Chapter 10: Punk City And The Human Boy (5)

The Plasma Cutter attached to the arm sprouting from the Gorilla’s back slashed downwards.

Woooong.

Along with a sound of vibrating air, a red line left an afterimage in the empty space.

Immediately after, the being who was once a police officer was split in two.

The Gorilla didn't even pay attention to the officer it had bisected.

It simply deflected bullets and Magic with its bare body, and with the three pairs of arms sprouting from its back and its two thick arms, it swung them in perfect unison, unilaterally slaughtering the Police surrounding it.

Its right eye, like the compound eye of an insect, captured the entire battlefield, and the CPU in its brain analyzed every situation.

After completing the analysis in 0.1 seconds, the three pairs of arms moved autonomously, efficiently executing the slaughter.

The Police who came to save the citizens were dying helplessly.

It wasn't that the Police were incompetent. They had also undergone their own Procedures, and each had their own specialties.

There were Mages, swordsmen, and skilled snipers.

With this number of people, they could sweep an entire Gang branch.

However, they were no match for this Gorilla.

What the Gorilla was using was military-grade.

Something you couldn't even see in the civilian market,

And not just one, but enough to cover its entire body.

At this level, they shouldn't be sending Police; they should be calling in the army and armored vehicles.

“Special Forces arrival time!”

“10 minutes, sir!”

“Those sons of bitches! They have aerial vehicles, so why are they later than us!!”

“They said airspace is congested due to the Christmas season, sir!”

“Thanks for letting me know, asshole!”

Once again, the role of the low-ranking Police was to be a meat shield, buying time until the Special Forces arrived.

The fate of Police with mediocre Talent, money, or connections was always like this.

However, their existence was not meaningless.

Thanks to the Police holding the Gorilla's feet, the citizens were able to escape the scene.

After confirming that there were no more civilians left at the scene, the Police changed their strategy.

From killing through encirclement to stalling for time.

From aggressive counterfire to warning shots focused on secure cover.

The changed strategy was effective.

Just by switching to a defensive tactic, the number of casualties decreased significantly.

Seeing this scene, the youngest police officer felt a glimmer of hope.

‘We can survive!’

As a result, he ended up having a thought he shouldn’t have.

He should never have done that.

But it was too late to regret.

A Rocket flew in and blew the youngest officer away, along with his cover.

Several Police officers bit their lower lips.

But they had no time to mourn the dead youngest officer.

Because the Gorilla’s Rocket barrage had begun in response to the Police's change in strategy.

Kwaaang! Bang!

“Liniaaaargh! Lini-!!! I'll kill you! Cops!!!”

Somehow, the Police had become the Gorilla's sworn enemies who had killed its daughter.

The sniper, who had been active intermittently, was caught in the Rocket barrage.

The outer walls of the buildings collapsed, windows shattered.

The place had now transformed into a battlefield.

In that hellish landscape, the Rocket Launcher was now aimed at where the Inspector was taking cover.

‘Damn it! I'd rather be at home getting nagged by my wife!’

No matter how he looked, there was no other cover nearby to hide behind.

As if sensing his fate, the Inspector closed his eyes tightly.

That was when it happened.

Whiriiick!

The sound of something flying through the air, and

Pshoooik!

The sound of a Rocket launching.

And then

Kwa-boom!

The sound of the Gorilla detonating from that Rocket came from beyond the cover.

It was difficult to grasp the situation due to the thick dust that settled where the Gorilla had been, but it was certain that the Gorilla had knelt for the first time.

While the Inspector was still unable to comprehend the sudden change in the situation, a boy approached him.

He was covered in dust and his clothes were torn to shreds, but even in that situation, his appearance didn’t lose its shine.

Moreover, it was an appearance that somehow inspired trust.

While the Inspector was admiring the boy's appearance, the boy asked him a question.

“Do you happen to have a sword or something?”

***

Rewinding time.

Right after the Gorilla began its full-scale Rocket barrage.

The walls of several buildings crumbled.

Among them was the wall of the attic where Amon and Sonia were.

The wall that protected them collapsed, and the battlefield where the Gorilla was fighting was clearly visible.

The Gorilla’s compound eye turned towards the inside of the collapsed wall.

Inside, only clothes hanging on hangers were visible.

The Gorilla lost interest in the attic and went back to what it was doing.

“Whew.”

And a sigh of relief escaped from within the pile of clothes where the Gorilla had looked.

Amon and his party, hiding within the pile of clothes.

Fortunately, the Gorilla hadn't noticed them.

Amon, certain that the Gorilla hadn’t noticed them, decided to continue hiding within the pile of clothes.

About 15 minutes had passed since the barrage began.

The time it takes for the Special Forces to arrive is usually about 10 minutes.

Considering the traffic congestion due to Christmas, it would be around 20 minutes.

Amon thought that if they hid here for about 5 more minutes, they would be safe.

Sonia nodded and tried to hide herself in the pile of clothes.

The clothes store owner also tried to move towards the pile of clothes.

However, before he could hide himself,

“Ugh!”

The old man cried out in pain.

Amon asked the old man with concern,

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

The old man refused to answer.

However, while he could hide it with words, he couldn't hide his limping leg.

Amon's gaze turned to the old man’s leg.

Scissors were embedded in his thigh.

‘Damn… That time…’

When the wall exploded, all sorts of debris, including a sewing kit, had poured into the attic.

The debris hurt, but thanks to Amon and Sonia’s sturdy bodies, they were able to endure.

But the old man wasn’t as sturdy as them.

Whether this should be called misfortune or fortune.

Because Amon and Sonia had taken most of the debris, the old man had no injuries above his waist, but the scissors had stabbed his thigh.

Amon examined the old man's complexion under the dim attic lighting.

It didn't look good.

Even Amon, who lacked professional knowledge, could tell that the scissors had pierced a major blood vessel.

The option of carrying the old man in this condition and hiding somewhere was out of the question.

Even in his hazy state, the old man kept repeating the words "Go quickly.." in Korean to them.

Hearing the old man’s words, Amon squeezed his eyes shut.

It was an old man he’d never met before.

And in this world, things like compassion or justice were not even a laughing matter.

Even if they arrived at a Hospital in time, he didn’t know what the old man’s chances of survival were,

And he didn't even know if the old man could afford the Hospital bills.

So, thinking rationally, it was right to just leave him.

Amon, frowning, began to pray.

“Lord, have mercy on me.”

The prayer was short, and the decision was quick.

He entrusted the half-conscious old man to Sonia and told her what she needed to do.

“I’ll distract the Gorilla. In the meantime, you cross that alley. See the bakery? There's a back door, and if you go through it, you’ll see the Hospital.”

“What do you mean, distract?”

“Sonia. Trust me.”

He couldn’t bring himself to mention things like Reincarnation or Patterns.

Instead, all Amon could say was to trust him.

The upright boy’s eyes met the girl’s golden eyes.

Sonia looked at Amon’s face, then bit her lower lip and carried the old man on her back.

Like Amon, she couldn't bring herself to leave the old man behind.

She spoke to Amon as if complaining.

“I’ll be back soon. Until then, don’t get hur…!”

Swallowing the death flag she almost uttered, Sonia shouted.

Amon, noticing Sonia's consideration, was about to reply with a confident face,

“It’ll be over before that.”

Immediately after those words, Amon combined the tools that were in the space.

What came to mind as soon as he saw the Gorilla was a one-man army.

Not only was the Gorilla equipped with heavy weapons on its thick arms, but each of the three pairs of arms sprouting from its back also had weapons.

Just in terms of firepower, it was a Monster that could take down two light armored vehicles.

But that didn't mean it had no weaknesses.

‘Its lower body is weak.’

Of course, outwardly, its thighs looked sturdy.

In fact, they were also hard enough to be unaffected by mere bullets.

But what Amon pointed out wasn’t its durability but its balance.

‘To wield eight weapons with its upper body, it can't equip additional weapons on its lower body. Its lower body probably only functions to withstand recoil.’

And probably just barely.

So much so that it could collapse with the slightest push.

That’s why Amon saw the Gorilla’s lower body as its weakness.

Fortunately, the space he was in was a work area, so it was easy to find the materials to exploit this weakness.

He calmly tied some strings and attached weights to the other ends.

The completed hunting stones.

He waited for the Gorilla to try and fire its weapons.

And the moment the Gorilla aimed at a police officer with its Rocket Launcher and tried to approach,

‘Now!’

Amon threw the hunting stones.

The hunting stones successfully wrapped around the Gorilla's legs, tripping it forward.

And, although unintended, the Rocket launched, engulfing the Gorilla in the explosion.

Watching the explosion, Amon couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

‘Why did it remove the safety device from the Rocket?’

Usually, Rockets are equipped with safety devices to prevent the user from being caught in the explosion, but this small Rocket didn't seem to have any.

A likely reason was that the safety device was removed to accommodate the launcher and Rockets on its back, resulting in an overly compact design, but only the Gorilla knew the truth.

Anyway, the unexpected explosion was a stroke of luck for Amon, so he decided not to delve into it too deeply.

Amon put the word "safety" aside in a corner of his mind and approached the Inspector.

To the dazed Inspector, Amon asked,

“Do you have a sword?”

Startled by the sudden question, the Inspector kindly answered.

He pointed to a corpse, only the lower half remaining, a little distance away from the Gorilla.

At the corpse’s waist was a Japanese Sword that seemed to be in relatively good condition.

Amon clicked his tongue upon seeing the sword.

“Tsk. That one’s a bit unreliable.”

Even as he said that, Amon prepared to sprint, as if to retrieve the sword.

The Inspector realized what the boy was trying to do.

Normally, he would have stopped him, but in this extreme situation, people tend to believe in miracles.

Especially considering that the Gorilla had knelt for the first time, he couldn't help but want to believe in the boy.

Therefore, instead of stopping the boy, the Inspector decided to do what he could do.

“Take this before you go.”

He handed Amon a Pistol with only one magazine left.

Amon gave a nod of thanks and ran from cover.

As he went to retrieve the Japanese Sword, the Police, who had already received the radio message from the Inspector, fired simultaneously, drawing the Gorilla’s attention.

On his way, the boy reached the location of the Japanese Sword.

Instead of gripping the sword normally, he held it in reverse grip and ran towards the Gorilla.

‘I don’t think I can win.’

That's an army.

And Amon, in gaming terms, hadn’t even started the tutorial yet.

No matter how much Veteran Player knowledge he had, Amon wasn’t crazy enough to be reckless based on that.

His goal wasn’t to neutralize the Gorilla.

It was an emergency measure to maximize his survival rate until the moment the Special Forces returned.

Amon recalled the setting of a game, not Punk City, but the one next door.

When facing Bosses, if you focused your attacks on a specific part, you could sever or destroy that part; this was called part destruction.

If you succeeded in destroying a part, the Pattern would become much easier.

It was originally a feature that wasn’t in Punk City, but now that it had become reality, it was a strategy worth trying.

Amon ran towards the Gorilla.

The Gorilla, caught in the explosion of its own Rocket, looked terrible.

Its right arm was severely burned, and the Rocket Launcher on its back was broken.

Perhaps some sensors were also broken, because its ability to grasp the entire battlefield was gone, and it was busy dealing with the Police's bullets and trying to tear off the hunting stones tied to its legs.

Thanks to this, the Gorilla didn’t notice Amon's presence until he reached its back.

Approaching from behind, Amon plunged the reverse-gripped Japanese Sword into the base of the auxiliary arms.

He punched the hilt like he was hammering a nail to push the Japanese Sword deeper, as it wasn't going in easily.

Thud-thud!

Something snapping could be heard from inside the three right auxiliary arms.

By the time the remaining left arms noticed Amon and targeted him, he had already dodged.

The Gorilla's right auxiliary arms creaked and finally stopped working, as if broken.

All of the Gorilla's ranged weapons were concentrated on its right side.

The auxiliary arms were broken, and the original arm that held the Machine Gun was severely damaged by burns.

This alone almost completely neutralized its ranged Pattern.

The burned and damaged arm creaked as it turned the Machine Gun’s muzzle.

But before the muzzle could point at Amon, he was already behind cover.

The wound from rolling on the ground stung a bit, but it was bearable.

The Gorilla changed its primary elimination target to Amon.

It headed towards where Amon was taking cover.

But before it could reach Amon, the Police finally managed to do something.

Their bullets destroyed the Gorilla’s right eye.

Having lost its aiming assistance system, the Gorilla could no longer aim the Machine Gun as delicately as before.

The Gorilla’s processing system overloaded.

If it targeted Amon, the Police were a threat.

If it targeted the Police, Amon was a threat.

The processing system refused to calculate.

Instead, it chose to go berserk.

The enraged Gorilla threw down the Machine Gun and started drumming.

Thump-thump-thump.

“Roarrr!”

Its Magic Tattoo began to glow.

In Amon’s words, it was the signal for the start of the 3rd Phase.

Amon, sweating profusely, looked around the battlefield.

‘Is there anything that can withstand that Gorilla’s 3rd Phase…?’

But there wasn’t.

No matter what he picked up, Amon's unskilled physical abilities held him back.

In the end, his only options were to run and dodge.

Amon quickly made an Estimate.

The weapons the Gorilla had in its 3rd Phase were its two thick arms and the three arms on its left side.

He roughly estimated the Pattern those would create.

The problem was whether he could dodge them all…

‘I think I can do it for a minute…’

After that, even he couldn’t guarantee it.

The enraged 3rd Phase Gorilla and Amon’s eyes met.

Amon, tensing up, aimed the Pistol he received from the Inspector.

At the same time, he prepared to roll sideways in anticipation of the incoming charge Pattern.

However, Amon never had to face the Gorilla’s 3rd Phase.

Kwaaaang!

A giant figure falling from the sky crushed the Gorilla, shattering the road.

Simultaneously, an earsplitting siren blared from the sky.

Amon, startled, looked up at the sky.

A flying vehicle with a familiar mark emblazoned on it was hovering over the Gorilla's head.

Inside the flying vehicle, a sniper was leaning out, aiming at the Gorilla with their left arm, which had been modified into a sniper rifle.

Amon knew the logo on the vehicle all too well.

H.O.D.

Hyper Operation Department.

HOD.

The pinnacle of American Police power.