Origin (5)

- ... What should I do?

As everyone was getting their gear ready to head out, the nameless man glanced around nervously and asked.

- What do you mean?

For a moment, I didn't understand what he was talking about and involuntarily frowned. The man's eyes wavered.

- Shouldn't someone stay here and keep those things under control?

He pointed at the screen showing the ghouls roasting away. The console was still performing containment in real-time. Adjusting for the ghouls' movement wasn't automatic, it was manual—so if Licorice took her hands off, no further containment would be possible.

That was what was worrying the man. He was wondering if everything locked up would be let loose if we just left like this.

Licorice let out a small scoff. She—or more precisely, alpoha, the machine she was controlling—rested a metallic hand on my shoulder.

- That's why these guys are going. And if someone has to stay behind, then what?

- ......

- If you were told to stay here on your own, could you? You wouldn't even be able to help if something happened, you know?

- Well... Yes. If someone must stay, I'll stay behind and support you all.

The man answered with a resolute expression. Maybe he felt self-conscious since all he had done after coming along was open the chief engineer's office door. Was it just a spur-of-the-moment reply?

Honestly, nothing we'd done so far required the man's presence. I stared at him in silence. Our eyes met and he flinched, his pupils trembling. What lurked there was fear.

It wasn't just fear of going outside; it was fear of the entire situation surrounding us. Yet next to that, there was also some courage. He seemed genuinely eager to help.

- I appreciate the sentiment. Still, if someone stays, it'll be Alpha—not you. Your job isn't just to sit here and watch the camera. Remember why you came this far and what you can do.

- Yes, understood.

Licorice mentioned that, while the system lock was released in only a few areas, that authority could now be transferred to another control room. The man nodded at that.

Having sorted things out, we restored the panic-roomed chief engineer's office to its original state. Fresh air flowed in from outside, and the sounds from outside became much clearer.

- Hyun-woo, what do you think I should do?

- Nadia, wait a bit. Join us after we finish up on the deck. We don't know how things will turn out.

- Fine. I'll assess the situation myself then.

- No, that could be dangerous—

- Quiet.

- ......

The shuttle station deck likely hadn't been cleared yet. No, I was sure of it. There was an announcement about cleaning up the deck, but the work would only start once crews with equipment arrived. Things would be just as they'd been left.

Someone with professional skills had to pilot the crane and push away all the shattered shuttles. That was bound to make a ruckus, but that was fine. There was a reason we'd lured the nearby ghouls in and locked them up.

This was a race against time. Would we finish looting the containers before the ghouls broke through the flames and poured in from the cargo sector?

We'd confirmed via cameras that some weren't lured, so there was an urgency. The faster we worked, the more we'd be able to grab.

- I'll take the lead. We'll go back to the cargo sector through the server room's ventilation ducts. Once we reach the exterior wall, we cross the bridge straight to the deck, so keep up the pace.

Eric took the lead. We followed him into the elevator down to the lower comms area, then headed for the server room. Thanks to preemptive containment and having dealt with most ghouls here ahead of time, there were no intense clashes at the start.

Even as we exited to the facility's outer wall via the server cooling ducts.

Everything was progressing smoothly. Still, the tension was steadily rising; we all knew that this peace was just the calm before the storm.

【Screeeee!】【Aaaaaaah!】

Crossing the maintenance footbridge to the edge of the deck, we immediately heard the ghouls raging in the shuttle station. The shrieking was so sharp, so heavy with murderous intent, we couldn't ignore it even if we tried.

Alpha's mono eye caught sight of the enemy and turned red. It didn't immediately shift into attack mode—the creatures hadn't noticed us yet.

- There are about twenty of them. Can you handle it?

- How far apart are they?

- Ten, maybe fifteen meters? Not really spread out. Grouped in twos or threes. Once the fighting starts, they'll charge right in.

The deck was as bad as expected. Destroyed shuttles were piled up, sprawled across the deck. The indicator light showed the control crane was operable, but it wasn't moving since no one was inside.

This is the hassle with manual lures. It would be so much easier with remote equipment, but outside of the waste disposal district, unmanned gear was almost non-existent due to the effects of the Blue Crystal. Knowing that didn't make it any less frustrating.

First objective: eliminate the remaining ghoul cluster and reach the crane.Second: clear the shuttle debris and get the container list from the cargo district warehouse control room.If we prioritized, third was to call Roxy and get him to load up the containers as quickly as possible.

But that wasn't the final goal. Our ultimate aim was to get out of here alive. That's why we were raiding the warehouse. If anyone died here, none of it mattered.

Whooooom...

A glacial wind blasted at my back, as if urging me to hurry in and die. It wasn't strong, but carried enough force to freeze anything. The cold whipped my body rigid, and in that moment, the atmosphere changed.

'Twenty of them, huh...'

I gauged the number and pressed my bracelet to call Nadia. Ideally, I would've waited until we cleaned up first, but we had no time to spare.

- Nadia, I think you'd better come right away.

- On my way.

Nadia replied without hesitation, telling me to wait just a little, then cut the transmission, the fierce wind noise ringing in my ears.

- Are you waiting for Woof-woof to fight alongside us?

- No. We don't have enough time for that.

As always, time wasn't on our side. Why else had we been rushing so hard? The longer things dragged on, the worse it got for us.

- That's true, but... isn't this a bit reckless? Can you do it?

- I couldn't before. If the gear hadn't changed, I wouldn't be stepping up now.

I took the shockwave emitter Alpha had been holding. Slinging it to the metallic part behind my shoulder, I fixed it so I could draw and fire at a moment's notice.

Taking a deep breath, I muttered inwardly.

Never forget—what you see isn't everything. The enemy is more numerous than you think.

If you want to survive, don't let your guard down. Stay tense. Getting careless can get you killed—and you won't even be able to regret it.

And remember, above all—never underestimate the monsters.

- They've already noticed us.

Do not belittle the beasts. They may look dumb, but they're specialized for killing. If there's even a chance to kill, no ghoul would let it pass.

- ... Ha, you're right. Just when did that happen?

At some point, the scratching at our throats had gone quiet. The ghouls' presence vanished suddenly, and I wasn't the only one who realized it late—Licorice only caught on just then, and so did the man awkwardly wielding the pre-upgrade plasma cutter.

He gripped his weapon tight as he stared at the shuttle station, where blue flowers had started to bloom. Only Eric and I had sensed the change right away.

- Since the wind blew inside. I guess they can smell blood.

It's said that when you kill something, the scent of its blood clings to you. Like how the ghouls always reeked of blood, maybe now we did too.

I'd killed many—much more than them, surely, but killing once is killing. And it hadn't been that long since we'd fought ghouls. The smell would still be fresh.

I felt their gazes, so many and from so many directions that I couldn't pinpoint any one in particular.

A tingling buzz ran through me. Every nerve screamed warnings, telling me stepping forward would be perilous.

Even so, to see a whole pack of ghouls hiding and silently watching us was a terrifying sight.

Nonetheless, Eric moved ahead. The plan was set. I—no, we—readied our weapons, keeping watch on where the monsters might be.

Then I took a step. No—broke into a run.

【Screeeee!】

The ghouls sprang into action almost at once. The blue flowers swirling all around sprang up as one, dripping bodily fluids onto the floor.

Now that we'd been spotted, we needed to seize the high ground—and fight from there. Hit and run was impossible; they were faster than us. If we tried breaking through blindly, we'd get blocked. They weren't pushovers that would crumble easily.

- Shuttle at eleven o'clock! There's armor plating, so we don't have to worry about it collapsing!

- Uh, I, I—

- Red! Take that guy and get up there!

I pointed to the man, who'd hesitated at the shuttle's height. Then Alpha grabbed the man, bent his knees slightly, and launched forward like a bullet for a massive leap.

- Shut your mouth while we jump. Unless you want your tongue bitten off.

It seemed a little late to say that after already jumping, but the robot pulled it off. Alpha darted up, set the man safely atop the shuttle with a thud.

Eric and I quickly followed. The ghouls chased right after, desperate to tear us apart with their own hands.

【Screeee!】

A ghoul was first to reach the top, rearing its head and snapping its jaws wide. A cluster of finger-sized tentacles shot out, reeking horribly. It was mid-mutation, the surface covered with something like an exoskeleton.

- Not so fast!

I ramped up the plasma cutter and swung. A blue arc slashed through the air—the ghoul's head flew clean off, no resistance.

Dark, viscous fluid splattered. Some ran down the shuttle's armor; some sizzled away to nothing on the plasma blade. The headless body still clung to the armor, so I kicked it off.

And then a new arc, another blue blade slicing through the air—a spree that showed no signs of stopping. I couldn't halt. There wasn't just one ghoul; more kept climbing up, claws digging into the armor.

It felt good to use my upgraded tool to lop off heads, but that was it. Unless you killed them in one stroke, they regenerated and attacked again.

"You said there were only about twenty!"

"I said about. And you knew there could be more!"

Eric was trying to keep them at bay, but they dodged his shots using that bizarre, twitchy movement. The man swung his tool a few times, but whether he was too tense or out of stamina, he began gasping for breath.

Getting closer would mean dropping them for sure—but that's what they wanted, waiting for us to get near enough to drag us down instead.

Alpha noticed and began charging up the shockwave emitter. I could hear the core's whir just for a moment as levels started ticking up—each tick brought a resonating hum from the emitter.

*Clunk!**Fwoooosh...!*

The shockwave burst out, pushing air forward like a wall. The ghouls clinging to the shuttle fell off. The blast at maximum output stripped the creatures' flesh almost like peeling leather, but after writhing on the ground a few times, they rose, wounds visibly healed.

"Maybe we crashed the wrong party."

"... This isn't the time for jokes."

"That's not a joke. Look over there. Seems like we didn't follow the dress code."

Alpha pointed to a ghoul emerging from the edge of the station. It looked nothing like the usual ones.

A hulking mass, as if several ghouls had merged. Every step was a thud, tentacles as thick as arms falling with a splat, its abdomen so swollen you couldn't guess its gender.

Bundled tentacles slithered across the floor like parasites, smearing slime everywhere. Some burrowed into their ghoul kin, jutting out through eyes, mouths, noses, or ears. The sight was so grotesque the man couldn't help but vomit.

The sharp smell burned my nose.

Whatever role those parasites played, it wasn't good for us. They squirmed along much faster than I expected; now seemed like the time to switch to the shockwave emitter instead of the plasma cutter.

There was no way I wanted to get caught by that thing, even for a moment.

Could that thing be how they made more ghouls? The thought flickered as Eric and I stood back to back.

"Hyun-woo! Eyes! Flashbang—!"

Nadia's shout came from behind. She must have been flying in at full speed; her voice sounded stretched out. I heard the pin being pulled, a metallic clink sharp as a knife in between.

"...?!"

I tried to shut my eyes the instant I heard it, but the glint of the canister in front of me came a fraction of a second sooner. The pins were already out—flare after flare burst white.

'Huh, hmm.'

As time slowed, a string of thoughts flashed through my mind. The first: "I'm screwed."

Couldn't she warn me ahead of time? I knew she was in a rush, but throwing first and yelling after reminded me of the way Licorice controlled Alpha earlier. Did she pick up those "act first, think later" tendencies by hanging out together lately?

*Krr-aaang!**BEEEEEEP—*

No time to even scream. My senses just snapped off for a moment, then back.

"Hel#p! I'm #@here!"

I couldn't make out the words. Still, it sounded like she was shouting something, so I tried responding in that direction. Whether my body turned or I'd lost my sense of direction, dizziness wouldn't go away.

"Nadia, you got here just in time!"

"I'm... not there, though."

Nadia's flustered voice came from behind me. Was my body turned around, or had I started facing the wrong way entirely?

"Ah, there you are, sorry. Can't see or hear too well. These things are pretty effective."

The flashbang had gone off right in my face—my ears rang and nothing came into focus. The sudden, bright explosion and concussive boom did it.

"Sorry..."

"No, it's okay."

Given how effective a homemade device was, I was sure the ghouls had taken quite a hit too—the sudden silence in the battle proved it.

"Nadia, throw another flashbang! Keep them disoriented!"

"I said it's not over there...! Sorry! I'll throw two more! Hyun-woo's revenge!"

Unable to watch anymore, Nadia grabbed me and righted my direction. Or at least, I think she did.

"Carry, buy us some time!"

【(⌐■_■)-︻╦╤─】

Carry(it) aimed the flamethrower attached to its auxiliary arm at the ghouls. With a click, the hose connected to the fuel tank flexed.

While the ghouls were still dazed, we had to create a setup where we could deal with them more easily.

A glint shone from Carry(it)'s sunglasses, and a blue flame whooshed out across the floor, forming a wall of azure fire. The roar of the fire swallowed the ghouls' screams.

The shuttle station was instantly engulfed in flames.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=【(⌐■_■)-︻╦╤─】

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