I quickly closed the distance to the monster with its back to me and shot my arm forward, aiming for the Hunter's spine. With a horrible crunch, my arm pierced its back and closed around the monster's spine. I pulled back with all my strength, literally tearing out the piece I had seized. Even if you're four times a monster, you can't run without part of your spine, so with the next step forward the Hunter stumbled oddly and collapsed to the ground. But such damage only temporarily disabled his lower body, and the stubborn creature dragged itself forward with its front paws toward the retreating Four Eyes.
Exchanging glances with my partner, I realized we had the same idea. I grabbed my gun and, standing over the crawling monster—which for some strange reason had fixated on the girl—I shot him in the left eye, while the Four Eyes shot him in the right. Either it had a very small brain, or the damage from the shots wasn't critical, but the Hunter remained alive even with such injuries. Blinded, it froze, listening. Well, that was something, at least.
Stepping silently, I positioned myself over its head, pulled out a knife with an already damaged blade, and swung it down, slipping into my maximum acceleration. I dropped onto the body and drove my hand, knife-first, into its head in one fluid motion.
The monster twitched a few times and went still. Phew. Victory. But somehow I feel a dull sense of joy, or rather a feeling of satisfaction from a job well done. I tried to pull the knife out, but it had completely crumbled, so with no resistance at all, I drew my hand back and found only the handle left in my grip.
"Don't make such a sad face, or even I'll start feeling sorry for you. By the way, you're so fast that even in my perception you were moving so quickly you sometimes just disappeared from my field of vision," the Four Eyes teased, finishing with a whistle. Yeah, just don't dissect me, and I'll survive the rest.
"So what now? Or are you going to mourn the knife? You definitely picked that up from Vector," she added, having received no reply from me.
"Let's finish off the remaining two Hunters and then search the room. Maybe these four and Birkin, who passed through here—and I don't see any other branches, so he must have come out from here—didn't destroy everything," I replied, tossing the handle aside. Well, inheriting a fetish for stabbing and cutting weapons from a victim is something. Only someone like me could end up with a flaw like that.
"Finish them off? You alone are more than enough, while I'll be busy collecting samples — from the Hunters as well as from those who never rose," Yamata snorted.
"Looks like I picked something up from you, too. These corpses won't leave me alone either. Ideally, they should be beheaded as well, just to be safe. But I'm still far from your level. Сollect samples. Ha. That really is a mad scientist's phrase. You're not even bothered by having two living specimens… ugh, Hunters right at your side!" I chuckled.
Oh well, she clearly doesn't appreciate me or my kindness. Still, it made sense to leave sample collection to her. And it would be faster that way—while I dealt with the monsters, she'd finish her work. Without listening to the Four Eyes's indignant response to my characterization, I jumped down to the first floor, toward the two remaining monsters, who clearly suffered from poor eyesight.
Heh. Now I'm going to boost my still-fragile pride, losing to Nemesis like that was humiliating—and are zombies really worthy opponents for restoring my self-esteem? Two Hunters at once is a different story. Heh, if I keep praising myself like this, I'll end up running into the Tyrant — with obvious consequences. Just kidding, of course, but still… I've got way too much energy right now. Guess I should check my own samples too.
I landed on my feet and immediately accelerated, closing the distance to the nearest monster. But at the last moment, this idiot jumped—right to where I had launched from. And it's immediately obvious that it's a shortfall, but he was still getting away from me. Somehow it's offensive, isn't it?
I grabbed my prey by the legs, leaping up after him, and hurled him back down to the floor. I landed with my feet squarely on his face. Something clicked—and this time it wasn't me. Whether it was the Hunter or the floor that cracked, I couldn't say, but the injury was clearly not fatal.
I sprang away from the Hunter as it began to thrash and wave its paws, then immediately rushed toward the second one. What was it they taught Vector again? Always keep your opponents tied up in the fight when you're facing a small group, never give them a second to breathe, and stay in constant motion yourself. Something like that.
🙌Bonus chapter for 100 power stones!
🎁The next bonus chapter will be for 200 power stones.