NOVEL NEXT Chapter 22: Incineration
༺ Incineration ༻
Squeak-
With the scream of old hinges, the heavy iron door opened and a bulky man appeared. A glimpse of various torture devices could be seen through the crack in the door.
The man wiped the blood that had splattered on his face with his arm. His face, smeared with the blood like paint, looked veritably demonic.
“Haaa….”
What a beautiful world.
The man truly thought so. Despite living a life of swear words and disdain in back alleys, in this world, he was as good as the upper class, able to enjoy such ‘special’ hobbies.
As he walked, his hefty, flabby belly flopped around in rhythm to his steps.
Having had enough fun, it was now time to work. He headed towards his guard post and stepped outside.
Thump, Thump.Weighing over 140 kg, even his supposedly ordinary steps caused a heavy vibration.
“Kaaak! Ptui.”
He passed by a huge wall of stacked zombies and headed towards a watchpost he had to guard for three hours. Although it was called a watchpost, what was to even be expected from a crumbling world?
Sitting on the roof of a dilapidated building was all there was to it.
“Yawn. Hey. You two, fight. You know mixed martial arts, right?”
“Cough.”
“….”
Fortunately, the watchpost was equipped with ‘toys’ as a kind of welfare policy for the guards to alleviate boredom.
“Oh? Are you ignoring me? Do my words not matter to you? You looking down on me?”
The two bloodied men trembled in fear at the hefty man’s menacing voice.
“Kekek. Yeah. Right. There should be a reward, huh. The bastard who wins between the two of you will be spared from today’s ‘punishment’.”
The two barely-clothed men, who were actually brothers, looked at each other with complicated expressions.
What wouldn’t they do to avoid a time of punishment akin to torture? Wouldn’t anything go?
However…
Both made the same resolution.
I have to lose.
As they gritted their teeth and struggled to their feet…
“Do I look like some dumbass who is easy to fool? Or do you think I’m retarded?”
The bulky man swung his fist at them.
“KEUAK!”
“Cough…!”
The iron-like fist of the Awakened sent the two young men flying.
“Your punishment time is doubled today. No. Never mind. Should I just send the bastard who can’t endure it to the dumps?”
One of the young men spat out blood and couldn’t regain his senses, while the other, his brother, wept and bit his lip.
How did it come to this?
Although he had felt deep despair when zombies overran the world, it was nothing compared to being captured by the Slater group.
In these circumstances, being alive is actually worse off….
Until now, they hadn’t dared to take their own lives for each other’s sake. But now, they realized it was meaningless.
A world worse than hell itself.
That was when the elder brother resolved himself.
The bulky man’s eyes flickered.
Did they really think this happened just once or twice? Naturally, he was annoyed by their predictable antics.
“Hmph.”
There were plenty of toys. It was because recently, as the zombies in the vicinity had been cleared, survivors had begun to emerge.
So, a toy or two breaking was not an issue.
“Hehehe.”
Something caught the bulky man’s eye as he approached to kill them.
“Huh?”
It was something flying gracefully towards the stronghold of ‘Ecstasy,’ the largest and strongest Slater force.
“A fighter jet…?”
The bulky man rubbed his eyes and gaped.
“Holy fuck, what the hell is that?”
He watched in awe as that something seemed to freeze in mid-air, a surreal and dissonant motion.
Woooong-
Yellow and red particles gathered around the fighter jet. It looked like tens of thousands of sparkling fireballs were flying towards it.
The spectacle was noticeable even from a distance. People began coming out of the stronghold’s buildings, all staring up with their mouths agape.
“What is that?”
It seemed as if all the sunlight in the world was converging around the fighter jet.
Woooong-
In fact, the atmosphere was pushed by the particles, even creating a faint breeze.
The bulky Awakened seemed to remember something.
Ah, I’m pretty sure I heard a rumor recently….
Something about a plane that cleans up zombies?
But why would it be here? Above our camp, at that?
No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t seem like it has good intentions….
As he watched suspiciously, the gathering of particles around the jet ceased.
He didn’t know why, but his hair stood on end. It felt as if time had stopped.
Parts of the fighter jet’s body opened.
Click.
No pre-indicative sound was heard.
However…
Pzzzt-
Along with the sound of sparking electricity, a total of 128 beams of light fell to the ground.
BOOOOM-
“Huh? Eh?”
The 128 red lines extended across the ground, moving constantly and busily akin to the psychedelic lights in a club.
“Ah….”
He couldn’t take his eyes off the glorious sight of incineration. The 128 red lines dancing in the sky appeared almost beautiful.
However, for those on the ground, they were nothing less than beams of death. Moreover, ones that selectively swept over the Slaters.
As soon as the beams touched them, they inevitably burned to ash. Whether D-Class or B-Class, death was delivered equally and indiscriminately.
“RUN!!”
“FUCK!!”
“WHAT IS THAT!”
“KEUAAAAAAH!”
“ABILITIES DON’T WORK ON IT! WE CAN’T STOP IT!”
Chaos filled the ground. Despite unleashing all kinds of Abilities, the beams of death burned them without resistance, like cutting through tofu. And so, they had to run around madly, hoping to somehow dodge.
“KYAAAAAAH!”
“Euheut?!”
Among the pandemonium, there were slaves who had been captured here and there, but…
“Huh?”
“What is this?”
“D-Did I survive?”
“Euggggh.”
The beams avoided them skillfully. So much so that it was eerie.
At that point, the bulky Slater realized that something was seriously wrong.
“Motherfucker… What is going on?”
His eyes trembled uneasily.
His heart sank at the overwhelming, unprecedented power.
“F-Fuck.”
And yet, he also felt relieved.
“If I hadn’t come out here, I would’ve been fucked, yeah?”
That thought led to another. If all the executives died, wouldn’t he rise to a higher position?
However, that was as far as such a stupid thought went.
After twelve cannons appeared on the top of the fighter jet and sent a parabola of light orbs, his body was no longer capable of thought. No, to be more precise, he was obliterated without even leaving a corpse.
***
“KEUAAAAAAAH!!”
“D-DODGE!”
“GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!”
Swearing and screams filled the base of ‘Ecstasy.’
In a place where Awakened and ordinary people alike were running around like rabbits, a particularly noticeable man, towering over two meters tall, looked up at the sky with a subdued expression.
He was one who had earned the nickname ‘Blue Ghost’ after having founded ‘Ecstasy’ and led numerous Slaters. And right now, he was holding a greatsword, desperately attempting to soothe this sensation of futility.
He had built his own little kingdom over the past three years by defeating countless enemies. But now, that diligently built kingdom was turning to ash in an instant.
All because of that damn mysterious plane.
How did this make any sense?
The firepower was so strong that even A-Class Awakened couldn’t withstand it.
Of course, it had briefly passed over him as well.
But he was an S-Class Awakened. Moreover, his Ability could transform his body into a blue crystal which was stronger than diamond.
The red beams scattered as soon as they touched him, causing no significant damage. Perhaps noticing that they were useless against him, the red beams changed their target.
Thus, he could consider himself safe, regardless of what happened.
Even so…
“KEUAAAAAGH! MY ARM! MY ARM!”
“HURRY UP AND DODGE!”
“RUN!”
“EUAAAAAGH!”
“GATHER AROUND THE BOSS!”
No one else could stop it. There was no clear strategy or countermeasures either. Did he just have to watch on the sidelines as the kingdom he had built up over three years was blown away so futilely?
Some tried to flee, but as they dodged the red beams and ran around, they were gradually herded towards the center.
It was a systematic and thorough devastation.
Then, he saw something.
“W-Whoa! I-It’s actually true. It doesn’t seem like it’s targeting us!”
“W-What is happening? Is it here to save us?”
The moment he saw that the beams did not threaten the captured slaves, his eyes flashed.
“EVERYONE, USE THE HOSTAGES TO BLOCK THE ATTACKS!”
At his lion-like roar, the frantic Slaters began to regain their senses.
“F-Follow the boss’s orders!”
“It’s true! It isn’t targeting the slaves!”
At that moment, everyone hurriedly used the slaves as shields, hiding behind their bodies.
“KYAAAAAH!”
“SAVE US!”
“Gurgle!”
They roughly grabbed the hostages’ necks to escape the bombardment.
Zzzzzzzzzt- Whirrr- Zzzzzzzt-
And it truly did seem as if grabbing the hostages halted the attacks.
“I-It works!”
“Everyone, follow what the boss says!”
Of course, not everyone could grab a hostage. Since some had hidden away like mice, it was impossible for everyone to amicably share hostages.
“MOVE! YOU FUCKER!”
“Keuk! W-What about me?!”
“FIND SOME OTHER BASTARD!”
“H-Huh? I-I understand.”
And as this continued, all too naturally, only the strong survived.
Once everyone had grabbed a hostage, the beams of death were withdrawn.
The Blue Ghost quickly shouted with hopeful eyes.
“Now it’s our turn! Those who can attack from a distance, start intercepting and countering immediately!”
The leader of Ecstasy, the Blue Ghost, looked up at the fighter jet and sneered bitterly.
“Fucking retard. You tryna act like some hero of justice in front of us? How fucking pathetic. There’s no fucking sh….”
Just as he was about to say something, he closed his mouth.
Click- Kiiiiiing- Click-
The outer armor of the fighter jet began to change, accompanied by mechanical noises.
Click- Kiiiiiing- ClickClick.
“….”
Upon being faced with the grandeur of the fighter jet, now bristling like a hedgehog with numerous cannons, the Blue Ghost felt a chill run down his spine.
Hold the fuck up, can that kind of shit even be called a fighter jet?
At the very least, he didn’t think so.
***
https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken