Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Sector E, Industrial Zone 28.

It happened during a Blood Wolves executive meeting, held inside a closed-down Smile Corporation food factory.

Bang–! Bang, bang–!

Loud gunshots rang out from outside the office. Judging by the sound, it seemed to be energy rounds.

What the hell was going on?

As the executives simultaneously tensed up, the sound of someone rushing toward the office echoed a moment later.

The door burst open, and a subordinate appeared with a pale face.

“B-Boss! I’ve got something to report!”

“What’s all this commotion?”

“Just now, Ludwig came back and suddenly went crazy, shooting his gun and rampaging!”

“Ludwig?”

Ludwig was one of the elite members sent to take on Aaron Stingray.

Since Ludwig favored an energy rifle, it was highly likely that the earlier gunshots were caused by him.

“What the hell’s gotten into that bastard all of a sudden?”

“I-I don’t know. He kept yelling that we all had to kill the boss if we wanted to survive…”

Bang–! Rattattattat–!

Gunfire erupted behind the reporting subordinate. It seemed like others had started fighting Ludwig.

“What the…?”

Ludwig had always stood out for both his combat strength and loyalty.

Though he lacked the brains to become an executive and was left as a field agent, David had even considered promoting him if the circumstances allowed.

And now Ludwig had suddenly returned to the hideout and was in a shootout with his fellow gang members—it was honestly hard to believe.

The executives spoke up.

“Aaron Stingray. Maybe that bastard pulled something on Ludwig.”

“So the operation failed? Pathetic. And you call yourselves elites? Getting played by some bourgeois brat…”

“What should we do, Boss? Should I go and take care of it?”

“Hmm.”

David stroked his chin.

It seemed the kidnapping operation targeting Aaron Stingray had ultimately failed. He needed to get a clearer grasp of the situation.

David asked.

“What’s the current status?”

“J-Just now, we heard that two of the youngest guards were killed, and five others got shot. We managed to land a few hits too, but he just wouldn’t go down…”

Ludwig was a pretty powerful Adaptee.

Even if it was many against one, ordinary members would have a hard time handling him.

David’s brow furrowed.

Seeing his fierce expression, the subordinate quickly added more.

“Ah, anyway, you don’t have to worry about Ludwig. We’ll take care of him ourselves.”

“…No.”

David rose from his chair, his body twice the size of an average person’s.

“I’ll handle it myself.”

“Boss, there’s really no need for you to…”

One of the executives pretended to stop him but didn’t push too hard. They all knew their boss never took back his words once spoken.

David walked forward without a word, and the executives followed right behind him.

After passing through a complicatedly modified corridor, I arrived at the entrance of the hideout, and a scene resembling a battlefield was unfolding.

Ludwig and the low-ranking members were shooting at each other from behind cover.

A few of them were seen collapsed, bleeding.

Then, when David appeared, everyone’s attention shifted to him due to his heavy presence.

The subordinates looked at him with expressions as if they were witnessing a savior.

“Boss!”

“The executives are here too!”

One executive harshly scolded the subordinates.

“You useless bastards! Do you think it makes sense for the boss to come down here himself because of you?! Huh?!”

“S-Sorry!”

“Silence, all of you.”

At David’s single command, everyone shut their mouths without a word. David turned his gaze toward the cover where Ludwig was hiding.

It was a perfectly executed concealment, not even a hair exposed, but David could see Ludwig clearly.

That was thanks to the [Lv.2 Wall Penetrating Image Module] he had equipped.

Ludwig was breathing heavily behind the cover. His body was riddled with anti-Adaptee rounds, blood pouring out, and the peeled skin exposed metal bones beneath.

To put it simply, he was as good as dead.

“Ludwig.”

David spoke.

He slowly walked toward where Ludwig was hiding and opened his mouth again.

“What is this chaos? Why did you betray us? You weren’t that kind of guy.”

“S-Shut up and just diiieee!”

Ratatatatatata!

Ludwig suddenly burst out from cover and fired his energy rifle at David. But the energy rounds didn’t penetrate even a millimeter of David’s skin.

The projectiles lost all their force upon contact with his skin, dispersing into the air and vanishing.

“Fuck! Fuuuck!”

“So you met Aaron Stingray? What did that bastard say to you?”

“Uaaaaargh!”

In a state of panic, Ludwig poured out another hail of bullets. But once again, not even a scratch was left on David.

Clack, clack.

Soon, the energy rifle’s magazine emptied, and Ludwig pulled out his backup pistol, aiming for David’s forehead and pulling the trigger.

“Die! I said diiiieeee!”

But the result was the same.

Even the lead bullets didn’t work on David. He accepted the flying projectiles as if they were mere tickles and reached Ludwig’s face.

Grab.

His massive right hand seized Ludwig by the hair. As he lifted his arm, Ludwig’s body floated into the air.

Ludwig struggled to escape his grip, but it was completely useless.

“Answer me. What did Aaron Stingray say to you? Where is he now?”

“Shit… hahaha…”

At David’s question, Ludwig laughed like a madman. But tears were streaming down from both his eyes.

They were the eyes of someone consumed by fear.

And then Ludwig opened his mouth.

“We’re all fucked… because of you!”

“What?”

“Because of your stupid orders, we’re all gonna die by that bastard’s hand—!”

Before Ludwig could finish his sentence—

David suddenly felt the weight in his right hand become lighter.

Thud.

Ludwig’s body dropped to the ground.

To be precise, his head and body had been separated.

At the same time, a voice rang out.

“So you’ve finally shown yourself, Big David. I figured someone like you would respond personally to such a commotion.”

A stranger’s beautiful voice.

A dark silhouette gracefully approached from a distance. Gliding forward, the man stopped just short of the blood pool left by Ludwig’s corpse.

His black hair was slicked back.

Golden, sharp eyes swept up and down David’s figure. Then he sneered and muttered.

“Hmph. I have to look up even more than I expected. You really are bigger in person.”

“You bastard—!”

Aaron Stingray.

Just as David furrowed his brow and was about to utter the man’s name, a massive explosion sounded behind him, accompanied by intense heat.

When he turned around, a huge blaze was raging.

A fire of unknown origin had started to engulf the entire hideout.

The Blood Wolves members, about to lose their base in an instant, began to panic.

“F-Fire!”

“Why is there a fire all of a sudden?!”

“Put it out, quick!”

Toward them, Aaron murmured.

"Everyone stop. If you want to live."

A cold chill lingered in the voice.

It was small in volume, yet clearly heard by everyone.

That overwhelming presence made everyone unconsciously turn to look at him.

But only for a moment—such a warning couldn’t possibly reach the gang members whose blood had already boiled over.

"What the hell is that bastard saying!"

"That bastard is definitely the culprit!"

The gang members immediately grabbed their weapons.

However—

"Is that so. You don’t want to live, then."

A sentence that made the air seem to freeze.

At that moment, the five people who had reached for their weapons first had their heads drop to the floor with a thud.

It was exactly the same method that killed Ludwig.

Aaron flexed his gloved hand and shrugged his shoulders.

"……As expected, it’s hard to control. At this condition, this is probably the limit."

"W-what the hell is this……!?"

An incomprehensible phenomenon.

But without a doubt, the one who caused the massacre was Aaron.

A Blood Wolves executive, unable to contain his rage, charged at him.

"You… you crazy bastard!!"

But it was a meaningless outburst.

That executive, too, had his head separated from his body in an instant, just like the five before him.

Thud. His body fell to the ground and formed a pool of blood.

Only then did the gang members begin to grasp the situation, completely freezing in place.

Only David showed no fear of death and tried to counterattack.

"Hrrgh!"

David swung his fist, aiming for the brief moment when Aaron’s gaze turned elsewhere.

Whooom!

His massive, pillar-like arm flew at Aaron like a cannonball.

With various physical enhancement modules installed, his strength held enough power to shatter an average Adaptee in a single blow.

However, just before the attack could reach Aaron, David’s fist stopped in midair.

As if blocked by an invisible wall.

"……!?"

Big David, who rarely lost his composure, was visibly shocked.

Aaron asked mockingly.

"How does it feel right now, Big David? Losing your precious subordinates like that? No, don’t answer. It’s not like I asked because I wanted to hear your unpleasant voice."

"You bastard…! You think you’ll get away with this—!"

Swish.

As Aaron lightly flicked his finger, yet another gang member’s head flew off.

David’s face turned to horror.

"……!"

"I told you not to answer. I thought you were on the smarter side for a bug, but maybe not?"

Only then did David realize.

What Ludwig had meant earlier.

—We’re all screwed… because of you!

It was just as he said.

They had messed with the wrong person.

They were lured in by the baseless rumor that Aaron Stingray had a terminal illness.

And they were deluded into thinking they were much stronger now with the modules they had received from that guy Shade.

The Aaron standing before them was not someone they could defeat.

At least not in a head-on fight.

David had to make a decision immediately.

"I-I surrender!"

He shouted.

At this rate, they’d be wiped out.

Saying such words to a damn bourgeois from a corporate family was agonizing, like someone twisting his intestines, but he had no choice.

"I don’t know what we’ve done wrong to you, but please forgive us. We surrender unconditionally."

"You don’t know what you’ve done wrong… is that what you’re saying?"

Aaron scoffed, as if it was absurd.

David clenched his teeth.

Of course, it was a blatant lie to say such a thing after sending assassins.

But he had no other options.

Saying “Sorry for sending assassins!” wouldn’t work—no way it would.

The only way was to pretend his underlings had acted on their own.

"I’ll take responsibility somehow… no, I will take responsibility. I’ll compensate you. Just please spare our lives."

David cast aside his pride and got on his knees.

The other subordinates also looked humiliated but had no choice but to stay silent.

Aaron asked again.

"Compensation?"

"Yes."

David desperately racked his brain.

What could he possibly offer to the eldest son of a company that manipulated this city at will?

Money? Modules? Technology? People?

None of those.

The only card we had was...

“We'll give you the information we possess. The kind that a normal corporate intelligence agency wouldn’t be able to obtain.”

Blood Wolves’ ultimate goal was to destroy the corporations.

For the day that would inevitably come, they had gathered information that corporations would be reluctant to reveal publicly… weaknesses, in other words.

If it was about the weaknesses of Stingray Group's competitors and partners—like 'Militech', 'Roman Corporation', and 'Purity Service'—Aaron would surely show some interest.

Of course, there was a chance Stingray already possessed this information, but it was a gamble with nothing to lose, so he threw it out there anyway.

And fortunately, Aaron’s expression brightened a little.

“I see. So it’s that kind of information.”

They were alive for now.

It felt like they had managed to overcome a moment of crisis. They had succeeded in throwing away their pride to save their lives.

But maybe it was because the tension had lifted?

David felt his body suddenly leaning over without realizing it. No, not just leaning—he was falling.

Thud.

He hit his head against something.

His gaze turned in a direction it should never have turned.

...He saw his own body without a head.

‘What is going on…?’

Before he could even understand the scene, darkness swallowed his vision. And as his consciousness faded into the distance—

“Back alley information like yours.”

Aaron’s voice echoed.

“You think I wouldn’t already know that?”

With David’s death, the situation was swiftly resolved.

Some thugs ran away in fear after seeing their boss go down without resistance, while others, unable to control their rage, charged in again.

Of course, in the case of the latter, I killed them without exception.

‘Is it over now?’

As soon as I judged that everything was taken care of, I quickly deactivated the [Cloud Spider] module. At the same time, the leather gloves on my hands vanished without a trace.

‘I used it myself, but it’s totally broken.’

Arcane Module [Cloud Spider].

Arcane Modules are special modules made using the essence extracted from monsters that rule outside the city, commonly called [Arcane Beings]. You could call them unique gear.

And among them, the one I just used—[Cloud Spider]—was practically Aaron Stingray’s identity itself.

It manipulated threads so fine they were nearly invisible, freely controlling them—sometimes like blades, sometimes like ropes.

‘In the original, the protagonist got completely wrecked by this thing.’

Even though I lowered the output to prevent my body condition from deteriorating, this much power still showed. Aaron was truly a broken character, apart from the fact that he was terminally ill.

‘...I’ll save the admiration for later.’

Perhaps because of the recoil from using [Cloud Spider], I could feel my condition plummeting by the second. I probably wouldn’t last long.

I tossed all the remaining painkillers into my mouth, then gave a command to someone who had been hiding in the distance.

“Search.”

“Y-yes?”

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

“U-understood!”

One nameless Blood Wolves gang member hurriedly began rummaging through the corpses of David and the executives.

Earlier, I’d kept the weakest-looking one alive just for this moment.

No way was I going to touch those filthy bodies with my own hands.

While he scraped together usable modules from the more intact corpses, I contacted Maria and Miyu separately.

To Maria, I sent a message ordering her to clean up the scene.

To Miyu, I sent a message saying that I’d retrieved Pandora’s ampoule and that she should prepare for the procedure.

By the time everything was more or less wrapped up, my view was suddenly blocked by a new system message.