episode_0049

The inherent abilities of the zombies I had faced so far were not a threat to me.

At most, their strength was similar to, or slightly exceeded, that of an adult male.

What I was concerned about was the threat of being bitten.

Slow-moving zombies generally had no bite marks.

I don’t know why these zombies exist, but judging by their lack of injuries, I suspect they might be the first infected.

And then there were the zombies clearly mutated from bites.

Generally, they displayed physical abilities equal to or slightly superior to those of an adult male. Although there were some differences, their movements were unnatural.

And there were some mixed in between.

Zombies that moved a little faster and a little more smoothly.

There wasn’t a huge difference, but upon closer inspection, they were distinguishable by eye.

All of them, in common, could be eliminated by destroying their heads.

Their physical durability was no different from when they were human.

So fighting zombies themselves until now wasn’t a big problem.

Until now.

These mutated corpses rushed at me, eyes bulging.

The grotesque screams they let out were on a different level from previous zombies.

To exaggerate a little, it felt like my stomach was rumbling.

Proportionally, their athletic abilities were also completely different.

Fast, eerie, powerful, and bizarre.

First, the camel cricket zombie that used to be Lee Deokgyu.

Scurrying!

The sound of its footsteps on the hospital corridor sounded like a centipede scuttling by. In short, it was chilling. Furthermore, it bounced around like an insect.

This series of movements was fast.

Thwack!

I struck the camel cricket, which had charged foolishly head-on, sending it flying.

Maintaining its momentum, it flew several meters away.

‘Tough.’

If it were a regular zombie, its head or torso would have exploded.

But the camel cricket endured.

Swish-

In the gap created by attacking the camel cricket, a long arm jabbed in like a spear.

Starting with a twist of my head, I lightly rotated my entire body.

The zombie’s fully extended arm thrust.

With minimal movement, I dodged while simultaneously closing in along its arm.

With a single spin move, I executed a dodge and an attack simultaneously.

Having closed in sufficiently, I swung the crowbar with the generated rotational force.

CRUNCH!

CRASH!

The zombie, struck by the attack that generated immense destructive power, slammed headfirst into the wall. A clean, high-speed attack.

However.

‘Indeed. This level would certainly make soldiers recoil in terror.’

I couldn’t finish it.

I had delivered an attack strong enough to make both of them explode and die instantly, but they were intact.

‘Ah. Not completely intact.’

The long-armed zombie’s face was half-smashed, and its eye was crushed.

The camel cricket zombie’s shoulder, where it had been grazed, was deeply gouged.

They certainly became harder.

But the impact seemed to be sufficiently effective.

After landing a hit on each, I was certain.

These creatures were definitely different from the existing zombies.

‘Variants… That’s probably the right way to see it.’

Though I couldn’t accurately gauge it, even if a dozen or so regular zombies attacked, that single one would probably win.

Just from what was immediately visible, I admitted they were dangerous creatures.

The problem was the presence or absence of other abilities.

It would be fortunate if they just acted as they looked, but if not…

Whoosh!

No sooner had the thought ended than the long-armed zombie’s attack came in.

A swing, different from the jab just now.

But it wasn’t a normal swing.

Whoosh!

Swoosh!

An attack as if whipping a whip with its arm.

Judging by the cutting sound piercing my ears, it was threatening.

It was hard to believe such an attack was generated by an arm that seemed so sturdily built for charging.

CRASH! CRASH!

The floor and wall where I had dodged were deeply gouged and shattered.

It felt as if it were swinging a heavy stone attached to the end of a whip.

If it were a human, just grazing it would clearly be disastrous.

‘It’s only dangerous if it hits.’

It was certainly a fast and threatening attack, but it didn’t reach me.

With minimal movement, I was dodging all of the high-speed whip-like attacks.

The long-armed zombie, with its single remaining eye, didn’t miss my movements.

Perhaps enraged by my continuous dodging, it began swinging both arms.

WHOOSH!

Amidst the merciless flurry of whip-like attacks, I diligently moved my body.

Large movements weren’t necessary.

I subtly, minimally, and narrowly deflected the attacks.

As the attacks and dodges repeated, my body slowly swayed.

Like a feather fluttering in the air, seemingly about to be caught.

The sounds and afterimages created by the long-armed zombie’s attacks were insufficient to describe as merely ‘dangerous’. As if to prove it, everything it touched was being pulverized.

But it didn’t reach me.

The long-armed zombie let out a grotesque scream bordering on rage, and poured out endless attacks.

The intertwined offense and defense created violent cutting sounds and deafening roars as the surroundings were destroyed.

Scuttling-

An unpleasant discord intruded amid it all.

With a quick glance, I caught sight of the camel cricket zombie rapidly approaching.

From the floor to the wall, from the wall to the ceiling.

Appearing from behind the long-armed zombie, the camel cricket positioned itself above its head.

Judging by its posture, it seemed intent on attacking simultaneously from above.

Grinding- Grinding-

Despite being a corpse, it seemed to sneer, cracking its neck as it glared at me.

The camel cricket zombie twisted its elongated neck, looking for an opening.

The long-armed zombie gradually narrowed the lateral range of its arm attacks.

‘A joint attack from zombies.’

These mutated monsters, having lost their intelligence, were still coordinating a joint attack.

I anticipated what they would do.

But I didn’t have time to watch it all unfold.

Thunk!

I lightly struck one of the long-armed zombie’s attacks upwards with the crowbar.

Simultaneously, I took a hand axe from my inventory and threw it at the camel cricket.

As naturally as if pulling it from my pocket and throwing it.

Whizz! Thud!

The hand axe flew violently and embedded itself.

The hand axe struck the camel cricket zombie on the opposite shoulder from where it had been hit by the crowbar.

As a result, both of its arms dangled, and it swayed, hanging from the ceiling by only its two legs.

Snap!

The long-armed zombie, its offensive broken, and the camel cricket hanging from the ceiling.

Towards the two of them, I sprang forward as if charging.

I gripped the crowbar’s handle with both hands.

I pulled it back fully over my shoulder, assuming a swinging stance.

From the side, it looked like a charging posture, as if falling forward.

Maintaining that posture, my rapidly soaring body reached the mid-height between the long-armed zombie’s head and the camel cricket zombie’s.

And then I swung down with all my might.

Simply from top to bottom.

CRACKING WHUMP!

I struck the camel cricket zombie’s head and the long-armed zombie’s head almost simultaneously.

And the momentum of the swung crowbar didn’t stop, continuing straight towards the floor.

It slammed both zombies’ heads into the floor.

DEAFENING CRASH!

With an enormous roar, the corridor floor was deeply gouged as if a small crater had formed. For a moment, the corridor trembled slightly, and the wall’s glass windows shattered as if bursting, scattering fragments.

The attack, carried out in an instant, disposed of the two variant zombies side by side.

Both variants died without even a chance to scream.

The camel cricket zombie lay on the long-armed zombie’s back.

The heads of both creatures could not even be found.

If they had properly positioned themselves, they should have attacked me immediately.

Whether alive or as a zombie, their arrogance and carelessness hadn’t changed.

At that moment, they dared to think of sneering.

‘How foolish.’

If I had had time, I would have observed them thoroughly, but today wasn’t the day for that.

Even as variants, their heads were still their weakness, it seemed, as they slumped, reverting to their original corpse forms. And after watching for a brief period, there wasn’t even a twitch.

‘If I meet them again… no, I shouldn’t meet them.’

I shook off the fleeting, ominous thought and surveyed my surroundings.

There were no other moving presences.

For now, the confirmation of variants and partial experience with them was enough.

I didn’t know why these creatures appeared, but they were sufficiently dangerous beings.

This alone was a significant achievement.

I slowly turned my gaze from the variants.

The shattered interior of the corridor was utterly devastated.

The nearly thirty gangsters were all annihilated.

From the corpses mingled with zombies, the coppery smell of blood and an unnatural stench mixed, causing a headache. Unable to stand there any longer, I slowly moved away.

I immediately began searching the hospital.

Fortunately, I was able to find medicine on the shelves of the injection room and the nurses’ desk.

What I needed now were antibiotics, painkillers, anti-inflammatories, and IV fluids.

But my hands were too dirty, so I took out water and soap and quickly washed my hands.

They were so ingrained with grime that it took four washes for my hands to become clean.

As soon as my hands were clean, I immediately gathered the items.

First, I crammed the items the doctor mentioned into my backpack.

Just in case, I also packed clean gauze, ointment, and syringes.

And for now, I only put what was within reach into my inventory.

It was a shame, but I didn’t have time to take everything.

The fight with the unexpected variants itself ended quickly.

I had lost some time chasing the gangsters.

With a lingering sense of regret, I slung my backpack on and left.

Just in case, I checked the corridor where the variants had fallen.

As expected, there was no change, and nothing was moving.

As soon as the check was complete, I immediately began running outside.

The gangsters were dealt with, and the medicine was obtained more easily than expected.

More importantly, the confirmation and experience with the variants was a great gain.

The appearance of variants made it hard to gauge how much the difficulty of survival would increase from now on. I hoped those creatures were extremely rare.

‘Worry later. First, treat the others.’

I composed myself, pushing away the heavy feeling starting to settle, and kept running.

Fortunately, I didn’t encounter any zombies on the way back.

The school began to appear in the distance.

I could also see the soldiers on guard.

Fortunately, in the interim, there seemed to have been no particular problems.

‘Nothing must have happened in the meantime.’

Many things had happened in a single day.

Additional unexpected events were now out of the question.

Now, I just wanted to wash, eat, and rest.

Nevertheless, with a small lingering worry just in case, I approached the school quickly.

It had been an unusually long day.