Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 006
Chapter Title: Nightmare Realm, New Jongno-gu (2)
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8.
Park Ji-yeon's arm blazed silver-white without a moment's pause. When she swung her fist at the bulkhead, something absurd happened.
A halo of starlight expanded massively in an instant, morphing into the shape of a battering ram.
“Haahhhhh!”
The battering ram struck the bulkhead following the path of her fist.
For one second, two seconds, nothing happened.
The moment I thought that, cracks spiderwebbed from the center of the bulkhead with a thunderous roar, punching a small hole through it.
“Eh? Why is this…… I thought it would work……?”
Park Ji-yeon turned to me with a bewildered expression.
Had she overestimated her ability to shatter the bulkhead completely? Or was even she surprised?
“It worked amazingly well!”
The hole was maybe 5 or 60 centimeters across?
But plenty big enough for an adult man and woman to squeeze through.
“Get through that hole! Hurry!”
Meanwhile, the monsters couldn't follow. We'd bought ourselves a huge chunk of time the moment we opened the path.
How she'd carved such a clean tunnel through that thick wall was something only those star bastards knew……
Park Ji-yeon crawled through the hole first, and I followed right behind.
It was a breathless instant.
The monsters shoved their heads right up to the hole. Shiiik—tentacles wriggled in after us.
“Grab on!”
Park Ji-yeon, who'd already made it through, seized my arm and yanked me out.
A tentacle grazed my calf by a hair's breadth.
“Oops?”
But her pull was too strong.
The momentum launched us out of the hole, tumbling tangled together across the floor.
We rolled to a stop, and a brief silence fell.
We lay side by side, panting ragged breaths.
[Full Scan in (3) minutes.]
Unlike the humid heat outside, the tunnel interior was cold and damp.
Maybe that was why.
A strange sense of relief washed over me, as if we'd escaped every danger.
“……Ha, haha, hahaha……”
Park Ji-yeon let out a hollow, sob-like laugh, probably from the same relief.
“It's ridiculous, right?”
I got up without a word.
The Dawn Sword had fallen to the floor during the roll. I snatched it up and swept faint swordlight across the tunnel.
“Woke up like any normal morning, went to work like always, saw the boss's face once, headed out on assignment whistling a tune…… Everything was just like usual. And now here I am, punching through walls.”
The short tunnel was packed with abandoned cars.
No surprise there.
With the central control AI down, autonomous driving had failed across every vehicle in Seoul.
“I have a little brother and mom…… Are they okay? They have to be, right? Jiwon’s such a tough kid. He must’ve been chosen for sure.”
I had no idea what comfort to offer. Then a grotesque thud shook my heart—like steel crumpling.
Kwoong! Kwoooong!
Beyond the bulkhead hole.
The monsters bellowed horrifically as they hammered the bulkhead. I thrust a hand out to Park Ji-yeon.
“Let’s survive first. We can only look for them if we make it.”
“……Right. I have to survive to find them, don’t I?”
Park Ji-yeon nodded with a pained expression.
We sprinted straight through to the other side of the tunnel. No survivors, but no monster ambushes either.
“Please!”
Park Ji-yeon channeled her intrinsic skill into her arm again. Meanwhile, I checked the [Warning Window] countdown.
[Full Scan in (1) minute.]
And confirmed the crumbling bulkhead sounds from behind.
Kwoooong…… Kwooooong……
Enough time.
Once out of the tunnel, Independence Gate was right there—the border where Jongno-gu ended and Paradise Zone began.
“Done!”
The instant we scrambled through the narrow hole out of the tunnel, we gulped in air.
Maybe because it was near Paradise Zone.
The fog was thin, visibility clear.
A fork in the road ahead.
Left was the overpass, right a steep downhill slope.
“Now we just head right and—”
—we’d reach Paradise Zone straight away.
If not for the worst possible situation hitting one after another.
“Huh……?”
Suddenly, Park Ji-yeon's face paled with cold sweat.
No time to support her. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed.
“Ji-yeon!”
“Something’s wrong…… My head…… It’s ringing…… My head……”
“Can you move?”
“Ugh…… Urgh…… Warning window says…… Overuse of intrinsic skill……”
Fatigue from use?
Not surprising after firing off such a powerful skill twice. There were limits.
“Go on ahead…… I’ll follow once my strength returns……”
“What nonsense is that!”
I had to scoop her up into my arms right then.
“But……”
“Hold my sword for the taxi fare.”
Was that judgment the worst signal flare?
The moment I pressed the Dawn Sword into Park Ji-yeon's hand.
It spat fierce sparks, then erupted in a blinding flash and light explosion.
For a moment, I saw nothing.
When I opened my eyes again, the Dawn Sword was gone.
Only countless specks of golden and blood-red glitter swirled around us.
[Intrinsic Weapon Unequipped: Dawn Sword.]
What the hell…… No time to think. The massive blast had summoned every monster nearby.
Run. Run. Run. Run.
In the next instant, my body was already bolting down the downhill slope for dear life.
“……Hehehehehehehe……?”
Huge shadows lifted their heads amid the cars.
They looked like centipedes at a glance.
Except for the human heads.
The sight of them slithering across the ground with hideous cries made every hair on my body stand on end.
“Above, above…… They’re dropping from above too!”
Countless centipede monsters rained down from the overpass toward us.
Like a black waterfall cascading into being. Right then.
[Full Scan in (0) minutes.]
Beeeeep—a sinister horn blared in my head,
[Warning: Exalted One, Dull Serpent Barpakh’Tika has detected your presence.]
[Warning: Exalted One, Dull Serpent Barpakh’Tika has detected your presence.]
[Warning: Exalted One, Dull Serpent Barpakh’Tika has detected your presence.]
……Rrrrrumble……
The ground shook violently like mad.
Getting…… more…… intense…… Cold sweat poured down.
It’s coming.
“Hold on tight!”
Independence Gate Station intersection was about 50 meters away now.
But…… what the hell is that?
A wall of fog ringed the intersection’s start, rippling up to the distant sky.
No time for questions.
2% combat memory from 《Holy Flame Succession》. I had to focus on it even a bit more.
Thanks to it, I kept balance on the quaking ground, dodged charging centipede monsters, trampled and leaped over them……
……Kwarrrumble……
Deafening tremors bored into my eardrums. Park Ji-yeon screamed from my arms.
“The tunnel, the tunnel collapsed—completely.”
Being chased by it felt like drifting through a nightmare.
The left overpass tilted toward us, cracks racing ahead on the surface.
“……Heheheheeee……”
Centipede monster screams shredded into chunks from behind—dangerously close.
“Right behind……! It’s right behind us!”
Please.
Just a little farther. Just a little more.
Independence Gate, Paradise Zone, the fog wall loomed larger ahead.
35 meters. 25 meters. 20 meters.
Kwarrrumble……
That’s when the vibrations halted for an instant.
Oh no.
I held my breath.
No time to react.
My mind went blank, no thoughts at all.
Because the shaking had stopped right…… beneath my feet.
Is this it? The end?
The unbelievable happened just as I sensed my doom.
For a split second, had the world’s time really stopped?
When I blinked, we were airborne high up.
Right in front of the fog wall, even. Park Ji-yeon gaped.
“What…… just happened?”
A question I couldn’t answer.
Did the combat memory make me jump that instant? No, that wasn’t it……
Then a cracking sound drew my eyes downward reflexively.
Cracks spiderwebbed across where we’d stood.
The ground within a 10-meter radius swelled—then a colossal shadow surged skyward.
Its body kept rising endlessly. How long was it?
That thing…… an Exalted One?
I slowly turned my gaze.
I couldn’t bear to look.
I didn’t even want to recall what I’d glimpsed.
God……
In this world……
A serpent writhing with countless centipede legs……
That’s all I saw.
A tsunami of earth and debris surged from the pit where it burst out.
As one world screamed into a nightmare, we plummeted into the fog dome.
[New Area: Star Pleasure Garden - ‘New Seodaemun-gu’]
[Notice: You are currently located in ‘Paradise Zone.’]
9.
Paradise Zone.
This bizarre ‘city’ stunned me in every way, and it was no different the moment we entered.
“……Shit…… Baek-jun.”
I came to sprawled in the fog. Park Ji-yeon gently shook my shoulder.
“Good, you’re okay! You alright?!”
When did I pass out?
That instant, grotesque creatures flashed through my mind.
Chalpakhehehichalpakchalpakkwarrhehekugoohehe.
This is insane.
I bolted upright, scanning around wildly.
“The monsters, those monsters.”
“Don’t worry. No monsters here, seems like. This is Paradise Zone.”
It didn’t take long to relax.
The place, lightly shrouded in white fog, was dreamlike and peaceful. No eerie cries or footsteps at all.
Is that how it is?
That means.
“We survived that hell.”
I swallowed a heavy guilt with a bitter smile. Out of all those people, just us two.
“It’s all thanks to you, Baek-jun.”
“No. Without you, I’d have died back in the tunnel.”
“That’s what I’m thanking you for.”
Park Ji-yeon wiped her eyes after scanning my state. I scratched my head sheepishly.
“That’s what I’m thanking you for too.”
She stared blankly at my reply, then stifled a laugh. I joined in at the end.
It was absurd.
The realization of being alive hadn’t sunk in.
Just moments ago, this casual banter would’ve seemed like a dream fantasy.
“When did I pass out?”
“No idea. I blacked out entering the fog too…… Woke up collapsed next to you.”
“Must’ve slept a good while. No fatigue in my body.”
What the hell?
I examined my condition closely.
Fell from a serious height, yet no fractures, not even bruises.
Wounds were mostly flesh torn by centipede monsters. Even those were healing.
“Something’s…… off.”
A chill ran up my spine around then.
“What?”
“Look. That Barpakh whatever leveled the area, but check here. Not a single crack entered the fog.”
It was as if.
“Wow, true! How……?”
This place felt like a different world from Seoul.
I shook off the thought.
Everything inexplicable. No point pondering as a pair.
“Let’s head in first. Might learn something.”
As we passed through the fog wall, I murmured Dawn Sword in my mind.
[Intrinsic Weapon Equipped: Dawn Sword]
Light bloomed in my grip.
It solidified into the sword, heavy and real.
Hmm…… Safe for now.
I’d worried it vanished for good.
Does it despawn when someone else holds it?
“Oh my god.”
Park Ji-yeon gasped almost in horror right then. I looked up, and something strange appeared.
“……A gate?”
Independence Gate had been remade into a city gate.
Best way to put it. Massive walls extended grandly on both sides.
“This is Independence Gate, right?”
“……Doesn’t sit right. Really ominous.”
The changes to Independence Gate were just the beginning.