"Krrau!"
Just then, a growling sound was heard at the end of the hallway. With hated perception, Shiryu detected several enemies approaching towards them.
"I'll open the way quickly."
Asagi drew her sword and was ready to lunge forward. In her opinion, she was able to defeat the zombies ahead with ease.
But Shiryu said, "Wait a moment."
"?" Asagi stopped.
Yuko and Sayo were curious why Shiryu stopped Asagi.
Shiryu pointed his gun forward. The approaching zombies showed their forms. But unlike ordinary zombies, they had bulging muscles and sharp nails-crawling on the walls and ceiling of the corridor.
There were four in total.
"Their appearance..."
Sayo frowned.
Shiryu explained, "The zombies in this place are different from the regular zombies and Alpha. They're like lizards that can stick to walls and have pretty hard bodies. Asagi, you should coat your sword with Taima particles to cut them."
"I see."
Asagi replied and instantly, the sword in her hand glowed with purple light. Then, her figure flickered and appeared among the zombies stuck to the ceiling of the corridor.
She unleashed several slashes at high speed. In just an instant, the zombies that had been genetically modified by Syringe were dismembered.
"There are still many of them on the other side of the corridor. I'll kill them all and move on."
Asagi's eyes flashed.
"What!? Hey, you should leave some for me too, Asagi!"
"Sayo, this is not the time for that."
Sayo chased after Asagi, she didn't want to miss out on killing the remaining enemies.
Yuko said that, but she also immediately ran to catch up with the two women.
The cries of the modified zombies filled the hallway and the sound of explosions from Sayo's blows could also be heard frequently.
"I haven't said that those zombies have regeneration abilities. To kill them, you'd have to cut their bodies into pieces or destroy them in a single strike. But... That seems unnecessary."
It was more correct to say for the women in his group this time, the regeneration ability that the modified zombies possessed was useless.
"As expected of my future wife."
Shiryu smiled faintly and darted off like a black shadow. He exchanged the Dessert Eagle for the sword in his inventory.
The sword moved with frightening precision. Each swing not only decapitated, but split the modified zombies' bodies into pieces in the blink of an eye before they could react.
To do that, he only used the Blood Pointer. His already incredible physical strength like Captain America was doubled.
The bodies of the modified zombies were hard, but to Shiryu—they were like soft tofu and easy to cut.
"Hahaha! I won't lose!" Sayo laughed as she watched Shiryu and the others slaughter the zombies that filled the hallway.
She swung her iron-glove-covered fist, "Smasher!"
The punch struck the floor and cracked the concrete. The shockwave sent the surrounding zombies bouncing and shattering into pieces.
The physical strength of a living person after being injected with the D99 virus was no less incredible than Captain America.
Yuko stood tall among the pile of zombies that turned into minced meat after being slashed by her.
She paused for a moment and glanced at Sayo, "How noisy you are, Sayo. Focus and don't let their blood get into your mouth."
"Hmph! I know."
Sayo snorted and continued to swing her fists vigorously.
Yuko sighed.
"Koujinka (Art of Transparency)!" Asagi shouted the name of her move.
In an instant, her movements became a flash of blue light. She passed through the crowd of zombies at lightning speed. Every zombie she passed by was split into four pieces within a few seconds. She then said, "Is it just me or are these zombies being controlled by someone? Their movements are often coordinated."
Shiryu replied, "You're not wrong, they are indeed controlled by a human from somewhere."
Hearing what he said, the three beauties were stunned for a moment.
The zombies were being controlled by a human!?
"Syringe... They really have planned another evil thing."
Yuko walked beside Shiryu and looked at the giant iron door in front of them coldly.
The door was obviously locked and could only be opened if the mechanism was pressed. For anyone else, this would be a dead end.
But for them...
"Sayo, do you want to destroy it? If not, I'll do it myself."
"Leave it to me!"
Shiryu allowed Sayo to show off her power.
Under the gaze of everyone including the people in the monitoring room, Sayo's eyes flashed like a beast and she swung her fist forward.
*Boom!!*
With a single blow, she managed to punch a large hole in the metal door blocking their way.
Asagi's lips twitched, "That kind of physical strength reminds me of a certain species of Demon."
"You mean Ogres?"
Shiryu guessed.
He knew in the Taimanin series, Ogres were one of the demon species.
They had such incredible physical strength that they could punch through steel or concrete walls with their fists.
However, creatures that strong are only low-ranking demons because they lack intelligence.
Even so, it was a different story if they were talking about a hybrid species of Ogre and Oni.
If I'm not mistaken, he was one of the mini-bosses with a size and physical strength greater than that of an ordinary Ogre. Not only that, he had an intelligence on par with humans.
That makes him a medium-ranked demon.
Asagi nodded, "Yes."
She was not surprised Shiryu even knew about it.
After all, when he told them about the enemies' information so far, he was already like a prophet.
"I heard what you two said. Please don't equate a woman as beautiful as me with an Ogre."
Sayo looked at Asagi and Shiryu with veins protruding on her forehead.
She was a little annoyed.
Yuko smiled amusedly, but she looked at the people with guns rushing towards them with a cold light in her eyes.
"Let me pave the way this time. My hands are itchy, I have to make up for it by cleaning up people's trash."
Shiryu and the others did not stop her.
Fearlessly, Yuko walked towards a group of enemies who were ready to shoot.
"Bitch, how dare you run towards us! Everyone, shoot!"
One of the Syringe members who led the group shouted with anger in his voice.
The other members did as he said.
They all shot Yuko and even the people behind her. However, Yuko blocked all the shots with her sword skills.
She cut off every bullet that was about to hit her or pass through her. With a few very quick slashes, she beheaded every person in front of her.
In a dark room lit only by dozens of monitor screens, a man in a blood-stained white lab coat-Dr. Vile, one of the top brass of Syringe's research division-stared at the screen with wide eyes and a prominent vein on his forehead.
In front of him, the monitor screen displayed the massacre that Shiryu and his group had committed. Especially Yuko, she had just obliterated the bodyguard troops sent in a matter of seconds
Dr. Vile slammed into the control table until it was dented. "Damn it! How is that possible?! Not only are the zombies modified, that many armed troops aren't even enough to kill four intruders! Are they still human!?"
The operator controlling each monitor trembled, his fingers dancing over the keyboard. "Report, Doc! Those four will reach this room soon. I've closed every door, but it's not slowing them down one bit!"
Dr. Vile grabbed the operator by the collar. "I don't need a failure report! Look at that!" He pointed to the screen that was still showing Yuko cutting off each person that went her way. "I recognize two of them. They are members of the Black Label, our sworn enemies—Yuko Sagiri and Sayo Hitsugi. Each of them has superhuman strength. With that kind of power... The ordinary soldiers in this place won't be able to stop them!"
"So, what should we do?" The operator asked nervously.
Dr. Vile shouted over the intercom. "Listen to me, all remaining units! Blockade the corridor leading to the central sector! Activate Overdrive protocols on all subjects still in the tube! Don't let a bastard and those bitches step a single meter closer to this room!"
The voice of a commander in the field came over the communication device: "But Doc, if we release all the subjects now, this facility will be destroyed and-"
Dr. Vile interrupted him, "DESTROY IT ALONE! I'd rather burn this place down than let my research data fall into the hands of Black Label! Use all firearms, nerve gas, or blow up the corridors if necessary! STOP THEM RIGHT NOW!"
Having overcome that until his throat hurt, he looked back at the screen and saw Shiryu who suddenly stopped and looked directly at the camera where he was.
He did so as if he knew Dr. Vile was watching from there.
"That bastard... Who is he? His power isn't normal either."
Back to Shiryu's side of the group.
Before they could reach the room with the other giant door. The ceiling of the corridor split open, and a giant zombie figure with many spiny tentacles and a heart beating outside its body appeared. His code name was 'Abaddon'. He let out a roar that shook the foundation of the corridor. Around him, there were also modified zombies that seemed to be under his command.
"Ugh... Did we finally meet a zombie boss or something?"
Sayo made a disgusted expression.
Asagi and Yuko frowned.
The former said to everyone, "Be careful, that biggest zombie seems a bit troublesome."
Shiryu walked forward calmly and sheathed his sword back into its sheath. He was now standing with his bare hands.
"All of you, back off a bit. They are all my opponents."
Shiryu clenched his right fist. Suddenly, an extremely dense and luminous green aura began to envelop his entire body. The air around him seemed to be sucked towards his fist.
He used the Blood Pointer at maximum output.
With a single movement that was barely caught by the eye, Shiryu slid forward and delivered a single straight punch right into the core of the giant monster's chest.
*BOOM!!*
A pillar-shaped wave of green energy exploded out from the point of impact. Instead of disintegrating from the physical impact, Abaddon-and the rest of the modified zombies left in his wake-seemed to freeze. Their life energy was "locked up" and destroyed from within by Shiryu's green energy flow. After just one second had passed, their bodies exploded.
However, that was not all.
The green energy shot also instantly shattered the 20-centimeter-thick iron door in front of him.
"Wow... That's a really powerful blow!"
Sayo exclaimed.
She, Asagi and Yuko looked at Shiryu's back with admiration in their eyes.
Shiryu strode towards the room in front of him calmly, but in his heart? He smirked.
'The feeling of showing off in front of beautiful women is really nice. They must be falling in love with me right now.'
[Host, is that all you think about in this situation?]
'That's right.'
Shiryu answered System-chan without hesitation.
He didn't take seriously a man in a white lab coat who seemed to be the leader of the place.
Dr. Vile was dumbfounded, he looked at Shiryu whose body was still enveloped in green aura with a horrified gaze.
"N-no way... One hit? My entire test subjects... my troops... are gone in an instant?!"
Shiryu walked slowly through the smoke of the explosion, his footsteps echoing on the now cracked metal floor. He stopped right in front of Dr. Vile and ignored the few people around him.
Asagi, Sayo and Yuko stood behind him.
Their mere presence was enough to make the remaining Syringe members dare not move.
Dr. Vile stepped back crawling until his back hit the operator's chair and he screamed in fear. "Don't come any closer, monster! What are you, a monster?"
Shiryu grabbed Dr. Vile by the neck and lifted him into the air. "I don't have time for your hysterics. I'll give you a choice, die or tell us information about the location of Syringe's main headquarters and a vaccine that can prevent people from being infected. You should have it."
Dr. Vile choked, her legs kicking the air. "P-pardon me... I'll talk! But please, don't kill me!"
He didn't want to die and would rather divulge the information his organization had.
This is easier than I thought, Shiryu thought.
"Say it quickly."
Dr. Vile stammered, "The vaccine data is on... on an encrypted drive in my suit pocket! And the main headquarters... the main headquarters is on a remote island, off the coast of Tokonosu city! Please... let me go!"
Yuko approached while holding the data drive she took from Dr. Vile's pocket. "I've confirmed the coordinates of Syringe's main headquarters. It's actually one of the places that Black Label has been suspecting. Shiryu, he doesn't seem to be lying about the location of the main base."
Shiryu dropped Dr. Vile to the floor and looked at him indifferently, "You can die now."
"Wait, what? I already gave you what you wanted! You have to keep your promise not to kill me!"
Dr. Vile panicked when the man in front of him pointed a gun at his head.
"Promise? When did I promise not to kill you?"
Shiryu made a confused expression and pulled the trigger of the Dessert Eagle. A gunshot rang out, Dr. Vile's head exploded on the spot.
The remaining Syringe members were terrified but before they could escape, Asagi and Sayo killed them.
In just under half an hour, they had completely destroyed the Tokyo branch of the Syringe organization's headquarters.
Before leaving, Shiryu didn't forget to update the contents of his diary.
[We got it!]
The heroines out there wondered what Shiryu had gotten that he would make his writing look so excited.
[Me, Asagi, Sayo and Yuko have destroyed one of the branches of the Syringe organization's headquarters.]
[In the process, I interrogated a man whose name was... I didn't bother to ask who he was. I just threatened him to tell us the location of Syringe's main headquarters and the data on the Rage Virus vaccine! After that, I killed him.]
Wh-What!?
Vaccine? You mean the drug that makes people immune to the virus?
Many of them didn't really care about the main headquarters of the Syringe organization. After all, such things were better left to Shiryu and the battle-hardened women in her group.
They were more interested in the Rage Virus vaccine that he had managed to obtain. That was clearly more important for humanity.
One of them, Shizuka Mikazuki even felt that she couldn't stay where she was.
She thought of Shiryu and picked up her cell phone.
"Should I at least send him a message asking how he's doing first? It's a bit rude if I directly ask about the vaccine when our relationship isn't close."
In the original work, she had never taken the initiative to contact the protagonist Akira.
But when, she typed 'Hey, are you okay?' and sent it via Line to Shiryu.
*Ding!*
One second later, Shiryu replied to her message.
[Shiryu: Thank you for worrying about me, I'm glad a woman as beautiful as you did.]
"So fast...! And Shiryu... Your words are a bit greasy!"
Mikazuki was surprised and amused.
Back to the monitoring room.
Asagi, Sayo, and Yuko glanced at Shiryu who was quickly replying to a message from someone with curiosity.
Who had contacted him?
"I know you're curious who the person who just sent me a message is. I'll answer your questions... She's our new prospective member."
Shiryu honestly told the women.
"Ah, so she's a woman." Sayo said with a flat expression.
Is that what you're supposed to say?
Weird.
[You are the only weird person here, host.]
...
Inside her office—the leader of the Syringe organization, Reika Azuma sat with her back to a glass workbench filled with holograms of biological data.
The blue light from the monitor reflected off her glasses and her elegant yet menacing black lab coat.
The silence is instantly broken as an aide enters hurriedly.
He bowed low, his body trembling and he said, "Report, Princess! The Tokyo branch of our organization's headquarters... has been completely destroyed. Dr. Vile was killed, and the entire Abaddon unit and project were completely destroyed."
"...." Reika was silent.
She did not jump into action and turned her wheelchair to look at the man in front of her with an icy gaze that would make most people shudder.
"Destroyed? The facility with the high-level security system was destroyed? Tell me, how many battalions of government troops invaded the place for Vile to fail defense protocols?"
Her aide nervously replied. "Not government troops, princess. The last monitoring camera caught four intruders. We don't recognize the identity of one of them but the rest have been identified."
Reika snorted. "Four people? How could they even kill Abaddon? Who were they?"
The aide replied, "Two women from the Black Label organization... Yuko Sagiri and Sayo Hitsugi. They were the ones who slaughtered the armed forces."
Reika gripped the back of her wheelchair. "Black Label?! How dare those cleaning dogs meddle in the affairs of human evolution! They think they can amputate my grand plan?!"
She lost her composure.
After all, this wasn't the first time that people from the Black Label had gotten in the way of his plans.
The aide continued, "Yes, princess... and also a man whose identity we know. He was the one who destroyed Abaddon and the entire reserve army with just one attack. The green energy he released... we have never seen such power parameters before. His name is Sou Shiryu."
Reika widened her eyes, her beautiful face now flushed with anger. "Sou Shiryu?! It's him again?!"
Before this, she had gotten information about Shiryu and knew he was a high school boy.
He was one year younger than her.
At first she was interested in recruiting him and making him one of her dogs, but after finding out he was cooperating with the people from Black Label...
"If I can't have him, I'll destroy him so others can't have him."
Unfortunately, Shiryu did not hear what Reika said.
If he did, he couldn't help but say: Girl, are you a yandere? We've never met in person, but you're already so fascinated by me.