Chapter 27: Inhuman
Fifth floor, in the office.
The hallway outside was a wreck.
The masked man called "Rodem" was clinging to the wall, his left hand holding a knife, the fingers of his right hand dug into the concrete. He was in a crouch, supporting his entire muscular frame with just one hand.
"Haff... haff..."
Rodem panted, hot air blasting from his mask's vents.
His unnatural posture radiated inhuman violence and aggression. Even the worldly Yako couldn't help but stare.
"Haha, he's in good form..."
Seeing the change in Yako's expression, Q-Taro was immensely proud. He urged Rodem onward. "First, go to the sixth floor. Hunt down those three failures!"
...
...
"Hey, wait!"
A desperate shout came through Q-Taro's comms.
It was one of the mercenaries from the sixth floor—the short one, whose neck had been broken by Shiraki Kei and who had been gassed into unconsciousness.
He had just woken up and heard Q-Taro's command. Ignoring his paralyzed lower body, he frantically tried to stop him.
"Old man, this isn't what we agreed to!"
The very thought of "Rodem" sent the short mercenary into a panic. "It's not time for it yet! I'll find a way to kill them, just... just make it stop!"
"You hopeless moron!" Q-Taro's face darkened. "You've already been beaten to that state, and you're still trying to bargain..."
The mercenary quickly defended himself, "Don't be stupid! They're on high alert, there's no opening! And you saw that guy's strength, he's a superman!"
"Exactly..." Q-Taro cackled. "So I'm giving you backup. You should be thanking me!"
"Wai—"
Before the mercenary could say more, Q-Taro switched frequencies, cutting him off.
"..."
The short mercenary was drenched in cold sweat. He gritted his teeth, dragged himself to the corner, and switched his own comms channel, contacting the slick-backed mercenary who had been taken by Kei's group.
"Hey! Can you hear me?!"
Hearing the channel connect, he yelled, "We need to talk! Floors one to three have the most traps! I know them all! Let me help you!"
"After this, you can turn me in, I don't care! Just... we have to get out of this damn building together, or it's over!"
"If we don't hurry, he's... he's coming!!!"
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Before he could get a reply, heavy, rapid footsteps echoed from the stairwell.
The short mercenary's eyes went wide. A savage figure was crawling up the stairs, sprinting down the dark hallway like the grim reaper, rushing right at him.
"?!"
All the usable guns had been taken or tossed aside by Baku's group. There were no weapons nearby.
In his panic, the short mercenary lunged for a dagger on the floor.
But in the next second—
WHOOSH!
Rodem's figure flew past. The blade in his hand flashed. In an instant, the mercenary's outstretched arm was sliced open.
With a wet splat, his right arm hung useless, the upper and lower arm connected only by a flap of skin.
"Ah... ah..."
The mercenary was too terrified to even scream.
Rodem didn't finish him. Following Q-Taro's orders, he stomped over to the other two unconscious mercenaries.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH...
Again and again, he stomped, until both of their heads were reduced to pulp, a bloody mess on the floor. Only then did he stop.
Rodem turned back. The camera by his ear focused on the short mercenary, allowing Q-Taro to savor his prey's final moments.
SWISH!
Rodem swung his knife in a reverse grip, slashing it across the mercenary's throat.
Hot blood gushed from the artery, painting the surroundings red. The mercenary could only let out one last, dying gurgle.
"Agh! Agh—aaah..."
"..."
With three dead, Rodem moved again. But he didn't go down. He sprinted... up... toward the roof.
Q-Taro was ecstatic. "Good, Rodem! The remaining targets are on the fourth floor. Take the 'shortcut'!"
...
...
Fourth floor.
Shiraki Kei, Akagi Shigeru, Madarame Baku, and Kaji Takaomi—the four of them, plus their prisoner—were about to head to the third floor when the call from the mercenary on the sixth floor came through.
They heard the man's voice go from panic, to despair, to a final, gurgling scream... and then, silence.
"..."
The slick-backed mercenary lost it. "Hey! Let me go! I won't resist! We have to run, now! That thing... it's going to kill us all!"
Madarame Baku's brow furrowed. "That 'thing'... you mean the masked man who was with Q-Taro?"
"That's him!"
The mercenary scrambled ahead, waving at the four. "I'll tell you where the traps are! Just hurry!"
His tone, as if Death itself was on their heels, was deeply unsettling.
And just then, in Shiraki Kei's earpiece, Kure Fusu's voice cried out, as if she'd seen something impossible.
{Shiraki-chin, what the hell is that thing?!}
...
...
In her panic, Kure Fusu couldn't say more. It was all the warning she could give.
How could she even describe what she was seeing?
A lithe, masked man had suddenly burst through the iron door onto the roof, appearing in her scope.
He was holding a coil of electrical cable. He tied one end to the roof's iron railing, grabbed the other... and leapt off the roof, into the air.
The force of his jump was so great it snapped several of the iron railings!
"!"
The entire sequence was too fast, almost inhuman. Even Kure Fusu's eyes went wide.
The speed and violence the masked man displayed... it was beyond human limits. Not even the "Kure Clan," a family of monsters, had anything like it!
Instantly, the veins around Kure Fusu's eyes bulged. She entered [Release], dramatically enhancing her dynamic vision.
Her black-and-white eyes darted, barely managing to follow the masked man's speed, reacquiring his shadow in her scope.
That faint, distant killing intent was sensed by Rodem in mid-air. The eyes behind the mask swiveled, looking right at Fusu.
Their gazes met.
In that instant, Fusu felt the Grim Reaper's scythe at her neck. An overwhelming sense of crisis washed over her, as if her head would fly off the next second.
Even among the Kure monsters—even her own brother, Kure Raian—they were just violent. They weren't... this.
This "inhuman" form of power... it was like another species!
Fusu, for a second, forgot this was a "support contract." She was about to take the kill shot.
But in the next instant, the masked man used the cable to swing. Using the anchor point on the roof as a pivot, he arced down the side of the building.
"!"
Fusu finally realized his true target.
She had no time to shoot. She screamed into her comms:
"Shiraki-chin, MOVE!"
...
...
CRASH!
The instant Fusu's warning came, the masked man had already swung back into the building, shattering the glass of a fourth-floor window. He aimed at the metal door just beyond it... and kicked.
KLANG!
The metal door was blasted off its hinges, slamming into the slick-backed mercenary on the other side, "swatting" him against the wall like an unlucky mosquito. He burst in a spray of blood.