Chapter 25

Chapter 25. The Infiltrator, No. 7 (2)

“No matter how much I think about it, I don’t understand.”

No. 7 slowly walked toward them.

Her black jaguar form was sleek and flexible, yet somehow majestic.

She looked at Yukgap almost pleadingly.

“Our tracking team was the strongest. Me, Zeta, Theta. There was no mission the three of us couldn’t complete together. Even the other Archons couldn’t stand against us. So why did you leave Abraxas?”

“I remembered something more important than missions.”

Yukgap answered immediately.

Surprise appeared on No. 7’s face.

Apparently, the idea of something being more important than a mission had never even occurred to her.

“What?”

One short word left Yukgap’s mouth.

“Family.”

No. 7 suddenly burst into laughter.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

“Why are you laughing?”

Yukgap demanded.

No. 7 answered in disbelief.

“There’s no way you have a family. And even if you do, do you really think they’ll accept you? You, after killing so many people?”

Yukgap flinched instinctively.

No. 7 immediately noticed his reaction.

She spoke in a deliberately gentle voice.

“Zeta, I understand that you’re confused about your identity. But does it make sense to abandon everything you’ve achieved for a family that might not even exist? If you have a family, it’s us. The Twelve Archons.”

She extended a black-furred hand toward him.

“Zeta. This is your last chance. Come back to your family. We need you.”

Yukgap stared at her hand.

Then he slowly spoke.

“I do feel bad for you and Theta.”

Then he immediately gripped daggers in both hands and shouted,

“But I have to meet my real family! I don’t care if they refuse to accept me! Just finding out who I am and where I came from is enough!”

No. 7 muttered bitterly.

“So this is how it ends.”

Her green eyes flashed.

Then she shouted sharply,

“Then I’ll do what I always did. I’ll half-kill you and drag you back!”

The moment she finished speaking, her body vanished.

Victoria and Yukgap immediately looked around.

“Where did she go?!”

“Be careful. We don’t know where she’ll come from.”

Yukgap warned her tensely.

At that moment, a black hand appeared from empty space and grabbed Victoria by the neck.

With overwhelming strength, it lifted her into the air.

“Ack! Let go!”

Victoria struggled helplessly.

No. 7 slowly appeared behind her.

In her black jaguar form, she growled while gripping Victoria’s neck.

“This is all because of this woman, isn’t it? If I get rid of this weird woman, you’ll return to normal!”

“Let Victoria go!”

Yukgap charged forward in horror.

No. 7 extended her curved, hook-like claws.

They were as sharp as those of a wild predator.

“Die!”

No. 7 slashed down Victoria’s back.

Her clothes tore open.

But Victoria herself remained completely unharmed.

No. 7 stared in confusion.

“What? I definitely felt my claws connect.”

Yukgap laughed mockingly.

“Victoria blocked even my monomolecular cutter. Your claws aren’t going to do anything to her.”

“Is that so? Then...!”

Realizing her claws were useless, No. 7 threw Victoria aside.

Then she glared at Yukgap and vanished once again.

This time, she was targeting him.

“Damn it! I liked those clothes!”

Victoria coughed while looking miserable.

No. 7’s attack had reduced her outfit to rags.

Yukgap hurriedly shouted,

“This isn’t the time to complain about clothes! Find a way to deal with her!”

“Don’t worry! That’s what Robert is for! If we push his search functions to the limit, he should be able to detect something!”

Robert’s eyes immediately glowed red.

[Enhancing search capability.]

A small antenna emerged from his head and rapidly scanned the area.

He was apparently using every detection method available to locate No. 7.

[Scanning vibrations, scent, pheromones, air displacement, disturbances in light particles... all parameters under inspection.]

Yukgap shook his head hopelessly.

“It’s useless. No. 7’s body was modified specifically so that it leaves no trace.”

[Impossible. No identifiable target.]

As expected, Robert gave the cold mechanical answer.

Victoria sighed.

“Yukgap was right.”

She could not be detected.

No one knew where she would appear.

That was No. 7’s true power.

Yukgap understood it better than anyone.

He looked around carefully.

“Be careful. We don’t know when or where she’ll attack... GAAAAH!”

A sudden scream tore from Yukgap’s mouth.

Blood erupted from the left side of his back.

It looked as though something invisible had stabbed deeply into him.

“Yukgap!”

Victoria screamed.

Yukgap immediately stopped her.

“Don’t come closer!”

No. 7 slowly appeared behind him.

Her left hand had pierced directly between Yukgap’s ribs and into a vital point near his spine.

“Zeta, every time we sparred, you never beat me even once. No matter how fast you are, even if you can break the sound barrier, none of it matters if you can’t sense my presence.”

No. 7 spoke bitterly.

She seemed to genuinely dislike hurting him.

“Nothing has changed. You still can’t beat me.”

No. 7 violently twisted her hand.

Crack.

Blood burst out.

Yukgap screamed in pain.

“Ghk!”

“I broke your spine. You probably won’t be able to do anything for several minutes while it regenerates.”

No. 7 violently pulled her hand from his back.

Blood and flesh came out with it.

Yukgap collapsed with a groan.

With his spine shattered, he could no longer support his own body.

“You... all the way to the end...!”

Yukgap struggled to speak while gasping in pain.

No. 7 looked down at him.

“Zeta, hate me if you want. But I’m doing this for you. That woman is the reason you’re broken!”

“I’m not broken!”

Even with his spine destroyed, Yukgap gathered enough strength to shout.

No. 7 looked down at him sadly.

“I can’t give up on you. So I’ll fix you myself.”

With those words, No. 7 disappeared again.

She was clearly going to attack Victoria while hidden.

“No! Stop!”

Yukgap shouted desperately.

His shattered spine would recover after several minutes.

But No. 7 was a weapon capable of slaughtering several people in that short amount of time.

Somehow, by any means, he had to act.

“My, what an embarrassing sight.”

Seryun’s severed head rolled over beside him.

Come to think of it, No. 7 had separated his head and body earlier.

Yukgap stared at him.

“You’re not dead?”

“Did you forget that I’m a Lich?”

Yukgap had become so used to him that he forgot Seryun was undead.

Even if his body were torn apart, he could eventually recover.

Yukgap looked confused.

“Then why were you lying there doing nothing?”

“What exactly was I supposed to do against a monster even you couldn’t defeat? I pretended to be dead.”

In other words, Seryun had simply stayed still like a corpse because he had no way to defeat No. 7.

Yukgap glared at him.

“You coward! Were you planning to survive by yourself?”

“What do you expect from a business relationship? Did you think I’d throw my body away to save you?”

Seryun answered flatly.

It was difficult to argue with that.

“Fine. Keep pretending to be dead. I’ll save Victoria.”

Yukgap struggled to raise himself.

Fortunately, his spine had already begun regenerating.

He had eaten plenty during the day while making kimchi, so his body still had more than enough energy.

“By the way, Mr. Yukgap... how did that jaguar Archon find you?”

Seryun carefully asked.

Yukgap answered lazily.

“I don’t know. Maybe No. 8 told her where I was... or maybe she tracked me by smell.”

Seryun suddenly became interested.

“Smell?”

“No. 7 has the strongest sense of smell among the Archons. It’s useful during infiltration missions. With a single breath, she can immediately tell who’s nearby.”

Seryun’s eyes gleamed.

Apparently, he had thought of something.

“Hmm. I may have a rather revolutionary idea. Would you like to hear it?”

No. 7 slowly approached Victoria.

Yukgap’s blood dripped from her black hand.

“This is all your fault.”

Her voice was filled with anger.

Victoria stared at her in disbelief.

“What did I do?”

“You ruined Zeta. You ruined that strong, sharp weapon.”

There was sadness in No. 7’s voice.

Victoria, however, found the entire accusation ridiculous.

“Yukgap isn’t broken. He just found himself again!”

“Yukgap? That’s what you call Zeta, No. 6? Who gave you the right?”

“I call my restaurant’s chef whatever I want. Got a problem?”

Victoria snapped back.

No. 7 trembled in fury.

“I hate everything about you. I don’t care how. I’m going to kill you.”

No. 7 lowered her body.

Her claws gleamed sharply.

She looked exactly like a predator preparing to pounce.