Chapter 47. The Punisher, No. 5 (3)
“You’re the pathetic one, No. 6.”
No. 5 slammed her tail against the floor in irritation.
It was almost as if she were expressing her anger through it.
“When I heard you had deserted, I assumed there must have been some grand reason. I never imagined I’d meet you again looking like this. What are you even wearing?”
She pointed at Yukgap’s chef uniform.
Yukgap answered casually.
“This? It’s a chef’s uniform. I work as a cook now.”
No. 5 openly sneered.
“Hehehehe. So after running away, all you do is menial work like that?”
“At least if I ever meet my family again, I’ll be able to face them with a little more dignity. Don’t you think?”
Yukgap immediately shot back.
The unfamiliar word made No. 5 pause.
“Family?”
“Yeah. I have a family. I can’t remember them, but I know they exist.”
Yukgap’s voice remained firm.
“When I meet them, I want to stand before them as a person, not as a weapon.”
No. 5 flinched as though she had been struck.
Then she stared blankly into space.
“Family... family...”
The unexpected word seemed to overload her thoughts.
Yukgap did not miss the opening.
He rushed toward No. 5.
She quickly raised an arm to counter.
“You can’t keep up with my speed anyway, No. 5!”
“Doesn’t matter!”
No. 5 slammed her enormous tail down and violently twisted her body.
Her sharp claw swept heavily past Yukgap’s leg.
“Ghk!”
Perhaps he had let his guard down for an instant.
No. 5’s claw left a tiny scratch near the end of his left leg.
It was less than a centimeter long.
But that was enough.
“I only need to wound you once.”
No. 5 chuckled.
The shallow scratch suddenly split open.
The surrounding flesh began rapidly breaking down.
Muscle melted.
Bone cracked.
Blood burst outward.
“Ugh!”
Yukgap grabbed his leg and quickly retreated.
It had only been a tiny wound.
Yet from that single point, the collapse spread through his body with terrifying force.
No. 5 laughed quietly.
“I don’t need speed like yours. All I have to do is leave one small mark. Then my nanomachines infiltrate through the wound and break you apart from the inside.”
She bared her teeth.
“Hehehehe. Slower than you, perhaps. But much more efficient.”
Yukgap breathed heavily.
“This is nothing. I’ll just regenerate!”
No. 5’s nanomachines were powerful, but the regenerative abilities of an Archon were nothing to dismiss either.
The wound was severe, but Yukgap was certain it would recover within thirty seconds.
“But until then, you can’t use that precious speed of yours, can you?”
Having confirmed that Yukgap had been temporarily disabled, No. 5 began stomping toward the panic room.
Yukgap stared at her in alarm.
“What are you doing?”
“My target was Doctor Nova from the beginning. The panic room is thick, but not thick enough to stop me.”
No. 5 placed a hand against the reinforced glass.
The nanomachines scattered through the area as red mist immediately surged toward it.
The glass began bubbling and breaking down.
Apparently, she intended to dismantle the panic room itself and force her way inside.
“Stop!”
Yukgap shouted in alarm.
Standing before the slowly collapsing wall, No. 5 spoke indifferently.
“After I kill Doctor Nova, I’ll finish you too.”
“How’s the new formula?”
Victoria asked.
Nova slowly nodded.
“Much more stable. The cellular response is definitely improving.”
“Good. Let’s keep going like this.”
Fortunately, the development of the new drug was accelerating.
Perhaps it was because two geniuses were working together.
After only a little more testing, it would be complete.
“Huh?”
Nova suddenly raised her voice while looking at the wall of the panic room.
Victoria immediately noticed something was wrong.
“What is it?”
“The wall... something’s wrong with it.”
The area Nova pointed at had turned black, almost as if mold were spreading across it.
Victoria quickly realized what was happening.
“It’s being broken down from the outside!”
“What do you mean?”
Nova looked confused.
Victoria hurriedly explained.
“From what I heard earlier, No. 5 specializes in dismantling matter with nanomachines. She must be using them to break down the entire wall.”
“That’s possible?”
Nova stared in disbelief.
The panic room walls were over thirty centimeters thick.
They were also layered with reinforced glass and protective plating.
And yet No. 5 was simply decomposing the entire structure to carve a path inside.
It was absurdly brute-force.
“Doesn’t matter whether it should be possible.”
Victoria answered firmly.
Even as they spoke, the corrosion across the wall accelerated.
At this rate, the panic room would be breached soon.
“I’ll go outside and buy time.”
