The Age of Adaptation
Grrrgh.
Ever since his mutation, he had been strong.
Unlike the other idiotic brutes, he was intelligent.
He wielded the power he had awakened.
When too many came at him at once, he withdrew with calculated precision. He measured the openings, picked them off one by one, or lured in another hostile faction to do the work for him.
It might have been a difficult way of life for lesser creatures, but for him it came as naturally as breathing.
With both strength and intelligence on his side, taking control of a territory was easy.
So he ruled.
If he wanted to eat something, he ate it. If some fool challenged him, he gifted them death.
Then one day—
"You’re weak."
The thing said that to him.
Something smaller and far less impressive than he was.
A creature in human form, like the beings from the distant past that his kind had supposedly once resembled.
When that creature looked down on him and spoke, he swung at it.
He intended to make the insolent bastard pay dearly for daring to provoke him without knowing his place.
But—
"See? I told you you were weak, little one."
It wasn't small and pathetic at all.
It was simply an even more superior, more highly evolved being.
For the first time, Sasquatch felt the terror of death.
With his limbs broken, he dragged himself across the ground on his jaw and begged for his life.
The woman laughed uproariously at the sight.
"How amusing. I suppose that’s why intelligent creatures are so appealing. You want to live, don’t you?"
Grrrgh.
"Yes, all species think like you do. Especially us humans. Those of us who have become closer to evil have developed our more depraved side all the more strongly. You’re the same, aren’t you?"
Sasquatch nodded furiously.
He was the same. He had felt it acutely while ruling this land as its tyrant.
The woman smiled faintly.
She pressed a finger to his forehead and said, "Then become stronger. That way, when I find you again, you’ll be a more appetizing meal. Right now, I don’t really feel like eating you. So remember this well: my name is Rupal, little one. When we meet again, I hope this name fills you with fear. Just like now."
With those words, the woman walked away.
He had gained a goal.
The reality that had once satisfied him was no longer enough.
He had to grow stronger. If he wanted to survive, he would have to eat something stronger.
Sasquatch set off alone.
He moved from region to region, crushing the powerful beings that ruled each zone. He ate them, and he grew stronger.
Along with that, his abilities were reinforced, and his physical power increased far beyond what it had been before.
But it still wasn’t enough.
To surpass Rupal, he needed even greater strength.
Grrrgh.
Sasquatch yearned.
And at the end of that yearning, he felt a powerful pull.
Kiieeereeeeek!
Kwaaaak! Kwaak!
He was not the only one who felt it.
All around him, in every direction, countless Infectors stirred to life.
They were drawn by the same pull, all moving to claim what they desired at the end of this summons.
They were seeking a more stable evolution.
Grrk.
He couldn’t lose.
There was no way a being that had once ruled over others could allow something like that to be stolen by creatures at the bottom of the food chain.
Sasquatch moved.
With a thunderous boom, he shoved off the ground with pillar-like arms and launched himself across the space.
Far ahead, toward the place where his target awaited, the race of evolution began.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Countless Infectors were converging.
It looked as though malice itself had coagulated and come pouring in.
Yoo Sung-jun’s face twisted as he drew the BK-108.
He needed to thin them out a little more.
What he wanted was a battlefield he could control.
The only Infectors he needed were the beasts—those on the very edge of level 4, enough to bleed Sasquatch’s stamina dry.
"Sung-hwan. From now on, only shoot the ones I call out."
"Ah, got it."
"Jeyca, keep your Appraisal Eye on me at all times. We’ll only be dealing with dangerous ones."
"Yes, I’ll keep watch."
Appraisal Eye usually centered on herself.
But if she used it differently, she could designate a target, and her innate talent would manifest around that target instead.
Thanks to that, Yoo Sung-jun could now sense danger before it turned red.
He meant to finish them off before they had a chance to do so.
It looks like Ryong-i ran off.
When he glanced back, Ryong-i was nowhere to be seen.
It didn’t matter where the little guy had gone.
He was only curious.
Could Ryong-i really break the fixed ideas he had lived by?
If he dies out there, then that’s his limit.
He decided to stop worrying about it.
For now, it was time to explain something to the other two.
Why he had told them not to get attached to Infectors.
"Watch the east closely. The reason I said not to give your heart to Infectors is... because of what’s over there."
What he said over the in-ear radio was relayed to them without alteration.
The visor on the Omega Suit magnified what it was focusing on.
He heard the sound of someone sucking in a breath.
That was only natural. The creature before them was the very embodiment of evil.
"Heeaaagh! Hek!"
"Kihihihi..."
Three naked men and women ran forward, laughing madly.
Collars circled their necks.
Dark red rods had been driven into the tops of their skulls.
They were pulling a cart.
On that cart sat an Infector with a slimy, sagging body.
A mass of limp flesh.
Its half-open eyes showed not a trace of strength.
And yet Yoo Sung-jun knew: it was a level 4 Infector on the brink.
Chamorun.
The rods driven into the users’ skulls were connected to Chamorun’s head.
That monster lured prey with powerful hallucinogens, then shoved those rods into them and kept them as pets.
By strengthening them in that state, it handled both hunting and nutrition.
Those three are probably around the level of Body Enhancement 2.
"Why... didn’t it eat the users?"
"This is horrible. I’d heard such a creature existed, but this is my first time seeing one..."
The users trapped by that thing were probably a party that had entered the mission with high spirits, only to be broken by it.
They rampaged.
Ignoring the rods that kept stretching out endlessly, they slaughtered the competitors who had joined the disordered fray.
"Kehihit. Die!"
"Food! Food! Food!"
"I’m happy. I’m happy. I’m happi—!"
The users controlled and strengthened by Chamorun were formidable.
With nothing but their bare bodies, hands, and feet, they crushed and tore Infectors apart.
They advanced as though serving a master, protecting Chamorun at all costs.
The east was centered on that thing.
The west was easier to read.
It was a level 4 Infector like Sasquatch, one that relied on brute force.
Dead Golak.
Its body was the color of chalky flesh.
Even compared to Sasquatch’s six-meter frame, it didn’t look small at all.
It swung its rock-like body around, turning anyone who blocked its path or charged at it into chunks of flesh.
It looked like a tank as it barreled forward.
Looks like it’s cleaning things up on its own.
He watched that scene at a glance, then raised the barrel of his gun.
Sasquatch was finally within range.
"Let’s start, Sung-hwan. Northwest, 372 meters from my position."
He relayed the exact location and bearing shown on the BK-108.
With that, Yoo Sung-hwan delivered a truly flawless shot.
There was no sound at all.
Silence. By the time a warm breath seemed to brush past, the designated Infector had already collapsed.
And so the sniping went on.
"Sung-jun oppa, there’s a red one moving fast toward the east."
"Thanks."
Yoo Sung-jun didn’t stop speaking.
He kept calling out more Infectors for Sung-hwan to shoot.
He fired at the ones Jeyca pointed out.
The coordination was as smooth as flowing water.
Piles of corpses began to grow.
The Infectors from the east, west, and south started converging on one another.
At the exact point where all three directions overlapped, they finally met—just as planned.
At last.
Chamorun, Dead Golak, and...
Grrraaaaagh!
Sasquatch roared at the Infector blocking his way.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Ryong-i ran.
Even though he was out of breath, he didn’t stop his short little legs.
His small, delicate muscles ached.
If only he could fly.
But no matter how hard he flapped wings that couldn’t even cover his face, his body wouldn’t lift off the ground.
Kkyuing...
Don’t be disappointed.
Dad had definitely said that if he kept growing like this, Ryong-i would someday have a giant body too.
Until then, he just had to endure.
While eating tasty Infectors, of course.
Kkyuhihing.
He had barely enough time to grin in satisfaction at the thought before his eyes shot wide open at the strange cries coming from around him.
He had expected them to come, but they were too fast.
Kkyung! Kkyuyuung!
The mean one, while letting him go, had said it.
Run away. The rest of it was hard to understand with his current little brain, so he didn’t know what it meant.
Thinking about it that way, was that person actually kind?
Kkyuing.
No. Dad and Mom were better.
So Ryong-i went on.
He sprang over a small bump in the road that loomed like a giant obstacle and flailed his little arms as hard as he could.
It was right in front of him now. The building that carried Dad’s scent.
Kkyung-kkyung!
Ryong-i’s challenge started now.
He passed a gray building with most of its paint peeled away, then detoured around a vending machine that had split in half and spilled its contents everywhere.
What waited beyond was a staircase.
Kkyu, kkyurung...
For a tiny little Ryong-i, it was a wall far too high.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t climb it.
Kkyiit!
Ryong-i lifted his hands and grabbed hold of the ledge.
He braced himself and hauled up one step. Maybe this was manageable after all.
If he repeated it like this, it would work. Repeat... repeat...
Kkyihk! Kehk! Kehuk!
How far had he climbed?
It felt like he’d been climbing forever.
Ryong-i was tired.
Still, the scent was right in front of him now.
Thinking only just a little more, he stretched out his arms.
With trembling little arms, he grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up.
He’d done it! Ryong-i had done it.
This wasn’t that spoiled little crybaby from before.
Kkyung!
To boast of this fact, he stepped over a door split clean in half and hanging loose, then over moss thickly grown beneath it.
At last, he saw him.
Dad was lying down, staring outside and focused intently on something.
Then something fell from above his head.
Kkyiit!
It looked dangerous.
Ryong-i made his decision at once.
He threw himself forward with all the strength he’d used eating Infectors.
Small as he was, the impact still had weight.
He slammed squarely into the side of the thing just as it was falling in its semi-transparent state.
Keek!
The creature was knocked rolling to the floor by the impact.
At the same time, Ryong-i had to take a dull, heavy blow himself.
Still, that was fine.
He’d saved Dad.
"Ryong-i! When did you get here? What in the—"
Dad looked back and forth between him and the Infector he’d knocked unconscious.
Then Dad finished the Infector off.
He came back over and hugged him tightly, as if he were something precious.
"Did you come save me because I looked like I was in danger?"
Kkyuu...
He wanted to say yes, but his eyes kept closing.
Ryong-i was tired. He wanted to sleep.
He couldn’t resist this warmth...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Yoo Sung-hwan saw it. He saw the ugly, horrifying side of the Infectors his brother had shown him.
He swallowed back the nausea that rose in his throat at what something that had once been human had done to human beings.
It kept overlapping in his mind with Ryong-i, and the bitter taste in his mouth only grew worse.
Ryong-i’s an Infector too.
A being that saw humans as toys. Tools. Means and methods.
By that classification, Ryong-i belonged to the same side.
That was why he had been thinking about how to deal with him.
He’s already too weak to survive in this world anyway. We can’t keep caring for him until he gets strong enough. So... that means we have to kill him. Because he’s an Infector. Even if I set aside everything my brother and Jeyca noona carefully raised him with, killing him is still the right thing to do. That’s... the right answer. Ryong-i would surely—
Would he understand?
No.
Yoo Sung-hwan held the unconscious Ryong-i close.
He thought he had made up his mind, but... he hadn’t.
Ryong-i had subdued the Infector that had ambushed him.
An "Infector" had subdued an "Infector" because a human was in danger.
This was different. So much different.
Ryong-i wouldn’t suddenly turn into what his brother had described.
He could say that with certainty now, after what had just happened.
So Yoo Sung-hwan made his judgment.
You said you’d respect whatever choice I made.
That was exactly what his brother had said.
That he would respect it, for now.
Then Yoo Sung-hwan could choose freely.
He decided to give Ryong-i one chance.
Right then, a good idea came to him.
To make it happen, Sasquatch had to be taken down no matter what.
As soon as he thought that far, he laid Ryong-i down beside him.
He brought the B-7 to his eye and prepared to provide covering fire.
But there was no need.
He remembered what his brother had said before the operation began.
When I’m in a one-on-one situation with Sasquatch, both of you stop providing cover fire.
He still didn’t know why he’d said that, but the situation had been created. A true one-on-one battle.
Surrounded by the corpses of Infectors.
Standing atop them, Sasquatch was badly wounded.
And compared to that thing, a human who looked small enough to crush underfoot.
In the silence, the two beings faced each other off.
The tension was razor-thin.
At the sight of it, every nerve in Yoo Sung-hwan’s body prickled as he swallowed dryly.
With his finger poised on the trigger, he brushed away the gooseflesh crawling over his skin.
...I-is this what a fight between a high-rank player and a high-level Infector looks like?
Inside the swollen tension, the Omega Suit lit up.
The bulging nano-particles rippling over it like veins made the sheer force behind them unmistakable.
From Sasquatch’s calm gaze, he could feel a tremendous motion beginning to stir.
And in the instant he sensed that change, Yoo Sung-hwan witnessed it.
Grrraaaagh!
It swung those thick, iron-pillar arms that suited its massive frame.
In response, the seemingly insignificant human drew a greatsword and swept it out like a shaft of light.
CRAAAAAANG!
The force of the collision became a heavy shockwave.
It spread in the shape of a dome and slammed into Yoo Sung-hwan.
A dense cloud of dust swallowed the two of them.