Amon Koutarou wielded Doujima like a human bulldozer, each swing smashing aside an attacking Kagune, instantly countering towards his assailants.
Without question, Amon—possessing extraordinary strength and a heavy weapon—was best suited to confront Koukaku Ghouls. Conversely, his greatest weakness lay against Ukaku users. But there was another person present in the fight.
Lancer, stripped of heavy armor, sacrificed defense but gained mobility far surpassing ordinary limits. Coupled with skills that depended entirely on swift strikes, he easily deflected or outright shattered the Ukaku attacks, whose rapid but relatively weaker strikes posed no serious threat to him.
After crushing a Ghoul's Kagune with Doujima, Amon suddenly retreated instead of pressing the attack—a move so unexpected that the Ghoul, bracing himself defensively with arms crossed, was momentarily stunned.
"Lancer!!"
"Coming!!"
With a sharp shout, Lancer—who had clearly been several meters away just moments ago—shot out suddenly from behind Amon's back.
[Dash]
The Ghoul, pierced through by Lancer's spear, was nailed directly onto a broken wall.
Thud—!
After flinging away the corpse without hesitation, Lancer immediately leapt toward another Ghoul, while Amon found himself a fresh opponent.
Amid the chaos, their coordination allowed them to unleash power far beyond a simple one-plus-one equation. Amon, with his high offense, broke through defenses; Lancer, with superior agility, delivered swift killing blows. And in stealing these finishing blows, Lancer rapidly racked up points.
If the matter of points was Lancer's private joy, the spear he wielded—which had shifted from its original black into a strangely vivid blood-red hue—was plainly visible to all.
Under their efficient slaughter, even the Ghouls eventually collapsed completely. When the first Ghoul panicked and fled, the rest, still desperately fighting, immediately scattered as well. Just as Amon prepared to chase after the fleeing enemy, Lancer gestured to stop him.
Though confused, Amon trusted Lancer's judgment and held back. He quickly noticed the remaining Ghouls' resistance rapidly weakening.
Shhk!
After Lancer skewered the last enemy, Amon spat heavily to the side.
"Whew… Lancer, what just happened there?"
"It's simple. I wanted them to collapse."
"Collapse?"
After briefly signaling to check if Amon could still keep going—and receiving a dismissive wave in response—the two continued forward, with Lancer quickly explaining.
"I don't know exactly why those Ghouls were gathered here, but based on the intel, Aogiri Tree definitely didn't originally have so many members. Most of these guys were probably newly recruited after occupying this supermarket. While that undoubtedly strengthened Aogiri Tree's forces overnight, these new recruits have no real loyalty to the group. Now, if one of them escapes first, what happens?"
What happens? Obviously, the rest want to escape too!
If that guy could run away, why not us as well?
The Ghouls, who could have posed a serious problem if united, suddenly crumbled into scattered individuals thanks to Lancer's simple but clever choice.
Indeed, the result was many Ghouls escaping, but purely in terms of efficiency, Lancer and Amon unquestionably gained far more. After all, those fleeing were just regular grunts—ordinary Investigators could easily handle them. Their true targets were Aogiri Tree's executives.
Without question, Lancer and Amon were currently the most efficient hunters. But on a battlefield, no status was absolute—this included the roles of hunter and prey.
Crack—!
As they hurried onward, the sound of concrete fracturing suddenly came from above, followed immediately by two Bikaku Kagune bursting through the crumbling ceiling and lunging downward.
"HYAAA!!"
Without a doubt, humans generally stood no chance in pure strength against Ghouls—but only if one considered ordinary humans.
Lancer, whose physical stats already exceeded 20, was now receiving a constant supply of power from his spear, enabling him to surpass even some Ghouls. Clearly, their attackers hadn't expected their target to respond with brute force.
But these two executives weren't rookies either. Despite their surprise and confusion, their Kagune immediately entwined mid-air, fiercely smashing downward.
BOOM—!!
The collision was horrifyingly loud, instantly shattering the floor beneath Lancer's feet.
Crack! Crack!
Under tremendous force, Lancer's body was forced into a somewhat unnatural bend, yet he showed no sign of yielding—because—
From within the swirling dust raised by the collapsing ceiling, a figure burst forth. By the time the two attacking Ghouls finally realized and hurriedly raised their Kagune in defense, Amon Koutarou's explosive roar thundered out:
"DROP DEAD!!"
CRASH!!
Doujima, striking hard against their Kagune, instantly chipped at its edges, but the two assailants were blown back like ragdolls through the air.
As they twisted desperately mid-air to regain control, a sudden sense of dread filled their hearts.
Just as they'd overlooked Amon earlier and suffered a surprise attack, they now seemed to have forgotten about Lancer's presence—
Oh shit—!
Realizing their mistake, they frantically maneuvered their Kagune toward the chill rapidly approaching, but it was already too late.
Within the entire CCG, there were few genuinely skilled spear-users. Lancer himself had only gained three abilities through his innate talent.
Dash provided acceleration, Triple Thrust focused on rapid strikes, and his sole piercing technique was his final skill—Charged Strike.
However, this move's flaw was also immense—it required significant preparation time, making it nearly unusable in practical battles. But if someone else provided an opening—
Schluck!
The spear, now drenched in blood, exuded an eerie, sinister glow. Lancer exhaled forcefully, his swollen arms gradually returning to normal.
"Let's take a breather first."
"Whew… good idea. Doujima and I both need a moment."
Ignoring the blood and corpses around him, Amon sat directly on the ground, propping himself up with Doujima to recover stamina. Meanwhile, Lancer pulled out his communicator.
"Report! This is Lancer and Amon Koutarou's squad. We've eliminated two S-rated Ghouls, tentatively identified from Kagune type as the 'Bin Brothers' affiliated with Aogiri Tree. Our current position is at the second-floor junction near the side entrance. Requesting support teams to collect their Kakuhou."
"This is HQ! Great work! What's your current condition? If you're badly injured, you can withdraw immediately—"
"We're fine. After resting briefly, we'll rejoin the cleanup operation."
"Good! After you finish resting, contact us again—I'll assign new tasks!"
"Yes, sir!"
After disconnecting, Lancer exhaled again heavily, his eyes now swiftly scanning their surroundings.
He was searching for something—something capable of utterly ruining this mission and causing casualties exceeding fifty percent…
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