The City (2)
The City (2) — Skies over Guro-gu, Seoul
Two days had passed since I collected every hidden piece.
I had been lying low inside Gocheok Dome the whole time, and the moment I felt my mana fully restored, I headed straight outside. The fullness of mana I hadn't felt in days supercharged my telekinesis.
Whooooosh—!
A white dot took flight across the morning sky of Seoul, now emptied of its zombies. I cut through sunlight so bright it forced my eyes into a squint, flying in a dead-straight line toward my target.
My targets were the Special Strongholds I'd scouted out instead of goofing off. First on the list was the soccer field at the northernmost edge of Guro-gu.
Before entering the field, bathed in bright morning light, I glanced back over my shoulder. Even from this distance, Gocheok Sky Dome radiated an enormous presence. Inside it, my flock had quietly swelled to nearly a thousand believers. I'd entrusted the food and supplies to my most devoted followers in case of an emergency, so things should hold there.
It was insurance against walking into something unexpected at a Special Stronghold. Ever since I'd laid eyes on that mural, everything demanded caution. Knowing something was going to happen without knowing exactly what was its own special kind of torture. Even racking my brain for the entire stretch of mana regeneration had never produced a clear answer.
The conclusion was always the same one. Prepare as thoroughly as I possibly could — and raise my domination rate over Guro-gu, fast. Nothing mattered more right now than total control of Guro-gu.
Steadying myself, I dove straight for the bright light.
You have entered the Guro-gu Special Stronghold, Anyangcheon Soccer Field.
The theme of Anyangcheon Soccer Field is Trial.
Two goalposts stood at either end of the field. I opened my eyes at the right-hand goal and reread the message carefully.
A trial?
What kind of trial did they expect to run in a soccer field? Well, maybe they'd throw in a few killer tackles?
I was idling along that inane line of thought when an enormous light descended onto the halfway line. Following the path the light carved out, something blue was drifting slowly down from the sky. I squinted and focused to get a better look — a pillar of light plunging straight down, and inside it, a blue jewel hovering.
"……Huh?"
The third mural flashed into my mind at once. And if that was the case, the next scene predicted itself. The blue jewel, descended to just above the halfway line, spewed out brilliant light.
"Kieeeeeeek—!"
In the same instant as the system message, zombies came bursting out of the pillar of light. They poured out in a line like links of sausage and charged straight at me, their eyes, naturally, locked on me alone.
"Aha."
I lifted off lightly, shaking off the ordinary zombies' pursuit. Like dogs chasing a chicken, they gaped up at me with arms outstretched — and I tore their heads off one by one.
"Kieeeek—!"
I left exactly one alive and flicked a glance at the pillar of light. Seeing that it had stopped spitting out zombies, I nodded. Seriously? I'd gotten all worked up over a tower defense.
A spawn point gets set up, and you hold the line against the enemies pouring out of it — the classic defense setup. Simple enough that any gamer would go ah, got it and play the whole thing through in one sitting.
"Kieeeek—!"
Watching the last zombie paw desperately at the air, I kept the thought going. Kill this one and the second trial starts, and presumably the zombies scale up as the trials get harder.
"And what if I just don't feel like playing along?"
Smirking, I extended a hand toward the blue jewel.
Hwoooooong—! The soccer field trembled along with a dazzling radiance. Was it really going to let me pitch a tent and cook dinner right here in the middle of the first trial without so much as a penalty?
Even if it would tolerate that much, I had a performance of my own that would take a while to pull off. The most sustainable, most practiced technique among all the telekinesis I'd wielded to date.
Rrrrrrumble—! The field heaved, and clumps of finely packed dirt rose into the air. The soccer field became a universe, and its countless drifting planets began to spin.
Kagagagagak—! A dirt-colored whirlwind, assembled at speed through a process I'd gotten fairly good at. That colossal natural phenomenon, sculpted out of telekinesis, swallowed the pillar of light whole. Earth-brown devoured the brilliant white and blue. All that remained visible to me was the vortex's exterior, its razor-sharp spikes keeping pace with the acceleration.
With my right hand still locked on the whirlwind, I used my left to wring the neck of the zombie still stamping its feet in frustration.
Shrrrip—! As I watched it collapse in a fountain of black blood, a message printed itself.
"Kieeeek—!"
The second trial kicked off the instant the last zombie died. But none of their roars ever reached me.
Kagagagagak—! The only sound that reached me was their shorn flesh shredding like meat in a blender.
The trials rolled on, and I held my hand steady without so much as a twitch. Now and then a huge steroid-swollen arm punched through the whirlwind, but that was all. The mutants that got caught were ground to nothing by the countless spikes, meeting exactly the same end as the regular zombies.
Kagagagak—! Fifteen minutes had passed? Maybe twenty. Light descended onto the whirlwind, from which no more zombie shrieks could be heard.
Fwaaaaah—! A light larger than the vortex itself tidied up the chaos of the soccer field. As I watched the whirlwind dissolve away, a chime rang out.
Ding—!
The System offers you a Special Trial.
🎁 Reward: An enhancement of the original prize, the Blue Jewel.
Do you accept?
YES / NO
"Hm……."
A proposal from the System I'd never seen coming. Strange as it was for mere printed text, I could almost hear the System's voice — a growl like teeth gritted to cracking, pressing me to choose. I stroked my chin and read the message through again, start to finish.
My first thought was: why? Why would it offer me a special trial like this? It hadn't offered one at the first Special Stronghold, Gocheok Sky Dome — and that one had been the easier of the two, at that…
As I quietly turned the question over, a familiar image surfaced. A blood-drenched man, roaring at a colossal pillar of light.
"Right… covered in blood…."
I barked a hollow laugh and stared up at the sky. So it's pissy that I didn't come out of this drenched in blood?
Having deliberated to my own satisfaction, I nodded.
"Fine. Let's give it a shot."
It had made the offer through gritted teeth, so the reward ought to be good enough to make me grit mine too. As always — high risk, high return.
As if in answer to my reply, the blue jewel on the halfway line slid across to the far goal.
Fwaaaaah—! Light plunged down again, and the blue jewel flashed in resonance.
Overcome the trial and seize your reward.
With those two lines, something came walking out in front of the jewel. A toddler, toddling forward with its whole body wobbling.
"Whoa! It's been ages! Good to see you again, kiddo!"
It was the mutant baby I'd run into before ever entering the library. Durability to match that Michelin-Man build — which was exactly why, last time, I'd had no choice but to simply punt it away. The little pest still hadn't netted me a shred of mutant knowledge, and it gazed up at me just like it had back then.
I stretched out a hand toward it as well, and said:
"Why is your face all charred black again? You're supposed to wear sunscreen when you go outside! This is exactly why good parenting matters!"
Hwoooooong—! Fine then — I'd peel that scorched face right off for it. White mana, flowing regally from my fingertips, rocketed toward the little thing.
It slowly opened its toothless little maw and tilted its head toward the sky.
Thoom! Thoom!
The ground shuddered softly as the steroid brute planted itself in front of the mutant baby. The sound rang out the very moment it shoved the baby out of my sightline, as if to block my telekinesis.
No — it was a roar.
"WAAAAAAHHH—!"
It hit like a direct strike to my semicircular canals — my hovering body lurched. The flow of telekinesis I'd been pouring into that steroid-fueled obstacle severed along with it. I dropped like a stone toward the ground, pressing at my temples, brow knotted.
The hell.
It's worse than last time?
The roar that day had thrown me off balance too, sure. But that was all it had done. It had never left my head splitting open like this afterward. Besides — the me of back then and the me of now were qualitatively different. A Mimicry Sacred Body at its absolute peak should have been shielded from—
"Ah…."
Hwoong! Hwoong!
The white mana that should have sheathed my whole body sputtered and flickered, cutting out in sparking stutters.
"WAAAAAAHHH—!"
When the brat wailed a second time and even that light dimmed further, I understood. This little bastard hadn't just come back with a blackened face — it had come back packing something extra.