Ch.8787. The Inverted Five-Star Formation

Amon had been working on his plan to take down the pharmaceutical company for several weeks.

During that time, Amon had prepared two major gifts for them.

First, helping Miller Pharmaceuticals to destroy Neville Pharmaceuticals.

Second, securing vaccine victim witnesses to backstab Miller Pharmaceuticals at the same time.

Even in a world where law and common sense don’t apply, securing about 100 witnesses and filing a lawsuit with company backing could still deal significant damage.

It meant that while the law might not be a sledgehammer, it could still function as an iron club.

As time passed, Neville Pharmaceuticals’ attacks grew increasingly fierce.

Miller Pharmaceuticals had also noticed their victims disappearing and sent assassins to silence them.

Accordingly, Sonia mainly handled the former, while Amon dealt with the latter.

“I’m heading out.”

“Take care.”

With Sonia seeing him off, Amon left the house.

Currently, they were at the home of the 54th victim of illegal vaccine clinical trials.

Originally, his mission was simple: put the victim and his family in a car, drive straight to the airport, and get them on a plane to America.

But starting with the 40th victim, Miller Pharmaceuticals began sending assassins, changing Amon’s mission to arriving before the assassins and protecting the victims.

‘Thanks to Kathy’s foresight, this is going smoothly.’

Admiring Kathy’s skill at precisely predicting the assassins’ plans, Amon left the house.

He first headed to the garage to check the target’s vehicle.

Sure enough, a bomb had been installed. The type that would cause a small explosion when the engine started, making the car lurch forward, and then a second explosion would vaporize the driver’s seat when the car crashed into something like a wall.

Amon disarmed the bomb with practiced ease.

After handling the bomb, he made his way to the top of the building by stepping on window frames or treading on thin air.

He smirked at his own tendency to seek high ground whenever possible, while preparing for what needed to be done.

He reached into his coat pocket. His hand closed around the handle of a crossbow from the subspace pocket.

His eyes quickly scanned the people on the street.

Seven assassins.

Six, excluding one hacker who meant nothing to him.

Amon memorized the positions of all six and the directions they were looking, then began to move.

He came down from the building, planted a bomb in a certain vehicle, and returned to his position.

He targeted one directly below him and two others nearby.

Then, leaping from the building, he pulled the trigger twice in mid-air.

Thwack! Thwack!

The bolts pierced through the temples of two men.

As he thought every time, the crossbow was excellent.

Quieter than the pistol he used, yet much more powerful.

Powerful enough to cleanly penetrate the heads of assassins with bulletproof skin.

‘If only I could do something about the magazine.’

The only drawback was that it could only load two shots per magazine.

If not for that limitation, it might have completely replaced his pistol.

But increasing the magazine capacity would compromise its power, which was frustrating.

With such useless thoughts, Amon surrendered himself to gravity.

One of the assassins noticed that two of his colleagues had been taken out and went on alert.

Completely unaware that the perpetrator was falling from above his head.

Without even making the sound of fluttering fabric, Amon’s figure descended upon the assassin.

Amon gripped his sword in reverse and slit the throat of the assassin beneath him.

‘Three down, three more plus one small fry.’

He kicked off the wall and threw himself around a corner.

He threw a dagger toward a trash can he had memorized, and it hit an assassin in the head before he could react.

‘Two left.’

Drawing his sword, he charged openly at the remaining two.

They noticed Amon’s presence and drew their guns.

“The Skull?! It’s him! Tell headquarters—”

But before he could finish, Amon’s sword pierced his throat.

Amon’s blade didn’t stop there, taking care of the other one as well.

Now only the insignificant hacker remained.

The hacker started the car and frantically contacted headquarters.

“HQ! It’s the Gray Ghost! The Gray Ghost has app—”

But as soon as the car started, it launched forward with a small explosion.

The car crashed into a wall ahead, crumpled, and then exploded again with a larger blast.

The skull mask stared blankly at the crackling flames.

‘Was that too flashy?’

Looking at the exploded debris, Amon scratched his head in embarrassment.

But his regret didn’t last long.

‘Well, my face wasn’t exposed anyway.’

The skull mask and robe were already known characteristics.

It wasn’t carelessness that got him discovered.

In a world full of CCTVs, drones, and mechanical eyes, becoming a perfect ghost without hacking was impossible.

This was something Amon had compromised on, and having his existence discovered wasn’t a big problem.

After all, he just needed to hide the fact that Amon was behind the mask.

‘My alibi is solid too.’

According to electronic records, the person named Amon was currently on a ski date with Sonia.

On the opposite side of France from his current location. A perfect alibi.

‘Miller Pharmaceuticals must be burning up inside.’

It was clear someone was preparing to work against them, and witnesses kept slipping away.

They might suspect Amon and Sonia. But they couldn’t confront them.

Requetio was currently helping Miller Pharmaceuticals in their cold war against Neville.

If they confronted them and offended Requetio, causing them to break ties, it would be a headache.

In the worst case, Requetio might side with Neville instead.

Violent threats weren’t an option either.

After recently losing their head of security to Amon, they had limitations on the forces they could mobilize.

Due to these complicated circumstances, confronting Amon based on mere suspicion was too risky a gamble.

All Miller Pharmaceuticals could do was maintain their cold war with Neville while allocating resources to discover the ghost’s identity.

Therefore, this level of explosion was within acceptable limits. As long as his identity wasn’t revealed, everything was OK.

Amon rationalized this as he put his sword away. Then he rejoined Sonia and their protection target waiting inside the house.

“It’s done. Let’s move now.”

The male protection target and his family nodded.

“Let’s take our car just to be safe.”

Although he had removed the bomb, they couldn’t be sure what else might have been done to the car.

They left the house and boarded a vehicle parked some distance away.

The children were scared of Amon in his skull mask, but they quietly got in the car thanks to their parents’ reassurance.

After confirming that all family members were aboard, Amon and Sonia opened the driver’s and passenger’s doors respectively.

But before Amon could grab the steering wheel, he suddenly closed the door again and shouted.

“So—!”

Before the word was completed, Amon’s sword sparked.

Keeeng!

With a metallic scream, a huge piece of metal was split in half.

‘A shell?!’

Amon was shocked as he saw what his sword had cut.

A recoilless rifle? An anti-tank rocket?

He couldn’t tell exactly what it was without examining it closely.

But one thing was certain.

From the sensation he felt from the shell, this wasn’t just a piece of metal but a high-explosive.

‘Shit!’

Amon cursed inwardly, momentarily recalling a crazy gorilla.

Then the explosion engulfed him.

BOOM!

“Kyaaaah!!”

All the children in the car screamed.

Fortunately, the car only suffered some cracked windows and a jolt.

Partly because Amon had reduced the impact, partly because the car itself was sturdy, and partly because Sonia had deployed a protective barrier in that instant.

Due to these various factors, the protection targets suffered no damage.

Sonia pushed her upper body through the open passenger door and hit the steering wheel.

“Sebastian! Execute combat mode and depart!”

[Understood, Miss Sonia. I will wait at the designated destination.]

With the mechanical voice of the AI, the car departed.

Another shell was fired at the retreating vehicle.

At that moment, Amon leaped out from the dust cloud created by the explosion and split the shell in half again.

BOOM!

A second explosion engulfed Amon.

Amon was thrown away by the explosion and rolled on the ground.

Sonia rushed to him anxiously.

“Amon!”

“I’m fine!”

The reply came immediately.

Indeed, Amon’s appearance was surprisingly intact for someone who had been caught in two high-explosive blasts.

His skin was singed in places and his hair was disheveled, but his limbs were fine.

Amon told Sonia:

“I think my bones are slightly cracked.”

“I’ll heal you.”

A warm light emanated from Sonia’s hands and settled on Amon’s body.

Amon’s wounds healed instantly.

She applied just a little healing to the burns and didn’t bother treating the lacerations.

Unlike bones, those could regenerate during combat.

In fact, they were already regenerating.

She wanted to heal him completely, but with uncertainty about how much Divine Power would be needed in the upcoming battle, it was necessary to conserve as much as possible.

“Thanks.”

After the quick first aid, Amon rotated his arms to check his condition.

Sonia noticed Amon’s empty hand.

“Your sword?”

“It’s mangled.”

“Do you have any left?”

“Still have four.”

Three were swords he originally had, and one was recently made by a dwarf.

Amon drew two of his original ones.

Sonia also drew her gun and stared in the direction the attack had come from.

Even for the outskirts of France, that direction was unnaturally dark.

No light came from the streetlamps or any building illumination.

Amon and Sonia kept their eyes fixed on what lay beyond the darkness.

Eventually, the voices of a man and woman came from across the darkness.

“I told you. They’d be visible anyway.”

A pink-haired woman with a rocket launcher on her shoulder.

“Hey, logically. What human could slice through a high-explosive with a sword and be fine? This is too much even for a Divine Power wielder.”

A thin man in a full suit with a fedora, his right face covered in scars.

Amon and Sonia’s eyes widened as they confirmed the appearance of the pair.

The two were dressed as a knight templar and a nun respectively.

The attire they wore was clearly from the Vatican.

Moreover, Divine Power could be sensed from them.

Although alien, it was definitely Divine Power.

Above all, the symbol engraved on their chests was not a cross.

An inverted pentagram.

The symbol of the devil.

From the darkness, the man’s red eyes glowed as he greeted them.

“Hello there, Amon.”

“You know me?”

“I know everything. Future and past.”

“…”

“Besides, you’re quite famous among our kind.”

The man smiled slyly.

He opened his mouth to introduce himself.

“My name is Bala—”

But before the man could finish, Amon’s figure vanished.

CLANG!!!

The man’s fedora was cut off, revealing horns underneath that blocked Amon’s sword.

Amon’s expression grew even more fierce upon discovering the horns.

The man grumbled at Amon who had attacked him without warning.

“Sigh… No matter what, we should at least exchange names first…”

But Amon paid no attention and shouted:

“Mother wishes it!! To throw you into the furnace fire!!!”

Facing Amon’s killing intent, the man responded with such surprise that he abandoned all formality:

“Hey, I don’t care about the Goddess at all?!”

“AMEEEEEN!!!!”

But Amon couldn’t hear his voice.

And so the battle began.