Chapter 13. Another Mutant, and Infiltration.
Chapter 13. Another Mutant, and Infiltration.
Maybe I'd made the right call, talking to Mr. Chu. Something about it settled my head.
'So this is what having a father feels like.'
I broke into a light jog, half-walking, and before I knew it I'd put a fair bit of distance between myself and the school.
Then—
— Thud... thud...
A rhythmic sound reached my ears. Footsteps. Heavy ones.
'Same kind of freak I saw at the base?'
It stood around five meters tall, its whole body swollen with muscle, and its face was nothing but a single massive eye and a mouth that covered most of its upper body.
It must have spotted me, because it snatched up a car in one hand and hurled it at terrifying speed.
'That's absurd strength.'
With that single thought, I split the incoming car clean in two.
I followed up with a slash aimed at the eye it used to see, cutting off its vision.
It was only then the thing seemed to register danger—its mouth gaped open and it let out an earsplitting roar.
— KWAHHHHHHH!
'What the fuck... that's loud.'
Zombies poured in from every direction, and here and there I spotted those tentacled ones I'd seen at the military base.
Worse, there were things in the air.
They were practically skin and bones, their arms transformed into thin, membrane-like wings.
'These things are common now? What the hell?'
Priority number one: the flyers. I scooped up a few rocks and launched them.
'The wing-like parts rips just fine even under gunfire.'
I cleaned up the rest, leaving only the giant-like one alive for now.
After I'd taken out its eye, it was clearly blind. It did nothing but mindlessly crush the cars around it.
'Brute strength off the charts. Let's see how tough it actually is.'
I walked up and brought my weapon down on its calf with only a fraction of my strength.
— Crunch!
'Whoa... guns wouldn't even scratch this.'
I'd confirmed what I needed to know about its durability. I cut the thing down like it was nothing and walked away.
'Did this come out of a hatchery like the one I saw before?'
No way something this size grows at some random spot.
And those special entities—the ones that aren't your garden-variety zombie—seem to let out a frequency that summons other zombies.
'No clear intelligence, but some kind of reasoning? Or is their instinct just that sharp?'
If one of those showed up where there were only ordinary people—or no decent Awakened—that place would be finished. A hundred percent.
Standard firearms wouldn't cut it; you'd need heavy firepower, and unless you were sitting on a military base, there's no chance you'd have any.
'Up until now, the only worries were food, water, and other people... but of course, those things probably aren't that common.'
The survivors who'd been desperately risking their lives just to scrape together food couldn't even count on a shelter to keep them safe.
I shoved the uneasy feeling aside and turned back toward my people at the school.
* * * * * * * *
"First, I've got something urgent to lay out for you."
I told them everything I'd seen outside.
"If what you're saying is true, that giant one sounds hopeless..."
"Honestly, if you can handle mana, it might be manageable to an extent..."
"You said the flyers can be killed with guns?"
The giant is the most annoying, no question. It doesn't matter how well you fortify your barricades—if that thing hucks a car at you, it's over.
Even barricades built purely for defense would barely slow it down.
"Anyway, I don't think they're all that common. Right now, the priority is that looter raid."
Everyone nodded, clearly having already heard the gist from Mr. Chu.
"Sihu, I've heard the outline. I get what you're thinking. It's definitely going to be rough... but you'll be there backing us up, right? If so, I'm in."
"You've all heard it, but let me walk through it one more time."
The looters come every two weeks and take a few women and men.
It couldn't have been easy for the victims to relive those experiences, but I got the details while using my aura to steady their minds.
How many they take, and who gets chosen, is random every time—or so they said. But when that moment comes, I'll use mana to plant a subtle suggestion so they pick us.
According to the people who'd been taken and came back, the captives are all locked up in one place.
The one silver lining is they don't mix captives from different locations together; they only keep together people seized from the same spot.
That eliminates the risk of them discovering I've gone missing. I'll head in, clearly identify friend from foe, and then our group will draw their attention while I get the captured people somewhere safe.
After that... we clean up the trash.
After explaining the details to my group, I went to find the man they called the captain.
There were faces I hadn't seen before, and I asked them when the looters were expected to arrive.
"Remember when we first met? I asked if you were from the hospital. I was surprised because it wasn't their usual time yet, so I had to ask."
They generally come every two weeks, but not on a strict schedule. Still, they knew it was just about time for them to show up.
"Won't they get suspicious if they see weapons?"
"As you've seen, squad leader, we have methods of concealing weapons."
"Well... that should be fine, then."
"I'll stagger around a bit and pretend to be drugged. I'll take a walkie-talkie as well. Once I've gathered all the survivors in one place, I'll radio you."
"So we pull the hostage rescue at that point. But the selection's random—how are you planning to handle that?"
"I'm going to apply something close to hypnosis so they take me."
They looked like they didn't quite follow, but since it was me saying it, they took it at face value.
"Anything in particular I should watch out for?"
"When they arrive, they always gather everyone in the gym. Among their number, there's a man the looters call the Advisor. Keep an eye on him; otherwise, nothing special."
They added that they'd never seen the Advisor use force, but anyone who goes by a title like Advisor has to be a real piece of work, so stay sharp.
"And here's the most important part. It looks like there's an informant hiding among the survivors here. With the food situation and other matters, they know details only an insider could know."
Hearing that, I threw out something that could easily give offense.
"Are you certain there's no informant among your own people?"
The captain looked at me with unwavering eyes and said,
"I'm certain. In fact, everyone here... has had someone precious ripped away by those bastards. Family, friends, lovers..."
"Hmm... I'm sorry."
"No. This is the kind of thing that has to be made absolutely certain."
To be honest, I'd already read their auras. They leaned pretty heavily toward the 'good' side of the spectrum.
After a bit more small talk, I left the room and returned to my group.
I laid out the key points to watch for, then handed out the grimy clothes I'd scavenged from outside.
"If we're the only ones looking clean, they'll smell a rat. Change into these the day they arrive."
The reluctance on their faces was blatant, but with looks of grim resignation, they accepted the clothes.
"But from what you've described, there are quite a lot of survivors being held there. Can you fight while protecting them?"
"Do you remember the barrier I placed around Mr. Chu and Ji-hee before?"
"That... you called it an aura barrier?"
"Yes, I'll put that up. Everyone just needs to take care of the ones that close in on you."
"Then what about handling the survivors themselves?"
"Hostage rescue will be handled by the combat squads here. When they approach, I'll naturally lower the barrier."
"Understood. We'll work hard not to weigh you down."
"Finally, we get to actually be of use, boss!"
"And... you're going to see some genuinely disgusting sights in there."
They'd probably already imagined it. The brutal things done to the women who were taken, what happened to the men—and they'd heard what the captured survivors went through.
"Make sure none of you get hurt. If anyone gets injured, I'll run you even harder in training than I do now."
They recognized it as a joke meant to ease the heavy atmosphere and answered with faint smiles.
"That's enough talk. Let's go eat some meat for a change."
We headed to the classroom farthest from the rest, pulled out the meat, and started grilling.
"By the way, that subspace you mentioned—doesn't meat spoil in there?"
"Normally, time doesn't flow inside the subspace. So things stay preserved exactly as they were when you put them in."
"Geez. Mages have it good."
With comments about how envious they were, and Chaeyeon asking when she'd be able to use it, we chatted away and had a cheerful meal.
* * * * * * * *
A few days later, the looters showed up.
Several people ran through the classrooms, shouting.
"Everyone, gather in the gym!"
With the worn-down expressions of people long accustomed to this routine, they began filing toward the gym.