Chapter 413: Social Tidying Up (5)
Chapter 413: Social Tidying Up (5)
Thoughts swirl within the turbid, serpentine Red Mist.
Among them, the most frequent thought is whether my disciples are alright.
Since I was hit by this surprise attack, I worried that the others who were split up might have been targeted as well.
Still, contrary to my concerns, the disciples are likely fine.
They’re traveling with Ultimate, so at the very least, they shouldn't be vulnerable to a sneak attack like this.
My concern then shifts to the others.
The former Assassination Team, who are currently carrying out a much more dangerous operation than the disciples.
I wonder if it’s even right for me to be worrying about those bastards, but we did spend time together, and we’re working together now, aren't we?
Yes, this is the downside that comes with acting independently.
The weakening of combat power due to the team being split, and the subsequent risk of being picked off one by one.
Even knowing this, the reason I carried out the operation this way was based on my deduction of The Mad Doctor's combat power; I estimated that they were all skilled enough to survive even if they encountered the Doctor while alone.
...But this might be difficult.
An opponent far stronger than I anticipated has appeared before me.
Of course, it’s not that they possess a common-sense-defying strength like an O-Rank, or that they’re stronger than me.
But they have enough combat power to kill even a member of the Assassination Team instantly if caught off guard.
Aren't they stronger than the Doctors?
I can't judge for certain since the Doctors probably haven't shown their full hand yet, but the Doctors are physical enhancement Type S, which is why they only seemed weak when fighting me. In an actual fight, a Doctor might lose to an enemy like this, who seems to be a special ability type.
Or, there’s the possibility that the Doctors are non-combatants and their subordinates are actually stronger.
Detroit really is The Enemy’s stronghold, after all.
An unimaginable card has been played.
I hope they threw their strongest card at me to keep my damn subordinates safe and sent weaker ones elsewhere.
With that thought, I shook off the Corrosive Poison and sensory contamination that continued to burrow into me.
Rotten flesh was falling from my body, but it was still at a manageable level.
The sensory contamination wasn't a huge problem for me either, as my senses weren't being erased, but rather substituted with others to cause confusion.
I had already given up on my nervous system, which was malfunctioning and spewing all sorts of wrong information, and was moving my body using only mana.
While I had no problem conducting combat like this, there was one slight concern.
How long would this phenomenon last?
I had enough strength left to continue the fight if I found The Enemy, but because my five senses were completely fried, I couldn't locate the one who caused this.
The Enemy was staying strangely far away, as if the condition for activating this ability was the initial approach they made to inflict it on me.
Are they planning on a long-term war of attrition?
Then I’m at a disadvantage.
As someone who relies on raw power, I don't have a proper means to dispel an attack like this.
Since this is presumed to be a mental-type attack, it feels like blowing my own head off might solve it, but I’m not crazy enough to blow my brains out when I’m not in a safe situation and it’s not the only way.
Or, was it a trap to catch me from the start?
A theory: the ability requires extreme proximity to activate, but once successful, the distance requirement to maintain it is much more lenient.
So, the moment they succeeded in placing this ability on me, they left the factory to find their next prey.
In that case...
There’s no other way but to pray that the others can withstand this enemy.
Since my senses are shot, I can't even tell exactly how much time has passed.
This ambush was a strategic victory for The Enemy, who suppressed me with a perfect surprise attack using some superior special ability.
Tactically, they couldn't defeat me, but by neutralizing me like this, they could be said to have grasped a strategic win.
...Between A-bin’s Sensory Control and this, maybe I should think of a few more supplementary detection techniques.
Aside from a slight detection of Otherworldly Power, I rely on my five senses and intuition to find enemies, so when all five senses go haywire like this, my detection ability drops drastically.
Until now, I hadn't cared much about that weakness.
There were plenty of enemies who messed with the senses, but most of them only broke one or two, not all five. Even at the worst of times, it was usually everything except touch.
The problem was that as long as I had touch, combined with my detection of Otherworldly Power, I had enough detection skill that it didn't really matter.
Well, anyway. I’m screwed for now.
My imprecise detection of Otherworldly Power is telling me there are enemies everywhere, as if this Red Mist is entirely composed of dense Otherworldly Power, and my jumbled senses—though not paralyzed—aren't sending back any proper information.
Within the range my hammer can reach, I can somewhat grasp the situation even with these scrambled senses, but beyond that, the information is too ambiguous to even make a guess.
As I thought earlier, it’s a strategic victory for The Enemy.
However, I do not give up.
Walking step by step, I scan for The Enemy during the brief moments the mist scatters with my footfalls.
Yet, I couldn't feel The Enemy’s presence at all.
Just as I was about to wait with patience.
Skreeee.
Suddenly, from behind me, the sound of teeth grinding stroked my tongue with a savory blue color.
Reacting to that, I swung my hammer.
BOOM.
A hit.
Because it was a sudden situation, I couldn't put all my strength into The Hammer.
The mist scatters from the impact of the collision, and my senses return.
In the moment the mist cleared, the sensation of striking The Enemy surged through my hand.
I was finally able to face the identity of the attacker who had taken my back.
However, the attacker's appearance was something completely different from my expectations.
...What is that?
Do you know the movie Alien?
It’s a sci-fi horror franchise consisting of Alien 1 and 2, featuring a strangely shaped humanoid extraterrestrial with a black carapace.
I heard from Calavera, a horror movie fanatic, that sequels were planned, but the franchise vanished along with the rest of the world when the Otherworldly invasion tore everything apart.
They were going to make sequels once the world stabilized, but investors argued that dark movies wouldn't sell when the world was already gloomy enough, so the franchise ended there—a legendary masterpiece, apparently.
To be honest, I’ve encountered many situations in reality that were far more messed up than that movie, so even when I watched it on Calavera’s recommendation, I wondered why it was considered a horror film. But there was one thing that left a deep impression on me.
The main adversary of the story, the entity that was also the movie's title. The Alien.
Its curved, twisted, and bizarre design remained etched in my mind, and that memory lived and breathed somewhere in my head.
But why did I think of it now?
It’s probably because the being before my eyes looks so much like it.
It wasn't as thin as the Alien in the movie, but it looked considerably gaunt for a normal human.
Its lithe body was entirely covered in something black with a slight reddish tint, making it look as if it were made of sleek armor or muscle-shaped chitin.
Up to this point, it just looked like a slender human, but the head atop that body instantly dispelled any sense of humanity.
The back of the head didn't stretch out long like an Alien's, but the face protruded forward.
Like a wolf or some other beast.
The head, where a face should be, was smooth like an Alien's, yet the mouth area was sharp, devoid of any expression. Still, it seemed to have eyes, as a red glow flickered between them, glaring at me.
The moment I identified my opponent, the Red Mist enveloped me again.
As a result, the opponent's form could no longer be properly captured as my senses twisted once more.
It didn't matter.
The image of the opponent was already clearly burned into my mind.
A slender, armored human resembling an Alien.
Since I had etched that appearance into my head, I could feel how it moved even with just a bit of information.
This guy’s luck has really run out.
Of all things, he had to look like an Alien, allowing me to memorize his form in an instant.
If he had been a more ordinary-looking human, I wouldn't have been able to visualize his image so clearly after seeing him just once.
Now, running away is useless.
Since I know your color and shape, my accuracy has increased enough to find you even with these broken senses...
CRASH.
A sweet impact struck my face.
The Enemy’s fist.
The moment I perceived it, I immediately threw my body to the side to lessen the impact.
Noisy blood flowed down my cheek.
Evidence that something sharp had struck and clawed me at the same time.
And that wound rotted rapidly.
The fact that I was rotting was felt clearly, unmixed with the rest of these chaotic senses.
What the fuck.
Having grasped the situation, I cursed inwardly.
This wasn't a curse about being hurt, nor a complaint about the fact that the poison possessed by the Main Body was overwhelmingly stronger than the mist's.
The reason I spat this curse was...
Why did this bastard suddenly change his combat pattern?
For a moment, the suspicion that the one who cast the mist and this being were completely different people crossed my mind.
But seeing that the decay he inflicted on me caused the exact same phenomenon as the mist, this Alien was definitely the same enemy who ambushed me.
So, an enemy who hadn't attacked me, seemingly prepared for a long-term battle, suddenly enters close-quarters combat out of the blue?
What the hell are they thinking?
Did they watch from afar and decide they could kill someone like me in a melee?
Or did they get desperate and try to finish me off quickly because their identity was discovered?
No, it’s probably neither.
Because...
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
As the mist scatters from the shockwaves, clear sensations return.
The sound of The Enemy’s fists, tipped with red claws, clashing against my hammer rang clearly in my ears.
The direction of the battle had shifted in an instant.
Where did the caution that was eating away at me with the mist go? A mindless brawl ensued.
And by doing so, The Enemy became drastically weaker.
It wasn't that The Enemy was physically weak.
They had upper-tier A-Rank physical combat ability.
Their technique wasn't bad either.
Any mediocre Hero would have been killed within three of this person's punches.
However, in this situation, such melee ability only served as a hindrance.
This guy's strength lay in the Red Mist, yet he was now scattering that mist himself.
If he had any sense, he should have realized this after one or two exchanges and fled.
"Graaaaaagh!"
The Alien before me let out a bizarre scream and repeated its attacks.
As if it had no thoughts at all.
Though a thicker Red Mist was seeping out from the gaps in its body and its mouth.
That, too, failed to have any significant effect and scattered into the air through our collisions.
A combat style that failed to utilize its strengths at all.
Deducing from the ability, this person's combat style shouldn't suit this kind of frontal confrontation.
The style suited for this ability would be to wear down The Enemy’s power through the mist and kill them in a short, decisive battle.
Yet, the battle being conducted now was the exact opposite.
Even with basic intelligence, one should have realized something was going wrong and stopped.
However, the Alien in front of me continued its assault.
It swung fists from which red claws sprouted here and there, and lashed out with feet tipped with spikes.
With decent movements.
But it couldn't inflict any wounds on me.
With the mist scattered and all restrictions gone, I simply suppressed The Enemy with overwhelming combat ability.
"Awoo-graaaagh!"
Making a sound like a howling wolf or a screaming human.
The Enemy continued to be pummeled by The Hammer.
Was the Red Mist actually The Enemy’s blood?
The moment the red blood splashed on me, the sensory contamination began again, but since I had already clearly captured The Enemy at such close range, the contamination had no effect on me.
"This is the end."
As I swung my hammer to crush the head of the twisted enemy, certain of my victory.
Something unexpected happened.
The Enemy lunged at me.
Not a movement to evade The Hammer, but as if jumping into it.
That action caused The Hammer I swung at The Enemy’s head to miss its mark.
Tsk. He took the gap.
If The Enemy had moved away or lowered their head to avoid the attack, I could have just changed the strike point, but I hadn't expected them to close in and burrow into me in this situation.
You could call it my carelessness.
If The Enemy were someone who performed ultra-close combat, like someone holding a dagger, I would have naturally expected and prepared for them to close the distance.
But The Enemy was a brawler type who used long limbs; what could such a being do by sticking close to me?
It only briefly extended their time in the land of the living.
I decided it would be better to quickly pull back the missed hammer and strike The Enemy’s torso instead of the head.
Just as I was about to do so.
Crunch.
Once again, an unexpected situation jolted through my body.
My shoulder was bitten.
The Enemy had bitten me.
A sweet pain ran through my body.
The bitten area began to rot.
A poison stronger than ever before raced through me.
...Are you a beast?
Seriously, this is unbelievable.
What kind of freak is this?
I thought he was moving intelligently, then he suddenly started rampaging; he showed martial arts like a human, then suddenly displayed instincts like a beast.
I was flustered and caught off guard several times because his combat style kept shifting so wildly.
But still.
"You can't dodge now, you bastard."
I’m not sure if those words actually made it out of my mouth.
My five senses and everything else were a mess.
But one thing was certain.
The Enemy had bitten my shoulder.
And my hand was encased in a metal gauntlet.
Therefore.
"Die."
I threw a punch.
A heavy fist delivered from an incredibly close range, meant to shatter the skull.
With this, the battle ends.
A battle where I would never lose, but where I was bitten more annoyingly than expected.
A battle where I was held back.
As the shockwave generated around my hand blew away the Red Mist.
I looked at the dark-red-stained enemy with clear vision.
I set my sights on The Enemy, who was still gnawing on my shoulder and injecting poison.
Just as I was about to crush its head.
—Cease fire! They're an ally!
A familiar voice rang out.
At that, I stopped my fist, which had come within inches of the Alien's head.
"Huh?"
Letting out an annoyed sound, instead of smashing its head, I put it in a headlock and delivered a series of low kicks to shatter its legs.
Then, I picked up the tactical phone hanging at my waist, from which Brantley’s voice had come, and pressed it to my ear.
"What was that just now?"
"Ah. You're connected. Thank goodness."
"Thank goodness my ass, how is that an ally?"
I spat those words as I looked down at the Alien writhing on the ground with its legs shattered.
No matter how I looked at it, it was a human-modified Mutant or something similar.
It even attacked me.
"Ah. Their appearance has changed quite a bit. But it’s someone you know, Boss."
However, Brantley’s voice from the phone firmly identified it as someone I knew.
"Hmm?"
As I fell into thought for a moment.
A flickering realization raced through my mind.
Red energy.
Decay.
Behavior that didn't seem human no matter how I thought about it.
Deducing The Enemy’s identity through this information, one of the people I knew came to mind.
Although the ability and appearance had changed significantly, it was definitely a possibility considering the evolutionary tree. And it was someone likely to be in this place.
"...Wait, is that Edward?"
"Yes."
A truly shocking truth was revealed.
I just broke his legs, what do I do?