Walnut-chan - Chapter 141: Super Tyrant

"The way they died, it looks like they were wiped out by some kind of overwhelming force.

"Take the corpse under my feet, for example. Poor bastard. His head was smashed flat as paper by a fist, and there's also..."

Thud. Thud.

The heavy footsteps cut Short Finger off mid-sentence.

That was a man in a black top hat and a thick black trench coat. He was broad and powerfully built, with a pair of black leather gloves on his hands. Every step of his high-top boots rang out with a heavy thud-thud-thud, a sign of his staggering weight.

"Short Finger!"

Hearing his captain call his name, Short Finger pulled the single-shot RPG off his back, aimed at that conspicuous figure, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

BOOM!

A single RPG round blew the "Showoff" to pieces on the spot.

Looking at the fragments scattered here and there, Short Finger lowered the launcher and went to find Heavy Hammer. He took a warhead off Heavy Hammer's back and loaded it into the RPG, just in case.

Once Short Finger had reloaded, Alex waved the team forward again. Deep down, though, he had already put a question mark over whether William was still alive. But for a mission this important, they had to see him in person, dead or alive!

Over the rest of the route they ran into two more "Showoffs." Under Short Finger's precise blasting, neither of them stirred up any real trouble. As for the zombies that had risen from the dead along the way, the Delta Force team simply kicked them down for good.

Along the way they also found metal canisters that looked like oversized capsules. Judging by their size, the "Showoffs" must have been dropped from here. That only strengthened Alex's suspicion: Umbrella was using these BOWs to hunt William down.

"Only the last section ahead is left. Be extra careful.

"If we still can't find any trace of William, we pull out."

"YES, SIR!"

The team members answered in unison.

In the final area, Delta Force found a special weapon the incineration plant had been researching.

[Sword of Paracelsus]

It also went by a plainer, easier-to-understand name.

[Rail Cannon]

Heavy Hammer stared at the hulking thing, his eyes gleaming with fanatical light.

"What a beauty. Too bad it's so inconvenient."

He was right. The railgun was great in every way, but it had two major drawbacks. First, it was fixed, heavy equipment. Second, every shot required a huge amount of preparation: a custom battery taller than a man had to be pushed into its slot to supply enough energy for the railgun to fire.

Short Finger ran his hand over the railgun's base, eyes shining, unable to tear himself away.

"All right, that's not the point. Our priority is finding William.

"The passage ahead leads to the rooftop helipad. If he's not up there, we head back."

"!"

Before Delta Force could even move, the metal door in the direction the railgun faced was punched clean off its hinges. Two "Showoffs" charged out, heading straight for where Alex and the others stood.

Short Finger aimed and fired as usual. One Showoff took a direct hit and burst into pieces. Its companion, not far behind, was caught in the blast and sent flying.

Of all the luck, its trench coat was shredded in the process, exposing the deathly pale skin underneath. Both hands had mutated into giant claws. Its abdominal muscles bulged like bricks, and its chest swelled, every muscle line standing out in ridges, showing off the tremendous energy inside.

"Gaaaah!!!"

With a savage roar, it moved. One step carried it fifty meters. In just three seconds it was on top of Alex and the others. That terrifying speed almost seemed to say: "Whatever you called me before, fine. But now tell me, what should you call me?!"

If Ivan had been there, he would naturally have answered: Super Tyrant (the form T-103 unlocks only after losing its restraint suit or taking a fatal wound).

"Scatter!"

At Alex's roar, the team broke apart at once. The Super Tyrant's target was clear. A claw as long as a normal person's arm lashed out at Short Finger's chest.

It was simply too fast. Short Finger had barely turned sideways to dodge and hadn't had time to set his stance, and he had no chance to react.

Squelch!

The four longest claws ran straight through him, from chest to back. The terrifying force nailed Short Finger firmly to the ground.

As the claws were pitilessly yanked free, Short Finger clutched his chest in agony, but the blood couldn't be held back. It poured steadily between his fingers. After a couple of twitches, the life went out of him.

On the other side, the Super Tyrant drew its claw back and moved again. For the next stretch, fully unleashed, it was a merciless killing machine. Every swing of its claws ended a living person. Ordinary firearms did nothing to it, and with the need to avoid hitting teammates holding them back, the whole Delta Force team fought timidly and miserably.

Of the original fifteen, only five were left after a mere six minutes, nearly all of them wounded. Heavy Hammer and Alex were among them. They were sitting on the helipad now, waiting for rescue, while below them the Tyrant's claws stabbed wildly at the obstacles they had thrown up to block it.

"This isn't working, Captain. I'll go hold it off. Don't worry about me. Take the RPG and blow it away, me along with it."

Alex flared up instantly.

"You idiot, what kind of stupid talk is that!"

"But Captain, if we keep this up..."

"Enough. I said no, and that's final. Don't bring it up again."

Heavy Hammer was deeply moved, but there was nothing he could say.

"Oh, right, I've still got this."

As he spoke, Heavy Hammer pulled out a block of C4. He set the countdown and tossed it onto the door leading to the roof.

Alex's eyes lit up at the sight. Honestly, the Super Tyrant had completely stunned them until now. It wasn't a lack of tactical skill. They had simply never faced an enemy like this. With its absurd speed, it had wiped out their teammates in the blink of an eye. That kind of pure statistical crushing left Alex with no answer.

After all, no matter how strong they were, they were only the limit of ordinary humans, while the Tyrant was a genuine inhuman monster. Their physiques didn't even belong to the same dimension.

Alex raised the RPG and waited for the one chance at a lethal strike. If the RPG's terrifying power followed right on the heels of the C4 blast, it should be able to destroy that damned monster. The C4 countdown tugged at every heart on the roof, because their lives all hinged on that one moment.

Thump-thump-thump!

The distinctive sound of helicopter rotors rang out abruptly from the sky. A few of the Delta Force men were overjoyed, thinking support had arrived.

But Alex's face stiffened...