Chapter 129: The Well of Chaos (2)
Chapter 129: The Well of Chaos (2)
"You're in the way. Get lost."
I swung my fist at someone who had suddenly jumped out to block my path.
The person must not have expected me to act so abruptly; my fist buried itself in their abdomen before they could even attempt a defensive move.
Boom!
They were slammed into The Wall and knocked out cold instantly.
Seeing them drooling with the whites of their eyes showing, it didn't look like I needed to do anything more. I turned my head and continued forward.
What was that guy?
Judging by the colorful, primary-colored outfit, he seemed like a Hero or a Villain, but what was he trying to achieve by jumping in front of me?
I'd blown him away immediately since there was no way anyone in Nanjido was sane, but for some reason, it nagged at me.
...Surely that wasn't a member of the Management Bureau’s Hero Selection Team that had entered Nanjido?
I entertained the thought for a moment, but a Hero on an official mission wouldn't be wandering around alone.
At best, he was probably some Villain scrap who had ended up in Nanjido after a blunder. He likely met with an accident while trying to confidently pull off a mugging.
I grabbed the clothes of someone else who jumped out of an alley to block me and tossed them behind me, ending my train of thought.
"Huh?"
This one looked like a mere civilian no matter how I sliced it, so I threw them with moderate force.
If they were unlucky, they might sprain a wrist when they hit the ground, but they were a resident of Nanjido anyway. It wasn't like anyone was going to file a civil complaint.
"Hey! You! Who the hell are you!"
Hearing a faint shout from behind, it seemed they had landed safely.
Even so, I had no intention of apologizing, so I just kept running.
By the way, I'd been running for quite a while, yet I hadn't seen a familiar path.
Was this a mistake?
The lower floors had thick walls and were crowded with people, and everything looked identical. That was why I'd tried to find my way from the upper floors, but I still hadn't found the path despite running for nearly five minutes.
At this rate, it might have been faster to go to the market and use Spatial Teleportation.
As I ran with that thought, a ramen bag caught my eye.
A yellow ramen bag from a company that had long since disappeared.
Faded to a dull gray, it was stuck right in the middle of a wall made of piled-up trash.
I remembered seeing that.
The moment I recognized it, a map began to rapidly draw itself in my mind, showing me how to proceed.
"That way."
Thud.
Since the direction I needed to go was completely different, I slammed my foot into the ground and forced my entire body into a rotation.
Screeeech!
Perhaps it was because the surrounding floor had to absorb the sudden change in direction.
I heard the sound of something twisting, but seeing as the surrounding walls were intact, it probably wasn't a big deal.
At most, a few cupboards in nearby houses might have collapsed or things might have spilled. Everything was going to be ruined soon anyway, so what did it matter?
Boom!
Setting my rotated body toward my destination, I kicked off the ground again.
Thud.
With the sound of an angry stomp, the surrounding scenery, which had briefly paused, began to flow past rapidly once more.
Thud. Crash.
Hearing something fall behind me, I looked back to see a residential wall crumbling down.
"..."
So that screeching sound was the sound of internal cracking. Since the walls were made of compacted trash, the impact hadn't shown on the outside immediately.
I ignored it and kept running.
I felt a slight twinge of guilt, but it couldn't be helped. Wasn't saving their lives my ultimate goal?
Let's just overlook a few minor issues.
With that thought, I increased my speed.
I intended to cover in five minutes a distance that had taken hours to traverse with my disciples.
* * *
A green iron door attached to an ordinary wall.
Because it was so ordinary, it stood out even more in this bizarre place.
Found it.
Skreeeeee!
Since there was no opponent to transfer my accelerated kinetic energy to, I dug my feet into the floor to stop. The concrete floor couldn't withstand it, and I ended up plowing through a considerable distance.
"..."
Whatever. It's all going to be destroyed anyway.
Recalling the thought I'd had several times already, I looked back.
The concrete floor was gouged deep enough to plant seeds and start a farm, with long, rhythmic boot marks stretching back.
Hmm.
I don't know. Maybe I ran too hard because I knew no one would file a complaint.
It's not my house, so who cares?
Dismissing the recurring problem like that, I swung my fist at the door.
"Hey. You punks. Open up."
A guest is here; what are you doing not opening the door?
Thud. Thud. Bang. Bang.
Crunch.
When the door didn't open after a few knocks, the force I applied gradually increased.
"I said open up. I'm in a hurry."
Bang. Crack.
An ominous sound rang out.
Screeeech.
The scream of metal.
"...Uh."
I didn't do it.
To prove that, I stepped away from the door, but the fate of the door, which had already passed its limit, was sealed.
With a final metallic 'ping,' the hinges snapped.
Should I catch that?
While I hesitated for a moment, my reaction was too slow, and the door toppled inward.
Thud!
The fallen door made enough noise to fill the dark room, and the resulting impact sent clouds of dust that had settled on the floor billowing into the air.
"..."
Inside the empty room lay a single broken iron door. Since only dust was floating around...
I'm screwed.
I had briefly held onto the hope that it was a real door, but as I'd first suspected, that door was merely a dummy for Spatial Teleportation.
"I broke it."
Hahaha.
I laughed at the absurdity of it.
What do I do now?
Now that the door was broken, they wouldn't even be able to come and greet me from the other side.
I didn't know the door's durability was so trash that it would break just from knocking...
...Let's stop the self-hypnosis.
I was the one who broke it.
I feel like I'm breaking a lot of things today.
The concrete field behind me scattering stone dust, the residential walls on the lower floor.
I started to feel a sense of dissonance.
I'd intended it to some extent, but was I always this bad at controlling my strength? I shouldn't have been so bad at it that I'd rip an iron door off its hinges.
Just as I was about to dig through my memories to see if anything was wrong.
"...May I ask why you broke an innocent door?"
A voice came from behind me.
A voice I remembered.
"Because you guys took too long to come out."
Relieved, I turned around with a smile.
Standing there was the man who had guided us to Elder Li before.
He was staring at the collapsed door with an exasperated expression.
"You've ruined one of the entrances."
"It collapsed on its own."
Yep. It just gave up.
"Ha... Fine."
Sighing, the man walked past me and tried to lift the iron door.
"What are you doing?"
It seemed quite heavy, so I asked as he struggled.
"You seem to be in a hurry, but this will be faster. Could you help me hold this?"
If he's asking like that, I have no choice.
However, I had to make one thing clear.
"I didn't break it."
I said, wiggling my fingers toward the door.
"...I get it, so just hold it, please."
Now that I had confirmation, it wasn't my fault. This door had collapsed on its own due to metal fatigue. That was the official decision. I immediately snatched the door from his hands.
"What should I do with this?"
"...You certainly lift it easily. Please stand it up where the entrance originally was."
Hearing that, I tried to wedge it back into the original entrance, but...
"It won't stay fixed."
The door wobbled precariously back and forth as if it would fall the moment I let go.
Can't be helped. Time to use a little strength.
I grabbed the door and shoved it downward.
Crunch. Crackle.
With the sound of concrete shattering, the height of the door lowered slightly.
"This should do, right?"
The door, its bottom embedded in the concrete, now stood perfectly upright.
I looked at the man with a smile, thinking I'd done my part.
"I meant for you to just lean it there."
The man looked back and forth between me and the door with a look of utter bewilderment.
"...Should I pull it back out?"
Nothing is going right today. Seriously.
"It looks like it'll work, so never mind."
Answering my question, the man pushed me aside and stood before the door.
"I don't know if this will work well, but..."
After uttering those ominous words, he pulled a key from his wrist just like last time and repeated a similar motion.
A few times to the left, a few times to the right.
Perhaps the method was different every time, as he turned The Key a different number of times than before. Finally, he turned the doorknob to open the door, but...
Click.
Of course, the door didn't open.
"As if it would open."
What do I do? I feel like I've wasted five minutes on this idiocy.
"...Could you push this?"
Push it?
"I don't think that'll work."
But since he asked, I had to do it.
Having been pushed aside, I nudged the man out of the way and shoved the door.
With the screeching sound of concrete breaking, the door, which had briefly found a new lease on life, lost its reason for existence again and toppled forward.
I expected the sound of the door hitting the floor.
Flump.
Instead, a much lighter sound echoed.
"It worked."
"...This actually worked?"
The Spatial Teleportation was successful.
Except, unlike last time, the door came with us.
"What the?!"
"An enemy!"
Perhaps because a door had come flying in, the members pointing their guns at us with murderous intent were an added bonus.
I didn't have time to get into another scuffle here.
"Ah, I'm the guest from last time. I'm here to see your boss on urgent business."
Let's just be shameless.
That Scrap Metal door broke on its own; it wasn't my doing.
"You think we'll believe that!"
"It's an Awakened! Get everyone here!"
Can't be helped. I'll have to guide these guys to dreamland for a bit...
Just as I was about to swing my all-purpose fist at the enemies.
"...Please stop bullying my colleagues and just go. The Elder is already waiting for you."
Oh, really?
"You heard him. See you later."
Waving at the gun barrels, I opened the door on The Wall and stepped through.
"Wait, what just..."
The gunmen, seemingly unable to grasp the situation, came running while waving their weapons, but their shouts vanished completely the moment the door closed.
The soundproofing is excellent.
Or perhaps that door only looks like it's in the same place, while it's actually in a different space.
Thinking that might surprisingly be the case, I walked down the hallway.
A thick haze of smoke leaked through the gaps of the door on the other side, and a small, flickering light danced through the smoke.
Looks like he's smoking opium again.
Since my dim-witted disciples weren't here this time, I didn't voice any complaints and plunged into the white mist.
In the mist where I couldn't see an inch ahead, I discovered an object in the center.
A red sofa.
The extravagant sofa, lined with gold trim, was emitting light as if it were the source itself, and the red leather covering the entire sofa was free of even a single speck of dust.
The sofa stood out clearly, unaffected by the mist. I threw myself onto it, surrendering to the soft sensation.
I sat there in satisfaction for about ten seconds.
Composing myself, I leaned forward and spoke.
"Elder Li. You know the situation, right?"
"......"
I couldn't see anything through the thick smoke, but through the flow of the smoke and my senses, I was certain he was in front of me.
"You probably know the Management Bureau is coming, but you might not know why yet."
"...Go on."
A voice different from the Elder Li I'd met last time drifted from beyond the mist.
It wasn't gravelly or filled with phlegm; it was actually quite refreshing. This was probably what Elder Li’s voice sounded like in his youth.
"I don't have time, so I'll get straight to the point. Elder Li. With your influence, you can evacuate everyone from Nanjido, right?"
"Excluding those who resist."
"Then I'd like to ask you to do that. The Management Bureau’s goal is the heads of two O-Rank Monsters. For that, the use of all weapons except thermonuclear ones has been authorized."
I actually thought thermonuclear weapons would be unlocked too, but I guess the Management Bureau hasn't gone that far off the rails yet.
As my lips curled slightly at that thought, the surrounding mist surged.
"...Is this your doing?"
"It's irrelevant. At least for this matter."
All I did was pretend not to see the operation.
As I said that, the white mist wrapped around me. As if it were licking my body, trying to know everything about me.
"...It doesn't seem to be a lie. But it's still your fault, Lee Ha-ram."
"And why do you think that, Old Man?"
"Because major incidents always happen wherever you are."
That's an interesting way of looking at it. And probably not wrong.
With that thought, I read the emotions in Elder Li’s voice.
The pitch was stable and there was no accent; he seemed calm. Time to push him again.
"So, what's the answer to my request?"
"...Zero points. There is something you don't know. If you want to know what it is, go to the basement first. I will send the information later."
Along with Elder Li’s answer...
The mist swirled violently.
I watched with interest as I shifted on the sofa for about thirty seconds.
The mist began to clear.
From a state where nothing was visible, the surroundings gradually came into view.
Feeling the change, I slowly swung my legs.
A gray room appeared.
A room filled with stone and dust. A place where nothing but a sofa was placed.
Well, saying there's nothing is a bit inaccurate.
There is something.
The single Scrap Metal door I broke earlier.
【We. Die with Nanjido.】
The moment I perceived the room's scenery, a sentence that felt infinitely close to pure emotion flew into my head.
I've been kicked out.
I stood up from the sofa with a sigh.
My to-do list just grew by one.
In addition to everything else I had to do, I now had to stop the bombardment.
Is there a time limit?
Thinking that I might have to give up on something, I left the room.