No. 110

Kodama opened his eyes and spat blood out of his mouth. Then, staring at the sky and the forests below him, he realized he was hanging in the air.

As he looked around, he also realized he wasnt alone. Patients who had been in the extraction room were also hanging around him.

Oh!

Kodama immediately formed a blade. It was similar to Yoo-seongs Qi blade.

It didnt need to be special. He just needed a long and thin sword to cut himself free.

Poop-!

Just as he broke the thread, he heard a dull thud above him, on the fifth floor, where hed last seen Chika and Yoo-seong fighting.

Kodama bit his lip and began climbing.

Chika was the masterpiece of the Sukune clan. Her talents were not only exceptional, but she had also been thoroughly educated to maximize her abilities.

If only the chairman no, if only anyone cared a little about Chikas personality Kodama thought with regret.

Since childhood, the girl had been accustomed to people dying for her. She had been using twice the lethal dose of adult CE for her daily training. Chika Sukune didnt care about other children losing their parents due to CE over-extraction. In short, she had become a monster of a variety grown in the labyrinth of the Sukune family.

Kodama was well aware that she was someone to fear. That was why he climbed the building with the pace of a slug, even though he could have done it much faster.

He dreaded seeing just what was on the fifth floor.

However, the scene that was waiting for him was utterly unexpected.

Thud-!

It was a scene that he had never thought would happen.

Thud-!

Chika Sukune was against the wall, getting beaten down again and again by the furious fists of another monster.

Oh Yoo-seong felt Kodamas gaze and stopped to look back at him.

Huh?

Kodamas hand almost lost its grip, clutching the edge of the wall.

Not just because of Yoo-seongs insensitive expression, but also because of Chika Sukunes appearance. Or, more aptly, what was left of her.

Dont worry, Yoo-seong told him casually as he tried to look closer.

The pulp that was Chika Sukune looked as if all its joints and bones had liquified due to pressure. It barely had any human characteristics left.

Shes still alive, Yoo-seong assured him.

The remaining skin and muscles were all twisted, like a used mop.

However, there were no traces of blood on her body, not even a single torn wound.

Auto-Hunt had found an answer to Chikas seemingly unbeatable combination of regeneration and massive CE storage. It was to thoroughly destroy her insides, all without spilling a drop of blood.

Oh, Oh Yoo-seong, you what have you done?

Dont make such a big fuss. Take a deep breath and look closely.

Kodama looked at what remained of Chikas chest.

Indeed, it was still rising and falling. Somehow, Chika was still breathing.

I didnt touch her respiratory system at all. I dont know about her brain, but maybe its okay.

As Kodama walked closer, he could hear tiny whimpers of pain coming from the pulp of flesh. It sounded like a monster crying.

Yoo-seong turned completely and approached Kodama.

So, is this all you wanted to show me? Yoo-seong asked him.

Kodama flinched. He was having trouble breathing.

I was hoping for something different when you told me that this building would surprise me not a horrific case of people being made to give up their CE.

It was a misunderstanding, Oh Yoo-seong. The people here hand over their CE to Leto under their own will

Im not interested in your explanation, Yoo-seong laughed.

At this, Kodama bit his lip. Yoo-seong had the same expression that hed had just before he leaped out of the car.

It meant that he was about to do something unexpected again.

Okay. I will guide you to the chairman right away, Kodama said, trying to calm him down.

No, Yoo-seong said. I will find him myself.

But Oh Yoo-seong! Kodamas voice rose uncontrollably. I sincerely ask, please calm down

Yoo-seong ignored him. Kodama continued to plead as he stepped in Yoo-seongs way.

If you keep doing this, you will be embarrassed. I swear we didnt bring you here to fight with you!

Yoo-seong responded with just one word.

Move.

That was enough. There was no need for any more elaborate threats.

With just one word, countless images passed through Kodamas head.

At first glance, Yoo-seongs attitude seemed careless. However, if Kodama tried to physically restrain him or continued to interfere

I would die, Kodama thought as he dropped his head.

Yoo-seong pressed the button to help him locate the chairman.

Pook-!

The next moment, he picked up Chikas body by the nape.

Huh? Yoo-seong was confused.

It seemed as if Auto-Hunt didnt want to give up the prey it had caught.

Holding Chikas body with one hand, Yoo-seong ran out of the extraction chamber.

***

It wasnt that difficult to find the place where the chairman was.

Yoo-seong would have found it even without Auto-Hunt.

As soon as he stepped out of the extraction room into the hallway, he found people waiting for him.

Despite the tremendous battle that would definitely have been heard throughout the building, people had not evacuated. They stared at Yoo-seong blankly.

.

.

.

.

.

There was not a single word or movement.

Everyone in the hallway was standing to the side, making way for Yoo-seong. They all had the same expression as those patients in the extraction room.

However, it wasnt just the patients.

Even the nurses and doctors were standing beside them with blank expressions. The only movement that could be seen was their heads.

One by one, just before Yoo-seong passed them by, they turned their heads in a single direction, as if they were all being controlled to point to where Yoo-seong had to go.

The line of gazes continued to the other side of the corridor, around the curves of corners and under the stairs, and to the overpass leading to other buildings.

It was as if everyone in this area was guiding him with their eyes.

It didnt take long for Yoo-seong to realize what was happening.

The Leto Chairman.

To control this many people in a six-story building, he must be a mass hypnotic sorcerer of a transcendent scale.

Before long, Yoo-seong reached the top floor of the building. He stopped in front of two large doors at the end of the hallway.

Go-oh-oh-!

An Aura blade had come from his left hand. It was as sharp as always, although it didnt have that much volume, because Yoo-seong had already consumed a considerable amount of CE while dealing with Chika.

Perhaps the chairman beyond that door also knew that.

He must be leisurely waiting for Yoo-seong. He, too, like his daughter and his son-in-law, must have a huge amount of CE.

It was almost a certainty, considering how he could control hundreds of people at the same time.

Yoo-seong would face an opponent with a huge advantage in CE and with a Tech that he had never encountered before.

Auto-Hunt lifted the blade. Then Yoo-seong lowered his posture and stared at the door.

When the blade finally came down

Pook-!

It slashed at Chikas flesh.

Arghh

Chika began to groan as blood rushed out of her.

However, Auto-Hunt wasnt done with the blade.

It continued to cut her on her arms, legs, abdomen, and back.

This was supposed to be helpful for her. The trapped blood within her was being released, enabling her to start regeneration.

However

Ah ah ah ah ah ah!

It was still painful for her.

No matter how familiar she was with pain, too much of it would make anyone go insane. Chika began screaming desperately.

Howoook-!

The blood spilling out of her was striking out reflexively as she writhed in pain.

Wisely, Yoo-seong did not hold her for long.

He just pricked four more wounds into her, in both her eyes and both her ears.

It would regenerate later, anyway.

However, for now, it would make Chika blind, deaf, and insane with pain. She would be the perfect grenade.

Quaang-!

Yoo-seong threw her against the doors, pushing them open, before stepping back.

Kaahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Her screams drowned out most sounds, but Yoo-seong could hear thuds and groans coming from inside.

Yoo-seong waited silently for some time.

Finally, when the noise subsided, Yoo-seong walked into the room. The inside was completely covered with blood.

Perhaps all, or almost all of it, was Chikas blood.

Just as an inexperienced hunter spills his Aura into a Corona, she too had gone out of her mind to the point where she couldnt properly control her own blood.

But indeed, as Kodama had said, she was the greatest treasure Sukune ever made.

Ugh

Uh.

In the middle of the room, two men lay helplessly, almost as badly injured as Chika.

Yoo-seong knew their faces. They were the sons of the Leto chairman.

If it werent for the blind attacks that Chika launched, Yoo-seong would have had to deal with them.

There was another person inside the rooman old man, gasping for breath, sitting on a wheelchair.

Nice to meet you, Yoo-seong greeted him. You thief.