Terrestrial Savior Archetype - T.S.A Chapter 17 (part 2): The Price of Power (1)

Jeong-woo looked at the bones and flesh rolling away from his body and, for some reason, it reminded him of chicken bones.

The messy bones that humans scrape off and throw into bags after eating the meat.

Thump, thud.

The ‘remnants’ scattered randomly and inconsistently.

The cats… No, those creatures who were supposed to protect the Earth were being treated like trash.

“I can’t close it! Even if you guys commit suicide, it’s useless! We need ten thousand of them. Ten thousand!”

Sadness and anger mixed in an ambiguous proportion.

Sometime later, Jeong-woo wept.

He felt liquid splashing from his eyes and forming a pool at his chin.

In the opaque glass-like view, he found an unusually dark presence.

Next, he sprayed the essence in that direction.

Pooah!

He knew this sound well.

It was the sound of the essence swallowing a target made of flesh.

With that strike just now, the group of cats and Cleaners had vanished.

To confirm this, as Jeong-woo moved forward blindly, the sound of essence shattering came from under his feet.

Tik-tik!

His own essence status was engraved directly in his mind without passing through his cornea.

Therefore, even in a blurred vision, he could see that his essence was rapidly increasing.

In an instant, the essence increased to 371.

And then, one of the cats spoke.

*Collect the essences.

“…What?”

Jeong-woo felt another cat brushing past his ankle.

He looked down and saw a group of cats closely gathered, resembling his own wave form.

Among them, a leader cat shouted urgently.

The other cats were sticking to the Cleaners at the entrance.

They were buying time.

• There is no reason to refuse. Even the Earth’s guidelines state that if you don’t have the will to fight, you’re supposed to commit suicide next to your comrades.

“Damn it, shut up!”

Jeong-woo cursed and yelled all sorts of profanities at the evaluator.

However, he knew that there was no reason to reject the cats’ proposal, but at the same time, he couldn’t do it.

Unless he plan to commit suicide here, that’s the only way.

Kwak!

He tightly gripped the pen.

Then…

Phewww!

Finally, the wave of essence he expelled swallowed hundreds of cats.

The hundreds of essence clumps soared in the air, reflecting the sunlight and temporarily turning the air blue.

Jeong-woo felt his pupils shaking uncontrollably.

He hastily absorbed the essences.

The source of power bestowed by the Earth.

His essence rapidly increased.

From 371 to 462, then 533, 673… 712… 893…

Jeong-woo didn’t take his eyes off his position as the “3rd” among the Saviors.

Should he be relieved about this?

Surprisingly, the second ranker was doing quite well.

Even though his essence had surpassed 1,400, there was no change in the ranking.

“Huff, haa!”

Jeong-woo kept panting and continued to run desperately down the downhill road under the scorching sun.

The heat soaked through his breath, and the smell was nauseating.

Sun-woong kept a close eye on Jeong-woo, who seemed to recover faster than expected.

He was worried because of what happened earlier, at the gate… At that time, he thought Jeong-woo had gone crazy.

But now, he seemed fine.

‘Is he really okay?’

Sun-woong cautiously asked, breaking the silence between them.

However, there was no room for useless words, like how he felt.

“Mr. Jeong-woo, where do you plan to go now?”

It was the fastest way to find out if he was in a state of panic or not.

Just ask the purpose of their actions.

If he had just gone crazy and was only running around mindlessly, there would be no proper answer.

However, Jeong-woo’s eyes, as he turned around to answer the question, were sharp.

“To Sillim, Gyo-dae. Seocho, Gangnam. Along the subway line to those areas with many people.”

“Ah… I see.”

Sun-woong nodded with a puzzled expression. Jeong-woo’s answer was clearer than expected.

‘Yes, if Jeong-woo is a true Savior, going to a place with many people would be the right choice. He needs to save as many people as possible…’

Sun-woong thought that while being engulfed in a strange sense of unease.

It felt like something didn’t quite add up.

And then, a group of people appeared in front of them.

They were wearing red belts around their heads and arms.

They were members of a Neighborhood Watch.

Seeing them coming from the opposite direction, they must be moving towards the apartment where the incident occurred.

“Uh…!”

At the sight of them, Sun-woong’s hope and expectation swelled.

Finally, the people in this neighborhood must have started to understand the situation.

Of course, there was no way they could handle the gate that Jeong-woo couldn’t close.

However, if he could persuade these people and find a safe place to evacuate together…

While Sun-woong was lost in his thoughts, Jeong-woo stopped walking and took something out of his right pocket.

“Huh…?”

Sun-woong widened his eyes at Jeong-woo’s gesture.

What Jeong-woo took out to greet the members of the Neighborhood Watch was a pen!