Dear Heroes, I really am a Villain

After Ricardo lay still on the floor, Manifesto let out a sigh of relief. He stepped forward, walking past Ricardo's corpse to get a better angle of the nearby factory rooftops in the district.

He spotted a man dressed in a camouflage suit lying prone on the roof—his sniper nest.

"You're late," Manifesto said toward the sniper, pressing a hand to his earpiece.

"You told me to support you, not where to meet," the sniper replied through the comms. "The fact I even found you here is stretching your luck."

"Tch," Manifesto clicked his tongue. Other than against Strauss, that damn UEC special agent, he had never taken a loss this bad. This was the first time he had suffered like this.

"What's the leader's order now? Does he still want me to continue with that mission?" Manifesto asked, deliberately shifting the topic.

"Yes, he wants you to—huh?" the sniper paused. "Impossible!"

As the sniper suddenly shouted in panic, Ricardo stood up, bloody but alive—and lunged toward Manifesto, trying to grab him by the neck to use him as a hostage. But—

Bang!

Another gunshot rang out.

The bullet tore through Ricardo's right arm, obliterating it from the elbow down and forcing him to stumble back, grunting in pain. He retreated behind a section of the building that blocked the sniper's line of sight.

Manifesto also took this chance to retreat, widening the distance between them.

Now able to catch his breath, Manifesto stared in disbelief at Ricardo. Both he and the sniper had been sure, they are certain! that Ricardo had taken a shot straight through the chest. A wound that should have destroyed his heart and lungs. He should be dead.

Ricardo, still covered in blood from the earlier gunshot wound, was regenerating before their eyes. The gaping hole in his chest was closing rapidly, visible even to the naked eye. Thick, shell-like carapace began forming over the wound, front and back, shielding the injured area.

Then, Ricardo picked up his severed arm—the one that had been blown off by the sniper—and reattached it at the bleeding stump.

Bone, sinew, muscle, and skin began to rapidly regenerate. In moments, his entire right arm had been restored—and was now covered in the same hardened carapace, providing extra protection.

Ricardo flexed the arm, surprised to find that despite the heavy armor-like coating—even at the joints—his movement wasn't hindered. It was as if the carapace was part of his natural skin.

"That hurt, you bastard," Ricardo growled at Manifesto. Then, he turned to glare at the sniper's position.

"You f*cking ready for round two?" he snarled, his voice boiling with rage.

Furtunately his boss's little brother had given him that EF evolution injection before he came here. Otherwise, he'd already be a ghost, haunting this damn abandoned factory.

Ricardo rushed toward Manifesto once again—this time more recklessly than before.

Bang!

A gunshot thundered again. Ricardo raised his left arm, gritting his teeth as he protected his head. If he were the sniper, he would aim for the head. Ricardo wasn't sure if he could survive a direct shot to the skull.

Splash!!

His left arm was torn apart—completely shredded by a special bullet. It was a nanite round, specifically designed to kill regenerators. The bullet dissolved his entire left arm, and some of the nanites entered his bloodstream. Ricardo felt the full brunt of the attack.

"That bastard!" Ricardo cursed through clenched teeth, still rushing toward Manifesto. Even if he died here, at the very least, he wanted to strangle that bastard with his own hand.

Bang!

Another gunfire rang out. His leg was torn apart, and Ricardo lost his balance, falling to the ground.

The nanites were fighting against his EF ability—but this time, the pain intensified. Blood seeped from Ricardo's lips as he gritted his teeth.

Inside his body, Ricardo's cells fiercely resisted the nanites. Drawing on the power Maximilian had shared with him, his cells evolved into a metallic-like form, quickly dissolving and devouring the invading nanites.

The pain began to subside, and the regenerative ability—which had paused for just a moment—reignited, stronger than ever before.

His leg and arm sprouted anew, armored carapace bursting forth with the regenerated limbs.

"What!?" Manifesto gasped.

Ricardo sprang into action. He lunged forward and grabbed Manifesto by the throat, slamming him to the ground and choking the life out of him.

Bang!

Another shot rang out—but this time, Ricardo raised his carapaced arm to guard his head. The bullet harmlessly deflected off the armored surface, stunning the sniper on the roof.

The sniper, witnessing this, was startled. He had clearly used the highest grade of nanite bullets the UEC could offer—any stronger, and it would fall into the category of unstable experimental rounds still in development.

"Who the hell is that guy!? He's not even on the UEC watch list!" the sniper muttered in disbelief as he quickly changed magazines. It was clear the nanites couldn't harm Ricardo anymore—he would need specialized rounds capable of piercing that carapace.

While the sniper was reloading, Manifesto struggled beneath the brutal assault raining down on him.

Ricardo drove his fists into Manifesto's face repeatedly, slamming him against the concrete floor. Blood splattered with every hit, and Ricardo's rage only intensified with each punch.

Bang!

Another gunshot rang out. This time the sniper aimed at Ricardo's head—but Ricardo ducked just in time, reacting the moment he heard the shot. He was furious now, after being harassed and shot at nonstop by the persistent sniper.

With Manifesto rendered completely combat-ineffective, Ricardo turned his attention to finishing the job. He stomped hard on both of Manifesto's legs.

Crack! Crack!

"Arrrrgggghhh!" Manifesto screamed in pain as both his legs broke, bone protruding grotesquely through the skin.

After making sure Manifesto was going nowhere, Ricardo turned his gaze toward the sniper's nest. Without hesitation, he charged toward the factory where the sniper was positioned. He was ready to settle the score.

As Ricardo stormed the abandoned factory, bullets were fired at him intermittently. But Ricardo used his armored arm to shield himself, charging through the gunfire with unwavering determination.

The sniper, now watching in disbelief, realized his bullets were useless. They might have wounded Ricardo the first time—but after regenerating, Ricardo's carapace had grown even tougher.

The armor covering Ricardo's skin was now strong enough to deflect the sniper's shots without damage. More troubling, it seemed to possess a function that absorbed and dispersed kinetic energy, rendering all of the sniper's ammunition ineffective—no matter what type he used.

"This is bad…" the sniper muttered under his breath. If he weren't wearing a camouflage suit and a helmet that obscured his facial features, he'd be sweating profusely right now.

As a special forces operative who relied solely on firearms and his EF, which enhanced his precision and reaction time, facing someone like Ricardo was a nightmare.

Ricardo's regeneration ability didn't just heal... it adapted. Every time his flesh was damaged and regenerated, it became resistant to that specific trauma. Eventually, it rendered repeated attacks completely ineffective.

No… "troublesome" was an understatement. It made all of the sniper's combat capabilities useless.

It wasn't that this type of EF had never been seen before. Of course, UEC had methods to counter it, but such means were not available to him at the moment.

The sniper quickly activated his comms and called for reinforcements that had already infiltrated the city.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Echoes of gunfire rang out as the sniper did everything he could to delay Ricardo's advance. Traps were triggered, and minefields exploded, but nothing stopped Ricardo. At best, they only slowed him down.

Ricardo was taking damage, sure, but with every injury, his body only grew stronger. He had even sustained head trauma; his brain matter burst out, and yet, as long as even a single brain cell remained, he would regenerate endlessly.

Once he regenerated, any repeated trauma to the same location would become ineffective unless it was delivered with twice the previous force. If not, the injury would be shrugged off like it never happened.

In other words, unless someone obliterated him entirely and burned every last brain cell, Ricardo could not die. He had become an unstoppable monster.

His body was now covered head to toe in metallic-like carapace. His arms were strong enough to tear through concrete, and his body was durable enough to withstand a direct tank shot.

Sure, he was still taking damage, but the moment he regenerated, his body will become even more resistant.

There were only two ways to neutralize someone like Ricardo:

Deploy a superheated warhead capable of vaporizing him entirely in one go. But that was practically impossible inside the city; the fort commander, Theodore, would never authorize its use.

Even if it was authorized, the blast would have to hit exactly at ground zero. Suppose Ricardo moved even a few inches away. In that case, he'd have enough surviving cells to regenerate, and any subsequent warhead would be useless due to his post-regenerative resistance.

The other method… was to seal him somewhere he could never escape from.

"Ranger 1, respond! Are you still there!? Where's the target?" a voice came through the sniper's earpiece. Reinforcements—the voice he'd been desperately waiting for.