Origin (44)
Thud, thud, thud, thud—!
Relentless pounding sounded from beyond the slammed bulkhead. Someone was yelling loud enough for the voice to pierce through the wall, but it didn't last long.
Seeing the bottom portion of the bulkhead gradually glowing red, I could guess the reason.
Celestia exhaled a trembling breath and spoke.
"We have to move quickly."
We nodded and turned ourselves around. There was no time to rest. Originally, we should've let the liquefied blue crystal flow all the way here.
As the chambers started toppling one after another, an enormous wave of molten metal surged like a tidal wave, consuming everything. We had forcibly blocked its flow by bending the coolant pipeline to prevent it from escaping.
The tip of the flow solidified briefly due to the coolant, causing a momentary pause, but that was only temporary. We had already long passed the point where coolant could stop it.
At least the monsters and Creep on the other side of that door were definitely dealt with. The problem was what remained on this side.
"Hyun-woo."
Nadia turned on the detector and showed me. The screen showed more than dozens of blue crystal reactions. Some were cocooned, but most were mimics disguised as miscellaneous objects.
Clenching and unclenching my hand, I declared almost as if making a proclamation.
"We'll break through as quickly as possible—before the stalker catches up to us."
"Yes."
After steadying our breath, we immediately began running forward. My steps mingled with the crunching of Creeps being crushed, quickly followed by the sounds of mimics reacting all around.
Ominous noises assailed my ears from every direction, but since we could identify their locations, it didn't faze us much psychologically. Knowing that mimics didn't approach first, we acted more daringly.
Instead of the alpha's shockwave emitter or Carry's flamethrower, which could agitate multiple targets at once, we used the plasma cutter to kill each one in a single, concentrated blow.
【Cough!】
Some mimics didn't die instantly even when skewered by the blue spear from above, but a little prodding inside while impaled made them tremble violently and flip themselves inside out.
'This detector is great.'
Had Nadia not modified the sensor, Alpha would have led the way, smashing suspicious places apart with shockwaves, and Carry would've had to stir things up, searching for anything odd with his flames.
We tore through the area, heading for the cooling process sector.
"Hyun-woo, another one came out!"
"There too? Hold on! I'll finish up here and come right over!"
In the process, a significant number of mimics were killed. Naturally, being mutants, they didn't die quietly.
Some latched onto spewing liquefied blue crystal from still-connected pipes, shooting out tentacles;
Others, set up like traps, formed black spikes and attacked;
Even broken security robots, struck by a stray spike, suddenly hopped up and revealed themselves to be mimics too;
Once the chaos started, it cascaded in a chain reaction.
That continued even after we reached the edge of the contaminated material extraction sector. In fact, things seemed to get worse.
Our resistance became fiercer. Up until the previous sector, we'd had to deal passively since the liquefied blue crystal wasn't yet refined.
If the anti-gravity rails transporting the powdered ore were damaged and leaked, the resulting wave would affect us too.
We couldn't just use counterblasts to stop the mimics. Honestly, it wasn't even a counterblast, since raw blue crystal leaks would only benefit them.
"That stalker doesn't seem to be following, does it?"
"For now, no."
Replying to Celestia, I glanced back at the path we'd come. The mimics, having their locations revealed, were slaughtered and scattered like a massacre. The Creep were actively decomposing the corpses in real time.
Location info—just having it made all this possible. But since we stood atop the Creep, the stalker and its follower ghouls could also track our location.
That meant just as we were able to do to them, they could use the same method against us.
Of course, that was only true because mimics, with their disguising ability, didn't attack first. Next time we met, some might have learned from this and launch surprise attacks preemptively.
'I hope not.'
Given the speed and direction of their mutations, it was very possible. Mutants adapt to their environment at an abnormal pace.
〈First Filtration Room〉
【Problem detected in the raw material supply pipe. Thermodynamic extraction process has been temporarily suspended until the problem is solved.】
After the holographic message spun once, new text followed.
【Warning: Severe contamination detected in the filtration filter. Workers in the sector must resolve the issue as soon as possible.】
The liquefied blue crystal in the pipeline from the smelting sector was being supplied with catalyst from a side pipe. It was to remove contaminants dissolved in the raw ore.
From here onward, even if the facility was destroyed nearby, it would be fine.
'As long as we don't touch the separate waste container.'
I hastily cooled my suit, which had heated up from external heat, and glanced at the cylinder containing the catalyst. It had this warning written on it:
【Warning: Corrosive material. Handle with care.】
'One more thing to be careful about.'
The waste and catalyst storage containers—excluding those, nothing could really stop us. At least for now.
After fighting the mimics, we were about to reach what could be called the last barrier: the cooling sector.
【... A presence...】
A murmur drifted from somewhere. It wasn't a monster's roar or the shrill sound of leaking liquid from a pipe—it was a human voice.
"... Did you hear that?"
I stopped walking and looked around.
"Hear what?"
Celestia and Eric didn't seem to have heard anything. For a moment, I wondered if I'd misheard, but Nadia flicked her tail in the air and agreed with me.
"I heard it, Hyun-woo. A whisper about a presence being felt."
Nadia had heard it even more clearly than I did.
"Could a monster be mimicking a voice?"
"If it were a monster... no, I don't think so."
Nadia shook her head slightly, implying otherwise. Since she was the one who'd heard it most vividly, she must've sensed something.
"Nadia, how far is it?"
"Not far. Actually, pretty close. About... there."
Nadia pointed at a maintenance bridge crossing over the pipeline. Swallowed in darkness, even our flashlights couldn't reach the end.
【Stop... stop...!】
Again, the whisper echoed. This time, Eric and Celestia heard it too. The detector showed no sign of mimics. Still, it was daunting to cross the bridge.
It was understandable—the bridge was exposed above and below.
"... We have to check this out."
"I'll send Alpha ahead."
"I'll go with Carry."
Our secondary goal was to find the survivor or technician Chen somewhere in the facility. Nadia rode on top of Carry.
Alpha crossed the bridge, Carry flew alongside with Nadia on board, lighting the way with their flashlight so we could see.
As expected, we found a person. Not a single part of him was uninjured. He was curled up as if protecting something—I had no idea how he'd survived here.
He seemed to have no equipment at all, practically half-naked.
"...."
I couldn't speak carelessly at the sight. The others were the same. It was obvious from his constant muttering that he wasn't normal.
Had he been tortured? No—more like he'd hurt himself. I realized this quickly as he pawed at his own eyes and ears with broken nails and twisted fingers, as if trying to dig them out.
Blood dripped as he scraped at himself—Eric stepped back, shielding Celestia. It was not a pleasant sight. In fact, it seemed dangerous. The fact that someone survived in this nest in such a state was a clear sign of something abnormal.
【I feel a presence, a presence, a presence....】
'Presence.'
Whose presence was he talking about? At any rate, it certainly wasn't ours. He had been repeating the same words before we found him.
'The stalker?'
The mutant acting as queen of this place came to mind next. That creature definitely lived up to its makeshift name; just sensing its gaze from afar gave me chills all over.
I had Carry and Nadia pull back, then called out to him from a little distance.
"Chen?"
【... .】
Whether he was really Chen or not, his muttering stopped abruptly when I called his name. He lifted his head as though searching for the source of the sound. His ghastly face made someone behind me gasp.
I called out again, wanting him to recognize me clearly.
"Chen."
【... .】
"We came after receiving a transmission from an engineer named Chen. Are you Chen?"
【... Transmission.】
"If you are Chen, please answer. Was this a pureblood supremacist trap? Or is there a real problem with the central pipeline causing the energy to flow backward?"
【... .】
He didn't answer for a while. His lips moved, indistinctly, but I could tell he was talking about the security protocol.
"I activated the security protocol. So, even if the pureblood supremacists are here, they can be driven out. The security robots produced here will kill them all soon."
"...."
Even after hearing my brief summary of the situation, the man said nothing. But unlike at first, he no longer scratched at his eyes and ears. Blood still flowed, dripping below, looking almost like bloody tears.
But his expression—almost blank—felt very out of place. Had his confusion faded? Or had he simply given up everything?
Watching the still-silent man, I felt anxious. We didn't have time for this. Before monsters chasing us from the lost nest caught up, we had to leave this place and reach the objective—the central pipeline—to shut it down.
'Should we just leave him?'
That was when he, glancing at each of us in turn, finally relaxed his death grip on his wrist.
Startled at his sudden movement, I watched as he removed a bracelet from his wrist and quietly handed it to me. Taking it cautiously, I sensed he wanted me to have it.
"What?!"
Nadia's exclamation came almost simultaneously. My mouth fell open as well. It was inevitable—while I glanced down and back up, the man staggered toward the railing and hurled himself over the edge.
The event happened too fast for us to react. The bracelet, now responding to our touch, displayed a familiar holographic message.
【One most recent saved audio and video record. Would you like to view?】
What had he—no, what had he wanted to say to us? Thinking the answer must be in this record, we resumed moving and checked the contents.
"-Playing Record-
"Huff...huff..."
A man was crawling on the floor—recognizably the maintenance bridge where we'd just been.
Panting, he alternately curled up and stretched out as if in spasms, clearly unable to control his own body.
Suddenly, he began slamming his head repeatedly into the floor, then let out that unique, maniacal laughter of the deranged. Then he stopped abruptly—nothing about it was normal.
Suddenly, the man struggled to his feet. With trembling eyes, he checked his hand and surroundings, then slumped against the railing and operated his bracelet. He opened his mouth, as if searching for the right words.
"... I don't know how long I'll stay sane. The presence—I mean, no, no. The pureblood supremacists tortured me. I... I'm technician Chen."
The first words out of his mouth were barely coherent. But the intent behind them was easy to grasp.
"This is a trap they set. I don't know who came after receiving my transmission, but if you're watching this, turn back immediately. The pipeline problems are their doing. So, just turn back. It's all over if you can't kill them anyway. Pray for the solar furnace to blow up instead. At least that way you'll all die together."
His voice trembled noticeably as he spoke. Guilt, fear, terror—they were all mixed into it.
Guilt was the most palpable.
He should've stopped it but couldn't. Beware of the member among the pureblood supremacists who manipulates black smoke. The smoke is believed to be hyper-activated nanobots.
They're unaffected by the raw ore's wave. They discovered the security protocol. They destroyed the pipelines used to move ore in order to sabotage the facility.
Beware the monsters they create. They're even more vile and powerful. And the presence—it's always there—a relentless gaze sticks to you and doesn't leave.
He kept hearing a gnawing sound, as if something had burrowed into his eardrum. To stop hearing it, he had to dig it out. Dig it out. Dig it out.
"... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry this is all I can say."
The muttering that seemed as though it would never stop ended abruptly as the record finished.
― Record End-
"...."
After watching the brief record, I quietly slipped the bracelet into my belt pouch. My hand clenched into a fist.
Chen told us to turn back, but we had no intention of doing so. We didn't long for death—we were desperate to live.
If the only way to survive was to charge into hell, then we would do it gladly. We had literally done just that.
Finally, we passed quickly through the cooling sector and reached the facility's core: the pipeline control room.
Countless pipes crisscrossed throughout the space, creating a massive network. The control console sat at the very center of it all.
Just as we neared the pipeline control console—
Bang, bang, bang!
The crack of gunfire came, making my body instinctively shrink back as red-hot sparks scattered across the floor.
"You're late. Far later than we expected."
Footsteps echoed across the metal floor. Then, a man appeared, leading a group.
"After all that, you caused every uproar you could, you impurities."
The pureblood supremacists.
Armed with outdated firearms and suits strapped with explosives.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
How will they pass on this hurdle?
【「(°ヘ°)?】