Chapter 181
Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Not Normal
“Amy.”
Dr. doesn't even entertain the slightest misunderstanding. Just by looking at my face, he seems to grasp the situation I'm in and the emotions churning inside me.
“What the hell did you do to Amy?”
Dr.'s blazing eyes snap straight toward Nicole. Even Nicole, who's committed every vile act imaginable, keeps stumbling backward at the sight of his righteous fury.
But Nicole is my top-priority command holder.
I can't defy her will. With trembling hands, I aim at Dr. and fire off the subatomic ray that decomposes matter.
Pzzzt-!
It's an attack even Dr.'s reflexes can't dodge.
My aim shakes, barely grazing a fatal hit, but his right forearm is already sliced clean off, leaving an empty void.
“...”
Yet Dr. doesn't even scream.
Instead, he calmly assesses the best stance to take, commits to it, and acts.
“All we have to do is buy time.”
He's planning to hold out until Jenny arrives.
I can tell just by looking at his burn-scarred face.
Flash-!
Arachne, Nephyr, even Isaac—
none of them can charge at me first.
Dr. kicks off the ground with those pitch-black legs engulfed in flames, closing the distance between us.
Sparks scatter across the floor.
Charred flesh and skin rain down onto the dirt.
But new flesh keeps sprouting on Dr. Alraune fused within him must be pouring everything she has into this.
He's long surpassed human physical limits. Maybe even mental ones.
“Nicole, I'm going to kill you now!”
Dr. shouts deliberately loud, drawing both my and Nicole's attention. He's steering her from issuing new orders to anyone else—her lovers or Isaac.
Nicole feels grotesque terror at the sight of her old comrade charging while wreathed in flames. Being the target of a man melting in real-time from the heat is no pleasant experience.
“Protect me and kill the targets.”
But Nicole's actions and demeanor are far from normal human bounds. Familiar with the fear welling inside her, she issues a new command and widens the gap with Dr. Joo-ho.
Bang-!
The rifle pierces Dr.'s chest before my fist can. Hot blood sprays outward, but the hole regenerates, covered in plant bark.
A vine bursts from that bark,
as if Alraune intends to hinder my movements.
Dr. and I tangle and dive into combat.
No, calling it combat is too generous. It's utterly one-sided.
Even drawn into close quarters, Dr. has no chance of winning.
His thrusting punches,
even the dagger he pulls out late,
fail to slow my enhanced body in any meaningful way.
Dr. has never trained in combat. It's a novice style—wild swings praying the opponent takes the hit.
I dodge those feeble attacks effortlessly.
Wham-!
Then drive my fist into his abdomen. The direct hit, impossible to evade, shreds his internal organs and outer muscles alike.
It's revolting. The very fact that my full-force punch is harming Dr. is nightmarish.
“Elder!”
Nephyr draws her twin daggers a beat late and charges in.
At the same time, Arachne joins to protect Dr.
Having been subdued by me once before, both women move with tension. They desperately try to shield him while shaking off their own fear.
Here, only two show no fear.
Dr. and Nicole.
They alone give their all toward their goals.
Bang-!
Nicole sprays rifle fire wildly at the four of us.
An AI no different from a tool,
three monsters brawling up close beside her.
No matter who it hits, Nicole doesn't care. Her only concern is...
“Nicole, stop!”
Her ex-husband, prosthetic leg still unfamiliar, fearlessly grabs the rifle-wielding woman's hands and arms with his bare ones.
“Are you insane? Snap out of it, please!”
“You're the insane one! Let go! If not now, there won't be another chance!”
The couple finally clutches each other's hands, exchanging words.
“You idiot...!”
It's too heated to call simple conversation.
Crack-
Nicole smashes Isaac's shoulder with the rifle's buttstock, screaming in rage.
“If you don't know shit, just stay out of it!”
The buttstock lands true on his shoulder blade—no scream escapes.
Bone's probably shattered. If not, at least cracked badly.
“I'll explain after I kill those things, so please just stay put...!”
Nicole aims her rifle again. In her sights, only the loathsome struggle of four monsters.
But they're not monsters.
Since meeting Joo-ho, everyone's changing bit by bit.
At least, I can see it in their eyes.
Yeah,
I want to believe in Joo-ho.
Even if he fails—even after seeing Nicole changed and fitting me with a prosthetic to save me from that blood-soaked nest.
Truth is, I lose nothing.
Don't I already owe him my life with these un-callused hands?
Nicole's rifle zeros in on the snake girl's head. They're too busy tying up Amy even briefly to mind the rifle.
The only one who can stop her
is me.
“You stupid damn woman...!”
I tackle her.
It's been ages since I held my wife.
Nicole and I tumble wildly across the ash-covered ground.
The blindly fired rifle bullet misses the snake girl's head, grazing waves' foam and fire's smoke.
She didn't die.
Good,
I've paid back a bit of what I owe Joo-ho.
“Snap out of it! What the hell are you doing? You sick or something!? Huh!?”
Calculations later.
First, resolve this marital spat.
“What did you do to Amy? Spill it. Stop everything now and behave!”
Nicole and I grapple over the rifle. Pure strength? I'm leagues above.
“Fuck off.”
But Nicole resorts to every dirty trick without hesitation, trying to wrench it back.
Suddenly, my vision darkens,
searing pain erupts in my eyes.
“Agh...!”
This crazy bitch grabbed ash from the ground and flung it in my face.
It got in good. Thug-style fighting turns my stomach.
“Nicole, you...!”
I fumble to grab her again, but as I clutch her clothes, the buttstock swings once more.
This time, my head.
Smashes right into my cheek.
One wrong hit, and I could be a vegetable for life—doesn't faze her.
“Just! Stay! Put!”
Crunch- Thud!
“I'm! Doing this! To save you too!”
Her words and actions don't match.
Buttstock blows make me feel like dying right now, yet she won't stop.
“Let go! I said let go!”
We're supposed to grow old together.
Guess we've lived too long.
To see such an ugly sight.
“Won't? Let go!”
This isn't normal.
Nothing like the Nicole I knew.
If this were something resembling her, I'd understand.
“You, stupid human!”
What expression is Nicole making as she slams the buttstock down? What face?
Ash in my eyes—I can't see.
“If we don't kill her, we're in danger! If that idiot just stays put, we won't get attacked anymore. Don't you get it? Without that lunatic forcing a war!”
My cheek's torn—mouth fills with blood.
But sightless,
I cling to her pant leg, enduring.
What an ironic moment.
We've never fought like this before.
Not even slapped cheeks by accident.
“So let go!”
Yeah,
Nicole put up with a lot.
Endured me, hopeless slacker, far too long.
“If you know nothing, stay out of it, damn it. You and that Joo-ho kid are both pathetic as hell.”
The Nicole who teared up at killing bugs is now trying to murder Joo-ho and the girls.
“...Hoo.”
Nicole catches her breath.
Maybe I should've beaten her senseless. Anything to stop her.
Me?
Beat Nicole?
...The rifle's muzzle swings back toward the girls.
Have they been subdued by Amy? They're sprawled on the ground—only Joo-ho clings stubbornly to her body.
This time, it's a sure hit.
Nicole's finger and rifle steady—no shake—as she targets the girls who can't dodge properly.
She's changed since those days practicing rifle fire till her fingers blistered, vowing to board the ship together. Now she holds a proper stance without my guidance.
Bang-!
The bullet fires,
light flashes,
time slows.
But that human weapon doesn't pierce the girls' or Joo-ho's skulls.
“Kyak.”
A being unkillable by rifle shakes off seawater irritably and arrives at the fray.
Even Amy under Nicole's control halts at this bizarre presence. At least Jenny fears nothing from Amy.
“Daddy, something smells yummy. You waited for me?”
Father and daughter reunite.
Jenny cradles the fire-charred Joo-ho like a princess, rubbing her cheek against his. But icy rage chills the very air around her.
“Je-Jenny...”
Joo-ho chuckles bitterly, entrusting her with the rest.
“Keep playing with Amy... Got it?”
Then,
still unyielding, he starts walking toward Nicole and me.
Flames reignite around his body.
But Joo-ho utters no groan,
no scream.
“Now you're a worthy opponent... Right, lady...?”
His burning eyes reflect Nicole's stunned laugh.
Yeah,
now only the battle between abnormals remains.