novelraw Chapter 87 : Chapter 87
Chapter 87 : Chapter 87
Chapter 87: Raid (3)
‘I’m not late.’
Approaching Spike Blue, I drew my sword in the transparent empty air.
A slight resistance brushed my fingertips, and soon a bundle of grey wires fell to the floor with a patter.
As the pressure tightening his neck was released, Spike Blue's rough breath burst out.
His blood-covered face turned towards me.
“……Why, why are you here?”
They were surprised eyes.
The guy who ran away came back? He probably couldn't understand.
But for me, it was a natural choice.
The Villain Alliance never leaves Heroes alive.
They kill them if useless, or if deemed useful, turn them into Freaks to make them comrades or use as tools.
It was one of the three.
Spike Blue.
A Hero from Zero and a figure attracting attention as a next-generation symbol.
Above all, his sense of belonging to Zero was exceptionally strong.
Calling us ‘juniors’ and acting friendly as soon as he saw the Zero uniforms wasn't for nothing.
Thanks to that tendency, he was a face that never missed various official events, special lectures, external cooperation, etc.
In the game too, he was an NPC who often took care of the player in a ‘senior position’.
In other words, a good connection and at the same time, Zero's combat power.
Losing such a person in this place was a loss without question.
‘I can't let him die like this.’
After Spike Blue jumped off, I also jumped from the train compartment when we had distanced ourselves appropriately and the citizens were safe.
“My policy is to repay kindness.”
At my words, Spike Blue made a bewildered expression.
“……You.”
“Also, I am your junior.”
A momentary silence.
He opened his eyes wide with a shocked expression, then.
“Ju, Junior!”
Spike Blue's eyes reddened as if moved.
[Jeong Cheongrok (Spike Blue)]
[Emotion, Sense of Belonging, Anxiety, Despair]
[State: Severed]
I chose those words to build favorability and stimulate his sense of belonging, and the effect is better than I thought.
But that was only for a moment.
Soon, Spike Blue's expression darkened again.
“Junior. I appreciate the thought of coming to help, but still, you shouldn't have come here.”
His gaze scanned the surroundings as if wandering.
He seemed to be looking for something, but nothing was visible in the empty air.
“We are trapped right now. Invisible traps are laid around us. In the end, only the number of rats caught in the trap has increased to two.”
Spike Blue exhaled lowly.
“I’ll put it simply. Can you see below? It's steel wire. Superalloy wire. That guy laid these all around while keeping them invisible.”
Spike Blue frowned, looking at his right arm.
“That’s why my arm was cut off unawares. Damn it.”
He had somewhat grasped the opponent's ability.
That transparent wires were spread around like a birdcage.
It must be a fact he learned while his whole body became tattered.
The wire pieces scattered on the floor proved the fierce resistance that existed until just before.
“Still, you cut quite a lot.”
“Those were lucky hits from swinging wildly. If you can't see, that’s the best you can do.”
Then, Spike Blue narrowed his brow and asked sharply.
“More than that, did you request support? Did you come alone?”
“Of course I did. Since it's chaos, the other side seems busy too, but they will come soon.”
This is certainty.
Thanks to reducing the damage from the Milky Way Grass, the Heroes' response speed was much faster than originally.
The situation that would have originally lasted until night was reduced to around one or two hours.
Right now, five Heroes were engaging Chimeras in the adjacent sector.
They will join us as soon as that side is cleared.
As I explained briefly, Spike Blue exhaled deeply.
“That’s enough. It means there is a way to survive. Damn it.”
He gripped his weapon firmly again.
“Watch that masked guy closely. The moment he moves his hand, attacks will pour from all directions. You might have noticed, but that guy's hands are controlling the wires.”
His voice trembled lowly.
“Let's endure. If that guy moves his hand, swing your sword immediately. In every possible direction. With the mindset of cutting even one more.”
“What if we can see them?”
I asked.
“What?”
“If we can see them, we can cut them, right?”
At my words, Spike Blue made an incredulous expression.
“What are you trying to say…… Damn, here it comes!”
At the moment Spike Blue asked back.
The masked man, Gonta's hand moved minutely.
Immediately, the air tightened.
My skin tensed vividly.
Something invisible approached cutting through the empty air.
Swish—
A thin sound cutting the wind was heard.
And right after that.
Pibit, pibibit—!
The entire space burst out.
Transparent thread lines poured down, winding around everywhere.
Spike Blue spun his polearm and swung it.
I also thrust my sword here and there beside him.
Flash, a streak of flash sparked in the air.
The wire touching the sword tip snapped, and metal pieces scattered.
At the same time, another one grazed my shoulder.
Blood seeped out, conveying hot heat.
Spike Blue was in the same situation.
New wounds were engraved on him who wasn't fine already.
Red fresh blood flowed below his eyes.
“Damn it! Can you see this? The spell that bastard used, I can't figure it out at all!”
Spike Blue's voice cracked.
Every breath was mixed with the smell of blood.
“That guy will attack again soon. We have no choice but to endure like this until support comes. Don't relax. I’ll let you know the timing.”
With one eye half-closed, he gritted his teeth and shouted.
However, clearly, he was already at his limit.
If it stays like this, there is no next time.
We couldn't continue the gamble of cutting invisible lines.
“I have a plan, so do as I say.”
It might sound a bit arrogant, but I don't care.
It's not a situation to nitpick about such details.
“……What is it?”
When Spike Blue looked at me and asked back.
I pointed to the floor with the tip of my sword.
“Let's dig.”
***
Beep— Beep— Beep—
The woman in Goth attire, Saturn, looked into the device in her hand.
Three blue dots blinked at regular intervals.
“Reduced from five to three. The Chimeras must have been made quite strong.”
Then, one red dot twinkling among them disappeared.
“Ah! One Chimera got caught! Hmm— looks like it’ll end soon? Maybe they’ll come this way?”
As Saturn spoke chirping, Gonta standing next to her exhaled an annoyed breath.
“The response is faster than what that bastard Edward said. What went wrong?”
Saturn shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess the move Edward prepared didn't work well. The Milky Way Grass, you know. He made the packaging different to feed it only to Heroes, but apparently, there was an uproar about discrimination against Non-Awakened? Thanks to that, all supply routes got tangled, they say.”
Gonta turned his head as if dumbfounded.
“Packaging? Because of something like that?”
“Yeah. People are like that, you know. Making a fuss over trivial things. Idiots. Talking about equality over packaging or whatever. The only truly equal thing is that they die.”
Saturn giggled and continued looking into the device.
Gonta snorted and muttered.
“Hmph, I wanted to enjoy it for a long time.”
To that, Saturn replied without taking her eyes off the device screen.
“Just take them somewhere secluded separately. I plan to do that.”
Gonta turned his gaze forward.
Two figures visible in the distance.
One Hero, and one Hero Academy cadet.
The former is half-dead, and the latter is somewhat lively but will soon be in a similar state.
Layers of thin lines were revealed in his vision.
Things others could never see.
Pillars, railings, walls.
Everything was woven with steel wires.
Special alloy wires manufactured to effectively cut human bodies.
Those lines were visible only to Gonta's eyes.
Several pillars and structures were the same.
That was Gonta's spell.
[Salpa]
Objects touched by his special magic power become completely assimilated with the surroundings and turn transparent.
With the enhancement-type spell, strength and control also achieve a dramatic increase.
Streetlamps and surrounding buildings became pillars, and long-stretched metal wires wrapped that space like walls.
Those two guys settled in there were no different from being trapped in a birdcage.
Gonta opened the metal case on his waist.
Endless bundles of thin wires unraveled without end.
As he skillfully moved his fingertips, the vacuum that was just cut away was filled with new lines.
Having taken their places, they began to wrap around the surroundings tightly and tautly like a spiderweb.
‘I should wrap it more densely.’
He was a little surprised when the boy appeared suddenly.
Because he passed through the wall made of steel wires set up around and settled next to the Hero.
It seemed he passed through a gap by chance.
Since a guy without magic power couldn't have teleported by distorting space.
Anyway, the guys trapped in the birdcage were wildly swinging and cutting the invisible steel wires.
In the end, it was a meaningless struggle.
If cut, he just had to replenish them again.
The pillars and structures made transparent, and the lines surrounding them tighten like a net.
If they don't notice this, they have no choice but to keep getting hit.
And naturally, they cannot notice it.
‘Stupid bastards.’
Gonta let out a snort.
‘Did you think you could live?’
He narrowed his gaze and looked at the boy.
Was his name Ryu Jinwoo?
The damn guy who looks like a gigolo and goes around with two girls.
Since the original target ‘Lee Junhyeok’ didn't come, he planned to kill that guy instead and take his head to decorate his room.
When he left this place due to Seol Hayun's response, he thought it became annoying for no reason.
Ryu Jinwoo, that guy, ended up coming back.
‘Perhaps that guy is fated to die by my hands. Seeing how he came back on his own feet.’
Gonta smiled fishily.
His fingertips shook.
Dozens of strands of steel wires laid in the air moved as if dancing.
Chararak—
With the sound of iron grinding, the invisible steel wires tightened.
Space twisted, and small wounds increased on their bodies.
Even in such a situation, the Ryu Jinwoo side was responding by moving strangely, but the Hero side was as good as finished.
The Hero spat out a cough mixed with blood.
Streams of blood began to flow below his eyes.
Gonta reorganized the steel wires.
With the sensation in his fingertips, he distinguished between live lines and broken lines.
He discarded useless lines and adjusted again.
The process was natural like flowing water.
‘Is it almost over?’
Ryu Jinwoo's side seemed to still have strength left, but the Hero's side was completely finished.
That guy won't last the next one.
If the Hero dies, the remaining guy is obvious too.
From then on, it's instant.
He can cook them neatly at once.
‘If I cut off his head and keep it in my room, it would be quite nice to look at.’
Thinking so, just as he was preparing the finish.
Kwaang—!
Dust rose with a violent vibration.
Saturn, who took her eyes off the detector at the sudden noise, looked at them with round eyes.
“Ooh! They’re digging the ground? Looks like they plan to do something!”
Saturn smiling as if she found an interesting spectacle.
The guys began to strike down the ground madly.
“Shall I help?”
To her asking as if subtly teasing.
“Hmph. No need.”
Gonta snorted.
“Digging the ground is a thought even a puppy would have. Stupid. Don't they know that's more dangerous?”
He took out a metal sphere from his chest pocket.
A matte grey sphere with a smooth surface and not a single reflection.
As he calmly wrapped magic power around it, its surface gradually became transparent.
“It’s out! Gonta's special transparent bomb.”
Saturn giggled and raised the corners of her mouth.
Gonta raised his arm to gauge the distance.
Just as he was about to throw the bomb into their midst.
Teoeong—! Kwagak—!
Once again, a rough sound rang out.
It was where they were.
Gradually, noise burst out from under the ground.
Pushik—! Paiiiit—!
“What is it?”
Questioning was brief.
What was seen in their eyes was a water stream.
A fierce stream of water began to spew out as if an oil field exploded.
“They broke the water pipe! If they do this?”
At the moment Saturn shouted.
Water droplets formed on the wires revealed themselves in an instant.
The water stream soared.
Water splashing in all directions revealed the ‘invisible birdcage’ like an outline.
Udeuk—
Gonta's expression distorted.