Breathing Life into Real Dolls - Chapter 70: Humid Storage Room

1.

We stood atop a cliff about 3 meters high in a round shape.

Wooohhhh—

Wooohhh—

Wooohhhh—

The zombies were slowly climbing up, stepping over each other.

While observing this, the trio from the swordsmanship dojo stepped forward.

Introduced as the head of the Sein Swordsmanship Dojo, father Ryu Jinyong, his daughter Ryu Sein, and instructor Seo Inho.

“They are numerous, but all seem to be regular zombies. No mutants.”

“Looks like around 500 of them.”

“We’ll go ahead.”

“Wait, Sein!”

Rank 3, Ryu Sein, jumped down first, followed by the other two.

Watching them, I remembered when they introduced their abilities when Ryu Jinyong awkwardly said:

“Our ability, um… Have you ever read martial arts novels?”

“Martial arts novels?”

“Yes. Think of it as something similar to the martial artists in those. It’s somewhat similar.”

“So, headmaster, you have the martial artist ability, and the other two?”

“All three of us have the same ability. … It’s a bit of an unusual case, right?”

It sure was.

While it was not strange for people to have overlapping powers, given that certain special abilities were relatively common, it was undoubtedly odd for all three members of the same dojo to have the exact same ability.

Furthermore, it was suspicious that only Ryu Sein had climbed to rank 3 among the three with the same power.

“There’s something they’re hiding…”

Of course, to hide something was almost the same as to cover it up.

Right now, all three of them had drawn their swords, slashing through the zombies as if mowing them down.

Their movements were light and swift, just like the martial artists appearing in martial arts novels.

Moreover, a blue aura emerged from their swords, attacking in a range wider than the actual length of the sword.

That was truly what you could call the pinnacle of martial arts… Sword Energy!

“Wow…”

Our watching of the trio from the swordsmanship dojo only lasted for a moment as Rank 9, Mr. Jang Sawoon, also stepped forward.

“It’s time for us to move as well.”

Jang Sawoon had introduced himself as a former special forces operative with the ability to materialize military equipment through magic.

He reached into the air, and an HK416 assault rifle with a scope appeared.

A black mask covering from mouth to nose, a bulletproof vest, and a helmet appeared. There were also four-lens night vision goggles attached to the helmet.

He truly looked like a special forces operative straight out of a movie.

Shouldering his rifle, Jang Sawoon began to fire toward the zombies.

Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tang—

Since the bullets were also manifested from his ability, each shot was a powerful magical bullet.

While a regular rifle couldn’t embed magic into its bullets, rendering it ineffective against tougher mutant zombies, Jang Sawoon’s ability didn’t have such a weakness.

Watching him, Rank 97, Bae Seongjun, whistled, then tapped my shoulder.

“So, the top ranker is just going to watch?”

“Ah, we should also descend and fight.”

“I’ll go first. Don’t overdo it.”

Bae Seongjun jumped down, landing in a crouch, then looked up and howled.

Awooooooo—

His snout began to elongate as he did, and grey fur sprouted all over his body.

Bae Seongjun’s ability was simple.

Specifically, ‘becoming a werewolf’.

Growing in size to over 2 meters as a werewolf, he leaped amidst the zombies and started rampaging.

Every time he swung his long claws, zombies were torn into pieces, collapsing onto the ground.

By now, most of the party members had jumped in and were fighting among the zombies.

It was about time to join them, as just watching was becoming conspicuous.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, Master!”

Serena, without donning her paladin armor, punched the zombies, exploding their heads.

I drew my sword and effortlessly slashed through the zombies while glancing behind me.

“Salamandra!”

Ranked 21st, An Jiwoo was battling with a fire spirit she summoned.

Seeing that the gnome she had summoned earlier was gone, it seemed she couldn’t summon multiple spirits simultaneously.

Or maybe summoning them all at once drained too much of her magic, so she usually refrained from doing so.

Ranked 36th, Hyun Seohee, whose ability was to harness power by writing characters, was brandishing a folding fan.

On the fan were numerous characters written, like ‘Baptism of Fire’, ‘Thunder Lightning’, and ‘Blade Wind’.

Every time she swung the fan, a light emanated from the characters, unleashing her ability.

Kwaang—!

Probably, that just now was the ‘Thunder Lightning’.

With that, I had verified the abilities of all the rankers who came in with us.

Given that they were all quite skilled, the number of regular zombies, which had been in the hundreds, was quickly diminishing.

2.

My position in this rift strategy was clear.

‘To maintain the position of an observer as long as there’s no hindrance to the strategy.’

Initially, it seemed that just with Serena, it would have been possible to seal the rift, but the formation of a party with over 10 members was intended to share the experience of sealing the higher-level rift with other rankers.

For that reason, I had given instructions to Serena and Ciel.

‘Prioritize protecting allies to ensure they’re not in danger rather than annihilating the enemy.’

That command shone through when the battle with the ordinary zombies was nearing its end.

Only a few zombies were left.

Even in a C-ranked rift, about 30 mutated zombies appeared, but it was odd that only ordinary zombies showed up in this B-ranked rift. Just as I was thinking about this oddity, Serena’s voice echoed from behind.

“Watch out!”

At her urgent cry, I turned to see a long metal rod flying toward a dazed-standing Hyun Seohee.

Just before the rod could pierce Hyun Seohee’s head, Serena’s swift kick changed its trajectory.

Taeaaeng—!

“Kyaaak—!”

“What, what is this?”

While everyone was off guard after slaughtering the ordinary zombies, Hyun Seohee nearly met her end.

The metal rod kicked by Serena spun a few times in the air before falling to the ground.

“It’s an ambush!”

“Where did it come from?”

“Everyone, be careful! There might be another attack!”

“What is this metal rod—.”

The 4-meter-long metal rod rolled on the ground.

While everyone was in disarray, Ryu Jinyong, the head of the sword dojo, approached the metal rod.

Kang Minki, a D-ranked ability user and a power plant employee who had entered the rift with us, shouted.

“Stop—! Step back from there now!”

“Suddenly, what’s…?”

When Kang Minki reached out his hand, water that appeared out of thin air began to envelop the metal rod.

He was a Water Mage, capable of summoning and manipulating water.

He was essentially the water version of Lee Jinah, who could manipulate earth, and a lesser version of the Spirit Mage, An Jiwoo.

With a pale expression, Kang Minki spoke while staring at the metal rod.

“This is a spent nuclear fuel rod kept in a water tank. Even now, the radioactive materials inside are decaying, emitting heat and radiation. If you get close, you’ll be exposed.”

“What, what!?”

“Father, step back!”

A flustered Ryu Jinyong was pulled back by Ryu Sein.

Kang Minki, who continued to summon water to thickly wrap around the nuclear fuel rod, wiped away his cold sweat as he explained.

“It’s okay for now. The materials that shield radiation best are lead, concrete, and water. That’s why spent nuclear fuel rods are stored in wet storage tanks like this…”

Upon hearing that, I immediately looked towards a space inside the power plant.

There was a large rectangular tank there, almost like an indoor swimming pool.

“Serena, did that rod happen to come from inside that tank?”

“Yes, Master. The rod that shot up from the water targeted Ms. Hyun Seohee.”

“……”

Everyone was enveloped in silence, staring at the tank.

“Oh no…”

“Please, it can’t be…”

Whispers, almost like groans, leaked out from the party.

It seemed everyone had the same thought.

An attack from the water meant there was an enemy inside.

And so far inside the nuclear power plant, there was no sign of a core that could be referred to as “nuclear.”

Could it be that…

I tried to maintain my composure as I spoke.

“…… Let’s check it out for now. Everyone, be prepared; we don’t know when the enemies might attack again.”

We gathered together again and slowly approached the tank.

I asked Ciel, who was walking behind me.

“Ciel, can the radiation damage from that nuclear fuel rod be healed by the ‘Grace of Light’?”

Ciel nodded and answered.

“It’s damage caused by tiny particles passing through the body. It can certainly be healed.”

That was good news.

With that, my concerns about radiation exposure diminished.

While we continued moving, Hyun Seohee, who had been frozen until a moment ago, spoke with a trembling voice.

“Thank you, Ms. Serena. I owe you my life.”

“You should be thanking my master, not me.”

“Ah, if it’s about the master…”

Hyun Seohee turned her head stiffly and looked at me.

Serena then nodded with a smile.

“Yes, he’s my master.”

“……Then, thank you, Kim Doha.”

“…… It’s nothing.”

The title of ‘master’ being blatantly obvious, everyone glanced at me.

Even Bae Seongjun commented.

“Rank 1 sure has refined tastes.”

“……”

I just maintained my silence.

I was slowly getting used to these kinds of reactions, so it didn’t bother me anymore.

The atmosphere lightened up with the master commotion, but only for a moment…

As we approached the tank, we began to see what was inside.

People’s faces tightened as the unfathomable depth of the water gradually revealed itself. Kang Minki, an employee of the nuclear power plant, murmured in a trembling voice,

“Something… something has gone wrong…!”

As our gazes focused on him, he pointed at the tank and exclaimed,

“The wet storage tank isn’t this deep! The original depth should be around 10 meters…!”

Seeing him in panic, I replied in the calmest tone possible,

“…It seems the rift has caused some distortion.”

“……”

There was no reply.

Upon seeing the revealed bottom of the tank, Kang Minki simply stood there, mouth agape.

The other rankers also stopped each processing the situation in their own way.

“Hoo…”

The 3rd ranker, Ryu Sein, let out a sigh.

“……”

The 9th ranker, Jang Sawoon, narrowed his eyes quietly.

“Haha, we’re in a tight spot now.”

The 21st ranker, An Jiwoo, laughed awkwardly.

“This is impossible…!”

The 36th ranker, Hyun Seohee, exclaimed in shock.

“Damn it. What kind of messed up situation is this…”

The 97th ranker, Bae Seongjun, spat out curses.

And rightly so.

Even I, ranked 1st, was astounded as I looked into the tank.

‘Isn’t the difficulty spike too steep for this being just one level higher than a C-class rift…?’

The bottom of the tank, which seemed to be at least 100 meters deep, was densely packed with spent nuclear fuel rods.

In the center of it all, a massive gochi pulsated, its roots intertwined among the nuclear fuel rods.

Destroying that would mean successfully sealing the rift.

Even more astonishingly, about 50 mutant zombies freely swam within the tank. It seemed they had evolved to suit their environment, as they had webbed hands, feet, and fins on their arms and legs.

But what was most shocking of all…

By the gochi, guarding its side, was a monster that looked to be about 5 meters in size. Its upper half resembled a heavily muscled mutant zombie, while its lower half was like that of a fish – a mermaid-like monster. It held a nuclear fuel rod in each hand, its face twisted as it looked out at us from the tank.

Its eerie expression seemed as if it was mocking us, and that probably wasn’t a mere illusion.

It was evident that this massive creature was the boss of the B-class rift.