A buoyant sensation filled my entire body.
The time I spent suspended in the air did not last very long.
I promptly went tumbling onto the cold asphalt.
“Uuurgh!”
My head was spinning. I still wasn’t used to the nausea that surged up every time I crossed a boundary, but—
‘……Well.’
Still lying sprawled on the ground, I looked around.
The surging waters of the Han River, the being lurking beneath them, and the cars that had packed the surroundings were nowhere to be seen.
…Right.
I survived.
No one died. I succeeded in saving everyone!
“Heh heh heh heh…….”
Right now, this joy was greater than the awful nausea.
Even though the tension and nausea were mixed together so badly that I could hardly control my body, I was laughing on my own.
After laughing like that for quite a while, and only once the dizziness had settled somewhat, I slowly pushed myself up.
Since I had pulled off something this impressive, the other team members would surely look up to me as well.
Now all I had to do was enjoy the praise……
‘…Huh?’
Or so I thought.
Whoosh, whoosh.
I looked around.
The darkened city was desolate beyond words, with not a single sign of life to be found no matter how hard I looked.
‘…Where did everyone go?’
Unfortunately.
Even after breaking through that ordeal, I could not find the team members who should have been waiting for me.
In a neighborhood where not even a breath of wind blew.
I had been dropped all alone.
*
‘…No wonder it was so quiet.’
Those ungrateful bastards.
Had saying they would wait just been empty lip service?
Could it be that they had never even imagined I would come back alive, and had simply moved on……?
‘…No way.’
No matter how I thought about it, there was no way the team members had set out ahead in that short span of time.
Even without deliberately emphasizing the bond between us, they would have had no reason to do that.
If anything, leaving me behind would be their loss.
The advantages I could provide alone included vision, healing, mental protection… to the point that it would be rude to even bother listing them.
Besides, they wouldn’t even have had the time to leave first.
To begin with, the gap between when the team members crossed the gate and when I crossed it was not that long.
Meaning, even if they had wanted to leave, they couldn’t have.
Then, considering this situation as a whole……
‘…I was dropped in a completely different place from the team members.’
That was probably the right way to think about it.
It was hardly as if some tremendous monster like the being beneath the Han River had appeared and kidnapped them.
“Ghhh!”
I scratched roughly at my head.
Because of my thick blond hair, my fingers didn’t really reach my scalp, but this was seriously driving me insane.
The situation had gotten tangled up, and badly.
What the hell happened? Were the gates in the Blackout Zone not connected to fixed coordinates?
Why was I dropped here alone?
According to the soldiers’ testimony, everyone had been able to cross without a single person going missing……!
Was the being beneath the Han River the problem?
Or was the problem that the human wall dividing the zones had been damaged once?
‘Right, that possibility is the highest. It looks like the most likely one, but…….’
…Damn it.
After scratching at my head for a long while, I eventually let out a deep sigh and stopped.
I could look for the reason later.
For now, dealing with what had already happened came first.
‘I don’t know what the hell is going on, but…….’
The situation was more serious than I expected.
The fact that I was dropped here alone was a problem, but the real issue was the hypothesis this raised.
The possibility that the other team members had also been scattered in every direction.
‘It’s not impossible. It’s entirely possible.’
If I was dropped apart, what guarantee was there that the team members hadn’t been scattered too?
I hoped that wasn’t the case, but it was plenty possible.
If they really had been scattered… that would be a huge problem.
Vision was the immediate issue. Visibility inside the Blackout Zone was extremely limited.
From their perspective, it would be no different from suddenly having blindfolds put over their eyes.
It would be a little different for Min Aji or the old Owlbear, who could at least rely on their sense of smell or hearing, but……
‘The rest don’t have any outstanding senses, so they won’t have anything to replace sight.’
It would be better if they were all gathered together. Only then would they be able to survive.
‘…I don’t know. I’m sure they’re all sticking together and alive.’
I sincerely hoped so.
The worry was endless, but I would stop worrying about the team members here. Thinking about it more wouldn’t produce anything, and it would only make me depressed for no reason.
And to begin with, I had enough on my own plate. Where did I have the time to worry about others?
I slowly looked around.
Beyond the wide road, there was a mountain jutting up, and rows of buildings that seemed even taller than it.
Considering that the range my light reached was only about 100 meters, the density here was incredible.
But the problem was not those mountains or buildings.
Rather……
‘…What are those things?’
Far off in the distance, some distance away from me, I could see monsters crawling through the streets.
They were not mimetic beasts.
Those, at least, wore human skin and pretended to be human to some extent.
But these things seemed to have given up on bipedal movement entirely. They weren’t even quadrupeds.
They had a flesh tone close to that of humans and seemed to be wearing clothes made of fabric… but their overall shape resembled a pine caterpillar instead.
A giant pine caterpillar, as if several humans had been treated like clay and lumped together.
Their bodies, similar to the human wall, were a mishmash of everything, including internal organs, and dozens of legs dangled from them as though meant to represent hair.
‘…Fuck.’
The monsters that lived inside the Blackout Zone were always like this, but they were not pleasant to look at.
It felt as though they violated dignity itself from the very start.
I could not understand what wish had been granted for something like that to be born.
At this point, the being beneath the Han River was practically a fairy by comparison.
At least I hadn’t been able to see its true form properly.
I let out a sigh and hid nearby.
Since I didn’t know how wide their field of vision was, this came first.
‘…At least aside from their size, they don’t look strong.’
After pressing myself against the side of a building and hiding there while watching them for a long time, I reached that conclusion.
Certainly, given how huge they were, they looked strong, but I couldn’t see any special means of attack.
Their movements were so simple it made me wonder if they had eaten a Strength-Strength Fruit.
They were slow too.
‘…The problem, however…….’
Was that there were far too many of them.
I had heard plenty about Seoul’s murderous population density, but to think it would be like this even after ending up in this state.
Even though each of them was big enough to make an ordinary car look small, there seemed to be close to thirty of them.
‘If I had to fight, I could fight and even escape afterward, but the risk would be pretty high.’
…I should avoid them whenever possible.
Fortunately, the monsters didn’t seem to recognize the light I scattered properly.
Hiding and moving around seemed somehow doable.
‘Then now… what should I do?’
The reason we had come here was none other than to rescue the survivors.
Our original plan had been to lead the survivors and guide them out of this place.
The situation had taken a somewhat unexpected turn, but… I didn’t see any need to change the plan.
‘Whether survivors or team members, I need to meet up with someone in the end.’
In truth, combat was less of a problem than other things.
For one, because of my weak physical strength, I hadn’t even been able to pack much gear.
The amount of food and water I had was very small.
‘I do have to consider the possibility that the survivors might be hostile, but…….’
I wasn’t too worried about that.
No matter what, the chances of me being defeated by survivors were extremely low.
Of course, most of them were probably mutants, but even so, that wasn’t an issue.
The likelihood that they had guns or explosives was also very low.
‘…I became an Archangel, so why do I still only have an advantage against people?’
I still had a long way to go.
At this rate, I really needed to learn more Judgment-type holy arts.
That was enough deliberation.
My plan was more or less set.
Whether survivors or team members, meet up with other people first.
To do that, there wasn’t much I had to do.
‘…For now, staying still is probably the best option.’
To begin with, the survivors’ camp was sure to be in an extremely secret location.
The soldiers hadn’t given us any information about the camp either, so it would be nearly impossible for me to find it first.
But there was no need to worry.
Even if I didn’t go looking for them, they would have no choice but to come looking for me.
‘Of course. In this pitch-black place, I’m practically the only person scattering light.’
I was someone who could not help but stand out from afar.
The monsters did not react well to my light, but people would be different.
In this dark hell, they would have no choice but to approach me, the only source of light.
Since I could end up missing other people, it would be best to avoid moving locations as much as possible……
‘…….’
A sudden chill ran through my entire body.
A feeling that something was terribly wrong.
‘…What is it? I don’t see anything nearby.’
Behind me was blocked by the wall of the building, and to my sides and front were the pine caterpillars, but they were far away. They didn’t seem to have discovered me either.
Then there was only one thing that came to mind.
The air above.
Drip, drip.
Liquid fell right beside me.
I immediately looked up……
“Uuuuuuuuuu.”
And saw a pine caterpillar clinging to the wall of the building before I knew it.
…Fuck me, those things could cling to walls too?