The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 94

I crossed Zone B and reached the entrance. When I saw the broken wall, I let out another sigh.

But the moment I turned the corner, I quickly crouched down.

Just how many monsters came out?

Not only the orcs I saw in Zone B, but trolls were wandering around freely.

Some of them had even remodeled the headquarters buildings into places that looked like the habitats inside gates. There were even young ones.

It was a very strange sight.

We had only been inside the gate for one hour.

But what they had built here definitely couldn’t have been made in just a day or two.

I swallowed hard as I looked at the human bones scattered everywhere.

There are too many to fight all of them.

If I got caught, I would definitely die. Those bones could easily become my future.

Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I pressed myself against the wall and looked around in another direction.

The monsters wandered around like they were on patrol, but there were still a few blind spots.

Did all these monsters come out at once?

If dozens or even hundreds escaped at the same time, maybe no one managed to respond properly.

Gates exist to kill Espers.

It wouldn’t be strange if some new kind of change had appeared.

If Zone B looks like this, the other places probably aren’t safe either.

The zones were separated by some distance, but it was only some distance.

I had to see it with my own eyes.

Hoo…

I took a deep breath to calm my trembling chest and searched through my bag.

I pulled out the survival kit Dogyeong had insisted I always carry.

Inside were several types of flashbangs.

They were small so they were easy to carry, but they were still enough to draw attention.

Without letting my guard down, I carefully took out three flashbangs.

After putting the bag back on my shoulder, I checked the route that looked the safest.

…Alright. Let’s go.

I threw the flashbang with the safety pin pulled as far away as possible.

Because it was small, the monsters didn’t seem to notice it flying through the air.

But just before it hit the ground, one orc suddenly let out a loud roar.

In an instant, all the monsters went on alert.

Three seconds.

Two seconds.

One second.

I counted silently and quickly hid behind the corner.

Then—

Boom!

A bright flash exploded.

“KUEEEEK!”

“KEEEK! KEEEK!”

The monsters screamed at the same time, making me flinch.

They said it was a mini version, but the effect is amazing.

That must be why Dogyeong kept telling me not to hesitate to use them in dangerous situations.

Peeking out with narrowed eyes, I saw all the nearby monsters clutching their faces and groaning.

Taking that chance, I ran past them quickly.

Because the headquarters had gone through several expansions, the layout of the paths was a bit confusing.

But that meant there were many places to hide.

Still, monsters kept appearing no matter how far I went, so I kept throwing flashbangs while moving as fast as I could.

And when I finally reached the road that split into the other zones—

“….”

I became certain.

Not just “the other places might not be safe.”

But “they definitely can’t be safe.”

The paths leading to each zone had barbed wire and traps installed—things I had never seen before a few hours ago.

But everything was broken.

And the ground was covered with dried blood.

Even from here, I could see that Zone A was in terrible condition.

From the road to the inside, the entire area was covered in thick spider webs.

Some egg sacs had burst open too.

When I listened carefully, I could even hear faint scratching sounds.

…Let’s never go in there.

If I accidentally touched one of those webs, they would notice me immediately and attack.

I knew how persistent and cruel spider-type monsters were, so I didn’t even look in that direction.

Instead, I checked the rest of the zones before coming back.

The spider webs had spread all the way to Zone C.

From Zone D, I could smell a horrible stench even before getting close.

Zone E was impossible to enter.

It looked like an explosion had happened there, leaving no place to even step.

Zone F had too many monster noises coming from it, so I couldn’t approach.

The remaining zones required a car to reach, so I couldn’t check them right now.

But judging by the condition of the others, there was no way those places were safe either.

I tried to stay calm, but the situation felt so unreal that my mind went blank.

Yesterday…

No—just a few hours ago, everything had been perfectly normal.

How much time passed outside while we were inside the gate?

I checked my phone again.

Still no signal.

…Did they really get trapped inside the gate? Or are they hiding somewhere?

They couldn’t be dead.

Recently, their conditions had been very stable, and they were always carrying stabilizers.

But Dogyeong’s desperate face kept appearing in my mind.

First… I should check the residential area and the main headquarters.

If I stayed still, I would only think bad thoughts.

I needed to move and gather information myself.

The headquarters was closer from here.

Luckily, maybe because the monsters had made the gate zone their base, there were only a few along the road leading to the headquarters.

Since I had weapons, part of me wanted to kill them all.

But if more monsters gathered, it would be dangerous.

I had to move carefully and quietly.

From the survival kit in my bag, I took out everything left—flares, tear gas, grenades—and stuffed them into my pockets.

After tying up my sweat-soaked hair, I began moving again.

While walking, I suddenly remembered a movie I had seen long ago.

I’m pretty sure it was on TV when I was a kid.

I didn’t remember the title or details because it was before my parents died.

But the story began with a disaster striking a huge city.

Soon after, the city became a place forgotten by people.

A city of death.

The association right now looked just like the city from that movie.

Even though I barely remembered the scenes, they overlapped with what I was seeing now.

Cold sweat kept running down my back.

I wasn’t carrying anything heavy.

My body wasn’t even tired.

But my breathing still grew ragged.

When I reached the front of the headquarters, I bit my lip hard.

The massive building that once contained the operations room, training room, medical room, and more—

wasn’t just partially damaged.

…It’s split in half.

Yes. Literally cut in half.

For some reason, half of that enormous building was simply gone.

The remaining half looked relatively intact.

I wanted to go inside, but I saw something that looked like insect eggs there too, so I quickly gave up.

Now the only place left to check was the residential area.

What do I do if that place is also ruined?

Should I leave the headquarters and go find out what’s happening outside?

But if the headquarters looked like this, the outside world probably wasn’t normal either.

…Actually, if it’s not normal, that might be an even bigger problem.

I had no idea what had happened.

Standing still made it hard to breathe.

Biting my lips anxiously, I hurried forward.

But while heading toward the residential area, I noticed something different.

There were barbed wires and traps like the ones in the gate zone.

But these ones had clearly been repaired and maintained.

There might be people here.

No.

There must be.

My steps grew faster.

I was almost running with long strides when—

I suddenly felt the faint presence of Espers nearby.

“…!”

I focused on that presence and searched my memory.

Every Esper had a different kind of aura.

After guiding someone once, it felt like their presence got recorded somehow.

It wasn’t Dogyeong.

Not Shinra.

Not Eunhwi.

And it wasn’t any Esper I knew.

But the important thing was that there were people.

Afraid they might leave before I reached them, I hurriedly ran toward that presence.

Avoiding the traps on the ground, I turned a corner—

and the first thing I saw was a crocodile’s tail.

More accurately, a crocodile-like monster biting into several people.

I tightened my grip on my baton and ran straight at it.

The moment the creature noticed me and opened its jaws—

I stabbed the baton straight into its throat.