Tree (11)
- Plotting the shortest route!
Responding to my shout, Celestia brought up a holographic map and showed the path to where Eric was. Fortunately, it wasn't terribly far.
At my full speed, I could reach him in a matter of seconds. But those few seconds weren't just ordinary seconds—they were seconds in the midst of a battle, and anything could have happened during that ti.
Especially since his position was changing in real-ti.
"Eric, hang in there. I'm on my way...!"
He probably wouldn't have ti to reply, but I yelled in hopes that he could hold out just a little longer. Through the comms, I could hear heavy breathing and, intermittently, monstrous screams.
The scenery around whipped by in a blur. With every towering stack of tal cubes I passed, the distance between Eric and shrank.
And, naturally, I started to feel the terrifying presence of the monster attacking him more and more clearly.
"...!"
I saw it. Without wasting ti dodging obstacles, I vaulted over them, closing the gap rapidly, and caught sight of a huge figure. This was the source of the engine overheating Eric had ntioned.
'A new mutant?!'
Was yet another kind of mutant appearing, after ghouls and mimics? I'd heard that the mutation rate was fast, but new types appearing in just a few days felt excessive.
It looked similar to a typical ghoul—at first glance, that is. It didn't take long for to realize that was a mistake.
It was more grotesque than a ghoul. At least ghouls had so sort of bodily frawork; this thing, chasing after Eric, was ford entirely by oozing, dripping flesh.
A mass of bubbling flesh suddenly rose up. The tip split into several prongs—shaped like a hand, or at least sothing similar.
【Kyaaaaaaaaaa-!】
An earsplitting scream. The sound was tangible, almost exerting physical force, pushing the air aside and shaking the towering cubes. Even after bouncing off, what hit caused my mind to go hazy for a mont.
Forcing my eyes wide open, I saw Eric stumble as he was hit by the sonic attack at close range, losing his balance, and the monster swinging its ruined "hand" to attack him.
He was sohow dodging, but it didn't look like he'd last long. Each swing made the piles of cubes tremble dangerously, as if they might collapse. Despite its shifting, fluid form, the thing clearly possessed imnse Strength.
The attack radius was wide, making it difficult to dodge, and a single hit could easily be fatal. Eric was in danger. I had to block it.
But how? Judging by the monster's size, throwing a weapon like I did with the train mutant wouldn't be enough—it would just get stuck.
In that case, I needed to throw sothing much heavier than a tool. Only then might it hesitate.
'That would be...'
Conveniently, there were plenty of things for to throw, stacked as towers nearby. Cubes made from forcibly compressed mining byproducts. The weight would be unimaginable, but to save Eric, there was no other way.
There was no ti to use the nearby cranes to block the monster. Even if I tackled it myself, I doubted it would even notice .
It didn't look like Eric could get clear of its attack range on his own, so I slamd on the brakes and ca to an abrupt halt. The ground was scraped with a long skid mark.
- Hyun-woo?!
As soon as I stopped moving, Celestia responded. Her voice was loaded with emotion.
Are you stopping out of fear just when you're almost there? Don't stop now. Please save Eric. Don't leave him to die. And so on.
Fragnts of unspoken feelings reached , but they were all things I already knew. I couldn't deny being scared, but I didn't stop to run away. On the contrary, I stopped to save him—to live.
I grabbed hold of the cube in front of . Just grasping it, I could feel how crushingly heavy it was. I was lifting with all my strength, but the cube barely budged. I wasn't even sure if I could lift it completely.
Naturally, it was heavy. It was a compressed block of tal, after all; could it be anything else? But how heavy the cube was didn't really matter right now—not compared to what was at stake.
What I had to rember was that if I couldn't lift this, if I couldn't throw it, Eric would be gravely injured or killed. That was all I focused on.
It hadn't been that long since I t him, but there was no ti to wonder if it was necessary to go this far; no ti to debate if there was a smarter solution, or whether this reckless move would only make things worse. I ignored every rational whisper inside .
Eric needed to live—for my own survival. If I wasn't going to get out safely, the right thing was to help him.
When I threw the black spike like a spear, I had an inexplicable belief that I could do it. In that mont, I was certain this action would kill the monster.
And now, I felt the sa conviction. Even if killing it wasn't possible, doing this might buy enough ti. That's what I believed.
The mutant's mouth gaped open—wide enough to swallow a mountain, nearly tearing at the seams. Inside the maw, at the back, a cluster of blue crystals glowed with a nacing light.
The mont the monster's blue particles entered my vision, every muscle in my body swelled. My senses went razor-sharp, and I instinctively understood how to move my body entirely as I willed.
A crunching noise sounded. I wasn't sure if it was from gritting my teeth, my joints twisting, or muscle fibers grinding together under their limits.
My awareness heightened and the world slowed down. My legs planted on the ground, my eyes fixed on the monster, my ears tuned to its drawn-out shriek, my mouth open to distract its attention for just a mont—all moved exactly as I wanted.
"Eric, get as far away as you can! Right now—!"
I shouted, then hurled the cube at the mutant. The cube streaked through the air with a force no one would believe a human could produce, displacing the air as it announced its presence to the world.
Sensing the threat, the mutant paused its assault on Eric, just as the cube slamd into it.
THUD—!
Unable to withstand the mass of the cube, the monster was knocked aside like it had taken a direct hit from artillery, tumbling and crashing across the ground. The uncompressed tal cube rattled and rolled, finally coming to a stop when it struck a nearby tower of cubes.
Chunks of dark red flesh splattered everywhere. So did tal fragnts. In most cases, this would have killed or at least incapacitated a creature for good, but the thing thrashed and howled, still alive.
It was so ferocious that getting close would be suicidal. The ground shook with its tantrum.
Eric, now seeing what had whizzed past him, looked aghast. His helt was sowhat damaged but, judging by his steady breathing, his respirator was still functioning.
"A tal cube? Did you throw that?! What kind of strength...?!"
"Is that important right now?! Get up and run!"
I had no idea when the giant mutant would get up again. This was the perfect chance to finish it off, but seizing that opening was impossible thanks to its fierce resistance.
'If only Eric could properly assist ...'
No, that was just an excuse. Eric wasn't the problem—I was. My own body could barely move. Straining myself throwing the cube left my hands limp and powerless.
Maybe I'd never exerted this much strength before. My body was screaming with pain—my ears were ringing, a portion of my vision was tinged red from burst capillaries, my muscles ached as if bruised.
I held onto my erratic breathing by force. Supporting Eric, I staggered away and began a desperate retreat. We ran, leaving the mutant behind.
"Thanks for rescuing , but how are we supposed to fight that thing?! Do you have a plan?!"
"First, we recover!"
After circling around a stack of cubes and making sure we were out of line of sight, Eric and I collapsed to the ground. My back hit the cube so hard it made a noise, but I didn't care.
Any sounds would be swallowed up by the engine noise anyway, and this wasn't hiding, just an urgent chance to catch my breath.
Holding my breath, I took off my respirator and swallowed so interdiate-grade dicine I'd prepared from my belt bag.
Then I put the respirator back on, making sure to exhale during the process so I wouldn't inhale any of the Titan's air that had pooled inside.
This was one inconvenience of not having a full-body suit—with no dedicated intake, eating or drinking required temporarily removing the respirator.
Eric, on the other hand, did the opposite. He took his dicine through the lower intake port on his helt, thanks to its integrated design.
While catching my breath, I focused on analyzing the situation. The interdiate-grade dicine kicked in quickly, radiating a subtle heat from within. The agony from torn muscles faded slightly, and my grip strength returned.
"Eric, you ntioned you were hidden but still spotted, right?"
"Yes, I was at a considerable distance, but suddenly, it locked onto . I'm sorry. My carelessness caused this."
"It's fine. I'm not blaming you. That monster probably sensed the heat you were generating, not you specifically."
It was a subtle distinction, but an important one. It had recognized moving heat rather than Eric himself.
Hearing my analysis as I watched the monster, Eric sighed. I briefly summarized for him what I'd learned from the file Kyle found on the shuttle, provoking a muttered curse.
The monster was up, scanning the area. Having not run far, our location would soon be discovered.
If my hunch was right, we couldn't escape—and we shouldn't. The quarantine wasn't lifted, and the shuttle still needed repairs.
We had to hold out until the ghouls inside were dealt with, or Eric and I had to take care of the monster—while getting Celestia's support.
"I tried to handle it myself, but its exoskeleton materializes montarily, making weapons ineffective. If I pressed further, my sword would've snapped, so my only choice was to retreat."
Eric said this as he drew his military greatsword. The sword still functioned, but the blade was severely damaged.
'... Wait a second.'
Exoskeleton. That word made eye the monster more closely. When the cube smashed into it, the sound wasn't flesh eting tal but tal striking tal. Apparently, it had absorbed a tal cube nearby.
'It reacts to heat.'
Strangely, what now sprang to mind was the mutant tram I saw in the residential area. The mutant lifeform Carrot had called a mimic. Right from the beginning, it had been burning.
Back then, I thought it had simply caught fire when the track spontaneously combusted due to the energy surge we caused.
'But what if that wasn't it?'
What if it actively sought out heat and set itself on fire? What if its pursuit of our tram and shuttle wasn't just about bloodlust?
Suppose the mutant tram and the exoskeleton-clad mutant here were the sa type. This creature wasn't just clinging to the engine for warmth, after all.
If so, maybe this mimic hadn't yet obtained a shell to nest in—or, the mutation wasn't complete, aning it was in an interdiate state.
'If so.'
That ant it wasn't impossible to deal with. I'd already witnessed that destroying the cluster of blue crystals inside killed it.
"... Celestia, can you access the local system? The unmanned cranes in this area, I an."
- If Eric operates them directly, yes. He's been given my proxy authority.
Having received Celestia's confirmation, I quickly explained my plan to Eric. He hesitated only briefly before nodding. With no alternative and no ti, neither of us wavered for long.
"This is insane. Let's do it."
【Kyaaaaaaaaaa-!】
Barely a few breaths later, the monster had located us again, roaring in furious rage as it ca charging. The ground trembled with its approach.
"... Are you sure about this?"
That question held many anings. My answer was simple.
"Even if I'm not, I have to try. Because I need to survive. Saving you was pure selfishness on my part. So let's move."
Eric and I imdiately split up. He ran to one side while I ran to the other. So components had been detached from his suit, and I held one in my hand.
It was a heat-emitting device.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
First Javelin Throw, now Shot put.
User Comments
0 comments from readers