Chapter 16
Part 15
Sometimes, it almost felt as though the electricity was still working.
There were even places where electric sparks crackled.
But most of them were powered by generators.
There were also monsters that used light as bait to lure prey.
Fortunately, Yugeon had warned Mincheol each time, so they had avoided any real danger.
“It's not a normal light. It's an item. A lantern that can devour something.”
It was something Yugeon planned to use later.
More precisely, it was something he planned to give to someone else.
“Oh... I'm curious.”
“And finally...”
Yugeon reached toward a leather apron hanging from a shelf.
More precisely, he pulled something out of the apron.
“A needle?”
“I need this too.”
[Item: Flow-Piercing Needle]
Grade: Heroic
Type: Enhancement Item
Repairs and modifies magical items.
“We've gotten everything we need from here. Next, we're going to Odori Park.”
Yugeon and Mincheol immediately left for their next destination.
Sapporo, the City of Death.
But to Yugeon, this was nothing more than a giant treasure vault waiting to be looted.
Creeeak.
The sound of the old shutter closing echoed loudly.
Yugeon lightly touched the heavy hammer hanging at his waist, then left the blacksmith's workshop without looking back.
The hammer and the eye.
The first half of their Sapporo expedition had gone perfectly.
“Hyung, where is Odori Park?”
Mincheol tilted his head.
Odori Park.
The name sounded unusual to him.
“That way.”
Yugeon pointed south.
“We'll get the lantern there. After that, we'll go straight to the botanical garden and take the lotus. That'll be the last thing.”
“The lantern is the item you mentioned earlier, right? Do we have to kill a monster to get it?”
“Something like that. But this time, you'll see more ghosts than monsters.”
“G-Ghosts?”
Mincheol's shoulders flinched.
He had become used to physical attacks and monsters.
But the word ghost belonged to a completely different kind of fear.
“Don't be scared. They're not going to hurt you.”
Yugeon smiled faintly and walked ahead.
By the time the two reached Odori Park, the sun had completely set.
The city was swallowed by darkness.
Yet the park itself was not dark.
Fwoooosh.
Flicker.
Thousands.
No, tens of thousands of blue flames covered the entire park.
They floated through the air like fireflies.
Or ghostly will-o'-wisps.
Someone passing from a distance might have mistaken them for simple lights.
“Eek...!”
Mincheol raised his shield and stepped backward.
Seen from up close, they were not simple flames.
Distorted human faces could be seen within them.
Translucent souls with mouths twisted open in pain.
[Cold... It's so cold...]
[Help me... I can't breathe...]
[Mom... Where are you...?]
Even when Mincheol covered his ears, the voices entered directly into his mind.
They were not monster cries.
They were the final screams of dying humans.
Resentment that had never faded away.
“Hyung... Are all of those...?”
“People who died here.”
Yugeon answered calmly as he walked between the blue flames.
“During the Second Wave, when poison gas covered the city, the citizens evacuated to Odori Park. They thought the open space would have less poison.”
But that judgment had been horribly wrong.
The park was actually a low area where the poison gathered.
Hundreds of thousands of people had frozen or suffocated to death here while holding one another.
Their suffering and resentment mixed with the poison.
Unable to pass on, they became bound spirits.
“Relax. They won't attack us. They're just gathering together because they're cold.”
Just as Yugeon said, the blue flames did not attack them.
Instead, sensing the warmth of the living, they circled Yugeon and Mincheol curiously.
Almost as if they wanted to borrow a little body heat.
It was both sad and eerie.
“That's terrible... They didn't do anything wrong.”
Mincheol lowered his shield.
The fear in his expression disappeared.
Pity replaced it.
Then...
“SKREEEEEEEE!!”
A horrifying scream tore through the silence of the park.
FWOOSH!
The peacefully floating blue flames scattered in panic.
Like a school of sardines fleeing a shark.
“W-What is that?!”
“An unwanted guest.”
Yugeon's eyes turned cold.
His hand moved toward the Godslayer Sword.
A gigantic shadow emerged from the darkness.
At first, it looked like a torn piece of black cloth.
But its shape constantly changed.
It was a mass of living shadow.
A long arm stretched out.
It grabbed one of the blue flames before the spirit could escape.
[No! No! AAAAAAH!]
A desperate scream came from the flame.
The shadow ignored it.
It brought the soul to its mouth.
Crunch.
Chew.
The sound of a soul being eaten echoed through the air.
The blue flame went out.
“What is that...?!”
“A Shadow Eater. It grows by devouring lost souls.”
It was an evil spirit.
More precisely, a ghost-type monster.
A parasite that fed on the sorrow of the dead.
After swallowing one soul, its body grew slightly larger.
Its evil aura became stronger.
“Kik... Living human... smell...”
The Shadow Eater turned toward Yugeon and Mincheol.
