Hiding a Logistics Center in the Apocalypse - Episode 21
(Into the Darkness (1))
Inside the armor shattered into pieces.
I picked up the faintly glowing enhancement stone.
----
[Enhancement Stone (D)]
Attribute: Electricity
Options: [Pierce], [Electrocution]
----
Once again, the description was simply and incomparably brief.
The only differences were that its attribute was Electricity and it had the option [Electrocution] instead of [Ignition].
Unlike the Skeleton Knight Gwyn I had met just before, this one had died in an instant after taking a few bowling ball hits.
The same 16-pound bowling ball.
The shipping speed hadn't changed either.
If there was any difference...
'...It's just that I enhanced it.'
Come to think of it, there was one option attached whose exact nature I couldn't identify.
[Pierce]
It literally meant to penetrate.
It wasn't a difficult word, but unlike [Ignition] or [Electrocution], I couldn't clearly understand exactly what function it performed.
But if...
'If this is a means to pierce their defenses?'
The word [Pierce] couldn't be just for show.
If that were true, enhancement stones would clearly become the most crucial means to eliminate higher-level entities that modern firearms couldn't affect.
'Let's wait and see.'
I could gradually verify its effects later.
Especially since a second enhancement stone had come into my hands.
Of course, enhancement stones weren't all I had obtained.
Two large mana stones worth one hundred each.
A total of two hundred additional mana stones had just entered my pocket.
I dusted off my hands.
"Then..."
Somehow, I had dealt with the skeleton knight.
Now it was time to get out of here... but that was no easy task either.
Kim Sol, who had suffered hardships inside the castle walls for the past few days, testified.
"I tried to get out several times. But... there's no exit door here to begin with."
An ancient castle with a medieval feel.
It was all too easy to imagine massive doors suspended by iron chains.
But no matter how I looked, I couldn't see anything resembling a huge main gate.
There was only a small entrance attached to the inner fortress pressed against the castle wall.
It was closer to an entrance leading to another place rather than an exit.
Of course, that was an unnecessary worry for us.
We had a helicopter stored in subspace.
[UH-60, Black Hawk, price not set.]
Thud!
The helicopter emerged from the portal.
Every time I used my ability, Kim Sol made a genuinely exhausted expression.
"Now you've gone and summoned a helicopter..."
Escaping was good, but she seemed inwardly frustrated.
Because Kim Sol had never been beaten by me in games her entire life.
Thwack thwack thwack thwack-!
Whether it knew her feelings or not, the helicopter indifferently spun its blades furiously.
Feeling the wind sweeping past, I first shoved my little sister into the portal.
Since Kim Sol, whose fists were her weapons, wouldn't have much to do in the air.
Above my head, blue sky surrounded by dreary castle walls.
It was the path we had to break through.
But...
Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack-!
Not even a few minutes after the helicopter rose into the sky, an anomaly occurred.
"······?"
The sky had definitely been wide open.
Rumble rumble rumble...
As if a giant pot lid were being placed over it, pitch-black darkness came rushing at us.
Kuuuung......
Before the sound of that giant door closing, the helicopter became as powerless as a fly in a bottle.
And...
Screeeech!
The bats we had encountered when coming over the wall rushed at us again.
It was a repeat of the same situation.
Shaking them off wasn't easy, but...
'...I can't even get out.'
Even without them, escape wouldn't have been possible.
Because the vast sky that had been open above was instantly hidden by an enormous roof of unknown origin.
Flap flap flap flap!
Bats filling the helicopter windows black.
Kwaaang!
Kwaaang!
I fired enhanced bowling balls, striking the ceiling and castle walls continuously, but...
The massive citadel didn't even get scratched.
I didn't hesitate any longer.
I exchanged glances with Yi Yong-su and nodded silently.
Then immediately threw myself into the subspace portal.
Stagger.
The sight of the empty cockpit and the shaking helicopter.
It was the second Black Hawk down.
.
.
.
The outside scenery viewed from within the subspace was literally a black sheet of paper itself.
Because the sky was covered, completely blocking all light from outside.
In a city where even electricity had completely gone out, there was nothing to find but pitch darkness where you couldn't see an inch in front of you.
The situation outside was obvious.
The Black Hawk shot down once again without fail.
Skeletons and zombie dogs would be wandering nearby.
Now including the swarm of crazy bats that struck us.
Through this, I could confirm two things.
One was the obvious fact that we were trapped here.
And the second was...
that Kim Sol was on the verge of exhaustion.
"······"
The little sister I had thought was always full of energy was sleeping deeply.
A mattress thrown carelessly in a corner of the logistics center.
It was where Communications Battalion Commander Han Gyeong-ho was being tended to.
It seemed that as soon as she judged this subspace to be safe, all the tension released and she fell asleep.
It was a strangely unfamiliar sight.
Because I had grown up my whole life seeing only Kim Sol's strong side.
Even for someone like her, the ruined world was burdensome and heavy.
"For now..."
I decided to take a breather.
Beyond the portal,
the city meeting an early night rippled like waves.
***
Just as the short rest was coming to an end.
-!
I woke up to chattering sounds.
When I came to my senses, Kim Sol, whom I had moved to the break room bed, had vanished without a trace.
"...Where did she go?"
Kim Sol was found quickly.
Upon arriving at the picking station, I saw her hugging a box without even wiping the sleep from her eyes.
A large box clutched to her chest.
Pax belatedly checked the order list.
[PlayStation 5 Disc Edition, CFI-1218A01, the price is 618,090 won.]
My little sister looked at me and said.
"Kim Jeong-gyeom, I love you."
"······"
This hopeless game addict was seeking dopamine even in this apocalyptic situation.
I asked.
"You don't mean you're going to play it now...?"
"...That's why I'm depressed."
She was scratching at the box with her nails but couldn't actually open it.
At some point, Yi Yong-su's daughter, Yu Jeong-i, had become friendly and approached Kim Sol.
Kim Sol stroked Yu Jeong-i and said.
"Yu Jeong-ah, a whole world is contained inside this box."
I separated Yu Jeong-i and entrusted her to Yi Yong-su, who had been lingering nearby.
Never had there been such discourtesy upon a first meeting.
Having just driven away the drowsiness with this commotion,
"Hey! You're up?"
My big sister called to us from the stairway.
Following her to the second floor, as expected, Yi Yong-su's wife Oh Ji-su was waiting for us in the staff cafeteria.
It seemed my big sister had been helping out.
Separate from that, Oh Ji-su aired her grievances to me.
"...Why aren't you all taking your meals? I went to the trouble of making them only for them to cool and be thrown away... They say the freezer is piled high with food that's gone in until now."
"Ah..."
Since I'd been focused on outside matters, proper meals had been rare.
Thinking about how we'd pushed aside the Fresh Center's fresh food and filled our hunger with processed foods whenever... perhaps we had been living as if merely play-acting at the apocalypse.
I said.
"...Shall I register them as items so they don't spoil?"
"How cold... That's not what I meant..."
My heart stung at being called cold.
In the end, her point was simple.
"Eat well before you go. That's how you get the strength to find the rest of your family."
Behind her, a brilliantly colorful dining table spread steamed with rising heat.
A full meal is also the power of a resolute heart.
We all surrendered to that mighty power and picked up our spoons like warriors.
And so,
chopsticks flew into the sky like fighter jets.
But...
'...What should I eat first?'
I couldn't decide on the bombing target at all.
Grilled eel smeared with a sweet, thick sauce.
Moistly fried pumpkin jeon and meat jeon.
Steamed beef ribs with juicy meat, and seasoned bellflower roots sprinkled with sesame seeds over a sour gochujang dressing.
It was a splendid lineup, but...
nevertheless, everyone started from the same place.
Mallow doenjang soup wafting up savory steam.
The soft mallow covered my tongue like a cotton blanket, and savory broth flowed between the fibers.
It felt like drinking energy itself.
It felt like fatigue itself was washing away.
There was no other way to describe that comfort.
***
The city shrouded in darkness.
The sky, the only route out, had been blocked.
'I have to find a way out somehow...'
At first, I even thought about putting this entire castle into subspace.
Since I had already reached Level 3.
Whatever the identity of this strange castle, I should have been able to escape immediately.
But...
'The risk is too high.'
A castle that grows on its own.
Why it grows, why the lid suddenly covered it.
I knew absolutely nothing about this castle.
If I recklessly put it in, it might even affect the logistics center.
'...It'd be a waste of the ability too.'
The subspace ability can only absorb one thing per level.
If it was an unavoidable situation, it was better to absorb a space that would be as helpful as possible.
Not such a massive monstrosity.
Having organized my thoughts that way—or rather, in the end, there was only one path left.
Kim Sol said.
"We have to go into the castle. Since it's connected to the castle walls no matter what, if we search through the inside, we'll find a way out eventually."
But the problem was...
Yi Yong-su said.
"Can we get to the entrance safely? Because of the bats..."
When the helicopter reached the shadow of the castle walls, and when it was completely submerged in darkness like just now.
They had rushed at us without fail.
Judging by this, it seemed their nature was to stay in dark places.
We could catch them by firing rifles randomly, but...
"They're small... and there are too many of them."
It was nearly impossible to catch all of them approaching without missing any.
Flaming bowling balls, or
Even if I fired four weapons per second, there would inevitably be gaps, so numerous and dense were they.
My big sister offered an opinion.
"How about shining lights sold here at the logistics center? As strong as possible."
It was a good opinion befitting a light-attribute healer.
But...
"We'd have to carry around lights and batteries..."
There was something vague about it.
Not only would both hands be tied up by equipment, but there could be blind spots every time we moved.
After pondering briefly, I called Pax.
Something I wanted to experiment with came to mind.
.
.
.
[Cost: 250]
◈ Subspace Laboratory (New!)
-Installs a laboratory that allows combining, classifying, and adding/subtracting items registered in subspace.
There were various items registered in subspace.
Various miscellaneous goods from the Pax Fulfillment Center, as well as communication equipment, firearms, ammunition, and vehicles from the National Communications Company.
I couldn't easily grasp what exactly it meant to combine and transform them.
Pax briefly elaborated.
[First, when using Combine, you can attach two or more objects to each other while ignoring physical conditions.]
[For example, it is possible to overlap two bowling balls used previously and shape them into a snowman.]
Previously, I could use tricks like registering magazines with bullets inserted as items, or grenades with their safety pins and clips removed.
But this time, it went beyond such simple manipulations; it felt like completely attaching objects into desired forms.
Next was 'Classification and Addition/Subtraction.'
[Using Classification and Addition/Subtraction, you can separate desired parts of registered objects, or increase or decrease their quantity for shipping.]
[For example, you can remove the PET material from a 2L bottle of water and ship only 50L of water.]
After hearing the explanation, I roughly understood.
If I used 'Combine,' I could design outlandish weapons by combining axes or knives, and if I used 'Classification and Addition/Subtraction,' I could pour out dozens of liters of oil at once.
Since it definitely seemed helpful for the current situation, I promptly paid the cost.
[Received 250 mana stones.]
[Remaining mana stones: 37.]
Pax replied.
***
Yi Yong-su, both my sisters, and I.
The four of us got into a military Korando Sports.
Outside scenery painted black.
Soon, when Yi Yong-su stepped on the accelerator, the silver Korando would plunge into that darkness.
It was a vehicle no different from usual, but there was one difference.
"This is going to be incredibly sturdy."
Yi Yong-su said in an excited voice.
From the outside alone, it looked like an armored vehicle.
In the laboratory, I used 'Classification and Addition/Subtraction' to remove the frying pan handles.
I then attached the round frying pans, now just iron plates, to weak parts of the vehicle including the glass surfaces.
The body had become somewhat heavier, but it should have been enough to block the bats' minor attacks.
Vrooom.
Dozens of frying pans that became the Korando's thick shell.
Perhaps because they had become one single object, not even the typical clattering sound was heard despite the vehicle's vibration.
Vroooom!
We escaped outside the portal like that.
Shriek!
Squeak!
As always, the bats came flying, but...
now the situation was not the same as always.
Click!
When I turned on the switch that dangled down from the passenger seat ceiling, intense light burst out in all directions from the vehicle's roof.
Because what was fused to the car wasn't just frying pans.
A camping power bank battery loaded in the trunk supplied power.
Huge square lights one would normally see in photo studios were bound in all 360-degree directions to the vehicle.
The lights formed into a spherical shape, mimicking the sun in the sky, not permitting even a speck of shadow.
And...
The light fired out didn't stop at merely driving away the bats.
"...They're burning up?"
Screeeeech!
The bats that tormented us endlessly were swallowed by flames.
And...
Tap.
Plop.
Below those that vanished without a trace, mana stones began pouring like rain.
Thud-thud-thud.
Thudthudthudthud!
A sudden weather change.
The mana stones falling like hail clanged against the frying pans, sounding a victory song.
Of course, I absorbed all of that celebration through
The citadel submerged in darkness.
We slowly set out to find the exit.
Becoming a single firefly.