Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 179



Only Krnovel

85. King (4)

I have no way of knowing what new facilities the government was planning to build on the vacant lot next to Sejong City, but it’s not hard to see that one of them is a stadium, even just from looking at its unfinished form.

Perhaps because there was ample land, the height of the building was not very high.

It’s probably about 6 stories high, so we balanced it out there.

The main road was planned to have a whopping 16 lanes, and even the most minor roads between blocks were maintained at 6 lanes.

As expected of a city under construction, there were no cars on the roads, but instead, gray-white walls that seemed difficult to recognize as belonging to this world were sometimes arranged in a manner that was far removed from the general understanding of humans.

It’s a maze unique to the spider type.

Perhaps because it had been stored for three years, the maze seemed larger and more complex than any other maze I had ever seen.

Before entering the maze, I checked my weapons and stretched out the rope I had acquired from the armored vehicle, then tied it tightly to a metal protrusion of unknown purpose.

The king watched my actions with interest.

“What are you doing?”

“Asterion Knot.”

“What is that?”

“You know the story about the Minotaur in Greek mythology, right??”

“A story about hanging a thread to not lose your way in a labyrinth?”

“It’s a classic method, but it’s not useful. Even people with high memory and spatial perception can easily get lost in a spider-type labyrinth, and monsters don’t break ropes.”

It’s not my favorite way to write, but this is a 3 year old monster den.

It means that there is nothing wrong with being careful.

I brought a can of paint sprayer with me in case the rope breaks.

It would be helpful if you put up signs in places where it’s easy to get lost.

“I wish they had left an armored vehicle here.”

“why?”

“You need to have a means of escape in case of an emergency. When hunting monsters, you should always keep something with wheels nearby.”

“If you call me now, I’ll get hurt.”

“Life is more important than face.”

King hesitated for a moment, then called the armored vehicle over on the radio.

“Can’t we change drivers?”

“why?”

“Can’t you hear? We can’t communicate closely.”

“Is this discrimination against the disabled?”

“Discrimination is something you can only do when you have the luxury.”

The king turned his head towards me.

“It’s definitely different from the Internet.”

Checked the rope and spray.

The rope is good in both strength and length, but I prepared two just in case.

The spray was so old that it didn’t come out well. I shook the spray like a bartender would and managed to get a usable marking mark.

King said while I was preparing my tools.

“At first, you know. I was disappointed when I heard that Skeleton was coming, but I had information that a Hunter was coming before, so I had hoped. I thought that Skeleton bastard might be the Hunter. Before I met him, the odds were less than 10%, but when I saw his face, I knew. Ah, this bastard is a Hunter. I had a feeling.”

I won’t deny that there is something called a hunter’s physiognomy.

It’s more of a unique vibe than a facial expression.

Our old school Hunters are indoctrinated to disregard their own lives and move mechanically for the sake of the team.

Since they are a group that has artificially suppressed the greatest instinct of humans, the instinct for survival, it wouldn’t be surprising if they exude a strange atmosphere that is different from others.

It’s been quite a while since I left the military, but hearing this story makes me think that I must have been really into hunter stuff during my time on the military.

“Since when have you been a beggar?”

I asked as I watched the armored vehicle approach from afar.

“It’s been a while. It seems like the plan was set a long time ago. I heard that they considered sending him to the military not long after Jeon Si-hoon left.”

“It looks like the spy network is quite wide?”

In response to my question, King slightly removed his gas mask, put a cigarette in his mouth, lit it, and took a deep drag.

“When the group was small, I was treated like a common gangster, but when the city population exceeded thirty thousand, the people around me treated me differently. Even if I did nothing, they would contact me on their own. Some were insecure about their current location, some were hungry for women, and some needed a stable shelter. The reasons were all different, but they were always asking me for something.”

“Why did Jeon Si-Hoon run away here?”

“You know those moral obsessions of kids? I guess they don’t like my city. Well, there are wild drinking parties on the streets, and warriors beat up, curse, and exploit slaves all day long. I guess that’s what they think is shit.”

The armored vehicle has arrived.

The driver was an ordinary man with a slightly frightened look on his face.

With his sinewy physiognomy and muscular arms, he may not seem like a coward, but anyone would be scared in this gray-white realm.

He asked the King to hold him for sure and gave him a rope.

“Then shall we begin?”

The reason the Spider type is a mess is because, as we can see from the previous hunt, it creates dirty mazes.

As expected of a monster created by another world other than humans, it doesn’t stop at just building dizzying walls, but at times, the path changes into a cliff-like shape in the middle, and at other times, it changes into a narrow passage that requires climbing a nearly vertical slope as if you were rock climbing.

The maze itself is made of a grayish-white waxy substance secreted by the spider type and its minions, making the boundaries between corners vague, which is also one of the reasons why finding your way around is difficult.

“The road is really a mess.”

The king followed me well.

He smelled a bit like a zombie, but he was agile and had decent stamina, as expected from a gang leader.

More than anything, I liked the courage and toughness that is typical of gangsters.

An ordinary person who comes this far would be overcome by fear and would throw a tantrum and say they want to go back.

However, it was annoying that he only held a pistol and not a rifle, but he did not try to correct it.

After all, his true value is not his marksmanship, but his ability to move away.

Cheeeeeeek-

Ahead of the three aisles, the floor was spray-painted red.

“How long do I have to go on this road?”

The king asked.

“There’s an open space inside. This is a kind of castle wall.”

“As expected, you’re a skilled hunter. Honestly, I trust you more than those legion hunters.”

“Is it better than that?”

“what?”

“Seriously, if you go any further you might die.”

Spiderling, Spider’s minion, has not yet appeared.

The story is that it hasn’t even started.

The king took off his gas mask.

His face was definitely more withered than it had been in the morning.

This is not normal.

It’s amazing how a person’s face can change so drastically in less than half a day.

King spoke with a strange face that did not belong anywhere, neither old nor young.

“Even if I go back like this, I’ll still die.”

“Is there any silence inside?”

“No. There’s nothing like that. I killed them all before. But the guys down there will probably find it funny.”

“Is that a matter more important than life?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

The king sighed and looked around the vague world covered in gray and white.

“The only reason my city survives is because the country has a king. Without me, the city would soon split into dozens of gangs like Incheon and disappear.”

“I don’t understand. If you go any further, you might die. If you die, isn’t that the future that will happen?”

“When a king loses face, he is a dead king.”

The king spoke clearly.

“I have a few loyal dogs and a lot of wolves under me. You shouldn’t look down on me until you have more loyal dogs. You never know when you might get bitten by wolves.”

I didn’t understand it with my heart, but I understood it with my head.

After all, the King’s city is a place that barely holds on with the King’s power and charisma.

He must have followed me to establish his dignity as a king.

Judging by the fact that they even called the Legion, this city must have been a headache for a long time, undermining the King’s majesty.

“Why did you choose me?”

I asked frankly.

“Wouldn’t it have been possible to ask for support from the Legion Faction and go with a proper team?”

“Those Legionnaires. I don’t like the feeling.”

The king said with a meaningful smile.

“There are guys like that. The kind of guys who will hit you in the back of the head someday.”

“okay?”

“Besides, I had a feeling when I saw you, Skelton. I don’t know you, but I had a feeling. This kid was going to do something.”

He burst out in laughter.

“······You have an eye for people.”

He responded with a smile.

“That’s why he became king.”

I can hear a rustling sound.

It’s spidering.

“Unless you’re right in front of me, save your bullets and abilities. I’ll clear the way.”

He walked cautiously toward the vague gray-white area, carrying a rifle on his back, a pistol in one hand, and an axe in the other.

The moment I reached a point where I couldn’t tell if it was a corner or a wall, a silent killer leapt at me.

Spiderling is a spider-type servant.

He’s not that strong or powerful, but he has sharp spear-like legs that can easily pierce human flesh, and he’s quite fast at jumping.

As inferior servants, their pattern is to get close enough to leap and then leap up, or hide in an ambush position and then leap up all at once to make a surprise attack, but their sharp, spear-like forelimbs, interlocked with the creepy maze, have taken the lives of countless hunters and soldiers.

bang!

The greatest virtues when dealing with spiderlings are calm and cool-headedness.

If you possess those two virtues, then another virtue, accuracy, will follow.

“side!”

As the King shouted, two Spiderlings jumped out from the square, aiming at me.

Bang! Bang!

I used a pistol bullet to destroy the protrusion that looked like a head, which could be considered a weak point, and then I chopped down the other guy coming from the other side with an axe.

puck!

He rushed in from an angle where it was difficult to apply force, and trampled the struggling man with his boots, finishing him off.

The king looks at me with admiring eyes.

“Skeleton! Are you hitting me?”

“Let’s go. Before more of them come.”

“What are you talking about? Is there more?”

“There are hundreds of spiderlings in the first-year lair of the spider type alone. I’m not sure about the third-year lair because there’s no data, but it’s probably in the thousands.”

“Maybe more than the population of my city?”

“Don’t worry. If you kill the master, the servant will lose its aggression and disappear without doing anything.”

Fighting a Spiderling means the Spider-Type has recognized me.

From now on, it’s time attack.

Before more minions swarm this narrow maze, you must advance to the central open space where the spider type resides and kill its head.

It would be impossible alone, but I have Awaken by my side.

If only the main body could be found, this fight would end surprisingly easily.

If the King, who is over level 5 Awaken, removes the reflective field, you can finish him off from long range with just a rifle without having to use Hunter equipment.

The problem is the medium-sized species that the Legion Faction witnessed.

I don’t believe there will be any medium-sized species here.

I’ve seen countless people lie and claim ridiculous hardships to cover up their failures.

Perhaps the legionnaires who came here made up such lies as they ran away from the third-year maze?

He ran to the cave and spoke to the king.

“When I signal, neutralize the stationmaster. You have experience, right?”

“I’ve never used it against monsters, but I’ve used it against people a few times.”

“Fanatic?”

“I know right.”

“Are there any fanatics here too?”

“There might not be many around Incheon, but there are a lot of them in the south. In a situation where the country doesn’t do anything, they say that monsters won’t kill you if you believe in them, and that’s how they spread their religion.”

“I think it’s a common doctrine that you can eat monsters and your friends.”

“It’s been changed to Korean style. Isn’t this more creepy?”

“Maybe so.”

As we were talking, two more Spiderlings rushed at us, but were struck down by the axe and fell helplessly.

As we turned an obscure corner along a twisting, sloping road, a pitch-black darkness spread out before us.

Central open space.

It is the home of the spider type.

I’ve never seen such a large open space.

But was there such a large open space?

The diameter appears to be at least 2km.

The spider type pattern creates an interior space of about 50m at most.

Perhaps it was through endless expansion, the construction and renovation of his own fortress that he was able to secure such a large area.

Small-sized – As expected from the deepest part of the erosion zone, the surrounding scenery was not much different from the world beyond the cracks I had seen.

Everything is grayish white.

Although no light comes in, an eerie brightness surrounds us, allowing us to discern objects.

The most heterogeneous thing is sound.

There is no sound in the world we know.

It’s as if we’re in a vacuum, and only the sound of our breathing and the beating of our hearts echoes eerily.

In that strange world, I quickly searched for the spider type among several decaying abandoned buildings, buried in gray and white.

It’s not visible.

Instead, hundreds of spiderlings are slowly advancing towards us, each with their forelegs raised.

“Fuck!”

The king wants to use his power.

“Save your strength here.”

“Is there an operation?”

Cheeeeeeek-

I sprayed the remaining red spray at my feet.

So that our exit can be identified from a distance.

“Let’s run.”

“where?”

“Over there.”

Even though it is called a complete erosion zone, the tactical common sense we know still applies.

The advantage of high altitude is one of them.

Jang Gi-yeong’s teaching that when you can’t find your enemy, head to higher ground and look for him is one of the few true sayings.

I jumped towards a building that was only a half-built frame.

Although the condition of the scaffolding used for construction was questionable, it was chosen because it was the only building that was far from the spiderlings and had an internal structure that was clearly visible.

Squeak!

The moment I stepped foot, the foothold began to shake precariously.

The king hesitated for a moment, but when I didn’t stop walking, he followed me without saying a word.

I climbed up to the 5th floor in one go.

First, I looked for the red paint marks marking the entrance.

It’s not easy.

That side is being used as an advance route for the Spiderling army.

Next we found the spider type.

Several buildings are visible beneath your feet.

I think it’s going to be one of these.

I was watching closely to see where that cunning guy was hiding.

There are people at the window of a building that is not as steep as The Hope, but is fairly gently sloping.

I looked at the man quietly.

She’s a woman.

To be exact, it’s a girl.

“Was Jeon Si-Hoon a woman?”

“Hey, you little boy.”

“ah.”

The king stared at the girl.

“That kid was mixed up with the fanatics.”

Another person appeared next to the girl.

He is an ordinary boy with a tall, thin build and wears glasses.

I saw the king.

“Is that him?”

“Hey. It’s that kid.”

King glared at Jeon Si-hun and shouted.

“Hey! Is it worth living?!”

Jeon Si-hun looked down at King with his mouth open, as if quite surprised.

“I came to pick you up, kid. How long are you going to stay in this gloomy place?”

The girl next to Jeon Si-Hoon whispered something to him.

Then Jeon Si-hun looked at us and shouted.

“Come this way!”