The distance from the Black Market to Mer Corporation headquarters was considerable.
Leaving behind Viper, who was writhing over the enormous bank transfer, Jin Crow stepped out onto the main avenue, his body noticeably lighter than before.
Slash!
Another splash of Creature blood—whether mixing with sweat or blood already soaking his hair, he couldn't tell—splattered across him.
Droplets of the fishy liquid brushed against his cheek.
Some could have easily gotten into his eyes.
Even so, Jin Crow never closed them.
-Grrrrrrrk!
A Pawn, crouched in one corner of the city devouring a human, slowly rose to its feet and fixed its glowing eyes on him.
But with the pain relief patch suppressing almost all of his side effects, Jin Crow lit another cigarette without hesitation before swinging his sword.
「National Military Swordsmanship, Technique No. 2: Vertical Slash」
Following the cracks in the shattered asphalt, the sword strike flashed as though it would split space itself, drawing a crimson line across the Creature's body.
The moment it staggered—
He leaped.
Aiming the muzzle squarely between its eyes, he muttered quietly,
“What a nuisance.”
Normally, he would never have said something so cringeworthy.
But this time, he meant every word.
Naturally.
He had lost count of how many Creatures he had cut down after leaving the Black Market and making his way toward Mer Corporation headquarters, where something was obviously happening.
Thanks to the stimulants, his body and Gear—normally on the verge of falling apart—were holding up surprisingly well.
The real problem was mental exhaustion.
'This is torture in its own way.'
Humans could become mentally unstable from nothing more than persistent loud noises.
Even a gruesome photograph glimpsed for an instant in a war documentary could become the source of nightmares.
Now imagine this.
Buildings collapsed in every direction.
The mud squelching beneath his military boots was a mixture of blood and organs.
Among the rubble, human flesh and Creature flesh lay scattered together.
Dying humans screamed while Creatures tore into them, chewing and swallowing them alive.
Witnessing that with his own eyes—
Not through photographs or videos—
Placed far greater strain on the mind than one might imagine.
-KUOOOOOOO!
As if that weren't enough, every time he killed one of the damned Creatures, two more appeared.
Then—
Rumbleeeee!
A faint shadow passed overhead.
Looking up, Jin Crow couldn't help letting out a dry laugh.
Honestly—
If anyone saw a massive black warship slowly tilting directly above their head, wouldn't they instinctively laugh in disbelief?
'Why are they getting blown out of the sky so easily?'
He genuinely couldn't understand it.
In the original story, they had managed to hold out much longer.
Just counting the grounded warships he had seen while fighting, there were already well over ten.
Considering the economic and military value of even a single warship, this made little sense.
Even with the Queen's appearance.
Normally they'd activate anti-Creature defensive barriers before engaging....
"...They don't have them."
“Well, shi—”
He forcibly swallowed the curse that almost escaped.
Feeling suffocated, he casually severed the neck of another nameless Creature rushing toward him.
His question had been answered.
Unfortunately, the answer only made things more frustrating.
Once the Creature threat had truly escalated, warships would eventually be equipped not only with anti-warship defensive barriers but also dedicated anti-Creature barriers.
But now?
They might still be researching the technology.
There was no chance it had already been deployed.
Which meant—
Current warships might excel in fleet combat.
But against Void Turtles that simply overwhelmed everything through sheer mass—
They were hopelessly inadequate.
'The fact that only ten have been shot down is the real miracle.'
Had he remained ignorant, at least he could have enjoyed some peace of mind.
Ptui.
He spat onto the ground.
His saliva mixed with Creature blood that must have splashed onto him at some point.
Then he spoke to Volk, who had been following behind.
“What about communications?”
“Hah, still completely dead.”
Outwardly, Volk still looked like a cold-blooded killer dressed in black techwear and a military cap.
Yet the way he eagerly approached was no different from an affectionate mutt missing only its ears and tail.
Granted—
The dagger in one hand and the casual way he wiped blood from inside his mask made the image considerably less pleasant.
The reason Volk was panting despite his wolf-inspired name was simple.
Since the stimulants had turned out to be far cheaper than expected, Jin Crow had promised to pay him the remaining one hundred million dollars as his contract fee.
'I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt.'
In truth, there had been a reason he urgently needed Volk.
Immediately after receiving Tita Zenorua's message—
Every communication connected to their Watches, including his own, had been cut off.
The possible causes weren't difficult to imagine.
'Whether the Creatures destroyed the communications, Stero Mer did something, Geum Gang-hyeok—that scheming elf—was behind it, or simply because the rioters threw everything into chaos....'
No.
The real problem was that the situation had become such a complete disaster that identifying the actual cause was nearly impossible.
“Hah.”
It wasn't as though he wasn't worried about the cadets.
He had even wondered whether he should have stayed with them from the beginning and focused solely on finding an escape route.
But the conclusion he reached remained unchanged.
'Escaping is impossible anyway.'
It wasn't even pessimism.
After all—
Watching warships explode overhead like fireworks at a festival was more than enough to erase any desire to board one of those giant flying coffins.
“I-Instructor?”
At that moment—
Jin Crow calmly followed the direction of Volk's pointing finger.
Before them stood several Creatures atop the mountain of rubble left behind by a building that had collapsed halfway.
-Uuuuu....
A low murmur echoed.
Like a dreamlike chant reverberating through a cavern.
Their purple eyes shone in the shape of crosses.
The mantle covering their bodies resembled the robes of monks.
If not for the countless tentacles extending from them—
With humans attached like living blood bags being drained dry—
Their appearance might even have seemed faintly sacred.
“Ugh... ah... ngh....”
“It... hurts.... Haaah....”
The limp humans hanging from the tentacles had thick appendages embedded deep into their spines.
Blood and life itself were extracted from them.
The monk-like Creature greedily consumed the blood as though it were the sweetest delicacy.
Its glowing eyes brightened in satisfaction.
“...Now that's disgusting.”
Even Volk—who normally wouldn't blink at rivers of blood and mountains of corpses—found the sight revolting.
His gaze lingered upon the more than ten humans suspended there.
Then—
Standing one step ahead of him, Instructor Jin Crow quietly placed another stimulant cigarette between his lips and muttered,
“...The fact that there's a Bishop means...”
Hearing those words, Volk looked once again at the grotesque Creature.
Bishop.
The chess piece modeled after a Catholic clergyman.
Just as Jin Crow had implied—
The name fit the Creature perfectly.
The moment Volk instinctively nodded—
“We're too late.”
“Huh?”
As though some instinct had warned him, Jin Crow added without turning around,
“Run.”
The instant the words left his mouth—
He threw himself sideways, abandoning the Bishop entirely.
“Huh? W-what's going—”
Just as Volk was about to stare in confusion at what looked like outright cowardice—
He, too, felt the faint vibration rising from beneath the earth.
Acting purely on instinct, he chased after Jin Crow.
RUMBLEEEEEEEEE!
Just as expected.
Centered precisely where they had been standing—
A violent tremor erupted, spanning dozens of meters.
The Bishop, as though it had anticipated everything, spread its glowing eyes and descended straight toward the center.
The earth instantly collapsed.
Countless ruins, corpses, chunks of flesh, and pools of blood disappeared into the sinkhole-like chasm.
“Ghk!”
Thanks to Jin Crow's warning, Volk barely managed to throw himself clear.
Following Jin Crow, he leaped onto the rooftop of a nearby building that had suffered comparatively little damage.
Crouching low, he looked with disbelief at Jin Crow, who calmly took another drink.
Then—
Something enormous slowly emerged into view.
“...Holy. Fuck.”
The rustic exclamation suited the scene perfectly.
Its sheer presence eclipsed anything he had ever witnessed.
Meanwhile, Jin Crow, who had predicted its arrival from the beginning, simply trusted the pain relief patch and doubled down by simultaneously doping himself with alcohol and cigarettes, staring at it with heavy-lidded eyes.
-GUOOOOOOOOOOO!
The colossal giant slowly rose from beneath the earth.
Its enormous blackish-purple body tore through the ground.
The scattered debris drifted like clouds.
Its writhing outer shell resembled a giant clad in armor.
Was this what it felt like to stand before one of the Titans from mythology?
Probably.
There wouldn't be much difference.
Looking up at the Creature towering roughly twenty stories high, Jin Crow quietly muttered,
“So even the Rook has appeared. At this point, it's probably safe to say every mass-produced type has shown up.”
Hearing that indifferent remark—as though he couldn't care less whether anyone overheard him—Volk finally became certain.
'...This isn't his first time.'
Despite the somewhat clumsy, occasionally absent-minded image he projected, Volk himself was a Team Leader of the Assassination Company.
He had personally cut down hundreds of Superhumans.
By public standards, he himself was a fighter comparable to a Quad Gear.
Yet when faced with these beasts called Creatures, even he couldn't suppress his confusion.
Naturally.
Unlike the human enemies he had always fought—
Creatures were unknown monsters driven by nothing but murderous instinct.
'And it's not just me.'
The only people they encountered while advancing toward Mer Corporation headquarters weren't Creatures.
There were veteran mercenaries hardened by countless battles.
There were also the infamous—or famous—Superhumans of Black Mer.
The latter were in a league of their own.
He hated admitting it.
No matter how rotten their personalities or private lives were, their combat abilities alone rivaled the Team Leaders of the Assassination Company.
Yet almost all of them met the same fate.
They survived through brute strength at first.
But eventually—
They were mercilessly slaughtered beneath overwhelming numbers and those mid-boss-like Creatures that appeared from time to time.
Jin Crow, however, was different.
Even Volk, whose profession was literally cutting flesh and bone, had struggled considerably when first encountering these monsters.
Yet Jin Crow effortlessly severed their weak points.
He behaved as though he already knew the characteristics of every Creature he encountered.
'...Instructor Jin Crow. He's worth investigating.'
All Volk knew was that Jin Crow came from the Human Composite State.
And that he was Tita Zenorua's collaborator.
His instincts, sharpened by working in the underworld, screamed at him.
Those descriptions alone could never fully explain the man.
Click.
At that moment, Jin Crow undid the buttons fastened around his coat sleeves.
He stepped onto the rooftop railing.
Without taking his eyes off the battlefield, he spoke to Volk.
“The Rook looks like the great wall. But the real threat is the Bishop.”
Only then did Volk look toward the Bishop standing proudly atop the giant Rook's head.
Jin Crow roughly brushed back his sweat-soaked, blood-matted hair before adding,
“What are you standing there for?”
“...Huh?”
“Go ask.”
The words were delivered with complete calm.
And absolute composure.
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