Chapter 119
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Heh Heh, Shit
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At Junsang's question, I shook my head.
I didn't know much about that thing either.
"I don't know much either. But I do know how that thing was made."
A barren city devoid of any warmth of life, straight out of the apocalypse playbook.
In the midst of it—more precisely, on the very road I'd used to reach Martco—a massive lump of red flesh writhed.
It moved while dripping dark red liquid that looked like rotten blood, drop by viscous drop.
Twitching with the grotesque motions of a tentacle monster, the thing was enormous enough to fill an entire eight-lane road.
Just looking at it felt like it was chipping away at my sanity.
'That thing's definitely heading straight for us, right?'
And sure enough, the flesh-tentacle mass was making a beeline for our Martco building, slow but unmistakable.
Along its path, it absorbed every rotting zombie corpse I'd killed in the past the instant it touched them.
This was a sight only I could catch, thanks to my stats-boosted eyesight.
One glance at it, and it was obvious: that flesh-tentacle lump was a zombie variant.
Or an evolved superior species.
"A superior species... you mean?"
Junsang echoed my mutter.
I nodded in response.
"Yeah. You guys know a bit about them. Those zombies with the freakishly blue skin. That flesh thing looks like a stage way above that."
"Hold on. Then we're in deep shit, aren't we? It's clearly coming right for us... Reports say it takes six people attacking all at once to take down a blue-skinned one."
"...You're right. Like Sua said, the blue-skinned zombies were tough. And they had regeneration that shouldn't even be possible. As someone who's killed them firsthand, they were a real pain."
'...That bad, huh?'
I'd figured it'd be a hassle, but they seemed way stronger to them than I'd realized.
To me, they were just trash mobs that dropped in one hit—basically a worthless passive slapped on with a new skin tone.
Totally different from my take.
"And that's a stage way above those...? That's just a straight-up monster... isn't it?"
"Well... yeah, it looks the part, no doubt. And its abilities probably match. On a whole different level from the blue ones."
I'd half-expected something like this to show up eventually.
It was practically a cliché—national rule stuff.
But right when we were starting to turn Martco into a proper fortress...
'No way we survive that.'
I could already picture the building crumbling like tissue paper the moment it arrived.
Even now, every twitch bent rebar and pulverized concrete.
That size meant overwhelming mass and power.
Tentacles weren't exactly efficient on land anyway.
Maintaining them would take insane strength.
'It'll shred this place like paper.'
"Representative. What do we do?"
"Master..."
It was already out of their hands.
Realizing that, Junsang and Sua turned to me.
Behind them, every gaze on the rooftop locked onto me too.
Anxious eyes all around—they were rattled by the monster, no question.
'Well, they're normal people. Makes sense.'
A situation no human strength could handle.
Probably felt like the first zombie outbreak terror all over again.
PTSD kicking in and making them jittery was natural.
But abandoning the base after all we'd built? No way.
Plus, tens of thousands of zombies still lurked around Martco.
We were surrounded on all sides.
Still, with me as the rep here, that worry was off the table from the jump.
"Don't worry. I just got a great idea."
"Really?!"
My confident tone lit up their grim faces.
I grinned and hopped lightly onto the rooftop railing.
"Think simple. Just remove the anxiety source altogether, right?"
Click—!
A shotgun was suddenly in my hands.
Already chambered with 3.5 rifled slugs, it was shouldered against me.
'Enhance.'
A flash invisible to the others hit, and I felt the shotgun grow heavier.
The enhancement skill was a stack-type ability.
"You're not gonna shoot from here... are you? At this range?"
"I've got a plan. Just watch."
It built fixed stacks over time, then burned them to amp up anything—organic or not.
I hadn't realized at first, just blindly enhancing stuff, but I could sense the stacks now, like mana.
'Dump all stacks.'
Upper limit: five.
Of course, I could pile them all on one target for max effect.
Not multiplicative power, though—additive, so no cheat-level exponential spikes.
Still, it packed several times the punch, perfect for a big one-shot, so I went all-in.
'Refills one every five hours... shame to waste 'em.'
But no holding back now.
Couldn't look lame after striking such a pose.
Intangible energy, separate from mana, surged in thick and hot.
The air shivered from the pure energy buildup.
"Ugh...!"
"C-Can't get near it...!"
"Is he even human like us?"
"As expected of Master..."
Enhancement locked in across the entire shotgun.
I steadied my stance.
Target: the massive red flesh-tentacle monster barreling our way.
I tensed my whole body to brace for the insane recoil.
Good thing the railing was thick—plenty of footing.
"Everyone, cover your ears!"
Right before squeezing the trigger, I yelled that—then a colossal boom shattered the Martco rooftop.
BOOOOOOM—!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like a tank shell blasting off.
The kind of roar that'd shred eardrums for any normal person.
Even I got tinnitus ringing like a siren and recoil like a truck slamming me.
'Ngh...!!'
But my strength stat wasn't decoration.
The kick that'd hurl dozens of people flew—I tanked it with upper-body muscle and rock-solid legs.
Shoulder stung where it was braced, but no tumbling backward.
Now for the results.
With the echoing gunshot as backdrop, I eyed the monster I'd aimed for.
"Ooh..."
Success.
These 3.5 rifled slugs already bored man-sized tunnels through crowds.
Now amped several times over, shell and gun alike.
Firing was a chain of enhanced factors.
Speed became mass. Mass became destruction.
Result: a gaping hole blasted dead-center through the giant flesh-tentacle horror.
[KYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEAAAAAAAAK!!!!!!!!!!!!]
'No joke, huh?'
Literally no joke.
First time with full-stack power.
Way beyond what I'd imagined.
For pinpoint burst damage, this was hands-down my strongest option.
"Bet it's pissed. Roar loud enough to reach here."
"Eh?! What'd you say?!"
Ah, they got hit by it too.
I gave a wry smile at the crew still reeling from the late warning and the boom's extra kick.
My bad.
I waved them off to chill for now, eyes locked back on the monster.
[KYYYYYYYYYEAK!! KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!]
Roar carrying from damn near two, three klicks out.
Sudden overwhelming blast tunneling its core? Yeah, rage made sense.
Cross-section mangled too—not a pretty sight.
'Feels pain, huh?'
Or just mad at getting hit.
As a "living corpse," should've been the latter—but something screamed the former.
I spotted why in its thrashing.
'Going that berserk...'
The monster was losing its shit, straight up.
Full-body flesh tentacles spasming like it couldn't handle the agony.
Flailing everywhere, smashing buildings, roads, streetlights—total mayhem.
In a way, good—my target squirming in pain.
But the next sight left me speechless.
"Wow... fuck..."
Profanity just slipped out.
Regen? That fast?
A hole soccer-goal-sized—two, three of 'em—sealing up in seconds flat.
Body mass not even dipping.
Nah—tentacles snagging nearby corpses and live zombies, jamming 'em in, bulking up bigger.
If nothing else, I wanted to yell, "Quit bullshitting!"
This... was gonna be a long fight.