Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Death Flag
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"Iron Silence has escaped! Everyone grab non-metal weapons and capture gear, and get ready to respond!"
Reacquisition Mobile Team Leader Park Cheol-woong shouted.
Cheol-woong harbored some quiet dissatisfaction with the string of anomaly escapes but prepared for his duty without complaint.
The team members' faces showed clear signs of fatigue from the back-to-back callouts.
"Once this op is done, I'll request paid leave from the higher-ups. So pull yourselves together and give it your all. Got it?"
"""Yes, sir!"""
The team's expressions brightened the moment Cheol-woong mentioned requesting leave.
"You're the best, Team Leader!"
"Hahaha! If we get that leave, I gotta take my girlfriend on a trip."
The team members geared up with renewed vigor.
"Iron Silence is one of the anomalies that can communicate. I'll talk to it first, so hold fire until I give the order."
Cheol-woong moved out with his team to the mission site.
Their armament for this op consisted of crossbows, bows, knives, and the like, all made from non-metals like ceramics.
'What a headache. Guns don't work on this thing.'
Iron Silence had the trait of corroding all metal in its vicinity.
It was a rare anomaly among its kind that could hold a conversation, but that ability made it a massive hazard in modern society just by existing.
'Hope we can resolve this peacefully.'
Cheol-woong headed to the op site with that small wish in mind.
The containment cell corridor filled with the sound of countless military boots.
There, in the middle of the hall, stood Iron Silence.
It was a gaunt elderly man, skin stretched tight over exposed bones.
Its eye sockets were sunken hollows filled with pitch-black darkness where eyeballs should have been.
Standing over 2.5 meters tall, it looked nothing like an ordinary human no matter how you sliced it.
Cheol-woong approached cautiously to initiate dialogue.
"Why'd you escape your containment cell? If you tell me what you want, I'll see what I can do!"
Iron Silence was relatively docile as anomalies went.
The only issue was the occasional pulse it emitted that corroded all metal within hundreds of meters.
"Huuuuh. Huuuh. I... I have to go there."
"Where's 'there'?"
"Th-there. I have to go there! There-there-there-there."
Something was off about Iron Silence's state.
Cheol-woong kept a careful watch on its movements.
"Tell me where 'there' is! Depending on the place, we might be able to accommodate you."
"C-can't say. Can't tell. I have to go there."
Iron Silence's entire body trembled violently.
Then it swung its long limbs and charged at the team members.
"Fire the capture nets!"
Nets launched the instant Cheol-woong gave the order.
They hit Iron Silence dead-on.
"Huuuuaaaah!"
Iron Silence tore through the nets and resumed its charge.
The team member who'd fired the nets yelled in panic.
"Wh-what the hell? Iron Silence shouldn't have that kind of strength!"
Iron Silence shredded the subsequent nets one after another.
"Unrecorded anomaly behavior! Full force from here on. Open fire!"
The team unleashed crossbows and bows at Cheol-woong's command to fire.
The air whistled with countless arrows.
"Huuuuh! It hurts, hurts, hurts!"
Iron Silence let out a metallic screech of a scream.
Even with arrows embedded all over its body, it didn't stop running.
'This is weird. Iron Silence is supposed to be really skittish. Never seen it act this aggressively.'
Cheol-woong fired arrows while pondering his next move.
Iron Silence closed in on the team members before long.
"Damn it. Block it!"
Shield-bearing team members moved to intercept at Cheol-woong's order.
But Iron Silence shoved them aside and kept charging.
"Pursue it! Disrupt its run as much as possible! If it gets past, the other containment cells will break!"
Every time Iron Silence passed a containment cell, its door malfunctioned.
Thankfully, the triple-layered doors meant a single failure wouldn't lead to an immediate escape.
But containment weakened all the same, and repairs weren't cheap.
They had to subdue it fast to minimize losses.
"Aim for the legs! Stop it from running!"
They chased it down, constantly harassing its sprint.
Arrows flew in barrages.
Every time Iron Silence ran, lights shorted out, plunging the corridor into darkness.
The agents illuminated the gloom with glow sticks.
Even riddled with arrows, it wouldn't stop.
Iron Silence staggered onward relentlessly.
"G-gotta go. Have to go there!"
A worst-case scenario flashed through Cheol-woong's mind.
"Don't let it near the Philosophy Doctor's cell!!!"
The Ansong Research Institute's most powerful and vicious anomaly: Philosophy Doctor.
Philosophy Doctor couldn't destroy gold.
That was why its doors and walls were plated entirely in gold.
What if Iron Silence could corrode gold?
'Philosophy Doctor might escape.'
It was just a possibility, but if it happened, they'd have no choice but to blow the institute and bury it all.
They had to stop Iron Silence at all costs.
The team caught on to Cheol-woong's intent and redoubled their efforts to block it.
'What's that?'
Cheol-woong spotted a strange object around Iron Silence's neck.
The choker-like accessory was a deep brown matching the thing's flesh tone.
His instincts screamed to remove that choker.
"There's a choker on its neck! Destroy the choker!"
Team members rushed it at the order.
It flailed its long limbs, shaking them off.
Cheol-woong waited for an opening.
The brief moment after it swung its limbs.
"Raaah!"
Cheol-woong leaped high and latched onto Iron Silence.
He sliced the choker with his ceramic knife.
"H-have to go there.... Why? Whywhywhy. H-huuuuh. Aaaah...!"
The moment the choker snapped, Iron Silence collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
The severed choker shifted from brown to red.
Iron Silence lay motionless.
They'd stopped it before it reached Philosophy Doctor's cell.
Cheol-woong and the team cautiously eased their tension.
"Looks like it's dead."
Cheol-woong confirmed Iron Silence's death.
A mix of frustration at failing recapture and relief at stopping it washed over him.
The moment he was about to declare mission end.
Gurgle. Glurk.
Iron Silence's body swelled grotesquely.
"Everyone, hit the deck!"
The team dove to the floor at Cheol-woong's command.
Boom—.
Iron Silence's corpse burst, spraying flesh chunks everywhere.
All nearby lights failed, cloaking the corridor in darkness.
"Ugh. Everyone okay?"
Cheol-woong rose carefully.
His glow stick confirmed no injuries—right then.
Boom—.
A massive rumble shook the research institute.
Booom—.
Continuous explosions rocked the facility.
"Finally, the time has come to enlighten you fools. I shall teach you the truth myself."
Unnoticed by anyone.
A plaster statue resembling a Greek philosopher from a textbook had appeared among the team members.
Crunch—.
The statue crushed an agent's head like crumbling tofu.
Thud.
The headless agent crumpled lifelessly to the floor.
It was the one who'd talked about vacationing with his girlfriend.
"I shall bestow equal wisdom upon you all."
Philosophy Doctor had escaped.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
We finished the experiment on whether the Princess could handle phasing through walls like a ghost.
As we stepped into the corridor afterward, the alarm blared: anomaly escape from containment.
Red lights bathed the hall, sirens wailing.
As the Princess's handler researcher, it was time to fulfill my duty.
"Princess, let's head to the nearest shelter together!"
I grabbed her hand.
Thankfully, she took mine without much resistance.
Gripping the Princess's hand, I sprinted to the closest shelter.
Considering the Black Princess's overwhelming regeneration and strength, the odds of her dying to another anomaly were near zero.
But the reverse was the concern.
'Other anomalies might get killed by the Princess.'
In the institute, each anomaly was a precious test subject.
If the Princess mindlessly devoured them all, who'd know what reprimands would come from the big shots.
My job as her handler researcher wasn't protecting the Princess.
It was protecting the other anomalies from the Black Princess.
"Hah. Hek. J-just a bit more to the shelter. Hold my hand tight!"
I clutched her hand firmly as we raced to the shelter.
Thankfully, she hadn't eaten any institute anomalies so far.
She had eaten the Swelling Flesh Mass once, but spat it back out for recontainment.
Since then, it apparently didn't swell recklessly anymore.
Her handler researcher had noted it seemed to be watching someone's mood.
'What does that even mean, a flesh mass with no eyes or ears watching out for someone?'
I questioned it but chalked it up to the anomaly being what it was.
Sprinting full tilt, we reached the shelter quickly.
"Hoo. Huuuh. Hek. W-we made it to the shelter. Let's wait here till the alarm stops."
I pulled her safely inside by the hand.
Catching my breath, I looked down at the Princess to my right.
"Huh...?"
The Princess was gone.
To be precise, her hand was still there.
My right hand held only the severed stump of the Princess's hand.
Like a lizard ditching its tail, she'd amputated her own hand to escape.
"Ah, haha. No wonder it felt light."
I let out a hollow laugh, half in resignation.
The Princess had vanished.