After a Hundred Bites
I had ended up inside a zombie apocalypse novel. It wasn't as if I'd brought a shield or anything, and there was a limit to how much I could block with my arms and Beopbong. My arms quickly turned blue before flushing red, and they started throbbing. It hurt just to put any strength into them, so I could tell how badly I'd been injured. At the very least, it would need five minutes of rest before it would heal. But in the current situation, I couldn't afford to stay still for five minutes.
"Graaaah!"
"Graaaah...!"
"Graaaah!"
"Hup."
I held my breath slightly in anticipation of the coming impact and swung Beopbong. The normal zombies that had already thrown all their stones weren't particularly threatening. If I faced them calmly, I could take them down without much damage. But that was only when their numbers were low.
Along with a pain like being burned, a chunk of flesh tore clean off my left arm. And it didn't stop there—another zombie was biting into my thigh. Unlike before, none of them were biting and holding on just to restrain me.
".........Ugh."
Still, dealing with them wasn't too difficult. I got bitten in a few more places, but in the end I managed to break through. Staggering forward, I stepped over the corpses of the fallen zombies.
I had entered through a side door of the airport building. Not the rear or main entrance, but from the right side. I'd come in through the area where passengers headed out to board their planes, which meant I would soon be moving deeper into the terminal. And going deeper meant the zombies would only grow more numerous.
"I'll run into him on the way."
"Graaaah!"
"Graaaah...!"
I wasn't sure exactly where Noh Changhun was, but I knew for certain that I'd meet him if I kept pushing forward. If I continued deeper inside, our paths would cross. After organizing my thoughts, I gritted my teeth. A wave of zombies was surging toward me, so I had to prepare myself.
Fortunately there were no particularly strong variants in sight. At most, a boxer, a lurker, a runner, or one or two cannon fodder. I already knew where I needed to go: the narrowest possible space. A place where I could reduce the number of zombies I had to face at once, while still leading further inside.
"Whoa, look at this!"
"Graaaah...!"
"Graaaah!"
"Graaaah!!!"
In that case, there was only one destination. The bathroom corridor on the path leading deeper in. I immediately sprinted that way, swinging Beopbong as I ran. The zombie blocking the entrance gaped its mouth wide before collapsing. Once inside the hallway, I quickly gauged the distance. The number of zombies I'd have to handle at once was about five. At the very least, I needed to thin their numbers here so I could watch my back more easily. And by taking care of the normal zombies in this spot, I'd probably lighten the burden on that bastard Noh Changhun too.
That damn bastard was ridiculously strong, but once he overheated he had to rest for dozens of minutes. He'd probably pace himself and fight at a reasonable level, but that didn't mean the pressure would be nonexistent. So without even a moment to catch my breath, I swung Beopbong like a madwoman.
"Graaaah!"
"Argh, fuck!"
Of course I couldn't handle all five at the same time. If I forced four of them down, one was bound to slip through. And that one inevitably landed a hit. I got bitten properly and struck properly. There had to be at least a hundred zombies here. Which meant I'd probably have to endure another twenty bites or so.
Still, it wasn't that bad.
"Cough, huuu... I can still keep going as many times as it takes!"
"Groooar.....!"
"Graaaah...."
My body was recovering steadily, after all. I had no idea how much I'd have to eat afterward to make up for it, though. The bleeding had already begun to stop, and new flesh was starting to grow over the shallow wounds. If I could just grit my teeth and hold out until the end, victory would be mine. Whether I could actually last that long was another question.
It would be different if I could pile up the corpses to make a wall. But those damn zombies kept dragging the dead ones backward, clearing space so they could keep fighting me.
"................!"
"Graaaah...!"
And it wasn't just that—they occasionally sent out boxers that looked almost like normal zombies. If a surprise punch to the gut knocked the wind out of me, that would be the end. They'd immediately sink their teeth in or follow up with clumsy punches and kicks.
After clearing the normal zombies and killing the variants, the next wave would come rushing in as if they'd been waiting their turn. At this point, not killing every last one of them was out of the question. I had to kill them all and advance past their corpses.
So I gritted my teeth again and swung Beopbong. A zombie's clumsy fist slammed into my solar plexus. Sharp teeth pierced my flesh as if they'd been waiting for the opening. A lurker's nails raked across my skin and punched through my stomach. But I endured it—just enough not to die. My breathing grew ragged and my vision blurred, but I was still alive.
And the best news was that I was getting stronger even while going through this hell. I couldn't explode zombies in one hit like Noh Changhun, but at least I could finish them off cleanly. The ones that used to need two swings to stop moving now went still after a single strike. I was starting to figure out how to control my regeneration, but it was still exhausting.
Dealing with four and getting hit by one quickly turned into dealing with three and getting hit by two. Three soon became two, and now it was basically an even trade of blows. If I luckily blocked a bite and smashed with Beopbong, an attack would come from another direction as if on cue. After taking that hit and swinging again, yet another attack would come flying in.
But now it was fine. After dozens of minutes of desperate fighting, I had killed them all.
"You fucking bastard."
One thing was certain—Noh Changhun was still alive. I could tell just from the voice call icon glowing in the corner of my vision. I'd never actually used it, but the fact that it was lit up brought me some comfort.
I picked up the headset that had fallen to the ground, put it on, and walked over the corpses. Then a roar came from the side.
"Graaaahhhhhhhhh!"
"Ah, fuck."
The cannon fodder I hadn't noticed earlier was charging in with mindless fury. Normally I would have dodged even if it meant throwing my body aside, but in my current state that was impossible. Every single step was difficult, and I was still trying to catch my breath.
I was used to getting hit anyway. So as long as my body held out...
"Ah."
My body floated into the air and flew several meters before slamming into the wall. My legs trembled uncontrollably, and my back hurt so badly I couldn't move. At least I could take some comfort in the fact that it was a flat wall. If the angle had been slightly off, I would have smashed into that door over there. If I'd broken my spine on impact, the pain wouldn't have ended with simple agony.
Still, I could win. That was the end for that bastard.
"..............Ugh."
Blood flowed from my nose and mouth. The clump I coughed up—probably from damaged organs—contained pieces of flesh. My vision swam, and even though it was winter, I felt incredibly hot. Oh right, my head hurt like it was going to split open too.
Seriously, fuck. I'd told him we should make a plan before charging in. But he went ahead with a mindless assault and this is what happened.
"You son of a bitch. Even while pulling that shit, you still steadily killed everything on your way up."
It had felt strange that nothing was coming even after all the noise I'd made. Looking through the broken door, I could see zombie corpses piled up. There were even zombies dangling from the doorknob, so I could imagine how fierce the fighting had been.
But now it was time to focus on the cannon fodder in front of me. I caught my breath and waited until my body could stand again. Even if that thing swung its arm once, I'd collapse helplessly, but it didn't move. It just stood there stupidly, waiting for the other zombies to take me down. Though those zombies had already been slaughtered by me and Noh Changhun.
"..........Uwek. Uuk, uweeeek."
I just needed to stand up and grab Beopbong. Then smash that bastard to death and head inside. But for some reason, today my body refused to listen. Only endless clumps of bile mixed with blood kept coming out.
I had no choice but to retch and vomit out everything inside me. Come to think of it, my forehead must have split open too—my eyes felt wet.
"Graaaah......"
"Yeah, thanks for waiting. That's all you know how to do anyway...!"
Simply standing up made it hard to control my body. I staggered back and forth like I'd chugged an entire bottle of soju before using Beopbong as a cane. I couldn't waste any more time. Ignoring my screaming body, I forced myself upright. Slowly getting into position, I charged forward as if I were falling.
The cannon fodder raised both arms in defense, fulfilling its role. There was a slight height difference, so to kill it in one blow I put power into my legs and leaped. Then, a single strike.
It was a monstrous strength I could hardly believe came from this body. Beopbong shattered the cannon fodder's arm and caved in its skull.
"Graaaah....!?"
"Looks like a critical hit."
"Groo, graaaah......."
The cannon fodder with its head half-destroyed flailed both hands. In my mind I wanted to laugh at how even falling was taking forever, but it genuinely hurt. Just standing sent waves of pain racing through my entire body. The wounds that had closed burst open again from moving so violently.
I watched the slowly flowing blood for a moment before catching my breath. As if mocking the fact that I'd handled about a hundred, more zombies were pouring in from outside the building.
Come to think of it, this airport probably had several more floors. Thousands of zombies endlessly streaming in from outside, plus variants packed densely throughout the building. To neutralize all of them or escape while killing Baron too... It was truly insane.