The Virus Spreading Through Ulsan (2)
Ulsan Station.
Once, this place had bustled with people as countless trains came and went. That purpose was long gone. The trains already looked like they'd been abandoned for ages, a film of pale dust coating everything inside — and within those cars, a handful of people remained.
What were they even doing inside trains that didn't move?
"Damn it. Is nobody reading the bulletin board?"
"Then what do we do? Can we even get out of here?"
"I don't know. The ghouls are still wandering around out there. I think we need to stay put a little longer."
Hyeong-ho glanced outside through the train window. Ghouls shambling around the area, along with infected monsters. If they tried to escape and got spotted by those things, it would be over on the spot. For now, hiding was the only option they could see.
"We can't stay here forever, though. We've got nothing left to eat."
"Yeah, I know. Let's wait a little longer. Someone's bound to read the post and come help us."
Hope was all they had left. With their current strength, they might have managed one or two ghouls — but those seven or eight out there, plus the other infected monsters? They didn't stand a chance.
Please. Someone just read it.
But the post sat there without a single comment. Dozens of new threads were flooding the System Bulletin Board every second. Would anyone even bother to read theirs? He'd spent a few hundred extra Coins putting up a few more posts, but still — nothing.
Hah. Should we just make a run for it?
Then it came. A note, flying in.
Someone actually wrote back!
A person who'd seen his post and reached out. The world still had some good in it after all.
Hyeong-ho figured they were in the clear. Anyone willing to come help them had to be reasonably strong. The infected monsters were more powerful than expected, so even a strong fighter might not be able to take them all down — but they didn't need anyone to fight every last one. Escape was enough.
"Someone's coming to help us."
"Are you serious?!"
"Does that mean we can actually get out of here alive?"
The other two sagged with relief at the news.
"Let's just wait a little longer."
And so they waited for their rescuer to arrive. But as time passed, Hyeong-ho began to feel that something was off.
What the hell? Why do there keep being more monsters?
Just a little while ago, there had only been about ten ghouls and monsters. Now the ghouls in the immediate area alone numbered well over twenty.
Wait. Don't tell me—
Hyeong-ho hurriedly sent another note.
The instant Hyeong-ho sent that note—
GUHHHHH! KREHHHH!
The infected monsters surged toward Mugunghwa Train 3228 at a dead sprint. In a heartbeat, ghouls had the car completely surrounded.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
They slammed into the train hard enough to nearly wreck it, hammering the hull, and a few of them forced their way inside. Hyeong-ho watched it all from another train. He'd planned for this — told them a car as far from their actual position as possible. The person who'd contacted him was clearly someone from the guild.
"Damn it! We have to run!"
"So it failed after all?"
"Yeah. The one who contacted us is probably from that guild."
Hyeong-ho scanned their surroundings as he spoke. Of course they'd known the odds weren't great, that the enemy might be the ones reaching out. Escaping on their own had been so impossible they'd gambled anyway — and lost. Whether Plan B would actually pull the monsters' attention and let them get away, they had no idea. But they had nothing else. So they watched the ghouls swarm Mugunghwa Train 3228 and moved in the opposite direction.
"We run on my signal. Got it?"
"Hoo. Yeah."
"We have to make it out alive."
After a last look around, Hyeong-ho gave the hand signal and broke into a sprint. The others followed. And then the ghouls spotted them — a beat too late.
THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!
Monsters racing toward Hyeong-ho's group at full speed. They'd put enough distance that they still had a shot at getting out of the station. If they could just get past it, they had a car hidden nearby. They could get out of here fast. Clinging to that hope, they ran with everything they had — and then they stopped dead.
"Hahaha! You've gotta be kidding me."
Hyeong-ho laughed like he'd lost his mind. The others were no different. Why stop when they should have been running for their lives? Anyone would have, in this situation. Spread out right in front of them were a hundred-odd ghouls and a host of other infected monsters. They couldn't even bring themselves to move.
"Hahaha. We're all dead."
Surrounded front and back. Hyeong-ho's group had given up.
And then—
KRA-KOOM!
An explosion from somewhere. They turned toward the sound — and saw a whole cluster of ghouls lying dead.
"What the hell was that?"
Hyeong-ho scanned the area, trying to find the source. Then something green caught their eyes. It dropped into the middle of the ghoul pack. And in that instant—
KRA-KOOM!
A massive blast. That had to be what caused the explosions.
"Alright, trolls — get ready. Fire!"
On my command, the trolls started hurling slimes loaded with self-destruct abilities.
KRA-KOOM! KRA-KOOM! KRAAA-KOOM!
The slimes that landed among the ghouls detonated with enormous blasts, ripping bodies apart until they were nothing but shredded pieces.
"These things put high-grade grenades to shame."
Ghouls were getting wiped out in droves by the slime bombs. Applying the self-destruct ability to slimes and having the trolls throw them as weapons... that Jin-hwan kid. His brain really did work well when it came to this kind of thing.
"Ssaem! There are people over there!"
"Yeah. I see them."
Three figures in the distance. Were they the ones who'd spread this virus? Watching them for a moment, I decided they weren't. People running from the ghouls and monsters. They weaved quickly through the ones we'd killed, dodging the monsters chasing them from behind, and came toward us.
"Hah! Hah! Hah!"
They sprinted to us at full speed. Once they made it close, they must have finally felt safe — they collapsed right where they stood.
"Thank you for saving us."
After catching his breath, Hyeong-ho stood and bowed his head in greeting. I set his thanks aside for later and quickly finished off the remaining ghouls and infected monsters. The slime bombs had killed most of them. Only about twenty or thirty ghouls and monsters left, and they started charging straight at us.
Using slime bombs would be hard at this range, but numbers like that weren't a real problem. Their attack power, speed, and infectiousness were all genuine threats. The infected had a massive weakness, though: paper-thin defense. Honestly, one or two hits and they dropped dead.
And then—
Area Heal
The heal Jin-hwan used wasn't a heal to these infected monsters.
GUOOOORGHH! KREEEEGHH!
Monsters writhing in agony from the heal. Jin-hwan's holy-attribute healing was apparently poison to anything this virus had touched.
"Kyahahaha! All of you, die!"
Heal
Heal
Area Heal
Jin-hwan spammed heals as fast as he could. How long had he been waiting for this? He'd always wanted an offensive class, so being able to hunt these infected monsters now felt like he was finally getting every last frustration out of his system.
And the others weren't sitting idle either.
Summon arrows of fire.
Several fire arrows formed from Jin-ri's staff. Weaker than Fireball, but excellent against multiple enemies. Jin-ri swung her staff, and the arrows flew to their targets, punching clean through the heads of ghouls and monsters alike.
Ah-ra wasn't sitting this out either.
Roa appeared at once and fired a water cannon from behind — a blast with tremendous pressure. It shot straight at the monsters and punched through their skulls. The remaining monsters were cleaned up in moments. A few ghouls that got close were handled easily by the trolls. Not particularly scary as long as they didn't bite you.
And just like that, every infected monster here was wiped out.
"They're all dead? That many of them?"
"Whoa. Is this even possible?"
The people watching us wore expressions of total disbelief. Four people wiping out hundreds of ghouls and infected monsters? It shouldn't have been possible. But they couldn't deny what they'd seen with their own eyes.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"What exactly happened here?"
Hyeong-ho answered my question. And his story was genuinely shocking.
They were among the people who'd seen the flyers and come to Ulsan Station, believing there was an E-rank shelter here. It was a trap. The moment they arrived, a massive horde of ghouls was waiting, along with a handful of people who threatened to infect them if they didn't obey. Hyeong-ho's group ignored them and tried to just leave. But another team that had refused before them was immediately swarmed by the ghoul horde and turned into ghouls themselves. Seeing that, they had no choice but to follow orders and go into Ulsan Station — where they were imprisoned.
The people locked up here had been separated: Ordinary Civilians and Awakened, isolated from each other. Most of those who'd come were civilians who didn't have a shelter yet, along with people they knew. The isolated Awakened couldn't act rashly, terrified of what might happen to their people. Fortunately, Hyeong-ho's group was all Awakened, so that didn't apply to them. They'd felt like something terrible would happen if they stayed, so they'd made a break for it — and that was how they'd ended up here.
Just what the hell is going on in this place?