Chapter 94: Betrayal
Chapter 94: Betrayal
#
"Ga-yeong!"
Without breaking stride, I kicked off the ground and sprang upward.
Ga-yeong had to understand what I needed.
"Shield!"
A Shield materialized in the direction of my leap.
I used the airborne Shield as a foothold and vaulted higher.
Clink
The Shield shattered after fulfilling its purpose.
Thud
I barely reached them.
"Tae-sik... How did you...? Be careful..."
Flutter flutter
Seon-yeong's weak voice mingled with the Monster Bird's violent wingbeats.
As though the weight of two people were too much, the creature jerked its foot repeatedly.
I desperately tightened the hand barely gripping one of its talons.
When I looked down, the ground was already far below.
After creating a single Shield for me, Ga-yeong immediately resumed fending off the zombies surrounding her.
Deok-hun used his ability to keep the rampaging Monster Boar in check.
Su-jin and Eun-mi were tangled together a short distance from the other raid-party members.
What the hell was happening down there?
"That$#'s r%@^#ight. Snap out of it!"
From behind Ga-yeong's Shield, So-ra raised her stainless-steel spear and drove it into a zombie's skull.
If I hadn't leapt after Seon-yeong...
No.
Thinking that way would accomplish nothing now.
'Save Seon-yeong first. Deal with everything else afterward.'
I raised the head I had briefly lowered.
To climb higher, I tightened my core, raised one leg, and hooked it over the creature's foot.
Or should I call it an ankle?
I didn't know the correct term, but I hauled myself upward and clung near the Monster Bird's ankle.
"Seon-yeong! You fucking birdbrained bastard!"
Blood streamed steadily from Seon-yeong's side.
A narrow jet sprayed from the puncture like water from a squirt gun.
"Stay awake!"
"Hnk... At least you should go back down."
"Choi Seon-yeong! Don't say that. I can't get down right now anyway."
Seon-yeong's voice was far too faint.
I needed to stop the bleeding quickly, but...
The Monster Bird thrashed violently, making everything shake.
Whether because of our combined weight or its efforts to shake me loose, we were gradually losing altitude.
Amid the chaos, I tried to force open its tightly clenched talons.
But my grip was awkward and slick with blood, preventing me from applying much force.
Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack
Changing tactics, I hammered my fist against the thinnest part of one talon.
After repeated blows, blood finally burst forth.
'Fuck... That is my blood.'
Skreeeeek
"Shield."
Clang
The Monster Bird lowered its head and stabbed at me with its beak.
Seon-yeong barely managed to deploy a Shield and block the attack.
Perhaps because of her severe blood loss, the eyes meeting mine grew increasingly cloudy.
"Please stay awake. You can't fall asleep."
I was running out of time.
Panic mounting, I struck the talon again with my mangled fist.
Clink
The Shield blocking the beak shattered, and I wrenched myself backward.
Whooosh
The sharp beak swept directly before my face.
Perhaps because it had lowered its head and couldn't flap properly, the Monster Bird lost altitude sharply.
It withdrew its beak and beat its wings furiously to climb again.
After rising slightly, it lowered its head and attacked with the beak once more.
The creature seemed as confused as I was about what to do.
"Hraaah! All you have to do is let go, you birdbrained bastard!"
Even as it gradually descended, the greedy creature refused to release its captured prey.
I decided to help it change its mind.
Enduring the pain, I hammered the talon with all my strength.
Boom Crack
Skreeeeek
At last, the talon broke.
The Monster Bird shrieked in agony and spread open the talons it had clenched so tightly.
Freed from its grasp, Seon-yeong dropped limply.
The moment she fell free, I jumped from the leg to which I'd been clinging.
Whoooosh
"Seon-yeong!"
Wind roared past my ears.
During my struggle with the Monster Bird, we'd descended considerably.
Even so, we remained roughly five stories above the ground.
I thought I might survive a landing from that height.
'Please... Just let me catch Seon-yeong as she falls.'
"Grab hold!"
I stretched one hand toward the plummeting Seon-yeong with all my strength.
Once again, the world seemed to unfold in slow motion.
Seon-yeong fell upside down with her back toward the ground, looking up at me.
Her hair streamed violently upward as she reached toward me with both arms.
Blood leaking from her side brushed my cheek.
Thud
A tremendous impact struck me from behind.
Seon-yeong's clouded eyes suddenly widened.
"No!!!"
My body jerked backward.
Her voice rang out far louder than before.
Time snapped back to its normal pace.
Seon-yeong rapidly receded below me.
Unbearable pain shot through my shoulder.
As something dragged me upward, I desperately burned the scene below into my memory.
Corpses filled the base's courtyard.
The Monster Boar had risen and resumed rampaging.
Zombies continued pouring through the destroyed barricade.
Ga-yeong leapt upward from a Shield.
And Seon-yeong fell directly into the center of it all.
She was covered in blood.
Drenched red, Seon-yeong shouted something toward me.
Her face filled my vision one last time and seared itself vividly into my mind.
'It's all right. I'll return. Please, just survive.'
I couldn't force the words out.
I merely formed them with my lips before pain overwhelmed me again.
"Gaaaaagh."
My body shook violently, and my vision spun.
#
The Monster Bird was playing with me.
First, it had bitten down on my torso, causing the impact I felt.
Then it opened its beak and clamped down on my arm instead.
It wasn't even a predatory beast, yet it whipped its head around with my arm caught in its beak.
Well, perhaps not a beast, but certainly a monster.
What kind of bird flew around with a person in its beak?
Its aggression was as monstrous as its size.
As it bit and shook my arm, searing pain flooded my shoulder. I couldn't tell whether it was dislocated or broken.
Crunch
Clenching my teeth, I held onto the consciousness that the pain had nearly stolen.
My head whipped back and forth, and nausea surged through me.
I reached out with my uninjured hand and groped for anything I could seize.
Snatch
I appeared to have caught hold of the Monster Bird's feathers.
Tightening my abdomen, I drew up my legs.
Relying entirely on bodily sensation, I pulled my feet into the gap between its open beak.
I planted both feet against the lower half of its beak.
"Hnggh."
I drove both feet outward.
Like performing a leg press, I straightened my bent knees and pushed simultaneously.
The creature's beak slowly opened.
I tested the left arm that had been trapped and tried to form a fist.
Fortunately, I could still exert force.
Skreee gwehng gwehng
"Argh. My eardrums."
Sensing that something was wrong, the Monster Bird released a bizarre cry.
It thrashed in an attempt to shake me loose.
'Now it was refusing me as a passenger?'
No chance.
I slipped free of the opened beak and quickly seized its feathers.
It had refused to release me earlier, and now it expected to do as it pleased?
Shiiiiek
The rushing wind sounded terrifying.
I looked around. A fall from this height would certainly kill me.
We'd climbed high enough that the cars below resembled toys.
The creature also appeared to be flying at an insane speed.
Starting from its beak, I climbed toward the back of its neck by grasping one handful of feathers after another.
I had barely hung on with the strength of both hands. Once I could sit with my backside braced against its neck, I finally caught my breath.
I grabbed the long plume trailing from its head.
Then I clamped its neck between my thighs and found a stable position.
Gwee-ik gwee-ik
The Monster Bird thrashed even more violently.
It spun through the air in a frenzy.
Its spectacular aerial acrobatics sent the entire world spinning.
"If I let go, I die! Would you release your grip if you were me?!"
I screamed as I wrapped my arms around its neck and clamped down with my legs.
To keep from falling, I continued choking its neck with both arms and thighs.
The dizziness was bad enough, but a strange stench also came from the creature.
Our desperate struggle continued until, at some point—
The disgusting eye directly in front of me rolled.
Its pupil drifted upward until the entire eye turned white.
Shwoooooo
"Uh... What's happening? No. Hey, wake up!"
Bam bam bam
The creature stopped flapping and began plunging headfirst toward the ground.
I pounded on its skull, but the rolled-back eye didn't recover.
Had it actually lost consciousness?
"No!!!"
Somehow, I'd put the Monster Bird into a rear-naked choke.
The creature and I shook violently.
Its wild, irregular spinning made it impossible to orient myself.
Our falling speed also seemed to be increasing.
Was this what they called gravitational acceleration?
I had never wanted to experience it firsthand.
Through the scenery that occasionally flashed into view, I realized that the ground was rapidly approaching.
"You fucking birdbrain."
I grabbed the creature's torso and tried to force it into a different orientation.
I had to use the bastard as a cushion.
If I struck the ground directly, Body Enhancement or not, I'd be flattened instantly.
Flailing around, I learned that regaining balance or turning my body in midair was incredibly difficult.
If I'd enjoyed hobbies like skydiving in normal times, it would've helped right about now.
But did that cost a lot?
'Should've had at least one apocalypse-ready hobby...'
Shwooo boom
Regretting my past of doing nothing but gaming after work, I lost consciousness.