Deliver Us From Evil (5)

A cool breeze blew across the rooftop. The mountain wind of early spring didn’t sting or slice at the skin, but it still carried a chill that made the body tremble.

Sion Mountain Fortress. True to its name, this apartment complex built on a mountain had never been in the best location. Still, it wasn’t bad. It had solar generators, a reservoir nearby, and even a water purification plant. Living conditions were decent too—only Building 2 was terrible; Building 1 was actually quite nice. The buildings themselves were large, with proper lobbies and leisure facilities. The glaring difference between two neighboring complexes existed because this whole rotten neighborhood belonged to a cult.

Building 2 was for loyal commoners and peasants. Building 1 was reserved for the nobility and royalty. Crossing over felt like the obvious choice. I had no idea if anyone was still alive in there or if they’d all died long ago….

At any rate, Sion Mountain Fortress was a facility built by the New Heaven Rapture Mission Church in preparation for the Rapture. There had to be at least some supplies stockpiled for the end of the world. And depending on exactly when Building 1 had gone to hell, there might still be plenty left.

I clung to that faint hope. The real problem was getting across.

From above, the Serpent was nowhere in sight. It was probably down in the underground parking lot, coiled up beside the cult leader’s luxury foreign cars. Or maybe those cars had already been crushed flat.

“How’s it look? See anything?”

At my question, my sister planted both hands on her head, arched her back, and scanned the area. She was wearing jeans and a sweater today. The outfit clung to every line of her body, but it was easy to move in—clothes that would let her run the moment anything went wrong.

I stole a glance at her ass. Her frame was slim, yet her hips were surprisingly full. Whether she noticed my gaze or not, she simply turned her head and answered.

“Nope!”

“What about Building 1? Anything moving over there?”

My sister still hadn’t told me she could see my status window. But with Insight, it didn’t matter.

Even if she never mentioned it, I could check whenever I wanted. Besides, her Perception was higher than mine, and both of us had excellent eyesight. I could trust her observations.

“Something… does look like it’s moving. But I can’t be sure.”

“Would’ve been nice to have a rifle with a scope.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“Who knows. If we’re calling things illegal, everything these bastards did was illegal. They might’ve kept one around.”

It was a stretch and I knew it. But my sister only giggled at my weak excuse.

“Maybe! Then… umm, if we find one, should Ah-yeon give this to Oppa?”

She shrugged the shotgun hanging from a strap she’d made by cutting up old clothes. A shotgun. Not bad. In a zombie apocalypse, it was practically law.

I decided to tease her a little.

“What, you don’t want to share? Is Oppa not getting any?”

“What are you even saying… It’s just pretty, that’s all.”

She beamed, and she was right. The gun had a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unique, almost toy-like design that a girl might actually like.

“Just use both. That’d probably be better.”

I didn’t have the Shooting skill anyway. Better for her to use it than for me to fumble around.

“Ah, really? But Oppa…”

“I wouldn’t even know how to use it.”

“Got it~”

I answered casually and scanned the rooftop again.

“Snake’s not visible, right?”

“Yeah, can’t see it. Must be sleeping.”

“Then… let’s keep it quiet and get started.”

The plan was simple: build a bridge and cross to Building 1. The gap wasn’t close, but it wasn’t impossibly far either. Still, it would take a lot of materials. We decided to gather them from the furniture on the fifteenth floor.

We didn’t have to worry about the Serpent interfering. It was smart. It must have realized that if it climbed the building with its full body weight, the whole thing might collapse and crush it. So it never went above a certain height. That was how the choir members had survived on the rooftop until the Preacher arrived. Of course, once the Preacher showed up, the rooftop became a death trap. Anywhere in Building 2 was a death trap the moment that thing appeared.

“Shall we begin?”

The work itself was straightforward. I drew my machete and cleared the fifteenth floor. I opened every apartment I could. If a door was locked, I crossed over from an open unit via the veranda. With Agility 7, Strength 9, and Basic Athletics, hopping between verandas was no longer difficult.

Crunch.

There were almost no zombies. The choir members who had stayed here must have cleared most of them already. Only two apartments—1501 and 1503—each held a pair of the creatures. Luring them out and killing them was easy.

Ding-dong. Ding-dong.

When the doorbell drew one toward the entrance, I ambushed it from behind. My machete split its skull cleanly down the middle. The second zombie that turned at the noise never even reached me.

Thud!

Advanced Combat and Strength 9. I could shatter both a zombie’s legs with a single low kick now. Once it fell, I didn’t even need the blade—just stomping down on its head finished the job.

Crack.

After the crushed skull stopped all movement, we began hauling furniture up to the rooftop. It wasn’t hard. My sister’s base strength might have been lower than mine, but her Strength stat was still 4. Far from an ordinary woman’s power. Just weaker than mine.

Little by little we moved the furniture, folding or storing the tent that was already set up to make room. By the time the sky darkened, we barricaded the door and emergency exit with sofas and cabinets, spread the tent again, and crawled inside together.

“Hehe.”

“Why are you laughing like a little gremlin?”

“It just… reminds me of old times.”

“Of what?”

“All this furniture… it feels like a secret base.”

When I lifted my head, I had to admit she was right. In the fallen darkness we had built a cozy little fortress around the tent with stacked furniture—so that even if a zombie stumbled across us while we slept, it couldn’t reach us. It really did resemble the blanket forts of childhood. The fact that the same thought had crossed my mind felt a little embarrassing.

Ha. I’m not a kid anymore.

“You’re a kid? You’re twenty-one, you know.”

“What’s wrong with twenty-one…? Oppa’s the one who’s always reading weird webtoons and—”

“Webtoons are actually good these days, okay? Normal people read them too.”

“What kind of normal person calls himself a ‘normal person’!”

Ah, shit. She had me there.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times before pulling out my ultimate cheat code.

“No head pats?”

Only then did my sister’s tail tuck between her legs.

“Got it~… Sorry…”

“Good girl.”

“Eep, heh.”

The moment I patted her head, the pout vanished and she broke into a bright smile. It wasn’t a real fight anyway. Just the usual sibling wrestling match. I pinned her down in our familiar way and closed my eyes, savoring the strange, soft sensation of her body supporting mine.

The next day was the same. Eat, move furniture, fool around with my sister. When I needed a break I’d slip into one of the secured fifteenth-floor units to wash up. My sister loved staying in the shower until her hands turned into prunes, so I left her to it and kept hauling furniture while experimenting with Synthesis.

It took two full days before I felt we had enough materials to guarantee a crossing. When the wooden bridge—far sturdier than any rickety plywood—finally materialized, we stood on the rooftop ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠once more.

Ropes had been threaded through several remaining stakes and anchored at regular intervals using some construction method I didn’t recognize. It looked a little unstable, but it was still better than running around on the ground where the Serpent lurked. I had no Stealth skill, and even if I did, there was no guarantee it would work. From the few times I’d seen it move, the Serpent was terrifyingly fast. Once it caught you, that was it.

So this was the safest option. Still, I had to be careful.

I glanced at my sister.

“I’ll go first. If it doesn’t collapse, you follow.”

“…Will it collapse?”

“No idea.”

She made a complicated face. I could guess what she was thinking, but I didn’t comment. There were certain public secrets between us. Just as I never asked how she’d obtained her bullets, she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠never asked how I’d obtained the carbon-steel machete or this bridge. We both knew and both pretended not to.

Swallowing the anxiety rising in my chest, I stepped onto the bridge.

Creak.

It groaned loudly the moment I put my weight on it. Yet even as I advanced, it showed no sign of giving way. Building 1 grew closer. Unlike the plain Building 2, it was a luxurious structure with a sky garden.

When I reached the opposite rooftop, I waved. My sister crossed after me, looking pale.

“Hoo… that was scary…”

“Scaredy-cat.”

“But it’s a bridge hanging fifteen floors up… It’d be weird if I wasn’t scared.”

“Scaredy-cat.”

“Eii!”

I let her weak punches land on my shoulder, then adjusted my bag and examined the sky garden. I had only been here once before in my life—the cult leader had stood among the flowerbeds to create a mystical atmosphere while she inspected candidates for her male concubines. Just looking at the place made me nauseous, but I tried to ignore it. It wasn’t important right now.

I nodded to my sister, drew my machete, and she pulled out the shotgun. Like a pair of shadows, we opened the rooftop stairwell door and descended.

Anticipation and curiosity burned in my chest. Was the cult leader still alive? Or had she died pathetically? If she was alive, how wretched would she look? And what kind of skill would she drop if I killed her?

With those expectations, we went down—and what I heard was something I had never imagined.

Fifteenth floor. In front of the corridor that led to the penthouse spanning both the fourteenth and fifteenth floors, I heard the click of dress shoes and immediately crouched, pressing myself against the wall beside my sister.

“No, no, no! Wait—just once—please spare me! I’ll repent! I’ll repent, so— Ack, aack, aaaaargh!”

A desperate plea that quickly twisted into a scream. I carefully cracked the door open.

“…Fuck.”

The sight that greeted us nearly made me curse out loud.

The cult leader. That woman hadn’t survived the apocalypse after all. Instead she had been chained to a cross, shackled, and thrown among the believers—now she was tearing into them, chewing, swallowing. Countless fragments of corpses littered the floor around her.

I understood immediately. This was a human sacrifice.

“Cult Leader, please enjoy your meal. Amen!”

The messiah who had once preached preparation for the Rapture had now become part of the Rapture herself. And her followers were still offering her their bodies and souls.

As the screaming finally stopped, I quietly closed the door.