Chapter 34: Cyberpunk and Mercenary Part 7

Thud!

With a heavy sound, the massive beast collapsed.

From its decayed flesh, a black, tar-like blood oozed out.

The beast had three heads; one was riddled with holes, barely resembling anything but a tattered rag. Another had only a charred, skeletal remnant left, no longer functioning as a head.

The last remaining head also became useless as its crown caved in.

The three-headed beast, made of rotten flesh and bones, disintegrated into particles as soon as it fell.

“It must’ve been a magical creature.”

“Well, if it were a chimera, this room would be reeking with the smell of its corpse.”

With that, the mage Paul and the tank Tori checked on their party members.

Hale, the firepower specialist with blue hair, had consumed most of his ammunition during the battle.

The one with yellow hair had also nearly used up his shotgun and sniper rounds.

Fortunately, the boss fell just as they were down to their last few bullets.

“Status report on injuries. One minor injury, no casualties.”

“Don’t need to tell me.”

The two, Yellow and Blue, started bickering as soon as it was over.

Their lover looked on with a wry smile.

As they had assured Amon, the party managed to take down the mid-boss without significant damage.

Moreover, as if the heavens were not indifferent, there was a reward for their hard work.

“Right, Leader. I saw something drop earlier.”

Yellow pointed to the spot where the boss had fallen.

A violet-glowing orb rolled across the ground.

At Paul’s gesture, Yellow eagerly dashed over and picked up the orb.

The moment he held it, he exclaimed with conviction.

“Fuck yeah! It’s an Essence! And it’s a Unique grade! Hell yes, this is it! Woohoo!”

As Yellow celebrated, shaking his hips while holding the orb, the rest of the party burst into laughter.

Yellow, still dancing, presented the orb to Paul with both hands.

“Presenting the long-awaited appraisal show!”

Drumrolls filled the atmosphere as Paul inspected the Essence’s properties.

Upon confirming its effects, a bright smile spread across Paul’s face.

“This one’s worth a lot. It’s called ‘Sky Step.'”

Sky Step.

Also known as ‘Air Walking.’

“Being Unique grade, it might not allow full flight, but it’ll still sell for a lot.”

Paul nodded, putting the Essence into his spatial pocket.

What was remarkable was that no one in the party showed any greed toward the Essence.

It was natural.

They had been together as a party for over ten years.

On the battlefield, camaraderie forms even with one’s back turned to another; ten years of shared life made them practically family.

To them, money was merely a tool to provide a better life for their loved ones, not something that could replace each other’s presence.

***

“Feeling good! Let’s go out for a party tonight!”

At Paul’s declaration, Yellow, the mood maker, shouted with excitement.

Tori threw his arm around Paul’s shoulders, walking cheerfully, while Blue, despite his massive build, clapped his hands demurely.

The party, after ensuring there was nothing left in the boss room, prepared to head out.

“Let’s go!”

An excited Yellow swung the boss room door open.

As the heavy door opened—

Click.

The sound of a familiar pin being pulled reached the mercenaries’ ears.

The moment the sound registered—0.01 seconds had passed.

Yellow accelerated his nervous system to maximum output.

Through the open door, he identified the source of the sound.

It was a claymore.

“Shit.”

In the slowed-down world, Yellow saw the claymore aimed in his direction.

Before it could explode, he turned back.

Tori and Blue Hale were sturdy enough to withstand it.

But Paul—if he took the hit, it could kill him instantly.

Time elapsed: 0.09 seconds.

“Pa—ul!”

Hearing his own voice, slowed, Yellow rushed toward the party leader.

He dragged him back as far as possible.

0.2 seconds elapsed.

The claymore detonated.

Boom!

Countless pellets rained down on the party members.

Hale activated his shield, while Tori endured it with his hardened skin.

And Paul…

“Evan!! Hey, stay with me! Evan!”

He was unharmed.

In return, Yellow dripped blood and spit, convulsing as he lay on the ground.

Taking the blast to shield Paul, Yellow had sustained a grave injury, his spine exposed.

“Damn it! The circuits are shorted!”

As misfortune would have it, the neural acceleration device activated when his spine was damaged, causing a short circuit.

Yellow’s nerves began burning out from the ends.

“I’m sorry!”

Paul apologized to his barely conscious comrade, severing the spinal cord that connected to his lower body.

Thanks to this, the burning nerves didn’t reach his brain.

After finishing emergency treatment, Paul raised his head to check on his remaining comrades.

His lover, Tori, and Blue were already locked in combat with the ambushers.

***

Rat-a-tat!

Blue’s machine gun blazed.

But within a minute, the empty hammer began to click on an empty chamber.

“Out of bullets!”

Paul tossed Yellow’s shotgun to Blue and began an incantation.

In the meantime, Tori and Blue took defensive positions around Paul.

At last, Paul chanted the activation phrase.

“Burst!!”

Boom!

A massive explosion erupted, surpassing even the claymore’s power.

Even after the dust cloud filled the exit in the boss room, the party remained vigilant.

Paul, who had caused the explosion, staggered.

“My magic’s completely drained…!”

And then—

Through the dust cloud, a spear flew at them.

Before anyone could react, it pierced Paul’s stomach.

“Gah!”

“Darling!”

“Leader!!”

Both remaining comrades turned their gaze to Paul.

It was only a brief moment, but in battle, it was fatal.

As they pushed through the dust, figures wielding swords and scythes appeared.

With eyes that merged seamlessly with night vision scopes, they skillfully severed Blue’s arms.

“Hale!”

Tori shouted and tried to activate the pile bunker mounted on her fist.

But before she could even swing, her whole body froze.

Soon, the systems in both her arms shut down.

“Hacker…!”

The attackers wielding swords and scythes wrapped chains around the incapacitated Tori and Hale.

Paul called out their names desperately.

“Evan, Tori, Hale.”

But despite his desperate cry, they were forced to their knees by the attackers.

“Grr…”

Paul groaned, clutching the spear embedded in his stomach.

His vision blurred.

Through that hazy sight, he saw other attackers emerging from the dust cloud.

One of them whistled and approached Tori and Hale.

He inspected Hale’s mechanical eye and knocked on Tori’s arms, whistling once more.

“Oh. Seems like we caught a big one this time~? They’re in pretty good shape.”

“Didn’t Atlee mention wanting an eye upgrade?”

“Then let’s not sell this one. Let’s use it ourselves.”

The attackers treated Paul’s party as nothing more than goods to be appraised.

From their conversation alone, Paul had a sense of who they were.

‘Scavengers…!’

They were human traffickers who kidnapped people and sold their organs or mechanical parts.

By this world’s already dismal standards, these were people beyond redemption.

After inspecting Tori and Hale, the scavengers turned their interest toward Evan.

“Eh… This blonde head is completely messed up.”

“I told you to control the blast power! That nerve acceleration device was expensive. What a waste.”

“Wouldn’t it be okay if we removed it now?”

“Hmm… Shall we give it a try?”

At those words, Paul shot up from his spot.

“Stop, you bastards!”

But he quickly fell again.

His anger spurred him on, but reality couldn’t be changed by willpower alone.

The massive spear lodged in his stomach was a harsh reminder of his brutal reality.

The scavengers didn’t even glance at the dying Paul and began preparing surgery on Evan right then and there.

Since it wasn’t a life-saving surgery, they weren’t even concerned about infection.

Right in the middle of the boss room where the undead boss had been, they pulled out their surgical tools.

Facing the imminent loss of his comrade’s organs, Paul’s party cursed them with all their might.

“Evan! Evan!!”

“You bastards!” he yelled. “Stop it!”

But they were powerless.

They could do nothing.

‘Damn it… damn it…!’

Paul grit his teeth.

“Please…!”

In his mind’s eye, Paul reflected on his past life.

He had formed this party, been together with them for ten years, and even become lovers with Tori.

He couldn’t say he had lived boldly, but neither had he lived a life he’d be ashamed of.

‘So where did things go so wrong?’

He’d always known that, as an explorer, he might die one day without a trace.

‘But wasn’t this far too unfair?’

With a sense of injustice, tears streamed down Paul’s face.

In his fading consciousness, he recalled a recent memory.

[Heh heh. Still, if there’s ever a time to look for God in a dungeon, I’d only trust you.]

Perhaps it was because of this thought.

Paul muttered unconsciously.

“Lord… please….”

Just then—

Swiish!

Two daggers flew in from the exit.

The daggers pierced the heads of two scavengers who were preparing Evan’s surgery with perfect accuracy.

Two men fell, not even understanding why they had died.

The remaining scavengers turned toward the direction the daggers came from.

But no one was there at the exit.

“What… what the hell?!”

One of the scavengers mumbled in panic.

While they were focused on the exit, a voice spoke from behind them.

“Your body is a gift from your mother—”

Slick. Thud.

The chilling sound of slicing, followed by the belated thud of two bodies hitting the ground, echoed.

The scavengers turned to see a young man wielding twin swords, emanating a menacing aura.

Young and unenhanced by any modifications, he was a familiar face from the Explorer’s Guild.

They had once mocked him as a rookie, yet he now stood, having left four corpses in his wake, glaring at them.

The scavengers, momentarily overwhelmed by his presence, snapped back to their senses only after another silver flash claimed two more lives.

“Kill that lunatic!”

“He’s useless, so just kill him!”

The scavengers drew their weapons, activating their implants, and charged at Amon.

But Amon swung his swords unfazed, reciting scripture as he fought.

“The Spirit of the Lord dwells within you; do you not know that your body is His temple? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price…!”

Reciting scripture, Amon swung his sword.

Hearing this, Paul’s fading consciousness was pulled back from the brink.

“Amon…?”

Paul looked at Amon.

Amon continued swinging his sword.

His killing was methodical, almost as if following a set formula, like a craftsman at work.

He inflicted minimal damage yet decisively took lives.

Wounds began accumulating on Amon’s body, but his momentum didn’t wane.

Instead, his initially chaotic aura sharpened, sending a chill down their spines.

“Hack—cough!”

Amon spat bloody phlegm as he cut down another scavenger.

The scavengers couldn’t understand.

‘How could this be?’

‘Without any enhancements, how was he able to fight on equal footing?’

‘No, not just equal—how was he able to dominate?’

Whenever they approached using their neural acceleration devices, it was as if he anticipated their moves, his sword already in place.

Even their bullets only skimmed or deflected if they weren’t close enough for his blade to reach.

When someone prepared a spell, he would instantly detect it and throw a dagger.

The entire battlefield seemed to be under his control.

‘At this rate, we’re all dead.’

Eventually, the scavenger leader made a decision.

He aimed a grenade launcher at both Amon and the front-line men engaging him.

Among scavengers, loyalty was thinner than paper.

They only grouped together because it was profitable; they never considered each other comrades.

“Die, monster!”

The leader pulled the trigger.

Boom!

The scavengers and Amon alike were swallowed by the explosion.

Not satisfied with one shot, the leader kept pulling the trigger.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

He fired the grenade launcher about eight times before stopping.

Nothing but a cloud of dust emerged from the other side.

“Whew… survived….”

Before he could finish his sentence, a voice emerged from the dust cloud.

“—Not a single blade of grass on this earth belongs to you, and those who buy and sell their brothers shall burn in hellfire for eternity.”

Clang.

Out of the dust cloud, a figure carrying a cross appeared.

‘No… he isn’t carrying it…’

Approaching with a blood-soaked sword shaped like a cross, he left behind a disposable barrier that rolled to the leader’s feet.

The scavenger leader’s face turned pale.

Amon, licking the blood dripping from the wound on his forehead, glared at the leader and spoke.

“Amon.”