90. Giant Slaying
90. Giant Slaying
Conversely, if you get an Animal Growth ability user, it means animals grow that much faster. Though, of course, I've never actually seen an Animal Growth ability.
"I understand for now."
"Yes. Should we try doing something around there?"
Kim Young-jin asked with a look that suggested he wanted to try something.
It's good that he has the initiative, but.
"By 'something,' you mean... scattering seeds around the area? Do you have seeds?"
"No... well, I'd have to go get them."
"Do you know where they are?"
"They were in Jeungpyeong, but... I'm sorry. I didn't think it through."
"No. It's a good idea, actually."
But Jeungpyeong isn't ready yet.
"Then let's leave it for now. I have some things to do. It'd be better to just go to an agricultural supply store or a logistics center later. We can take seeds from there and grow them. And while we're at it, let's get your level up to 4."
"Level... 4?"
He had a slightly fearful expression.
Well, he did catch a Mirror when we were leveling him up.
"It's similar to the Mirror. The Flower is also a bit of a shitty bastard, but anyway, go get some rest."
"Ah, yes."
I think that's enough for farming for now.
We managed to get food from the logistics center, but we haven't created a self-sufficient system yet.
Especially here, surveillance and attack capabilities are too lacking.
And we need an Appraiser ability user, too.
'I should start looking for people.'
There's no reason to just kill them like last time. It seemed like a good idea to bring in decent ability users if we encounter groups now.
It's a shame about the Appraisal ability, but it can't be helped.
It's like a weapon.
'Since the factories and bunkers are all smashed up, the weapons probably aren't in good shape anyway.'
It's a bit of a shame.
Still, there should be a few places left at Cheonan University. I think I can just go there and grab some.
As for the group... it's better to just build it here.
Even if we move later, I think it's right to stay here until the Cheonan Hive and the surrounding IN Company issues are resolved, and until our own attack capabilities reach a certain level.
Hunter and Abomination.
And in this world infested with Spores and Screamers that I haven't confirmed yet, along with the Hive and various other Infected, there aren't many places where I can keep all these people safe.
'Especially the Hunter.'
The Hunter will be the benchmark.
I think I could just run away or hide if an Abomination shows up.
But that bastard Hunter is hopeless.
Ugh, my head hurts. My mind is just a mess.
Things to do are just floating around in my head.
In times like this, you have to do it. Organize it on paper.
Is that it?
First, the top priority is definitely leveling up. Since I didn't gain anything even after killing a Hunter, I'll have to try killing an Abomination.
I've dragged this out long enough.
Number 2, tracking IN Company, is a bit up in the air right now.
Of course, I heard from Lieutenant Colonel Kim Sang-chul about a group in Chungju, but that's too far.
He said a Communication ability user went that way, but communication isn't really urgent right now. We have better utility ability users.
Honestly, I haven't even seen everything around Cheongju yet.
Number 3 is something I'm working hard on right now, and I plan to do it while working on number 1.
Number 4 isn't something I can do right now, and number 5 is really urgent, but not more urgent than number 1.
So, what I'm going to do now is kill the Abomination.
'I need to see if the Abomination respawns, too.'
That way, I can plan future schedules around the Abomination's respawn time.
It's right to quickly deal with the Abomination and then check the Bugang-myeon Intelligent Creature Cluster.
See, it's over quickly when you organize things.
I sighed and walked outside.
#
At the pension entrance.
If you go straight ahead, you reach the chicken coop.
And the fence is outside that.
There's a path running up and down here.
The kids are gathered by the chicken coop.
The only kids inside our pension are Young-jin's Si-hoo and Si-ah.
And sure enough, Si-hoo, Si-ah, Ji-hye, and A-rin were there.
The kids were giggling.
Si-hoo is playing well, too. Well, chicks are hard to find in city kindergartens these days.
Even in that place, Jeungpyeong, they didn't raise animals.
Probably because of the nearby Infected.
So it seemed like they were playing with the chicks after adapting for a few days.
"Kyaa! Kyaa!"
"Don't touch the baby too hard, A-rin-ssi."
"I, I've said it a few times, but it's fine. The kids aren't touching them that hard."
"Still."
"A-rin eonni. I, I want to raise this one."
"I don't think you can keep it inside..."
"That's right, Si-ah. Chicks need to be by their mom's side, too."
"By mom's side..."
"Yeah. Right? And they're all here, too."
"Uh-huh."
"Si-hoo, too. Right?"
"Yes."
Seo Ji-hye and the others were playing with the kids in front of the chicks.
It's definitely nice and lively with people around.
As I was standing there,
"Oh. Yu-seong-ssi."
Ji-hye and A-rin bowed their heads at me.
The kids who saw them bowed to me as well.
Funny kids.
They're cute.
"Go back to what you were doing. Don't mind me."
"Ah, yes...!"
#
Dinner tonight was steamed eggs and assorted meats.
We have to use up the meat we have to make more room in Tae-jun's Subspace.
'I want to put something important in there.'
But I can't think of anything.
I just can't.
Anyway, I came out after eating a delicious dinner.
The night of the 17th.
'The vehicle is fine.'
It looks like I'm ready to leave immediately.
I can see Eun-bin and Yun-ji standing guard up there.
I guess those two are on guard duty.
I thought they'd be awkward with each other, but seeing them chatting away, it doesn't seem like that's the case.
They look over this way.
The women wave their hands.
I waved back at them and headed toward Cheongju.
I went up along the back road of Nami-myeon.
It's the same path I used when I escaped from the house before, but the difference is that a quiet vehicle with no lights is floating along.
'I came here exactly a month ago.'
To be precise, it's been about a month and a week.
That was about the time.
I tried messing with an Abomination from the direction of Cheongju City Hall with my lv.4 ability at the time, but it didn't work, so I went back to the I-Pension.
And that's when I heard the news that the logistics center was ruined, so I moved around for a long time.
I really moved around a lot.
And now, I'm back at lv.5.
Towards Cheongju City Hall.
The Abomination was still in its original spot, doing nothing.
Now I see it. It has its own territory, too.
Hunter and Abomination. Powerful entities. Where there's a Hunter, there's no Abomination, and where there's an Abomination, there's no Hunter.
They probably have high intelligence, too. Just like the Hunter does.
Goddamn Infected.
The Hunter, the Abomination, the Sentient, and the Hive that I haven't seen yet.
They probably have the intelligence to be hostile toward humans. Infected that are hostile toward humans even though they don't need humans to maintain their bodies.
'Those IN Company bastards.'
Well, that's that, and this is this.
There's no need to drag it out.
I gathered the surrounding metal to create giant steel bars. So I could attack the Abomination.
—Kkudeudududeuk
The noise that followed.
The Abomination wakes up.
—Grrr
It didn't shriek, but it growled.
Well, it made noise nearby, so it would react.
I don't know where it hears from, considering it has all sorts of appendages, though.
—Swaeeeeeeek
With a sound piercing the air, the giant steel bar flew and dug into the body of the creature, which was the size of a 6-7 story building.
—Kkudeududeuk
—Kkudeudududeuk
Even so, the Abomination regenerates.
Well, it's a building-sized monster that smashes buildings, so it didn't make sense for it to die from that.
—!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Abomination lets out a shriek.
But if there was a difference from before, it was that while it used to smash everything around it with pure rage, this time there was pain mixed in.
The creature tries to rampage.
—Kieeeeeek!
—Kieeeeeek!
Infected from around Cheongju City Hall flock toward the noise.
I gathered every bit of metal in the vicinity and attacked the Abomination.
—Kkujik!
—Ppeoeoeok!
A sound you wouldn't even think was flesh and steel colliding.
As the steel bars were driven in, —Puchwaaaaak!
Fountains of blood sprayed out, dark red liquids visible under the black sky.
—!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
—!!!!!!!!!!!
—Kugugugu
Watching the surroundings being destroyed as the Abomination rampaged, I continued to attack it.
#
How many minutes had passed since then?
—Tadadadadak
"Kieeeeeeeeeek! Kiek!"
—Keu...
—Keueueueu
The Infected that had flocked to the noise go back to sleep.
Because now, there's no sound to be heard anymore.
'That was tough.'
I could kill it, but the collateral damage to the surroundings was immense.
Because I couldn't kill it instantly, I had to stir up its body here and there like when I killed the Hunter before.
Well, anyway, I could kill it.
The Abomination stopped moving.
Rotten blood pours out like a waterfall from its body, which is covered in all sorts of human appendages.
The city is covered in bloody water.
I brought up the Nexus Core.
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Nexus Core : Metallokinesis lv5[5/100]
===================================
'5, huh.'
After killing one Abomination at lv.5, it went up by 5.
The Abomination that was controlling the north of Cheongju City. The thing that crushed the army.
As expected, the Abomination was indeed a higher-tier entity than the Hunter. Well, it's hard to call it a higher-tier entity just because it gives a gauge, though.
I know there's one in Cheonan, too.
First, I had to confirm if the Abomination respawns. I had to check if only the Hunter does that, or if the Abomination does, too.
If the Abomination also respawns, then the areas with both a Hunter and an Abomination will be completely unusable.