episode_0080

* * *

‘…A sound.’

From a little distance, it seemed like a sound could be heard. Coco’s keen ears picked it up.

But it would be fine. If anything happened to Check, she would send some kind of sign via her communication device.

And most importantly, no matter what happened, Check would be fine. The position of vice-captain of the 7th Unit was by no means an easy one.

Coco, who had infiltrated the factory through a different passage than Check, cautiously moved down the corridor.

Her eyes were wary of cameras and similar devices.

This abandoned factory had a total of three other entrances besides the main gate, but all three were either closed or blocked.

On the first floor, even the windows were covered with iron plates, making it impossible to enter or see inside from the outside.

In the end, Coco gave up on infiltrating the first floor and entered through a single broken window remaining on the second floor.

The past terrorist crime incident, ‘The Great Disaster’.

This factory, too, must have been abandoned along with the streets due to that incident.

The meticulously added iron plates on the windows of such a building, and the traces of artificially sealed entrances… it was hard to believe these were left by employees who abandoned the factory and fled at the time.

They didn’t just designate this place because it was an empty building.

It was probably designated as a place that had already been tampered with in various ways. So, it was natural to be wary of cameras surveying the interior.

Unlike Check, Coco, who had infiltrated, was fully equipped.

A black cap and a form-fitting bodysuit.

It was Coco’s exclusive suit, not for stepping forward like Spade, but primarily for infiltration and reconnaissance.

Though she didn’t seem to have any special weapons, surprisingly, nasty tools, including poisoned needles, were hidden everywhere, and above all, Coco’s ability was not for combat, so there was no need to carry barbaric weapons.

‘So, how should I move from now on…?’

Coco recalled the factory’s structure she had seen from outside, and cautiously advanced down the abandoned factory’s corridor.

* * *

Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack

Thump! Crunch! Snap!

Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack

Smash! Crash!

The noise of the mannequins echoing from all directions intertwined with the occasional sounds of destruction and violence.

Inside the abandoned factory, in a large warehouse space.

There, Check, the vice-captain of the 7th Unit, was surrounded by countless mannequins attacking her.

Everywhere she looked, there were only mannequins. Each mannequin, possessing strength greater than an ordinary adult man, charged at Check, piled up like towering waves, as if to prove that no one could stand against overwhelming numbers.

Not just from all four sides, front, back, left, and right, but mannequins continuously leaped down from above Check, trampling on each other’s heads or jumping from piles of junk here and there.

Even if one had eyes in the back of their head, it would be impossible to cope with such a chaotic swarm of mannequins.

The same would be true for a veteran hero like Check… one might think.

However, no matter how it appeared to a third party, Check remained unharmed and showed no sign of difficulty amidst the incoming wave of mannequins.

Just what kind of ability was that?

Check dodged the countless arms and legs of the mannequins reaching out from everywhere as if they were morning mist or flowing water.

And at the same time, she used her arms and legs to decisively destroy the mannequins one by one.

Her speed was invisible. If her figure seemed to blur for a moment, she had already moved from one place to another, and in the interim, two or three mannequins were simultaneously shattered into pieces.

As if sensing frustration from this, even more mannequins simultaneously swarmed Check.

However, while their sheer numbers might be intimidating, it only served to create larger openings.

As expected, Check once again evaded their collective assault as if she were a mirage, reappearing three steps away from the attacking mannequins.

“How annoying.”

She could have smashed two or three more mannequins in that time, but she stopped. What good would it do to smash them one by one? When would she ever finish?

And most importantly, even if their heads or bodies were broken, the mannequins continued to attack in that state, so it didn’t seem to help much in reducing their numbers.

Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack!

Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack!

The disorganized mannequins, entangling with each other, once again rushed at Check.

Facing such mannequins, Check stood in a natural stance, arms hanging loosely, as if giving up.

Finally, the mannequins seized Check. They surrounded and grabbed her. They held her so she couldn’t move her arms or legs at all, and then other mannequins latched onto those that were holding Check, intertwining and clinging even tighter to immobilize her further.

Mannequins piled up in layers around Check, forming a single mass. It looked almost like a small mountain.

Pinned beneath those mannequins, each quite heavy, no one could move. All one could do was pray not to be crushed to death.

Surely, everyone would think so.

And the next moment.

CRAAASH!!!

Clatter clatter clatter, fragments of mannequins scattered and flew. About half of the mannequins surrounding Check were damaged beyond repair, and the rest were also broken and shattered in some part.

Check, who had been surrounded by mannequins, was now surrounded by weapons that had appeared from nowhere.

Spears, knives, swords, hammers, weights, maces, halberds, and staffs.

Various weapons and tools, which Check certainly hadn’t possessed moments ago, were now pointed outwards around her like a terrifying array of spikes.

Check pushed the weapons aside and walked out from within them. As she did, she grasped one of the weapons, a staff that fit perfectly in her hand.

“I told you not to bring weapons, didn’t I?”

Number 13 had clearly laid down that rule. If she didn’t follow it, he would abandon the meeting and flee, or he wouldn’t guarantee the hostage’s safety.

But really.

“I didn’t bring this; I made it here. So, is it safe?”

She wasn’t sure if he could hear her, but she said it anyway.

He had said they would just talk, and then attacked with such a trivial puppet army, hadn’t he?

Since he had pulled such an audacious stunt, frankly, rules and hostages meant nothing now.

“I should quickly smash them all and go catch this bastard.”

With a surge of excitement and her pseudo-dialect slipping out, Check swung the staff she held with both hands, whooshing it through the air.

Towards Check, the mannequins that had been repelled once again rushed forward.

* * *

Check’s ability, the magic she wields, is ‘Weapon Creation’.

In addition to creating weapons, she can also enhance them or read the memories of a weapon in her hand and wield it to its fullest potential.

However, Check’s strength did not lie in the weapons she created or the power to enhance them.

The reason Check was strong. The reason she could rise to the position of vice-captain of the 7th Unit.

It lay not in her ability, but in her experience and her talent for martial arts.

Just a moment ago, when she fought the mannequins without even a weapon, her evasive movements flowed like a mirage or water, allowing her to slip past their attacks.

And the power with which she simultaneously evaded and destroyed mannequins with her bare fists.

All of that was the result of using nothing but her own body, without properly using magic or mana.

Effortlessly shattering mannequins with a single blow – mannequins strong enough to break an ordinary person’s fist – and her seemingly magical evasion techniques, all of it.

In a society where both heroes and villains, if they’re any good, use exceedingly flashy magic without exception, Check’s ability itself was originally unremarkable.

However, because Check was the user of that magic, and because she wielded it, it transformed into a fearsome and brutal force capable of shattering any magic or ability.

This was Check, the vice-captain of the 7th Unit.

She was an A-class hero like Spade, but unlike Spade, who had just recently reached A-class and was still inexperienced, Check was a formidable hero whose promotion to S-class was already confirmed.

And the outcome for the puppet army that dared to challenge such a hero, a martial arts deity whose bare body was even stronger, was obvious.

Crunch… Clatter…

“Already over?”

After just smashing the head of the last remaining mannequin with her staff, Check muttered as she looked around.

At Check’s feet, the horrifyingly shattered remains of mannequin dolls lay strewn about, covering the floor so thoroughly that it was barely visible.

Except for the initial all-directional attack with her weapons, Check had subsequently only used the single staff in her hand.

Yet, with just that, the mannequins had been reduced to their current miserable state.

Furthermore, it hadn’t even taken five minutes for dozens of mannequin soldiers to be completely shattered.

It was like a beast, like a storm, like a natural disaster.

It was that terrifying in momentum and tremendous in speed.

“Well then….”

……

‘…What now?’

Check frowned.

It was good that she had smashed this trivial mannequin army, but what should she do next?

Check’s dilemma didn’t last long. A crackling mechanical sound was heard from the area.

The mechanical sound came from a speaker placed in one corner of the warehouse. It seemed to be an item brought by the villain, not just random junk piled in the warehouse.

“[Welcome, Check.]”

“[How was our welcome? I hope you liked it.]”

The voice from beyond the speaker said brazenly.