Chapter 83: Really Big Boy
Unlike the other Paths, he didn’t consider the Path of Concord to be anything special.
He realized that, for various reasons, this was a biased view, but he couldn’t help himself.
And although it was the only Path available in Concord, he didn’t know what abilities that big guy might possess.
This was one of the main differences between the Path of Concord and the others. Even at the First Step level, abilities could vary greatly from person to person.
He knew almost nothing about the other paths in this regard. At first glance, their abilities might differ from person to person, but not so drastically.
"Cracking open a barrel with a finger..." he said wearily, looking down at his empty hands.
Super Marty kept moaning, already hiding behind the guard’s legs. A silver dagger was sticking out of his leg.
’Mistake... But at least he won’t get far now.’
"You..." Alfredo, towering over him by more than half a meter, looked around the room in horror at the three corpses. When his gaze settled on Sexy Bomb’s bloodied face, he took off his dark glasses. "YOU’RE FUCKING DONE!!!"
"He’s shooting lasers out of his eyes!!!"—a girl’s scream rang out behind him.
’...What?’
Before he had time to be shocked, Alfredo’s eyes flashed red.
Mr. Nobody darted to the left and jumped up.
"Aaaaaaaaah!!!" The guard screamed furiously and blasted out of his eyes.
Where Mister Nobody’s feet had been just a moment ago, there were now two scorched lines.
"..." He pushed off the wall with his foot, swung his fist, and leaped straight at Alfredo.
*Clang!* He punched him in the face, but instead of the usual sound of a fist hitting flesh, there was the sound of metal clanging against metal.
’Does he have a metal head too?!’
"He needs time between blasts!!!"
He would have gladly thanked the girl for the tips if he hadn’t been standing right in front of the guard at that moment.
"Ghaaaa!!!" Alfredo clenched his fists and brought them down like a hammer.
Mr. Nobody’s heart sank. A premonition of death.
"..." Obeying his instincts, he rolled forward, slipping right between the giant’s legs.
Popping back to his feet in a single leap, he found himself with his back to the guard and his face toward the open door.
The moment Alfredo turned around, he kicked sharply backward.
*Thud* His heel struck the guard squarely in the groin.
"Ugh...!" With a pained gasp, the guard doubled over for a couple of moments. That one actually hurt.
Without wasting a second, Mr. Nobody bolted away from him.
’Where did that bastard go?’
Looking around in panic, he couldn’t find Super Marty or his dagger anywhere.
Quickly following the trail of blood, he realized the man had fled into the main hall.
"I’ll kill you!!!" He heard behind him.
This was getting bad.
Glancing over his shoulder, he quickly ran toward the stage.
...
Hundreds of people were spinning in the neon lights and moving in sync with the music...
But interestingly, this music was only in their heads. Literally.
With a Neodeck, you didn’t need headphones anymore. The recorded song was just lip-synced to the track.
Despite this, they couldn’t take their admiring eyes off the lead singer with the microphone on stage.
"..." Meeting their gazes, Liliana pretended to smile happily and simply moved her lips to the music playing in the background.
Apart from her initial greeting, she didn’t utter a single word throughout the entire performance.
Of course, she would have loved to sing along to her own songs, but unfortunately, that was forbidden.
The reason was simple—it might have ruined the audience’s happy musical illusion.
On top of that, after years of such performances, she herself had developed a fear of accidentally letting her voice slip and ruining everything.
In fact, now she didn’t even know if she sang well or if she could do it at all.
All she knew were those admiring glances, constantly ogling her half-naked body.
’...God, I fucking hate you all,’ she thought with the sweetest smile and spun around so that her skirt lifted, revealing her underwear.
The audience erupted once again in shouts of delight.
At moments like this, Liliana wanted only one thing...
’...Hope your heads get blown the fuck off,’ she thought, blowing a kiss to the crowd.
Of course, that was impossible... But having experienced when the entire crowd was crying in rage and throwing up at their own feet, she couldn’t help but start dreaming of something more.
Even if it were just a single drop of blood, if it could change all those looks...
’What? Marty...?’
Super Marty’s face was covered in tears and blood.
Barely staying on his feet, he made his way through the crowd of dancing onlookers.
"..." Liliana’s eyes widened.
A flicker of ecstasy flashed in her eyes when the light fell on the blade sticking out of Marty’s leg.
His whole appearance reminded her of prey running away from someone.
If he were running away, then someone must be chasing him. Thinking that, Liliana shifted her gaze even further to the left... And found what she was looking for.
"...My devil," she whispered, her eyes glowing.
...
Bright colors, flickering in the darkness, slashed across his face along with the sounds of rhythmic music.
Mr. Nobody’s face was grim. Things were definitely not going his way.
His disguise was having almost the opposite effect. His target was running away. A real monster was chasing him from behind.
"...On top of that, the music is total crap," he muttered discontentedly, slipping through the crowd.
The crowd was so dense that he could barely make out the limping Super Marty anymore. But he was faster, which meant he was definitely catching up to him...
And that applied to the one behind him, too.
It wasn’t hard to spot Alfredo. He was like a huge, massive brute, plowing through the crowd by simply shoving everyone around him.
’At this rate, he’ll attract too much attention, and then everything will get even worse... Shit.’
"..." He jumped up deliberately and met Alfredo’s gaze.
Next, Mr. Nobody ducked low and moved left—toward the edge of the crowd.
As he went, he pulled off his jacket and tie, leaving him in just a shirt.
He simply tossed the jacket aside and wrapped the tie around his hands.
When the crowd ended, he caught the guard’s eye and crouched even lower.
From the look on his face, Alfredo was ready to snap and burn the entire crowd with lasers, just to finally see his target.
Mr. Nobody walked in the opposite direction until he was level with him. Then he went back into the crowd and began following Alfredo from behind.
"Ugh..." He exhaled nervously. "...Looks like I’ll have to crack that barrel open with my fingers after all."
And he had to do it as quickly as possible.
t Alfredo’s gaze.
Next, Mr. Nobody crouched down and began moving to the left—toward the edge of the crowd.
As he went, he pulled off his jacket and tie, leaving him in just a shirt.
He simply tossed the jacket aside and held the tie in both hands.
When the crowd ended, he caught the guard’s eye and crouched even lower.
From the look on his face, it seemed to Alfredo that he was ready to snap and burn the entire crowd with lasers, just to finally see his target.
Mr. Nobody walked in the opposite direction until he was level with him. Then he went back into the crowd and began following Alfredo from behind.
"Ugh..." He exhaled nervously. "Looks like I’ll really have to open that huge can with my fingers."
And he had to do it as quickly as possible.