Chapter 28 – Scavenger (2)

The battle ended quickly.

The group was briefly surprised by the unexpected attack, but the power difference between the two groups was extreme.

The woman sprayed flames everywhere and the mutant with hard skin stood in front to protect her, but the two couldn’t keep up with Nan-seol’s movements, who had reached the peak level.

Nan-seol leaped over the rock-like body blocking the front and landed behind the woman who was spraying flames.

Nan-seol almost got injured by the blind flame attack for a moment, but fortunately, she had learned how to avoid flames through energy flow from the volcano mission and was able to dodge the flames instantly.

Soon after, Nan-seol pressed an acupoint on the woman’s neck with her finger to knock her unconscious, and the remaining mutant was charged at by Daniel, who had enhanced his body, holding his shield in front.

Thud!

Absurdly, the mutant was bounced backward, and surprised Nan-seol quickly dragged the unconscious woman away to avoid the collision.

“Huh? Was his skin just hard?”

Daniel, who had knocked his opponent away with his shield, looked bewildered instead.

Thud!

The opponent was slammed into the sewer wall, but he seemed definitely hard as he tried to extract himself from the wall and attack again.

But he couldn’t move anymore as he was caught by Hayden’s telekinesis.

That’s when it happened.

Michael fired his gun repeatedly toward the back.

Ta-da-da-da!

“You guys in the back, don’t think about running away!”

The people who had been watching the fight from far behind were trying to sneak away.

They were startled by the sudden gunfire and fragments flying around them and laid flat on the ground.

“But how long do I have to hold him?”

Hayden was troubled while keeping his hand raised. Though it wasn’t as difficult as before since the opponent had ordinary human-level strength, he still couldn’t keep holding him indefinitely.

But the mutant’s body was extremely hard, and there was no other way to subdue him except telekinesis.

“Then we’ll have to bury him.”

When they couldn’t find a method, Sun-woo stepped forward. When Sun-woo activated his sorcery, the stone-fitted floor sank down deeply. The mutant began sinking into the ground.

“Wh-what is this!”

The surprised mutant struggled, but eventually he was buried in the ground with only his head sticking out.

“Oh, this makes it perfect for conversation.”

Looking at the head sticking out of the earth where the stone slab had been removed, Michael was delighted.

The people seemed to think they would be killed immediately or dragged to reform schools if caught.

When the group said they would be released if they answered questions well, they responded with all their heart and soul.

Especially since the others except Hayden didn’t seem related to the government, they could drop their suspicions that they had come to catch them.

Thanks to this, Michael and Daniel could question the people comfortably, and Hayden confirmed their answers.

“You’re from the academy but don’t seem to support the government much?”

Sun-woo asked Hayden, who was calmly verifying the facts.

The place Hayden attended called the Royal Academy was the Empire’s national military academy. It was a place that selected the nation’s most loyal soldiers, where loyalty would certainly be the most important virtue.

But Hayden didn’t seem particularly concerned even with these scavengers captured.

Hayden chuckled.

“Not everyone who becomes a soldier or officer supports the Empire. Some attend just to survive, for success.”

This boy seemed to be a cynic beyond his years. Or perhaps he had some story.

“And there’s no way to take them now anyway. Besides, we can’t kill them all.”

Unexpectedly, the questioning or interrogation that Michael and Daniel conducted together seemed effective.

Daniel’s calm questions and Michael’s intimidation worked in harmony to successfully obtain the needed answers from the people.

“Tsk. It seems we’ll have to go in the direction those soldiers went earlier. There’s a place called a gathering area there, and the atmosphere has become very strange recently.”

Moreover, they would have to go there to see other scavengers. Anyway, to gather information, they would need to go to the gathering area these people mentioned.

“But it seems difficult to get guidance. The soldiers went in that direction. Of course, they seem more reluctant because they don’t know what might happen if they go with us.”

As Daniel said, despite Michael’s intimidation, no one volunteered to guide the group.

“Still, since it’s come to this, it would be better to move with guidance.”

Everyone agreed with Sun-woo’s words. Though Sun-woo was there, it would be much more advantageous to travel with a guide who knew the sewers well.

When the group was troubled like this, a rough voice was heard from under their feet.

“I’ll guide you.”

It was the voice coming from the head sticking out of the ground. The mutant stone man had volunteered.

A guide had been decided.

All the other vagrants looked pleased at the mutant’s volunteering.

However, when the woman who regained consciousness shortly after offered to go instead, the group refused.

They couldn’t travel with a potential arsonist who might shoot flames anywhere.

Though questions were raised about whether they could trust the mutant’s guidance, they decided to solve that with Sun-woo’s detection ability.

Underground, Sun-woo was the best navigation and detection system.

With tearful farewell from the ability-user woman, the stone man began guiding the group, and the other vagrants ran away without looking back.

“Touching comradeship.”

“Tsk, it’s natural to survive in this place.”

At Michael’s words while watching the other fleeing vagrants, the stone man answered indifferently.

“But what’s your name?”

“Call me Stein. But what exactly are you guys?”

At Nan-seol’s question, the stone man Stein looked around the group with a puzzled expression. It was a completely incomprehensible composition with no similarities between each other.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. There are even stranger guys here. More importantly, you. Either take off those clothes or cover them. With that outfit, you’ll die soon.”

Stein pointed at Hayden’s uniform. At his words, Hayden frowned, but he had a cloak with him and immediately took it out to wrap over his clothes.

After that, the group continued walking into the sewer interior with Stein’s guidance.

As Sun-woo confirmed while walking, the stone man didn’t seem to be leading the group into a trap. He guided the group in the direction the soldiers had gone.

Time continued to pass. This mission seemed like it would be the longest mission Sun-woo’s group had done.

It had taken several hours to search until they met the scavenger group, and according to Stein, it would take several more hours to reach the gathering area.

***

After walking more with the new companion, the group gradually became tired.

“Let’s rest a bit. The weird energy-using swordsmen might be fine, but it’s hard for me, armor guy, and the kid to keep marching.”

Michael glared at Nan-seol and Sun-woo and sat down. Daniel and Hayden immediately sat down and nodded, and the other party members also decided to sit on one side of the sewer to rest briefly.

“Ah, isn’t there something to eat? Those Summoners or whatever only summon what’s needed for fighting, making us starve.”

Michael spoke without restraint even with an outsider present. He probably trusted the cleanup personnel.

At Michael’s words, Sun-woo was reminded of the water and bread in his inventory. But he didn’t immediately take out the bread.

“I have the water you saw before and some additional bread. But it consumes quite a lot of points unexpectedly. It’s a bit troublesome to give out freely.”

Actually, each bread only cost 1 point, but only Sun-woo knew that.

“Ugh, if it’s something bought with points, it’s awkward.”

Unexpectedly, Michael didn’t insist on asking for it. Being a mercenary, he seemed clear about money matters.

“If we could transfer points or something, we could trade with points. It’s quite inconvenient.”

Daniel and the other party members also seemed troubled.

When Sun-woo said he had food and water, the group became even hungrier and thirstier. Though they were in the sewers, they seemed to have adapted to the smell over time.

But they couldn’t drink the sewage flowing beside them.

Sun-woo took out bread and water from his phone when the atmosphere seemed ripe.

The stone man Stein’s eyes widened seeing this, but Sun-woo ignored that look and handed the bread and water to Nan-seol.

“Huh? You can give it to me?”

Though she had favorable feelings, Nan-seol, who knew Sun-woo’s personality to some extent, hadn’t expected him to give only to her in front of other people.

“It’s repayment for letting me learn skills before, and I’m asking if you could also teach me lightness skills when you have time.”

At Sun-woo’s words, Nan-seol chuckled softly. She had been planning to teach Sun-woo lightness skills anyway. Sun-woo of course knew this too.

In the end, Sun-woo’s words weren’t aimed at Nan-seol.

“Alright. I’ll teach you now.”

Permission was immediately granted, and Sun-woo pointed his phone at Nan-seol and clicked on the martial art name <Seven Star Steps>.

[Min Sun-woo has requested the secrets of Seven Star Steps. If you permit, all the insights you have gained about Seven Star Steps will be transmitted. Will you permit?]

Nan-seol immediately permitted, and thanks to the martial arts being combined, Sun-woo, whose skill window had been empty, was able to learn a new skill.

After briefly pondering the insights, Sun-woo took out water and bread from his inventory and distributed them to the other party members too.

“Huh, you’re giving to us too? Ah, I understand what you mean.”

Michael, who had looked surprised for a moment, soon seemed to understand Sun-woo’s intention.

“This is scary. Got it. I’ll think about it.”

Michael, who hadn’t thought much about copying his abilities, looked amused, but Daniel and Hayden seemed genuinely troubled.

“Anyway, I don’t have enough skill slots now and don’t have enough points to learn. I’ll tell you when the situation allows, so let’s talk about it then.”

At Sun-woo’s words, Daniel and Hayden nodded.

The bread was tastier than expected. Everyone was satisfied, and when Nan-seol offered some to Stein, he shook his head and refused the food.

Shortly after, the group hurried their steps again.

Stein continued forward silently, and the group looked at Stein guiding them with questioning eyes.

Though he was a mutant looked down upon by the Empire government, it wasn’t easy for someone with power to sacrifice himself in such a harsh place.

Moreover, in a place like this where the logic of power was most important, it was incomprehensible that he had volunteered to take on the guidance.

But regardless of the group’s concerns, Stein continued toward the center of the sewers.

***

Several hours later, the group encountered soldiers and sewer officials again.

This happened after Stein said there wasn’t much left to the destination.

The group couldn’t recognize them immediately. They were already corpses, and even those corpses were completely mangled, as if eaten by beasts.

“Do people often die like this here?”

At Daniel’s question, Stein shook his head with a hardened face. It was a type of corpse he was seeing for the first time too.

While the group looked at the corpses with hardened faces, Nan-seol, who was monitoring ahead, spoke up.

“It seems we’ve found the right place.”

The color of the sewer ahead was murky.

That’s when beings were caught in Sun-woo’s surveillance network.

“A large number of life forms are approaching. Judging by their killing intent, they appear to be enemies.”

The group instantly switched to battle formation. And noisy sounds began to be heard from ahead.

Screech! Screech!

“Damn it. How does it end up as originally expected after going around in circles?”

Michael’s lament burst out, and the group looked disgusted.

A tsunami of giant rats was rushing toward them.