The Ultimate Clash on the Third Floor
I ended up inside a zombie apocalypse novel. The hunters had their mouths hanging open in a way that was seriously pissing me off. Noh Changhun lightly clenched his fist and started pounding on the nearest hunter. I gripped Beopbong with all my strength and faced the rest of them.
Normally, hunters would have been impossible to deal with. They were intelligent and attacked survivors like wolves. But these bastards had picked the wrong battlefield. Their real strength only showed when they used cover and repeated ambushes in open areas. They wore down their prey before sinking their teeth in. Fighting inside a building like this was basically suicide, and they had to know it. Which meant these hunters were nothing but disposable pawns.
“We need to end this fast!”
Noh Changhun nodded. If we wanted to beat Baron, it was better for him—the stronger one—to conserve his strength. So I naturally stepped in front of him and swung Beopbong.
“Grrraaah!”
“Grrraaa…!”
“You’re not going anywhere, you fuckers!”
One big swing split the hunters clean in half. At this point it was basically a spear fight. Would the hunters sink their teeth or claws in first, or would I smash their skulls with Beopbong first? It all came down to who struck quicker. So I didn’t care how much damage I took and just swung like a madman.
“If I go down, you better protect me, okay?”
“Do whatever you want.”
“Yeah, yeah. Our dear author-nim will handle it.”
The hunters were now staring me down. They had only come because Baron ordered them to, but they seemed to realize continuing was pointless. I wanted to swing first, but that was impossible. My regeneration still hadn’t kicked in properly. The endorphins had turned into adrenaline, and my healing had dropped sharply. All I could do was face the ones coming at me. That meant a stalemate on the front line, which didn’t match our plan for a quick finish. So Noh Changhun had to be the one to move.
I would act as a meat shield against the hunters, buying time while he recovered and killed Baron. That was the most stable plan. Whether I could actually hold out until then was another question. Well… it would work out somehow.
I gritted my teeth and tried to keep my stance from collapsing.
“Changhun. I’ll count. On three, you run.”
“That was the plan.”
“One…”
“Grrraaaah…!”
“Two…”
“Grrraa…”
“Three!”
The moment I shouted the last number, both zombies and humans charged at once. The hunters wanted to take me down first and help Baron. Noh Changhun wanted to finish Baron while I held the line. It was basically a game of chicken. Standing in front of a speeding truck wasn’t exactly my idea of fun, but what could I do?
“Please, just don’t let it hurt too much…!”
Since I wouldn’t be able to regenerate like before for a while, I had no choice but to dodge as much as possible. I narrowed my eyes and watched their movements carefully.
The hunter in front reached out. The one behind him crouched to leap, and the third hunter jumped onto the wall, grabbing a decoration. I slowly began my counter.
I twisted my body to avoid the first hand, then jumped and smashed the hunter floating in the air with Beopbong. The creature’s body burst halfway open and rolled across the floor.
“Grrraaah…!”
“You think I’m just gonna die quietly?!”
The third hunter ran along the wall and jumped down right above me. I wanted to deal with that too, but I was too slow. By the time I came to my senses, I was already in a messy brawl with the hunters. Whether they clawed me or bit me, I kept swinging Beopbong, gritting my teeth and holding on.
Somehow my desperate struggle paid off. Before things got any worse, I managed to stand again. I rose, gripped Beopbong, and took a hit from a hunter. Then another. And then a third. My vision spun and my head felt like it was splitting open. My muscles were screaming like crazy. I wanted to collapse right then and there.
But for some reason, I held on. I stayed upright, kept swinging Beopbong, and endured the hunters’ attacks.
“…Ugh, bleeegh. Haa… my stomach’s probably wrecked…”
Blood from my forehead blurred my vision. The pain was so bad I couldn’t even tell if I was standing straight or kneeling on one knee. Still, I was sure I had killed all the hunters. I started walking, leaving a trail of blood puddles on the floor.
Noh Changhun. He was still fighting. If he died, I was finished too. I had no desire to live forever in this hellish apocalypse. So I dragged my battered body up the stairs and looked around.
“……Is that… Baron?”
A green-skinned teenage boy stood quietly, facing off against Noh Changhun. As expected of nobility, he was on a completely different level from the fashion-terrorist zombie I’d seen before. He was barefoot, but he wore a perfect t-shirt, hoodie, and jeans. Maybe his high intelligence let him mimic humans and dress up. At first glance he looked so weak that I almost wanted to ask if this was really Baron, but a closer look proved otherwise. The sparse but visible muscles on his body made it clear he was anything but weak. A single pain-ignoring strike from a zombie like him would probably be hard for even Noh Changhun to take.
Still, Baron must have found it difficult to handle Noh Changhun’s attacks too, which was why they were just staring each other down. So that’s why it had been so quiet—they were sizing each other up.
“Heh. Heheheh……!”
Even though I was laughing like this, neither of them reacted. They just stood there watching each other. I really wanted to tease them both, but I held back. There would be plenty of time for that later.
I slowly caught my breath and gripped Beopbong tightly. I had always loved throwing stones into calm lakes. Maybe it was the instinct for chaos I’d had since childhood. I enjoyed watching a perfectly still lake get completely messed up. And right now, the situation was exactly like that.
Two beings carefully watching each other so they wouldn’t destroy one another. Well, one of them wasn’t even human. Either way, I had become the stone that could shatter this calm lake.
My body heated up. I felt the blood that had been flowing slowly begin to stop. It was inconvenient that my regeneration was increasing at exactly this moment, but whatever. At least the chance of me getting beaten to death had decreased. I should probably count that as a win.
I caught my breath, recovered my stamina, and sprinted forward.
“Ultimate Lee Yeji, entering the breeeaaak!”
“Graaaaaaaaah!”
I never thought I could actually hit Baron with Beopbong. I had deliberately left an opening at my stomach, swinging as if inviting the hit. There was only one thing I was aiming for: while I took the blow, Noh Changhun would finish Baron off.
“…………!”
But damn, this hurt. I felt something break in my stomach as my body flew into the air. Baron pulled out his blood-soaked right hand and slowly blocked Noh Changhun’s attack. I also saw Baron’s right arm hanging limply, clearly broken. He hurriedly raised his left arm, but Noh Changhun’s fist was already swinging.
I closed my eyes as I watched the creature get brutally smashed. I was about to fall to the second floor, and I knew it was going to hurt like hell.
Just as I expected, it hurt like absolute shit. The pain was so intense it nearly snapped what little consciousness I had left. When I came to, I was still inside the airport. I forced myself up, wondering if that bastard Noh Changhun had died, but that wasn’t the case. He was sitting there covered in blood, but he looked perfectly fine. In this context, “fine” meant nothing was broken and everything was still attached.
“You fucking bastard.”
“You wake up and the first thing out of your mouth is cursing?”
“How does it feel to go after Baron without a plan? Huh? I saw you two having a nice long date earlier.”
“I came because I thought I could handle it.”
“Sure, sure. You’re so great.”
Maybe because I had properly recovered while unconscious, my body felt relatively okay. Something had definitely broken, but I didn’t feel any pain in my stomach. That didn’t mean I was in perfect condition, though. I could barely move. If I had to fight again, I would just die. I had no idea what shape he was in.
As if thinking the same thing, Noh Changhun asked me,
“You okay?”
“Does it look like I’m okay? I’m one step away from dying.”
“Even with your regeneration?”
“Think for once, you idiot. I got beaten half to death on the way here, then fell from the third floor to the second.”
“Fair enough.”
“It’s a miracle I’m still alive. Haa… you owe me one.”
“What?”
Noh Changhun gave me a look that said he didn’t like that idea. But I had plenty to say. If I hadn’t been there, they would have just kept staring at each other. He probably wouldn’t have even made it to the third floor. But something about him seemed off. He had more blood on him than when he was fighting Baron. Especially on both hands. And his expression wasn’t bright at all. Shouldn’t he be happy after killing Baron?
“Now that I think about it, Changhun. Didn’t we have to clear the fourth floor too?”
“No need.”
“Why? Is it too hard? I can… ah, ow. Ugh.”
“Just lie down. I already took care of it.”
“Really? Good job. But why do you look so dark? What was up there?”
“Kids. Women.”
“Fuck… that explains it. Did you at least kill that bastard Baron cleanly?”
“As if. Need something to vent on?”
“Not necessary.”
A familiar feeling came over me. The kind your body tells you directly. The kind that says it’s time to close your eyes and sleep. I warned Noh Changhun not to do anything stupid, then closed my eyes and drifted off.