Chapter 43
Near Paju Jungang-ro, on the road to Geumchon Station.
From afar, I could see fog surrounding the city like a gigantic wall.
"Why is the fog only around that area...?"
Beside me, Ha-seon said, looking at the fog with curiosity.
I had seen something like it before, so I stared into the fog beyond with a calm expression.
Once the train entered the fog, I realized the rescue post saying you couldn't see an inch ahead had not been an exaggeration at all.
'This isn't fog; it feels more like we've walked into a smoke grenade.'
All I could see through the first car's cockpit glass was suffocating white smoke.
Only the tracks laid out right in front of us and the dark green roadside trees were barely visible.
Wondering if I could get any visibility in this fog, I sent the reconnaissance drone outside and linked its camera feed to the monitor.
But the result was no good.
Even the high-performance drone's camera showed nothing but the hazy fog.
In the end, I brought the reconnaissance drone back into the train without gaining anything.
Swoooosh!
Then the first car's air conditioner and air purification system began roaring and running at maximum output.
'This isn't just fog.'
The train was treating this fog as air that needed purification, the way it did with toxic gas.
It felt like something bad would happen if I breathed this in.
"...All right, let's see—"
I activated the scope panel on the modified turret.
Then I switched on infrared detection mode.
Even if the fog blocked my vision, it shouldn't be able to hide the heat given off by living beings.
And as expected, there was something at the center of the fog.
"Huh? Something's there."
A crimson silhouette flashed across the infrared screen.
I hurriedly grabbed the lever controlling the turret and swiveled the screen around.
"Uh... this is hard to operate..."
But the thing on the monitor was fast.
With that thing darting through the air and my awkward handling of a lever I'd never touched before, I couldn't properly track the silhouette.
"Ugh, seriously. This won't go the way I want...!"
It was just as I was starting to get annoyed, gripping the lever and straining against it.
I felt a presence behind me.
"Ha-seon?"
When I turned around, it wasn't Ha-seon in front of me, but the reconnaissance drone.
The one that had just returned forlornly after failing to do anything outside in the fog seemed eager for a chance to make up for it, tapping the aiming lever on the cockpit panel with its mechanical arm.
It was a gesture that seemed to be asking to be entrusted with the job.
"Think you can do it?"
The drone bobbed its body up and down to signal yes.
Normally, it rarely came all the way to the cockpit.
It seemed that failing to see anything out there because of the fog had hurt its pride quite a bit.
"...Fine, give it a shot. I can't keep up with it anyway."
When I slid off the cockpit seat and gave it room, the reconnaissance drone took my place over the control panel as if it had been waiting for that moment.
Then its mechanical arm gripped the lever, and the screen began turning rapidly.
Whiiing-
"Oh..."
It was handling it more skillfully than I'd expected from the start.
After a few pulls on the lever, it seemed to get the hang of it, and once the red silhouette was caught, the screen followed it as if locked on.
Just as I looked into the monitor in admiration, the creature's clear shape caught in the center of the screen came into view.
It wasn't an animal, nor was it the kind of monster shape you usually see in games.
It was round, with something like flames licking at it.
Rather than a monster, it looked a lot like the fireball some Awakened had once shot from their hand.
A flickering crimson sphere.
"Is it like a will-o'-the-wisp?"
"Ah, now that you mention it..."
Ha-seon, who had come over without my noticing, was looking at the monitor over my shoulder with interest.
Her words made sense to me.
If you called it a will-o'-the-wisp, the silhouette did make a bit more sense.
I lightly tapped the reconnaissance drone's body as it gripped the lever.
"Good job."
Maybe pleased by the praise, it shook the lever from side to side.
"While we're at it, I'm going to turn on the lure, so when they come over beyond that building, could you fire the turret?"
I gave the instruction while tapping the smooth head of the reconnaissance drone, which was clutching the aiming lever tightly.
As if it understood, it buzzed and made tiny adjustments to the turret.
I pressed the monster lure switch down hard.
Then I shifted slightly and concentrated on the window, watching to see if anything would approach.
"Look outside. The fog... it's getting thicker."
Ha-seon's voice trembled. Maybe because of the lure?
The fog, which had only been hazy just moments ago, was now rippling like waves and surging fiercely toward the train.
I was narrowing my eyes and focusing, wondering if it would look different up close, when...
KWA-GWA-GWANG-!
As soon as the fog came close, the reconnaissance drone, having finished aiming, pressed the turret's fire button just as I'd said.
"Ugh...?!"
The recoil was tremendous, enough to shake the first car.
Paaaat-!
In an instant, that blast wind swept the fog away, and beyond the suddenly open view, I could see them.
Around the spot that had taken the shelling head-on, once the fog cleared, a small sphere surrounded by crimson flames came into view.
It crackled and split, and before long the sphere shattered apart and crumbled into ash-gray dust.
'So that's what it was.'
The monster that had been spewing fog.
I took my smartphone out of my pocket and left a short comment on the post that had asked me for help.
[Please hold out a little longer inside the safe zone with the others. I'm coming to rescue you now.]
Having seen the force of the shelling with my own eyes, I was afraid people might get caught up in it, so I told them not to leave the safe zone.
KWA-AANG-! KWAANG!
Even as I wrote the comment, the reconnaissance drone kept firing.
The fog drawn in by the lure was blasted apart one after another by the shelling and turned to dust.
And then the change began to appear very slowly.
Gaps began to open here and there among the fog that had been packed tightly across the city.
Each time the monster that spewed the fog was killed, those gaps grew larger.
Now that all the monsters drawn in by the lure had been dealt with, it was about time to start the rescue.
"The path is open."
I stood up and picked up the towel prepared beside the bathroom.
Then I soaked it thoroughly with bottled water and tightly wrapped it over my mouth and nose.
The fog had thinned, but this was only a makeshift measure to guard against hallucinations or hearing things if I inhaled any of it.
In case of any unforeseen situation, I asked the drones to protect me and escort me back to the train.
"Ha-seon. I'm going to use this opening to bring the survivors back. Whatever happens, lock the train door tight and wait safely inside."
"Yes..."
Ha-seon saw me off with her hands clasped tightly and worried eyes.
Unfortunately, in terms of combat, it seemed better for the reconnaissance drone to stay here and operate the turret.
I gripped the spear tightly and stepped out of the first car with the other two drones.
I carefully made my way along the gaps between the fog.
Fortunately, thanks to the towel wrapped around me, I still hadn't felt any changes in my body.
The sniper drone was also showing some ingenuity of its own.
KWAANG-!
Whether it was judging the fog's size or using some technique unique to the sniper drone, it occasionally fired into the unseen fog and took out monsters.
'...They're not attacking.'
It was a somewhat unusual monster.
I had thought it would be a monster that approached humans and showed them hallucinations through the fog, but maybe its goal was simply to blanket the city in fog.
It wasn't attacking; it was guarding its territory and producing fog.
"It's quiet."
"Uraaaah—!"
"...Right after I said that."
A shout immediately tore through the silence.
"...That wasn't a hallucination, right?"
For a moment, I wondered if the fog had given me auditory hallucinations, so I asked the drones.
But when I saw the lenses of the combat drone and the sniper drone floating to my left and right both snap toward the same direction—the right, where the sound had come from—I knew it wasn't a hallucination.
The sound had come from a clothing store in the alley.
'That wasn't a scream, though?'
What I heard wasn't a scream, but something closer to a battle cry.
I slowly approached the clothing store, spear held out in front of me.
The inside of the shop was still filled with lingering fog, so I couldn't make out the interior properly.
'Going into the fog is kind of...'
It was just as I was hesitating.
Crash, bang—! Clatter!
Someone staggered out of the fog and burst through the clothing store's glass window.
The first survivor I'd encountered in this fog.
But his condition was somehow strange.
"Hah, hah! I won, I won! You fucking bastard!! Come at me! Come on, come at me!!"
His whole body, exposed through the torn T-shirt, was a mess of dirt and blood, and his eyes were unfocused.
He was mounted on top of something sprawled face-first on the floor, twisting its arm and locking in a perfect armbar.
"..."
I stared blankly at the sight, spear in hand.
I couldn't help him.
Because the opponent he was fighting for his life against was—
—the clothing store's mannequin, dressed in stylish clothes.
"..."
Crack-crack!
The mannequin's plastic arm was cracking and snapping apart under his monstrous strength.
Yes, he had definitely won.
It seemed he'd been intoxicated by the fog and mistaken the mannequin for a monster.
"A-are you okay?"
At my worried question, he jumped to his feet.
Then he glared at me and the drones.
I had been preparing for the possibility that he might lunge at us, but after taking a few deep breaths, he soon started coughing.
Then he coughed up a pale cloud of fog from his mouth.
"...Who are you... Ah! A monster—!"
His focus returned, and he hurriedly turned around.
And he was faced with the pitifully collapsed mannequin.
"..."
"..."
The two of us silently looked down at the mannequin together for a while.