The Age of Adaptation
Could he do it?
Yoo Sung-hwan asked himself that question.
If he came face-to-face with a Jangsanbeom, would he be ready to put a bullet through its target?
Those creatures emitted a specific brainwave that blinded their prey.
They mimicked a companion’s voice and used brainwashed Infectors—or users—as living weapons. They wore people down.
Then they buried their heads in the table someone else had already set.
In other words, for a bullet to reach the middle of its forehead, there were a few obstacles he had to clear first.
I have to stay silent the whole time, deal with the Infectors and users, and identify the Jangsanbeom correctly.
Could he really do that with nothing but hearing and smell?
Yoo Sung-hwan absentmindedly rubbed at his nose and ears.
His senses had definitely sharpened.
Now that he had stepped into the threshold of Transcendence, they were helping hone his instincts to a razor edge.
Even so, humans always leaned on whatever felt easiest.
Not being able to use Trajectory Eye feels like too much of a handicap.
He turned his head.
Jeyca was walking beside him, keeping pace.
Her own innate talent was tied to sight as well.
Appraisal Eye. The ability to distinguish danger by color.
She, too, was being forced to fight without the power she relied on most.
That meant, in a party of three, two people had their core abilities shut down in this mission.
And yet his brother had chosen this place.
Honestly, it was hard not to worry, but whenever he looked at Sung-jun walking ahead, he found himself calming down.
With that easing tension, the world around him came into focus at last.
He could examine the terrain and landmarks with much greater precision.
Groundwater, maybe. But why is it so dark? And there’s some kind of slimy residue, too.
Black water and green mucus.
They clung to the smooth rock and the exposed roots jutting from the ceiling.
And then there was that smell they’d been catching for a while now.
He’d deliberately left his air-purifying mask off, so he could smell it.
A sweet scent.
Then it happened.
The moment he registered the smell, Jeyca sprinted forward.
She touched his brother’s shoulder. Twice.
Yoo Sung-hwan knew that signal well; they had already practiced it enough times.
That was why he could raise his gun at once.
B-7, the firearm he’d bought instead of an Omega Suit, cost 150,000 points.
The gun’s design was simple.
A black right-angle frame with nothing prominent except a single circuit.
He powered up the unit attached to it and brought his eye to the scope.
“...Huh?”
His Trajectory Eye caught countless movements.
Darkness stirred. They were rushing in fast. And then, all he could see was blackness.
For a second he thought his detection goggles had broken.
That doubt barely had time to form.
At the moment he understood, he shut his eyes, and the instant he gave up one sense, a hideous scream crashed over him.
“Help meIwanttoliveit’sdarkandI’msoscared!”
Shiiing.
Metal rang out, cutting through the chaotic shriek.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Yoo Sung-jun knew one thing.
In a world after Dark Cover, strength alone would not be enough to survive.
Just like the countless Infectors, they wielded a wide variety of powers.
They were similar to the innate abilities users handled.
Abilities developed from the brain—the organ brimming with limitless possibility.
What dealt with those powers was not brute force, but mental fortitude.
As for himself, he was already thoroughly used to handling that sort of thing.
But his little brother? Jeyca?
They lacked experience.
What good was knowing the answer if your body froze up in the middle of a real fight?
So he planned to teach them.
That putting knowledge into practice was impossible without countless experiences and repeated training.
Well, aren’t you eager to show yourself right away.
The Jangsanbeom was already using its ability from the start.
Blind. The front of the tunnel was swallowed by darkness.
Yoo Sung-jun shut his eyes completely.
There was no need to worry about long-range attacks.
The traces he’d seen while coming in had already told him why.
Everything it’s brainwashed is close-combat Infectors.
The smooth passage. The traces of Infectors flowing through it.
The black water is Liquid. The green mucus is Gallophon.
Those two were certain.
Level 1 and Level 2 Infectors.
There were no signs of anything else fighting here.
If there had been ranged attacks, there would be gouges in the rock or hard-packed earth, or shattered chunks scattered about.
But there weren’t.
With his enhanced vision, he was sure of it.
So he didn’t need a firearm.
The two behind him would be enough.
He could handle this with what he had.
Shiiing.
Absolute darkness.
He sorted through it in a blackness even deeper than simply closing his eyes.
The slapping sound of wet footsteps. Liquid.
The sweet scent drifting in from the diagonal. Gallophon.
And then—
“I’m hungryI’mlonelyIwantmeatmeat!”
That absurd, half-human shriek. The Jangsanbeom.
There was no need to deal with the beast itself yet.
It still preferred to put its brainwashed minions in front.
Yoo Sung-jun deliberately stamped the ground hard.
Thud!
He didn’t need much.
All he had to do was distinguish the sound of a Liquid’s footsteps.
Graaah!
He could practically see the Liquid approaching with its rotten jaw hanging open.
He swung his sword. No—he tried to swing it.
Fwoosh! A compressed gunshot sliced past him.
The shrieking right in front of him vanished.
A shot from the left diagonal. His little brother.
He adapted that fast?
It wasn’t just that he had good eyes and could shoot well.
His brother simply shot well.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
He ran forward, listening as the wet chorus of footsteps began to thin out one by one.
His level 2 sense of smell guided Yoo Sung-jun straight to the Gallophon.
Gurrrrr...
The thing had probably been startled that something unable to see had come charging at it so precisely.
He could picture it clearly, and so he swept his sword sideways.
The crisp sound of flesh being cut came through distinctly.
The scent was still there. Still connected.
Four separate trails of smell had merged together.
Yoo Sung-jun leapt straight into them.
Loki. Shift the Omega Suit’s power to sensory mode. Available power at 20%.
[Confirmed.]
Thud. Thud. The circuits lit up.
The nanomaterial clung to his skin and sensory organs.
He still couldn’t see, and yet it felt as though everything in front of him had suddenly opened wide.
Yoo Sung-jun breathing deepened.
His senses sharpened to the point where they could not grow any keener.
His heightened mind told him everything was crystal clear.
Grrrk!
The Gallophon raged at the intruder who had plunged into its pack.
They swung their weapons wildly.
I can see it all.
Not through sound.
Through touch. Through the way the wind struck him, sudden and sharp.
One point stood out from the rest.
He moved his body out of that line.
Kwa-hung!
A blast of compressed air brushed his shoulder.
He swung his Agantic Sword with all the strength he had, the blade held tight against his body.
Kwadururuk!
Hot liquid splattered all over the cold steel as it spun through the air.
Rather than savor the heavy, tearing sound of flesh, he twisted his head aside.
The Jangsanbeom was lunging to pierce his skull.
“Meat!”
He couldn’t see it, but he could feel a great deal.
The old stench clinging to the beast’s thick white fur.
The shriek it made by mimicking some victim’s voice.
Most importantly, the wind. The movement that followed its actions could never be hidden.
“Scared!”
He muttered for it to shut up in his head and stepped forward.
He twisted his shoulder sharply to dodge the attack and closed the distance at once.
A foul stench and the sound of breathing drew near.
Had it opened its maw? He thrust out a fist to meet it.
Thirty percent available power. The Omega Suit, shifted from sensory mode to strength, filled his fist with terrible force.
Kwa-deuk!
Teeth, palate, throat—he smashed, tore, and burst through them all.
Under the gurgling sound of ragged breathing, the underside of his fist grew hot.
When that sound broke off abruptly, his vision cleared.
Yoo Sung-jun looked down at the creature with indifferent eyes.
Red eyes. Thick white fur covering its entire body. Its muzzle, shattered by his fist, hung in tatters.
He shook his hand once and let the corpse drop away.
He flicked off the blood and saliva clinging thickly to his skin.
The situation was over.
Yoo Sung-jun looked behind him.
Jeyca?
She had collapsed.
Clutching her thigh, she let out pained little groans.
She was clearly anxious that if she made too much noise, the Jangsanbeom might hear her.
Did she get hit by a Gallophon attack?
Both of them had done well to distinguish the Liquid’s wet footsteps and respond accordingly.
But the Gallophon’s scent had apparently been too much for her still.
Now that his vision had cleared, one Gallophon came into view.
The thing looked like a giant walking Rafflesia.
Its main weapons were the sharp clusters of stems sprouting from it.
She must have been struck by those.
He kicked aside a Liquid that looked like a corpse bloated with too much water and walked over to them.
Yoo Sung-hwan set his gun aside and rummaged through her pocket.
He pulled out a surgical kit and examined the wound.
“What’s the condition?”
When he asked quietly, she looked up in alarm.
Yoo Sung-jun raised a finger to his lips as he watched his brother.
“It’s fine to speak softly. There aren’t any Jangsanbeom nearby.”
It was just like a game, the way they worked.
They had dealt with one pack already, so there were no other Jangsanbeom in the immediate area.
They were Infectors that staked out territory, each pack ruling a large space as its own base.
“It’s a puncture wound. I think I need to clean out the blood with sterile water first and then take a proper look.”
He muttered this as he washed the wound.
Fortunately, it hadn’t reached an artery.
His brother wrapped the upper part of the wound with a length of cord to stop the bleeding.
When he asked if there was anything he could help with, his brother shook his head.
So all he could do was quietly watch over Jeyca’s condition.
“I look pretty pathetic, don’t I? I could feel the attack coming, but... I reacted too slowly...”
“That can happen at Body Strengthening Level 1. Once you’re more used to it, you’ll be able to react in time.”
He took Jeyca’s hand.
Her fingers jerked and trembled. At the look on her face, he shifted his gaze aside.
His brother had already started the procedure.
When he tried to pull his hand back to get a closer look, she clutched it tightly.
Jeyca’s eyes were brimming with tears as she looked up at Yoo Sung-jun.
“Stay... with me.”
“...All right.”
They didn’t even have time for local anesthetic and a proper wait.
His brother worked quickly.
He sprayed treatment foam over the wound and moved straight to stitching.
He used two clamp scissors to close the injury.
Each time he did, Jeyca’s hand shook harder.
By contrast, there wasn’t the slightest tremor in his brother’s hands.
...Incredible.
He could tell just by looking at his brother’s eyes, which hadn’t blinked once.
That wasn’t ordinary concentration.
It wasn’t merely a sense of duty, either.
Something beyond that was lodged in those eyes.
“...Hah. All right, the emergency treatment’s done.”
The procedure ended after more than ten minutes of struggle.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Yoo Sung-hwan spoke to Jeyca.
“There’s a chance some kind of bacteria got in, so we need to treat it as soon as we get back to the Enter Room.”
“Yeah. Thank you, Sung-hwan.”
“It’s something I should do, no big deal. Brother, Jeyca needs to rest for a bit. What do you want to do?”
Honestly, he thought it might be best to take a short break and then continue.
Sending Jeyca out alone also seemed dangerous.
So when he asked, his brother folded his arms and thought it over.
That hesitation didn’t last long.
“Sung-hwan.”
“Huh? Uh...”
His brother stood up.
Gun in hand, brushing dirt from his knees.
“You can protect Jeyca, right?”
He knew exactly what that meant.
Yoo Sung-hwan nodded.
“I’ve got 3% left. It won’t take long. Once your search gets to 10%, come back first. I’ll catch up.”
“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
At his brother’s question, Yoo Sung-jun gave a slight smile.
It was a unilateral decision that ignored his companions’ opinions, but he could still be certain of it.
“The dangerous one is the Infector that runs into me.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“...Ugh.”
One man’s groan woke everyone up.
Six in total.
The elite group that had entered Screaming Cave to scout it out sank into deep despair at the state they were still in.
Everything was thick with sticky mucus. A hollow packed with sweet-smelling rot and corpses.
“Aah...!”
They had hoped it was a dream, but nothing had changed.
They were still inside the cave, and the being that had trapped them still stood before them.
The Jangsanbeom. But this one was different from the others.
It was the reason they had been caught.
“More... This isn’t enough. I need a sample. A human sample that has evolved one stage further...”
It spoke with such perfect pronunciation that you might have believed it was human.
Muttering to itself, the creature turned its head.
It walked toward the users bound tight with Gallophon tendrils.
“For now, I need to use you... to prove that my thoughts are correct...”
It came closer and reached out a hand. No matter how desperately they struggled, escaping was impossible.
So the only thing the man it had singled out could do was one thing.
With terror in his heart, and maybe hoping someone would hear the scream and come save them...
“Aaaagh!”
He screamed.
And six became five.