To Think It Was You

Carlos stared at his smartphone with a dumbfounded expression.

Han Yuseong disappearing high into the sky, leaving behind Yoshida who had fallen from the building.

Olga standing arrogantly on the frozen sea and the warrior frozen in a position about to thrust his trident.

Isaac with his brilliantly shining sword lowered, and the swordsman collapsed clutching his bloodied chest.

After watching videos of other heroes like Bruce, Kasim, and Ryuhei subjugating the Ten Swords, Carlos muttered blankly.

“To think it would turn out like this.”

When he first saw the news about heroes attacking the Ten Swords, he thought things would work out easily.

No matter how powerful heroes were, they couldn’t possibly get away with killing people in front of countless witnesses.

Whatever they were thinking to commit such an absurd act, he judged they could use this to stir up anti-hero, or even anti-Contractor sentiment worldwide.

But that was a miscalculation.

Initially, public opinion exploded with criticism against the heroes.

However, as time passed, the situation began to change.

Regardless of whether people criticized them or not, the heroes kept slaughtering the remaining Ten Swords under the pretext that they had collaborated with monsters to betray humanity, and if that wasn’t enough, they thoroughly crushed the Ten Swords’ forces and all related groups.

Faced with this festival of overwhelming violence that had no room for dialogue or negotiation, people realized an all too obvious fact.

‘Heroes are strong.’

Simply saying they were strong wasn’t enough.

The heroes were overwhelming.

They crushed hundreds of Contractors who had enough power to overturn a city in less than 10 minutes, and casually subdued a fully armed division head-on with just a single spell.

Could humanity stop this power?

Definitely impossible.

Even America, the world’s strongest country, couldn’t handle a hero if they avoided direct confrontation and only engaged in guerrilla warfare.

Nuclear weapons?

Perhaps nuclear weapons could catch heroes.

But catching heroes that way would ultimately only benefit the monsters while being detrimental to humanity.

“Now, wait! Surrender! I surrender!”

Crack!

Watching video footage of heroes mercilessly killing Ten Swords members who had thrown down their weapons and surrendered, people deeply felt what kind of beings heroes were.

Individuals who could freely wield power equal to, no, perhaps greater than that of nations.

Superhumans who couldn’t be bound by existing laws, common sense, or moral standards.

Upon realizing this fact, people instantly changed their stance.

[The Secret of the Ten Swords Revealed on the International Contractors Association!]

[Heroes Working Tirelessly to Save Japan!]

[The massive roots being discovered across Japan are suspected to be traces of a super-large plant-type monster surpassing the Gigantic Ant, and if the heroes hadn’t dealt with it early, a catastrophe matching the European Undead Incident would have occurred…]

They cheered for the heroes’ achievements and affirmed everything they did.

It was a kind of declaration of surrender.

A declaration of surrender saying we understand you, we’re on your side, so please don’t be hostile to us.

It took less than a day for billions of people to submit to less than ten heroes.

“My thinking was shallow.”

Power.

Overwhelming power takes precedence over everything.

Carlos clicked his tongue lightly while lost in thought.

Attacking Japan as Changwei’s client requested was just the surface reason.

The hidden meaning within was to cause as much flashy commotion in Japan as possible and keep the world’s attention for as long as possible.

‘I thought we could drag it out for at least 3 months…’

Despite investing an astronomical sum and putting in all sorts of effort to make plans, at this rate everything would turn to bubbles in less than 3 days.

‘I need to move straight to the final stage.’

Now that people knew what kind of beings heroes were, shallow tricks like manipulating public opinion or behind-the-scenes maneuvering would no longer work.

Having made up his mind, Carlos opened his mouth in a gentle voice.

“Lorraine.”

“Yes.”

Brilliant hair like spun gold.

Beautiful eyes shining like stars in the night sky.

A sweet voice that rang like singing.

An existence more precious than his own life.

Carlos, who had been gazing at the Elf Queen Lorraine with enchanted eyes, frowned upon seeing her blackened skin not covered by clothing.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s a miracle I’ve recovered even this much.”

“Just endure a little longer. I’ll definitely restore your original appearance.”

Carlos, who had been fiddling with her pointed ears, spoke with a serious expression.

“How’s the World Tree’s condition?”

“Not very good. It hasn’t been long since it took root, and it’s under attack, so its influence keeps decreasing.”

“Could you mark it here?”

Lorraine touched the map of Japan floating above the smartphone screen.

Tokyo and the Kanto region where the World Tree’s main body was located were somewhat manageable, but roots had barely spread to other areas.

Disappointing, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Lorraine. Make the World Tree bloom.”

“…Can’t you reconsider just once? Many people will die.”

“I don’t care how many die. You’re more precious to me.”

“…”

Lorraine, who had been looking at Carlos with trembling eyes, nodded slightly and stepped back.

She lightly tapped the long branch she was holding on the ground.

Thud!

With a heavy resonance, roots spread from the branch and began intertwining with the World Tree’s roots.

After confirming that the branch and roots had perfectly connected, Lorraine sent a powerful will toward the World Tree.

Rumble!

The ground shook with a heavy resonance.

This was because the World Tree’s roots spread throughout the Kanto region rapidly grew while absorbing ground energy indiscriminately.

The roots that spread in all directions completely consumed the surrounding land and eventually stretched upward.

Boom!

“Kyaaaaah!”

“M-monster!”

“Someone please help! My father is trapped in the building!”

Japan is a country prone to earthquakes.

When the ground first shook, people thought it was just a normal earthquake and didn’t take it seriously, but they scattered in panic when massive trees suddenly burst through the ground.

Numerous buildings collapsed and thick dust clouds and fires broke out.

Trees with peculiar appearances not found on Earth rose up and buildings and roads were completely covered in vines.

The highlight was the tree that appeared in the center of Tokyo.

“What, what is that…”

“Everyone step back! Don’t get close!”

A sinister black tree that seemed to reach the sky.

The peculiar point was that countless human-sized fruits were hanging from the tree’s branches.

People both near and far had their attention stolen by the strange tree.

Because of this, people didn’t notice flowers blooming from the vines covering the city.

“Achoo!”

“Hack! What is this?”

“Cough!”

By the time they noticed mysterious pollen flying everywhere, it was too late.

People who inhaled the pollen collapsed with symptoms like coughing, seizures, vomiting, and convulsions.

And when people got up again, they had transformed into completely different beings.

Bloodshot red eyes.

Staggering gait.

Blind aggression toward humans.

That’s right.

They had become zombies.

-Graaaaaah!

-Grrr, grrrr!

Not everyone who inhaled the pollen became zombies.

Contractors were completely unaffected, and even among ordinary people, many showed reactions like coughing or vomiting but didn’t turn into zombies.

If city functions had been normal, they might have been able to somehow stop the zombies.

But the situation was too unfavorable.

Most infrastructure like roads and bridges were destroyed making cars unusable, and power was cut off making it hard to see even a step ahead.

On top of that, there were strange plants that sprayed poison spores or attacked anything that moved.

In the end, humans had no choice but to become zombie prey.

Ratatatat!

“Don’t fire recklessly! Distinguish between humans and zombies!”

“Over here! Come this way!”

Even in such a situation, Contractors and soldiers tried their best to save as many people as possible.

High-level undead might be different.

But stopping zombies that could only cling and bite wasn’t particularly difficult.

People desperately resisted using collapsed building debris and wrecked cars as barricades.

However, even that didn’t last long.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Endless explosions echoing throughout the city.

The identity of these mysterious explosions was the sound of fruits falling from the black tree hitting the ground.

Crack.

“E-elves?”

When the fruits split open, what emerged were elves.

However, they weren’t ordinary elves.

With black skin symbolizing corruption and crimson eyes as if filled with blood, they were Dark Elves.

Despite being newly born, the Dark Elves possessed powerful strength and Contractors and soldiers had no choice but to fall before their attacks.

In barely half a day, Tokyo transformed into a city of death.

* * *

The capital of Japan, known as the safest among existing nations, collapsed overnight.

Naturally, the whole world was shocked.

Large-scale riots broke out with people claiming the end times had come, and when Japanese stocks and the yen plummeted, the ripple effects shook the global economy.

The UN Security Council discussed dispatching peacekeeping forces and the International Contractors Association began gathering Contractors from around the world.

That wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Even when the world was fine, deploying forces to another country required complex procedures and long time periods, and now with most infrastructure collapsed and in decline, it was even more so.

Gathering people, producing weapons and equipment for them to use, and sending those forces to Japan would take at least a month even at the fastest.

That would be too late.

In the end, only one option remained.

“We’ll have to resolve this ourselves.”

At Kang Changseok’s words, everyone in the room sighed.

Regardless, Kang Changseok continued his explanation.

“The tree that rose in central Tokyo is currently presumed to be a corrupted World Tree.”

“If it’s a corrupted World Tree then it’s a corrupted World Tree, why presume?”

“Looking at Dark Elves emerging from the fruits it seems to be a corrupted World Tree, but there are some ambiguous points.”

Everyone knew what the ambiguous points were referring to.

Undead.

People who inhaled pollen from mysterious flowers blooming across Tokyo and the Kanto region turned into zombies.

Even users who had traveled numerous worlds and gained diverse experiences had never seen such an abnormality.

“Not just people who inhaled the pollen but also those who were bitten are becoming undead. Meaning it’s infectious. In some ways, this situation is more dangerous than the European Undead Incident.”

Right now it’s just the Kanto region, but as time passes the pollen will spread on the wind and turn all of Japan into a land of death.

The undead could also spread to other countries through pollen stuck to people escaping Japan.

Understanding the gravity of the situation, users began speaking up one by one.

“What about using nuclear weapons to blow away the World Tree? A tactical nuclear weapon could minimize damage.”

“More than the World Tree, shouldn’t we first prevent the pollen from spreading? Kasim. Is it possible?”

“Impossible. Not enough time.”

“…”

While the users were engaged in heated discussion, Yuseong was watching footage of Tokyo being relayed through drones.

Countless zombies covering the city.

Upon spotting familiar-looking zombies among them, Yuseong raised the corners of his mouth.

‘To think it was you?’