Chapter 105: Sneak Attack

“You’re safe now. You’re injured, so go to the shelter quickly.”

Canary said.

But the man didn’t move.

Instead, a strange expression appeared on his face.

“No, not yet…” the man denied, his voice trembling with fear.

“I just saw it with my own eyes…”

Just then, his eyes suddenly widened, staring straight behind Canary as he let out a strange cry, “Ah! It’s coming after us!!”

“Hmm?”

Canary’s brows furrowed in alarm.

Suddenly, a low roar came from behind her.

She turned her head and, sure enough, saw half of an Erosion Organism’s body emerge from behind the corner of the building.

“Tsk… There’s a sixth one…”

Canary gritted her teeth, her dual blades reappearing in her hands.

She turned to face the Erosion Organism, shielding the man behind her, and shouted, “Get out of here quickly and head to the shelter! I’ll take care of this!”

With that, Canary gripped her weapons and charged towards the Erosion Organism.

The distance between Canary and the Erosion Organism was no more than twenty meters.

However, just as Canary was about to engage the Erosion Organism in battle, the deafening sound of gunshots suddenly erupted from behind her.

Bang bang bang—

Three consecutive shots rang out in the open air.

Canary felt an immense, sharp force stab into her back.

She knew her skin had been pierced by the searing hot bullets.

Her body’s center of gravity was thrown off balance by the unexpected gunfire, and the Erosion Organism before her was raising its huge, thick tail, about to sweep it at her viciously.

‘There’s no time—’ Canary used all her strength to forcibly twist her body, barely dodging the Erosion Organism’s tail swipe.

The immense strain of forcibly mobilizing her strength to dodge the attack caused blood to seep from the corners of Canary’s lips and from her nose—her lungs had been injured.

She forcefully swung her blade at the Erosion Organism, but she couldn’t muster enough strength at this moment, and the creature didn’t suffer much damage.

At that moment, she used the momentum to turn and look behind her, finally getting a clear view of the person who had shot her.

It was the man in the white uniform.

The man was holding a pistol with both hands, staring intently at Canary.

The trace of nervousness and fear in his eyes was gone, replaced only by a cold killing intent.

Canary suddenly understood.

—The bloodstains on the man’s body were probably not his own at all.

And the pistol in the man’s hand was no ordinary weapon.

Its caliber was larger than that of a standard-issue firearm, and its power was considerable.

Because of this, even with Canary’s formidable constitution as an Agent, she was injured at this moment.

Normally, an Agent’s body had an extraordinarily high defense.

This kind of firearm could kill an ordinary person instantly, but Canary was still able to move after taking three shots.

But she was injured after all, and her strength was now greatly diminished.

“Ayse!! Can you hear me! Request backup from Erincia… here, there isn’t just…”

Canary tried to contact Ayse, but at that moment, the man, after a slight adjustment of his elbow, pulled the trigger again.

Bang bang bang…

A total of five shots, emptying the remaining bullets in the magazine.

Canary gritted her teeth so hard that they were already stained red with blood.

There were three shocking bullet holes in her back.

“D*mn it!!”

Faced with the man’s attack, Canary reacted quickly, rolling to dodge two of the shots while swinging her blade to deflect one bullet.

But her stamina had dropped too much, and she was unfortunately hit in the abdomen by one shot.

And at this moment, the Erosion Organism behind her swung its tail again.

“Canary? What’s wrong? What did you encounter?”

Ayse’s voice came through the earpiece, but Canary had no time to spare.

Faced with the huge tail sweeping towards her, Canary no longer had the strength to resist and could only barely raise her dual blades in front of her.

A dull impact filled her eardrums.

The world spun, and Canary knew she had completely lost control of her body’s balance.

She, along with the half-wall beside her, was sent flying by the huge, heavy blow.

Her body crashed through the wall on the opposite side of the street, creating tragic cracks in the thick load-bearing wall, and then she fell powerlessly to the ground.

Her dual blades clattered to the ground not far away, then disappeared into a faint glimmer.

She was engulfed in the rising dust.

“Cough cough…”

Canary struggled to prop herself up, and another mouthful of blood spewed out.

Her back and chest were now completely soaked in blood.

“Canary!!! What’s wrong over there!?”

Ayse immediately realized something was wrong on Canary’s end.

Canary was lying on the ground, pushing herself up with her arms, and slowly stood up.

“Ayse… request backup from Erincia… and the Special Disaster Division. Tell them a person suspected to be from the ‘Apostles’ has been found here…”

Her head felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

She breathed rapidly, struggling to lift her gaze.

She looked out through the large hole she had crashed through, and through the rising dust, she saw the man’s back as he fled into the distance.

“He’s running away now… I’m going after him…”

“Wait!! Canary!! You’re alone…”

“It’s alright… I’m fine. I can’t let him get away!”

“I’ll be there to support you soon!”

Canary said no more.

Ignoring the chasing Erosion Organism, a silver light flashed in Canary’s hands, and her dual blades reappeared.

She dragged her injured body and ran in the direction the man had fled.

She was undoubtedly seriously injured, but as an Agent, her physical strength was not limited to this.

That man could not be let go, and he might be a very important clue.

Canary had this intuition.

Just then, a third person’s voice suddenly appeared in Canary’s earpiece.

“Canary, I order you to stop the pursuit and retreat in Ayse’s direction.”

The sudden appearance of a third person in the earpiece made Canary pause for a moment.

The voice was very familiar, but she couldn’t remember who it was at that moment.

“Ayse, your priority is to protect Canary, then kill that Erosion Organism.”

The voice continued to command.

“W-Wait a minute, who are you… why should I listen to you?”

Canary asked through gritted teeth.

She could tell that the person on the other end was not Ephnel, nor Erincia.

The person who could access their communication at this time must be somewhere not far from them, but they didn’t even know that anyone else had been sent for support.

Although being able to access this communication already proved that the other person was on their side, Canary had to be absolutely sure.

At this moment, the other end fell silent for a moment, and then a name slowly drifted over.

“Masaki Hinaki.”

…

Canary was quite familiar with Masaki Hinaki’s voice, so she recognized it as soon as she said her name.

This somewhat soft yet exceptionally authoritative and special voice was indeed Masaki Hinaki herself.

But…

Since Masaki Hinaki had appeared in their communication, it meant that she was somewhere not far from them.

In other words, Masaki Hinaki had come to the disaster battlefield.

The thought that her commander was nearby made Canary’s words catch in her throat.

This operation was fully taken over by the Special Disaster Division.

Canary had never thought she would meet her commander here.

Besides, the current overall commander was Fushihara Ayaka, and the battlefield commanders were Ephnel and Erincia.

So, should she execute the orders given by Masaki Hinaki or not?

“This is an order for you. You are injured,” Masaki Hinaki’s voice came through the earpiece.

“This mission is over for you. After meeting up with Ayse, retreat from here. Someone will be waiting for you outside.”

“But…”

Canary didn’t know how Masaki Hinaki knew her current condition, nor did she know where she was.

She just said what she thought, “That person is very likely from the ‘Apostles.’ I don’t think we can let him go like this…”

“He won’t get away. You don’t have to worry.”

“Mmm…”

“Alright, Ayse, I’ll leave Canary to you.”

With that, Masaki Hinaki cut off the communication.

“Yes…”

Ayse seemed a bit dazed by the current situation, and her voice was full of uncertainty.

But since Masaki Hinaki had said so, Canary and Ayse could only choose to obey her orders.

Canary dodged the pursuing Erosion Organism and climbed onto the roof of a nearby building to buy herself more time, and also to see if she could spot the fleeing man.

There were many contents in an Agent’s daily training, not all of which were designed for fighting Erosion Organisms.

Due to the special nature of an Agent’s duties, it was inevitable that some people would target them, or sometimes Agents would also need to be dispatched for other missions, so combat skills against humans were essential.

Thanks to this, Canary had managed to survive the pincer attack from the man and the Erosion Organism.

But she was injured, and she could no longer continue this mission.

Canary looked at Ayse, who was running quickly towards her in the distance, and sighed.

…