Chapter 77

“We shall all stand together. Live today, die tomorrow~ Bury the cowering smile deep in your heart~”

In the dark back alley.

A shabby-looking gang member hummed.

A mask covering his lower face filtered his voice.

The Lizardman, who was patrolling alongside him, burst out in complaint.

“Do you really have to sing that song here?”

“Why? What’s the problem?”

“Are you seriously asking?”

“Is it because of the next lyrics? Don’t tell me you actually believe ghosts are real?”

“They *are* real!”

“Yeah, sure~”

The shabby gang member chuckled as he replied.

Ghosts?

Where would such a thing exist? It’s all just lies made up by exorcists to make money.

It was a thought that came naturally to a man who had never seen a ghost in his entire life.

But the Lizardman pressing him was different.

“Hey, you can say that because you grew up in a middle-class family with a roof over your head. They get regular exorcisms. In the slums, ghosts show up at least once a year!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The man chuckled and hummed the next lyrics, teasing his companion.

“As twilight falls, the Boogeyman will come~ With a rusty blade, he’ll slit throats~ In the early evening~ Stuffed into a sack and thrown into the sea~ In the late night~ An empty boat will return to the harbor~ In the early morning~”

“Stop it…!”

The Lizardman, who had been holding back, finally exploded.

That’s when it happened.

[Assassin! The boss has been hit!]

““?!””

The man and the Lizardman locked eyes.

What the hell?

Was it some belated April Fool’s joke? But of course, no one would pull such a crazy stunt over the radio.

*Ratatatat!*

Moreover, the gunfire coming from the gang’s hideout, the abandoned factory, made it clear this wasn’t a joke.

The two hurriedly ran toward the factory.

As they got closer, they started to see other comrades who had been on patrol like them.

“Who’s the intruder?”

“Is it those Elrangskol bastards we fought recently?”

“They say it’s just one person?”

“Huh??”

Before entering, they exchanged brief information.

They didn’t know who the intruder was or what they were after.

No one knew how the assassin had managed to avoid patrols, CCTV, and landmines to take the boss’s head.

The only fact they knew:

The assassin was alone and still wreaking havoc inside the factory.

They quickly entered the factory.

Immediately after entering, a dagger flew and took out two of them.

“Damn it! Take cover!”

The patrol team took cover without even identifying the assassin.

From beyond the wall, the sounds of the vanguard clashing with the intruder could be heard.

The man who had been humming the song earlier trembled in fear.

*Clang!*

“Gurgle…”

“Chabo!”

A gang executive fell, foaming at the mouth, after just one exchange.

What kind of monster was this assassin, to take down an executive in a single move?

Could it be because of the song he had been humming?

No. Ghosts don’t exist in this world.

The man denied the thought and peeked over the wall.

To prove it wasn’t his fault.

As he peeked over the wall, he saw a figure slaughtering the gang members.

A figure wrapped tightly in black cloth, wearing a deep hood and a skull mask.

The mask’s eyes met the man’s.

The three lenses attached to each eye, like a spider’s, evoked disgust.

The predator’s red lenses silently stared at the man.

An inexplicable fear made the man’s body shrink.

– “Shoot! Shoot him!”

A gang executive’s shout brought the man back to reality.

The man hid behind the wall again.

The figure also lost interest in the hidden man and swung its blade at those shooting at it.

– “Damn it! What the hell is that monster?”

– “That bastard’s regenerating! Did it escape from some lab or something?!”

Amid the deafening gunfire, the voices of comrades came through the radio.

Shouts, screams, and death throes.

Amid the cacophony, the man made a decision.

He grabbed the wrist of the Lizardman who had been patrolling with him.

“Let’s run.”

This gang is finished.

Whether that’s the Boogeyman, a ghost, or an escaped experiment, it doesn’t matter.

A monster that bullets can’t stop, that regenerates from wounds—there’s no way this gang can survive against that.

In times like these, it’s best to save your own skin.

The Lizardman, whose wrist was grabbed, agreed with the thought.

The two naturally left the scene.

Fortunately, escaping wasn’t difficult.

This place, once a meat processing plant, was filled with countless corpses hanging on hooks.

Amid the chaos, it would be hard to distinguish one or two people mixed in with the bodies.

They slipped out of the factory, hidden among the gutted bodies, so-called “logs.”

And as soon as they felt they were far enough from the factory, they ran at full speed.

“Don’t ever let me catch you singing that song again.”

As soon as safety was assured, the man relaxed and spat out those words.

To assert that he hadn’t been scared at all.

“But what do we do now?”

“What do you mean? I already contacted Elrangskol in advance, knowing this might happen. We’ll just go there.”

“You’re planning to do the same thing there?”

“Why? You want to give up this honey pot?”

“Of course not. Count me in.”

The Lizardman also chuckled beside him, saving face.

Neither of them felt any remorse.

Kidnapping people with no backing, luring clueless students to harvest their organs—it was easy money.

At least, that’s what they thought.

And so, the two gang members survived another day…

*Blam!*

…or not.

In an instant, the two gang members turned into chunks of meat.

A giant, stepping through the puddle of blood where they had been, muttered.

“Stop blocking the road.”

He hadn’t given a warning, but it didn’t matter to him.

What mattered was that weaklings like them had blocked his path.

*Hack—ptoo!*

The giant spat on the Lizardman’s tail, which had flown off into the distance, and looked toward the factory.

“Let’s see what kind of guy this is.”

With a fierce smile on his face, the giant raised his axe high.

***

Inside the abandoned factory.

Amon, wearing a skull mask, swung his blade.

Amon emotionlessly beheaded the gang members.

Killing people shouldn’t feel this numb, but the ones Amon was cutting down now weren’t human.

Seeing the corpses hung like livestock in what was once a meat processing plant, the living thrown into machines like cattle, and the organs ripped out of bodies to be replaced with bags of white powder—

Could he really consider them human?

So Amon swung his blade.

He discarded even the slightest hint of pity in his heart and beheaded the wicked.

The sight of him swinging his blade without even the sound of his clothes rustling sent chills down the spines of those watching.

No matter how fiercely he moved, no matter how hard he stomped the ground, no sound was made.

It was an eerie silence, as if Amon existed in a different world.

Even after being discovered, the silence served its purpose.

“He’s hiding again!”

At the gang member’s shout, Amon hid among the corpses hanging on the meat hooks.

As he let a bit of magic power flow into his clothes, they took on a mottled color matching the shadows.

No sound, and his form was hard to discern.

Despite the many eyes watching, no one could keep track of Amon until the end.

Once again, Amon appeared above a gang executive.

He pierced the executive’s heart through the shoulder, then pulled out the blade and scattered blood around.

As everyone’s vision was obscured by the blood mist, the lenses on Amon’s mask showed him what lay beyond.

Gang members closing their eyes unknowingly, others glaring and trying to endure.

Amon took in all their expressions as he swung his blade.

Five heads flew into the air.

The mask’s lenses caught the bullets flying between the heads and torsos.

But Amon didn’t bother dodging.

*Ting!*

A sharp metallic sound, and he felt a heavy impact on his neck.

But the bullet didn’t pierce the mask.

The sniper, who had aimed for his face, wasn’t flustered and this time aimed for his chest.

Amon slightly altered his path this time.

He offered his shoulder instead of his chest.

A heavy impact struck his shoulder.

The bullet succeeded in bruising his shoulder but failed to wound him.

Feeling the bruise regenerate, Amon guessed the type of bullet.

‘Armor-piercing rounds?’

It was likely, given that even a bruise was enough to make him immune to regular bullets.

Perhaps they thought Amon had undergone some anti-ballistic procedure.

Not entirely wrong, but not entirely right either.

His skin was bulletproof, but not due to any procedure.

It was the result of adapting to bullets after entering this factory.

First pistol rounds, then rifle rounds, now armor-piercing rounds.

He had exposed himself to bullets just enough to avoid fatal wounds.

The wounds had already regenerated, and now he was mostly adapted to most bullets.

He had even adapted enough to grenades, making it safe to say that most physical attacks wouldn’t work on him.

Amon trusted his <Adaptation> and <Accelerated Recovery> as he continued the slaughter.

He looked in the direction of the two bullets that had been aimed at him.

He spotted the sniper aiming at him from the second-floor balcony.

He memorized the sniper’s position and pretended not to notice as he swung his blade.

When the sniper fired again, Amon suddenly slid under the legs of a gang member.

The sniper, caught off guard by Amon’s sudden disappearance, panicked.

The sniper didn’t think Amon would be under the gang members’ legs and searched for him near the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Amon slid under the gang members’ legs and pulled out a pistol.

He slipped behind a gang member and fired one shot into the back of the knee and another into the jaw of a gang member aiming at him.

The already quiet gun, combined with the effect of his clothes, made no sound.

Silently taking out two, he used the momentum from the slide to jump high.

The sniper belatedly noticed Amon, but before he could aim, Amon pulled the trigger.

The barrel spat out a bullet with a small puff of smoke.

The bullet left the pistol, pierced the sniper’s lens, and went through his eye.

‘Oh, lucky shot.’

It was a lucky shot.

He had aimed for the head, but it turned out like a movie scene.

Amon marveled at the result as he landed back on the ground.

With the annoying sniper dealt with, Amon continued to take out the remaining gang members.

That’s when he felt a killing intent directed at him.

Immediately after, he saw a massive shockwave coming from that direction.

*Kwa-gwang!!*

A massive shockwave, devoid of any finesse, aimed at Amon.

Amon threw himself to the side, barely escaping the shockwave.

Without time to worry about landing properly, he dodged two more shockwaves before he could get back up.

Amid the ruins of the collapsed factory, Amon looked in the direction the attack had come from.

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

A giant with horns, carrying a massive axe, was staring at him.

The problem was the nature of those horns.

‘Why a drill of all things???’

They weren’t natural horns.

The man had attached an electric drill to his forehead.

And from his crotch, a goblin mask emitted a red glow.

Amon’s impression upon seeing this…

‘What the hell is that…’

Even in a world where fashion was free, he couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind that outfit.

‘Do I need to teach him how to dress…’

As he was having such trivial thoughts, the giant bared his yellow teeth and grinned.

He didn’t even glance at the fallen gang members, focusing solely on Amon.

“You’re the one, right? The guy playing hero of justice lately?”

“…?”

Amon tilted his head.

Hero of justice?

As Amon tilted his head in confusion, the strange man spoke.

“Don’t play dumb. Lately, because of someone, test subjects and materials aren’t coming in, and it’s giving me a headache. Do you really think the guy messing with our subcontractors at a time like this has nothing to do with it?”

Hearing that, Amon understood.

Ah.

So this guy is also involved in the human trafficking network.

But Amon didn’t immediately attack.

Just in case there was a misunderstanding, he tried to have a minimal conversation.

“Are you the police?”

“No? Do I look like the police to you?”

“Then why are you here?”

At Amon’s question, the giant grinned and raised his axe high.

And as he swung it down, he shouted,

“To catch a rat!”

Another massive explosion erupted.

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