Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 587: Black Skull. (Part Nineteen)

A sharp screech resounded through a particular road in Red Hill, chasing away the silence. A second later, the sound of a violent crash was followed by the sharp snapping of glass shattering into countless shards.

A green creature clawed at the concrete floor, bringing its body to a halt. Its head shot up, and its jaws spread wide. A fist shot at it from the side before it could release another scream. More of its fangs shattered before the force of the blow sent it flying into another wall, this one made from reinforced concrete.

A second wall followed, and once it went through it, the giant lizard found itself outside. With its scales absorbing the force of the crash, the damage it suffered was minimal, allowing it to adjust its posture and try to hold onto the side of the building with its tail, only for it to tear a piece of the concrete instead. As it flowed across the street, the one who had been trashing it around appeared, bloating the sky with his puny form. The red demon already had its fist raised, the green light enveloping it signifying nothing if not very bad news. Just as it was about to swing, a shadow fell on it from above.

Something dove down, swiping the red demon from the air using its talons. As they both crashed into a different building, the lizard was left to fall to the ground. The area was suddenly painted a vibrant purple, as if a translucent filter had been applied. The winged beast shot to the sky as two massive spheres, one red and the other blue, crashed into the concrete coffin it had left the red demon in.

The resulting explosion erased the entire building. Watching from a distance, the white-haired bastard who launched the attack grinned, assured of his victory. Finally able to relax, his body gave in, and he fell on his back, but only his upper half hit the ground while the rest remained standing, spewing blood like a fountain.

Flying in the air, the winged beast watched the whole thing happen with its sharp eyes. It also saw the red demon turn to look in its direction, but that was it. Hearing a sudden bang, its head snapped in toward the sound. But it saw nothing. A shadow fell over its head the next instant, and a set of claws fell on its back and wings, as if to give it a taste of what it’s like to be caught in its talons. It felt the pull as it began to plummet toward its doom. As hard as it was, its hide began to stretch and tear, along with everything underneath. The wings it had for arms were plucked like feathers, but the scream that followed was cut short by the following splatter.

The red demon landed a short distance away, making no sound, as if he were a weightless feather gently floating to the ground. He glanced at the ripped wings in his hands, then tossed them aside, turning to face the man-lizard who had just arrived.

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, then the lizard went down on all fours. The muscles on its arms and legs bulged to three times their size. Releasing the power contained within them, it exploded forward, turning into one giant missile. Its tail was the next to grow, and the scales covering it gained a faint luster, turning sharp like the spikes of a mace. The lizard spun its body around and swung its massive tail.

A massive cloud of dust shot to the sky. Everything in the area shook, as if hit by a violent earthquake, and the cracks that spread only helped to accentuate that. The dust soon settled, and the crater it his was revealed. At its center, the green lizard’s lifeless body lay motionless, its scales peeled. Its limbs and tail were disconnected from its torso, as if chopped with an axe. Surprisingly, its head remained connected, although the fangs on its jaw were broken beyond repair.

Despite its sorry state, the lizard didn’t look too bothered. It even smirked while raising its head, as if to mock the red demon looking down at it. Its arrogance wasn’t unearned, because a second later, tendrils of flesh shot out from its wounds, quickly forming into new limbs.

Jumping to its feet, it spread its maw open and released a deafening roar, looking like it was about to bite the red demon’s head. Before it could finish, a blow from below shut it completely. The lizard’s head separated from its neck and shot to the sky. It was hard enough not to crack upon hitting the floor, but apparently, the bastard couldn’t regenerate his entire body just from its head, and the body couldn’t grow a new head, either.

This was the twelfth pseudo-Genome Dante had killed that day. The last six had been Level 4s and possessed much more power than he anticipated, withquite the troublesome abilities. Because of that, he was forced to abandon the slow torture method he had used before in favor of minimizing the risk from fighting multiple opponents of that level at the same time.

At first, he felt suspicious that he didn’t encounter as many as he had thought. He later realized that more had been among those he already disposed of, only they never got to take the blue pill. That meant he likely wasted the chance to collect more of the miracle drug. If it were any other day, he would have been devastated, but right now, Dante didn’t care.

’Next.’

He waited for another point to appear on the map, but seconds passed, and nothing changed.

[Dante, there is something I would like to report.]

His resident AI had remained silent so far, only delivering the occasional threat evaluation. It was clear that he was trying to be considerate, so the fact that he chose to speak up now meant that the importance of what he had to say couldn’t be understated.

’What is it?’

Hesitant, Volcan kept his silence for a few more seconds.

[A number of the hideouts I have marked had been raided by someone else.] He said. [From what I could find, it seems that Violet Rose is following the same course of action as you.]