｢Big baby, be careful.｣
｢danger｣, ｢careful｣.
[ZZZZ (you too)]
As I mentioned in advance, I sent the guys first. We’ve succeeded without any problems before, so we should succeed easily this time too.
‘I need to do well.’
With them dispatched, all that’s left for me is to enter.
‘So which route should I take?’
There are a total of three routes available right now. There are paths leading down to both ends of the corridors and a route along the outer wall of the corridor.
‘They’re probably monitoring the corridor.’
The space from the stairs to the corridor is very limited, and my body isn’t as small as before, so the moment I enter, it will turn into a beehive. Even with a physical enhancement type, it’s difficult to come out unscathed from a concentrated barrage of tungsten rounds.‘Going along the outer wall won’t be easy either.’
This method has already been used once, so it’s highly likely they’ll be cautious. If the police have used awakening agents, they’ll quickly detect my attack thanks to heightened senses.
‘Or should I go through the lower house as I did earlier?’
Using the window to descend and launching an attack from the second-floor house. It’s the same method I used when secretly abducting Police Officer 106.
It’s a decent method, but if the enemy can predict my attack, the effectiveness will be diminished. The strategy route itself is more complex compared to other routes, which increases the risk of being discovered by the androids along the way.
‘It might be better if I divert their attention.’
Maybe there’s no good method.
“Oh.”
As I was thinking about it, I suddenly had a good idea.
‘I completely forgot about this since I got here.’
I should try using the useful attribute I often used on the research ship again.
I moved as quietly as possible and descended to the third floor. Beyond the concrete floor of the corridor, I could feel the movements of the enemies.
The faint electromagnetic waves emitted by electronic devices, the unique scent of artificial skin mixed with rubber and iron, the stillness of their bodies. It was all intermingled with the scent of sweat, the movement of muscles that had swollen thicker than usual, and the rapid heartbeat.
It was a dual performance created by both machines and humans.
‘The police have used enhancers.’
A surging power turned into heat, oozing through the skin and clothing.
When hit with the enhancer, your physical abilities increase, and your senses become as sharp as an animal’s. If I had gone downstairs without any preparation, the police would have detected it immediately and attacked me.
‘Thank goodness.’
Enhanced senses don’t mean your cognitive abilities expand.
The enemies likely expect me to enter from the end of the corridor or the exterior wall, not that I’d attack from the ‘ceiling.’
Judging by the positions of the enemies, the androids are guarding the front and rear, while the five humans are stationed in the middle, just like the androids, splitting their focus between the front and back.
I inflicted wounds all over my body with the extended claws on my battle arm, causing my exterior to crack, and black blood flowed from within.
‘I need a lot of blood.’
To melt the thick floor, I repeatedly inflicted fresh wounds on the healed areas. Once I judged that the floor had melted sufficiently, I made a deep cut in the wound. Blood gushed out like a fountain from my wound and scattered all over the corridor floor.
‘It’s done.’
In a few minutes, a large hole would be created in the floor, and the acidic blood would drip down beneath it.
I made sure the acidic blood was properly melting the floor and then opened the nearby door and leaped into the house.
Swiftly traversing the house, I opened the window and crawled down to the lower floor.
***
“Hey! It’s acidic!”
“Everyone, be careful!”
The enemies were perplexed as they saw the acidic blood pouring down from above.
By now, I had already entered the lower house. The door to the house that leads to the corridor was firmly blocking my way.
I exerted all my strength and pushed the door directly outward.
With a loud crash, the door was pushed out into the corridor, crushing the police officer who had been standing in front of it. Blood splattered out through the gap in the door and spilled onto the corridor.
“Ugh?!”
“It’s an enemy attack.”
The enemy probably didn’t know I could strike both the ceiling and the side at the same time. An android with ‘M01’ written on its head quickly recognized me and raised a gauss rifle.
As the muzzle was about to point at me, I grabbed the head of the police officer next to me and pulled him toward me. The android, programmed not to shoot a comrade, hesitated for a moment but then immediately fired at me.
‘As expected, it’s an android.’
Even though he’s using a person as a shield, he’s precisely targeting only me. The pain from the area where I was hit by the bullet started to throb.
In the meantime, other police officers also managed to break free from their confusion and regrouped. Except for the police officer I was holding onto, the rest had distanced themselves from me.
“Everyone, regular bullets are ineffective. Switch to armor-piercing rounds.”
I don’t know if he’s the commander, but while two other police officers were shooting at me, the remaining two quickly switched their ammunition. The gauss rifles the police officers were carrying transformed with mechanical sounds to match the armor-piercing rounds.
‘This is bad.’
I needed cover, so I went back into the house. Behind me, armor-piercing rounds pierced through the wall. One of them passed through my tail.
‘Even walls can’t stop armor-piercing rounds.’
I didn’t plan to just stand there, so I shook my bleeding tail vigorously. Black drops of blood splattered and stuck to the bodies of the police officers who followed.
“Damn!”
“His blood has an acidic effect!”
Amidst the staggering police officers, I moved through the window to the neighboring house.
‘Ugh. Armor-piercing rounds seem more effective than in the game.’
On the other side of the wall, I heard the sound of the police officers searching the bathroom and kitchen.
“Ugh, ugh, ugh!”
A police officer, held in my hand, struggled to get free while I checked the tail wound. Thanks to the enhancer, the police officer’s strength was by no means weak, but being held by the head, they couldn’t exert much force. I applied more pressure quietly to make them stop.
“……”
When my hook-like claws scratched his helmet, it made a chilling sound, and the police officer immediately quieted down.
‘I should make more use of this guy.’
I activated the parasitic colony on my lower right arm. It’s a level 5, one level higher than Sander’s.
‘In the game, level 5 didn’t let you do much, but I wonder how it’ll work in reality.’
A creature resembling a black centipede sprang out from the hole of the parasitic colony and attached itself to the police officer’s body.
“Uh, what is this? Stop it!”
The police officer panicked and writhed, but because I had a hold of his head, his resistance was extremely limited. I grabbed the creature trying to escape with my fingers to bring it to his face.
Just as the creature was about to crawl into his nostril, a loud noise accompanied the wall collapsing.
“Target located.”
An android with ‘M02’ engraved on his head broke through the wall. It was a combat-specialized android, with gauntlets attached to both arms except for the third arm.
As soon as M02 spotted me, he punched my head. I quickly grabbed his wrist with my battle arm, but at the same time, a metal spike shot out from his head towards mine.
The sound of metal contacting metal echoed as sparks flew from my head’s exterior. To prevent him from impaling me with the spike, I extended my serrated tentacle.
The serrated tentacle swept across M02’s face. The artificial skin covering his face, riddled with saw teeth, was all stripped away, and the metal skeleton inside was severely damaged.
“Error detected. Requesting support.”
“I will provide support.”
M01, who had appeared from behind, wrested the Gauss rifle from my hands. The still-recovering tentacle was mercilessly torn by the armor-piercing rounds.
The damage was limited to the tentacle, but I felt pain throughout my arm. I retracted the remaining tentacle while hiding behind M02.
“Malfunction. Attack required.”
“M02, you’ve done well until now.”
M01, without paying attention to my actions, aimed the gun at M02 and me with the intent to kill. M02, with inferior defense compared to me, became a sitting duck in seconds.
‘That’s why I hate androids.’
Not being mentally shaken, my usual tactics like feints and ambushes were ineffective. I used the deactivated M02 as a shield and aimed my spine projectile organ at the third arm of M01.
“This damn monster!”
Just as I was about to fire, the police officers arrived to support M01. Over the debris of the broken wall, a barrage of armor-piercing rounds rained towards me.
‘I just need to shoot this and get out.’
While my head and chest, the most fortified parts, remained unscathed, other areas didn’t. My exterior has its limits to withstand bullets. While my limbs were pierced by bullets, I managed to fire the spine-bone.
A spine-bone shot from my lower left arm’s tip swiftly flew and destroyed the Gauss rifle attached to M01’s third arm.
“Weapons are damaged.”
While the android was momentarily staggering, I hurled a police officer lying on the ground at them. Infected by parasites, he should be able to hinder their movements, at least to some extent.
“Cease fire, everyone!”
As expected, when their colleagues came flying, the police officers immediately ceased fire. I sent a mental message to the parasite to go wild and then dashed out of the house.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“103! Snap out of it!”
“Ugh…”
I rushed down the corridor towards where they would be waiting for me by now, after everything was finished.
***
“Ugh, aaaaaahhh!”
“103!”
“My, my head!”
103 rolled on the ground, clutching his head. The police officers hurriedly restrained him. It wasn’t easy to calm him down, given that he was a well-built adult man in a reinforced state.
“Please, calm down!”
“For the love of God! Someone, get this out!”
While other police officers held him, William quickly operated the terminal attached to 103’s wrist. The treatment within the reinforced suit injected into 103’s body, but his condition showed no improvement.
“What is this…”
“It’s not poison; it’s suspected to be a virus or some tiny organisms that have infiltrated the brain.”
M01 answered William’s question. With its third arm destroyed, M01 had collected and was wearing the power bunker gauntlet that M02 had used.
“…What can we do about it?”
“I’m not a medical android, so I can’t treat it. We need to transfer him to the hospital immediately.”
“Damn it!”
William uttered a string of curses.
I don’t know who Sander had dealings with, but he’s a formidable presence that surpasses the Hulk mutant by far. His array of attack methods is incredibly diverse, and what’s even scarier is that he knows how to use them effectively.
“Aaaah!”
“Damn it!”
“M01, try something, anything!”
“We need to track the target. The target has been identified as an extremely dangerous combat organism. If the target hides in another apartment, we can expect severe casualties.”
“Damn it! We can’t leave him like this!”
While the police and androids argued about what to do with 103, his condition deteriorated rapidly.
“Aagh! I’m… I’m sorry…”
“103?”
Suddenly, 103’s expression changed drastically, and he jumped up from his seat. He then shot the police officer holding onto him with the Gauss rifle.
“Urgh!”
“105!”
105, with a hole in his abdomen, collapsed, coughing up blood.
103, who had just shot his colleague, was shedding tears but had a strangely twisted smile.
“Hehe! I should have done this earlier! Hehehe!”
“103, snap out of it!”
“103 is in a poor condition. Judging that he is being controlled by the parasite, I will subdue him.”
M01 approached 103. The mentally unstable police officer turned his Gauss rifle towards M01 to shoot, but he was too slow. M01 struck the back of 103’s neck, causing him to lose consciousness.
“Subdued.”
“105, don’t lose consciousness!”
“Ugh…”
“Administer the treatment!”
“Please!”
William quickly administered the treatment to 105, but honestly, it didn’t look promising.
The treatment isn’t a panacea, so unless they get him to the hospital immediately, 105 has no chance of survival.
William got up, leaving 105 unconscious.
With 105, who had a hole in his abdomen, and the unconscious 103, only 102, William, and M01 remained in this place.
“…M01, the situation is not good. Call for the androids and police officers on the first floor immediately.”
“Understood.”
If the three of them were to confront Sander like this, they would be wiped out. If he were to bring out some new attack method, they would undoubtedly be annihilated. M01 agreed with William this time and connected the communicator.
“This is M01. We need those on the first floor to come up.”
[Bzzt!]
“This is M01. Repeating: everyone on the first floor, please come upstairs.”
[Bzzt!]
“…”
M01 repeated the same message, but all they received through the communication device was static. It was clear what that noise meant.
‘There’s not just one!’
Only now did William realize it. While the creature had been buying time, its comrades were lying in wait on the first floor, targeting the androids and the police.
“It appears the creature executed a pincer movement.”
[Note:The pincer movement is a tactic in which forces attack both flanks (sides) of an enemy formation at the same time.]
The android’s words drove the point home. They had fallen into a trap prepared by unknown entities.
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