NOVEL WEB Chapter 172
“Fighting the Evil Society isn’t like a simple game of tag; they cling on like a bad rash.”
They broke into small groups, swarming us like an endless horde of pesky insects at completely random intervals.
Seriously, are they hard to deal with? Not really. Annoying? Absolutely. Will it drive you insane in the long run? You bet—it’s enough to make you want to pull your hair out.
When we finally tried to check the damage we took after fending off the attackers, just when we thought we could take a breather, they’d spring back at us like a jack-in-the-box.
The moment we relaxed, they lunged at us again, making it impossible for us to let our guard down.
While Heros Company was holding back all those waves with their overflowing resources and counter-attacks, we, with none of that power or resources, could only keep taking the hits.
As humans, we’re bound to tire out eventually, but even when we’re exhausted, they keep clawing at us without mercy. It just made my nerves flare up automatically.
“I clearly said give me the red bottle, not the blue one!!”
After chewing out a bumbling subordinate who couldn’t even follow simple orders, I made sure to inject the right medicine into the poor injured soul who received the wrong potion and was groaning in pain.
“No, it was definitely red until just a moment ago…”
The subordinate mumbled something pathetic, insisting he did it right. But hearing that only made my frustration boil over.
Even if those Ruski folks drink like fish, there’s no way they’d mistake blue for red. This was just plain incompetence on his part.
Ugh, seriously. I’ve always thought those Russian thugs were the worst.
I felt like suggesting to get rid of these nuisances entirely or at the very least, subcontracting them out of sight.
These darn Ivans and Peters can’t even follow simple instructions.
The subordinates we carefully selected before did their jobs well; why do we have to babysit these cockroaches?
“Just… just get lost. Now.”
As I squeezed my eyes shut and told him to get out of my sight immediately, the subordinate shuffled away with a disgruntled look, as if he had been wronged.
If he weren’t on our side, I would’ve put him out of his misery a long time ago. I rubbed my face in frustration, dreadfully anticipating the next ambush.
It had already been five days since we started fighting the Evil Society. For all five days, the attacks didn’t let up. I was on the brink of insanity.
On top of being exhausted from lack of proper rest and having a brawl with my friends, the attacks just made everything worse.
Under normal circumstances, I might have managed to deal with it, but after being overwhelmed for so long, it was just a bit overbearing.
No idea when it’d stop or if we’d get ambushed again; we couldn’t tell if it was truly over or just them gearing up for another round.
When fighting Heros Company, we held the upper hand, but when it came to those guys, they always had the advantage, which didn’t help either.
…And right now, to top it all off, the Liberators were looking pretty rough. Wouldn’t it be grand if I could just relax and sleep soundly for a whole day?
While lamenting like this, a visibly exhausted subordinate stumbled into my tent.
“…Is that it?”
“Yeah…”
“Ugh…”
Sighing, I forcibly shook off the fatigue and headed back to the battlefield, dragging my feet.
I was sick of this scenario. I wasn’t at the point where I needed to step in myself, but those lackeys were probably getting their butts kicked out there.
Can’t we just leave them be? If they can’t handle even those pests, they must be the Ivans and Borises we’ve airlifted from Russia.
A few of those guys dying wouldn’t exactly shatter the organization.
They say tired people talk nonsense, but today, I was definitely spitting some truth.
Our organization was already small; the sudden influx of incompetents was definitely not a good thing.
Yeah, for the sake of the Liberators, some of those Ivans need to go down. By the time I reached the reported battle site, I had a bit of time to ponder that thought.
But when I laid my eyes upon Arman, standing there with Jack’s head in his grip, my thoughts took a sharp turn.
“…What the hell is he doing here?”
He shouldn’t even be around in the first place. Wasn’t he supposed to be a backline player? Why was he here?
An unnamed Ivan next to him caught my eye momentarily.
From the way his eyes darted around, he didn’t seem to be under mental control. Oh, please don’t tell me he’s the reason information leaked from inside!
This is why you shouldn’t let just anyone into the mix. If I could, I’d want to take him out right then and there, but it wasn’t the time for that.
Quickly, I had to evacuate any remaining forces to safety—like, ASAP.
But before that, I subtly ground my slime, mixing in venom, and sprayed it toward Arman’s direction.
The reason that guy dragged in a useless person like Jack was that he had an ability that would be utterly unmanageable if he became our enemy.
I had no hopes of actually killing Arman. But at the very least, I couldn’t let Jack fall into their hands. If that happened, it would be game over for all of us.
Sure, our troops were getting caught up in the fray, but losing Jack would be a lot easier to swallow than the alternative.
“Huh? What’s that…?”
Arman caught sight of the swirling black mist invading the battlefield and then, our eyes locked. But I didn’t want to hang around that spot any longer.
I had to hurry and inform my superior and Wei, as well as Justitia, about this. I needed to get at least them out of here.
Not long after, a horrific scream echoed, sounding like something you’d hear in a hellish torture chamber, but I ignored it and dashed toward where my superior and Wei should be.
“Boss, Boss!! We need to run right now!! Arman is here, we can’t win this!! Boss…?”
I shouted as I entered the room where my superior should be, but I found no sign of them—only a few bloodstains remained.
…No.
No way. This can’t be how it ends. No way!
With heightened senses, I searched for any sign of my superior, following the bloodstains. Luckily, I was able to catch snippets of voices—could it be my superior and Wei?
It seemed the frontline had already collapsed, and the sounds of battle were drawing closer. Where’s Justitia? Did she escape? Or is she still fighting out there?
Everything felt uncertain. Even when attempting to communicate, all I got back was static—no solid responses at all.
Does someone have a jamming ability? No, focus. Right now, I need to track down my superior.
“Boss!! What happened?!”
Fortunately, I managed to spot my superior in a more isolated area. Thank goodness, it seemed Wei was still alive too.
However, unfortunately, my superior didn’t look as good as I had hoped.
“Hahaha… Ugh, looks like our Russian friends had quite the grievances…”
It seemed one of the Borises was finally making a mess of things.
I should have dealt with them much harsher, treating them like disposable candles instead of actual people—now I regretted being lenient.
“Show me your wounds, now!”
“Really, I’m fine, Blanca. I know this much. Just… yeah, we can handle this after we escape…”
My superior spoke as if everything was okay, but their eyes were already unfocused. There was no doubt this was no ordinary wound.
If I didn’t do something soon, they might not make it.
I mixed painkillers and coagulants, jabbed them around the wound, and pumped in the slime to kickstart the healing process.
Normally, injecting this stuff into someone would rot their brain in seconds, but right now, I had no other choice—it was either this or death.
I contained the spreading nature of the slime, carefully controlling its movement as I used it to heal my superior’s wounds.
I set up temporary vessels, connected muscle fibers, and mimicked internal structures, barely managing to mend my superior’s wounds.
“You don’t have to…”
The voice, almost on the verge of sleep, was a little slurred, but hearing my superior speak meant—thankfully—nothing too dire had happened yet.
We just needed to escape now…
But my body wouldn’t move.
“So, this is where you’ve been? With cat ears on, acting like a little mouse. Isn’t that ironic?”
Arman’s voice, accompanied by the slightly unnatural footsteps of a presumably adult woman.
…My body was paralyzed, not from fear, but because it was held down by an overwhelming force.
This must’ve been Justitia’s ability.
“No, no. You’re not a mouse after all. Given how you spray gas around, I guess you fit the cat profile.”
The queen had caught the king.
…It was a complete, utter defeat.