I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun-Chapter 809: Washington D.C (25)

"Dammit, damn it...!"

Creak.

The ground, made of an alloy that can withstand the weight of a tank, began to crumple under the pressure of human fingers, leaving behind fingerprints.

Her fingers, slender and delicate as snow, seemed incapable of holding anything heavy. But with the immense force in her grip, the ground buckled, and the skin on her fingers tore, repeatedly healing and splitting in seconds. Her nails would lift and then reattach over and over.

It was the outcome she had anticipated. But the pain was beyond anything she could have imagined.

It was a gamble she had never attempted since her body changed.

The limits of the blood she could control—limits she had learned through continuous real combat—were far exceeded. What she knew as the total amount was now multiplied several times, no, at least ten times more than she had ever expected, as she summoned and used that blood all at once.

She had known the aftermath would be brutal, but if she hadn’t done it, she wouldn’t have survived.

But...

"Huuh, huff, huff... nghhh...!"

She had encountered a never-before-seen situation, where she couldn’t even use the word “too much.” Her consciousness began to fade entirely after some time.

When she rarely regained her senses, there were always bodies at her feet, but she didn’t have the strength to truly process it. Whenever her consciousness came back, she found herself in a different position, having lost track of time. Each time she came to, there were only fragmented memories—only bits and pieces of what happened.

Every time she regained her senses, she was somewhere else, and her only constant was the omnipotent power and pleasure coursing through her veins, and the corpses scattered around her.

But not now. The immense pain was enough to snap her back to reality and keep her mind intact.

It was overwhelming—too much to bear—but it was enough to make her focus.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Her skin peeled, and blood vessels ruptured, but everything healed in real-time, constantly repairing itself.

She could tell that as her body healed, the total amount of blood in her veins was slowly decreasing, but that wasn’t all. The continuous assault of searing heat kept coming at her.

Every time an overwhelming amount of light broke through her cornea, parts of her body evaporated, only to be reconstructed, and with every cycle, a portion of her blood disappeared.

Every time a white phosphorus grenade flew in, the Black Eagle soldiers she hadn’t killed yet appeared before her. She could probably guess that those attacking her now were likely the surviving Black Eagle soldiers.

She had to get out of here.

"Hoo..."

She gathered all her remaining strength and sent it through her back.

Her wings weren’t just for flying. They could also be used to shield her body, protecting her from attacks. So, she gathered all her blood and wrapped her entire body in it.

Thankfully, her mind was still intact for now. In other words, if she didn’t leave now, she wouldn’t get another chance. She took a deep breath, spread her wings, and scattered blood droplets in all directions.

At the moment when the incendiary grenades and plasma shells were intercepted and exploded by the blood droplets,

"...!"

She kicked off the ground and soared into the sky.

The ceiling came closer in an instant. The roof was mere inches from her, but she just barely avoided it. She spun once in midair and gritted her teeth, trying to force herself down. But before she could, several bullets ripped through her body.

It wasn’t just a few shots. Even .50 caliber bullets that could pierce through armor were easily deflected by her shield, but the sheer power of the force seemed to tear her apart. What exactly had they shot at her? She couldn’t even begin to guess.

Surviving that was nothing short of a miracle.

Barely keeping her lift, she accelerated and descended onto the middle deck.

She shut the door behind her, closing off the tremendous speed of the incoming bullets. Letting out a sigh, both relief and pain washed over her in that moment.

"Shit, my foot... It feels like I’m going to die from the pain..."

She was on the verge of losing her mind.

How was she still alive? After taking immense damage multiple times, she somehow managed to stay alive. But in the process, nearly two-thirds of her blood had been drained.

She sighed and fiddled with her multipurpose pouch. Fortunately, it hadn’t been torn apart or completely destroyed. If that had happened, it would’ve been a real problem.

Opening the pouch, she pulled out a candy and popped it into her mouth. She bit down on it with a snap, crushing it into pieces before swallowing it whole. It was a fentanyl candy to relieve the pain.

The sweet sensation in her mouth quickly overtook the excruciating pain that felt like her body was about to tear itself apart.

She counted with her fingers, going over some of the information in her head. Luckily, for the first time in a while, her mind was working properly and clearly. It felt like the first time in ages that she had this level of mental clarity.

With that clarity, she faced two choices.

‘...Should I leave, or should I finish everything here?’

She’d been beaten so badly that her choice was leaning toward the former.

The Eclipse canister was still in the multipurpose pouch. The remaining 150kg had been destroyed by the explosion, and the incinerator had rendered it harmless, expelling it through the chimney.

She had fired the flare just before the battle started. The U.S. military would come soon, and the soldiers in the Kestrel base would eventually be wiped out, whether soon or later.

In other words, the cleanup she needed to do was already finished. Now, she just needed to leave.

But there was a problem...

"I have to go toward the lower hangar..."

The location of the “lower hangar” was clear. It was the place where she had just massacred the Black Eagles, and where she had been attacked by what she presumed were Black Eagle soldiers while she was stunned.

She wondered if she could break through there again and escape. It seemed like a tough challenge.

Instead of going to the lower hangar, there was a chance she could just break through the walls like before, but her blood volume was down to only about 30% of what she could normally handle. At that level, the enemies would probably arrive before she could even break the door.

Sighing, she checked the wearable tablet that hadn’t been destroyed yet.

‘...I should check the lower hangar first.’

Thankfully, she still had access to the base’s CCTV. With a sigh full of despair, she opened the screen.

The tablet, though not broken, was a bit damaged, and it worked slowly. Despite that, it was still functional enough to display the CCTV feeds of the lower hangar.

But how long had passed?

Instead of the usual Black Eagle soldiers in their S&S precision plate carriers, five men wearing much more complex bulletproof gear appeared on the screen.

"...Wait, those guys..."

They weren’t Black Eagle soldiers. In fact, on their shoulders... they wore patches from the Dagger team. The only team in the world that wore these patches—elite soldiers.

A rush of realization hit her, and her heart raced.

They were here.

Panic set in as she saw them begin to attach breaching charges to the door. Behind it, of course, was where she had been hiding. That weak shock passing over her body couldn’t have been anything other than a precursor to a pulse attack.

In that moment, there was only one thing she could do.

—Boom!

"Surrender! Surrender! Damn it, I’ve come to my senses, stop it already! I feel like I’m going to die from the pain!"

"...What?"

"Shit, are you deaf...?"

She dropped to the floor, indicating that she had no intention of resisting. The walls were destroyed in every direction as she lay on her stomach and placed her hands behind her back. Thousands of shards of broken walls bounced off the Blood Shield and scattered.

And sure enough, when the door opened, it wasn’t Black Eagle soldiers. It was the Icarus Operators she had seen countless times before on the front lines.

They skillfully cleared the room, naturally cuffing her wrists.

Despite having known the Black Eagle soldiers for years, these Icarus Operators, whom she had only met a few months ago, felt strangely familiar.

And as they continued to talk, the questions began.

"What’s going on here?"

"...I ended up being squeezed like an orange, thrown away. To make matters worse, they pointed their guns at me. I just did what they wanted."

"Did you get in that state because of the fight with them?"

"...You assholes beat the shit out of me, damn it. You're just as crazy as ever."

It was the truth.

Before she could even try to soften her words, they came out involuntarily. But they just chuckled in response.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

A brief conversation followed, mostly just fact-checking. The biggest question was about the flare, and it turned out they had guessed it correctly. She had fired it.

Regardless, she was just glad they came.

How much time had passed?

—Click!

"...What?"

"We know more about these mutants than you do. These tiny handcuffs won’t hold you for even a second, so we thought it’d be better to just let you go."

"You guys... are you insane?"

"A person who says ‘surrender’ isn’t really in a position to ask that. And..."

A short silence.

"It seems like the reason you’re here and why the Dagger team was sent here are the same. Can you cooperate?"

"...Ha, you guys really aren’t sane. You want me to help you eliminate Black Eagle?"

"So, are you not going to help?"

But even as she spoke those words, she couldn’t stop the smile from creeping up on her lips.

"I’m not responsible if I get dragged into this. You better figure it out."

"If you end up like before, flat on the floor in pain, we’ll leave you behind. Don’t worry."

"Damn, you irresponsible bastards..."

"How can you talk about responsibility when we’ve barely had a minute of cooperation? Anyway, just follow us."

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

As she looked at the Dagger team retreating through the shattered walls, she couldn’t help but think...

Maybe she had been in the wrong place all along, and maybe this was where she truly needed to be.

The night was still deep.

The true meaning of uncertainty had arrived.

"By the way, where did the mutants from your team go?"

"They should be heading toward Andrews Air Force Base by now. I heard it's the retreat point for the Talisman Brigade. Unfortunately, it looks like they’ll be heading to the Styx River before they get to the base."

"...I see. That’s a shame."

"Of course, there wasn’t a hint of regret on her face."

"Don’t rush forward, Race. Your condition doesn’t look too good."

"Hah, don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it. Just make sure you remember what my abilities are when we get back, don’t start asking too many questions, just pay attention now."

"...You’re a funny one."

The blood wings, which resembled red currents, gathered behind her broken armor, a reflection of her painful state.

Just moments ago, every flap of her wings had been a battle, requiring all of her energy to handle. But as soon as the direction changed toward the Black Eagles, the Dagger team felt an unexpected sense of relief.

It wasn’t that she didn’t unleash a powerful force that could choke the life out of anyone who dared cross her path, but when her mind was clear, the density of the attacks aimed ahead was notably different.

The earlier attack had been a torrential ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) downpour. Now, it felt more like a firetruck spraying a high-pressure hose.

With her mind restored, Race displayed a much more cautious use of her powers, carefully showing what true defense and offense could be.

She dodged machine gun bullets, intercepted grenades, and blocked rifle rounds. In the process, she would shoot, gathering the blood to create spears and launching them at her enemies.

At first, she used the blood she had collected over time, but soon she no longer needed to. Every time she killed a Black Eagle soldier, roughly 5 liters of blood was added to her reserves.

It could be called a true form of infinite power.

And this time, there was even a brake.

"Race, your nervous system is overloaded. Fall back."

"Hah, damn it...!"

"Chester, take over as usual. Morrison, Kissinger, and Marcus, move forward. Focus on forming a defense line."

"Understood."

Zzzt!

Her vision began to turn red, her heart rate spiked to an abnormal level, and her breathing quickened. The Dagger team noticed all these signs immediately and began to pull Race back.

Chester, the team’s medic, was well-versed in handling the human body, and this was no exception, even for mutants. He recognized the overload threshold of Race’s nervous system and, with careful adjustments, managed to stabilize her.

In that process, Race had already received several injections of Icarus Gear nanomachines.

Her racing heart quickly found calm, and the blood droplets that had been wildly vibrating settled into a stable rhythm.

In that moment, Race couldn’t help but feel an ironic sense of relief. When she had worn the Icarus Gear before and accepted the nanomachines, her body had been completely destroyed in an instant. Yet now, things were different.

She couldn’t hold back her curiosity, so she spoke up, and Chester responded with a look of disbelief.

"Didn’t you ever get a basic briefing on Icarus Gear while working under Secretary Webb?"

"...Damn."

"The settings for Icarus Gear vary for each person. Especially for mutants, their bodily mechanisms are several times more delicate. There are nerve or vascular bundles that don’t even exist in humans. If you don’t account for that, putting on Icarus Gear is essentially a death wish."

Race nodded, but she felt bitter.

They hadn’t even informed her about something as basic as that. It was true. She sighed, and Chester, just by seeing her reaction, could roughly guess what she had gone through, though he didn’t press the matter further.

Instead, other words followed.

"You’ll be staying in the special detention unit until further notice. But you should be out in a short time, assuming you cooperate."

"What happens if I ask for Webb’s head on a platter?"

"You might get out within 10 minutes."

"Hah, hah, damn it. At least your jokes are better than the Black Eagles."

That too was true. Race found that being with these guys for just a few minutes felt far better than the years spent with the Black Eagles. It was, ironically, a strange relief.

Soon, her condition had vastly improved, and her mind remained intact with no problems. She pushed herself up, and Owens glanced back, then added.

"Race is taking the lead. Focus on fire support."

"If you hit my back, I’ll be pissed, you bastards."

"You won’t have to worry about that. Just focus."

Zzzt.

Her wings spread once more, and Race once again leaped into the midst of the battlefield.

Today, Icarus was still soaring high.