41. Hellgate

41. Hellgate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earth. Egypt.

 

 

 

 

From Suez to Port Said, a massive wall 50 meters high and 10 meters thick was constructed along the existing Suez Canal line.

A modern-day wall built by mobilizing all national power, day and night.

 

 

To build it as quickly as possible, Egypt poured in manpower, capital, and all available resources the country possessed.

 

 

But why.

 

 

Why build such an anachronistic wall in this modern age where missiles fly through the sky and unmanned drones buzz around? Especially while straining the national power.

There’s even the Suez Canal, a natural moat, right in front of the wall. Most beings wouldn’t be able to cross it even without the wall.

 

 

So, why the hell?

 

 

One might question it, but this wasn’t to fight against humans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dozens of military camps sprang up inside the giant wall.

Divisions and armored hordes arriving one after another.

It created a terrifying sense of oppression, as if a war was about to break out any minute.

 

 

 

In fact, the war had already broken out.

 

The Sixth Middle East War.

 

 

 

 

Around the time Yu-Eun crossed over to the Murim world, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and others had formed an alliance and invaded Israel, as always.

However, this time, Israel had provoked them first, which was a big factor.

 

 

Whatever the reason, the Sixth Middle East War broke out, and not only modern weaponry but also mercenaries (adventurers) were mobilized.

 

 

As it gradually escalated into a full-scale war, a D-rank Dungeon appeared in the rear of Iraq with impeccable timing.

When a Dungeon appears, the first order of business is to fight a defensive battle.

 

One might say, what’s the big deal about a mere D-rank, but Syria had already sent troops and adventurers to the border for the war, so they didn’t have the resources to fight a defensive battle.

Thus, the defensive battle was lost in vain. As a result, a city was entirely Dungeonized, a tragic event.

 

 

The problem was the monsters pouring out, and coincidentally, the D-rank Dungeon contained zombies. They lose their infectivity due to the mana’s influence inside the Dungeon, but outside, where there is no mana, their infectivity revives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weak police force, almost non-existent adventurers. And zombies spreading in a densely populated city…

 

 

 

 

The situation progressed rapidly, contaminating not only the city but also the surrounding areas.

In just twenty hours, an estimated 10 million people were zombified, and it got worse as time went on.

 

 

Around that time, the international community considered intervening, but Israel (the Jews) used this as an opportunity to stall, and the Galactic Empire and the Federation Empire of Boznia, free from Jewish influence and with sufficient resources to quell the situation, did not show any intention to intervene due to the will of the Federal Emperor Isonia.

 

 

 

In the end, when Iraq tried to suppress the situation while enduring Israel’s invasion, the number of zombies had already increased beyond control. The mutant and combined zombies that popped up from time to time possessed such incredible destructive power that even the military was annihilated, and virtually an entire country collapsed in just two days.

 

 

 

What’s really serious is that the zombies in movies and dramas aren’t much of a threat to modern countries armed with modern weaponry. The symptoms are too obvious and there’s no incubation period, so if you shoot them as soon as you see them, it will eventually calm down. And in the first place, human biting force is weaker than you think, so you can prevent infection by wearing just a few layers of clothing.

 

 

After that, it’s a one-sided massacre by humans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the zombies that appeared in reality were different.

 

First, they are infected by aerosol.

It didn’t spread very far, but if you were nearby and didn’t wear equipment such as a mask, you were almost certainly infected, and this was the same for soldiers.

 

 

Second, in addition to aerosol infection, some individuals even had an incubation period.

About 90-95% of them showed immediate zombie symptoms without an incubation period, while the remaining 5-10% turned into zombies only after a few hours.

 

 

This was quite fatal to the military, which was also carrying out the task of evacuating the people, and thanks to this, some armies collapsed from within.

 

 

 

 

Third, as mentioned above, there are mutant and combined zombies.

 

 

Zombies with an incubation period generally cause mutations (tentative name) and become particularly powerful zombies. They deflect bullets and charge, turning soldiers armed with various equipment into bloody messes or infecting them and turning them into zombies.

Some individuals also unleash powerful bio-attacks that spread the zombie virus up to a radius of 500 meters, and the problem is that this contains gas, which causes a large-scale explosion if a small light or friction occurs. In a way, it can be called a suicide attack.

In addition to this, there are dozens of other reported mutations, and their occurrence rate is very high for a mutation (about 5%), making them quite threatening.

 

 

 

 

Even this feels hopeless, but the real problem is the combined zombies.

 

 

They are formed with a certain probability when about 100 zombies and mutant zombies are together. For some reason, the mutant goes berserk and starts devouring the surrounding zombies indiscriminately, and as it gradually grows in size, a giant combined zombie is born before long.

 

 

If the mutant has armor that deflects bullets, these guys have tremendous defensive power that can withstand even tank fire, and they even possess the superhuman strength to break down ordinary concrete walls with their fists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, when Iraq collapsed, humanity began to feel the seriousness of the situation and started to pressure Israel and its surrounding countries. The D10 formed a ‘Zombie Response Team’ and requested the Galactic Empire to participate.

 

 

The Israeli side also realized that this situation had gone beyond a level that could be used strategically, and more than anything, they recognized the geographical weakness that Iraq and Israel were not far apart. They agreed to a truce with other Middle Eastern countries and formed an allied force with those who had been exchanging bullets until yesterday.

 

 

However, Egypt subtly withdrew from this. Unlike other countries, Egypt had the Suez Canal and the Sinai Peninsula, so they thought they could sufficiently stop the zombie rally.

Of course, they also had the ulterior motive of taking advantage of this situation to wipe out the Middle East, including Israel, and then, when the Human Alliance calmed the zombie situation, they would sneakily advance and expand their territory.

 

 

 

It was resentful, but who could stop them from withdrawing?

In the end, Egypt built the Great Wall alone to prepare for the zombie rally, and the remaining Middle Eastern allied forces advanced into Iraq to fight the zombies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The result was a complete disaster.

 

 

They slaughtered a huge number of zombies, but in return, a large force of about 300,000 people was annihilated and became zombies, attacking their homeland.

By this time, the international community was also intervening one after another, but they couldn’t stop the zombie rally that had already gained momentum.

 

 

In the first place, there were too many zombies to stop with minor interventions alone.

 

 

 

 

Eventually, as time passed, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, and others began to collapse, and even Saudi Arabia and Iran, which had stubbornly held out, allowed zombies to reach the outskirts of their capitals.

 

 

Neighboring countries such as Israel, Turkey, and Pakistan were on complete emergency alert.

They poured all their national power into stopping the zombies, slowing down the rally a little, but that was just a delaying tactic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that, the international community focused its support on the four countries of Israel, Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. To the north, they built a giant wall connecting the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, to the east, a wall connecting the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, and to the west, a wall bisecting Turkey. Together with the Suez Great Wall that Egypt had built on its own, they implemented a plan to isolate the entire Middle East.

 

 

There were criticisms that they were abandoning hundreds of millions of people living in the Middle East, but from each country’s perspective, even this was a very benevolent measure, pouring vast resources into something that might not even succeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When about three months had passed, the Middle East had completely turned into a zombie zone, and only beyond the massively constructed walls could they be safe from them.

 

 

Of course, it wasn’t completely safe, and constant battles continued.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Wouldn’t it all be over if a nuke dropped on those things?”

 

 

The giant wall, 50 meters high and 10 meters wide, built right behind the Suez Canal.

On top of it, countless soldiers patrolled the wall, monitoring the front.

 

 

A small amount of farmland right in front, and the desert that occupied most of the area beyond.

Ironically, the zombies, being rotten corpses, roamed the desert just fine.

Even now, just by looking up a little, you could see a huge number of zombie hordes swarming.

 

 

Even that was after drastically reducing their numbers through constant bombings and wall defense battles. If you went into the center of the Middle East, there would probably be hundreds of times more zombies forming hordes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I wonder… I doubt a nuke will even be approved… And even if it is, can we really wipe them all out? There are guys like ‘Giants’. There might be even weirder things.”

 

Recently, Russia and the United States had been discussing nuclear bombing of the Middle East.

Since the Middle East had already become ownerless land (except for the zombies), there might be no problem with bombing it, but they couldn’t predict what impact it would have on the Earth in the future, and the area was too vast.

 

Moreover, the Middle East is a desert.

It was a place where sand, easily blown by the wind, was piled up like mountains, so if radiation were to get on it, the possibility of a global catastrophe could not be ruled out.

 

 

 

“Giant… Have you ever seen one in person?”

“I saw it on YouTube. If I had seen it in person, would I still be alive like this?”

“I guess so?”

 

 

The combined zombie ‘Giant’, which is a whopping 10 meters tall.

Along with the ‘Boomer’, which spews out a deadly zombie virus in a radius of 500 meters, it was the most dangerous type of zombie.

 

According to reports, it is formed by combining two mutant zombies and about 100 zombies.

 

 

 

“I just want to run away. I miss my family.”

“You’ll be shot if you do that.”

“I know, you little shit.”

 

The superior officer raised his fist at the youngest soldier’s bold words.

He wanted to punch that annoying guy.

 

 

 

 

“Ah, those guys are starting again.”

 

 

Was he trying to change the subject? The youngest pointed to one side.

A bizarre phenomenon where a huge number of zombies were gathering in one place in the distance desert.

 

 

It was the scene of a combined zombie being born, which was nothing new now.

 

 

“Ha… This is really frustrating.”

 

Usually, after a combined zombie is born like that, the things in its vicinity seem to be awakened and charge all at once.

That had been repeated for the past three months, so even the wide Suez Canal was gradually being blocked by the corpses (?) of dead (?) zombies.

 

 

“There are really a lot of them. When will this calm down?”

“Can it calm down? Or will we just be destroyed like this?”

“Well, as long as that fucking Korean is around, that won’t happen.”

 

Fucking Korean, meaning Yu-Eun.

Ironically, Yu-Eun is emerging as humanity’s hope.

Regardless of what he does, he is incredibly strong, so in this era and in this situation, he is naturally being revered (?).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The combination continued.

Beyond 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000.

 

 

Time continued to pass, and even as the workers changed shifts, it continued to happen.

A combination that was different from the usual.

 

 

The eerie phenomenon had already been reported to the higher-ups, and they had bombed it several times.

 

 

But it was fine.

The Egyptian army, feeling uneasy for no reason, carried out a large-scale bombardment, and the zombies gathered nearby were hit by countless shells and turned into minced meat.

 

 

 

However, despite the continued attacks, the zombies continued to gather and combine, slowly increasing in height.

 

 

And again, several hours passed, and on a quiet day when the dawn air was chilling, the sound of thumping and vibrations echoed from the other side.

 

 

 

“….”

 

The scene where the combination was still taking place.

And the faint silhouette visible beyond it.

 

 

About three of them?

 

 

Monsters with an absurd height of about 200 meters were walking slowly, and each time they did, the surrounding land was overturned, emitting considerable shockwaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Gr-aAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And at that moment, a monstrous roar that shook the heavens!

From the group that had been combining until now, a giant zombie suddenly rose up and sent zombies flying in all directions.

 

 

 

“…Crazy…”