Chapter 38 (1/2)
Episode 3: Age of Ghosts / Chapter 38: Consumables (1)
TL: emptycube
Editor: Obelisk
[Searching for the appropriate mission based on Retribution Points…] [Mission search complete. Mission start.]
They received the message during lunch. Choi Hyuk once again felt the uncomfortable feeling of his body being turned inside out.
‘It’s dimensional teleportation.’
When he looked around, he saw that it was the same for his followers.
“Bleagh!”
Lee Jinhee let out a groan.
Her body was strangely twisting and stretching as it became transparent. It was the same for Baek Seoin and Chu Youngjin. Now, it became even more severe as their bodies started to split and shatter like gla.s.s falling to the floor.
It was a horrifying scene for regular people but it was so painful for the survivors that they were unable to notice these horrifying scenes occurring around them.
“Endure it. Let’s meet later.”
Choi Hyuk, who had experienced it before, was a bit more relaxed as he said that. Soon his vision blacked out. He was only able to tell that he was teleporting due to the nausea that gripped his stomach.
He then felt as though his body was flung high up into the air.
Slowly, his vision returned to normal. The severe nausea and pain made it feel as if his shattered body was being pieced back together again. The world looked like it was spinning.
‘No… I’m really spinning?’
5 small and large moons pa.s.sed in front of his eyes. Then the dark sea, the sky and then back to sea.
His body was spinning high up in the sky.
‘Euchacha.’
He stretched his arms and legs. The atmosphere was thicker than back on Earth. He used the air resistance, that felt as though he could hug it like a balloon, to balance his body.
“Bleargh!”
When he turned around, having heard that explicit sound, he saw Baek Seoin spinning in the air while vomiting.
“Ah! d.a.m.n it, Baek hyung! So disgusting! Eueck…!”
Lee Jinhee, who came back to her senses, grumbled as she grabbed Baek Seoin’s body so that he could balance himself. However, she retched as she felt a strong wave of nausea when she saw the vomit spinning in the air.
“Hooo… Huuu….”
On the other hand, Chu Youngjin had barely regained his balance and was taking deep breaths with a pale face. One could feel his strong will of not wanting to vomit.
Looking at their struggling figures, Choi Hyuk became mischievous. So he shouted even more cheerfully.
“Free fall~!”
At his cheerful warning, his followers, who had only then figured out their situation, expressed their confusion.
“What?”
“Eu.. ha…?”
“Urk!”
Their bodies that were rising up into the air had at some point started to lose their momentum and fall. Towards that distant ground.
“Uaacck!”
The one who screamed was Baek Seoin. His struggling actions made him lose the balance he barely gained with Lee Jinhee’s help.
“Dummy! Spread your arms and legs and regain your balance!”
Lee Jinhee smacked his back and helped him regain his balance. Chu Youngjin somehow kept his balance by maintaining his stiff posture and pale face.
Because the air resistance was stronger than back on Earth, their falling speed was slower but the speed was still fast.
“Kuaaahhh!”
“Bleargh!”
They weren’t the only ones who were free falling. Figures who looked to be humans were falling at a distance, and strange individuals were screaming as they fell nearby. At a glance, they looked like humans but when you looked closely, there were unfamiliar existences who had excessive hair, others who had a different skin color and even some who had antennas on their foreheads. They were armed in an unfamiliar fas.h.i.+on and wore unfamiliar clothes.
‘Aliens.’
No matter how he saw them, that was the only description that came to his mind.
‘Anyways…’
It was interesting but that wasn’t the problem. Choi Hyuk examined the oncoming ground with serious eyes. Heavy wind endlessly a.s.saulted his eyes and breath. A chilly wind. If it wasn’t for his karma that did the work for a decent portion of his body, he might have died from hypothermia or suffocation.
‘Currently, everyone’s endurance is 2-star, including me. I don’t know about myself but it’ll be hard for the others to endure the impact…’
At first, he thought that there was an ocean as large as the Pacific beneath them. That was why he thought they would be okay, but as they came closer, he saw that rocks were submerged underneath. It might not be as deep as he hoped. If it was just a splash of water, it would be hard for his followers to completely reduce the impact of the fall.
Just then, the mission announcement appeared.
[100 monsters have absorbed the genes of the natives and are evolving into high ranked monsters. Deal with the monsters before their base karma is imprinted with the genetic information. Those with deferred judgements will receive a return code. Those who have dealt with their targets are able to activate the return codes.]
A yellow arrow appeared on the horizon at the same time as the announcement. It was as if it was indicating the location of the target.
‘Monsters…’
Only then did Choi Hyuk figure out the ident.i.ty of those rocks.
Krakrakrakra!!!
The earthlings and aliens who fell from the sky like meteorites created quite the commotion. As if they were irritated by the noise, the ‘monsters’ that were curled up like rocks, raised their snake-like long heads. They were lengthy monsters that were about the size of a 3-story building.
Bang!
Cras.h.!.+
There were some who landed before Choi Hyuk’s group. They didn’t reduce the impact and slammed into the ground. With that impact, the water was pushed out; the rocky formation underneath it shattered and shot up into the sky.
A few dusted off their heads and stood up with a limp, but the majority who were weaker than them had all been crushed. They didn’t even bounce as they had smashed into the ground. Various amounts of different colored blood splattered and dyed the ocean.
‘As expected, the water is shallow…!’
Choi Hyuk almost reflexively shouted.
“Target the monsters’ heads! It doesn’t matter if you smash into their heads or hit them! Just do whatever it takes to reduce your impact!”
It was better to reduce the initial impact with a bending neck than smas.h.i.+ng directly into the shallow waters.
At the same time, he said as his orders, the real collisions had begun.
Crash, crash, crash, cras.h.!.+
It was like a bombing. The earthlings and aliens smashed down from above. Monster heads were bashed by the collisions. Blood and water spurted upwards.
“Keaaahh!”
Baek Seoin wielded his s.h.i.+eld and smashed into a monster’s head. The head faltered and fell to the ground with a broken neck whilst Baek Seoin’s s.h.i.+eld shattered. Baek Seoin bounced off its long neck, spun in mid-air and slammed into the ocean.
Chu Youngjin sheathed his red sword and swung his fist instead. He was worried that his sword would break.
Craack!
The sound of something cracking resounded out as he slid down a monster’s neck and slammed into the ocean.