Chapter 77
Shirokko, who had vanished from the public eye, never forgot his grandmother's words.
So that he could live with pride, he wandered from place to place.
It was because he wanted to give back to the world in proportion to the power he had been granted.
It was also to atone for his past.
The alias he was using at the time was Fortuna.
A word that means "good fortune."
As a former mafia member, Fortuna was well versed in the underworld.
He even possessed a list of criminal organizations detailing the connections between independently built syndicates.
That list was the "Blacklist."
In the hands of a villain, it could be used to dive deep into the underworld and obtain even greater power.
It was a list so valuable that organizations around the world would kill to get their hands on it.
Fortuna used the Blacklist—for the sake of the atonement he believed in.
After retiring as an explorer, he spent several years wandering North Africa.
At the time, North Africa was overwhelmed with dungeon raids, leading to several monster escape incidents.
That sort of thing shouldn't happen. It's extremely rare.
While using the Blacklist to take down criminal organizations, Fortuna couldn't help but be curious about the dungeons, so he mobilized Scorching Wind of Sicily to investigate what was happening behind the scenes in North Africa.
As a result of the investigation, it became clear that before each escape incident, strange phenomena were almost always reported—mysterious monsters would suddenly appear at the dungeon camp, tearing explorers and even foundation staff limb from limb.
And apparently, after rampaging, the monsters would vanish like mist.
Upon discovering this critical information, Fortuna prepared to act.
But he was cautious. You can't be a mafia boss without being cautious.
That's why he couldn't ignore the fact that ten members of Scorching Wind of Sicily had gone missing during the investigation.
Fortuna's instincts screamed at him.
"You're getting close to something seriously dangerous"——they said.
"Boss... I don't want to stay in this place."
"We'll do what we must. We're the chosen hunters of mystery, remember? It's okay. Their sacrifice won't be in vain. ——I'm here. Everything will work out."
Fortuna shut his ears to the warning bells of his intuition and tried to drag out the monster lurking in that dark mire.
————
——Shirokko's perspective
(Skill activation——'Bullet Rain Lv6' 'Weak Constitution Lv4' 'Precision Shot Lv4' 'Urban Combat Lv2' 'Sure Hit')
'Bullet Rain Lv6' — projectile count increased
'Weak Constitution Lv4' — continuous defense debuff
'Precision Shot Lv4' — accuracy up
'Urban Combat Lv2' — ATK up, incoming DMG reduced
'Sure Hit' — accuracy up
"You can die now, Finger Man——Gray Justice (Justitia de Grigio)"
A rain of bullets assaulted Finger Man.
He turned sideways to reduce his target area and absorbed all the shots with 'Adolphene's Holy Shroud,' dampening the impact to survive.
But it was starting to hurt.
(Is this... am I actually taking damage now? Did he activate a skill or something?)
"You okay there, Finger Man? Didn't know there are attacks even high defense can't shrug off?"
(Scary... Shirokko, you're starting to piss me off.)
Finger Man guarded his face with his arm, barely keeping line of sight as he glared sharply at Shirokko.
(I don't have a grudge against you, but if I take you out, there'll be no one left to protect Dr. Shita Chichigasky. Plus, I get experience... maybe even a magic circle... I'm going all in.)
Suddenly, the bullet storm stopped.
It seemed to be an overheat.
"No way? He didn't die from one mag? Huh... what kind of defense is that...?"
Shirokko looked genuinely shocked.
Finger Man displayed a small status window at his side.
────────────────────
Akagi Hideo
Level 156
HP 2,151/32,523
MP 4,025/5,743
Skills
'Finger Snap Lv6'
'Phobia Syndrome Lv8'
'Single Strike Lv6'
'Steel Spirit'
'Probability Time: Coin Lv2'
'Super Metal Assault Lv8'
'Blue Pulsation Lv2'
'Black Swamp's Severer'
'Super Catcher Lv4'
Equipment
'Blue Blood Lv3' G4
'Proof of the Chosen One' G3
'Labyrinth Conqueror' G4
'Adolphene's Holy Shroud' G3
'Mugen High-Load ver5.0' G4
'Bloodstained Comrade' G4
'Metal Trap Room Lv2' G4
'EXP Lighter' G3
'Traces of a Dream' G4
────────────────────
(He's getting shredded?! Wait, crap, this guy is... way too strong...!)
Finger Man quickly healed himself with 'Blue Blood Lv3' to hide his inner panic.
(A new skill has been unlocked.)
(Yeah, not the time for that right now!)
Finger Man dropped his guard and snapped his fingers.
2.5 million ATK points compressed into a searing energy sphere.
(Finger Snap's accuracy is 100%. It will hit no matter what.)
Shirokko twisted his body to dodge the fireball.
Finger Man's eyes widened.
It exploded moments later, unleashing devastating blast and fire damage in a 3-meter radius.
Shirokko escaped the explosion, rolling smartly across the floor to evade.
(Skill activation——'Evasion Lv4' 'Survivor Lv3')
It was Shirokko's evasion set.
'Evasion Lv4' — evasion up & enemy accuracy down 20%
'Survivor Lv3' — evasion up & HP recovery
Normally, accuracy is affected by the Dexterity and Spirit stats.
Dexterity governs the technique to aim and land hits; Spirit affects how calm you stay in the moment of attack.
Evasion is also influenced by Dexterity and Spirit.
Shirokko falls far short of Finger Man in Spirit, but surpasses him in Dexterity.
With skills on top of that, even a base 100% accuracy attack is not impossible to dodge.
"He missed...!"
"What's wrong, Finger Man? First time missing a shot?"
Finger Man scowled and fired three more shots, each with ATK 2.5 million and HP 500.
But with deft footwork, Shirokko slipped through the blast zones as if he knew exactly where they would hit.
Finger Man had relied too much on Finger Snap's 100% accuracy and never learned to aim. Now that his accuracy had dropped to 80%, the difference was decisive.
"Haha, what a gentle guy you are—worried about damaging the building, huh?"
Expanding the blast radius increases the chance of hitting.
If he went all out, he could blow up the entire building.
But Finger Man didn't do that.
(It's not like I want to be a terrorist.)
"Hit, hit, just land one hit first!"
Muttering under his breath, he snapped his fingers ten times a second with both hands.
Meanwhile, Shirokko said, "Guess I'll use the original for the first time in a while," then swapped the magazine and returned fire the moment he loaded a new one into the Thompson submachine gun. Muzzle flashes flared from the barrel like a flamethrower, unleashing what seemed like an infinite rain of bullets.
The density of bullets was far greater than before.
Combined with the muzzle flash, Shirokko's figure was no longer visible—this was beyond aiming or not.
"Ugh...!"
"What's wrong?! I'm just getting started!"
With "9,000 rounds per second" pouring onto him, even Finger Man was being forced backward by the sheer pressure. On top of that, for some reason, Shirokko's bullets seemed to accumulate damage little by little—yet inevitably—with each shot.
(It's like being swept away by a tsunami...! Not that I've ever been in one!)
Finger Man couldn't take it anymore and dove sideways around the corridor corner to break Shirokko's line of fire.
That should've stopped the bullets—
——Screeeeeeeee
The chainsaw-like gunfire didn't stop.
"Tch!"
Against that overwhelming mass of bullets, the walls of the civic hall corridor were pierced as easily as paper.
Even more shocking, about half the bullets were homing in on Finger Man.
That was due to 'Precision Shot Lv4' and 'Sure Hit', plus Shirokko himself bending the line of fire with his exceptional Dexterity.
"That's not even fair."
Finger Man was riddled all over, unable even to hide.
But thanks to his defense, he could endure it. He took bullets to the back and quietly injected himself with 'Blue Blood Lv3'.
(Alright, injection complete. HP's maxed out. I can still hold on. Once the gunfire stops, I'll expand the blast radius and hit him with an attack too big to dodge by stepping.)
The bullet rain stopped.
Shirokko swung his overheated Thompson submachine gun around to cool it down.
Seeing the opportunity, Finger Man rolled out and took aim at Shirokko.
Finger Man's quickdraw happened in the hundredth-of-a-second world.
In that instant, a searing pain shot through his skull.
His brain matter burst, and a bloom of blood spread across the floor.
The one who got attacked——was Finger Man.
Finger Man's body crumpled to the floor, lifeless.
(Skill activated——'Quickdraw Lv3', 'Sure Hit')
On Earth, no one surpasses Shirokko in quickdraw when he uses his skill.
And Finger Man—just a human—was no exception.
Shirokko lazily dangled the overheated Thompson submachine gun from his right hand, while holding another gun in his left—he shot Finger Man with that one. And he fired faster than Finger Man's 'Finger Snap Lv6'.
The gun Shirokko had in his left hand was the dungeon equipment 'Dungeon Contender 2001'. A breech-loading, single-action handgun known for its versatility in firing various types of bullets.
The bullet he fired... it was a 'Sacrifice Bullet' made from an anomalous substance—an extremely rare material even globally.
"Didn't expect to have to use one here. You're way too tough."
Shirokko chose to use one of the two 'Sacrifice Bullets' he had hidden in his pendant.
He probably believed he could win without using it—but some alarm honed through years of battle was screaming, "If I don't use it now, I won't win."
"It's a fixed 10 million damage. This'll break through Earth's blessing too."
He peered through the Contender's iron sights, locking his gaze on the unmoving Finger Man.
(No one's ever taken a hit from this and lived...)
Shirokko snorted proudly through his nose.