SSS-Rank Awakening: My Infinite Absorption System

Chapter 70: The Outer Cordon

The night air outside the Pine Street noodle shop smelled of pulverized brick, burning electrical insulation, and sulfurous cordite.

Fin slipped through the street-level coal chute into the deep shadows beside the brick alleyway, his boots finding immediate purchase on the wet asphalt.

"Bram, do you have eyes on the street?" Fin whispered into his radio link.

"Got them," Bram’s voice crackled from a nearby tenement rooftop. "Twelve heavily armored contractors advancing in two tactical wedges. They’re carrying suppressed carbines and a hydraulic breaching ram."

"Where is the lead transport parked?"

"Directly in front of the noodle shop double doors," Bram reported. "Jax and I have our rifles zeroed on their engine blocks."

"Hold your fire until I engage their vanguard," Fin instructed. "If they start spraying tungsten into the storefront, take out the gunners on the perimeter."

"Understood, captain," Bram replied. "We’re on your signal."

’Twelve contractors... three transport vans... and a hydraulic ram.’

’If they breach that front masonry before Ruby anchors the inner doors, the dust will choke the ventilation intakes.’

"Check the rifle caliber," Fin whispered into the mic.

"Looks like armor-piercing tungsten," Bram warned. "Heavy fifty-caliber loads. Don’t take a direct hit on your fleece, Fin."

"I don’t plan on catching bullets," Fin said. "Twelve seconds to shatter their formation before they can establish an entrenched firing line."

[ Active skill: Overclock initiated ]

[ Stamina: 100 → 60/100 ]

[ Agility: 97 → 291 (temporary surge) ]

The street locked into absolute, suspended silence, the drifting smoke and orange muzzle embers freezing in mid-air above the cracked pavement.

Fin exploded forward with two hundred and ninety-one Agility, crossing thirty meters of open avenue like a phantom of dark fleece.

"Breach the door now-!" the contractor squad leader began to bark, his mouth moving in excruciating, glacial slow motion.

Fin’s steel hatchet flashed in a clean horizontal arc, the sharp blade severing the reinforced hydraulic hose of the breaching ram before the valve could open.

High-pressure fluid hissed into the cold night air, Fin planting his left heel and driving his elbow straight into the contractor’s throat with crushing Rank D Plus force.

The man collapsed like a sack of wet flour, his weapon clattering harmlessly against the concrete curb.

Fin pivoted on his toes, drawing both blackened daggers from his belt in a single, fluid rotation.

"What the-!" a second contractor started to yell, but the word died in his throat as Fin’s dagger punched straight through his chest seal.

Fin spun inside the reach of a third rifleman, driving his second dagger upward beneath the jawline with cold, surgical momentum.

He ripped both blades free, vaulting over the hood of the lead van as the twelve-second timer ticked down to its final heartbeat.

[ Overclock disengaged ]

[ Stamina gauge: 60/100 ]

The street suddenly erupted into deafening gunfire as the surviving contractors opened up on full automatic, riddling the van with armor-piercing slugs.

"Take cover!" a contractor yelled.

"Where is he?" another screamed. "He was on the hood-!"

"Check the flanks!" the squad commander bellowed. "Check the goddamn flanks!"

Fin dropped flat behind the heavy steel wheel well, listening to the ricochets screech off the suspension coils.

’Nine left... three on the left curb, six behind the middle van.’

"Bram! Now!" Fin shouted into his collar. "Take out the rear tires!"

"Firing!" Bram yelled back.

Two high-caliber hunting rifle shots roared from the rooftop fire escapes, the heavy lead slugs tearing straight through the rear transport’s radiator in a geyser of steam.

"Snipers on the roof!" a contractor screamed, ducking behind the open van doors. "Return fire! Return fire-!"

"Cease fire on the roof, you fools!" the commander roared. "The target is on the ground! Find the kid in the grey jacket!"

"Right behind you, commander," Fin whispered, stepping out from the shadows of the loading dock.

"Behind us-!" a rifleman shrieked, swinging his barrel around.

Fin’s hatchet struck first, cleaving the steel receiver clean in two with a brutal downward chop.

"My gun-!" the rifleman gasped before Fin drove his forehead directly into his composite visor, shattering the faceplate and dropping him cold.

"Kill him!" another contractor shouted, charging forward with a combat machete raised overhead. "Swarm him-!"

Fin caught the descending wrist with his bare left hand, his seventy-seven Strength stopping the swing cold in mid-air.

"Too slow," Fin muttered, twisting the wrist until the joint cracked with a sickening pop.

"Agh-! My arm!" the man howled as the machete clattered to the pavement, Fin driving his knee into his solar plexus to finish the fight.

"Fall back to the third van!" the commander ordered frantically. "Regroup! Regroup-!"

"Nobody is regrouping," Fin said, closing the distance at ninety-seven baseline Agility.

’They’re panicking... formation completely broken.’

Fin moved between the parked delivery vans with relentless predatory precision, pairing hatchet strikes with short, lethal dagger thrusts.

"Get off me-!" a contractor screamed before a reverse spike took him in the chest.

"Watch the corner-!" another shouted before a blackened blade silenced him.

Six more contractors went down in quick succession, their armor offering zero defense against the terrifying density of a Rank D Plus physical baseline.

The remaining squad commander backed against the front bumper of the secondary van, clutching a cracked collarbone with trembling fingers.

"Stay back... stay back, you monster!" the commander wheezed, drawing a high-caliber sidearm with his left hand. "We’re licensed corporate contractors!"

"You’re child snatchers on a dead-end street," Fin replied in a cold, even tone. "Drop the sidearm."

"You think you can stop Genesis?" the commander spat, his face covered in blood and sweat. "We own this municipal council! We own Commissioner Malan! We own this whole damn city!"

"Malan’s signature is in my pocket," Fin said. "And your squad is lying in the gutter. Drop the gun."

"Go to hell-!" the commander screamed, pulling the trigger.

Fin tilted his head two inches to the left, the heavy round grazing his collar before his hatchet poll slammed into the commander’s gun hand.

The pistol flew across the asphalt, Fin closing the remaining distance and driving a straight right punch into the commander’s temple.

The commander dropped hard to his knees, blood pouring from his nose as he slumped against the warm radiator grille.

"Who else... is on this operation?" Fin demanded, grabbing the commander by his armored collar.

"Find out... yourself," the commander croaked out, coughing up dark phlegm. "The girl... is already gone..."

"What did you say?"

"I said... you’re too late, kid," the commander sneered weakly.

[ Hostile extraction vanguard neutralized: 12 targets ]

[ Elite syndicate combatants defeated: 11 neutralized, 1 captured ]

[ Event milestone completed: outer cordon defended ]

[ EXP reward: +270,000 EXP ]

[ Current EXP: 1,105,700 / 2,500,000 ]

Fin ripped the tactical communications headset from the commander’s helmet, jamming the earpiece into his ear.

A sudden burst of loud, crackling static filled his ear, followed by a triumphant, distorted voice over a secondary frequency.

"Extraction Team Bravo to primary command," the voice rasped with arrogant glee. "Subject Two is secured from the secondary subterranean route! Repeat, the girl is in the transit pod, moving toward the offshore harbor now!"

A sharp, violent spike of cold adrenaline detonated behind Fin’s ribs, his hand clamping around the handle of his hatchet until his knuckles turned white.

’Jolly...?’

’No... think. Sefu was guarding the inner bulkhead. Corin was at the door.’

He keyed his private emergency channel to the shelter terminal, his voice trembling with barely suppressed fury.

"Maya! Report shelter status right now!" Fin barked into the microphone. "Did they breach the bunker? Did they get Jolly?"

"Fin, take a breath!" Maya’s voice came through immediately, sharp and completely steady. "That radio report is an unverified tactical bluff!"

"Are you sure?" Fin demanded, his eyes scanning the dark avenues. "Confirm visual on my sister!"

"Jolly is sitting right beside me in the communications alcove, drinking peppermint tea," Maya reported without hesitation. "She’s waving at the screen right now, Fin. She is completely safe behind the inner bulkhead."

’She’s safe... thank God.’

"Then why did they transmit an extraction code?" Fin asked, exhaling sharply.

"To pull you away from the building, Fin!" Maya warned, her tone turning urgent. "We just suffered a heavy breach at the eastern sewer utility hatch sixty seconds ago!"

"The sewer hatch?"

"Something massive sheared the locking crossbar like a dry twig," Maya reported, the sound of metal groaning through the radio link. "Ruby and Nila are engaged with it in the lower drainage tunnel right now!"

"Is it the prototype?" Fin asked, turning back toward the noodle shop entrance.

"It’s Subject Three!" Maya shouted over the sudden shriek of tearing iron. "It’s trying to batter down the inner bulkhead door-!"

"Tell Ruby to hold her ground," Fin commanded, sprinting toward the open coal chute. "I’m coming down right now!"

He secured the dazed contractor commander to the van bumper with heavy steel cable ties, shouting up to the roof.

"Bram! Watch this captive!"

"Got him, captain!" Bram called down. "Go!"

Fin didn’t wait for another word, diving through the coal chute into the subterranean darkness to tear the beast to pieces.