"Ahh~ that's good."
Outside the glass, the female parasite Lila let out a satisfied sigh after biting off and swallowing the upper half of a man.
"The speed of those tentacles… slower than the last one. Too many of them splitting her focus?" Ivan Greevs kept his face calm, even with the slaughter happening right in front of him. His mind kept ticking, breaking down her attack patterns.
Lila didn't stop until everyone nearby was dead. Only then did she step toward the luxury store.
That's when she caught Ivan in the corner of her eye.
He was just standing there, watching her. Calm. Unbothered.
That pissed her off instantly.
Boom!
More than a dozen tentacles slammed into the glass.
Ivan grabbed his backpack and raised it in front of him, shielding himself from the explosion of shards. He came out untouched, but the food on the table got completely wrecked.
The seafood platter was now buried under a thick layer of broken glass. No way in hell that was edible anymore.
"So you finally noticed me. What, am I really that easy to ignore?"
Ivan dropped the backpack. Every nerve in his body tightened. He reached inside, pulled out two items, and started walking toward her.
Lila didn't waste time talking. Why would she? Food doesn't get a say.
Her tentacles wove together mid-air, forming a massive net. One more second and it would slice Ivan into chunks.
"One."
Ivan swung his sword at the incoming web.
The blade got shredded instantly.
"Two."
He ditched the hilt without hesitation, flipped his grip, and pulled out a glass bottle.
Crash!
The bottle full of concentrated sulfuric acid smashed perfectly against Lila's head.
The burning hit immediately. All her extended tentacles snapped back at once.
"Three."
Ivan turned and bolted.
He kept glancing back as he ran. Lila's head had shriveled up into something like a wrinkled brown dumpling. She looked completely out of commission.
"Shame I couldn't get my hands on a gun. Way more useful than a sword, putain…"
Lila's vitality wasn't anything special. After a bit of twitching, she collapsed, her body drying out into a shriveled husk.
"Figures. Normal parasites aren't much different from humans. Hit them with something fatal, they drop dead. Though I'd bet the stronger ones would handle a faceful of sulfuric acid a bit better."
Ivan didn't stick around.
He gave the corpse one last glance, then turned and walked off.
After Ivan Greevs left, two people who shouldn't have been there stepped out from the shadows.
Mr. A crouched down beside Lila's corpse, examined it for a moment, then shook his head. "Troublesome bastard. He didn't even use his own ability. Just a bottle of sulfuric acid, and Lila's dead."
"Are you confident you can kill him?"
Ryoko Tamiya asked calmly.
"I think I can give it a try." Mr. A's eyes darted around excitedly. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips. "I'm also curious what he tastes like."
"A, he's an important research subject right now. You'd better not touch him. Otherwise, I'll make sure you regret it."
After saying that, Ryoko Tamiya turned and left on her own.
Mr. A stared at her departing figure, his face twisting further and further. "Letting you into the organization… might've been a mistake."
...
The next day.
Ivan was dozing off in class. In front of him, Shinichi was chatting with Yuko Tachikawa beside him.
"You were on the bus with Ivan yesterday evening, right? Where did you go? Satomi was worried about you."
"Nowhere, really. We just grabbed something to eat."
At that moment, Ryoko Tamiya snapped the chalk in her hand.
She had sensed a familiar killing intent approaching the school.
At the same time, Migi, the parasite living in Shinichi's hand, sensed it too.
"Shinichi, one of our kind is coming."
Outside the school building, Mr. A's face twisted and reshaped as he instantly smashed the surveillance camera at the entrance.
"Idiot," Ryoko Tamiya muttered under her breath.
She finally had to admit Ivan was right yesterday. A's intelligence was far too low. She had warned him repeatedly, yet he still went and ruined her plan.
Her gaze shifted to Shinichi Izumi, and then to Ivan behind him, still half-asleep.
"For now, everyone will study on their own."
Downstairs, chaos had already broken out. The school staff were urgently evacuating students to prevent further casualties.
After Ryoko Tamiya left, Shinichi immediately shook Ivan awake.
Ivan yawned, eyes half-closed, and mumbled, "Uwwa~ Class over already? Shinichi-san, you know I don't give a shit about math, so I just dozed off..."
"Ivan, Migi detected a parasite heading straight for us," Shinichi whispered urgently.
"Relax. When the sky falls, someone taller will hold it up. Stay calm."
Ivan pulled out his water bottle, took a sip, and cleared his throat like nothing was happening.
Shinichi's face twitched.
Of all the people to team up with…
Still, Ivan's attitude did help him calm down a bit. When Ryoko Tamiya left earlier, she was probably going to deal with it.
"Shinichi, that guy's already killed three people. Probably the same one from yesterday."
"What? People are already dead?"
Shinichi couldn't sit still anymore. He pushed his chair back and stood up, ready to confront the intruder.
Suddenly, the school broadcast crackled to life with the vice principal's voice.
"E-emergency announcement. A suspicious individual has entered the school. All students, please remain in your classrooms and do not leave."
The announcement made the class stir, but most students thought it was just another drill. They'd had similar ones before, though this time no one had warned them in advance.
While they whispered among themselves, only Shinichi and Ivan understood what was really going on.
"Shit… he just walked straight into the school like that. What the hell does he want? Is he coming for me?"
Shinichi's face went pale.
"Probably. He's about 150 meters away now."
Shinichi turned to Ivan. "What do we do? He's clearly heading straight for us."
"If he's coming, then he's coming. We kill him, simple as that."
Ivan's eyes were calm, cold. He pulled a sword out of his backpack and set it on the desk.
"What are you two even talking about?" Yuko Tachikawa looked completely lost.
"No time to explain."
The broadcast came on again.
"All students, do not approach Building A. Please evacuate using the stairwell in Building C."
Soon, a middle-aged teacher rushed into the classroom. Not finding Ryoko Tamiya, he immediately led the students toward the C Building stairwell.
To be fair, West High's previous evacuation drills had done their job. There was no pushing or trampling. Most of the students still thought this was just another routine drill, so no one looked particularly panicked.
Some of them even greeted Ivan when they saw him.
"Hey, is that a sword wrapped in that cloth? That's so cool. Can we take a look?"
Ivan didn't expect to run into fans in a situation like this. He grinned.
"A swordsman's blade isn't something you draw lightly. Once it's out, it needs to taste blood."
The way he said it, they actually believed him.
"This guy… he's seriously not nervous at all." Shinichi clenched his teeth, staring at Ivan, who was now surrounded by admirers.
___
[]~( ̄▽ ̄)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69
