MCLE | Chapter 18

“Shh.”

Hexion brought a finger to his lips. Zero Nine’s violet eyes were fixed on the air ahead. Jasper thought those two were just being reckless. He debated whether he should request backup when suddenly—

Rumble—

A deep sound echoed from somewhere. Jasper lifted his head.

The once-clear sky was rapidly being swallowed by ashen clouds. Jasper found himself momentarily stunned. Huh, rain? Out of nowhere? Zero Nine tilted his head back further, staring at the sky. The dark gray clouds thickened even more, and before long, as if someone had wrung them dry by force, a downpour crashed down.

Swoooosh—

The massive creature, a grotesque mass of muscle, was drenched in the rain, and thick, dark liquid dripped down to the ground. Hundreds of rolling eyeballs scattered across its form scanned their surroundings. And then—

“D-Damn it…!”

It locked eyes with them.

Up until now, it had been sluggish, but suddenly, the monster crouched low and sprang forward. The distance between them and the creature closed in an instant.

Jasper gritted his teeth and cursed as he hurriedly retreated. They needed to get back to the Living Bureau immediately. But Zero Nine and Hexion still stood there, completely unfazed.

Ah, shit. Were they just plain insane?

Whoosh—!

At that moment, a massive front paw was raised over Jasper’s head. Ah, fuck. What the hell do I do now? He squeezed his eyes shut. And just then—

Flash.

A burst of light streaked across the sky.

KWA-BOOM—!

A deafening explosion split the air. Jasper instinctively clamped his hands over his ears.

And then—KWA-BOOM! Another lightning strike.

Directly onto the monster.

The creature let out a piercing shriek, thrashing wildly. But the second strike followed almost immediately, and with another blast, it convulsed. The monster staggered back. But before it could recover—KWAANG! Another bolt struck.

Its body was charred black, but the lightning didn’t stop. As it retreated further, the forest floor caved in beneath it.

KWAGAGANG—!

The ground collapsed with a thunderous crash, sending the monster sprawling.

This wasn’t a coincidence.

It wasn’t a coincidence that the rain had fallen, that the lightning had struck, or that the ground had crumbled beneath it.

Massive trees, tilting from the impact, crashed down and impaled its scorched body.

Jasper stared at the scene, realization dawning.

Now he understood why this thing was called a catastrophe.

Natural disasters were beyond human control. The most they could do was predict them.

Soaked to the bone from the rain, Jasper’s eyes widened as he turned to look at Zero Nine’s back—completely dry.

Thud—!

The grotesque creature, writhing with crimson muscle, finally collapsed. The air was thick with the scent of burnt flesh. The gaping holes in its body revealed that everything inside had been completely incinerated.

Just like Zero Nine, Hexion also remained perfectly dry. He checked his watch and muttered,

“Nine minutes, twenty-five seconds.”

“…….”

“Took longer than expected.”

Zero Nine had an ambiguous expression. Almost like he was wondering if it was already over.

Hexion saw that look and understood—Zero Nine had been testing his own strength. Even a massive creature like that had crumbled so easily in his hands.

A chill ran down Hexion’s spine.

He had a rough idea of how powerful Zero Nine was. But seeing it unfold before his eyes made him truly grasp the weight of what he had taken on. His heart pounded.

Thump. Thump.

Ah, his head felt oddly light.

Hexion took a step forward, a bit faster than usual.

His watch displayed Zero Nine’s stress level—56%.

Without hesitation, Hexion grabbed Zero Nine by the collar and crashed their lips together.

Naturally, their lips parted, tongues entwining. He bit down, licked, sucked on the metallic taste of blood, and swallowed the warm saliva that followed. A strange sense of satisfaction washed over him.

Zero Nine, lips slightly parted, stared at Hexion’s narrowed eyes.

Hexion smirked.

Zero Nine, expressionless, studied him for a moment before slowly pulling away.

“Guiding wasn’t that urgent.”

“I know.”

Hexion let go of Zero Nine’s collar, which he had been gripping, and lightly smoothed out the wrinkled part. Jasper, who had been watching the scene while completely drenched, let out a hollow laugh. It seemed like these crazy bastards were a perfect match for each other. And he thought to himself, Damn, I should never mess with them again.

Jasper clenched his teeth and raised his watch, sending a message: [Large-scale Aberration eliminated]. Soon, the management team contacted him.

[Was it a false report?]

“No. The large-scale Aberration has been dealt with, so please handle the corpse.”

[It hasn’t even been an hour since the Aberration appeared]

“Yeah, I know it sounds like a lie, but it’s true. Where the hell did they even bring that thing from?”

[…….]

The management team fell silent for a moment before cutting the communication with a message saying they’d take care of it. After confirming that the large-scale Aberration alert on his watch had disappeared, Jasper looked at the two of them. One was a guide who was no pushover—no, a crazy guide—and the other was a natural disaster. Jasper reached out his hand to them. They reluctantly took Jasper’s hand and returned to the living bureau.

Jasper had to stop by his room because he was completely soaked. He grumbled but didn’t cross the line. It was probably because he had seen Zero Nine’s power firsthand. Zero Nine moved his fingers slightly. Yeah, it was as easy as that. Moving his fingers—something as simple as that. And with just the power of that one finger, he had taken down a large-scale Aberration. Zero Nine was definitely…

“Zero Nine.”

“……Yes.”

“Shall we check out the training ground?”

“The training ground?”

“Yeah, it’s underground.”

Zero Nine hesitated for a moment before nodding obediently. The two men left the teleportation esper’s room and took the elevator, selecting the 10th underground floor. The steel layer buried underground was quite thick. It made sense, since it was used as a training ground. Even so, Zero Nine wouldn’t be able to use his full power here.

Ding.

Upon arriving underground, Hexion and Zero Nine encountered guides and regular staff working in the underground training ground. The guides in gray uniforms, upon seeing Hexion, immediately straightened up like wet birds and saluted.

“Master Sergeant! Smith Walter!”

“Sergeant! David Aylan!”

“S-Sergeant! Ellen Castor!”

News travels fast. Especially when it’s news that affects people directly. Hexion glanced at them and spoke in a commanding tone.

“Open a training room.”

“Uh, which one…?”

“Level 5.”

“Ah, Level 5. Understood.”

Ellen Castor, who had introduced himself as a sergeant, took the lead, followed by Hexion and Zero Nine. They approached the farthest wall. Upon reaching the steel wall, a fingerprint scanner came into view. Ellen Castor placed his palm on it, and the wall creaked open. The door was about 30 cm thick.

Hexion asked Zero Nine in a teasing voice, “If you’re scared to go in alone, want me to come with you?”

Zero Nine let out a hollow laugh and stepped inside. At that moment, Sergeant Ellen Castor said,

“Everything that happens inside is recorded. It’s used for training data and to measure the esper’s abilities.”

“Well, I don’t mind.”

Zero Nine didn’t seem to have any objections either. With that, he entered the training ground, and the door closed behind him. Sergeant Castor led Hexion to the central monitoring room. The largest screen in the room displayed Zero Nine standing alone in the training ground.

“What’s the training like here?”

“There are short-range, mid-range, long-range, and one-versus-many combat training rooms. For Level 5…”

“It’s all of them, isn’t it?”

“That’s correct.”

But that alone wasn’t enough to call it Level 5. Hexion stared at the screen. Mechanical enemies began to appear one by one in the empty training ground. This training ground wasn’t designed to spawn enemies in stages—short-range, mid-range, long-range. They all came at once. That was why this training ground was Level 5.

The machines moved exactly as programmed. The training robots gleamed as if made of mercury, covered in spikes that looked like they could pierce through anything. Hundreds of claw-like hooks with joints descended from the ceiling. Enemies filled the space in front, behind, and above in an instant. Zero Nine simply stood there, blinking lazily.

“Uh, uh… isn’t he going to get hurt…?”

Just as someone was about to ask, all the training machines charged at Zero Nine. And in that moment, everyone except Hexion widened their eyes in shock.

Crunch!

All the machines that rushed at Zero Nine crumpled as if they had hit an invisible wall. The hooks aiming for his neck bent and twisted as if someone had crushed them. Zero Nine tilted his head slightly, like Hexion, and slowly shifted his gaze around.