The Retired Max-Level Worker Wants to Rest - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Survival

TL/ED – Miso

Second year as a Construction Robot Operator.

It was right when I’d just started getting the hang of things.

“Hmm~ hm hm hmm~”

Bzzzz-

I was extracting resources.

Leisurely humming a tune.

A familiar sound came from far away.

Da-da-da-da-dak!

It was definitely a swarm of monsters.

Weren’t they supposed to be on the offensive out there?

The fact that they’d made it all the way here meant…

‘Wiped out.’

I rushed toward the bunker.

But there were no soldiers there either.

There weren’t even any Construction Robot Workers left.

They’d scraped together every last worker and sent them out!

‘Damn it! They took all of them and still got wiped out?!’

This is why having a good commander matters.

Abandon the defensive line.

No, abandon the entire base.

‘Go, hide, survive!’

That lasted three months.

On land crawling with monsters, I had to survive alone. Finding water and food, scavenging parts from broken equipment and collapsed bases.

“Aaaaaargh!”

Swarms of monsters came pouring in.

I had to fight with a Gauss Rifle. I had to dig tunnels in the Turk to escape, block paths with minerals, and hold out for days on end.

Forget reinforcements, not even a rescue team came.

Everyone had given up on me.

No, apparently they didn’t even know I was alive.

‘Even if they had, they wouldn’t have come!’

I know that now.

For them, the strategic big picture mattered more.

A single worker dying meant nothing to them.

But I survived.

How?

‘By scraping together every last thing I could find and building a Transport Ship!’

I nearly died dozens of times.

That was how I escaped that place.

And returned to the main force.

That was probably when it happened.

When I officially enlisted.

* * *

The old memory surfaced suddenly.

How hard those early days had been.

Just getting through each day was no easy feat. There was no water or food, not enough oxygen generators or power, and nowhere to even lie down.

And that wasn’t all. The monsters charged at any living thing on sight. It was lucky the Turk was so tough; otherwise, I would’ve been dead already.

It was, in every sense of the word, brutal.

“……Shit.”

A curse slipped out.

It really was those bastards.

[Brakta]

That was the species name.

A portmanteau of Breaker and Insecta.

Meaning bugs that destroy.

And the name of those monsters was.

“Creed.”

They ran in packs.

A name derived from the sound of their footsteps.

“Creed? How do you know that?”

“I just made it up.”

Two out of the fifteen had followed me.

Twelve remained back there.

Five of them had died in an instant. Several scattered in all directions, and one of them suddenly discharged a bolt of electricity.

‘Magic?’

I shook my head.

Don’t focus on things I can’t understand.

I surveyed the inside of the base.

Click.

I tried flipping the power on.

Nothing, as expected.

‘Is the power supply still alive?’

A little remained.

Did the circuits fry?

I’d need to open up the panel below the main controller.

“Hand those over.”

I retrieved the items I’d given the two of them.

Among them, the [Portable Fusion Cutter] was an all-purpose tool. Cutting, welding, mineral extraction, disassembly… it could do it all.

‘I can hook up the power via a wired connection. The Resonance Wave Device is for mineral extraction, so I don’t need it right now……’

Click.

I began disassembling it by hand.

Using a piece of debris nearby to unscrew the bolts.

I checked the [High-Speed Plasma Oscillator] inside. This was needed for both cutting mode and welding mode.

Just a small adjustment would do.

I pulled a few parts from the Gauss Rifle that had been split in half and repurposed them.

Snap. Click.

A few seconds passed.

I closed the lid and connected the wires.

Power flowed into the Fusion Cutter.

Bzzzz-

Done.

It worked.

BANG-!

The Creed had arrived.

No other survivors, it seemed.

A Modular Temporary Base was fragile. A few dozen seconds was all it would take for them to punch through, and everyone inside would be torn to pieces.

“U-um, excuse me. Is it going to be much longer?”

“Kyaaah! What do we do?!”

The two of them were in full panic.

But I didn’t have the luxury of worrying about them.

Keeeen.

I cut open the panel below the main controller.

Damaged circuits were visible.

If I strip these and connect them directly…

Hummm.

The circuit connected.

Click.

I turned on the power.

And then.

Huuummm-

The lights came on in the base and oxygen began flowing.

But this was only the beginning.

BANG-! BANG!

The Creed couldn’t be dealt with like this.

I worked the controller.

‘Shields, automated defense system, turrets…… there’s nothing.’

Nothing was functional.

At this rate, we’d die.

BOOM-! BOOM!

“There’s a hole in the door!”

“Should we block it with this?”

One of them was pushing a storage locker over.

I ran to it and cut the lock off.

And then.

“Found one.”

An intact Gauss Rifle.

Ammo too.

Ka-chunk.

I loaded it and spoke.

“Step back.”

The two of them flinched and retreated.

I opened the door.

Pshhh-!

Kirik-?

A Creed stared at me.

Those disgustingly dull eyes were the same as ever.

Kiiiing.

The charging hum of the Gauss Rifle.

The moment the Creed took a step forward.

Pfft-!

The gunshot wasn’t loud.

The Gauss Rifle was a coilgun powered by electromagnetic force, after all. But the round punched clean through the Creed’s head.

Plenty more remained.

But it didn’t matter.

‘I spent thirty years fighting these things!’

I hadn’t only fought from inside a construction robot.

When I took the robot off to rest, if a swarm of Creed showed up, I had to grab a rifle and step up. It wasn’t a frequent occurrence, but over thirty years, it added up.

More than enough to make this second nature.

Pfft-! Pfft!

One shot, one kill.

I checked the transparent membrane.

‘I can still go out.’

I stepped outside.

Pfft-! Pfft!

I picked them off one by one, nice and steady.

Nothing difficult about it.

These things only had close-range attacks.

I could predict their patterns in my sleep.

That was when I’d killed ten of them.

“Phew.”

All done.

And then.

-You have hunted a [Creed].

-You have hunted a [Creed].

-You have hunted a [Creed].

.

.

.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

Quite a bit went up.

And.

-Your Level has increased.

-Your Level has increased.

A total of two Levels gained.

A surge of elation coursed through my body.

‘What is this?’

My stamina was filling up, and I felt stronger.

Something stirred in my lower abdomen.

I was curious right away, but that wasn’t the priority.

-[Beginner’s Grace] will end soon.

Right.

I needed to get back inside.

But before that.

‘Just this one thing…!’

An oxygen mask that looked reasonably intact.

I had to grab it and get inside.

-5, 4

A timer was visible now!

I couldn’t believe it only gave me a warning with five seconds left.

There were still 30 meters to go.

If the buff disappeared now, I’d be in serious trouble.

I didn’t know the atmospheric composition, but…

-2, 1.

‘Damn.’

Ping.

My head spun.

This place didn’t just lack oxygen; it was a high-concentration carbon dioxide zone.

“Ha..”

I held my breath.

But I’d already inhaled once.

My vision blurred.

‘Keep moving.’

Walk.

I had to walk.

But why was there still so far left…

Thud.

My body went limp.

But my mind was still awake.

I kept walking anyway.

I couldn’t last any longer.

Then.

Thud.

Someone caught me.

‘How?’

Did they hold their breath and come all the way out?

That would make it possible.

But it wasn’t something just anyone could do.

Thump.

I collapsed onto the floor of the temporary base.

“Haaaaah…”

I drew in a long, deep breath.

The oxygen was stale compared to Earth’s, but incredibly precious.

“Huff… huff…”

I took deep breaths for a while.

Slowly, my head cleared.

In front of me were one man and one woman.

“……Phew, thank you.”

The least I could do was show gratitude.

The woman answered.

“Don’t mention it. You saved us first.”

“Seriously, I thought we were dead.”

I shot to my feet.

There was one more message.

-Trait [Breathing Adaptation] has been generated.

What was this now.

Was it a system that maximized physical adaptability?

“One moment.”

I checked the oxygen levels from the control panel first.

‘Not enough.’

Obviously.

The door had been smashed open.

There was a basic [Air Shield] in place, but oxygen consumption was bound to be significantly faster. Because it wasn’t using an [Energy Barrier].

‘Welding.’

Right, it was crude, but this came first.

Straighten what was bent, seal what was torn. Where material was needed, I’d pry steel plates from the storage lockers and weld them on.

This was why the Fusion Cutter was the best.

Bzzzz.

I got to work immediately.

The two of them watched from beside me, looking amazed.

“……Are you a technician? That welding is practically divine.”

“Yeah, I did a bit of this out in the field.”

Of course I was confident in my welding.

I spent thirty years welding on battlefields in my past life.

Naturally, I’d be good at it.

“Hah, done.”

Finished.

Oxygen consumption had clearly decreased.

But that alone wasn’t enough.

‘Oxygen and power. Still not enough. Two hours at most. And even if food isn’t immediate, we’re going to need water.’

The bare essentials of survival.

In my previous life, when I was a space construction worker, getting stranded alone behind enemy lines had been fairly common.

‘What should I do.’

Should I take both of them with me?

Or would going alone be better?

If resources were available, taking them was the better call. On the assumption they followed orders, extra hands were a significant help.

‘But there are no resources.’

Try to scrounge up as much as possible?

Nothing was immediately visible.

I didn’t know how far I’d have to travel from this base, but finding a warship or an outpost was the only real shot.

But then.

“So, what abilities does everyone have?”

Cha Yu-ra asked.

Well, if I had one, it made sense others would too.

“Mine is regeneration. Wound healing, something like that, though I’m not sure of the details.”

I answered first.

Then Park Dong-cheol, who was beside me.

“Mine says [Physical Enhancement]. Guess it makes the body tougher?”

Not bad.

He had a pretty solid build, so he’d probably put that strength to good use.

“Mine is [Barrier]. Like this…”

Her name was Cha Yu-ra.

She extended her hand toward me.

And then.

Bzzzz-

A faint shield formed around my body.

‘Energy shielding? A force field?’

What was this.

It was a type of shield even I had never seen before.

But it looked remarkably useful.

‘Wait, the atmospheric composition is different?’

Breathing felt much cleaner.

I opened the door as I was. I’d gained [Breathing Adaptation], but it shouldn’t have been able to completely block out the high-concentration carbon dioxide.

“Ha..”

I inhaled.

Definitely different.

This wasn’t just a physical barrier, it seemed. It appeared similar to an ‘Energy Barrier,’ the kind that filtered out harmful substances as well.

“This Barrier, is there any kind of description for it?”

“No, there isn’t…… but it looks like it protects against that sort of thing too.”

She stared with just as much wonder.

This needed further investigation.

Clap.

I got their attention with a clap.

And spoke.

“You both want to make it out alive, right?”

“Yes, yes!”

“Me too!”

The two of them listened to me well.

That was why they’d followed me all the way here.

Even carrying the supplies I’d tossed to them.

On top of that, they’d watched people die right in front of them, so having this much composure was impressive. Either incredible mental fortitude, or a very strong will to live.

But right then.

Da-da-da-da-dak!

From the ground strewn with corpses.

Dozens of Creed climbed up.

There had to be underground tunnels.

“……Ha.”

Right, in this world, a leisurely survival was a luxury. Thirty years of comfortable living in this life had made me forget that.

There was no time to rest. I had to keep moving.

Even a conversation like this was a luxury.

I shouted.

“Grab everything! Hold your breath and get ready to run.”

The Gauss Rifle and ammo went to the man.

The battery went to the woman.

‘Hurry!’

In one hand, the Fusion Cutter.

In the other, the oxygen mask.

I repaired and searched at the same time.

‘Come on, come on.’

Accessing the database.

Finding what I needed.

And.

‘Found it!’

A construction robot, a Turk.

That was all I needed.

Survival and escape.

No, at that point, full-on slaughter would be possible.

Because with it, I could build a base.

“They’re almost at the door!”

“We’re getting out. Stay close!”

“Okay!”

Pshhk-

I opened the door.