To Kang Juhan
This can't go on…!
Even while facing the crushing presence of the Guardian, Cha Suho kept scanning his surroundings and made the best call he could in a situation that had him backed against the wall.
"Kraaaah!!!!"
He drove his raised right foot straight into the Guardian's fist as it surged upward in a wide arc from below.
Thud!!!
An impact like his sole was shattering slammed through him, but Cha Suho used that force to fling himself backward, buying a single heartbeat of distance from the Guardian.
He twisted at once and thrust his spear toward Lee Yeonghun, who was still swinging a pair of hand axes against the zombies.
Thrust!!!
Lee Yeonghun's eyes went round. The moment he turned his head, every hair on his body stood on end.
Right beside him was the face of a special zombie, mouth still open, its brow already skewered on the spear.
"Suho hyung…"
"Jump over there! Now!!"
"But…!"
"Just trust me and jump!! Everyone run!!!!"
At Cha Suho's shout, not only Lee Yeonghun but Han Nari, Lee Jeongcheol, and Kim Seojeong broke into a sprint.
The zombies that tried to bar their way…
Thrust!! Thrust-thrust-thrust!! Thrust!!
…had their heads punched through by Cha Suho's spear and crumpled to the floor.
Lee Yeonghun, Han Nari, Lee Jeongcheol, and Kim Seojeong were cutting down zombies as cleanly as they could while they ran.
Once the others were clear, Cha Suho spun and swept his long spear with everything he had.
Whoosh!!!!!
The charging zombies were smashed backward by the brutal swing.
But the Guardian was never going to miss the opening that always followed a big attack.
Thud!!!
The fist that crashed into his face sent Cha Suho flying; he tumbled across the ground. The Guardian hopped lightly into the air and came down stomping toward the fallen man.
Crunch!!!!
The blow cratered the floor. If Lee Yeonghun and Lee Jeongcheol hadn't yanked Cha Suho clear, he would have been dead.
"Yeonghun…! Go…!!"
"What are you talking about?! We go together!!!"
"I-It's coming!!"
"Both of you duck!!!"
With one arm each hooked under Cha Suho's armpits, Lee Yeonghun and Lee Jeongcheol were running side by side when Kim Seojeong's cry made them duck hard.
Whizz!!!!
An enhanced arrow skimmed so close over the head of the man being dragged at full speed that it nearly took hair with it, then flew true for the pursuing Guardian's brow.
Crack!!
A swung hand split the shaft in two and sent the pieces spinning away, yet the arrows that kept leaving the drawn bowstring managed to stall both the Guardian and the zombie chase for a precious moment.
"Nari—fire…!!"
"Fire… Ah! Seojeong!"
Hearing Cha Suho's voice as he was hauled along, Han Nari thrust her right hand into her Inventory, yanked out a full oil drum, and hurled it onto the floor. She immediately drew another arrow and nocked it.
Kim Seojeong snatched up the fallen drum and sloshed oil across the floor, the walls, even the ceiling, then dug into her pocket.
Just in case, every one of them had packed a lighter.
Click!! Click!! Click!!
On the third try the flame caught. Kim Seojeong set the oil-slicked wall alight without hesitation.
Whoosh!!!!
Crack—crack—
Lee Yeonghun and Lee Jeongcheol dove through the flames like circus performers and split the work without a word. Lee Yeonghun kept pace with the retreating Han Nari and Kim Seojeong while dragging Cha Suho; Lee Jeongcheol grabbed the remaining drum and flung oil at every zombie that tried to leap into the fire.
Whoosh!!!!!
The blaze roared higher. Zombies wreathed in fire began to scream.
"Kraaaah!!!!"
"Kraaah!!!!"
"Kraaaaah!!!"
"Kraaah!!!!"
"Kraaaah!!!!"
Watching the thrashing, burning corpses drop, Lee Jeongcheol let the empty drum fall and muttered,
"D-Did it work…?"
The pursuit had been cut off—and Cha Suho had engineered the whole thing.
The place they had been fighting was a vast cavern. The zombies, however, had poured from a tunnel with a narrow mouth. Choosing advance over retreat, Cha Suho had deliberately drawn the Guardian far away.
In that single burst of distance he had seized the path that led to the Zombie Queen's sanctuary.
He had made the choice for one reason only.
Because there was only Kang Juhan.
The one person who could keep the rest of them alive.
"Suho oppa, are you okay??"
"Go."
"……"
"Why does this hyung keep telling us to leave?! Leave where? We go together!"
Han Nari helped Cha Suho to his feet, saw that his eyes were locked on the raging wall of fire, and spoke quietly.
"Let's go."
"Hey, Han Nari!"
"We have to go."
"What are you saying?!"
"We have to go now!!!!"
"Hey…"
"Oppa, I'll be right back. I'll bring Juhan oppa! I promise I'll come back!"
"Yeah. I'm counting on you."
"What are you doing! Hurry and follow!!"
Han Nari sprinted down the only path. Lee Jeongcheol and Kim Seojeong stumbled after her.
Lee Yeonghun still stood at Cha Suho's side.
"Go. Without you they won't reach Juhan."
"Hyung…"
"It's fine. I won't die."
"You really better not die…!! That's a promise!!!!"
"……"
Cha Suho gave a short snort of laughter, tapped Lee Yeonghun's chest, and watched the younger man's back as he chased the others. He muttered under his breath,
"I'll try. I don't want to die either."
With the group sent ahead, Cha Suho tightened his grip on the spear until his knuckles whitened and stared straight into the flames.
"Hoo…."
Having faced the Guardian himself, Cha Suho already knew what Han Nari had sensed at once and what Lee Yeonghun had realized only at the last second.
Fire like this would never stop the Guardian.
And if no one held the line, no one would ever reach Kang Juhan.
Whoosh!!!!!
Unlike the zombies that had burned so easily, the Guardian strode straight through the blaze, slapped out the flames still clinging to its shoulder, and roared.
"Kraaaaaah!!!!!!!!!"
"Sorry, but you're not getting past me. Not while I'm still breathing."
Cha Suho and the Guardian locked eyes, then kicked off the ground at the same instant and charged.
Cha Suho was not the only one.
Everyone reached the same conclusion.
"Noona, go."
"Jaemin, even you?! Did you crack your head?! We have to help him!!"
"We have to go!!!"
"Hey! Jaeyeol is your friend!!"
"That's exactly why!!!!!"
"……"
"Please… let's go…!!!!"
"Noona…! Hah… hah… We have to go… We have to bring Juhan hyung back… Hah…"
"Hey! Yang Jaeyeol!!!! I'll go get Juhan hyung! Until then you stay alive no matter what!! If you die, you're dead to me for real!!!!"
"……"
"Kraaaaah!!!!!"
Kim Jaemin, Choi Junseok, O Jihye, and An Gyeongsu all broke into a run toward the Zombie Queen's sanctuary.
Leaving only Yang Jaeyeol behind.
No—leaving only Yang Jaeyeol and the Guardian.
Every zombie that might have interfered with their fight already lay as a corpse.
But those corpses were not the end of it.
"Kraaaah!!!"
"Kraah!!!"
"Kraaah!!!"
"Krah!!!"
"Kraaah!!!!"
The road to Kang Juhan—the road to the Zombie Queen's sanctuary—was still a slaughterhouse.
Drip… drop….
A thick rope of saliva and blood stretched, then splattered on the floor.
"Hah… hah… Fuck… Durability… this time I'm raising it…!"
"Kraaaaah!!!!!"
Kneeling, both hands planted on the ground, blood dripping from his face, Won Gihun lifted his head at the Guardian's roar.
"This is so damn embarrassing…!!"
"Are you okay?!"
Right now Seo Hamin and Yu Eunseol were the ones fighting the Guardian.
Won Gihun's pride was in shreds—women fighting while he, the man, had to be hauled upright by Seo Hayun.
He had no reason to feel ashamed.
Until this moment, Won Gihun had been the one holding the Guardian back.
"Ugh…!!"
"Oppa…?"
"No… I'm fine. Fine. Hooo…."
He blew out a long breath and tested his right foot again.
"Ugh…!!!"
A white-hot jolt of pain shot up his leg.
His shin was cracked.
"Does it hurt a lot??"
"Not at all…!!!"
"It… it really looks like it hurts…."
"It doesn't hurt…!!!!"
"……"
Anyone could see the gritted teeth and the deep scowl meant pure agony.
That no longer mattered.
"Hayun."
"Yes…?"
"Can you go alone?"
"Wh-Where…?"
"To Juhan. That bastard should be busy beating the Queen by now. Tell him to wrap it up and get over here."
"By myself??"
"Please. To handle that thing we need Eunseol and Hamin too. Or maybe Hamin and—"
"No. I'll go alone. I can do it."
"If it gets dangerous on the way, turn around. Got it?"
"Yes."
"Hoo… Hey, you monster bastard!! Round five starts now."
"Hah…! Hah…!"
"You said one minute of rest…!"
"It hasn't been a minute yet?!"
"It feels like it has! Hurry up!! And why are you talking down to me!"
"We're the same age!! Don't like it, talk down right back!"
"Stop yapping and get over here!!!"
"Auuu…!!!!"
Even with a cracked shin, Won Gihun charged the Guardian.
He went down once on the way, but he clenched his teeth, shoved himself up, and charged again.
Seo Hayun started running too.
She vaulted the corpses of fallen zombies and sprinted down the single path toward the Zombie Queen's sanctuary.
Toward Kang Juhan.
There was one fact none of them knew.
Kang Juhan had not yet reached the Zombie Queen's sanctuary.
"This fucking…!! Are you training me like a damn dog?!!!"
I was going to lose my mind.
This was already the third time.
"It's fine. Just three more and we're good."
I forced my breathing steady, dragged Mook across the dirt in a straight line in front of the tunnel mouth, and stepped inside.
I ran hard.
I ran without stopping.
And I arrived.
Right back at the place I had just left.
"Aaaargh!!!!!! I'm going insane!!!!"
After carving through the swarm of zombies and one Guardian, following the only path had spat me out here again.
A chamber maybe fifty square meters across.
Besides the tunnel I had just crawled out of, six more mouths opened in the walls.
Four of them looped straight back here like some sadistic dog-training course. I had just finished the fifth.
No matter how cursed my luck, this next one had to lead to the Queen's sanctuary.
Apparently I really was that cursed.
"Ha… haha… hahahaha~~"
Laughter just spilled out.
Five tunnels checked. Five duds.
"This is actually ridiculous. I'm not this unlucky."
It's fine.
Really fine.
This time I would reach the Queen's sanctuary for sure.
Except—
"……"
What?
Why? Why??
"Why the hell am I back here again!!!!!"
The tunnel behind me was the one I had just exited. Every single one of the six mouths in this chamber led right back to the same spot.
Rage boiled over. I swung Mook like a lunatic, smashing walls and floor without mercy.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!!!!
What?
One section of wall crumbled far more easily than the rest.
And I felt it.
Whoosh—
A current of air.
"Hahahaha~ What kind of labyrinth is this?! Why hide the path and make a whole production out of it! It's just a spawning ground!!!!"
I wanted to drag the pervert god who had dumped me into this world out by the collar and beat him senseless, but right now the Queen's sanctuary came first.
I had already nearly died taking down a Guardian. With the ordinary zombies mixed in, one wrong step and I would have been just another shambling corpse.
The difficulty had spiked way too high.
I needed to kill the Queen fast and go help the others.
But which side first?
Baek Sihyeon was the protagonist; he would somehow finish his Guardian. Suho and Jaeyeol looked like they could hold out.
"Gihun's side first, then."
Gihun was strong, but not on Suho or Jaeyeol's level.
Yu Eunseol and Seo Hamin were with him, yet both were still unfinished. Hamin hadn't blackened, so she wasn't the monster I remembered, and Eunseol still had room to grow.
"I have to get to Cheongdam-dong—"
"Kyaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!"
That was the Queen…
Someone had beaten me here?
Well, I had wasted a lot of time running in circles.
Who, though?
Still—good news. Reaching the sanctuary meant Guardians weren't camping every single tunnel.
Had they already killed theirs and arrived?
"Nah… no way."
I poured on more speed, burst out of the tunnel, and a cavern nearly the size of a soccer field opened in front of me.
And it filled my vision completely.
Nari, collapsed and bleeding, lying right in front of the Zombie Queen.
"Oppa…."
"Kyaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!"
"What the hell do you think you're doing, you bastard!!!!!"