Chapter 152 – Fortress Island (1)

An island that seemed to float alone under gray clouds, set against the backdrop of a distant city, more gloomy than the sky itself.

As Ron surveyed Governors Island, he took a sip of bourbon whiskey from his canteen.

A drink during guard duty.

In the past, such an act would have landed him in the brig, but now he was no longer a soldier, and in this world, everyone did it.

Even their leader, a former officer, indulged in such old-fashioned habits, but in a world where everyone had deserted with their weapons and was busy looting, complaining about drinking was utterly nonsensical.

The leader understood that much.

Ron took another swig and gazed across the water at the ruined New York and Manhattan Island, now devoid of smoke and covered in dark, massive vines.

The bizarrely transformed city under the overcast sky looked like a scene from hell.

“Hell, huh…”

Ron muttered bitterly, but ironically, this island was a relatively good place to live in a world that had turned into hell.

The weapons and equipment they had taken when they deserted, the food and supplies looted from the surroundings, the people and women they had brought along during their raids, and the fact that the island was relatively safe being away from the city.

“If it weren’t for those damn water ghouls, it would have been even better.”

Occasionally, humanoid monsters emerged from the water, but compared to the hordes of zombies in the city, they were practically nonexistent.

Those monsters were harder to kill than zombies, but unlike skeletons, they couldn’t move once their bodies were shattered.

Thanks to them, he was now standing guard on the ancient walls.

In fact, aside from those water ghouls, life was much better than when he was in the military.

“If I hadn’t deserted, I would have died when the unit was destroyed.”

Their desertion might have caused the defense to collapse, but they weren’t the only ones who had deserted.

The unit was doomed anyway, and the survivors were the victors.

As he looked around, he clicked his tongue at a woman walking shabbily across the island.

She had a good figure and was pretty when they brought her in, but without proper care, she looked no different from a homeless person.

“You think so too, right?”

Ron asked, looking down through the iron bars at the hole in the floor.

Grrr.

But he didn’t get the answer he wanted.

“Looking at it this way, you’re actually prettier. Still, I don’t know what the boss was thinking when he caught you.”

They had even lost a comrade because of it, but the boss just kept her locked up.

“Maybe he has some weird sexual desire, like Bill said.”

Ron imagined for a moment, then shook his head.

No matter what he imagined, the result was the same.

“Whatever. The boss will handle it.”

Honestly, in this ruined world, the fact that the deserters were living a decent life was all thanks to their leader, the former officer.

Even before the incident, he had been a good leader, but after the incident, he proved to be even more remarkable.

His decisiveness to desert at a moment’s notice, his ability to rally the troops, his execution in gathering supplies through looting, and fortifying the island.

In the past, his reckless actions would have earned him scorn, but in this world, he was an unparalleled leader.

As he pondered this, Ron noticed something and tilted his head.

“Is it already time for the tunnel shift?”

He saw the door to the tunnel open.

“It’s not time yet… Someone must have left their post without permission. The boss will be pissed.”

Ron clicked his tongue and approached the open door, only to see a sword rapidly coming towards him.

Thud.

“Enemy… attack…”

Ron, with a sword through his heart, collapsed to the floor.

His hand reached towards the alarm by the door, but it didn’t even make it halfway before falling.

* * *

I clicked my tongue softly as I looked at the hand reaching towards the alarm.

Even in their dying moments, they tried to sound the alarm. These weren’t just looters; they were well-trained soldiers.

After dealing with the looters in the tunnel, we climbed up to Governors Island through the stairs and passages.

Perhaps because it was an underwater tunnel, there were many stairs and long passages.

With mana, we were fine, but the agents got exhausted on the way up, so we went ahead.

“Waiting for everyone to come up would be difficult, right?”

The party members who followed me out of the door looked around and nodded.

Waiting for the agents to come up would increase the risk of being discovered.

It was better to move on our own rather than waste time and cause a commotion.

“The enemies here are professionals. Think of them as equal to or better than the agents coming up the stairs. You’ve all faced enemies with guns before, so be careful.”

As planned, Hoffman, Yerim, and Yelena would move together, while Zahina and I would move separately.

Thanks to Yelena, who could create magical shields, this plan was possible.

The three inside the shield would draw attention, Zahina would handle the outskirts, and I would attack the command center.

Just as we were about to split into three groups, Zahina looked down at the floor and tilted her head.

An old fortress floor with an iron-barred hole.

Below the hole was an empty stone chamber.

“Why?”

At my question, Zahina tilted her head uncharacteristically.

“I sense something below.”

“Feels like undead.”

The stone chamber was filled with an aura I could sense, a sign of undead presence.

“I must be mistaken. Let’s move.”

Zahina shook her head and dashed off with the wind.

It was unlike her, but this wasn’t the time to investigate.

I also ran towards a building that looked like the command center.

Before the zombie outbreak, the island had been a military base, so it had various facilities spread across its sizable area.

Several tall concrete buildings, over a dozen low barracks, a large warehouse, and a decent-sized port.

There was also a park created when it became a tourist spot, but it was overgrown with weeds.

Among these facilities, one building stood out as the likely command center.

On the island’s outskirts, a castle unlike any other modern building was visible.

It was undoubtedly Williams Castle, as the agents had mentioned.

If the leader of this looter group was as smart as expected, he would have made this castle his command center.

Of course, there were many other modern buildings and barracks, but those were designed for modern warfare.

However, the enemies attacking the island now were undead, relying solely on numbers and brute force.

A castle with small windows, sturdy doors, and low, thick walls was perfect for holding them off.

As I crossed the park to reach the castle, I saw other people.

They weren’t soldiers with guns but civilians in old clothes.

More women than men were washing clothes, moving supplies, and repairing barracks.

The young women wore old but clean clothes, while the men wore rags with iron balls chained to their legs.

They looked like slaves.

The women, despite their clean clothes, had darker expressions than the men.

It seemed the looters had brought people here to use as slaves.

In this situation, it wasn’t unusual, but the adaptation was faster than expected.

How long had it been since the satellites fell and law and order collapsed, and they had already reverted to medieval times.

I really wanted to see who this group’s leader was.

It didn’t take long to find the leader.

Entering the castle through the open gate, I cut down the soldiers I encountered and pressed forward.

As expected, the soldiers I met were all elite, but in the castle’s narrow passages, no one could stop me.

Most didn’t even know who I was before their hearts were pierced or their heads severed.

Without a single gunshot, I cleared the first floor of the castle when a loud explosion sounded outside.

Kwaaaang!

An earth-shaking explosion.

This was definitely a magical explosion.

Yelena and the others were doing their job.

A startled voice came from upstairs.

Activating both my senses and mana detection, I could confirm the people upstairs.

Four civilians and one awakened.

They were all gathered in one room, with the awakened hiding behind the civilians.

They were all targets to be eliminated.

I ran up the stairs and dashed to the second floor.

“Enemy! Stop him!”

Perhaps because of the awakened, the enemies noticed me before I burst in.

The place where the enemies were gathered was at the end of the corridor, likely the lord’s office.

With a shout, energy surged from inside the office into the corridor.

The enemies were clearly aiming their guns at the door.

I had infused my armor with mana, so I could have charged through the open door, but instead, I kicked hard near the door.

Thud.

Then, I pushed off the corridor wall, flipped, and stuck to the ceiling above the corridor in front of the door.

The inside of the room came into view.

As expected, it was the office.

The modernly furnished office, unlike the castle, had five men standing inside.

Four men stood nervously in front of a desk, aiming their guns at the door.

The fifth man, protected by the four, stood behind the desk, looking in my direction.

‘Damn.’

The four men in front didn’t notice me clinging to the ceiling, but the man in the officer’s uniform behind them did.

The man in the officer’s uniform, the awakened leader of this looter group.

An awakened leader and four elite soldiers with guns.

This was going to be more troublesome than I thought.

However, the leader, the awakened, didn’t move as I expected.

Instead of directing his men, he simply said one word and flung himself backward.

“Above!”

Thanks to infusing my eyes with mana, I could barely follow his movements.

It seemed he had awakened the ability of rapid movement, ‘acceleration.’

Of course, in this world, even as an officer, leading a looter group without any abilities would have been difficult.

Still, it was a pity I hadn’t discovered he was an awakened with ‘acceleration’ in the tunnel.

If I had known, I wouldn’t have charged in like this.

Anyway, since things had come to this, I had to deal with the soldiers with guns.

“Damn it!”

“Shoot! Shoot him!”

Bang, bang, bang! Ratatatat!

The soldiers fired their guns in rapid succession, tearing apart the area where I was and the nearby wall.

They were so frantic that one soldier was hit by a comrade’s bullet.

Thanks to that, I took a couple of bullets too.

One on the helmet, one on the chest plate.

As expected, the bullets couldn’t penetrate my mana-infused armor.

Taking those bullets allowed me to get all the soldiers within the range of my sword.

Swish.

The sword moved, and the gunfire stopped.

The soldiers fell to the floor in pieces.

I left the dead bodies and pursued the fleeing enemy.