Ch.90No Country for Old Men!

#090

“But why am I listening to that person?”

Watching Dexter command so naturally, as if he had known her for a long time.

Following along with his orders, a confused Kuma asked Himena.

“Sigh… That person is also an OSA agent. Don’t you know? Dexter Hughes.”

Himena, whose breathing had finally calmed down a bit, wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand as she spoke.

“Dexter Hughes… You mean the guy who supposedly spent 15 years in space?”

“Yes, that Dexter Hughes. He works on investigations with me too.”

Himena, believing that Dexter was providing tremendous help to the OSA, responded to Kuma’s question with a slightly proud smile.

“Wow, so he’s famous. But I don’t understand why he’s here.”

“Probably for this?”

Himena pointed to a white paper box sitting on the dashboard.

“What is it?”

“Ah! Chocolate chip cookies.”

When she opened the white paper box, it was filled with chocolate chip cookies that were still warm.

He had given donuts to other OSA agents but brought chocolate chip cookies exclusively for Himena.

“Mmm, they’re so chewy.”

Himena said as she couldn’t resist taking a bite of a cookie.

Dexter, who briefly glanced through the rear window, was dumbfounded to see Himena already eating the chocolate chip cookies.

“Ms. Himena! I’m still holding a weapon here!”

“Oh, right.”

Himena, who had momentarily been distracted by the cookies, came to her senses at Dexter’s shout and put the cookie box back on the dashboard.

Kuma teased Himena, who had focused on the cookies first while ignoring Dexter who had deliberately gotten into the cargo area to deal with the Abomination.

“…You’ve got quite the bad girl image, don’t you?”

“Shut up. …I was craving something sweet after driving for so long.”

When Himena shot him a glare, Kuma turned his attention back to the road and focused on driving.

Dexter, sitting in the cargo area, was busy watching the Abomination that was still slumped down on the hard floor.

“It’s not an ordinary test subject, seems like an Abomination… Abnormal recovery ability, and its appearance clearly suggests it was researched and then abandoned on the Third Planet…”

Dexter, who had been muttering to himself, shook his head and continued to watch the Abomination that was slowly beginning to rise again.

‘Troll, Ogre, Lizardman? Reptilian? Or maybe an indigenous life form from an unnamed planet.’

The universe is vast, and there are many life forms living on different planets.

However, what was certain was that the Abomination before him was an artificial test subject, unlike natural life forms.

‘Especially that gait, it’s similar to the walking style I saw on the planet where the old man who taught me techniques lived.’

When he first saw it, it walked by stomping its feet hard enough to shake the ground, but now it was approaching quickly with steps so light its feet barely seemed to leave the ground.

‘What was it called, bobeop? Walking technique?’

Moreover, though it was hard to tell if the Abomination had what could be called an expression, Dexter sensed a determined feeling from it.

A completely different atmosphere from when it was chasing Himena earlier.

‘It’s not just a simple test subject but a person, with at least teenage-level intelligence or higher.’

Dexter, who was quick to notice things when it came to fighting, carefully raised his blaster as the Abomination approached faster and faster.

‘Should I dodge?’

Since the Abomination had been good at avoiding the high-powered blaster shots, he thought about experimenting.

-Keeeeeng…!

When the sharp metallic sound of the blaster being loaded rang out, the Abomination flinched momentarily at the sound.

‘Its hearing is sensitive too.’

It had noticed the sound of the blaster loading despite the likelihood of it being drowned out by the car noise.

-Peoong…!

The high-powered blaster shot, which was powerful but difficult to aim due to the momentary recoil when fired, flew toward the Abomination’s shoulder.

-Kruweoork!

The Abomination, clearly seeing the blaster’s flame coming, immediately twisted its waist slightly and turned its shoulder.

Dexter laughed in disbelief at the Abomination’s action, which this time didn’t even get grazed by the flame.

‘Look at that. It dodges like it’s nothing?’

Super-regenerative ability that quickly recovers after being hit by guns and blasters.

Extraordinary foot movements like a walking technique.

Evasive ability to see the blaster’s flame and immediately dodge it.

The strange energy emanating from the Abomination.

Plus, it was a carrier of viruses harmful to Earth humans, almost like a virus dispenser.

‘A deliberately created Abomination.’

Dexter didn’t believe that the Abomination rapidly approaching him had accidentally crashed near Las Vegas, where OSA headquarters was located.

It felt like it had been maliciously designed with only bad traits, as if daring anyone to mess with it.

“Ms. Himena! Look under the passenger seat, there should be a plasma grenade! Pass it through the window!”

“W-what? A g-grenade?”

“Hurry!”

As Dexter said, there was a white military metal carrier at Himena’s feet.

When Himena opened the metal carrier, it was filled with terrifying weapons she had only seen in photos.

“Why does Dexter have these things…?”

The carrier was full of weapons that even she, a field agent, had never properly handled.

Himena was bewildered but did as Dexter instructed and passed a fist-sized plasma grenade through the rear window.

“Ms. Himena, have other people used grenades against this thing before?”

“Yes! They tried several times, but only succeeded the first time!”

Indeed, it wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice.

‘So I need to think carefully about each shot.’

Dexter found it a bit of a headache, but he thought he could manage.

After all, it meant he just needed to deal with it before it could learn.

Dexter began rolling a plasma grenade in his palm.

He was thinking of ways to increase the grenade’s firepower.

‘I’m not in a hurry. I’m relaxed. I have more time than anyone…’

Trying to calm his impatient mind through self-hypnosis, Dexter firmly gripped the plasma grenade.

“Phew.”

Dexter immediately raised his left hand, preparing to fire the high-powered blaster.

-Keeeeeng…

When the blaster loading sound was heard, the Abomination’s movements became slightly sluggish.

It seemed to be preparing to dodge Dexter’s blaster.

“Not a chance.”

Dexter pulled the safety pin from the plasma grenade and released the safety handle.

“…!”

Himena, who was watching Dexter from the passenger seat, was startled by his actions, her eyes widening in surprise.

-Peoong…!

After firing the blaster aimed at the Abomination’s left shoulder, Dexter immediately threw the plasma grenade into the air.

At that moment, the Abomination grinned.

‘It’s smiling?’

The Abomination dodged the blaster’s flame by turning its shoulder just like before, then tried to catch the grenade and throw it outside.

-Kwaaang!

The plasma grenade exploded earlier than expected.

Naturally, the Abomination couldn’t respond to this.

‘It wouldn’t have expected cooking.’

Most grenades have a basic delay time.

Plasma grenades were no different, but Dexter had deliberately consumed about 2 seconds after releasing the safety handle before throwing it, aiming for it to explode in mid-air.

As the plasma grenade exploded, emitting a momentary intense light, Dexter and Himena squinted.

-Gooooo…

A thick echo of sound remained where the explosion had passed.

As the light began to fade, Dexter and Himena relaxed their squinted eyes.

“Yeaah, that’s it. Kuma, slow down!”

When Kuma followed Dexter’s instruction and slowed down, Dexter could vividly see the Abomination’s pain-filled scream as half its shoulder and part of its upper body were blown away.

“Ugh.”

Himena expressed her disgust at the cruel sight, like something from a slasher horror movie.

-Krueeeeeeng!

It was firepower exceeding the standard rifles and grenades of the rapid response team.

The Abomination couldn’t keep up with Dexter’s pickup truck, nor could it resist.

All it could do was sit on the ground, enduring the pain and letting out bitter screams.

“I know, fucker. It fucking hurts.”

Though it was groaning as if in real pain, it was clear that if Himena had been caught by the Abomination, she would have suffered terribly.

Dexter had no reason to feel any sympathy for an Abomination that would have done such things.

Dexter said as he pulled the safety pin from another plasma grenade.

“But you’re going to hurt even more.”

As Dexter put a lot of strength into his right shoulder, the plasma grenade left his hand with strong rotational force.

Immediately, Dexter loaded the blaster on his left hand and fired it straight at the Abomination’s head.

-Peoong…!

In the dark night with no shadows to block the moonlight in the ravine, the trajectory of the flame from the blaster was clearly visible, almost like a laser beam.

“Farewell, you son of a bitch!”

“Huh?”

The curse wasn’t from Dexter.

It was Himena, who had been watching the whole situation from the passenger seat.

“Hey, watch your language in front of your junior.”

“…But it’s so satisfying.”

Regardless of Himena and Dexter’s grumbling, the flame that flew in a straight line pierced through the head of the slumped Abomination.

-Peoeok.

Where the high-powered plasma shot had passed, the hole in the head was smoking and charred, as if a high-temperature drill had gone through a wall of meat.

-Thuk, Kwaaang!

And no sooner had it pierced the head than the plasma grenade Dexter had thrown landed on the Abomination’s chest.

As it emitted the same intense light as before, incinerating the upper body without a trace, Dexter was about to smile.

“That’s it. This is…”

Suddenly, Dexter’s expression hardened.

He saw something through the large flames that were burning both the ground and the Abomination.

“No way.”

“What’s wrong? Did something…?”

Himena tilted her head, seeing Dexter’s expression suddenly harden.

* * *

“I apologize for the trouble, Commander. It seems we need to go through one stage of transformation…”

The old man, still wearing the device, bowed his head to that person as he spoke.

“…Do you think you can win even with transformation?”

“As long as I avoid those strange fireballs and stones that burn everything around them, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

That person clicked their tongue at the old man’s poor scientific knowledge.

“Look at this guy. High-powered blaster and plasma grenade, and you call them fireballs and strange stones?”

“…I have nothing to say.”

The man who had chosen the old man was, as he said, at a loss for words.

“…Win by any means necessary. Don’t ruin my plan to turn OSA into a mass production site for the Kaonol virus.”

With those words, an unmistakable energy from that person’s body began to press down on the old man.

It wasn’t that the person was intentionally emitting energy, but rather that they couldn’t properly control their emotions, causing the energy to manifest on its own.

The old man knew from his long life that there were fewer than ten people in the world who could pressure someone like him.

‘The world is vast, and there are always those beyond the heavens!’

While the old man was still under pressure, the man standing next to that person frowned and said.

“Twin-Clawed Demon, this is your last chance.”

With those words, that person’s energy faded, and the old man exhaled his held breath.

“Huh, huh. W-what is…”

“Last chance means, don’t you know? Do you want to be locked in that brain prison again?”

Knowing that the man never spoke empty words, the old man simply nodded.

“I, I understand.”

“Don’t waste the opportunity the Commander has given you.”

The man’s eyes flashed as he watched the old man.

* * *

Kuma also stopped the pickup truck after seeing a figure walking out of the flames in the side mirror.

“What is that…?”

“No matter how I look at it… the Abomination seems to have shrunk.”

Dexter said as he adjusted the blaster on his hand once more.

The Abomination, which had been as big as a house, had returned to a size just slightly taller than Dexter.

“What is this, the Terminator? Shape-shifting?”

Though he had experienced many cases before, he had seen instances of people growing larger after taking special drugs, but never cases of becoming smaller.

“Could it be some kind of astral projection?”

“Could be.”

What was certain was that the aura of the Abomination walking toward Dexter was ominous.

“Ms. Himena.”

“…Yes?”

“Enhanced nuclear fission rocket launcher. I have just one shot.”

Dexter began stretching, cracking his neck from side to side.

“Take it out in advance.”

Seeing the Abomination grinning at him, Dexter clenched his fists and got out of the cargo area.

“If things go wrong, shoot.”