Chapter 162
Maze, Johanna.
She always showed a cool and rational side. Such a consistent appearance brought public trust, and she showed countless results as if to repay that trust.
But even she was shocked by the current situation.
‘How the hell… How, the pale moon… ?’
She was concentrating on separating and producing sanity materials from Necrod’s undead corpses.
Rather than transporting them to Crown Island, it was possible to save time and money by producing them in a laboratory on Veritas Guild’s estate.
Suddenly, a pale moon appeared. That situation was enough for her to bring out the memories she had buried.
‘It happened again… ?’
A world where all living things are engulfed in madness, a world where the sun never rises again and only the terrible moonlight shines.
The solitude left alone in it and the fear that tightens every moment.
These were the memories that I had buried while coming to a new world.
‘Did you stop it well? But why… !?
The Crown Island incident resurfaced, but I didn’t take it too seriously.
I was anxious at first, but the apostles of moonlight were eliminated one after another. Because there was such a strong person.
That’s why I decided that there was no way the pale moon would rise in this world.
But the reality was different.
‘Should I run away again?’
Couldn’t even the iron man prevent the pale moon from rising? If so, does this world, like her hometown, not have reason left?
Then I might have to find another world. Just like she did before.
‘… But is that for the best?’
Her wavering eyes gradually returned to their place.
The opposite sex that is not buried even in intense emotions. Isn’t that the talent she has as a wizard?
‘Previously, I was helplessly mutated. And by the time I realized it, it was already too late.’
Johanna quickly checked the situation. In her eyes, the cure for madness, ‘Senity’, came into her eyes.
‘But it’s different now. Mutations can be prevented. Then we can fight together.’
She remembered the strongest and the iron man. If they don’t get eaten by madness, if they can fight while keeping their sanity, wouldn’t there be a chance of winning?
Johanna lit her pipe with a stiff expression. The pure white smoke seeping into his lungs calmed his mind little by little.
‘… After all, it’s a race against time.’
It just couldn’t be seen as the worst situation to roll a tail. Even now, people would be fighting for their lives.
‘Running away is enough even after I’m alone like back then.’
Instead of throwing everything away and running away, swayed by emotions, put it off as a last resort.
That was the ‘reasonable’ judgment she made.
Once the decision was made, action followed. Johanna put her hand on the control panel.
“It’s the guild leader.”
Her voice echoed throughout the estate. All means of communication were destroyed, but her magic was unhindered.
“Everyone, inoculate Sanity immediately.”
Johanna’s voice never wavered.
* * *
“Whoa… .”
Min So-yul took a deep breath.
She was contributing to research on the improvement of ‘Senity’ at the Veritas Guild’s laboratory.
‘How are the kids? Are you going on a plane?’
Kang Tae-min was next to his friends. Now was not the time to worry about anyone. As I got nervous, I kept thinking about something else.
“Soyul, vaccination… I did it?”
Another researcher asked cautiously. Instead of answering, Min So-yul held up a syringe.
“Ugh… What can I do, I can’t do it.”
The researcher smiled and lowered his head. A message came to Yohanna about sanity vaccination, but everyone couldn’t make a decision easily.
“I understand. After all, this is the seed.”
Johanna said that it was the only way to live, but it could end up being corrupted. Not everyone could act rationally like her.
“Besides… It is not easy to inoculate nasally.”
Furthermore, the inoculation method was also an obstacle. Johanna explained the inoculation method for the sure effect of Sanity.
It was a method of injecting it as close to the brain as possible. Taking it orally took too long, so I had to insert the syringe deep into my nostrils.
“Well, it’s better than drilling through the skull, right?”
Min So-yul’s weak joke made the researcher laugh out loud. However, she soon grabbed Min So-yul’s shoulder with a firm expression.
“Soyul, this… Can’t you do it for me?”
“… me?”
“yes. Because you can easily do detailed movements… If it’s you, I think I can trust you.”
At those words, the other researchers who were hanging around also turned around.
“Me too!”
“Yes, Soyul, if it were you… !”
The line formed surprisingly quickly. Min So-yul was embarrassed, but he couldn’t just stay like this.
‘More people will die if time delays.’
Along with the inoculation, Johanna requested that all personnel be put into Sanity production.
Since the current production facility was stopped, it had to be replaced manually, and the number of workers was the researchers here.
Min So-yul took a short breath and started inoculating.
“next.”
“it’s over?”
“Yes.”
“Wow… .”
Inoculation done in an instant.
The researchers put on bewildered faces as if they had seen some incredible magic. If it hadn’t been for an emergency, I would have clapped.
The line quickly disappeared and inoculated until the last researcher.
“Do I look stupid for being nervous?”
“Wait, but who will inoculate Soyul?”
The researchers looked back at her with regretful faces. However, Min So-yul lightly waved his hand.
“Oh, I’m fine. When I did it, I got a feeling.”
With that, she immediately finished self-inoculation. Everyone’s eyes widened at that bold hand gesture.
“Why is everyone just playing around?”
Then a sharp voice woke them up. Turning around, Johanna was glaring at them with fierce eyes.
“ah… ! Bar, I just finished the inoculation.”
“Yes, I will start working right away.”
“… yes?”
Johanna answered and rolled her eyes. In the meantime, Min So-yul felt a strange sense of incongruity.
‘Something… .’
Soon, her eyes widened. Before Johanna could say anything, she hurriedly pressed the emergency button on the control panel.
A thick barrier unfolded with a booming sound. After Sanghyeon and Hahyeon’s attack, the Veritas Guild not only built an external bulkhead, but also equipped it with internal defenses.
“Soyul?”
“what are you doing?!”
“I’m not the guild leader… !”
At her words, the researchers widened their eyes. No matter where you look, Johanna is right.
“… No cigarettes.”
At those words, the researchers opened their eyes again. She was a smoker and always carried a pipe with her.
But Johanna in front of them had nowhere to smoke a pipe.
“Guild leader… sir?”
As one researcher spoke while hesitating, Johanna snorted.
“You have a good eye, right?”
Johanna, Annie and Nahoz quickly drew a magic circle. He had come under Man-wol’s order to seize it more quickly.
“But can you stop me with something like this?”
It was the moment when she tried to use magic while shedding ridicule. She saw the terrified researchers’ expressions change in an instant.
“no.”
Ann Najoz looks at you with a stiff face.
Dozens of ice bars pressed against her body.
“It’s just to buy time.”
The real Johanna was standing there. It was thanks to the fact that Min So-yul’s emergency button not only formed a barrier, but also generated a special mana wave field set by Yohanna to alert the crisis.
“Guild leader!”
“Back off.”
As the researchers were delighted, Johanna spoke quickly. She knew Ann Najoz wouldn’t fall so easily.
As expected, the body that had been torn apart soon became disheveled like threads, then put together again.
“long time no see. Archmage?”
Ann Najoz said sarcastically, and Johanna frowned.
“You don’t know, but there is such a thing as intellectual property.”
She immediately deployed the magic circle.
“I’ll even accept the overdue payment.”
* * *
On the other hand, the outlying highway.
The students of the special class and their alter ego, Kang Tae-min, were isolated on the road.
Others hurriedly abandoned their cars to get off the road, but they remained in the bus.
It was Kang Tae-min’s order.
“Sah, people… .”
“It turned into a monster.”
The reason was immediately clear.
No matter how fast they ran, it took a lot of time for people’s feet to get off the highway.
During that time, those exposed to the moonlight turned into monsters, and the transformed monsters slaughtered people in an instant.
It was an accident that no one could have prevented.
“Everything is wrong. now… !”
muttered the frightened driver. Taemin Kang frowned.
“Everyone back off.”
“Sam?!”
Kang Tae-min stood in the middle between the seats on the bus and blocked the road. When the surprised students looked around, they saw the driver trembling.
“Fine… .”
“Joo Dahyun, I told you to step back.”
She stood up at Kang Tae-min’s cool voice and flinched back. At the same time, the other students also stiffened.
‘He’s already been exposed to moonlight.’
The machine itself is unaffected. However, the driver looked at the moon through the car window.
“Garbage, unload, take it when… .”
He suddenly muttered something strange. The twinkling eyes rolled back and forth.
“Shoes, some hair. Is that, young, wow?”
“Knight… ?”
At Pyo Soo-ho’s question, he turned his head quickly. The pupils that were rolling around cracked and tentacles protruded, and a pile of tentacles poured out of the open mouth and hung down the chin like a beard.
The students had no time to be astonished.
It was because Kang Tae-min immediately rushed at him and kicked him.
The windshield of the bus shattered with a loud bang and the monster fell outside.
“Uh, uh… .”
“Close your eyes and draw the curtains on the window.”
Kang Tae-min calmly gave the order. The students, who had a moment of bewildered expression, moved quickly.
Meanwhile, Kang Tae-min sat in the driver’s seat.
“Sit in the aisle seat.”
“Tea, sit down!”
“Put on your seat belt.”
At those words, the students swallowed dry saliva. I guessed what Kang Tae-min was trying to do.
“Never look at the sky.”
With that request, Kang Tae-min changed gears and stepped on the accelerator. The big truck immediately started backing up.
As expected by the students, he was going to exit the highway just like that.
“Hold tight!”
Joo Da-hyun, who had always been the class president, shouted. At the same time, the car body rattled with a bang.
Kang Tae-min squeezed through the gap in the stopped car while looking in the side mirror, but getting out neatly was impossible due to the size of the bus.
‘I’m glad it’s still strong.’
The Avalon Guild exclusive bus meant that it was a vehicle used by hunters. Most of the vehicles used by hunters to prepare for Dungeon Break had more durability than normal vehicles.
Thanks to this, the bus only rattled a little, but the body was intact.
But the problem did not end there.
“Lunafna gvesque!”
“Lunafna gvesque!”
It was because the followers of mutated madness were chasing the bus. Monsters from all sides began to cling to the bus.
“Be careful!”
The silhouettes floating over the swaying curtains were truly grotesque. But even the special class students weren’t stupid enough to be beaten.
“Drop it!”
“Damn it!”
Each of them grabbed the weapon they had left on the seat next to them and immediately manifested their abilities.
Once again, the car windows shattered with the sound of a loud bang, and the mad followers fled from the bus.
“Come again!”
“Stop!”
The bus moved around and did acrobatic driving, but the special class was a regular student.
Despite Kang Tae-min’s rough driving, the students balanced and dealt with the maddened followers.
However, the number of them was quite large.
The front door twisted with a click and an apostle squeezed in.
“Master!”
Ju Da-hyeon hurriedly tried to grab the spear, but soon realized that there was no need to do so.
‘… A shotgun?’
I don’t know where he got it from, but Kang Tae-min was holding the steering wheel with one hand and aiming a sawed-off shotgun with the other.
And Kang Tae-min just pulled the trigger with a nonchalant expression.
Slug bullets rained down along with thunderous gunfire tore apart the apostle hanging from the front door.
The apostle, who had been knocked out, tumbled to the floor and walked away.
“Never mind this side, keep your own positions.”
“Yes Yes… !”
Ju Da-hyun turned his eyes.
The outline of the city was revealed through the broken car window. All the students looked serious.
In the pitch-black sky, thick black smoke rose through the pale light below.
‘… Trust me and do what I do.’
The alter ego skillfully sharpened the magazine with one hand. His job was to keep the students safe.
The rest of the problem was to be solved by the body.