Chapter 23
Chapter 23
4. A Winter That Will Someday Pass -5
Sssshhhh-!
The rain was still falling. The sniper was staggering to her feet on the asphalt. So even a four-story fall wasn't enough to seriously injure her.
I swept my rain-soaked hair back from my forehead, out of my eyes, and spoke.
"Looks like you don't have a movement skill. Now that the sniper's been forced into a one-on-one with a vanguard, you can't be too happy about the situation either. If you surrender now, I'll go easy on you, so put the weapon down."
She was a sniper who'd insisted on ranged attacks only, so I figured if I limited her vision with Azure Wind Wanderer and pressed her into close combat, I could subdue her easily.
But unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
"Heh, heh heh... How about you take the killing intent out of your eyes before you talk. And you seem to be mistaken about something... I'm not a sniper."
Slip.
Both hands emerged from inside the sniper's cloak. Between each of her fingers, she held a Nail, each one leaking pitch-black energy. It looked like she was wearing knuckles.
Or like a cat extending its claws.
In the process, the fastened cloak fell open, letting me observe the sniper's body. Judging by the bone structure, she was a woman, with dense muscle built for speed rather than raw strength. Which meant... this wasn't the body of an untrained ranged damage dealer.
If anything, she was closer to ninety percent vanguard. It was strange enough that she'd been doing nothing but sniping this whole time.
More than anything, her stance was properly set. This was going to be a tough fight.
"...You look the part."
Shhk-!
A Nail flew at my forehead. At the same time, I heard faint but distinct footsteps. A classic strategy—throw the nail to block my vision, then dive into my guard herself.
I dropped low to dodge the nail, then blocked the sniper's attack with my shield as she thrust her nail-knuckles at me like claws. Skrrrk-!!
The nail-knuckles scraped across my shield as they came in, then stopped when her strength ran out. We went straight into a contest of strength. Evenly matched? No, I was slightly stronger.
Krrrrk-!
I pushed the shield forward. The sniper's arm folded little by little as she was forced back.
Her raw strength wasn't that great. As long as it wasn't an attack that gathered and unleashed force, I could block it without trouble... and even push back like this.
"...Hmph!"
The sniper's face twisted sharply, and she stepped back to create distance as if offended. I didn't quite understand, but losing the contest of strength had clearly wounded her pride.
And then the throws came flying in succession.
Shhk, sh-shhk- Kang!
I deflected them as if swatting them away.
She'd said she wasn't a sniper, but the attack I still had to watch out for most was her sniping. The projectile Nails kept pouring endlessly from her grip.
If this became a fight at range, I'd be in trouble. I had no proper ranged attack of my own. The whole reason I'd dug a trap to lure the sniper in was because I had no way to deal with that throwing chip damage in the first place.
As expected, distance put me at a disadvantage. I had to get closer.
Tap.
I closed in with a short step. Splash—water sprayed from a puddle. I extended my shield arm to block her vision and looked for an angle to stab with the dagger in my right hand.
"You want to do this...!"
"Haaah."
"Die-!"
The sniper bared her teeth savagely and thrust her nail-knuckles at me. Her movements were fast. That was speed her muscle mass shouldn't have been able to produce. Had she used Magic Power? Or did she have some kind of combat-compressed muscle?
But my eyes were slightly faster. I was reading her attack before she even swung.
The angle of her feet, the movement of her shoulders. And a host of other tells.
That was what made a late start with a first strike possible. I twisted my body diagonally to let the thrust slide past, then drove a counter-thrust into the open space at her flank. I'd aim between the ribs and end this in one go.
Shwak-!
"...Hup?!"
But the sniper twisted her body with impossible flexibility and evaded my attack. It was a movement close to what no human should be able to perform, so I hadn't anticipated it. The dagger's edge only grazed the surface of her clothing's fibers.
Her breathing grew ragged. Surprised?
Normally, moving like that would've meant a loud crack, clutching your back, and rolling on the ground.
Did she possess some special secret art for expanding her range of joint motion? No, it was a little different. I'd learned the "hero's movement" from Sergios, so I knew superhumans could move fairly acrobatically.
But this was different from that... There was a sense of wrongness in how her body operated at a fundamental level. The position of her muscles and the structure of her spine seemed different.
That one... wasn't human?
Just now, she'd seemed reluctant to engage in a contest of strength. In a fight, you win more often by relentlessly targeting what makes your opponent uncomfortable. So let's get even closer.
I'd learned the basics of grappling styles—judo, wrestling, that sort of thing.
I charged in with the mindset of outright hugging her. Into point-blank range where she couldn't even line up an attack. I hooked her leg, tangled us together, and rolled across the ground.
This was a ground fight. The sniper let out a sound close to a scream.
"How close are you going to get... Noah Won!!"
"Until you're dead."
If she dodged flexibly, I just wouldn't give her any space to dodge.
Noah Won.
A vanguard who used a shield and short sword... When that was all she'd heard, Hori had been certain of her victory. A guy with no ranged attack would be whittled down bit by bit by sniping with her Nails.
And when he somehow closed the distance, she'd just reveal her true skill. He'd rush in carelessly, assuming a sniper would be weak in close combat, and she'd sink her sharp fangs into him.
The source of that arrogant confidence?
Mobility and flexibility beyond any comparison to mere humans, and innate strength. Talent as a higher species. She was—a member of the Beastmen.
Beings rarely seen at D-rank, noble existences who mostly connected to the System as born C-rank hunters. Even though she was D-rank, she was a D-rank far ahead of other humans.
But the fight wouldn't end. The battle was dragging on. And now he was shamelessly clinging to her, tangling their bodies together. It was infuriating.
Looking purely at their respective abilities, this should have been a hunt she'd won long ago.
"Haaah."
Those eyes were the problem. Those Eyes that seemed to look down from a distant firmament!
"Get off me, you damn bastard--!!"
Whoosh-!
She swung her arm hard, but Noah Won managed to evade even at this close range.
Everything was being read.
It had been like this for a while now. As if every one of her movements was being broken down and analyzed frame by frame, Noah Won maintained an expressionless face that felt almost eerie. Step by step, he dismantled Hori's attacks.
Even now. Even though Hori, who could produce Nails at will, should have been at a far greater advantage. When she tried to put strength into shaking him off, he redirected it with precise control. When she tried to stab a Nail from a blind spot—
Skrrk.
As if he had eyes on his side, the hand holding the shield came down and blocked it before she knew it.
Even when she thrashed to escape the ground situation using her flexibility as a weapon, whenever she tried to move, Noah Won's hands were already pressing down on her body with exquisite precision.
At this rate, she'd die like a frog coiled by a snake.
"You're revolting... You're revolting in every way, Noah Won!"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
Noah Won's expression twisted. It seemed to ask what the hell she was talking about in the middle of a life-or-death fight. But the wedge driven into Hori's memory kept injecting unnecessary emotions into an honorable struggle for survival.
Revolting.
"I won't kill you easily. Originally, I would've buried you painlessly with my Nails... but if you're going to be annoying, I'll show you. The power bestowed upon me by the strongest of the B-rank title holders—Master Binder!"
Hori drew up her skill.
The chance to use the Telescope, obtainable only by accumulating considerable merit in the Hunter Alliance. What Hori had witnessed beyond that view was an existence like a cocoon bound by countless ropes.
What she had received from it was an incomplete C-rank skill.
"Degradation: Puppet Whip!"
It was a whip that controlled its target like a puppet.
Shit.
I'd stepped on a landmine once. Fortunately, it hadn't gone off, but I still remembered the feeling of that moment. A sensation like coolant running down my spine.
That was what this felt like.
From the body of the sniper I had coiled around and pinned down, something like translucent rubber bands extended in all directions. Including into me, of course.
"...Kgh."
That moment.
My body creaked and moved on its own, against my will. I rose with stiff movements, like footage playing in reverse, and the sniper leisurely slipped out of the ground position.
And then, as if venting her anger, she drove the Nail she was holding into my shoulder.
Crunch!
"Heh... That's one."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"You slippery bastard. It took me this long just to land one nail. How's it feel? Can't even scream, can you?"
[-> Download Slot 1: Degradation: Puppet Whip (Downloading... 3%)]
Puppet Whip?
So it's a whip that turns people into puppets.
...What kind of dogshit Skill is this? I tried to move with all my strength, but I could only twitch my fingertips a little. This wasn't something willpower could overcome.
Some brutish force was pressing down on me. Which meant I had to break it with force against force.
But I'd used up all of Azure Wind Wanderer's power making the downpour. I had no skill left to counter with. In that case, should I use the White Lightning I'd been saving?
Judging that she was in an advantageous position, the sniper took her time. She let out a suppressed, snickering laugh and spoke to me.
"Still looking at me with those eyes, are you? Hey... Noah Won. I knew it from the moment I received your file. You're a human I can't understand."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"If I drive twelve more nails into you, you can sleep peacefully. But I won't end it like that. There's a... more fitting finish for you."
Flick.
Grraaaaaah-!
When she twitched her finger, a horde of zombies began shambling out from the alleys. They approached with awkward gaits, as if something had them by the scruff of the neck.
Looking closely, something translucent was connected to them too. The sniper seemed to be controlling the zombies with the power of the Puppet Whip.
"That's your cause of death. Noah Won... You'll be devoured by a horde of corpses and become a corpse yourself."
"Bullshit...!"
Splash, splash. The corpses advanced slowly.
I had to buy time somehow. I forced my mouth open.
"...Why is the Hunter Alliance doing this to me?"
"You're the one who should answer. Why did you interfere with our Hunter Alliance's business? They were people with no connection to you. Why did you go through all that shit to save people you'd never met, never even exchanged a word with?"
"Ha, that's rich."
So now the world had become a place where someone helping others had to explain himself to someone harming others. I let out a dumbfounded laugh, and the sniper snapped back fiercely.
"Wake up already. In this System, the law of the jungle is the only answer!"
"Says who..."
"Shut up! You're someone who disrupts this ecosystem just by existing, Noah Won! If you'd helped them to strip them bare before we could, instead of being a busybody, we never would've had to issue an Extermination Order!"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
I had thought it was strange.
The Hunter Alliance was a large organization. If they'd gone so far as to dispatch an assassin, their roots must run deeper than I'd thought. But even so, for an organization like that to sharpen their blades this much just to catch one man—that was odd.
This dispatched sniper. Her base skills were excellent, but now that she was using a skill bestowed by a B-rank hunter, she might even rival Sergios. It meant they'd sent a talent at the very top of D-rank hunters as an assassin.
And she might even have another trick or two hidden away.
If I'd been following the Alliance around and disrupting their operations at every turn, that'd be one thing, but I'd only dealt with the ones I happened to run into.
For just three or four instances of interference, this felt too extreme.
But the Hunter Alliance apparently wasn't bothered by my interference itself—it was the atmosphere I was creating that concerned them. What... did they think I was going to found a religion and start a revolution or something?
Splash. Splash. Splash.
The stench of rot was drawing closer. The zombies had come near enough that I could make out their forms through the sheets of rain.
I still couldn't move a muscle, like a pinned butterfly. But my train of thought had clearly advanced a step. An idea flashed through my mind.
Was the sniper really... taking her time?
Look.
Someone spouting off about the law of the jungle, circling around her prey like this—that was strange. And if she was going to take her time, shouldn't she half-kill me first and then take her time?
If it were me, if I absolutely had to run my mouth, I'd have broken their limbs first.
Observing carefully, I could see that the sniper's movements were also stiff, straining with effort. As if she had heavy weights attached to both arms and legs.
In that case, wasn't it that the sniper couldn't finish me off, rather than choosing not to?
She was pouring all her strength into holding my body in place, so the power and mental focus going into the Puppet Whip were near their limit. That was why she was going out of her way to use the zombies to finish me.
Think. First, explode all my strength—or else, even if it meant surrendering my body entirely to Internalization... to Azure Wind Wanderer, let me break free of this binding. If that didn't work, then I'd fire the White Lightning.
Focus, focus...
Forget the approaching footsteps. Forget the breath of the dead. Focus!
"Die regretting that weakness—unable to throw away what you should have thrown away long ago."
Crraaack-!
The zombies had fully closed in and were about to claw at me and take a huge bite—
Bang--!!
A single gunshot, close to a thunderclap, cut across the downpour.
'Die regretting that weakness—unable to throw away what you should have thrown away long ago.'
That voice, carried from afar and mixed with the rain, tore painfully at Kim Sohye's heart. It was the sentence she had scolded herself with hundreds, thousands of times since her sister died.
It was the cruelty this reality—now a strange land—kept imprinting on her.
Kim Sohye was a weak human. A half-wit who staggered when her sister died, who loathed herself yet couldn't let go, who hesitated and made only foolish choices.
But... Noah Won wasn't.
He wasn't like that. He was different from her, and different from her sister. Even in this world, he somehow hadn't broken; instead of hesitating, he ran forward. So. So she wanted to deny it.
Clack-!
Through the scope, she could see the assassin. She could see Noah, surrounded by a horde of zombies, moments from being bitten. She steadied her breathing. She would not end this having done nothing, like the day her sister died.
...She would never again just cling to someone else!
Putting a period on this chapter of her wandering, she—
Bang--!!
Pulled the trigger.
"...Kgh, ah."
The sniper's legs buckled. Looking at where the blood sprayed, she'd been hit in the shoulder.
The bullet, the gunshot, and then a trembling voice came one after another. It sounded somehow like the falling rain, and somehow not.
"—I still regret not being able to throw away my graduation cap. I think, if I'd done what I should have done sooner, maybe my sister wouldn't have ended up like this. But that's something a pathetic person like me deserves to hear... It's not something Noah should have to hear!"
It was Sohye!
"Go, Noah! I'll support you from behind, so give that person hell!"
Roger that.
The moment the shot punched a hole through the sniper's shoulder, the power of the Puppet Whip scattered. It seemed to be a Skill that demanded considerable power and concentration.
Which meant now, with her concentration broken, was my chance.
I immediately projected the secrets of the dagger art I'd learned from Sergios. Swift as a lightning flash, my hand shot out, leaving a blurry afterimage.
"Quick Flash!"
Thunk-!
"Gkgh...?!"
One thrust into the sniper's abdomen, then out. She clutched the wound and stumbled backward. I could see the hazy shape of a Nail forming in her grip. She still wanted to keep going.
But now it was two against one. Even if she used the Puppet Whip again, if Sohye shot and blew her head off, we'd win.
Speaking of which, that gunshot. It wasn't just any gun—the caliber seemed quite large. She'd gathered resources more diligently than I'd thought. Or maybe she'd made contact with the military at some point. The shelter she'd shown me apparently wasn't the whole story.
Splash-!
I shook off the zombies and ran, kicking through the puddles. And behind me, gunshots rang out.
Bang-! Ba-bang-!
It was raining. So much rain was falling that visibility was poor. Which meant one wrong move and those bullets could hit my back instead of the sniper. But I wasn't too worried.
Because Sohye had good instincts.
I kept up the offensive. The sniper dodged the lightning-fast dagger thrusts without missing a beat, but moving at all with a serious injury was damage in itself. The losses were accumulating.
"—Is it fun, licking each other's wounds with the losers who couldn't adapt and got culled?!"
It's fun, you bastard.
This timing was crucial. I'd end the fight here. I looked into the sniper's eyes. Along with a sensation of time slowing, a strange mutual understanding passed between us. We were both exhausted and tattered, but the sniper had a peculiar certainty.
Making that kind of face in a situation where she'd die whether she used the Puppet Whip or the Nails. That meant she hadn't shown all her cards yet.
I felt it instinctively. She still had a hidden trump card.
Of course, I still had a hidden trump card too.
But—it was far too precious to use against someone like her. It was for emergencies. What a waste it would be to use it on someone I could handle without it.
"...Fuck."
"Hmph."
I'd just have to let her go with accumulated damage.
We came to a silent agreement. Neither of us would use ours. Her personality and ideology didn't match mine by even a speck, but on the point of preparing for the "next fight" over the "current fight," our codes aligned.
The sniper bared her teeth and laughed like a beast.
"Heh... We'll be seeing each other for a long time, Noah Won. I'll repay you for today soon enough."
"You won't walk away alive next time."
"You should worry about yourself first... Return!"
She wrapped both arms around her neck and other vital points and committed to her escape.
The sniper's body was enveloped in white light. But at this distance, there was more than enough time to land a knife strike. She knew that too, which was why she'd said she'd "repay" me. What pride.
"Quick Flash."
Thunk-!!
"...Kghak!"
I thrust precisely between her ribs, into her flank, and pulled out. Judging by the sensation at my fingertips, this was a fatal wound. If she was lucky, she'd die. If not, she'd be recovering for a while.
Around then, Azure Wind Wanderer's duration also ended. The downpour gradually let up, then stopped in an instant.
After that, I cleaned up the zombies that had latched on due to the Puppet Whip and regrouped with Sohye. She was clutching what looked like a very heavy anti-materiel sniper rifle.
"Noah!"
"We won thanks to you."
"Oh, no. I just... added a tiny spoonful."
The battle was over. I'd won.
Without Sohye's supporting fire, I would've almost used my precious White Lightning. Now that I'd driven off the nuisance, all that was left was the cleanup.
"Then let's head back. We'll rest for a bit—"
Bit.
Huh?
My body swayed, and all the strength drained out of me. When I came to my senses, I was face-down on the ground.
Everything was hazy.
"N-Noah! Are you okay?! Noah?!"
Sohye's worried voice sounded distant.
With my head rapidly growing dull, I thought. What is this?
'You should worry about yourself first... Return!'
Had the sniper done something? No, the only attack I'd taken from her was the Nail driven into my shoulder when my movements first locked up. That shouldn't have been such a powerful attack.
Could it be? That bastard⋯⋯
"...Noah, wh-why is Noah..."
On the Nail.
"Noah was never bitten...?!"
Had she coated it with the Zombie Virus?
Blink.
I closed my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them, I was being carried on a stretcher. Mingyu and Taemin seemed to be beside me too.
Mingyu examined me carefully, then spoke with a deeply stiffened face.
"N-Noah, on your face, is that⋯⋯ isn't that it?"
"...Don't say nonsense. Noah was never bitten. There's no way that's it."
"But... the veins turning blue, and the eyes getting blacker and blacker, that's... no matter how you look at it, those are zombie infection symptoms..."
"Shut up! I said there's no way... didn't I?!"
When Sohye shouted as if trying to suppress the situation, Taemin spoke in a rigid voice.
"He might've been infected while passing through the forest with Mingyu, or when we moved Sojin to the shelter. Either way, the symptoms are clear. I don't know if he can still use his powers as a zombie, but just in case, we should..."
"Are you seriously saying that right now—"
After that, Sohye seemed to keep fighting to protect me.
⋯⋯⋯⋯
Blink.
My head was clearing little by little. I could move my fingers now.
I'd been fairly worried at first. But fortunately, my body seemed able to overcome the infection. Seeing how I was improving over time, it was certain. It felt like I'd be able to get up soon.
While I lay there half a corpse, the atmosphere was almost like a funeral parlor. With my limbs bound, Sohye and Mingyu sat side by side, crying their eyes out.
"Th-this can't happen. If I hadn't just asked Noah for help, if I'd been just a little stronger, aaaaaah...!!"
If we're assigning blame, it was my fault for not knowing the sniper's attack had this kind of thing on it. If I'd known, maybe I should've just fired the White Lightning.
Meanwhile, that bastard Taemin was insisting they had to cut my head off quickly before I turned. If Sohye hadn't resisted so stubbornly, he would've killed me long ago.
I'd remember this, Taemin, you son of a bitch.
Still, it wasn't a bad situation. Actually, it was an absurdly good situation. As long as I could get up.
You might not understand. I was drifting through a sea of tears in a state of full-body paralysis, we were still inside the shelter, and Sohye's sister Sojin was still a zombie—so what could possibly be good about any of this?
Because my Status Window was playing a triumphant fanfare.
Ding!
[-> Download Slot 2: 『Corpse-Plague Curse』 (Downloading⋯⋯ 68%)]
Look at that.
The Zombie Virus was a skill.
I'd thought it was strange. The zombies drawing mystery circles, being aggroed by Sojin's secret chant or whatever. I'd wondered if there was some kind of... self-awareness behind it.
There had been a user.
But that wasn't the important part. This hinted at something even more important.
For every skill, there is always another Skill that can counter it. While traveling through various stages and completing missions, I'd seen plenty of hunters who used powers like Holy Power or Blessings.
So finding a suitable Priest wouldn't be difficult.
In other words.
It meant I might be able to solve this world's zombie apocalypse.
...Sohye's stubbornness—the graduation cap she could never bring herself to throw away—had saved her sister.