Chapter 119 – Telekinesis Awakened

After the octopus monster fell and while I watched toward land, Zahina appeared beside me without a drop of water on her.

Behind her, the hovercraft came up onto the ruined beach with a thunderous sound.

While startled soldiers gripped the railing watching the fallen octopus monster, Ye-rim and Hoffman jumped off the ship and climbed onto the monster.

As I kept staring at the forest where the rock had flown from, Zahina asked:

“What was that rock? Didn’t seem like magic.”

“Must be telekinesis. Someone with unrefined mana used it. An awakened one from this world.”

“Was it someone you know?”

I shook my head at Zahina’s question.

“Don’t know who. Just that whenever I encountered the octopus monster before, they kept getting caught in my mana detection. This time I thought we could get help since they came close, and I was right.”

Actually, thinking we could get help wasn’t just because the mana was close.

It was because I felt the anger in the mana had somewhat subsided.

The anger in his or her mana wasn’t just toward the octopus monster, but included me and our party too.

Though unsure why, seeing that anger had now somewhat subsided, I thought we could get help this time.

Hearing Zahina and my words, Ye-rim put her hand above her eyes and glared at the forest I was watching.

But she would only be able to see forest.

Looking at the same forest, Ye-rim tilted her head.

“But they just left without showing themselves? Were they like a hidden helper from manga?”

I smiled bitterly at Ye-rim’s words.

Though couldn’t know the other person’s exact thoughts, looking at the retreating mana, seemed they left silently because their anger hadn’t fully subsided yet.

Or maybe they disliked helping me.

Maybe helping me was just an instinctive reaction.

Either way, since we received help, just needed to remember it.

Could probably find out who it was if I chased after them now, but seemed unnecessary to force a meeting if they didn’t want it.

Moreover, their anger didn’t seem fully gone yet.

“We can meet later. Seems they’re an exceptional awakened one. Won’t die easily.”

If they just stayed alive, could repay the favor then.

Black smoke, death energy kept escaping from the octopus monster’s body.

The monster’s once firm body deflated like a balloon, and black smoke spread high into sky scattering everywhere.

That scattered death energy would now spread far and contaminate this world more.

Unless we killed the Demon King and purified the world with holy power, couldn’t stop death energy from spreading.

After the death energy scattered like that, only similar death energy as other places remained on the beach.

Death energy weak enough that Ye-rim didn’t need to protect soldiers with holy power anymore.

Now seemed no need to worry about going mad or turning undead unless dying.

An armored vehicle came down onto land behind the ship that had climbed onto the beach.

It was a sturdy looking U.S. military armored vehicle.

The armored vehicle swayed across the ruined beach then stopped beside the octopus monster we stood on.

*click*

The driver’s hatch of the stopped vehicle opened and David wearing a helmet sat in the driver’s seat waving to us.

“Let’s go quickly. We can travel comfortably now while there are no zombies.”

“You can drive armored vehicles too?”

“Haha, cool right? Fortunately the forward unit had a Stryker I could drive. With the unmanned turret, can even fight alone briefly.”

Didn’t he say he was a State Department employee?

A State Department employee who can drive the latest armored vehicles and operate unmanned turrets?

Looking at David chattering excitedly, seemed he had abandoned pretending to be a diplomat now.

Anyway, David’s words weren’t wrong.

If undead swarmed again, breaking through would clearly be troublesome.

David opened the back door of the vehicle, and party members immediately entered.

But I climbed on top and sat on the roof.

Though Zahina had just cleaned my messy body by moving water, still felt uncomfortable.

Not like there were gun-wielding undead here right now, and figured one person could stay outside as reconnaissance.

After party members boarded and I sat on the roof, the vehicle moved again.

*vroom*

As we moved, the hovercraft that had climbed onto the beach started moving again too.

Many soldiers on the hovercraft deck waved to us.

Hearing their enthusiastic shouts while waving, all were thanking Ye-rim for protecting them with holy power.

Occasionally hearing words like “holy maiden” or “goddess”, seemed Ye-rim’s followers would increase again this time.

The hovercraft carrying the waving soldiers headed back to sea, while the armored vehicle crossed the beach and climbed onto the eastward road.

From atop the moving vehicle I watched the receding beach.

More precisely, I watched the hotel standing prominently a bit away from the beach.

Because I sensed the mana that had helped me from that hotel’s roof.

The woman sat on the hotel roof watching the armored vehicle driving far east.

Though hard to identify who rode the vehicle from here even with improved eyes, couldn’t mistake who it was seeing the gleaming armor.

Though unsure where he was looking, she felt he was looking here.

Since he had been staring straight at where she was earlier too.

“Surely he hasn’t known all along?”

The woman, Seung-ah, sighed watching the shrinking vehicle.

Things had become ridiculous now, but if he had known she was following all along, she felt she couldn’t show her face from embarrassment.

After losing her lover to the monster in Hanam and gaining superpowers in a near-death crisis, she had kept following the monster.

With revenge for her lover, anger at destroyed daily life, and conveniently gaining power too, she couldn’t help but chase the monster.

Though her power seemed insufficient to kill the monster, still couldn’t give up.

Moreover, the monster wasn’t all she hated.

She was also angry at those armored ones who came first destroying daily life, who might have brought the monster.

Thought she could meet them too while chasing the monster, and that thought wasn’t wrong.

Finally got to see them in Daejeon… but she couldn’t take revenge or get angry at the armored ones.

Because she saw them fighting monsters to protect people.

Seeing the armored man desperately fighting to protect people made her want to help too, but she couldn’t step forward.

She was too busy dealing with swarming zombies and skeletons herself.

Seeing strange people suddenly appear and the octopus monster flee, she decided to follow the octopus monster.

Since that was what she most wanted to kill.

Though she followed the monster through tremendous hardship like that, unfortunately she couldn’t face the octopus monster alone.

Sometimes threw cars and cut utility poles to stab its body, but couldn’t pierce the black death energy.

Needed mana-infused attacks to pierce death energy and properly damage undead, but Seung-ah didn’t know that.

If the monster hadn’t been distracted elsewhere, she might have already died from its counterattack.

And now with the monster dead, she felt empty.

However, she didn’t regret helping the armored man earlier.

Though she disliked him too, if she hadn’t helped then, he couldn’t have killed the monster.

Besides, though she disliked him, not enough to want him dead.

“What do I do now?”

With the monster dead, she had nothing left to do.

Running to yell at someone who helped would be ridiculous, and she had nothing else left.

Now lost home, lover dead, and no purpose.

“Come to think of it, guess I’m in the same position as others now.”

Most survivors would be in her situation anyway.

If so, only one thing to do.

Survive.

“No choice but to join a survivor group? Problem is I only know one survivor group…”

Actually, she had seen several small survivor groups while heading to Daejeon.

Had seen survivors operating properly at a small school near a rest stop.

But only Daejeon came to mind for Seung-ah.

Though it meant following the armored vehicle that went ahead, Seung-ah deliberately erased that thought.

“Okay. This time I’ll settle well in Daejeon. Make good friends, help people, men… don’t need them!”

The blonde knight who stabbed his sword in the monster’s head came to mind mid-sentence, but she quickly shook her head.

Having decided, Seung-ah walked to the roof railing.

And raised her power.

Dust and stone powder began floating up from the roof floor.

The superpower that had saved her from death many times.

Thanks to experiencing all kinds of dangers, she had learned various ways to use her ability.

Seung-ah looked at the floating stone fragments around her body then leaped down from the building.

A normal person would have fallen, but Seung-ah’s body stopped in mid-air.

And began moving forward.

Like that she started moving east with her body floating by telekinesis.

Toward Daejeon.

The road to Daejeon was much easier than expected.

Not many undead attacked, and strangely almost no blocked roads.

“Doesn’t it seem like someone cleared the way?”

“The distant sounds of collapsing buildings sometimes are strange too.”

Ye-rim tilted her head looking at pushed aside cars, but others happily accepted the unexpected luck.

Good fortune was happy, and even better if someone was helping.

Like that we could arrive in Daejeon the next day.

The university that was a safe zone had transformed into a fortress.

Earthen walls rose between buildings connecting like castle walls, with iron gates attached.

Seems the newly crossed over mages had used their power.

Though the university had changed into an impressive fortress, that wasn’t important to me.

The rippling circular door in the center of the parking lot, the Gate, was most important.

Now time for vacation in our world.