Chapter 76 – Under City (1)

The summoner teams conducting the Stuttgart mission were gathered in one place with dark expressions.

Around them, people covered in blood lying collapsed and the organization’s boss in a half-dead state were visible.

Until just moments ago, the mission had looked like it would easily conclude.

The attacking enemies didn’t have many superpower users visible, and other people were faster and stronger than ordinary people as if they had used drugs, but that was all.

Ordinary people getting slightly stronger couldn’t block martial artists or overcome a knight’s power. Moreover, there was no way they could block bullets.

Though several superpower users were bothersome, the summoners also had Empire ability users who had guided them here.

Though they were ability users who had become quite strong as if they had used drugs, it was difficult to face those who had rolled as summoners for a long time.

Finally, the organization’s leader who had shouted from the rooftop strengthened his body with abilities and rushed in, but after being beaten by the summoner team’s leader, he ended up in a near-death state.

But at the moment the mission seemed to conclude like that, the world turned red.

While the party looked around in surprise, the red light disappeared, but the world had already changed.

Because everything around had been dyed a dull color.

“Was a contamination source created nearby?”

“Didn’t they say if you eat too much drugs, you turn into a contamination source? Didn’t someone gorge themselves?”

A few of the two team members brought up guesses, but the others didn’t respond to their words. The atmosphere was strange for a contamination source being created.

“Check how large the contaminated area is.”

The Intelligence Bureau captain who came here with the party gave instructions to his subordinate. If the area was large, there might be great damage to the city.

At his words, the subordinate ability user began soaring upward by climbing the wall. He instantly climbed to the rooftop and kicked off the rooftop, shooting up, up.

As a gravity ability user, he could apply his ability to himself to break the chains of gravity and enable flight. Of course, since it was only gravity increase and decrease, direction changes were impossible, but it was sufficient to use for reconnaissance like now.

Having risen hundreds of meters in the air, he couldn’t believe his eyes. No matter where he looked in the city, no, even looking at the mountain ranges outside the city far away, the dull color didn’t disappear. Everything was contaminated.

Nearly falling from shock, he barely made a precarious landing and told others what he had seen.

“Could it be that it became like the New Continent?”

At the story another subordinate carefully brought up, the summoners’ expressions changed completely. Everyone knew the story of the entire continent being contaminated.

“No way?”

At that moment, one summoner urgently took out a strangely shaped stone from his pocket and held it up to the sky.

“Summoner Call!”

But his shout didn’t cause any event.

“It seems the connection with the Summoners has been severed.”

What he had just taken out was a Summoner召喚石 (Summoner Summon Stone). A stone for calling other summoners when missions were difficult, and when shouted like now, the Summoners would provide additional personnel support.

But now there was no reaction at all.

If the connection with the Summoners was severed, there was only one reason. Only the case where the entire region was contaminated.

“Damn it, how far is contaminated!”

If everything visible was contaminated, at least several tens of kilometers or more were contaminated. In the worst case, it seemed this entire continent might be contaminated.

But reality is always worse, the summoners’ thoughts had to change due to an object one summoner pointed to.

“That, is that also contaminated?”

What he pointed to was clouds dyed a dull color. Not only the ground was contaminated.

When everyone didn’t know what to do at the unexpected situation, the people who had been lying on the ground were wriggling and getting up.

All had red eyes and red currents were flowing from their bodies. Everyone had become contaminated.

“Even in contaminated areas, do they contaminate this quickly?”

“Isn’t it because of something called contamination spreading agents? Rather than that, where do we go?”

Clearly the mission was a failure, the party was trapped in a contaminated area of unknown size.

Moreover, it was unknown how many more people would be contaminated besides the people rising before their eyes.

The summoners all looked at the captain, but the captain only muttered with a pale face.

“This can’t be. The entire continent contaminated. Everyone will die.”

“Damn it!”

Robert, the temporary leader of the two summoner teams, shouted at the party in place of the captain who had lost it.

“First let’s escape this place. Another team was deployed at the city outskirts, so let’s go that way, join them, then escape the city.”

The party all agreed with his opinion. For now it was the most rational opinion.

Nine summoners and three ability users belonging to the Empire ability user unit began running while breaking through those blocking their path ahead.

***

Meanwhile, Sun-woo’s party, who had fortunately been able to take down the ability users installing bombs, were looking around with dark expressions.

They had barely taken down the ability users and recovered the explosives, but everything around had turned a murky color.

“A river crossing the city flows to the side here. They probably planned to draw in the river water and submerge everything underground.”

Flame ability user Clara, who didn’t know the surrounding color had changed, was deducing why explosives were being installed here.

But Sun-woo and the summoners weren’t in a situation to care about her words.

Unlike other summoners, the party could quickly grasp the situation. Though they completed the mission, no voice was heard and no contamination source was felt nearby.

In such cases, there was only one thing, the contamination zone seen in the New Continent.

“Did we fall into a trap?”

At Michael’s words, the party’s expressions became serious.

The party had all heard Sun-woo’s experience.

An enemy capable of brainwashing and creating contamination zones. It definitely wasn’t just the degree of disposing of underground scavengers through missions.

“In the worst case, the entire continent could become a contamination zone and all summoners could be stuck.”

“Surely not to that extent…”

At Sun-woo’s words, Hayden made a ‘no way’ expression, but the others who had already sufficiently experienced brainwashing and contamination zones thought Sun-woo’s words had enough possibility.

“But if it became a contamination zone, will people be okay?”

At Nan-seol’s worried voice, the party all couldn’t answer. There was no way they’d be fine.

“First, it seems good to join with other summoners. We need to check the outside situation too.”

Daniel’s words were right. They couldn’t just stay here worrying like this.

The party briefly pondered Clara’s fate, but when she strongly requested to accompany them, they eventually decided to go together. Right now there was no safe place.

After Michael removed all the bomb fuses, the party quickly ran to the sewer entrance they had come through.

The current location and internal structure were all contained in Sun-woo’s head, so the party could move by the shortest route.

About an hour later, the party could arrive at the sewer entrance they had come through. There they could hear the city burning everywhere and screams.

“The change seems too fast.”

Sun-woo, who had been surveying surroundings with sorcery, frowned. The surrounding appearance caught by his sorcery was completely a mess.

Though there were people hiding inside houses, there were also many people running around everywhere causing disturbances. Their movement was different from ordinary people. It was movement as if mad or infected with rabies. All were definitely contaminated.

At Sun-woo’s story, the same thought as other summoners occurred to Michael.

“It’s because of the contamination spreading agents. Since they’re drugs that contaminate with just slight overuse, people who ate those drugs would probably change immediately inside a contamination zone.”

“That’s plausible. Could this also have been aimed for?”

“Rather than that, how do we find the other summoners? Will they still be at the original target point?”

An hour had already passed since becoming a contaminated zone. It wasn’t easy to think other summoners were still there.

At Hayden’s question, the party’s gazes all turned toward Sun-woo. Though general decisions were made through discussion, in crises they naturally came to ask Sun-woo’s opinion.

Ignoring the party’s gazes, Sun-woo was continuing to expand his sorcery.

And shortly after,

“Found them. There’s a place still in combat, not ordinary slaughter. Follow me.”

Sun-woo led the party running into the slums.

The party was delighted and followed Sun-woo, but Sun-woo’s expression wasn’t very good.

***

Boom!

People engulfed in madness rushing through the main entrance were flung backward as if hit by artillery.

The people in back seemed to barely get up after rolling for a while, but the person in front had their upper body crushed and died.

But only two people died, the remaining personnel showed no pain at all and began walking toward the old two-story house again.

“Mana depletion. It’s over now.”

The mage who had extended his hand toward the main entrance and launched a mana shell opened his mouth while sweating profusely.

At his words, the martial artist holding a spear stepped forward, but his internal energy was also now nearly exhausted.

Inside this old two-story house, the last remaining summoners were gathered.

A first-rate martial artist holding a spear, a 3-circle mage, and a female sniper. These were all the remaining personnel.

The summoner party ultimately couldn’t break through the contaminated humans surrounding them.

The thugs they had kept alive thinking they were too weak gained tremendously strengthened physical abilities and superpowers when contaminated.

They had to take tremendous damage before breaking through the encirclement due to attacks different from before, and at the moment they thought they broke through the encirclement, even more personnel than those taken down gathered and blocked the party’s path.

The contaminated personnel were increasing.

In the midst of that, summoners including each summon team’s leaders and Empire ability users ended up dying. Though the enemies looked crazy, they attacked the party organizationally.

The summoner party also took down many superpower users, but ultimately couldn’t reach the city outskirts and ended up with only three people remaining, trapped inside the house like this.

The three remaining people’s expressions were only gloomy. Since even the last remaining mage’s mana had bottomed out, the party had no more way to fight.

A martial artist with depleted internal energy, a mage with exhausted mana, plus a mercenary out of bullets had no way to survive.

Moreover, the enemies weren’t just those approaching the house now. There were superpower users standing in back watching this house.

Unlike ordinary people who had become physically strong instead of going slightly mad, those superpower users seemed to maintain some reason. Of course, glaring at this place with reddened eyes didn’t seem normal.

Plus, contamination was spreading not only in this slum but throughout the entire city. Even escaping this place, no way to run was visible.

At that moment contaminated humans were surging in.

Boom boom boom!

With explosive sounds around the house, earth walls shot up.

And while people opened their eyes wide in surprise, a sound was heard once more from underground.

The center of the house sank deeply and a person’s head popped up from below.

“What are you doing! Hurry down!”

Michael shouted toward the people.