Northhyang General Hospital (2)
I forced myself to spot the differences. Between the seventh remnant and these things. The biggest one was that these operated as a group. But since I hadn't entered the seventh remnant's territory, even that wasn't certain.
Then, territory size? There was a difference there. The seventh remnant had claimed a single mart, while these had taken over the entire old downtown. However, I couldn't tell if they were multiple packs merged together or a vast community under one overlord, so that wasn't solid either.
Tsk... I turned back to the corpses of the blood clump zombies. Their forms screamed mutated humans at first glance.
Can humans really mutate like this from the virus?
I tried to think of it in the best light possible. Maybe they were just some variant zombies, and there was a reason they weren't attacking me.
...But no matter how I reframed it, that didn't hold up. Calling them zombie variants flew in the face of the evidence starting with the emergency room traces. Clear barricade marks, bloody handprints and footprints—human. Survivors had definitely been here. And the sticky blood proved people had been around recently.
If they'd mutated into blood clump zombies on the first day of the outbreak, those traces never would've survived. Because if they'd been here from the start, everything would've vanished without a drop of blood or footprint left behind—just those flesh masses.
Plus...
If they were typical variants, zombies wouldn't avoid them.
That was the clincher. Think about it—there hadn't been any regular zombies inside Rocket Mart either. Same remnant origin, so zombies instinctively sensed the danger and steered clear.
Hah.
No way around it. These were remnants. Bizarre monsters somehow tied to the Status Window. The kind that exploited the chaos of zombies fighting humans to wipe out both sides.
While I'd been holed up in Happiness Villa 202, denying reality and grinding games... while I'd finally dragged myself out with Jeong Suhyun to scout Northdong... these remnant bastards had entrenched themselves in the old downtown, slaughtering people. It all fit.
Zombies, humans—they devoured everything, turning the area into their stronghold. Just like the seventh remnant claiming Rocket Mart for itself.
...Fuck...
This was a big problem. Against enemies, they moved in packs without zombie groans. They'd crawl ceilings, hack up phlegm signals to alert allies, even defended their valuables.
But that's exactly why this had become my solo job now. No one else could handle it. Even if I couldn't wipe them out, I had to figure them out. Were they a loose pack of loners? Or a coordinated group under a boss? What were their habits? What the hell were remnants? And why did the Ruin Fragment alert trigger...?
Haa...
-Creak-
I headed up to the hospital's third floor.
-Squelch-
-Squelch-
But the third floor defied my expectations. No flesh-choked corridors or exam rooms. No blood clumps charging me.
...This is.
Just... things I'd grown numb to. Now I knew where all those bodies and bones had gone.
-Flicker-
A strobe light blinked in one flesh-overgrown exam room. OB/GYN sign overhead, and beyond—where neurology and neurosurgery should've been—a corridor strung with countless human bones, meat stripped clean, dangling like wind chimes.
-Creak-
The flesh holding the corpses aloft and the ceiling itself screamed in protest.
......
I grimaced. Even after killing my first zombies or committing murder at the church, nothing had hit me like this. The horror was too vivid.
Knowledge was one thing—traces another. But this slaughterhouse? Innumerable human bones. Flesh scraps. I'd figured the remains were stashed somewhere since no bodies littered the place, but not like this.
-Thud-
-Creak-
From OB/GYN at the front to the CT scanner room in the back—corpses packed so thick you couldn't see the end. Who knew how many people these blood clumps had sacrificed and feasted on.
-Crunch-
-Splat-
I shoved one corpse aside with my hand and stepped forward. Floor flesh squished underfoot.
But with bodies overhead and flesh below, scouting the third floor on foot was impossible. Corpses jammed every inch—no way through.
......
No helping it.
Ice Shield
I summoned an Ice Shield in front of me and shoved forward, just like on the second floor. It bulldozed the dangling corpses.
-Snap-
-Crack crack-
-Splurch-
Flesh and bone pulverized under it. Not a pleasant sound.
But as it cleared bones, a pattern emerged. Farther back—from my entry point—bodies retained more flesh. Some kept near-human shapes: half torsos, lone heads, limbs intact.
That's when it hit me. This place's purpose.
Food storage.
They didn't eat outside much. No corpses or bones outdoors, plus the skeletons in that supermarket proved it. Drag humans in, butcher them, hang the meat.
Then devour with those five tentacles.
Blood clump zombies? Nah, they weren't zombies anymore. They sorted weak from strong before striking, operated in packs, even built pantries.
Hah.
Monsters had limits.
-Crunch-
By then, the third floor was cleared. Formless mush piled by the Ice Shield.
I narrowed my eyes at it.
"Hope you find a better place."
I muttered a brief prayer for their souls. They'd probably find it laughable from their side. I hadn't honored their dead either—just bulldozed them with my shield, desecration at best. Plenty to feel wronged about.
In this ruined world, mocking the unjustly slain by monsters with prayers? From their view, it'd just be salt in the wound.
But still.
Ice Spear
I could avenge them against the killers in this hospital. If anyone was watching from above, maybe cut me some slack once. Not like I'd killed them or caused the apocalypse—hell, it'd be bullshit anyway. But if no one remembered their deaths? Felt a little sad.
I gave the corpses one last prayer, then headed for the stairs.
===
-Bang!
-Boom!
Fourth floor.
-Thud thud thud-
-Splash!
The moment my foot hit the fourth floor, blood clump assaults resumed.
Ice Shield
-Thud!
Handling them was no issue. Unlike them needing to close in, I could snipe from range or seal spaces to crush them outright.
Locking front and back, slowly culling their numbers? Magic's quirks plus the layout played to my strengths perfectly.
-Splat!
-Smash!
How much time passed? My pickaxe finally caved in the last blood clump's skull on the fourth.
-Crunch-
Its head collapsed inward.
Whew.
I sighed, scanning around. Grotesque spread of blood clump corpses, me standing atop them. No more charges.
I wiped sweat, having swept exam rooms, break rooms, and the wards starting on four. Flesh everywhere revealed their hospital usage.
Second floor: living quarters. Third: pantry. Fourth: living again.
Whatever role those dark-red flesh masses played, they divided floors. Meant individual smarts or a leader calling shots. Variations per specimen clear, but none came down while I cleared two and three with noise—confirmed.
So fifth and sixth? Fifth probably pantry odds-on. Sixth...?
Dunno. Pattern said living quarters, but bad vibes. Plus, higher floors meant bigger, tougher ones.
I scraped the floor clear, leaned against the wall, sat. Exhausted.
Mana drain minimal—hospital layout let me shield-push everything. But stamina and mental? Drained.
Corridors shieldable, but vast central waiting areas demanded pickaxe and spears. Swinging at ambushers stiffened my arms; gore-fights chipped my sanity bit by bit.
Gulp.
Throat parched, I chugged brought water, pulled out my blood-slick phone with damp hands.
07:48. Left around six, hit hospital six-thirtyish—under two hours. Felt like five.
Atmosphere, monsters—couldn't relax anywhere here.
'Utilize them,' huh.
I stretched my legs, kneaded thighs, let out a hollow chuckle. Blood clumps ignored me, so use 'em to purge zombies? Straight out of some desk-jockey politician's armchair fantasy.
Untenable. Man-eaters who mounted bone displays. Had eyes for the prize, but this level? Intelligent. Cunning operators.
Might even hit true human smarts someday.
-Scrape-
I pickaxed a window clean, peered out. Old downtown still flesh-blanketed. No blood clumps outside.
I could kill these. Easily, even. But outside encounters?
Not mindless visual/auditory zombies. Not negotiable humans. Sentient threats.
I'd survive, sure. Skills strong, lethal. But others? Church's eleven? My family?
-Splat-
Grrm.
-Thud thud thud-
I stood, climbed stairs again.
Fifth floor matched: food storage. Humans strung up—mangled, flesh-heavy—dangling everywhere.
-Scrape-
Whew...
Yeah. That was civilians' future. Captured, flayed alive, guts gnawed in their own civilized haunts—mere meat on hooks.
......
Northhyang General Hospital—once buzzing with docs, nurses, patients—now an otherworldly hellscape. Hell on earth, really.
Without skills and Status Window, I'd have met the same end.
-Crunch crunch crunch!
But I'd grown strong. They died by my hand. Clearing five, I pondered.
Wonder what's on six.
A leader for these horrors? Just more monsters? Empty like one? Or, as guessed, a Status Window trigger?
Only one way.
Unknown risks. Normally, I'd bail. Bring backup. Like fetching Jeong Suhyun from Rocket Mart—someone fighty or with detection. Or burn it like there.
Safety first, always.
But.
Safety alone gets you jack. Plus, some spots you hit knowing the danger.
And even without that.
-Crunch-
I trusted myself. My skills. Experience.
Ice Spear
-Splat-
Dark stairwell gaping like hell's maw. Two Ice Spears afloat, countless corpses behind, I slowly ascended to the sixth floor.
No sounds anywhere.