Every place where the dark red liquid had dripped, that strange black slime I saw earlier was growing.
So that’s how it spreads?
Like mold.
Dr. Yeon signaled, and we moved after the monster.
The black slime was gradually spreading through the building.
“Ming Ming?”
“Ming…”
Ming Ming was scared for the first time in a while.
Maybe the Squid Monster had frightened her, so she hid between my legs.
I nudged the black slime with my shoe.
“Ming Ming. I know you’re scared, but could you burn that thing for me?”
“Ming.”
Ming Ming spat out a flame, and fire caught on the black slime.
But thinking about how this alien creature already contaminated the building this much made me worry that the problem could become seriously huge.
It hadn’t even been a few hours yet.
Just what sort of cellular structure does this creature have? From a molecular biology perspective, I mean.
“It has tentacles and squid eyes, so is it a cephalopod? But it grows like a fungus, so maybe a mycete? And with fangs and a tail, is it a reptile?”
I couldn’t recall exactly.
“This is Sparrow. We’ll take care of the escaped hazardous entity from the Gate, then enter the Gate as quickly as possible.”
– This is Seal-1. Confirmed.
I bent over and patted Ming Ming’s head with my gloved hand. Ming Ming stared up at me from her shrunken pose.
“Ming Ming. Track it.”
“Ming!”
Tracking wasn’t particularly difficult.
It left trails of blood and mucus as it moved. Dr. Yeon’s team briskly followed the monster’s traces.
Ming Ming didn’t look like she wanted to fight the Tentacle Dragon in my place. She was still clearly dispirited.
So she’s this frightened……
It must really be a powerful monster.
I recalled the traits of the Tentacle Dragon I’d seen in my previous life. Incredible agility and reaction speed.
With dozens of eyes, it has no blind spots, and with wings made of tentacles, it’ll grab you if you get within a few meters.
Its regenerative ability and defense mean most firearms are barely effective. The thick mucus layer even makes it fireproof.
It’s truly an annoying creature in every possible way.
“If only we had an Awakened with a melee weapon.”
I pondered for a moment.
It’s just that the Gate opened so recently; if we had a day, we could call in an Awakened. If we can just hold the situation today…
“Over there.”
We hid ourselves as much as possible behind the railing.
This was the second floor of the Outlet.
Below the railing, the monster was slowly passing by. It looked like it was hiding there while its wounds healed.
We quietly watched the monster.
The Tentacle Dragon was lying with its tentacles coiled.
Black blood was slowly oozing from where it sat. I pulled a second Tear Gas Grenade from my pocket.
“Would you really let yourself get hit a second time?”
But I couldn’t think of any other effective way for now. I dropped the Tear Gas Grenade over the monster’s head, and dozens of its eyes looked straight at me.
A look of disbelief.
As if asking, Again?
The second time, the effect was much less. The monster charged at me again, and I aimed at the center of its torso.
Bang!
This time, I let it get much closer than before.
Firing from up close, blood and flesh burst from the impact like an explosion.
I dodged a few steps back, avoiding the tentacles.
“Run!”
The Squid Monster was furious. After being hit twice with tear gas and taking endless direct hits from bullets, it was enraged.
“This way!”
We lured the monster to the prearranged spot—where one of Dr. Yeon’s research team had been waiting.
I ran as fast as I could and hid behind a pillar. Everyone hid around the corner of the building. Dr. Yeon shouted.
As expected, the pros were different.
In that short moment, they’d set up explosives in the hallway. I sat on the floor and slightly opened my mouth.
If you stand, you might be knocked over by the blast, and if you keep your mouth shut, your eardrums might burst from the pressure.
“Detonate!”
Claymore.
With a thunderous roar, the explosives went off.
The back of the Claymore is said to be safe, but you can’t fully avoid the shock of the blast.
Dust and debris scattered everywhere. With the concrete powder in the air, a cloud of dust blocked my view.
I took out my flashlight and swept the area. The Tentacle Dragon should be nearby. Did we kill it this time?
Or did it run away?
“Ming.”
It was a ghastly sight.
Through the white dust cloud, the black monster’s corpse appeared.
The Tentacle Dragon’s front side was completely blown apart, and black blood and flesh were sprayed everywhere as if painted with a can of spray paint.
Some of the tentacles were still moving.
It was truly a nightmare-inducing scene.
We emptied our M1911 magazines into the monster’s corpse for good measure.
This should be enough to be sure it’s dead.
But I didn’t say that thought out loud.
“If it comes back to life after hearing someone ask if it’s dead…”
I tried using Seeker’s Trait Activation on the Tentacle Dragon’s corpse.
[You have killed the Tentacle Dragon]
[Seeker Stat +20.]
[Enlightenment Stage 2 progress: 160/200.]
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Finally caught it.”
There was still the unidentified liquid spreading through the building, and the Gate was still open…
I took out a Sample Vial and collected some blood and chunks of the fallen monster. Ryoo would like this, wouldn’t he?
“Let’s head back.”
– This is Seal-1. Moving out.
We moved back to a location where we could see the Gate. Black slime was slowly spreading around the Gate.
The stark contrast between the everyday appearance of the building’s white tiles and the strange black slime made it look like a modern art installation. Almost surreal sculpture-like.
Though that’s no art piece.
As I stared at the Gate, Ming Ming, once again, quickly hid behind my legs as if she was afraid.
She must really dislike the Tentacle Dragon’s Gate.
“I’m going in now.”
Dr. Yeon nodded resolutely.
Before entering the Gate, I looked around. Could there possibly be some other anomaly in the building?
“Then… while I’m inside the Gate, deploy personnel to clean up the building as much as possible. Bring in heavy weapons, just in case.”
It was time to enter the Gate.
Though the second Gate’s surrounding terrain wasn’t very familiar, I had a feeling the third Gate would be truly horrifying.
“I mean, if Ming Ming reacts like this…”
If this world is full of such terrifying tentacled monsters…
“Are you scared?”
“Ming.”
Ming Ming covered her face with her wings. I patted her head.
It wasn’t common for Ming Ming to get scared.
She must really hate fighting the Tentacle Dragon.
***
“We’ve secured the Gate and neutralized the monster. You can now maintain alert and enter the building’s interior.”
I leaned against the building wall and stared at the Gate.
Having a Gate inside what felt like an everyday space… for some reason, it felt especially unpleasant now, even more than before.
I frowned.
It was the difference between a robber walking down the street and a robber inside your house.
Dr. Yeon was also staring at the Gate from beside me.
“It’s my first time seeing a Gate in person.”
“Really? They go up online every day.”
“Ah, not on screen. I read the reports every day, but I’ve never come right up to a Gate. There aren’t that many confirmed Gates, after all.”
I nodded, and Dr. Yeon continued.
“This… I heard some rumors from the Navy High Command. The situation is far more serious than we think. By next week or next month, there may be almost no safe countries left, even if governments try to hide the severity.”
I knew from my past life.
What you see now on the news or social media is just the tip of the iceberg. The real disaster is coming, and it’s close.
As countries’ systems start collapsing one by one, they’ll all fall like dominoes—no, more like a burning curtain slashed with scissors, collapsing all at once.
“All because of that Black Circle.”
I straightened up from the wall.
I heard the sound of people approaching.
A number of soldiers arrived at the scene. At the front was a United States Military investigation team in gas masks and protective gear.
“We’ll send in investigators to the Gate. Please check if any more monsters emerge or if any were missed.”
“Understood.”
Dr. Yeon put on her gas mask again.
***
There’s no time to waste.
I crossed the third Gate.
Since Ming Ming was so scared, I switched her out for the chicken. Honey Combo wasn’t afraid of the Tentacle Dragon.
Though, it was obvious that Honey Combo was less intelligent than Ming Ming.
“Maybe it’s just because she’s younger.”
Honey Combo perched on my shoulder like a pirate’s Parrot.
“Honey Combo.”
“Cluck?”
I handed a piece of flesh I’d picked up earlier to my Summoned Beast, and Honey Combo gobbled it up.
Monsters really do like monster meat.
“Maybe it’s because it’s infused with Aether.”
Anyway…
I looked around again. The area seemed like a kind of forest, though it wasn’t made up of any familiar plants.
Water squelched under my feet. The environment was generally humid.
I scanned the surroundings with my Oxygen Meter. As expected, the oxygen concentration wasn’t high. It’d be hard to set a forest fire here, too.
“Nothing’s ever easy.”
Checking with the Mana Geiger Counter, the local radiation levels were normal—nothing problematic compared to Earth.
I started walking.
The trees were tall and straight, like palms, but there weren’t many leaves, and the trunks looked more like mushrooms than wood.
The bizarre plant leaves were a dark navy, an odd color. Underfoot were black plants.
Are these flowers? On a closer look, the plants were more like flowers, growing in abundance up to my ankles.
The flowers spread out like a Carpet.
“Honey Combo.”
“Cluck?”
I looked at Honey Combo.
Come to think of it, she does make chicken noises.
“Where do you think the monsters are?”
Honey Combo didn’t seem to have any particular thoughts. I pulled out another chunk of monster meat and gave it to my Summoned Beast.
As I thought. I’m never eating squid again.
Just looking at it makes me sick.
Normally, the area near a Gate is teeming with monsters, but strangely, there didn’t seem to be many here.
I looked for a place to hide and reloaded my gun.
This kind of pitch-black color isn’t common in nature. At least not on Earth.
In this world, most plants seem to be basically black. So the other creatures must be similar in color.
On Earth, plants are green, so frogs are green, grasshoppers are green. When plants die, they turn brown, so lizards are brown and wild mice are brown.
Here, everything is black, so the animals are black too.
Swoosh!
I ducked my head at the sudden rush of wind overhead. Good thing I’d already looked for cover.
I looked up at the sky. If I hadn’t hidden properly, I might already be flying through the air in that thing’s grasp.