"Commander, the car has stopped." The driver of the car alerted. "How should I proceed?"
Almost a kilometer away from the entrance of the Monolith, the driver saw the car behind them swerve towards the right before coming to a halt.
Having never taken his eyes off of the vehicle behind him, Luther raised his hand slightly and ordered for the car to stop as well.
"Stop the car, and tell the unit in the other car to get out as well."
"Understood."
'”Screeech.
Pressing onto the break, the car came to a halt. In front of them, not far from where they were, another vehicle came to a halt.
"Get out."
Opening the doors of the car, Luther jumped off of the vehicle. Behind him, five other people came out, including the 7th unit captain, Isaac.
"Hurry up."
Not far from them, Luther gestured for the other unit in the distance to hurry up. Before long, there were a total of ten people behind Luther.
Turning around and looking at all of the unit members present, Luther warned.
"The suspect may try to use bombs, so try your best to spread out and surround the car."
Having received brief reports about subject 876, the commander knew that his strength was in the <D+> range and that he somehow got his hands on explosives.
Luther wasn't worried about 876's strength. He himself was <B> ranked. He could make quick work of 876.
...his only worry was the bombs.
If he was hit directly by them, even though he won't die, he'd still get injured. Less needs to be said about the other people present.
They were all weaker than him.
Thus, In order to minimize the casualties from the bombs, spreading out the soldiers was a must.
"Commander?"
Stopping a couple of meters away from the vehicle, Isaac looked at the commander who looked back and nodded back.
"Understood." Stepping forward, Isaac shouted. "Subject 876, we know that you're in there. Get out of the car and surrender."
"..."
Waiting for a couple of minutes, Isaac was met with no response.
"Figured." Isaac shook his head, before looking at Luther and asking. "Commander, how should we proceed."
Squinting, Luther carefully looked at the vehicle. Waving his hand, a blue translucent shield appeared before him. In his right hand was a large metal mace.
Pointing towards the forest, he looked towards the other unit and ordered.
"Send someone to search the forest, we can't exclude the possibility that 876 has already escaped into the forest."
"Roger."
Five people unanimously shouted before running into the forest behind the car.
'”Rustle! '”Rustle!
"Get behind me."
With the shield before him, Luther gestured the 7th unit to follow him and slowly walked towards the vehicle. Because of the threat of the bombs, Commander Luther decided to approach this prudently.
'”Clank!
Approaching the car, Luther carefully opened the door. Glancing at his other members, he nudged his head slightly.
'”Clank! '”Clank! '”Clank!
Instantaneously, everyone moved around the vehicle and opened the other doors of the car with their weapons raised.
"..."
Upon opening the door, everyone braced themselves for an attack, but contrary to their expectations, they were met with deathly silence.
Exchanging glances with each other, everyone looked inside of the vehicle. Because the glasses were tinted, they were only able to see what was inside of the vehicle only upon opening the doors.
Entering the car and looking around, a confused look appeared on Isaac's face.
"Commander, the suspect is not in the car. It's possible that he escaped."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive sir" Glancing around the car, he briefly said. "but there seem to be the other unit members here, each passed out."
"Are they dead?"
Approaching one of the people in the car, Isaac placed his finger on his neck. Upon noticing a pulse, he responded.
"Negative."
"...so he chose to leave them alive?" Frowning, Luther muttered before moving forward and entering the vehicle. "Let me take a look."
Upon entering the vehicle, Luther looked around. Just like Isaac reported, everyone in the car was passed out, but none were dead.
"1...2...3....8"
Counting the number of people present, he managed to count eight people in total.
'Odd, has he run away? or is he hiding?'
The more Luther looked at the situation, the bigger more ominous the feeling inside him grew.
Unable to read Luther's thoughts, Isaac asked.
"What should we do sir?"
"Kill them all."
"What!?" Luther's reply startled Isaac. "Why? They are alive!"
"Idiot." Luther looked at Isaac as if he was a fool. "Did you completely forget what I said before?"
"What do y'”" Issacc suddenly paused and opened his eyes widely. "You don't mean...?"
"...Yeah" Arrogantaly looking at all of the people present in the car, Luther nodded his head "The little fucker can change faces. What if he threw one of the bodies away and tried to disguise himself as one of the people here?"
"Ah."
"Hur, hur, nice try b'”"
Di! Di! Di!
Cutting Luther off, was a small repetitive ticking sound.
It was then that, to his horror, almost simultaneously, two of the eight guards who were 'passed out' opened their eyes and took out a small spherical object from their pockets.
Pressing on top of it, Commander Luther opened his eyes widely. A curse escaped from his lips.
"...Shit! Get out!"
'”BOOOOOM!
A massive explosion reverberated, and a sea of fire raged.
***
Moments before the car stopped.
"We're almost there."
"Oh? It's about time."
"Jerome, have you recovered enough? It's about time we arrive at the headquarters. Get ready."
With my head still lowered, I groggily replied.
"...Sure."
Ba.Dump! Ba.Dump! Ba.Dump!
The closer we got to the headquarters the more nervous I became. For the past fifteen minutes or so, using the chip in my head, I simulated over a hundred different scenarios.
In it, I was calculating the chances of me escaping. Out of the hundreds of simulations, there was only one method that could give me the slightest chance at escaping this place...and even then, it was extremely dangerous and filled with suffering.
"Huuu..."
I exhaled.
'What choice do I have?'
Gritting my teeth, my brows knit tightly. Just the thought of what I was about to do next, sent shivers down my spine.
But.
'I can't afford to be picky.'
I knew this all too well. If I wanted to escape, this was the only way. Furthermore, a part of me knew that I was already exposed and that this was the only way for me.
'Instead of waiting for something bad to happen, it's best to act immediately.'
Thus.
Taking out five syringes that were filled with the serum from my dimensional space, I slowly lifted my head up and muttered out loud.
"Can we stop over here?"
"Hm? Do you need to take a piss Jerom'”Huh? Who are you!?"
'”Spurt!
Stabbing towards my right, I quickly injected the guard next to me with the serum. Before the others could react, removing the belt off of me, I moved forward.
Dashing forward, before the two guards at the back could remove their belts, I jumped towards the guard on the right side of the vehicle and stabbed him in the neck.
'”Squeeq!
Letting go of the syringe, stomping on the seat of the car, I propelled my body to the other side of the car. With another syringe in my hand, I repeated the same thing and injected the other guard with a dose of the serum.
This time the dosage was around 10mg, thus, upon injection, they passed out immediately.
"Huek!"
"Haaa!"
Their shouts startled the guards at the front.
What the!"
"Hey! What's going on?!"
Instantly the car started swearing left and right. Gripping on the metal bar at the top of the car, I hooked my feet around the front seat of the car and let go.
Using my core, I pushed my body forward, crossing my hands, I simultaneously stabbed both guards in the shoulder.
The squeaking sound of the syringe being pressed rang in the car.
'”Squeeq! '”Squeeq!
Right after I injected them with the serum, putting my hand on the wheel of the car, I quickly took control of the vehicle.
Shoving the driver of the car to the back, I managed to regain control of the car.
"Haaa...haa...the first part is done."
Breathing heavily, I kept my focus on the road. At the moment we were still in the forest area, but in the distance, I could see the faint outline of the Monolith. Slowly, the density of the trees started to diminish.
Following the cars ahead for the next couple of minutes, from time to time, I would glance behind me. Towards Jorome's unit members.
'”Screech.
About a kilometer away from the Monolith, pressing on the break of the car and turning the wheel all the way to the right, a screeching sound resounded and the car swerved.
The moment the car stopped, quickly hooping to the back of the car, and taking out four bombs from my dimensional space, I handed them to my squad members and ordered.
"Press on the top of this as soon as a guy with a mustache enters the car."
"..."
Staring at me with emotionless eyes, I was met with no response. Not minding it, I put it in their inner pockets and closed their eyes.
Click.Click.Click.
"...Just in case."
Taking out another bomb from my dimensional space, I quickly set a timer of five minutes and hid it beneath one of the seats.
This was my plan B in case the others couldn't follow my orders.
The reason why I didn't set a timer with the other bomb was that I didn't know how long it would take for them to search the vehicle.
From my calculations, five minutes was the max amount of time I estimated it would take them to thoroughly search the car.
If unit members failed to listen to my orders, then this last one was my insurance.
'”Clank!
Once I finished setting up everything, slowly opening the side of the door, I closed it and entered the forest.
Because I exited from the other side of the car, the others weren't able to notice me leaving the car.
Entering the forest, I moved forward and stopped not so far from them. Evening my breathing and hiding my presence as much as possible, I looked at the guard surrounding the car.
From where I was, I could overhear some of the conversations they were having.
...
...
"Subject 876, we know that you're in there. Get out of the car and surrender."
...
...
"Are they dead?"
...
...
"Send someone to search the forest, we can't exclude the possibility that 876 has already escaped to the forest."
...
...
Sneakily moving around the vegetation, I approached the other two vehicles in the distance. Behind me, I could hear the rustling sounds of the guards searching for me.
'Please work...'
As I was moving, I secretly prayed for my plan to work. If not, then everything would be for naught.
Fortunately.
'”BOOOOOM!
A massive explosion resounded not so far from where I was.
"Now!"
The moment the explosion rang, I sprinted towards the vehicle in the distance.
I had to be quick.
Although the bombs were powerful, they weren't something that the commander couldn't take. Even if caught off-guard. I knew that he was still alive.
"Huuuuuaaaa!"
The hoarse scream was the perfect testament to my conjunction.
Taking out the last bomb in my hand, I stepped on the pedal of the car and sped at full speed towards the gate of the Monolith.
'”VRRRR! '”VRRRR!
The booming sound of the car engine roared throughout the area as it quickly sped up towards the gate.
"Stop him!"
Behind me, I could hear the commander's hoarse voice. Listening to his voice, I could feel the deep seethed hatred he had for me.
Ignoring him, and speeding ahead, in the distance, I could see the startled look of the guards guarding the entrance.
'”WHIIIII! '”WHIIIII!
The color red flashed as the guards quickly rushed to activate the protective measures.
"You there stop!"
"Stop!"
But it was too late.
'”Clank!
Pressing on the top of the bomb in my hand, just when I was 100 meters away from the gate, dropping the bomb at the bottom of the vehicle and putting on a small weight on the pedal of the car, I kicked the door open and jumped out.
"khuak!"
Jumping out, and hitting the hard cement, I felt the air get knocked out of me. Many of my bones broke and fractured upon impact.
"Khh..."
Lifting my head slightly, and staring at the vehicle in the distance, I watched as the car crashed into the gates of the Monolith.
The moment the car hit the gates, a sea of flames spread out from it and engulfed the entire area.
'”BOOOOOM!
Following that was the sound of a massive explosion.
"Khhh..."
Mustering every last bit of strength in my body, dragging my injured body forward, I made my way towards the gates of the Monolith.
Arriving close to the gate, I could feel the heat coming from raging flames due to the explosion brushing past my skin.
Taking out a ring from my dimensional space, I put it on my finger and removed a small black bracelet off of my wrist.
'”Gulp!
Opening my mouth, I put the bracelet into my mouth and swallowed.
'...who would've ever thought I'd go through this again.'
Upon swallowing the bracelet, a bitter smile appeared on my face.
"Khh..."
Limping forward, I slowly entered the flames.
