Ch.118What Kind of Crazy Guy

“Black Cat is sleeping?!”

[Yeah! That crazy cat bastard!]

[If you’re going to tame it, you should do it properly!]

Amid the noisy radio chatter and two Despair-rank monsters rampaging through the city, Yu Anna’s mind became complicated by the news that Black Cat had suddenly fallen asleep.

An ability that forces sleep? It’s hard to believe Black Cat would fall victim to something like that.

As one possibility crossed her mind, Yu Anna frowned while burning away an incoming ability.

“Could it be?”

The criteria for classifying monster ranks, the definitive point where a monster transforms into something completely different.

Monsters preparing for existential evolution hide and fall asleep.

It hadn’t been long since she’d asked it not to become Annihilation-rank.

But in the current situation, there might not be a better solution.

If it becomes Annihilation-rank but remains the Black Cat everyone knows…

[We can’t hold out any longer! These bastards don’t even care about bullets anymore!]

“You flies! That’s why I told you not to be satisfied with just catching villains!”

[Ugh…!]

The problem was the immediate void created by Black Cat falling asleep.

Baskerville, another S-rank hero, had an ability designed to destroy human bodies, not monsters.

Baskerville, who awakened due to villain attacks rather than monster damage, had always acted as if monster encounters were none of his business.

The result was ammunition with remote-guided tracking that could kill any human with overwhelming power and never miss its designated target.

Against powerful monsters, he was hardly different from an A-rank.

If only Electris were here instead—no, maybe not even then.

She might get taken down in one hit by that monster while being careless, thinking she could escape by becoming lightning.

“Hahaha! It works! It’s possible!”

“This is insane! Really!”

Boom! The monster that had gathered seismic waves by stomping the ground to amplify its ability charged forward.

It regenerated its hand that had melted in that brief moment right in front of Yu Anna’s sun.

Ability interference created by overlapping shock waves, wind, sound waves, and various wavelengths—like breaking a glass cup from a distance with just resonant sound.

The technique that Yeo Un-jae had once told her was only theoretical was gradually being perfected by the monster.

“Fascinating, that technique. I wonder if it only works on energy-based abilities like emission and phenomenon types?”

“Is this really the time for such casual observations?”

While injuries were piling up on her side, the monster kept recovering and growing stronger based on its rapid regeneration.

In this frustrating situation, Yu Anna reached toward Gu Seo-ryong, injected herself with additional awakening drugs, regeneration accelerants, and various doping substances, then stretched both hands forward.

“Haah!”

Pulling back both arms with her heart beating rapidly, boom! Yu Anna extended high-powered ability throughout her body and rushed at the monster, blowing away one of its shoulders.

Wavelength interference—firepower sufficient to overwhelm the technique Yeo Un-jae had built up.

Simultaneously, a girl appeared from a portal behind Yu Anna and unleashed her ability toward the momentarily staggered monster’s body.

“Nyaang!”

Space cutting aimed at the head and heart, but the monster, reading the trajectory, dodged by simply tilting its head and shifting its body slightly sideways.

In that brief moment, the regenerated arm extended with only three fingers splayed, and numerous high-frequency sounds shot out from its tips in the form of blades.

Wind blades shot by vibrating shock waves—Gu Seo-ryong’s arms and tail were sliced off like paper as she blocked the portal, then disappeared into the passage with the child.

“Hmm… it’s getting more accustomed to its body.”

“You said you’d exploit openings, but you haven’t landed a proper hit once!”

“Oh? Maybe you’re not creating proper openings?”

“Sa Gu-gu did nothing wrong!”

The monster no longer got excited when seeing spatial manipulation and used its abilities calmly.

Even the method of momentarily diverting attention with spatial manipulation no longer worked, and the child named Sa Gu-gu couldn’t land hits properly due to her lack of technique.

Gu Seo-ryong’s doping was helping, but rather than continuing to have her assist here…

“Gu Seo-ryong! Can you take your daughter and go support elsewhere?”

It would be better to send them to face other monsters, filling Black Cat’s vacancy.

Gu Seo-ryong, who had completely regenerated her arms and tail, blinked in surprise at Yu Anna’s question.

“You trust me? I could just run away once I leave here, you know?”

“What other choice do we have?”

This was the only way to prevent as many deaths as possible, rather than finding a way to defeat the monster right in front of her.

“What do you think? Can you do it? Can you take down a Despair-rank monster?”

“I can. But will you be alright?”

“I’ll manage! Hurry!”

“…You know, I’ve been thinking this for a while, but you’re really reckless and stupid.”

“This lady is stupid?”

At Yu Anna’s urging, Gu Seo-ryong disappeared through a portal with Sa Gu-gu.

“Alright, hang in there.”

Immediately after, boom! The monster gathered seismic waves from its stomp to amplify its ability and charged.

A passage that eliminated air resistance by manipulating wind, acceleration amplified by shock.

The monster’s palm, moving almost like teleportation, met Yu Anna’s fist.

The ability theories that Yeo Un-jae had meticulously organized while sitting at his desk after retirement, when he no longer needed to use his body.

What if I had done this, what if I had used it this way, could I have been faster, could I have saved them?

All those techniques now emerged from the monster’s body toward Yu Anna.

“Pa!”

“Kugh…!”

One side burning, one side disrupting with interference.

With the abilities canceled out, what remained was the shock piercing each other’s bodies.

Shock control—the reversal of impact at the moment of collision. Though they were clearly brawling, the damage Yeo Un-jae took was reduced or disappeared.

When both their arms were torn to shreds, the monster immediately regenerated its arms and continued attacking.

This was precisely the problem.

Both monster Yeo Un-jae and Yu Anna were superhumans boasting one-hit-kill abilities.

The monster’s regeneration speed was overwhelmingly faster than a superhuman’s.

Gu Seo-ryong’s regeneration accelerants had somewhat covered this gap, allowing Yu Anna to match the monster, but with Gu Seo-ryong gone…

As time passed, the disadvantage grew for Yu Anna.

[What’s with this woman and this girl…]

[You, you? You! When did you return to City A!]

[Waaah!]

“Ha….”

Nevertheless, Yu Anna sighed when she heard the monster’s painful cries over the communication.

After being pushed back by each other’s attacks, only Yu Anna’s arms were dripping blood.

Yu Anna burned her wounds and readied her stance again.

“Yu Anna, Yu Anna… you haven’t changed a bit.”

The monster mocked her, flicking its hand and extending long feathers between its fingers.

“Throwing yourself into danger like that won’t leave you with anything.”

“What does it matter to you?”

I decided to do this myself.

“Haha!”

Slash! As the monster crossed its hands forward, numerous wind blades shot out in a grid pattern with narrow spacing.

Then a stomp, wavelength amplification through self-resonance, and with an explosive sound, the monster vanished and reappeared at Yu Anna’s side.

The wind blades were merely to restrict movement, too wide in range to dodge.

A charge, follow-up attacks, planning to engage in close combat when close and drag it into a war of attrition using regeneration.

As Yu Anna, who had been considering all possibilities including Yeo Un-jae’s habits and fighting style, hesitated slightly, the monster’s eyes rushing into her field of vision instantly turned bright red.

“Ha!”

Right now, Yu Anna eliminated the satellite sun created by the monster and raised the sun she had been hiding underground.

The monster, certain it had caught its prey, fell into great excitement and showed an opening.

Boom! As the monster’s head was blown away by the sun…

The monster, with only its lower jaw remaining, moved its mouth.

“Anna.”

In that moment, memories of training with Yeo Un-jae during her superhuman soldier days flashed through Yu Anna’s mind.

The words Yeo Un-jae always said after seeing through her strategy and subduing her:

‘Did you think I wouldn’t know what you were aiming for?’

Though its head had exploded and it shouldn’t be able to see, the monster moved as if it already knew everything as it approached.

Startled, Yu Anna prepared to evade, but the monster perfectly tracked her visible movements, directing its hands toward her heart and head.

Wind blades extending from fingertips, rapidly vibrating ultra-high frequencies.

‘When attacking, make sure your opponent absolutely cannot escape. Make it so that whatever choice they make works in your favor.’

To the side, the wall of grid-patterned blades approached; directly in front, attacks aimed at vital points; and behind, the monster clenched its fist, preparing to detonate shock at close range.

Head or heart—either suffer a fatal wound to one, or injuries all over the body too severe to regenerate from, dragging into a war of attrition.

In that split-second gap, Yu Anna made her choice.

“Huh?”

Clang! The invisible blade flying toward her shattered against something.

Then, the wall of blades about to engulf her hit a translucent barrier.

Yu Anna’s fist, powered by ability instantly drawn up with the intention of killing before suffering a fatal wound, blew away the monster’s upper body.

The location of the core and the entire head.

[Change tactics.]

“Ah…!”

In front of the monster with its entire chest blown away, Yu Anna felt chills throughout her body at the voice that cut into the heroes’ communication.

[Hit and run ends here. Form a ring and concentrate fire.]

[T-this voice…?]

[This is…!]

A cubic isolation chamber formed at the location where the wails of Despair-rank monsters had been heard throughout the city.

[Squeeze out your abilities until your hearts shrivel up. No matter how disappointing you lot are, you should be capable of that much.]

[Cage siiiir!]

[There’s no way Cage could have died!]

After finishing the communication, Cage walked toward where Yu Anna was.

“…Still as reckless as ever.”

“Jeong Ho-young!”

“Do normal people think about killing their opponent before they die themselves in that moment? You crazy woman.”

Cage, floating four small barriers around him instead of his usual ability armor covering his entire body.

Yu Anna, feeling shock, joy, gladness, and various overlapping emotions, twitched around her eyes.

At the dissonance she felt in the wavelength of ability resonating from Cage.

“You… you…?”

Yu Anna was so shocked she forgot she had been fighting a monster.

The wavelength spreading from the core of ability, Cage’s heart, was clearly…

“What… is this? You? What the hell did you do!”

“I just took some medicine. Hmm… come to think of it, not just some.”

“Medicine? What are you talking about! That wavelength!”

“I’ll explain later.”

“This isn’t something you can explain later!”

“We’re in front of a monster, Starlight.”

“You… we’ll talk later! Everything!”

At Cage’s words, Yu Anna turned her gaze back and bit her lip at the monster’s body rapidly regenerating.

Despite having blown away its body several times already, its regeneration speed was still fast.

Unlike monsters that rely solely on regeneration, this one understood their fighting style and avoided fatal wounds as much as possible, making it difficult to deliver consecutive powerful blows that could overcome its regeneration.

“Jeong Ho-young, this monster…”

“I already know. It seems the core wasn’t in the chest area. I thought the closer to human form, the closer to the original heart location.”

“No, it’s probably heart relocation. Master Yeo Un-jae mentioned it before.”

“What strange technique is that?”

“For a very brief moment, lowering the heart. When he was drunk, he said if that had been possible, his heart wouldn’t have been injured. Since it’s a monster now, it might be possible…”

“That crazy old man.”

Rustle, the body that had grown like vines from the cross-section completely regained its original form.

The monster, opening its eyes again, looked at Cage with a surprised expression and spoke in a trembling voice.

“Ah… Ho-young. My son-in-law… I’m sorry, did it hurt a lot?”

“Kuk kuk kuk….”

Cage, momentarily flinching at the words from the monster’s mouth, laughed bitterly and raised his unstably wavering ability.

“I didn’t mean to do this. This body… on its own…”

“Filthy monster.”

Words trying to attack Cage’s psyche by swallowing all of Yeo Un-jae’s memories.

No different from monsters that utter words like “save me,” “help me,” “forgive me,” or “let’s be friends.”

“Yu Anna, I’ll adjust to you. Focus on attacking. Defense… I can’t guarantee complete protection, so dodge if possible.”

Yu Anna felt uneasy at Cage’s uncharacteristically weak words as she took her stance toward the monster.

“I’d like to kill it myself, but that seems difficult.”

“…Are you okay?”

“Who do you think I am, Starlight?”

Smiling as always, Cage extended his hand while gradually increasing the unstably wavering wavelength of his ability.

“I can hold out until Black Cat wakes up.”

Kill, kill, kill.

Eat, eat, eat.

In the darkness where murderous intent, hunger, and the desire to become stronger reverberated loudly in bass tones.

At the moment of death, the dissonance of people’s screams and wails tickled the ears.

Fear, despair, vengeance, sadness—a sweet swamp of emotions entangled together.

In the center of that place, flowing like a river of chocolate, was an island formed by piled human corpses that stimulated appetite.

“…What is this?”

I was definitely in City A just a moment ago.

I frowned as I opened my eyes in this unknown place.

“What kind of madman…”

Whoever thought of chocolate meat fondue.