Jeffrey, a guard at the Kintner survival camp, couldn’t make sense of the situation.
For hours, Elliot hadn’t come downstairs. Even when the search party was due to return, he hadn’t shown up—a first.
He had heard that a single intruder, a woman, had been locked in one of the rooms.
“She was supposedly stunningly beautiful. No wonder he hasn’t come down.”
“You didn’t recognize her? That’s Cherry Sinclair. The famous heiress from the capital.”
“I overheard someone say she used to be a partner of Mr. El’s. An ex-partner.”
“What? You’re saying she’s his ex-lover?”
Jeffrey stood in the lobby, half-listening to the guards’ idle chatter.
At that moment, one of the search party members stumbled through the hotel lobby doors. The guards turned to him, puzzled.
“What happened to Johan and Tid?”
The man shook his head, his face pale. He was the only one who had made it back alive.
As he collapsed to the floor, his bag fell open, spilling its contents: white powder and what appeared to be herbs.
“What’s that?” Jeffrey asked, but the man sat frozen, unresponsive. Another guard standing nearby repeated the question, annoyed.
“Hey, what is that stuff?”
“It—it was Mr. El’s orders. He told us to grab these from Jeremy’s Herb Shop. He said to take anything useful too, but how was I supposed to know what was useful? So, I just took everything.”
The man rambled incoherently, recounting his ordeal with a vacant look in his eyes. His gaze lacked focus, as if he had been deeply traumatized.
“But the moment we left the shop, those damned monsters just kept coming after us...”
“They always attack people on sight, don’t they?”
“No, this was different. You know how they are—mindless, just charging at whatever’s in front of them. But this time, it was like they had a target. They kept tracking us, like they were marked.”
“Damn, sounds rough.”
The guards consoled him, treating it like just another hazard of going out on a search mission.
BEEEEEP! BEEEEEP!
Suddenly, the shrill sound of a whistle echoed through the air.
“What the hell? Who’s the idiot blowing that thing?”
“Damn it! It’s coming from upstairs!”
“Who’s the lunatic with a whistle!?”
Jeffrey looked around, startled. A cold sweat broke out all over his body as tension gripped him.
“That’s going to draw the monsters!”
While everyone was panicking, the head of the guards barked an order.
“Guards on duty, stay here and secure the entrance. Everyone else, follow me. We have an intruder.”
He loaded his rifle and glanced around at his men. The head guard seemed certain the whistleblower was the intruder—perhaps even an inside spy. Jeffrey had heard rumors of survival camps in other regions targeting Kintner.
The guards raced up the stairs toward the source of the sound.
The whistle seemed to be coming from the fifth floor, but the guards hesitated at the base of the staircase.
“C-Captain... the fifth floor...”
The head guard frowned, staring up at the ominous floor above.
“It’s definitely where the sound came from.”
Jeffrey broke the silence. The captain nodded and issued a firm command.
“I’ll take responsibility. For now, we need to capture whoever it is and stop that noise.”
Even if El found out and punished them later, the immediate danger was clear—if the whistle wasn’t silenced, the monsters would swarm the camp.
BEEEEEP!
The sound rang out again, this time alarmingly close. The empty hallway seemed to amplify its eerie echo, almost as if it came from inside the walls.
BEEEEEP!
“Damn it! Where’s it coming from? Find it now before the monsters get here!”
Jeffrey tried the handle of a door at the end of the hallway, but it was locked. Turning to the captain, he shouted, “This one’s locked!”
The guards rushed over, and the captain banged on the door.
“Mr. El! Are you in there?”
“What the hell are you asking for, you morons! Get in here and save me!”
Save him? It was clear now that the intruder had made it inside. The guards exchanged signals, then broke the door down.
Inside, they were met with a shocking sight.
Their leader, Elliot, was tied to a chair, bound so tightly he couldn’t move. Beside him, Balon and Philip were in the same condition.
The guards stared in disbelief at the scene before them.
‘Are those... broken?’ Jeffrey noticed one of the rifles on the floor, bent at an unnatural angle.
‘How... is that even possible?’
Hrk.
Elliot coughed up blood, drawing their attention to his wounded side. Only then did Jeffrey notice the gunshot wound on Elliot’s torso.
The three captives were positioned precariously near the edge of a balcony railing that looked dangerously unstable. It seemed like they could topple over at any moment, sending a chill through the onlookers.
Standing beside them was a woman. Her dainty, elegant appearance clashed sharply with the menacing axe she held in her hands.
This had to be Cherry Sinclair—the woman the guards had been gossiping about earlier. The heiress to a wealthy family, here in this grotesque situation. Was this some kind of lovers’ quarrel gone wrong? Jeffrey couldn’t wrap his head around it.
“M-Mr. El! Are you all right?” The captain, visibly shaken, called out to Elliot.
Elliot spat a bloody glob onto the floor before looking up.
Cherry let out a sigh, and Elliot flinched as if afraid of her. Elliot—the man they all feared—was scared of this woman.
Her clothes were splattered with blood. She looked less like a damsel and more like the villain the hero defeats at the end of a dark fairy tale.
Jeffrey cautiously whispered to the captain, “She looks easy enough to take down. Should we shoot?”
“We follow Mr. El’s orders, no matter what. Even if it ends up being the wrong decision later.”
At the captain’s words, the guards raised their weapons, pointing them at Cherry, waiting for Elliot’s command.
Suddenly, Cherry smiled—a bright, disarming grin. But she wasn’t looking at them. She was looking past them.
‘No... she’s looking behind us...’
Jeffrey turned around and froze.
Golden hair, a suffocatingly pristine police uniform, and a piercingly cold, handsome face stepped into the room.
“W-What the...? A cop?”
The moment someone uttered those words, three guards standing in front of the police officer dropped their rifles and fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
Everything had happened so quickly that Jeffrey stood frozen, unable to process what was unfolding.
This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.
The guards at the Kintner survival camp had all received combat training directly from Elliot. However, the training was brief and primarily focused on fighting monsters, leaving their skills in human combat woefully inadequate.
After a brief hesitation, the remaining guards opened fire on the officer.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But it was futile. The officer dodged to the side, leaping onto the wall as a springboard, vaulting over their heads. Landing behind the guards, he swiftly disarmed them, taking down one after another.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
“Ahhh!”
In mere moments, all fifteen guards were incapacitated. Watching from a distance, Cherry clapped her hands in applause, while Elliot spewed curses at his utterly useless subordinates.
Jeffrey lay sprawled on the floor, struggling to catch his breath. The officer had struck precisely at their pressure points, rendering them incapable of getting back up.
“Finally, we meet. I followed Miss Cherry’s instructions perfectly. So, how did I do? Was it good?” The officer addressed Cherry, who was standing beside Elliot. Jeffrey groaned in pain as he observed the scene. Around the officer’s neck hung a whistle.
‘Damn it, who the hell are these people?’
The combined strength of those two could have wiped out all the monsters plaguing Kintner. Jeffrey was certain of it.
*****
Ethan darted around the room like a whirlwind, effortlessly subduing the guards.
Through the slightly open door, a vent in the hallway was visible—its cover hanging loose.
“What the hell is that guy?” Elliot asked in a panicked voice. I smacked the back of his head.
“Shut up. You can’t beat Ethan anyway. Neither can I.”
Elliot turned to glare at me, his bloodied face looking particularly menacing.
“Wait a minute... Ethan?” Elliot repeated the name, his expression shifting as he turned back to look at Ethan. Recognition dawned on his face, and his voice rose in panic.
“Ethan Duncan Lancaster?!”
Finally realizing who Ethan was, Elliot let out a desperate cry.
“Shit, why is someone like him here?!”
Hearing that, I suddenly remembered Ethan’s identity too. Normally, he didn’t carry himself like someone of great stature, so it was easy to forget.
By now, Ethan had taken down the last of the guards. I clapped my hands enthusiastically.
“I was waiting for you. I didn’t expect such a dramatic entrance, though.”
Ethan turned toward me, offering a dazzling smile as he shrugged. He exuded confidence, utterly unbothered by the situation.
And he had every right to be. The only reason we could afford to be so relaxed was thanks to Ethan’s brilliant tactical planning. I recalled a conversation we’d had earlier.
“When we’re exploring the underground passageways, we don’t know what lies ahead. What do we do if we get separated unexpectedly?” I had asked.
“What do you mean, what do we do? We meet up again, of course.”
“Be serious. If it’s just monsters, we can fight them off and regroup. But what if we run into another group of survivors?”
“If they’re a threat, we neutralize them.”
“What if we’re separated?”
“Hmm... In that case, think of it like a chessboard.”
“A chessboard?”
“I’ll take care of capturing the pawns. Cherry, you focus on the queen. Let’s aim for a checkmate.”