Chapter 160 - A Sword Vent Story
Standing up from the pool of blood, the boy's figure left the inside of the live house silent. From The Brotherhood members who were showering the boy with insults with a canned beer in one hand to the DJ who was live-streaming the battle, everyone was lost for words. Only the Leader sitting in the special seat lifted the corner of his mouth as if saying "Interesting."
Until now, in the infected confrontation show held in this "Colosseum," almost no one had been able to break through the first round. Regardless of whether they were adults or children, men or women, many people caught as enemies of The Brotherhood had been forced to fight in the Colosseum, but they all just died miserably in the first round, killed by the infected. Among the adult males superior in physical strength, some were able to somehow defeat the infected empty-handed, but in exchange, they suffered serious injuries and either turned into infected themselves or died in the subsequent second round.
The Brotherhood members looked at the boy who would be the player of this Colosseum and thought he would be easily eaten to death by the infected in the first round, and in the betting held every time, no one bet on the boy surviving. Although he was a boy who had taken the lives of many The Brotherhood members until now, he was after all a child not even 20 years old. If he had a gun, it would be a different story, but there's no way he could survive fighting an infected empty-handed. The Brotherhood members intended to drink alcohol while watching the boy begging for his life and being eaten by the infected, just like the previous players, but—.
"What's with that kid..."
One of the members looking down at the boy from the catwalk mutters in a tone filled with fear somewhere.
The boy, who was thought to be killed in no time, was standing in an almost uninjured state. He skillfully dodged the rush of the infected, found a weapon in the form of a glass shard from a thrown bottle, and killed the infected by tearing its throat.
If they themselves faced an infected one-on-one and empty-handed, would they really be able to come back alive? Such a thought occurred to the members who were watching the boy's death struggle with the infected.
They obtained the weapon called a gun by participating in The Brotherhood. If they have a gun, there is nothing to be afraid of. Even in front of an infected they could only run away from, they can easily defeat it if they have a gun. Of course, if a large number of infected push in or if they are attacked in a narrow place, it's a different story, but if they have a gun, they are not afraid of anything even if they face an infected one-on-one.
However, that meant another side of the story: they couldn't fight the infected properly without a gun. All The Brotherhood members tried not to think about that. They are able to do whatever they want using the power of the gun precisely because they are in The Brotherhood. But what happens if that power, the gun, is gone? Can they really be said to be strong existences?
They must have thought so. The live house, which had been silent, was again filled with insults. There were two causes for the members' irritation. One was that their wish for the boy to be eaten to death by the infected had been thwarted. And the other was that seeing the boy who defeated the infected empty-handed, the thought that they might actually be weak people had occurred.
The Brotherhood members shower the boy with insults. The boy's existence was something that shouldn't be for The Brotherhood members who had protected their own hearts by affirming their own existence and actions. They thought everything would go as they wished if they held a gun. Conversely, they thought those who didn't hold a gun were weak, could be easily killed, and were existences that could be made to do whatever they said. But the boy accomplished the act of killing an infected empty-handed, which would be difficult even for The Brotherhood members.
"...Whoops, this is a surprise. How many weeks has it been since a challenger advanced to the second round?"
On the catwalk, at the special live-streaming seat bathed in the spotlight, the DJ resumes the live-streaming in an unexpected tone. For him too, it seemed to be an unexpected situation that the boy was not killed by the infected. The DJ said he was betting on the boy surviving the first round, but he didn't seem to think he could really defeat the infected.
"Hey you guys, I know it's frustrating because you lost the bet, but please don't injure the challenger. Because the second round is waiting after this."
The DJ said to soothe The Brotherhood members who were heating up further with irritation. If the DJ hadn't soothed them, The Brotherhood members were in an atmosphere where they might throw a hand grenade onto the stage instead of cans or bottles.
"Well then, let's pull ourselves together for the second round, the opponent this time is two! No one has broken through the second round until now, but I wonder what will happen?"
At the DJ's words of two this time, the boy's face distorted. He had just used quite a bit of physical strength just to defeat one infected, and he was in a state where he finally won at the last minute, yet he had to face two more without even a break.
"Let me rest a bit!"
He shouted so, but naturally, there was no one to listen. Seeing Aki and the others pressing The Brotherhood men, the boy felt a little saved. If Aki and the others were also enjoying this crazy show along with The Brotherhood members, the boy would have despaired of everything. Because he challenged The Brotherhood with the intention of saving them.
Before the boy could even catch his breath, the door of the third container placed in the corner of the room began to open slowly, just like before. He thought about pressing the bolt and the door from the outside before the infected jumped out from the container, but he's not confident he can manage the horse-like power of two infected by himself, and if he does such a "rule violation," the people watching from above won't stay silent.
And before the boy could even start moving, the door of the container whose bolt was lifted was pushed open powerfully from the inside, and an infected jumped out from inside. At that silhouette, which was much smaller than the infected he fought earlier, the boy was speechless.
"...You pedo bastards!"
What jumped out from the container was a girl infected. A girl of an age who wouldn't even be in the upper grades of elementary school yet, disheveling her long hair and dripping saliva mixed with blood from the corner of her mouth, rushes toward the boy.
The boy was angry that they had intentionally turned a young girl into an infected, but he was even more enraged because that girl infected was not wearing any clothes. Perhaps after being captured by The Brotherhood, she was forced to undergo experiments to turn her into an infected after being assaulted.
He himself is a piece of trash-like existence, but The Brotherhood is a gathering of trash that far exceeds that. The boy was convinced that he must destroy them by all means.
From the same container, another one, this time a young male infected, came out. Strangely, that infected was crawling on the floor using both hands, even though both legs were intact.
Looking closely, there are suture marks on both calves, as if some surgery had been performed. This one might have been subjected to surgery to cut muscles on a healthy body to investigate how much the healing ability and physical ability of the infected are.
However, just because both legs were unusable didn't mean its movements were sluggish. The male infected was crawling with great momentum even though it was only with both hands, dragging its lower body. Even just dealing with the movements of the girl infected is a handful, and if he only pays attention to that, his legs will be bitten hard.
"Oraa!"
The boy delivered a punch head-on to the girl infected who was rushing. Since the infected can only rush straight, it was easy to see through the movement. However, the height of the infected was lower than the height of the boy's chest, and the fist he let out only grazed the head slightly. The boy took the infected's tackle head-on and inadvertently fell to the ground.
There, the girl infected mounted the boy and tried to bite into his throat. Although she's a girl about the size of an elementary schooler, now that she has turned into an infected, her strength has also become strong. In no time, the boy was doing his best to resist so as not to have his arms or neck bitten.
Lying down and desperately suppressing the infected's face and arms, the boy saw another infected crawling toward the fallen boy in the corner of his vision. The boy delivered a knee kick with all his might to the belly of the girl infected mounting him, and at the moment her body wavered for an instant, he pushed her away with all his might. Since she only had the physique of an elementary school girl even though she was an infected, she was blown away easily.
If he could deal with them one by one, he would have defeated the infected without as much trouble as the first round. One is a girl infected with a much smaller physique, and the other can only crawl around on the floor. But it's a different story when dealing with two at the same time. While suppressing one, the other attacks.
The boy picked up a long and thick bone, which seemed to be a part of a femur, from the white bones scattered on the floor, which were the remains of the previous challengers. He delivered a foot kick to the infected crawling toward the boy to distance himself, and faced the girl infected who regained her posture and rushed again.
He gripped the femur firmly and swung it with all his might toward the rushing infected—but the bone he swung broke from the middle with a dry sound the moment the joint part at the tip hit the infected's head.
"It broke!?"
Moreover, no great damage was seen on the infected that took the direct hit. Immediately after looking alternately at the bone broken in half in his hand and the girl infected, something grabbed the boy's leg.
The other infected had approached the boy's feet before he knew it. He tried to jump away in a hurry, but the boy, whose leg was grabbed, fell on his buttocks. However, thanks to the boy falling, the girl who lost her target rushed with all her might toward the wall and fainted from hitting her head.
"You bastard!"
The infected whose both legs were unusable was just about to bite into the boy's ankle which it had grabbed. The boy raised his upper body and gripped the femur broken in half in a reverse grip. And he thrust that bone, whose broken cross-section was splintered and sharp, into the infected's eye socket with all his might.
The infected with the bone thrust into its eye socket was still trying to nibble on the boy's leg while shedding red muddy tears from the eye socket. The boy thrust the bone stuck in the eye socket even deeper with all his might. A sensation of something breaking was felt, and immediately after, the infected's body jumped greatly. Apparently, the thrust bone penetrated the eye socket and reached the brain.
Strength left the hand of the infected that was grabbing the boy's leg, and its body began a strange convulsion. But one more infected still remains. The boy stood up after shaking off the hand of the infected still grabbing his leg.
The girl infected let out a high-pitched scream and again rushed toward the boy. Perhaps because she hit her head against the wall earlier, her forehead was split and blood was staining her face bright red. The figure of the blood-stained girl disheveling her hair reminded the boy of the figure of his former companion. The figure of the girl lying in a pool of blood after being sniped overlapped with the figure of the infected in front of him.
"...Is it okay if you just die already?"
He felt like he heard such a voice from somewhere in his head. The girl he had ended up abandoning. If she were still alive and saw the boy's current figure, what would she say?
Even though he promised to help, he couldn't do anything. She would hate such a boy. She would think he should just die like herself. But—.
"Sorry, but I can't die yet."
With those words, the boy this time let out a front kick toward the girl infected with all his might. The boy's heel pierced right around the solar plexus, and the girl infected, who was blown away due to the weight difference, rolled on the floor.
The boy grabbed that long hair of the infected and slammed that face against the steel frame of a nearby pillar with all his might. And not just once or twice, he slammed the head of the girl infected he grabbed against the hard steel frame repeatedly and obsessively.
A dull sensation of something breaking was transmitted from both hands. While having her face slammed against the steel frame, the infected swung both hands around to catch the boy. The boy slamming the infected's head against the pillar was letting out a war cry unconsciously.
Eventually, strength left both hands of the infected that were being swung around, and they hung down limply to the floor.
The infected, which was moving energetically until just now, had stopped moving before he knew it. When the boy finally let go of that head, the body of the girl infected collapsed to the floor. That face, which had been obsessively slammed against the steel frame, had lost its shape in the literal sense.
The face, which had swollen up, was distorted in shape like the painting of Munch's Scream. The nose was crushed, and all the front teeth were broken. The blood overflowing from the split forehead was staining the face bright red, but from that wound, the white skull was peeping out. Even the skull was cracked, and in the back, the pinkish, squishy brain could be seen.
The eyeballs were about to jump out of the eye sockets like a frog or something. The boy looked at the crushed face of the infected and remembered the figure of a lizard he had accidentally stepped on and killed in the garden a long time ago. The lizard he had stepped on and killed at that time was covered in blood, with its eyeballs jumping out and its tongue protruding from its mouth swinging around.
The girl infected was now only slightly convulsing her body. The blood flowing out from the collapsed face was newly painting the floor, which had turned brown with the dried blood of the previous challengers, in red.
The boy looked at both of his blood-stained hands. As if he had received some kind of curse, several strands of black hair were tangled in his fingers.