NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 195
“How dare you!”
Minho kicked away the ability user who was about to launch a sneak attack from behind, sending him flying. The guy landed right onto Seolhwa’s icicle and got nailed to the ground.
As the modified humans blocking our path got swept away by telekinesis and the red and blue flames, all that remained was a cloud of ash swirling around.
“Jinhyeon, ramp up the temperature a bit! I’ll handle the control!”
Sounding uncharacteristically cheerful, Yeonhwa seemed thrilled to finally be of help. But this was hardly the time for blind optimism.
True, Invictus had wiped out nearly half the forces by himself, but there were still about a thousand modified humans left standing.
And we were the only ones who had charged past the defensive line.
No matter how fierce and strong we were, we couldn’t take on nearly a thousand soldiers.
Even if they were all high on something and stumbling around, they were still abilities users or at least stronger than most abilities users.
It was highly impractical to take them all down. And there was no time for that either.
With no idea when Invictus might return, staying this deep was absolutely unwise.
If we assumed that the ability that had trapped him was similar to what had trapped me, then it wouldn’t take long for him to escape.
Even without considering Invictus, it was clear this was a crazy idea. So, I needed to take Arman’s head off as quickly as possible.
But the problem was I hadn’t even cleared a path to Arman, and even if I did, I couldn’t handle the elite forces surrounding him all by myself.
…I could leave it to the kids, but that would mean asking them to face the executives while also dealing with the minions.
Could they really pull that off?
I couldn’t shake the feeling that putting their lives on the line for my revenge was completely unjustifiable, so I couldn’t bring myself to say it. But now, I had to make a decision soon.
To either drop my selfish ambitions and retreat or to drag others into my quest for vengeance.
…If it’s them, they’d probably volunteer to help. They’re foolish, naive… good-hearted kids.
If I asked, they’d surely do it for me. But I didn’t want that.
So, I could only come up with this as a plan.
“Changwon! Can you toss me with all your strength toward Arman?!”
“What the heck are you talking about?! I came all this way to help you, and now you want me to send you right back into the enemy’s midst?!”
“Well, it’s better than wasting time here! I’m not asking you to throw me thoughtlessly, just trust me once…”
I was about to say I won’t be getting your help. The ground trembled, and sharp rock shards shot up circularly, blocking the way between us and the modified humans.
Thinking it was some kind of ambush, I looked around, loaded with poison, but saw nothing.
But then the ground trembled again, and someone erupted up from the earth.
“How can I trust you? You’ve betrayed me once; do you really think I’d believe you now?”
It was Lapiz.
“Lapiz? Aren’t you feeling well?! Are you okay now?”
Minho, knowing her condition somewhat, asked if she was alright while catching his breath.
“I’m still not okay. My whole body hurts like hell, feels like I’m dying. But I can still fight.”
“Why fight when you’re hurt…”
“It’s your fault, Blanca! You’re the one throwing yourself into the fire; am I just supposed to stand by and watch?”
…I had nothing to counter that.
“I don’t want to drag you into danger. So please, just throw me in and go back. I’ll kill Arman and come back somehow…”
With no real counter, I pleaded with them to turn back.
“No way, you’d just take off again after that. Whether you live or die, I’m going with you.”
But it seemed like my words didn’t register with Lapiz at all.
“I don’t want to just sit back anymore either. I want to do something!”
“…When your friend wants to walk into danger, it’s just wrong to wish them luck instead of stopping them.”
“I told you before, I’m going to be a hero that surpasses you. How could I step back now?”
“If I don’t go with you, how can I get them out? I need to be there.”
“You, of all people, a betrayer, asking for trust? Pfft, not a chance. Let’s go together. We’ll make it out alive together.”
The others felt the same.
Minho, you’re going to make the right call, right? I looked at him with that hope.
“Just because you think that, doesn’t mean I’ll change my mind. Let’s just finish this quickly and get out, Blanca. We still have a lot to talk about.”
“You too…”
“Alright, it’s settled then. I’ll clear the path. We’ll handle whatever’s nearby. So, while we’re risking our lives, you take out Arman. No complaints, Blanca?”
“I was planning to leave you guys out of this and rush in alone, you know! And now you wanna follow and risk your lives too?”
Even though it was the last thing I wanted to say, Minho just laughed it off and replied cheekily.
“Yes, yes. I got your lies loud and clear. We’re that precious to you — and you feel bad about it, right?”
He kicked one modified human trying to climb over a rock, sending them tumbling down, clearly not even trying to hide his grin.
“Alright then, I’m taking that as no objections, and we’re off. Everybody gear up; it’s gonna shake a bit. Don’t think about winning; just focus on hanging in there, you got that?”
At some point, Lapiz had naturally taken charge, issuing orders to the kids and, without missing a beat, slammed her hands into the ground, charging us toward Arman.
We could feel the modified humans and abilities users trying to block us, but there was no stopping it.
Even if the scale was small and the condition wasn’t perfect, no human could stop the force of the earth shaking beneath us.
Still, every time we collided, the stone wall chipped away little by little.
Then a massive crash, and we finally clashed with the barrier where Arman was holding his ground.
The bluish translucent barrier was slowly being torn away by an unseen force, while the very ground the enemies were standing on began to tremble.
In the end, the barrier was uselessly shredded, and we had finally reached Arman and his cronies.
As if they’d coordinated it, the stone wall crumbled, and the kids rushed out to unleash everything they had against those blocking our way.
…With everyone giving it their all, I couldn’t just stay back and chill.
If I used poison gas, it would engulf the kids too, so I covered myself in a dangerously potent poison to counter Arman’s close-combat style.
Then I tweaked the slime I had stored in my body for an extra safety net and dashed toward Arman.
While he still wasn’t paying much attention to me, I unleashed my claws for a surprise attack, but Arman easily dodged and reached for my head to use his ‘Dominate’ ability.
It was too fast to dodge, but the speed was just right for a reaction.
I pushed my tail inside his grasp, trying to sneak my slime into his body.
However, the slime merely bore into his palm slightly, managing to inject just a hint of poison inside.
…That bastard has definitely been modified. He was too solid for a human. The usually penetrative slime didn’t even scratch him.
As soon as Arman felt the slime breach his palm, he grabbed my tail and swung me down to the ground.
I tried to minimize the impact, but still, the force was too much, and I involuntarily exhaled.
I avoided his fist by pulling my body with slime, absorbing the shock and wrapping around his descending arm with the slime I had scattered across the ground.
The slime tried to burrow into him along with the poison, but Arman just shook it off effortlessly and charged back toward me.
The poison isn’t working? No, it is working. The area where the toxin touched had turned bright red and swollen.
He was just ignoring the pain and charging me down.
The fact he wasn’t reaching out anymore meant he planned to knock me out first and then control me.
I tried to slice with my slime as if it were a blade, but all I did was graze his skin without cutting through any muscle.
…This is bad.
He felt no pain, and the poison seemed like it wouldn’t spread in time. Dodging was taxing too.
Going tit-for-tat was suicidal. Looking at the kids, they were just as precarious. They hadn’t taken heavy damage yet, but…
“What are you looking at?”
Ah.
While I was momentarily distracted, Arman had closed the gap and drilled his fist deep into my stomach.
“Gah…”
With a feeling of something breaking and crushing, a sharp pain surged through me, almost causing me to black out for a moment.
“I was pondering how to turn the tables, and lucky me, you just provided the perfect ingredient. I thought you fled…”
…Ugh, maybe facing him head-on was a bad idea.
I needed to move, but my body felt utterly unresponsive.
So I had no choice but to fall back on my insurance. I filled the last sting of the compressed slime in my body with the last venomous substance I had.
No matter how much he strengthened himself, he wouldn’t withstand this.
As Arman stepped closer, he grabbed onto my skull.
In that moment, my consciousness cut off.
The controlled slime erupted out of my body, scattering out the tert-butyllithium I had stored within it.