The officer in Exoskeleton Armor stood amid the crowd, looking at the Old Man standing at the end of the Blood Pool, then at the soldiers around him who hesitated amid the blood and corpses. He raised his arm.
"Fire!!! Fire!!! That is your enemy! Fire!!!"
His voice traveled down the corridor, echoing through the blood-soaked space.
Some soldiers raised their guns, but more of the lightly equipped soldiers lowered their heads, staring at the blood and bodies in hesitation.
They were not complete rookies. They had hunted mutated beasts in the wilderness and killed cultists guilty of terrible crimes. They knew not everyone in this world could be killed by bullets, and they knew how vast the gap was between a powerful extraordinary being and ordinary soldiers.
"Battalion commander, the terrain is unfavorable to us right now. We can't bring our firepower advantage into play,"
a soldier said, raising his head to look at the officer before him. "We should move to open ground."
"A bunch of cowards."
The officer snatched the machine gun from a soldier beside him.
On a narrow path, retreating now would completely shatter their morale. By the time they reached open ground, all they could do would be throw down their weapons and surrender.
"Fire!!!"
The officer raised the machine gun and pulled the trigger.
And at the very instant the surging muzzle flame burst from the machine gun, the Old Man at the end of the alley looked up at him.
In that instant, everyone's vision seemed to sway.
The Old Man leaning on his cane seemed to still be standing there.
Yet he also seemed to have vanished from before their eyes long ago.
Pfft.
A crisp sound rang in everyone's ears.
The spraying muzzle flame went out in that instant. The