Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Face-to-Face (2)
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My nail broke.
No—its sharp nail snapped, slicing its body diagonally. The blood was red. Clutching my left shoulder that felt like it was about to tear off, I drew in a breath.
The attack had landed properly.
It collapsed to the floor. Its body crumpled, spilling blood. But it was still breathing. I gripped my right hand tightly and charged at the fallen creature.
Tendon!
Sever the tendon!
“Hyah!”
Stab.
I plunged the knife into its ankle.
Blood spurted, and I felt the muscle tear.
Good. Now for the left foot’s tendon too.
I yanked the knife out of its right foot and shoved it into the left.
The blade sank into its left ankle.
Only after turning it into a specimen like that did the tension finally ease a bit. Panting raggedly, I looked down at the creature lying at my feet.
It looked almost dead. Its eyes were unfocused.
It looked almost human, dying like that. The feeling was strange.
I didn’t regret my actions. If I hadn’t charged in ready to kill, I’d be the one dead.
As the adrenaline faded, exhaustion crashed over me.
I searched for a pillar to lean on. That’s when I noticed the pillar next to the creature had crumbled from my sword strike. I’d put too much power into it.
Or maybe that’s why it went still after just one hit.
My mind wasn’t clear enough to judge.
Anyway, there was nothing to lean on.
I just plopped down right there. Clutching my left shoulder, I lay on my side and observed the lifeform sprawled beside me.
If it died, so be it. If it regained consciousness in this near-death state, I’d have questions.
More questions about me...
Thud.
Thud.
A pulsing sound.
It took a moment to realize it was coming from the creature.
Once I pinpointed the source, my jaw dropped.
I couldn’t speak. I was too stunned for words.
Dazed, I watched its wounds heal. A dark, rippling wave like a wavelength vibrated the surrounding gravel. Black waves emanated from the creature’s body, which I’d thought was dying.
Just like the 10th-stage creature in the footage.
An inexplicable emotion churned in my gut.
“What.”
The word barely escaped my lips, unfinished.
“What is this...”
Boom!
Agony hit.
I only grasped the situation after the pain flashing before my eyes subsided.
Now I was the one knocked down. I’d reflexively tried to block the creature. It had shoved me over from where I’d been sitting.
Its movements were too fast to follow with my eyes.
Breathing in, I stared up at the creature on top of me.
Up close, it was grotesque. Eyes rolled back. Pitch-black sclera and barely visible golden irises.
What the hell?
I struggled to push off the creature pressing down on me with its forearm.
Damn it!
“What kind of strength...!”
I was really going to die like this.
The jagged edge of its severed nail drew closer. The sharp stump neared my throat. My arms pushing back had their limits. My left arm had no strength left.
This isn’t good.
Sensing death closing in, I gritted my teeth. I had to tell the seniors about True Silver. That he was alive, that he stayed behind with the pursuing creature.
So you top agents go save him...
“Ugh.”
The creature’s nail pierced my forearm.
A sharp pain drew a groan from me.
At the same time, a fist burst through the ceiling.
Huh?
“...A fist?”
Even through the agony, I stupidly stared at the ceiling.
Why was a fist poking through the ceiling?
How was it poking through?
Any other ceiling might break, but not this one. This was a subway.
“It’s the subway down here...”
Boom!
The ceiling collapsed.
The section on the right where the fist had emerged crumbled down. Dazed, I watched the ceiling fall.
Light poured in. Not artificial light or the dim glow of mushrooms, but brilliant sunlight.
Beautiful enough to make me forget the pain in my pierced arm.
Voices carried on the outside breeze.
“Hilde!”
Ami was on the verge of tears.
“Hilde!”
Senior flew in through the hole in the ceiling.
The other seniors leaped down and landed on the tracks.
Squinting against the sudden brightness, I made out their faces. Richard Green. Jason Tvein. Aki. Lee Ho-chang.
William Walker landing with a heavy thud.
The creature was kicked away.
“Let’s go.”
Ami shoved the creature off me and wrapped her arms around me.
“Sorry I let it get away.”
Her small body trembled slightly.
“Won’t happen next time. Never again.”
“Ami.”
I smiled, pouring in apology and gratitude.
My voice wasn’t as clear as I wanted.
“Thank you for saving me.”
“What the hell is this?”
Jason Tvein’s voice echoed through the subway next.
“Isn’t this a humanoid creature?”
“No way.”
“And it’s still alive.”
“Ami, get the injured out!”
Richard twisted around and shouted from beside the shocked Lee Ho-chang and Aki.
“Battle’s not over yet!”
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Gunfire echoed the moment he finished.
Tvein and the other seniors unleashed on the creature trying to rise again.
Snapped out of my daze by the ear-shattering shots, I widened my eyes.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
The seniors fired blindly.
Some held the trigger down until their magazines ran dry.
Tvein and Green fired the most furiously.
They seemed more tense than when facing that skyscraper-tall creature at the safe point. Their eyes locked on the creature’s ragged form, unmoving.
At this point, it has to be dead, but no one stopped shooting.
A humanoid creature that terrified humanity.
With pitch-black sclera and golden eyes.
The one I’d hesitated against for a split second, giving Ye-hyeon an opening to attack...
Ah?
A thick emotion choked my breath, overwhelming me.
What is this?
I blinked.
Why did I suddenly feel like I was drowning in emotions?
Because I realized I was the same as them?
Was that why the alienation and fear hit? Because I wasn’t human? Because if they found out, they’d treat me the same?
Motionless, I probed the inexplicable heaviness.
...No.
It wasn’t fear wrapping around me now.
It was more like...
Self-loathing?
And sadness?
Did I hate myself for betraying my own kind?
But if I was going to feel this, then why did I betray my kind in the first place...
“Hilde.”
Ami’s voice snapped me out of tracing the emotion’s source.
She tightened her arms around me.
“Let’s go.”
Looking down at the seniors with blank eyes, her youthful face crumpled into a sobby mess.
“Sorry we were so late.”
I wanted to say they weren’t late at all—perfect timing, really.
Too early, and they’d have caught my secret. Too late, and I’d be skewered.
But before I could open my mouth, Ami’s boots ignited.
She shot up to the surface with me in her arms.
***
The air enveloping my body changed in an instant.
Sunlight falling on my head felt welcoming. The wind rustling my hair pleasantly filled my ears. The dilapidated city spread clearly beneath my feet.
Finally back on the surface.
Dangling in Ami’s arms, I watched the asphalt floor approach slowly.
We landed lightly.
Ami set me against a car that looked untouched for ages.
“I’ll heal you.”
She worked her hands quickly, even as she sniffled and sobbed.
“Must hurt like hell.”
“No...”
It wasn’t that bad, but I had no strength.
So I went limp and let Ami heal me. A massive hole gaped in the ground nearby.
Right where Walker’s fist had come through.
Sharp voices from the seniors drifted up from the hole. But I lacked the energy to catch every word.
Sporadic gunfire.
The thought that it was finally over drained my last strength.
My head went blank. I stared at the clear blue sky and the pure white clouds drifting there, unmoving. So much had happened since opening my eyes in the ravine.
Memories from the ravine depths slowly flooded my mind.
Scenes swept in and out, pushing aside thoughts of my identity.
The creature digested by mold. The sporangium swelling up. Jin, yelling for me to enter the subway. The one who blocked the mold, guided me inside, showed me the lettuce, gave me chicken soup. The one who said he’d once been called the Black Badgers’ druid, who promised to tell me all sorts of stories...
‘Tell Joo I’m sorry.’
The voice, silent for so long, echoed in my ears.
I quietly shed tears.
“Does it hurt?”
Ami gasped in alarm.
“Why are you crying? Hilde, does it hurt that bad? Did you get hurt somewhere else besides your arm?”
“Ami.”
I pulled the peering senior close.
Then whispered to her blinking eyes.
“Ami. Jin Silver’s at the last station.”
Ami froze for a long time.
Eyes wide, she just stared up at me blankly. Through my distorted vision, I looked down at her round eyes.
People don’t react right away to huge shocks.
Only after a while did Ami speak.
“Jin’s dead.”
“He was alive down there.”
“...Alive?”
“He deserted.”
I brushed the hair from Ami’s cheek.
“Said he’s been on the run for ten years.”
Ami went blank again. Kneeling right in front of me, she just stared up.
I didn’t blame her lack of reaction. Didn’t rush her. Instead, I kept tucking the black hair slapping her cheek behind her shoulder.
Her face always looked so young.
“Where?”
Finally, her expressionless face asked.
“How?”
“Seemed like he was living in the subway. Growing veggies, raising chickens.”
“Veggies?”
Ami’s eyes went blank.
“Chickens?”
“He said he used to be called the Black Badgers’ druid...”
I added, staring into her unmoving eyes.
“Please find Jin Silver.”
Her round eyes blinked open and shut several times.
“He stayed behind at the last station to let me escape.”
Ami reacted instantly.
She jumped up and ran toward the seniors.