A vibration was felt through the pipe wrench that struck the back of the head. Even though I was wearing a suit, my fingertips tingled.
From the start, I didn’t think a simple pipe wrench could cause much damage.
But it could draw attention.
The grotesque creature that was about to attack Siera and Luche paused at the impact felt on the back of its head and turned around. Our eyes met as it was falling, and just as I thought it would get hit and fly away, a wire wrapped around my waist.
The force pulling from a distance created a gap between me and the creature, and its heavy fist cut through the air.
“Wow.”
I couldn’t help but think that if I had been hit properly this time, I might have died. I barely blocked the first attack, but I could sense it. My arm was broken.
Considering its power, I shouldn’t think that my arm broke despite wearing a suit. Instead, I should think that I survived with just a broken arm because I was wearing a suit when I blocked it.
“Is your arm okay?”
I landed next to Theo, who had pulled me in with the wire. Just then, Klugger, who happened to be nearby, noticed my broken arm and urgently asked about my condition.
“It’s broken. Don’t worry about it now. My arm isn’t important.”
“Who’s worrying? I’m asking because it might get in the way.”
Assessing the state of combat power is extremely important. It’s fortunate that I didn’t die in the heat of battle, but in urgent combat situations, the injured become a burden. Fortunately, I wasn’t so injured that I couldn’t fight.
I tightened the suit around my broken left arm to minimize the pain and checked that there was no problem moving it by rotating my shoulder.
As the grotesque creature was about to chase me after I struck its back and fled, Angelique descended from above and slashed its arm with a massive sword.
The collision of two solid objects created a shockwave, and an ear-splitting roar echoed through the streets.
“Esmeralda!”
“Got it!”
As Angelique landed on the ground and created distance, Esmeralda jumped over the creature’s head and aimed the palm of her massive mechanical arm at it.
“Open fire!”
The concentrated fire of the soldiers scattered around began. A high-power electron cannon fired from the palm of Esmeralda’s mechanical arm, and a flash from above pressed down on the grotesque creature.
“□□□□□!!”
It roared and began throwing objects around indiscriminately. The soldiers, where shattered stones and car fragments flew, stopped shooting to avoid the attacks, and every time a gap appeared, the creature searched for something to grab.
It pulled out a tall utility pole and threw it toward Esmeralda, who was shooting an electron cannon from the air. The utility pole, swept up in the flash, vanished instantly, but it was possible to momentarily reduce the damage to the creature.
The moment the pressure pressing it down weakened slightly, the creature jumped high. It climbed onto the building and swung its fist toward the soldier there, and with a loud sound, the wall shattered.
One hit would have been fatal enough to cause serious injury. But there was no time to check the condition of my blown-away comrades.
“Don’t let it go up! Don’t let it move freely!”
I untied Theo’s wire from my waist and picked up the electron cannon on the ground. Although it had climbed onto the building, it wasn’t difficult to find it as it jumped around here and there.
“Everyone, get down!”
Once we confirmed that the creature could jump up to the rooftop of a building, high places were no longer tactically advantageous.
Rather, it would only allow the creature to secure its line of sight. Coming down from the building and engaging in street combat was much more advantageous, and the soldiers who had gone up to the rooftop following Esmeralda’s orders came down.
“□□□!”
Screaming viciously, it jumped down to the ground to grab the soldiers, and something flying from afar hit it.
Having been hit by the flying object in mid-air, it lost its balance and crashed to the ground, headfirst, but it immediately got up.
“What was that?”
“How should I know?”
The person who made the unseen attack was the SpecialForce Team. This wasn’t a good situation. It was an enemy we hadn’t assessed yet, and Hyper-humans, who lacked the combat capabilities to respond to Predators, wouldn’t be of much help.
“The target is an unidentified monster. Everyone, be careful. It’s not ordinary.”
“OK.”
Following Gold’s command, Silver, Black, and White each grabbed their weapons and charged in.
“Don’t approach!”
Despite the urgent shout, they didn’t stop. It would be great if it had no predatory ability at all, but we hadn’t confirmed that yet. If the predatory ability was conditional and the SpecialForce Team met those conditions, they would become nothing more than nourishment for the creature.
But there was no way they would listen to a Spacystro soldier whose identity was unknown.
Silver, holding a long staff, struck the creature’s leg. Just as Black followed up and tried to stab it with a rapier, the creature’s fist aimed for Black.
“Those idiots!”
The fist connected, and a shockwave occurred, but Black wasn’t blown away. Thinking it might have been blocked, I approached through the dust to check the situation.
“Don’t just charge in. You might die.”
Esmeralda, who had ordered the soldiers to come down from the rooftop, saw that the SpecialForce Team had arrived and quickly approached the creature, blocking its fist with her mechanical arm.
Esmeralda, too, seemed to struggle to fully withstand the creature’s attack power, as she grimaced.
“No time to be shocked! Attack!”
The rain of electron cannons poured down on the creature again. Getting too close could make me a target, but it was urgent to save Esmeralda and the SpecialForce Team members who had approached the creature.
I pulled the trigger of the electron cannon and joined the attack with my comrades.
Esmeralda didn’t let go of the creature’s fist gripped by her mechanical arm. But the creature’s swinging strength was far stronger than her resisting force.
The moment it swung its ridiculously strong arm, Esmeralda lost hold of its fist and was flung far away, crashing into the outer wall of a building.
“Hey!”
“The enemy is in front of you!”
As Silver called out to Esmeralda who had been blown away, Gold approached with a sword in each hand and slashed the creature’s waist. Although he slashed, it was just a strike with the sword and didn’t inflict damage.
“It’s tough.”
The vibration in his hands told him the exoskeleton was solid. With no damage taken from the attack at its waist, the creature intended to attack the approaching SpecialForce Team. It already knew that the flying electron cannons couldn’t harm it.
It swung its tightly clenched fist toward Silver.
It cut through the air, creating a strong gust of wind, but Silver didn’t get hit. The moment it realized the attack was coming, it raised its staff and jumped up to dodge it.
In the spot Silver had left, White climbed onto the creature’s fist, jumped, and struck its chin with a tightly held mace. It was a considerable force, but the creature didn’t stagger at all.
“Everyone, get away!”
The shout came as a fireball flew from afar. All members of the SpecialForce Team, realizing there was an attack, moved away from the creature, and the fireball exploded upon impact.
The street caught fire, and the creature swung its arms, blowing away the flames spewing heat.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
I sensed it was about to move, but Roy rushed in faster. Knowing it wouldn’t immediately consume, there was no reason for Roy, who excelled in close combat, not to move.
After setting down the electron cannon, Roy sharpened his claws and dug into the creature’s legs, slashing at its ankles.
“It worked!”
The sharp toenails of the creature made a scratch on its ankle. It wasn’t a deep tear or a shattering of the exoskeleton, but the visible scratch on the exoskeleton meant it could be damaged.
“I’m an aberration!”
Roy, feeling the momentum, jumped up as soon as his slide ended and slashed the creature’s back with his claws. The sound of hard objects colliding once, then again. The rapid attacks continued, and the colliding sounds didn’t stop.
“Roy! Get away!”
Another shout from Alt, this time from above. After throwing the fireball, Alt jumped up and looked at the back of the monster, which Roy had scratched.
In his palm was a small fireball.
Just as he was preparing to attack the creature’s back and use it as a foothold to jump, the creature grabbed Roy’s leg.
“!!”
Before it could struggle to escape, the creature threw Roy toward Alt in mid-air.
“Grk!”
Alt and Roy collided in mid-air, and the fireball, out of control, exploded on Alt’s palm.
“Ahhhh!”
Before the two, blown away by the impact, hit the wall, Gold and Black caught Roy and Alt, respectively, preventing them from crashing into the wall.
“Over here!”
Following the White in sight, the creature rushed in and punched White. Unable to track the rapidly approaching attack with her eyes, White was hit and blown away, but Theo, flying between buildings with wires, caught her.
He prepared for the next attack, and Luche flew in from the side, slashing the creature’s shoulder with a massive scythe. The attack was meant to sever the joint between the torso and shoulder, but the scythe didn’t go deep.
It only slightly embedded at the tip, and the scythe stuck in the exoskeleton prevented it from moving.
“Idiot! What are you doing?!”
The fist that flew toward Luche, suspended in mid-air, hit Siera, who had kicked her away to avoid it.
“Siera!”
“Ugh…”
Though Luche urgently called out to her, Siera had already been hit by the attack, flown away, and crashed into a street tree. The tree broke, unable to withstand the impact, and Siera, collapsed on the ground, couldn’t regain her senses from the pain throughout her body.
“Huaaaa!”
Luche, who had avoided the creature’s attack thanks to Siera, clenched her fist as she saw the creature approaching. Her scythe, embedded in its shoulder, had already fallen to the ground, and as she tried to exert her strength somehow, Silver and Black, who had blocked Roy and Alt, rushed in.
As Silver tried to strike its knee with his staff, Black was kicked and sent flying, crashing into a wall, and just like Luche, Blac
