Chapter 152
Chapter 152. Zoo
Yoo Ji-han’s party, part of the expeditionary force, emerged from the space distortion and returned to reality.
As many had predicted, the entrance to the invisible space distortion unfurled on the tracks of a high-speed train.
“Whew! It’s over.”
“Everyone did a great job.”
The mages combined their power to destroy the entrance of the space distortion.
As a result, the train stuck in the distorted space returned to reality.
Unless another entrance was created at the same spot, it was unlikely that anyone would get sucked back into that meadow.
“This is Jeonju.”
“We’ve come farther than I thought.”
They were currently in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.
The train they boarded had been caught up in magic before reaching Jeonju Station.
“Why is the signal so weak?”
Kim Si-hu held up his mobile phone and shook it side to side.
The signal was coming in, but it was too weak.
Other people’s mobile phones were in a similar situation.
“What? What did you say?!”
As soon as she stepped outside, Park Jae-kyung, who was contacting the rear guard in Seoul, exclaimed in surprise.
With a stiff expression, she ended the call and said, “Everyone! It seems we’re unable to reach any of the heroes who were dispatched to various regions.”
“Could it be that…”
“It’s not just us who got trapped in the space distortion.”
The expeditionary forces that were moving to Mokpo and Haenam had all been ensnared in the space distortion as well.
“Where did the train engineer disappear to?”
“There’s a possibility that ‘that person’ is a spy.”
“Reports of missing persons are continuously coming in to the police; it seems that ordinary citizens got involved too.”
“It looks like things are escalating.”
“The Shadow Guild has lost contact in the Nonsan area!”
“Nonsan isn’t that far, so we should send someone from our end…”
Park Jae-kyung planned to mobilize some members from the expeditionary force to assist other guilds.
This was to forcibly dismantle the entrance to the space distortion in reality and bring people back.
“I’m counting on you.”
“I’ll be back!”
The heroes commanded to carry out the rescue plan left the tracks and headed to another area.
Meanwhile, Yoo Ji-han, still scanning the area around the tracks, tilted his head.
‘There are no people around.’
This area contained several apartment complexes.
It should have been a place bustling with people, but there wasn’t even a hint of life.
Not even a single vehicle passed by on the long road.
Even if they had evacuated to another area, the road should have been congested…
At that moment, he thought.
“Ji-han!”
“Yeah?”
“That way!”
At Min Yu-ri’s urgent shout, Yoo Ji-han turned to look in the direction she was pointing.
Way off in the distance, the window of a 13th-floor high-rise apartment shattered.
Before long, a gigantic Giant Pigeon Monster burst out from within.
It was gripping a person’s torso with its claws.
Swoosh!
Min Yu-ri swiftly pulled out her bow and nocked a magic arrow.
That’s when Yoo Ji-han shouted.
“Make it stronger!”
“……!”
——You need to be a bit bolder.
Recalling Instructor Lee Soo-ji’s advice after hearing Yoo Ji-han’s shout, Min Yu-ri instinctively channeled more magic into the arrow.
Thwoosh!
The prepared arrow was released from the bow.
It flew in an almost straight trajectory.
“Guguk?!”
The Giant Pigeon, flapping its wings, twisted its body to avoid the arrow.
But at the moment the arrow approached its body—
[Shape Change – Cube]
The thin arrow-shaped magic transformed into a thick cube.
The Giant Pigeon’s torso was sliced off as large as the area of that cube.
The cube, infused with an excessive amount of magic, was like a blade that could cut through everything within its reach.
“Chirp!”
A tamer’s sparrow flying late swooped down to catch a falling woman.
“Nice shot!”
“Did you see how its magic changed shape?”
“It’s amazing to see something like that in a real battle.”
The ranged dealers watched Min Yu-ri with keen interest, curious about her fighting style as a fellow hero.
In the meantime, the sparrow brought the rescued woman to where the heroes were gathered.
“Are you okay?”
“Ugh…”
Park Jae-kyung comforted the confused citizen.
Soon the woman, regaining her composure, wiped her tears and shouted.
“Mo, monsters are kidnapping everyone around here!”
“Is that true?”
“My family and friends have all been taken! The police are unreachable!”
“Have you tried contacting the kidnapped people?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know! Waaaah…”
The woman collapsed, beginning to wail.
While everyone silently looked down at her back,
Park Jae-kyung, biting her lower lip slightly, said, “Before heading to Suncheon, we need to resolve the issue here first.”
“Is that okay? Shouldn’t we quickly find the missing Guild Master first?”
“If it’s the Guild Master I know, he would have told us not to worry about him and to prioritize the urgent matters.”
“That… makes sense. He definitely would have said that.”
The Dice guild members, knowing Yoon Do-ha’s personality, nodded in agreement.
Park Jae-kyung then looked at Jung Gi-jun, the co-leader of the expeditionary force, and said, “Gi-jun! We’ll take care of the problems occurring in Jeonju and then move on.”
“Understood. Just in case, let’s leave some personnel behind for communication. Everyone left here, please follow Park Jae-kyung.”
*
Right after Jung Gi-jun took the selected personnel and disappeared,
Those left behind started searching the apartment complex where the Giant Pigeon Monster had appeared to find other survivors.
As a result, they were able to rescue about ten people from just that apartment complex.
All of them were individuals who had hidden in their homes to escape the monster’s threat.
“Chirp!”
“Please!”
The tamers unleashed their pets with keen animal senses to search the surroundings.
Thanks to this, they not only found a considerable number of citizens.
The winged pets also brought back new information from the sky.
“It seems the monsters are clustered in one spot.”
“Yeah! It looks like this way.”
A tamer pointed to a specific location on the phone map.
The other tamers’ information pointed to a similar location as well.
Park Jae-kyung frowned and said, “It’s in the direction of the zoo.”
“Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this.”
“If the animals in the zoo transformed into monsters…”
“The fences and cages could easily be broken.”
Areas like botanical gardens or zoos, where various creatures live, are strictly managed by the state.
Just in case any monsters might appear.
However, at a time like this, such rules are hardly observed.
“Let’s move out.”
The expeditionary force quickly split off from the slower support teams and personnel to protect citizens, heading toward the zoo.
When they reached near their destination,
They faced the utterly destroyed entrance of the zoo.
There was no doubt that it was the work of monsters and not humans.
“Chilla!”
“Guk!”
As each party began their actions, the Rank 2 Heroes moved to the enclosures where bears, lions, and tigers were located.
Yoo Ji-han’s party and the Rank 3 party, along with Nam Ho-yeol who stayed with the support team, investigated other areas.
‘What a mess.’
Broken trees and debris from buildings littered everywhere. The zoo was a complete wreck, even though it hadn’t been long since the chaos started.
The water cage for the waterfowl was no different.
The cage meant to hold the birds had broken and turned into a total flood, with no birds in sight.
However…
Splash!
“Gwaak!”
“Ggog! Ggog!”
Had they sensed the approach of humans? Suddenly, a large number of waterfowl sprang up from the water.
Yoo Ji-han raised his sword as soon as he noticed them.
They were the ones gripping human arms and legs, with white bones exposed.
“Are those ducks and geese?”
“Did they also turn into monsters?”
Ducks, geese, and several other waterfowl were all far larger than average.
‘I’ve never seen these guys before.’
Common animals that had never been recorded as monsters until today.
The heroes momentarily staged a reconnaissance, keeping their eyes on the enemies.
They had to be cautious since there was no known information.
“Gwaak—!”
The first to act was a gigantic duck floating above the building.
Turning its green head this way and that, it was on the lookout for danger.
Spreading its wings wide, it took off, screeching to threaten the heroes.
[Electric Missile]
A sorcerer launched an electrically charged missile toward the duck.
That would be a lethal attack for a creature living near water.
However, the duck opened its yellow beak wide and swallowed the missile whole.
For a brief moment, electricity coursed through its body, yet it showed no signs of damage.
Pew!
It even shot a water cannon from the tip of its slightly opened beak.
Bang!
The collision between the water cannon and the shield of the forward tank produced a dull sound.
If not blocked by the shield, the sorcerer who fired the missile would have fainted instantly.
Pew! Pew!
Following that, other birds also unleashed their water cannons at the heroes.
These monsters could fly, breathe underwater, were resistant to electricity, and possessed ranged attack skills.
They were quite tricky even among Rank 3 monsters.
“Guk!”
The Chilla in front raised its shield to block the incoming attacks.
“Gwaak! Gwaak!”
As a few waterfowl began to take off in dissatisfaction after their attacks failed,
The ones gripping the human bodies in their mouths did not join them.
Noticing something, Yoo Ji-han commented, “Only the ones without food are launching attacks.”
“Kek! They see us as food.”
Kim Si-hu raised his staff, looking at the enemies who viewed humans as prey.
Immediately, the heroes shouted at the oncoming attackers.
“Shoot them down!”
“Provide cover from the front!”
“Leave it to us!”
While the warriors and tankers held the front,
The ranged dealers opened fire on the flapping birds.
Pew! Pew!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The attacks fired by the dealers covered the sky over the water cage.
The flying waterfowl dodged them while shooting their water cannons.
When things became too dangerous, they would simply dive into the water.
“They’re fast!”
“Stay calm! We need to attack a bit more calmly!”
Hunting the creatures in their own territory was no easy feat.
At that moment, Yoo Ji-han, protecting his party alongside Chilla, set his sights on a white goose.
“Chilla. Do you see that one?”
“Ggukgguk……!”
It was leisurely tearing flesh off a human arm while the battle raged around.
It seemed to be a remarkably high-ranking individual among the enemies.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Gguk!”
With Chilla’s response, Yoo Ji-han leaped into the water cage.
[Wind Bomb]
[Wind Bomb]
Using Wind Bomb successively from behind,
He swiftly reached the goose, which was casually enjoying its meal.
“Gwaak?!”
The startled goose dropped the arm it was holding and dove into the water.
[Wind Wave]
But as Yoo Ji-han’s magic caused waves to erupt from within the water, the water level dropped sharply where the goose had just jumped in.
Thud!
A razor-sharp sword penetrated the top of the white goose’s head.
It was a perfect one-hit kill.
‘That was easy.’
It was a monster with quite tricky abilities.
Yet, to someone like Yoo Ji-han, who was accustomed to fighting with magic, it was no different than facing a Giant Monster.
