Gesturing for them to follow, I rounded the corner—now clear of enemies. As mentioned earlier, there were only two opponents here. Hunters wouldn't tolerate anyone near them except their own kind.
The girls, having dropped down behind me, quickly caught up. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ada repeatedly clenching and unclenching her fists in a strange way. Oh, right—of course. The drop had been about twenty feet. For a human, a jump like that would mean, at the very least, serious injuries. It seemed that aside from the obvious external changes, Ada hadn't fully noticed anything different about herself until now. Only at this moment was she beginning to grasp just how far her current capabilities exceeded human limits. Whether she liked that—or had already branded herself a monster—remained unclear.
We didn't have to walk all the way to the dead end. In the middle of the corridor, we found a coded door. There was a brief pause beside it—Yamata was just about to crack it open when Ada nudged her aside and entered the correct code.
Yeah… it seemed Miss Wong had managed to dig up quite a lot of interesting information in this city.
Deprived of her little privilege, Four Eyes shot Ada a look so sharp that, if I were in the newly Turned woman's place, I wouldn't have responded with a superior smile—I'd have been looking for somewhere to hang myself.
We entered the room and found ourselves in a hybrid of a laboratory and an office. Judging by the microscope on the desk and the piles of scattered papers, this place was more for calculations and cross-checking minor details than for full-scale experimentation.
Ada immediately began flipping through the documents and slipped them into a pouch I hadn't even noticed on her before.
"Why are you looking at me like that? You want the next room—the laboratory with the specimens should be right through there." She tore herself away from the papers and waved toward the door directly opposite the entrance.
I could understand her. Four Eyes's irritated, almost furious stare was practically tangible. The scientist hadn't found any samples in this room, and now important notes were being taken right in front of her eyes. So she reached the door even before I did, cracked the electronic lock in record time, and just as quickly sprang back, leveling her rifle at the opening.
Two Hunter Gammas advanced toward us from the room beyond—at least, that's what I assumed they were.
If ordinary Hunters are something between a human and a reptile, then this was a similar creature in proportions — but crossed not with a reptile, rather with some kind of amphibian. Their enormous mouths, the vaguely fish-like shape of their heads—though structurally not that different from ordinary Hunters—and the webbing between the fingers of all four limbs, in place of the imposing claws, all pointed to that. The claws, of course, were still there, but much smaller than those of standard Hunters or the Betas.
"Careful—they like to swallow their prey whole," Ada tossed out casually, lounging on the edge of the desk while continuing to skim through the papers. Just in case, she readied her pistol—doing so subtly, making sure Yamata didn't notice.
Again? Why is it that whenever women end up in a small group together, things inevitably turn into some kind of chaos?
While Yamata opened fire on the first creature—using both the rifle returned to her at the entrance and the captured one—I shot the second Hunter in the eye with my pistol. Unfortunately, the bullet didn't hit the brain—assuming they even had one. With the kind of mad scientists behind them, who knows what they'd done?
Resolving the matter from a distance proved impossible. With a vicious hiss, both Hunters lunged forward — and while Yamata held her own with what was practically a barrage of fire, the scales of this subspecies were not so resilient, so the outcome of her battle was hardly in doubt. But with only a pistol in my hand, and at most a couple of rounds left, I could not unleash the same onslaught. Which meant the best defense was offense!
I lunged forward, smashing into the enemy with my left shoulder and hurling him against the wall. Unlike concrete, brick, or other materials, the steel wall bore the impact with honor, not even dented.
A few quick steps, and I was standing before the Hunter, still alive and not yet sliding down the wall. As always, the acceleration felt satisfying.
A left hook to the lower jaw. Almost simultaneously, a right into the stomach. The Hunter's head snapped back and forth under the barrage, and given how rigid the structure of their upper vertebrae was, it was easy to imagine just how much pain my opponent is in.
Another strike to the head. A straight punch to the chest, keeping the carcass from slumping sideways. A straight to the face again—then an upward blow to the jaw with the left.
The creature released a half-hiss, half-gurgle.
A quick one-two to the abdomen, searching for a liver—apparently a failed attempt. I extended my claws and pierced its shoulder as it tried to swing at me. A triple combination to the chest. Another hit to the head. Extending my claws again, I crippled its second arm.
Just die already!
The monotonous blows to its head and chest had to have passed thirty mark when the Hunter's body jerked violently once more—and finally went still.
I stepped back, allowing the now unquestionably dead creature to collapse, and noticed that to my right, Four Eyes was still finishing off hers. Turning my head farther, I caught sight of Ada's astonished expression.
At what speed had I just crushed that Hunter? It seems to me that even if I had slowed down, it was not nearly as much as I had first thought — rather, Yamata herself had gained considerably in speed.
Stepping away from my former opponent and considering helping my partner, I noticed in the room from which those two had emerged a multitude of flasks and vials.
Yeah… I only hope Four Eyes doesn't expect me to haul all that on my back.
Though really, what am I thinking? She'll carry it herself—just like with the weapons. If she needs it, she carries it.
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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