episode_0118

A prolonged ringing in my ears, as if the world was stretching out.

With a headache that felt like my head would split open, I barely managed to open my eyelids, stiff with dust, to see a clear blue sky with clouds drifting by.

“Am I dead?”

A slight turn of my head revealed a wasteland, and dull, dark, polluted clouds floating above, as if the world had gone to hell. I must be alive.

“Guh… Cough..!”

My breath was still in me, so I tried to sit up, but the choking pain brought tears to my eyes.

They say a man only cries three times in his life, but that’s all bullshit.

When you’re in fucking agony, tears just come automatically. Any bastard who says they’ve only cried three times must be a delicate pussy who’s never been hurt in their life.

Fumbling with trembling hands, I checked my condition: several broken ribs, a rebar piercing my abdomen, and my right leg completely twisted.

Manageable enough to live, in other words.

“This is unbelievable…”

Considering the path I just tore through, these injuries are a mere trifle.

A hole pierced from the basement to the rooftop, nearly 20 meters deep.

Dust was surging up like crazy, and there were scars where reinforced concrete and pipes had been torn away by some intense force.

After tearing through such “cushioning” materials, the remaining force must have sent me flying dozens of meters higher before I fell.

A half-collapsed building.

A single attack had created this aftermath.

‘It’s like seeing that mad old geezer again…’

The urban legend of Eclipse Point, who used to slice and swish buildings apart with a single sword stroke, causing them to crumble.

Yoshimura, Ayakashi’s masterpiece, whom Johann called a specter.

It felt like facing a true monster again, one that Raleigh, Johann, and even the frog mask pervert barely managed to fight to a standstill.

“Hey! Kiddo! Are you alive?!”

Just then, an familiar voice called down from above.

WHIRRRRR─!

The pressure from the aerial vehicle’s vertical thrust maintenance device scattered the dust, whipping my hair around.

I gave a thumbs up in response to JQ’s voice, coming from the company’s AV that JQ and I had ridden in.

“I’m alive!”

“Phew! I thought you might get beaten to death by Luna, but thankfully you’re not! So what the hell is going on?!”

“It’s a bit hard to explain here…”

Just as I was about to tell him to come get me, a dull thud echoed from the hole in the building I had just burst out of.

Black inverted eyes emerged from the irregularly and violently shaking dust, looking directly at me.

“Oh, fuck.”

With immense force, I was dragged down below again.

“Aaaaaah!!!”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Visibility was zero in the thick dust.

But with the force that had grabbed my ankle and slammed me down, breaking through the building floor again and flinging me downwards, I frantically pulled the trigger of my shotgun towards the direction I felt the thing was.

Muzzle flashes repeatedly brightened my vision for a moment before returning to darkness.

But I was sure I had hit.

And right on its jaw, the relatively weaker part of its tough skin!

However, the thing holding and swinging me didn’t stop moving.

“Groooaaan…!! Aaaaaah!!!”

Under immense pressure, as if I were an astronaut, I became a human projectile weighing dozens of kilograms, flying straight down the corridor. As soon as a wall filled my vision, I immediately activated Cerberus.

Click- went the sound as stinging electrical signals stimulated my muscular system and a special cardiotonic flooded my entire circulatory system. My nervous system awakened, shattering human cognitive limits.

In the slowed-down world, I moved my broken leg, hooked it around the Xenotech Security’s neck, braked, twisted my waist, and jammed the shotgun’s buttstock into the corridor wall, redirecting and dissipating the force.

Whirl! Using the security guard as a cushion, slamming them into the wall while spinning in the air like a weighted pendulum—

Splat!

The security guard’s body, unable to absorb all the force, burst open, drenching me in blood and guts, but since I survived, it was a gain.

[“Hey! What was that?!”]

JQ frantically communicated with me, who had suddenly been dragged down and disappeared. I gasped for breath and rubbed my nose.

“Well… a real monster?”

[“Damn it. Anyway, you’re going to escape, right? I’ll keep it busy.”]

“I’d appreciate that.”

Thump- thump- thump- The monster, exuding immense pressure even though it was only walking far away, was too difficult for me to face head-on, no matter how high my specs were.

[“This big bro just scanned for the building’s weak points. Don’t move unnecessarily or you’ll get caught up, alright?”]

“Hm?”

JQ’s warning.

Before I could question it, CRASH─!!! CRASH─!!! CRASH─!!! The building shook with massive explosions, followed by TREMBLE─!!!! The building trembled as if an earthquake had struck.

The next moment, the middle of the corridor connecting me and the monster broke, and the section where the monster was completely collapsed, the monster getting caught in the concrete avalanche and descending below.

“Huh. What did you do?”

[“I sent drones to the building’s central pillars and detonated them. And I set off a few more in the direction of that bald bastard to weaken it and guide the collapse. It’s a simple matter for this big bro.”]

A method difficult to use unless the building’s collapse was perfectly calculated.

Was it possible to grasp this chaotic internal structure of the building and target specific points to cause a collapse in mere tens of seconds?

I shook my head in awe at JQ’s skill, whom I had somewhat dismissed as an idiot in my mind, and moved my legs.

‘I can move reasonably well.’

I pulled out the rebar piercing my abdomen and began to run towards the opposite side of the collapsed corridor.

‘Status of the server?’

‘There is damage due to the series of events, but it has not been completely lost. However, the situation is too urgent to continue data replication, so I recommend physically dismantling and retrieving the storage devices.’

‘Groan… I’ll have to tell JQ to load it up and take it.’

I let out a deep sigh, hearing the sound of stone rubble bursting apart from behind me.

* * *

“This way!”

As the ominous red alarm flashed throughout the entire facility, the researchers were escaping under the protection of security.

Bang─ Bang─ Their steps faltered due to the booming sounds and vibrations, as if bombs were exploding, but they pushed on, coughing up bloody phlegm with a will to survive.

“Headquarters… From Headquarters?”

“The situation has already been reported. They told us to continue attempts to eliminate the intruder.”

“Haha! Eliminate? What a joke. He’s probably sleeping soundly down there by now, beneath the building!”

The chief researcher let out a wry laugh.

They called it a failure, but its physical body alone was comparable to the successful creation they aimed for.

A body embodying the pinnacle of biological technology, possessing the maximum possible abilities for a living creature, and even administered drugs to unleash its limiters.

As long as it remained in that state, even if headquarters dispatched forces, it would require considerable effort and struggle to eliminate it.

Because that’s how it was made!

“I wish that were true, but… considering that, the sounds of fighting…”

“Don’t you know there are other test subjects that have been unleashed? They’re probably fighting among themselves.”

The security captain’s words trailed off.

This whole mess had erupted because he had let the intruder escape. She wanted to kick him in the shin for saying such annoying things, but it was impossible as her leg had been mangled in the recent collapse.

“The exit… Escape…”

Dragging their injured bodies, one wound each, they reached the exit.

Carrying the joy of finally escaping this living hell, forgetting their pain, they headed towards the end of the white tunnel where light streamed in.

RUMBLE- RUMBLE- RUMBLE-!!!

The throbbing sound of a colossal engine made the very ground tremble.

A biker gang on high-output bikes that could be called roaring engines blocked their path, as if they were grim reapers.

Wild Hunt. Tonyboni’s monster hunters. Xenotech’s annoying obstructers.

“It’s the first time we’ve faced each other directly like this.”

“Wild Hunt…!!”

More than twenty bikes, along with ground and aerial drones, surrounded the Xenotech researchers and facility security, exuding a murderous aura.

A long-standing bitter rivalry.

Murderous intent hidden beneath helmets clashed with clearly visible murderous intent on blood-stained white coats.

“You’re always just obstacles, maggots who have only ever been a hindrance and never any help!”

“What a coincidence. The same goes for you. I can swear on Pasio’s name. Now, how about you return our comrades?”

“Oh…? Ahahaha! That’s funny…”

The security guards raised their guns, and the Wild Hunt bikers crouched down on their bikes, ready to pull the throttle.

“Alright… fine… I’ll give it back. Go ahead, take it.”

CRUNCH- CRUNCH─ CRUNCH─!!! A massive crushing sound, gradually approaching.

The security personnel, who had been aiming their guns at the Wild Hunt, turned around in alarm, and a heavy atmosphere spread among the Wild Hunt members as well.

“…”

“…”

When the noise from inside the building momentarily subsided, the concrete dust settled, creating a silence so profound that not even a breath could be heard among the large group of nearly fifty people gathered on the ash-gray street.

And then.

EARTH-SHATTERING ROAR───────!!!

The third-floor outer wall of the facility burst open without warning.

Debris from the outer wall traced a trajectory, flying through the air above the street and striking a dilapidated building on the opposite side, dozens, even hundreds of meters away.

Scattering the storm, smog, and dust clouds, what revealed itself was a skin color both groups knew well.

Extremely pale white skin.

A towering giant over 3 meters tall.

A monster with inverted eyes filled with black pupils.

“If you can take it.”

With a wry smile, muzzle flashes erupted towards the monster.