The Novel’s Villain

57. Myth (3)

The people leisurely approached the first jiangshi that appeared.

Since they remembered their lives before death, they knew they were in the underworld already. Hence, they had no sense of crisis at all.

They thought nothing could threaten them in this heaven.

“Woah. That’s awesome.”

When the jiangshi stood still with its hands raised, a man put his arms around its shoulders, causing everyone to laugh.

However, just as he was about to take a picture with it, the expressions of the people around him hardened.

“What’s wrong?”

“Up…”

The man looked at the sky, finding more jiangshis falling. It was almost like rain.

At that moment, the man realized this was no ordinary situation. He tried to take his arm off the undead’s shoulder.

Swish.

It turned its head to the side.

With its mouth wide open, almost as if it had no jaw joint, it fully displayed its vampire-like sharp teeth. Instead of saliva, thick fluids akin to poison flowed between them.

“Ouch! Whoa!”

He struggled when it bit his neck, but he couldn’t escape its grasp.

His body was already cold and sagging when he fell to the ground. His hand soon trembled, however, showing signs of life. Slowly getting up, he looked at the people around him, who stared blankly at the scene, not even thinking of running away.

“Kieeeek!” The man’s eyes rolled inwards as he screamed, beginning his assault on his own people. He didn’t act like one of the slow-moving zombies. On the contrary, his speed exceeded that of humans, and his movements were strange.

If he were powerful, he would’ve used his inner skills to become a jiangshi. Unfortunately, however, they were all just ordinary citizens here. All he could achieve was a body transformation.

Still, his skin at least became extremely tough, and his strength had been enhanced beyond what was humanly possible.

That alone was enough to label him a great biological weapon.

Jin-woo looked at it with the Magic Eye of Information.

[F+] Vehement Zombie

A monster born from a jiangshi’s bite.

Its teeth and nails contain highly contagious power.

*[F] Resurrection: When it dies, it becomes an ordinary zombie.

“Aghhhh!”

“Oh my god!”

The jiangshis began to bite more of the underworld’s citizens.

They tried to run away, but they couldn’t escape from their grasps. All of the jiangshis were martial arts masters, after all. They were even more adept at it now than before their deaths. That made the sight of them soaring through the air even more terrifying.

Pshhhh!

As blood spurted from the humans’ bodies, their tidy city was swallowed by a sea of blood.

Those who had already been bitten then rose, chasing and eating people up. It was like watching waves roll and tangle with each other.

Their minds contained nothing but Jin-woo’s orders. Hence, all they desired to do was eliminate everyone in this place.

“This is crazy… I paid to be here! How can they treat me like this…”

DJ Jack trembled under the table.

Shortly before he died, he made a contract. He gave away all the wealth and honor he had accumulated during his lifetime and was guaranteed a cozy paradise. Thanks to this, he was able to live in happiness every day.

He developed a hobby of drinking beer while watching the zombies eat the lower classes.

Right now, however, he was envious of the lower classes. He never dreamed he would cower in fear in front of something far more terrible than zombies.

“Damn it! What are the Black Hounds doing?!”

Unable to do anything else, he prayed for this situation to end soon.

Thud!

DJ Jack turned to the side where he heard the noise come from.

A human head had rolled over a few feet from where he was, its tongue sticking out.

He knew who it belonged to.

The host that had just been talking right beside him.

“Ughh… Hmmp.”

He held his breath, barely managing to stop his screams from coming out.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The floor vibrated, its source coming closer and closer to him.

DJ Jack was terrified. What was left for them after their second death?

He had never thought of such a question before.

Thud! Thud!

He watched as the jiangshi’s feet passed right beside him. When he sighed in relief, it stopped.

Crrraccck!

The table was split in two, exposing him.

“Keeeeeeek!”

“Keeek!”

There was no need for the jiangshi to finish him off itself. The Vehement Zombies around it did the work for it.

DJ Jack was torn to shreds before he could even let out an agonizing scream.

Watching the scene, Jin-woo smiled.

This was far more exciting than most zombie movies, but it still lacked something he couldn’t quite pinpoint.

He had to think deeply about it before he could determine what it was.

‘Explosions.’

In moments like this, buildings should be exploding and burning. With a snap of his fingers, some of them were devoured by black flames from the bottom up.

Boom!

Reaching the rooftops swiftly, they began to explode.

It was spectacular.

[Citizens! Please back off!]

[This is not the residential area!]

A large number of people flocked to the Wailing Wall, avoiding the jiangshis and vehement zombies. They screamed for help and knocked on its gates tirelessly and desperately.

Bewildered by the sudden situation, the Black Hound soldiers didn’t know how to respond.

‘If you want to open it, I’ll open it for you.’

Jin-woo put the Wailing Wall under his jurisdiction using the power of domination.

When all the gates of the Wailing Wall opened, people began to make their escape. Today, they would become food to the zombies waiting for them in the wasteland.

One of Black Hound’s modified monsters under the Wailing Wall rushed towards a jiangshi. It tried to bite down on it, but its teeth broke and shattered instead.

Jiangshis were basically swords and shields in one. It was impossible to even scratch their skin unless the attacks they’d sustain were as powerful as they were.

Scratch!

With a swing of its nails, the artificially created monster’s neck was slit cleanly.

The Black Hound soldiers that witnessed the scene grew terrified.

[D-damn it! Send out the test specimens!]

[We don’t have the headquarters’ approval…]

[Hurry! We need to respond with everything we’ve got!]

Jin-woo eavesdropped on their conversation.

The door to the Black Hound building opened, revealing zombies with unusual necklaces. Bloated, their muscles looked quite disgusting. They also had enough numbers to overwhelm the jiangshis.

It wasn’t just zombies.

Among those hideous monstrosities were the Black Hound army equipped with modern arsenals, including tanks.

The jiangshis looked at them.

‘Interesting.’

A war between Eastern and Western concepts, jiangshis and zombies.

No movie had ever created such a scene.

However, the battle didn’t unfold in a movie-like, dramatic manner.

The victor had already been decided, after all.

The zombies advanced while the Black Hound soldiers provided them support from the rear with guns and shells.

They fired a tank shell towards the jiangshis, but one of them just hit it with the back of its hand to deflect it.

Boom!

Crashing into one of the buildings, it exploded.

“That’s just insane…”

“No way…”

The Black Hound couldn’t help but panic upon witnessing it.

“What kind of monsters are those?”

The zombies’ muscles swelled as they swung their fists at the jiangshis, exuding power that far surpassed humans. Unfortunately, it didn’t work against their opponents. They couldn’t even move then by an inch.

“…”

“…”

However, when the jiangshis looked at the zombies, they fell into confusion.

They seemed to be contemplating. Glancing over at the Wailing Wall, they looked into his eyes.

‘Hmm… I can sense an Emperor’s aura…’

Jin-woo thought about it for a moment.

The enhanced zombies only contained an extremely small amount of it, however. That made him wonder what would happen if they bit it.

“Bite.”

Hearing his order, one of jiangshis trembled and let out a deep sigh even though it wasn’t even alive, much less breathing.

Jin-woo’s order was absolute.

Grabbing the zombie, it stopped for a moment to look at it.

“Eww…” It produced such a sound.

To be fair, the enemy monster’s appearance was indeed disgusting. Its flesh was rotting all over and infested with maggots, and its red, swollen muscles only made it look worse.

Its smell was also quite disgusting, so he couldn’t even blame the jiangshi for groaning even though it wasn’t supposed to.

Nevertheless, it managed to bite down on it.

The zombie trembled and fell to the floor. Jin-woo’s power, which the jiangshi carried, transmitted to it.

He exuded more of his power to help it advance a little more.

[The power of domination has been unleashed.]

[You now rule over Hades’ energy.]

[The shadow of anger sleeping in it has been exposed.]

When he used the power of domination on it, all of its rotten parts melted away, and its muscles turned black.

Tentacles then spewed out of it, wrapping around the jiangshi that bit it.

“… What?”

Upon quickly engulfing it into its dark muscles, it began to grow larger and larger. It couldn’t even be called a zombie now, and it was hard to say it was a jiangshi.

It reached a height of over 4 meters.

“What the hell is that?”

“S-shoot it!”

It had turned into a giant.

The Black Hound soldiers fired at it, but their bullets couldn’t even scratch it. Its seemingly reinforced black muscles had wrapped around its entire body, turning into its skin.

Even the other jiangshis could only blink in bafflement as they watched the scene.

Cheee!

All of its muscles repeatedly expanded and contracted until smoke came out of its body, which had become so hot it was melting the ground it was standing on.

Silence fell upon them.

The Black Hound soldiers couldn’t say anything, and the zombies couldn’t even dare raise their heads. With the smoke clearing, it revealed a black giant.

“Roaaaagh!”

The moment the Black Giant howled, a shockwave erupted, causing Black Hound’s tanks to turn upside down and its troops to burst. The jiangshis began running around, looking for their hats that had been blown away.

‘That’s amazing.’

Jin-woo was stunned.

It turned out much greater than expected.

He now understood the reason behind the considerable amount of power consumption.

[S] Titan

The blood of the giants, which had been sleeping in the energy of Hades, has been restored to its original form upon being awoken by the power of domination, resulting in the resurrection of Titan, the symbol of death, ruin, and despair, in a powerful vessel.

*[S] Titan’s Body: Its durability, agility, and strength will never drop below S rank. When faced against opponents ranked S or higher, its physical ability increases.

[Titan’s appearance shocks Hades.]

Titan ran wild and started sweeping away everything around it, its S-rank strength exhibiting extreme destructive power. Each swing of its fist released devastating shockwaves, causing the ground to quake and the sky to tremble.

“R-return to HQ… Retreat…”

“Agggghhh!”

It mutilated every single Black Hound member.

The jiangshis just ran in place awkwardly, letting the vehement zombies roam the city and infect all that survived.

‘I can see why people like raising zombies.’

They worked the hardest without complaints.

Jin-woo ran out of popcorn, making him finally decide to make his move.

Getting up from his seat, he went down to the ground. When he appeared, the jiangshis quickly dispersed, searching for people to eradicate.

Titan took the tram and crushed it. Juices would’ve flowed out of it if it were a fruit, but it, unfortunately, wasn’t.

Jin-woo looked at its body, nodding satisfactorily.

“I think you’ll be great at farming.”

It might be beneficial to send it to the barren land of the Middle-World. Just like the others, Titan faithfully fulfilled his orders, neatly breaking down the city.

Titan rampaged so fervently it was like watching a monster movie.

‘The children…’

He could see them hanging from the hands of a jiangshi.

Despite the hardship they went through, they could still smile brightly and play around. That was quite admirable, especially since until they died, all they knew was suffering.

With a wave of his hand, Jin-woo turned the Wailing Wall into powder, causing the boundary between heaven and hell to vanish completely.

He walked to the Black Hound HQ in the middle of the city, curious about the face of whoever was in charge of this place.

Although a thick iron gate tightly sealed it, he easily tore it off and invited himself in.

Multiple soldiers came out to meet him.

The moment he entered, they aimed their guns at him. But he didn’t even have to pay them any attention.

“Kieek!”

“Keeek!”

The vehement zombies appeared behind him, mauling those that dared attack him. There were so many of them that they all disappeared in an instant.

He noticed a VIP-exclusive elevator.

Jin-woo went in front of it, pressed the ‘Going Up’ button, and casually boarded it when its doors opened. It only had two available floor options: 1st floor and 44th floor.

Just as he was about to press the close button, the vehement zombies gathered in front of the elevator and stared at him.

“Do you want to ride it too?”

“Keeek.”

“Why don’t you take the stairs?”

“… Kiek.”

“I think it’ll get a little too cramped.”

“Kieeek…”

The vehement zombies became sullen.

Sighing, Jin-woo nodded, allowing them to carefully enter the elevator.

An awkward silence surrounded them throughout the ride.

Jin-woo coughed in an attempt to disperse it, but elevator music played, amplifying the awkwardness.

Ding!

They finally reached the 44th floor.

The elevator door opened, finding a gathering of trembling humans. They were all wearing party attires, which didn’t suit this situation at all.

All of them belonged to the privileged class with deep ties to Black Hounds.

There was no need for mercy.

Jin-woo glared at them.

“Keeeeeeek!”

“Keeek!”

Breaking the silence, the vehement zombies began their gory venture once again.

“Damn!”

“S-save me!”

Some jumped out of the window out of fear, but Titan caught them and sent them back to the 44th floor.

Whoops!

As it did, their bodies collided into the building, creating results so horrendous it was better not to talk about it at all.

Jin-woo looked around him.

‘This place…’

It was like a department store.

Sweets, food, including frozen ones, and luxury goods were on display. They were all ordinary items back on Earth, though, so he found it a little too much to put them on display or store them in his subspace.

It would be better to give them out as gifts.

‘These days, the number of my believers has increased a bit.’

It was thanks to Bread Jam.

[List of believers.]

Headmaster: Lee Jae-mi(Bread Jam)

Assistant: Jerry

Followers: 463

Undead Followers: 292,313

Prayer List (465)

1. Please give me a long life.

2. I like someone…

3. Heal my wounds…

… It seemed even the vehement zombies were counted as believers.

Even now, its count kept going up. Jin-woo designated all the items on the 44th floor as gifts to them.

Everything turned to light and disappeared.

“Neat and clean.”

With all the objects scattered all over it removed, the entire space now looked quite immaculate.

But it wasn’t the top floor. There was a place even further higher than this.

Jin-woo started looking for flights of stairs. However, when he found it, he also found a hidden space next to it.

“Hmm?”

It seemed to be a storage for weapons such as guns and grenades, but it was now empty. Its arsenal had probably been sent out as gifts to his followers as well.

‘It’ll be fine.’

Jin-woo climbed up the stairs.

* * *

When it was time for the morning worship service, Bread Jam moved to the church in the middle of the shopping center to lead it.

He just thought of it as broadcasting, so he was quite good at it.

‘There are more of them now.’

More and more people joined them. Bread Jam thought this might be his calling. Soon enough, he started.

“I give my blessings to everyone who came to the Great Emperor Church today.”

Jerry beckoned for the curtains to close and the lights to dim.

Reaching out his hand and focusing his energy, he began to emit a subtle light.

“Oh!”

“Amazing…”

The people’s reactions were incredible.

It was just his Holy Power, but they didn’t know about that.

To them, he was causing a miracle.

‘This is it! It’s thrilling and new!’

He found it great to be respected, which he couldn’t feel from his broadcasts. Viewers often ignored him and how he felt, after all.

‘Ugh! I love this feeling!’

He was in a bad mood due to the task he had to do a while back, but he now felt better.

‘I’m glad the bodies haven’t been found yet…’

Countless sprouts had sprung up from where he buried the corpses.

Jerry witnessed Bread Jam returning from the garden, but he just declared to everyone that the saint had blessed it.

He asked him not to go near it to lessen the chances of anyone finding out about his secret, but he misunderstood what he meant and declared it a sanctuary instead.

‘That fucker…’

He ground his teeth together whenever he thought of Jerry. Since it had become a sanctuary, they thought it only natural to move Bread Jam’s room designation to it.

Unable to spend his sweet time with Rachel, his anger almost burst.

Bread Jam continued the worship service, barely managing to put his emotions under control.

The final part of their program was to pray for the Great Emperor’s grace. He knelt and raised his hands high towards the sky.

“My lord. Please grant us your kindness!”

All of the other believers knelt down and repeated after her.

[The Great Emperor has provided Lee Jae-mi(Bread Jam) and his other believers with gifts.]

Light gushed out of Bread Jam’s hand. Initially, he was perplexed by it, but he was already well aware of this phenomenon. It was the same as when the Great Emperor gave him ramen noodles.

‘Great timing!’

It was a chance to show Jin-woo’s believers a miracle!

They shed tears as they saw the holy light. With a kind expression, Bread Jam spoke.

“The Great Emperor has answered our prayers! Bask in his grace and glory, and thank him with all your heart, for he has sent us this sacred…”

Thinking something holy would come out, he felt a heavy object land on his hands. When the light disappeared, surprise engulfed his mind.

“… Guns?”

For a moment, silence devoured the church.

“… Behold, the Holy M4A1 Automatic Rifle!” Bread Jam shouted confidently.

Since he liked playing FPS games, he knew quite a lot about this weapon.

But that wasn’t the end of his troubles.

Countless guns poured out behind Bread Jam along with magazines, grenades, and attachments.

The devotees’ jaws dropped. All they could do was stare blankly at him.

Bread Jam broke into a cold sweat.

‘O’ Great Emperor, how am I supposed to explain this shit?’

“Our God has provided us with holy weapons to finally eradicate all the zombies infesting his temple! With him by our side, our victory has already been decided!”

Bread Jam declared the shopping center a temple.

“Woah! We’ve been living in a temple all this time!”

“Let’s all go out into the streets together!”

The devotees began running rampant.

Bread Jam rolled his eyes.

‘This is also the will of the Great Emperor.’ He thought, shifting all the responsibility to Jin-woo.