Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 573

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Central Shelter located closest to where Kale Heniatus stayed.

“Damn it!”

Je Ha-jeong, who served as the supporter at that location, contorted her face while her hands trembled violently.
From her hands extended wooden vines that tightly wrapped around a massive iron door.

Crash! Bang!
Yet with each thunderous blow striking that iron door, it seemed as though it could shatter at any moment.
In fact, it was already breaking apart.

The iron door was dented and warped in places, bending gradually as gaps began to appear.
And beyond that iron door.

“Kee-hee-hee-hee!”

The laughter of a creature resembling a monkey echoed through.
Each time that laughter rang out, the sound of the blows against the iron door grew louder.

“Cursed beast!”

My face twisted in anguish.

‘It’s toying with us!’

The monster was now playing with the humans huddled inside the building, desperately trying to hold out however they could.
But even that time was running out fast.

“Brother!”

At Je Ha-jeong’s desperate cry, Bae Chul-ho, known as the General at the Central Shelter, tightened his grip on the paper clutched in his hand.
It was information brought by Park Jin-tae, the leader of the nearest Central Shelter, just last night.
When Park Jin-tae first brought the information, claiming it came from a foresight ability user at his shelter, I thought the reckless man had finally lost his mind.

But every piece of information he brought turned out to be true.

With the eclipse came the monsters. The weaker ones, classified as grade-3, rushed forward in waves.
Then seven taster monsters appeared.

The accuracy of the prophecy sent chills down my spine, yet the information written within allowed me to endure—barely.
…Yes, I managed to hold on.
But now it seemed impossible to continue.

“Ugh.”
“Hah, gasp.”

Behind Bae Chul-ho, the wounded groaned in agony, their bodies pressed against the wall.
And before him.
Beyond the crumbling iron door.

“Kee-hee-hee-hee!”

With the laughter of the crimson ape monster, I felt the creatures drawing closer.
Through the single window left with a narrow gap among all the barricaded ones, grade-2 monsters were pouring in.
The other taster grade-1 monsters, who had been leisurely enjoying this spectacle from the rear, were also approaching.

This all began after Steel Hawk vanished from among the taster monsters.

“Brother!”
“General!”

Bae Chul-ho heard voices calling out to him from all directions.
The veins in his hand gripping the paper bulged as if they might burst, yet his expressionless face remained fixed on the iron door that threatened to give way.
But there was nothing more he could do.

“Brother! I can’t hold on any longer!”

Je Ha-jeong cried out to Bae Chul-ho, her face on the verge of tears.
Her trembling hands and sweat-drenched body betrayed that she had reached her limit.

Bae Chul-ho gripped his weapon once more.
If holding the line inside the building was impossible, then he would have to step outside and draw the monsters away himself.
Bae Chul-ho opened his mouth.

“…Je Ha-jeong.”

At that call, Je Ha-jeong’s face twisted as if she understood his intent.
Bae Chul-ho and Je Ha-jeong’s voices spilled out simultaneously.

“You can stop now-”
“Brother, I can hold on a bit longer-”

That was when it happened.

{From now on.}

Everyone inside the building fell silent.
That voice.
How could anyone forget that voice that had echoed during the eclipse? It was the voice that had provided information every hour.

{From now on, I will dispatch the First Support Unit.}

Je Ha-jeong and Bae Chul-ho’s gazes met.
Bae Chul-ho’s fists clenched with renewed strength.

{Hold on just a bit longer.}

The Woman’s voice continued.

{The First Support Unit will eliminate all the trial monsters.}

The tension drained from Bae Chul-ho’s clenched fists.
At the same moment, Je Ha-jeong murmured.

“…What? Is that even possible?”

Eliminate all the trial monsters? Could such a thing truly be done?
That thought flickered through everyone’s minds.
Then Bae Chul-ho’s voice rang out through the building.

“Everyone, just hold on a little longer!”

A person bearing an arm injury turned to Bae Chul-ho and opened their mouth.

“General! No matter what, I can’t believe that statement-!”
“Either way, they’re saying they’re coming to help!”

At Bae Chul-ho’s words, the person who had been speaking to him fell silent.
Bae Chul-ho surveyed his surroundings.

‘Escape is already out of the question.’

When the grade-3 monsters surged forward, there had been a few who attempted to abandon the Central Shelter and flee, but most remained inside the building.
They had come to realize that the outside was equally hellish.
Moreover, Bae Chul-ho had persuaded them based on this information he held.

‘Now, whether it becomes gruel or rice, we must endure here.’

Through one night.
Bae Chul-ho made his decision.
And he approached Je Ha-jeong’s side.

“Je Ha-jeong! Just a bit longer, I ask of you!”

With those words, Bae Chul-ho’s hands moved toward the iron door, which was somehow holding firm with wooden branches instead of weapons.
Je Ha-jeong’s face contorted at the sight.

“…Damn it! If you put it that way, I have no choice but to hold!”

With an expression full of irritation, he poured strength into his trembling hands.

“Sigh.”
“Come on, let’s go.”

Several others also shook their heads and approached the iron door, bracing it with both hands.
These were those whose injuries were not too severe.
The remaining people began moving busily once more.

“Hey! Grab that sofa and move it near the door!”
“Check the 2nd Layer! Is there anything else to throw out? What’s the status on the one making Molotov cocktails?”
“They’re passed out now, exhausted!”
“Ugh, anyway! Throw anything outside! We need to delay the monsters approaching as much as possible!”

But those sounds too came to an abrupt halt.

“Kee-hee-hee! Hee-hee! Kee-hee-hee-hee!”

The monster’s laughter grew increasingly louder.
But soon they regained their composure.
It was because of the words that lingered in their minds.

‘From now on, I will dispatch the First Support Unit.’

In any case, if they could endure just a bit longer, things would improve from their current state.
This thought began to take root in the people’s minds.

But time was not abundant.
It was around the time a few minutes had passed since that voice was heard.

Crash! Bang! Crash!

Je Ha-jeong felt her legs growing progressively weaker.

“Ugh!”

She no longer had the strength to even open her mouth and complain.
She could only swallow her groans.
Someone who had been watching her turned to speak to Bae Chul-ho.

“When will they arrive? They need to come faster!”

Bae Chul-ho could not answer that question. He had no choice.

‘…It will take a while.’

He recalled the distance between the Central Shelter where Park Jin-tae served as leader and this Central Shelter.
For Central Shelters, they were relatively close to each other, but in practical terms, the distance was quite considerable.

‘Moreover, right now I cannot think of distance alone.’

They would have to overcome the obstacles—the monsters—to travel from that Central Shelter to this one.

Bae Chul-ho had been told to hold out a bit longer from the other side, but he judged that time would be quite substantial.

‘Even if the sun were to set—’

The problem wasn’t crossing past the monsters from over there to reach here and exceeding 5 o’clock; it was if the sun actually set.

‘…They might not come at all.’

Bae Chul-ho contemplated the worst-case scenario.
His position demanded it of him.
Simultaneously, he had to speak to his comrades.

“…If we hold on, they’ll come.”

He was in a position where he needed to harbor even the smallest hope.
Yet because he couldn’t instill irresponsible hope in the people, his mind was consumed with worry about how to endure this predicament.

‘At least the information Park Jin-tae provided is trustworthy.’

That information had not spoken falsehoods.
Therefore, it was the most reliable information available at present.

“H-hey, hyung!”

Then, a voice filled with surprise came from someone peering through the gap in the window instead of Bae Chul-ho, who stood blocking the door.

‘Have they already arrived?!’

At that voice, Bae Chul-ho hurriedly looked toward the one who had called out, wondering if the Support Unit had come.

“General!”

At that moment, a scout from the upper floor rushed down the staircase in alarm, calling out to Bae Chul-ho.
Simultaneously, the colleague at the window whom Bae Chul-ho had been looking at entered his field of vision.

“Ah.”

A sigh escaped from Bae Chul-ho’s lips.
On his colleague’s face was not joy, but despair.
At that moment, the voice of a scout descending the staircase rang out in everyone’s ears.

“A-another monster has appeared in the sky! Based on its size, it seems to be a grade-1 monster!”

Despair seeped into everyone’s faces.

These were people who had just been toyed with by the Steel Hawk, which was 1.5 times stronger than other grade-1 monsters.

‘There is no one here worth conversing with.’

With those words, the Steel Hawk that had been tormenting them departed this place.
After that, grade-1 monsters ran rampant, and grade-2 monsters began pouring in.

Another flying monster in this situation!
The people had to feel profound despair.
At that moment, Bae Chul-ho’s mouth opened.

“…That can’t be.”

The intelligence clearly stated that there were seven grade-1 monsters appearing right now.
But another one appears?
Was this intelligence wrong?
Bae Chul-ho’s mind went blank.
Even at that moment, the voice of someone peering through the window gap continued.

“T-the monster is descending! It seems, it seems to be targeting this place!”

The voice trembled violently.
Fear was woven into it. And that fear rapidly consumed the people inside the Central Shelter.
Noticing this, Bae Chul-ho’s face contorted.

“Damn it!”

Bae Chul-ho removed his two hands that had been bracing the door and hurried toward the window gap.

“Brother, over there—”

His colleague pointed at something through a gap in the window.

“…Hah.”

Bae Chul-ho exhaled a heavy sigh.
At that sigh, the faces of the people inside the building grew even more pale with terror.
The colleague beside Bae Chul-ho cried out.

“F-falling at high speed!”

Just as the colleague said, an enormous monster was descending at tremendous velocity. It appeared as though it intended to demolish the building entirely.
The colleague whispered urgently, speaking only loud enough for Bae Chul-ho to hear.

“Sir, should we evacuate? We can’t hold much longer—”

Bae Chul-ho gazed upward and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Yes. First, the people in the rear.”
“Understood. Moving the elderly first—”
“Wait!”

The colleague was forced to stop speaking by Bae Chul-ho.
Confused, he looked toward Bae Chul-ho.

“Sir?”
“…What is that?”

But instead of looking at his colleague’s face, Bae Chul-ho moved closer to the window.
His gaze fixed on the monster descending at ever-increasing speed.

And then he uttered a single word.

“…A person?”

In that instant, silence fell over the building once more.
Through that silence, Bae Chul-ho murmured in disbelief.

“…A person on top of the monster?”

What in the world was he saying?
Even Je Ha-jeong stared at Bae Chul-ho in shock.
And she saw it, heard it.

In Bae Chul-ho’s eyes, which had been drowning in despair and despondency, a growing intensity crystallized, and his voice shed its uncertainty, filling instead with conviction.

Bae Chul-ho spoke.

“Not just the monster!”

It was unbelievable.
But then she saw them—the people hidden behind the monster’s massive frame.

A person atop the monster’s back.
And several others descending in its wake.
He cried out instinctively.

“The Support Unit!”

With that cry, everyone had to hear one tremendous sound.

Crash!
“Ugh!”

At the same moment, Je Ha-jeong gasped and dropped to both knees.

“Scatter!”
“Get Ha-jeong out of here!”

Those frantically bracing the iron door retreated, pulling Je Ha-jeong with them.

The wooden beam snapped.
The iron door, unable to withstand the force, shattered and tore a gaping hole.

“Kee-hee! Kee-hee-hee!”

Through that opening, a crimson ape-like monster grinned at the people.

Screeeech—
The massive iron door, now riddled with a gaping hole, could no longer withstand the strain and began to crumble slowly inward.
Boom!
The iron door collapsed, and there was no longer any barrier to protect the people inside.

“…Ah.”

Je Ha-jeong’s vision blurred as she witnessed the sight.

“Kee-hee-hee! Hee-hee-hee!”

The crimson monkey stepped one foot into the building.
With its scarlet fur and blood-red eyes, the creature’s face radiated pure delight—as if it could barely contain its excitement at the prospect of slaughtering everyone before it.

‘How did I even hold out this long!’

Blood trickled from Je Ha-jeong’s lips, clenched so tightly they trembled.
This couldn’t happen.
Not like this.
This was impossible.
Her quivering lips parted.

“No, don’t—”

That was the moment.

“Kee-hee-hee?”

The monkey’s head tilted toward the sky.

Boom!
At the same instant, the people witnessed a heavy sound and the shadow it cast upon the iron door.

“Kee-hee-hee?”

The monkey slowly turned its head toward the shadow enveloping its body.
And it saw.

“Roooaaarrr!”
“Grrrrr!”
“Kiiaaah!”

The grade-2 monsters were rapidly retreating backward.
They appeared quite desperate.
But the red ape failed to properly register such a sight.
The people inside the Central Shelter were no different.

“Kee-kee, kee-”

The red ape involuntarily shrank back.
In the ape’s crimson eyes reflected the arrogant black gaze looking down upon me.

Bae Chul-ho’s mouth opened.

“…A tiger.”

A black tiger bearing the mane of a lion descended from the sky to the ground, regarding the red ape and the people within the Central Shelter with noble composure.

That was when it happened.

“Bae Chul-ho?”

The people could see a man riding upon the tiger’s neck.
Bae Chul-ho gazed at that man.
A youth of slight build opened his mouth.

“The Support Unit has arrived.”

Ah.
An exclamation escaped from Bae Chul-ho’s lips.
In his eyes reflected the figure of Kale Heniatus, smiling with ease.
Kale patted the Dark Tiger’s body with one hand.

“Brother.”

Alberu opened his mouth with a furrowed brow.

“…Surely not that situation?”

Surely it wasn’t that situation?
Alberu clung to a fragile hope.
But Kale Heniatus dismissed such hope without hesitation.

“Brother.”
“…What?”

To Alberu, who answered weakly, Kale Heniatus pointed at the red monkey and called out cheerfully.

“Attack!”

Alberu hung his head low and muttered.

“…Damn it.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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