Chapter 1181 – 1181. The 15Th
I turned my head to the side.
A giant of a man, nearly 2 meters tall, wearing a doctor’s gown, was looking at me with indifferent eyes.
“Who are you?”
“Kaminoyama Kazuto. I’m the director of this hospital.”
“Director? This is a hospital?”
I looked around. There was blood and flesh, but it didn’t feel like a hospital at all. To me, it looked like a factory.
“The main house and the hospital are connected. It’s designed this way for efficiency. The hospital is convenient for procuring materials, and the precious finished product, the Blood Orbs, are managed at the main house.”
The hospital wasn’t far from the mansion. I had come through an underground passage, so it wasn’t strange that this was a hospital. Well, whether it was a hospital or not didn’t matter to me.
I gripped the hilt of my katana tightly.
Kaminoyama Kazuto, still with indifferent eyes, pulled a weapon from his gown pocket. A black pistol appeared.
A Colt M1911.
The barrel of the pistol, loved even after 100 years, was aimed at me. I glared at him, tears of blood streaming down my face.
This was disadvantageous. No, it wasn’t just disadvantageous. There was a distance of more than 10 meters between him and me. With my current physical abilities, I couldn’t close that 10-meter gap in one go. The moment I ran, bullets would fly and I’d be riddled with holes.
‘I’ll have to use Full Recovery.’
I had already resolved myself to die once.
“I have a proposal for you.”
“…A proposal?”
“I hear you killed dozens of villagers? I’m intrigued by your abilities. I’ll pay you a handsome salary. Work under me.”
“Sorry, but I have no intention of being stuck in this village.”
“Don’t worry about that. Once this situation is resolved, I plan to move the workshop. The shrine maiden will have to allow it, though… Thanks to someone, the value of this village has dropped, so she’ll probably agree.”
“Still no. I have no intention of working under your kind.”
“That’s a shame.”
He pulled the trigger. I, who had been watching his finger, immediately moved behind a nearby machine.
“You can dodge bullets… Impressive.”
“Kaminoyama Kazuto. Are you the head of this village… no, this business?”
“Business… I like that word. But I’m not the head. If I had to say, I’m the second-in-command.”
“So the shrine maiden is the head. What’s your relationship with her?”
“We’re siblings. Though, that monster probably doesn’t think of me as her older brother…”
Kaminoyama Kazuto answered easily. I wanted him to come closer to kill me, but he didn’t close the distance. Instead, he walked to the side, positioning himself to shoot me.
As soon as I saw him, I moved behind the machine. *Ting!* The bullet that hit the machine ricocheted.
“A monster? She was quite pretty for a monster.”
“I look at the inside, not the outside. A person’s exterior is just flesh. The shrine maiden, that woman, enjoys playing with people.”
“Playing with people…”
I nodded.
If the villagers had intended to kill the Circle members, they could have done so on the first day we arrived.
People, weapons, terrain. Everything was in the village’s favor. But the villagers didn’t attack on the first day. Instead, they created a sense of unease. They created strangeness, unease, and fear. Like a well-crafted play. And the shrine maiden was the writer and director of that play.
But to do that, one condition was necessary. The shrine maiden had to completely control this village.
“How? How did the shrine maiden take control of this village?”
“Faith and drugs. She fooled the villagers with nonsense about a mountain god. She uses drugs appropriately, and she presents the Blood Orbs as gifts from the gods. Surprisingly, the villagers believe it without much suspicion.”
“Because the Blood Orbs are that good. If you see the effects, you can’t help but believe.”
Just by eating them, your physical abilities increase. If you eat them while you have a cold, the cold disappears instantly.
In this world, Blood Orbs were something beyond common sense. And she used drugs on top of that? It was game over.
“That woman would have controlled the village even without the Blood Orbs.”
“You’re overestimating your sister. You know what? Before coming here, I killed the old man in the mansion.”
“My father died. So? Do you want me to feel anger towards you?”
“Your father was murdered, and you’re not angry? You’re a real bastard.”
“A useless human died. I actually feel a sense of liking towards you.”
“You didn’t get along with your father.”
Even as we talked, the battle continued. He carefully pulled the trigger, and I used the machines as cover to close the distance.
“It’s not about my father. That woman, the shrine maiden, twisted her face and screamed because of you. She was angry that her script was ruined. Seeing that made me feel like a decade-old knot in my stomach had been untied. It was very satisfying.”
*Bang.*
A bullet flew. It barely grazed my cheek.
‘3 meters. At this distance… I can kill him without using Full Recovery.’
I was about to rush at him when—
*KWAANG!*
The door burst open, and someone entered.
“You’ve arrived.”
Kaminoyama Kazuto moved back, creating distance. He had been stalling for time, waiting for someone to break in. He put the gun back in his gown pocket.
I climbed onto a machine and looked at the intruder.
It was a giant man in black clothes, but his body proportions were strange. His lower body was normal, but his upper body was excessively large. His forearms were like tree trunks. His head was covered with a black cloth. The black cloth covering his head shook every time he exhaled.
“…Korean. The shrine maiden told me to kill you.”
The man strode towards me.
“…Is that thing human?”
“He is human. We just modified him a bit using Blood Orbs. …The problem is, he doesn’t listen to me at all.”
“Get out of the way, Director.”
“Shibata. The machines here are expensive. Try not to break them.”
“……”
The man called Shibata rushed at me.
I jumped off the machine and dodged to the side, and Shibata collided with the machine. The machine broke. Human blood inside spilled onto the floor.
“Still so ignorant.”
Kaminoyama Kazuto clicked his tongue. He leaned against the wall, watching the situation with a relaxed expression. He took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, showing no intention of interfering.
“Korean…! I’ll kill you…!”
Shibata’s body, which had collided with the machine, was not unscathed. The shape of his right shoulder and forearm was distorted, and he was injured. His muscles twitched. The injuries disappeared, and the distorted muscles returned to their original shape. It was an unbelievable recovery speed.
He lifted the machine with his large hands. He casually threw the machine, which must have weighed at least 500kg, at me.
I rolled on the floor to avoid the attack.
“You created a monster like this?!”
“The shrine maiden calls it a miracle of the mountain god. And in my opinion, it’s a coincidence close to a miracle.”
Kaminoyama Kazuto replied.
“Shrine Maiden! I’ll kill that guy! Yes! As the mountain god wills!”
“That guy. Anyone can see that his brain is messed up.”
“That’s the result of the shrine maiden’s meticulous brainwashing. I saw it from the side… she brainwashed him very thoroughly. If I had been brainwashed like Shibata, I would have committed suicide without hesitation. Well, I understand. She wouldn’t want to lose a monster like Shibata.”
I couldn’t respond to Kaminoyama Kazuto. I didn’t have the time. I was too busy dodging Shibata’s attacks.
‘I have to stop thinking of him as a human. This guy is… a monster.’
If I were to rank him, he’d be an E-class monster.
With my physical abilities in reality, I could blow his head off with a single punch, but I can’t use my acceleration ability right now.
Shibata’s attacks are simple and crude. His actions are obvious, so dodging isn’t that difficult. But.
‘At this rate, I’m going to die.’
I was out of breath. I could see the limits of my stamina. I dodged Shibata’s attacks and swung my sword in retaliation. But it was ineffective. I didn’t have the strength to deliver a fatal blow.
‘…To fight a monster, I have to become a monster myself.’
I took out a Blood Orb from my pocket.
Seven.
I took out three more. I threw ten Blood Orbs into my mouth. *Crunch, crunch.* I chewed and swallowed the Blood Orbs.
“You’re insane…”
Kaminoyama Kazuto watched me with intrigued eyes.
My already red vision turned even redder, and my whole body became hot. To control the overflowing power, I gripped the hilt of my sword even tighter. *Crack.* The skin on my hand tore, my bones broke, and blood splattered. But the grip of my hand didn’t loosen; it became even stronger.
It’s not that there was no pain. It’s just that the pain was so weak that it didn’t even feel like a pinch. This stimulation felt rather pleasant.
“Heh, heh heh.”
Shibata’s movements were clearly visible. It was proof that my dynamic vision had increased due to the effects of the Blood Orbs.
‘I can do this.’
I collided with him head-on. I cut off half of his right arm, but I was hit by his left fist and flew backward, crashing into the wall.
“……!!”
This won’t do.
I had chewed and swallowed ten Blood Orbs, but my physical abilities were still inferior to his. I was only alive thanks to the effects of the Blood Orbs. It felt like six or seven of my ribs were broken.
“Huff…”
I turned my head to the side at the sound of a gasp. A flustered Kaminoyama Kazuto took out his pistol from his pocket and shot me in the side. The bullet lodged in my side. Since I felt no pain, I didn’t feel any sense of danger. I swung my sword and beheaded Kaminoyama Kazuto.
I grabbed his falling head and threw it at Shibata. Shibata caught the head with his left hand as if swatting away a fly. The head flew towards a machine and shattered like a watermelon.
Shibata charged at me.
I opened the door and ran away. I gave up on fighting him head-on. Even if I ate more Blood Orbs, I wouldn’t be able to beat him.
“Stop right there!!”
“Will I?”
I ran up the stairs and reached the first floor of the hospital. The lights were on, and I saw a few nurses. There were no young nurses, only middle-aged ones.
“Kyaaaaaa!”
The nurses screamed as soon as they saw me. I understood. After eating ten Blood Orbs, I must have looked like a monster.
I passed the nurses and went towards the lobby. The men in suits in the lobby jumped up and pulled out guns from their pockets, aiming at me. Their reactions were quite fast, but their guns couldn’t keep up with my movements. I cut down all the men with guns.
‘I got a gun. Even that monster will be equal in front of a gun.’
I shot at the guy chasing me. I aimed for his head, but none of the bullets hit his head. Instead, several bullets lodged in his body.
Guns were not equal.
The bullets that had lodged in his body were pushed out and fell to the floor. He didn’t stop for even a moment.
“Come here and die quietly!”
“Will I die quietly?”
I ran out of the hospital without looking back.
