Chapter 177
“Was it really necessary to unleash it on the civilians?”
“Kukuku. You don’t like it? I thought it’d be more merciful than let them die in agonising pain.”
The Tiger and Wolf cackled like typical villains basking in their victory. .
“What happened to Mazelan sunbae?”
“Ah, him? I wanted to keep him alive, seeing how he was quite capable and had Pendleton blood in him, but he kept whining that he must save the people. So I just killed him.”
“… You killed him?”
“It’s been a while since I had that much fun. Nothing beats humans in terms of entertainment when it comes to skinning them alive.”
“I see.”
Isaac nodded nonchalantly and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket. The Tiger’s face twisted in anger, and he pounced on Isaac with lightning speed, lifting him off the ground.
“I thought I warned you.”
“I know, dumba.s.s.”
Bang!
The Tiger’s body twitched with a single gunshot. A point blank shotgun blast into the stomach was lethal, even against the Tigermens’ st.u.r.dy body.
“You…”
Wide-eyed, the Tiger opened his jaws in an attempt to bite Isaac.
“Your breath stinks. f.u.c.k off.”
Isaac shoved his shotgun under the Tiger’s chin. Its muzzle flared. The Tiger’s chin flew back, knocking both the Tiger and Isaac, who was in his grasp, over onto the ground.
“Tairon! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! I’ll kill you!”
The Wolf cried the Tiger’s name and ran toward Isaac.
“Sir Isaac!”
Rizzly stopped the Wolf in his tracks.
“Move aside! You’re in the way!”
“As if I’d do that!”
The Wolf and Bear jumped at each other. The Wolf, with its agile steps, dodged the Bear’s arm and found an opening at the Bear’s side, clawing it.
The Bear cried in pain and grabbed the Wolf’s arm, proceeding to throw him to the ground. The Wolf whimpered and immediately flipped himself back on his feet like a cat, dodging the Bear’s stomp.
“Why’s Animal Planet filming an action movie…”
Isaac, having pried himself out of the Tiger’s grasp, murmured at the sight in front of him while the Tiger coughed in between shallow breaths.
“Hm? You were still alive?”
“Kuuh… You…”
The Tiger glared as blood bubbled out every time he took a breath. Isaac met the Tiger’s eye and smiled, sitting next to his head as he lit his cigarette.
“What did you say again? Don’t smoke in front of you? Ah, sorry, I just remembered.”
“Kuaack!”
Isaac stubbed the cigarette out in the Tiger’s left eye.
“Hm? What was that? I can have another? Sure thing.”
Isaac lit a new cigarette and took a breath. He then shook his head apologetically and spoke to the Tiger.
“No. It’s common manners to not smoke in front of non-smokers. I’m sorry. I was very rude, wasn’t I? I’ll put it out.”
The Tiger weakly raised an arm to stop Isaac, while Isaac played around with him like he would with a cat. Isaac snickered as he dodged the Tiger’s last desperate struggles until the Tiger stopped moving. Bored, Isaac stabbed the cigarette into the Tiger’s other eye.
“You should learn about manners. Manners maketh the man. You’ve heard of that, right? You haven’t? Then you can learn about it when you come back.”
Isaac patted the Tiger’s head and stood up. The fight between the Bear and the Wolf became fiercer by the second—and now, Reisha stepped forward.
“I’ll join in!”
Reisha drew her hidden blades and tried to a.s.sist Rizzly—until the Three-eyed, who had remained idle even at the Tiger’s death, opened his third eye and spoke.
“The Elf and North Bear are to stop.”
The Three-eyed ordered, and Riesha and Rizzly collapsed onto the ground.
“Uweh! Power of the voice? The horrible memories of the past…”
“An order this strong is dangerous.”
Reisha sobbed while Rizzly worried for the Three-eyed himself.
“I’ll see you later, after I kill him.”
The Wolf growled at Rizzly for a moment before turning to Isaac. Isaac lit the cigarette in his mouth and motioned his finger at the wolf.
“Come at me, mutt.”
“I’ll eat you alive!”
The Wolf sprinted at Isaac, his fangs bared. However, he was careful to avoid being on the other end of the shotgun barrels, dodging two shots.
“Die!”
The Wolf clawed at Isaac the moment Isaac used his two bullets, not giving him the time to reload.
Isaac didn’t seem to have any plan on reloading, throwing the shotgun onto the ground and raising his hand up as if to block the strike, when a sudden explosion engulfed them.
“Kuuh! My arm!”
The Wolf swallowed his groans as he grasped his half missing hand. Isaac shook away the twitching of his hand from the explosion.
“Not bad huh? It’s called an eggbomb.”
“Kuuh! I’ll crush every bone in your body!”
“Don’t you know? Everyone who’s opened their mouths in front of me has died.”
“Kekek!”
Isaac’s hand disappeared into the Wolf’s mouth. The Wolf continued to claw at Isaac despite choking on Isaac’s arm, but Isaac’s defensive coat shielded him from every blow.
Suddenly, there was an explosion and the back of the Wolf’s head exploded, his two arms dangling in midair.
“Disgusting.”
Isaac pulled out his arm from the Wolf’s mouth, which was dripping with drool. Isaac frowned and wiped the drool on the Wolf’s body.
“But what gave these idiots the bright idea to attack me without defensive coats? It certainly helped me out.”
“Uuh… Tigermen and Werewolves are rather conservative races. They consider wearing the defensive coat an act of dishonour.”
“So that’s why they just threw themselves at me naked? I feel sorry that you pulled off this shenanigans believing in these r.e.t.a.r.ds.”
Isaac smirked at Rizzly’s answer and picked up the shotgun on the ground. He reloaded the shotgun and approached the Three-eyed, who seemed almost frozen stiff.
“Wow. Where does he get all this confidence?”
Despite losing both of his bodyguards, the Three-eyed seemed absent of fear or confusion. Isaac was impressed.
“Let me ask you this question.”
Even before Isaac finished speaking, the Three-eyed walked past Isaac and spoke to Kunette’s group.
“We will withdraw soon. Make your preparations.”
It seemed those words lifted the spell on Reisha and Rizzly, who watched Isaac as they joined Kunette’s side. Isaac watched the back of the Three-eyed’s head and laughed.
“Look, the dog’s barking. Woof woof.”
“Don’t!”
“Sunbaenim!”
“Stop!”
Rizzly, Reisha and Kunette all shouted when Isaac held the shotgun by its barrel and swung it right into the Three-eyed’s side.
“Kuhuk!”
The Three-eyed kneeled, his face in utter disbelief that Isaac would dare strike him. He quivered in pain as he grabbed his side.
“Let me ask this question.”
“… What?”
“So now you’re going to act like you hear me? Looking all high and mighty and acting like you’d never lend an ear after tens of thousands of years, only to submit after one blow? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
“…”
“I really don’t like that eye of yours. I have a question. If I gouged that third eye out, would you still be a Three-eyed? Or would you just be an ordinary human?”
The Three-eyed quickly closed its third eye in response.
“Dumba.s.s, you scared? Let’s drop the playing. This is my real question. Did you only attack the quarantined areas? Or did you attack the entire city?”
“The target of this experiment was the Strategy agents.”
“Then there must be quite a lot of survivors.”
“There are no survivors. That way, we can magnify the fear.”
“You’re going to kill 1 million people? All of them?”
“They will all die regardless.”
“I a.s.sume you don’t mean it in a philosophical or biological way. Then why don’t you practise what you preach and die too?”
Isaac stomped on the Three-eyed’s shoulder, forcing him to the ground. Rivelia, Kunette and Rizzly shouted desperately.
“Sunbaenim, you can’t touch the Three-eyed! It’ll be trouble!”
“Sir Isaac, calm down. Please. Look above you. There’s an airship. If they see you kill a Three-eyed, there’s no going back.”
“Isaac, you can’t kill a Three-eyed. If you do, every race in this world will try to kill you. Elves and North Bears included. So don’t do it.”
Isaac listened to the three offer a mixture of pleas and threats as he smoked his cigarette. The blood of countless people flowed into the drains like rainwater.
Within the stench of blood was a mix of charred ash. Isaac blew out his smoke, watching it disappear into the air, revealing a clear blue sky behind it.
It was too late. Just as he predicted. He was starting to feel attached to this life, his mind shaking at the three’s persuasion. It had to be rooted out. Feeling that Isaac was hesitating, the Three-eyed opened his third eye.
“Don’t think that you can just come back because you’re an Inva…”
Bang!
Isaac fired his shotgun before the Three-eyed could finish his sentence, blasting his head into pieces.
“No!”
“Aack! We’re in trouble! Sunbaenim, run now!”
“Why did you do that…”
The three looked in despair at Isaac. Everything was over. Now that the Three-eyed was dead, the Grand Council would not accept, let alone approve of Isaac’s existence.
Isaac took a breath of his smoke, flipping the bird at the airship that was closest to the ground tauntingly.
“I’ve made my decision. What about you?”
The clear sound of high heels echoed in the hallway. Past the dimly lit corridors was an automated door that opened silently.
Within the room were countless screens showing the engagements from across the content. Some died in gunfights, some were thrown into barrels never to emerge from them. Buildings exploded in the distance, and people wearing white gowns held up their hands in surrender only to be ma.s.sacred.
“The purge of all research centres, production facilities and Invaders is finished.”
“All but one of the Expeditionary Force’s bases have been wiped off.”
“There are some who managed to escape.”
“We will let the Queen deal with that.”
Those in the room commented to one another before they all stared at one person. The Queen, who was watching the screen, smiled and replied.
“Now, everyone, what are your thoughts after seeing the weapon that only exterminates humans—just as you wished?”
End of vol. 9