Newborn nursery
Newborn nursery
How very kind of them.
I could tell just by looking.
It meant we were given two choices.
"...It seems we can go straight to the 4th floor."
It meant we could skip checking the 3rd floor for no reason.
Considering the Mimic Beasts we would have had to deal with there, it wasn't a bad proposal.
Besides, we had used so many grenades on the 3rd floor that our supply situation was precarious.
"...There's no need to agonize over it."
For us, it was a situation with nothing but benefits.
I, for one, didn't want to keep fighting those immortal monsters.
"Then, we will proceed directly to the 4th floor. If anyone has any objections, please speak up."
Of course, no answer came back.
We silently boarded the elevator.
I approached the panel and pressed the [4] button, which was lit up in blood-red.
Sreureureuk-.
The heavy iron door closed, and we were once again trapped in a narrow, musty, enclosed space.
With a clunk, the elevator began to surge upward.
Once again, the elevator was incredibly slow. So slow, I wondered if it was even moving at all.
A suffocating silence hung inside.
I glanced sideways at Captain Kim.
He kept his mouth tightly shut, fiddling with his firearm.
The misery of having to shoot the monster that wore his wife's face—and having to ignore that fact himself—must not have faded yet.
Just then, a massive shadow slightly obscured his front.
It was Owl Bear Elder.
Without any pretense or words of comfort, the Elder simply stood in front of Captain Kim with his broad back, silently readjusting his shield toward the elevator door.
It was as if he had erected an invisible barrier so that the Captain could pull himself together and hide his expression, even if just for a moment.
Orc Mister hesitated for a moment before forcing himself to speak.
"...Everything will be fine."
"......Is that so?"
"Yes. Among the people gathered here, how many do you think didn't prepare themselves for something similar?"
He was right.
How many deaths had we witnessed here?
To think that one's family might still be alive in this horrific hellscape, ha. That really wouldn't be an easy thing to do.
But even so, there is only one reason we haven't gone insane from vengeance and depression.
Hope.
"...Don't worry."
I opened my mouth.
"...Whoever they may be, we will find everyone's family here."
Because we still had hope left.
In this hellish place, we were forming a strange sense of camaraderie.
Kkigigigik-.
It was around the time the elevator was passing the 3rd floor.
"Hup......."
Min Ah-ji hurriedly covered her nose and mouth with both hands.
What wafted into the narrow gap of the elevator was the smell of blood pouring down like a waterfall, which she had warned us about in the 2nd-floor hallway earlier.
The stench was so foul that it overwhelmed even us, whose sense of smell wasn't particularly keen.
If only it had been just the smell, how fortunate that would have been.
Beyond the iron door, the sound of heavy lumps of flesh dragging themselves across the floor, along with squelching, grotesque tearing sounds, echoed through the elevator shaft.
'...Maybe it's a good thing we didn't go to the 3rd floor.'
I couldn't even fathom what kind of things were happening in there.
At least the 2nd floor, while grotesque thanks to the Mimic Beasts pretending to be human, wasn't quite that much of a disaster.......
While everyone was stunned, Captain Kim spoke up.
"...The 3rd floor is mainly where the Delivery Room and Operating Room are gathered."
...A place where new life is born.
It had now become a cradle for monsters, existing in darkness where one couldn't see an inch ahead.
We all felt a sense of relief that we didn't have to go there.
We held our breath, waiting for the number on the panel to change to [4].
And finally.
Ding-.
With a cheerful yet chilling mechanical sound, the elevator came to a stop.
"...Be careful. Something is crawling around in front."
At Owl Bear Elder's words, we each readjusted our weapons.
It seemed they had no intention of letting us pass easily like on the 2nd floor.
"...Everyone, prepare for combat."
We each readjusted our weapons.
This time, monsters might pour out the moment the door opened.
Sreureureuk-.
The door hadn't even opened halfway yet.
"Kieeeeeek-!"
"Kyaaaaaaa-!!"
An eerie noise, a mixture of a newborn baby's cry and a beast's scream that seemed to tear the eardrums, poured in.
At the same time, blood-red lumps of flesh surged through the narrow gap in the door like a bursting dam.
They were small Mimic Beasts.
Some were half-wrapped in the skin of a newborn baby that hadn't even grown yet, while others were crawling on all fours with only grotesquely twisted bones and muscles, without even skin.
Dozens of small monsters swarmed into the elevator like a beehive, crawling on the ceiling, floor, and walls.
"We have to stop them from getting in!"
With Captain Kim's near-scream, Owl Bear Elder let out a beast-like roar and slammed his massive shield forward.
Pueok-! Pajjik!
A few small Mimic Beasts that hit the shield were crushed into pulp instantly, but the ones following behind stepped over the corpses of their own kind and thrust their small biological blades toward us.
"...Damn it!"
Ta-ta-ta-dang-!
Orc Mister, Seo Do-yoon's K3 Machine Gun, spat fire.
As his massive arm muscles rippled, suppressing the recoil of the machine gun, the narrow elevator entrance was instantly filled with the smell of gunpowder and a spray of blood.
Flesh fragments torn apart by bullets flew in all directions.
As they were small entities, their durability was weak, but the problem was their overwhelming numbers.
"Below! They're digging under our legs!"
Min Ah-ji used her leg strength to kick the heads of two creatures crawling on the floor, sending them flying.
Yoo In-ha, surprisingly, used her tail to push back the small Mimic Beasts.
"There's no end to them!"
Flesh fragments torn apart by bullets flew in all directions.
As they were small entities, their durability was weak, but the problem was their overwhelming numbers.
No matter how powerful Orc Mister's firepower was and how sturdy Owl Bear Elder's shield was, the creatures stepped over the corpses of their own kind and eventually began to dig into our blind spots.
"Tsk, watch out above!"
Three or four small Mimic Beasts that had bypassed us by crawling on the ceiling and walls leaped into the elevator.
Their target was Kim Ji-hoo and me, who had been lost in thought behind the front line.
"Danger!"
Yoo In-ha shouted urgently, but she had no time to retract her tail while blocking the horde in front.
The moment their hideous maws and small but sharp biological blades rushed right up to my nose.
I calmly drew the Glock from my waist.
My mind was strangely calm. My Halo shone faintly above my head, and I felt as if the trajectories of the rushing creatures were being drawn slowly like dotted lines.
Bang-! Bang! Bang-!
Three sharp gunshots in succession tore through the cramped elevator.
"Kiek......!"
The 9mm bullets embedded themselves precisely into the brows and wide-open maws of the creatures flying through the air.
Before they could even reach me, they lost their momentum in mid-air and tumbled to the floor. It was a perfect, clean shot without a single wasted bullet.
"...Nice shot!"
Orc Mister exclaimed briefly, ejecting a shell casing.
I kicked the remains of the creatures away and silently readjusted my grip on the Glock.
'...How did I do that?'
I was surprised by myself.
Honestly, even if I had received shooting training, could I really be this good?
In such an urgent situation, even hitting one shot is a struggle.
Suddenly, I felt confident in my ability.
But this wasn't the time to be relaxed. The wave of creatures pouring through the door was still ongoing.
Now it was my turn to add strength to the front line.
Bang-! Bang! Bang!
I calmly pulled the trigger, planting bullets toward the blind spots of Owl Bear Elder and Orc Mister, who were struggling at the front.
"Ha, nice! It feels like you're shooting better than me!"
Thanks to the Halo shining faintly above my head, which cleared the darkness of the narrow space, the creatures' grotesque movements were clearly exposed before my eyes.
"Let's push through!"
With our pouring firepower, we broke through the front of the elevator, which was squelching with the corpses of the creatures, and finally stepped onto the 4th-floor hallway.
"Huu... huff......."
While we were catching our breath and keeping watch on our surroundings, Orc Mister spoke to me.
"...How are you shooting so well with that Glock?"
"...No, that's just......."
Honestly, saying that I didn't know I could shoot this well myself didn't sound very cool.
It seemed like the Halo had helped to some extent, too.
I vaguely brushed it off and enjoyed the tension.
Well, even that didn't last long, though.
We looked around the area where the battle had just ended.
Small Mimic Beasts were bursting open here and there, spewing out viscous liquid.
It wasn't exactly a pleasant environment.
Those Mimic Beasts... surely.......
We slowly gazed at the sight of the 4th floor, which had become a hellscape.
"......Crazy."
The low curse that popped out of someone's mouth perfectly represented the situation on the 4th floor.
Because the crushed information sign lying on the floor stated the original purpose of this floor.
[4th Floor: General Newborn Nursery / NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) / Rooming-in Preparation Room / Nursing Room / Pediatric Clinic]
We had finally arrived at the floor where the Incubator existed.