The Mutant Incident — Part 3
“Let’s do this.”
I had nothing to fear.
I disabled my [Stealth] and stepped forward.
The spectral figure stared at me intently, almost like a person.
[Let me ask you one thing.]
“Go ahead.”
[Why are you causing a mess in someone else’s territory?]
Someone else’s territory?
In a contaminated facility, what do you mean, ‘your territory’ or ‘my territory’?
…Something clicked.
“Are you with the Cleaner Association?”
[What else did you think?]
The wraith responded as if I had said something absurd.
I paused for a moment.
Yeah, it was suspicious from the start.
Six members of the cleaning crew turning into mutants?
Not a single survivor?
Contaminated mana overflowing into the corridors, and all the internal electrical systems shutting down?
There could only be one reason.
Terrorism.
And in a contaminated facility, the first suspect would be the Cleaner Association.
“I didn’t expect you to admit it so openly. What, are you confident you can kill me here?”
Were they planning on wiping me out?
I reached for my grenade launcher while still holding my shotgun.
Of all things, it had to be a spectral body.
The rounds I had weren’t the best match for it, but they were better than nothing.
The wraith raised its hands.
[I’ve seen your work, Superhuman. Honestly, I thought you’d struggle against three mutants, but you took them down way too easily. That’s why I’d like to propose a deal.]
“A deal?”
[Yes. We’re always short on people.]
“Huh?”
[This is a serious offer. With your combat prowess, Superhuman, you’d be in the top ranks of our Association. Maybe not as high as the Chairman or Vice Chairman, but definitely at a Director level. Have you ever considered joining us?]
“And why would I?”
[Otherwise…]
The wraith trailed off.
In its place, the other spectral figures took a step forward.
“Giiiiaaak!”
A bizarre, eerie sound followed as they trembled, their whole bodies shaking.
A scream without mouths or vocal cords.
The cries of nearly hundreds of wraiths echoed off the concrete walls, forming a grotesque chorus.
[Because if you don’t, you’ll join us as a corpse knight!]
A chilling wind blew through the space.
It carried a necromancer’s signature energy, layered with the curses and resentments of vengeful spirits.
I massaged the back of my neck, which was growing stiff.
The wraith shouted through a speaker once again.
[Make your decision! Will you join us willingly, or will you join us in death?]
“Serve as a slave or die? What a load of crap.”
[Heh heh heh. Our Association Chairman doesn’t treat valuable assets like slaves. If you join us, you’ll receive a proper salary, a suitable position, and fair work conditions. You’ll be satisfied once you start.]
“This is my answer.”
Click!
I loaded a grenade into the launcher.
A red glow flickered across the wraith’s camera.
[You’ll regret this.]
“No, you will. You messed with the wrong person.”
Boom!
I fired the grenade.
It flew in a long arc, bypassing the lead modified wraith and hitting the center of the spectral horde.
With a deafening explosion, thick black dust filled the air.
Metal fragments tore through the surroundings, but I hadn’t expected much from the start.
‘Spectral bodies are resistant to bullets.’
They had a natural resistance against physical attacks.
Grenades and bombs were no different.
Maybe if I had brought high-explosive or incendiary rounds, but what I had were all anti-personnel grenades and fragmentation explosives.
What good would tearing through their squishy, formless bodies do?
Unless I got lucky and shattered a mana chip, they’d just regenerate.
As expected, a dozen wraiths collapsed but soon reformed, rising back to their feet.
[Kuh kuh kuh.]
The lead modified wraith chuckled mockingly.
[You, a mere gunman, think you can stand against me? Just be a good corpse knight!]
Ssssk, ssssk.
The wraiths crept closer, slithering like worms.
I was surrounded on all sides.
If I wasn’t careful, I’d be crushed to death.
“Hmph.”
The tension crept up on me.
But I shrugged it off with a snort.
I had something up my sleeve too.
Shiiing!
I drew my sword.
An R-rank Holy Sword.
A strange light started to flow along the blade.
It was the first time I’d seen it react this way since acquiring it.
The sacred runes etched into the blade, the holy metal inlaid with the inscriptions, and the gem adorning the tip of the sword all resonated, emitting a pure, radiant light.
[No!]
The wraith shrieked in shock.
[A holy sword? Why is that here?!]
Did you think this was just any sword?
I curled my lips into a smirk and switched my traits.
One by one, I carefully selected each trait.
[Mountain Breaking Sword Art], [Einherjar Cultivation Technique], [Mana Core]
[Contamination Resistance], [Strength], [Black Flame]
If they thought I was just a gunman, they were dead wrong.
Right now, I was a warrior.
No, a holy knight.
A warrior strong enough to easily slice through these sluggish, zombie-like hybrid wraiths!
Thud!
I stomped the ground.
Gripping the holy sword with both hands, I moved.
The knowledge imprinted in my mind, the training I’d undergone in the past few days, came together to form a single trajectory.
The path aligned with the wraith in front of me.
Almost instinctively, I unleashed the move I’d been honing—just like I had practiced.
Mountain Shattering Slash!
A clean strike.
No need for brute force or follow-up slashes.
The Mountain Breaking Sword Art was executed flawlessly.
A clean, white line bisected the wraith’s head.
Splurt!
At the end of my slash, I hit the mana chip.
In that moment, a flash of white and black light surged.
The sword’s inherent [Radiant Strike] effect.
The added flame damage from [Black Flame].
Both combined to not only shatter the mana chip but also overload the internal mana circuits, causing a catastrophic power surge.
Boom!
It was as if a bomb had been planted inside its head, which exploded outward.
Gore and filth splattered everywhere.
I was covered in it, but I didn’t care.
There were too many wraiths to bother complaining about the mess.
So many, in fact, it felt like I was facing a tidal wave of wraiths!
Crackle, hiss.
[Impossible…]
The speaker’s voice fizzled and died out.
Crack.
I stomped on the broken speaker and moved forward.
“Giiiiaaaak!”
The wraiths screamed as they lunged at me in unison.
But it was laughable.
I took a deep breath and thrust my sword forward.
Slash! Stab!
Two wraiths were skewered in one motion!
A small explosion followed.
They were no different from the others. Their heads burst like watermelons, spraying more filth everywhere.
I slashed, stabbed, chopped!
Thrust, parried, and sliced!
I moved as if possessed.
Even I wasn’t sure how I was moving.
I just swung and struck as I had trained, following the images playing out in my mind.
The heat began to rise in the darkness.
Sweat poured off me, evaporating in the sweltering heat.
My mana was reaching its peak.
I was sweating so much that even the filth covering me was turning into steam.
Thud!
I brought the sword down like an axe, crushing another wraith.
But I wasn’t getting tired.
Even after cutting down dozens of wraiths, I was still full of energy, my mana far from depleted.
Of course.
If I got tired, I’d switch in [Vigor]. If my mana ran low, I’d use [Mana Recovery]. If I felt too contaminated, I’d swap in [Mana Stabilization]!
For burst damage, I had burst damage.
For stamina, I had stamina.
In every way, I was at the top.
My combat power was already well beyond a typical Level 2 Superhuman.
In terms of sheer strength, I had likely surpassed even a Level 3.
I was probably overpowering the necromancer watching from afar!
“Giiiiaaaak!”
“Giiiiiik!”
But things still weren’t looking good.
Even after cutting down at least several dozen, the wraiths kept flooding in.
A human wave tactic.
I gripped the holy sword tightly.
‘If they overwhelm me, it’s over.’
Wraiths were heavier than humans.
If dozens of them crushed me, it would be the end.
Even with all my strength and durability, escaping would be hard.
‘I’ll break through.’
Time to switch traits.
[Strength], [Vigor], [Sprint]
[Defense], [Toughness], [Endurance]
Purely traits for a muscle-bound warrior.
I even removed [Contamination Resistance].
“Giiiiaaaak!”
The wraiths were now right in front of me.
I clenched my fists.
Schuuuuck, schuuuuck.
My gloves greedily sucked in my blood.
Even my necklace glowed faintly.
And I had the holy sword.
With [Toughness], [Healing], and the holy sword’s powers combined, I had nine traits equipped in total.
‘I trust in them.’
I muttered to myself, bracing for what was to come.
I kicked off the ground with all my strength, charging straight ahead!
The wraiths and I collided.
Instead of stabbing with the holy sword, I rammed them head-on, smashing through.
Boom!
A small explosion sounded.
Even though the wraiths had been packed together in a tight formation, they couldn’t withstand my single blow.
Smash! Smash!
They didn’t just take it lying down, though.
As I barreled through them, they whipped their arms at me like lashes.
Their cold, disgusting touch seeped through my tracksuit and protective gear.
The physical damage was minimal, but every time they made contact, contaminated mana and rotting poison seeped into my skin, making my head spin.
“Iiiiiik!”
If I stopped now, I was dead.
The overlapping contamination and poison would turn my insides to mush!
I couldn’t even use [Contamination Resistance] or [Poison Resistance].
If I switched out traits now, I’d lose my momentum and they’d grab me!
“Uraaaaaa!”
I let out a roar.
Gathering all the mana in my body, I unleashed a battle cry.
Then, I squeezed every last drop of mana.
From my heart, my veins, and my organs, I scraped together every ounce of mana and unleashed it in one go.
My legs burned hot.
From my waist down, it felt like everything was being scorched.
It was like the fever had come back to haunt me.
But then, all of a sudden, the pain faded away, and a wild surge of mana tore through my veins.
It was like a new path had been opened.
Like a superhighway had been etched into my mana circuits!
Woosh!
My body soared into the air.
I cleared the dense pack of wraiths in a single leap.
No, I jumped right over their heads.
I flew more than ten meters forward.
I barely avoided crashing into the ceiling, catching myself just in time.
“Huff, huff.”
My breath was ragged.
My heart pounded like a drum, and my hands shook uncontrollably.
[Leap] trait!
It was the perfect skill for breaking out of an encirclement.
But that wasn’t all.
As I aimed my sword from a distance, my mana naturally activated, propelling me forward.
This was the [Dash] trait.
With Dash and Leap, there was no way these sluggish wraiths could catch me.
“Heh heh heh.”
Trait swapping was truly overpowered.
Combined with Warrior Kim’s versatile body, it was even more so.
I could swap traits at will, adapt to any situation with ease!
“Die!”
I charged again.
I split heads with my holy sword.
Then I equipped [Chain Attack], unleashing more than a dozen Mountain Splitting Slashes in quick succession.
Shing! Shing shing shing!
The black and white trails of my sword painted the world in its colors.
It was like watching rain fall in slanted lines.
The mana chips of the wraiths were sliced in two, and their bodies collapsed into piles of sludge.
“Kiaaah… kiaaah…”
Maybe because I had killed so many wraiths, the spirits trapped within them began to break free.
The released souls wailed in the air, their cries echoing around me.
Pale ghostly forms floated in circles.
[Save… me…]
[I… miss… them…]
[So… cold…]
[I’m… so… hungry…]
But none dared approach me.
Because of the holy sword.
The holy sword continued to emit a pure light, shielding me from their touch.
Plop! Squish!
I moved relentlessly through the wet, grimy corridors.
I dashed forward, then leaped back.
I slashed through the wraiths and retreated to recover when my mana got low.
In the face of my unpredictable, ghost-like movements, the wraiths stood no chance.
They were nothing more than training dummies at this point.
Every time I swung my sword, they burst and exploded just like that—nothing more than target practice.
“Huff, huff, huff!”
But even I wasn’t unscathed.
I had slain over a hundred wraiths—nearly two hundred at this point.
Even just swinging a sword two hundred times is exhausting. But swinging, dashing, and concentrating my mana for precise strikes on each mana chip? It was almost overwhelming.
I felt like I could collapse at any moment.
‘Not yet.’
I opened my eyes wide.
I hadn’t come this far, struggling tooth and nail, just to collapse now.
If I was going to give up, I should’ve hung myself the moment I fell into this hellish world!
“Uraaaaaa!”
With another roar, I cleaved through the final wraith’s neck.
Splat!
Its muddy, decayed body slumped to the ground.
The stench of contaminated mana and rotting poison filled the air, making my head spin.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Someone started clapping.
“Well, well. That’s impressive. I thought you were a gunman, but you’re a holy knight? You don’t seem to be part of the Seven Orders, so which church are you with?”
“Would you spare me if I told you?”
“Not a chance. No need to tell me. I’ll find out once I turn you into a corpse knight.”
I couldn’t see the speaker, but their voice, laced with mana, floated toward me.
[Einherjar Cultivation Technique], [Mana Core], [Deep Breathing]
[Mana Absorption], [Mana Stabilization], [Mana Recovery]
I took the brief moment to recover as much as I could.
I focused my mind on my heart and pushed the Einherjar Cultivation Technique to its limit.
Creaaak, screeeak.
My heart felt like it was being torn apart.
My mana circuits burned as if they were on fire.
Blood welled up in my throat, rising from my stomach and lungs.
I couldn’t rest for long.
Step. Step.
Footsteps echoed from the direction the voice had come.
“Ha.”
I let out a short sigh, almost like a laugh.
“If you’re so confident, why don’t you fight me yourself?”
“What kind of idiot necromancer shows up in front of a warrior? Only a fool would do that.”
Two figures emerged from the darkness.
A zombie shield-bearer and a skeletal gunman.
Undead creatures created by modifying mutants.
The necromancer’s minions.
Based on their modifications, I guessed they were Level 2.
Even those two would be tough to handle, but considering the necromancer hiding somewhere, the situation was looking grim.
“Then die.”
Whoosh!
Without warning, a black mass of mana flew toward me.
A shadowy arrow.
At the same time, the zombie shield-bearer charged at me.
–TL Notes–
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