Ch.149Midori Shower 6

“You’re quite composed despite facing me.”

12 narrowed his eyes as he watched the two rankers.

Their attitude toward him was extremely arrogant.

“Of course, all your precious seniors died by my hand.”

However, Red Snake went even further.

Like the executive of a major corporation she was, she crossed her arms and stared intently at 12.

“You killed Counters, you say… So you two must be Anna and Red Snake?”

“Red Snake and Anna.”

Red Snake immediately cut off 12’s words.

Anna then tapped her shoulder and corrected her again.

“In Korean alphabet, ‘A’ comes before ‘R’. So it’s Anna and Red Snake.”

“Are you picking a fight with me?”

Red Snake glared at Anna’s assertiveness.

The white-haired ranker smirked and looked away.

“So, why have such distinguished individuals come all the way to Ansan?”

12 asked, seemingly irritated by their playfulness.

There wasn’t a trace of humor left in his eyes.

“Why else? You’ve been hiding so well that we had to come catch you ourselves.”

To the point.

At those words, Red Snake dropped her playful demeanor.

She fixed her sharp red eyes on 12.

A completely different feeling from Jisoo.

If Jisoo was an inexperienced rookie ranker,

Red Snake gave the impression of a massive serpent demon.

A veteran ranker who had been through it all.

Unlike with Jisoo, 12 immediately took a judo stance.

He probably couldn’t afford to be casual against her.

“—!”

And so began the life-or-death battle.

A giant human hand burst through the factory wall.

The hand, several times larger than the already large 12, crushed his body.

Many rankers and dozens of hunters couldn’t withstand that hand and were buried in the ground.

Naturally, 12 was also expected to succumb to that massive grip.

But…

The hand crushing 12 gradually began to tremble.

Eventually, the flesh and skin tore apart like paper.

“The meat’s quite tough, isn’t it?”

12 emerged from within, making a show of it.

Then he rushed toward Red Snake with relentless speed.

His fist, covered in black carbonized material.

That fist surged toward Red Snake’s face.

“Move.”

Anna forcefully pushed Red Snake aside.

Then she met 12’s fist with her carbon blade.

When the carbon materials collided, a piercing scream echoed.

Red sparks flew into both their faces, but neither cared.

Such minor pain was completely irrelevant in the current situation.

Unlike 06, a fist solid to the core.

Unlike Jisoo, even stronger arm strength.

The two instantly sensed they were facing formidable opponents.

“Indeed… no wonder my juniors struggled against you!”

12 pulled up the corners of his mouth, seemingly enjoying the fight.

His brown eyes showed an intense thrill for battle, different from his usual demeanor.

“…”

However, Anna showed no reaction to his praise.

When fighting, she was more ruthless than anyone.

Her white lean muscles twitched.

Then Anna…

Forcefully pushed away 12’s fist.

12 was surprised at being overpowered.

He smiled broadly, as if in disbelief.

“Amazing… how can a woman possess such strength?”

He loosened his shoulders from side to side.

The sound of muscles flexing was clearly audible as the man moved.

Soon, 12 bent his knees again.

And like when he faced Jisoo, he charged at Anna, cutting through the ground.

But this time was different.

He approached Anna and swung his fists dozens of times at rapid speed, not just once.

Anna met each blow with her blade, but he didn’t stop.

However, the blade made of the same material wouldn’t break easily.

Then, in the moment when his fist moved a beat slower…

“—!”

Anna instinctively ducked to avoid the punch.

Then, charging forward, she slashed 12’s side like lightning.

“Hooh…”

12 tilted his head at the pain he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Indeed, a very thin cut appeared on his side.

Black blood dripped down from it.

The man rubbed the blood with his finger and then tasted it.

“Pleasantly tangy.”

Anna brushed back her disheveled hair.

Then she looked up steadily at 12, who still seemed relaxed.

Perhaps from repeatedly clashing with the carbon fist,

her wrist was now swollen.

It felt like striking a diamond repeatedly with a sword.

Anna clenched her molars to endure the pain.

A momentary lull followed.

The two rankers maintained their distance, slowly circling the center of the factory.

“Ugh…”

Meanwhile, Jisoo emerged from the pit.

Her face was as wretched as someone buried underground for days.

“You managed to survive, huh?”

Red Snake, who had been watching Anna and 12’s standoff, turned her head at Jisoo’s groan.

She narrowed her eyes at the sight of the injured Jisoo.

“Yes, I held on thanks to the potion Siho gave me.”

“Rest. You can’t defeat him alone anyway.”

The red-eyed woman crossed her arms and looked away.

It was uncomfortable for her to look at Jisoo’s face.

The person Siho loved.

Of course, she had taken his body, but his first love was Jisoo.

Though that fact wasn’t pleasant…

Red Snake had ultimately resigned herself to it.

Because Jisoo was essential for Siho’s happiness.

“I still want to help somehow…”

Siho’s first love clutched her injured arm and staggered.

She slowly approached Red Snake’s side.

“Even my ability doesn’t work on him. The only answer is carbon material like his.”

It was a brute strength that could pierce through even thick dummies.

Red Snake didn’t want to admit it, but this time she had no choice but to leave it to Anna.

But that thought vanished in an instant.

12 was no ordinary ranker either.

In the early days when gates first opened,

until he was trampled by the first-class monster Babylon Giant, he was one of the strongest warriors.

As 12 clashed with Anna’s blade again,

he suddenly grabbed the blade of her sword.

“First, I need to do something about this annoying sword.”

12’s brow furrowed like a tiger’s.

He gripped with all his might, focusing all his energy.

Anna’s eyebrows also furrowed at that ridiculous strength.

Soon, the carbon-made sword broke demonstratively.

12 grabbed the broken blade and struck down toward Anna’s neck.

She immediately let go of the sword.

With skilled hands, she took out a carbon dagger from her jacket pocket and parried his blade fragment.

“This is fun, really fun!”

After exchanging several blows with the dagger,

12 even let go of the dagger and countered with his fist instead.

Eventually…

Using his long arms, he succeeded in striking Anna’s face.

“…!”

Anna flew through the air without making a sound.

And ended up buried in the debris of broken machinery.

“Anna!”

Jisoo quickly got to her feet.

As her emotions intensified, flames rose from her body again.

“What, you’re still alive too?”

12’s eyes flashed at the reunion with Jisoo, whom he thought was dead.

He couldn’t help but sneer, as if she was the first to survive his punch.

“Mother was right. You’re species that shouldn’t be left alive.”

He clenched his molars.

And charged personally to bury Jisoo in the ground again.

An overwhelming speed that shook the entire factory.

The whole world vibrated at that speed.

“Jisoo, how long can you spew flames at maximum?”

Red Snake asked Jisoo while looking at the broken floor.

Jisoo thought for a moment before answering.

“I think I can manage five minutes.”

“When I give the signal, shoot maximum flames at him. Got it?”

“Yes…!”

Red Snake spread her arms.

She closed her eyes while looking at the broken ground.

“—.”

An eerie, bizarre sound came from the broken ground.

Soon, something black and shapeless began to wriggle up from within.

“Corpses…?”

Human forms wriggling.

But they seemed filled with something other than blood, moving like slime.

Jisoo’s face contorted at the grotesque sight.

“Just look ahead. And focus only on the flames.”

Jisoo nodded.

Clearly, her flames hadn’t worked on 12 before.

But why…

Following Red Snake’s words, she felt certain it might be different this time.

“Understood…! I’m counting on you to watch my back.”

Jisoo began to draw up all the blood in her body.

Soon her golden eyes turned red like Red Snake’s.

Such strong firepower that even her hair rippled.

Red Snake tugged at her shirt as if feeling hot from the heat.

“—!”

A massive flame rushed toward the charging 12.

The dark factory became blindingly bright with those flames.

“More worthless fireworks!”

12 smiled and continued running toward the flames without stopping.

But…

This time was different.

Red Snake’s wriggling corpses.

When they touched the flames, they instantly exploded.

As a result, the highly concentrated oil inside them spilled out.

The flames, soaked with that oil, changed from red to deep blue.

With that overwhelming heat, 12 could no longer advance.

“What, this is different from before…!”

An alien heat he had never experienced before.

That heat began to make 12’s body glow red.

“Kugh…!”

His eyebrows were burning.

He finally stood firm in the flames, covering his face with both arms.

He couldn’t move anymore because his body was heated so intensely.

“Red Snake, we’re running out of time!”

But 12 wasn’t the only one struggling.

Jisoo was also panting heavily.

Her hands spreading the flames gradually trembled.

Seeing this, Red Snake glanced to the side.

“Hey, how long are you going to lie there!”

The direction she turned to was where Anna had been thrown into the debris.

Sure enough, as soon as her words ended, thick smoke rose from the debris.

And from that smoke, Anna emerged again.

Disheveled hair.

Black blood around her mouth.

But it didn’t matter.

Anna wasn’t the type to collapse from just one punch.

The strongest experimental subject.

She jumped straight into the hot flames without hesitation.

Into those flames that even 12 could barely stand in.

As the flames touched her, her body also began to turn red-hot.

But Anna didn’t care.

In her hand was a fragment of the broken carbon sword.

And that sword fragment…

Was instantly lodged in 12’s neck.

“What… is this!”

His body, which even the carbon sword couldn’t easily cut before.

But perhaps due to being intensely tempered by the fire?

The carbon fragment penetrated his thick neck cleanly.

“What, surprised?”

Anna asked from within the burning flames.

Her body was protected by Siho’s Florida potion barrier.

“That’s what you get for coming alone.”

Anna whispered to 12 in precise Korean.

Then she lightly pushed his heated forehead with her finger.

“Next time, ask your proud mother to give you some support.”

12, who had boasted overwhelming hardness.

His body shattered like glass from just one finger.