-Hwang Ga
At Gil's shout of "Zombies!", Cheon Danbi was the first to react.
"Didn't you say there were no zombies in Chinatown?"
"They must have come from another neighborhood."
"No. They're not ordinary zombies. Can't you feel the ashen energy? They must be zombies transformed into chimeras."
Even after I said this, Gil insisted.
"That may be so. But in my sensory range, I only sense zombies. I want to check. Please don't attack and wait just a moment."
"Alright. For now, let's approach quietly and scout."
I cast a weak concealment spell around the party.
We didn't need to hide our presence completely, but we needed to buy time until we finished scouting first.
Gradually, commotion could be heard from beyond the alley.
"Kiek!"
"Kiek!"
"Kieeeek!"
You could tell they weren't ordinary zombies just from the sounds. They were shrieking instead of speaking.
We quietly headed toward the sounds.
Soon, the ones that revealed themselves were indeed chimeras. But they were different from the chimeras we had seen until now.
They were chimeras composed solely of zombies.
They were on the smaller side compared to the chimeras we had seen so far. They looked like the bodies of four or five zombies tangled together.
Their numbers weren't great either. There were about a dozen chimeras in total.
"Ahh......!"
Gil let out a low sigh.
He must have been hoping they were ordinary zombies.
Then he wouldn't have to kill them. Or perhaps he wanted to meet zombies he could talk to for once.
I quietly patted Gil's shoulder.
No matter that they were composed only of zombies, those that had already become chimeras were targets to be eliminated.
They were monstrous lifeforms that had lost their reason and followed only the dark wizard's purpose.
But that wasn't the only problem.
The ashen energy surrounding the zombie chimeras was extremely ominous.
"Cheon Danbi."
"Yeah. I'll hurry up and get ready to purify."
I had only called her name, but Cheon Danbi immediately understood what I was trying to say. She had already grasped the situation.
The zombie chimeras harbored dense disease energy.
In the chimeras we had seen until now, the disease energy was carried in the black liquid spit out by lizard-men, but these zombie chimeras emitted disease energy from their very bodies.
By now, Gil must have noticed too.
The fact that the purpose of purification was not to save the zombies, but to obliterate them.
I dispelled the concealment spell and erected a powerful barrier around the party.
While I was setting up the barrier, Cheon Danbi burned herbal smoke first and began sending out purifying energy.
It was then.
"Kieeeek!"
"Kieeeek!"
"Kiek!"
"Kiek!"
Suddenly, the zombie chimeras leaped forward and rushed at Cheon Danbi.
Unlike the previous chimeras, they were extremely fast.
Far from flinching at the purifying energy, they rushed at her as if saying, 'We hate herbal smoke!'
Fortunately, I finished setting up the barrier in time, so the zombie chimeras' bodies didn't touch Cheon Danbi.
But even surrounded by the barrier, Cheon Danbi collapsed to the ground.
"Gil! Get Cheon Danbi out of there!"
I shouted urgently and drew up mana to activate flame magic.
The moment I saw Gil and Yu Jae-seon pulling Cheon Danbi back, I hurled a massive fireball at the zombie chimeras.
"Kieeeek!"
"Kieeeek!"
Accompanied by ear-splitting screams, the zombie chimeras burst into pillars of crimson flame.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
They burned intensely. Flames shot up in an instant, as if the zombies' bodies were made entirely of fat.
But they regenerated as fast as they burned.
Within the blazing flames, the zombies' bodies were regenerating. Their regenerative ability was outstanding.
Since they were chimeras composed solely of zombies, it was doubtful whether they could even be killed.
The problem was our lack of mana.
Everyone was stretched thin because there had been no time to recharge the mana consumed until now.
"Oh! Amazing. The disease energy doesn't vanish even against purification!"
Cheon Danbi shouted as if in admiration.
Having fallen back, she regrouped and began burning herbal smoke again. As before, Yu Jae-seon used wind magic to blow the smoke toward the zombie chimeras.
Even though the purifying energy enveloped the burning zombies, the dense ashen energy surrounding them remained unchanged.
"Purification doesn't work at all, and even when they regenerate, they remain in chimera form. What should I do?"
Gil asked from the side.
"Keep pouring flames on them. I'll target their cores with ice magic."
"Understood!"
Gil, too, seemed to have completely given up on trying to save the zombies, and immediately poured out flame magic.
For a moment, I recalled the zombies I knew from my previous world.
Zombies that possessed no reason whatsoever, constantly resurrecting and displaying only blind movements to harm humans.
Ah! And if bitten by a zombie, humans would become zombies too.
'Gil, don't grieve too much. The zombies I knew were originally like that. Though they weren't in chimera form.'
Of course, I couldn't tell Gil such things.
I was simply grateful that Gil was playing his part in attacking the zombie chimeras despite his attachment to them.
Thanks to Gil pouring out flame magic, some leeway was created.
So I was able to observe the zombie chimeras' regeneration closely and activate ice magic.
'Ice lances, pierce the zombies' hearts and destroy their cores!'
I targeted the zombie chimeras in the front that were facing the flames head-on, one after another.
The blades of ice pierced the regenerating zombies' hearts and destroyed their cores.
They began to be annihilated one by one.
It was fortunate that the chimeras' deaths resulted in complete obliteration, not even leaving corpses behind.
Because even the disease energy that wouldn't burn under flame magic nor be purified by purifying energy couldn't withstand obliteration. Because the disease's host completely disappeared.
After the zombie chimeras in front were obliterated, the ones in the back finally came into view, and I made a shocking discovery.
The face of a newly regenerated zombie was familiar.
Though it was a rotten figure, I could tell at once who it was.
The hat hanging on the burning, falling forearm was also familiar.
It was Hwang Ga.
'A human became a zombie, and then became a chimera again?'
I now understood why the chimeras I had seen earlier were holding rifles.
They hadn't stolen guns from the underground organization members. The underground organization members had become zombies and then chimeras.
'When? How?'
I had wondered where the endlessly swarming chimeras were coming from, but now it seemed they were using the humans of Chinatown as materials.
A chill ran down my spine.
Then what about the red portal?
Had they not summoned lifeforms from another dimension through the red portal, but merely borrowed power from another dimension?
Were they sending humans to another dimension, making them into chimeras, and calling them back?
Or was the disease energy the chimeras were spreading turning people into zombies and then into chimeras?
"Wizard! Are you low on mana?"
Gil shouted.
While I had paused casting magic in shock and confusion, Gil continued burning the zombie chimeras with flames.
Waiting for the ice blades to destroy the chimeras' cores.
"No. I'm still fine."
Thinking was something to do later.
Right now, we had to finish the battle.
Only three of them remained now.
I quickly extended a mana wave. I sent ice blades flying and finished off the chimeras.
They, who had once been something else, were now zombie chimeras.
Even as lumps of red flame, they had regenerated over and over, becoming hosts of the disease. But when their cores were destroyed, they were finally obliterated forever along with the ashen energy.
"Phew...... It's over."
"Ha! They were tenacious bastards. Disease energy that doesn't even yield to purification."
"But as expected, destroying the core completely obliterates them. The disease energy vanished without a trace too."
"That's a relief."
While the three of them exchanged a few words, sighing in relief, I continued thinking in my head.
It seemed likely that the disease energy was indeed turning people into zombies and then into chimeras.
As for the other creatures and the power of dark magic, Nasan Haegyeong must be borrowing them from another dimension through the red portal.
'How far has the disease energy spread in Chinatown? How many people have fallen victim?'
The underground organization members probably hadn't hidden quietly as I told them and had gotten caught waving guns around again.
Then would the people hiding in their homes be alright?
Anyway, it was an incredible feat of dark magic.
How could they turn people into zombies and combine them into chimeras in such a short time?
'Nasan Haegyeong......'
When I faced them before, Nasan Haegyeong hadn't felt like such a powerful dark wizard, but now they had grown strong enough to plunge an entire district into disaster.
I had a premonition that this would not be an easy fight.
"Let's go now."
Gil said, looking at me.
Only then did I look around at the three and reply.
"Yeah. Let's go."
"Let's head out that way. If we get out of that alley, we'll immediately reach the main road. Across the main road is Incheon Station."
Yu Jae-seon guided the way.
The party walked again, quietly keeping watch on their surroundings.
Gil, still worried about the party's lack of mana, stepped forward first and spread a wide barrier.
Thanks to that, I could extend my detection spell more keenly.
I had to examine closely not just for chimeras, but also for any red portals or Nasan Haegyeong nearby, and whether disease energy had spread.
In the brief meantime, darkness quickly fell.
Lights turned on one by one in the houses. There seemed to be fewer lights than usual, as if people were hesitating over whether it was safe to turn them on.
The streetlights had been on since earlier.
It was questionable how this battle would proceed once night fell.
We still didn't know how the chimeras moved in darkness or how they reacted to light.
What was certain was that it wouldn't get any easier.
No more chimeras appeared until we reached the main road. It was just quiet all around.
We stopped for a moment and looked around.
I spread my detection wide. I extended it all the way to Incheon Station across the way, but didn't feel any particular ashen energy.
"It's quiet?"
"Where did they all go?"
"We heard chimeras were swarming from the direction of Incheon Station, but that's not the case? There were fewer chimeras than expected."
"Right. They must have moved elsewhere in the meantime."
"Let's head back for now. We should return to headquarters first and rest while reorganizing."
"That would be best."
It was right when we had turned around.
Suddenly, a strange sound came from the direction of Incheon Station.
No. I mean, it was something like a strange scream, but not the real strange screams that chimeras let out. It was a yell from a person.
It was none other than a voice calling for me.
"Odin!"
It was Thor's voice.