Chapter 93: Betrayal
Chapter 93: Betrayal
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My brain seemed unable to process what my eyes were seeing.
Despite the brutality of the sight, my only response was, "Oh. Only the lower half remains."
Krwaaaah
Zombies began clambering over the wreckage where the boar had destroyed the barricade.
One apparently caught its foot in a gap and could only flail instead of reaching me.
'If you went around a little, you could use the stairs.'
The zombies were trying to reach me, yet I felt as though I were watching a comedy.
I was so detached from reality that the danger barely registered.
"Raid Leader!"
The raid-party members who had entered the apartment rushed back outside.
Then they began attacking the zombies.
I had explicitly told them to remain inside.
The absurd sight abruptly restored my senses.
Their appearance drew the attention of part of the horde that had been unable to approach the Monster Boar.
A tide of zombies poured through the breach in the barricade.
It was as though the castle gate had opened. Before I could stop them, zombies began filling the front courtyard.
"Why did you come outside? I told you to stay in! You can't let them surround you."
"Raid Leader, we'll help you."
"I'll be right there!"
What the hell? Had they all gone insane together?
The raid-party members were behaving strangely.
They fought with desperate intensity, as though I were in mortal danger.
"Why are all of you suddenly acting like this?"
Zombies began encircling the raid-party members.
Whether they realized it or not, they had formed no proper line and weren't cooperating.
Unable to stand by and watch, I hurriedly jumped from the barricade.
But zombies lunged at me as well, slowing my approach.
"Tae-sik!"
"Seon-yeong, take the others back inside. What's wrong with them?"
"I don't know. They won't listen to me either."
Seon-yeong and Manager Lee emerged belatedly from the apartment entrance.
Manager Lee appeared to have regained consciousness and stood holding an iron pipe.
"If they surround us, it's over. Use your Shield to buy some time."
"Got it. Be careful!"
Manager Lee merely stood awkwardly beside Seon-yeong.
Was he still injured?
His face was twisted into a deep frown.
"Sir! We need to deal with that boar as well."
Manager Lee suddenly addressed me in a loud voice.
His words reached me with unnatural clarity.
'We need to deal with the boar as well.'
He was right. The Monster Boar.
'Deal with the boar...'
I had to kill that bastard first.
"Understood!"
I changed direction and headed toward the boar.
The incoming horde obstructed me.
I swung my baseball bat wildly and carved open a path.
I made no attempt to regulate my strength, rapidly draining my stamina.
'I don't have time to wrestle with you. I have to reach the Monster Boar.'
Thump
Something caught against my thigh and halted my advance.
Impatience sharpened into irritation.
What the hell? Looking down, I found small Shields arranged in rows.
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They were spaced in groups of one, two, and three.
Six Shields in total.
That was Ga-yeong's ability.
Why was she obstructing me?
They weren't positioned to block an attack.
Krwaaaack
A charging zombie caught its foot on one of the small Shields and lost its balance.
I immediately crushed its skull.
No—why had Ga-yeong placed her Shields here?
She should have been using them to protect herself and the others.
Wait. Was that not our code?
Shake, shake, shake—
I violently shook my head.
The memory of our encounter with the Prugia Alliance surfaced.
What had those bastards done to us then?
'No. Don't get distracted. Deal with the boar first.'
"Tae-sik, what are you doing!"
Why was I suddenly trying to kill the boar?
"Ah, fuck..."
My mind snapped back into focus, and I cursed involuntarily.
Manager Lee had done something to me.
So this was the offensive ability he had mentioned.
"Kyaaak!"
"No!"
At the screams, I spun around.
The horde had surrounded the raid-party members.
In that position, someone being bitten was only a matter of time.
Seon-yeong struggled to force her way through by pushing back the zombies with a Shield.
Whooosh
Planting my feet, I hurled my baseball bat.
I aimed at Manager Lee, who now had his eyes closed as he concentrated.
Gripping the bat slightly ahead of its center, I sent it flying in a straight line.
Its balance held, and it flew exactly where I intended.
Thwack
"Kkuaaack."
The baseball bat remained parallel to the ground as it slammed into Manager Lee's chest.
I'd thrown it hard enough to lift his body slightly from the ground.
Thud
"Ah, shit."
"What's happening? Tight formation! Form up!"
"Move backward a little at a time."
"Seon-yeong!"
The raid-party members appeared to regain their senses and tried to regroup.
Clearing the zombies from their path, they moved toward the apartment entrance.
But too much distance already separated them.
Boom boom boom boom
To make matters worse, the Monster Boar outside the barricade began approaching.
The chaotic sounds of battle appeared to have drawn its attention.
"Seon-yeong! Manager Lee is behind you!"
Manager Lee, sprawled on the ground, twitched.
I had assumed him dead, but his body shook as though convulsing.
After using another Shield to push back the zombies, Seon-yeong rushed toward Manager Lee.
She planted her feet and drove the stainless-steel spear into him with all her strength.
Shuunk
The sound of the spear piercing Manager Lee's throat was horrifyingly vivid.
Hot human blood erupted like a fountain and drenched Seon-yeong.
Perhaps overwhelmed by the sensation of her first human kill, Seon-yeong froze.
At that same moment, the Monster Boar charged into the center of the courtyard.
"No!"
I drove power into my legs, kicked off the ground, and hurled myself forward.
I had no idea what I could do, but I charged the boar head-on.
Zombies clung fiercely to me, but the momentum of my sprint flung them away.
I drew the hand axe strapped at my waist.
"Mister!"
The raid-party members stood clustered directly in the Monster Boar's path.
I ran diagonally toward it from the left.
I was faster.
I could stop it.
"Hruaaap!"
Drawing a deep breath, I leapt.
The Monster Boar shifted its left eye toward me.
"Die!"
Whoosh—squelch!
I gathered every last ounce of strength and swung the small hand axe.
The boar's eye burst, sending a wet, yielding sensation through my hand.
Kkweeeehk
The injured boar shrieked like a slaughtered pig, this time in genuine agony, and went berserk.
The tremendous, horrifying scream threatened to rupture my eardrums.
The charging beast whipped its head violently, and I desperately seized whatever I could.
It thrashed in a frenzy, lost its balance, and crashed to the ground.
Kugugugugung
Because I was atop the falling boar, I felt little impact.
Being trapped beneath it would have been horrific.
I scrambled up and shook from my hand the tendon-like strands I had grabbed.
Finger-thick cords hung tangled together.
'Could those be optic nerves?'
Looking around, I saw that the boar's frenzy had swept aside and flattened a huge number of zombies.
Because the monster staggered at the end, the raid-party members appeared to have barely escaped its path.
Grrr grrr
The Monster Boar's breathing thundered through the courtyard.
Trying to block out its revolting stench, I crawled onto its head.
Kneeling atop its skull, I chopped downward with the axe.
Thwack thwack thwack
But the small axe I carried as a backup weapon had little effect.
It barely began cutting through the thick hide and coarse fur before its handle snapped.
"Fuck..."
Kkeeehhweehk
The Monster Boar roared and thrashed violently.
Its head shook with such force that I lost my grip and flew away.
I rolled several times across the ground and sprang back to my feet.
"Hurry and stab!"
"Sis... sob... I can't. I can't do it."
When I turned, Eun-mi was clutching Ga-yeong's stainless-steel spear and aiming it at her own chest.
Blood ran down Eun-mi's arm and dripped onto the ground.
'Fuck... No way...'
Kkreereek
As though warning me not to look away, the boar shrieked again.
Then it began spinning in a berserk circle.
Perhaps because it had lost one eye, it staggered and struggled to maintain its balance.
Zombies were trampled and crushed beneath its hooves.
The enormous horde had somehow been reduced to almost nothing.
The Monster Boar's rampage destroyed everything around it.
Crash Kurrrrr
The berserk beast slammed its head into the apartment building and collapsed again.
Balcony windows exploded, and fragments of masonry poured from the wall.
"Tae-sik! Everyone!"
Drenched in blood, Seon-yeong rushed toward us in a panic.
She carried my baseball bat in one hand.
Then an enormous shadow formed around the running Seon-yeong.
'Huh? A shadow?'
Whududuk whududuk
Screeeech
"Kyaaaak!"
A gigantic bird swooped down upon Seon-yeong.
It pinned her body down with its long legs and thrust its beak forward.
"You son of a bitch! You goddamn dog!"
Nothing else around me registered anymore.
I sprinted desperately toward Seon-yeong.
"Shield!"
Peck peck peck
The colossal monstrous bird hammered its beak into the shield Seon-yeong had unfolded.
It seemed almost irritable.
'Faster...'
The unbelievably enormous monstrous bird looked exactly like a crane.
Compared to its body, its neck and legs were long, and its sharp-ended beak was long and slender as well.
White and gray feathers were mixed on its body and wings, while long black feathers grew on its head like it was wearing a hairband.
Its round yellow irises and black pupils gave off a savage light.
Crash
The shield broke apart, and the beast thrust its yellow beak at Seon-yeong again.
The beak alone looked to be nearly a meter long.
"Eek."
Seon-yeong swung the baseball bat and knocked the beak away.
At that, the monster bird stomped down with its long leg, as if enraged.
"Shield!"
Crash
"Grrgh..."
The shield shattered in a single blow.
Seon-yeong rolled sideways and barely dodged the bird's kick.
"You birdbrain!"
I yelled at the top of my lungs to divert its attention.
It rolled its round eyes to look at me, and the gleam in them was terrifying.
It beat its wings as if rearing back.
A powerful gust surged, dust billowed up, and the creature lifted vertically from where it stood.
'I was almost there.'
And clutched in its curled talons was Seon-yeong.