Laboratory Raid (4)
The training hall was a little dumbfounded.
“My name is Iron. I’m a B+-class hero.”
“...B+?”
B+. It was definitely a rank that could be called high-tier, but to her it was something she’d stepped on like trash on the sidewalk. She’d faced plenty of them.
‘...Does he seriously not know who I am?’
Either he didn’t know her, or he didn’t know the executives of Eclipse. Otherwise, there was no way he would show up so boldly right in front of her without even attempting a surprise attack.
“...Do you, um, not know who I am…?”
“Huh? Of course I do. You’re an Eclipse executive! Aren’t you from that group that’s been running around lately—Maycon or Paycon or whatever?”
From the way he spoke, it seemed he was both clueless and stupid.
‘Hmm… My last public activity was five years ago, so I guess it can’t be helped…’
It had been five years since she last revealed herself as the training hall, but she still found it absurd that he had forgotten her in that time.
“...You’re planning to stop me, aren’t you…?”
“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m definitely stopping you. If you guys wipe the data here, I lose my meal ticket.”
“...?”
The way he talked was a little strange. The Hero Association wouldn’t kick out valuable high-ranking heroes just because they failed a mission… right?
The training hall felt a flicker of doubt, but she quickly decided it didn’t matter.
Srrrng—
“If you t-try to stop me… I-I’ll cut you down…”
“I wonder if you actually can.”
Thud.
The training hall dropped the large bag she’d been carrying on her back and instantly charged at his throat.
It was a straightforward, clean horizontal slash—meant to test how he would react to an attack.
Whiiiish—
A threatening strike aimed straight at his neck. But even as the blade was about to make contact, Iron didn’t move an inch.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing rang out as sparks flew.
“Doesn’t work on me~”
The man grinned. Not a single scratch had appeared on his neck.
“Physical… reinforcement type…?”
“My ability is Reinforced Skin. It turns my skin as tough as minerals.”
Squeeze.
Iron clenched his fist tightly and threw a punch at the training hall.
Kaaang—!
She hurriedly blocked with the flat of her sword, but the impact shattered the blade and sent her flying into the wall. Her eyes, now a little more serious, locked onto Iron.
“How about it? Think you’re falling for me yet?”
“...Ugh.”
Watching him send her flying and then act all smug made her stomach churn with disgust.
‘...He’s ugly.’
An ugly bastard with zero charm, and now he was hitting on her. Every cell in her body seemed to reject him. Especially because his gaze was so blatantly fixed on her chest, the feeling only grew stronger.
‘I need to finish this quickly…’
Having made up her mind, the training hall tossed aside her broken sword, pulled a new weapon from the bag she had set on the floor earlier, and charged again.
Crack-crack-crack!
“Whoops, that was close.”
I somehow managed to dodge the flying chunks of ice and looked at her.
“Now, how exactly do you plan to run away?”
Her face was scrunched up so tightly it looked like her glare alone could freeze me solid.
“Another smoke bomb? Or are you going to smash the wall to block the path? Maybe a trap? Yeah, that sticky stuff was pretty annoying, I’ll admit. Or how about taking another rookie hero hostage like before? Oh wait—there are no heroes here, it’s a dead end, and the room is too wide for that, right?!”
Uh… hmm…
‘She seems way more pissed off than I expected…’
Maybe I should’ve held back on the taunting.
“...It’s because you keep following me. If you pretend you didn’t see me from now on, I’ll just take what I need and leave cleanly.”
“You call that a suggestion? A hero pretending not to see a villain? Where in the world is there a hero like that?”
There are probably more than you think…
I looked at her and let out a small chuckle.
“You really don’t know anything.”
Well, of course she wouldn’t. Even with that prickly attitude, she was a straight-laced hero who firmly believed in people.
In the original story, she only found out about the corruption among heroes much later. She got a lot of flak for being so rigid, if I remember correctly.
“So, what are you going to do now? I’m currently cornered.”
So far I had only created the simplest things to escape, but after doing this for several hours, I was starting to feel my mana running low.
“Just like Queen said, this is a dead end. There are no people and the space is wide open, so almost all the methods I’ve used to run away until now are useless here.”
It looked like this space had originally been meant for a large-scale laboratory. The area itself was quite spacious, but with no obstacles at all, what could I even do? The most I could manage was setting traps, but seeing how she had wrapped the floor around her in ice, she seemed ready to respond at any moment.
“...What else is there to do? I’m going to catch you.”
“Is that so? Then…”
I lightly lifted my shoe and tapped the floor.
Tap. Tap.
‘Just as I thought, there’s a space underneath.’
I smiled brightly and looked at Ice Queen.
“Looks like I’ll have to get past you no matter what and run.”
“What are you trying to—”
Before she could finish, I threw the bomb.
“This—!”
Countless bombs soared into the air. Ice Queen tried to freeze them all with her ability, but it was impossible to stop every single one.
Kwaaaaang!!
Several bombs finally fell toward the ground, creating massive cracks in the floor.
Both me and Ice Queen plummeted downward as the floor gave way beneath us.
Boom!
Claaang!
‘F-fuck, why is she so strong?!’
Iron stared at the training hall, who was going completely berserk right in front of him. She had switched weapons a few times at the start, but once she realized blunt force worked, she stuck with blunt weapons and had been hammering him ever since.
Wham!
“Aaaagh!!”
Whoosh!
Iron clenched his fist tightly and swung, but the training hall dodged it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
‘She read my attack pattern again?’
At first, it seemed like his attacks were landing a few times, but at some point she had adapted. After that, she hadn’t allowed a single hit and was completely dominating him one-sidedly.
‘She narrowed her right eye. That means a high chance of an attack aimed at the chin.’
‘She’s twitching her left pinky and slightly twisting her shoulder angle? That’s a kick pattern.’
‘Ah, she scrunched her face. That’s just a simple punch, so I just need to protect my vitals…’
This was all thanks to her ability. She was a person with no limits when it came to absorbing knowledge.
Therefore, she could analyze and learn an opponent’s behavioral habits in real time, then counter them as if she had been fighting that specific attack style for years.
Wham!
“Aaaagh!!!”
From the receiving end, it was both bewildering and absurd.
“This is cheating…!”
Iron was irritated that the situation had deviated so far from his plan.
‘Should I just… use it?’
When Iron slipped his hand into his pocket, he felt a smooth vial. If he used it, he believed he could completely turn the tide.
‘Yeah. Let’s use it.’
He had planned to use it after fighting moderately anyway. There was no point in dragging out this childish game any longer.
Grin.
The lustful expression returned to Iron’s face, which had been filled with nothing but irritation until now.
“...?”
‘What the… does she like getting hit?’
Apparently she had unintentionally catered to his tastes. The training hall felt goosebumps rise all over her body. Deciding it was time to end this, she charged straight at Iron.
“Th-this… is the end!”
Just as she swung the hammer with all her strength—
Splash!
Iron sprayed a red liquid all over her.
‘Got her!’
The training hall was completely drenched. The corners of Iron’s mouth stretched into a wide grin.
“Puhaha! How’s that? Can’t use your power at all now, can you?”
Iron dodged her now-unfocused and sloppy attack and shouted at her with a wicked laugh.
‘She’s completely covered in the ability suppressor!’
Ability suppressor. In truth, that name was something the man had come up with—the official name for this treatment drug didn’t even exist yet.
It was something the researchers here had accidentally created during their experiments.
‘Normally it works best when ingested, but just making contact with the skin gives it some effect.’
Iron clenched his fist tightly and threw a punch at the left side of her face. The training hall staggered for a moment but still managed to dodge.
Iron was certain now. She was definitely an ability user, and the odds were high that she was a sensory type.
‘Otherwise there’s no way she could read my attack patterns and dodge like that!’
In that case, avoiding his attacks should be much harder for her now. Iron began launching indiscriminate attacks at her.
‘Now that bitch is just a powerless ability user!’
The beauty in front of him was now a powerless incompetent with no strength at all. No matter what he did to her, she wouldn’t be able to resist. Just a beautiful woman who couldn’t do anything.
“Wh-what the…”
A woman he could unleash all his filthy desires on without any consequences. Or so he thought…
“H-how are you dodging everything…?”
Iron had thought that way—right up until the moment the training hall, drenched in the drug, continued to dodge every single one of his attacks.
‘What the hell? The drug was definitely real!’
Yet her ability was still active? Goosebumps ran down Iron’s spine.
The training hall tilted her head at him as if she found his reaction strange.
“Umm… my body does feel a bit sluggish…”
She then swung the blunt weapon in her hand over her head and—
“It’s n-not enough to stop me from catching you…”
Kwaaaang!!
As if mocking him, the training hall grinned wickedly and swung the blunt weapon straight at his head.