episode_0234

In front, a confirmed variant roared.

Behind, something slated to become a variant was transforming.

The zombie, once human, displayed a mutation scene akin to the famous transformation process from a classic animation that destroyed children’s innocence.

*Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang—!!*

Without hesitation, I squeezed the trigger, aiming for its head.

*Thud thud thud thud thud!!*

Its head, shattering as fast as the rapid fire, began to lose its form.

Thick matter and dark red blood splattered violently in all directions.

“S-Screech—!!”

The unnamed woman, splattered with thick brain matter on her face, shrieked.

Her hands, raised to her ears and trembling violently, marked her as a truly faint-hearted woman.

Her eyes were half-rolled back, on the verge of fainting, but there was no time to attend to her.

*Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump—*

“W-What is that! What is that!!!!”

One of the injured guards cried out in horror.

But I had to admit this.

The sound of something hard touching the floor.

Sounds like a centipede’s scuttling, filling the corridor, drew closer.

The sound, enough to send a normal person into convulsions, was incredibly fast.

*Swish—!! Bang bang bang bang bang bang—!!*

I swiftly turned the muzzle and pulled the trigger.

I couldn’t help but curse even as I pulled the trigger.

The variant’s appearance, captured in that instant, instinctively made me frown.

Looking only at its stubby limbs, one might mistake it for a child.

But its face and torso belonged to an adult.

The scraps of clothing remaining on its upper body also belonged to the Korean guards.

Overall, it looked as if an adult had forcibly shrunk its body to match a child’s…

Its forearms and lower legs were grotesquely bent and distorted.

Bones, bent like a mantis’s forelegs and sharpened, shook menacingly.

*Thump thump thump thump thump—*

The four bony joints hitting the floor moved so fast they sounded like multiple distinct sounds.

Three of them, keeping their distance, were rushing towards me. One on the floor, one on the wall, one on the ceiling. They were Variant 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

Among the creatures approaching as if sliding, I targeted the one on the ceiling first.

*Bang bang bang bang bang—!!*

“Run, run! Hurry! Hurry!!!”

A young man’s shout.

His voice was terrified, as if he’d seen the variant.

At the shouts of the man who introduced himself as Kim Hyunwoo, people ran in disarray.

Several men helped him, leading people to evacuate.

The urgent shouts and fearful gasps from behind me gradually faded into the distance.

However, not everyone got away.

“T-Take us too!” “You bastards!! Save us too!!!”

The immobile guards wailed, cursing the people who had passed them by.

But it seemed no one turned back or looked behind them.

…A wise decision.

With creatures like that rushing in, not looking back was the best course of action.

I ignored the fleeing people and the cursing, shouting ones, and faced the situation before me.

If they were ordinary zombies, it might be different, but with these variants, there’s no telling what would happen to them.

And there’s no telling what would happen to me either.

In a flash, it could be *me* who’s gone.

‘*…I could really use a cure right now.*’

I quietly lamented to myself and took action.

*Bang bang—!!*

*Thud thud!!*

The bullet, missing its head, embedded in its shoulder, and the variant crashed to the floor.

Yet, its graceful landing, turning its body, was reminiscent of a cat.

The two zombies rushing in formation were, how should I put it?

Like segments of a centipede’s body, separated and moving independently.

*Thump thump thump thump thump—*

*Bang bang bang bang bang!*

A bullet struck the head of the one running on the wall, halting its movement.

*Click—*

Simultaneously, the ammunition ran out.

I moved my hand quickly, but not to reload.

*Whoosh!!*

‘!!’

An instantaneous acceleration that left a faint afterimage.

*Swoosh!!*

A reflexive swing, reacting to the sudden acceleration.

Though I shouldn’t, I reversed my grip on the gun and struck the variant’s head.

*Thwack!! Thud—*

Variant 1, struck, plunged headfirst into the wall and…

*Shatter—*

With a crisp sound of shattering metal, the gun broke.

Just as I reversed my grip on the remaining, sharply broken barrel fragment to plunge it into its head—

*Thwip—! Thwip—!*

As expected, it was a leap with explosive acceleration.

From the direction of the echoing stone floor, two of them lunged simultaneously.

Their forelegs, once human ‘arms,’ stretched out, targeting me.

They sought to tear, pierce, and entangle my neck, shoulder, and torso.

Like the deadly forelegs of a mantis, or the delicate ones of a spider.

Whatever they were, dangerous things were rushing towards me.

They were filled with enough killing intent to make me wonder if it would drip from their tips.

*Swish! Thump thump thump—*

I gritted my teeth and quickly arched my back to evade the attack. Simultaneously…

*Thunk—!!*

Twisting my waist, I swiftly swung my right arm.

I jammed the gun barrel fragment I was holding into one of their sides.

*Clatter clatter clatter—*

“Screeeeeech—!!”

Variant 3, violently slamming into the wall and rolling on the floor, lay on its back, its legs flailing.

At this point, it truly looked like an insect.

The moment it quickly recovered its posture and regained balance.

“!”

Feeling the hairs on my neck stand on end, I bent my upper body and knelt.

*Whoosh—! Snap!*

A metallic stench from Variant 2’s body, passing overhead, wafted into my nose.

*Whoosh— Whoosh—!*

Variant 2, now at a distance, was put on hold for a moment.

“Aaaah—!!” “Help me! Help me!” “Someone save me! I was wrong! Save me!”

While unable to take my eyes off the situation, their screams erupted.

I briefly glanced at the irritating wails.

Variant 1, its head somewhat crushed, was slowly approaching the surviving guards.

‘*…Damn it.*’

Though it wouldn’t help, I decided to consider it meaningful for holding one variant’s attention as fresh meat.

For now, I would quickly reduce their numbers.

I moved swiftly, not missing the opportunity.

I drew the knife from my waist and lunged at Variant 3, which was rolling on the floor.

It was extending its grotesquely bent legs to form a bridge pose and was in the process of regaining its original posture when I ruthlessly swung the knife at it.

*Stab—!!*

*Crack!*

“Kyaaaah—!! Gurgle— Gurgle…”

“!!”

I had thrust the attack aiming to sever its neck, but the knife couldn’t withstand it.

The knife, having cut about halfway in, snapped cleanly.

The creature with the blade embedded in its neck thrashed violently, splattering black blood.

Still, it had an effect.

The blade must have severed nerves, as its movements slowed and half of its body went limp.

An opportunity exchanged for a high-quality knife.

The moment I was about to rush in to somehow finish it.

“Grrroooan!!”

Variant 2, quickly closing the distance, leaped up.

Its sharply mutated bones and teeth uniformly targeted my neck.

*Grab!!*

I snatched its foreleg just before it touched my skin—

*Swirl—!!*

Possessed by a judo medalist, I slammed it down with all my might.

*Thwack!!!!*

A loud, drum-bursting sound echoed through the corridor.

I smashed it onto Variant 3’s body, which was rolling on the floor, instead of the floor itself.

And the result was satisfying.

Variant 3, crushed beneath, truly seemed to have burst open, spilling its guts.

Variant 2 also suffered a considerable impact, its bone joints severely twisted.

Its ribs tore through its body, and inverted intestines pushed out of its mouth.

Any ordinary creature would be out of commission by this point.

“…….”

They were still flailing.

What had been moving nimbly just moments ago was now sluggishly wriggling, almost unbelievably.

Even as they chewed on their own intestines protruding from their mouths, they glared at me.

*Clang—*

A gap had finally appeared.

I opened my inventory and drew out my sword.

My weapon, brutishly thick and heavy, something between a sword and a bludgeon.

*Slice—!*

I cleanly lopped off the necks of the two creatures, which were flopping like live fish.

Leaving the two briefly but frantically thrashing creatures behind, I turned my attention to the remaining one.

“…….”

I couldn’t help but gape, dumbfounded, at the sight that made me doubt my own eyes.

‘*I wondered why it had gotten quiet…*’

It hadn’t taken long to deal with the two variants.

But in that brief moment, something was happening.

*Squish— Squish— Squish!*

“Sa-Save…” “Wh-What…”

*Squish— Squish!*

*Gloop— Gloop—*

‘*A slime? No.*’

In front of me, a gigantic mass of flesh was coalescing.

Variant 1, the one I had beaten, was resting on top of the flesh mass.

Like a small, square pat of butter melting on a pancake.

Its self-dissolved form and contents were consuming the chunks of flesh.

Those chunks included fresh humans.

“I’m sorry… I’m so— *Gurgle???*”

The six humans who were still alive.

Whether they were belatedly repenting, they spilled tears and spoke apologies, but it was meaningless.

And the moment they realized their reality, with pained groans, they shot gazes of curses and hatred at me, who was still perfectly alive.

“*Gurrgle…*”

The gigantic flesh mass swallowed all the living humans. Even the corpses that were about to be repurposed as variants.

*Gurgle— Gloop— Gloop—*

The colossal flesh mass, still swallowing meat and glooping, was full of openings.

I aimed for Variant 1’s head, which was enveloped by the flesh mass.

*Whoosh— Click—*

*Bang! Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat!!*

I pulled out an old K-2 from my inventory and poured bullets into it.

I heard not the sound of bullets tearing through flesh, but impacts embedded in the mass.

I quickly emptied the magazine with full auto-fire and then a second one, but…

“Damn it…”

The gun wasn’t working.

The bullets weren’t piercing and embedding, but merely embedding themselves to their own size.

*Gloop— Thump thump thump thump thump—*

“………….”

A movement as if spitting out a foreign object from its mouth.

The absurd sight of dozens of bullets falling to the floor made me let out a hollow laugh.

That was that, and this was this.

*Whizz— Whizz—*

*Whoosh!*

I created distance and deftly threw a grenade.

When I had thrown two, four, six, and was pulling out more.

*Thump!!*

“?!”

A hand-shaped mass of flesh covered the grenade.

*Boom…*

A muffled explosion.

The six grenades had detonated properly.

I could clearly feel the vibrations of the explosion beneath my feet, where I had maintained distance.

However, all it did was make the flesh mass covering it twitch.

“Wow… you son of a bitch.”

I reeled in my astonishment and focused my mind.

*Whoosh—*

*Splash—!!*

I conjured highly precious gasoline out of thin air.

Instantly, the flesh mass was drenched in gasoline, glistening wetly.

A bold, expensive attack, accepting the heavy financial bleeding.

*Whizz— Whoosh!*

On the thoroughly soaked floor.

I timed it, then threw another grenade in front of the creature.

*Boom—!!*

*Whoosh—!!*

The grenade exploded a half-beat faster than the flesh mass could cover it again. Simultaneously, clear flames enveloped the gigantic flesh mass.

As the smell of rotting meat cooking and smoke began to fill the corridor.

*Gloop gloop gloop gloop gloop—*

My eyes narrowed at the suddenly accelerating glooping.

The glooping gradually gave the flesh mass a form.

And then…

“Wow, damn it… this is cheating….”

The glooping swallowed the burning outer surface inward.

*Crumble— Crackle—*

With the sound of bones snapping, its form gradually took shape.

I vaguely remembered a similar form.

*Creaaaak—*

A height and bulk great enough to push through and destroy the corridor ceiling.

*Slither— Thud—*

Long, thick arms resembling whips.

Taut muscle fibers, reminiscent of rubber tires compressed to their limit.

Half its body was covered by a familiar network of black veins.

The remaining half had ragged flesh adhering to it.

Its whip-like right arm had several sharp bundles of bones pointing directly forward instead of a hand.

Its left arm seemed to have a log of immense thickness attached to it.

And its fingers were no ordinary fingers.

Each ‘finger’ was composed of two or three human arms intertwined, serving as a digit.

*Squish—*

A large head emerged, breaking through a moist membrane.

“…….”

A colossal head, formed by eight coalesced heads. The black veins tightly binding the heads together seemed to pulsate.

I murmured quietly, looking at the skinhead-like heads.

“…What happened to all the hair?”

Did it understand my words?

*Squish—*

Eight pairs of eyes blinked open amidst the moist, flowing black-blue bodily fluid. The gaze of those all-too-familiar discolored corpse eyes collectively fixed on me.

It was too ambiguous to call it a rag golem, and too ambiguous to call it a creature…

“………….”

“…Weren’t you guys zombies….”

*Screeeeech—!!!!!!!!!*

…Judging by its vigorous response, it seemed to be a zombie after all.

I watched the giant zombie slowly rise and gripped my sword hilt.

“*Grrroooaaan—!!*”

“Come on.”

The giant zombie and I began to charge at each other.