episode_0030

*****

“Do it quickly, you’re such a slow bitch! If this happens, the test subject will run away!”

“Kellogg, please be quiet, it’s hard, I’m dying… .”

Conversing in a corner of the collapsing space were two Genesis executives, Lilith and Mayer.

Unlike Mayer, whose limbs were intact, Lilith was in serious condition at first glance. The sight of half of the abdomen blown off was such that, if it had been a human being, it would not have been surprising if it had died, let alone been able to move.

Of course, even if he were a devil, he would never be in a good state.

“The reason this happened in the first place was because you made the barrier lax──”

“Shut up. Before I tear that mouth apart.”

“What, what, what… !”

Mayer hesitated and stammered as his attitude was contrary to his previous attitude of obediently saying yes, yes. Lilith, on the other hand, was so cornered that she couldn’t maintain the smiling mask she always wore.

Since he is a devil, he will not die if he loses his real body, but he cannot avoid being defeated. If you were unlucky, you could have fallen into a state of intellect and nothing else, so in a way, it could have been seen as worse than death.

The reason why Lilith lost her composure was because she almost got into such a predicament, but it was also because most of the current situation was Mayer’s fault.

‘If only this stupid pig had been more straight forward… !’

I had high expectations since he was an executive who once devastated New York. When I opened the lid, I saw Jung Jung-ah, who couldn’t do anything other than whine like a child.

Actually, I thought it would go that far. Because combat power and intelligence have no correlation. However, even though we created an environment where they could run as wild as they wanted, they still couldn’t catch a single student. It was truly disgusting incompetence.

First of all, Mayer had some extenuating circumstances in that the student was a former Four Heroes. Moreover, to be more specific, Lilith was also able to see through the structure of the barrier by two students.

Of course, Lilith did not know that fact and did not want to know. This was the end of Lilith’s ‘work’ anyway. There was no longer any need to oblige or please anyone.

“Okay, that’s it. With this, all Chimeras will be located at the location where the barrier was installed. And with this, I have repaid all the ‘debts’ given by Ymir, so this is all I can help you with.”

“Hmph! It didn’t help much, but what already? As expected, Eumma is not very eloquent.”

Quick! The veins sprouted powerfully on Lilith’s forehead. However, the compatibility between Mayer and Lilith, who had almost lost their natural human emotions through excessive experimentation, was not very good.

In the end, Lilith retaliated by not saying, ‘The test subject you wanted would have already run away because of the reaction of manipulating time anyway.’

It was quite a pity for Lilith not to be able to see Mayer’s furious expression upon realizing that fact. If you don’t run away quickly, you’ll be caught by Korean heroes and you’ll be punished.

“Then, may you rest in peace.”

Although I will never see it again!

Shouting the latter words in her heart, Lilith disappeared beyond the darkness of spatial collapse.

Mayer grumbled for a moment at that sight, but didn’t pay much attention to it beyond that. This is because recovering the runaway test subjects was more important than worrying about such evil spirits. At least for him.

“Okay, from now on—huh? Huhuhahaha!!”

Immediately after coming out of the barrier. After seeing his chimera army lined up without exception, Mayer immediately tried to track down Fafnir. But there was no need for that.

“Is something good happening? Why are you suddenly laughing?”

Because the test subject had already come out to greet him.

***

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

The cycle of shaking of the scenery before my eyes became faster and faster. It was a representative signal that dimensional collapse was approaching. Perhaps the Chimera unit and two Genesis executives will appear soon.

At my words, the two people in front of me—Jabberwock and Surtur—nod their heads. In the end, these two decided to fight together with me.

At first, of course I refused. Two people, especially Jabberwock, are quite seriously injured, and even Raon, who is recovering, is not there right now.

‘But you’re still a colleague. If I can ease your burden just a little, I’d like to do so.’

‘joy. I just want to repay the debt I owe to that bat woman for giving her a good beating.’

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard such colleague-like words during a battle, so it’s a bit jarring.

Of course I am a professional hero. I don’t make decisions based solely on these emotions. The executive named Liris may not be that strong outside the barrier, but the Chimera unit alone is a force that cannot be underestimated. Also, people were needed to protect Raon and the Vengeful Ghosts here.

That problem was also quickly resolved.

‘… I can use magic. With the art of hiding, it would be possible to hide this place… .’

With those words, I acknowledged the participation of Jabberwock and Surtur without hesitation.

“But is witchcraft really that great? This is my first time hearing it.”

“Can I say it’s amazing or rare? You guys probably know the hero who uses that, right?”

“Who is it?”

“Goddess.”

Both of them were surprised at the name that came out of my mouth. This is the power used by the Four Heroes! Did you feel like that? Hehehe.

“Nothing that surprising. It’s not a power that even priestesses use very often.”

“No, that’s natural. Even so, I have a decent knowledge of heroes, but I’ve never heard of a priestess using such a technique. Usually, I think of barrier magic. How do you know that?”

“What, Surt, do you like heroes?”

“There are more people like that in the world these days──”

Cooung. A sound like the ringing of a heavy gong spread low and majestically. Even though it was small, it was a very calming sound for a sound of a dimension collapsing. That Lilith guy must have put in quite a bit of effort.

And the effort must have been effective, as there were hundreds of monsters in front of us. Surtr and Jabberwock… , huh. It seems like they’re doing it right.

“Hehe, huhuhahaha!!”

“Is something good happening? Why are you suddenly laughing?”

A giant with bandages all over his body, nearly two meters tall. Doctor Mayer raised his voice in response to my words as if he was happy.

“Of course you can’t help but laugh, right? I never thought the test subject I thought might have escaped would be here right before my eyes! Are you willing to cooperate with my experiment?”

“Is that possible? I don’t want to be like that.”

Saying that, I gestured with my chin at the minotaur next to the mysterious doctor. He is big enough to make the giant, Dr. Goe, look like a child. But the real minotaur is much bigger than that.

And I know because I’ve been with that monster. That monster clearly used human technology. Since Professor Monster’s unit is entirely made up of chimeras, that monster must have been a mixture of humans or similar rational life forms.

“Khahaha! Of course, this one is one of the masterpieces I’ve created. I won’t deny that most of my methods are like this. But not you. You are too precious to be disposable like this.”

“What are you talking about? One finger today, one toe tomorrow, should we share it like this?”

“Well, first of all—No, hehe. that’s right. I didn’t have much time right now.”

He seems to have realized that the current conversation is just a waste of time. I thought it might work because it seemed a bit messy compared to the skill of creating a chimera.

“Now, bring that test subject to me and offer it to me!”

Following Mayer’s hand gestures and voice, the monster army advanced, screaming. The sight of chimeras of all kinds swarming over the cracked asphalt road was a terrible sight, like something out of a nightmare.

Of course, in front of me right now, it’s just rice!

“────────!!!”

Dragon Fear. The roar of the dragon, the highest of all monsters, rang out. The rush of the chimeras, which seemed like they could not be stopped by anything, gradually slowed down and eventually stopped.

“What, what! What are they doing! Move quickly, move quickly!”

“You mean, did you intentionally leave these guys with their true nature?”

“Kkeuch… !”

Since almost all the chimeras had stopped moving, I made a guess, and it seemed to be correct. This is probably a measure taken to increase efficiency as a mass-produced soldier.

“That’s a feat in itself, but… . The compatibility was so bad this time.”

The survival instinct cannot be erased by relying on instinct like that. Perhaps they are suppressing the fear of survival instinct due to the herd instinct of the majority, but that is only in general cases. Dragon Fear is not something that can be suppressed to that extent.

… Honestly, I didn’t think it would be this effective. I thought it would be a blessing if I could move about half of them unnaturally.

“Move, I mean move! There are hundreds of you guys! That’s all you can say to be afraid of a girl like that!”

She’s not just a little girl. At least to these chimeras, I am the same as a giant dragon. An overwhelming monster bigger than several apartments put together.

Nevertheless, I could see the entity trying to move, but when I shot it once more with Dragon Fear, it immediately hit its head and stopped moving.

“, profit… ! Go away, Minotaur! If it’s you, it’s possible… !”

“Guuu, oh, oh oh oh──!!”

Perhaps the only entity among them that did not rely solely on instinct—a strengthened Minotaur jumped out.

A straight line between Dr. Goe and me. The large figure running towards him, repelling the monsters in front of him, was a threat itself.

“Cowoooo──!”

“Wow, tea!”

Avoid the slashing ax and hit the arm. Now that it has been strengthened by the countless gazes around it, its power is enough to destroy a decent tank with its bare hands. But the Minotaur’s hand holding the ax did not move.

okay. This guy was the biggest problem. Fortunately, the speed is not that fast, so you can somehow escape. But my attack is not effective at all.

bang. I dodged the ax’s strike, but the ax struck me immediately two, three, and four times. Naturally, the asphalt breaks down and scatters around like bullets.

In this way, the attack from the other side will take damage even if it just passes by without any exaggeration. About half of the injuries suffered now were due to such ‘grazing attacks’.

If this were 1:1, I probably wouldn’t be able to defeat this monster. However, this match clearly had a victory condition.

“You stupid bastard──! If you hit it like that, the specimen will be completely destroyed! This means adjusting your strength a little!”

The condition is that you just have to catch the guy who is screaming loudly over there.

“You’ve had a hard time too!”

“Kwaoooo!!!”

As he stepped on the ax stuck in the ground and drove it deeper, an angry headbutt came flying out. Unlike my horn, the minotaur’s horn has a sharp point at the front, so headbutting it is also a threatening attack.

Replying to that headbutt with a headbutt is suicidal. So while he was avoiding the horn, I kicked him in the head. As expected, as if there was no damage at all, a hand the size of a house flew straight out.

Of course, that attack didn’t hit me directly either.

“I don’t think this black cow alone can catch me, right? Was it Lilith? Are you asking that kid to come out?”

“Hmph! He left, saying the job was done and all! I wasn’t supposed to get help from a guy like that in the first place!”

Oh! really? Then things will be much easier.

If I were alone, even if I didn’t have Lilith, there would be no sharp numbers. The minotaur was moving to keep me away from the doctor. It’s impossible for me to catch that strange doctor alone.

Originally, I had planned to keep taking time like this and hold out until reinforcements arrived.

But now!

“What!?”

“Go!”

“Wooo──!”

Surtur jumped down from the top of the low shopping mall, swinging his flaming sword down. Unfortunately, the sword of fire was so conspicuous that it was caught in the middle, but even so, the attack power of the flame did not decrease.

Grumbling. The asphalt on the roadside melted. Professor Goe dodged the sword with agile movements unbefitting his size.

“You bastard! How dare you—huh!”

The place where Dr. Goe rolled. From there, a shadowy blade stretched out and stabbed Professor Goe’s arm.

However, what actually rang was not the sound of flesh being torn, but a dull sound as if iron collided with iron.

“That bastard… . Well, there’s no way a mad scientist like that would have left his body unharmed.”

The bandage had been cut off by the blade of the shadow, exposing the Doctor’s arm, which was covered with a thick carapace. Considering that Doctor Goe has bandages wrapped all over his body, how much of Doctor Goe’s body is actually human?

“Cooo!!!”

“Whatcha. You have to play with me.”

The Minotaur realized that its master was in danger and tried to go back, but there was no way! He mercilessly blocked his path. If we simply compare speed, I have an advantage over this cow. You can’t shake me off.

Of course, the Minotaur ignores my attack and tries to go.

“I won’t let you shop!”

Heavy. A heavy blow that converted most of the force into suppressing power rather than penetrating power sent the Minotaur flying.

There probably won’t be much damage like before. The power of the attack itself is lower than the previous attacks. But for now, all I had to do was tie down the Minotaur’s steps.

“Mooo—!!”

The angry Minotaur threw everything it could get its hands on. The remains of the building. Hardened monsters. However, it is impossible to catch me by throwing when I cannot hit by swinging.

In the end, the Minotaur’s charge turned towards me again. Strikes so clever that you wouldn’t think they were chimeras are coming towards me.

Of course, there was no way I could shed all of that. The wounds on my body were increasing little by little, although not as much as when I was a sword demon. As I said before, if this continues, I will lose.

But it will probably be resolved faster that way.

“Why, why is the fire crab’s shell on fire!? It should be fine even at temperatures above 2,000 degrees… !”

“Do you know? Burn it!”

Surtur’s Leviathan was burning off one of Doctor Goe’s arms. In the first place, it is a conceptual flame and is somewhat far from physical laws. It was a natural result since he didn’t know that and used his arm as a shield.

As the fire gradually rose, Dr. Goe withdrew his arm like a lizard’s tail. Naturally, the center of gravity became a mess and there were more gaps.

A few more times. Jabberwock’s attack hit every part of Professor Goe’s body. Looking at Professor Goe’s distorted expression, it must have been quite a bit of damage.

A strike aimed at Surtur’s absolute attack power and Jabberwock’s gap. It was only a matter of time before Dr. Goe collapsed in front of him.

“You bastards! No, I can’t suffer this in vain… !”

Unlike the screaming doctor, I was sighing in relief.

Ah, I’m really glad it worked out well. Originally, all I had to do was avoid Lilith’s detection through Jabberwock’s shadow and somehow land Surtur’s blow.

Even so, Peer wasn’t very effective, so I told him to give up if there were many guards next to the monster doctor. I never thought both problems would be solved.

While I was feeling so relieved, Dr. Goe’s expression changed. A feeling of being prepared for something. Surtur and Jabberwock also seemed to have sensed this fact, but they did not slow down their attacks but raised their guard.

“If this is… !”

“… ! Don’t let me eat that!”

Dr. Goe was holding a ‘seed’ in his hand. If you are a person with the twisted desires of a monster doctor, quite a monster may pop out.

As soon as it heard my shout, the Jabberwock moved. He jumped out from the shadow of the square and reached out his hand to Doctor Goe’s mouth, anticipating his movements.

The mouth in Doctor Goe’s left hand opened wide and the seed entered it.

“Mouth over there!?”

“Jabberwock, get away! Haaap!”

A strange doctor who wriggles and swells up like a large meat ball. Surtur struck Levatein, but the burning part fell off immediately. A mutation that is faster than the speed at which Surtur swings his sword. In the end, Surt also had no choice but to step down.

“What the hell… .”

“Be careful. There might be a pretty strong guy coming out.”

A cocoon made of writhing flesh. It didn’t take long for the center to open.

Surprisingly, the appearance didn’t change that much. To what extent was the severed arm restored? The only big difference was the large wings attached to the back.

“I remembered your faces! Let’s wait and see… !”

“What. Now, wait a minute. Wait!”

Are you trying to attack me right away? I thought so, but Professor Goe used the wings on his back to rise into the air. Surtur and Jabberwock were embarrassed and attacked, but both had limitations in long-distance attacks.

“That bastard ran away!”

In the end, Professor Goe flew away at a considerable speed.

“Gwa. Ugh… .”

Has the command reached the limit beyond which it cannot be closed? The Minotaur also stopped running wild and stopped. It feels like some sort of standby mode.

“… what is it. First of all, congratulations on defeating the Genesis executives?”

Surtur and Jabberwock look at the direction the monster flew with somewhat bewildered expressions as the situation suddenly ended. I also had a strange feeling and couldn’t help but congratulate them… .

***

“We’ll see. Those damn kids… !”

A point in time that is a considerable distance away from where the battle took place. Mayer decided that Surtur’s team would no longer be able to chase after him and climbed down.

Flying in the sky is fast but noticeable. Since I hadn’t left Korea yet, I needed to hide.

That was when Mayer was about to take a step toward escape.

“Good job, Mayer. You played the role of ‘trial’ wonderfully.”

A quiet, yet strangely piercing voice that seems to be stuck in my head. It was a familiar voice to Mayer.

Sure enough, when I turned my head, there was a white-haired girl with her eyes closed.

“Ymir… . joy. Well, it would be a shame to abandon my Chimera unit to you. I thought it was a doll that didn’t move within the headquarters. Still, you seem to be polite.”

Now, guide me quickly. Saying that, Mayer walked towards Ymir.

Ymir was actually tilting his head with a puzzled look on his face.

“Guide me? Where are you going?”

“What kind of idiot are you talking about? Of course it’s a safe place. I am the only one who can control my chimera. You probably don’t know that, right?”

“Ah! I read that paper. What was it, that the ability to handle Mr. Meyer’s chimera was due to Mr. Meyer’s extremely complex modified brain?”

“Okay. And even you would have a hard time figuring out how to modify your brain like this. If you know, take me to a safe place quickly.”

Mayer’s confidence was based on the value of his chimera and his ability to handle it.

It looked ugly this time, but it still needs to be improved upon. In addition, Mayer still had a large army in New York that was nearly 10 times larger than the one he had blown up today.

Therefore, Mayer never thought that Genesis would abandon him, and that was certainly true. Genesis clearly needed Mayer’s army.

“… ? Is there really a need to make it that complicated?”

In other words, it was said that Mayer personally was good.

“What,”

Ymir’s hand moved faster than Mayer could react. Even though it was close, it wasn’t within reach if I stretched out my hand.

Before I knew it, Mayer’s brain was in Ymir’s hand, like a movie with its frames cut off.

“Ouch, uh… .”

“Originally, I was going to save it and use it appropriately. My thoughts changed when I saw you as Mine. Mr. Mayer, just now, all you wanted to do was run away from there, right? So, it has become such a useless thing.”

There was no one who could already hear the girl. Mayer’s body, which was only a shell, fell down with a sound as if the wind was escaping. Looking at that, the girl shook her head.

“There is no need for such immediate and rotten desires in Genesis. Don’t worry. We will put your brain to good use.”

Leaving only those words behind, Ymir turned and walked away. A crack widened as if greeting Ymir in the empty air.

“… Ugh, gross.”

Ymir frowned like a girl her age and walked into the crack.

*****