The Retired Max-Level Worker Wants to Rest - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Turk

TL/ED – Miso

Gates.

They appeared in major cities across the world, including Seoul. They spewed out countless monsters, and humanity was helplessly pushed back.

It was a city, and they hadn’t been prepared.

But humanity was not weak.

The military was mobilized to evacuate civilians.

Bombings drove the monsters back.

Tanks blocked the roads, and rifles held the line.

“……Gates have formed at a total of twelve locations in Seoul, including Yeonsinnae, Jongno, Nowon, Apgujeong, and Songpa. Military authorities have sealed off the affected areas with the goal of complete annihilation-”

Seoul, Republic of Korea.

It was no different there.

There wasn’t just one Gate, and more were still appearing. And from each one, monsters poured out without fail.

And.

“Save us! Please, save my son! He disappeared when that Gate formed!”

“He got sucked into the Gate! I saw it with my own eyes! Please!”

“I’ll go in myself.”

“Just open the way for me!”

There were missing people.

But the Gates were impossible to approach.

With monsters pouring out endlessly, how could anyone get close? The military had to maintain strict control for their operations.

A week passed like that.

“Huh? Isn’t that a person?”

People came out of the Gate.

They were the missing people.

Crackle-!

And they were also mages.

The lightning that burst from his body burned the monsters. He incinerated dozens of them in a single strike.

That wasn’t the end.

Shing-

There were people carrying swords, too.

They had transcended the limits of humanity.

They moved faster than the eye could follow.

Strange energy swirled around their blades.

What’s more.

Fwoosh-!

There were even healers who could mend the wounded.

They formed a team and annihilated the monsters.

And they said this.

“If you enter the Gate, you can Awaken. That is, if you can survive and make it back.”

Those words sent shockwaves through the world.

And one more thing.

“The longer you stay in there, the stronger you’ll be. Because you’ll have survived more monsters and killed more of them.”

What they said was true.

But they had something to add.

“……In reality, though, lasting more than a month is virtually impossible.”

They had come out after only a week.

And yet they were inhumanly strong.

* * *

We ran.

I put the oxygen mask on Cha Yu-ra and carried the Gauss Rifle myself. The man was holding his breath, his face turning red.

“Yu-ra ssi, Barrier on Dong-cheol ssi, please!”

I’d been wondering why she wasn’t doing it.

But then.

“I’m sorry! There must be a time limit, it won’t work!”

So that was it.

She needed time.

Park Dong-cheol, meanwhile, had picked up a sturdy rod. The tip was pointed, so he couldn’t slash with it, but he could stab.

I turned around and pulled the trigger.

Pshk-!

I wanted nothing more than to fire on full auto.

But ammo was scarce.

‘One shot, one kill.’

The Barrier she’d cast on me had faded.

But breathing wasn’t much of an issue.

‘It’s more manageable than I expected?’

Maybe it was thanks to Breathing Adaptation.

A fair amount of time had passed and I felt fine.

Even while running.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

Park Dong-cheol had reached his limit.

Cha Yu-ra passed the oxygen mask to him.

In the meantime, I took down another Creed.

Pshk-!

But the Creeds were fast.

And they came from underground, too.

Thunk-

A Creed lunged out of nowhere.

Park Dong-cheol stabbed it.

Its body should have been tough, but apparently skills really did make a huge difference. The rod punched straight through its head and killed it.

“Keep running!”

I could still manage to speak.

Though my head was spinning.

Pshk-!

Got one more.

Just then, Cha Yu-ra collapsed. When Park Dong-cheol had briefly borrowed the mask, she couldn’t hold her breath any longer and had inhaled.

“Get up!”

I had no issues with survival.

Maybe it was from leveling up, but I could breathe fine and my stamina had improved. It wasn’t just raw strength; it felt like my entire body had gotten tougher.

But the others hadn’t managed to level up.

Pshk-!

I pierced the head of a Creed that had chased us all the way to the front.

Crack!

Park Dong-cheol helped from the side.

He shouldn’t have had any air left, but the guy must have had solid stamina.

Still, even that would hit its limit soon.

Pshk!

I got one more.

At least we’d thinned them out considerably.

Park Dong-cheol sat down and took the oxygen mask off the unconscious Cha Yu-ra. He breathed deeply, then passed it back to her. The problem wasn’t just a lack of oxygen; it was the high concentration of carbon dioxide.

‘They won’t last long.’

Would they also gain Breathing Adaptation?

If so, all we had to do was wait here.

As long as the oxygen mask kept them alive, they would recover. They’d come back stronger, better adapted than before.

Pshk-! Pshk!

The Creeds stopped charging in.

A few lingered around the edges, nothing more.

Even these things didn’t blindly throw themselves in.

‘Phew.’

I finally had some breathing room, too.

My lungs were fine and my stamina had risen.

And then.

-Your level has increased.

It went up again.

And with it, everything felt noticeably better.

“……Looks like we’re in the clear.”

I lowered the muzzle.

I leaned back and let the tension drain out of me.

My body felt like it was going limp.

This high-concentration carbon dioxide… maybe it wasn’t so bad after all?

“Gack, cough-!”

The man’s breathing opened up.

He tried putting the oxygen mask on and taking it off.

He was adapting faster than expected.

Maybe his level had gone up.

“Can you carry her?”

“Her?”

“Yes.”

The man lifted the woman onto his back.

He fitted the oxygen mask over her face.

“Let’s head over there.”

It was visible now.

A ruined base.

Nothing looked intact at a glance. But even if it was half-destroyed, all I needed was a Turk. With one of those, I could build a base from nothing in the middle of a wasteland.

And a wrecked base?

Repairing it would be a piece of cake.

Trudge, trudge.

We walked across the wasteland.

I had the Gauss Rifle slung over my shoulder, a precious battery in one hand, and the Fusion Cutter in the other.

.

.

.

We arrived at the base.

Only scraps remained of the perimeter fence, and almost no buildings were intact. In the midst of it all, there was no trace of people, as if the bodies had all been dragged off or everyone had retreated.

“Let’s rest here.”

We entered the control room.

Since it was deeper inside the building, the walls were still standing; only the door had been ripped off.

“……She’s still not waking up.”

“She’s alive, right?”

“Yeah, looks like she’s breathing.”

Cha Yu-ra.

She still hadn’t come to.

It didn’t seem like she’d failed to gain Breathing Adaptation. If she had, she would have been dead already. She was still breathing, so she’d only lost consciousness.

‘There should be a first-aid kit somewhere.’

Found it.

It held syringes of various colors.

‘Bracer.’

A respiratory stimulant and circulation booster.

Used for carbon dioxide poisoning, asphyxiation, and loss of consciousness.

Stab.

Below her heart.

I plunged it in without hesitation.

Park Dong-cheol, standing beside me, flinched.

But.

“Haaahhh-!”

Cha Yu-ra regained consciousness.

I had forcibly increased the oxygen exchange rate in her alveoli.

And one more thing.

‘Revital.’

This was a vitality recovery agent.

It also had a consciousness-restoring effect.

Cha Yu-ra still wasn’t fully coherent. She was conscious, but dazed, caught somewhere between sleep and waking. I could tell from the way her pupils couldn’t quite focus.

Thunk.

The shoulder this time.

Heave.

Her chest heaved.

She drew in a deep breath. It was a reaction caused by high-concentration ATP being injected into the body, flooding the brain and organs with energy.

“She’ll come around in a minute. Keep an eye on her, please. Guide her through some deep breathing, too.”

“……Got it.”

Park Dong-cheol answered.

He probably had a mountain of questions.

But there was no time for that right now.

‘I need to find a Turk.’

In my past life, I’d piloted a Turk for thirty years straight.

Starting from the Space Marines, the combat troops always looked down on us construction robot laborers. But anyone who’d spent a few years in the field knew.

‘You can’t do a damn thing without a Turk.’

A barren wasteland with nothing.

Find the minerals there.

Build a base on that ground.

Erect Turrets to hold off the enemy.

Craft weapons and vehicles.

Even build starships that sail through space.

And make nukes. That was what a Turk could do.

‘And if we want to get out of here, we need a radar.’

They’d said there was a Gate that served as an exit.

Just wandering out to find it was an option, sure. But with no idea how vast this planet was or how many Brakta were out there, walking blindly was suicide.

We needed a radar.

And to build one, we needed a Turk.

‘Check the power supply first.’

The power source needed to keep the base running.

“……Destroyed.”

Yeah, of course it wouldn’t be intact.

The Brakta weren’t stupid. After fighting a war against humanity, they knew full well that energy hubs needed to be hit first.

‘Still, there should be a few Core Cells left.’

Large batteries.

These could temporarily bring the base back online.

Grrrn.

A faint vibration.

In that instant, it hit me.

“……Damn it.”

Right. The base had been far too quiet.

The fact that intact Core Cells were still here was strange, too.

With the generator this badly destroyed.

Grrrk.

A stronger vibration now.

I took a deep breath and,

Whoosh-

threw myself aside.

CRAAACK!

Black spines erupted from underground.

They smashed the Core Cells to pieces.

Pwak-!

A violent wave of energy rippled outward.

And then.

Rumble rumble rumble rumble.

The ground shook.

Sinkholes began opening up everywhere.

Dash dash dash dash!

I ran.

Behind me, the spines shot up once more.

I threw myself again, and,

“Ngh.”

My thigh was pierced.

It felt like it would tear apart with every step.

‘Trust in Super Regeneration.’

I kept running anyway.

This was pure willpower.

It was the only way to survive.

‘For the sake of my retirement!’

I couldn’t die here.

That would just be too unfair.

Dozens of Creeds were chasing me.

‘Damn, damn, damn.’

Cree’vah.

Cree, to crawl, to seep.

And vah, living thing, monster.

A name formed by combining those two words.

A creature that lived underground for decades without eating or drinking. Sometimes one would be hidden inside a base like this, with Creeds left in dormancy nearby.

A living landmine.

Pshk-!

I took out a Creed.

But there were too many.

Grrrrr-!

Rumble rumble rumble rumble!

“Damn it all-!”

I ran faster.

What I was looking for,

“Found it!”

The Maintenance Bay.

The kind of place where a Turk that hadn’t been deployed during the war might still be stored.

‘I can’t believe how happy I am to see one of these!’

I’d never wanted to ride one again.

I’d sworn it to myself over and over during that last mission.

Never again!

I’ll sit in a lawn chair and drink beer!

Retire and rest.

No matter what!

‘Survive first, worry later.’

Click. Hisss-

The moment I opened the front hatch.

Slash-

Something cut across my back.

A deep gash through the muscle.

“Gah!”

Thud.

I dropped into the cockpit and sealed the door.

Bang bang-!

Several of them clung to the Turk.

But Turk armor was famous for being tough.

“You bastards!”

I pulled a syringe from my chest pocket and jammed it into my shoulder.

The coagulant and stimulant I’d grabbed earlier.

“Phah-!”

My breath burst out.

The bleeding stopped and my head spun like a top.

Whirrr.

I powered it on.

-User recognized. To receive piloting assistance, please……!

Turned it off.

I didn’t need AI assistance.

I activated the Fusion Cutter.

Whooooom-

Blue plasma flared to life.

I drove it into a Creed’s head.

Pwak!

The skull burst apart on the spot.

Several Creeds were still clinging to the sides and rear.

The range of motion on a Turk’s arms was remarkably wide.

Whooooom-

Pwak! Pwak!

I dealt with the ones attached.

Now for the rest.

Still a few dozen at least.

But it didn’t matter.

‘I spent thirty years on the battlefield!’

This was nothing.

Turk armor wasn’t invincible. A few more hits and it would be punctured. But all I had to do was not get hit.

Whirrrr-

The Turk pulled free from the maintenance rack.

The Creeds swarmed in.

And I showed them what real Turk piloting looked like.

Whooom- Pwak!

Whooom- Crunch!

The power of a Turk-class medium Fusion Cutter.

The Core Cell didn’t have much power left.

Click. Whirrrr-

Cable Blade.

I fired the wire and snagged a Creed.

Whirrrr!

Reeled it back in.

WHAM!

That was the Turk’s fist.

1.1 tons of weight behind it.

The Creed exploded on impact against the Turk’s armor, a high-density alloy of titanium and ceramic composite finished with nano-restoration coating.

-EXP has increased.

-EXP has increased.

-Your level has increased!

Those messages flickered across my vision, and

I killed the Creeds in a trance.

For the first time in a long while, it felt like I was back on the battlefield.