Rooftop Struggle

After Number 9 left, silence permeated the church's hall. The action and the show of intelligence he showed earlier, clearly was more superior than a bunch of mindless monsters that appeared two years ago, with the only closest comparison was the currently dead Mitochondria Eve and the FBI agent Aya Brea.

"What is he?" mumbled Aya, thinking back at the previous encounter. Her eyes were focusing on the cracked pavement on the floor.

I could've answered her question, but why should I? It would only draw more problems, unknown to the game. Or it might affect the storyline completely.

With no choice on what to do, I decided to steer away from her. Although we would keep bumping on each other as long as I followed my Main Quest, at least I could make my presence as minimal as possible so that I wouldn't affect the story.

Aya then turned to face me, the only one who could still keep his cool when facing the ambush, "Killswitch, do you know anything abo— Killswitch?"

However, I already vanished using my Stealth ability. My direction was toward the back of the church and investigate (kill) the NMC that was lurking there.

"Well, I think that's my cue," said Tony, fixing his sunglasses while using his wristwatch to deactivate all of the traps inside the church.

Meanwhile, after taking one of the small doors of the Church, I found myself surrounded by all kinds of greeneries, such as trees, flowers, bushes, etc. Of course, there were a lot of bug-typed NMCs, but my sight was focused on a man who seemed to be planting some kind of device under the statue of a public figure, maybe a Mayor from the past.

Zooming on the device, it was actually a bomb, a C4 to be precise. The moment I saw it, something appeared in front of me.

<You have triggered an Optional Quest>

<The SWAT teams that were tasked to investigate Akropolis Tower have almost been decimated. After finding out that a clean sweep was an impossible task, the Government has set a plan to demolish the tower, along with everything inside. Multiple C4 with power enough to obliterate a single house has been planted all around the building.>

<Disable or Destroy every C4 planted inside the Tower: 0/14>

<Time Limit: 10 Minutes.>

<Reward: 2 Random Items of Grade C or lower and 25% of the Max EXP>

'Ehh...? I can get Optional Quest while progressing the Main Quest?' I thought to myself.

Moreover, the reward from the Quest was very tempting. It was 25% of the Max EXP, after calculation, that's more than two million points. I'd need to kill around 2000 monsters to even reach the same amount as that reward.

My eyes turned green, and my saliva almost overflowing my mouth. After the guy that planted the C4 left, I approached the C4 and touched it. I stored it inside my spatial inventory and looked at the counter at the corner of my eyes.

<Disable or Destroy every C4 planted inside the Tower: 1/14>

'Nice! It worked!'

It was easy, far too easy. To the point that I even felt bad about it. A smile crept out of my mouth as I couldn't hold my greed.

"Hehe... hehe... heh..."

"What's so funny?"

"Gyaaahhgg!!" I screamed as if someone just caught me hiding my collection of Playboy magazines.

Leaning under the statue, I saw Tony who spoke next to my ear earlier, catching me off guard, with Happy tagging along. Aya with her partner, Rupert, was also following behind them.

"How did you find me?" I said while awkwardly dusting my pants.

"Really? I saw the door opened and then closed by itself after you turned into weird smokes. I don't need my Ph.D. to solve that," replied Tony while pointing at the door where I came from before.

Ah right, just because I have Stealth, didn't mean I could phase through a solid wall.

"Ahem... Fine, but can you go on your own way? I'm busy." I said while shutting my eyes off and looked for the other bombs. It didn't take long for me to pinpoint their locations as they produced a low beeping sound with every second passing.

Seeing that I was about to leave, Aya then spoke, "Why don't we stick together until we could get out?"

'And wasting my time? Hell Nah. I need to finish this optional Quest before 10 minutes past, shit now it's 9 Minutes 36 seconds.'

I turned around and pointed at the front of the church, "Go to the rooftop, a helicopter will pick you up later. But be careful. He's there."

Aya wanted to ask where I got this information from, but I already vanished from their sight, turning into dark smoke. She also knew who I meant with 'he'. Number 9 would immediately confront her, especially when I'm not around.

Before I left, I gave her a note with three numbers written on it. 561.

It was the code to pull up the bridge connecting to the corridor toward the rooftop. She was supposed to get the code from the security room, but too bad it was already blown up into smithereens by my Firaga. There was no harm in letting her know where and how to go next.

I kept running around the building, storing the explosives one by one while also cleaning the trashes along the way. Now I knew how killing two birds with one stone felt like.

After storing the last bombs, I crisp jingle rang inside my head. The corner of my lips kept raising when I read the content of a golden tab appearing in front of my face.

<You have cleared Optional Quest 1: Crisis in Akropolis>

<Reward: 20 Health Potions and 1 Pendant of The Weakened Heart.>

===

<Health Potion (20)>

<Heal 25% of the user's HP in 5 seconds.>

===

<Pendant of the Weakened Heart - Grade C>

<Passive: Grants Moderate Resistance to any Curse-Type debuff or magic.>

<Item Ability: Mental Break>

<Mental Break: Lower enemies magic defense for 15 seconds.>

===

Health potions!? I thought I would never lay my hands on these beautiful red tubes, moreover, 20 of them. I gently put them inside the small backpack on my waist, hidden under my black trenchcoat.

'Maan, I miss my spatial inventory.'

The pendant would be very useful in fighting enemies with high resistance to magic. Sooner or later, I would face that kind of enemy.

Little did I know, how much damage I would bring by using the spell Firaga in the future after casting the reinforced Mental Break.

After equipping the pendant, I made sure that Aya and her new friends had no trouble on their way. Surprisingly, they were much stronger than I expected. Aya's power was unquestionable, she had no trouble eliminating any wandering NMCs. My heart kept throbbing with every count of monsters crushed by her hands though.

Thankfully, the almost 2 million instant EXP I got could quench my thirst and dismay.

"Hmm... what should I do now?" I asked myself.

======

The moon was blanketed by the thick clouds, darkening the view of the sky. Though, the city's liveliness wasn't affected by the weather even for a single bit.

Number 9, the Artificial NMC, was standing on the helipad while pondering about his previous encounter. He was curious about the blonde woman she met earlier. Somehow, there was a trace of familiarity in her. He felt like he already met her before. But where?

He looked down, watching the ant-like human who couldn't hold their curiosity over the incident in this tower. Number 9 didn't call it an incident though. For him, it felt like the first step, to the unknown future, just like mankind's first step on the moon.

"Haha...hwaahahaha..." laughed Number 9. He then muttered, "Soon... everything will start... and..."

However, his monologue was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. He peeked at the door and saw four humans walking out, and one of them was the girl he met earlier.

He waited and waited, but the other guy he faced earlier seemed to be missing. He snickered and muttered, "Perfect..." before jumping on the railing they walked on, cutting off their way back.

Aya was leading them at the front, so she was the furthest from the four. Her partner, Rupert, immediately open fire, but Number 9 was proven to be much faster. He held Rupert's custom-Magnum's muzzle, pointing it upward.

BANG!

He then proceeded to kick him, almost throwing him off the railing. Thankfully, Happy caught him at the perfect time, but it seemed Number 9's kick broke some of his ribs. Tony slowly walked backward, even if he gave them a hand, there was not much he could do.

Aya moved in front of them, shielding the three. She knew the monster in front of her was targeting her.

"Who are you!?" yelled Aya, questioning him.

"Aaah... Q&A session is it? I'm also a hunter, just like you." replied Number 9 while laughing maniacally.

"A hunter?" muttered, Aya.

The term hunter was coined for her and her team member, a specially made task force to fight the NMCs, called MIST. It was short for Mitochondrion Investigation and Suppression Team, and it was also a branch of the FBI. Yet, the Government hadn't made them known to the public, so they were just FBI agents.

"Except, I hunt human," said Number 9, swinging his machete which suddenly engulfed in fire.

He jumped to Aya, but the latter already predicted his attack. Evading it was much easier because of the cramped platform. Number 9 couldn't swing his fire sword freely, so he made do with charging or piercing attack.

Tony and Happy, who were carrying Rupert on his back, fled toward the elevator at the opposite side. Returning inside the building was impossible, so they were currently stuck like a cornered rat.

Meanwhile, Aya was being pushed by Number 9's nonstop attack. She kept using Barrier, forming an invisible shield to block his attack. But she couldn't block everything, causing her to receive some damage now and then.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She kept shooting and evading at the same time. It was then that Number 9 made a mistake. He slashed at a power cable, causing it to fell on him. He was struck by the high-voltage electric cable, paralyzing him and caused him to scream in pain while Aya barraged him with a rain of bullets.

When she expended all of the bullets in her gun, she focused her energy to cast an electric element attack. As if holding a thunder in her hand, Aya grasped it and then throw it at Number 9, causing even more scar tissues.

Number 9 abruptly swung his sword downward, taking a drastic measure. He completely cut off the support beam that was holding the platform, causing the foothold under him and Aya to break in half. He pierced the sword to the wall as a support to prevent him from going down. Aya tried to hold on to the railing, but it was too slippery from the constantly changing weather.

Like a slide, she then fell from the platform. However, a hand suddenly reached out before she completely fell off.

"I did tell you to be careful, right?" muttered Edward, before tossing her to safety. As she landed, the platform where she stood before broke down and started falling down. It was so high that they almost couldn't hear the sound of the broken platform landing on top of a police car.

======

"Now then, she tapped out. So, it's my turn. Do you want to continue?" I asked.

I didn't really want to fight him, I still need him to spawn the last boss. Imagine how much EXP I would get later. And there was no Optional Quest that instructed me to kill him as well.

"Hahaha... You really think that you had the upper hand?" mocked Number 9 while taking out a small device with only one button on it.

I put on a surprised face, like that one painting on the museum. Too bad, he couldn't see my face through the gas mask.

"Hahahahaa... Now you understand the gravity of this matter, isn't it?" said Number 9. Suddenly, I had an idea.

"Stop it! There's no need to destroy everything!" I yelled, pleading. I then added, "Let's stop it right here and now. I'll let you go, but you must promise me to not do anything to this place."

"Let me go? Do you think I am that weak?"

Number 9 was offended by my words. Burning in anger, he immediately pressed the button. Ah, shit... I was planning to use this chance to make an alibi if someone asked why I didn't kill this bastard.

Only silence...

Number 9 pressed the button one more time. But still, there was nothing, only the stillness of the night. He tried to punch it and tapped it to the wall, but nothing happened.

"Is it jammed?" wondered Number 9.

"Here, let me give it a try," I said, lending a hand. Number 9 then gave me, who was somehow standing next to him, the control device. I squinted my eyes and looked for any sign of tampering.

"Here, try again," I said, giving the control device back to him.

Number 9 pressed it one more time, but nothing. "Wait, why it looked a bit round?"

I looked at the thing in his hand, and said, "oh, my bad. That's a grenade."

BOOOMM!!

The reinforced grenade threw him off the building, it was unknown where he landed, but I think he'll be fine. It also caused both the platform and the wall to collapse.

I dashed to Aya, Tony, Happy, and Rupert while the platform was slowly collapsing behind me, before proceeding to toss them up. The target, a descending helicopter that was coming. With my skill and ability, tossing them up was not as hard as I think it would be.

Although Happy and Tony kept on complaining about my absurd method, after I said something about throwing them off, they immediately shut their mouth and conceded.

The pilot waved, asking if I want to get on his ride as well, but I refused it. There were still a lot of crops, ready to be harvested, and it was all mine. I used stealth, turning invisible, and returned inside the Tower.

In an hour, all of the monsters vanished completely leaving not a single trace on the bloody floor.

======

"That's one hell of a night, I guess..." commented Nick Fury through the radio.

I was laying down on the helipad on top of Akropolis Tower, watching the sunrise.

"Yeah, but it's not over," I replied as the first light of the sun appeared on the horizon.

"Do you have any idea what is happening?" asked Nick.

I thought for a while, and then answered, "They were planning a coup."

Curious, Nick asked again, "Who are they targeting?"

And then, I replied, "Humanity."