Hiding a Logistics Center in the Apocalypse - Episode 22
(Into the Darkness (2))
The inner citadel connected to the walls.
As soon as we stepped through its entrance, an antique corridor submerged in darkness came into view.
Columns lined here and there.
Since it wasn't an area passable by car, I had Lee Yong-su wait inside the subspace for now.
My second sister Kim Sol, wrapped in her barrier ability, took the front line, with my eldest sister in the middle, while I followed behind.
Thus, the three of us each held portable searchlights and slowly pushed through the darkness.
The interior was terrifyingly silent.
The corridor stretching before our eyes didn't look extremely deep, but at its end, another hallway connected left and right.
Simply put, it was a fork in the road, but…
It wasn't time to worry about that yet.
"Ah!"
Kim Sol, who was leading the way, grabbed her nape.
And then…
Swish!
A moving shadow was caught.
But no matter how much we swung the searchlights around, we could find nothing except the corridor surrounded by thick columns and the dark silence.
When my eldest sister shone light on Kim Sol's nape, two fang marks were clearly revealed.
Kim Sol thrashed about in fury.
"What the hell, did something bite me?"
"Wait a minute."
When she brought my eldest sister's hand to it, the wound healed quickly with a soft light.
"Ah… ticklish."
Kim Sol scratched her nape and made an annoyed summer-day expression.
Swish!
Because we heard another one of them moving, I didn't hesitate and shipped out an item.
It was the studio lighting I had mounted on the Korando.
Fwoosh!
The dark, damp corridor was bathed in bright sunlight.
Then…
Along with the shadows of the tilted columns in the distance, their bodies came into view.
Sharp twin fangs, and bat wings.
We couldn't help but recall a very classic race that appears in fantasy worlds.
"…Vampires?"
.
.
.
"Ah, why is it so itchy?"
"Just endure it a little longer, little mortal."
Fortunately, Kim Sol didn't follow the cliché of vampires—suffering as her eye color changed, or suddenly craving blood.
Rather, thanks to my eldest sister's healing ability, even the remaining wounds had disappeared without a trace.
The real problem lay elsewhere.
Swish!
Swish-swish-swish!
Swish!
There wasn't just one of them.
Dozens of vampires were perched on each corridor column.
Swish!
Swish!
One would fly in to draw our attention, then another would approach and aim for the nape.
When I tried to snatch the approaching one, yet another would appear out of nowhere, leave fang marks on my forearm, and retreat.
Of course, thanks to my eldest sister's heal, it didn't feel very threatening.
But even so, the stolen blood didn't regenerate, so soon dizziness began to set in.
Swish-swish!
Swish!
An absurdly fast speed.
We rarely got a chance to counterattack.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
I took out a rifle and fired, but most shots missed, and even the few hits didn't inflict any damage like the skeleton knights from before.
They seemed to definitely be a higher-tier species than the bats stationed outside.
A bowling ball with the [Pierce] option might be effective, but no matter how much I fired auto-tracking shots at 150 km/h, it was difficult to match their speed.
What happened instead was…
Boom!
I only struck innocent corridor columns.
By the time the situation reached this point, one thing had become clear.
The fact that my second sister Kim Sol was the best restaurant among us.
Swish!
A vampire charged…
Bam!
Kim Sol drove it away with a barrier-wrapped fist.
Swish!
Bam!
As if playing catch with one another, they created a strange summer-day ecosystem.
And the vampires…
Bwooo—flap-crunch!
Would let out skin-crawling flapping sounds near our ears every time we started to forget.
"Ah, seriously, this is so freaking annoying!?"
Kim Sol swung her fist.
A woman swinging her fists at mosquitoes.
That was my sister.
She complained as if feeling wronged.
"Why do they keep biting only me?"
"Maybe because you smell like sweat?"
"You're dead, Kim Jeong-gyeom."
A stuffy, humid feeling gradually set in.
The corridor felt impregnable.
There was no way out for now.
If we couldn't catch them, we had no choice but to avoid them.
We unfolded a portal like a mosquito net and immediately returned inside the subspace.
Ting! Ting!
The vampires hovered around the portal like mosquitoes caught in a net.
Letting out dirty flapping sounds.
***
"This is difficult…"
We hadn't even found a proper exit yet.
If we kept being exposed to vampire attacks, it was obvious how exhausting the journey ahead would become.
After pondering for a moment, I made a decision.
I would use the enhancement stone obtained from catching the second skeleton knight.
At first, I considered strengthening the rifle.
But a rifle only served to fire bullets; it wasn't an object that directly struck the enemy.
Even if I attached the [Pierce] option to the rifle, it was unknown whether that effect would apply to the bullets as well.
And besides…
"…It feels a bit off to use it on bullets."
Originally, a rifle is structured so that a firing pin strikes the primer in the cartridge case to fire.
In other words, it causes a small explosion; if the [Electrocution] option were to activate then, an unprecedented disaster could occur where I, holding the rifle, died first.
It was the same reason I had used the fire-attribute enhancement stone with [Ignition] attached on the bowling ball instead of the rifle.
So…
You ask what I chose?
This was the virtual space of the laboratory.
Pax floated a hologram of the item I had ordered in the air.
[Electric Insect Bug Zapper Extra-Large IA-ic200, priced at 59,000 won.]
Wuuuuung—
A mysterious object enveloped in a faint blue light.
It was a round, cornered tower-shaped insect trap.
"It's surprisingly plausible."
This was an item chosen after much deliberation.
Since it was a situation where it was difficult for any object to strike them at an attack speed of 150 km/h.
Attack is the best defense, but defense is also the best defense in itself.
I don't know what I'm talking about, but anyway, that's how it is.
I recalled our dear Adidas mosquitoes and Tinker Bell friends from last summer who had crossed the mosquito screens.
Tak! Tadak!
The electrifying object that had made our flying insect friends even hotter on that hot summer day.
I planned to use the enhancement stone obtained yesterday on that object.
[Enhancement Stone (D)]
Attribute: Electric
Options: [Pierce], [Electrocution]
Anyway, this also had the [Pierce] option attached.
It would be a sufficiently threatening means against vampires that rifles couldn't pierce.
I planned to wrap myself in this bug zapper like a shield or a barrier and escape the corridor.
Pax asked.
[Would you like to use the enhancement stone on this product?]
"Yeah, apply it."
[Understood.]
[Received one enhancement stone.]
[Applying enhancement…]
[Enhancement complete.]
Jiji-jijijik!
Ttaak!
A brutal sound came from the bug zapper.
I didn't even want to imagine what would happen if my fingertips brushed against it.
But what was truly interesting was elsewhere.
It was the item description displayed by the system window.
----
[Electric Insect Bug Zapper Extra-Large IA-ic200 +1]
Grade: [Rare]
Description: [Failed to load information. You may enter a description directly.]
Attribute: [Electric]
Options: [Pierce], [Electrocution], [Taunt]
----
Originally, the options attached to the enhancement stone were only [Pierce] and [Electrocution].
But one thing had been added.
"…Taunt?"
Usually, it refers to an ability that draws enemy aggro.
To lure them to a better striking position, or to make them fall into a trap.
In other words…
"That's exactly what a bug zapper does…?"
The enhanced bug zapper still emitted a faint blue light.
The enchanting light that captivates flying insects.
That function had been attached as a strengthened option.
"Which means…"
There was no need to deliberately wrap myself in the bug zapper like a shield, nor was there any need to exhaust myself by 'shipping' the bug zapper toward the vampires.
It wasn't an item meant to be used that way from the start.
In other words…
I just had to leave it outside.
***
Ttaak!
Ttak!
The sound of beans roasting on an electric heater came from beyond the portal.
The [Taunt] option attached to it was definitely working on the vampires.
Ttadadadadadadadadak!
"Oh, looks like one got properly caught."
It was a bug zapper made by meticulously connecting dozens using the
Each was connected to a camping high-capacity power bank.
And…
"These bastards are all dead."
Our Lady Kim Sol went out wielding a club.
It was a weapon I had made for her using the
----
[Electric Insect Bug Zapper Extra-Large IA-ic200 + Wooden Baseball Bat]
Grade: [Uncommon]
Description: [Failed to load information. You may enter a description directly.]
Attribute: [Electric]
Options: [Pierce(-1)], [Electrocution(-1)], [Taunt(-1)]
----
A baseball bat wrapped with blue circular coils possessed a design that wavered between a fusion-punk lightsaber and a barbarian chieftain's wooden club—modern yet anachronistic.
Honestly, to tell the truth…
'…It's just an electric flyswatter.'
Compared to the enhanced bug zapper, its performance itself had dropped.
The +1 mark had disappeared, the grade had fallen to Uncommon, and minus tags were attached to the options.
It seemed that combining an enhanced item with another object weakened its existing power.
But regardless, it still had 'Pierce' attached.
In other words…
Thwack!
Crack!
It meant it was enough for Lady Kim Sol to batter the flying vampires.
A series of consecutive home runs.
But perhaps it wasn't enough to withstand the vampires' toughness, as the 'Zapper Bat' broke each time it struck.
Kim Sol paid it no mind.
Showing a leisurely baton twirl, she simply extended her hand toward me.
I newly shipped out the 'Zapper Bat' registered as a product.
Thwack!
Smack!
And so, the summer pastime in the corridor came to a successful close.
It was a glorious victory for mankind.
.
.
.
Vampire corpses roasted by electric heat, steam rising from them.
Unfortunately, enhancement stones didn't drop, but we managed to collect some magic stones.
During this, we sensed a foreign presence.
It wasn't a vampire.
If it had been, they wouldn't have been able to resist rushing toward the faint blue light.
My eldest sister opened her mouth slightly.
"…Ghosts?"
Something pale and gray moved between the corridor columns.
Three… four… there were quite a few.
But a greater change occurred.
Kugugugugu!
The stone walls, columns, and all structures forming the corridor began to shake.
As if they were a single living creature.
The arched hallway evoked the throat of a gigantic monster, and decisively, stairs from the inner citadel poured out from above and below like saw teeth.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
The floor shook like trembling gravel.
Stairs burst out above and below and surged toward us, colliding with one another.
That appearance was just like…
'…Teeth?'
The castle's structure was ferocious, as though it would devour us at any moment.
It felt like being thrown into a cage of beasts starved for several days.
Of course, it didn't necessarily have to be that way.
Using
Then, gazing at the portal that had become a safe window, we slowly surveyed the situation outside.
Drrrrr-rrrrrk!
Is this the kind of scenery one would see upon entering a crusher with interlocking steel saw teeth?
But because it was a subspace portal that wouldn't be destroyed no matter what impact occurred, we simply watched in real-time as piles of rubble mixed around.
However, one thing was certain.
We were moving somewhere.
Then, within the scenery, we saw the corpses of dead vampires floating away gently among the rubble.
A bizarre stronghold that used stairs as teeth.
If its purpose was to devour everyone…
Our destination would be at the end of its digestive process.