“…Carlos Norris?”
Lucas narrowed his brow as he recognized the person calling him. The messy, disheveled hair, sickly pale complexion, sunken, bloodshot eyes, dark circles, hollow cheeks, and chapped white lips… The face was so gaunt that he almost didn’t recognize him.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?”
Billy, who was guiding Lucas, was wary of the sudden intruder. Carlos, in his shabby and dirty appearance, didn’t look like a military official at all.
“What? You don’t know who I am?”
Carlos, approaching while panting, became more agitated when Billy blocked his way. He had come to ask for help from his uncle, Colonel Norris, as he couldn’t get drugs for the past few days after his friend died from an overdose.
“How dare you, a mere sergeant, block me? I’m a major, a major!”
“What?”
Billy blinked in confusion at Carlos’s claim of being a major.
“To be precise, you’re a ‘former’ major. I thought you went back home, so why are you here? Ah, did you come to see your uncle?”
Lucas corrected Carlos’s statement while looking him up and down. The restless eyes, trembling hands like aspen leaves, legs twisting strangely unable to stay still… His golden eyes filled with contempt at the typical symptoms of drug addiction.
“I heard you became a junkie, but you look terrible.”
“Shut up!”
Carlos, angered by the unexpected encounter, shouted. Already on edge from withdrawal symptoms due to lack of drugs, Lucas’s appearance and words made his anger uncontrollable.
“Damn it! Because of you, my life… I, I lost everything, you bastard! I’ll kill you!”
Carlos’s face flushed red and blue with rage. Strangely, from the moment he saw Lucas, a voice in his head kept telling him to kill him.
“Ugh, it’s so noisy! Shut up, I said shut up!”
Carlos shook his head violently as if bothered by the ringing in his ears. Then he paused, as if sensing something strange. The voices from his head and both ears seemed very familiar.
“Bartender…?”
Carlos, momentarily dazed, tried to recall his hazy memory. He remembered the bartender at his regular bar, who had given him drugs when he was suffering from withdrawal symptoms, whispering to him to go see his uncle.
“No, no, ugh…”
Carlos clutched his head, feeling an intense headache. Kill, kill, kill… The bartender’s order, whose face he could no longer remember, echoed in his fading consciousness. Suddenly, everything before his eyes turned bright red.
“I’ll kill, I’ll kill you.”
Carlos lowered his hands and glared at Lucas, muttering. His unfocused eyes were filled with intense murderous intent.
“S-Stop! I’ll shoot if you come any closer.”
Billy, sensing the ominous atmosphere, warned as he pulled out his mana gun.
“It’s all because of you. If it weren’t for you…! Argh!”
“Wh-What…”
Billy was terrified as he heard the sound of bones twisting and saw Carlos’s body grow larger, covered in gray fur.
Unlike the shocked Billy, Lucas calmly recalled information about Carlos. Carlos’s ability was ‘physical enhancement and therianthrope transformation.’ He could transform into various types of therianthropes. His favorite form was…
“Werewolf.”
“Grr…!”
In the blink of an eye, Carlos transformed into a werewolf and charged at Lucas with a beast-like roar.
“Get down!”
“Ah!”
Lucas pushed Billy aside and pressed a button on his watch. As he infused mana into the watch and extended his hand, a shield-shaped barrier appeared. It was a mana shield.
Unlike the mana barrier with many restrictions, the mana shield made using monsters’ mana stones wasn’t much different from a regular shield. That’s why he had been wearing a mana shield at all times since the terrorist incident. The news that someone had targeted Iberis meant that he could also be a target at any time.
“You fool! Do you think you can stop me with this puny shield!”
Carlos snorted and swung his arm with long, sharp claws. He thought his attack would shatter Lucas’s mana shield.
Screech!
There was a ear-splitting noise as the sharp claws collided with Lucas’s mana shield. And the situation unfolded differently from Carlos’s prediction.
“Wh-What?”
Carlos stuttered as his attack was blocked by the shield Lucas created. Flustered, he raised his arm to strike again. But once more, his claws failed to penetrate Lucas’s mana shield.
“This can’t be! This is impossible!”
“Impossible? Have you forgotten the difference in our ranks because you’re high on drugs?”
Lucas retorted in a low voice as he drew his mana gun with his other hand. Then he fired the gun at Carlos without hesitation.
“Ugh!”
Surprised by Lucas’s counterattack, Carlos hastily stepped back. He clutched his side where a burning pain was rising, his face showing disbelief.
“The strength and ability of weapons using mana differ according to the power of the ability user.”
“You…!”
“It seems I surpass you in all aspects – mana quantity, density, and control ability.”
“Bullshit!”
Carlos, now in a drug-fueled rage, charged forward recklessly. Bang, crash! Trees split and pavement shattered under his punches and kicks.
Bang, bang bang!
Lucas dodged all of Carlos’s attacks while firing his gun continuously to keep him at bay. It was best to avoid direct confrontation with a physical enhancement ability user if possible.
“You scurry around like a rat!”
Frustrated that all his attacks were failing, Carlos picked up nearby benches and trash cans and hurled them at Lucas.
“How uncivilized.”
After dodging a flying trash can, Lucas noticed Billy sitting dazed and widened his eyes.
“Get out of the way!”
“Huh? Ah!”
Billy, stunned by the sudden turn of events, instinctively rolled on the ground at Lucas’s shout.
“What on earth…”
“Snap out of it!”
“S-Sorry!”
“Stay as far away as possible to avoid getting caught up in this!”
“Y-Yes! Oh?”
As Billy scrambled to his feet, he saw pavement blocks flying towards him and gasped. He needed to dodge, but his legs were frozen. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact. Then, there was an explosion-like sound, and he felt himself being pulled away.
“Are you alright?”
“Th-Thank you! Lieutenant, huff…”
Billy, thanking Lucas for saving him, gaped in shock at the blood trickling down Lucas’s cheek.
“You’re bleeding…”
“Hmm?”
Only then realizing the wound on his face, Lucas winced slightly. It seemed he had been scratched by shrapnel from the pavement blocks he’d destroyed with his mana gun.
“It’s nothing, don’t make a fuss. But why isn’t the alarm sounding?”
Lucas asked Billy while continuously firing his gun to keep Carlos at bay. Normally, security should have arrived by now for this level of disturbance.
“Ah, that… The alarm system in this area broke down two days ago and hasn’t been repaired yet…”
“What?”
“But by now, everyone should have noticed something’s wrong. If we can hold out a little longer, support should arrive… Huh?”
As Billy was explaining the situation, he felt the ground trembling and turned his head. Behind them, he saw special containment walls rising, the kind used to trap monsters, villains, or other external intruders.
“Why is that… Oh no!”
Billy paled at the sight of the opaque walls closing in around them. This would make it difficult for security to help them even if they arrived. Naturally, they couldn’t get out either.
“We need to leave, right now! Lieutenant!”
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Carlos, reacting to Billy’s urgent cry, lunged at the two. While they hesitated at his attack, the containment walls were fully deployed. In the end, the three were trapped inside the walls before they could do anything.
“This can’t be…”
Billy’s face was filled with despair as he realized their escape route was cut off. As even light was blocked out, pitch-black darkness engulfed him, making it impossible to see even an inch in front of him.
“We’re trapped.”
Lucas clicked his tongue as he confirmed that even the ceiling was completely blocked off. He had thought it was a coincidence, but now it seemed like a stage set by someone. He quickly realized this was a trap.
“Sergeant, can you disable that?”
“No, the external intrusion containment walls can only be operated from the control room…”
“So it’s impossible to escape immediately. I see.”
Lucas nodded slightly and shifted into a combat stance as he moved. Originally, he had planned to buy time until people arrived to subdue Carlos, but the situation had changed.
“If you don’t want to get hurt, stay out of the way. I can’t help you like before anymore.”
“W-What are you going to do?”
“What else? I have to subdue the enemy.”
Lucas answered as if it was obvious, glaring at Carlos’s eyes glowing red in the darkness.
“Kill, I’ll kill, I’ll tear you to pieces…”
“He’s out of his mind.”
Lucas frowned at Carlos, deeply immersed in murderous intent, and coated his entire body with mana. He had wanted to avoid direct confrontation if possible, but there was no choice now. If he didn’t fight, he’d die.
Having made a quick decision, Lucas changed the weapon in his hand to a mana sword and immediately charged at Carlos.
Fundamentally, werewolves exert more powerful strength at night than during the day. The same would probably be true for the transformed Carlos, so Lucas had to finish this before he could adapt to the darkness.
