Life Mission

Cha Jun Sung nudged the gun with his foot. Blood is sticky on it.

Leftovers from eating. There are traces of Lifers everywhere. They saw a lot of blood on their way here, but this is where they started to see bones and flesh.

“It’s the iron door.”

“That’s the door we saw last time, right?”

“I think so.”

Cha Jun Sung touched the door. He could feel where it was dented everywhere.

They were not created by firearms. It had been pounded on with a massive body. It seems to be incredible strong and would withstand a bomb going off.

He tried knocking. The door shook a little because of his muscular strength. The repulsive force is tremendous. He can say it for sure. It is impossible to break down with strength alone.

“Lifers would have tried to go out through this door because it was safe.”

“So the first summons area is outside?”

“Probably.”

When they completed the Biology Institute, the mutant was blocked by the iron door. If they had returned outside that, they would have opened this to enter.

“Jun Sung if you’re right, the outside is safe and the inside is dangerous. So why have we been summoned to where it is dangerous? There’s no reason our helpers would go crazy.”

“Why do you think it is. The outside must have become dangerous because the Lifers made a fuss.”

They do not know how but there is no doubt that the mutant got outside.

The force must have gotten to its habitat and caused severe trouble. What if it had chased them out of anger and the summons area had changed?

The helpers had decided on the inside as the summons area because it had become safe! Cha Jun Sung thought about the mission to ‘get through the darkness and anger’ again.

“Let’s just do the mission. We came around for no reason.”

They cannot go out and there is no reason to go out. They had followed the blood thinking that it would lead them to the sample lab, but it had taken them farther away.

Tak.

“Huh?”

“You heard something outside, right?”

Cha Jun Sung’s group stopped walking. They heard a sound coming from the iron door. There is no way they could have heard it wrong. All 4 of them heard it. It was the sound of a hand hitting the door.

“Hercules, can you scan it?”

“Scanning iron door..... I cannot perform the command! The thickness is greater than the sight allows!”

He had a feeling it would not work, but he had ordered it anyway.

“Who is it?”

“Are you a survivor?”

Someone is calling out to Cha Jun Sung’s group. The translator is not changing what they are saying. It is Korean. The possibility that it is Hocheon grew higher.

“Say where you are from.”

“What is he saying.”

Park Jin Hyuk was taken aback. From? What does he mean where are they from? Is he thinking that they are force members?

“This mission opened because it was considered a fail. What guild are you from?”

“Fail..... Right. We failed it.”

“I asked what guild you’re from.”

When the man spoke gibberish instead of responding, Park Jin Hyuk repeated his question.

“I am Chun Myung Ik of Hocheon. And what about you? Seven Stars? Enemy Dragon? Goblin?”

He is listing the large guilds in Korea. This is what Chun Myung Ik is hoping for. He needs a strong force.

“Private sector.”

“He he he! You’re crazy. You came here on your own! Are you a force? What about your members?”

“4 people, no 5?”

“Ha ha ha ha!”

He is not laughing because it is funny. He is resigned in disbelief. Right now, Hocheon will be recruiting members in order to enter the mission.

Entry into the mission has been blocked because Cha Jun Sung’s group came in. To think that the rescuers they had been waiting for are just 5 people – half of a party.

“Open the door for us.”

“No. If we open the door, that monster will get out. I’m sure it’s in the vicinity.”

Chun Myung Ik thought that they were alive as part of its tricks. It is leaving them alive to get all of them at the same time once the door is open.

“You abandoned your guild members and closed the door, right?”

Chun Myung Ik shook. He could not deny it right away.

“I just said it to see, but I guess I was right. Asshole!”

Park Jin Hyuk is cursing at Chun Myung Ik. He did not like him to being with, so he might as well swear all he wants now. Cha Jun Sung and the Koharu sisters did not stop him either.

“You’re not going to open it?”

“Why should I?”

“You’re dumb, right? Our summons area was inside. If the mutant is here, would the helpers have summoned us here? They did it because it’s not inside.”

Chun Myung Ik did not understand what Park Jin Hyuk was saying for a moment. But he quickly understood. With his head? No, it was with his body. It was not by will but compulsory.

***

Wind leaks out. Shivers run down their spines. Their backs become wet with sweat. How are they hearing it so close? Shouldn’t they be hearing it from the other side of the door?

A different voice sounds from the inability to protest.

Chun Myung Ik’s eyes roll around. The other 8 guild members also show anxiety and look around their surroundings. It looks like closing the door had only been a makeshift barrier.

When they first discovered that it is a Black Ghost, a few of the guild members had been confident that they had a strategy with which to take it on. They said that because it is specialized in darkness, it will be averse to light.

They had thrown a photothermal bomb because they figured light would excite it and make it come at them.

It is correct that they do not like the light. It is also correct that it will excite them. They were wrong that it would come at them. Black Ghosts quickly hide their bodies when they are exposed to light.

Then it appeared when the photothermal bomb’s effect disappeared. They repeated throwing the bomb and having it disappear to reappear a few times. The amount of bombs they had kept decreasing.

They need to throw 5 or 6 to light up the entire space. There are so many places to hide, so it just kept retreating where it needed to wherever the light struck.

Photothermal bombs are a necessity, but they do not pack as many of them as they do bombs. When they finally realized that they were down by a lot, they were almost all out.

That is when it started to make the sound of wind seeping out and attacked. It covers a few bullets with a sturdy coat. Even if it penetrated, it got caught in the muscle and could not use its strength.

There are missions where attacks from the virtual work and there are missions where it does not. Chun Myung Ik had been unlucky and got caught with the latter. It is a dire error.

Again. The Black Ghost they had encountered until now attacked as soon as it let out the sound of wind.

It is a signal to let them know its location. But it made the sound twice and did not attack. They need to find it before it attacks.

The raid leader wiped his helmet when it felt like something was bothering it. There is yellow and sticky mucus on it. He instinctively turned his head and looked up.

A dark and red space swallowed him. There is a fishy smell and his hip hurt. He is sleepy. He cannot sleep..... But he is so sleepy.

The Black Ghost’s mouth rips the raid leaders upper body. The lower body flails and pours blood. His body has been cut in half.

It is a snake but does not swallow its meat and chews it like a carnivore. Its saw like teeth made Chun Myung Ik feel faint.

Die!

Pew pew pew pew!

The Black Ghost shakes its head. It is hanging by its tail and is moving freely in the air. The only thing is that it cannot move beyond a certain distance.

“Over there!”

“Ack!”

A raid leader pointed somewhere. It is a ventilator that is full of the Black Ghost.

60% of its body had already come out. The rest is a matter of time.

It is not a width that the Black Ghost could fit its body through, but the snake’s physical characteristics and its determination to get out was making the impossible possible.

The Black Ghost had made noise because it had contracted its body as much as it could in order to get through the vent, and had finally released its breath once its head came out.

Bang bang!

The raid leaders threw bombs even though Chun Myung Ik had not ordered them to. However, the Black Ghost is hanging so high that they cannot reach it.

The explosives were not delivered properly. And while it moved around to avoid the bullets, the rest of its 40% slipped out.

Bang!

The Black Ghost brought its massive weight onto the ground. Its length reaches over 15m. It is so thick that 2 adults would be able to wrap their arms around it.

Scales that look as hard as turtle shells cover its entire body. There are horns on its forehead, and they are larger than a human’s legs.

The worst is its head. It did not have a snake head, but looked like the head of a carnivorous dinosaur was taken off and put on it. It is a mutant that evolved from a snake.