Volume 9 Resident Evil 6: Chapter 56 The Ace Pilot
The Hotel Building—
"???...!!!"
After eating and drinking its fill, the centaur that Simmons had transformed into suddenly let out a comfortable roar and shook its skeletal head.
Without hesitation, this massive centaur immediately fixed its gaze on Javier and Sherry, then raised its hooves and began to stomp. Soon, it was galloping wildly toward them like it had gone mad.
"Clatter, clatter, clatter—!!!!"
Compared to its previous saber-toothed tiger form,
Simmons' centaur form was undoubtedly more than twice as fast.
The thundering of its galloping hooves was deafening, as if a surging tide of beasts was charging head-on, rather than just a single centaur.
In the blink of an eye, it reached Javier and Sherry with lightning speed.
Facing the two people who were like ants before it, the centaur Simmons' fierce eyes flashed, and it raised its hooves high again, preparing to trample them to death, attempting to crush Javier and Sherry directly.
"Scatter...!"
Javier still adhered to his previous tactic, acting as the bait himself while telling Sherry to stay away, only needing her to provide occasional long-range support.
After all, this kind of bio-organic monster was no longer something a girl like Sherry could participate in. One mistake... and Sherry could very likely suffer extremely serious injuries.
Furthermore, Sherry only had the high-speed recovery ability of the G-Virus, which was too one-dimensional. Thus, Javier didn't want anything happening to her; she just needed to stay to the side and provide harassment.
"Boom—!!!"
"Crack...!!!"
The massive hooves came crashing down.
Javier quickly rolled to dodge, easily evading the strike, while the massive hooves slammed heavily into the ground.
The hard stone tiles instantly shattered into countless fragments that went flying,
and a half-meter-wide crater of cracks was stomped into the ground. This showed how strong Simmons' centaur form was, not at all inferior to the previous saber-toothed tiger.
"???...!!!"
Having missed its strike,
the centaur let out an annoyed neigh, and the segments of vertebrae on its body quickly twisted and elongated.
The sharp bone spikes atop the centaur's head lunged at Javier like spears, as if a unicorn were using its horn as a weapon to gore about. The offensive was terrifying.
"Get back..."
Seeing this, Javier quickly rose from the ground, gripping the steel blade he had just used to cut off the head of the saber-toothed tiger Simmons.
At the critical moment,
he seized the opportunity, leaping to dodge the centaur's lethal thrust, and then swung the steel blade down fiercely, striking one of the sharp bone spikes.
"Crack...!"
Against the hard bone spike, the steel blade smashed it apart. The spike turned into a large amount of bone debris that scattered on the ground, while the centaur Simmons recoiled in pain.
The jagged remains of the spike flicked upward violently.
Even without the point, it still caught Javier's clothes like a hook, and like a maddened bull, it tossed the cowboy Javier into the air. He spun out of control in mid-air before slamming heavily onto the ground with a muffled thud.
"Bang...!"
"Cough, cough...!!!"
He was tossed about four or five meters high,
and the force was significant. Javier hit the ground like a ragdoll, a feeling of chest tightness washing over him.
Javier coughed violently,
unable to stop a trace of sweetness from welling up in his mouth. A crisp 'crack' sounded from his right shoulder as he landed; it was clearly broken.
There was no helping it;
falling from that height without breaking a bone was difficult.
Fortunately, Javier possessed the power of the G-Virus and T-Virus. Otherwise, in the past, a single hit like this would have basically stripped him of his combat capability.
"Javier, damn it...!"
Seeing this from the other side, Sherry cried out in alarm. The injury of her cheap old dad
made Sherry very angry. Without a word, she quickly chambered a round, aimed, and pulled the trigger, firing several incendiary armor-piercing rounds from the muzzle of her barrett heavy sniper rifle.
Several bullets accurately hit the joints of the centaur Simmons' limbs, shattering the long skeletal joints.
Directly destroying its center of gravity, the centaur Simmons immediately wobbled and collapsed to the ground, temporarily losing its ability to pursue.
Even though she was emotional,
Sherry had not forgotten Javier's teachings.
She still aimed the bullets at the joints of the centaur Simmons' limbs,
rather than its head. This gave Javier ample time to recover, and he immediately struggled to his feet and retreated.
After all, Simmons' centaur form didn't really have a head; even if it did, it was just a stack of bones. Incendiary armor-piercing rounds were useless against those parts, whereas breaking the limb joints to render it immobile for a short time was the most effective way to attack.
"..."
"???——!!!"
Feeling its limbs unable to move, the centaur Simmons let out another roar. The C-Virus inside its body surged, and the broken limb joints were enveloped in a mass of flesh and bone.
It began to barely regain its mobility. The fallen centaur Simmons quickly stood up, and white bone plating appeared over the limb joints.
It was now covered in a layer of bone armor. This was undoubtedly the autonomous defense instinct of the C-Virus; wherever it was injured,
the virus would quickly respond.
While repairing, it also prevented secondary injuries to those sites, acting like a reinforced firewall that fixed whatever was weak.
Now that the skeletal limbs were encased in white bone armor, it would be much harder for incendiary armor-piercing rounds to break them. Even if they did, it wouldn't cause the immediate collapse seen earlier.
"Do I have to use it...?"
Watching the centaur Simmons quickly recover, Javier couldn't help but mutter to himself. Soon, a vial of red blood serum appeared in his hand.
In the current situation,
it seemed no one but himself could stop Simmons' destruction, so Javier was hesitant.
Should he also undergo a G-Virus transformation and engage in a real man's brawl with this C-Virus monster, to see if the old-school G-Virus was superior or if the C-Virus was a cut above?
As for this red blood serum, it was Lisa's Diluted Blood. If consumed, it could provide Javier with a massive energy reserve. With this vast energy supplement,
Javier could recklessly enter the G3 or G4 states. However, transforming into a bio-organic monster always carried risks, so Javier was still hesitant. He was a bit worried about whether he could maintain control over his mind.
"Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat...!!!"
"Vroom, vroom..."
As if sensing Javier's hesitation,
at this moment on the hotel building's rooftop, the deafening roar of an engine suddenly rang out. Looking up, a helicopter was taking off.
The black rotors spun at high speed, creating a powerful gale.
Almost all the zombies wandering nearby heard the roar of the helicopter's engine and began to gather toward the hotel building.
And finally, after much anticipation, the duo of Leon and Helena, who had been assigned the important support mission, finally started Carla's helicopter. It slowly ascended and began circling above Javier and Sherry.
The person piloting the helicopter was Leon, which made Javier breathe a slight sigh of relief; it was the 'Death Pilot.'
Although Resident Evil's debuff curse on helicopters and other vehicles was very severe—and Leon himself was a walking Vehicle Killer—
fortunately,
the person casting the curse wouldn't be affected by its backlash.
Therefore, Javier could fully trust Leon's helicopter piloting skills. As long as Helena wasn't the one at the controls,
there shouldn't be a Kobe-style crash. After all, Javier had never seen Leon actually crash a helicopter before.
While this helicopter was a standard transport model, it was still equipped with some weaponry.
For instance, at the rear cabin door, a heavy machine gun was mounted for strafing.
And on both sides of the helicopter's wings and below the cockpit, two rocket pods and an autocannon were also mounted.
The firepower certainly wasn't as fierce as a proper attack helicopter, but it was just barely enough for high-altitude strikes!
"Pfft... sizzle, sizzle..."
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Javier. Aerial support will arrive shortly. Until then, I'll have to trouble you to continue acting as bait for a bit,"
"It's my first time piloting a helicopter, so my aim is a bit off. I'll need your help to pin down this monster incarnation of Simmons,"
At that moment,
Leon's voice suddenly came from the circling helicopter. Using the broadcast system, Leon, wearing a pilot's helmet, joked directly to Javier below.
Setting aside the 'femme fatale' issues, the relationship between Javier and Leon could be described as frenemies.
Thus, without the interference of women, Javier and Leon could perform tactical coordination, and their chemistry was quite good.
After all, they had collaborated in Raccoon City, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Spain incident, so they were very familiar with each other.
As for the helicopter,
it was indeed Leon's first time officially piloting one.
Although as a high-level agent, he had learned how to fly helicopters,
and even had a license, having him pilot one into combat was indeed a first for Leon, so he seemed slightly flustered.
"It's fine..."
"As long as you don't pull a Kobe and crash...!"
To this, Javier silently thought to himself. Pinning down Simmons was a small matter; Javier's only fear was the helicopter crashing due to the debuff.
If that happened, it would be real trouble. But because of the timely support from Leon and Helena,
Javier tactfully put the blood serum away. Since he still had strength left, there was no need to use that trump card yet.
"..."
"???——!!!!"
While Javier was momentarily distracted, the centaur Simmons before him let out another neighing charge signal. Having recovered its limbs, it continued to charge wildly toward Javier.
Even the bone spike on its head that had been smashed by the steel blade had quickly returned to its original state, stabbing forward like a charging knight's lance.