Life Mission

“It’s hard to find the path.”

“We’re using the compact detection robot to create a map. We should be able to find it after digging through everything one by one.”

Strategist laughs at Cha Jun Sung’s words. The world federation Lifers started searching everywhere by releasing compact detection robots as soon as they were summoned to their separate locations. If they don’t do this because it was a bother, they would suffer the inconvenience of going in circles. There really is nothing to be so bothered by either. If they just activate it in the beginning, the robot would handle the rest on its own. They need to be extra careful with them because, even though each is worth 2 million points, they are weak enough that a bullet can penetrate through them. They have as many handicaps as they have uses.

“You said that you found a way out?”

“Yes. It looks like each area has one.”

Beep beep!

Strategist showed them a holographic map saved on his PDA. They can see a place where something like a ladder is marked. That is the exit to get out of Underpass. Strategist does not intend to go out. Their goal is to go deeper underground, not to go outside.

“You heard that roar, right?”

“Perfectly.”

A few days ago after they lost a few Blood Devils in the fight against the Blood Suckers, they heard a hair-raising roar. It was loud enough to ring throughout Underpass. Strategist analyzed the sound with his battlesuit and calculated its estimated location.

They kept it as an uncertain, unclear indicator. They’re creating the map now. Unless the Underpass is infinitely large, they will meet at some point.

“Underpass is circular. I’m not 100% sure, but we have searched 60 to 70% from what we’ve marked until now.”

“So, we just have to go through the rest.”

“The problem is after that.”

How great would it be if the mission was to just find and complete? They cannot even imagine what kind of monster is waiting for them. The force placed the search as their priority. Their top goal is to dissect Underpass. That is the only way they will be able to find the way to Public Underground.

The Lifers had been moving without time to stop, and are now on a break. They have plenty of stamina, but proper sleep and meals are absolutely necessary. All kinds of food come out of their space compression bags. As magic bags, they are full of delicious foods.

Beep beep!

Strategist was resting when he saw an alert from his compact detection robot and straightened his body. It picked up multiple vital responses. There was a lot. It easily surpasses tens of thousands. He is certain that it is where the Blood Parasites are gathered.

“950m northeast, detection of vital responses in the tens of thousands. We’ll go right away.”

It is too far, so there are limits to how the cameras can be used. If they go within 500m, they can see what the detection robot is seeing.

The force moves in tension. The detection robot’s information was shared with everyone. There are more and more being detected. They are going further into the robot’s range.

Pat!

The camera turns on as soon as they enter the permissible range. The camera shakes from top to bottom as though it is digging into the ground. They do not see mutants.

“What!”

“Goodness!”

Woong!

The detection robot finishes spelunking and comes out. The force is speechless. Cocoons stuck all over a wall; it is impossible to count all of them. The cocoons are not the most shocking part.

“Blood Sucker?”

“Why is it so big?”

A giant Blood Sucker is coiled up in the center of the cocoons. It is a warden, Public Underground’s boss. Their skin crawls even though they are looking at it through a camera.

‘Mutation, evolution.’

Cha Jun Sung thinks to himself. It is the image of a top level 6.

Wiing!

The detection robot turns its view. The camera films Public Underground. There are dozens of Blood Suckers in position everywhere. There are hordes of Blood Devils.

“That’s too much.”

“We have to take all of those on?”

5 huge Blood Suckers. The one in the middle of the cocoons is the biggest and the other 4 are similar to each other. They are variants.

Strategist sent the detection robot in further. Robots do not experience fear.

“There’s a hole in the ceiling.”

“It’s a trace of the Blood Lord, right?”

Cha Jun Sung looks at Glare Gun. They are the only 2 people who have caught Blood Lords before.

“It’s completed its molting perfectly. It’ll be bigger than 200m.”

Blood Lord is one of the top 10 largest of the Nightmares.

“It must have created a path for itself because it is too big to move around Underpass.”

“Those level 6s over there, especially that big one, they’ll have to move around through the ceiling.”

“Do you think they blocked the entrance because of us?”

“I think so.”

“Damn it. How do we kill all of them?”

Nuclear grumbles. It is a scene that could make him vomit. There are 5 level 6s.

“We’ll get the detection robot back first, and then come up with a plan.”

Wiing!

Strategist called the detection robot, but a weak sound leaked out.

Boom!

The Elder had been sleeping, but blinked open its red eyes, and launched a thorn. A thorn the size of a human leg pierced through the robot precisely. It has outstanding senses. It is 100m away, but was able to hit the robot a size of a fist.

Its thorn regenerates. There is no movement.

“Let’s just plan it out.”

2 million points just evaporated.

Chapter 7 | Inner Madness

Roar!

The Elder was asleep in the center of the cocoons when it heard a beast’s roar and woke up.

It does not fall asleep in order to always remain active. Its open eyes are not sleepy either. It is just slightly opened. It can switch to combat mode whenever it wants to.

It is noisy beyond the ceiling. The leaders took the Blood Suckers and Blood Devils hunting. The clan are living beings. They will die if they do not eat.

Boom!

The ceiling is 100m tall, and dozens of mutants the size of elephants fall down.

They are the double headed giants living above them. They caught a lot of them, but the noise does not stop.

Roar!

A roar comes out beyond the leaders’ force. They must be fighting strong mutants, and it is taking much more time than when they were fighting the double headed giants.

The Elder knows what the leaders are going after. The blood clan is the upper line in power dynamics, so it didn’t have to worry.

Boom boom boom!

Their hunting is was success. Mutants 4 times the size of double headed giants plummet to fall on top of the corpses. They normally would have died, but they survived because the double headed giants that died first acted as cushions.

Boom boom!

Double headed kings. They are also top level 6 mutants. The leaders’ bodies are covered in wounds.

They are unable to hold their bodies up after the impact of falling. No matter how much cushioning the giants provided for them, monsters weighing tons fell 100m to the ground. As their bones broke, their organs were ruptured. They will become better after a few days with mutant resilience, but that is not possible in this situation.

Bang!

The Elder slams its tail down on the double headed kings.

They went rolling because they didn’t have the strength to withstand it. They are strong enough that they could have tied if they had faced off under normal conditions. Victory and defeat were easily determined because they didn’t have the strength to react.

The leaders were done with hunting and climb back down the wall. They need to end it swiftly. There’s a lot of mutants as strong as the double headed giants above them. That’s why the leaders doesn’t go around by themselves very often and wanders in hundreds.

It’s usually a bother, but they survive by going around Underpass to find preys.

Beyond the ceiling is an area of predators that not even the Elder can take on. But, the Blood Lord killed them before going on its expedition. That is how the blood clan came here.

Grr!

The Elder looks at the entrance. It can feel that the enemy is close. They have been sending strange insects for the past few days, but it has been killing them every time it sees them. There are Blood Suckers covering the entrance just in case. The enemy will not be able to get through but, if they do, it intends to kill them one by one. It cannot let them come inside.

***

The force took appropriate positions and looked for ways to get through the entrance. They are ready to accept ideas regardless of position.

The problem is that there is no clear count even after holding meetings for several days.

It might be possible to get through by setting off bombs. The problem is that if they do that, they will draw the blood clan’s attention.

Also, the entrance is not very wide. It is packed if 2 or 3 people stand shoulder to shoulder. When they sent the last detector robot a day ago, they saw that Blood Suckers and Blood Devils were filling the entrance. What could this mean?

“Can’t we go down through the hole?”

“The hole.”

Strategist thought about what a force member suggestion. The giant hole in the Public Underground ceiling – it would be the best if they could go down through that. They can create shock from the top or throw bombs. They could take advantage of their position and make a sweep. That is only if they could get down.

“Leaving Underpass means leaving the mission area. This is level C advancement, but there’s no guarantee that the area above is a lower level than this.”

Even if it is a lower level than Underpass, they do not know how much they will need to battle until they get near the hole. They would only need to fight once, but this would make them fight more than they need to. A lot of people will think that being the final decision maker is great, but it is good to be an underling at times. They just have to do as they are told.

[Current location: 952. 266. 85.]

Whether they are under or above ground, only the depth is different and the location is pretty much the same. If they just follow the locations as a guide, they will be able to arrive.

“What do you think about just blowing the whole thing up?”

Nuclear makes a suggestion. They didn’t have anything like white phosphorus, but they brought a lot of powerful bombs like dynamites. They prepared fully because it is an advancement mission.

“The entrance will collapse if we do that.”

Underpass is not ideal to use bombs in that blow buildings away, excluding basic ones. If they are misused, they will sweep through everything regardless of enemies and allies.

“I didn’t know we’d end up in a battle of wits against mutants.”

“I know, right?”

In terms of a war, the force is a siege and the blood clan is the residing. Generally to bring on a siege, they need to have 3 times the power of the residing. However, the siege is weaker.

“Let’s go out. It won’t be bad to see some sunlight.”

Strategist spoke after thinking for a while. They have made no progress with the entrance in front of them for days. It seems like there will be none in the near future. It would be better to go to the hole rather than dragging out time waiting here.

***

[Level C Mission: Black Devil’s Shadow] [Goal: Attainment]

[Description: The Black Devil was dealing with the darkness when it was trampled by the ascending king’s power. A lone shadow left behind. A tremendous host is needed for a still weak shadow to develop into a Black Devil. When will an opportunity come? Even today, the shadow hopes to get revenge.]

[Reward: 1.8 million points. Lucky box.]