Stagnant Water of Apocalypse - Chapter 99

 Chapter 99 – Monopoly is Fun (2)

Two hours passed and no one approached the portal. Even though darkness had fallen to the area faster than usual, as it is almost winter here, the area around the portal was still bright. The reason for that was due to the 10 glowstone fragments scattered around the portal by the survivors camping on its surrounding. They did so in order to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the darkness to sneak in.

“These guys are trying hard…”

By observing all the things that happened around the portal, I realized that the survivors who were currently around the portal were at least level 15. Which means, they must have a lot of gaming experience. Otherwise, most of them wouldn’t be able to survive through the zombie raid.

Though, it’s not that there’s absolutely no casualty at all, since several survivors who were either careless or arrogant had been killed by either zombies or goblins.

“It means, if chance presents itself, they will try to enter the dungeon…”

It’s really funny. No one knows what kind of dungeon is unfolding behind the portal. As there were many people around the area, the probability of it being a boring dungeon was low, but it was not zero.

What will they do if it’s kobold’s dungeon?

“The reason they do all this blocking business is because they know their stomach will hurt if they see someone eat what they couldn’t eat.”

In other words, it was ‘If i can’t have it, you shouldn’t be able to as well.’ These guys were a lot like me.

Anyway, the night falls deeper. What I was waiting for was the appearance of the kobolds. They were creatures who loved to steal things. So, they would definitely be exhilarated to see the glittering glowstone fragments around the portal. However, since there’s no zombies around, the timing I could use to sneak into the dungeon was small. But I knew that the time would come if I waited.

There was a similar situation to this one back in Survival Life. Since it was inside the game, It wasn’t life-threatening. Thus, people were more upfront and radical on their approach to block other people from getting into the portal. And the ending wasn’t good: Most of the survivors were captured by the kobolds while the rest were annihilated by the crowds of monsters.

At the current situation, if an organized force comes in, all of this ruckus would be sorted out instantly. But at the moment, there’s no force who could exert such strength in Seoul. The sole giant force in Seoul was the government shelter. However, it was doubtful whether they could do such an act with their current power or not.

Anyway, everyone around the portal held up better than I thought. If they were normal survivors, they would have run away to save themselves and look for better things to do.

“Is it because you don’t want your stomach to hurt, or is it because of the slightest possibility that they might be able to enter?” Or it might be both.

Suddenly, I could hear a familiar howl from somewhere near. When I looked out of the window, I could see some kobolds coming out of the dark alley between 2 buildings. When they saw countless zombies and ghoul who ran around the street, they flinched. However, no matter how scared they were they definitely won’t be able to resist the temptation of glowstone fragments around the portal.

“It’s instinctive…” No one could ever top the greed of a kobold. The goblins were a little better compared to them, as in case their life was in danger, they would instantly flee before coming back with more numbers.

I went up to the roof and called the dimension wall. I ran through it as if I was running up the stairs. After running for a few seconds, I realized that the building was now below me.

Great… Now it’s time to move up straight towards the portal. It was best to enter the portal while falling. Afterall, there would be no one who could do anything to me as they wouldn’t expect someone to enter through the sky.

Kobolds emerged from the alley as hordes of zombies ran after the survivors. Their eyes were fixed on the glowstone.

Don’t you want those shiny little things? You can take it if you want.

I don’t know if they’ll be able to understand my feelings but please for once, understand me!

As if my wish had been granted, the kobolds slowly moved closer to the portal.

Of course, there was no chance that the survivors, who were hellbent on not letting other survivors enter the portal, would look at the kobolds kindly. A few arrows flew towards the kobolds before piercing some of the kobolds.

However, the amount of the kobolds was simply overwhelming. It was as if, all the goblins which had disappeared from the area had all changed into kobolds. Some of them fought the zombies, but most of them showed an interest in the glowstone.

“What, what?”

“What the hell are these dogs doing!!!”

Screams echoed throughout the area. Meanwhile, more and more kobolds flocked into the portal and picked up the glowstone fragments before running away. In an instant, the portal was engulfed in darkness.

The timing is now.

I jumped off the dimensional wall and fell straight into the portal.

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The situation around the portal at Gildong Station wasn’t as bad as it was now at the beginning. Those who discovered the Gildong Station portal first did not have any intention to monopolize it at all. Rather, they thought that if they disclose the appearances of the portal to the other group, they would be able to enter together with them.

However, that turned out to be their naivety.

Rumors of the portal spread like the corrosive disease and people flocked towards Gildong Station. Amongst those who gathered, there were people who started trolling; they fired arrows at people approaching the portal.

People instantly yelled at them to cease fire, but of course, they didn’t stop. Afterall, why would they stop when people asked them to, when their intention of coming to the area was to make a ruckus to begin with?

They are probably people who took drugs to cope with this apocalypse. People like them weren’t hard to find per se, as by the government shelter research, the number of drug abuse in Seoul alone had skyrocketed since the apocalypse D-day.

With arrows coated in poison flying around, accessing the portal became difficult. The group of people who discovered it almost gave up at this point and thought about leaving the area.

Why did this happen, I wonder?

“It was because in the apocalypse, cooperation with someone we don’t know is impossible.” Lieutenant Kim Hyun-woo who said that.

After arriving in Seoul, he received a special mission from the president and researched something in Incheon. By the time he returned to the government shelter, he got another mission to check the truth regarding the dungeon portal. Luckily, he met two friendly survivors, and they decided to follow him here.

But as they arrived, things took a bad turn.

“This situation is exactly like how crabs always pull other crabs who try to get away from a bucket.”

(T/N This is called ‘Crab Mentality’. It is a way of thinking best described by the phrase “if I can’t have it, neither can you”. Wikipedia~)

“Yeah. I also had no idea things would be like this.” Moon Dae-ho, lowered his head while speaking so. Beside him, his sister, Moon So-yoon stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

The two were born athletes and had outstanding qualities enough to be selected for the national representative. SInce D-day, they depended on each other to survive, but recently, things keep getting harder for them two, yet they also struggle to find the correct people they can trust.

Their search led them to meet Lieutenant Hyun-woo. After talking and going on some looting trip, they thought that he’s a good person to work together with. However, since it was hard to trust anyone in the apocalypse, they hesitated.

While they were hesitating, rumors about the appearance of a portal spread. When they checked it, what they saw was beyond their expectation.

Kim Hyun-woo opened the black curtain sticking to the window and looked outside. “They even threw some glowstone fragments towards the portal since the day is getting darker… I think they are hell bent on not letting anyone in.”

Moon So-yoon leaned against the wall gaze outside. Then, her eyes opened wide.

“They throw those so they can see anyone approaching the portal?”

“I think so. Otherwise, there’s simply no reason to throw those fragments there.”

“They are insane!! Definitely not normal!!”

“There’s no sane person in the apocalypse.” Dae-ho approached the window as he said so. Then, he asked Lieutenant Hyun-woo. “Do you think there will be a gap we could pass through once it gets dark? With all those shining things in front of the portal, I’m sure some monsters will approach it.”

“Well… there’s a lot of zombies in the area, so it’s questionable whether monsters will come out or not. But perhaps, kobolds might come out.”

“If we are going to do this, we have to enter before bone creepers and werewolves come out. It will be hard if we wait until morning.” So-yoon urged them to make a decision, but the two still could not easily make up their minds.

So-yoon sighed while rubbing her hair at the same time before tying her shoelaces. She grew up as an all-rounder type of athlete under the influence of her parents, who both used to be in the national team. She could proudly say that she grew up while testing her limits. She had gone through the special forces brigade training regime as well as the presidential bodyguard training regime.

Maybe thanks to that, the unique skill she got was instant acceleration. It’s a terrific unique skill which boosts her physical abilities by several levels.

“I can’t stay still like this. I’m going in, so get rid of those monsters.”

“So-yoon, once you go inside and exit, you can’t go back in.”

“Really?”

Lieutenant Hyun-woo nodded his head to confirm. He had been in a government shelter for a while, therefore he had heard several settings about the event which occur in Survival Life.

“This dungeon setting was the same with Farming Dungeon a few months ago. You can only enter once.”

Hearing Hyun-woo’s explanation, So-yoon bit her lips.

“Then… Doesn’t that mean that we have to enter the dungeon without knowing what kind of dungeon it is beforehand?”

“That’s why my backpack is this big. Though I’m not sure whether this bag can stop arrows or not.”

While the party was chatting about strategy and what-not, time passed and night came. As if waiting for the specific time, a kobold’s unique cry could be heard from somewhere.

“They are here already.”

“I’m sure we will see bone creepers and werewolves walking around soon.”

“That’s why… Like I said before…”

That’s when things happened.

Together with a loud cry and bang, kobolds began to flock towards the portal. Arrows flew towards them, but it only slowed them down a little as their sheer number was just overwhelming.

When the shimmering glowstone fragment was held in the kobold’s hand, the surroundings instantly descended into darkness.

However, at that moment, So-yoon witnessed it vividly: Someone, or something, appeared from the pitch-black sky and entered the portal.

“Huh?”

It happened so quickly, so she thought that she might have seen it wrong. However, the ripples of the portal said otherwise; someone had entered the dungeon.

She whipped her head towards her party member and said. “Di-did you see it just now? Someone entered the dungeon.”

“Pardon? That doesn’t make sense. There was no one near the portal.”

“But I saw it clearly!”

“So-yoon had a good sight. So, if she says she saw it, it should be real.” Dae-ho told Lieutenant Hyun-woo. For him, it wasn’t the first time his little sister did something like this.

“Someone had entered the portal! Come on, let’s stop talking and just go!”

“So-yoon, wait!” Lieutenant Hyunwoo was startled at her sudden movement.

However, So-yoon ignored him and slung her backpack to her shoulder and said,

“I’ll go first, you guys can do whatever you want. EIther follow me or not.”

Dae-ho turned his head and sighed as So-yoon jumped out of the window.

“As you can see, we should hurry…”

Now, they had no other choice. There’s only one way they could take.

Lieutenant Hyun-woo quickly took his backpack. “Let’s go too. If we take advantage of the night time, we might be able to do something.”

“Let’s…”

The two went down to the first floor and peeked towards the road, looking for a chance. However, even when So-yoon entered the portal, there’s no arrow flying.

It seems like finally, the riot has ended.

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This place is…

I stopped at the intersection right after the entrance. I turned on the flashlight, and scanned through the terrain.

“It’s the experiment dungeon, huh?”

No one knew exactly who did the experiment, though. We only inferred that it was an experimental dungeon based on mutant monsters which appeared in this dungeon as well as from items and books written in some unknown language.

We used to call this dungeon an experiment dungeon or an alchemist’s dungeon. The characteristic of this dungeon is that this place was where the monsters were confined. Since the monsters inside this place were mutant monsters, they are far stronger than normal monsters. However, despite the danger, it was worth hunting here.

“There are also numerous traps here.” But unlike clumsy traps made by goblins, the traps here were cleverly hidden.

I focused on the sign lying on the floor at the intersection. If I stepped on it… I will fall into a trap. Since this place was narrow, if poison darts come flying, I’ll be dead.

After stepping back a few steps, I pulled out the Emeras spear and tapped on the sign.

Swooosh-!!

“As expected…” I could feel the poison sting flying through the air along with the air ripping sound. If I get hit by that, it won’t end with just paralysis or blindness.

I checked my armament for one last time and moved on. Not long after, some figures moved out from the darkness. It was a goblin with an awful face even for a goblin’s standard.

“Nice to meet you…” As I said it, I pushed the Emeras spear, right towards its head. Without being able to let out a shriek, it died.

Is this guy a mutant?

I looked through its pouch and found a poison sting. When I took a whiff of it. The smell was completely different from the usual paralyzing poison. I don’t know what it is, though.

When you are faced with a question you couldn’t possibly answer, it’s better to experiment with your body.

I opened a potion bottle and took a small amount of emperor honey. When I stabbed my thigh with the poison dart, the effect box was updated and my eyes were slightly blurred.

「Effect: Poison Resistance, Blindness」

“Ah… Blindness!” It would be terrifying to suddenly lose sight in a dark space. However, thanks to the emperor honey, the blindness effect quickly disappeared and my vision became crystal clear again.

By the way, it was about time for someone else to enter the dungeon. I wanted to block the entrance with my portal, but if I do that, I wouldn’t be able to use it in case of an emergency. I also couldn’t use the dimensional wall as it will disappear as soon as I move my gaze from the area.

“Guess I would have to compete…” Though, It doesn’t matter because I’m used to it.

At that moment, someone appeared at the entrance. I quickly opened my portal and went in. The one who just entered was a young woman. She took a glowstone from her backpack and grumbled.

“Why aren’t those guys coming?”

Hmm… So she’s not alone. By the way, she’s quite tall. Her physique was slim but packed to the point I thought she was an athlete.

After a few seconds, two more people came in. One is a stocky man which reminds me of Hyung-jun Hyung, and the other…

Lieutenant Hyun-woo?

I know that he’s going to Seoul, but I think I’ll meet him here out of all places…

But, since he’s a soldier, I guess it wasn’t strange to meet him here. He might have been instructed by the president to get in here.

The three got together and whispered.

“Are there any more people coming in behind you?”

“They will come. Because of your shout, the attack stopped.”

“Glad they come to their senses. What’s so hard about cooperation? We can just share the rewards.”

“Isn’t the most difficult thing in the world to gather people’s hearts?”

“By the way, it’s very dark here, so let’s be careful. I’ll do my best, so please support me from behind.”

“Understood.”

“Wait, is there a sign right there?.”

The woman picked up the sign without being vigilant, and belatedly, Hyun-woo pulled her shoulders.

“It’s dangerous to touch it carelessly…”

“Huh? It must have been a string.”

“It’s a trap. Looks like someone has dismantled it.”

“A trap? You mean the guy in front of us?”

The three looked around with serious faces. It seems like they were looking for me.

After they disappeared, I cautiously went out from my portal. I felt like I could have a conversation with those people. I know Hyun-woo, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to cooperate a bit here. It would be better to do that rather than giving it to those dumbasses outside.

I opened a portal at the narrow entrance and completely blocked it. Someone who had just entered was blocked by the portal and struggled.

“What the fuck is this?”

The man pushed the portal with his fist and body, but it didn’t even budge. It would be best for him to turn back, but it seems like it didn’t cross his mind as his eyes were still shining with greed.

I pretended not to know, went into my cave and played a song written by a Korean traditional musician on my laptop. As a gloomy and scary melody resounded in the dungeon, the man groaned.

“Wha-wha…!”

Eventually, when he heard the cry of a ghost, the man could not bear it and ran outside.

“Next guest, please.”

A woman came in and plopped to her bottom as she heard the ghost’s ghastly laughter.

“Mo-mommy!!!!!”

Business is going well today.