The Little Prince in the Ossuary-Chapter 125 : April Vengeance (14)

April Vengeance (14)

Mosquitoes that cling to mutants die. Beasts that feast on infected corpses suffer stomachaches. There's toxicity in that filthy blood and flesh. What about its effects on humans? That's unknown. After all, no one has tried eating it, and there have certainly been no human experiments.

Many thoughts race through his mind.

For a mutant, its intelligence level was exceedingly high. Around the eta (η) ghoul stage, they can barely form simple words. At best, they mimic human speech. Complete sentences are out of the question.

Moreover, the man retained memories from his former life. He recognized the boy's face and said his name.

If he isn't a mutant, then this must be the result of eating something that should never be eaten. Diminished intellect and rotting skin. How much did he eat? How long did it take for these symptoms to appear? The latter was especially crucial. If his mental faculties were still in the process of deteriorating, the decaying man could turn at any moment.

Even right now.

He can't move around with a ticking time bomb in tow. But killing him is difficult, for he is an important specimen.

He must be subdued, silently. One precise strike should be enough. Gyeo-ul approaches the man, feigning acceptance of his kindness and extending a hand. This is the opening for his sneak attack. He holds back his strength, but the blow is true to its purpose. A blurred fist strikes the man.

Kwaduk-!

'His reaction speed...!'

He hit him, but not the vital point he wanted. The man, in pain, instinctively rolls away. Gyeo-ul couldn't grab him in time—he was-nimbler than expected. Crash! The decayed man toppled the display case, dodging with inhuman speed and colliding noisily. He sobbed and cried out.

"It hurts! Hurts—! Whyyy, why did you hit me? Hm? Whyyy did you hiiiit me!"

A chorus of screeches followed. Monsters catching onto the commotion began gathering in droves. Gyeo-ul grimaced and fired a rifle at the man. Tatang! Just two shots. Both calves are shredded—not fatal, since he had no intention of killing such a valuable specimen. The pain would be enough to keep him from fleeing during the ensuing battle.

He planned to finish the fight and then stop the bleeding with emergency treatment. Dragging the man around afterward could be worried about later. There was combat looming right ahead; first, he needed to make the man unconscious.

"Gyaaaaa! Blood! Blood! Hurts! Look—! I'm bleeeeding here!"

The man wailed, his grotesque face painted with abject terror. He threw the display case at Gyeo-ul, a clumsy attack. When Gyeo-ul dodged, the man, terrified, smashed the reinforced glass with his fists, leaving his forearms covered in blood. Still, that was better than his wounded legs—he started leaping on his arms instead of his legs. Even this was something Gyeo-ul hadn't expected.

He burst out of the concession stand, fleeing from the boy and running straight toward the mutants.

A flash in the darkness—muzzle flare from gunfire. In just 16 seconds, three thirty-round magazines are emptied in a controlled torrent. None of the plague swarm in the direction Gyeo-ul aimed could advance a single step; in fact, they were forced back. Fortunately, the numbers had already been reduced; if they'd been at full strength, they might have overwhelmed him with sheer mass.

Gyeo-ul still hadn't fully adjusted to his enhanced combat skills. He wasn't clear on the limits of what was now possible or impossible—a poorly controlled power is a dangerous tool.

Still, he should be able to win this fight. He'd taken refuge in the concession stand because of the decayed man's safety; he hadn't expected to have to take care of the man mid-battle, having thought him just a survivor.

Inside the area cleared by grade 14 「Firearms Proficiency」,

Gyeo-ul saw the gear he'd left in his haste. He fought his way to that point. Aside from a handful of survivors, the area was a field of corpses. Running across the squishy ground was not so difficult, thanks to various attached enhancements.

For the mutants, the terrain was more an obstacle. It slowed them down and made it hard to keep their balance—their sense of balance was subhuman. As they kept stumbling and tripping, Gyeo-ul poured overwhelming firepower on them. The more he fired, the better the environment became for him. For the mutants, it became a swamp created by accumulated corpses. Shell casings rattled down. Heat shimmer and smoke rose from behind the barrel shroud. He quickly pulled out his canteen and poured water on it. Sssss—a brief hiss.

His gear still held dozens of spare magazines, and he also had plenty of grenades.

'Can't afford to lose him. He mustn't die, either.'

Gyeo-ul watched the escaping man and was baffled. The mutants did not attack the decayed man; they charged at Gyeo-ul, baring their fangs. The man, using his arms as legs, crossed the plague horde as if it were nothing, disappearing from sight.

Do these things see him as one of their own? He thought the man wasn't a mutant.

He put aside his confusion and hurled three grenades and a flashbang nearly simultaneously. Even tossed carelessly, every throw landed in the right spot, a benefit of his 「Throw」 skill. As the grenades' three-second fuses ticked down, Gyeo-ul fired three shots into the nearest mutants, then flattened himself to the ground and shielded his eyes and ears.

The explosion vibrated his bones. His molars ached from the powerful shockwave.

As soon as he stood, a hand darted toward him. He grabbed it and twisted, crushed the shoulder underfoot, and kicked the head.

Only about twenty had died to the grenades—many were blocked by bodies. But even the survivors could barely move, reeling from the overlapping blasts and searing flashes in the enclosed room. Gyeo-ul calmly dispatched them with precise gunfire. Sharp, ringing shots split the air, followed by a high-pitched whine in his ears.

As he thought the fight was nearly over, another wave surged in—seemingly even those from the fourth floor had come running. Gyeo-ul was in a tight spot, but on hearing sounds from the ceiling, he changed his plans. He grabbed his gear with one hand and, firing nine shots with the other, pressed himself against the wall. If he got surrounded, he'd be in danger, but there was an air vent here.

He fired several rounds from his pistol into the vent, making sure anything inside would hear. Then, he switched weapons and swapped his rifle with a drum magazine—one of his few left.

'Might be hard to use these later.'

Loaded drum mags are more prone to malfunction. Best to use them while the rifle is still in good condition.

Kyaaaaa!

As he let out a twenty-round burst, something he'd awaited leaped out. Gyeo-ul caught it with a sidelong glance. A direct blow would burst its bodily fluids, so he crushed its bones with his grip. Snap. The fetal mutant's soft bones crumpled in his hand. He used the swelling corpse as an improvised bomb and hurled it. The biological bomb flew straight, struck the ceiling, and detonated above the mutants' heads.

A primal scream erupted. Gyeo-ul took out the lead ranks first. As expected, those following flailed helplessly in the air—most of their eyes were ruined. Their faces were melting away piecemeal. The few still intact collided with those who weren't.

Thud, thud. More creatures, unaware of the situation, approached from inside the vent. Linked 「Combat Sense」 and 「Insight」, along with the warnings from 「Survival Sense」, told him there were six, coming in rapid succession.

Not quite enough... Gyeo-ul gauged the remaining distance in the boulevard. Soon, small monsters dropped from the ceiling. Despite their tiny bodies, they had remarkable jumping power. They pounced at Gyeo-ul like bullets, but their mouths were small, making them easy to dodge and grab. Even when caught, they only flailed and couldn't explode on their own.

New mutants were always functionally imbalanced. Who knows what would happen if these became enhanced mutants.

Gyeo-ul shook the captured ones vigorously. Crack. Their necks snapped from that alone. Dodging or pushing aside the ones that leaped and swelled, he used 「Throw」 to launch the swelling corpses. Only after the last five were killed and thrown did the first bomb explode. Boom! Bang! A series of strong acid explosions at chandelier height.

More gunfire followed, focusing on any areas not covered by the explosion. As always, winning meant creating space to breathe.

Gyeo-ul melted into the space he'd carved out. Blind, burning mutants reached for him. Among their grasping hands, a narrow, precarious corridor was created, and he eliminated only those who posed a real threat.

The blind mutants relied solely on smell and hearing to identify hosts. They grabbed each other and sniffed incessantly. If one shrieked—kyaaaak—they'd instantly let go. Many even kept grabbing the same thing they'd just had. Even the ones still fine got entangled and stuck; they couldn't escape the web formed by their own rotten hands, only glaring at Gyeo-ul with burning eyes. Kyaaaak!

Tatata-tang! The moment of gunfire was the most dangerous—it caused the writhing corridor to contract. He had to move immediately after each shot. Otherwise, he'd be buried or torn apart. 「Close Combat」 proved invaluable. And amid this constant pounding, he was gradually adapting to his enhanced skills.

Ah, right. He remembered this. Gyeo-ul fished something out of his pocket, tossed it, and shot it with a single round. Chang—a glass-breaking sound. Perfume sprayed out, and a pungent aroma spread. The mutants' sense of smell was severely disoriented. The web became even stickier.

At last, Gyeo-ul emerged from the roaring maze. He entered the casino, bathed in red light. Walking backward, he calmly aimed at any unaffected mutants. Bang! Bang! As the entangled horde heard the gunshots, they shifted direction, but their pace was hopelessly tangled. Those who managed to face him directly became his targets—he kept firing. Nearby were a broad board and a round wheel—a roulette wheel. Shell casings bounced off it, the clear metallic sounds skipping across its thirty-eight numbered spaces. Gyeo-ul cocked his head at the sight. There was a switch on the wheel's side.

He recalled past footage seen through closed circuit: in real gambling, the wheel was spun by hand, but even unused, it spun for display.

Gyeo-ul stood still and emptied a magazine, pouring shell casings onto the roulette.

Then, with only the blind ones left, he flipped the switch. Ting, ting, ting. If it were a ball, it would settle on a number, but with so many shell casings, they simply bounced and chimed. The continual, ringing sound attracted the attention of the blind mutants.

'I hope this is at least as much of a lure as the commotion going on downstairs...'

A luxury cruise ship is a five-star hotel on the sea. Its soundproofing is decent. Even blind monsters, if they ended up groping down in the survivors' escape, would be a headache.

Gyeo-ul retreated in silence. Mutants with their facial skin grotesquely sagging crowded around the roulette. Their contorted agony looked much like gamblers losing themselves in the game.

Now it was time to chase after the escaped man. The tracks highlighted by 「Tracking」 were vivid red handprints. Blood from his legs must have run down to stain his hands. Even running in such an upside-down manner, he managed it well. It might look ridiculous, but was truly menacing—the man's physical prowess surpassed even that of beta ghouls. His sense of balance, especially, was exceptional even for a mutant.

Gyeo-ul poured water on the rifle barrel as he followed the tracks. The sound of steam dissipated into the air. He'd been hard on it in the short and fierce firefight—he'd have to change out the barrel afterward.

It probably wasn't worn out enough to ruin the rifling. 「Combat Sense」 confirmed his judgment.

The tracks led down to the central stairwell.

In the quiet granted by a lull, Gyeo-ul considered the man's identity once more.

A monster bearing intelligence and emotion. His emotions, in particular, hinted at a tangled past. The special mutant Humpback. They had fought, but that monster had unmistakably shown fear, as though combat wasn't its true purpose. Both the man and that old monster had left behind copious pus, too.

No, perhaps that's jumping to conclusions. There is no clear evidence. Pus oozes from even ordinary mutants—it's a byproduct of immune rejection.

Maybe it's a clue to a vaccine. Only "Plague Immunity" would allow the development of a Morgellons vaccine...but you never know. This world was changing in many unusual ways. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

He'd best capture the man alive, one way or another. Gyeo-ul refocused on the present. The blood trail was fading—meaning the filthy man was bleeding less. Still, there were no signs he'd paused anywhere. His recovery must far exceed that of any human.

It didn't impede tracking. It was a narrow corridor. The center of the fourth deck was empty, fore and aft both blocked by bulkheads.

Arriving on the third floor, the restaurant soon came into view—the grandest and most luxurious of all the ship's tiered restaurants. Directly across the way was the grand galley itself.

In the middle of the vast hall stood the decayed man. But he wasn't alone.

Gyeo-ul muttered to himself.

Isn't this a bit too much?

---------------------------= Author's Afterword ---------------------------=

#Traditional martial arts

I always wanted to write a traditional martial arts story—true tradition, not new age. But looking at the e-store sales situation... I doubt it'll happen.

#Q&A

Q. From OnionMushroom: @Oh my, have we just discovered an infected with self-awareness...?

A. Well... who knows. Haha. Ketaro's comment about that man's identity had some correct guesses, but not all.

Q. From PAM: @Well, Korea... looking at the top, it's no surprise it could collapse any moment. This latest incident was fascinating—the news felt like a drama or movie.

A. Yes, it's a very difficult time to live as an author. Reality trumps fiction. If I'd published a novel about the president secretly being a sorcerer before all this unfolded, people would've said it was too far-fetched. Ha ha.

Q. From qoewh: @Author, I have a question. The characters' emotions are so vivid—even for an AI narrative. No matter how advanced the control AI is, something's odd here. Thus, my question! Are there other worlds run by players, excluding Gyeo-ul, where emotion is depicted this vividly? If so, how many?

A. Hmm...it's a spoiler, but since it's not a big one...

There aren't any.

Gyeo-ul's TOM grade and compatibility are exceptional. The problem is that it's talent fostered by the environment.

Q. From qoewh: @I bet the original creators aren't really frying chicken—instead, they're all monitoring everything, right? Are they the masterminds?

A. Haha, no. Really, no.

Q. From Nesstor: @Unless the Korean Peninsula's geography is mentioned, Korea...? Really, what sort of place is that? (laughs)

A. Who knows? Ha ha.