Chapter 149: A Bad On Is Usually Right (3)
‘There are way too many of them.’
Clicking my tongue, I looked down through the gaping hole in the wall at the glowing eyes flashing in the fog below.
‘How many is that, exactly?’
Even a rough estimate put it well over ten.
One or two briefly glanced my way before losing interest, but the rest had their eyes locked onto , crawling straight up the wall.
Their arms were disturbingly humanlike.
Muscle structure, joints—everything.
Seeing those grotesque things moving together in a pack was like sothing straight out of a horror film.
‘The location is the problem.’
If all of them flooded in here?
Holding them back inside a narrow building would be nearly impossible.
Worse still, the acidic venom they spat would lt the walls to sludge, dragging any civilians inside into the ss.
I would be in danger too.
An absolute worst-case scenario.
I glanced at my watch.
‘Ti-wise… it’s about right.’
A fair bit of ti had already passed since I rescued Do Ildeul.
This was downtown—heroes would arrive soon.
Which ant I did not need to risk my life wiping them out here.
All I had to do was stall.
Grrrrr—
The crawlers closed in, making wet, phlegmy sounds in unison.
The noise from the collapsing walls had pulled their attention completely.
They had fixated on
and seed unconcerned with anything else.
‘In that case…’
Even better.
Tap—!
Without hesitation, I kicked off the ground and hurled myself out through the broken wall.
I planted my foot on the crown of the crawler that was poking its head in first and launched myself into the air.
If the problem was them coming inside, I would just go outside.
This judgnt was only possible because the main monsters of this gate were wall-crawling types.
By instinct, they climbed upward—aning the ground level was likely occupied by nothing more than small fry.
Slash—!
Of course, it would be rude to leave without a parting gift.
As I leapt off its head, I slashed my sword across its back, carving a long wound.
GRAAAAGH!
A scream of pain burst from the creature.
Suspended in midair, I looked down at it spraying blood.
“If you don’t like it, co down here.”
Whoosh—
I began free-falling from high above.
Cold air brushed against my cheeks.
The sensation was strangely liberating.
Maybe this counted as rest too.
Bungee jumping without the rope—surely that qualified as an extre sport.
‘…Like hell it does.’
No amount of ntal gymnastics changed the fact that my day off was ruined.
If it were not for these crawler bastards, I would have had a perfectly peaceful evening—
gas, then a sauna, the classic combo.
Instead, I was trading blows with monsters spitting corrosive sli.
With that in mind, I let myself fall faster, thinking that if nothing else, I might as well vent so stress.
Then—
‘Hm?’
Sothing odd caught my eye as the ground rushed closer.
Down in an alley between buildings, sothing was writhing.
‘What was that?’
I glanced at the mimic.
It was looking up at the sky, laughing hysterically as usual.
Monts like this made
want to turn the Eye of Deception back on myself.
It did not activate unless I was looking directly at a target.
I had definitely sensed sothing.
The movent had been unnatural—bending at angles no human joint could manage—before vanishing into the darkness.
It reminded
more of a centipede than anything else.
‘A monster?’
The thought crossed my mind, but there was no ti to dwell on it.
The ground was right there.
‘Well, whatever.’
I twisted my body and prepared to land.
Thud—
The mont my feet hit the ground, my knees and muscles compressed smoothly to absorb the impact.
It felt like my legs were fitted with high-performance springs or thick shock absorbers.
Thanks to the Kangaroo Rat passive’s fall-damage reduction, the impact was minimal.
The sharp jolt in my toes was unavoidable, but manageable.
Grrrrrk!
Then, behind , multiple grotesque cries overlapped.
Ffffsh—
Black rain poured down from above.
Venom blobs.
“Ugh!”
I dove aside in a panic.
“Disgusting little shits.”
As I put distance between us, the crawlers began scurrying down the building exterior in droves.
A pack of grotesque monsters scaling a wall together—hard not to get chills from a sight like that.
Then one of them, unable to restrain itself, leapt at .
BOOM!
It landed heavily, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Looking closer, I recognized it.
The one I had fought in the restroom.
The tongue was still blackened and rotting—the exact spot where I had embedded the pain-infused dagger.
‘So it suppresses regeneration too.’
Crawlers were known for strong regenerative abilities.
Yet the cursed wound remained unhealed.
This was why real combat mattered.
The knowledge gain was undeniable—even if this was a field test I had not asked for.
Grrrk—
The monster shook its head irritably, clearly unhappy.
“You want revenge or sothing?”
I adjusted my grip on the sword and surveyed the surroundings.
The other crawlers were still descending the building.
There was so distance.
With this one having dropped in front of , the venom barrage had stopped.
For now, no imdiate pincer attack.
This spot was ideal—no civilians, plenty of space.
‘Co to think of it…’
I had not had a proper real fight since leaving the tower.
Only academy training at best.
Just as I had confird the curse’s regeneration suppression, this brute might be perfect for asuring how far my reinforced body could go.
‘Let’s see.’
Crack—
[Pain: Forging]
Heat spread outward from my lower abdon.
My entire body burned like heated steel, pain crashing over
like blows from a heavy hamr.
With each phantom strike, my muscles swelled, growing dense and heavy.
The agony that should have forced a scream gradually transford into a strange exhilaration—
Grrrrr!
The crawler charged again, hurling its bulk forward like a living battering ram.
The pressure was like a speeding truck bearing down on .
Normally, my instincts would have scread at
to dodge.
But—
‘I don’t need to.’
Strangely enough, certainty flooded my mind.
Instead of evading, I raised my blade and placed it squarely in the path of its charge.
BOOOOM!
A thunderous impact erupted as the collision hit head-on.
GRRNNNK!
The sheer force shoved my boots backward, scraping asphalt as I slid.
But that was all.
Screeeee—
Deep friction marks gouged into the ground beneath my feet—
and then, suddenly, I stopped.
I did not move another inch.
Grrk…?
A confused sound slipped from the Venom Crawler’s mouth.
It clearly had not expected to lose in a contest of strength.
I exhaled sharply and poured power into my sword arm.
One hard shove sent its massive body staggering backward.
GRAAAH!
Enraged, it opened its jaws wide and lunged to swallow
whole.
A red, reeking throat filled my vision.
To , it looked like nothing more than a gigantic target.
“Hoo.”
I drew in a breath and snapped my tensed muscles inward.
Ti seed to slow.
Explosive force compressed into my grip.
[Cross Slash]
A sharp silver flash traced a cross through the air—
one vertical cut, one horizontal.
Clean, precise trajectories.
The sensation of flesh parting flowed clearly into my fingertips.
Shhk—
For a heartbeat, the monster froze.
A thin, dark-red cross had been carved into the center of its gaping maw.
Fluid welled along the lines, defining the boundary—
CRACK—
Its massive head split into four pieces, still frozen mid-snarl.
Dark blood gushed from the severed surfaces.
Bubbles ford as it attempted to regenerate—
but it was useless.
Even with powerful regeneration, no creature could recover after accepting a fatal blow cleanly.
The body twitched a few tis, then collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
“Hah.”
I wiped sweat from my brow.
Pain-induced spasms rippled through my body, but strangely, it did not feel bad.
‘This is manageable.’
A pleasant heat coursed through .
It almost felt intoxicating.
I felt like I could fight more—
no, like I wanted to break more.
I looked toward the remaining crawlers descending the building.
Perhaps shaken by seeing one of their own cut down in a single strike, they hesitated.
‘How much longer can I keep going?’
With an oddly cheerful curiosity, I tightened my grip on the sword.
***
At the sa ti, in a dark alley between buildings—
A strange man crawled along the ground like a centipede.
Flattened into the shadows, countless legs writhed beneath the flapping hem of his coat.
‘That uniform… a Zero Academy cadet?’
A swordsman. Black hair, blue eyes.
His face was still young, but the aura he released in that instant was anything but ordinary.
‘And he has sharp instincts.’
When the boy leapt from the building, his gaze had snapped straight this way.
Detecting a presence in that brief mont—
The man clicked his tongue.
‘Still, I wasted ti unnecessarily.’
Instincts and presence aside, he was just a cadet.
He had overreacted.
The sudden leap had made him think a hero had arrived.
“Don’t scare
like that, damn it.”
But it was fine.
Preparations were complete.
He pulled a crude tal device from his coat.
On the screen, complex waveform graphs fluctuated erratically.
[Sync: 77%]
‘The amplifiers planted in the crawlers are functioning normally.’
One unit had been destroyed—but enough remained.
With practiced movents, he adjusted the dial, correcting the error margin.
Once synchronization reached ninety percent, the monsters’ brainwaves and mana would resonate, inducing an artificial berserk state.
What should have been a mild cold-level incident would be escalated into a lethal influenza.
‘You’ll be the first to get swept away.’
He smiled thinly as he watched the boy—
Crackle—
A transmission buzzed in his earpiece.
Huff—
A harsh snort ca through first.
He recognized the sender instantly.
A federation executive with the head of a bison.
“Chief.”
The man suppressed his agitation and spoke softly.
-You are late. What are you doing?
The heavy voice carried irritation.
“My apologies, Chief. Preparations are nearly complete. We will begin shortly.”
-You, of all people, delayed? Unusual. Was there a problem?
Huff—
Another powerful snort hit his ears.
He knew instinctively—
he needed to answer quickly, and convincingly.
“There was no major issue. I needed to hide briefly.”
-A hero, then. Faster than expected.
“No. A cadet. From Zero—”
-A Zero cadet?
HISSS—
The mont the word “Zero” left his mouth, a boiling snort exploded through the line.
The man imdiately realized his mistake.
Admitting that a re cadet had delayed the operation.
‘Damn it.’
To recover, he placed a finger on the detonation trigger.
If he acted now and produced results—
-What did the cadet look like?
The Chief interrupted.
Not scolding.
Curious.
“B-black hair. Blue eyes. Uses a long blade.”
-I see.
The Chief’s voice dropped.
A heavy silence followed.
The man spoke cautiously.
“I will proceed with the plan imdiately. At this rate, the damage in this area will—”
-That will not be necessary.
“…What?”
-This operation is withdrawn. Move to the next coordinate. We will conduct the weapons test there.
“But—!”
Click.
The transmission ended.
‘Why?’
The heroes had not arrived yet.
There was still ti to increase casualties.
Data collection was more than sufficient.
He had scouted this gate location in advance and prepared extensively—
and now it was all canceled in an instant?
More than anything, the Chief had never shut down an operation like this before.
‘…Is he disappointed in ?’
THUD!
Behind him, a multi-jointed tail burst through his coat, slamming into the alley wall.
Concrete dust rained down.
‘Damn it. Damn it!’
He should not have moved.
He should have killed the boy.
The mont the cadet jumped from the building, his hesitation had been fatal.
‘I should have killed him. Killed him and proceeded.’
Even now, he could activate the device—
No.
The withdrawal order was absolute.
Disobedience ant punishnt.
Perhaps becoming the Chief’s next test subject.
Grinding his teeth, the man retreated.
‘Black hair. Blue eyes.’
I will rember you.
You will pay for humiliating .
Screech—
Lifting a manhole cover, the man slipped silently into the darkness of the sewers.
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