An Unexpected Variable
Yesterday he'd fought aggressively with a hand axe. Today was the complete opposite.
Riot shield in his left hand, entrenching tool in his right — he was prioritizing defense over offense.
"KRAAAAGH!!"
"Ah…"
Because when someone was in danger like that, you had to save them.
He'd chosen defense over attack for the sake of keeping people alive. More precisely, to stop any Mutants from being created here.
THWACK!!!
He slammed the shield into a zombie's cheek, then brought the entrenching tool down on the head of the creature that crumpled against the wall.
"Be careful."
"Th-thank you…"
"KRAAAAGH!!!"
"Hyung!! Over there!!"
"I'm going! Busy, busy…!"
Was that the power of a major character? Just yesterday he'd been someone I had to help, and now he had enough breathing room to watch his surroundings.
I had the luxury of Enhanced Vision making every zombie's movement crystal clear — but this guy had carved out that room for himself with nothing of the sort.
Maybe his Agility was one point higher than mine? Next time I got a stat point, I should dump it into Agility.
"Don't just try to fight them head-on! Use the terrain — tables, chairs, whatever's around you!!"
"KRAAAAGH!!"
"Die!!"
"I said don't just fight them!!!!"
They really didn't listen for shit. Especially the ones who'd lost family here — they lost their composure every single second. Revenge, resentment, hatred, rage. And emotions beyond anything words could capture.
"Yeongsu…"
"Hyeonggon-ssi!! Snap out of it!!"
"Yeongsu… Yeongsu…"
"KRAAAAAAGH!!!!!"
My words had struck a chord, and they'd come down here to let their departed children or parents rest in peace. But the moment they came face-to-face with family turned into monsters, every hard-won resolve crumbled to pieces.
It couldn't be helped. That was why I had no choice but to focus on defense over offense.
THUNK!!!!
The father, shattered by the sight of the entrenching tool buried in his son's skull, collapsed onto the floor. But there was no time to sit there like that.
"Mingu! Get this guy to the back!!"
"Got it!"
"Yeongsu… Yeongsu…"
"KRAAAAGH!!!!"
"KRAAGH!!"
"KRAAAAA!!!"
My thinking had completely flipped from the start. The more the fighting dragged on, the more I felt it in my bones — just how incredible this skill was, the one I'd written off as useless garbage.
If I'd gotten anything other than Enhanced Vision? I never would have even attempted a fight like this.
Whoosh!!!
I tracked the hand reaching from the left and leaned my face back just enough to dodge. Through the splayed fingers of the zombie sweeping past my eyes, I gauged the distance to the one charging from the front and raised the riot shield I'd dropped low.
THWACK!!!!
As the zombie I'd hit in the jaw flipped over and went sprawling, I wrapped my left arm — still holding the raised shield — around the arm of the zombie right in front of me, locked it in place, twisted my body to the right, and hurled it into the one charging in.
"KRAAGH!!"
"KRAAGH!!"
While the two tangled zombies danced together, I slipped past them and sprinted down the corridor.
Tap!!
I planted a foot on a chair someone had set up as a barricade, launched myself into the air, vaulted over a running zombie's head, and brought the entrenching tool down.
THUNK!!!
I yanked the tool free from where it had buried itself cleanly in the back of a zombie's skull and got back on my feet.
"Th-thank yo—"
"Get up and fight!"
The high schooler pinned under the dead zombie shoved the corpse aside with effort and rose. That one had been razor-close. If I hadn't spotted him in time, I wouldn't have made it.
But could I keep protecting people like this? Could I clear the mission without a single casualty?
"KRAAAAAAGH!!!!"
"KRAAGH!!!"
"KRAAAA!!!"
"KRAAAAA!!!"
"KRAAGH!!!"
A pack of zombies was charging from the far end of the corridor. Had they come in from outside?
"Hyung!!!"
"I see them!"
This wouldn't work. We had to seal the entry point first. But why were zombies pouring in? Had something happened to Kwon Suhyeok?
Think later. Move now.
Thud-thud!!
I charged the oncoming horde and angled the riot shield in my left hand. Not to protect myself — to cover as wide an area as possible. Then I slammed into them, trusting my Strength of six.
CRAAASH!!!!
The impact threw me backward like a rag doll. But the zombies fared no better. The three in front toppled, and the ones behind tangled in their legs and went down in a heap.
About ten of them. Even if I hammered their heads like a game of whack-a-mole, I'd still get pushed back. And I hadn't come here to get pushed back.
"Mingu! Something to block with!!!"
"Augh!!!! Stop yelling at me already!!!"
While waiting for Mingu, I planted the tilted shield upright and drove it into the floor. That should cover the ones crawling up to bite my legs. In the meantime, I'd kill as many as I could.
THUNK!!! THUNK-THUNK!!! THUNK!!!
Every time the entrenching tool came down, a canyon-like gash opened in a zombie's skull.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The ones I hadn't managed to crack started pounding on the shield — I stepped back immediately and brought the tool down again.
That was when it happened.
"Out of the way!!!!"
I turned my head and jumped back at once.
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!!!!!
A middle-aged man who'd lost both sons had brought other men with him, and they started flinging tables and chairs from the cafeteria into the corridor where I stood. A barricade stacked piece by piece.
"Leave this to us and go!!"
"Are you sure you'll be all right?!"
"Go!!! Hurry!!"
"I'm counting on you."
"Hyung! I'm he—"
"Too late. Follow me."
"Augh…!!!"
I joined up with Yang Jaeyeol, who was swinging his machete like a maniac, with Park Mingu arriving a step behind.
"Hey, asshole!! It's me!!!"
"Hah…! Hah…! Mingu… Hyung…"
"……"
It hadn't been that long, but every trace of composure had vanished from Yang Jaeyeol's face. Same Stamina of four as me. But Jaeyeol had been swinging that machete without a single pause, fighting zombies nonstop. I hadn't rested either, but I hadn't pushed myself physically the way he had. And Jaeyeol had been fighting the kind of fight where a single moment of carelessness meant death — the mental fatigue alone had to be crushing.
I had room to breathe because my eyes were good. This guy had made room by killing zombies.
But there was no time to rest.
"Jaeyeol, hang on a little longer. If we fall back now, everything we've done is wasted."
"Yes…! Hah… hah…"
"Mingu."
"Yeah!"
"Switch with me."
"Huh…?"
"Give me the axe. I'm going to start killing for real. You take the shield and support Jaeyeol."
"Ah… okay!"
Entrenching tool in the left hand, hand axe in the right. Armed in both hands, I went wild — even more of a maniac than Yang Jaeyeol.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
"Haaah…! Haaah…!"
"Ah… I feel like I'm gonna die…"
Thirty minutes after I started going all out, we managed to clean up the first basement floor. Not by my strength alone — while I'd been helping defensively, the others had cut the zombie numbers by more than half.
"Hyung… so why isn't the quest ending…?"
"There's still the second basement floor."
"What?! You've gotta be fucking kidding me!! We have to do this again?!"
We did. But not right now. Me, Yang Jaeyeol, Park Mingu, everyone — we were all exhausted.
"Hey, mister."
"Huh…?"
"How much time left on the quest?"
"Ah… that… five hours and twenty-six minutes left."
"Whew…"
Plenty of time. Clearing this floor had taken about two hours, so even if the next one took longer, three hours at most. We could rest for at least two.
"I don't know if anyone has an appetite, but… they said they set out food in the cafeteria upstairs, so let's head up and eat something. You need food to fight."
"Food…?"
"Come to think of it, we never even had breakfast…"
"Better not to have eaten… if we had, we'd have thrown it all up."
"Hyeonggon-ssi, get up. Your son can rest easy now."
"Sangjun-ssi, you too~ I still haven't even seen my son's face."
"Okay…"
They helped each other up, offering comfort. None of us had much appetite, myself included, but eating would speed up stamina recovery — so everyone headed to the cafeteria.
But in an atmosphere that felt more like a funeral hall, the food went down without anyone knowing whether it was going in through their mouth or their nose. They just forced it in.
"Yeongsu!!!! Yeongsu… my baby… sob… sob…"
"Jinyoung… sob… Jinyoung…"
"Honey…"
"Wh-what about Chanho…?"
"He wasn't there…"
"Our Chanho… sob… I just want him to rest now… sob…"
"He's out there. I'll go send our son off properly."
"Sob… sob…"
Mothers whose sons had died as zombies wailed in grief, and those whose sons were still out there as monsters wept alongside them.
"If you're done eating, let's get up."
"Okay."
"I'm done too… can't fit any more…"
There was no resting in a place filled with the sound of sobbing, so we left the cafeteria. Going home covered in blood wasn't an option either, so we found a decent spot and stretched out to rest.
"Oh, right. Is Kwon Suhyeok okay?"
"Ah…"
"Do I have to go again?"
"What, you want the high-value personnel to move?"
"Huuuh…! Fine, the most useless Park Mingu will go check!"
"Good boy~"
"Sorry, Mingu."
"If you're sorry, you go…!"
"No. Too lazy."
"You think I'm not lazy?!"
But Park Mingu didn't have to bother after all. Two people who always stuck close to Kwon Suhyeok showed up with news.
The woman who'd explained why they'd posted the rescue video — her name was Kim Hyeonji, I think. And the guy… what was his name again… ah! Park Dokyeong.
"Suhyeok oppa is fine. But the zombies by the parking garage exit keep going inside even when we shout at them… Suhyeok oppa doesn't know why either…"
So they really had been coming in from outside. Kim Hyeonji was a woman, so fine, she hadn't joined the fighting — but Park Dokyeong was a man. Why were his clothes so clean? Come to think of it, I didn't remember running into him downstairs either.
"We have some time, so I think it would be better to identify the cause and move more carefully. No one was hurt or killed this time, but there's no guarantee it'll go that way again. Ah! Of course, while you rest, we'll look into why the zombies are flowing toward the parking garage. We didn't even join the fighting, so we should at least do this much."
"Right."
"Pardon?"
"Park Dokyeong-ssi, you're a man. Why didn't you fight?"
"Ah… I'm not very confident with physical work, and my stats are low… I'm sorry…"
"Oppa, why are you apologizing?! Everyone's good at different things, and everyone has their own role!"
"Hyeonji, lower your voice. These people are risking their lives to fight. They're entitled to ask."
"But…!"
"We'll do what little we can to keep the zombies from coming in. Let's go, Hyeonji."
"…Okay."
The moment Park Dokyeong and Kim Hyeonji left, Park Mingu dropped onto the floor and muttered.
"I don't like that noona…"
"She's a noona?"
"Yeah. One year older than us."
"Hmm…"
So this Park Dokyeong guy was pretty trusted. Even when I'd said worse things in the cafeteria, no one had gotten angry — but a little snide remark at Park Dokyeong and she was yelling like that.
Well, not my problem. Trusted or not, I just hoped no zombies would pour in during the second basement floor assault.
Maybe because our bodies were so tired, time flew by. The two hours we'd set aside for rest were already gone, and we were down on the second basement floor of the underground mall, locked in a desperate fight with the zombies.
"KRAAAAGH!!!"
"KRAAGH!!"
"KRAAA!!!"
"KRAAAAA!!!"
"Wh-why are there so many here?!"
"It's fine! Don't panic! Once we hold the line like upstairs, it'll get easier!!"
Would it, though? This was too many. Way too many. And had those two even done their job properly?!
"KRAAAAAAGH!!!!"
"KRAAGH!!!"
"KRAAAA!!!"
"KRAAAAA!!!"
"KRAAGH!!!"
Zombies kept pouring in endlessly from the end of the corridor. No good. We had to fall back.
"Everyone, slowly pull back!! You four — go up first and get ready to block the stairs!!"
"G-got it!"
"Let's go!"
"What?! We're just turning around?!"
"There are too many. We can't do this as we are."
"But we handled it fine upstairs!"
"Get greedy and you die."
"Th-that's true, but…"
"Fall back!!"
That was when it happened.
"AAAAAAGH!!!!!"
"Jongjin-ssi!!"
"Help over here!! There are zombies—"
"R-run!!!!!!"
From the top of the stairs. Two of the four we'd sent up came scrambling back down, and right behind them—
"KRAAAAAAGH!!!!"
"KRAAGH!!!"
"KRAAAA!!!"
"KRAAAAA!!!"
"KRAAGH!!!"
"KRAAAAAAGH!!!!"
Zombies started cascading down the stairs.
"Everyone, get in there!!!!!!!"
"G-get in!!"
"Hurry!!"
"Move it!!!"
"Jaeyeol!!"
"Yes! Hyung!!"
"I'll help too!!!"
What the hell was this? Why were zombies pouring down from the first basement floor — the one where every single entrance had been sealed off?!