Artisan's Touch (3)

While the train raced toward its destination, I leaned back against the soft sofa and browsed the comment section of the quest I'd accepted on my smartphone.

"As expected... there's a lot of interest..."

A quest issued directly by a Constellation.

With such a generous reward and an eye-catching title, it was only natural for the views to explode.

Dozens of comments were already appearing in real time beneath the post, turning the thread into complete chaos.

---

[Comments]

Incheon21Male : I've already completed it^^

ㄴ Hammer Warrior : Don't bullshit me

ㄴ ㅇㅇ : What, Constellations know how to comment too?

ㅇㅇ : Honestly, I think quests should be handled and cleared by region. It really annoys me when people from other regions come all the way here to clear quests. Anyone else agree?

ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Don't bullshit me

ㄴ NoTangerineFarming : Forget that, please come help us in Jeju, damn it...

ㅇㅇ : But doesn't something feel a little off? Isn't the reward way too generous?

Dopamine : Whoever rescues them, if you pull it off, 'write a review of the liquor that made the Constellation go crazy.'

---

"Everyone's really excited..."

There were people checking each other to claim the reward, people warning that it might be a genuinely dangerous trade post, and even someone who was curious about how the liquor tasted.

Everyone was showing interest in this trade post in their own way.

By the time I'd read almost all the comments,

Kuuung-!

"Huh?"

The entire train rocked violently with a massive impact.

The emergency brakes engaged, and inertia sent my upper body lurching forward.

I had been practically lying on the sofa, so I naturally rolled across it and fell with a thud.

"Ow... what is it? What happened—"

I hurriedly got to my feet and pressed close to the front window of Car 1.

The moment I checked the scenery outside, I sucked in a breath.

"What... is this?"

I remembered the comment on the Gallery warning that something felt off.

Yes, I'd always figured that one day I would encounter something like this.

"The tracks—"

The tracks and the asphalt road running alongside them had been ripped up and gouged out.

It looked as though several bombs had gone off.

What on earth had happened around here?

In other areas, all I'd seen were abandoned cars strewn across the roads, with the occasional roadside tree or streetlight knocked over.

But this place looked as though a real war had broken out.

"We were almost there..."

With the tracks destroyed, there was no way for the train to move forward.

I could use the Repair skill to fix the tracks piece by piece, but—

That would take longer than walking.

"Tch..."

I clicked my tongue and furrowed my brow.

There was still some distance to the brewery restaurant that was our destination, but it wasn't too far to reach.

However, I hesitated to get off the train and walk there right away.

"What on earth is out there?"

These weren't traces that monsters could have created.

At the very least, it had to be the work of a boss monster or people.

I called over the recon drone waiting behind me.

"Search the area for monsters or people, and if you can, go all the way to the restaurant mentioned in this trade post."

Vreeeeeng-!

The recon drone dipped its lens once at my command, then slipped out of the train without a sound and rose into the sky.

I thought I might get to use the spear I'd made sooner than expected.

"Haa... Let's assess the situation first."

I brought up the live video and audio being transmitted from the recon drone high above on the cockpit monitor and quietly began assessing the situation.

The first thing I saw on the screen was monsters roaming across the wasteland.

I found the monsters much sooner than expected.

"Zombies...? No, why are they so fast?"

They were definitely zombies with rotten, decaying skin, but they weren't the slow-walking creatures I'd seen before.

It was a horde of zombies sprinting at the speed of track athletes, their eyes gleaming as they ran with all their might.

"Huh?"

Then I saw a group of humans being chased by those vicious running corpses.

"You bastards! We're all going to die!!"

"Why are they so fast when their muscles are all torn up?!"

The group's screams, loud enough to tear through the air, came through the video.

A man stretched out both hands toward the horde, and a huge fireball the size of a human head shot out.

Kwaaang-!

When the fireball struck the ground, a blazing pillar of fire shot up, blowing apart not only the pursuing zombies but also the entire exterior wall of the commercial building behind them.

"...Tsk, is that what did it...?"

I had been puzzled when I first saw the zombies.

Zombies running at full speed were certainly threatening, but they didn't look capable of destroying the tracks and flipping over the road.

But after seeing that fireball, I could more or less guess who was responsible.

"...What, again?"

I shifted the screen a little farther to the side, and this time another group of survivors came into view.

The muscular man leading them swung a car door nearly as large as his own body with brute force. With a loud crunch, the zombies were cleaved in half, while a deep, sharply defined scar split open across the asphalt.

Watching the battle, I let out a hollow laugh at the realization.

"The culprits behind those wrecked tracks and ruined terrain..."

The Awakeners who had gathered for the reward had turned the terrain itself into a wasteland while fighting the zombies.

The Awakeners I'd seen this time were clearly different from any I'd encountered before.

Those must be the kind of Awakeners with combat skills that people had been searching for so desperately in those trade posts.

"There are a lot of competitors."

I clicked my tongue and turned off the monitor.

If I just kept watching like this, the reward would end up in another party's hands.

Just then, the recon drone found the restaurant.

It was closer than I'd expected.

So those two groups of survivors must have been nearby.

"Recon drone, stop surveying the surroundings and lead us to the restaurant."

At my command, the recon drone rapidly descended from the sky and flew to the train's entrance.

I gripped the newly made spear tightly and stepped outside the train.

The enlarged battle drone and the sniper drone formed a reassuring escort formation on either side of me.

"Whew... I'm counting on you."

I alternated my gaze between the spear in my hand and the drones hovering in the air as I muttered.

I got off the train and followed behind the recon drone.

Thud!

Boom!

"Whoa..."

The moment I stepped outside, noises that hadn't been audible from inside slammed into my ears.

Thanks to the other parties drawing in monsters by setting off their skills, I was able to head toward the restaurant relatively comfortably.

The recon drone avoided areas with zombies while guiding us along the shortest route to our destination.

Thanks to that, we crossed empty alleys and arrived in front of the restaurant in the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately, we couldn't avoid every zombie.

"Whoa, there are quite a few gathered here."

In front of the restaurant's main entrance, a dozen or so zombies were pounding on the shutter.

I tightened my grip, finally ready to test the performance of my newly made spear.

But before I could adjust my grip and leap forward—

Vreeeeeng!

Rat-a-tat-tat-!

The battle drone behind me shot into the air and unleashed its rifle fire without mercy.

The upgraded battle drone's firepower was far beyond my imagination.

The zombies' heads burst like watermelons, and the creatures disintegrated into gray smoke in an instant.

"Oh..."

I awkwardly fidgeted with the hand gripping the spear.

It felt a little silly that I'd gotten so tense.

"...Ah, well, at least one is left."

I belatedly thrust the spear into the last zombie charging toward me.

Shunk!

"...Huh?"

I felt absolutely no resistance at my fingertips.

The spear pierced straight through the thick zombie's skull so smoothly and easily that it might as well have been soft tofu.

The description had said it possessed excellent piercing power, but this was beyond anything I'd imagined.

"...This is what makes clearing an intermediate dungeon worthwhile."

I smiled, pulled back the spear, and carefully knocked on the restaurant's shutter.

"Excuse me. I came because I saw the post on the Gallery. Please open the door."

"...What are they saying?"

"Isn't that a zombie's voice?"

"No! I said I came because I saw the post on the Gallery..."

"Really?! Open up, quick!"

A quiet conversation passed back and forth inside.

After a moment, there was a clattering sound as something was moved aside. The shutter rose, and the restaurant door that had been firmly closed opened a crack.

A haggard-looking middle-aged woman spotted the armed drones through the gap. Her legs gave way with relief, but she flung the door wide open.

"Oh my... The Constellation sent you to help us. Thank you so much... Thank you, kid."

With tears glistening in her eyes, she quickly ushered me inside the restaurant.

The interior was busy and disorderly, like a home in the middle of a move.

This restaurant had originally been run by an ordinary family, but after the world ended, they had somehow survived by using the ingredients they had left to make food and liquor, then listing them on the Gallery marketplace.

Eventually, they caught the eye of a Constellation named Hammer Warrior, who had even posted this trade listing to rescue them personally.

An argument was in full swing in the kitchen at the back.

"Dad! How are we supposed to carry all these heavy bottles?! Staying alive comes first! We need to dump these right now and take only the light stuff!"

"Right, let's just grab what we can and go. Look, they've come to help us..."

A son and daughter who looked about college-aged shouted with backpacks slung over their shoulders, but their apron-wearing father stubbornly clung to a box filled with precious glass bottles.

"Absolutely not! This liquor is our family's lifeline. How can we leave it behind?! We earned points in the marketplace and survived thanks to these bottles!"

"We can make it again!"

"Do you know how long it takes to make this again?"

Was this the liquor that had made the Constellation offer a skill enhancement ticket?

Just how incredible could this liquor be for a Constellation to be so obsessed with it?

As I stared curiously at the liquor bottles held by the bickering father and daughter, the mother who had guided me clicked her tongue beside me and shook her head.

"...Don't get your hopes up too much. It's nothing special."

"Huh? ...The Constellation was desperately looking for it."

At my skeptical question, the mother furrowed her brow as if she were already sick of the subject.

"It's just ridiculously strong, and after one sip, a terrible hangover hits you the next day as if your head had been struck with an ax. The children's father was stubbornly making it because he wanted to revive a liquor that was discontinued long ago..."

"...What?"

Perhaps there was some story behind it, because the mother muttered with her lips pursed.

I stared blankly at the brown glass bottles the man was hugging so dearly.