Chapter 14. The Watcher, No. 8 (3)
Victoria clenched her teeth.
“Then what are we supposed to do? Are you planning to just go back to Abraxas?”
Yukgap sighed quietly.
Complicated emotions passed across his face.
“Let me off. Then get as far away as possible.”
“No!”
Victoria answered immediately.
But Yukgap remained calm.
He had expected something like this from the moment he escaped.
In fact, it would have been stranger if this never happened.
“I’ve been prepared for this ever since I abandoned Abraxas. I don’t want you getting dragged into it too.”
With that, Yukgap jumped from the moving motorcycle without hesitation.
“Victoria... thanks for everything.”
His figure quickly became a tiny dot in the darkness of the underground road.
Victoria screamed after him.
“Yukgap!”
In the dark tunnel, the eyes of a predator suddenly flashed.
“Grrrrr!”
Yukgap transformed into his half-human, half-beast form.
Then he ran directly toward the Watcher chasing them.
His fangs gleamed sharply.
A black shadow drifted beneath the flickering lights of the underground roadway.
Yukgap stood alone in the middle of the empty tunnel, waiting for his former partner.
Soon, No. 8 arrived with his black wings fully spread.
“I expected that I would eventually see you in that form again.”
No. 8 mocked Yukgap after seeing his predator form.
Yukgap openly growled.
Every time he breathed, the spotted fur across his body rose and fell.
He looked exactly like a predator excited before a hunt.
“This form is more comfortable between us, isn’t it, Theta?”
“Indeed. Exactly as the beasts Abraxas made us.”
No. 8 extended a hand.
“I’ll ask one final time. Zeta, will you return to Abraxas with me?”
It was an ultimatum.
Yukgap laughed.
“Sorry, but I like my new job.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
No. 8 answered indifferently.
Yukgap asked him something in return.
“What about you? Aren’t you curious about your past? Your family? Are you really going to live and die as a chimera weapon?”
“I am a weapon. And weapons do not have purposes of their own.”
No. 8 raised the Noise Gun toward his mouth.
The barrel pointed directly at Yukgap.
“A weapon only needs to be used!”
No. 8 shouted.
His voice expanded through the Noise Gun.
A massive vibration slammed through the tunnel.
BOOM!
The surrounding structures shook.
The tremendous force struck Yukgap directly.
“Ghk!”
Yukgap swallowed a groan and slid backward.
He barely managed to remain standing.
But if he took that attack repeatedly, his bones would eventually shatter.
“You and I were an excellent pair. I watched. You tracked. There was no prey capable of escaping us.”
No. 8 spoke almost regretfully.
Yukgap wiped blood from his lips and sneered.
“Yeah. We killed plenty of people exactly the way they told us to.”
Truthfully, he and No. 8 had made an excellent team.
No. 8 would locate targets using ultrasound and flight.
Then Yukgap would use his overwhelming speed to hunt them down.
Watcher and Stalker.
They had completed countless missions under Abraxas.
Their partnership had always succeeded.
Once, that had been a source of pride for Yukgap.
“You were highly regarded. Everyone wondered why someone as loyal as you suddenly abandoned Abraxas.”
No. 8 clearly could not understand why Yukgap had turned against them.
Yukgap remained silent for a moment.
Then he casually asked,
“Have you ever eaten kimchi?”
“Kimchi...? What is that?”
No. 8 clearly did not recognize the word.
Yukgap looked at him.
“Everything became clear after I ate it. I still don’t remember my past, but I know I’m Korean. More importantly, I know there are people out there waiting for me.”
His mind could not remember them.
But his tongue could.
Someone hidden beyond the hazy memories inside that food.
Yukgap tried to picture them and tightened his grip on his daggers.
“I’m not a weapon anymore!”
No. 8 shouted back.
“Silence!”
The moment his voice entered the Noise Gun, it became an enormous shockwave.
The air itself shook.
The tremendous force rushed straight toward Yukgap.
“Ghk!”
Yukgap was thrown backward.
Blood ran from his eyes and ears after taking the sonic attack directly.
No. 8 looked down at him.
“I don’t necessarily have to bring you back alive. What matters is the genetic information contained in your DNA. As long as your body remains intact enough to recover, I won’t be reprimanded.”
Yukgap staggered back to his feet.
He wiped the blood from his fur and grinned.
“Aren’t you getting a little too confident?”
Then Yukgap shot sideways.
His body became a faint afterimage and vanished from No. 8’s sight.
A frontal battle was difficult.
So Yukgap had chosen to rely on speed.
To No. 8, that looked almost laughable.
“Any area sound can reach is my territory.”
No. 8 inhaled deeply.
Then he shouted toward the entire space before him.
“Beeeeeeep!”
His sharp voice passed through the Noise Gun and became a massive shockwave.
An invisible wall of force rolled toward Yukgap.
But before it reached him, Yukgap leapt upward, kicked off the ceiling, and launched himself toward No. 8.
“Did you forget I can break the sound barrier?!”
He threw one of his daggers.
The blade shot forward at incredible speed and struck No. 8 directly in the throat.
“Ghk!”
No. 8 staggered backward.
The attack had struck his vocal cords, the exact part he needed to use his weapon.
Yukgap immediately closed the distance.
“You’re the only Archon capable of flight. Have you ever wondered why Abraxas only gave that ability to you?”
“W-Who cares?”
No. 8 ripped the dagger from his throat.
Blood poured from the wound whenever he spoke.
Yukgap kicked off the ground and smashed his foot into No. 8’s face.
“To fly, your body has to be light! That means you have the weakest strength and durability among the Twelve Archons!”
“Ghk!”
No. 8 flew backward.
Crack.
The sickening sound of shattered bone and muscle echoed through the tunnel.
A single kick had caved in more than half his face.
“A weak weapon has no value. That’s why after making you, Abraxas never bothered making another flying chimera. One weak flying chimera was enough!”
Bats had sacrificed many traits common to other mammals in order to fly.
Their bones and cartilage were extremely light and flexible.
But their durability was poor.
No. 8 had been reinforced with DNA from other animals, just as Yukgap had.
But the sacrifices required for flight created a massive gap.
And as his former partner, Yukgap knew that better than anyone.
“Shut up!”
Humiliated, No. 8 staggered upright.
His wounds were already regenerating with cracking sounds.
But Yukgap’s words had clearly struck something deeper.
No. 8 immediately raised the Noise Gun again.
He intended to attack.
Yukgap had no intention of allowing it.
“Your specialty is aerial combat! You don’t stand a chance in close range!”
Yukgap launched himself forward.
In a single instant, he appeared directly in front of No. 8.
He moved so quickly that No. 8 only saw the flash of Yukgap’s yellow eyes in the darkness.
“Too slow!”
Yukgap drove a dagger directly into No. 8’s chest.
“Ghk!”
No. 8 screamed as the blade entered his body.
Yukgap tore it free.
Blood erupted from the wound.
He had aimed directly for the heart.
But No. 8 was a chimera weapon with monstrous regeneration just like him.
This would not kill him.
“I’ll keep cutting until you can’t regenerate anymore!”
Yukgap gripped daggers in both hands.
Then he began slashing No. 8’s upper body at overwhelming speed.
Four times per second.
Eight.
Sixteen.
Thirty-two.
Sixty-four.
One hundred and twenty-eight.
Just like when he had destroyed the living steak, Yukgap continued accelerating.
His blades tore into No. 8 faster than his body could recover.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
Skin split.
Muscle was destroyed.
Even bone was shaved away.
No. 8 screamed endlessly as the attacks struck faster than sound.
“The moment a Watcher challenged me to a frontal fight, you had already lost!”
Yukgap finally stepped back to catch his breath.
Then he put his full body weight into a kick.
His clawed foot slammed into No. 8’s chest.
“Ghhh...!”
No. 8 fell backward in agony.
Yukgap looked down at him coldly.
“Your regeneration has to be reaching its limit by now. Still want to continue?”
“I... I’m still...”
Even with his upper body torn apart, No. 8 continued glaring with hostility.
Apparently, he still had no intention of giving up.
“You really want to take this all the way to the end.”
Yukgap sighed and gripped his daggers again.
Even in this condition, No. 8 continued obeying orders.
In a way, it was almost pitiful.
