16. Frenzy
“Scum!”
The demon fixated intently on the black-haired youth emerging from the corner, unhesitatingly raising the Crusher kinetic shotgun in hand.
“Pong!”
A deafening roar echoed as bullets struck the steel corridor, producing a sharp, piercing hum. The clash of metal against metal caused the entire structure to tremble.
Iron being one of the best conductors of sound, the vibrations carried far and wide, reaching every corner of the factory clearly. This naturally included Karl, who, having realized his handgun was useless, was just turning to flee.
“Damn, was that shotgun he had just now? I should’ve aimed at that thing earlier.”
Cursing under his breath, Karl heard the increasingly distinct footsteps approaching from the other side of the corner and realized he still wasn’t running fast enough.
He had only intended to finish off the target, but things had gone awry. In the narrow passage, he came face to face with a Whirlwind Gang member wielding a shotgun and wearing subdermal armor. Karl had already imagined how he might meet his end.
Earlier, Oliver had set traps and used up all the grenades; if only one had been saved, Karl might have had some chance to fight back.
The place where Karl and the others had paused wasn’t far from the corridor. After only a few steps, Karl spotted Jack supporting Oliver; they too had clearly heard the metallic clashes echoing through the passage and sensed something had gone wrong.
“Run!”
Slamming on the brakes, Karl shoved Lexington into his gun pouch and slid to scoop up the Copperhead rifle he had leaned against the wall earlier, which he had previously dismissed as too long to be useful in such a confined space.
“I take back what I said about you; you’re the one I need.”
Positioned at the corner, the assault rifle might be cumbersome because of its length, but lined up straight, Karl only needed to sweep it directly backward.
Hearing Karl’s words, Jack and Oliver didn’t hesitate. One supporting the other, they bounded away while Karl opened fire with the assault rifle, unleashing bullets wildly behind them.
Lexington’s bullets could be ignored by the demon thanks to her subdermal armor, but facing the Copperhead, she was not so arrogant.
She had intended to close in to a distance where the shotgun could inflict real damage, but was forced back to the corner by the hail of bullets. The demon watched helplessly as the blond who had killed her brother aided the other away, while the man who had slaughtered her men kept firing without pause. The humiliation made her grind her teeth to splinters.
***
“I don’t believe you’ll run out of bullets, kid! You and that bastard Oliver can just wait to die!”
The demon glanced back, picking up a now-discontinued Jade Echo pistol from beside her fallen comrade. One hand held the pistol, the other gripped the Crusher, preparing to tear apart whoever was blocking her the moment the Copperhead’s gunfire ceased.
“Oliver, did she just call your name? Does she know you?” Jack looked back at Oliver, puzzled by the furious, hateful shout. He hadn’t expected to run into any of Oliver’s ‘acquaintances’ on this mission.
“Who knows? This is my first time in the Watson District. No idea what’s going on.”
Oliver sounded innocent; the voice was unfamiliar to him, and he didn’t know what he had done to provoke her.
“Enough talking, both of you! Run faster! I’m on semi-auto and almost out of bullets—move!”
Upon hearing Karl’s voice, Oliver and Jack fell silent and focused solely on retreating. They didn’t know the details but if Karl was this desperate, the pursuer behind must be formidable.
‘If only we hadn’t started the fight here,’ Karl silently noted the first lesson learned from this mercenary job as he ceased firing.
Out of bullets?
That was the demon’s first thought as she peeked from around the corner.
The paused gunfire suddenly resumed, and the half-exposed body was struck by three bullets from top to bottom, tearing open three large wounds.
Watching the half-body being shredded into four pieces, Karl’s heart sank. Even with subdermal armor, the Copperhead’s bullets shouldn’t cause such devastating tearing wounds. In other words, the reason his assault rifle’s bullets caused this effect was because that wasn’t the enemy’s real body!
‘Second lesson,’ Karl silently reminded himself, tossing the empty Copperhead aside and drawing Lexington once more, firing a few shots behind him as he ran.
‘Does this guy really still have bullets left?’
***
The demon, having watched her subordinate’s body torn apart and the gunfire momentarily stop, prepared to charge out of the corner—only to hear gunfire resume abruptly, halting her in her tracks.
‘He even knows how to fake a second time. Almost got fooled by this bastard.’
Yet in the next moment, something felt off.
She had used the Copperhead before; without special modifications, it would have reached its ammo limit after such prolonged fire. So the bullets should have been finished by now... and the gunfire she was hearing was strange.
After listening for another second, an inexplicable rage surged within her.
That sound—damn it, that sound!
It was far too familiar. Before joining the Whirlwind Gang, when she and her brother were true bottom-dwellers, their only reliance was a gun that fired just this sort of sound. And just now, that gun had made her head ring.
“Damn it, Lexington! Using Lexington’s gunfire to trick me!”
The demon charged out from the corner wielding the Jade Echo and Crusher, only to see a fading silhouette disappearing down the corridor.
“Bastard!”
Twice tricked, the demon’s fury was uncontrollable. Her artificial eye glowed blood-red, illuminating the dim passage.
She had only held back to avoid Oliver getting hurt before dealing with him, but now, she wanted that black-haired bastard dead!
Even if the Copperhead fired at her now, she’d just charge through, relying on her subdermal armor to absorb a couple of shots.
‘Kill!’
Consumed by murderous intent, the mechanical system linking her spine and brain emitted a faint electrical hum at its operational limit. The demon’s pace quickened with renewed ferocity.