Etranger

“We’ve done everything we can with nectar. We researched it thoroughly and observed its limits. We must have experimented at least a thousand times,” said San while pointing upwards towards the sky.

“While you rebuilt your bodies with the power of drugs and enjoyed slaughter, we found a way to beat the drug’s side-effects with our own minds.”

“…”

“Even if you guys drink nectar and become stronger, you’re still restricted to the limits of the human body, right? If so, you could have reached your level without the drug, since you’re still confined to your body’s limits. We found this ‘human body’ through sheer will. I have to say though, fuck… I liked the effects of nectar, too. It really made me crazy for more. No matter how injured, broken, or sad I felt, it fixed everything instantly. Thanks to that, we were quickly able to conduct our experiments. It was painful but worth it.”

San patted the dust off his pants and got up.

“Nectar is great. However, isn’t it embarrassing that you guys sold your pride and your humanity for it?”

San lifted his bayonet-attached rifle with his right hand. Suki and Beckham tensed up and started retreating further backward.

“So… my conclusion is…”

San disappeared and immediately appeared in front of Suki.

“Ki-ak-”

She screamed as San gently twisted her wrist, snapping it like a twig.

At the same time, he stepped on her knee with his leather-padded shoes and easily snapped her knee joint. He then kicked Suki’s falling sword with his toe. The sword rapidly spun in place.

The circulating sword cleanly cut through half of Suki’s neck as she collapsed to the ground. The sword stuck onto the ground, right next to the side of her neck that was still attached to her body.

Suki’s eyes were fluttering and trembling.

“You were too much of a chicken. Your original self was always better.”

He pushed down on her sword, pushing it deeper into the ground until the blade had almost cut through the remaining half of her neck. Her chest bent upward like a bow. She screamed while convulsing.

She showed a creepy pair of sharp incisors, like fangs, when she opened her mouth to scream. San tapped Suki’s cheek while her face was distorted in pain.

“Ah! Don’t pretend to be in so much pain. Won’t your ‘owner’ recycle and rebuild you? If you pretend to be a real human, won’t I feel offended? You’re just a fucking vampire freak.”

He dusted off his hands and got up. He pulled out Suki’s sword and threw it behind him without looking back. It flew towards Beckham as fast as a bullet.

The sword impaled Beckham and carried him with its momentum until it stuck onto a nearby tree.

His creepy, sharp fang-like incisors could be seen in his lifelessly open mouth. His black Nike hat slipped off his head and fell to the ground, signaling his death.

San smiled and shouted at a point in the air while sticking up his middle finger.

“Do you understand now? Nil and Null, you lousy sons of bitches! We’re leaving now! Send out all your little minions to stop us. It’ll be your last chance! Didn’t you say you were going to kill us today? Let’s see who lasts until the very end.”

His shout reverberated and echoed throughout the entire space.

‘…!!!’

Nil stood up with her mouth wide open. His fingertips were trembling. She couldn’t believe or understand the situation unfolding before her eyes.

Null was in the same state. Ten minutes hadn’t even passed since the start of the game. The entire game ended abruptly. The results were even more unbelievable and unexpected…

‘What the hell…’

‘I can’t believe it! Did they trick us? Over the course of an entire year…’

‘Does this make sense? We saw everything! A Hawk was even sent to inspect their residence. They pulled off this level of complexity under our noses?’

‘How else! How can you explain this situation?’

Nil was trembling and lost her voice. In front of her, she saw San glare at them with his middle finger raised up in the air.’

He clearly knew where they were. It seemed like he even heard their current conversation.

‘You little roach!’

Nil quickly reached out and grabbed San by the neck. Her physical force directly applied onto the experimental space.

Nil and Null’s control behavior acted like a computer mouse that traversed through a three-dimensional space, reaching and reacting with the targets directly. It was a power that can only be used by beings who had absolute control over this experimental space.

He should have felt her dominating power. The force fell like a thunderbolt from the sky.

It was a dimensional movement that couldn’t be understood by those who lived their lives in a three dimensional world. Mere beings wouldn’t be able to comprehend or prepare against it.

But...... 

‘?!’

Nil and Null’s expressions sank. They touched their hands. Their hands were numb. He wielded his bayonet lightly in front of him and accurately brushed their hands aside.

Just avoiding the attack would have made them faint, but he was able to reverse their energy and damage remote existences? Nil turned her eyes to her screen.

[Combat Power]

San Kang: 13,450 (estimated value - requires autopsy for preciseness) 

Biyeon Kim: 12,840 (estimated value - requires autopsy for preciseness)

‘What the hell?’

‘Did they awaken? Really?’

“You fucking idiots. It’s useless now. Anyways, we’re going to take off. This is our goodbye.”

‘Can you hear our voices?' Null shouted.

“I’m not sure about voices, but I can hear some dogs barking. Bark harder in the future! Maybe you’ll both successfully transform into dogs!”

Nil and Null blankly stared at their screens. They saw the backs of the two humans walking leisurely toward the bamboo forest.

Nil and Null urgently called the Master. Even if they were disciplined for their mistakes, they had to deal with this matter quickly.

Kya-Ah- Kah-

Beings started to appear on the square with terrifying roars. All kinds of beasts were popping out as if a hidden door had been lifted.

In the sky, a giant sea urchin-like creature vomited winged beasts. The urgently called beasts looked relatively strong, as if they were prepared for this exact purpose. The beasts tilted their heads and looked around the square.

“Wow…this is awesome… Suki and Beckham have been killed…”

“Yamato and Nami as well…”

The beasts murmured and conferred amongst themselves while staring at their common enemies. San slowly lit a cigarette. This was his last ‘domestic’ cigarette. He crumpled the empty pack with his hands and turned to Biyeon.

“How many are in the air?” 

“Around twenty-eight?” replied Biyeon with a gloomy expression. 

For the first time, she had killed a human ‘person’.

No, to be exact, it was something in the form of a human. However, killing it felt completely different from killing other monsters. She felt strange, causing her to unconsciously frown.

“Relax. I understand that you feel dirty, but they were just human-like things. Also, they’ll come back to life anyway. We’ll have to get rid of all these guys as well. We don’t know what’ll happen to us from this point forward either, right?”

San glanced around, taking in and analyzing his surroundings. Biyeon swiftly brushed her hair as if she was clearing her mind and stepped forward. She held a gun in her right hand and a sword in her left.

“Shall we start now?”

“Yeah, let’s start… I guess this is the real beginning?”

San flicked his cigarette. His cigarette wafted smoke through the air before landing on a pile of dried leaves.

A small ember started alighting the bush. San held his bayonet blade in his left hand and pulled out an Archon-bone sword with his right.

‘Bang-’

The first shot rang from Biyeon’s gun. It was the first gunshot that rang in this space since their first battle. The gunpowder’s chemical scent and smoke drifted into the air.

‘Puck-’

In the sky, a winged being fell as its head exploded. Starting with her gunshot, everyone and everything moved faster.

Tang-Tang-Tang-Tang-Tang-Tang---

Almost at the same time, the two started firing from their guns. The two were walking forward calmly and confidently, shooting into the air. They were aiming their shots, but they pulled their triggers surprisingly fast.

Their shots rang out like continuous-fire shooting, but their shots were as accurate as close-up firing. When the magazines were empty, they reloaded without any noticeable delay and continued firing again.

They were using their 3rd stage acceleration senses to the extreme. With telephoto lens eyesight and microscopic accuracy, everything floating in the air exploded in an instant. Their targets hit the ground almost simultaneously.

San flung his rifle around his shoulders and bounced forward with a bang. Biyeon calmly walked forward and tossed a burning bamboo spear to San.

“Here-!”

The tip of the spear had bundles of oil-drenched fibers and a cone-shaped bamboo arrowhead. They had affixed the bamboo arrowhead with pieces of parachute string.

Smoke rose from all four corners of the square. The cigarette-started fire quickly spread out. Strangely, the fire was spreading along a set path. They burned piles of dry leaves in designated places before gradually spreading out to their surroundings.

San caught the bamboo spears while running ahead at full speed. He flexed his waist and leaned back when catching the spear, setting his body in a perfect recoil position to launch the spear.

Then, with incredible flexibility, his bow-shaped waist snapped forward.

The bamboo spear flew through the air, creating a horizontal after image starting from his hands. The spear’s explosive power came from the connected movements of his flexing waist, rotating shoulders and swinging arms.

Whack-

Sonic booms rang throughout the space. It was as if a ballistic missile was launched.

The bamboo spear stuck in the body of a flying monster still orbiting the sky almost 1 km away. The monster flapped its four wings painfully with the spear stuck in its body.

Although it was a substantial blow, the flying monster was over twenty meters tall. It probably wouldn’t disable the monster… 

“?”

The flying monster tilted its spider-like head.

Kwa-Kwa-Kwa-Kwang-

A series of explosions occurred in the monster’s body. Its huge torso fell from the sky onto the ground, separating into multiple small pieces in the process.

“This is the power of Composition C-4. Asshole…”

San rushed forward towards the other beasts with his bayonet blade and sword in both hands. Biyeon was right beside him.

In front of them, thousands of beasts’ eyes and those of the twenty-six summoned, were welcoming them with bloodthirsty, determined eyes.