My Disciples Grind, I Get 100x Their Progress

News about the Liquid Invader resurfaced again that morning. Whatever they had to say wasn’t remotely reassuring, it only made everything feel more complicated and more terrifying for Julian.

After weighing his options, Julian decided to take some time off work. Since the issue was directly tied to an Invader, thankfully, his boss didn’t give him any trouble over it.

So that was exactly why Julian now stayed holed up at home. He was too scared to even step outside, and the nagging thought that the Invader could somehow make its way to his own doorstep kept circling through his mind without end.

"Ugh... I can’t sleep."

Julian buried himself under his blanket, only his miserable face peeking out. He wanted to fall asleep, but the sheer anxiety kept him wide awake. As a result, in the dead of night, he just lay there, eyes wide open, dark circles forming beneath them.

He glanced briefly at the wall clock, showing it was already two in the morning.

"...Maybe I should get a little fresh air?"

Right, Julian had barely stepped outside at all lately. Every window and door in his house stayed sealed shut.

Despite a flicker of hesitation, Julian forced himself up, opened the door leading to the porch, and cautiously peeked outside.

The moon hung in a star-scattered night sky, a refreshing breeze drifted through the air, the street ahead sat empty, and the surrounding houses showed lights on in a few scattered rooms, dark everywhere else.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Julian stepped outside, breathing in the fresh air and stretching his body.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better now."

His hair swayed gently in the soft breeze. Julian had no intention of lingering long, so he was already turning to head back in when he narrowed his eyes at something moving faintly out on the street.

"...Water?" No, that didn’t look right. Its surface was far too dark, too viscous, it looked more like... "Oil?"

Julian blinked a few times, then froze completely in place, his expression blank.

’No way, right?’

Then, behind that liquid mass, something else appeared, surging forward, chasing after the liqui—no, that had to be the Invader everyone had been talking about.

The silhouette, a man in police uniform, touched his ear, where a communicator was fitted.

The next moment, the man’s body flickered briefly, golden bolts of lightning crackling across his frame. In an instant, his form blurred and he closed the distance to where the Invader stood.

He raised his hand, a lightning bolt shaped like the letter "Z" flashing into being, and with an expression too hard to make out in the surrounding darkness, he brought it crashing down onto the creature.

Bzzt—!!

Crackle! Crackle!

"Kchwek...!"

The Invader let out a piercing shriek, the lightning strike lighting up the darkness in a burst of silver, leaving behind a trail of rising smoke and the sharp, lingering smell of scorched flesh.

The Invader shifted back into its hunched, humanoid form. From its liquid body, tentacle-like limbs sprouted, spreading out in every direction, lashing out at the man.

The Invader looked to be at least Rank-E, and from what Julian could tell, the police officer seemed to be operating around that same level.

’Can he actually win this?’ Julian crouched low on the porch, only the top of his head peeking out, breaking into a cold sweat.

As far as Julian understood, Alien types varied wildly. Some were far stronger than their assigned Rank suggested, others far weaker. The real question was, which kind was this Invader?

’Please be the weak kind. Please, officer! Fight for humanity, and please, fight for me too!’

Watching the officer struggle just to dodge, clearly having trouble mounting any real counterattack, left Julian with a deeply unsettled feeling.

The officer found himself surrounded by a spreading web of long tentacles. Every time he tried to land an attack with his skill, it got interrupted before it could land. Leaving the officer circling helplessly around the creature.

As he dodged one tentacle lunging to wrap around his body, the officer stepped back, landing on solid ground, bracing himself for another maneuver, but right then, beneath his feet, a tentacle had merged seamlessly with the surrounding shadow.

Slip—!

"Ugh...!?"

Julian felt his heart drop watching the officer slip and fall straight into the Invader’s trap.

Then, without a moment’s hesitation, the Invader lashed its tentacle out, coiling tightly around the officer’s entire body, making him scream in agony, his face draining pale, cold sweat pouring down.

His scream echoed through the silent night, loud enough to jolt the surrounding neighborhood, everyone sound asleep just moments ago, awake in an instant.

The Invader’s mouth curved into a wide, twisted grin, laughing, revealing rows of teeth as sharp and long as razor blades.

"That officer’s going to die...!"

That much was obvious.

’Is backup coming soon?’

Maybe, but Julian felt his palms growing damper by the second. If backup arrived too late, the officer would die, and that life would never come back.

Julian let out a small breath, and with trembling hands, glanced toward a knife sitting on the table inside his house. He didn’t hesitate to grab it.

After that, he’d also thrown on his white gloves first. But in his rush, he’d only managed to put on one.

’First, I need to be confident One Slash can actually pierce through that thing.’

More importantly, Julian figured he didn’t need to win outright. All he needed to do was wound the Invader enough to give the officer a chance to break free, and after that, Julian could get out of there.

Because that would let the officer get back into the fight, buying enough time until backup finally arrived.

Julian glanced at the Invader, then leapt down from the porch. It was an insane move, something Julian had never once imagined himself doing, but the next instant, his body vanished and reappeared five paces ahead, hovering slightly above the ground.

Since the Invader currently had its side turned toward him, Julian deliberately positioned himself directly behind it.

’Damn it, don’t look this way!’

Every cell in Julian’s body screamed with alarm bells. He forced it all down, carefully sneaking up behind the Invader. He ducked behind a neighbor’s parked car, then quietly made his way along the footpath.

Julian moved calmly, gripping the knife in his right hand. At that moment, the officer noticed his presence, staring at him with a confused, visibly anxious expression.

But Julian ignored him, raising the knife above his head, mirroring the exact same stance he’d used against the Scavenger before.

Next, Julian took aim, making sure the trajectory of his strike wouldn’t hit the officer. Then, his Mana drained rapidly, condensing around the blade, causing the air around him to tremble faintly.

’Damn it, the amount of Mana I’ve got as a Rank-F is absurdly, ridiculously small.’

After this, he’d only have enough left for a single use of Flash Step. Just that one chance, would that even be enough for Julian to escape if this attack failed?

Thinking that over, Julian, his expression showing not a shred of the anxiety churning underneath, simply let out a low huff.

’Which is exactly why this has to work, no matter what it takes.’

He fixed his eyes on the Invader, then let the knife fall. A thin line sliced through the air, dropping straight toward the creature. As an E-Rank Invader, it clearly possessed sharp instincts and razor-fast awareness.

It caught Julian’s attack immediately, spinning around fast to face him, staring at both Julian and the incoming strike with an expression impossible to read.

Then, its dark tentacles gathered together into a single dense mass, clearly trying to shield a specific part of its body. Julian had no idea what that was protecting, but...

One Slash cut through all of it.

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