A City, eastern district.
The streets could no longer see the original color of the asphalt.
Blue slimes were densely spread across the ground.
They hopped in all sizes, leaving smoking craters on the road surface with each bounce.
The base of a streetlamp had been corroded away, and the entire pole tilted to one side with a sharp screech.
Wires swayed in the wind, occasionally sparking.
“Civilians, evacuate first! We’ll hold them here!”
Containment Team members in protective suits stood behind the warning line at the intersection, waving at the crowd running past.
People surged past on both sides.
Some carried children, others had lost their shoes but didn’t bother to pick them up.
“Damn it, is the flamethrower completely useless now?”
A team member held a flamethrower with both hands, the tongue of flame licking the ground.
A few slimes writhed in the fire, their surfaces turning charred black, but soon they returned to normal.
They leaped out of the flames, hopping even faster than before.
“Gurgle gurgle—!”
The slimes made a sound like boiling water, bouncing toward the group.
One of them was especially large, about to slam into a team member who couldn’t retreat in time.
“Watch out!”
A man in a captain’s uniform moved quickly.
He grabbed the team member by the back of the collar and yanked him backward.
The team member flew through the air, hit the ground, and rolled a few times.
“Aaaaaah—! Damn it, I want to go home!”
The team member lay on the ground, eyes closed, flailing his arms and legs, screaming like a pig being slaughtered.
The surrounding Containment Team members looked at each other.
Some covered their faces, others twitched their mouths but didn’t dare laugh.
The team member froze, opened his eyes, and looked down at his protective suit.
No holes, no slime, just dust from rolling on the ground.
“You’re fine. Not even a tear.”
The captain stepped forward and nudged his shin with the tip of his boot.
“Hey, calm down.”
The captain’s tone carried a hint of helplessness.
Only then did he let out a long breath and lie still on the ground.
But the slimes in the distance didn’t give him any breathing room.
More blue surged from the end of the street, breaking through the flamethrower’s line.
“…”
Those little things that used to be reduced to ash by a single thermite round were now hopping in the fire column as if taking a bath.
They were twice as big as before, their surfaces even smoother, as if coated with a heat-resistant glaze.
“Pull back first!”
The captain waved, and the Containment Team members quickly retreated.
Boots clattered on the broken asphalt.
“Ah!”
A slower team member was tackled by a slime that darted out from the side.
The moment the slime landed on his protective suit, a plume of smoke rose with a sizzling sound of corrosion.
The team member screamed and rolled on the ground, trying to shake it off, but more slimes had already surged toward him.
“Help… Help!”
His voice became indistinct amid the screams.
“This is bad!”
The captain was about to charge forward when a team member grabbed his arm.
“Captain! Those monsters have already overwhelmed him. If you go, you’ll only die for nothing!”
“But!”
The captain gritted his teeth, his fists clenched so hard they creaked.
Just then, a loud roar of exhaust pipes swept overhead.
Everyone looked up and saw a silver-gray figure arc across the sky, passing over them, heading straight for that blue ocean.
“You handle the aftermath. Leave this to me.”
Before the words had faded, the silver-gray motorcycle crashed into the pile of slimes.
A split second before landing, the rider raised a hand and fired a fireball at the ground.
“Boom!”
The explosion sent a wave of searing air that shattered the windows of several nearby cars.
The densely packed slimes on the ground were blown into a clearing several meters wide, sending rubble and slime flying in all directions.
Lin Du gripped the handlebars with both hands.
Red patterns spread from the armored wrists, like burning veins, traveling along the handlebars to every inch of the motorcycle’s metal surface.
The dashboard indicator lights flashed, and the engine’s roar instantly pitched up an octave.
“Dashing Mode!”
[Dashing Mode activated.]
Flames hugged the bike’s body as they pushed back, like a layer of burning armor.
The stand beneath the chassis automatically moved to the front of the front wheel, and blazing flames shot from the stand’s tip, rapidly enveloping the entire front half of the motorcycle.
A streak of fire flashed.
The silver-gray motorcycle turned into a burning arrow, shooting straight into the ocean of slimes.
Flames split a path ahead.
The slime was vaporized into white steam by the high heat.
A stretch of bare asphalt opened up.
The slimes on both sides were pushed back by the flames, rolling like a blade cutting through a tide.
At the end of the road, the team member who had been overwhelmed by the slimes was now clearly visible.
His protective suit was covered in holes of various sizes.
His body twitched slightly, but at least he was still alive.
The rider twisted the brake.
The rear wheel screeched against the road.
Tires smoked, leaving a long black skid mark on the asphalt.
He leaned sharply to the left.
The motorcycle’s chassis nearly scraped the ground, using inertia to carve a perfect arc at a critical angle.
In the middle of the turn, he released one hand and reached out his right arm toward the team member on the ground.
His fingers locked onto the team member’s shoulder.
Then he floored the throttle.
The engine roared again.
Lin Du dragged the team member out of the slime encirclement.
The entire process took only a few seconds—from the fireball landing to pulling the man out—in one smooth motion.
The rider steadied the motorcycle, jumped off, and helped the limp team member off the rear seat.
The team member’s protective suit had lost all its original color.
Lin Du glanced down; fortunately, there were no signs of flesh corrosion.
It wasn’t too serious.
“Take him for treatment. If it’s fast, he’ll be fine.”
Lin Du draped the team member’s arm over the captain’s shoulder.
“Alright. Thank you.”
The captain nodded and, with another team member, carried the injured man quickly toward the Bureau of Anomalies vehicle in the distance.
That white box truck was parked behind the warning line, its roof lights flashing.
Inside were medical instruments and supplies.
The remaining Containment Team members spread out and began orderly evacuating the few civilians still lingering on the street.
Lin Du put down the kickstand and turned to face the blue ocean of slimes.
They were twice as large as the ones he’d seen before, and their corrosive ability had grown much stronger.
A familiar voice came from within his mind, and the splitting headache returned.
“Burn everything… Burn it all…”
But it wasn’t enough to threaten him—at least not yet.
Lin Du understood.
As long as he used his power, it would backfire.
But right now, he couldn’t care about that.
If he didn’t destroy these slimes that were wrecking the street, this entire road would be ruined.
The people who had placed their hopes in him… the ones hiding in the buildings… the ones who hadn’t evacuated yet…
He couldn’t let them down.
Behind him, unseen, black patterns were creeping up his spine.
He patted his head, raised a hand toward the densest cluster of slimes, and flames burst from his palm.
In an instant, the slimes at the center of the flames didn’t even have a chance to struggle.
They evaporated directly into white steam.
“Szzz—!”
The blue across an entire street was swept by fire, leaving only a charred empty lot.
Just then, a pink slime hopped out from behind a nearby fire hydrant.
It was very small—if you weren’t looking closely, you might mistake it for a toy balloon.
It bounced from the ground to the rider’s shoulder, then from his shoulder onto his face.
“What?”
Before Lin Du could react, the pink slime exploded with a bang.
Pink smoke dispersed in front of the rider’s visor, coating the goggles in a pink mist.
“Heh heh.”
At the far end of the street,
a figure lurking in the darkness chuckled softly.
“Got you~”