Certain Death
They were gone. The dead weight was finally gone…!
Even though I’d called them dead weight, their absence left an unexpected hollowness. They were the first Earthlings I’d seen since crossing into this world. Meeting fellow countrymen after so long in a foreign land must have felt exactly like this.
‘Time to work.’
Stage 3 was nearing its finale. If I could just deal with Altos, this stage would be over, wouldn’t it? The dwarf workers’ attacks couldn’t pierce my armor anyway. So if I waited for the mages to exhaust their spells and then charged in, I might stand a chance. In the end, taking down Altos was the only path to victory.
And that chance came quickly. The pink light and telekinetic force struck almost simultaneously, sweeping away the suddenly multiplied zombies. I could see the shock on their faces at the rapid growth of my forces.
‘There it is!’
Altos’s beams were fast, but if I stayed focused, they were still avoidable. Ignoring the dwarves clinging to me, I sprinted straight toward Altos. The approach was instantaneous. I was faster now than most national athletes. Before the creature could even draw the sword at its waist, my fist flew forward. As the gauntlet sank deep into its abdomen, I felt certain of victory. That sensation of organs being completely crushed. It was over.
And in that moment, Baengnae suddenly threw herself in front of me.
‘Huh? Why?’
The instant I turned my head past her, a chill ran down my spine. The reason she had jumped. At the stairs leading to the fifth floor stood two more purple-skinned dwarves. Black beams shot from their fingertips, flying toward me—or rather, toward Baengnae.
‘No…!’
The beams engulfed her. She was hurled through the air and rolled down the corridor.
‘We have to clear the round! Hurry!’
I immediately spun and charged the dwarves. They drew their swords and swung, but they were no match for me in close combat. Crack—I shattered one’s shoulder with a punch, snatched its weapon, and drove it into its right eye. I deflected the other’s thrust with my armor and slammed both hands into its temples until blood poured from its ears.
But the round didn’t end. Neither the first one nor these were Altos.
‘Why…! Why!’
Without another thought, I rushed back to Baengnae. The moment I moved, my body lifted slightly as a wave of light struck me.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH!
The impact battered my entire body, but I could endure it. When I raised my head, the zombies had already torn apart the dwarves who had just attacked me; they were writhing on the floor.
“Kgh… The stairs! Secure the area from the third floor upward!”
After giving the order, I ran to Baengnae. The floor was soaked with the liquid organic matter melting from her body.
“Ah…”
Her body kept melting and regenerating in an endless cycle thanks to Regenerative Cells. But if this continued, the regeneration would stop the moment her stamina ran out.
A sudden, splitting headache tore through me.
‘Damn it, don’t panic. Think. Think, Baek Suhan!’
My head felt like it was about to burst. Without knowing what kind of effect this was or how it worked, I couldn’t find a countermeasure. Information… I needed information on that bastard!
Countless hypotheses formed and were discarded. Without understanding the root problem, even the possibility of a solution vanished.
“Baengnae… hurts…”
My hands suddenly trembled. Why was I like this? I’d watched zombies die countless times. The death of one more zombie shouldn’t have been shocking. She was just one among many.
Slap—I struck my own cheek with all my strength. It wasn’t time to accept death and give up yet. Baengnae was still alive. I had to squeeze every last drop from my brain and find a way. No matter what.
Think. The zombie dogs died instantly when hit by the beams. Baengnae was enduring purely because of Regenerative Cells. But the dogs’ melting effect hadn’t lasted long. By now, the effect should have ended long ago. What was different?
She took two beams? But even then, far more than twice the time had passed. Or was it because the dogs died? Death…? Did the death judgment stop the melting?
‘Shit…’
The conclusion I’d clawed out of my mind was that the only way to avoid it was death itself…? The more I thought, the deeper the helplessness sank into my body. Was I really going to lose Baengnae like this?
Baengnae, who had been watching my eyes, opened her mouth. She had read in my gaze that there was no solution in my conclusion.
“Baengnae… haa…”
“Don’t talk.”
“Baengnae…”
She raised her hand and grabbed mine. Her fingertips melted and stuck to the stone gauntlet. My stomach churned worse than when I’d considered eating human flesh. The world felt filthy and unjust.
‘No. Baengnae is dying. Death. A way to avoid death… No, a way to cheat death. Death, ah…’
It came to me. I knew of an existence that had touched death. I rummaged through my inner pocket. I remembered putting it somewhere. Suicide-Inducing Pill. [Consuming it will kill you for 30 minutes.] The medicine pouch the Cat had given me as a gift. There were two pills in total.
‘Can this really cheat death?’
I didn’t know. But it was the only idea I had. I tore open the pouch and pushed the pill into Baengnae’s mouth.
“Baengnae, eat this. You have to eat it.”
Munch munch.
“Madda… da…”
I felt like I was going to throw up. The feeling that the world was collapsing kept repeating, driving me insane. I didn’t even know why I was like this.
‘For now… do everything I can.’
I summoned the zombies and gave orders.
“Don’t let anyone near Baengnae. Devour or kill every enemy coming up from the third floor. Use every means necessary to hold the fourth floor until I return.”
There had to be an Altos in this building. If the purple dwarves I’d just killed weren’t Altos, then it had to be on the fifth floor. I would pour every ability I had into every possible method.
‘Kill it. I will kill it.’
Once I thought that, the tangled lines in my head finally connected into one. I had done everything I could. The final method was to capture Altos as quickly as possible and move to Stage 4. The round-clear recovery was my last hope.
I sprinted toward the stairs leading to the fifth floor.
Whistle—whistle-whistle—
The sound of the whistle rang out. Baengnae’s crying call searching for me echoed.
‘Just wait a little longer… I’ll be right there.’
The fifth floor was a lavish space. A massive party room. Brilliant lights decorated every corner, and a soft melody added to the peaceful atmosphere, as if nothing happening below mattered. And in the far corner, four purple dwarves sat around a table eating roasted meat. The meat looked human. Most of the body was gone, but a cooked human head covered in brown sauce remained.
Crunch—I clenched my fists until the stone cracked. Noticing me, the dwarves gestured to the staff as if telling them to remove an intruder. Like swatting away an annoying insect. Black energy swirled around their hands. The black beams must have been a buff effect from eating the human roast.
The whistle sounded again.
Whistle—whistle—
Without hesitation, I lunged at the nearest bartender dwarf. I would smash each of their heads one by one. For a certain and inevitable death.
A gale blew in, and flames rained down on me. It didn’t matter. With the stone armor, those attacks couldn’t stop my movement. A little pain was nothing if I endured it. I charged straight in and separated the heads from the bodies of three bartender dwarves. Breaking their necks with a hand chop and slicing them off with nearby blades was simple work. Then I snapped the elbow of a charging bowling-alley staff member, claimed a new weapon, and shoved the torn-off arm into its stomach. I didn’t forget to stomp on the waiters’ calves to twist their legs backward. Grabbing the heads of the staggering dwarves and smashing them together finished the small fry.
Crack—
Once the staff were dead, the purple dwarves finally drew the swords at their waists. Each extended a finger, preparing to fire beams.
‘Four of them.’
I shook the staff dwarf flesh from my gauntlets. This time, the impact would probably hurt. The black beams were avoidable if I saw them coming, but with four sources, the story changed. Dodging all of them while taking them down would take far more time than expected. So I would take the hits. Without hesitation, I charged into their banquet hall.
The first beam flew. I ran straight into it, shoved both hands into the dwarf’s mouth, and tore its jaws apart with all my strength.
Crunch—
Its jawbone and skull separated. I slammed the headless skull onto the floor. Three left. An incomprehensible pain slowly rose from deep inside my body. I could see my limbs slowly melting.
Whistle—whistle…
The small zombie’s voice that had been circling my ears finally disappeared completely.
‘Yeah… I’ll be right there.’
I charged the next one, punched it in the gut to drop it, then grabbed its lowered head and twisted it around.
Crunch—
I picked up the sword from the body I’d pulled it from and drove it into the third dwarf’s throat. Blood gushed like a fountain. In the process, I was hit by two more black beams. Blood also welled up from my own mouth and spilled out.
‘So this is what dying feels like?’
I put the Suicide-Inducing Pill in my mouth and forced it down with the blood rising in my throat. I turned my head and looked at the last purple dwarf. Since no notification had come, that one must be Altos. Time to end this.
“Alright. Time to die. Both you and me.”
Blood flowed from my mouth and eyes. My vision blurred slightly. Altos charged and swung its sword. I simply took the blow on my shoulder and slammed my fist down, breaking its shoulder as well.
Crack—
“Heh. This is how zombies do it.”
I raised my arm again and broke its other shoulder. The dwarf, both arms hanging limply, laughed.
“Kih… kih-kih. You’re dying too, idiot! Kih-kih-kih!”
I laughed back at it, blood streaming from my eyes and mouth.
“Yeah, you’re right. You purple dwarf bastard. So die first. I’ll die soon and come find you again. And I’ll kill you there too. Until death itself—and everything after—ceases to exist, I’ll keep chasing you and killing you. Go wait for me.”
I drove my thumb and middle finger deep into its eye sockets, lifted its head like a bowling ball, and slammed it into the floor. Again and again and again. I repeated the motion until my strength gave out, whether the creature was already dead or not.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The strength left my arms and I dropped its head. My legs gave out and I collapsed to the floor.
‘Ah… Am I dying?’
Then darkness fell. As if the world itself was being washed away, nothingness came. Silence. There was nothing. I couldn’t see or hear. No smell, no touch. Even the act of thinking felt like it was slowly being swept away. I had meant to find Altos and kill it again, but now there was no emotion left. Everything just felt meaningless. Maybe disappearing like this wasn’t so bad after all. My thoughts were growing dull.
Suicide-Inducing Pill. Thirty minutes. How much time had passed? But did it even matter…? Time… Baengnae… Was Baengnae feeling the same way? I should have seen her one last time before dying. I should have gone down for just a moment instead of smashing Altos’s head… Maybe I would regret it a little. Perhaps I had only ever made foolish choices.
Whistle—
And from far away, a faint sound reached me. Sound? How…?
Whistle-whistle—whistle-whistle—
“Ah…”
Someone was calling me. I couldn’t feel anything, yet the direction of that sound was perfectly clear. I desperately moved toward it. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if I was moving. Maybe I only thought I was going while nothing was actually happening. But I kept moving endlessly in that direction.
Whistle-whistle-whistle—whistle-whistle-whistle—
Getting closer. Toward the small zombie blowing the Whistle of Calling, desperately searching for me.
How much time had passed like that? I answered the call and finally felt like I had touched something.
Whistle-whistle-whistle-whistle—
Yeah. You were here. I wrapped my arms—arms I couldn’t feel—around Baengnae and held her close. The whistle sounded again.
Whistle—whistle—
We were here.