After making all the statements about the mutant elk and Park Hunter, Kyung-hoon headed to the destroyed city.
He originally intended to move with leisure. But after seeing the Awoken gone mad, he could not rest.
He himself didn’t know what was going to happen. He had to figure out how he had made the Awoken mad.
Fortunately, he was able to reach the Awakening Center before sunset. It was thanks to him that he felt mana.
After cutting off the mutant’s attack with his sword, Kyunghoon was able to feel the mana.
He wasn’t as sure as he saw on the radar, but he was able to get a good idea of whether there were any creatures with mana nearby.
Thanks to that, he was able to reduce contact with the monsters a lot, which made him move much faster.
The Awakening Center became a half-wave and only remained until the third floor.
The first and second floors were fine as they were, and the third floor looked okay to some extent. But above it, only a few skeletons remained, and they were all gone.
“The vines are overgrown, so it has a strange taste.”
The entire wall of the remaining building was covered with vines. Thanks to this, the Awakening Center looked like an old mansion or castle.
On the street in front of the building, a sign saying [Awakened Center Seoul Branch] had fallen over. Kyung-hoon crossed the sign and cautiously approached the building.
When he saw it from a close distance, the thickness of the vines that climbed up the wall was unbearable. He ranges from a vine the size of a finger to a vine the size of a forearm. Not only the animals but also the plants seemed to have grown in size here.
Kyung-hoon took out his sword, slashed the vines hanging from the entrance, and entered the building. Surprisingly, the vines were cut well.
‘There aren’t many vines inside the building.’
The columns were covered with vines, but the walls, ceiling, and floor were surprisingly neat.
Inside the front door, like other buildings, there was a large lobby.
There was a marble information desk in the lobby, and a large office with wide open doors to the left and right.
Fortunately, there was a map for each floor on the wall above the information desk.
[4th to 6th floor: office] [3rd Floor: Exhibition Hall] [2nd floor: conference room, meeting room] [1st Floor: General, Awakened Civil Service Office, Lobby] [B1: General Shopping Street, Awakened Shopping Street] [2nd basement floor: own power plant, parking lot] [B3~4F: Parking lot]Kyung-hoon checked both offices in turn. As written on the map, both of them looked like some kind of civil service room.
In the room on the left, signs such as [Awakened Test], [Report Awakened Crime], and [Report Monster] were rolling around, and in the room on the right, signs such as [Monster Handling Reward] and [Confirm Upgrade] were visible.
“Is the left room the general civil service room and the right room the Awakened civil service room?”
It was possible to make a rough guess from the rolling signage, but unfortunately there was nothing left in both offices except for signs.
It seemed like someone took them all.
Kyung-hoon, who left the room with a regretful expression, looked at the guide map and shuddered. There were still many floors left.
Nothing remains above the 4th floor, but the 3rd floor with the exhibition hall and the 1st basement floor with the Awakened Shopping Street remain.
‘Shall we go from the top or from the bottom?’
After thinking for a while, Kyunghoon decided to go up first. He was a little reluctant to go underground because of his experience with previous buildings.
Without electricity, of course, the elevator did not move.
He tried to open the elevator door just in case, but the elevator passage was empty.
Kyunghoon went up through the emergency stairs.
The conference room and meeting room on the second floor were empty.
If it wasn’t for the vines surrounding the pillars, I would have thought that I had entered an empty, uninhabited building.
‘After all, it’s true that I left everything with me.’
Kyung-hoon went up to the third floor with regrets behind him.
“Five!”
Fortunately, there was much left in the exhibition hall on the third floor.
A mannequin wearing all weapons, armor, and equipment. And some strange-looking stuffed monsters.
Those who organized downstairs seemed to think there was no reason to take the exhibits.
Needless to say, weapons and armor were models, and monsters were just stuffed animals.
Kyunghoon took his smartphone out of his bag and started taking pictures of him. They must have been thrown away because they didn’t need it, but to Kyunghoon, they were all information.
And the panels on the wall really helped Kyung Hoon.
[About the mana stone generator first applied to the Awoken Center.] [Confusion and Settlement of the Early Awakened] [Types of Monsters – Insect Monsters and Plant Monsters]Stories and histories of monsters and the Awakened hung all over the walls.
Unfortunately, as time passed, I couldn’t read much of it, but I was able to learn a lot just from what was left.
Kyunghoon quickly took a picture and went out. It wasn’t long before the sun went down. It didn’t matter if I went back to check the contents.
However, among the panels, there were also panels with information that you should read right away.
[Awakened Contamination] [Phenomena that causes mental and physical transformation due to incorrect awakening after ordinary people eat mana stones.]This panel was telling us why the hunter was crazy.
[It is a social phenomenon that caused many people to lose their lives in the beginning, and it is an incident that made us realize how much damage is caused by misinformation and stubbornness.] [When the Awakener officially appeared and gained attention and achieved great success, many people started eating mana stones to awaken. However, the probability of correct awakening with mana stones is less than 20%. Many people were quarantined or dealt with due to incorrect awakening.] [Even now, the government is doing its best to reduce damage through guidance and publicity.]“Whew.”
Now there was no need to worry.
‘It would have been a disaster if I ate it.’
Kyung-hoon shed a cold sweat as he remembered that he was salivating when he saw Mana-seok.
There was no written description of what would happen to someone who had already awakened, but there was no problem.
After exhaling a breath of relief, Kyunghoon continued to take pictures.
There was also a panel with several places written on it. It was a panel explaining various facilities. The location of the Mana Item Crafting Complex, Awakening Training Center, etc. was written on it.
I thought this would help me decide where to go next.
He looked around the pavilion while taking pictures, and came across a special pavilion.
‘Is it like a diorama?’
It was not a stand-alone monster, but an exhibition hall in the form of trees and vines, nature and monsters in harmony.
The stuffed monster was a flying lizard-like monster I had seen a while ago. The exhibition hall was not large, so it seemed to be mainly exhibited by small monsters.
‘But monsters, trees, and moths on vines are a bit out of the way.’
Kyung-hoon looked at the moth sitting on the vine and tilted his head.
It was a palm-sized moth, and it didn’t really fit in with the other exhibits.
“I hope he was alive.”
Kyung-hoon glared at the moth and then clicked his tongue. He thought it didn’t go well with the other exhibits, but upon closer inspection, it wasn’t. It wasn’t a stuffed animal, it was a living monster.
Unfortunately, it was not easy to detect mana in this building. That’s why I now know that the moth is alive.
Kyung-hoon drew his long sword and swung it towards the moth.
win!
The moth flew away, dusting it. The dust was scattered in the air, and a rod protruded from the moth’s head.
But Kyunghoon’s sword came first.
spatula.
Kyung-hoon cut the moth and quickly retreated back. It was to avoid moth powder.
Moths could easily be killed, so it was not known what kind of power the moth powder might contain.
Kyung-hoon saw the moth cut in half and gave up on dissection. He didn’t have the confidence to dissect as he covered his body with powder.
However, he wiped the powder off the sword with a cloth and put it in an empty bottle. He was going to take it and test it out.
Taking pictures of everything, Kyung-hoon decided to go downstairs. I was planning to do a detailed investigation next time I come.
Kyunghoon’s heart pounded. It’s an Awakened Shop. He didn’t know there were better things than the weapons he now has.
‘I hope there is something left.’
After Kyung-hoon left the exhibition hall, a long shadow was cast over the moth that had been cut in half.
It was a vine hanging from a tree.
slurp.
The vine moved on the ground like a snake crawling, and then turned around the moth.
And strength was applied to the vine. It was as if his muscles were wriggling.
fast.
The moths surrounded by the vines were crushed as they were, and the crushed flesh and powder were absorbed by the vines.
After a while, the vine, which had absorbed the water, returned to its original position and wrapped around the tree.
* * *
Kyung-hoon went down to the basement and looked around him with a disappointed expression.
When he checked the first and second floors, as he was concerned, the underground shopping mall was also very empty. Unlike the ground here, it must have moved quickly, so the leftovers were scattered all over the place.
Shoes, bags, clothes and various accessories. Unfortunately, the scattered objects were ordinary objects that were not engraved with patterns.
Kyung-hoon sighed as he walked between the abandoned malls.
Vines wrapped around the pillars and things scattered everywhere. Broken and worn out walls. Unlike the ground, the basement was clearly showing the ruins.
Kyung-hoon, who had been searching the mall for a while, saw a place and tilted his head.
Vines, which were invisible except for the pillars, filled the inner wall of a shopping mall.
Kyung-hoon looked at the signboard in the empty shopping mall.
[Daelim Shopping Mall. Specialized in Awakened Equipment]It was the name written on an old signboard.
Kyung-hoon crossed the broken shop door and approached the vine.
The safe door was visible through the vines.
“bingo!”
Seeing that there were only vines here, it was clear that something was inside the safe.
After cutting off all the vines that covered the safe with his sword, Kyung-hoon took out his pistol.
There were not many bullets left, but it was the bullet I was using at this time.
Kyung-hoon pointed his pistol at the safe’s handle. It was a safe that seemed unlikely to budge with a regular pistol, but this pistol was no ordinary man.
Kyunghoon pulled the trigger.
widely.
A small gunshot leaked through the silencer, and his handle was half broken.
Kyunghoon fired again.
bang!
Gunshots echoed through the basement of the building.
Kyunghoon made an impression. The silencer is broken. Hell, I couldn’t last long since I had an ordinary priest’s silencer attached to such a reckless pistol.
Gunshots echoed not only on the first basement floor, but also on the ground and in the underground parking lot.
Fortunately, we couldn’t hear it outside the building, but unfortunately there was a monster that responded to the gunshot.
One floor below Kyunghoon, the monster woke up on the second basement floor.
The monster brought back old memories. And I remembered the gunshots used by humans. The monster began to take control of its automatically reacting limbs.
Quad Duck.
Kyung-hoon, who was delighted with the opening of the safe, frowned.
The vines were shaking. It was like waking up from sleep.
“Is the vine a monster too?”
Unexpectedly, if animals and insects turned into monsters, plants could also change.
Kyung-hoon took something out of the safe and quickly stepped back.
Kyung-hoon stepped back and checked the items he had taken out of the safe.
“backpack?”
It was an antique backpack.
Backpack made of rough leather. Whoever made it, it was a pretty unassuming backpack.
I couldn’t understand why they put this bag in the safe, but now was not the time to question it.
I probably didn’t feel good. The cut vines were getting longer and longer.
“Let’s get out.”
Fortunately, the vine was cut well by the knife, but I didn’t know what would happen again.
Fortunately, the only places where there were vines were that wall and pillars… … .
“Are there vines only on pillars?”
Kyunghoon hastily checked the pillars.
And he cursed.
“Illness. This is a foul.”
The vines covering the pillars were breaking the pillars.
When the column broke, the wall cracked and the floor cracked.
The whole floor where Kyunghoon was sitting collapsed.