Chapter 152
Blood-covered lunatics in all sorts of outfits rushed at me all at once. The infected entity I had shaken off earlier was chasing me, making it hard to even step back.
I felt like I could bypass them if I pulled off a stunt well like earlier… but was there really a need to do that?
While the infected entities were charging with their teeth bared, there was a much more surefire method than performing dangerous and difficult Hoverboard acrobatics.
Just smashing everything.
I released the safety mechanism holding my ankles and rammed the speeding Hoverboard straight into them. At the last moment, I rolled my body to the side and hit the ground.
Anyway, all other body parts except my hands and head were protected by the tailored suit. I rolled over and stood up, being careful only not to crack my head or twist my hands.
“Argh.”
Even though I was wearing the suit, my body throbbed.
If it was this bad just from falling off a Hoverboard, then the scenes of jumping out of moving cars or trains, which appear as a regular occurrence in movies, were definitely all pure lies.
At least it was a relief that it wasn’t an act where the cost-benefit analysis was misaligned at all.
As long as I dealt more damage to the enemy than the pain I felt, it was justified, beggar.
CRASH, the loud sound of a collision, of falling and breaking, rang out.
When I raised my head, the Infected Entities that had been hit dead-on by the Hoverboard without even thinking to dodge were collapsed and tangled up together.
I felt a sense of accomplishment, like the satisfaction of knocking down bowling pins. This is fun.
Seeing them vomiting blood and groaning with their teeth knocked out made me feel slightly sorry, but they weren’t in a normal state anyway.
It was right to ensure complete force first and then look for a cure. If I caught the mad scientist who triggered this situation, I would probably be able to find a cure.
“…Right?”
I turned around and looked at the assailant who had been earnestly chasing me since earlier, and who was still rushing at me aiming only for my bare skin.
Looking at him drooling and chattering his teeth, I did have my doubts about whether a cure was actually possible.
Didn’t it remind you of a zombie that you’d see disturbingly often in various media, as he was running in a bizarre stance that you’d only see in a horror movie, with his joints twisted out of their normal orbits?
It didn’t seem to be to the extent of a dead body waking up and moving like a real zombie… but I didn’t know.
It wasn’t like an answer would come out just because I pondered over it, so I needed to finish this quickly and find the culprit behind this incident, though it might be after Dark Dragon had already finished everything alone.
[Combat Mode activation. Kinetic Drive Activation.]
It felt like it had been quite a while since I used this too, since recently there hadn’t been many occasions to commit an act of violence at the bar.
I threw a fist at the face of the Infected entity that was leaping hideously with its peeled scalp and bared teeth.
SMACK――!
The punch flew in an instant at a speed comparable to that of a boxer. The sight of spit flying, skin distorting, and the head shaking looked like slow motion.
Followed by a hit to the torso, and even a kick to kick the joints!
A straight knockout. The Infected entity sprawled out, unable to get up, and only dribbled bloody water.
Even in the midst of that, it was chilling how it glared viciously at me and scratched the asphalt with its blood-crusted nails, but it wasn’t that difficult to subdue.
If they were grouped up in numbers, the story might be a bit different, but I’d know when I saw it.
I was no longer the powerless Research Institute test subject who suffered helplessly, or an ordinary cook or waiter.
With powerful weapons like the microchip and System Assistant, the Nanosuit and Kinetic Drive, on top of consistently undergoing training at the martial arts gym, I had power.
It was to the point where even I was confused whether I was a bar manager or a splendidly growing ronin.
Just as I was starting to gain confidence, I met a formidable enemy called a cyborg ninja and got severely thrashed, but it also meant that I wouldn’t be easily defeated unless it was someone of that level.
“That Cyborg ninja, too, if I were to meet him again…”
Hmm, that’s a bit much.
Confidence is confidence, and reality is reality.
I had gotten much stronger, but even so, that Ninja from back then, engraved in my mind like trauma, seemed impossible.
Even with the System Assistant’s help, I simply didn’t have a means of attack that could pierce the outer shell of that hard prosthetic body.
It wasn’t like I could just go and procure a brutal killing machine from somewhere under the pretext of self-defense either…
At least it was a relief that these Infected Entities were at a level I could somehow handle with just my two fists and feet.
KIEEEEK―!
After cleanly snapping the legs of the Infected Entities that were trying to stand back up after suffering a traffic accident from the Hoverboard, I ran toward the origin point of the situation, the building main entrance.
The sight that appeared as I turned the corner was a complete mess.
“Why are there so many?”
There were so many Infected Entities that it made me naturally sickened. It was to the point where they were covering half the road.
The ones who fell victim to the smokescreen sprayed by the Crazy Scientist were definitely only about five or six security guards.
There were two possibilities.
Either he didn’t stop with what I saw and sprayed more toxic gas to make it look like this, or… that unidentified disease was also highly contagious.
Or maybe it was both.
If you got infected just by being bitten, then you were truly no different from a real zombie.
I saw Dark Dragon blocking the main entrance, facing off against a whole horde of Infected Entities.
I certainly didn’t need to worry.
Trusting the protective power of the pitch-black painted Dragon Suit, he sent the Infected Entities flying one by one every time he threw a heavy fist.
Rather, it felt like he was controlling his strength to the maximum so as to apply only force without killing them.
The Crazy Scientist was foaming at the mouth and shouting something at that Dark Dragon.
“If you are not an accomplice with them, do not block my path! I came here to stop the great disaster that will arrive due to the ambition of those bastards!”
He was a real madman. Where on earth were the city police and what were they doing, not catching a genuine criminal like this?
Dark Dragon, who had sortied with great momentum saying he would subdue the villain, also seemed to be concentrating on first blocking the Infected Entities from harming other people, rather than attacking the scientist.
It was the correct judgment. This wasn’t a game, and it wasn’t like bringing the boss, the scientist, to his knees would make all the mob infected entities disappear.
Even if he just waited leisurely like this, the Infected Entities' nails and teeth wouldn’t be able to pierce the Dragon Suit, so it seemed like they would all face suppression eventually, but…
There was no knowing what else that venomous Mad Scientist might do here.
I didn’t have extensive biochemical knowledge, but if he was capable of developing a pseudo-zombie virus like this, couldn’t he also possess something like a mass-killing virus?
If I stepped in, the chances of wrapping things up much faster and more securely before something like that popped out would increase.
I approached the godfather while deadening my footsteps as much as possible.
The Infected Entities covering the road were mostly distracted by the flashing standing signboards or the flashily moving Dark Dragon, so it was quite doable.
The problem was the Infected Entities standing blankly in place and groaning as if they had eaten something wrong, and those bastards crawling on the Floor/Ground, shattered as if they had taken a hit from Dark Dragon.
I tried to approach quietly by slipping between them with a sense of infiltration… but they immediately caught my scent and noticed.
Tsk. Right. I wasn’t an assassin or anything. What kind of stealth was I expecting for someone of my level?
Because the Infected Entities successively bared their teeth and growled at me, the Crazy Scientist who had been giving a long speech also ended up noticing my presence.
“Who are you again! No, there’s no need to even look. You must obviously be one of the private soldiers of that atrocious military corporation!”
And then, without warning, he threw a flask filled with green liquid. Was he a crazy person?
Because he made a throw as if he had just been waiting for it, I was startled and moved my body. My arm, shooting forward reflexively, snatched, grabbed, the conical flask right before it crashed into the Floor/Ground and exploded.
“…You caught that?”
“…I actually caught this?”
A moment where both the thrower and the catcher were stunned by surprise.
Even I thought it was some badass move.
Just by looking at it, one could tell it was that toxic substance that birthed the Infected Entities.
As expected of a Mad Scientist, his carrying around such a ridiculously dangerous bomb in a flask truly made him an incredible concept-obsessed person.
“I ought to just throw it back.”
When I made a gesture of throwing the caught flask back at him, the scientist must have been scared as he stepped backward.
I had no intention of throwing it anyway.
It would feel refreshing to just throw it and return it to him, but if the scientist got infected with that bizarre Berserker Virus, wouldn’t there be a problem in obtaining the cure?
It was also possible that it would have no effect since he might have already injected himself with a vaccine.
Seeing him freak out even though there was no worry of him falling victim to it was comical yet strangely unpleasant.
Good grief, he is terrified of suffering it himself while using it as a weapon against others without hesitation.
This guy is a total vicious person.
He’s a worse bastard than any troublemaker I’ve seen at the bar.
You’re a lost cause.
“Take a beating.”
After carefully setting down the troublesome biochemical flask, I snatched and gripped the Electric Shock baton from the clenched hand of an Infected entity security guard.
It was gripping it so tightly that it wouldn’t come out, so I was only able to pull it out after smacking its fang-baring face and wrist a few times.
When I pressed the switch, BZZT-! A visible blue arc current sparked through the external circuit. When I swung it a few times, it made a heavy sound like a Lightsaber cutting through the air.
Oh, this is a pretty good item too.
It seemed to be designed this conspicuously for the purpose of giving a sense of intimidation to the target of suppression, and, whether effective or not, the scientist’s complexion had turned pale white.
Very good.
A beating is the best medicine for a vicious person and a Troublemaker.