Episode 38 [Subway (2)]
“No, I think I entered a ruin, not some kind of subway station.”
The subway waiting room I first encountered after coming down the stairs looked like a centuries-old ruin full of black stains.
Only the rusty turnstiles and faded arrows painted on the wall showed that this was a subway station in the past.
Kyung-hoon put on his gas mask again. It was difficult to breathe because of the bat excrement and gases rising from underground.
“Ugh…I guess I should at least wear an oxygen mask instead of a gas mask.”
I was able to endure it because I had a body that was different from that of an ordinary person. If I had been an ordinary person, I would not have been able to endure it for long.
-The environment is worse than expected.
Eve’s voice came through the earphones.
“There’s no problem with what you see, right?”
-Yes, it looks black and white, but the image quality is much better than the original camera.
There were two small cameras attached to Kyung-hoon’s body armor rack. It was a thermal infrared camera and an action camera.
These were Eve’s new eyes, which could not be seen at night and had low resolution.
Although Eve worked hard to create an app that works with the camera, in the end, with its excellent AI, it succeeded in connecting the cameras via Wi-Fi.
Kyunghoon looked around once again.
“Well, it’s been a long time. This is within the expected range.”
– It’s black and white, so I can’t understand it well. I think I need to check more. There may be something outside the expected range.
“What?”
Kyung-hoon was surprised and was about to ask.
Fudduck!
The sound of wings flapping was heard from the passage between the walls.
“As expected, there was one left.”
Kyunghoon pointed the flamethrower forward. The electric coil in front of the nozzle continued to glow red.
-You must block your path with a shield.
It was a fairly large waiting room, but it was still indoors. Kyung-hoon was also fully prepared.
Kyung-hoon held the shield firmly and placed his hand on the trigger.
Food Duck!
A bat monster appeared from inside the passage, destroying the bathroom name plate.
It was quite scary to see a bat the size of a child flying towards me. But Kyung-hoon calmly called Eve.
“Eve!”
-Start jamming.
As Eve spoke, Kyung-hoon’s hair on both sides fluttered.
High-pitched sound waves poured out from a speaker hanging on the shoulder.
Beep!
The flying bat monster could not get out of the passage and fell to the floor. Moreover, the monsters’ screams could be heard from inside the passage.
Kyunghoon glanced at the broken bathroom nameplate.
“It worked better than expected, but… what were these things doing in the bathroom?”
I had doubts, but I had to finish the work first.
Kyung-hoon fired a flamethrower at the bat monster struggling at the end of the passage.
Grrrr!
As the fuel passed through the heated coil, it turned into flame.
The flames shot straight towards the bat monster.
“I said it’s impossible to kill someone with a flamethrower, right?”
If it were an ordinary animal, it would have ended when it was engulfed in flames, but the opponents were monsters that could create a shield.
They said it could only be neutralized for a certain amount of time, but even that amount of time was enough to finish it off.
-I think that part may be a little different from what I expected. There was more guano than expected….
Eve tried to continue talking, but Kyung-hoon couldn’t hear her.
The moment the flames engulfed the monster, the black stains around them caught fire.
Kwagwagwagwa!
The flames continued to spread inside the bathroom passage.
bang! Quagwang! bang!
Sparks flew out with a small explosion. It was like putting firecrackers into a fire.
The moment the fire rose, Kyung-Hoon infused mana into the shield he held in his other hand.
The symbol on the shield began to glow.
The fire approached Kyung-hoon. And a translucent film unfolded on the shield.
It was the membrane that appeared on the monster’s body.
The flames hit the shield and retreated, but the shield and Gyeonghun behind it were not covered with a single soot.
The pattern engraved on this shield was a pattern that created a protective shield on the object.
It was also a pattern that was attempted to be engraved on anti-bullying uniforms, but was blown away.
Fortunately, the fire was extinguished quickly.
“How did this happen?”
Looking at the blackened passageway, Kyung-hoon called out to Eve with a stern expression.
-sorry. I had no idea there was this much guano accumulated. Because of the lack of oxygen, we judged that we could sufficiently block it with a shield, but we did not do enough research before that.
Kyung-hoon’s expression relaxed at Eve’s words. It wasn’t Eve’s fault.
Eve was AI. If you have enough data, you can provide better assistance than a human, but if you don’t have enough data, you are no different from ordinary humans.
I should have checked more myself.
Kyung-Hoon hit his head with a shield full of mana. Eve was just a supporter. All decisions and responsibilities were his own.
In that respect, Eve, who apologized first, was more humane than him.
“If there is insufficient information, please tell me clearly.
-All right. Let’s start with the following advice:
After hearing Eve’s answer, Kyung-hoon looked a little confused.
“But wouldn’t this help us more?”
-Yes. The firepower has increased more than expected. It looks like we can catch the bats without additional attacks. The
bat monster, which was writhing in a blackened state, finally stopped moving.
Jing, jing.
The phone vibrated.
-Mana amount increased. “The vibration is enough, you don’t have to say anything.
”
Zing Zing Zing.
Even after Kyung-hoon spoke, the vibration rang several times.
All the bat monsters in the bathroom were also dead. When I checked, several bat monsters had fallen dead.
Kyung-hoon pulled out the mana stone while being covered in soot.
After putting the mana stone in his backpack, Kyung-hoon headed down.
Go through the ticket gate, through the middle waiting room, and onto the subway platform.
We encountered one more bat monster along the way, but we were able to easily finish it off with a flamethrower.
“There is no screen door.”
There was nothing blocking the platform and the railroad tracks. It seemed like this world was destroyed before the safety gate was built.
Kyung-Hoon got down onto the railroad tracks.
The subway passageway going down came into view. It was an underwater tunnel passing under the Han River.
“Okay, then. Should I take out my Eve weapon?”
-It’s not a weapon, it’s just a reconnaissance device.
Kyung-hoon shrugged and took out a drone from his backpack. It was a drone with an infrared camera.
-You are connected.
“good. “Reconnaissance begins.”
Weeing.
As soon as Kyung-hoon finished speaking, the drone began to fly over the railroad tracks.
Kyung-hoon walked along the railroad tracks, following the flying drone.
The tracks were full of black stains, but the walls and ceiling were dripping with water.
“I don’t know if this can be drained. Surely the middle isn’t locked?” It was
surprising that it wasn’t locked yet, but Kyung-hoon had noticed a flock of bats coming out of both entrances a little while ago.
Eve’s voice was heard.
-100m ahead. Five bats. Retreat. “The power will be weaker than above.
”
The walls and ceiling had been washed away by a lot of water, so there weren’t many black stains.
The drone that had flown forward was coming back. I saw bats flying behind it.
Boom.
The drone passed by Gyeonghoon, and the bats came closer.
“Eve.”
The speaker vibrated again and the bats that had been flying hard fell to the floor.
“Fortunately, the wind is okay.”
The flamethrower fired fire again. Luckily, the guano on the floor was enough to cook the bat monsters well.
“Isn’t this better than the original guano?”
-It does not have more firepower than bat excrement. It’s just monster excrement, so it’s effective as a shield.
Kyunghoon’s eyebrows slightly rose.
“Could it be that it is a gunpowder material exclusively for monsters?”
The flamethrower slowly went down.
-…That’s right. But right now, passing through here is the priority. We’ll talk after we get out safely.
I couldn’t hear it, but it seemed like Eve sighed as she paused for a moment.
The flamethrower was set up again.
The two continued to move forward.
The drone went first and lured the bat monsters, and Kyung-hoon dealt with the lured bat monsters with the speaker and flamethrower.
Kyung-hoon was able to reach the middle of the underpass tunnel without much trouble. .
“It’ll pass by easier than expected, right?”
-… This is what the death flag I saw on the Internet was like. The drone has now been destroyed by the bat monster’s sonic attack. Kyung-hoon
looked down at his phone with a bewildered expression.
– At a point 300 meters ahead. Dozens of bat monsters are hanging from the ceiling. All of them appear to be female bats. They appear to be pregnant. I think they caught the wrong time.
Female bat monsters in pregnancy.
This was something Kyung-hoon confirmed before coming here.
In one year, there were 2 bat monsters. During this period, female bat monsters cannot move well, but can use lethal sound waves. It was
those sound waves that destroyed the drone.
– First, they retreat and then come back after the pregnancy period. What do you think? There is no way to stop the sound waves spreading through the air.
Gyeong-hoon scratched his head with his shield at Eve’s advice.
It wasn’t bad advice, but he got as far as he could. He had to go back the way he came and wait a while longer.
Eve’s advice The advice did not suit Kyung-hoon’s temperament.
He looked around. The floor was full of black stains, the walls and ceiling were dripping with water. The
subway passageway was cracked all over, perhaps because it had been abandoned for a long time.
An idea popped into Kyung-hoon’s head.
“Those sound waves only travel through air, right?”
-Yes. It can be done with other mediums, but the vibration frequency is different, so the killing power disappears.
Kyung-hoon began to feel conflicted by Eve’s words.
“Is there another way? No, there can be no other way…”
-Can you hear what the plan is?
Kyung-hoon sighed and answered Eve’s question.
Eve gave Kyung-hoon’s plan a passing grade.
-It is a very feasible plan. If you control it well, you can pass right through it without any major problems.
Eve’s voice had a hint of admiration.
“Then all this guano will be useless, right?”
Eve gave a clear answer to Kyung-hoon, who looked disappointed.
-Isn’t this the only subway station?
“Ah…”
A moment later, Kyung-hoon stood in the middle of the subway passage, holding the remote control in his hand.
The explosives he had brought were attached to the far back ceiling.
“Every time I come here, it feels like I’m using a bomb. It’ll become a habit.”
All of the equipment he was carrying so far was in his backpack, and in front of him was a huge sword stuck deep between the tracks.
He held the greatsword with one hand, took a deep breath, and pressed the remote control.
Quaaaang!
Bombs attached to the ceiling exploded. It was full of flames and smoke.
So so so so so.
At the same time, the cracks on the ceiling increased inexorably.
The screams of bat monsters were heard far ahead. As soon as he heard the sound, whether it was a mixture of murder sound waves, Kyung-hoon felt as if his skin was being torn.
And water poured down from the ceiling.
Quaguaguagua.
Kyung-hoon threw away the bomb remote control and grabbed the large sword with both hands.
We had to hold out until the water level rose.
Water pouring in from the back poured into both sides of the Hazer Tunnel.
The water level rose quickly. When the water reached his shoulders, he pulled out his greatsword.
Kyung-hoon dived into the water. He was carried forward by the current.
