"Reloading," Dmitry shouted, which was Konrad's cue to do something.
But what?
He only had his pistol, and—
Oh. It might have been time for some sword action.
'They would definitely not expect that,' the parallel brain confirmed. And of course, his voice was still crystal clear in all the chaos. 'Start with that Pseudo Giant.'
"Start with the what now?!"
So, uh, when he felt that the building was collapsing?
Now, that was this thing trying to break through a reinforced concrete wall.
And it succeeded.
Whatever it was, though?
Yeah. Let's go with Pseudo Giant.
Konrad refused to describe that monster in any other way. Calling it an enormous, deformed baby would have been way too much for him, after all.
And only one thing was sure. It definitely wasn't friendly.
Oh, if he could have had his magic back—
But now, he was a regular swordsman, outmatched by the strangest of mutants.
That thing had an arm the size of a truck, and it punched another hole into the wall.
Had he reacted a second later, his head would have been gone with the concrete.
The monster's other hand was smaller, but no less dangerous, trying to grab him, but—
His adamantite sword was too sharp for that thing.
And the scream it let out for losing its hand?
Yeah, he'd rather listen to the Gepard firing in this closed space instead.
BANG. BANG.
At least that had the Dwarves taken care of, and the Poltergeists hurled random stuff at the enemy, too. But to tell who was who and what they were capable of was far beyond him now.
'Focus. You need to dodge that.'
He was about to ask what, but—
That gigantic hand tore another hole through the concrete, and—
Were those some good 'ol zombies pouring into the storage room behind him?!
Old, they definitely were, and their movements felt sluggish, too, but that was all fine.
Made it easier for Konrad to take them all out with a wide swing, dashing behind that giant.
That monster was all kinds of deformed, asymmetric, and weird, with one foot twice the size of the other. And when it stomped into the ground, the entire building started to shake.
But if that wasn't enough, it had a third arm reaching out, sprouting from its back, and—
"Nope, not today," Konrad yelped, slicing that one off, too.
At least it was as slow as it was huge so he could dance around it, no problem—
But only until that crazy duel did not involve anyone else.
'Behind you,' the parallel brain warned, and he could only see those terrifying tentacles.
Bloodsuckers, too?!
That was too much even in this chaos.
Good thing he ducked, and that gigantic hand—
Well, that might have been the gnarliest friendly fire accident he had ever seen.
Not that he would feel bad for a squashed Bloodsucker even for a second. But it was about time he took care of that flailing Pseudo Giant, too.
'Not yet. Controller first,' the voice urged him, turning Konrad's head against his will.
And there it was, another big-headed adult-looking baby in borrowed clothes, and—
The moment he saw his hand reaching out for him, he knew it was trouble.
'I got you this time,' the parallel brain promised. 'But not sure how long I can hold him back.'
Yeah. Something was already happening, because his head started to ache like never before.
And that thick neck—could he even cut through that?!
'Hurry,' the voice urged, and Konrad ran.
The Controller must have strained his limits, too, veins bulging on his deformed body. But for now, Konrad remained in control of his, and he only needed three more steps to—
Run face-first into a floating wooden box.
Luckily, it was already rotten and soft, but that still meant—
'He caught a Poltergeist,' the parallel brain confirmed. And more zombies appeared in the corridor, too. Although their weapons seemed to be all jammed, at least.
How long would it take for him to turn into an old man here as well?
'Focus.'
Right. He had to knock a bucket and a cinder block out of the way, and his headache got much worse. But finally, he reached that monster, and putting everything he had behind that swing—
A naked torso appeared out of thin air, without any arms or legs, and he cut it clean in half.
His head almost exploded, but he needed no explanation of what that thing was.
That fucker had a poor Poltergeist shield him with its own, floating body, and—
The Controller was on the offensive again.
Konrad could only hear the crackling, turning on a hunch.
Another last-second save, as a hefty lightning bolt struck his blade. The adamantite swallowed it whole, the handle heating up in his palms, but had he taken it into his face—
'He'll take over them all if you don't hurry,' the voice reminded.
As if he wasn't already fighting with his all, for sheer survival.
And that was when the limping Pseudo Giant finally caught up with him.
"Not fair," he cried out, avoiding that massive arm crashing down on him by a hair's breadth. "If I had my magic, I'd take on you all at once, but to gang up on me now?!"
BANG.
A fist-sized hole opened on the giant's chest, and he could almost see Dmitry's grin through it.
"Did someone say magic?" he asked, reloading his hand-cannon again.
"That works," Konrad let out a shaky breath, turning again to finish off the last real threat.
The Controller let out a scream humans should not have been able to make.
It even blurred his vision—
But he didn't have to see to lob its oversized head off.
And once that ugly thing hit the ground, the pressure ceased too.
In fact, it got all too quiet once the zombies hit the floor as well.
Konrad needed a moment to catch his breath. To take in this absolute carnage.
"And you say there are what, eight more of these?!" he panted, wiping his blade on those borrowed clothes. "I'm not ready for that. I'm definitely not doing it."
'Where did that number come from?' the parallel brain asked.
And for the first time, it sounded pretty tired, too.
Who knows what that pressure would have done to Konrad if he weren't there to fight it?
"Well," he gritted out. "You said there were twelve. Three plus one died, and, uh, okay. I can't math right now." In fact, he couldn't even stand. And the air got crazy cold without a warning.
That torso he sliced in half earlier started to float.
The Poltergeists had mourned their fallen—and Konrad had killed it by accident.
'They don't blame you,' the voice told him. 'But they still want you to fight the last of that monster so they could free the rest of them.'
"Last? You mean there's only one left?" he asked.
Still one more than he'd be willing to face on his own, but—
'It seems the rest had already left the labs.'
Okay. That did not make him feel any better.
"What about the Wolves, though?" Konrad grunted, looking around. Thank the spirits, those zombies didn't look like them, but "I'm sure we've been here for more than ten minutes."