Ch.4141. In Cyberpunk, Always Watch Your Back.

After Amon appeared behind the Beastkin crew,

The pupils of the cat Beastkin, Paul’s right-hand man, contracted.

Time slowed down in his perception.

Thanks to gene modification surgery enhancing his innate feline vision, the cat-man had gained combat vision comparable to military-grade neural accelerators.

While his body couldn’t keep up with his vision, he could at least clearly see what was happening.

The red rain falling slowly created an almost dreamlike scene.

But the cat-man soon regretted his enhanced perception.

In the slowed time, he couldn’t help but see everything clearly.

Amon’s sword gleaming,

A flash of light passing through his brothers’ necks,

Their heads being harvested.

‘What kind of monster is he…’

A human neck is tough.

So tough that guillotines had to be specially designed to sever them.

So this human called Amon, who harvested necks like picking fruit, was undoubtedly a monster.

‘Boss. I think we’re fucked.’

He drew his sword in the slowed time.

It seemed only the crew’s executives could react to Amon’s attack in this group.

The longer he delayed, the more of his brothers would be sacrificed.

Suppressing his fear, he charged toward Amon.

Amon wasn’t looking at him right now.

‘This is my chance.’

Despite running, the cat-man’s footsteps were completely silent.

He stealthily ran behind Amon.

Watching Amon carefully, he waited for the right moment and swung his sword down.

But,

“Huh?”

Amon dodged.

It was clearly an angle that should have been impossible to avoid.

Not only did he dodge, but he grabbed the cat-man’s side.

‘What kind of…’

What miraculous footwork was this?

In his slow perception, he saw Amon’s sword approaching his neck.

His eyes followed the blade, but his body couldn’t keep up.

‘Boss. I guess I was too greedy.’

The cat-man closed his eyes as his vision began to spin.

***

Rain falls.

Despite the clear sky, red rain poured down relentlessly.

Whenever the rain seemed to subside, Amon’s sword would flash once and the downpour would intensify again.

Paul, drenched in the rain, muttered hopelessly.

“Ferdi, Louis, Keron…”

The blood of his beloved brothers soaked his clothes and fur.

But Amon didn’t stop.

Countless Beastkin heads flew through the air as red rain poured down.

He wanted to resist.

He wanted to shoot, throw bombs, and set fires like he’d done to other vanguards in dungeons.

But he couldn’t.

Amon never gave him an angle.

Rampaging in the middle of the Beastkin, he cleverly positioned himself so that any gunshot would hit another Beastkin.

Amon was thoroughly exploiting the Beastkins’ bond with each other.

“No….”

Of his many brothers, only ten remained now.

They had banded together to survive in this wretched city.

At first, they only wanted to survive, but at some point, they began to dream of a better life with their brothers.

That dream shattered right there.

Unable to bear it any longer, a rat Beastkin pulled the shotgun trigger.

But Amon dodged it too easily.

The missed shot turned another Beastkin’s chest into a honeycomb instead of hitting Amon.

The Beastkin looked on in shock before collapsing forward.

“No… this can’t be….”

Of all people, the victim was another rat Beastkin.

Not just the same species, but his actual blood brother.

The rat Beastkin who had just killed his own twin brother turned pale.

“I didn’t mean to…”

Sensing the mood, Amon approached the rat Beastkin and whispered.

“It’s your fault.”

That was enough.

The rat Beastkin offered his neck without resistance.

The remaining members witnessed this horrific scene clearly.

Silence fell over the alley.

When everyone had lost their will to fight and lowered their guns, Paul, the only one still aiming, shouted at Amon.

“Why are you going this far…”

Paul was aware that his own actions weren’t righteous.

But as someone who didn’t believe in karma, he couldn’t accept the current situation.

What he was facing now was nothing more or less than misfortune.

“Was this really necessary?!”

Naturally, Amon found this absurd.

How could he be so shameless?

Though Amon was an egalitarian who viewed Beastkin as equal humans, he could say one thing for certain:

The creature before him was nothing but a beast.

Amon said:

“Do you remember how many parties you’ve sold to the Center?”

“How could I remember all that!”

“Then do you remember how many party members’ families you’ve sold?”

“I told you I don’t remember.”

“Right. You wouldn’t remember. It wasn’t your first time.”

How many people had been sacrificed at this Center?

The thought that Sonia might have been among them made nausea rise within him.

Fighting back the rising disgust, Amon gritted his teeth and said:

“I’m amazed you can be so brazen after what you’ve done.”

“I had no choice if I wanted to feed my brothers.”

“Even so, there are lines you don’t cross.”

“In this city, if it wasn’t me, someone else would have done it!”

“Then that someone would have died by my hand.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Amon charged at Paul.

Paul aimed his machine gun at Amon.

At that moment, Amon kicked one of the severed heads on the ground toward Paul.

Startled by the sudden appearance of his brother’s head, Paul hesitated, and Amon closed the distance.

Slash

Amon’s sword took Paul’s eyes.

Then, in his world of darkness, Paul felt the sensation below his wrists disappear.

“Everyone! Run away!”

Even in this situation, Paul was looking out for his brothers.

Paul heard his brothers’ shouts and screams.

With each sound of a body falling, Paul counted.

And after counting five, Paul knelt in despair.

“Boys… are you alive…?”

He groped the ground.

Paul’s arm touched a Beastkin’s head.

Only when he felt the hard head with his arm did Paul accept reality.

A stream of bloody tears flowed down Paul’s cheek.

“I’m sorry, boys…”

The sight of the Beastkin searching for his brothers even as he died was quite pitiful.

But Amon showed no sympathy.

Before Paul could utter words of curse toward Amon, a flash of light passed through his neck.

Paul’s head rolled away, mouth agape.

Amon picked up the head.

“I don’t know how much your bounty will be, but use it to apologize to the bereaved families.”

Amon left the scene with Paul’s head.

And a few hours later.

An article titled “Beastkin Crew and Clinic Center’s Human Trafficking” caused an uproar throughout the city.

***

The Beastkin crew’s human trafficking incident heated up the city.

The heat didn’t easily subside even after several days.

[The incident at Love Clinic Center was led by Paul’s crew, who infiltrated explorer parties-]

The news anchor expressed outrage at their evil deeds.

But her anger wasn’t born from a sense of justice.

It was because it made money.

In a world where justice and good deeds had become laughable jokes, hypocrisy still made money.

At the very least, the police had to appear just on the surface, and public figures had to appear virtuous on screen.

People pointed fingers at the dead Paul and his Beastkin.

This wasn’t due to a sense of justice, nor because they had disrupted the city’s order.

It was simply because they enjoyed it.

Because they could find self-comfort by legally cursing them.

That’s why they cursed.

Conveniently, the parties involved in this incident were dead, so there was no need to worry about consequences.

It was perfect entertainment for the city’s citizens.

In the process, issues regarding Beastkin social crimes resurfaced but quickly subsided.

It was a meaningless discussion in a world where everyone, regardless of skin color, culture, or race, committed crimes as a matter of course.

Amidst this atmosphere, Amon lived his daily life.

Amon’s name wasn’t mentioned in the news.

He was treated as a nameless mercenary this time.

Thanks to receiving the bounty through the agency owner, no one knew Amon’s identity.

If by chance someone properly investigated the scene, they might discover that the mercenary was Amon, but of course, that didn’t happen.

The police didn’t even begin an investigation, and the building owner cleaned up the scene quickly to rent the building again.

‘Yeah, that’s the police standard.’

It wasn’t for nothing that Amon found it suspicious when the police visited his home.

Thanks to this, the incident was quietly buried.

However, until things calmed down, Amon took a break from mercenary and explorer activities.

There was a risk of being identified if he stood out and caused any incidents.

During this period, Amon reviewed the day’s battle at the training facility.

‘I need to change my swordsmanship a bit.’

The most important aspect of swordsmanship was footwork.

Not just in swordsmanship, but in all martial arts, footwork was fundamental.

It wasn’t for nothing that martial arts novels emphasized stepping techniques.

In other words, when footwork changes, the way one swings their arms also changes.

A Sky Step user needed swordsmanship that matched it.

‘I couldn’t use any of it in actual combat.’

Intellectually, he knew swordsmanship that complemented Sky Step.

But in actual combat, he couldn’t wield it properly.

He merely dodged attacks and swung his sword as usual, unable to apply attacks that utilized Sky Step.

It was because he hadn’t practiced enough.

Therefore, Amon was spending his days swinging his sword in the training room until things outside calmed down.

Then one day, while intensely swinging his sword, Amon heard the training room door open.

‘Who?’

It wasn’t a staff member.

In this world, individual combat skills were as important as life itself.

Just as in martial arts novels where outsiders aren’t allowed to watch training, this world was the same.

In some cases, it could literally cost one’s head, to the extent that there weren’t even CCTVs inside training rooms.

Amon stopped swinging his sword and looked at the door.

Only when he saw familiar black hair at the door did he remember what he had forgotten.

‘Ah, right. Today was the day I promised to check Kathy’s form.’

Going only between the training ground, home, and church every day had made him lose track of dates.

Eventually, Kathy fully revealed herself from behind the door.

Her appearance and atmosphere had completely changed from when they first met.

Initially, she used a pistol as her weapon, but through repeated missions, she realized that the spear suited her aptitude.

Subsequently, her outfit changed drastically to accommodate the spear.

The clothes that once covered her entire body thickly became thinner for mobility.

This revealed her figure that had been hidden underneath.

While her voluptuous breasts, no less attractive than Sonia’s, were charming, her true appeal was her thighs, optimized for wielding a spear.

Despite generating explosive speed that was difficult to follow with the naked eye, her thighs were incredibly smooth.

‘How can such output come from those thighs?’

Moreover, the pants she wore were very short.

Pantyhose was insufficient to hide her healthy beauty.

She ran toward Amon with two spears on her back, smiling brightly.

“Amon! Did you wait long?”

“No, I just got here myself.”

“Come on, you’re drenched in sweat. Do you think that’s convincing?”

“Whatever. But I’m sorry, can we start after I rest a bit?”

“That’s fine. I have plenty of time today.”

“Thanks.”

Amon briefly left her to wipe his sweat with the towel he brought.

He put the towel aside and began to quench his thirst.

While Amon was enjoying the refreshing feeling after exercise, Kathy’s gaze was fixed on one spot.

Amon’s sweat-soaked towel.

Her hand reached for that towel.

And just as her fingertips were about to touch the towel,

“I’m done resting. Let’s start training right away.”

Startled by Amon’s sudden voice, she jumped.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. Nothing.”

She headed to the center of the training ground with Amon as if nothing had happened.

Until the end, Amon never noticed that her gaze had been fixed on his towel the entire time.