Chapter 255: Hostile Power Activation 1
They were able to arrest the first infected, and the pieces of poring fell out of their hosts and were collected. Since the first infected had been arrested, the other infected stopped their hostile behavior, and the joint force finished the arrests without any more casualties.
Junhyuk looked at feed Zaira was showing him.
“We’ve arrested or eliminated all identified infected. There were a total of 47 arrests and 1,953 casualties. The incident is over now.”
“How many civilians were hurt?”
“A total of 782 were killed and 1,230 were critically wounded. The wounded are receiving medical attention right now.”
“The military and police will provide transport and helicopters.”
Eunseo bowed.
“Thank you.”
Daeil shook his head and looked at her.
“It’s already happened, so we can’t pretend it didn’t. What worries me is that it might come back.”
“Research on the poring is ongoing, and we’ll research the original infected. This mayhem will be preventable in the future.”
Daeil nodded his head slowly.
“I understand. You have a lot of work to do.”
The iron soldiers killed and arrested more infected than the military and the police combined.
“I’ll report to the president. A spokesman from the presidential office will make an official announcement tonight,” Daeil said.
Junhyuk nodded. In Seoul alone, including the infected, some four thousand people were killed.”
The citizens would probably demand answers.
Daeil looked at Taewoo and said, “Today will be a busy day. When you have time some other time, let’s have a drink.”
“I’ll let you know.”
Daeil left and Taewoo did the same soon after. Things needed to be cleaned up, but that was not Guardians responsibility.
Eunseo collapsed on a chair and sighed. The operation didn’t take long, but many things had happened in a very short time.
“Are you OK?”
She looked at him, slapped her cheeks lightly and got up.
“I’m fine. Everything is over now, but stay and help with the cleanup.”
“I will.”
They had paid him $2 million, so he wouldn’t refuse.
“Tsubasa and Soyeon, Guardians will pay for all hospital bills, so call the hospitals and let them know everyone should get treatment.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
She turned to Junhyuk and said, “Come to the basement with me.”
“Sure.”
They went down together. The basement was large, but not large enough to house all of the bodies. The police and the military were en route with even more bodies, and the iron soldiers had already stacked many of them there.
Junhyuk and Eunseo walked by a hundred bodies on their way to the research room. Elise had the poring pieces in storage while she worked away. When they entered, she looked at them.
“The poring is the most advanced and intelligent monster that’s crossed dimensions so far.”
The infected had access to human knowledge and were able to inflict more damage and chaos than any other monster.
“How are the hosts doing?” Eunseo asked while looking at one of the former hosts.
“Their vitals are normal, so they must be sleeping.”
“That’s good.”
It would be nice if some some of them remained alive.
“Is there a reason to keep the original infected separate?” Junhyuk asked as he looked them over.
Elise nodded her head calmly and said, “I had no choice. They were exposed to the infection for a much longer period. They need to be studied.”
Junhyuk realized she was talking about running experiments on living people and smirked.
She continued, “There is a difference between dealing with the poring and the infected, but I might find a commonality. We will make special weapons to combat porings and prevent another situation like this.”
Eunseo nodded and said, “Install more CCTV cameras around Seoul and the other provinces.”
Junhyuk agreed with her decision and looked at Elise, who was working on her research.
“When the result are in, I’ll let you know.”
Looking around, Junhyuk saw that Sora was also there. With her there, if something were to happen, she could protect Elise. So, Junhyuk and Eunseo headed back to the command center, and he looked at the footage Zaira was showing him. Seoul was mayhem.
“Show me Elise’s research lab.”
A feed of the lab appeared on the monitor, and he sat on a chair and operated the tablet, looking for things to help out with cleaning up.
They had no time for a meal, so they ordered delivery and worked while eating. Junhyuk was having a sausage soup as he watched the footage of Seouls chaotic bloodbath. The police had cordoned off areas all over as the recovering team worked hard to gather the corpses.
They were all carrying poring detectors in case there were any remnants, but the teams were short-staffed. There were just too few of them.
Junhyuk felt lucky to be working inside. While he also had a mountain of work to do, he would receive help from Zaira.
Elise, on the other hand, couldn’t even eat at that moment. He was watching her through the feed in her lab and he frowned. She was researching the poring bits, but behind her, the hosts were waking up.
‘Elise! Behind you!” Junhyuk shouted.
His shout was broadcast to Elise, but when he looked back, the hosts were already up. He stopped eating, took his tablet and started running.
Suddenly, the power in the between shut off. Even his tablet wasn’t working. So, he ran to the stairs, opened the emergency door and teleported. He appeared inside Elise’s lab, and Sora was there too.
Sora had her large sword and was standing in front of Elise.
Junhyuk looked around and scowled at the four hosts standing up. They all had green eyes and focused their gazes on him.
“What happened?”
He summoned the Pure Golden Knight set, without the cloak, and stood in front of Elise and Sora.
Elise laughed and said, “They can release an electromagnetic pulse, and I didn’t know they could do that.”
In the darkness, their glittering green eyes were clearly visible. He checked their health and mana and frowned heavily.
“All four of them have activated a power.”
“They’ve activated powers?”
“Yes. They are all novices now, but I’ve got no clue of what their powers might be.”
Junhyuk looked at his enemies, ready to raise the force field if necessary. They all heard the whirring of machinery, and the lab lit up again.
“You said they EMPed the place?”
“Right, but Zaira can bring the power back in cases like this.”
Zaira was helping and that was nice.
Junhyuk stared at the novices.
“I have a question: the poring pieces are out, so why are they still infected?”
The novices stared only at him. The novices on the sides took the hands of those in the center. They were shaped like a rhombus. Junhyuk thought quickly, and the novices disappeared.
“Elise! Track them! Where did they go?”
She activated Zaira and frowned.
“They must have gone outside. Everything around us has shut down because of the EMP.”
Junhyuk scowled and went out, shouting, “Stay there and don’t move!”
He teleported to the roof. Even if he didn’t know what powers they had, he couldn’t let them be. He looked around for them. They had teleported, but they had just activated their power, so they couldn’t be that far.
He was right. They were just outside the HQ, heading down an alley, but because he had used all of his teleportations, he simply ran toward them.
“I should be fine even at this height.”
As he ran, he summoned his armor, but not his cloak and landed right in front of them. Junhyuk had jumped down from the roof of a building, but because he was wearing his armor, he landed safely. He stood up while staring at the novices.
They distanced themselves from each other. One of them had a teleportation power, another had an EMP power, but he didn’t know about the other two.
Once he transformed into the Dark Knight, he summoned the Frozen Rune Sword. As he stared at them, he said, “Let’s talk later.”
He ran toward them, and the furthest one from him stepped forward. Not knowing who had what power, he swung his sword. At that moment, the enemy extended his hand toward him, and suddenly, a blue curtain appeared between him and the novice.
Clang!
He stared at his enemy. The green-eyed novice had the power to block attacks.
“This is fun.”