Side Story Chapter 55: Biohazard (1)
Rumble—!!!
Inhuman explosions rang like a dozen lightning bolts falling in one place, the shockwave pushing away the flames engulfing the department store.
Boom! Crack—!
The half-destroyed pillars of the department store broke and the building collapsed. A tsunami of concrete, weighing tens of thousands of tonnes, swept the surroundings. The destruction was nightmarish, but it was nothing compared to what was going on in the streets.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAH! H-Help m— Kurgh!"
"O-O Lord!! Destroy these evil demons—!!"
"M-Move!! Stop blocking the fucking way!!"
"Ruin has come to our familyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!"
It was chaos. The survivors pushed and pulled each other to save themselves. An elderly man lost his balance and fell to the ground. The survivors, blind with fear, trampled on the elderly man without hesitation to get away. The elderly man’s bones shattered from being trampled by dozens of people and died before the zombies even got to him. The survivors’ greatest enemy were themselves.
"KaaaaaKerrrrrrrrrrrrrRRR!"However, no matter how much they struggled to escape, they couldn’t escape from the monsters running as fast as sports cars. One of the monsters jumped up with its mouth wide open, screaming ferociously as it fell toward a man running away as he held his son’s hand.
"Arghhh!!"
Boom!
The man hugged his son and quickly jumped sideways. The monster’s mouth destroyed a streetlight.
"Haaa, haaa," the man panted as he turned the corner and hid between the debris of the destroyed department store. The monster did not chase after them, likely to chase a different prey after its attack failed.
"L-Listen carefully, Joshua." The man shed tears as he hid the son in the debris. "We’re gonna play a game."
"A game?" asked the son innocently, far too young to understand fear.
The man gulped and nodded. "Yeah. You get a hundred points if you stay hidden here without being found by anyone."
"A hundred?"
"Yeah, a hundred out of a hundred points."
"Wow! What do I get if I get a hundred points?"
"A-A cake. I’ll buy you tons of your favorite cake."
"R-Really?!"
"Of course," the man answered as he patted his son’s head, smiling sorrowfully.
"How long do I have to hide?" asked the son with sparkling eyes.
"Uhh…" The man shut his eyes tightly. "T-Tomorrow… no, until you can’t hear anything around you. Got it? Whatever you do, don’t come out until then. Okay?"
"Yeah! Okay!" The boy nodded energetically.
"Joshua…"
The man stood up after hiding his son in the debris. His legs shook crazily. He turned around, his face deathly pale, and smiled forcibly.
"Please survive."
The man ran outside after grabbing a sharp rock.
"GarrrrrRRR!"
A monster’s bloodshot eyes widened after discovering the man. Its sharp teeth protruding from its split skull gleamed.
"A-Arghh." The man suppressed his fear and raised the sharp rock. "D-Die, you monsteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!!"
"KaraaaaaAAAA!!!!"
The monster charged unimaginably fast, even taking into account it was four-legged. It opened wide to bite the man’s head off.
Slash—!
Just then, a greatsword covered in black flames split the monster in half. The monster was sliced into tiny pieces like shattering glass once the blade made contact with it. It spewed blood everywhere once it touched the Authority infused in the Hell Armament Wrath, which could dismantle any lifeform it touched into tiny pieces.
"Ah…" expressed the man gripping the rock.
The monster that looked like it was born from all of humanity’s nightmares was defeated in one blow.
"Who…?" the man slurred as he stared at the boy who had accomplished the unimaginable feat.
The boy mumbled, "...suits."
The man flinched from sensing the resentment and rage in the boy’s voice. He wondered what caused the boy to be so enraged.
The answer was simple; there was only one thing the boy could be furious about as he witnessed the hellscape of people being devoured by monsters and becoming monsters themselves.
"MY FUCKING SWIMSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUITSSSSSSSSSS!!!"
"...?"
’Swimsuits?’ the man thought.
"BECAUSE OF THESE FUCKING USELESS ZOMBIES, I…!! DARLING… DARLING’S SWIMSUIT…!!!"
The boy’s fury blazed uncontrollably.
"Hurghhh! Lilith’s slingshot bikini… Yeon-Joo’s competition swimsuit… ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
The boy screamed madly as he pulled on his hair as if he were possessed.
"E-Excuse me?" the man called the boy dumbfoundedly.
He did not know what was going on but the boy seemed to be a powerful Player. He had no choice but to stick with the boy to save his son.
"I beg of you! Please… Please kill these monst—"
"OF COURSE, I WILL!!" the boy shouted before the man could finish his sentence.
Crack!
The concrete split as the boy leaped toward the monsters busy hunting their prey.
"Keruuuu?"
Slash—!!
The boy’s slashes were so fast they couldn’t be seen by the naked eye.
Split—!
The monsters cut by the greatsword were sliced into tiny pieces like shattered glass. Even if the monsters boasted high regenerative capabilities, they couldn’t regenerate from being sliced as small as peanuts.
"Kang-Woo!"
"What’s the situation, my king?"
"Urgh. I think I’m gonna puke, Kang-Woo."
Han Seol-Ah, Lilith, and Echidna arrived after changing. Kang-Woo turned to them as he was wiping out the monsters.
He quelled as much of his surging fury as he could and asked calmly, "Where’s Yeon-Joo?"
"Killing the monsters in the hotel."
"Really? Right then, Lilith. Request reinforcements from Guardians."
Monsters had spread throughout the city and were rising in number. No matter how strong Kang-Woo was, he couldn’t wipe out the monsters spreading like wildfire fast enough.
"About that… I’ve been trying for a while now but it isn’t connecting."
"It’s not connecting?"
Kang-Woo frowned. Guardians was on alert twenty-four seven so that they could mobilize at any moment. There was only one reason why they couldn’t get through to them.
"They blocked all communication… is that it?"
With this, Kang-Woo was even more sure of his hypothesis that an unknown entity with powers he couldn’t detect was involved in this monster incident.
"Were you able to contact the muscle pig?" Lilith asked.
Kang-Woo and Balrog were connected by their souls, hence they could communicate with each other without a communication device. He closed his eyes and tried to contact Balrog but shook his head with a heavy expression.
"No, that’s been blocked as well. It looks like Singapore in its entirety was isolated into a separate dimension."
"That means…"
"We have to take care of this ourselves," muttered Kang-Woo as he gripped Wrath harder.
It would take far too much time to go back to Korea to request reinforcements and come back. They had no choice but to resolve this matter with their own strengths.
"Let’s split up. Echidna and Darling, swindle the monsters’ numbers as much as you can."
"Okay, Kang-Woo!"
"Hm! I’m feeling a bit queasy, but… I’ll hold it in as long as you say so!"
Seol-Ah and Echidna nodded.
"Lilith, try to locate the host of the monsters."
"The host?"
"The fact that communications were blocked means this was planned. There has to be someone controlling these monsters."
"Understood. I will locate them right away."
Lilith bowed deeply.
"Well, then," Kang-Woo expressed.
They had no time to waste since the monsters were multiplying even as they spoke. Seol-Ah sprouted her twelve black wings and soared into the sky. Echidna also created small wings and flew up.
"Let’s begin."
The four of them headed in different directions as if they had planned it. Kang-Woo ran like crazy and killed every monster in sight.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" The fury he had quelled surged again as he massacred the monsters. "YOU FUCKING DRAGOONS!!"
"KarrrrrrrrrrRRR!!!"
Kang-Woo’s head hurt just from staring at the hideous monsters running four-legged with their head and torso facing up. Their unrealistic appearance only added fuel to his flames.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!! I’M SO MAD!!! I’M SO FUCKING MAAAAAAAD!! DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA HOW MUCH I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS TRIP?!!"
"Gruuuuu!"
"KaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAA!"
Split! Crack! Slash!!
A storm of blood raged every time Kang-Woo swung his greatsword. Despite the monsters being far more physically capable than the zombies normally seen in films, they were no match for Kang-Woo who had long since surpassed human limits. The monsters suddenly went from predator to prey and began to run from Kang-Woo’s rampage.
"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?!"
Wham—!
Kang-Woo leaped into the air and smashed his foot into a monster’s head as he landed.
"There’s no fucking end to them."
He had slaughtered as many of the monsters as he could but he couldn’t kill every monster scattering as they ran away from him. There were far too many of them.
"I guess… I have no choice."
Kang-Woo placed his hand over his heart. He had no choice but to borrow his power.
"Abyss Summoning."
Wriggle!
Black mucus flowed out from him and gathered. Red glowing eyes appeared from the jet-black darkness. A two-meter-tall demon with two horns on his forehead and bat wings slowly appeared from the darkness.
[A-Aaaahh.]
It was one of the princes of Hell, the entities that made the demons of the Ninth Hell tremble in fear just from hearing their names. Among them, the great demon of Wrath slowly crawled out from the Abyss of the Demonic Sea.
[I am death.]
The demon’s voice was far clearer compared to when he was first summoned. The more of his power Kang-Woo regained, the more powerful and conscious the demons Kang-Woo summoned became.
[I am the end,] the demon muttered as chilling demonic energy surged from him. [I am the father of all wrath, and I am wrath itself.]
"KaRaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAa!!"
A monster charged at the demon with its mouth wide open. The demon slowly raised his hand and grabbed the monster by its mouth. He activated the Authority of Extinction and burst the monster into tiny fragments. The demon’s explosive demonic energy and imposing aura pressured the souls of every lifeform around him. He stared at the monsters with his red blazing eyes.
[I am… Satan.]
In a world where the princes of Hell no longer existed and no one feared them— the Prince of Waste descended once again to plunge it into fear.
"Oh fuck, sorry. Autocorrect."
The Prince of Wrath descended once again to plunge it into fear.