Chapter 19. The Balance of Power Collapsed.
Chapter 19. The Balance of Power Collapsed.
"I'll let them know you went to the restroom. Come back once you've calmed down a little."
I went straight down the stairs and left the department store. For what it was worth, the area outside was clear—no zombies in sight.
I pulled a cigarette from my subspace and put it between my lips.
'Has it really been almost 900 years since my last cigarette?'
Titan had something similar—an analogue to tobacco—but it was a narcotic that acted like a sedative, like some drugs back on Earth. It probably wouldn't have affected me even if I'd tried it, but I'd avoided it on instinct, so I never did.
I lit the cigarette, inhaled deep, and let the thought drift out with the smoke.
'That feeling I had at the end... what was that? Enlightenment? Heh...'
Once you reach a certain realm of mastery, controlling your emotions becomes entirely possible. Unless it's something strong enough to shake my mental state to its foundations, I simply accept it.
'But this one overflowed before I could even react.'
Just then, I spotted a middle-aged woman approaching, leaning on a cane and escorted by several soldiers.
"Even one who has transcended to become a being of the void still has worries, does he?"
"You've glimpsed the Beyond... yet you're holding up surprisingly well yourself."
"Fufu... If your head's still a mess, would you care to keep me company for a while?"
Before the world became like this, she'd been known as one of Korea's most renowned shamans. But after her spirit possession, her eyesight had already been deteriorating badly. Strangely, once this world arrived, she lost her sight entirely.
'That faint divine power I can sense from her... was that the reason?'
"And for some reason, ever since this world changed, the threads connecting me to the gods have grown much clearer."
"Something I've been wondering about—from the way you talk, it sounds like you don't serve just one god."
"I communicate with various gods. I do it to receive guidance and aid from many different domains. The idea that we must only serve a single god is something ordinary people say because they simply don't know any better."
She smiled as she spoke.
"The gods have worries too. Don't overcomplicate things. You already know this well, don't you?"
"I feel a lot more at ease now, thanks to you."
"Fufu... I'll head in first. You should come inside soon too. It's still cold out here."
* * * * * * * *
'Right. Since when did I start overthinking things like this?'
I shook off all the uncomfortable thoughts lodged in my throat like thorns and headed back to the rooftop. But by the time I got there, everyone had apparently cleaned up and left. Only Mr. Chu remained alone.
"Mr. Chu, you didn't go down yet?"
"I just... wondered if you might spare a cigarette, if you have one."
I handed him a cigarette and lit it for him. He exhaled a stream of smoke and spoke.
"So, have you sorted out your thoughts somewhat?"
"Yes. To be honest, I may have simply forgotten how to lean on other people. That's why I've always drawn a line somewhere, no matter how close someone got."
"..."
"But now... I think it might be all right to trust people a little and rely on them. Settling down somewhere and living... might not be so bad either..."
Mr. Chu listened to me, nodded, and then smiled. The smile I saw in that moment was the biggest I'd ever seen from him in all the time I'd known him.
The next day, our entire party and the people in charge all gathered together.
"First, since we've already clashed with those looter bastards, they'll know Awakened have joined our side. The cultists will know it too."
I looked at him as if to say, go on.
"And according to what our recon team has confirmed, the enemy is reorganizing their supplies... almost as if they're preparing for war."
Hearing that, nobody could hide their discomfort.
"Furthermore, we don't know the exact details, but the cultist scum seem to be gathering people and performing some kind of strange ritual."
That explained a lot. The looters, who started with nothing, would be feeling the pressure acutely.
"We need to prepare on our end as well. Because, bluntly speaking, they could very well pull a crazy stunt and declare war on us."
Time passed as people went back and forth in a series of largely fruitless arguments.
Then, a frantic voice burst from the walkie-talkie on the table.
"A... a massive horde of zombies and some kind of bizarre monsters are heading this way! Our department store is right in their path!!!"
"What?! Recon team! What the hell are you talking about?! Zombies and bizarre monsters?!"
"There's a giant monster and something that moves incredibly fast! And behind them... we can see several dozen cultist troops!!!"
"What?! Explain in detail! Are you saying those bastards are controlling the zombies somehow?!"
"We don't know either!!! They've already taken out a lot of our people... Kyaaaak!!!"
After that last transmission, silence fell over the group. But the mention of the zombies being controlled seemed to shock them even more.
"This is no time to sit here. We have to call in every available person and deploy every usable weapon we have."
Soon enough, everyone was rallied and stationed with their weapons. From a distance, the sound of countless footsteps and something that seemed to shake the very earth drew closer.
— Boom! Boom! Boom!
Just the sound alone was enough to mistake it for artillery shells rather than footfalls.
"Riflemen, open fire all at once! Heavy weapons personnel, target the giant one at the back!!!"
"Sihu-ya, is that the huge thing you saw before?"
"It looks even bigger than what you described..."
'What the hell? It's larger than before and its whole body is covered in spikes? Wait—if that thing is anything like the one I fought, it's definitely going to throw vehicles...!'
— Shwoooosh! BOOOOM!!!
The vehicles that couldn't withstand the monstrous mass the creature hurled all burst apart. Soldiers caught in the impact—their fate was unknown.
"Mr. Chu, please hold the rooftop defense. I'll be right back."
I leaped off the rooftop and took in the situation on my way down. Thanks to the concentrated firepower, they were holding the line well enough.
'Then the only problem is that bastard hurling cars at insane speed!'
— Chaos Swordsmanship: Destruction
— FWOOOOOOSH!!!
As if a section of reality had been erased with a single stroke of an eraser, nothing remained ahead of me. Had that thing been the main problem? Soon enough, our party and the soldiers were steadily thinning the zombie numbers. After confirming that, I made my way toward the cultists who had been lurking in the rear.
"Why the sudden attack? And are you the ones who can control the zombies?"
"Soon... we go to His side..."
"Ahh... oh, divine one..."
"Look mercifully upon us... who have failed the mission..."
Saying that, they drew their knives without the slightest hesitation and stabbed into their own throats, twisting the blades.
'Fanatics so extreme they'll throw away their own lives without a second thought...'
I could have subdued them easily before they even reached for their knives, but in my experience, fanatics are a lost cause. They act like they're on some holy mission, and no amount of pain you inflict matters.
'Just bastards who commit every atrocity imaginable under the bullshit excuse that it's "God's will"...'
I sheathed my sword and walked over to the others who were dealing with the aftermath. Corpses turned into zombies and then shot dead. Bodies with enormous holes torn through them. Bodies crushed to a pulp by flying vehicles.
'You motherfuckers... I'll send you to that God you loved so much myself...'
We gathered up all the equipment, stacked the bodies neatly, and set them alight. Every single face was utterly grim. Some people were crying—families of the fallen, probably.
After that modest funeral, we gathered again. But probably because of what had just happened, no one said a word. Eventually, the man in charge, Seo Ji-hoon, opened his mouth.
"The situation is dire... A great many of the barricades we built have been destroyed, and above all... we've lost so many people."
"There's no way the looters don't know this disaster just happened! We need to come up with a plan!"
"But just look at our current state!!!"
They were locked in a heated argument among themselves. I cut them off and spoke.
"Let's launch a preemptive strike on our end. A small-scale one."
"Ha! You may be an Awakened, but they have Awakened of their own, and their numbers are far too great! It's too dangerous!"
He'd been busy coordinating things inside, so he must not have seen my strength firsthand. He seemed to think I was just some ordinary Awakened.
"Are you angry? Furious? Don't let your emotions rule you. Look around, and come up with a plan to turn this situation around."
He'd been breathing raggedly, but he seemed to calm down and looked at me.
"Sigh... my apologies. My emotions got the better of me. Even though I'd heard you were a powerful Awakened, I still couldn't feel at ease..."
"First, the cultists came here full of confidence and failed, so they'll need some time to reorganize, to some degree."
I glanced at Chaeyeon and her parents, then continued.
"Honestly, I could wipe out every last one of those looter bastards before tonight falls. But you know why I'm not doing that, don't you? Even so, I will at least make certain that this place, at least, is kept safe."
Human beings always live while pursuing their own goals. But if I stepped in and solved everything, these people would eventually come to rely only on me and turn into puppets living day by day with no purpose of their own.
'Wouldn't that be exactly like livestock? Eating on schedule and doing nothing else.'
The man shut his eyes tightly, as if he'd just imagined exactly that.
"I'll only inflict enough damage to leave them scrambling to pick up the pieces."
Just then, another transmission came through the walkie-talkie.
"Right now, people who appear to be looters are getting out of their vehicles in front of the department store."
"What does that mean? Are they attacking?"
"It doesn't seem that way... They're unarmed. They say they want to talk about the current situation."