Before long, we arrived at the point secured by the military.
From what I’d heard, it was an area connected to Gangnam Sarang Obstetrics and Gynecology.
“…….”
This was the first time I had faced a blackout zone from such close range.
Nothing but darkness. In that dense pitch-black, from which not a single handful of light could escape, the sense of distance became something far removed.
Along the boundary of the wall blocking our way, a sticky, repulsive blackness heaved and surged like the living innards of some breathing beast.
It also seemed like the waves of the deep sea, suppressed behind a single thin, invisible pane of glass.
A heavy pressure crushed my lungs, as if that precarious boundary might burst at any moment and tens of thousands of tons of dreadful darkness would become a tidal wave, crashing over the entire world and swallowing it whole.
But one thing—the impression that came from it with absolute certainty was……
That was void.
A space where nothing existed, and where nothing should exist.
“From this point on, we will be entering the point.”
Captain Kim briefed us with a flick of his fingers.
“The area we will be entering is Gangnam Sarang Obstetrics and Gynecology. This place is a demon’s den filled with mimetic beasts of all sizes.”
Mimetic beasts of all sizes.
Everyone knew what that meant.
To begin with, an obstetrics clinic was a place where countless lives were born.
A place where humans, as humans, began new lives, each assigned parents who would love them.
‘…That’s what it should be.’
But the beings born as humans in this place had, in the end, metamorphosed into something else.
“The point currently identified by the military as the exit is the emergency exit on the fourth-floor exterior wall. Guarding it is a cluster of mimetic beasts currently designated as the Incubator.”
A massive monster formed from a gathering of small mimetic beasts.
That was the one that would become the greatest obstacle in this operation.
And also the target.
“The objective of this operation is to pave the way for what comes next. Therefore, our goal is to subdue and purify the Incubator.”
Captain Kim adjusted his beret and asked,
“Any further questions?”
No answer came to that question.
Because we had already heard it to the point of tedium.
“Then we will enter.”
We threw ourselves into the brimstone.
May there be salvation on our path.
Soon, the surging darkness swallowed us.
*
“Uuurk!”
This time, it wasn’t a sound Min Aji made. It was mine.
The instant I stepped into the darkness, an indescribably shitty sensation turned my insides upside down.
And apparently I wasn’t the only one who felt it; the sound of retching came from all directions.
We were only able to regain our senses after our stomachs settled.
Only then could we look upon the scenery of the otherworld we had stepped into.
“…Oh, Lord…….”
A massive wall, shaped as if human beings had been flattened, had formed directly behind us.
It was hard to see properly because of the darkness, but if it matched the drawings, it was probably shaped like a giant box.
The state of the humans who had become part of the box was too horrific for words.
Their organs were crushed and bulging out, as if they had been stamped flat by a compression press.
And yet, as though they were still not dead, a twitching pulse could be felt from time to time.
“…Uuurk.”
It was worse than seeing it in pictures.
But perhaps because I had already steeled myself, the shock did not last long.
For a moment, I wondered whether my divine power could save them as well, but……
At least, not yet. I still couldn’t handle my divine power.
But one day, I would return. I would come back here… and make it so they could regain themselves.
That was enough sentimentality.
There was something we had to confirm immediately inside the blackout zone.
“Fortunately… it seems the military’s prediction was accurate to some extent.”
Inside the blackout zone, there was only darkness.
This darkness could not be cleared away by anything. No matter how bright a light was brought in, it would merely be swallowed by this endless darkness.
Until now, that was how it had been understood, but……
‘…Halo.’
The halo above my head scattered a soft light.
It wasn’t bright enough to call dazzling, but it was a light that possessed a definite presence.
Fortunately, just as predicted, this light had succeeded in neutralizing the darkness.
“Visibility is… approximately 100 meters. It seems to be roughly a tenfold increase.”
Captain Kim’s voice carried both deep astonishment and relief.
There was no need to ask why he was so shaken.
Human beings feel extreme fear when their vision is cut off.
Then how must the soldiers have felt, forced to wander through pitch-black darkness where they could see only ten meters ahead, in a demon’s den where immortal monsters wearing human skin could leap out from every direction?
One fortunate thing was that we did not have to feel that anxiety.
In our own way, we had the high ground.
“Securing visibility is an enormous tactical advantage. That alone will expand the range of tactics we can employ.”
His gaze lingered for a moment on the halo above my head.
This soft golden light pushing back the darkness was, in this hell, no different from the only lighthouse we could rely on.
But I couldn’t simply feel reassured.
‘…It’s not drawing aggro, is it?’
If this were a game, I was basically standing in the middle of a pitch-black map holding a torch.
It was good that we had visibility, but on the other hand, it might also be advertising to the monsters hiding in the dark: I’m right here.
“Do not let down your guard. Just because our field of vision has widened does not mean the danger is gone.”
Fortunately, Captain Kim was aware of that as well.
At his hand signal, the six of us mutants formed up once again.
At the front were Elder Owlbear and the Orc man; in the center were me and Captain Kim; and the rear was handled by Yu Inha, Min Aji, and Kim Jihu.
Where the light of my halo reached.
There, our first destination stood calmly even within the box of humans.
[Gangnam Sarang Obstetrics and Gynecology]
Within that calmness, Min Aji wrinkled her nose.
“…A fishy smell…….”
This time, she did not vomit. Had she adapted already because she had smelled it once before?
Min Aji was not the only one who detected something abnormal.
“From inside the building… I can hear a squelching sound. A friction like someone walking barefoot through mud, and… very faintly, the sound of wheels turning too.”
The sound of wheels turning.
When one thought of a hospital, certain things easily came to mind. Wheelchairs, mobile beds, or IV stands.
In an ordinary hospital, it would be harmless white noise, but this was a blackout zone.
“We will enter. There is a high probability that the internal structure differs from the blueprints we studied beforehand, so make every effort to secure your own field of vision.”
At Captain Kim’s instruction, Elder Owlbear wedged the handle of his sledgehammer into the gap of the firmly closed automatic doors of the obstetrics clinic.
Craaaack—!
When he applied force and twisted, the door was forcibly opened along with the sound of shattering glass.
Whoosh.
The stagnant air inside the building was pushed outside.
Even though the air conditioning must have been off for quite some time, the air in the lobby was chilling enough to raise goosebumps.
The halo above my head illuminated the lobby.
‘…Fuck.’
A curse came out on its own in my mind.
The lobby was a scene of carnage.
The reception desk had been split in half, and the sofas in the waiting area were soaked in blood and unidentifiable bodily fluids, discolored to a dark red.
But the most horrifying things were the posters decorating the walls.
[A Healthy Birth, A Happy Family!]
A poster showed a brightly smiling mother and baby.
But the eyes of the people in the photo had been shredded by something sharp and stained red.
“The space… is twisted.”
The Orc man examined the wall with his K3 machine gun raised.
Just as he said, the corridors leading from the lobby ignored the laws of physics, twisting upward in spirals or sinking down into the floor.
The agent’s briefing that the space would be randomly rearranged struck home with painful clarity.
Our target was the emergency exit on the fourth-floor exterior wall.
But within this distorted structure, there was no way the stairs remained intact.
Screeeeeech……
That was when it happened.
The sound of wheels turning, which Elder Owlbear had mentioned, began to come from the dark corridor deeper inside the lobby.
Everyone readjusted their grip on their weapons and focused their muzzles and gazes in the direction of the sound.
I, too, drew the Glock from my waist and gripped it firmly with both hands. Cold sweat seeped into my palms.
A silhouette slowly emerged from the darkness.
“……A patient?”
It was a pregnant woman.
“Help… me…….”
A cracked, parched voice. A human scream filled with pain.
It was such a pitiful sight that anyone who saw it would instinctively want to run over and support her.
Even Captain Kim, who had to give the order, seemed to hesitate.
But we had already experienced this.
And I could also feel the halo holding my mind in place.
“Prepare to fire. It’s a monster.”
This was a place where countless soldiers had already come and gone.
Meaning it had been confirmed that there were no survivors here.
Even if there had been… there wouldn’t be anymore.
That was why we had to hurry more than the military.
Bang—!
The muzzle spat fire.
The sulfurous smell I encountered for the first time was thick with the acrid stench of gunpowder.