Ch.117Episode 24. Catching Paris (2)

BOOM!

As my fist connected with the villain’s stomach, I felt the impact reverberate through my knuckles before he was slammed into the corner. Without even checking if he was still alive, I moved deeper inside.

So much for trying to end this quietly. But it should be fine.

I’ve confirmed that heroes are monitoring the situation outside, and the recent explosion will draw them closer, eliminating any risk of escape. Even if some manage to flee, as long as I capture Henry, the others won’t be a problem.

“You hero bastard—”

“Save the talk for your cell.”

I grabbed the face of a villain who had emerged after hearing the explosion and slammed him to the ground. Not enough to kill him, but sufficient to knock him unconscious.

“What the fu—!”

CRACK!

I twisted the jaw of the next one who appeared and continued forward.

One hit per villain.

Clean and efficient.

Determined not to let anyone escape, I took down the organization members at maximum output while quickly surveying the interior. The inside was larger than I expected, and I carefully checked every corner with a frown. There were no more signs of movement on the first floor.

I arrived at the central corridor with stairs leading to both the second floor and the basement.

There was some activity on the second floor, but much more in the basement.

Particularly in the basement, it felt like someone was deliberately making noise.

I set my phone to flashlight mode and shined it down the stairwell.

The landing below gave off a chilling sensation, as if death itself was nearby.

I slowly placed my foot on the stairs.

It was a strange feeling. Every cell in my body seemed to be warning me to be careful. This unfamiliar sensation made my movements more cautious.

I pushed open the door leading to the basement.

I didn’t forget to charge my fist with electricity, preparing for any ambush.

Surprisingly, the lights were on beyond the door.

“…Henry?”

She was standing in the middle of a corridor freshly painted stark white, arms crossed, as if she had been waiting for me.

I turned off my phone’s flashlight.

“So you know my name?”

“How could I not know you, the leader of Paradise.”

“Oh? You even know that much.”

She let out a stiff exclamation and gazed at me indifferently.

I couldn’t sense any emotion from her. Despite facing me—someone who had been tearing through Akcheon—she showed no fear or terror. To me, she looked like someone who had resigned herself to death.

The elimination of emotions to carry out orders.

If my memory serves me right, this must be one of the effects of her Inconsistency ability.

“…Being remembered isn’t so bad. If only you weren’t a hero.”

She shrugged her shoulders and snorted dismissively, as if nothing mattered anymore.

“You’ve been quite impressive, Neusin. All those you’ve faced—Nightmare, Disguiser, Blade, Green Zone, and others. Even the numerous organization members you took down with a single blow. Other heroes would have struggled, but they weren’t even a match for you.”

“I am pretty strong.”

I replied nonchalantly.

“…I understand now why Moonlight was so desperate to recruit you.”

“Can’t help it. I’m a hero after all.”

As I answered, I glanced at the ceiling.

It was getting noisy up there. The explosion must have drawn heroes into the facility. They might even be engaging with Akcheon members.

But right now, I needed to focus on Henry standing before me.

She wouldn’t have appeared without reason.

“…You seem so out of place in this world.”

Out of place.

I found myself agreeing with what should have been nonsense.

“Whether I’m out of place or not doesn’t matter.”

Crackle.

Sparks flew as if reading my thoughts, urging me to grab her quickly.

“Today, you’re going to end your villain career and tell me where Paris is.”

A method I couldn’t use on Blade, but possible with Henry.

“I’m going to wake you from this nightmare. Come here.”

The moment I stepped forward, she smiled and snapped her fingers. Four men emerged from around the corner.

Men with abnormally swollen bodies moved forward, partially blocking my view of Henry. Their large frames made it difficult to see her clearly.

“If we had just twenty more minutes, we could have peacefully escaped by boat. What a shame.”

“Indeed. What a shame.”

As I approached, the men charged toward me. Their muscles were visibly, unnaturally bulging.

I dodged a thrown punch, but their speed was considerable. Even I had to concentrate to avoid them.

THUD!

“Ugh!”

I struck one in the side, sending him crashing into the wall. He staggered but quickly regained his balance.

“…?”

Normally, one hit should have left him crawling on the floor.

Another one approached and swung a sword at me. I took a large step, grabbed the descending blade, and struck his chin.

Despite his head twisting violently, he merely staggered once. Without falling, he swung his fist at me.

While I was dodging his punch, the one whose sword I had deflected swung again. I wrapped electricity around my fist, smashed the side of his sword, and then drove my fist into his face.

As I was about to clench my fist seeing the others approach, the one I had sent into the wall stood up again.

His mangled face had somehow returned to its original form.

“What is this?”

It was bizarre how they kept getting up despite me targeting their vital points.

I wasn’t holding back much either.

I was only controlling my strength enough not to kill them, yet this was happening, which was perplexing.

These guys weren’t using any special abilities.

Nor did they possess super-regeneration like me.

Even with super-regeneration, pain would still be present, making it impossible to get up immediately after being hit in the jaw or vital points.

Which means…

“Did these bastards take the eX potion?”

I grabbed a fist aimed at me, twisted it half a turn to expose the elbow, and immediately struck down, breaking it. The bone protruded through the skin.

“Argh…!”

Blood dripped heavily onto the floor, but only briefly. It suddenly stopped, and the protruding bone began to move, slowly retreating back under the flesh.

I frowned at the creepy sight. What kind of recovery was this?

“Oh… I didn’t expect you to know that much. Impressive.”

“But it shouldn’t be fully developed yet?”

I had tried to shatter their limbs to incapacitate them, but they were recovering at a rate similar to super-regeneration, making it impossible to neutralize them.

“You even know it’s not complete. You’re quite well-informed about us.”

“If they’ve taken an incomplete eX potion, their brains and organs should be rotting, killing them?”

I asked while sending the approaching men flying.

Even with Paris’s improvements, if the potion wasn’t complete, side effects were inevitable.

“It’s fine. Even if they die.”

“…What?”

I frowned at Henry, who answered calmly with an expressionless face. Meanwhile, I dodged incoming punches and sent the men flying.

“Ugh!”

Their continued groans suggested they felt pain. Yet they got up as if nothing had happened and approached me again.

This was like dealing with zombies.

“They’re just trash without proper abilities anyway.”

“I see.”

A completed eX potion has two main effects:

First, physical and sensory enhancement.

Second, ability enhancement.

These are the two effects it provides.

However, this applies only to the completed eX potion. An incomplete version might offer temporary effects, but it can’t save lives.

“I get it. I understand that you people developing such drugs are trash.”

“Seeing even you struggle, it seems the incomplete version is quite effective for short-term use.”

While listening to Henry’s calm assessment, I dodged a punch aimed at my face and struck back.

“…So they’re going to die anyway, right?”

“Yes, they will die.”

“Then I feel bad about continuing to hit them.”

I kicked the closest one in the stomach, pushing him away, and dusted off my hands.

“I’ll go all out then.”

“Electric Discharge.”

CRACK!

When my fist connected with one’s shoulder, it exploded outward, sending his forearm flying through the air.

“AAAAGH—!”

Finally, a scream of genuine pain.

“You won’t recover from this. My electricity will keep interfering.”

Blood continued to pour from the blown-off body part. Even as they tried to heal, they just trembled like someone being electrocuted.

“Don’t worry. I can’t let you actually die. I’ll just incapacitate you. It’ll be painful though.”

When one man groaned, the others hesitated. So they hadn’t completely lost their reason.

Even so, their fate was already sealed.

“Just stay down. I have business with that woman.”

I mercilessly blew off the limbs of the others and left them in an electrocuted state. I walked past them as they knelt, twitching and letting out small groans.

“Any last words?”

She let out a hollow laugh, as if she hadn’t expected me to defeat them.

“Ha, haha… So even ability users who’ve taken the eX potion are no match for you. Still, we’ve proven its effectiveness. That alone has great value.”

She was speaking into the air, but her gaze was clearly fixed on something. I turned my head in the direction she was looking.

There was a CCTV camera recording us.

I immediately swung my fist, destroying the camera with electricity.

“…It might have value, but you’ve been discarded now, haven’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter. I was just Paris-nim’s servant. There are others who can replace me.”

“Sure, there are replacements. But that trash woman’s rampage ends now.”

I approached the resigned Henry and placed my hand on her head.

“Time to wake up from the nightmare, Lee Hyemin.”

“Nullification.”