The peace that had existed only yesterday—
No, only this morning—
Had vanished.
All that remained in its place were despair, pain, confusion, and violence.
Corpses littered the streets.
The sewers that were originally meant to carry away rainwater and human waste were filled with severed arms and legs whose owners no one could identify.
Those trapped beneath collapsed rubble slowly died between the agonizing steel beams piercing their bodies and the Creatures repeatedly forcing their heads through the narrow cracks in the wreckage.
Of course, not every citizen succumbed helplessly.
“...Hah, damn it.”
“Got a cigarette?”
“No.”
“If they're too precious, just say they're too precious.”
“They're precious.”
The bearded man tore open a fresh pack and put a cigarette into his mouth.
Watching him openly claim he had none while literally holding a new pack, the young woman narrowed her eyes.
“You're cursing me with your eyes. Here.”
“Tch. You should've just given me one from the start.”
Still bickering in hushed voices, they continued advancing from cover to cover with practiced movements, cigarettes hanging from their lips.
Eventually, they casually tossed the unfinished cigarettes onto the ground before reaching the rooftop overlooking the Bishop—their reconnaissance target.
Talking was forbidden.
So they concealed themselves among the rubble and began communicating through hand signals.
'Can we kill that?'
'We have to. If we stay trapped any longer, we won't be able to escape.'
'Ah, shit. This feels like suicide.'
'If our entire mercenary company attacks together, it's possible.'
'What are the odds?'
The bearded man calmly shook his head.
The young woman clenched her teeth, veins bulging as she silently screamed.
'So you're basically saying we're going to die!'
'Gotta pay the price.'
'The price is our lives, you bastard!'
The two continued arguing for quite some time.
Yet both already knew the truth.
Whether they returned to their isolated sector and headed for their mercenary company's office—
Or fled the Free Planetary Alliance entirely—
They would have to get past that Creature if they wanted to survive.
Then—
'Why did I trust someone like yo—'
'Wait.'
The bearded man, who had been quietly tolerating the young woman's complaints until now, suddenly raised a finger, signaling her to remain silent.
She instantly shut her mouth.
Then—
An unbelievable sight unfolded before them.
-GUOOOOOOOOOOO!
Beneath the Creature they had regarded as nothing less than a living wall—
Another Creature rose.
A gigantic monster so enormous that calling it a giant barely did it justice.
“M-Mother of...”
The sight was so shocking she forgot she wasn't supposed to speak.
Naturally.
No matter how many strange phenomena a mercenary witnessed across the galaxy—
None of those experiences included a giant the height of a twenty-story apartment building.
“...H-how are we supposed to kill that?”
Fear consumed her thoughts.
Nor was she alone.
The bearded man standing beside her was equally speechless.
Then—
“FUUUUUUCK!”
A man dressed in black techwear and wearing a military cap suddenly leaped off a nearby building, shouting at the top of his lungs.
Soon after, a group dressed similarly emerged from the streets and rubble behind him.
The difference was obvious.
Unlike the man at the front, whose eyes remained visible—
The others wore black masks beneath their caps that completely concealed their faces.
“They told us to bite them to death!”
Volk—the man leading the charge—shouted in a voice that somehow sounded deeply wronged.
The instant they received the order, the group charged toward the giant without the slightest hesitation, like a pack of wolves racing across open plains.
-KRALALALALA!
-KYAAAAAAAH!
Occasionally, Creatures lunged at them, baring razor-sharp teeth and claws in an attempt to separate flesh from bone.
They simply cut them down in a single stroke with calm, precise swordsmanship.
Volk, in particular, operated on an entirely different level.
Gone was the aggrieved expression he'd worn only moments earlier.
A grin spread beneath his mask as he reversed his grip on both daggers.
After all—
The leader of a wolf pack always carved the path for the rest of the pack.
“Since we're already here, let's have some fun!”
Sliding down the slanted asphalt left behind by the giant's immense body, he sliced apart the tentacle of an unknown Creature attacking from the side.
-Kii... Kiiiiii....
Dodging the arm of a Creature that dropped from a streetlamp while letting out a sickening cry—
He instantly slipped behind it and drove a dagger into its spine.
Crunch!
Bones shattered.
He thrust his hand into the opening and ripped the spine clean out.
-KIIIII!
The Creature convulsed in agony before finally collapsing limply.
Volk immediately continued forward.
The Creatures he failed to finish off were dealt with by the teammates following behind him.
The entire sequence took less than three minutes.
Having reached the Rook's feet, Volk leaned back to look up at the Bishop towering high above and muttered quietly,
“Well, it's not like he told me to kill it.”
Soon, his teammates silently lined up behind him.
Ordinarily, even if one considered them mere Team Members, the Assassination Company almost never assembled an entire squad unless absolutely necessary.
Naturally.
Every individual member served as both an intelligence asset and a deterrent protecting the Zenorua Family.
Thus, the ten gathered here were far from the entirety of Volk's team.
Even so, Volk merely grinned and muttered,
“You lot really can't resist a good fight.”
Crack.
He casually stretched his arms and legs.
Then, glancing once toward Jin Crow, who still stood watching from the rooftop, he kicked off the ground.
-GUOOOOOOOOOO.
Perhaps the Rook had finally noticed the threat at its feet.
Its enormous resonating body released a deep rumble as it directed the surrounding Creatures into motion.
But by then—
Volk and every member of his team had already scattered toward the surrounding buildings.
'Scattered?'
Even Jin Crow, watching the scene unfold, found the decision rather puzzling.
But it didn't take long before he realized exactly what that maneuver had been laying the groundwork for.
Unable to help himself, he muttered,
“A rabid dog suits you better than a wolf.”
-Hyaaaaaah! Awooo!
Sure enough.
After dispersing, Volk and his teammates climbed the remaining buildings that still stood taller than the Rook.
From completely different directions—
They all jumped toward the giant simultaneously.
Simple enough to describe.
Not so easy to accomplish.
Nearly every nearby building had already collapsed.
Even the closest standing structures were still a considerable distance away.
Yet none of them hesitated for even a moment.
Driven solely by the determination to kill the Rook—
They leaped.
Crunch!
Thud!
Not everyone reached the Rook's upper body.
Instead, they fired anchors into its thick hide, establishing footholds as though climbing a sheer cliff.
-GUOOOOOOOOOO!
Naturally, neither the Rook nor the Bishop simply stood there.
The Bishop lashed its tentacles toward those clinging to the surface.
The Rook swung its massive body and once again began demolishing every nearby building indiscriminately.
RUMBLEEEEEEEE!
Buildings collapsed.
Dust clouds churned through the air.
Watching everything unfold, Jin Crow calmly finished every last bit of his doping regimen before taking one slow breath.
'I never expected Volk to kill it.'
Even so, there had been a simple reason he had handed Volk money and thrown him into the battlefield.
There would only be one opportunity.
To seize it—
Everything had to be prepared perfectly before hunting the target.
His leather-gloved hand brushed across the chilled back of his neck.
He roughly swept aside the hair hanging over his eyes.
Then he planted one military boot atop the railing and began rotating his Triple Gear.
Shing.
The pitch-black sword that had remained sheathed until now finally left its scabbard.
The next instant—
He leaped from the building.
The moment his Gear synchronized—
His feet struck the ground.
He drew one short breath.
Bang!
He shot forward through the path Volk had opened.
The tiny information gap—
The instant during which neither the Rook nor the Bishop could recognize his existence—
That single moment was everything Jin Crow had asked Volk to create.
Reaching the Rook's feet, where the ground had already collapsed and split apart countless times, Jin Crow spotted one of Volk's unnamed teammates still clinging to the giant despite the Bishop's tentacles and the Rook's frantic thrashing.
The Team Member immediately extended a hand.
Crunch!
Concrete shattered beneath Jin Crow's military boots like brittle crackers.
Grabbing the Team Member's hand from near the Rook's knee—
He launched himself upward.
Then—
“Volk!”
Hidden inside a depression within the Rook's outer shell, Volk instantly responded to Jin Crow's shout by firing the prepared wire.
Grabbing hold—
Jin Crow corrected the trajectory of his body as it swung outward.
Then he shot directly toward the Bishop.
-Uuuuuuu... Uuuu....
Its face resembled one hidden beneath a black robe.
Its crimson cross-shaped eyes radiated outward.
Its appearance undeniably stirred something deep within the human psyche.
But to Jin Crow—
It was merely something that needed to be cut down.
-Uuuuuuu....
-GUOOOOOOOOOO!
Realizing the danger, the Rook immediately thrust out a gigantic hand encased in gauntlet-like exoskeletal armor.
Jin Crow lowered the tip of his already-drawn blade diagonally.
Twisting his waist in midair—
He swung.
Slash!
A crimson line and a spray of blood exploded before him.
Though he had clearly cut something—
Jin Crow's expression showed no satisfaction.
Naturally.
What he had severed was the Rook's hand.
Not the Bishop hiding behind it.
“Damn.”
He muttered softly.
Then, staring at the countless Bishop tentacles filling his vision, he instinctively sensed the pain that was about to come.
But then—
From a blind spot outside his field of vision—
Volk leaped.
“Haaah!”
He swung both daggers simultaneously.
Psionic energy rippled violently along the blades.
The severed tentacles spun away, brushing past Jin Crow before crashing onto the ground.
That instant—
Jin Crow instinctively realized his opportunity had arrived.
He poured every last drop of Psionic energy remaining in his Gear into his sword.
Ignoring the blood vessels bursting beneath the recoil—
He thrust.
「National Military Swordsmanship, Technique No. 3: Thrust」
The Bishop's crimson eyes met Jin Crow's pitch-black pupils.
Then—
The tip of his blade reached the Creature's heart.
Thrust.
The sword slid in effortlessly.
Its blade emerged from the Bishop's back.
Twisting the blade diagonally—
CRAAAAACK!
The jet-black flash erupting from his sword pierced straight through the Bishop—
Before blowing apart the Rook's head as well.
-Guo... ooooo....
The gigantic body slowly tilted.
Everyone witnessing the death of a giant worthy of myth held their breath in stunned disbelief.
Yet Jin Crow, standing atop the Rook's collapsed corpse, didn't even have the strength to move his aching body.
Instead—
He simply placed another cigarette between his lips.
'Without that pain relief patch, I'd have died a hundred times over.'
As expected—
Ten billion dollars was pocket change.
Honestly, paying so little for something worth his life almost made him feel guilty.
Thinking that, he searched for his lighter.
It was nowhere to be found.
Just as he frowned—
Click.
Volk personally lit the cigarette for him before saying,
“I just saved your life once, so that'll be another one hundred million dollars added to the bill, valued customer.”
Jin Crow chuckled softly.
Then, noticing a familiar figure with ash-gray hair walking toward them from the distance, he nodded.
“Fine. Then I'll keep the lighter.”
“Huh?”
Naturally—
The lighter was already in Jin Crow's hand.
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