Ch.83Monument Security Team (2)

“Hey. It’s patrol time.”

“Is it already that time?”

“Good luck.”

Three Volfs from the security office on the 7th floor of the Monument stepped out together.

“What’s our route today?”

“Same as always.”

“Ah, I don’t want to go by the VIP rooms. There’s a weird smell coming from there.”

“What smell? I didn’t smell anything.”

The dog-headed Volf shook his head as if disgusted.

“It smells like a human dying of disease. You’ve heard it too, right? The coughing every night.”

“No way. How could people who eat all those fancy foods be sick?”

“Come to think of it, things haven’t been right with the Defense Fleet lately either.”

When the cat Volf waved his hand dismissively, the female Volf with a cheetah head countered.

“The Defense Fleet? What’s wrong there?”

“There are quite a few soldiers who suddenly got weak and went to the hospital. Even half the officers have taken sick leave.”

“Even officers? What the hell did they eat?”

“A friend of mine went to the hospital, and they said even the doctors don’t know why. Anyway, the Defense Fleet is having a staffing crisis because of it.”

“Fuck staffing. I just wish we had fewer night shifts.”

“Yeah. I haven’t been to the entertainment district in so long my balls feel like they’re going to burst.”

“You crazy bastard.”

They continued their patrol while enthusiastically trash-talking the upper levels of the Monument.

As they say, gossiping about others is the most fun thing in the world, and before they knew it, they had almost finished their patrol route.

“We just have the 3rd and 4th floors left, right?”

“Yeah.”

The 3rd and 4th floors house the food storage and supply storage facilities respectively. These facilities occupy entire floors and are off-limits to the general public.

“Hey, sorry, but I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Maybe drink less coffee.”

“Got it. We’ll continue without you.”

While the dog Volf ran to the bathroom, the cat Volf and cheetah Volf took the elevator down to the 4th floor.

When they arrived at the 4th floor and were about to head to the supply storage, they saw a woman standing there.

She had a Third Central Control Room master card hanging on her chest.

“Oh? You’re Anna from the control room, right? What are you doing here?”

“Hello. My flashlight broke, so I came to replace it, but I can’t get in with my card…”

Anna spoke as if she were in a difficult situation.

“For that, you need to contact the supplies management team, submit a request form, and then get a replacement.”

“I suppose that’s right?”

Anna nodded in agreement, but showed no signs of moving.

The cheetah Volf was about to say something when the cat Volf stepped between them.

“Wait a minute. Anna, that would take a long time and be a hassle, so let me help you.”

“What about the patrol?”

“We need to check inside anyway. I’ll help Anna and then catch up with you, so you go ahead to the 3rd floor.”

“Geez, you really…”

The cheetah Volf shook her head at her colleague’s obvious ploy.

Knowing it was pointless to try to stop him, she kept her mouth shut as if to say “do whatever you want.”

The cat Volf stepped out of the elevator with a bright smile.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Shall we go?”

After sending his colleague away, the cat Volf walked down the corridor with Anna.

Since the two facilities occupied the entire 3rd and 4th floors, there weren’t many doors. Just the entrance to the supply storage and a door leading to the emergency stairs.

“How’s it going at your control room?”

“Same as always.”

“Right? The security team is really struggling because the higher-ups are making a fuss. They’re so prickly, just like Cult members… Ah, I’m not saying anything about you.”

“Oh. Yes.”

The cat Volf’s mouth didn’t stop even as they walked together.

Anna’s face had been pale and bloodless since he first saw her, but he assumed it was because she was upset about her broken flashlight.

“I’ll open it for you.”

When they reached the storage room, the Volf used his security team card to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, the cat Volf didn’t enter but stopped in his tracks. His pointed ears twitched toward the inside of the storage room.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, I think I hear something…”

There was a sound coming from inside the storage room, which should have been empty.

The sound, similar to insects chirping, was so faint that it would be easy to miss unless one concentrated hard.

The cat Volf noticed it because it was a serious dissonance that grated on his nerves.

Unlike him with his developed hearing, Anna didn’t seem to notice anything unusual.

She entered the storage room first, acting as if nothing was wrong.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Is that so? Must be my imagination.”

The cat Volf shook his head and stopped paying attention to the noise.

He followed Anna into the storage room.

The inside of the supply storage was very spacious.

The storage room was filled with numerous metal drawers and metal shelves tall enough to reach the ceiling.

“What’s wrong with the lights?”

Normally, the small lights on the ceiling should have turned on automatically.

But now, there were far more lights off than on, and some were flickering erratically.

‘Shit, this is creepy.’

Was it because of the strange noise? Or because of the ominously flickering lights?

He felt the fur covering his body standing on end.

“Anna?”

Perhaps because of the darkness, Anna, who had entered first, was nowhere to be seen.

He turned on his flashlight and carefully walked between the metal shelves.

There was a musty smell, a mix of slightly rusty metal and the various items stored there.

“Anna, where are you?”

“Inside.”

True to her claim about her broken flashlight, she wasn’t using any light.

‘I can barely see, yet she managed to walk in just fine.’

He went deeper inside, following her voice.

With each step he took, the strange noise in his ears grew louder.

‘Where is this sound coming from?’

The sound echoed through the metal shelves, making it impossible to determine its origin.

One thing was clear: the unpleasant noise grew louder as he got closer to Anna.

And finally, he found her.

“Anna? You scared me. Why didn’t you answer?”

She had her back turned to him, facing the wall inside the shelves.

Even when he spoke to her, she remained motionless, as if nailed to the spot.

“Anna?”

“……”

Only then did he realize something was wrong with Anna.

Her slender body, typical of Cult members, was trembling.

As the cat Volf approached her, suddenly the flashlight flickered and went out.

“What’s wrong with this thing now?”

In the pitch-black darkness, he hit the flashlight a few times with his hand.

“Ah, it’s working.”

At that moment, light returned to the flashlight.

At the same time, the irritating noise that had been in his ears disappeared.

Anna had turned around and was now looking at him.

No, to be precise, her gaze was directed over his shoulder.

By the time he realized this, it was already too late.

The moment he turned his head, ‘it’ – hanging upside down from the ceiling – pounced on him.

–

“Why aren’t they back yet?”

“Maybe they’re sleeping somewhere again?”

“Sigh, really.”

Cult member Kenneth frowned at his subordinate’s words in the security office.

“Always slacking off.”

He picked up the communicator to give his subordinates a piece of his mind.

After a few rings, his subordinate answered.

“Hey, where are you? Why aren’t you back yet?”

“Tztz, th-there’s a b-big problem, tztz”

“What? I can’t hear you clearly.”

“att, tztz, att, ack, tztztz, in, tztz”

Kenneth’s face hardened.

The communication was poor, making it difficult to understand clearly, but one word was unmistakable.

Attack.

“Where are you? I’m coming down right now!”

“foo, sto, rage, tztztztztz”

“Hey! Damn it! Everyone, grab your weapons!”

“What’s happening, sir?”

“Intruders in the food storage!”

At Kenneth’s shout, the six Volfs remaining in the office immediately tensed up.

With many VIPs staying at the Monument for important matters, an intruder at this time would be a major incident.

While his subordinates equipped themselves with weapons from the office, Kenneth contacted the higher authority, the First Central Control Room.

“Why isn’t this working now? Hey, someone with a communicator?”

When the communicator that had been working fine just moments ago stopped responding, Kenneth took one from a subordinate.

Just as he was about to call again, the power in the office went out.

Then the emergency power came on, bathing the office in red light.

“…It seems we definitely have an emergency. Everyone, prepare thoroughly.”

The Volfs nodded at Kenneth’s words.

They all had plasma pistols at their waists and bracelets with built-in small psychic shields on their wrists.

Meanwhile, Kenneth activated his psychic power technique.

The name of his psychic power technique was Body Enhancement.

It’s an ability that greatly enhances the combat power of allies.

After applying Body Enhancement to each of his subordinates, Kenneth grabbed the motion detector kept in the office.

“Beep, beep, beep….”

When he turned on the motion detector, it displayed the movements of the Volfs in the office and the guests in the rooms above and below.

Kenneth adjusted the motion detector to detect only movements other than those of his team.

“Let’s go.”

Listening to the faint signals that sounded whenever guests moved, Kenneth got up.

After leaving the office, they went through the corridor and took the elevator.

The Volf in the middle activated his psychic shield, while the others pressed themselves against the sides of the elevator.

When they arrived at the 3rd floor and the doors opened, there was no one in the corridor.

The power seemed to be out here too, as the corridor was filled with darkness.

The Volfs and Kenneth turned on the small lanterns attached to their plasma pistols.

Numerous thin beams of light cast shadows in the corridor engulfed in darkness.

“Sniff, sniff, I can smell a faint scent of blood from beyond the corridor.”

“…As expected. Everyone, be careful.”

They passed the emergency stairwell door in the corridor and stood in front of the food storage.

“Beep-beep-“

As someone had mentioned, movement was detected inside the food storage.

At Kenneth’s signal, Volfs with psychic shields stood in front of the door, while others behind them prepared to fire their plasma pistols at any moment.

As everyone tensed up, Kenneth placed his security team card on the terminal next to the door.

As soon as the door opened, a black furry mass jumped out from inside.

“S-save me, please!”

“Fi…Wait! Cease fire! It’s one of us!”

It was the dog-headed Volf.

Confirming it was their colleague, the Volfs lowered their pistols at Kenneth’s command.

“Hee, heek, w-we need to run away quickly!”

The dog-headed Volf seemed completely unaware that he had nearly been shot.

His fluffy fur was soaked with sweat, and his face, which was usually cheerful, was filled with terror.

Kenneth tried to calm him down.

“Calm down. What happened?”

“I, I had to go to the bathroom urgently, so I was separated for a moment, but when I came down…”

“Tell me calmly. What about the others?”

“Wh-when I came down to the storage, the inside was completely covered in blood. Th-that thing was eating our colleagues.”

“Eating them?”

Kenneth felt something was off at those words.

Before coming down here, he had definitely spoken with the female Volf with the cheetah head, who was this Volf’s colleague.

If what the dog-headed Volf said was true, then he had been talking to a dead subordinate.

“That can’t be. I even communicated with them before coming down.”

At that moment.

“Beep-“

The motion detector he was holding went off.

And right behind them, there was a sound of a door opening.

The door to the emergency stairwell.

The hand gripping the door handle had purple nails.

–

‘That makes nine Volfs.’

I bit into the dog’s head I was holding.

It smelled a bit rank, but it wasn’t particularly disgusting.

It was like gnawing on ribs at a lamb restaurant.

It smelled a bit, but it had an addictively good taste.

After finishing the remaining head and licking my fingers clean, I looked down at the newly captured Cult member.

“……”

He was paralyzed from being hit by barbed hairs.

His handsome face was streaked with tears and snot.

‘Still handsome though.’

As expected of a race made up of only beautiful people.

It might not be much consolation to him, but he’s not the only Cult member here.

There were also Cult members who had been working in the central control room and had become my slaves.

I had summoned them all.

“Grr, where, has, gruk, the most, people”

“…Currently, the Fourth Central Control Room has the most with three people.”

“Huh? Wait…keck!”

Other control rooms currently have either just one person I’m controlling, or two including newly arrived personnel.

‘If people disappear without notice from such places, the higher-ups will immediately investigate.’

As seen in Anna’s case, except for the First and Second Central Control Rooms, the rest operate with a minimum of 2 to 3 people.

So even if the Fourth Central Control Room’s staff is reduced to 2 people, it shouldn’t be a major issue.

Of course, quitting without notice would raise suspicions from above, but they’d pay relatively less attention compared to other places.

‘Besides, I won’t need to go to the area managed by the Fourth Central Control Room in the future.’

In other words, the Cult member from the Fourth Central Control Room is unnecessary to me.

Without hesitation, I grabbed his neck and snapped it.

A black threadworm crawled out of the nostrils of the dead Cult member, who had his tongue sticking out.

‘You know where to go, right?’

The parasite unhesitatingly crawled toward the face of the fallen security team Cult member.

He looked at the other Cult members with eyes begging for help. But there was nothing his fellow members could do.

While the Cult members turned their heads away, the parasite found its new home.

I brought my face close to the fallen security team Cult member.

“Ugh, uugh!”

My face was reflected in his eyes.

I explained to him, trembling with fear, what he needed to do from now on.

How many more Volfs he needed to offer, how to clean up afterward, and so on.

By the time his paralysis wore off, his master was no longer the general manager of this city.

Now he serves a new master, AMorph.