Chapter 30: Fierce Battle (1)

Around 7:30 PM.

As the sun set, security at Kangil Girls’ High School became even tighter. To protect the survivors from monsters approaching under the cover of night’s darkness.

Thanks to this, the survivors inside the school could spend a safe night. Park Young-cheol, who had just joined Kangil Girls’ High School today, thought so too.

‘But what’s this situation?’

Right after the evening meal distribution ended.

The police came looking for him. Saying the command wanted to talk. Since it was an order that couldn’t be refused, Young-cheol followed the police.

A short while later, they arrived at the infirmary.

In the place filled with the smell of medicine, the one who greeted Young-cheol was a woman wearing a doctor’s gown.

“Nice to meet you, Park Young-cheol.”

A woman who looked to be in her early 30s.

She stood up and immediately extended her hand to Young-cheol. Along with a bright smile.

“I’m Kim Mi-young, working as the school nurse at Kangil Girls’ High School. I’m currently in charge of counseling and interviews at the command.”

A level 11 Purification Mage.

Mi-young, who introduced herself as such, urged Young-cheol to take a seat. Sitting awkwardly on the sofa, Young-cheol asked with a tense face.

“The reason you wanted to see me…?”

“Oh, it’s nothing much. I just heard you met the Mage and wanted to confirm something, so I requested a conversation.”

So it was about the Mage after all.

Young-cheol swallowed hard.

『The Mage』

A benefactor to Young-cheol.

Though he had never actually met him, the Mage seemed reluctant to reveal his identity.

He couldn’t know the reason why.

Anyway, he had no intention of divulging information about the Mage. He thought it was the least he could do for his benefactor.

“Then I’ll ask.”

No matter what she asked, he wouldn’t answer.

Young-cheol steeled his resolve. But the question that followed was completely different from his expectations.

“Did you come here to participate in the subjugation of the Vampire Tree with us?”

“…Pardon?”

Subjugation of the Vampire Tree?

What’s this about all of a sudden? Confused, he blankly asked back, and Mi-young said with a smile.

“You’ve probably been told to keep quiet, but don’t worry. We’ve been in contact with the Mage too.”

“Y-you’ve been in contact with the Mage…?”

“Yes, well, we haven’t met and talked directly, but we’ve been exchanging messages through the monster the Mage controls.”

According to her, they started communicating with the Mage three days ago. It was none other than the Mage who made the first contact, she said.

This is what the Mage said:

Along with saying that the Vampire Tree was showing signs of evolution, he warned that if it wasn’t eliminated, a great danger would soon approach.

“At first I wondered what he was talking about, but it made more sense as time passed. The frequency of monster attacks has increased much more than before.”

Until three days ago, Kangil Girls’ High School had been relatively safe from monster attacks.

They had engaged in combat with the Vine Zombies, minions of the Vampire Tree, a few times, but they were mostly small-scale battles and there were no serious injuries.

But soon after the Mage’s warning ended, the frequency and scale of attacks noticeably changed.

“Also, there were more and more eyewitness accounts of hearing strange sounds from the direction of the Vampire Tree at night, so we eventually decided to follow the Mage’s proposal.”

“That proposal being the Vampire Tree’s…”

“That’s right. We decided to form a joint front to subjugate the Vampire Tree together.”

Mi-young’s eyes sparkled.

“When dawn breaks, we’ll attack the Vampire Tree with all the power we have. And in the midst of that, you all arrived today.”

Ah, so that’s why.

Young-cheol finally understood why she had asked if they had come to participate in the subjugation.

“But according to the report, you arrived here with the Mage’s monster, didn’t you hear anything separately about the Vampire Tree subjugation?”

“No, I didn’t hear anything in particular.”

He had never actually talked with the Mage in the first place. He had only exchanged words with Ji-hye, who claimed to be the Mage’s representative.

Moreover, while crossing Jamsil Bridge, there was no time to talk as they were fighting Vine Zombies.

Meanwhile, hearing Young-cheol’s words, Mi-young slightly furrowed her brow and muttered as if perplexed.

“Hmm, that’s strange. We met with the Mage’s monster around noon today and discussed the subjugation, I wonder why he didn’t explain it to you all?”

“Oh, it wasn’t anything special. We just sent out a reconnaissance team to assess the Vampire Tree’s forces before the full-scale battle.”

The reconnaissance team consisted of twenty people.

All of them were skilled individuals above level 15.

But this information didn’t register in Young-cheol’s ears. He had found something in the story he had heard earlier that raised strong doubts.

“W-wait a moment. What did you just say?”

“Hm? That we sent out a reconnaissance team…”

“No, before that, when exactly did you say you met the Mage’s monster?”

“It was a little past noon, why?”

This doesn’t add up.

Because Young-cheol’s group had left Jamsil Station with the Mage around noon.

‘If what she’s saying is true…’

It would mean that the Mage was controlling the Collector, dealing with zombies using skills, and simultaneously conversing with Kangil Girls’ High School’s command.

Even doing just one of these would be taxing, but to do all of this alone in such a short time? With growing doubts, Young-cheol turned to Mi-young.

“May I ask one more thing?”

“Of course. Ask anything.”

“Could you perhaps tell me what the Mage’s monster looked like?”

“Oh, it was a zombie.”

“A zombie…?”

“Yes, a talking zombie, which was quite fascinating.”

The moment he heard her continued words.

A strong sense of dissonance enveloped Young-cheol.

Could the Mage Mi-young is talking about be a different entity from the one he knows? Just as he was about to voice this speculation.

“Ms. Kim!”

The infirmary door burst open.

It was the police officer who had guided Young-cheol here. He said, exhaling rough breaths:

“You need to come outside!”

“What’s the matter?”

“Abnormal behavior of the Vampire Tree has been observed.”

“What? Abnormal behavior…?”

“…You’ll understand when you see it.”

A face hardening with tension.

Perhaps because of this ominous reaction? Mi-young also headed outside with a darkened expression. Young-cheol followed behind her.

And a short while later.

What met their eyes was the Vampire Tree, much larger than what they had seen during the day.

“Wh-what on earth…”

As they were staring at this with bewildered faces.

An even more astonishing sight unfolded.

The enormously grown Vampire Tree began tilting towards the direction of Kangil Girls’ High School.

“Wh-what?”

“The Vampire Tree is falling!”

“Everyone take cover!”

Urgent screams. Chaotic shouts.

While the school grounds instantly turned into pandemonium, the Vampire Tree was simply tilting slowly.

The shadow of the Vampire Tree, blocking out the moon, eventually completely covered the school grounds.

Meanwhile, at that moment.

The Vampire Tree, which had been falling as if about to crush Kangil Girls’ High School, suddenly stopped. Then flower buds began forming on the bare branches.

The blood-red flower buds quickly grew to over hundreds in number, and soon densely covered the entire branches.

“What on earth is happening…”

A series of inexplicable anomalous phenomena.

Han-seong watched this blankly.

At that moment, one flower bud blossomed fully, and as if on cue, all the flower buds bloomed at once.

The flowers, reminiscent of camellia blossoms, began falling one by one shortly after blooming.

Saaaaaaah!

As if a rain of flowers was falling.

A scene that might seem beautiful if watched from afar. The problem was that these flowers were as large as small cars.

Moreover, they weren’t just falling towards Kangil Girls’ High School. Like dandelion seeds, they were crossing the air all the way to the Han River.

Even to where Han-seong’s officetel was located.

Puk! Chulpuk! Pueok!

The Vampire Tree’s flowers falling right in front of him.

Han-seong watched this with heightened nerves, and soon was startled.

Because the flowers that had fallen to the ground began to writhe and move on their own.

They supported their bodies with thick stems that had grown from behind the calyx, and moved as if walking, planting roots that had suddenly sprouted into the ground.

Then the part where the stamen should be split open and began to emit bizarre screams.

-Kigigigi! Kigik!

-Kiaaaaaaah!

Screams that sounded like metal being scraped with a blade. They moved much faster than zombies, gathering together to increase their numbers.

Han-seong finally realized.

That the Vampire Tree had created new minions.

‘But why so suddenly?’

Were the Vine Zombies not efficient enough?

Or was it because the number of Vine Zombies had decreased when crossing Jamsil Bridge this time?

As various speculations crossed his mind.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of discomfort.

He noticed that the flowers were circling around the officetel in groups.

“No way…”

Are they surrounding the officetel?

It certainly seemed so.

As time passed, the flower army’s numbers grew, and they looked ready to climb up at any moment.

Han-seong couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

‘How did they know I was here?’

From the moment he realized the Vampire Tree’s level was 29, Han-seong had refrained from using Precise Observation and Detection on the Vampire Tree.

If by any chance it reached level 30 and became equal to his skill level, his location might be pinpointed like with the Collector.

‘That’s why I deliberately didn’t use them…’

He couldn’t understand how it had found his location.

Is it some kind of transcendent plant sense?

Whatever it was, now that his living space had been discovered, there was no need to hold back anymore. Han-seong activated Detection targeting the Vampire Tree’s coordinates.

Then the Vampire Tree’s information was revealed.

[Name]: Vampire Tree (吸血木)

[Grade]: Elite → Champion (in progress)

[Owned Skills]: Colony Management, Parasitic Sporeworm, Emergency Muster, Vampiric Thorns, Myriad Flower Rain

Weak Spot: Moving Roots

Han-seong’s eyes widened.

There were several points that had clearly changed from the information he had first seen. Among them, the most striking were the level and grade.

‘Champion grade?’

Based on the context, it’s estimated to be one grade higher than Elite. But why suddenly? Because it reached level 30? Or are there other conditions?

‘…I don’t know.’

There’s not enough information at present.

As he was chewing his lip nervously, he suddenly found the third point that had changed.

The Vampire Tree’s weak spot.

Originally it was written as hidden roots, but now it had changed to moving roots. Of course, he couldn’t find the reason for this change either.

[Name]: Cannibal Flower

[Owned Skill]: Thorn Tentacle

Next, the identity of the new minions created by the Vampire Tree was also revealed.

Just by looking, they seemed to be an upgraded version of the Vine Zombies. Their level was a bit higher, and above all, the fact that they had a skill was evidence.

While he was assessing the enemy’s information like this.

Kugugugugugu!

“Wh-what’s this?”

Suddenly the building started shaking.

Looking out the window with a surprised face, he saw some of the Cannibal Flowers that had formed the encirclement climbing up the outer wall.

‘To think even the Concealment Field would be breached.’

Then this place is hopeless now.

He could burn them all using Tinder, but that’s all. Just dealing with the minions makes it difficult to strike at the Vampire Tree’s main body.

In the first place, there are hardly any skills here that can hit the Vampire Tree’s main body nearly 4km away.

‘I need to move locations.’

To a place unknown to the Cannibal Flowers, to the Vampire Tree.

Only then, after regrouping, would there be a chance of victory by launching a full-scale offensive.

Han-seong looked at the Warp Gate in one part of the room. The one fortunate thing was that the Cannibal Flowers hadn’t flown towards the direction of the temporary base.

‘Let’s move right away.’

As he was firming his resolve.

The sound of glass breaking came from not far away. Along with a familiar scream.

“Kyaaah!”

It was Ji-hye’s voice.

Han-seong belatedly remembered her presence.

His thoughts stopped for a moment, but he quickly regained his senses. There was only one answer anyway.

‘I can’t leave her behind.’

The base has been discovered and an encirclement has been formed – leaving Ji-hye here? That’s the same as pushing her to her death.

He had no intention of doing that, not even the slightest bit.

Han-seong moved his wheelchair and grabbed the front door handle. After unlocking it, he pushed the door open.

Bang!

As the front door swung wide open, he saw Ji-hye crouched down in the hallway. To divert her attention, he deliberately called out her name in a loud voice.

“Ji-hye!”

“M-Mage? Ah…?”

The moment their eyes met as she reflexively raised her head, Ji-hye’s eyes grew wide.

It was understandable. She was seeing for the first time that Han-seong was confined to a wheelchair. Han-seong reached out his hand towards the dumbfounded Ji-hye.

“Come this way. Quickly!”

“…Huh? Ah! Yes!”

Fortunately, she quickly came to her senses.

Han-seong grabbed Ji-hye’s hand and pushed his wheelchair backwards. As they reached the Warp Gate, a notification appeared.

[Warp Gate: Entry]

[Separate permission required.]

[Please designate the target to authorize.]

Han-seong’s right hand glowed blue.

When he brought this to Ji-hye and the Collector, their bodies were enveloped in a bluish light.

“Then let’s go.”

“What? Wh-where to… Eek!”

Ji-hye, who was asking back in confusion, screamed.

Because the Collector had stretched out its arm and pushed her through the rift. Han-seong also quickly moved his wheelchair, and the Collector followed behind him.

Right after the three of them disappeared.

Kwadeuk! Jjanggeulang!

With the sound of glass breaking, countless Cannibal Flowers invaded from outside.

They threw themselves at the Warp Gate but couldn’t enter even a step. Because they hadn’t received the owner’s permission.

-Kigigik? Kigik!

-Kireureureureu! Kireuk!

Was this their way of venting their frustration?

The Cannibal Flowers ransacked the room, turning it into a mess, before leaving the officetel. A while later, only silence lingered in the devastated room.