episode_0112

The behavior of a hunter who hides their presence and form in the thick smoky mist to hunt prey.

One cannot sense anything, nor can they move rashly.

In this utterly stifling situation where I couldn’t even tell if I was facing an opponent, I decided to run straight forward.

“Hey, what are you… Haaack!”

While grabbing JQ by the scruff of his neck, of course.

“Gag gag gag?! Ugh!”

I gave JQ, who was making such bizarre noises just from being choked a bit, a chillingly cold stare, then activated Cerberus.

Clank- The sound of Cerberus’s heat exhaust vents opening and locking into place emanated from my neck.

With a jolt that sent a thrilling tremor through my nerves, my vision began to zoom in wildly as if being pulled, and in just three steps, my instantaneous speed broke the sound barrier, the shockwave hitting the thick smog wall.

Boom!

The sonic boom, pushing aside the surrounding air, momentarily cleared the smog, improving my vision to a few meters. Based on that improved sight, I was able to spot a sharp and deadly attack.

A massive scythe-like blade trap, waiting at head height, having pierced through the smog.

Its material didn’t seem metallic at all, but in a situation where judgment was more important than investigation, I slammed the JQ I had been dragging onto the ground and ducked to evade.

Grinding crash!!!

Flying asphalt fragments and a scythe tearing through the air.

It didn’t seem fixed; as soon as I dodged the clear intention to slice my neck, it immediately changed direction and pursued me.

“Gasp!”

“Hiiiiieeee!!!”

I kicked JQ, who was still burying his face in the ground like an ostrich hiding only its head, sending him tumbling down the stairs, then drew my dagger.

Clang! Sparks flew as I blocked the first slash.

At that moment, the blade suddenly folded, and I twisted my dagger, blocking it with the guard to prevent my hand from being sliced. But then, with a crunch-, I heard the sound of the non-metallic hilt crushing.

Despite the bizarre movements, my accelerated thoughts led to a rapid response.

I discarded the knife and grabbed my shotgun.

The tubular magazine, loaded with 8 shotgun shells, could project enough firepower to subdue one or two people at close range. True to that expectation, 8 rapid-fire shots, aimed directly, pierced through the smog, embedding large slugs into the assailant.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Thud!

“Huh? The feel is strange…”

Even if high-level protective chrome was embedded, it’s typical for the impact to transfer to the internal organs, eliciting at least a groan.

Furthermore, the material for typical protective plating is a composite of metal and fiber, so a dull plastic-cracking sound like that “thud!” wouldn’t occur.

As I pondered that question, a sharp awl jabbed precisely towards my eye.

Like the scythe, the awl’s material looked more like bone or fingernail than metal.

Of course, since it easily withstood an alloy knife, it was highly probable that its appearance was deceptive, and it was actually a complex new material.

My thoughts accelerated once more, and I tilted my head back.

Whoosh!

The awl quickly grazed past my eyelid, and a sudden heat flared around my eye.

Even so, it must have been too close for a perfect dodge; it brushed against the side, tearing my skin.

Of course, it was a mere scratch, too ambiguous to even call a wound as it would heal in the blink of an eye, but for a moment, the temporary bleeding stained the vision in one eye red.

‘Overall speed isn’t Cerberus-level over-the-top, but it’s high. Even among corporate soldiers, only those with mental protection measures and hard implants could keep up, huh?’

In other words, against an opponent with this level of speed, the loss of vision in one eye is a more painful disadvantage than most injuries.

‘Martina, can it be neutralized by hacking—’

‘Impossible. The target has no hackable sockets or implants.’

‘Seriously…’

To think this was a physical ability achievable without cyberware – as soon as Martina’s reply made me burst into a hollow laugh, the figure hidden beyond the smog finally began to come into full view.

The pale face of a woman, devoid of any hint of blood.

Eyeballs filled only with whites, with no discernible pupils, making one wonder how it saw forward.

A left arm with three mantis-like joints and sharp blades, an additional appendage attached above the right shoulder, and the other arm twisted into a spiral, modified to extend far.

Even just looking at its upper body, it was grotesquely modified to a level one would rather not call human.

“What… Is this that monster…!”

It was a bizarre age where the category of ‘monsters’ had expanded ridiculously, but there couldn’t be many who would like such a thing, even if you scoured the whole world.

Without a moment to be surprised by the truly existing monster, its upper body lowered, and with instantaneous acceleration, blades shot forth. I once again accelerated my nerves, trying to gauge the distance in my vision, which struggled to estimate it.

I crammed the speedloader, which had pre-loaded four rounds, into the tubular magazine, reloading it.

I dodged the incoming scythe by leaping sideways and, anticipating the awl shot towards my side, I struck it away with the buttstock.

I then rotated the shotgun and fired four shots in quick succession at the monster.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

The slugs, powered by magnum rounds, accurately embedded themselves in its shoulder, joints, neck, and head. Yet, the monster merely staggered and swayed for a moment before shaking its head and turning its all-white eyes towards me again.

“Ugh! Gross!”

Whoosh! Swish!

I was narrowly evading the ultra-fast slashes tearing through the air, but the side effects of Cerberus were slowly beginning to appear due to continuous use.

A headache, like an awl digging into my brain, began in my heated head, and the vision that had been only half-reddened now turned completely crimson.

Slice!

“Gah…!”

Only then did the monster land its first effective hit on me.

The blade sliced across my thigh, bypassing my protective cloaking jumper, as if trying to steal my mobility.

“Unlike its shitty appearance, does it have intelligence too…?”

Troublesome.

Of course, it wasn’t beyond my ability to handle, but its durability and speed, which allowed it to take magnum slugs at point-blank range without its head exploding, only being dazed, were specs that most skilled individuals couldn’t match. More than anything, the way it moved as if it could see clearly by itself within this thick smog was utterly troublesome.

As the wound on my thigh slowly healed, the monster retreated, attempting to hide itself in the smog again.

‘Do I have to fight while taking hits?’

An assassin, a different style from a shapeshifter, but difficult to deal with.

If so, wouldn’t letting it strike and then taking it down in one go be the easiest method?

‘It’ll heal anyway…’

‘…This AI recommends exercising cautious judgment.’

‘But what am I supposed to do about that? It’s difficult for me to catch too.’

It was truly astonishing where something like that had popped out from.

If you unleashed even one of those on a decently large gang, they’d be wiped out, wouldn’t they?

I was even thinking of having Martina activate the air purification system in Tony Bony when I heard the sharp sound of something slicing through the air again.

And then.

Buzzzzz─

As if the buzzing of a bee’s wings rapidly brushed past—

“Duck!”

At JQ’s voice, which came from afar, I immediately threw myself to the ground, covering my head.

That decision, devoid of any hesitation, proved perfectly right. The moment the buzzing of the bee’s wings ceased.

KABOOOOM───!!!

A thunderous roar, flesh-searing heat, and a blast erupted, incinerating the smog and blowing away the monster hidden within.

The attack from the suicide drone, affixed with explosives, which had been timing its strike until now, hit at the precise moment, definitely creating a critical blow. I got up from my prone position and ran towards the black gunpowder smoke where the monster was screaming.

“Throw it inside the building! There’s no smog inside the building!”

“Gasp!”

Caught in the explosion, thrashing about, the monster’s exposed full body was even more grotesque.

Its lower body had three pairs of legs like an arthropod, and its rump, whose contents were unknown, was swollen like an insect’s abdomen.

Suppressing my revulsion, I grabbed the monster by its neck, activated my physical-ware, and with the sense of omnipotence from my entire body’s muscles activating, I lifted and threw it.

CRASH!!!

The large-bodied monster, flung through the air, shattered the building’s security window and tumbled across the floor of the building where the smog was thinner. I accelerated again, catching up, and plunged my knife into what appeared to be its vital points.

Neck, chest, lungs, waist, spine—and all other areas where arteries passed through. As I sliced and cut them all, blood spurted, and it began to thrash even more violently.

Its entire body bore burns, fractures, stab wounds that pierced organs, and lacerations that severed arteries in nearly ten places.

To finish off the monster, which could be said to have been dismantled in an instant, I loaded the shotgun with a speedloader and placed the muzzle under its jaw.

“Haa… Even so, it can’t withstand this.”

I pulled the heavy trigger.

Bang─ Bang─ Bang─ Bang─

Only after that series of actions was completed did the monster finally cease its movements.

“Ah~ That was tough. What the heck is even roaming around like this? The world is really going to hell.”

All the wounds I sustained had already healed, so the damage I took was merely a broken knife and feeling a bit hungry. However, the monster in Tony Bony had been a formidable foe, quite dangerous if JQ hadn’t helped at the end.

If the activities of the Wild Hunt, who hunt such things, aren’t just empty talk, then their skills can be considered indirectly proven.

As I sat on a dust-covered chair, catching my breath, I started hearing the loud roar of engines from afar.

Not just one or two.

At least twenty.

Moreover, sounds like those of the “Bim-Bim” dog-horse-type robots running on the road mixed with the motorcycle engine sounds, making the streets reverberate with the noise as if a legion was approaching.

As if to declare that the streets where this monster roamed belonged to them.

They emerged, piercing through the smog.

The man in the full-face helmet leading the vanguard of the group surveyed the situation, sweeping his gaze once over me, JQ walking over there, and the monster’s corpse.

“Done?”

He nodded once, then passed by with that brief remark.

“…What was that?”

My jaw dropped.