Chapter 84: Zombie And The City (1)

Thick rainclouds poured down heavy drops.

Patter— Patter-patter-patter~!

Through the broken window, a desolate cityscape stretched out.

Cracked asphalt roads here and there.

Street stalls burned pitch-black.

Cars half-destroyed after crashing into streetlamps.

It was as if ruined Noryangjin had been perfectly recreated.

But what drew the eye most were the things filling the streets.

[Urrrrrgh…]

[O…!]

[Urgh… Urk…]

Zombies packed every inch of Noryangjin.

Huge parasitic barnacles clung all over their bodies.

Flutter—

<Parasitic Barnacle Zombie>

– Threat Level: B

– Discovered in: Maslow’s Tower, Pathological Safety Needs Section

Creatures infected by the “Parasitic Barnacles” that live on Deathclaw Coast.

They usually lie motionless on tidal flats or shores, but rise to attack the moment a living being approaches.

They turn the target into another parasitic barnacle zombie, and in environments rich with moisture or salt, all their stats—strength, speed, stamina—skyrocket.

Parasitic barnacle zombies.

The same ones I’d seen to death in the underground passage at Haeundae Station.

Then a scream rang out.

“U-UWAAAAAGH~!”

An unfamiliar man was sprinting down the road while screaming.

A face I had never seen before.

Judging by the Hunter Association armor, he was definitely one of the hunters deployed for the operation.

“S-SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEE—!”

His face twisted in panic as he fled.

He barely shook off the barnacle zombies and turned into an alley.

At that instant.

FWOOSH~!

Something shot out from inside the alley and wrapped around the man’s legs.

It was a tentacle made of bright red flesh.

Fwoosh— Fwooooosh—

Multiple fleshy tentacles coiled around his arms, waist, and neck.

“U-UWAAAAAAAAAGH~!”

The man let out a final scream and was dragged into the alley.

Immediately after, a spine-chilling sound echoed.

CRUNCH CRACK! SNAP CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH—!

Flesh tearing, bones breaking.

Red blood flowed out from the alley, mixing with the rainwater.

I watched the scene while holding my breath.

…There’s even a mutant?

But something felt off.

The hunters sent into Maslow’s Tower were all A-rank or higher on average.

Most were veterans with plenty of real combat experience.

They had no reason to run from mere B-rank barnacle zombies unless it was a mutant.

And in that crisis just now, why hadn’t he resisted at all?

He could’ve used skills, artifacts—there were countless options.

Whatever the reason, walking around is a bad idea.

If even a single barnacle scratches me, I’ll end up looking exactly like them.

I slipped the Blood Martial Ring onto my finger.

At that moment.

Ding-dong!

<ERROR!>

<ERROR!>

<ERROR!>

<ERROR!>

<ERROR!>

Warning windows popped up like bamboo shoots after rain.

Ding-dong!

<In the Pathological Safety Needs section, items and skills cannot be used.>

<In the current section, all beings’ stats are forcibly downgraded.>

“What the hell is this now?”

Not just items—skills too?

I opened my skill window.

Ding-dong!

[Skills]

▶ Open – <Rank: ?>

▶ Close – <Rank: ?>

▶『Seven Demons First Strike Secret Art: Gluttony Slash, Beelzebub』 – <Rank: S>

▶『Cordyceps』 – <Rank: A+>

『Inherited Skin Oil』 – <Rank: A>

『Embers』 – <Rank: A>

・「Super Strength」 – <Rank: A>

Every skill name had a cancel line drawn through it.

And that wasn’t all.

<Stats>

– Strength: 2 ←99%↓

– Stamina: 2 ←99%↓

– Agility: 2 ←99%↓

– Intelligence: 2 ←99%↓

– Mental Power: 3.7 ←99%↓

Every single stat had plummeted by 99%.

…This is ridiculous.

An absurd handicap.

A situation I could hardly believe.

I tried taking an artifact out of my inventory.

Ding-dong!

<Would you like to withdraw the 『Poison Fang Spear of the Insect King Legion Great Warrior』 from inventory?>

The moment I gripped the A+ rank weapon I’d earned from the giant centipede.

Stagger—

“…!?”

My center of gravity lurched forward.

It was heavy.

Like holding an elephant with one hand.

Ding-dong!

<Would you like to store the 『Poison Fang Spear of the Insect King Legion Great Warrior』 back in inventory? … (Y/N)>

In the end, I had no choice but to put the artifact back.

Ding-dong!

<In the Pathological Safety Needs section, items and skills cannot be used.>

<In the current section, all beings’ stats are forcibly downgraded.>

Items, skills, and even stats completely sealed.

That meant even Awakened were no different from ordinary people here.

Now I understood why that hunter earlier had been so helpless.

I had never heard of magic that could completely block an Awakened’s abilities at the source.

Which meant the boss of this place, Maslow, possessed power that was anything but ordinary.

Enough that every top-tier hunter in Korea would have to gang up on him.

At that moment.

[Grooooo…oooh…]

The hunter who had been dragged into the alley slowly walked back out.

His pupils completely dilated, barnacles bursting out of his face.

…He too had become a barnacle zombie.

All Awakened powers sealed.

On top of that, parasitic barnacles that turn you into a zombie with a single scratch.

“This floor is gonna be rough.”

I started rummaging through the goshiwon room.

Under the desk rolled a half-used roll of blue duct tape.

“First, let’s at least prepare against the barnacles.”

I strapped civil service exam prep books to both arms and legs, securing them with blue tape.

Rip— Rip!

It should at least slightly protect me from being scratched by barnacles or bitten by zombies.

I approached the door and pressed my ear against it.

Silence.

No sound came from the hallway.

Creaaaak—

I opened the door a crack and peered into the corridor.

Some doors were open or broken, and black mold stained the marble tiles.

Doesn’t seem to be anything unusual.

I stepped into the hallway and picked up the fire extinguisher mounted on the wall.

The powder inside had hardened into a rock-like mass—it felt like lifting a boulder.

Might actually be better as a weapon this way.

Then.

THUD!

A sound came from the end of the hallway.

THUD! THUD-THUD!

Heavy thumps echoing one after another.

The noise was coming from near the goshiwon entrance.

THUD—!

[Management Office]

A room with a “Management Office” nameplate.

Beside the firmly shut door was a small sliding window, completely covered with layers of newspaper so nothing inside could be seen.

Holding the fire extinguisher, I slowly opened the door.

And there.

A half-naked woman with pale skin turned around.

[You are unharmed, Master.]

It was Jeanne.

Why does she look…

Jeanne had reverted to her Death Knight appearance.

At that moment, the notification from earlier flashed in my mind.

Ding-dong!

<In the Pathological Safety Needs section, items and skills cannot be used.>

<In the current section, all beings’ stats are forcibly downgraded.>

All skills were restricted in this section.

The “Gidovnik” skill that had made her look human was also disabled.

Jeanne finished removing the bone armor wrapped around her calves and tossed it aside.

THUD!

So that heavy noise earlier was her discarding the bone armor.

Jeanne clenched and unclenched her fists as she spoke.

[I could not bear to keep wearing it. It appears to be some kind of weakening curse.]

She reached toward Gan Jiang and Moye leaning against the wall.

But.

[…Kuh!]

The sword didn’t budge an inch.

The Spine Sword of the Dead she had received from Hybaren was the same—she couldn’t lift it.

In the end, all of Jeanne’s artifacts went back into inventory.

I handed her a baseball jacket and cap hanging in the management office.

Thanks to the oversized jacket, it covered her upper body and part of her lower half.

“Put these on at least.”

[Thank you, Master.]

“More importantly, let’s look for anything useful.”

To survive this situation, we needed supplies first.

Jeanne and I thoroughly searched the entire goshiwon.

A few packs of expired instant ramen, some bottled water, multivitamins, and so on.

Almost nothing useful.

“Hm. Is that everything?”

At that moment, Jeanne emerged from the storage room holding something.

[Master, I found something that can serve as a weapon.]

It was an aluminum baseball bat with the handle wrapped in blue tape.

Whoosh— Whoosh—

Jeanne swung the bat a few times.

Thanks to the baseball jacket and cap, her batting stance actually looked pretty decent.

“Well, we’ve got weapons sorted, at least.”

I picked up a mop handle I’d found in the bathroom.

At the end, I had securely taped a sharp kitchen knife with blue tape.

Way better than swinging around that heavy fire extinguisher.

A spear had longer reach, making it easier to deal with emergencies, and it was simple to put body weight behind it for lethal blows.

Finally, we stood before the goshiwon’s main entrance.

A mop-handle spear and a baseball bat.

We had to survive a zombie apocalypse with these crude weapons.

I gripped the handle of the iron door.

“Alright, let’s go.”