Chapter 6. Operation Begins.
Chapter 6. Operation Begins.
"I shouldn't be saying this as someone who leads soldiers, but... if things truly go south, I ask that at the very least, the rest of you survive."
For a long moment, none of us could open our mouths.
Was Colonel Park Jeong-geun telling us that if the worst-case scenario came, we were to ignore the safety of the other soldiers and just survive on our own?
"You... am I right in thinking you mean that if a dangerous situation arises, we should abandon them and run for it on our own...? Did I mishear you?"
"You heard me correctly... You understood exactly what I meant..."
At that answer, Mr. Chu Seong-geun's fists clenched and trembled as though he couldn't believe it. He asked again.
"Make me understand what you just said to me... If you can't, I don't think I'll be able to keep this anger in check right now..."
"Within the military, we do have communication networks via radio. Through them, we heard of multiple total annihilations. Some were because defensive capabilities were insufficient; others were because of attacks or rioting by Awakened like yourselves."
"However, the Awakened I have met in your group are entirely different from what I had been told. If the number of Awakened decreases, it will be difficult for the country to plan for the future. That is the meaning behind what I said. My opinion on this will not change. I am sorry."
To put it bluntly, from an ordinary person's perspective, Awakened are walking bombs in human form.
They wield powers like magic and have the strength to casually overpower normal people.
In the end, from their standpoint, roaming zombies and living Awakened are equally dangerous.
But Colonel Park Jeong-geun, acting not as an individual but as the leader of an organization, made a judgment that looked beyond the present to consider the future.
We all filed out of the room with complicated, subtle expressions and returned to our respective spots.
I also went back, explained the operational details to my group, and told them that I might have to be away for a few days at most.
* * * * * * * *
A day passed. The next morning, before departing, I infused a faint trace of aura into each of my companions.
It wasn't on the level of an artifact, but it was a precaution against any unforeseeable contingency.
While I am skilled with the sword and magic, and adept at handling ki and mana, I'm no craftsman who can create items.
But in an emergency, if I could buy them even a blink's worth of time, that would be enough for me to assist.
After embedding aura into my companions, I headed to the auditorium where the Awakened and soldiers had gathered.
"Everyone, I won't make a long speech. Please come back alive."
The faces of both the Awakened and the soldiers were frozen stiff, filled with tension and silence.
Thus, we received the send-offs of the others and headed outside.
As we went, the Awakened took the center while the soldiers fanned out wide on both flanks.
Unexpectedly, there weren't that many zombies along the route.
No—the number of zombies was so low it felt unnatural.
To avoid the noise of gunfire, we advanced while having the Awakened deal with zombies as quietly as possible.
'This few zombies? Even considering that the survivors would have cleared a path on their way to the mart, this level doesn't make sense.'
Given the number of survivors in the shelter, and considering they couldn't hold the base and had to flee, there should have been large numbers of zombies roaming the streets.
There are no results without causes. There had to be a reason for this.
Ultimately, we arrived at the base's main gate with tension written plainly on everyone's faces.
"Please wait a moment before we enter. Let me check something first."
A person who appeared to be a soldier was examining the interior of the base through binoculars.
"As you all may have felt on the way here, strangely enough, there are no zombies visible from the outside here either. When we fled, there were plenty of zombies... Something's a bit off."
Hearing that, I wrapped mana around my own eyes and surveyed the situation.
'I've felt it since we were on our way here, but the number of zombies is bizarrely low.'
"We're going in."
Two people at the front opened the base's gate, and the rest entered.
We had just reached the center where the base's buildings were clustered.
— Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!!
Suddenly, the sound of an overwhelming number of footsteps thundered toward us.
"Oh my god... What the hell is that!!!"
"Form up!!! Don't break ranks and return fire!!!"
— Kraaaaghk!!!
— Grrk... guhk!!!
Whether due to the sudden attack, several soldiers were bitten by zombies.
"Dammit... Return fire!!!"
— Crack-crack-crack...!
— Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!
Even in the urgency, I kept an eye on the surroundings and spoke.
"First, everyone stay clustered up to avoid getting bitten, and respond. Mr. Kim Ji-seok and Mr. Park Jeong-ho, shove back any zombies that get close. Everyone else, keep them defended."
"Sihu, what are you going to do!"
'Something's wrong here.'
Ignoring their words, I stepped forward a little.
I infused a faint trace of aura into my voice and shouted.
"Everyone, get your heads down!!!"
- Chaos Sword Technique Draw
— Shhnk!
The zombies froze in place as if momentarily paused.
A thin, solid line appeared across their shoulders, and soon their heads separated from their bodies, spraying fountains of blood.
As if unable to believe the situation, the others were plunged into silence.
Only then, realizing the situation had ended, did they begin to exhale roughly.
"Huff... haah... What on earth..."
"You... I haven't personally seen other Awakened, but even so, I doubt I could imagine them doing something of this magnitude..."
"No... Even other Awakened couldn't do something like this."
Leaving behind those who still hadn't fully grasped the situation, I turned to the sergeant who had spoken to us at the entrance and asked about the base's structure and size.
"This isn't an ordinary base—it's a command headquarters. Searching it with this number of people will be difficult."
We divided up personnel and walkie-talkies, split into teams, and agreed to scatter and search.
"As you're all aware, this situation is extremely abnormal."
'The moment we gathered in the center, they swarmed us all at once. Could there be an entity controlling these zombies?'
Back on Titan, there had occasionally been higher-order entities that commanded lower-grade undead.
For a moment, I shook my head, thinking it was a ridiculous notion.
'No... In a world with nonsensical systems, maybe it really is possible after all.'
"In my opinion, there's a possibility that an entity is commanding this horde."
"You... Even if the situation is strange, aren't these things basically mindless creatures?"
"I also think it's absurd. But on our way here, the zombie numbers were bizarrely low, and they swarmed us the moment we arrived at this wide-open space."
Hearing my words, everyone fell quiet as if deep in thought.
Roughly, the teams were divided as follows: Kim Ji-seok and Lee Chaeyeon; Park Jeong-ho and Im Jae-hyeok; and lastly, myself with the comparatively weaker fighters, Chu Seong-geun and Kim Ji-hee.
For now, the team of Kim Ji-seok and Lee Chaeyeon would head to the ammunition depot, while the team of Park Jeong-ho and Im Jae-hyeok would go to the food warehouse.
Our remaining group decided to head to the command headquarters main building.
"If any of you see anything even slightly unusual, report it via radio immediately."
With that, we set our walkie-talkies to the same channel and dispersed.
"Now that I think of it, Mr. Chu, you don't have a combat class. Why did you join this operation?"
"Hmph, I may not look it, but thanks to this System or whatever, I'm a bit more useful than ordinary folk. And honestly, this might as well be the last stand—said I'd rather take part than just sit around waiting. Whether I starve to death waiting or get bitten and die out here, it's all the same, isn't it?"
His personality and appearance all gave off the vibe of the old man he was.
"Ms. Kim Ji-hee, I understand you're a healer. What level of wounds can you treat?"
This was something I'd been curious about since first checking the documents.
Were the healers that exist on Earth the same kind of existence as the clerics of Titan?
In truth, mages can use healing magic as well.
But the efficiency is different. Clerics are solely capable of healing.
And in exchange, their healing efficiency is on another level.
Divine power, which focuses entirely on healing, unlike mages who use mana for attack and defense.
A person of high rank within the Church could save someone so long as they were still clinging to life.
"I haven't been able to check in detail, but I can treat ordinary wounds. Deliberately inflicting wounds to test a skill isn't exactly possible in this situation."
"Then, could you perhaps tell me to what extent you have healed someone before?"
"Truthfully, I have treated a wound that was torn down to the point where bone was visible. Beyond that, I don't know, because I've never had the chance to try."
'If Ms. Ji-hee had possessed divine power, I definitely would have detected it. But there's only mana within her.'
While talking about such things, we headed toward the building that appeared to be the command headquarters.
"Still, no matter how I think about it, it's strange. There are plenty of combat traces and bloodstains, but bizarrely, there are no corpses. Was that horde from earlier every single zombie inside the base?"
'It's possible they summoned every zombie specifically to kill us for certain.'
"I'd like that to be the case. If so, that means we've effectively killed all the zombies inside the base."
Just as we were thinking positively and stepped into the main building, we witnessed an unbelievable sight.
Corpses, in what was clearly human form, were affixed to the walls.
Most were people wearing military uniforms, presumed to be soldiers, but civilians in plain clothes could occasionally be seen too.
And the more shocking point was that regardless of gender, every single one of the corpses had a grotesquely bulging stomach.
No—to be precise, they weren't corpses. They were all still alive.