Ch.70The Cockroach Monster (2)

“So it was you who helped promote Lady Carmilla on TV!”

“Haha. Yes… We’ve been friends since childhood, so it just happened that way.”

“To think you applied to a hero-related department just to support your girlfriend, the next S-class hero, even a little bit… That’s admirable! Mr. Janghun.”

I never thought I’d end up using Carmilla in this way.

Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie.

She would understand this much.

Going back in time a bit, I was following this red-haired female soldier.

Sergeant Song Hana, as we were trying to head to City C together.

But she said she couldn’t bring me—a civilian and a weak man—to the scene, though she appreciated my intention.

While I was wondering what to do, I remembered the promotional activities I had done with Carmilla.

“By the way, I never dreamed that a man who isn’t even a hero would be Lady Carmilla’s ‘sidekick’.”

“Ha, haha! Y-yeah? I never imagined it would turn out this way either.”

I was currently posing as Carmilla’s sidekick.

It was beyond a simple lie since scenes of us together on TV had already spread throughout Hero City multiple times.

Fortunately, Sergeant Song Hana seemed to believe my story.

Thanks to that, since a monster appearance was essentially equivalent to a “state of war,”

I was now heading straight to City C, following her on a motorcycle she had borrowed using her military authority.

“Once we arrive in City C, you’ll need to stay behind me until we meet Lady Carmilla. Understood, Mr. Janghun?”

“Ah, yes. Of course…”

“Even if you’re a sidekick, Lady Carmilla didn’t choose you for your ‘combat ability.’ I’m perceptive enough to see that.”

So please stay close to me when we arrive at City C soon.

That was the advice Sergeant Song Hana kept giving me as the walls of City C came into view.

Well, I was planning to quietly disappear and transform into a monster at the first opportunity.

Squeeze.

“Please stay close to me. Understood?”

She placed her warm hand on my arm that was wrapped around her waist from the back of the motorcycle.

“Ah, yes…”

I had planned to somehow get away from her as soon as we reached City C.

But that seems like it’s going to be really difficult?

***

Exactly 1 hour, 23 minutes, and 42 seconds had passed since the cockroach monster appeared.

During that time, thanks to the Hero Association’s quick response, about 80% of City C’s population had evacuated to the massive dome-shaped shelter.

But that was all.

“Hmm~. For a while now, I’ve only been seeing token military forces, and heroes below B-rank don’t even bother showing up.”

Number of destroyed tanks.

36.

Number of soldiers sacrificed.

1,827.

Number of heroes who failed to subjugate.

385.

In contrast, the damage inflicted on the cockroach monster by various firearms and abilities.

A mere 0%.

It was a devastating result, hard to believe given the countless casualties.

“At this point, an S-class hero should appear soon… I wonder if Yoon Ha-eun is still not here?”

The cockroach monster was leisurely walking down a road littered with unconscious soldiers and broken weapon parts.

However, behind the monster who was savoring its victory, a hero had been secretly following it, pretending to be a corpse.

The third highest-ranked hero in City D after Carmilla and Blanche.

A-rank 44.

“Gale Wind Mimori” was constantly sending radio messages to the Hero Association using her kunoichi disguise technique.

“Fufu. This is Gale Wind Mimori. The enemy is currently passing through sector DF-24 and heading toward sector DF-25.”

“Ah, yes! Message received, Lady Mimori. Please continue tracking the cockroach monster’s movements without being detected.”

“…But casualties continue to increase because I’m not participating in combat.”

“It can’t be helped! If it weren’t for you, Lady Mimori, the paths of citizens and the monster would have overlapped several times already! And those who have fallen there are all people who were prepared for that fate when they deployed!”

“…!!”

Mimori, who had reached A-rank hero status due to her highly valued espionage, assassination, and escort abilities rather than combat,

Could have easily helped if she wanted to, but feared revealing her identity.

The expressions of the soldiers she had quietly left alone were still vivid when she closed her eyes.

They reached out to her, realizing she was disguised as a corpse just before dying, but she couldn’t take their hands.

Because even that brief moment might have stimulated the monster’s senses.

So Mimori, despite being a hero, had to ignore dying lives.

It felt like her heart was being squeezed, but thanks to her efforts, over 80% of citizens had safely evacuated.

‘Just a little… just a little more patience!’

The remaining 20%.

Once all citizens of City C entered the shelter, she would immediately take advantage of the monster’s carelessness and sever its neck.

With even her killing intent suppressed, Mimori followed the cockroach monster as it turned left at an intersection, looking around for humans to kill…

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“?!”

As she tried to continue following?

KWANG!

She should have been perfectly camouflaged using her ninja technique – Invisibility.

She shouldn’t have been visible to the naked eye at all.

But the cockroach monster, changing direction, suddenly spread its wings that had been fluttering like a cape and landed precisely behind Mimori who was following it.

Simultaneously, it drove a fist powerful enough to collapse the entire intersection down toward her head.

“Fufu. Weren’t you a bit too careless just because you’re invisible?”

“Keu… urgh…!”

“You see, a cockroach’s skin is about 150 times more sensitive than a human’s. So I can immediately detect what’s around me through air currents.”

The vibration that rang out was at least a ‘magnitude 7’ earthquake.

The impact caused large buildings around the intersection to start tilting.

Then, like dominoes, they began collapsing one after another.

“Hm?”

As it pulled its arm out of the sunken asphalt road and wiped the brain matter from its fist,

“A log?”

It had surely struck a person’s head.

The cockroach monster tilted its head in confusion at the broken log beneath it, and at that moment,

“Ninja art…”

“Oh?”

“Shadow Slicing!”

Front, back, left, right.

And the head too!

A kunoichi drawing her sword from five directions, excluding the ground, simultaneously sliced through the monster’s body.

It was a perfect strike cutting all directions—up, down, left, and right.

A few seconds later, the four shadow clones disappeared after completing their task.

The original remained, kneeling on one knee.

A woman with a kimono fluttering like a cape and cherry blossom-like vibrant hair.

“How’s that! This is the true power of humans!”

Mimori shouted her victory with all her might, hearing the thud of something collapsing behind her.

But her expression was stained more with sorrow than joy of victory.

“Damn… if it was such a ‘pushover,’ I should have just taken it down earlier instead of following it!”

If the enemy had been this simple, she should have cut its neck earlier to reduce casualties.

But she had hesitated to fight it simply because it was classified as a near-level-1 threat.

As a result, she had caused casualties with three zeros at the end.

“This is Mimori. Do you hear me, Hero Association?”

“Kzzzt- Ah, Lady Mimori! It seemed like communication was cut off for a moment. Did something happen?!”

“About the cockroach monster. I’ve defeated it.”

“W-what did you say?!”

“I heard S-class Yoon Ha-eun defeated it 12 years ago, but I didn’t know it would be this weak. Damn… we created so many casualties against such a pathetic opponent!”

“What are you talking about…?”

As communication resumed, Mimori reported the current situation, grinding her teeth.

Even the Hero Association seemed not to have expected this outcome, and Mimori clicked her tongue again at the trembling voice coming through the radio.

“Using my ninja art Shadow Slicing, I cut all its vital points—from the carotid artery to the heart, lungs, internal organs, and dorsal aorta.”

“!!? A-are you saying you defeated the cockroach monster with that?”

“Yes. No matter how monstrous, as long as it’s a living being, nothing can stand after having five vital areas simultaneously attacked like that.”

“My God… Lady Mimori! Flee from there immediately!”

“…What?”

“It hasn’t fallen! It’s just ‘savoring’ that state of being on the brink of death!”

“What are you talking about?”

Even without the five areas she had just cut,

Any living being would lose its life force and die if just an artery or the heart was pierced.

But the urgent voice coming through the radio suggested there were beings that didn’t follow this rule.

Simultaneously, as Mimori turned around with a sense of foreboding…

“Mmm~. Mmmm~. Good… very good…!”

“No way…”

The cockroach monster, twisting its muscular body of about 5 meters, with a half-crushed face flushed red,

Was literally savoring the “death” it had probably experienced several times before.

Its body, which had been flowing with black blood, had regenerated on its own back to its original state.

Perhaps shocked by this marvelous recovery ability,

She dropped the sword she had been holding.

“They say the moment humans fear most when encountering a cockroach is its ‘survivability.'”

“…!”

“The tenacious vitality that allows it to live for 10 days even with its head cut off. Born from such fear, I cannot be defeated so easily♥”