Origin (6)
― That's some solid performance. I'll have to order more to be made when we get back. I'll have Alpha equipped with it too."
Licorice's voice penetrated the ringing in my ears. Since she was borrowing Alpha's vision, she seemed to have hardly been affected by the flashbang and kept her composure.
The military versions also have a jamming effect that can stun robots, but the one Nadia threw just now was homemade, so it wasn't quite up to that level.
【Kiieeeee!】
"Nadia, flashbang!"
"Throwing! I said I'd throw, twice already!"
"Throw it!"
"Uryaah!"
Nadia hurled a flashbang through the streams of fire, which looked as if they were flowing. The wall of fire seemed fairly powerful. The ghouls screamed at first as if they were about to die instantly, but as time passed, they realized the spreading fire was weaker than expected.
It happened because their standards as a species were different from ours. Some of the ones who came to their senses before us began to cross the blue wall of fire. For those, there was a 'ping!' as the pin was pulled and a flashbang canister rolled toward them.
As the furious ghouls' gazes dropped down, the flashbang burst again with a blinding flash. It was bright enough to briefly turn the monsters' cloudy pupils transparent.
This time, the ghouls, knowing the blast timing, turned their heads or blocked themselves with crossed arms to lessen the effect. They couldn't block it completely, but it was enough to endure.
While we were standing relatively unscathed, the ghouls were staggering in place as if drunk. Some were even retching something up.
But not every one of them was like that. The ghoul I had seen before Nadia joined us—the one bloated like a drowned corpse—hadn't been affected much.
To be precise, the ghouls that had the parasite, spewed out by that one and burrowed into their bodies, were the same. They pounded the ground and leapt over debris, crazily narrowing the gap.
Each time I blinked, the distance shrank noticeably. I crouched in preparation for impact—it was a fight I couldn't avoid.
The only reason we were able to hold out was because we occupied the high ground. If, scared of the collision, we backed up, the surging wave would sweep us away.
Eric stood beside me, ready to add his strength. Glancing at him, I couldn't help but ask,
"... Eric. I know it's strange to ask this now, but you seem okay?"
He'd taken the flashbang head-on, too, yet he looked nothing like the men drooling over there.
"That's what the helmet's for. More importantly, those things are odd. The flashbang doesn't work on them."
"I saw it too. So I'll just, use a bit more, force!"
As I gathered my strength, I stomped forward with my left foot. The force traveled up from that step, adding power from my hips and shoulders to the blue-bladed weapon I wielded.
A sound of screeching metal came as the armor and staff compressed, then plasma arced in a crescent shape. The blue line, drawn horizontally, sliced clean through a ghoul closing in.
'There's no difference in the feel.'
Maybe it's weird to compare, but cutting these ghouls didn't feel any different from regular ones. There was nothing notably tougher or more remarkable.
That thought lasted only a moment. I soon doubted my eyes. From the cross-sections of the severed neck, wrist, or shoulder of the ghouls, parasites erupted out.
【Kiriririk—】
The parasite, its mouth lined with countless teeth, made an eerie sound as it opened wide. A shiver ran down my spine. The hot blood in my head instantly went cold.
For now, I called it a parasite out of convenience, but maybe it really was a distinct creature. It felt like it was looking at me with its own will, targeting the vulnerable spots only a human would have.
The sight of the parasite raising its tentacle-like body and staring at me was a nightmare come to life.
"Ewaaah! What the hell is that! Carry, burn it!"
Before I could say anything, Nadia yelled out on her own. Carry, with a disgusted expression, raised his flamethrower.
Whhoooosh!
At first, the parasites seemed to endure the flames, but as the mucus coating started to dry, they let out tearing screams and twisted in agony.
Their long bodies thrashed as if to vomit up something, then finally, after spewing blue crystal ore shards onto the floor, they fell silent.
Still uneasy, Alpha and I aimed fully charged shockwave emitters at the parasites and pulled the trigger. With a loud "Pwhoosh!" of air, shards of broken shuttle window, fluid, and dried timber flew backwards—along with any parasites crawling up.
Even as the airborne debris thudded to the ground, the parasites did not move. It seemed they were truly dead.
We frantically fought off the constantly approaching ghouls. Some had parasites, and others—now almost regular by comparison—did not.
Carry sprayed so much fire with the flamethrower that parasites exposed outside quickly went into hiding. Now, each time we took out a ghoul, parasites would pop out at random.
Their timings were so unpredictable that if I let my guard down, I'd be in trouble. I really understood what "a chill down the spine" meant.
'It's not even a lucky box...!'
It's more like an unlucky box—there are never any wins, only losses.
Knowing now that fire worked, we used the flamethrowers aggressively. The air, now more than just hot, felt blistering enough to roast my lungs.
Since we didn't know what purpose the parasites served, we decided to just turn everything around us into a sea of flames. If we burned them to ashes before they could do anything, we wouldn't need to worry.
The flamethrower was performing far beyond expectations. Initially, I'd only intended to use it sparingly for crowd control, but it was getting a much more active workout.
"Hyun-woo! Only half a fuel tank left! About one minute of spraying time left!"
"Extra fuel replacement?"
"You took it because you needed it, didn't you!"
【Kiaaagh!】
【Kiiiii—!】
It was chaos. In the blink of an eye, the situation kept shifting. If you lost the flow, you never knew when a ghoul might leap at you from behind.
My heart hammered as my sense of danger sounded alarm bells without rest. Yet, oddly enough, I felt calmer.
As I slashed and punched through the ghouls without holding back, my breathing was shaky, but my mind was cool. Or rather, there was no space for stray thoughts.
All the ghouls before me were grotesque, moving like proper monsters. So I could devote my entire focus to fighting them.
While Alpha and I fired shockwaves to keep Nadia and Carry safe,
while I backed into Eric to withstand combined ghoul attacks,
even as ghoul claws, parasite bites, and long, venomous stings scraping my shoes struck my body,
sometimes smashing ghouls with the shockwave emitter—
I fought like a beast, mindlessly.
Just as the number of ghouls began to dwindle, Licorice stirred up the waters.
- Lee Hyun-woo, do you remember what I said earlier?
"What did you say!"
- I said the flamethrower performed well.
"So what?"
- It's maybe a little too good.
"What do you— Wait, damn it!"
I saw flames flicker somewhere other than where Carry had fired. Fire was spreading where it shouldn't.
- Doesn't that model have some defects? At least, that's my understanding.
"... You're right."
Licorice was correct. The mid-sized "Cassad" model classified as a cargo shuttle was popular for its cost-performance but had one serious flaw.
It was a sort of hybrid that used both blue crystal and an internal combustion engine. While newer versions had fixed most issues, the early versions were prone to explode.
If the overflowing blue crystal energy wasn't properly controlled, the engine could run wild, and if unstable, any fire could trigger an explosion. That's why "Cassad" was once called a flying coffin.
The shuttle now on fire was definitely one of the early models. In short, it was a bomb whose fuse had been lit.
Why else would there be a crane on the deck? If something happened, they could toss it outside to limit the damage.
During the initial surge in blue crystal use, there were many accidents, prompting rapid advances in shielding technology.
Once the shield was up, most damage could be blocked.
Rolling atop the shuttle, Nadia belatedly realized what was happening and screamed, her voice shrill. A man, struggling to breathe or maybe retching, echoed her in sympathy.
"Wa, wait, what is that! Fire! It's fire...!"
【ヽ(ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ】
"Ah, ahhh!"
"Get out of here! Outside the deck!"
I shouted, pulling them up. Red flames, riding the cables rather than blue fire, spread wider and wider. Ignoring the ghouls, we turned and ran with all our might.
Honestly, if the fire was extinguished before hitting the engine, it would be fine. No one would sell an engine that exploded at the slightest spark.
I knew that, yet I still thought it'd be better to just let it blow. We had to clear the deck anyway, and Roxy's shuttle was due to land. I didn't want to leave a potential bomb right beside me.
Once it caught fire, that meant it could catch again. Once it exploded, at least you knew it wouldn't a second time.
'Not like we could put the fire out anyway!'
We should have been operating the crane by now, shoving the shuttle out. But too many ghouls had delayed us. That gap had to be closed.
"Red! Estimated time to explosion! Quick!"
- Five...
"Five minutes? Then—"
We thought we could hold the line at the edge and dodge in time. But Licorice's transmission was not over.
- Three...
"...?!"
That wasn't minutes, it was seconds. Number four had been skipped in the countdown, and everyone's faces turned deathly pale.
【Kraaaaagh!】
As we tumbled across the ground, battered and bruised, the ghouls, oblivious to the real danger, eagerly chased us closer. Thoughts like 'we'll all die at this rate!' were choked off by panic.
Before we reached the edge of the deck, our sentence was announced. Our hearts all seemed to stop.
- ... One.
Licorice's voice, swallowing dryly, sounded just as something gave way.
Tick—
A snapping sound, then—
KABOOOM━━!
A tremendous blast swallowed us. The flames Carry had sprayed looked like a joke compared to the crimson-black fire that filled the shuttle station. So this was a real sea of fire.
The explosion's shock did not just push but slammed us, but just before we were hit, we dived for the deck's edge, grabbing safety rails used for inspections.
All manner of things from the cargo station flew overhead almost simultaneously. Stuff flashed past so quickly I couldn't even see what it was.
I glimpsed, for a moment, a ghoul with a parasite smashed through by shuttle debris, its limbs flying. If I'd hesitated a bit, I'd have ended up like that ghoul, mincemeat in an instant.
I hung on by brute strength; Eric, with his suit's power. The station seemed to scream through my fingertips and whole body, shaking so violently the deck might collapse.
Tension only lasted a moment; the rumbling soon subsided. Luckily, there would be no chain reaction. If there had been, it wouldn't have ended well, for anything.
"I'll climb up first."
"Let's just go together. Doesn't look like there'll be another explosion."
When we struggled back onto the deck, Nadia and Carry, blown away by the wind, were coming down, their fur and tails sticking up at odd angles. They must have been thrown pretty far.
【(☍д⁰)】
Carry, apparently thinking he'd caused a disaster, spun around in a panic, wearing a lost expression. As if to say, 'Did I do this? Really me?'
The shuttle station now looked post-apocalyptic—totally fitting for the end times. It was a shocking sight.
Unextinguished flames crackled through shuttle wreckage, and ghouls that had come running to the commotion only met death in the explosion and debris. There was hardly any need for mercy shots.
I was about to check Nadia's condition when I saw Carry's face and shifted priorities. Nadia caught on and comforted him.
"... Less work now! Let's think positive! Carry, don't lose heart! This wasn't your fault!"
"Y-yeah! Not Carry's fault at all—not at all! Right? Yeah, right!"
【(˶• ֊ •˶)】
As Nadia and I, Carry's biggest fans, comforted him, Carry's face quickly brightened, moving from panic to a strange sense of pride.
Alpha looked at us as if stupefied by our behavior. Though Licorice seemed to have plenty to say, she only let out a quiet sigh.
- Grab on and climb up.
"Eek!"
Alpha, from above, pulled the man up by the hand. He collapsed onto the deck, completely dazed. Stammering, he muttered,
"I-is this how you people do things? I thought it would be more discreet, more professional... I never imagined you'd make such a scene..."
"It's just today."
Even after I explained that secrecy had always been the key, the man didn't believe me. His eyes looked at us like we were insane bomb-throwers.
I decided to change the subject, realizing there was no convincing him.
"Can you move?"
"Y-yes, of course."
"Then move. We need to raid the container."
The man lifted his gas mask to wipe away the stringy spit from his mouth, which stretched from the stress—but it just smeared, since he was covered in soot.
After all this chaos, we'd technically achieved our first, second, and third goals. Maybe it was more accurate to say 'the goals were achieved for us.' Nothing had gone according to plan.
But at least, now, this cargo sector was ours.
I tried to focus just on that.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
I loled when Licorice counted down after Hyun-woo thought they had 5 minutes. I don't know why.
【(˶• ֊ •˶)】