Chapter 199
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Chapter 199
Tommy and Alyosha were in the waiting room of the passenger terminal.
Some of the elders were soothing the children that were crying, while others were praying. When Lee Jeong-Uk and Do Han-Sol entered the terminal, everyone’s attention fell on them. Tommy, who had been sitting in the corner, rushed over to Lee Jeong-Uk.
“What happened? Is everything over?”
“Where are the samples?” asked Lee Jeong-Uk urgently.
Tommy gestured to him to follow and headed for the tool cabinet in the passenger terminal. He opened the tool cabinet to reveal a briefcase inside. Tommy punched in the code for the lock and showed him the samples inside. Lee Jeong-Uk checked the status of the samples and turned to Do Han-Sol.
“Is So-Yeon’s dad and Kim Hyeong-Jun okay?” he asked him.
“...”
Instead of answering, Do Han-Sol held out his right hand. Tommy gave him one of the samples.
Lee Jeong-Uk fixed his eyes on Do Han-Sol. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“I’ll leave my underlings here. Evacuate to Jeju Airport once the situation in Port Jeju is resolved.”
“What do you mean, go to Jeju Airport?” asked Lee Jeong-Uk, looking confused.
Do Han-Sol looked out the window, a bitter expression on his face. He realized that the world was turning darker; dusk was falling in front of his eyes. It was as if the world was informing them of their fate. Do Han-Sol kept staring into the darkness as he let out a small sigh.
“If we don’t come back within the next four hours, you have to leave Jeju Island,” he said.
“What...?” Lee Jeong-Uk repeated, his eyes going wide.
“It doesn’t matter if you return to Seoul or Daegu,” replied Do Han-Sol calmly. “The decision is yours.”
“What are you saying? Did So-Yeon’s dad and Kim Hyeong-Jun fall?”
“Not yet. But we’re not in the best situation, and there’s not much we can do.”
Lee Jeong-Uk didn't bother to ask any more questions. He knew that using the samples they had was their last resort. And the fact that Do Han-Sol came all the way back to get the samples... It meant that Lee Hyun-Deok and Kim Hyeong-Jun were cornered by the black creature.
Do Han-Sol held Lee Jeong-Uk’s arm and broke the silence.
“Do you understand what I just said?”
Lee Jeong-Uk remained still, and Do Han-Sol had no choice but to leave the passenger terminal feeling bitter. When he returned to the front of the second line of defense, he noticed that his underlings had taken care of most of the zombies in Port Jeju.
‘First platoon, second platoon, follow me. The rest of you, protect the survivors.’
GRRR!!!
His underlings, who were beyond the second line of defense, let out their throat-rending noises at once, showing that they understood what they had to do. With that, Do Han-Sol made his way back to where the black creature was.
As he dashed back through the forest, he couldn’t help but feel nervous. He had already lost his connection to his six stage-one mutants already. It was obvious that the black creature had already taken down all six of his underlings. However, that also meant that Lee Hyun-Deok and Kim Hyeong-Jun had used their lives to buy themselves time to regenerate their damaged body parts.
'I hope the two of them are still alive. They have to be.’
Do Han-Sol picked up the pace, his red eyes flashing.
* * *
"Catch it!” I shouted to Kim Hyeong-Jun, just as the black creature was about to lose balance.novε(lb.In
Kim Hyeong-Jun charged toward the black creature like a raging wave, his blue eyes flashing. Our fight continued in the pitch-black darkness, devoid of even the slightest bit of moonlight.
Kim Hyeong-Jun quickly choked the black creature and knocked it to the ground by stepping on its other leg. But the black creature wasn’t going to wait around for Kim Hyeong-Jun to finish it off. It opened its jaws wide and bit off Kim Hyeong-Jun’s left arm while twisting its right arm around to pull at his hair.
The head was one of the places where we still felt pain, so Kim Hyeong-Jun’s face couldn’t help but twist as the creature continued to pull, and he eventually let go of the black creature. The black creature twisted its upper body almost parallel to the ground. Then it launched itself up from the ground using its left arm, its jaws yawning wide as it went for Kim Hyeong-Jun’s face. Kim Hyeong-Jun desperately raised his right arm and grabbed its face.
Gnash! Gnash! Gnash! Gnash!
Its sharp teeth ground violently as Kim Hyeong-Jun maintained his grip.
Ssss–
Once my severed lower body regenerated, I dropped to all fours and charged toward the black creature like a bullet fired from a muzzle. Just as I was about to kick it in the stomach, it noticed my presence and scuttled aside like a cockroach.
Bang!
The black creature just barely avoided my attack. As it tried to regroup, Kim Hyeong-Jun took the chance to create some distance between himself and the creature. I glanced back at him.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
“How about you, ahjussi?”
“Gaa!”
I gasped, unable to say anything. The black creature had pierced my throat with its thumb, so I could only make hissing sounds. I hurriedly regenerated my body, stopping the bleeding from my neck. Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me worriedly, trying to assess how I was doing.
“Is your neck okay? Did it snap? How about your bones?”
I coughed and nodded. He seemed shaken by the fact that my neck had been attacked, since he knew that the neck was a particularly vulnerable spot that could determine life or death.
Ssss–
Soon after, hot steam began to rise from the black creature’s upper body. Its severed arms regenerated, and its face, which was an unrecognizable mess, slowly reformed. Despite hitting it continuously, its skull hadn’t broken. I knew it would’ve died if we were on asphalt ground, but the relatively soft dirt here had helped it survive. It sure was one lucky bastard.
Kim Hyeong-Jun stood in front of me and stared straight at the black creature. The moment it recovered, it tried to dash toward Kim Hyeong-Jun, but then it seemed to hesitate at the sound of footsteps coming from its left.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
GRRR!!!
It was Do Han-Sol's underlings making their way over. The black creature looked back and forth between Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol. It frowned and channeled strength to the muscles of its entire body.
I knew that it wasn’t trying to put up a fight, though. The murderous intent that it had been exuding earlier was long gone. It was strengthening its body in order to get away.
“Don’t let it get away!” I yelled as loudly as I could, once my vocal cords were regenerated.
Kim Hyeong-Jun rushed toward the black creature, his blue eyes flashing. It leaped, but it didn’t even manage to make it one meter into the air. Kim Hyeong-Jun had caught it right before it could make a full jump. Kim Hyeong-Jun’s eyes bulged as he slammed the black creature to the ground.
KWAAA!!!
The black creature let out a wail. It had started out as a predator, but it was now the prey. The tables had turned in our favor. As it approached the limits of its regenerative abilities, it seemed to attack emotionally rather than rationally. I could tell that it was nervous and that it wanted to get out of the situation it was in as soon as possible. It clearly wasn’t thinking straight.
Which meant that this would be our chance to take it down.
As we pinned it to the ground, Do Han-Sol's underlings leaped onto its upper body, smothering it. The creature, outraged, tore them to pieces. Do Han-Sol was hiding among his underlings, trying to inject the sample he was holding into the black creature’s back. However, even while it was being bitten by Do Han-Sol’s underlings, the black creature sensed his murderous intent and quickly twisted its body to grab his arm.
At the same time, it opened its jaws wide, going for his face. Do Han-Sol’s eyes went wide and he quickly avoided the attack, allowing the black creature to tear off his shoulder blades in an instant. His arm was neatly sliced off as well, like a slab of meat sliced up at a butcher shop. Do Han-Sol ignored the blood gushing out from the stump of his right arm like a fountain and shouted at Kim Hyeong-Jun instead.
“Grab the sample!! It can't break!!”
Kim Hyeong-Jun leaped toward the sample with his eyes wide open.
Grasp!
He barely managed to grab Do Han-Sol's flying arm, and retrieved the sample out of it. At the same time, he plunged the needle toward the black creature's neck. Just as it tried to avoid the needle, five sharpened fingers pierced through its chest.
"My child...”
Red blood was gushing from Ji-Eun’s mouth, but she was nowhere near death. In fact, she was glaring at the black creature with eyes full of murderous intent. Even with half of her body malfunctioning, Ji-Eun had followed my orders to kill the black creature. Kim Hyeong-Jun didn’t let the opportunity slip away, and jabbed the needle into the black creature's neck.
KWAAA!!!
The black creature trembled and let out a death cry. Both of its arms waved about wildly as it continued to struggle. The underlings that had glued themselves onto the black creature were sent flying left and right, while Ji-Eun took a blow right to the face and rolled a couple of meters across the ground.
Kim Hyeong-Jun raised his arms to defend himself against its kicks, but the creature was cornered, and its kicks were packed with desperate strength. Both of Kim Hyeong-Jun’s arms were crushed, and he stumbled once before falling to the ground.
Kw... Kwa! Kwaaa! KWAAA!!!
The blood vessels all throughout the black creature’s body began to bulge. It dropped to its knees, scratching at its neck with its hands and screaming continuously. The sounds it made became hoarse and irregular as if it had trouble breathing.
I wondered if it was confused by what was going on. It trembled nonstop, like a leaf in the wind. It seemed unable to understand what was going on in its body, or how it was reacting to being stabbed. Two viruses with different properties were fighting each other inside its body, which eventually paralyzed its movements. I knew that we had to finish it off the moment that it stopped struggling.
I got up and channeled all my strength on my right arm. My right arm bulged as if it was about to burst, and hot steam gushed from it.
“Go to hell, where you belong.”
My eyes bulged and I gnashed my teeth as I punched the black creature in the face.
Crack!!!
Its face caved in and it fell to the ground. With the sample inside it, its bones had softened as if it was suffering from osteoporosis, and its previous iron-like defenses were nowhere to be seen. Instead of stopping, I decided to hit the black creature in the face nonstop until its skull was smashed to pieces.
Smack! Pow! Whack! Squish!
I finally managed to crush its brain. As soon as I felt the cerebral fluid coating my fingers, I collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. As I slowly collected myself, I looked around, licking my dry lips. Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol were staring straight at the black creature, which was finally immobile.
They seemed to be focused on it completely; in fact, it seemed like they were so focused that they had forgotten about the blood leaking out of their own bodies. I could tell that they were nervous, unsure whether it was truly dead, afraid that it could start moving again any second.
But I knew that it wasn’t coming back. I had destroyed its brain with my very own hands. Unless it was some manner of god, there was no way it was going to move again. A strange stillness came over the black creature, which had now turned into a cold corpse. No one dared to move or be the first to speak. There was no celebration, no roars of joy, nor any tears of elation.
Nothing but silence floating around, reminding us of the death that awaited all living things. In that moment, we were all keenly attuned to the silence of death.
After being immersed in that silence for a long time, I finally realized it.
This bloody, devastating war was over.
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Chapter 199
Tommy and Alyosha were in the waiting room of the passenger terminal.
Some of the elders were soothing the children that were crying, while others were praying. When Lee Jeong-Uk and Do Han-Sol entered the terminal, everyone’s attention fell on them. Tommy, who had been sitting in the corner, rushed over to Lee Jeong-Uk.
“What happened? Is everything over?”
“Where are the samples?” asked Lee Jeong-Uk urgently.
Tommy gestured to him to follow and headed for the tool cabinet in the passenger terminal. He opened the tool cabinet to reveal a briefcase inside. Tommy punched in the code for the lock and showed him the samples inside. Lee Jeong-Uk checked the status of the samples and turned to Do Han-Sol.
“Is So-Yeon’s dad and Kim Hyeong-Jun okay?” he asked him.
“...”
Instead of answering, Do Han-Sol held out his right hand. Tommy gave him one of the samples.
Lee Jeong-Uk fixed his eyes on Do Han-Sol. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“I’ll leave my underlings here. Evacuate to Jeju Airport once the situation in Port Jeju is resolved.”
“What do you mean, go to Jeju Airport?” asked Lee Jeong-Uk, looking confused.
Do Han-Sol looked out the window, a bitter expression on his face. He realized that the world was turning darker; dusk was falling in front of his eyes. It was as if the world was informing them of their fate. Do Han-Sol kept staring into the darkness as he let out a small sigh.
“If we don’t come back within the next four hours, you have to leave Jeju Island,” he said.
“What...?” Lee Jeong-Uk repeated, his eyes going wide.
“It doesn’t matter if you return to Seoul or Daegu,” replied Do Han-Sol calmly. “The decision is yours.”
“What are you saying? Did So-Yeon’s dad and Kim Hyeong-Jun fall?”
“Not yet. But we’re not in the best situation, and there’s not much we can do.”
Lee Jeong-Uk didn't bother to ask any more questions. He knew that using the samples they had was their last resort. And the fact that Do Han-Sol came all the way back to get the samples... It meant that Lee Hyun-Deok and Kim Hyeong-Jun were cornered by the black creature.
Do Han-Sol held Lee Jeong-Uk’s arm and broke the silence.
“Do you understand what I just said?”
Lee Jeong-Uk remained still, and Do Han-Sol had no choice but to leave the passenger terminal feeling bitter. When he returned to the front of the second line of defense, he noticed that his underlings had taken care of most of the zombies in Port Jeju.
‘First platoon, second platoon, follow me. The rest of you, protect the survivors.’
GRRR!!!
His underlings, who were beyond the second line of defense, let out their throat-rending noises at once, showing that they understood what they had to do. With that, Do Han-Sol made his way back to where the black creature was.
As he dashed back through the forest, he couldn’t help but feel nervous. He had already lost his connection to his six stage-one mutants already. It was obvious that the black creature had already taken down all six of his underlings. However, that also meant that Lee Hyun-Deok and Kim Hyeong-Jun had used their lives to buy themselves time to regenerate their damaged body parts.
'I hope the two of them are still alive. They have to be.’
Do Han-Sol picked up the pace, his red eyes flashing.
* * *
"Catch it!” I shouted to Kim Hyeong-Jun, just as the black creature was about to lose balance.novε(lb.In
Kim Hyeong-Jun charged toward the black creature like a raging wave, his blue eyes flashing. Our fight continued in the pitch-black darkness, devoid of even the slightest bit of moonlight.
Kim Hyeong-Jun quickly choked the black creature and knocked it to the ground by stepping on its other leg. But the black creature wasn’t going to wait around for Kim Hyeong-Jun to finish it off. It opened its jaws wide and bit off Kim Hyeong-Jun’s left arm while twisting its right arm around to pull at his hair.
The head was one of the places where we still felt pain, so Kim Hyeong-Jun’s face couldn’t help but twist as the creature continued to pull, and he eventually let go of the black creature. The black creature twisted its upper body almost parallel to the ground. Then it launched itself up from the ground using its left arm, its jaws yawning wide as it went for Kim Hyeong-Jun’s face. Kim Hyeong-Jun desperately raised his right arm and grabbed its face.
Gnash! Gnash! Gnash! Gnash!
Its sharp teeth ground violently as Kim Hyeong-Jun maintained his grip.
Ssss–
Once my severed lower body regenerated, I dropped to all fours and charged toward the black creature like a bullet fired from a muzzle. Just as I was about to kick it in the stomach, it noticed my presence and scuttled aside like a cockroach.
Bang!
The black creature just barely avoided my attack. As it tried to regroup, Kim Hyeong-Jun took the chance to create some distance between himself and the creature. I glanced back at him.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
“How about you, ahjussi?”
“Gaa!”
I gasped, unable to say anything. The black creature had pierced my throat with its thumb, so I could only make hissing sounds. I hurriedly regenerated my body, stopping the bleeding from my neck. Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me worriedly, trying to assess how I was doing.
“Is your neck okay? Did it snap? How about your bones?”
I coughed and nodded. He seemed shaken by the fact that my neck had been attacked, since he knew that the neck was a particularly vulnerable spot that could determine life or death.
Ssss–
Soon after, hot steam began to rise from the black creature’s upper body. Its severed arms regenerated, and its face, which was an unrecognizable mess, slowly reformed. Despite hitting it continuously, its skull hadn’t broken. I knew it would’ve died if we were on asphalt ground, but the relatively soft dirt here had helped it survive. It sure was one lucky bastard.
Kim Hyeong-Jun stood in front of me and stared straight at the black creature. The moment it recovered, it tried to dash toward Kim Hyeong-Jun, but then it seemed to hesitate at the sound of footsteps coming from its left.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
GRRR!!!
It was Do Han-Sol's underlings making their way over. The black creature looked back and forth between Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol. It frowned and channeled strength to the muscles of its entire body.
I knew that it wasn’t trying to put up a fight, though. The murderous intent that it had been exuding earlier was long gone. It was strengthening its body in order to get away.
“Don’t let it get away!” I yelled as loudly as I could, once my vocal cords were regenerated.
Kim Hyeong-Jun rushed toward the black creature, his blue eyes flashing. It leaped, but it didn’t even manage to make it one meter into the air. Kim Hyeong-Jun had caught it right before it could make a full jump. Kim Hyeong-Jun’s eyes bulged as he slammed the black creature to the ground.
KWAAA!!!
The black creature let out a wail. It had started out as a predator, but it was now the prey. The tables had turned in our favor. As it approached the limits of its regenerative abilities, it seemed to attack emotionally rather than rationally. I could tell that it was nervous and that it wanted to get out of the situation it was in as soon as possible. It clearly wasn’t thinking straight.
Which meant that this would be our chance to take it down.
As we pinned it to the ground, Do Han-Sol's underlings leaped onto its upper body, smothering it. The creature, outraged, tore them to pieces. Do Han-Sol was hiding among his underlings, trying to inject the sample he was holding into the black creature’s back. However, even while it was being bitten by Do Han-Sol’s underlings, the black creature sensed his murderous intent and quickly twisted its body to grab his arm.
At the same time, it opened its jaws wide, going for his face. Do Han-Sol’s eyes went wide and he quickly avoided the attack, allowing the black creature to tear off his shoulder blades in an instant. His arm was neatly sliced off as well, like a slab of meat sliced up at a butcher shop. Do Han-Sol ignored the blood gushing out from the stump of his right arm like a fountain and shouted at Kim Hyeong-Jun instead.
“Grab the sample!! It can't break!!”
Kim Hyeong-Jun leaped toward the sample with his eyes wide open.
Grasp!
He barely managed to grab Do Han-Sol's flying arm, and retrieved the sample out of it. At the same time, he plunged the needle toward the black creature's neck. Just as it tried to avoid the needle, five sharpened fingers pierced through its chest.
"My child...”
Red blood was gushing from Ji-Eun’s mouth, but she was nowhere near death. In fact, she was glaring at the black creature with eyes full of murderous intent. Even with half of her body malfunctioning, Ji-Eun had followed my orders to kill the black creature. Kim Hyeong-Jun didn’t let the opportunity slip away, and jabbed the needle into the black creature's neck.
KWAAA!!!
The black creature trembled and let out a death cry. Both of its arms waved about wildly as it continued to struggle. The underlings that had glued themselves onto the black creature were sent flying left and right, while Ji-Eun took a blow right to the face and rolled a couple of meters across the ground.
Kim Hyeong-Jun raised his arms to defend himself against its kicks, but the creature was cornered, and its kicks were packed with desperate strength. Both of Kim Hyeong-Jun’s arms were crushed, and he stumbled once before falling to the ground.
Kw... Kwa! Kwaaa! KWAAA!!!
The blood vessels all throughout the black creature’s body began to bulge. It dropped to its knees, scratching at its neck with its hands and screaming continuously. The sounds it made became hoarse and irregular as if it had trouble breathing.
I wondered if it was confused by what was going on. It trembled nonstop, like a leaf in the wind. It seemed unable to understand what was going on in its body, or how it was reacting to being stabbed. Two viruses with different properties were fighting each other inside its body, which eventually paralyzed its movements. I knew that we had to finish it off the moment that it stopped struggling.
I got up and channeled all my strength on my right arm. My right arm bulged as if it was about to burst, and hot steam gushed from it.
“Go to hell, where you belong.”
My eyes bulged and I gnashed my teeth as I punched the black creature in the face.
Crack!!!
Its face caved in and it fell to the ground. With the sample inside it, its bones had softened as if it was suffering from osteoporosis, and its previous iron-like defenses were nowhere to be seen. Instead of stopping, I decided to hit the black creature in the face nonstop until its skull was smashed to pieces.
Smack! Pow! Whack! Squish!
I finally managed to crush its brain. As soon as I felt the cerebral fluid coating my fingers, I collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. As I slowly collected myself, I looked around, licking my dry lips. Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol were staring straight at the black creature, which was finally immobile.
They seemed to be focused on it completely; in fact, it seemed like they were so focused that they had forgotten about the blood leaking out of their own bodies. I could tell that they were nervous, unsure whether it was truly dead, afraid that it could start moving again any second.
But I knew that it wasn’t coming back. I had destroyed its brain with my very own hands. Unless it was some manner of god, there was no way it was going to move again. A strange stillness came over the black creature, which had now turned into a cold corpse. No one dared to move or be the first to speak. There was no celebration, no roars of joy, nor any tears of elation.
Nothing but silence floating around, reminding us of the death that awaited all living things. In that moment, we were all keenly attuned to the silence of death.
After being immersed in that silence for a long time, I finally realized it.
This bloody, devastating war was over.
Chapter 199Tommy and Alyosha were in the waiting room of the passenger terminal.Some of the elders were soothing the children that were crying, while others were praying. When Lee Jeong-Uk and Do Han-Sol entered the terminal, everyone's attention fell on them. Tommy, who had been sitting in the corner, rushed over to Lee Jeong-Uk.What happened? Is everything over?Where are the samples? asked Lee Jeong-Uk urgently.Tommy gestured to him to follow and headed for the tool cabinet in the passenger terminal. He opened the tool cabinet to reveal a briefcase inside. Tommy punched in the code for the lock and showed him the samples inside. Lee Jeong-Uk checked the status of the samples and turned to Do Han-Sol.Is So-Yeon's dad and Kim Hyeong-Jun okay? he asked him....Instead of answering, Do Han-Sol held out his right hand. Tommy gave him one of the samples.Lee Jeong-Uk fixed his eyes on Do Han-Sol. Is there anything we can do to help?I'll leave my underlings here. Evacuate to Jeju Airport once the situation in Port Jeju is resolved.What do you mean, go to Jeju Airport? asked Lee Jeong-Uk, looking confused.Do Han-Sol looked out the window, a bitter expression on his face. He realized that the world was turning darker; dusk was falling in front of his eyes. It was as if the world was informing them of their fate. Do Han-Sol kept staring into the darkness as he let out a small sigh.If we don't come back within the next four hours, you have to leave Jeju Island, he said.What...? Lee Jeong-Uk repeated, his eyes going wide.It doesn't matter if you return to Seoul or Daegu, replied Do Han-Sol calmly. The decision is yours.What are you saying? Did So-Yeon's dad and Kim Hyeong-Jun fall?Not yet. But we're not in the best situation, and there's not much we can do.Lee Jeong-Uk didn't bother to ask any more questions. He knew that using the samples they had was their last resort. And the fact that Do Han-Sol came all the way back to get the samples... It meant that Lee Hyun-Deok and Kim Hyeong-Jun were cornered by the black creature.Do Han-Sol held Lee Jeong-Uk's arm and broke the silence.Do you understand what I just said?Lee Jeong-Uk remained still, and Do Han-Sol had no choice but to leave the passenger terminal feeling bitter. When he returned to the front of the second line of defense, he noticed that his underlings had taken care of most of the zombies in Port Jeju.First platoon, second platoon, follow me. The rest of you, protect the survivors.'GRRR!!!His underlings, who were beyond the second line of defense, let out their throat-rending noises at once, showing that they understood what they had to do. With that, Do Han-Sol made his way back to where the black creature was.As he dashed back through the forest, he couldn't help but feel nervous. He had already lost his connection to his six stage-one mutants already. It was obvious that the black creature had already taken down all six of his underlings. However, that also meant that Lee Hyun-Deok and Kim Hyeong-Jun had used their lives to buy themselves time to regenerate their damaged body parts.'I hope the two of them are still alive. They have to be.'Do Han-Sol picked up the pace, his red eyes flashing.* * *"Catch it! I shouted to Kim Hyeong-Jun, just as the black creature was about to lose balance.novlb.InKim Hyeong-Jun charged toward the black creature like a raging wave, his blue eyes flashing. Our fight continued in the pitch-black darkness, devoid of even the slightest bit of moonlight.Kim Hyeong-Jun quickly choked the black creature and knocked it to the ground by stepping on its other leg. But the black creature wasn't going to wait around for Kim Hyeong-Jun to finish it off. It opened its jaws wide and bit off Kim Hyeong-Jun's left arm while twisting its right arm around to pull at his hair.The head was one of the places where we still felt pain, so Kim Hyeong-Jun's face couldn't help but twist as the creature continued to pull, and he eventually let go of the black creature. The black creature twisted its upper body almost parallel to the ground. Then it launched itself up from the ground using its left arm, its jaws yawning wide as it went for Kim Hyeong-Jun's face. Kim Hyeong-Jun desperately raised his right arm and grabbed its face.Gnash! Gnash! Gnash! Gnash!Its sharp teeth ground violently as Kim Hyeong-Jun maintained his grip.SsssOnce my severed lower body regenerated, I dropped to all fours and charged toward the black creature like a bullet fired from a muzzle. Just as I was about to kick it in the stomach, it noticed my presence and scuttled aside like a cockroach.Bang!The black creature just barely avoided my attack. As it tried to regroup, Kim Hyeong-Jun took the chance to create some distance between himself and the creature. I glanced back at him."Are you okay?" I asked him.How about you, ahjussi?Gaa!I gasped, unable to say anything. The black creature had pierced my throat with its thumb, so I could only make hissing sounds. I hurriedly regenerated my body, stopping the bleeding from my neck. Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me worriedly, trying to assess how I was doing.Is your neck okay? Did it snap? How about your bones?I coughed and nodded. He seemed shaken by the fact that my neck had been attacked, since he knew that the neck was a particularly vulnerable spot that could determine life or death.SsssSoon after, hot steam began to rise from the black creature's upper body. Its severed arms regenerated, and its face, which was an unrecognizable mess, slowly reformed. Despite hitting it continuously, its skull hadn't broken. I knew it would've died if we were on asphalt ground, but the relatively soft dirt here had helped it survive. It sure was one lucky bastard.Kim Hyeong-Jun stood in front of me and stared straight at the black creature. The moment it recovered, it tried to dash toward Kim Hyeong-Jun, but then it seemed to hesitate at the sound of footsteps coming from its left.Thud, thud, thud, thud.GRRR!!!It was Do Han-Sol's underlings making their way over. The black creature looked back and forth between Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol. It frowned and channeled strength to the muscles of its entire body.I knew that it wasn't trying to put up a fight, though. The murderous intent that it had been exuding earlier was long gone. It was strengthening its body in order to get away.Don't let it get away! I yelled as loudly as I could, once my vocal cords were regenerated.Kim Hyeong-Jun rushed toward the black creature, his blue eyes flashing. It leaped, but it didn't even manage to make it one meter into the air. Kim Hyeong-Jun had caught it right before it could make a full jump. Kim Hyeong-Jun's eyes bulged as he slammed the black creature to the ground.KWAAA!!!The black creature let out a wail. It had started out as a predator, but it was now the prey. The tables had turned in our favor. As it approached the limits of its regenerative abilities, it seemed to attack emotionally rather than rationally. I could tell that it was nervous and that it wanted to get out of the situation it was in as soon as possible. It clearly wasn't thinking straight.Which meant that this would be our chance to take it down.As we pinned it to the ground, Do Han-Sol's underlings leaped onto its upper body, smothering it. The creature, outraged, tore them to pieces. Do Han-Sol was hiding among his underlings, trying to inject the sample he was holding into the black creature's back. However, even while it was being bitten by Do Han-Sol's underlings, the black creature sensed his murderous intent and quickly twisted its body to grab his arm.At the same time, it opened its jaws wide, going for his face. Do Han-Sol's eyes went wide and he quickly avoided the attack, allowing the black creature to tear off his shoulder blades in an instant. His arm was neatly sliced off as well, like a slab of meat sliced up at a butcher shop. Do Han-Sol ignored the blood gushing out from the stump of his right arm like a fountain and shouted at Kim Hyeong-Jun instead.Grab the sample!! It can't break!!Kim Hyeong-Jun leaped toward the sample with his eyes wide open.Grasp!He barely managed to grab Do Han-Sol's flying arm, and retrieved the sample out of it. At the same time, he plunged the needle toward the black creature's neck. Just as it tried to avoid the needle, five sharpened fingers pierced through its chest."My child...Red blood was gushing from Ji-Eun's mouth, but she was nowhere near death. In fact, she was glaring at the black creature with eyes full of murderous intent. Even with half of her body malfunctioning, Ji-Eun had followed my orders to kill the black creature. Kim Hyeong-Jun didn't let the opportunity slip away, and jabbed the needle into the black creature's neck.KWAAA!!!The black creature trembled and let out a death cry. Both of its arms waved about wildly as it continued to struggle. The underlings that had glued themselves onto the black creature were sent flying left and right, while Ji-Eun took a blow right to the face and rolled a couple of meters across the ground.Kim Hyeong-Jun raised his arms to defend himself against its kicks, but the creature was cornered, and its kicks were packed with desperate strength. Both of Kim Hyeong-Jun's arms were crushed, and he stumbled once before falling to the ground.Kw... Kwa! Kwaaa! KWAAA!!!The blood vessels all throughout the black creature's body began to bulge. It dropped to its knees, scratching at its neck with its hands and screaming continuously. The sounds it made became hoarse and irregular as if it had trouble breathing.I wondered if it was confused by what was going on. It trembled nonstop, like a leaf in the wind. It seemed unable to understand what was going on in its body, or how it was reacting to being stabbed. Two viruses with different properties were fighting each other inside its body, which eventually paralyzed its movements. I knew that we had to finish it off the moment that it stopped struggling.I got up and channeled all my strength on my right arm. My right arm bulged as if it was about to burst, and hot steam gushed from it.Go to hell, where you belong.My eyes bulged and I gnashed my teeth as I punched the black creature in the face.Crack!!!Its face caved in and it fell to the ground. With the sample inside it, its bones had softened as if it was suffering from osteoporosis, and its previous iron-like defenses were nowhere to be seen. Instead of stopping, I decided to hit the black creature in the face nonstop until its skull was smashed to pieces.Smack! Pow! Whack! Squish!I finally managed to crush its brain. As soon as I felt the cerebral fluid coating my fingers, I collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. As I slowly collected myself, I looked around, licking my dry lips. Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol were staring straight at the black creature, which was finally immobile.They seemed to be focused on it completely; in fact, it seemed like they were so focused that they had forgotten about the blood leaking out of their own bodies. I could tell that they were nervous, unsure whether it was truly dead, afraid that it could start moving again any second.But I knew that it wasn't coming back. I had destroyed its brain with my very own hands. Unless it was some manner of god, there was no way it was going to move again. A strange stillness came over the black creature, which had now turned into a cold corpse. No one dared to move or be the first to speak. There was no celebration, no roars of joy, nor any tears of elation.Nothing but silence floating around, reminding us of the death that awaited all living things. In that moment, we were all keenly attuned to the silence of death.After being immersed in that silence for a long time, I finally realized it.This bloody, devastating war was over.
