The moment I heard the loud boom of the explosion behind me, I stopped running.
The bomb's impact was strong enough that I would've taken serious injuries if I'd stayed close. After all, it was one of the strongest bombs available... but I knew it wouldn't kill them all — especially the Rank 3 ones.
So, the moment the sound of the explosion went off, I turned around and started running in the other direction back toward the elevator.
I pulled out the swords I'd taken earlier and tightened my grip on them; I had to kill them before they recovered from the shock.
I circulated the essence inside my body, and felt my muscles harden, loaded with raw strength.
Within a few moments, I reached the site of the explosion, the smoke and the dust filled the area, but that didn't matter to me.
I could feel them, and through the thick smoke, I saw them — two glowing human lights. They belonged to the two Rank 3s, which means the others were already dead.
I entered the cloud of chaos and reached one of them. He was still stunned from the explosion. My muscles tensed, and I gritted my teeth, then swung my sword at his neck with all my strength.
I felt the metal cutting through the flesh, his head separated from his body smoothly, and the glow of his soul disappeared a moment later... now one was left.
I felt the other person rushing at me, her scream echoing in the place.
"You damn monster!" It was a woman's voice, torn, like a solid mass was stuck in her throat.
She was already beside me when the first one's head fell on the ground, I twisted my body and turned as fast as I could, raising my swords into a defensive stance.
What followed was a violent collision, my bones trembled, my feet sank into the shattered ground, and the smoke scattered from the shockwave.
There was supposed to be a woman standing in front of me. Her face was burned black, and nothing was left intact except her eyes. Her armor was torn everywhere, revealing her body full of horrific wounds.
And the worst of it was her left leg — the flesh was torn and hanging loose, revealing white bone that the blood had just started to stain.
She raised her sword to strike again, but this time I was ready. While she was completely injured, I was still at the top of my level. I stepped to the left and used one sword to block her attack, which drew an angry snarl from her. With my other sword, I lunged straight into her chest, piercing her flesh.
She let out a scream of pain, and lost her balance on her ruined left leg. I took the chance, and with my other hand I cut toward her neck, my sword split the burned flesh, and separated her head from the rest of her body, falling with a muffled sound on the ground.
I stood there, catching my breath. The fight only lasted a few seconds, but it drained me. I looked around at the limbs and the corpses scattered among the rubble. I'd wiped out the strongest unit here.
With the elevator destroyed it was no longer usable, so I started running looking for another elevator.
The wave jammer was still in my pocket, disabling all the nearby cameras. For a moment the sound of my steps and my breathing was the only thing audible... then the sharp sound of the alarms echoed, ringing throughout the facility.
It looks like they were alerting all the units now and sending them after me, tracking my location through the chip in my pocket.
And finally, I found another elevator and went in without hesitating. I pressed the button for the third upper floor and the elevator started rising. It wasn't long before the doors opened again. This floor was full of cages and containment rooms, holding monsters naturally. They weren't very strong, just between Rank 1 and 2.
I started running again. I ran into several people on the way, but they were weak — most of them only Rank 1. Before they even realized what's happening, my sword separated their heads from their bodies. The blood covered the corridors.
I didn't feel any pity. There wasn't a single innocent person in this place.
I felt many strong presences, coming closer to me from every direction. My target was the control room on this floor. My plan was simple: open the prison doors holding the monsters and let the chaos devour this place.
There was a strong presence coming closer down the corridor in front of me, stopping to fight here would give them time to surround me from every side. So, I pulled out a bomb, set it to one second, then twisted my body and threw it forward with all my strength, pressing the activation button during the throw.
And at the same time, a group of fighters appeared around a hundred and fifty meters in front of him — exactly where the bomb landed from my throw.
And the next moment, the ground shook with a booming explosion that swept through the area. I rushed straight into the dust cloud, feeling their lives go out as they left this world forever.
Fragments of debris hit me, leaving surface wounds on my body, but I ignored them and kept moving forward while the facility's layout formed clearly in my mind from my memories.
And while running, I passed many huge, armored doors... behind them, I could feel the monsters held inside... and finally, at the end of the corridor, I saw it — a door with the name control room.
My biggest advantage was that they had no idea what I really want, because from another point of view, my movements look random.
The corridors were full of alarms and flashing red lights. I reached the door and ran the card I had over it for it to open.
There were three people inside... most likely the ones in charge of running this place... but I didn't care.
"N-no... please, 01, no!"
I moved between them, my swords slitting their throats and separating their heads from their bodies in a moment.
I had about a minute before they surrounded this room. I scanned the area and saw countless buttons, each one carrying a room number.
I ran my hand over them and pressed them all at once. A message appeared asking for security authorization. I searched one of the corpses, found another card, then scanned it.
After a few moments, loud sounds went off — like huge doors opening at the same time. I turned around and came out of the room, feeling the people they'd sent after me getting closer to me. But this time, there were new allies.
The roars echoed through the corridors.
Near the door I came in through, I dropped the wave jammer and set off again out of the room, I felt the clashes escalating between the pursuers and the monsters I'd released into these corridors.
When I reached an intersection, I turned right. There was a huge monster three meters tall, moving on four abnormally long limbs. Its skin was smooth and gray, with a single eye above a head I couldn't even describe well.
The moment it saw me, it opened its mouth wide and let out a roar that made my eardrum hurt before it rushed straight at me.
But that was exactly what I wanted.
I pulled the chip out of my pocket and threw it into its open mouth, it slid straight down its throat as it swallowed it without realizing... when it reached me, I bent down and slipped through the gap between its legs and came out the other side.
I kept running... and of course, that thing followed me, and while running, I threw another jammer into the corner.
In front of me, a group of monsters were in a battle with several people. I ran toward them, with the creature I'd fed the chip to still right behind me, the sound of its steps like a hammer on the ground.
When I got within about ten meters, they noticed me. Our eyes met. I smiled at them, then turned into another corridor, the monster behind me rushing straight at them. After all, several meals are better than one meal.
When I turned at the corner, I heard someone screaming something I didn't understand... I bet he was cursing at me.
I ignored it. I traced my route in my mind and took several more turns avoiding the monsters and the frantic guards struggling to control them.
Finally, I found a red door with a big wheel in the middle of it. There was a phrase written on it, "Emergency Passage."
I turned the wheel and pulled it; it was very heavy. The moment I passed through and closed it behind me, I found myself on a small platform barely enough for one person, standing on the edge of a dark vertical shaft stretching up and down.
This shaft connected the floors in case of a power outage or emergencies, on its walls were many metal bars forming a ladder, I grabbed them and started climbing.
My destination was Floor 0 — specifically, the monitoring room.