Chapter 62
Chapter 62
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 062
Chapter Title: Hidden Room
-----------------------------------------------------------------
'What the...!!'
The shockwave pierced through his proliferating muscles, ripping straight through the man's innards.
In that instant, the aftermath hurled his massive frame backward.
Kwaaaang-!!
He slammed into the concrete wall, coughing up blood without realizing it.
"Guhk?!"
At the same time, a barrage shot right in front of his face.
The man’s eyes widened as Kyle appeared before him in an instant.
'Fast...!'
"Hup!?"
He barely twisted his head aside, and the fist whistled past his ear by a hair's breadth.
Ku, kwaaaang-!!
As the concrete shattered right in front of him, the contact operative swiftly twisted his torso back and launched a counterattack.
"Die!!"
The fist, swollen with enormous muscles, slammed viciously into Kyle's torso.
Kwaang-!!
"!?"
But he couldn't help being shocked.
'He blocked it?'
The intruder had taken his full-powered blow—driven with all the force from his core—head-on.
He'd been pushed back about a meter by the sheer power, but that was it.
As Kyle casually shook out his arms like nothing happened, the contact operative could only doubt his own eyes.
'Just thirty seconds ago, this guy was scrambling just to dodge, let alone block.'
Kyle assumed a serious stance.
'Now he looks just like...'
The contact operative swallowed hard without thinking.
Compared to himself, now enhanced with augmentation abilities, that body should have been pathetically frail.
But for some reason...
'...I can't rush in recklessly.'
It was as if a massive mountain loomed behind him.
'This bastard...!'
The moment he sensed it,
Kyle spoke first.
"Not coming in?"
He spread his legs to shoulder width and took his stance.
"If you're not, then I'm coming to you?"
"!!"
At almost the same instant, Kyle's figure vanished from sight.
'What kind of speed...!'
This was on another level from before...?!
The man wildly augmented his muscles as Kyle dipped low and aimed for his side.
Kung, kwaaaaang-!
His body swelled up like a lie, if only temporarily.
"Keurk?!"
Then a transmission came through to Kyle's ear.
'I know.'
That meant he couldn't just unleash any magic here.
A single mistake could cause unintended casualties.
He casually rolled his wrists toward the panicking man retreating again.
'In that case.'
Kwajik! The strain from overusing [Dragon's Incarnation] made his heart creak.
But for an immortal like him, it was irrelevant.
Revitalized once more, Kyle instantly flanked the man and swung his fist.
'Subdue him with pure physical force!'
His body, enhanced by Dragon's Incarnation, gained temporary penetration power.
"?!"
The man frantically augmented his muscles again like before, but it was useless.
Kwajik!
Kyle's fist shredded through the tough muscle fibers in an instant.
The ensuing shockwave exploded toward his shoulder blade.
Kwaaaaang!
"Aaaargh!!!"
Screaming as his shoulder bone shattered, he grabbed Kyle on his back and hurled him with all his might.
But Kyle twisted midair with a whoosh! and landed lightly atop the opposite wall in the living room.
"Y-You bastard..."
Clutching his shoulder amid gushing blood, he glared at Kyle.
"What... what the hell are you?"
But Kyle, masked in his black jacket, cap, and mask, simply shook the blood from his hand without a word.
Seeing that, veins bulged red across the man's whites.
"What the hell are you, you bastard!!"
Kyle asked,
"What, you scared now?"
He beckoned tauntingly at the man hastily staunching his wounds with muscle augmentation.
"Weren't you talking big a minute ago?"
"You son of a...!"
Enraged, his massive body exploded forward with a kwaaaaang!
"Die!!"
The instant the hulking form charged in the blink of an eye, fist cocked again—
"Don't you learn?"
"!!"
A lightning trap triggered at his feet, making his eyes bulge.
Kwajijijik!!
"Keuruk?!"
As arcs of electricity surged, he yelled,
"When did you...!!"
Kyle, who had slipped inside his guard, replied,
"Just now."
The man's jaw dropped.
'No way...!'
When I threw him just now...?
He'd cast a spell in that split second?
But that didn't make sense.
Magic normally had casting times.
He'd chalked the first one up to having time, but the second? Where'd he find the leeway?
"You bastard...!"
Staring down the fierce blow rushing at him, he screamed desperately.
"What the hell are y—?!"
Kwajik! A crushing impact smashed his face, and Kyle drove him headfirst into the floor.
Kwaaaaang-!!
*
"Deploy the cleaner team."
"Apartment public lines?"
"Cut them all just now."
"Route lines here and start the cover-up. Move out, everyone!"
The support team sprang into action the moment they got word from Kyle that the contact operative was down.
"These scary noises from downstairs since earlier..."
"We'll check it out, ma'am. No need to worry."
Police-uniformed field agents moved in first to reassure the complaining residents.
Meanwhile, intel bureau folks set up barriers to restrict the trashed hallway.
"...No wonder this floor's always empty."
Gordon groaned softly, eyeing the room where walls between units had been smashed out.
Their target had bought up several units for himself.
And inside? Server racks.
At this point, it was less a home and more a mini server room.
"Why build a server setup like this?"
"Who knows."
He muttered, scanning the site of the brutal fight.
"Guess we'll find out when we crack it."
Whether by cracking the computers or the operative's skull.
Gordon asked a passing subordinate.
"Checked the ownership on these bought-out apartments?"
"Yes, sir. Just did—registered to Emerita Corporation."
"Emerita?"
"Yeah, tiny outfit. Three employees, listed as telecom manufacturing."
"Sniff sniff. Smell anything burning?"
"Pardon?"
He glanced at Cache.
"Like paper, I mean."
She frowned.
"...You saying it's a shell company?"
"Heard that? Dig deeper."
"Yes, sir!"
Gordon approached Kyle in the corner, mask off, sipping an ion drink.
"You did great."
"Nah, just doing my part."
"That augment user Ms. Clark just nabbed."
Cache said incredulously,
"Turns out he's a Class-1 terrorist gone missing years ago."
"Class-1 terrorist?"
"Yep."
Gordon recalled the man's file he'd skimmed.
Boris Havensky.
One of the anti-Luther ideologues. Five years back, on Luther Constitution Memorial Day in the 4th Administrative District, he'd bombed the official event.
Over a hundred civilian casualties weren't enough—he solo'd dozens of cops and heavy gear before vanishing.
Holo footage from the time was pure horror; the guy was a monster, no exaggeration.
'Taking down a beast like that this fast...'
No civilian casualties against this? A miracle.
Gazing at the wrecked room, he couldn't help admiring.
'Always impressive.'
Years in this line sharpened your eye.
'Didn't even use much magic this time.'
Pure hand-to-hand dominance over a monster.
'What is this guy...'
Top-tier magic and melee prowess.
Gordon whistled inwardly.
'Seriously, what'd he do before?'
He'd poked around personally since Black Forest, but no dice.
His limited network yielded zilch on Kyle.
'At this point, gotta be from the 8th Special District's underbelly, right?'
That hellscape teemed with monsters even intel couldn't track.
Weak got weeded out.
'If he's from there and got this strong...'
Gordon shuddered involuntarily.
What kind of childhood forged that? Unimaginable.
"If not for you, Mr. Clark, we'd be in deep shit."
Cache said, looking a decade older.
"Boris Havensky's beyond our firepower."
"If we'd gone solo... well."
Gordon chuckled dryly—no need to imagine.
"We'd miss him, snag zero server scraps."
And lose agents, obviously.
Kyle scratched his head sheepishly.
"Just paying back what I got."
Cache's eyes sparkled.
'Humble, too...'
Plenty would strut, but not 8th District vibes.
'Communicates well, no pointless pride.'
She half-wanted to beg him to join their team.
Kyle asked,
"Why was a high-risk guy like that playing contact here?"
Cache and Gordon fell silent.
They'd tracked here via forensics on the proxy, only to find an anti-Luther thinker and wanted Class-1 terrorist.
"Marshall's linking with anti-Luthers... maybe."
"But... why go that far?"
Using anti-Luthers to oust the mayor via Luther ties.
Cache frowned skeptically.
"Unless they're fully anti-Luther, that's poison chalice."
"Or just use and discard."
"Use and discard?"
"Yeah."
Gordon nodded.
"Pretend to purge Luthers outwardly, but just exploit and ditch."
Bonus: Map their terror network for later sweeps under new regime.
"Easy one-shot then."
"True... could be."
"But if not?"
They flinched at Kyle's question.
"If they really meant to oust the Luthers?"
"...!!"
A possibility they'd considered but not voiced.
Gordon sighed softly.
"Possible, but... tough sell."
Luthers symbolized Dun City.
Ignoring that for a new regime? Legitimacy nightmare.
"Safest: Prop up a Luther puppet for now."
Gordon narrowed his eyes.
'Probably.'
Yeah.
"Either way."
They eyed the server techs cracking machines.
"It'll spill clues when it opens."
Then—
"Gordon!"
"It open?"
Intel sec called; they and Kyle approached the server.
"Almost through."
A few keystrokes, and beep!—login screen.
"Nice. Password?"
"Hold on."
Tsssk! Hacker's cooling suit vented body heat.
He yanked a long cable from under his ear and jacked into the computer.
"Now like this..."
Beep! ID and password auto-filled.
Grinning hacker hit enter; green text bloomed.
"Sweet."
As Gordon smirked—
Screens erupted with windows like they'd been waiting.
"!!"
Everyone frowned.
"What the hell?"
Cache peered close, muttering,
"...These CCTV feeds?"
"CCTV?"
Then they noticed the rooms shown.
"Where's this?"
"W-Wait. Here."
Intel sec pointed to a corner.
"Isn't that a person?"
"?!"
"Zoom that window!"
Enlarged, everyone swallowed.
"Who's that guy?"
The feed: dank, pitch-black isolation cell.
Like a torture chamber. Faintly, a man hung in the center.
Gordon yelled,
"Where's this—here?!"
"O-One sec!"
Frenzied typing.
"Hurry!"
"Pr-Probably not far."
Cache said,
"Monitoring like this from here? Gotta be close..."
"This apartment."
Everyone turned to Kyle.
"What if it's in this building?"
"!!"
Gordon's eyes widened.
"This apartment..."
"Hidden room?"
"G-Get the blueprints! Now!"
"No."
Kyle stopped them.
"No need."
"What?"
He scanned the room quietly.
His gaze locked on a bookshelf in the corner.
He strode over purposefully.
As everyone watched him, he found the hidden switch behind it.
"This it?"
Click. Down it went; kung! echoed.
The living room floor corner slid open; gasps all around.
"No way, right here in the apartment?"
"Insane."
"How'd he spot it so fast?"
As jaws dropped at Kyle's instincts,
Cache eyed the revealed gray stairs.
"Wait... wasn't the unit below under renovation?"
"Son of a bitch."
Gordon grimaced, about to descend—
"Hold up."
Kyle gripped his shoulder.
"I'll go first."
"...!"
Getting it, Gordon stepped aside; Kyle descended the gray stairs.
Stale, musty air hit instantly.
Whoosh! Flames lit up, revealing a rusty iron door.
"......"
Kyle gripped the handle, pulled—keeik... it opened easily.
He pinched his nose on reflex.
Blood and excrement stench poured out.
"...What the."
He muttered.
'Locking someone here... for what?'
Gordon called from above.
"You good!!"
"Yeah, so far! Found a room—checking it!"
Shouting back, Kyle eased the door—then paused.
[Emerging Clue]
Accepting this mission will unlock the 'Lost Past' route.
A prior message flashed in his mind unbidden.
"......"
Shaking it off, he opened the door and lit the interior with flame.
Sure enough.
In the dark center, a bloodied man hung suspended.
Kyle clocked it instantly.
'Still alive.'
He knew death best; this was obvious.
"Hey."
Approaching, he shone light on the face.
"Can you hear me?"
"Uh... ugh..."
The man groaned, eyes straining to move.
Face a wreck.
No threats around—Kyle turned to call medics—
"Ka..."
"...!"
Chills hit; he froze.
Then the voice croaked fully.
"Kyle... Clark?"
"!?"