Chapter 42 – Fall (2)

The corpses that had fallen to the ground and the zombies flocking in.

“This is a threat to die together, right?”

No, although they had thrown away something they had, they probably didn’t think they would die.

The building from which people had thrown the corpses wasn’t a high-rise apartment like the apartment complex in Gangbuk, but it was still a residential-commercial complex that looked to be about 30 floors.

Unless the Demon Lord’s forces came barging in, they would be able to hold out in that high-rise building for the time being.

Of course, they would have to figure out where to get food and water from.

“If I had the temper, I would have gone and snapped all their necks.”

Looking up at the houses from which the corpses had fallen, Hoffman lost his temper.

The apologetic expression he had until a moment ago was nowhere to be seen on his face.

From the moment they dropped the corpses, they were no longer civilians but enemies.

It was the same for me.

Living as a knight and fighting against the Demon Lord’s forces, my relationships with people had become simple.

Of course, the way to deal with nobles, elves, magicians, and knights was all different, but in the end, when looking at the big picture, there were only enemies, allies, and civilians left.

Those who fought alongside me were allies, ordinary people who didn’t point their swords at me were civilians, and those who tried to kill me or harm me were enemies.

To survive, I had to kill my enemies.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t kill the enemies who had thrown the corpses.

If we entered the building to punish them, we might end up being unable to leave that building, just as they wanted.

Of course, it wouldn’t be of any help to them.

Anyway, we had to keep heading south now.

Not only was our destination there, but my senses kept urging me to move.

My senses kept telling me that there was something ominous near the bridge we had crossed.

It seemed that something more terrifying than expected had been created under the bridge.

Still, we should be quite far away now, but the uneasiness remained.

I couldn’t stay here with this feeling.

There was no need for us to go and finish it off.

“No need to do troublesome things. They won’t be able to hold out for long anyway.”

That was why they were making a fuss after seeing us.

However, unfortunately, they didn’t properly know the skills of the ones they were threatening.

When we were on the bridge, we ran away excitedly, but now we could sufficiently block the horde of zombies rushing in.

Instead of blocking them, it was even easier to move through the zombies.

The cars were awkwardly abundant, making it inconvenient for ordinary people to move between them, but for us who had mana, we could just jump on top of the cars.

Moreover, when ordinary zombies were blatantly flocking like this, we could use something we hadn’t been able to use until now.

I took out rifles from the space-expanding bag and handed them to the two.

“Since they’re ordinary zombies, there’s no need to infuse mana. We just need to escape, so you don’t have to kill them. Aim for their heads or limbs to slow down their movements.”

Unlike Zahina, who skillfully used the rifle she received, Hoffman fumbled a bit, but in the end, both of them finished preparing to shoot.

The zombies were rushing towards the two who had taken shooting stances.

The zombies that had been flocking from the urban area simultaneously flooded onto the road.

Hundreds of zombies were overflowing from the sides, back, and front.

It was a sight that would have made ordinary people lose their minds.

The people in the building who had thrown the corpses screamed at the sight of the pouring zombies.

“Uh… Isn’t this too many?”

“They’re going to die like that!”

“Run away quickly!”

“Damn it, are we all going to die in the end…? Tsk, let them all die!”

It seemed that more undead had gathered than they had thought.

It was only natural.

The idea of luring zombies by throwing away corpses was rather novel by this world’s standards.

However, guiding those zombies as desired was something only the Demon Lord’s forces could do.

To think they would just throw corpses and expect to get the desired result.

I couldn’t help but sigh at the pathetic act.

Rata-tat-tat!

The people’s screams were drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

The rifles, set to single shots and automatic respectively, swept away the zombies rushing in from the sides and back.

Zombies with their heads and limbs blown off fell to the ground, flailing their bodies.

While the two were blocking the approaching zombies, I approached the zombies blocking the front.

Click.

The moment I took a step, I shifted the gear of my body up a notch.

From the usual mana operation to combat mode.

Mana raced into my muscles, heart, and lungs.

My vision enhanced, and I could hear the sound of the wind brushing past the zombies.

The sword felt light.

It was as if my hand had extended.

It was a strange feeling.

Clearly, it wasn’t supposed to feel like this, but something had definitely changed since coming to this world.

Feeling a much clearer sensation than usual, I swung my hand, my sword.

Crunch.

Three heads soared into the sky.

‘Huh? Why did three heads fly off?’

There were definitely only two zombies within the range of my sword.

The last zombie was clearly outside the range of the sword I had swung.

The puzzling sight broke my concentration.

The strange sensation of the sword feeling like an arm disappeared.

The feeling of seeing something like a different world was no longer felt.

“Ah…”

A sigh of disappointment escaped from me without realizing it.

It was definitely a different feeling…

Unfortunately, that feeling didn’t come back.

I didn’t feel like it would be felt again right away either.

‘Could it have been something like a second awakening?’

If it was, it would have been really unfair.

However, I had never heard of a second awakening happening in this way.

I had only heard rumors about second awakenings though.

Anyway, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about other things.

Behind the zombies whose necks had been severed, other zombies were rushing in.

I swung my sword again, moving my mana.

The excessive concentration had broken, but there was no problem.

The sword swung well, and my movements weren’t bad.

No, it was more than just not bad.

My body’s movements had become more natural than before. The sword moved as I wanted.

‘Has my skill really improved?’

It wasn’t just my senses and mana detection that had been enhanced since coming to this world.

I hadn’t noticed until now, but my skills had clearly improved.

‘The problem is that it seems like my skills improved after absorbing the death energy…’

After Yang Gi-hyeok absorbed the death energy from the changed ghoul, I had absorbed death energy once more on the bridge.

Not from the zombies on the bridge, but from the death energy that flowed out after defeating the corpse mermaids.

At that time, it was a much smaller amount than when I defeated the ghoul, so I just ignored it.

But now, seeing my skills improve like this, I couldn’t think it had nothing to do with that death energy.

If what I had absorbed was something like mana, I would have thought of it as ‘experience points’ and wouldn’t have worried.

But since what I absorbed was the energy of death, I couldn’t help but worry.

And to think this death energy had such an effect.

‘When the gate opens again, I should ask a proper priest about this.’

Until then, I could only pray that my body would remain fine.

‘Should I drink holy water regularly and make offerings to the religions of this world?’

A priest’s blessing was more effective against death energy than holy water.

Although I didn’t believe in gods, I had made offerings to priests and received blessings many times.

But there were no priests here.

‘I wonder if there are any awakened priests or monks.’

There was no guarantee that awakening would give them divine power, but with no other options, I had to pin my hopes on that.

While thinking about this, I continued to swing my sword.

Although I was facing ordinary zombies, I was blowing off their heads like a farmer harvesting crops.

After my concentration broke, no zombie beyond the range of my sword had died.

It seemed like it was just an illusion due to intense concentration, but I still kept that scene in a corner of my mind.

I could check it again if that concentration returned.

While I was sweeping the front, my party members were guarding my rear.

Rata-tat-tat!

The sound of gunfire continued, and the bullets were quickly depleting, but there were several boxes of ammunition in the pocket.

I kept throwing magazines to the two of them during the fight.

After fighting like that for a while, we were able to shake off the zombie horde.

When the zombies disappeared from the front, I stopped the party members from shooting and covered the rear.

As the sound of rifles stopped, the zombies that had been chasing us gradually stopped their steps.

If it had been a wide-open road, they would have continued chasing us by sight and smell, but this was a road with dozens, hundreds of abandoned cars.

When the gunfire stopped, the zombies couldn’t find us hiding between the cars.

As the gunfire ceased, the sound of the loudspeaker was heard.

“Don’t go! Stop! Stop!”

Perhaps because we were far from the building, the shouts of people couldn’t be heard. Only the faint sound of the loudspeaker could be heard.

Even that loudspeaker sound stopped after a while.

It wasn’t that we couldn’t hear it because of the distance.

It seemed that the woman who had been shouting until the end had finally given up.

When everything became quiet, we started moving again.

Unlike before, our movements were a bit more cautious.

It wasn’t because of the undead. It was to avoid the gaze of people in other buildings.

“There seem to be quite a lot of living people, why haven’t they formed a survivor group here?”

As we walked quietly, Zahina asked us, almost as if talking to herself.

Hoffman just shrugged his shoulders, and I answered her question.

“Because there’s no one who can fight the undead.”

If there was no one who could fight the undead, or even just zombies, there was no point in people gathering together.

A group of people who couldn’t fight zombies would just become an ugly collective that consumed itself from within.

Such a group couldn’t be maintained.

Without a detailed explanation, the intelligent Zahina understood immediately.

She asked again.

“Then, hasn’t the apartment become dangerous too?”

That was correct.

The apartment survivor group was maintained thanks to the former community leader who could deal with zombies.

That chief had died, and even his brothers who could fight zombies had all died, so there was no way the apartment survivor group could continue to be maintained.

Although there was still food left, once that food ran out, there would be no way to get more.

“That’s why I recommended they join another group…”

Of course, Lee Jun-ho and the people in the apartment didn’t accept it.

In fact, even if they had followed my advice, there was no guarantee they would have safely reached another survivor group.

It’s not like I was going to escort them.

At my words, Zahina fell into thought again, and Hoffman spoke up instead.

“It’s a shame. With the river there, if we had a boat, we could travel comfortably.”

Hoffman looked at the long lake opposite the urban area and the Han River beyond it.

At Hoffman’s words, Zahina looked at the entrance to the lake.

“There’s a sign saying ‘Misari Motorboat Racing Course’ on the way to the lake, wouldn’t there be boats there?”

Motorboat racing course… It had been a long time since I heard that name. I had buried a lot of money there in my previous life.

“What’s a motorboat racing course?”

“Isn’t it a place where they race with boats?”

Zahina answered Hoffman’s question.

It wasn’t wrong.

However, the boats that usually competed here were not the kind of boats these two knew.

The boats here were single-person motorboats for betting.

I didn’t know how to drive them, and besides, there were corpse mermaids and the undead we had awakened in the Han River.

I hadn’t seen what kind of creature it was, but I had no intention of going near it.

I had no intention of taking a boat, but I also didn’t want to keep walking.

Walking all the way to the destination.

This wasn’t the other world, so there was no need to go through such hardship.

It wasn’t for nothing that I had come to this outer road.

Until now, we couldn’t use them because there was no generator and the cars were all packed together.

After walking down the road for a while, there weren’t many abandoned cars in sight.

Among them, I saw a usable RV.

This car also had a dead battery, but now I had a generator.