111
Ch.111 E55
A special shelter for government officials in each District, prepared in case of emergencies, similar to where I am now.
Among them, failed projects where shelters that were no longer in use were converted into drug-shelter.
Despair-class monsters, who have lost all human intelligence and turned into pure monsters, are beginning to wake up.
Currently, there is only one S-rank superpower human in A-City.
With just Baskerville and me, it's impossible to handle five Despair-class monsters even with Yeo Woon-jae.
Even if all the superpower humans in A-City cooperate, we can't win.
[Hey, are you listening?]
Then, Gu Seo-ryong, who forcibly pulled the cat out through Sagugu from the distant lab, spoke to me.
[I’m done here. Can you open a door for me to come over?]
At Gu Seo-ryong’s request, I immediately spread my wavelength and coupled Sagugu’s ability with mine.
A passage connecting space through the linked ability was formed, Gu Seo-ryong and Sagugu emerged from it.
“Something smells delicious?!”
“Yeo Woon-jae is Monster E55. A-City doesn’t listen, so it’s a dumping ground for useless failed experiments. Plus, Kage, who was gradually approaching the lab, was executed, and evidence was destroyed in the chaos.”
[Gu Seo-ryong.]
“Things are getting interesting, huh?”
I made a request to Gu Seo-ryong, who appeared at the entrance of the underground shelter.
[We don’t have enough people to handle the Despair-class monsters. Help us.]
“Hmm, I figured you’d ask me for something like this.”
Gu Seo-ryong and Sagugu are among the top-tier Despair-class monsters.
With them joining, our forces against the lab’s monsters would be one S-rank and three Despair-class monsters.
We’re still outmatched, but the situation improves significantly.
“You want me to protect humans and die doing what you want? Even if I like you, do you think I’d go that far?”
[We don’t have time. Do as I say.]
“Oh my, how authoritarian. That’s not how you make a deal, sweetie. If you’re going to ask something so heavy of me, you should offer something equally valuable in return.”
Bargaining at a time like this—typical Gu Seo-ryong.
Tsk. Clicking my tongue, I bared my teeth and reluctantly made a promise.
[I’ll let you pet my belly.]
“Huh? Are you serious? You think I’d risk my life for that?”
[Fine. I’ll let you pet my head too.]
“…At the very least, shouldn’t you offer to sleep with me? Hmm… No, actually, offering belly and head rubs is a pretty big deal for a cat, isn’t it? Not bad…”
[Hurry up.]
“Fine.”
As I urged Gu Seo-ryong, at my impatient from the vibrations, she flicked her fingers and accepted the terms.
“Well, risking my life to make the man I like happy does sound like something a good woman would do. But… One more thing.”
[What?]
“This is a government special shelter, right? Those over there are pigs, aren’t they? Give them to me.”
What Gu Seo-ryong is after is the city’s master code.
The corpses of the humans are still warm.
If I eat them quickly… I might barely be able to swallow their memories.
Thinking it’s better than losing the code entirely, I allowed Gu Seo-ryong to eat and spread my wings from my back.
[Do as you please.]
“Great. Huh? Sagugu? Where’d you go, kid?”
“Mmm… Sagugu didn’t eat anything.”
Whoosh! Leaving Gu Seo-ryong and Sagugu behind, I kicked off the ground and soared into the moonlight, spreading my wavelength.
The circular wavelength reached far, and at its edge, I sensed E55 flying in the distance.
Countless magic bullets chased after E55, darting rapidly across the sky.
Twisting its body like a circus performer, E55 dodged the curving bullets and caught one between its wing joints with its fingers.
Crunch. The crumpled bullet in its hand was placed on its thumb and—bang!—fired.
Its target: the rooftop of the tallest building nearby.
“What the hell?! Where did these monsters come from?!”
Bang! Baskerville extended his hand shaped like a gun and deflected the bullet with a trick shot.
E55 accelerated instantly, charging at Baskerville, claws outstretched like a bird of prey aiming to snatch its target.
“Groooar!”
With a thunderous sound, I lunged at E55’s neck, grappling with it.
As we spun and fell through the air, Baskerville’s Magic Bullets chased after us.
“Where the hell did this one come from?!”
I took the sharp-angled bullets with my body, while E55 slashed them apart with its wings.
In that one exchange, I realized,
Baskerville is no match for me or E55.
His ability is trash—only slightly better than Meister when fighting monsters.
His combat style relies on hiding in one place and unleashing prepared magic bullets to track enemies, but his real body is too weak to react to monster assaults.
Against weak monsters, he could handle hundreds or thousands alone, but against strong ones, he’s endlessly outmatched.
In contrast, E55 is a monster specialized in fighting powerful enemies rather than killing many humans or destroying buildings—an anomaly among monsters.
In midair, E55 folded its wings, transforming its body into a bear-like shape, and pressed its palm against me.
“Paha!”
Thud. The shockwave from E55’s hand spread in a large circle before condensing instantly at the center.
Agony as if my skin was being peeled off, followed by an impact like being impaled by a giant stake.
For a moment, I felt unbearable pain, as if struck by starlight.
My vision blurred as my organs ruptured, and I was sent crashing to the ground.
Kaboom! Fragments exploded around me as I collided with the ground, bursting through fleeing soldiers and heroes.
“Eek! M-monster!”
“Run, ruuun!”
“Grrrr…”
Displeased, I got up atop the crushed corpses, shaking my head to fling off the drool and blood dripping from my mouth.
Even after rapid regeneration, the lingering pain paralyzed my entire body.
So this is Yeo Woon-jae’s ability in his prime.
It hurts several times more than anything I’ve felt before.
“Pathetic, isn’t it?”
Whoosh. E55 landed silently in front of me, folding its wings completely and adopting a stance identical to Yeo Woon-jae’s.
A coarse voice scraped from its monstrous vocal cords, laughter oozing out.
At the end of E55’s gaze were superpower humans and soldiers fleeing from the monsters.
“This is the reality of superpower humans. None of them truly want to risk their lives.”
“The monster….”
“It’s… Talking…?”
As it said, the superpower humans were too afraid of provoking me or Yeo Woon-jae to attack properly.
They couldn’t even run—just frozen in place.
Drip. The remnants of Yeo Woon-jae’s memories, bitten off by the monster, leaked from E55.
“Heh heh heh… That’s why I said it was wrong.”
The Superpower Human Registration Act, superpower human supremacy, Kage’s ability drastically reducing monster threats.
All of it mass-produced superpower humans who prioritized self-preservation over humanity.
Those who only wanted to wield their given power.
Half-wits who couldn’t do anything without Kage.
If they lived by the rule that the strong do as they please, they should have no complaints dying by it.
“Even a weird monster like you, who hesitates to attack humans, wouldn’t care about this trash, right?”
Humans are prey.
Weaker monsters are also prey.
But fights against equals or stronger monsters are avoided.
“Look, kitty! Do we need to fight? There are so many delicious humans here!”
[How pathetic, losing to a monster’s instincts.]
Rejecting the cooperation proposal based on monster instincts, E55 stomped its foot.
Boom! A shockwave burrowed underground, flipping the earth like a wave.
Then, from behind the dust cloud, E55 charged at me, shattering the debris and thrusting its hands forward.
This monster hides its presence more perfectly than me, Gu Seo-ryong, or Sagugu.
Speed unbefitting its size, abruptly amplifying its ability’s output only when necessary.
I swung my claws at E55 as it closed in.
At that moment, its outstretched hands spread wide in a circle, swatting my forepaw aside.
“Your technique is lacking.”
Its elbow folded naturally, striking my neck with a shockwave.
Swipe. Sharp wings sprouted from its arms, rotating with its wrist to slash my neck.
A high-frequency blade, mixing wind and shock abilities, screeched unpleasantly against my spine.
I turned my body into shadows, passing through E55, and twisted my regenerated neck left and right.
Still intact.
I never thought there’d be an opponent who could cut through this body so easily.
This… I can’t fight while worrying about the humans around me.
Thump, thump… My monster core pulsed with survival instinct, my vision tinting red.
[Get out of here, now!]
I shouted at the useless superpower humans and spread my body wide.
A probing battle to find the ability most effective against E55.
My body stretched like discarded meat, monstrous flesh chaotically bursting from the black mass.
“What a strange monster!”
Telekinesis, freezing, ultrasonic waves, mind control, petrification, flames, lightning.
The shadows encroaching around E55 unleashed a storm of abilities, but E55 deftly slipped through the wind, creating gaps.
Just before touching E55, the abilities bent under its shock domination, branching away like tree limbs.
Petrification shattered into stone fragments, telekinesis was overpowered by brute force, and mind control was shaken off with a tilt of its head.
Unlike Sagugu, E55 wasn’t made for domination.
Just a disposable bomb dropped on the city—a product of curiosity about how strong a monster made from an experienced superpower human could be.
Thus, its mind wasn’t eroded.
Is this the only ability that can reliably land a hit?
Crack! The sound of a massive ice sheet splitting as space was severed.
A slash using misaligned dimensions—E55’s arm fell from the cleanly cut cross-section.
It dodged that? Its flawless evasion of the spatial slash stunned me briefly.
“This… This ability?”
E55’s presence grew erratic after dodging the spatial slash.
Twitching eyes, human memories explosively surging forth.
The fragmented appearance of an unfamiliar woman emerged as E55’s ability output spiked violently.
“You… What did you do to my daughter?!”
[…I did nothing.]
“You… You monster, you—!”
Yeo Woon-jae’s lingering humanity momentarily swallowed the monster’s instincts, fueling its rage.
This absurd human—overcoming monster instincts to empower itself?
Kaboom! A shockwave spread from E55’s stomp.
The ground flipped in a circular quake before converging toward E55.
Thud! As the ability’s wavelength spiked sharply around E55, its hand appeared before my eyes.
I barely reacted, losing half my brain—then my waist was severed by a follow-up kick.
I flew far, regenerating my brain.
Meanwhile, E55 appeared before me, slashing its feather-blades to fully bisect me.
“Groooar!”
“Kreeee!”
“Ooooh!”
As my upper half fell, a monster alert resonating through the city signaled the fully awakened Despair-class monsters beginning to move.
Sagugu and Gu Seo-ryong can’t help me now.
This is…
Really dangerous.
***
Once, monsters were the embodiment of despair, but as superpower humans grew stronger, they became foes that could be hunted.
Among them, A-City controlled monsters with overwhelming force, even turning monster hunts into public entertainment.
But now, every hero and superpower human in A-City felt pure despair at the monsters’ emergence.
“Three more Despair-class monsters?!”
“Why, why?! How?! Where?!”
“Those fighting over there aren’t Disaster-class either!”
“Then the Despair-class monsters in A-City now are…”
Five in total.
The only S-rank hero to face them: Baskerville.
“Who’s supposed to fight those?! Electress is gone, Kage is gone!”
Kage was pierced through the heart in front of everyone.
No S-rank could survive that.
Why Yeo Woon-jae did it didn’t matter now.
Now was the time to decide how to handle the monsters in A-City.
“…Abandon it.”
The first hero to speak proposed something brutally realistic.
“Let’s flee to another city! We can’t win! How are we supposed to kill five Despair-class monsters?!”
“Are you insane?! We’re heroes!”
“Heroes?! Why should we risk our lives for humans?!”
“He’s right, we can’t win. If we die, the citizens die anyway. Let the monsters eat them while we…”
Escape.
With this many superpower humans, we could survive even in a closed District.
“You crazy bastards! Have you forgotten a hero’s duty?!”
Baskerville, sent to control the heroes, shouted in horror.
But the heroes, already plotting their survival, didn’t stay still.
“That’s bullshit Kage spouted! Superpower humans are superior, so protect weak humans? I never agreed! If we’re superior, why should we sacrifice ourselves?!”
“Right, unawakened humans are failures anyway! Who cares if they die?!”
“Are you… Villains?! Which sector are you from?!”
“Shut up! Then who’s fighting those monsters?! Baskerville, you’re an S-rank who can’t even handle Disaster-class, you half-wit!”
“Even if you buy time, Kage and Electress are gone!”
“Tch…!”
An A-rank superpower human openly dismissed the S-rank, but Baskerville couldn’t refute it.
It was true.
Baskerville’s ability couldn’t kill Despair-class monsters.
“This is a necessary sacrifice. We must survive.”
“What…?”
“Kage said it too—one superpower human’s life is worth more than a hundred citizens!”
“That’s only if you can save that many…!”
“Then we’ll save them in another city!”
“Stop this madness!”
The heroes split into two factions—abandon the city or fight to the end.
Soldiers aimed trembling guns at them, shouting,
“Heroes running away?! What nonsense!”
“What about us if you flee?!”
“Our families will die! Fight, damn it!”
“The hell?! Why should we fight for you?!”
“Heroes fleeing monsters violates military law!”
“Military law?! You idiot, this is the Age of superpower humans!”
“If you want to die so badly, go die yourselves!”
“Stop, stop!”
Bang! Gunfire rang out, bullets embedding in a superpower human’s body.
The lead rounds only scratched their superpower human flesh.
The soldier hadn’t fired to kill—just to stop them.
But the superpower humans took it differently.
“Huh?”
“These bastards… Trying us?”
“Kage is gone. No need to follow his ‘minimize casualties’ order anymore.”
Stupid humans, inferior yet daring to oppose and command them.
As the superpower humans flared their abilities in rage, Baskerville desperately tried to mediate.
“Stop, both of you! Now’s not the time—!”
“Fight the monsters! People are dying right now!”
“Why should we?!”
“You bugs dare order us around?!”
“Just leave them! Wasting time here is pointless!”
Now, they split into three.
Those who wanted to kill the soldiers and leave, those who wanted to leave them, and those who insisted on fighting the monsters to save as many as possible.
“Don’t move, stop! Are you ignoring Baskerville?!”
“You’re siding with that bastard now?!”
“Fighting three Despair-class monsters is worse than fighting Baskerville.”
“You bastards…!”
As soldiers aimed guns at the fleeing superpower humans, tensions escalated.
To fight the monsters, they needed every superpower human they could get.
Remembering Kage’s words about accepting villains, Baskerville finally raised his magic bullets.
If necessary, he’d kill to stop them.
“Huh?”
“What’s that?”
At that moment, in the heroes’ vision—
A comet streaked across the night sky, arcing downward.
Whoosh! The blazing comet hurtled toward the heroes before halting midair.
“You… Insane bastards.”
Long hair flickering between white and crimson.
Yoo Anna, having dropped a giant red-hot iron bullet, landed among the heroes.
“What the hell are you doing? Now of all times!”