CHAPTER 64: CHAPTER 63: NIGHTMARE

In long lost myths, Tiresias was a Greek blind prophet who had his eyes taken away after seeing goddess Athena bathing.

Since it was an accident, the gods granted him reprieve by granting him foresight as well as an awfully long life in which he outlived seven generations of heroes and empires.

In many tales, he’s been shown wearing a blindfold. Some suggested that the blindfold had siphoned off his foresight after his death and could see seven outcomes of any clash.

These outcomes were what Zaen saw in the form of golden lines. The brighter the line is, the higher is the probability of that outcome occurring in real time.

As for the other things, Zaen had a hunch about their abilities as well, but since he was a bit preoccupied at the moment, he didn’t bother checking them.

"...nightmare," Zoey mumbled. "This is a nightmare."

The broodlings were supposed to be the nightmare. However, at that moment, they were seeing a true nightmare in physical form.

They knew Zaen was strong and unpredictable, but they didn’t think he’d be so ruthless. At first, the Broods thought Zaen was just lucky to rip Karloff’s arms. After all, he was supposed to be blind, so it had to be a coincidence.

They were truly foolish.

Anyone who stood against him was blown into smithereens. If they could do it again, they would definitely choose to observe from the shadows, rather than confront this terrifying monster head-on.

Unfortunately, there were no do-overs in this world.

With a flash, the crowbar in Zaen’s hand turned back into a severed arm. It was snapped in various places, utterly unusable.

Zaen clicked his tongue, walked over to another corpse and ripped its arm just like he did with Karloff. With a new crowbar in hand, he charged at them again.

The sound of popping balloons reverberated through the basement.

Johann couldn’t even take that in. Zaen had no weapons, yet he could create them out of thin air. The skill seemed to have a duration, after which the arms would need to be discarded, but it didn’t seem to have a cooldown!

As long as Zaen had access to anything he perceived as a ’weapon’, he could use the crowbar skill on it. Being blind made that all the more easier since his ’perception’ was skewed and anything he got his hands on was considered a weapon.

As for cooldown... it applied to the same weapon. That is, if he wanted to convert the same weapon into a crowbar, he’d have to wait for the cooldown. Since he was just discarding the severed limbs after use, the cooldown never triggered.

For Zaen, it was a cheat. For the broods... it was a nightmare.

"Cover all your holes," Johann gave everyone the only solution he could come up with. "And protect Jones. Zaen is a nightmare without weapons, I have no desire to know what he can do with them."

"Jones..." Zaen mumbled. "So that’s the bastard who took my weapons away."

Honestly, in that moment, Zaen looked more like an anomaly than the rest. He was drenched in blood, with pieces of flesh stuck here and there.

They had tried beating him to a pulp and overwhelming him with numbers. But it was completely useless!

No matter how many times they attacked or how much strength they put into the said strikes, the strange mark on his arm would glow, and the next moment, most of the damage would be healed.

What little that wasn’t would also get healed after Zaen was done absorbing the flesh and blood all over his body.

To make things worse, when they struck, sometimes a part of the said damages would get reflected on them.

It was like they were hitting a sponge. Either hitting it caused no damage, or it splashed the water (damage) back on them.

Zaen headed towards the only dozen impostors who remained when something strange happened.

The crowbars in his hands disappeared, reverting back into severed limbs.

Zaen looked down, wondering what was happening. The duration wasn’t up, yet he couldn’t use the ability anymore. It was like someone had sealed them away.

"Good job, Jones!" Johann smiled and clapped Jones’s back, only to stop the next second.

"It wasn’t me."

"...what?"

Jones was the only one who could seal away weapons... unless it wasn’t about the weapons at all.

Everyone tried using their abilities, but none of them worked. Someone had sealed their abilities, not their weapons.

For the first time, a hint of panic appeared on Johann’s face.

There was only one user who had the unique ability to seal other abilities as long as they had a higher sequence number. The person... was a member of the HQ.

The reinforcements were already there.

The next moment, the walls burst apart, and through the wreckage a lone, burly man walked in.

"Ugh, what’s this smell? " he said, casually stretching as he walked in.

The man looked at the blood-drenched Zaen, then at the rest of them. He got confused as if wondering who was possessed by the brood and who was defending the base from the said anomaly.

"This is awkward," the man smiled, nervously scratching his chin. "Where’s the damn report?"

As soon as he said that, a timid woman, whose black bangs covered her eyes, walked inside through the broken wall and handed him a capsule. The man chewed the capsule and then let out a hearty laugh.

"You’re the unregistered good guy," he bellowed, pointing at Zaen. "And you are the disgusting cockroaches! Hah! I’m so smart."

"Captain... please get it done," the timid woman murmured, but the captain’s face dropped as soon as she did.

"Ahem, right, right? It’s unwise to waste time. You, boy, do you mind stepping aside for a moment?"

Zaen nodded and stepped aside.

"No, the other side."

"..."

"Is he really blind?" the man asked the woman. "I mean, your bangs block your view too, but you work just fine—"

"Captain..."

"Right! Eradication!"