Chapter 77: New Human Alliance (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 77: New Human Alliance (7)
We fought our way up to the top floor where the Madam was, suppressing everyone in our path.
Two of the three strongest individuals in this building were on my side, and the last one was rotting in the basement, so there was no one left to stop us.
We ascended with irresistible momentum, and upon reaching the top floor, we found the Madam and her villains waiting for us, having already prepared after hearing the commotion.
I guess I spent too much time at the entrance.
The Madam, still flaunting her voluptuous figure, glared at me as if she wanted me dead.
"What a naughty boy, Yeon-yu. To think you'd manage to flip those two to your side."
"My name is Yeon-woo, you bitch. I'm here to fuck you over."
"... ..."
Ah, was that not it?
The personnel from the collection room were scattered, rounding up the captured guards, while Hornet and Park So-won, who had followed me, stared at me in silence.
I thought it was a line that captured the momentum well, but the atmosphere turned freezing cold.
"I heard Yeon-yu’s sperm is quite vigorous, but you really should share it with everyone."
The Madam covered her mouth and laughed as if she found it a pity.
"Hey..."
Hornet called out to me quietly, sending me a sharp look.
I knew what that look meant.
The Madam—she was stalling for time.
"So, when is the Alliance's support arriving?"
"My, our Yeon-yu is quite sharp, isn't he? But can you really afford to be so relaxed? They'll be here within ten minutes."
It’s Yeon-woo, you piece of trash.
Even though we’d caught on, the Madam spoke as if it were nothing. She probably thought she could hold us off for ten minutes with the numbers she had.
As she smiled, a red flash soared into the sky outside.
The top floor’s outer walls were made of floor-to-ceiling glass, offering an excellent view. The red flare I’d set up at the entrance was perfectly visible.
The soaring red flash dyed the sky, and soon the entire area was shrouded in a crimson light. It looked like a dangerous natural phenomenon, but it was harmless.
"I wonder which will be faster? Support from Square Garden, or support from the Alliance?"
I smiled and looked at the flustered Madam.
It was a magic spell used to guide bombardments in my previous world. It wasn't anything special; just a signal to shell the area where the red sky appeared.
Since it wasn't used here, I’d suggested to Lee Ru-da that we use it as a signal when radio or other communications were down.
It hadn't been officially adopted yet, but if it was Lee Ru-da, she’d see this anomaly and know I was here.
The sight of the sky turning red would spread like wildfire across social media via people's smartphones.
Unless this place was an island.
That was my biggest concern, but since it’s even harder to hide a secret space like this on an island in South Korea, it should be fine.
I felt relieved seeing no ocean beyond the distant mountain range and turned my gaze back to the panicked Madam.
"Heroes will be 'bombarding' this place soon. Lee Ru-da must be pretty pissed off by now. Can you handle the wrath of an S-rank?"
At the mention of an S-rank—a literal human disaster—the Madam’s eyes darted around before she shrieked.
"Get him!"
At her cry, the villains lunged forward.
"Are you really going to be okay?"
"It's fine, trust me. I even cured your frigidity, didn't I?"
"... ..."
At my words, Hornet scowled deeply and stepped forward to deal with the rushing villains.
As planned, I would take on the Madam while Hornet and Park So-won handled the other villains.
As the two of them pushed the villains back, a straight path opened up between me and the Madam.
As if determined not to miss this golden opportunity, the Madam walked toward me with an elegant stride.
"Now there's no one left to protect you. Yeon-yu, do you need a scolding?"
"You're the one who needs a lesson. It's a shame I don't have the time, or I would've shown you a real good time."
I loaded my assault rifle and approached her.
As we drew closer, mana began to pour from the Madam’s body, and the floor started to crumble with every step she took.
"I'll have to cut off your arms and legs to make you behave. As long as your cock is intact, it doesn't matter, right?"
What a terrifying thing to say.
As she began to emit waves, an intangible vibration reached me. Even though I knew it was coming, I didn't feel a thing until it actually touched me.
Resisting the waves battering my body, I fired at the floor.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
The bullets pierced the floor, activating a magic circle that scattered the waves constricting my body.
"How...?"
"You just have to adjust the frequency."
Skills related to waves were a headache all over the world. They could bring down buildings with minimal effort, and because they were intangible and odorless, people often succumbed to them without knowing what hit them. They were truly horrific.
However, once the United States led the development of a machine that could counteract waves, wave-based skills became useless against anything other than monsters.
As expected, American-made military tech is the best.
Research hadn't progressed that far in this world, so I had to use magic to shatter it, but it wasn't that difficult if you knew the theory.
The problem was that they were hard to detect, and if you took a direct hit, you were finished.
She’d only tried to suppress me lightly, which is why I managed to escape; if she used her full power, someone with my low stats would be done for instantly.
"Well then, I'm off."
Leaving behind the Madam, who looked bewildered that her technique had been so easily broken, I fired explosive rounds at the floor.
Boom!
The bullets, embedded in a circular pattern, detonated, and the floor I was standing on collapsed.
As if refusing to let me go, the floor the Madam was standing on also broke, and she plummeted down with me. I started running like a madman.
The plan was for me to lead the Madam away while Hornet and Park So-won finished off the rest of the villains and then joined me.
Crash!
A wall near me shattered, and I quickly spun around to change direction. A wave swept past my legs as I dove away; fortunately, they were only a bit numb, and I could still run.
The waves were invisible, but in an area with plenty of cover, I could dodge them by watching the objects they destroyed.
"Dammit!"
However, the Madam fired waves relentlessly, forcing me to run without a moment's rest. Everything around her, whether walls or furniture, began to crumble into dust.
The gap in our stats was too large; just running away wasn't going to cut it.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
I fired my assault rifle in all directions. Magic circles formed where the bullets struck, and thick smoke began to billow out.
The smoke filled the floor, obscuring vision, and I silenced my footsteps to hide in a corner.
"Yeon-yu, give up and let yourself be caught."
The Madam’s gentle voice sounded like the screech of a serial killer.
The biggest weakness of waves is that they lack physical mass, so they can't clear away smoke like this.
Whoosh—
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, clearing the smoke.
Right. Even if it’s not a wave, it doesn't matter if she can use other magic.
Having easily cleared the smoke, the Madam spotted me huddled in a corner and lunged. Seeing her madness-stricken eyes, I fired at the wall with one hand while gathering mana in the other.
Schlick!
Tentacles erupted from my hand, wrapping around me like a protective ball.
The tentacles, now a lattice-patterned sphere, vibrated under the pressure of the waves, and I felt myself being crushed by the Madam’s power.
"Guaaaah!"
My internal organs were being shaken to a pulp. The tentacles, following my pre-set commands, struggled to move and shifted to the side.
Contained within the spherical shield, I moved along with it and slammed into the wall where my bullets had been embedded.
Crash!
The delayed explosive rounds detonated, blowing a hole in the wall, and I tumbled out of the building.
"No!"
The Madam rushed forward and jumped out after me. Freed from the pressure of the waves, I manipulated the tentacles.
With a metallic clink, the tentacles surrounding me unraveled and anchored themselves to the wall.
Using the tentacles as a rope, I swung like a pendulum and fired at the wall, blasting another hole in it.
"See ya, Madam! Gack, cough!"
I gave the middle finger to the Madam, who was falling alone, and swung into the hole I’d made.
Thud, crash, bang!
I didn't fall to my death, but I tumbled across the floor, smashing into various objects.
Becoming a human bowling ball, I eventually slammed into a water purifier. I grimaced as cold water poured over my head.
I forced my aching body, which felt like it had been beaten with clubs, to stand up.
Phew. It wasn't that tall of a building, so she wouldn't have died from the fall, right? I just hope I dealt some damage.
"... ..."
Oh, come on. This is a bit much.
The Madam’s terrifying face slowly rose through the hole in the wall.
Her previously smiling face was now contorted with rage, and her neatly styled hair was a disheveled mess, standing on end from the mana she was emitting.
I don't know how she did it, but she’d avoided the fall and climbed back up. I guess she didn't reach her high position just by being a veteran.
But there was no time to think.
Since I’d come down, it was time to go back up.
I pressed my hands to the floor and summoned stone pillars, using them to smash through the ceiling and propel myself upward. It was crude, but I didn't have time for anything else.
The space I’d just occupied was immediately swept by a wave, shattering into pieces and sending debris flying everywhere.
Dust stung my eyes, but I squinted and kept breaking through the ceilings to ascend.
Dammit, Hornet! Park So-won! Are you guys still not done?!
The short time I spent running from the Madam felt like hours.
Every time I broke through a ceiling to escape, the Madam—now a total madwoman—would turn the ceiling to dust and follow me. The deadly game of tag continued.
When I finally made it back to our starting point, Hornet and Park So-won had cleared out about half of the villains.
Only half?
Hey! You guys were so confident!
As the Madam and I emerged, covered in dust, I saw the wide-eyed expressions of the people there. I immediately smashed through the glass and dove out of the building again.
Crash!!
The Madam jumped after me, but this time, she wasn't going to be fooled. She clawed at the wall with her hands as she pursued me.
I frantically fired wind magic to change my trajectory, and an invisible wave passed by.
Actually, I don't know! I just felt like it did!
In my desperation, I couldn't do anything but worry about her waves even as I was in freefall.
The Madam, looking like a wreck from the chase, fired waves at me repeatedly. I was barely dodging by watching her hands, but I couldn't even tell if they were actually hitting.
Struggling to stabilize my posture, I fired toward the ground.
The terrain where the bullets struck shifted, and water began to gush out, forming a makeshift swimming pool.
Splash!
I dove into the pool from fifteen stories up. The magically created water cushioned me, but my body still felt like it was breaking.
But if I stopped here, I’d be caught instantly.
"Got you~"
As I lifted my head from the water, the Madam reached out her hand toward me.
Crack—
With an ominous sound, the water in the pool touching me froze solid, only to be shattered by the wave the Madam unleashed.
"Aaaaah! Go!"
The magic circle I’d placed beneath my feet fired the ice shards at the Madam.
As she hurriedly covered her face, the waves pressing down on me dissipated.
I quickly scrambled out of the frozen pool, avoiding her as she fell.
I heard a loud thud behind me, but I didn't have the luxury to look back. I was dizzy from overusing mana, and the rapid cooling from being submerged in the water sent chills through my body.
Thump—
I collapsed onto one knee.
The world was spinning, and my body, gripped by a lingering chill, began to shake uncontrollably.
"Ha... ha... That was fun, Yeon-yu. I really wonder if you're actually a D-rank."
"I'm a C-rank hero now. And it's not Yeon-yu, it's Yeon-woo, you bitch."
The Madam walked toward me, brushing the dust off her clothes.
"Still haven't lost your spirit, I see. Is there anything else you want to show me? Yeon-yu’s little performance was quite entertaining."
"Then let me entertain you."
To the Madam, it must have sounded like the voice of the Grim Reaper; to me, it was like a heavenly fanfare.
The space distorted under the pressure of immense mana, and a scowling Lee Ru-da stepped out.
Behind her were the maximum forces of Square Garden: the Queen Bee Party, including Song Ha-el and Seo Han-na, as well as Lee Ru-da’s own party.
"S-stop! That's not—!"
The Madam, who had been trying to grab me, had her face crumpled by Lee Ru-da’s fist.
I couldn't even see how she moved, but strangely, the sight of the Madam’s face caving in under Lee Ru-da’s fist appeared in slow motion.
BOOM!
As soon as the momentary slowness ended, the Madam was sent flying backward, smashing through a building.
"Yeon-woo, are you okay?"
Song Ha-el hugged me with tears in her eyes, and Seo Han-na began to treat me by my side.
Lee Ru-da stared at me wordlessly for a moment before turning her gaze toward the building.
"Wipe them all out."
At her command, the heroes of Square Garden drew their weapons and began to advance toward the building.