Chapter 87
Railway tracks near Demi-Human Town.
For the first time in a while, I was sitting deep in the cockpit, looking through the Survivor Gallery.
The first thing to catch my eye was the Gallery map unlocked by Ha-seon's skill level-up.
Red warning pins had sprouted up all over the map.
After learning that the pin colors could be changed, the users had agreed to mark dangerous places in red.
"This doesn't look good."
[Gangwon-do Chuncheon Nike]: The ground suddenly split open and monsters came leaping out. Are there dungeons underground too?
[Chungcheong-do Cheonan Community Center]: It's May, but there's suddenly a blizzard; there seem to be monsters roaming around too, but we can't even think of going outside because of the icy roads.
Monsters appearing, abnormal climate changes.
Unknown changes were breaking out simultaneously all across the country.
Those ominous signs immediately reminded me of what the dwarf had said just a few hours ago.
"Things gradually get worse once the incarnations appear..."
Old Man Lee had put the incarnation contract on hold after reading the messages, but there was no guarantee that the incarnation offers had only gone to him.
"...What are these trade listings?"
The anomaly wasn't limited to the map.
The frequency of posts on the Constellations' trade board had visibly exploded.
On top of that, every one of those posts contained something unusual.
[Request: Looking for a martial artist with the talent to wield a heavy greatsword perfectly.]
[Request: Looking for a beastman in the form of a wolf or bear.]
They were requests from Constellations desperately searching not for items, but for humans or demi-humans who met specific conditions.
Ha-seon seemed to be looking at the same posts, because she brought up this phenomenon.
"...They seem to be looking for candidates to become incarnations, don't they?"
"I guess so."
"Are those conditions they prefer, or can they really only offer incarnation contracts to people who meet those conditions?"
"That..."
It was something I hadn't considered.
Come to think of it, they could have offered an incarnation contract in advance, so why had they made the offer as soon as Old Man Lee was elected—
"If the Constellations start increasing their incarnations indiscriminately, things could get pretty chaotic."
As I muttered, Ha-seon cleared her throat with a strange expression.
"I found something interesting on the Constellation board. Would you like to take a look?"
I followed the link Ha-seon sent me and saw a post.
---
The Eye That Gazes Down Upon the World: By the way, whose incarnation is that guy?
Immortal: Who?
The Eye That Gazes Down Upon the World: The black train in Korea.
Immortal: Ah, him?
Nameless Swordsman: Exactly. Which Constellation is raising someone like that?
Glutton: I can't be bothered with someone I can't eat. I'll go find someone else.
---
"..."
I was left speechless.
This was why the Constellations had only sponsored me and had never once offered to make me an incarnation.
I had somehow come to be regarded as the incarnation of some Constellation.
"Should I call it a blessing in disguise...?"
Since I had no intention of becoming a Constellation's incarnation for the time being, perhaps it was fortunate.
Even if it was an offer from a Constellation with a good alignment, getting caught up in a factional struggle would be a burden—
Bang, bang, bang!
A noise echoed through the train.
Someone was pounding on the train door as though they intended to break it down.
I told the startled siblings and Ha-seon to stay seated and opened the door, revealing the goblin and Mimic outside.
"Conductor! Conductor! It's an emergency!"
The goblin pressed a trumpet-like magical tool to its mouth and screeched at the top of its lungs.
"What happened?"
"The barrier! The barrier has fallen!"
"The barrier...?"
I hurriedly grabbed the windbreaker and spear and burst out of the train.
The drones and golem followed behind me.
We followed the goblin leading the way to the front of Demi-Human Town.
"...Well, this is something."
"What happened?"
"Monsters have arrived."
The Awakened from Demi-Human Town, the dwarf, and even the elves were already standing in a line, all staring in one direction.
One section of the sturdy barricade encircling the town had been smashed, and ominous smoke was drifting in through the gap.
"L-Look at that! They're no ordinary bunch!"
The goblin's finger pointed toward a legion standing in formation.
"Are they ghouls?"
"Yes, they're ghouls, but..."
I had fought ghouls before, but these looked very different from the ghouls I had encountered then.
They were clad head to toe in rusty, grime-covered plate armor, and approached in formation with mist streaming from between their rotten flesh.
They were nothing like the zombies from before, who had staggered about and moved individually.
They looked like trained soldiers.
And then, something slowly walked out from behind them.
Clop, clop.
A knight clad in pitch-black armor appeared, riding a huge warhorse with unfocused eyes.
The strange thing was that there was nothing above the knight's neck.
Instead, it carried its helmeted head tucked beneath one arm, its eyes emitting a chilling glow.
"A dullahan..."
The dwarf, who had been watching the situation beside me, deeply furrowed his brow.
His usual joking manner had vanished without a trace, and he gripped the hammer in his hand tightly.
"A dullahan?"
"It's strong. Not only is that thing powerful, but the horse it's riding fights as well as a dwarf warrior."
After finishing, the dwarf stepped forward with heavy footsteps.
"I'll handle that headless knight. I'll buy you some time, so defeat the ghouls with the other survivors and come join me."
"Yes."
Even he, who was always so confident, hadn't said he would deal with it alone. He had only said he would try to buy some time.
That was how formidable an opponent it must be.
"Go ahead!"
The dwarf kicked off the ground and charged toward the dullahan, swinging his enormous hammer.
KWAANG—!
The dullahan's sword and the dwarf's hammer collided with a thunderous crash.
As the clash began, the ghoul soldiers waiting nearby raised their weapons in unison and started advancing toward Demi-Human Town.
"Fire on the ghouls at the very front first."
Rat-a-tat-tat—!
The combat drones and sniper drones hovering in the air simultaneously unleashed firepower at the ghouls' heads, but the ghouls raised their shields to deflect the bullets as they closed the distance.
The sniper rounds pierced the shields, but their direction changed as they passed through, so they failed to inflict much damage on the ghouls.
"...You wait for now."
For the moment, I held the golem back.
The survivors were charging alongside us, so it could get caught in the attack. I postponed any attack that might hit them as well.
I tightened my grip on the spear and leaped toward the chest of the foremost ghoul soldier charging at me.
Its rusty sword swung toward my shoulder, but I didn't dodge.
Flash—!
The moment it struck, my windbreaker emitted brilliant rainbow-colored LED lights, obscuring the ghoul's vision.
"Hup!"
Ssshhk—! Thunk!
Taking advantage of the opening, I swung the spear and cleanly cut through its neck.
The severed ghoul's head rose into the air, while the other survivors used their skills to deal with the ghouls.
Surprisingly, when we approached for close combat, they chose to attack rather than defend, so dealing with them one by one wasn't difficult.
However—
'They've changed their fighting style.'
The battlefield became stifling in an instant.
As the ghouls were gradually pushed back by force, they braced their shields against one another, maintained their formation, and counterattacked with precision.
"They change their behavior depending on the situation...?"
"Attack their legs!"
"We took damage! Since those swords are rusty, even a shallow cut...!"
"Ugh...!"
The survivors charged in, shouting desperately, but they were unable to break through the ghouls' ironclad formation.
The bigger problem was the dullahan.
"Urgh! You headless bastard!"
Wham—!
The dwarf swung his hammer, but the dullahan angled its sword to deflect the attack to the side, and the enormous warhorse kicked the dwarf in the chest with its forelegs.
An elf who had joined the battle late provided support by raining arrows down, but the dullahan flashed the eyes of the head tucked under its arm and cut down the incoming arrows.
"...It actually did that."
It calmly cut arrows out of the air, something that looked like it belonged in a martial arts novel.
Both sides were losing their balance.
The dwarf was collapsing, and if the dullahan joined the battle here, it would all be over.
'There's no time. I have to unleash all our firepower here.'
I shouted.
"When I give the signal, everyone run back!"
"What? If we pull out here..."
Haneul asked in dismay, but after reading the seriousness in my eyes, she soon nodded.
She immediately relayed my words to the nearby survivors and began preparing her wind skill.
I took a deep breath and reached a hand into the air.
It was an auxiliary function that allowed me to open the massive warehouse beyond my inventory, even when I was far from the train.
I used that function to take out the items I had stored in the warehouse.
They were bombs I had prepared in advance at the armory by combining the mana stones and bat wings I had gathered in the last dungeon.
"Arm yourselves with these."
Whirrrrr—! Click!
The drones and golem deftly collected the dozens of bombs pulled from thin air.
I hadn't tested them, but these bombs should be stronger than even the lowest-grade mana stone bombs, so they ought to have enough firepower.
I couldn't say I wasn't worried about damaging the buildings, but this wasn't the time to be picky.
The people had evacuated toward the bank as well—
"Everyone, get clear!"
At the same time as my shout, Haneul unleashed a powerful gust of wind that instantly pushed the Awakened who had been fighting away.
Accelerated by the wind, the Awakened quickly retreated, while the drones flew forward, crossing paths with them.
Just as the ghoul legion was about to seize the opening and charge.
"Drop them!"
At my command, the drones simultaneously dove down over the heads of the armored ghouls.
And then—
Whoooosh—!
Dozens of mana stone bombs fell into the middle of the ghoul formation.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KABOOM—!
With a deafening roar that shook the earth, blinding flames erupted.
They tore through the ghouls' plate armor like paper and burned their rotten bodies inside.
If you looked closely, several razor-sharp wings inside the explosion cut off the hands and feet of ghouls trying to escape.
"...Damn it! Watch out!"
Just then, I heard the dwarf's voice. When I turned my head, the dullahan had sent the dwarf flying and was staring at me.