I Am the Only Non-Returner

148 – Even the Absolute Has Been Lost

After washing, eating, and sitting for a while, the stage started again.

Now, three Skeleton Knights have appeared in each shelter. However, I just became a little busier and there was no difference from the previous stage.

The only time I was interested was when we first met, and I started to deal with the annoying guys in order, as if I was doing overdue laundry.

The attack sphere has been upgraded, and the tendency for the front line to be pushed toward the shelter has almost disappeared. As long as we were careful of attacks falling from the sky, there would be no danger. Of course, Shelter A had to continue to help.

And, without fail, the end of the stage arrived.

The number of remaining lives that emerged along with the host’s comment, which still makes people nervous, depicted the number of lives left in ruins.

‘If you look at the percentage, it has decreased by almost half compared to the previous stage. Was it too much for the teams that held on to three Skeleton Knights?’

In fact, it was a tough enemy with just the ability to cut through space, but when there were three of them, it was difficult enough. You will still be at the mercy of the Palaizmoon Dragon, and Coramana will still be a difficult being.

‘The survival of humanity is truly at risk.’

There are now fewer survivors around the world than the population of Korea. I wasn’t sure if there would be a future for humanity with those who survived at the end.

‘If that doesn’t work, maybe we should capture people from another dimension… If there are only 30 million people scattered all over the place, it might be really dangerous…’

But the struggling face of Kiphenical suddenly came to mind, and I began to hope that time would pass quickly.

And again 2 hours later.

＜00:04:24＞

4 Minutes before stage 45 starts.

Even though it was a stage with a mid-boss, I couldn’t see any particularly large cracks, so when I was looking around, I found small monsters wriggling far down from the ground.

‘This is a bit too much. Coming straight from under the ground? If there’s no one with the search characteristic, this is a scenario where the shelter will be attacked right from the start, right?’

And just in time, a battlefield appeal rang out to my uncle.

– For some reason, I keep seeing visions of a large number of strange creatures jumping out from under the ground. Could you please check?

– I can still see something. I will check and come back.

He dug straight towards the guys who were digging hard underground just a few meters away from the shelter.

Kwakwakwakwakwakwa-

It was difficult to pinpoint the shape of the monster that was finally visible after digging a few tens of meters, but it had three heads, starting from the top. And when I only saw its face, it looked closer to a rat living in a sewer.

The long front teeth hung noticeably long from each snout, and the dark gray liquid dripping from the front teeth gave off a strong scent that made you not want to get even a little closer. Of course, it was weaker than the black snake’s venom, but it was a level of toxicity that could not be ignored.

It also had hundreds of small feet like a centipede, and it was studded with sharp thorns, giving it a very disgusting look. In addition, around the snout, very long, thin, and pointed mosquito snout-like things were hanging like whiskers and wriggling.

As I watched them constantly rubbing their hands, I felt like I was inhaling the scraps of epidermis that had fallen from that disgusting bastard’s body in the air, and I frowned.

The size itself was not that big. It’s about the body of a corrupted demon beast seen in the early stages. Of course, it was big for a rat-based creature, but since we’ve been encountering so many huge creatures these days, these guys are now just cute.

But when I thought about it that way, there was something puzzling. If it’s barely this much, is this not a boss-level monster, but just a newly added regular monster? It was too shabby even for that.

‘Something is strange…’

Feeling uncomfortable, I spread my magic everywhere again, and in an instant, goosebumps appeared all over my body.

‘It’s not enough to call it a few, is it?’

It turned out that this guy was an advance team, and that somewhere along the tunnel he had dug, our troops were being endlessly reinforced.

’10, 20, 50, 300, 1000, 3000… Are these really crazy?’

I thought it wouldn’t work, so I immediately moved to find the epicenter where reinforcements were being increased.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-

It was difficult to speed up as I was digging into the ground, but it still took only a few seconds to get there.

And what struck me as I was moving was that the guys passing by were not actively attacking me. I wonder if even things of this low level recognize those who are stronger than them…

Anyway, as soon as we arrived, we crushed the portal door they came out of, condensed it to a pulp, and sent them somewhere in a distant dimension.

However, fine cracks were appearing again next to the closed area, and thousands of rats had already spread and dug burrows in all directions.

‘Oops…’

If they are not targeting people, then of course they have only one goal.

‘Shelter.’

Paaang!!

As soon as I stepped foot, I ran hundreds of meters as if I were teleporting, and by the time I finally caught up with their advance team, thousands of rats were already gnawing and digging up all the ground around the shelter.

‘Are you trying to bury the shelter underground?!’

It was a truly absurd idea. If the shelter falls deep underground, what will happen to us?

The answer to my question was resolved by the message that appeared with the sound of the stage starting.

‘These guys really went beyond the expected range. I’m still not perfect in escaping the influence of the designers. How did you do it?’

‘Only the dirty things were mixed very well. Maybe the designers didn’t want to have anything to do with things like that, so they cut off the connection.’

He expressed his anger, vowing that he would kill the host someday.

“You guys are some kind of unicorn!! Do you have habits like that? I don’t understand these things!!”

Wow! Pop!! Puff puff puff!!

I burned the rats around me and thought again.

‘These… The magic power is so crude and cloudy that it’s not easy to detect. ‘You must be tired?’

Killing them one by one is easier than stepping on cockroaches crawling on the ground, but since there are so many of them and they are spread out all over the ground, it is difficult to use their abilities.

‘But to kill while moving, the road is too twisted… I can’t just blow up the ground…’

I thought it was a hassle. And the confusion and shouting of the shelter people echoed loudly in my head.

– There are only married women on our team…

– Isabella also did it with her brother, right?

– I did. I spring.

– What are you looking at, idiot? Even second-year middle school students should operate it while observing the situation.

– It’s nice that you don’t have to worry. Let’s quickly organize the above and then dig a tunnel below and go down.

– The shelter director is already down, so don’t be too hasty-

Kugugugugugugung-!!

– Wow!!

– Are you saying this is because of those guys below? Is this already the case?

– I have to do it quickly, how about the field members?

– I don’t know!! We’ll kill the Skeleton Knight first as usual, so please let the people inside handle the operation!!

Our shelter was unable to find a virgin, so it was time to proceed with the regular method.

– I, I, I… Will try the bait.

Lingling used the appeal of the battlefield for the first time, and people asked as if they were puzzled by the words.

– Linglin… Does this mean you have no experience…?

– What? No way? I guess the men wouldn’t have left it alone? Are you homos*xual?

I couldn’t believe that Lingling claimed to be a virgin, but it was something I had to check right away.

Just above where I had dug into the ground, Lingling arrived quickly on her black panther, where she cut her arm with a blade and let a few drops of her blood fall into the ground.

1 Second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds…

“Hmm~ Hmm?!”

After a few seconds, a huge rumbling was felt in the ground. And soon, tens of thousands of rats began to dig and climb onto the ground all at once.

‘Disgusting bastards, they were obsessed with real virgins…’

I had no reason to stay here anymore, so I went back to the ground, and there was chaos everywhere due to the monster rats that had flocked there.

Hundreds of legs were constantly writhing and crawling all over the place, and I really wanted to erase the memory of seeing this from my mind if I could.

They even seemed to perceive all species other than themselves as enemies, and were gnawing on other monsters at random. Surprisingly, their attacks even worked.

Kiheeeh!!

Even Coramana, the tree monster that always makes things difficult for us with its huge body, was quite embarrassed when tens of thousands of rats started gnawing from the base of the tree and seemed to have no solution.

Tens of thousands of fire ants are clinging to your body, so you have to quickly avoid the spot and jump into the water. No matter how much I swung my arms, it was meaningless.

The Skeleton Knights still calmly eliminated the threats coming around them, but it seemed like there would be no business with the endless influx of supplies.

‘What are these, really? Are your abilities poor? How are they pushing it?’

I looked at their abilities again for a moment, but as expected, their physical strength was nothing special. But just one thing. He had a unique ability.

‘All attacks ignore shields… Hmm… I see.’

I shook my head and looked at the rat that was trying to eat my body.

Chyoak-jjiik-

I was amazed at the sight of the long front teeth ripping off my outer skin layer by layer. However, it was not easy to absorb the ability just by looking at it and touching it. It was also because it was so unfamiliar and repulsive.

‘Whoa… I wonder if I have to eat these things to survive, but I just close my eyes.’

Kwasik!!

Kit-!

It bit the neck of a rat called Violent Conicolan and swallowed the thick, disgusting blood. Then, as my stamina rose to an unprecedented level, I began to picture their footsteps in my mind.