January 17
Kyoko and Miranda had only just reached the edge of the park when a huge explosion erupted from within.
The blast wave carried smoke, dust, and snow high into the air. The towering cloud stabbed into both girls' hearts like a blade.
This was bad. Brent had even used the rocket launcher. What kind of enemy had she run into?
The two of them hit the ground, snow scattering over their heads, then scrambled back to their feet.
They had to get there. Fast.
Miranda was sick with worry over Brent. There was only about a hundred meters left, yet it felt like an uncrossable chasm.
The park's terrain was a mess—uneven ground full of pits and rises, broken up by bushes and artificial rocks. The narrow winding paths were already hard enough to run on, and now they were covered in slippery ice and snow.
On top of that, Miranda was carrying dozens of pounds of gear. Her speed was inevitably dropping.
But even if she had to burn away years of her future life, she still had to go. She pushed herself forward with every last shred of adrenaline she had.
Her heavy military boots hammered against the snowy ground with dull, pounding thuds.
Kyoko, whose physical ability was far better, did not run any faster—because the system had suddenly thrown up an emergency mission prompt.
After the explosion she and Miranda had caused, and then Brent's rocket blast, infected from kilometers around were now converging from every direction.
Which meant that besides the enemies and infected already inside the central park, more threats were on the way.
From behind them, from the flanks, from ahead—ghastly howls and shrieks rose one after another as the infected closed in.
From above, if one looked down on this small Fukushima city, it was as if every last infected left inside the urban area—those not already killed by the military, the survivors, or lured away by other causes—had all decided to join this "event."
A pity that the event reward was the flesh and blood of the three of them.
"Kyoko, hurry up! What about Brent?!" Miranda gasped as she glanced back over her shoulder.
But she did not notice that Kyoko's pupils were slowly changing color. Their golden hue was being swallowed by blood-red.
Miranda's mind was already stretched to the brink. Seeing Kyoko hesitate filled her with anger. Even the polite forms of address vanished from her speech, replaced by a raw, direct tone.
She was a rich young lady in her twenties—being forced to obey a high-school girl really did not sit well with her. Normally she could tolerate it while she was under Kyoko's control, but now Brent—her loyal bodyguard, practically family—was in mortal danger.
How could she not throw herself into the rescue? Brent was not just a servant. To Miranda's family, she was family in all but blood.
And after that explosion, the gunfire ahead was still continuing in bursts.
"Miranda, wait. Crouch down over there. There's still gunfire ahead, which means Brent is still fighting them," Kyoko said.
She could see Miranda was in a bad state, and the fuel in her flamethrower was almost gone. In this condition, there was no way Miranda could fight both the infected and armed raiders.
Charging in like that would be suicide.
To handle this crisis, Kyoko had already bought what she needed from the system shop. Saving Brent came first. She would deal with the incoming infected afterward.
"Kyoko! What are you doing?! Brent's in danger!"
Miranda, half out of her mind, slipped on the snow and nearly fell. Kyoko caught her from behind.
Miranda had completely lost sight of priorities.
Holding her steady, Kyoko pulled out a tube of orange-yellow liquid, bit the cap off, and jammed it straight into Miranda's mouth, forcing her to swallow.
The sudden move made Miranda's eyes go wide. The hard tip nearly hit her teeth.
"Mmph—what… are you…?" Her voice softened abruptly.
"Calm down. It's a sedative. I'm swapping in a new solid-fuel block for your launcher. In a minute, crank it to maximum and suppress them. There. Now get up."
After the injection, Miranda no longer looked as hysterical as before. Her mind and body both seemed to settle.
Meanwhile, Kyoko had already finished planning the next phase. Miranda would take point and use the flamethrower's sixty-meter range to pin the enemy down. Kyoko would follow up with grenades and full-auto rifle fire to mow them down.
What Kyoko had actually given Miranda was not a sedative at all, but a stimulant.
The system shop price for that little dose had been a ridiculous 2,000 points.
For the next few hours, Miranda's body would function as if blessed by a god—physical damage would no longer hamper her performance. The downside was that once twenty-four hours passed, she would be left severely weakened for a time.
Kyoko casually tossed the now-empty and painfully expensive injector away, then swiftly replaced Miranda's nearly-drained fuel canister with a fresh one.
The M24 sniper rifle cracked again ahead.
There was still time.
Brent was still alive.
The two of them circled around to the rear of the infected and the Apostles.
By then, the gunfire ahead was becoming sparse.
Raising her rifle, Kyoko gave the signal.
The rescue operation for their sniper, Brent, was about to begin.
"We're going in. Miranda, you've been buffed. Move!"
Miranda, whose body felt as though dead wood had suddenly bloomed back to life, had no trouble carrying out the order.
"We're going to win, Kyoko. Just leave it to us!"
She sprang up from behind cover and unleashed hell itself from the nozzle of her flamethrower.
On the other side, the enemy had all their attention fixed on Brent's hideout, pouring fire into the little building.
The special infected under their control had just been killed by Brent, so no one was left on watch around the perimeter.
These Apostle members were not elites. They were just a slightly more capable version of the three lowlife scavengers Kyoko had run into days earlier.
One rocket had already blown most of their manpower apart. Their leader had just been sniped, and the vice-captain had nearly been killed by the blast as well. He and the seven or eight ordinary members left, plus a few dozen common infected, were a disorganized mess.
Drunk on the thought of finally claiming their prize, they were too furious over the earlier attack to notice the danger approaching from behind.
"If I get my hands on that damned bitch, I'll make her wish she was dead!"
One soot-streaked man with his face half-covered roared after landing the shot on Brent.
The surviving thugs around him chimed in.
"She fights that hard? Might as well hand her over to the higher-ups and turn her into a bio-weapon."
"Hand her over? Hell no. If it's a man, we cut him into pieces. If it's a woman… heh…"
Still laughing and talking about how they were going to deal with the loser they had cornered, they stepped over severed limbs and blood, moving toward the shack Brent had taken refuge in.
Then fire swallowed them.
A sea of flame shot over the distance of a tennis court, igniting clothes, hair, and flesh from behind.
"Die!"
Miranda held the trigger down and screamed.
At the same time, Kyoko was picking them off one by one with precise shots from her rifle.
"Fire! Aaagh!"
The few lucky ones who were not killed outright rolled in the snow, shrieking.
But there was no putting these flames out. The sticky incendiary gel clung to their bodies, burning at such extreme temperatures that snowmelt did nothing to extinguish it.
And anyone still moving received a 6.8-millimeter "treat" from Kyoko to keep them from struggling too long.
Soon the air was thick with the smell of roasting meat. Their skin split and blackened like charred bark as their bodies dehydrated where they fell.
"That's enough. Go check on Brent. I'll deal with the infected coming in from behind!"
"Right!"
After wiping out the raiders, Kyoko sent Miranda to Brent while she herself turned to face the incoming horde.
Once Miranda was out of sight, Kyoko prepared a hundred-round drum magazine and hauled out more directional mines.
Why not just run?
Because, Kyoko could only say, the infected were coming from every direction. In an open park like this, where exactly were they supposed to flee to?
A normal human could not outrun special infected, nor could they beat common infected in endurance.
It was better to fortify this spot. At least here there were buildings to use as cover.
She also used the X-agent from the airdrop. Once activated, it released a gas that disgusted infected and drove them away from the area for three hours.
"Please work…"
After scattering the chemical, Kyoko raised her rifle and peered through the optic. Even through the heavy snowfall, she could already make out the leading elements of the horde staggering toward them from a thousand meters away.
Up on the second floor, Miranda finally reached Brent.
The sight of Brent sprawled on the ground, battered and barely alive, made Miranda's chest tighten painfully.
Kyoko also rushed in, preparing to treat Brent's severe gunshot wound, while Miranda cleaned the clinging filth off the flamethrower's nozzle and waited for further orders.
Far in the distance, shapes like a living tide drew steadily nearer through the snow.
Another battle was about to begin.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 132)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter140)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter95)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter165)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 145
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 135
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 95
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 155
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 125
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 105
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 62
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 80
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 80
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 62
Uma Musume: I Want All 65
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
Summoning an Evil God, but the 41
Supernatural Multiverse 45
My Harem Is Indescribable 35
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 46
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