Chapter 45
Chapter 45
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: One Against an Infinite Army
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Adam lightly flicked his fingers.
Then, countless creatures, well over a hundred, appeared and surrounded Red.
A pack of violent beasts the size of elephants, robots of various shapes and sizes, knights in steel armor, grotesque two-headed birds, and more.
It was a disparate collection, with no discernible common thread.
But there was one thing.
All the creatures here showed killing intent toward Red.
Surrounded by monsters, like a meal on a plate, Red showed no sign of fear.
With a composed demeanor, she merely moved her eyes, trying to grasp Adam's ability.
‘A device? Magic? How did he summon so many in an instant?’
They appeared without any prelude.
They were summoned by a mere flick of Adam's fingers, yet even that held no trace of magic.
Though there were far too few clues to determine what it was exactly, she knew it was Adam's ability.
Adam lightly raised his hand.
And with a murderous expression…
“Go. Chew her to the bone.”
As he lowered his hand, the monsters attacked Red all at once.
Sharp claws, giant robotic fists, and various other attacks.
They all flew toward one spot, and Red leaped to lightly evade them.
In that instant, a giant claw flew toward the airborne Red.
Unfazed, Red used the sharp claw as a foothold to leap back to the floor, landing softly.
Amidst the monsters, Red moved her body with fluid agility, dodging the attacks.
She delivered heavy kicks and punches with precision and speed.
Beasts with tough hides and strong muscles were swept away like leaves by Red's fists and kicks.
The machines, with their diverse functions, were shattered without leaving a single scratch on Red.
The steel knights were no match for her.
The monsters attacking cowardly from the air were knocked down by debris Red kicked up.
The hundred-plus monsters were annihilated in less than a minute.
“Hahahahaha, amazing! Incredible skill! I suppose that's what it takes to be an SSS-rank Fixer.”
Adam laughed excitedly, as if he'd just seen something amusing.
Even though he had lost his pawns, Adam's face was full of composure.
Adam grinned, a wide arc forming on his lips.
“This is just the beginning.”
Adam clapped his hands once.
A deep shadow then fell over the entire floor.
Red snapped her head up to look, her brow furrowing slightly.
On the high ceiling, where there had been nothing a moment ago, was a grotesque amalgamation of countless monsters clumped together.
Letting out a chilling, loud cry.
It fell toward her at a furious speed.
Red kicked up a machine head at her feet, then, with all her might, kicked the airborne robot head toward the giant mass of flesh.
With a roar that tore through the air, the launched machine head ground the clumped monsters to pieces.
Shredded flesh and dark red droplets rained down.
The filth drenched the floor and those standing on it, but they didn't get dirty at all.
Instead.
The filthy pieces, the drops of blood, and the corpses of the first monsters scattered on the floor…
all the creatures Adam had summoned dispersed into small particles of light, filling the entire space with golden motes.
The gruesome, foul scene instantly transformed into a mesmerizing and beautiful sight.
Twinkle, twinkle.
‘They're not ordinary creatures.’
Red was certain as she watched the beings, which had substance but vanished without a trace the moment they lost their lives.
Red turned her head to look at Adam.
A sharp glint from her golden eyes pierced Adam's.
The murderous, blood-red gaze sent a chill down Adam's spine.
His shoulders and lips trembled slightly.
It wasn't from fear. Quite the opposite.
She had shown skill beyond his expectations, further stoking his competitive spirit.
The whites of Adam's eyes showed as they widened, wild with fighting spirit.
“Amazing. Truly amazing. To get rid of that in an instant. Right. The warm-up is over. Shall we raise the difficulty a notch? The ones I've summoned so far were just C- to B-rank small fry. In that case, the ones I'll summon next are…”
*Snap!*
With the sound of a finger snap, a new host of monsters appeared.
They made the first batch of monsters look cute by comparison.
Grotesque and violent in appearance, they radiated an energy dozens of times greater.
“Noooow! Unlike those grunts from before, I've summoned some A- to S-rank powerhouses.”
At Adam's command, the monsters charged toward Red all at once.
Red clenched her fists and kicked off the ground.
Her movements left no afterimage; she became the wind itself, weaving through the monsters.
How could one catch the wind? Without so much as a graze on her clothes, a silent storm raged, tearing the monsters to shreds.
Her masterful fists and kicks made the earth tremble and tore the air apart.
The monsters, predators until now, had their roles instantly reversed. Annihilated with ease by a single human, they scattered into a dense cloud of golden particles in the air.
But.
No matter how many monsters she destroyed, in the blink of an eye, new ones appeared in even greater numbers.
The continuous battle forced Red to wonder.
“Anyone who challenges me eventually wonders about the secret to my army. Where, and how, does this endless stream of soldiers come from?”
Adam's voice drifted down from above.
Perched atop a floating monster, Adam looked down at the ground with his legs crossed.
Despite the distance, his voice was as clear as if he were speaking right beside her.
He rested his chin on his clasped hands and smiled cruelly.
“If I were to describe my ability, it's 'Infinite Summoning.' I can send out troops without end. To be more precise…”
Adam began to reveal his ability without reservation.
There's a game inside Adam's head.
It's a game where a single character clears an endless dungeon, earning points for each clear.
He can use these points for a lottery, which is how he gathers his troops.
The advantages of this game are…
The character grows continuously, making the dungeons easier and allowing him to accumulate points with ease.
Even if the character dies, it revives instantly, so he can continue without any loss.
And Adam doesn't have to do anything himself; the game runs automatically.
In other words, even now, at this very moment, points are accumulating, and he's constantly pulling new troops.
After hearing the full explanation, Red was dumbfounded by the absurd ability, but at the same time, she let out a sneer in his direction.
“How foolish. To so easily reveal your ability to an enemy…”
Adam retorted to Red's mockery, his lips flapping with a sneer of his own.
“It doesn't matter whether you know or not, because nothing will change. No matter how strong you are, as long as you're human, your stamina will eventually run out. My power, on the other hand, is infinite. How can one person stand against an infinite army? In the end, I will always be the victor.”
Adam, who had been sitting, stood up and spread his arms wide.
In the cool breeze and the light pouring down from the ceiling…
Adam wore a blissful expression.
“And if I had to give a reason for revealing my ability, it's to teach you the truth. The cruel truth that you can never defeat me.”
Adam closed his eyes.
In the darkness, scenes from his past played out like a film.
The Fixers and organization members who had challenged him with unwavering, resolute eyes.
They say the greater the hope, the deeper the despair.
After they keenly felt the power they could never overcome…
seeing their faces plunge into the abyss, his closed lips trembled with pure joy.
Calmly.
Adam took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.
“Those who challenged me fought bravely, filled with hope, just like you. But in the endless battle, their stamina and spirit wore down until they reached their limit. In the end, with faces full of despair, they all chose to give up on their own.”
Adam's eyes sparkled with innocence.
The corners of Adam's mouth were turned up in rapture.
Adam lowered his head.
“How does it feel to be faced with the merciless truth? Are you in despair? Or do you still think you can win?”
“You ask the obvious.”
“Yes, that's the Crime Killer, Red. Let's see how long you can keep those eyes. I look forward to seeing them clouded with despair when your conviction shatters.”
“Hah, what a truly awful hobby.”
“Awful hobby? Ahahaha, someone with great power like you should know this feeling well. The absolute sense of omnipotence, where no one can look down on you, and you can control anyone as you please. The euphoria you gain from that process is truly, truly, so rapturous it's hard to put into words, isn't it?”
Red looked up at Adam.
The moment she saw his expression, her own face crumpled in disgust.
It was a grotesque smile, drunk on ecstasy and stained with madness.
Adam thinks.
Power is the ultimate prize.
The strong earn the right to trample the weak as they please.
And they also earn the right to be forgiven for everything.
It felt like becoming a god.
That's why Adam harbored ambitions to one day sit among the Sins, surpass the Four Great Organizations, and rule the entire city by controlling the underworld.
Adam moved his hands elegantly, like a conductor, with the battle on the ground as his music.
This time, SS-rank monsters appeared and attacked Red.
Perhaps because they were SS-rank, Red began to be pushed back ever so slightly.
But even so, Red showed no signs of fatigue, and when she drew out more of her power, the SS-rank monsters all exploded.
They dwindled and dwindled, yet…
the powerful monsters were summoned without end.
As Adam summoned SS-ranks to pressure Red, he moved his lips as if he'd just remembered something.
“Ah~ Come to think of it, I hear you sponsor an orphanage. After I defeat you, the orphan…”
*Boom!*
Adam couldn't finish his sentence.
The ground beneath his feet felt empty, as if his body were floating.
He glanced down to see that the monster he'd been riding had been blown to smithereens.
Adam fell.
“Aaaaaah!”
Lacking the skill to break his fall, Adam summoned a monster to cushion the impact.
“Ugh. What just happened?”
Clutching his slightly dizzy head, Adam surveyed his surroundings.
He couldn't help but frown.
The golden particles had already been thick in the air from Red continuously defeating the monsters.
But now, he was enveloped in a golden fog so thick he couldn't see in front of him.
*Thud, thud.*
Adam turned his head toward the sound of footsteps.
From within the golden fog, a pair of red eyes glowed intensely.
Startled, Adam slipped and fell on his backside.
A strange anxiety washed over Adam, and he felt an unpleasant chill.