Chapter 143: New Novice 2
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The monsters had been quiet for a while, but now they reappeared. However, Junhyuk hadn"t thought that the monsters would disappear after one wave.
They had appeared suddenly, and the nervous group headed to where Elise was. When Junhyuk arrived at the Development Department he was really surprised by the size and amount of monitors. They covered a wall that was about two floors high and were displaying a quickly-changing panorama of downtown Seoul.
"Different from what I had imagined, they fly low."
He had thought the iron soldiers would fly at high alt.i.tudes, but that wasn"t the case, and Junhyuk thought they probably scared people. Elise saw Junhyuk"s surprise and laughed at him.
"Don"t worry. The low flights impress people and also work as advertis.e.m.e.nts."
Junhyuk nodded.
"What about the monsters? What are they?"
Elise had her arms crossed and murmured, "Something unexpected. I thought they would show up in America. Zombies."
"Zombies?"
He had met the undead before. They resided in dark places, and he felt better it was zombies. They were vulnerable to physical attacks.
"Is there only one kind?"
Eunseo asked, and Elise nodded.
"But there are many of them, and the national cemetery is a meaningful place. Can we really destroy it?"
Eunseo fixed her gla.s.ses and said, "You must act before people are hurt, and a small amount of destruction will be OK. You must act quickly."
"Don"t worry about it. I see Seoul National Cemetery."
The iron soldier was recording, and the national cemetery had turned into a pandemonium. There were car accidents all around it, and people had gotten out of their cars and started running wild.
Behind them were the zombies. It was the middle of the day, and there were twelve zombies, but they moved really fast.
Unlike in the movies, they covered long distances in a short time to bite people. As the zombies ran around killing people, Junhyuk clenched his fists. His heart was pounding from watching those people die.
The screen showed the iron soldier"s arm. It opened, and small missiles shot out of it. The zombies were the target, and the missiles. .h.i.t them accurately. The zombies moved fast, but the missiles were faster.
The iron soldier used napalm bombs, and soon the national cemetery was engulfed in flames.
As Junhyuk watched, he asked, "Have the people been evacuated?"
Elise nodded.
"No one there is alive, and the napalm"s range won"t reach any survivors."
That meant that, in a short time, the zombies had killed a lot of people. Junhyuk could see that the zombies" moved too quickly for a normal human. There were at least twenty dead at the cemetery.
They lost their lives in such a short time!
Junhyuk watched the zombies getting killed. Surely, the iron soldier was powerful.
Elise looked at the screen.
"There is movement inside the cemetery. Entering."
The iron soldier flew up and the screen changed. It entered the cemetery and found many bodies lying there, but the cadavers were getting up. Elise clicked her tongue.
"That"s a problem. Just like real zombies, there is contagion."
"The iron soldier can"t stop them alone?"
"It would be better to keep the iron soldier there. People could carry the contagion, and that would be dangerous."
Junhyuk watched.
"If ordinary firepower can"t stop them, can anyone stop them?"
In the movies, zombies got their heads blow off. However, if ordinary guns couldn"t pierce their skulls, how could they be stopped?
The iron soldier flew around and started shooting. On the screen, controlling the iron soldier felt like the person was playing a video game. The guns didn"t kill the zombies, and they started moving quickly, looking for survivors.
The lone iron soldier couldn"t deal with the zombies multiplying, and Eunseo received a phone call. She hung up and said, "The capital"s Mechanized Infantry Division will move in and seal off the national cemetery."
It was a good thing that the army had moved quickly, but it would be a serious problem if the soldiers became zombies.
Elise operated a few things, and the iron soldier flew higher and circled around the area, firing at the zombies on the ground. It targeted the distant zombies, and the zombies headed away from the bullets. However, that"s exactly where the iron soldier was located.
The iron soldier headed toward the zombies coming at him. Its hands appeared on the screen, tearing up a zombie"s mouth. Blood splattered on the screen, but the iron soldier didn"t stop and obliterated the zombies. However, not all zombies were interested in the iron soldier, so only a few had actually engaged him.
"They are getting away," Eunseo said, and Elise frowned.
"If the mechanized division seals off the area, we can keep them inside."
"What if they break through the barricade?"
"Then, the problem will get bigger. The iron soldier has used all of its long range weapons."
"That can"t be. Kill them at any cost."
Elise nodded and said, "There are five zombies remaining. I will begin the hunt."
The iron soldier flew up again, tearing the corpses nearby. It was flying low enough to touch ground and it grabbed a zombie. It was moving very fast. If that continued, the iron soldier would clean up the cemetery of zombies. It killed four zombies, and the last was heading toward some place unexpected. It was going to a restroom.
The zombie broke down the door and headed inside. When the iron soldier got there, a scream rang out from inside.
"Aaahhh!"
It was a woman"s scream, and everyone frowned, staring at the screen. The iron soldier looked inside the restroom. The zombie"s face appeared, and the iron soldier moved quickly. If the woman was bitten, she would have to be killed. If she had not, they had to save her. The iron soldier entered and was trying to grab the zombie when something strange happened.
The zombie went into the stall and something shot out. It moved so fast the screen couldn"t capture it. Zombies moved beyond human speeds, but it moved even faster. It disappeared quickly from the screen, unlike any human movement.
The iron soldier captured the zombie and killed it. As it turned its head, the woman had run away from the restroom. Elise saw her and knew it. The woman had to be killed.
"She got bitten by the zombie. I must kill her."
The iron soldier took off looking for the woman. She had ran over a hundred meters already. When the iron soldier caught up to her, she just sat down on the gra.s.s and stared at it. Everyone knew about the iron soldiers, and she was crying, seemingly relieved.
Eunseo looked at her through the monitor and said, "Bring her here. We have to check if she has been bitten or not."
Elise smiled and operated the iron soldier. The iron soldier extended its hand, and the woman took it and stood up.
"You"ve encountered zombies. I will take you to Guardians" HQ, and we will check to make sure you are OK and get you home," the iron soldier said.
"Is that true?"
She had survived a pandemonium and was thinking about going to the police, but the iron soldier spoke first, "You will be more comfortable with us."
"OK."
The iron soldier hugged the woman and took off. It wasn"t flying low this time. Instead, it rose very high over the city"s buildings.
"Ahhhh!" the woman screamed, and the group looked at each other.
Eunseo spoke first.
"Can she move that fast because she was bitten by the zombie?"
Elise shook her head.
"She moved faster than the zombies. It was a short distance, and she fell, but she is faster than the zombies."
"Then, what happened?"
"I don"t know, but the feed couldn"t keep up with her speed. It"s not normal."
Elise looked at Junhyuk watching the iron soldier flying with the woman.
"G.o.d only allows suffering that can be endured. That woman might be the key to solving the monsters situation."
Junhyuk turned to look at Elise. That woman had activated her power, becoming a novice. Elise said she was the key to solving the monsters situation and realized she had to know a lot more. Doyeol had Jeffrey with him, and Elise might know about the Dimensional Battlefield. Junhyuk didn"t want to reveal his ident.i.ty and started feeling helpless.
The screen showed Guardians" HQ. The iron soldier had returned. It landed at the hangar, and Eunseo looked at Elise.
"Let"s go together."
"Yes, but before that we have to seal them off."
A cylinder gla.s.s container covered the iron soldier and the woman, and smoke wafted inside the gla.s.s.
"What is happening?"
"It"s an antiseptic. I don"t know about the zombie virus, but other infections can purged."
Elise got up and said, "Let"s go together."
Eunseo followed Elise with her wheelchair, and Dohee and Junhyuk followed them toward the hangar. The gla.s.s enclosure rose again, and a woman walked out coughing.
"What is this?" The woman asked, and Dohee walked toward her.
"This is Guardians" HQ. You might have been carrying a contagion, so we cleaned you up. Please understand," she said and pointed to a room. "You may change your clothes over there."
The woman looked at herself and nodded.
"Right."
She was covered in dirt, and her shoes" heels were broken. She followed Dohee, and Elise turned a screen on.
"I have her ident.i.ty. Her name is Sora s.h.i.+n, and she used to be a track runner. After a knee injury, she quit."
Junhyuk now understood why she became a novice. Her desire to live and to run became one and activated a new power, speed.
Activated powers could be used right away at the Dimensional Battlefield. If she could run a hundred meters at high speed at the Dimensional Battlefield, she could escape anything.
Junhyuk looked at the room where she was. He had witnessed someone activating her power, and it was refres.h.i.+ng.
Sora walked out of the room, seemingly more relaxed, and Junhyuk checked her stats. Two hundred health and fifty mana, she was very physically-focused.