Peace seemed to have been restored to the library. The majority of the bookshelves had now been demolished and moved, with a garden erected in its place. Vibrant colors of the fruits and vegetables brought a much needed vitality to the ruined place, giving a colorful hue to the grey library. With a supply of fresh food, less people got sick. Many were allocated to work in the garden, some tolling at the soil and nurturing plants while others carefully harvested the fruits of their minimal labour.
"You over there, one more time you step on the plants I'll personally kill you and use you as fertiliser."
From her chair on the second floor, Cha Haeul shot out commands to the residents and issued threats to those that did not reach her standards of gardening. Trampling on the plants would grant one a day of no food. Cutting too much of a stem would award one a nasty slap on the face. Cha Haeul was the queen and no one could oppose her words.
"It's only been two days since you came and you've already made yourself at home I see."
Dodak had positioned himself beside her, leaning on a nearby support pillar.
"You said it yourself. They need my powers. And to make sure I stay, they'll do anything I say."
"Don't let this false sense of superiority get to you. Resentment builds up from the deepest parts of us, and people strike when you least expect it. Just because they're non-powered doesn't mean they can't stab us in the back."
Cha Haeul waved her hand dismissively, scoffing as she barked out yet another order.
"You didn't come here to tell me that, did you?"
"We originally found your greenhouse because we were trying to escape the campus. Even though we've solved the shortage of food, our original task is still unfinished, even worse, practically impossible."
She looked at Dodak with a deadpan stare, raising an eyebrow.
"So what are you proposing?"
"Now that we've recuperated, we need to venture out and figure out how to destroy the barrier. So we should start by learning what the hell it's made of and its origin."
"You want me to come with you."
From her tone, Dodak instantly knew her answer. It seemed like she had already made herself comfortable in this new life. He shrugged his shoulders and sighed, navigating back to the cafeteria.
He pondered over who would be willing to step out of the library, to try and find a way out of the dome. Cha Haeul had just turned him down, and Park Yerin was still required to tend to her patients. Song Jiwoo and him were not on good terms, especially after yesterday's incident.
She had insisted on rescuing more survivors and relocating them to the library, where they would be taken care of and fed well. Dodak had been heavily against the idea, for it would stretch their resources even thinner. But Jisung had backed her up, claiming that it was the right thing to do, and that he would join her in their mission. After all, escaping was impossible. Feeling betrayed by his best friend for taking her side, he left without saying a word and went back to training. He felt alone, but for once, it bothered him.
As he sat down on a seat, the muscular figure stepped out from the dark interior of the food store. Upon seeing the defeated look on Dodak, he smiled warmly. No words were needed to convey what Dodak meant to say.
"I don't understand how everyone has just... accepted this life. How can they not yearn to get out of this place?"
"People are more complex than what they seem. Perhaps there's some underlying reasons for their choices. Aren't you enjoying the freedom this apocalypse has brought us?"
Dodak sat in silence as he pondered over the man's words. How ironic to be feeling that way. Feeling free while being trapped in a huge, invisible dome. But it was a cold, hard truth, and he could hardly blame them, for he himself felt that way before. Everything that once held a slither of importance did not matter anymore. Money, obsolete. Fame, useless. The only thing that mattered now was power and tactics. Those were what would keep you alive today. But Dodak could not stop. He had to leave the dome.
"I am. But I have to leave."
The man smiled and placed his palm in Dodak's.
"If it's that important to you, then I'll do whatever I can to help."
~~~
The duo walked in silence as they entered the central campus square, the place where Jisung and Dodak had stood when the apocalypse first began. Now that there was a serene silence surrounding the atmosphere, Dodak could fully take in the disaster that had occurred here.
The ground was littered with bodies, each seeping red or black liquid into the walkways, staining them. The belongings of the students were all over the place, with laptops smashed and books scattered across the floor.
Dodak walked over to an unusual scene of books being flipped open and certain pages being torn.
"Look here, no way the wind tore off these pages right?"
The muscular man walked forward and picked up the book and glossed through it.
"'A guide to understanding your deepest, darkest fears'. A psychology book. The pages that were torn off are mostly random with no correlation."
"The goblins are learning our language. The goblin king we met earlier could speak a few words. This is bad."
As if on cue, the faint crackling sounds made the man grab Dodak and lunge towards a bench, using it as cover.
"How did we not see them?"
"They ambushed us. They're getting smarter. On my cue, run to the other direction. We need to split up."
The man peered through the holes of the wooden bench as he spied on the goblin mage. As the crackling of fire got closer and louder, the anticipation in Dodak grew. The enemies were now much smarter than they were previously. It would not be easy from now on.
"Now."
The two dashed in opposite directions just as the fireball crashed into the bench, incinerating it. As Dodak ran, he threw a couple of rocks that were laced with poison at the mage. Two goblins came charging in his direction, each wielding a dagger that they held firmly. Dodak unsheathed his own dagger and waited for them to charge recklessly, like they always did, but this time, they waited patiently, circling and closing in on him tactfully.
Dodak had to make the first move. He quickly turned and lunged towards the goblin behind him, but his dagger was parried by the monster. Dodak did a quick jab at its ribcage with his free hand and kicked the goblin on its knee, causing it to fall.
"HIYAAH!"
The second goblin came flying downwards, the dagger in its palm angled straight at Dodak. At the last second, he leaped and rolled away, the strike narrowly missing his face. He quickly coated the dagger with poison and threw it backwards, the knife piercing into the back of the green monster.
The two monsters had now regained their composure and reformed, circling Dodak once again. They closed in on the disarmed human, their eyes gleaming with malice.
"Right about now..."
Dodak was continuously backing up, almost reaching the corner of the central square. In the distance, he could see the muscular man using a large metal sheet as a shield and charging towards a wave of goblins.
Just as he was about to be cornered, the goblin that was struck with the poisoned dagger fell to the floor, foam leaking from its mouth. The other goblin looked at its comrade with shock and Dodak, seizing the moment, aimed a kick at the goblin's hand, knocking the dagger out of its hand.
He rushed forward, pinning the goblin onto the floor as it began thrashing and screeching. Using all his might, he took a deep breath in and concentrated before releasing a breath of poison mist into the goblins mouth and nostrils. The goblin kept thrashing and kicking, futilely trying to escape the gas. It didn't take long until white foam bubbled from its mouth and the constant thrashing came to a stop.
With no time to rest, Dodak gathered the daggers from the goblins and rushed towards his comrade, who was trapped between two goblin mages and a regular goblin.
Realising it would not be a good idea to take them head on, he rushed into the building, using the corridors to position himself behind the mages and ambush them.
As he sprinted around the central square, he could hear the clanging of metal and loud grunts. He needed to hurry, or it could be too late.
When he reappeared behind the mages, Dodak could see the situation was getting worse. The man was trying his best to dodge the fireballs while parrying the goblin's attacks, and he was not fairing well. Dodak guessed that he was exhausted after expending his energy on defeating the three dead goblins on the ground.
Making a run for it, he sprinted towards one of the mages and before it noticed his presence, Dodak's daggers had already sliced across its throat, the black blood oozing from its artery as it collapsed to the floor, lifeless.
Dodak rushed forward and threw two of his daggers with all his might at the other remaining mage, who used its staff to block the projectiles. As he saw the fire crackling in the mage's hand, he took a big leap and stabbed the dagger straight into the eye socket of the goblin mage. Then, he knocked the mage down and let out another breath of poison mist before retrieving his daggers and heading towards the last remaining goblin.
The last goblin gritted its teeth and lunged at the muscular man, but he quickly sidestepped, swiftly grabbing it by its feet and slamming it into the ground. Dodak slid forward and with a quick stab to the throat, the battle had ended.
The two men fell to the floor in exhaustion, they looked at each other and chuckled, glad that the fight was finally over. They enjoyed the atmospheric silence that fell onto the central square once again, all thanks to the silencing of the goblins. Dodak never thought one day, he would find a battlefield of dead bodies more calming than a bustling square of people.
As Dodak stared at the scratches and slashes on the man's arms, he felt a pang of guilt rush into him.
Noticing this, the man put a hand on Dodak's thigh.
"This is nothing."
But Dodak knew it wasn't nothing. So far, both the powered individuals he had met all had superhuman levels of durability and strength, and he himself had also noticed a boost in his physical fitness after his awakening. Strikes from goblins would hurt but they would not cause wounds like the ones he saw in front of him.
From Dodak's face, the man had guessed what was on his mind.
"Looks like you just found out."
"I would have never asked you to come along with me if I knew you were a regular human."
If it was in a different scenario, the man might have thought that Dodak was condescending. But from the raw emotion and quiver in his voice, he knew exactly what the aforementioned meant.
"Yet you bring Han Jisung to the greenhouse. Isn't that ironic?"
"That's different."
"How so?"
"He's a national athlete. You're not."
"Have you seen these guns?"
Dodak gave a deadpan stare at the man who was flexing his biceps. As he kissed his bicep and winked at Dodak, the aforementioned could not help but laugh. Seeing the smile reform on his face, the man himself started chuckling as well.
They laughed heartily until the muscular man looked directly into Dodak's hazel eyes and interrupted his laughter.
"But in all seriousness, don't worry about me. I can handle myself."
The small smirk that stretched across his handsome face, along with the pure determination in his sharp eyes somehow comforted Dodak. He radiated confidence, enough to be reassuring but not make him seem narcissistic. Dodak knew that the man before him knew his limits, he always had. He never did anything beyond what he knew he was capable of. A safe person.
"I know."
The duo then got onto their feet, setting off further into the campus for answers to their situation.