Floor 6: The Lost World of the Contaminated (6)

We avoided the zombies and headed for Chungmuro Station through the back alleys instead of the main road.

The narrow alley, hung with shabby signs for a diner, a hangover soup house, and a bar with a counter out front, was littered with half-eaten corpses.

"Hoo."

"They weren't here when we passed earlier."

It was my first time seeing human bodies this raw and exposed. I barely managed to hold down my nausea. The ajusshi walking beside me forced a composed expression as well.

Was he feeling a certain responsibility as the eldest of the group? When our eyes met, he gave me a faint smile that said it was all fine.

"Looks like they've been dead about four hours."

Ha Heijeong wore the same calm expression as always. As if it were nothing new, she examined the bodies and even deduced the time of death.

Seeing her like that, I could faintly glimpse the first regression she had lived through.

I thought she was just an amazing fighter… but how much had she endured to get to this point? I was watching her with pity in my heart when my eyes met hers.

As if she'd read my every thought, Ha Heijeong flashed a grin.

'Don't worry about me.'

Who's worrying about whom? I couldn't hear her voice, but her lip movements were crystal clear. Flushing with embarrassment, I whipped my head away.

When I looked back, the ajusshi was signaling with his eyes that he'd go check on Seo Harin.

"Uwek."

Seo Harin was hunched over, dry-heaving.

Ah, right, she's still a high schooler. Priests barely saw any combat during the tutorial. She'd been fine when we were killing zombies, but a dead human being must have been quite a shock.

"It's okay, it's okay. Harin, just keep your eyes forward and walk."

"Yes…"

"There we go, don't look down."

The ajusshi lifted her chin with his rough hand.

Chin raised, Seo Harin rolled her eyes and stole a glance at the corpse anyway. Then she gagged again, weakly.

"Ugh…"

And then she peeked at the body again.

Wow, I marveled quietly. Even while gagging, her curiosity was getting the better of her.

Could she have some unspeakable preference?

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Hoo. Stop thinking weird things.

Seo Harin is nineteen. She was probably just curious, that's all.

The moment the ajusshi, supporting Seo Harin, got us past the bodies, he voiced the question on all our minds.

"By the way, where did those things go?"

"I know, right? There were quite a few even in the alleys earlier. And that's not even counting the people who died here—"

"Kkieeeek—!"

I couldn't finish my sentence.

The queen's shriek rang out again, and this time it was as close as the distance we'd just walked.

A brief silence.

Then, from somewhere far off, came the sound of something shattering. A sharp human scream followed it.

"Th-that was definitely a person just now, right?"

"We run."

The ajusshi nodded with a dazed look on his face. I glanced back to confirm—Ha Heijeong and Cole gave small nods too.

Even Seo Harin, the whites of her eyes bloodshot from retching, signaled that she was all right. Dobby's eyes were gleaming as well.

I took the lead and started running. Not an all-out sprint.

I had to account for the priest's and the mage's stamina, and keep the fight waiting for us at the destination in mind too.

Stay calm. Enemies could pop out at any moment.

Left at the hair salon with its half-shattered windows, right again into the alley lined with bars, then right once more.

In an instant, the boulevard in front of Chungmuro Station spread out before my eyes.

"Kkieeeek—!"

The moment I laid eyes on the queen, an unexplained notification window popped up.

She towered well over two meters, the two horns rising from her head a good fifty centimeters, and the hard scales covering her bone-white skin bristled dry and sharp.

She was about fifty meters away. The queen stood in front of a café along the boulevard, swinging her fists at a crowd of fleeing people.

No—crowd was too generous a word.

Five people, scattering in every direction.

As if to show there had once ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been many more, the ground in front of the café was plastered with mangled chunks of flesh.

Strangely, the zombies merely ringed the queen from a distance, refusing to draw near her.

The ajusshi broke the party's silence, forcing the words out.

"Th-that's the Q-Queen?"

His voice trembled with shock. Nobody answered, but the whole party had to be feeling the same way.

Even Ha Heijeong.

I whipped around to look at her.

"…Damn it. You said she wasn't contaminated."

Then why—why—is she contaminated?

She was nothing like the rational queen I'd imagined. Could we actually take that thing down?

Ha Heijeong spoke up, a beat late.

"…Yeah. Wonder why she changed."

Irritation flared up at her easygoing tone. Why was she so relaxed? We should be running for our lives right now.

As if she'd read my mind, Ha Heijeong went on.

"She's changed a lot, sure, but I think we can take her."

"What?"

"I know your stats, remember. You're more than enough."

Enough? I turned my gaze back to the queen. A single punch of hers crumpled a German sedan like paper.

…She looks nothing like it.

"Suhyeok, you haven't really fought anything properly since Floor 4, right? You can do this."

Since Floor 4?

Come to think of it, I hadn't faced a strong opponent since downing the Body Reinforcement Elixir and the Essence of Lightning.

"Unni? That seems like a bit much…"

"H-Heijeong. You're not seriously telling Suhyeok to fight that thing?"

"It's fine. Hosu-ajusshi covers us from behind and funnels all the buffs to Suhyeok."

He does have that foresight ability, after all. Ha Heijeong added a beat later, tapping her temple with her finger.

With Ha Heijeong talking like that, something like confidence began welling up inside me. Our eyes met.

'You don't trust me?'

She mouthed the words. I drew my certainty not from what she said, but from the look in her eyes.

Trust, flowing from those unshaking eyes.

"Suhyeok, let's save the people first."

As if those words were a starting gun, I charged at the queen.

Several of the contaminated things swarming around their queen in worshipful devotion turned their heads at the sound of my footsteps.

"Grah!"

The first zombie to lunge at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my descending mace had its skull cave in from the crown.

Splat—viscous brain matter stuck to my cheek.

There was no time to wipe it off.

I wreathed my shield in lightning, uppercut the jaw of one charging in from the left, then swung the mace in the same motion.

"Over here!"

Two of the five had already been killed by the queen. At my shout, three survivors who'd been running through the horde turned toward me.

As if they'd seen a savior, their eyes went wide and they changed course, fleeing my way.

"Kkieeeek—!"

The queen, who'd been pounding an already half-flattened corpse with her fists again and again, finally turned to look at me—late.

A brief exchange of glances. She flinched for just a moment, then began charging at me.

Something's off here.

The queen looked similar to the zombies, but a little different. Unlike their black eyes, the queen's were a pale gray.

In a flash of clarity, one thought pierced my mind. That's right—we'd purified the Contaminated Egg too.

"Heijeong! The egg!"

I turned and started running back—cutting diagonally rather than straight at the party, in case the queen's eyes reverted.

Quick-witted as ever, Ha Heijeong hurled the egg from a distance.

…Wow. The queen was bearing down on my back, and here I was, marvelling at Ha Heijeong's throwing form.

It was a pass so accurate she could've been a football quarterback.

"Everyone, prep the purification spell!"

I chucked the shield onto the ground and caught the egg mid-stride, without breaking my run.

Time to find out. I turned around, leg muscles coiled so I could dodge left or right at any instant.

"Kkieeeek—?"

The moment I thrust the egg forward in my left hand, the queen froze mid-charge.

Two meters dead ahead. The queen stared hard at the egg, as if deliberating.

Her gray eyes wavered violently. Slowly, she reached out her hand.

Is… is it working?

"Kkieeeek—!"

Oh, damn it! The instant I saw the light leave her eyes, I rolled sharply to the side.

Mid-roll, it hit me—no! I hadn't retrieved the egg. Honestly, though, I hadn't had the luxury.

The egg went flying and bounced across the pavement. …It'll be fine, right?

Immediately after, the queen's fist came smashing down. I instinctively raised my shield to block, felt the emptiness in my left hand, and rolled aside again.

The egg can wait.

It was time to focus on the fight. The lucky part was that Ha Heijeong's eye was dead-on.

Unlike the overwhelming presence she'd radiated from afar, I could actually read the queen's movements up close.

"Purify!"

"Kkiik! Purify!"

On Ha Heijeong's command, Dobby and Seo Harin chanted the purification spell.

Unlike with the egg, the shimmering light scattered quickly. Was that because Chloe wasn't here? Three casters instead of—wait, two?

"Kkieeeek—!"

I dodged the queen's kick and rolled toward my shield. I had to get it back first. There's a limit to how long you can dodge.

The instant I hit the ground, I drove off my back foot and leaped to where the shield lay.

Snatching it up, I wreathed it in lightning and deflected the queen's fist at an angle. Perhaps because of the lightning, she flinched for a moment.

In that gap, I snapped my wrist and buried the lightning-wreathed mace into the queen's thigh.

"Kkieeeek—!"

Scales shattered as the mace bit deep into her leg. The queen doubled over reflexively from the pain.

Using the full force of my shoulder and hips, I wrenched the buried mace upward.

"Kkeok…"

The queen's jaw caught the crackling mace square on, and her head snapped back toward the sky.

She convulsed briefly—whether from the lightning, I couldn't say—then toppled slowly backward.

"Uraaah!"

"Suhyeok! Wait!"

The moment I raised the mace to smash down on the fallen queen, Ha Heijeong shouted in alarm.

…Right. The purification spell.

I got too caught up in the fight.

It had been only a few short moments, but every nerve in my body had been locked on bringing the queen down.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠queen, knocked out cold by the blow to her jaw, didn't stir. Dobby and Seo Harin ran over belatedly and began chanting the purification spell.

"Purify!"

"Kkiik! Purify!"

The shimmering light gathered far more clearly than before.

Did the spell only take because the queen's health was spent? This wasn't a Pokémon capture—why did it feel so anticlimactic?

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Really, thank you! You saved our lives!"

"It's nothing. Anyone would have done the same."

The survivors hesitated, then bowed again and again. There was a genuine reverence pouring off them, unlike the survivors we'd saved on the subway.

So this is what saving people feels like? It wasn't bad at all.

"What do we do now?"

"Hmm… she's definitely purified, but do we just wait for her to wake up?"

Ha Heijeong, holding the egg she'd brought over, wore a troubled expression. Every zombie in the vicinity had us surrounded.

Like when we'd first spotted the queen, they wouldn't come within a certain distance—but there was no telling when they might lunge.

With this many, it would be hard to fight while protecting people…

As I was mulling it over, Ha Heijeong spoke up as if something had just come to her.

"The Media Center! Let's head to the Media Center."

"The one inside Chungmuro Station?"

"Yeah. It's the only place we know for sure about, and there's no telling when these things might attack. If we go underground, the corridors narrow—easier to hold, too."

"Hoo. All right, let's go there. But that means we have to carry the queen."

As I deliberated, my eyes fell on the survivors shuffling their feet awkwardly nearby.

Two men and one woman.

I gave them a subtle look, and they quickly caught on, moving toward the queen.

"Ah well, we'll carry her."

"I'll help too!"

"Mi-jeong, you're fine. Me and Jong-su have got it."

"Come on, who does that these days? I'm helping."

"Our deepest thanks to our savior."

That was what the queen said the moment we arrived at the Chungmuro Station Visual Media Center—because she'd woken up.

She was faking unconsciousness this whole time?

"Wh-when did you wake up?"

"Around the time we came down the stairs. I'm sorry. I hid it because I feared you might panic."

"Ah, yes. Of course."

The queen bowed deeply. Unlike her frenzied state earlier, there was a gentle grace to her now, and polite speech came out of me unbidden.

Rising from her bow, the queen violently tore apart the black tentacles that carpeted one wall of the room.

Between the tentacles, a mystical black door revealed itself. I could see a small keyhole, and a recessed hollow that looked exactly the right size for an egg.

The queen turned to Ha Heijeong with a slightly sheepish look.

"Um, savior… my child, if you would…"

"Oh, of course. Sorry."

Having carefully received the egg back, the queen slowly slotted it into the hollow.

She laid her hand on the egg and murmured something low, like a chant.

At the same time, white light poured out of the egg.

"Kki—eh?"

When the light faded, what remained was a small child resembling the queen. Adorable little horns and scales—and in the child's hand, a tiny key.

The queen scooped the child up with a look of pure love, then inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it.

In that instant, an indescribable wave rippled out from the door. Hmm, what could this be? It didn't seem harmful, at least.

At the same moment, the notification window refreshed.

Wasn't there still time left on the clock?

Huh. Apparently clearing the hidden mission of purifying the queen was what ended the floor.

Ah, so their species was called the Seraphim. The queen bowed once more.

"I would ask your name, savior."

"…Kwon Suhyeok."

"Savior, you have found our world for us. We know not how to express our gratitude… We shall pray to God that you may never lose your own world."

I gave the Seraphim queen a faint smile. The child, born mere moments ago, beamed at me sunnily and waved its little hand.

With that image as my last sight, my vision brightened and the familiar sensation of floating washed over me.