An Existence That Cannot Be Opposed
“Nngh...”
I wriggled my body hard to extract the tentacle embedded in Lira. Sure, I could just yank it out with a pop, but something about that felt off. Not that I was worried about her wounds not healing—she was still venting steam even in her unconscious state, albeit less than when awake. Was I scared the shock of pulling it out might wake her? Everything's more fun in moderation. I couldn't waste a golden opportunity like this on an all-day brawl.
Lira's fighting style was novel, sure, but that novelty tired me out fast.
“Hup...!”
Strength surged through my entire body. I'd been trying to be delicate, but my muscles tensed up instinctively. The tentacle began to slide out slowly. It wasn't long before it slipped free from her body. Naturally, blood gushed from the hole like a flood— a murky golden hue, tinged with dark red rather than pure brilliance. At this rate, her overclock might wear off soon if more time passed. For now, though, it held strong; the gaping wound was already sealing shut in seconds.
As expected, Lira in overclock mode was no fragile flower. I'd been cautious about potential dismemberment just in case, but with regeneration like this, even a severed arm would grow back no problem! Maybe next time I could get a little rougher? If there is a next time!
Anyway, the area had gone completely quiet. I'd figured the cadaver horde wanted a total war, but Carlos and Nova's firepower was top-tier even among enforcer squads—yet not enough to wipe out a mob this size so quickly. And without much noise, either. So, what now?
Normally, I'd just leave Lira here, but abandoning her in an unsecured zone felt iffy. It looked like all the cadavers had cleared out, but if some were lurking and screaming bloody murder in hiding, I had no way to tell. A bit overly kind of me, but no choice. I'd have to drag her back to the 1st Squad.
I dragged Lira along as I headed deeper into the Remnant Zone. Luckily, her uniform was tough and durable—no stretching from a mere human's weight. Her thighs still got scraped up from the dragging, but that was nothing; she'd regen even without overclock. Star-adapted enforcers healed fast by default, and Lira's regen was especially jacked-up. Even normally, she outpaced your average enforcer.
And hey, sure, we'd fist-bumped and made up, but we weren't that close—no sloppy hugs or anything.
How much time passed? I spotted some patrols on the Remnant Zone outskirts: four enforcers whose names and faces I didn't know, plus familiar faces—Carlos and Nova. We froze when we saw each other.
All I could tell from them was that no pitched total war had gone down. Busted. With that horde slipping inside the surveillance net, they'd be swamped with linker extermination ops for a while. As a veteran inspector with a month under my belt, predicting squad schedules was child's play.
Carlos fixed me with a piercing stare. Just as I'd clocked him, he was desperately scanning me for intel. But what could he possibly learn? Oh no, a good Samaritan kindly returned your collapsed teammate? How sweet. So why the murder face? The enforcers shaking like baby deer... Pathetic! No ultra-evil monster here or anything.
Carlos advanced, Finisher at the ready, muzzle dripping white frost, face twisted in fury.
“Are you... the one?”
Everyone's been saying the same damn thing. I hadn't done jack in this incident—not even enough to get under my nails! Blame my bad luck stepping into the crime scene. Where else would a pure-hearted soul like me get treated so shabbily?
I hoisted Lira's dragged body in front of me with one hand. She was so tall that even bloated with blood, she made a perfect shield. I stuck out my tongue—not a real one, just blood-made—and lapped up a trickle of golden blood from her head.
But hold up—what was this? I'd never thought blood tasted good before, but my fake tongue registered Lira's as super sweet. Like ice cream. Or fruit dipped in chocolate fondue. Sweet stuff lifted my mood, and I felt power surging in. So I kept going.
My huge, dark-red, inhuman tongue slurped across her face over and over. What was the fitting line here? Your woman's mine now?
“This... tasty. Mine... I'll take?”
Nngh, too short? I didn't want to sound dumb. But unlike tentacles, faking vocal cords was way trickier. I'd practiced tentacles in secret tons of times! Now, adding a whole new body part mid-act? Sensations all tangled up. Mess up, and I might blurt from my real voice box—risky.
My words hit home; Carlos's Finisher trembled. Yeah? What're you gonna do about it! A giggle slipped out. Hee hee. Nothing beat tormenting the earnest and good. They acted unflappable, like a thousand deaths wouldn't faze 'em, but poke a little and they cracked.
I gaped my mouth wide—or rather, forced blood in to inflate it huge. Threw off my body's balance mid-tune; ended up pretty grotesque. Whatever—perfect for the drama here.
Bang! A Baek-gyeol-dan pierced my massive head. Naturally, that wasn't the end. The residual shock burst my unstable form, and the bullet's chill seeped through my head into the rest of me.
Zzzzt. No real sensation yet, but my body was ringing alarms. Countering encroaching frost? Simple: no counter. Ditch the body! Remake it!
I boldly shed half my fake body. The discarded cells froze solid white. Cheater power, every time. Activation index gaps like that usually made fighting impossible! Yet Carlos hopped this wall casually. Minions should act like minions—bosses tanking peon hits? Game balance would've gotten patched, users bailing.
If this were a real game, minor over-damage wouldn't matter. But biology had weak spots; one headshot and anyone— you, me—dropped.
Regenerating, huh.
Carlos had packed serious punch into that Baek-gyeol-dan, but it got nullified like nothing. Still, not meaningless. If it straight-up didn't work, it'd be despairing—but shedding its shell on impact proved it landed. Sure, regening half its body instantly dulled the attack's impact. He hadn't expected to kill Abyss outright anyway.
It was brazenly using Lira as a shield, no reason to suddenly balloon its head and expose weakness. Carlos had just fired in emotional pique—the sight of it toying with a human upfront grated too much.
Emotional shots weren't smart calls. Attacks that couldn't drop a hostage-taker usually escalated things badly. But Carlos had a weird conviction: it wouldn't easily harm humans.
They'd clashed only a handful of times. Yet Abyss had this odd line it wouldn't cross. Plenty of chances to finish folks off, but it held back. Carlos wouldn't have let it escape if it had, but annoyingly, it stuck to that line.
It always positioned for easy retreat, never letting fights deepen. Hard to go full aggressive. Abyss always held something hostage, forcing sacrifices.
Like now—Lira this time. Her battered state screamed fierce battle. But unscathed Abyss? Just Lira getting played.
Rage boiled. Now he knew for sure: Abyss was circling the 1st Squad.
Watching from where? With its smarts, it knew their sector outer-wall spots. Linker powers made tailing easy.
But would it act so inefficiently? Inside the sector made more sense than out. Intelligible speech meant it could parse internal reports no problem.
Still no hard proof—just hunch. But Carlos was convinced: Abyss sourced info from inside the sector.
“Wh-what... the hell is that...”
A terrified enforcer asked about its identity. Carlos couldn't answer easily. He didn't fully grasp it himself.
Maybe a natural spawn. Or the Doctor's experiment, as reported. No intel, so nothing solid.
But... Abyss was definitely a cadaver. Beyond P.V.-infected humans—born different. Unlike typical cadaver evolution, it diverged wildly.
Stronger ones usually bulked up huge. That's why same-index enforcers lagged cadavers in raw power, bridged by tech.
Yet here was something invalidating all strategies: pint-sized high-IQ. Unpredictable index, but insanely strong.
A lone calamity humanity couldn't oppose. They'd weathered such before. But Abyss? Unpredictable fangs anywhere. Playful prank or killing intent? Unknowable. Horrific just imagining.
“It's Abyss. A peculiar entity sighted around the sector lately... We assess it as a calamity-level cadaver—or worse.”