Terraforming (4)
"Mm-hmm. Plant zombies really are the safest bet, after all."
Having sent the man on his way, I approached the plant zombies and quietly observed them. And I confirmed that they looked exactly like the plant zombies I'd seen in the future.
"Grraaahh..."
The plant zombie stretched out its hands, trying to grab me. I batted them away with my palm as I thought. These things have no intelligence at all.
For the record, I'm an anomaly myself. And anomalies weaker than me either fear me or run away.
But there are a few exceptions. Either their intelligence is too low, or they're being controlled by something else.
The snail from before was a case of intelligence too low to register me, while the yellow raincoat was roughly my equal.
Granted, the yellow raincoat's raw power was weaker than mine. But in the sense that it could create an entire space of its own, it was stronger than me.
I don't have that ability, after all. And my Future Sight didn't work on it well either, remember?
Anyway, these plant zombies fall into the former category. Judging by how everything was covered in vegetation, this looked like the work of an environmental-erosion-type anomaly, but it didn't seem like the anomaly itself was controlling them.
It just felt like it had simply infected them and let them loose. Like herding them? How should I put it?
"Well, whatever the case, once we kill the environmental-erosion-type anomaly, they won't multiply any further."
There had to be a way to take this anomaly down. The best-case scenario would be a main body, like with the yellow-raincoat anomaly. Then, destroying that main body would solve everything at once.
"Alright. Then shall we make that our goal for now?"
I decided to find the main body. It would be at the center of the infected region, so I set my sights there.
Of course, I'd have to put the plant zombies at ease first.
"Then, may nothing but blessings await you all."
I put every single plant zombie at ease.
"Whew. Alright, let's go!"
"GYAAAH! RUN!"
"Run for it!"
Down at the foot of the mountain, it was utter pandemonium — chaos on a scale that felt like a procession of a hundred demons marching through the night!
Just moments ago, one of the anomaly survey team members had come out of the mountain and immediately called for the Anomaly Hunt Squad to be summoned!
But the Anomaly Hunt Squad isn't the kind of force that shows up just because you call them. They only move with the approval of the Anomaly Research Association's Chairman. So we first asked what was going on, and he said that zombies would soon come down upon this place.
When we asked whether they were anomalies, he shook his head with a grief-stricken expression. They weren't anomalies, he said — they were people infected by an anomaly.
"Is that really true?"
"Yes. I nearly got caught myself. Thankfully, I managed to escape."
He certainly didn't look the least bit intact. If anything, he looked like he'd rolled through a warzone. Or maybe he already had — that part we might never know.
In any case, following his account, we decided to contact the Association first. Once we relayed our story, they would no doubt begin conferring with the government.
But the man who'd brought us the news kept pressing us, saying there was no time. No, seriously — what on earth was happening down there?
Getting a little irritated, I asked him why exactly he was in such a frantic hurry.
"That mountain has anomalies besides the environmental-erosion-type!"
"...I'm sorry, what?"
"Other anomalies have wandered into that mountain, I'm telling you!"
Oh, this was very bad.
Frankly, his words were hard to believe. But the moment I spotted the zombie-like beings behind him, along with anomalies that couldn't be contained under their Management Failure status, I knew we were in deep trouble.
The land we stood on was a place where many anomalies had been released under Management Failure designations. I'd felt a little uneasy even before setting out, and sure enough, it had all blown up in our faces.
"Hey! Run, right now!"
"What?"
"Over there!"
I pointed at the anomalies with my finger. The instant our eyes met, I pulled out a grenade without a second's delay.
"Wha— hey! That's—!"
"Catch!"
A special grenade developed so that ordinary humans could survive encounters with anomalies.
I yanked out the pin and hurled it with all my strength. Thankfully, the anomalies stayed put until then. The moment the grenade left my hand, I spun around and started sprinting.
"KIIIEEEEE!!!"
"Damn it!"
The instant the anomalies saw me running, they charged straight at us. But I could breathe a little easier.
Because the grenade had landed right in front of them.
KA-BOOM!
"Run! Get to the car, no matter what!"
We sprinted toward the car with every ounce of strength we had. Mercifully, the anomalies seemed too dazed by the blast and the resulting fire to give chase properly.
Reaching the car, we jumped in and started driving immediately. The man who'd come with us asked whether we'd managed to get through to anyone.
"Th-they say they'll talk it over with the government first!"
"They need to move as fast as possible! If this goes wrong, a massive horde of anomalies will march south toward Seoul!"
My colleague said he understood and contacted the Chairman once more. But I had already concluded it was too late.
"We're already too late."
"What? But they haven't—"
"Too late. They've come all the way down to base camp. Those things are already marching south."
I gripped the steering wheel and gritted my teeth so hard they ached. I hated how powerless I was — hated it more than anything.
But there was nothing we could do. All that remained was to wait for the Chairman and the government.
It felt like absolute shit.
Boing, boing.
I hopped from tree branch to tree branch, heading toward the center of the infected region. The problem was that the infected zone was just too vast.
I felt like I'd already covered at least ten kilometers, and yet the overwhelming sense was that I still hadn't reached the center. To make matters worse, my Future Sight kept showing me nothing but my own forward progress.
Frankly, I wanted to peer further into the future, but I was afraid of getting lost if I did, so I held back. Besides, didn't they say the future is full of variables?
What if I looked far ahead, and then the future changed on me? That's why I wasn't doing it.
"Hmmm. When on earth am I going to find this thing?"
Just as I was starting to get bored, my ears caught a certain sound.
I leaped down from the branch in response — and moments later, the very branch I'd been standing on was sliced clean off.
"Oho. Another anomaly, is it?"
I recognized the anomaly that had just tried to cut me down. One of the ones set loose under a Management Failure designation, most likely.
Its name was... ah, was it the Fencing Knight?
That anomaly was clearly holding a fencing foil, yet wielded it like a longsword. That's why I'd always thought of it as a rather peculiar one.
It was also, incidentally, the very anomaly South Korea had declared a Management Failure.
SHNK!
"Mama mia!"
I'd spaced out for one second and nearly got carved up by a fencing stroke! They say that thing can cut through just about anything!
My tail almost got lopped off! I hastily wrapped my arms around my tail and shielded it.
"What kind of knight lets his code of chivalry rot away like that?!"
Of course, the Fencing Knight didn't hear a single word I said. It swung its blade at me again, and I dodged with ease.
And the moment I evaded it, I slipped inside its guard and drove my fist into its abdomen.
CLANG!
With the sound of metal crumpling, the Fencing Knight went flying far into the distance!
I was happily watching it soar when I snapped back to my senses. It got flung away and lost sight of me — this was my chance to escape!
I could take it out right here... hold on. Or should I just... eliminate it?
I fixed the slowly-rising Fencing Knight with my predator's eyes. Now, how best to cook this one?
A wicked smile spread across my face as I ran through the options.
I could punch its abdomen like before, or send its face flying with a spinning kick, or better yet, just drive it straight into the ground!
Just imagining it felt wonderfully therapeutic. My ears and tail seemed to enjoy these fantasies too, swaying about in a good mood.
"Fufufu. That scared, is it?"
At some point, the Fencing Knight was looking at me and trembling, flinching back and forth. Quite the contrast from how boldly it had charged at me just moments ago.
"Well, I'll put you out of your misery quickly."
Granted, my tail was wagging like crazy, screaming "torment it before you kill it," but I ignored that.
With a swish of my tail and light footsteps, I strolled toward the Fencing Knight. Even as I closed to point-blank range, it didn't move.
Well, that suited me fine.
I drove my fist straight into its abdomen.
BANG!
With a resounding crash, its armor crumpled even worse than before. I followed up immediately, driving my elbow down into its back.
THUD!
Another mighty impact, and this time it slammed into the earth. Watching that, I immediately began looking into its future.
And soon, among the countless branching timelines, I saw myself thrusting my hand into the region of its heart. The instant I saw it, the me in reality struck for its heart as well.
With a KWAZIK—! a hole punched straight through it. It was weaker than I'd expected — my hand went through with ease.
"Mmm... oh!"
Perk!
The moment my fingers brushed something round and solid, my ears shot upright in surprise. I grabbed the sphere, and with all the strength I had, I crushed it.
At that, the Fencing Knight shuddered violently — then went utterly limp. I had taken down the Fencing Knight!
"Fufu. That's me for you."
To think I'd toppled the Fencing Knight this easily.
It really did feel like its Management Failure status was overkill. It's THIS weak!
Not that I'm calling humans weak, of course. The government simply never felt a pressing need to contain this thing in the first place.
Bullets work on it. But it cuts through anything you point at it. Word was that containment cost a fortune.
And there was no profit in it either. Try to study the fencing foil it carries? It gets stolen back by the Knight immediately.
Of course, the government didn't leave it unmanaged for that reason alone. As I'd just witnessed, this was a peculiar anomaly that attacked other anomalies too.
So the government released it, deliberately steering it toward hunting anomalies instead. Though by now, that plan had apparently gone to hell.
"Well, none of that matters right now."
I reminded myself of my objective once more.
My goal was to reach the center of this region and destroy the anomaly's main body!
Which meant I had to hurry. Otherwise, I'd have to work even longer hours! Which would cut into my pudding-and-snacks time!
"Alright! For the pudding!"
I started moving again, swinging from branch to branch.
All for the pudding!