◈ Episode 195

Agent name: West Creek.

If you were to name a strong fighter in the Cellbrox Labs, his name would be unmissable. Especially when limited to close combat, he possesses top-tier skills even among elite agents.

Even if you look at the entire continent, they are clearly strong. It is unlikely that there will be many fighters who can cut through stone walls with a blunt iron sword, run faster than a horse, and react to gunfire.

But now he was realizing it.

How much of a frog in a well you were.

'What kind of movement is this…?'

The villain's movements were truly unique. He moved around like a mollusk, and even in situations that could not be avoided with common sense, he was able to escape leisurely. No matter how much he swung his sword, it was difficult to cut through his skin even once.

On the other hand, when switching to attack, it is extremely fierce.

Fight!

A straight and fast charge, completely different from the evasion. Kim Yi-hyeon received it with exquisite timing. If there had been no assistance, the initiative would have been lost long ago.

West Creek was amazed again.

'About four years have passed since then.'

The clumsiness we felt when we first met is nowhere to be found.

Kim Yi-Hyeon had already developed into a mature agent. He sometimes became an excellent spy, a commander, and sometimes a warrior or a marksman.

There is no other person who is as strong as this when they act together.

Drrrrrr!

At some point, Kim Lee-Hyeon, holding a machine gun, fired at the unknown assailant.

The bullets fly in all directions as they come into contact with the slanted blade. Then, the assailant accelerates rapidly to the right, and the gun barrel turns to pursue the target. After emptying the magazine, Kim Lee-hyun lets out a hollow laugh.

"What the heck, there's something like that."

I had intended to aim for one or two shots, but the bullets missed. If the surroundings had been dark, I might have missed it entirely. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was an extreme physical attack.

There were, however, small harvests.

The hood of the villain is lowered. The peach colored hair flows down in waves. Unlike the warm colored hair, the cold walls are watching the search team.

It was a familiar face, just as I thought.

Not only to Kim Yi-hyeon, but also to Carmen.

"Oh, Irene?"

"Ms. Carmen. Are you an acquaintance?"

"Rather than being your acquaintances, you are a guest who arrived before you all…."

There was no time to even talk.

What!

Even though he made several forced movements that would normally cause his muscles to twitch, his momentum did not wane. Instead, it became even more brutal. Every time he blocked, the shield twisted into a grotesque shape.

At the same time, Kim Lee-hyun was also adapting.

'The response wasn't as tough as I thought.'

The evasion is irregular, but the attack is simple. It just blindly charges in a straight line. Even considering the difference in skill, this is something that can be easily endured.

"Irene! Stop it, what are you doing!"

There was no answer to Carmen's rebuke. It was understandable. I don't know how she ended up here, but that woman is the type of person who should not approach the cracks.

6-star agent Irene.

Current Albatross captain.

Even in the latter half, she is a character who is only realized towards the end. She has a troublesome special constitution. When exposed to pollution, she does not mutate, but instead falls into a state of madness.

In the game, he was dishonorably forced to step down as captain due to his violent behavior in the cracks. He ended up joining the lab because he had nowhere else to go. Because the setting is what it is, he is treated as lacking in many ways.

Apart from the unfortunate handling, the performance is solid.

'If you leave it like that, it'll all be wiped out by itself.'

The already high ability values ​​are doubled. Similar to Ast, this is an agent that operates alone. However, because the equipment is poor, the destructive power in the game is not noticeable.

There doesn't seem to be any need to kill and subdue it.

"Ha, he may be a bit self-willed, but he's not normally like that…."

"Okay. What can I do if he doesn't want to open his mouth?"

Kim Yi-Hyeon made a new shield and gave it to Asterike.

"Asterike, you join too. Don't use spells."

"I'll cover for you too, Mr. Hyun."

"Please. I don't want to be held back for too long."

And he disarmed himself.

"Let's try it first."

I waited for the time to arrive with my bare hands.

Irene is almost like an animal now. She reacts hypersensitively to large movements. Her attention is naturally drawn to Asterike and Westcreek, who rush in with shields and swords respectively.

Irene's body, which leads the Albatross, is perfected as a warrior. It is at a level that even Pecatum would have difficulty approaching. If it were a game, the victory or defeat would have been determined purely by the high or low ability values.

This only applies to games.

Asterike also witnessed several previous attacks and defenses. By doing so, he was able to roughly estimate his opponent's skills. He realized that it was better to focus only on defense rather than attacking clumsily.

"아윽!"

Asterike is thrown as if hit by a tram. Next, Westcreek stabs with his sword. Irene kicks Westcreek's ankle, causing the trajectory of the sword strike to deviate.

Dismissed!

A ray of electricity shot from behind. Irene reacted quickly this time as well. She jumped lightly to escape the lightning, and was about to finish off Asterike, whose posture had collapsed.

Kim Lee-hyun suddenly popped out from behind a tree.

A gunlance was created from nothing in the hand.

Pfft!

The gun lance, swinging like a baseball bat, struck Irene. Kim Yi-hyun felt a crunch as several bones broke off. Irene rolled around a few times and fell to the ground.

"Ugh, ugh, ugh…."

His body trembled and he collapsed. It was a disappointing ending considering his status as the leader of the Albatross and a high-performance character. Kim Yi-hyun snorted as he was completely knocked down.

"It's done. Just tie it up tightly and put it in the car."

"…It looks like he's seriously injured."

"It's not enough to kill you."

I didn't have a shred of regret because I was suddenly attacked.

"Don't be weak-hearted. We are the ones who should be angry."

"It's just like Hyun said. Ugh, my wrist feels cold."

"Carmen, so who is this woman?"

I deliberately asked about something I already knew.

"The name is Irene Charden. She is the leader of the Albatross."

"Albatross's…? But why us."

It was just embarrassing for Leila. Even though her relationship with Albatross had been strained since the incident in Howland, it was not so bad that she would start stabbing him the moment they met.

"Let's ask why later."

Kim Lee-Hyeon had different intentions.

"You are a more amazing gentleman than I thought."

I'm going to have to pay dearly for the inconvenience.

* * *

There was an unexpected battle, but we can't go back like this.

We resumed our exploration with Irene captured and stuffed in the trunk.

The reason for the forest's silence was quickly revealed.

"There is no separate field of corpses."

Westcreek spoke in a half-sick voice. It was not an exaggeration or anything. The corpses of monsters and parasites were strewn everywhere. They were all cut and pierced somewhere.

The predicted number alone reached fifty.

"Did you handle all these numbers by yourself?"

"He seemed to have some skills. I don't know about his character though."

Asterike grumbled at Leila's admiring reaction. It seemed that the fact that she had been defeated in one blow had hurt her pride. It was quite different from the old days when her confidence had hit rock bottom.

But this was not the time to talk about the past.

"Irene is Irene, but what the heck is this place...."

Carmen frowned as she looked at the particles floating in the air.

"I had no idea there was a place like this in Bastetira."

"The pollution index has already exceeded 400p. It won't be measured accurately from here on out. What would have happened if we hadn't discovered it today and another year, or even half a year had passed?"

"It's horrible just to imagine."

Since it is the place where we live, we cannot help but be more sensitive to it. In reality, cracks are a huge threat to human society. They contain a risk more serious than any disaster.

The search team entered the center of the abnormal phenomenon.

There was no need to worry about getting lost. I could guess my location just by looking at the flow of fine particles. As I went, the smell of blood grew stronger, and not only corpses but also other objects were discovered one by one.

Egg. The Parasite's egg stretched out its spines around it, absorbing nutrients. It was much smaller than the hatching eggs I had seen at Harrenhal, but its characteristic ominousness was still there.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

"Be careful not to let the fire spread."

"Don't worry about it. It's completely fine."

The egg was completely burned by Asterike. The sound of the mucous membrane burning sounded like the scream of a parasite. I moved forward step by step, clearing the area.

Not long after, I admitted 'it' for the first time.

"Hyun. Can you see it?"

"okay."

Like broken glass, a crack is carved into the air. A tiny hole appears in the center of the crack. Particles leak out of the fascinating yet somewhat eerie world of full color.

"What is that?"

Asterike took a step back without realizing it. Like the blue liquid, Elixir, that existed all over the continent, she felt an instinctive disgust. Carmen and Westcreek also had tense muscles.

Only two were different.

First of all, Kim Hyun-i is not a resident of Polaris. Therefore, he does not feel aversion to otherworldly substances or phenomena, and he also understands what they really are.

'corrosion.'

Contact with the other world itself has existed since ancient times.

In 2000, the death of a parasite being studied at the Cellbrotics Lab accelerated the erosion, causing frequent disasters.

And when the parasited Markus Dresner died, the so-called 'barrier' collapsed from within. The contamination that spread across the continent was not the 'result' of the catastrophe, but merely the 'process'.

In places like this where the earth is particularly unstable, cracks become visible.

In other words, it is not that something that did not exist from the beginning suddenly appeared. It is just that something that existed but was not visible has been revealed. Here, Polaris is being encroached upon and integrated with the other world.

If left unchecked, the cracks will slowly widen and engulf the continent. The sky will be dyed in the colors of another world seen through the cracks, parasites will cover the land, and a world where humans cannot live will come.

Of course, this is just a story of possibility.

It's a future that hasn't even arrived in games.

Because there is a 'device' prepared to prevent the end.

Damn it.

"Leila?"

As if possessed by something, Leila began to walk towards the crack. Kim Yi-hyun stopped West Creek, who tried to stop her.

"Just leave it alone."

"Huh? Leave me alone, what are you talking about?"

There is no time to explain everything. This place is dangerous even for spellcasters. Crystals are growing on the back of West Creek's hand. When he returns, he will suffer from aftereffects for a while.

Finally, Leila reached out to the crack.

-Squeak!

The released sparks flew wildly. Blue electricity seeped into the crack in the air. The particles that escaped condensed and were sucked into Leila's body.

The more particles it absorbed, the stronger the current became.

Kururung! The sky roars. Blue light pushes away the shadows cast across the forest.

The group watched Leila in silence.

Some people are worried, some are calm.

How long has it been since then?

Pass.

The light finally died down, with sparks flying like embers. Leila's shoulders shook as she struggled to breathe. Only then did Kim Yi-hyun approach Leila and catch her staggering body.

And I was able to witness it.

'It was a success.'

The hole was filled. There was no scratch or particle floating around. It was an ordinary forest scene, except for the corpse of the parasite.

After checking the measuring instrument.

The pollution level had already fallen below 200p.