Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Earth-23: Survivor at G-Mart
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-Woof! Woof!
Zombies and dogs were chasing after him from behind.
He swept aside the zombies blocking his path with his greatsword and kept running.
He bounded up the stairs quickly and glanced down below.
'Will they come?'
Thinking back to that dead one from earlier, he couldn't rule out the possibility that they wouldn't follow.
-Woof! Woof!
The barking from below suggested they weren't as clever as that one and were climbing up after him.
He stopped on the 7th floor and took position near the elevator, out of sight from the stairwell.
He pulled the thick, massive spear Gungnir from his Inventory and readied himself.
He prepared according to Suni's report.
-Grrrr. Sniff sniff.
-Thud thud.
He could hear them slowly climbing up, sniffing for his scent.
He focused his mind.
'End it in one strike.'
His left hand gripped lightly, while his right hand clenched tightly to keep the spear from slipping.
The pit bull's massive head came into view.
In that instant, he used his left hand as a guide, shifted his weight forward, and thrust the spear with all his might using his right.
-Whoosh!
The pit bull seemed to sense it at the last moment and reacted quickly, but his spear was faster.
In an instant, it pierced the right eye and shattered the skull.
-Crack!
-Thud.
The pit bull with its head blown apart collapsed.
-Woof! Woof!
The remaining Doberman-sized one leaped over its comrade's corpse.
He quickly shoved the spear into its gaping maw and slammed it down.
-Boom!
The Doberman with the spear lodged in its mouth plummeted.
-Gack!
"Hup!"
He then shoved the spear deeper into its mouth with force.
-Crunch.
The spear forced its way into the Doberman's mouth, and something inside shattered.
Without stopping at the satisfying sound, he thrust even deeper.
-Kekekegh!
The Doberman frothed at the mouth in agony.
-Crack crack.
The light faded from the Doberman's eyes as it went limp.
Experience flowed in, confirming its death, so he stored the spear back in his Inventory.
"Hoo..."
He relaxed as he checked the quest message.
'Was that earlier one the leader?'
These two weren't as clever as the previous one.
-Chomp!
Suddenly, a zombie that had sneaked up from behind latched onto his arm.
"Damn. It's all slimy with spit."
-Thwack!
He kicked it down and crushed its head with his spear.
Skin that bullets couldn't pierce, plus his suit—there was no way a pathetic zombie bite could hurt him.
"Mana stones?"
He had to harvest the mana stones, even if it was a hassle.
These weren't F-Rank—they were D-Rank mana stones.
Precious experience and cash.
He considered tossing the whole things into his Inventory, but they were grotesque, filthy monsters.
And they didn't seem worth much anyway.
Suni spoke as if understanding his hesitation.
The hideous faces of the dogs, tongues lolling out, stared back.
"...Still don't wanna."
His food was in there too.
It was just his personal hang-up.
Unless it was something truly valuable worth overriding that, his long hunter experience told him they weren't worth the money.
As dawn broke, he touched the activated rooftop save point, and the message appeared.
"Head back for now."
He stepped into the save point.
The familiar living room came into view.
'Time difference?'
Checking the time after logging back in, less than a minute had passed.
According to Suni, at most a second had passed here.
Not bad.
No need to worry about time in this world for now.
But a whole day there for 1 second here?
1 minute here = 60 days there?
1 hour = 3,600 days?!
That seemed like too extreme a difference.
He wouldn't know until he went back.
Could he log back in right away?
Curious, he touched the passage, and a message popped up.
"What about Pantera?"
Login allowed access to two worlds.
The save point seemed to act as a gateway linking to the world.
'If I go to Pantera, will the login spot in Earth-23 change next time?'
Suni didn't know the exact details either.
This time, he might have lucked out and logged in safely.
What if he spawned near mid-level corrupted beings next time?
That could be dangerous.
The spot might stay the same.
His current Earth-23 login point was safe.
No need to risk changing it out of idle curiosity.
Zombies weren't that big a threat to an awakener anyway.
'Better to focus on safe Earth-23 over Pantera for now.'
A few more lower corrupted beings, and he'd get the reward.
But before diving back in, he needed to confirm the time flow there.
To verify the difference properly, he'd spend some time here first.
Even if decades passed in Earth-23, it didn't matter to him.
Nothing important there—his world was here.
Maybe from the fighting, but his libido was stirring a bit.
'Miss Yu-na.'
He longed for her soft skin.
He had her number.
Given her personality, she'd probably come if he called.
But here, they'd just parted ways.
He had to hold off.
Next time he entered, he'd move right away.
No time burden here anymore, so nothing to hesitate over.
For now, manage his condition.
Battling monsters late at night left him a little fatigued.
Nothing much to prep.
Consumables? Just one pack of instant jjajang.
'Gonna catch some shut-eye first.'
After a nap and feeling refreshed, he touched the login passage.
"Let's go."
As he entered the passage, the environment shifted in an instant.
He picked up the watch on the apartment rooftop floor.
He'd tossed it there before logging out.
Almost no time had passed.
The two worlds barely affected each other's time.
"No way..."
He couldn't grasp the principle, but it was a good situation regardless.
No burden spending time in either world.
He set his direction north and started moving.
If this was Seoul, north of Daejeon, he figured road signs would guide him there.
After leaving the apartment complex and smashing occasional zombies, about an hour later, a massive mall called G-Mart came into view.
He approached, hoping to find survivors.
"Survivor?"
The scan pointed inside the massive G-Mart mall.
Checking further, the monster and survivor weren't too close.
Not a highly dangerous situation.
Only one survivor bothered him.
Had they survived alone?
If people were alive, a mall was a prime spot.
Lots of food and useful stuff.
He wasn't expecting major intel, so one was enough.
Not a bad update, all things considered.
Spear in hand, he entered the mall.
Zombies lunging at him had their heads impaled and burst like watermelons.
He used the spear instead of the greatsword because the zombies were too gross and filthy to get close to.
The survivor signal was from underground.
The corrupted being was upstairs.
Obviously, clear the corrupted being first.
Couldn't search for survivors with a potential ambusher lurking.
The corrupted being was on the nearby 2nd floor.
Amid dozens of zombies, a huge bulk stood out.
A 3-meter-tall, bloated, flabby humanoid fat zombie.
Not a face he wanted to hunt.
-Grrr.
It spotted him coming up the escalator after smashing zombie heads and charged.
-Thud. Thud.
Nearby zombies toppled and got crushed like bowling pins.
But compared to yesterday's monster dogs, it was pretty sluggish.
He gripped his spear and assumed position.
"Hup!"
Facing the charging giant zombie, he thrust the spear at its head with full power.
Whether overconfident or just slow, the fat zombie didn't even try to dodge.
-Thud!
It pierced clean through the head.
Seeing how slow it was, he'd thrust hard—and it worked perfectly.
The massive, filthy body toppled forward.
"Ugh!"
He recoiled in horror and jumped back fast.
-Boom.
Almost got buried under the filth.
Easier than expected.
He hadn't gotten stronger... it was just careless or slow.
Zombies had corrupted beings too, not just the dogs.
Was the survivor trapped below by this big one?
But unlike monster dogs, a fat zombie seemed escapable if you just ran.
Threat cleared—time to find the survivor.