Chapter 13 – Showdown
That was a nest. A huge animated nest.
If you look at the science fiction novel fragments written by Warren Fay, plants with hearts and blood appear.
It is only a plant in appearance, but lays eggs, hunts, and breeds and eats seabirds. It is a predatory animal with roots and branches.
When I read it, I thought it was a pretty interesting setting, but when I saw a similar guy in front of me, that thought disappeared.
After all, a story is a comedy seen from afar, but a tragedy seen from a close up.
Woo woo woo woo woo-!
Its appearance resembled a mixture of half sea anemone and half coral.
“Two hypotheses proved at once.”
The source of that huge nest is a hydroponic cultivation facility. Numerous branches that grew there rose up into the sky like corals.
Tree-trunk tentacles sprouted from the tips of the branches, wriggling disgustingly.
If it was this far, I would have been able to endure it somehow, but the problem is that those tentacles have mouths.
It was spraying a gas that looked harmful at first glance from its mouth.
[Increased concentrations of air pollutants. The area where those tentacles spray is intensively climbing.]
Artemis intersects the map and atmospheric concentrations through her PDA, but apparently that nest is the cause. The bar graph went up and down like crazy in line with the jets of tentacles.
Woo woo woo woo woo-!
After grasping the situation, that cry felt more like a kind of factory operation sound than a mere scream. There was a similar sound at the power plant that I entered during an operation during my military days.
“Is the reason the explosion happened at the power facility was that the tentacles just poured a lot of it there at the right time?”
Those tentacles not only sprayed the atmosphere, but also plunged their snouts into nearby buildings and injected them. Like that now
Push yi profit.
One building, which seemed fine, instantly turned green and gas leaked through the cracks in the closed windows.
“Oh, I can’t see you.”
Surrounding street lamps and roadside trees were also clinging to unknown mucous membranes, and molds that grew there repeatedly contracted and expanded, emitting gas, albeit weakly.
The entire wall of one side of the power facility seen not far away was blown away, so it must be where the explosion occurred last time.
[I’d rather go well.]
Artemis seemed to be happy with the current situation.
[If there was something lurking around the power facility, it would have been a problem. Because you can’t just fight there. However, the place where the nest stays is a hydroponic cultivation facility. In this case, solving the problem is much simpler.]
A new action route was entered with the PDA. The final destination of this goal-striking journey, the government building where the subregion control facility is located. It is already close enough to be seen with the naked eye.
“Once you occupy that place, everything is over, right?”
[Okay. If you just acquire control over the entire shelter, you can clean up that nest and numerous infections at once.]
Her voice was full of confidence. It seemed that the current situation was judged to be more favorable to us than expected.
[Jinsu, do you believe me?]
“Of course.”
She is a reliable partner. As an ex-officer, she’s got her pride hurt, but she’s honestly a better commander than I am.
[The target is the government building. If you can only get in there, everything is OK.]
“It is, but I mean…”
I was speechless as I looked at the countless obstacles between the government building and us.
“Quooooo-!”
Only three large strains were seen that were in danger of dying at the labor camp.
Coo-! Coo-! Coo-!
Even though it’s quite far away, I can feel the earth’s axis vibrating as the three move.
The mutants I met at the kwanliso had the feeling that they moved according to their instincts without much control, but those guys definitely felt like they were following a certain role.
They did not try to deviate beyond a certain level from their respective assigned areas, centering on hydroponic cultivation facilities.
The problem is that there is a government building not far away, so if you go there, you will get caught in their eyes.
“Will they keep their seats even if they see us?”
[It is meaningless to measure the probability itself.]
“Is that so too?”
Variants aren’t the only problem.
“Eh eh eh-!”
The infestations were so numerous that it felt silly to count them. In the middle, there are also dogs that have grown to the level of wolves. Obviously not a normal dog.
I simulated me passing by them and entering the government building.
Well, there is nothing to think about for a long time. No matter the number of cases, death is the only thing.
In the middle of running, you get flattened by a variant that falls like a bomb from the sky.
Or, because the path is blocked by a horde of infected, ‘Huh? Huh?” Or get surrounded and die.
‘Good! As soon as I said, ‘I’m here…’, A dog ran up to me and bit me in the neck.
The number of bad endings can be counted.
The scene in front of you is truly an apocalypse.
Coo-! Coo-! Coo-!
I felt a tickling vibration in my hand holding the car that was covered by the thumping of the variants.
Woo woo woo woo woo-!
The gas emitted by the nest obscured the ceiling lights and cast unpleasant shadows everywhere.
“Keeeee-!
The human infected screaming like a chorus.
The whole body is discolored and even glossy. From the feel, the shell seems incredibly hard.
A thick, long tentacle rustling on the spot with its head gone. At the end of it is a lamprey-like mouth.
A man with strange ooze constantly flowing from his entire body.
The quadrupedal guy you saw above.
A bitch with long tentacles sprouting from its crotch. However, the bitch over here has a full belly like a pregnant woman. I don’t want to think about what might be in it.
The human infestations, still in good shape, were carrying something resembling pumpkin vines, which of course would not be edible for humans.
They brought them from the hydroponic cultivation facility and were heading all over the place.
“It’s full of guys I’ve never dealt with before.”
The most dangerous thing on the battlefield is the unpredictable enemy.
The military will have to be dispatched to break through there. I don’t know if there are still enough troops left to deal with that huge number.
The situation looks hopeless, but I have a trump card. In fact, if it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t have come out to the city through the manhole cover from the beginning.
I started preparing for the final assault.
When everything was done, she asked.
[Is your heart ready?]
“Of course.”
[Take a deep breath, and once you start, don’t worry about anything else. Even if there is an infection approaching nearby, I will do something, so just think about going inside the building.]
I nodded and stretched. My whole body was sore from walking around with my back bent in an attempt to avoid their gaze.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”
He could feel his heart beating like crazy in his hand on her chest.
Coo-! Coo-! Coo-!
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Although small in scale, the heartbeat felt more intense than that of the variants that roamed far away.
Fear before the final assault.
Determination to succeed.
The fighting spirit to wipe out those damned monsters.
My little heart cobbled them together and sent them through the body with fury. The energy flowing through the blood floods the body.
A strong human will.
Bureung-!
Rurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The sound of machinery and starting sounds suddenly echoed in the city, which was filled only with the sound of monsters. It’s not just one either.
They are large and numerous enough to cover the cries of so many monsters.
Kook-!
The gazes of the three mutants, who stopped all at once, turned this way. The car I was in would not know of my existence because it was hidden behind it.
“Keeeeek-?”
Numerous infestations turn around one by one.
“Kyarrureung…”
Even dogs whose original breeds are not recognizable.
Jerking! Bulging!
The top of the pumpkin opened as the Infestors carrying something like a pumpkin vine set it on the ground.
A long tentacle sprouted from it, at the end of which was a human with only the upper body remaining.
“Shit.”
Even children who look younger than elementary school students. Among them, there were babies who were barely past their first birthday.
“Gee ah!”
They opened their eyes and let out a sharp scream, but their mouths were bizarrely deformed. As if you could shoot something.
“Kwoaaaaa-!”
One of the three mutants started running this way, followed by numerous infestations.
Progress has also begun on this side.
Cars, trucks, trucks, ready-mixed concrete trucks, buses, large excavators, fire trucks, and various construction vehicles.
The heavy equipment vehicles that were left over to reinforce some of the areas that were insufficient due to the overly rushed completion were like a thousand horses to me.
“Kwoaaaaa-!”
Before the two forces clash.
Gee-!
Numerous headlights that turn on in unison.
“Keeeeek-?”
As if it was dazzling, the infectious agents and variants that had been running at the forefront retreated.
An overwhelming amount of violence assaulted the collapse.