!"

Gil Tae-sung, who had meanwhile acquired the proper manner of addressing Leon from Ha-ri, turned to him exaggeratedly.

"I was worried that the explosion might have damaged your jade body."

"You're full of flattery, spellcaster. What's the matter with you?"

"Haha...."

Tae-sung glanced at Leon, searching for something he should be holding. But he wasn't holding any of those things so Tae-sung wondered.

"I… Your Majesty, do you happen to know where the Jewel of Wisdom is....?"

"Destroyed."

"What?"

At those words, Gil Tae-Sung and the Hunters stopped dead in their tracks.

Destroyed it? The thing that the Tower had spent tens of billions to get? Why?

"That, do you know what kind of object it is? The Wisdom Jewel… it's… it's a high-grade treasure!"

"What are you talking about, you lowly thing!"

Leon shouted at Gil Tae-sung to shut him up, but Gil Tae-sung and many other Hunters didn't understand his behavior.

The condition for clearing the gate was the destruction or capture of the Wisdom Jewel. According to Gil Tae-sung, if it was a high-ranked treasure, it was something that the nation would do everything in its power to obtain.

"It is a vile thing that corrupts people. No good can come of it in human hands."

"And for that reason alone, you have given up on it?"

"Only that reason?"

Leon's eyes narrowed, and Gil Tae-Sung felt a chill run down his spine, overwhelmed by the look alone.

"Foolish things, don't you realize that your paltry values will ultimately destroy the world?"

With that disdainful glance, Leon left and Ha-ri hurried after him.

-Your Majesty, do you want me to lift it? Uhm… I don't think I can lift it all, but....

-Don't touch it. It is not for commoners to touch.

-Eh....

That was the end of the raid on the Cheongju Gate.