A male believer slumped to the floor, pointing at where the snake's head was while letting out groans like, “Uuurgh!” The man, who had yet to come to his senses, frantically rose to his feet under the frigid gazes of those around him, then hastily swept his eyes over the interior of the elevator and spoke.
“I must have seen something wrong. ......It’s nothing.”
The man's expression was contorted with terror; he swept his eyes over the spot where the snake had been and confirmed once more that it was not there. Then, breaking into a cold sweat, he slowly let out a sigh.
The snake shook its head slightly and looked my way. That man seemed to have glimpsed this giant snake for a moment. I thought of Shin Haeryang, who had been climbing the stairs. Could the people who gave me the gem see the snake? Looking at where the snake had touched, several hairpins were stuck in Bak Muhyeon's hair; it seemed that man had put them there.
Though there had been a brief commotion inside the elevator, they arrived safely at the First Undersea Base. Elizabeth ordered the Medic stationed at the innermost part of the elevator to unload all eight of the wounded and instead carry Bak Muhyeon alone and move out.
The AI loaded in the Medic refused this unreasonable demand the moment it heard it. It seemed to be due to a protocol prioritizing injured survivors over transporting the dead. Instead, the Medic rummaged diligently at its side with its four legs, then sneakily produced a folding portable stretcher as an alternative. It seemed to be telling them to transport the dead among themselves using that.
I watched the Medic's rational behavior and inwardly admired the people who had programmed it. However, the Church of Infinity believers seemed to think nothing of the sort.
Elizabeth requested to borrow a gun from David. When David asked in a sharp voice what she would use it for, the answer came that she would shoot the wounded to turn them into dead. Ronald merely laughed at her words, and Jamal did not particularly try to stop her either. The believers nearby did not seem to welcome it, but they did not actively oppose it either.
For some reason, rather than laying the Savior on an orange aluminum stretcher and carrying him like luggage, they seemed to want to cast out the wounded and lay him on the Medic instead. David handed Elizabeth his sidearm, a pistol, then shook his head as if dumbfounded and spoke.
“How bizarre.”
Even he, apparently a hardened mercenary, seemed unable to understand the mindset of a pseudo-religious cult.
Elizabeth took the pistol and personally fired eight shots at the wounded secured atop the Medic's body. Bang! Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang bang! Before long, the Medic checked the life signs of the wounded several times, then displayed tears streaming down on the facial display that expressed emotions. Then, as the Church of Infinity believers ordered, it unloaded the dead from its body and loaded Bak Muhyeon onto the Medic's body, which had become a pool of blood.
Elizabeth looked emotionlessly at those who had been lowered to the floor, then returned the gun to David and spoke.
“Even if they die, they'll come back to life. These believers, me, and him as well.”
Perhaps because the bullets Elizabeth fired had struck not only the wounded but also the optical fibers and electronic muscles controlling its legs, the Medic walked with a limp.
In the middle of the path to the garden, Meiji and Riko were seen working at the cafe with extremely stiff faces. They watched the Medic walking while dripping blood drops, as if Hansel and Gretel scattering breadcrumbs, then frowned and turned their heads away.
Around the time I was lamenting the dog-like antics of the pseudo-religious cultists, the snake examined Bak Muhyeon loaded on the Medic as if looking at a troublesome, thorny dish, then followed behind with obvious reluctance.
Personally, I wanted to leave them all behind here and learn in detail what was happening at the Fourth Undersea Base, which had devolved into chaos. I ran to ride the elevator that everyone had gotten off of, heading in the exact opposite direction of the Church of Infinity believers' footsteps, but the snake bit my waist and hung on, so I had no choice but to go along with them.
Their footsteps as they reached the Garden of the Hesperides with the Savior, who had a hole in his forehead, were like those of defeated soldiers. Had they brought him here alive, they would likely have acted with far more confidence.
The snake stealthily shook Bak Muhyeon, who was placed atop the Medic's body, with its huge head from time to time. Slightly oversized rings fell from the tips of Bak Muhyeon's limp fingers into the Medic's body with clattering sounds. The Medic too was walking with staggering steps, swinging one of its four legs out of rhythm, and because of this, Bak Muhyeon's body swayed left and right as if he were enjoying rock and roll.
Whether the Medic didn't extend its legs further to minimize the vibrations because it was transporting someone already dead, or because additional problems had occurred in the Medic's stored legs as well, was impossible to know. With every step, the accessories on Bak Muhyeon's body peeled off one by one.
Upon crossing through the garden, a circular fountain with black water constantly falling came into view. A small number of believers gathered near the altar approached and confirmed Bak Muhyeon's death. To verify that he was truly dead, they checked his pulse or peered into his forehead where the bullet hole was. They grieved as if their own family member had died, then carefully moved the corpse placed on the Medic into the altar. With his eyes half-open and submerged in black water, he looked not like the person Bak Muhyeon, but like a doll.
The believers gathered around the altar offered gems and wishes with dark faces, like people going to take a certification exam while expecting to fail. They made wishes saying they wanted to go to the past, but they didn't seem to expect much. They probably thought that wishes had to be made to a living Savior to be granted. Looking at them with unmistakably disappointed expressions, I thought:
Then you should have treated me better. If you didn't want to see me get shot, you should have treated other people better.
The snake with a head the size of a house glared at Bak Muhyeon, who had been offered on the altar, with an unusual expression. I had watched the snake swallow Bak Muhyeon all this time, but I had never seen it so displeased. Unlike before, it looked as if it were frustrated that it couldn't swallow him easily, or simply looked hungry.
The now-useless Medic moved sluggishly due to its legs that wouldn't operate properly, got kicked by a believer's foot, and was driven away. Whether because the waiting snake's patience had finally run out, it snapped up Bak Muhyeon's head, which had been offered on the altar, in its mouth. And lifted him into the air.
The believers who had been praying and offering gems near the altar watched in a daze as Bak Muhyeon, who had been dead until just moments ago, stood straight up.
The snake lifted Bak Muhyeon into the air by his head and shook him this way and that. At that, the believers began to scream at the sight.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Uaaaaaaah!”
“He's alive! He's alive! The Savior has resurrected upon the altar!”
“Snake! The snake! Look at the snake! Fucking! Look at the snake!”
“......Good God. A real miracle has happened!”
“Grant my wish! Grant my wish! Grant my wish! I want to go to the past I desire!”
“Don't scream!”
Some fled from near the altar, but most remained in place. Each time the snake shook Bak Muhyeon violently by his head, heavy accessories such as bracelets, necklaces, and rings flew into corners or were broken by the law of inertia. The believers nearby were also subjected to indignity as they were covered by flying gems and blood droplets.
Each time the snake moved its head, the accessories Bak Muhyeon wore collided here and there, making clanging sounds. The moment I worried that his head and body might separate from such treatment, it half came true in reality. Due to the weight of the necklaces hanging around Bak Muhyeon's neck and the snake's violent headbanging, the fragile parts of the gemstone accessories broke and fell downward.
Numerous things hanging around Bak Muhyeon's neck, including an expensive and heavy diamond necklace, crashed down with a rustling sound to the floor, falling into the altar together with blood, whereupon believers who could no longer endure the terror screamed at the top of their lungs and fled.
However, Elizabeth and Jamal stood in place and watched this horrific sight without moving an inch. Ronald and David, along with the most devout believers, also could no longer endure the terror that gripped their entire bodies and fled from around the altar into the garden.
Only a very small number of believers stood around the altar. While there were some whose desire to have their wish granted transcended fear, most were unable to move because their bodies had stiffened like stone from terror. However, the gazes with which Elizabeth and Jamal looked at the snake were not of fear. Those two were staring at the snake as if they couldn't stand how envious they were.
The believers who had momentarily fled in fear also stopped in place once a certain distance had opened up. And they looked at the enormous snake running amok with blank faces, yet smiled as they gazed at it, as if its very existence compensated for all the times of disbelief they had had to endure until now.
Several believers nearby, including David who was fleeing into the distance, fired guns, but they did not hinder the snake in the slightest. The snake simply shook Bak Muhyeon's body violently, confirmed that no gems remained on his body, then swallowed him in one bite as before. Then it snapped up and bit my waist, who had been watching this spectacle from the corner, and passed through the floor of the First Undersea Base into the dark sea.
The snake squirmed and swam down quite deep before reaching the Fourth Undersea Base. Going toward the central plaza where the central elevator was, there was Bak Muhyeon with his mind completely gone, having spilled nosebleeds all over his clothes by the ladleful. Beside Bak Muhyeon were the members of the engineering team, who were playing pranks on each other or tripping one another up; they didn't look to be in very good condition, perhaps owing to a hangover.
They occasionally pushed the back of Bak Muhyeon, who stood still, with their hands or feet, and Bak Muhyeon walked as they shoved him. Occasionally Nikolai would trip him or push him hard with his foot, causing Bak Muhyeon to fall, but even after getting up, Bak Muhyeon stood blankly in place. Nikolai pushed his back with his hand in annoyance.
When I had seen him through the ash powder before, he had been holding a Noeul doll in one hand and a family photo in the other, with his bag messily opened, but now the bag was properly closed.
His bangs and several other places were tied up with rubber bands, and there were a few strange doodles drawn on his face, but outwardly he didn't seem to be severely injured.