Chapter 23
Thinking that if I wanted clothes for Sua and Jiwoo, it would be best to go to a department store or a large mart, I leaned back against the cockpit sofa and pulled out my smartphone.
While I was at it, I searched for any trade posts I could take care of along the way.
Among the many posts, one title immediately caught my eye.
A trade post that matched my intended destination exactly.
---
[Title : We’re trapped in a department store. Looking for someone to escort us to the Yeonsu-gu apartment complex safe zone.]
- Reward : 40 low-grade mana stones.
We had originally been using the department store as our base.
At first, things were fine, but as the number of survivors increased, we eventually ran out of food, and we decided to move together to the large safe zone in Yeonsu-gu.
But during the move, we were attacked by a horde of monsters.
As the battle dragged on, the group of survivors was split in two.
Half of them escaped safely to the apartment complex safe zone, but the rest of the survivors, including me, were pushed back by the monsters and stranded inside the department store.
The awakeners were already injured, so they didn't have the strength left to break out.
We're looking for powerful awakeners who can take us to the apartment complex.
---
Though it was written plainly, the request was pretty desperate.
The number of people kept increasing, while the food kept dwindling.
In the end, they made the move to join a larger safe zone, only to be split apart by a monster attack and trapped in the department store.
Inside the department store, the survivors must have been waiting for help.
"I guess I have to help them."
I decided to save them.
Either way, the department store was a place I'd have to visit at least once to get clothes and shoes for the kids.
While I was there, I could just load the people trapped there into Car 3's passenger compartment and take them to the apartment complex.
I sent the poster's author a private message without hesitation.
[I’m contacting you after seeing the post. I think I can get there in about an hour.]
A reply came back in less than a minute, sounding frantic.
[Thank you so much! We’re gathered behind the barricade at the first-floor main entrance right now. There are monsters massing outside, so please be careful on your way!]
"Monsters, huh..."
I shoved my smartphone into my pocket and gripped the heavy acceleration lever tightly.
I didn't know how many monsters were gathered there, but maybe I'd get to fight directly for the first time in a while.
"Yeah... if I get too comfortable, I might lose my edge."
I moved my hands and finished preparing myself.
Once I entered the destination, the train began to move.
***
When I arrived near the department store, I got up from the cockpit and headed for Car 2.
I wanted to firmly tell Jiwoo and Sua to stay quietly inside the train.
"Noona will be back soon, so lock the door and stay here. No matter what you hear outside, don't come out. Okay?"
"Yes, Noona! Be careful on your way!"
"Unnie, be careful too!"
I stepped out of the train with the kids seeing me off.
In that short time, the kids had already become much brighter.
Thank goodness.
That was much better to see than their gloomy expressions.
The well-equipped drones flew over to my side and formed a perfect escort formation.
Monsters were swarming the route to the department store's main entrance.
As the post had said, there really were an unusually large number of monsters around here.
They were packed so densely it looked as if someone had deliberately gathered the monsters around the department store.
I immediately understood why the awakeners had been trapped here, unable to go anywhere.
Thankfully, the station and the department store weren't far apart.
"Clear out as many monsters as you can on the way to the department store."
The moment my order came down, the drones spat fire.
Puk! Puk!
The combat drone's merciless barrage tore apart the monsters blocking the way, and the scout drone blinded the monsters in the blind spots.
The sniper drone high in the sky blew the monsters' heads apart like watermelons, its heavy blasts ringing out.
'For now, it'd be better to just cut their numbers down...'
'First, I'll go inside, figure out the exact number of people and their situation, and then I can have the drones clear the area.'
'And they said there are injured people too... so I need to hurry...'
I quickly walked through the blood-soaked chaos as flesh and blood splattered everywhere.
With the path the drones had opened, it looked like I could reach the department store without any fighting.
'My increased agility stat was finally paying off.'
'My movement really has gotten faster.'
Before long, I arrived in front of the thick iron shutter sealing off the department store's first-floor main entrance.
Faint anxious murmurs from people drifted through the shutter.
I knocked on the shutter and said,
"[I came after seeing the post on the Survivor Gallery.]"
"...Oh!"
Clack. Rattle-rattle.
With a heavy metallic scrape, the shutter opened just a crack, enough for only a single adult head to fit through.
The helmeted man's eyes peeking through the gap swept me from head to toe, then began to shake violently.
"...S-so you came alone? The other awakeners..."
"Kieeek—!"
As he asked in confusion, the monsters roaming around the department store began rushing over with grotesque shrieks.
Should I take them out here?
Since I was already at it, I might as well thin their numbers a bit more and fight—
"Damn it, the mobs are coming! Hurry and get in!"
The man yelped and hurriedly shoved the shutter up, clearing away the barricade.
He led me inside the department store, and the three drones quietly following behind me slipped inside at just the right moment.
Bang!
The shutter slammed shut again and was hastily barred.
The man leaned against the wall, breathing hard as he let out a sigh soaked in deep despair.
"Haa... Why on earth did you come here alone to deal with this place! We clearly said we wanted strong awakeners...! And what are these drones, anyway—"
The man clutched his head and raised his voice.
After sending a message promising to save them, a woman who looked to be barely an adult had shown up alone, so from their point of view it would have felt like the last lifeline had been severed.
It made sense that he'd raise his voice.
Just as I was about to calm him down and speak.
"...Uh, I think you might want to look outside..."
"...What?"
Another survivor who had been peeking out the window called to the man in a trembling voice.
"That student's drone had been wiping out the monsters outside like crazy... their numbers had clearly dropped..."
"...What are you talking about?"
The man frowned and moved toward the window.
When he checked outside through the window reinforced with tape and wood, his jaw dropped.
I already knew what the scene outside looked like even without looking through the window.
The ones whose heads had been blown apart by the sniper drone's rifle, and even the goblins riddled with bullets by the combat drone.
There must have been quite a few monsters lying sprawled out there.
"What the..."
The man, trembling all over, turned his head back and forth between me and the drones circling around me.
His expression gradually changed.
"...You took out that many monsters by yourself?"
"Thanks to the drones."
"Those drones are...?"
"They're my skill."
"Hah..."
Strictly speaking, I'd have to say they were part of my skill.
It seemed I'd succeeded in earning at least some trust.
"...Would it be all right if I took a look inside for a moment?"
"Huh? Oh, yes... Of course."
I walked further into the department store's first-floor lobby.
He started walking after me.
The situation inside was as tragic as the post had described.
All around the first-floor lobby, exhausted, haggard survivors sat huddled in fear, while the awakeners who had been protecting them lay on the floor groaning, bearing wounds both large and small.
"This man's wounds are pretty deep..."
"He was fighting at the very front... and got hit by the goblins."
Among them, a middle-aged man whose torn clothes revealed a wound and who seemed to be losing consciousness caught my eye.
He looked especially critical compared to the others.
The people around him were trying hard, but the wound was too deep.
"...Ugh..."
"He was trying to protect us..."
"..."
Even in the apocalypse, it's just too bitter when someone who risked his life to help others ends up like this.
A certain item suddenly came to mind.
Something I hadn't even stocked in the vending machine, just in case.
I quietly knelt beside him on one knee and took out the stamina potion I'd been carrying close to me.
A precious recovery item that had come out of a box before.
"What are you going to do?"
"Just a moment—"
As I moved toward the injured man, the people around us began to murmur.
Ignoring them, I gently lifted the man's chin and pried open his mouth, then poured the red liquid inside.
I didn't know how effective it would be.
I watched the man with some doubt as well.
Fortunately, the instant the potion went down his throat, a change began.
His ragged breathing gradually steadied, and fresh flesh began to grow over the horrific wounds on his crushed shoulder and side as healing began.
"Mm, mm..."
"The wound...!"
The man slowly opened his eyes with a groan.
Just as the people around him were about to cheer,
KWAAAANG—!
Beyond the department store's first-floor glass windows, the wall opposite the front entrance we had come in through was smashed to pieces with an enormous roar.
Through the thick cloud of dust, a giant grotesque creature with blazing red eyes appeared.
The pressure it radiated didn't seem like that of an ordinary monster.
I was reminded of the boss monster I'd only ever encountered deep inside a dungeon.
For it to have the power to smash through a wall...
"Damn..."
"It broke through the wall..."
"Haa... The dungeon suddenly turned blood-red, and then those monster bastards all came pouring out at once..."
"...No way."
People muttered in despair, and the man who had opened the shutter for me also said, trembling all over.
The moment I heard that, one possibility flashed through my mind.
The possibility that monsters had burst out of the dungeon.
I didn't know what condition caused it, but the possibility was there.
"Monsters are coming in!"
The awakeners who could fight shouted and raised their weapons.
The one that had smashed through the wall was a monster that looked like an orc from a game.
"Kwoooaah!"
Panting heavily, the monster raised its huge club.
I immediately told the drones behind me.
"Protect the people."
I readjusted the sinister-looking spiked mace slung across my back.
Thanks to leaving the miscellaneous work to the drones, it had been a while since I'd fought myself, but even so, I had to do it.
"Kroooaaah!"
The moment the giant orc monster brought its club down, I caught the timing and leaped.
A powerful force burst from the tips of my feet.
Crash!
The marble floor beneath my feet shattered as my body shot sideways like an arrow.
Boom!
The monster's brutish club sliced through the space beside me and missed.
The force of the blow sent the shattered marble floor scattering in all directions.
"Hup!"
I slammed the spiked mace hard into the monster's thick right arm after it swung its club and left an opening.
Crunch, splat!
A horrifying booming sound of bone shattering and flesh spraying echoed through the department store's first-floor lobby.
It was still an incredible weapon even after all this time.
Still, this orc was tough.
Back when I used it on goblin-like monsters, their heads would have blown apart from that one blow.
This orc's arm was still attached, though.
"Gwoooargh!"
The orc's thick forearm bent at a grotesque angle.
The monster's scream of pain rang out as if it would tear my eardrums apart.
The monster's right arm, which had been holding the huge weapon, was completely crushed and hung limply down to the floor.
I brushed my hands off lightly and tightened my grip on the mace again.
"Hoo..."
"Just now, what—"
I could feel the survivors' gazes on my back.