A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay 65 (Patreon)

A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay

Chapter 65

-VB-

It took less than an hour before the entire internet caught fire. It took another hour before people from all over the surrounding area began to move.

Unfortunately for the Slaughterhouse Nine, I stuck to them like a lamprey. I remained out of their reach and sight, but I still stuck to them. I reported their location every five minutes.

People took notice.

People saw the videos.

People began to run while others began to hunt.

See, for all of the myth that the Slaughterhouse Nine was surrounded by, they were, by and large, still a group of people that were individually on par with Hookwolf and not someone like the Triumvirate. Even the Siberian wasn’t that powerful if you saw how big of a weak point she had. She was a projection whose master remained out of sight and reach of the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Once you eliminated the master, then the Slaughterhouse Nine was no longer an S-class regional threat but a S-class bandit gang. Yes, they were still powerful together as a group and still a threat, but the difference between a regional threat and a powerful bandit group wasn’t the same.

I looked down at the white van from where I sat on a thin branch high above him among the tree canopies. The Slaughterhouse Nine was out of my sight and reach like how I liked them. I had one chance now to kill Doctor Manton. If I missed this chance, then all of the Slaughterhouse Nine would be on high alert and Siberian will stick by his side and use her shared invulnerability to make killing Manton impossible.

However, I was above him and the van hadn’t moved in some time. Was he in the driver’s seat? Was he in the back?

I didn’t know and I wasn’t going to risk it.

So I waited above him patiently, waiting for the van to start so that I knew for a fact that he was in the driver’s seat.

I continued to post the position of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and even got some replies from heroes and villains alike that they were on their way to kill the bastards.

A lot of people really liked the idea of fighting the Nine somewhere in the forest where there weren’t going to be any hostages, even if the standing policy for hostages in S9 situation was to “kill them humanely.” Oh, and the bounties of their heads.

Yes, people really liked the idea.

The Protectorate was apoplectic about it, but I was posting not just on PHO but on multiple sites. They couldn’t stop me without ordering Dragon to attack all of those sites, which would be … bad.

Cauldron, I’m sure, might try something, but the lazy bastards haven’t done anything so far, so I didn’t have a reason to stop. Besides, I even left a message in my first PHO post for them to read, something they would recognize, but I haven’t gotten a response back.

IE I’m going to kill Manton.

The screen on my phone changed to a call and I saw that it was Amy calling. With a grimace, I didn’t answer.

I was going to get a lot of scolding, time on the couch, and a lot of cold shoulder after this. But this was the Slaughterhouse Nine…

Maybe I should answer? Communicate with them?

-VB-

“That idiot!” Amy snarled along with Vicky.

Vicky flew above her while she rode on one of her spirit jaguars, but they didn’t dare to move any closer than where they were now.

Because they knew now why Alan had gone out in a hurry out of nowhere.

Because he had somehow known the Slaughterhouse Nine were coming and went to act as scout… and pinpoint their location for all of the goddamn world to see.

Mom called them and told them to not move, and Alan refused to answer his goddam-!

The ringing stopped.

The call connected.

Suddenly, all of her anger manifested like a cold wave. She didn’t stop her frosty tone from leaking through.

“Alan,” she hissed. “What. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing?”

“I wanted to prevent them from reaching Brockton Bay.”

“You knew. You somehow knew where they were. And thought that, instead of informing the PRT and the Protectorate, you decided to … post the Nine’s location for the world to see…?!” she shouted. Vicky came down and stood on top of Daniel’s head. The spirit jaguar mewred with displeasure but didn’t shake her off. Not when Vicky was pissed off as she was.

“And that involved going at it by yourself?! Like an idiot?!”

“... In this instance, yes. I think so. I can keep an eye-”

“FUCKING IDIOT!” Vicky shouted and whirled away, grabbing at the bridge of her nose. “Tell him to come home. He’s already done his job. Everyone’s coming for the Nine now. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the Nine getting caught out like this.”

“Need to kill Manton first.”

“Wha-?!”

“Be right back.”

And then he hung up.

Amy pulled her phone away from her ear and looked at it.

“He hung up on me.”

“... I’m going to kick his ass when he gets back,” her sister hissed as she turned back to look at her.

And then Amy realized something. “Wait, who’s Manton?’

Vicky looked confused, too. And then she remembered. “Wait, Manton? Like Manton Effect?”

-VB-

I hung up and stared down at the white van under him as its engine rumbled to life.

I waited just a moment longer … and then dove down.

I had only a second or two to think, so I didn’t think and just acted.

I pulled my fist back.

Path of Rock Flesh: Heavy Fist.

The Ki in my arm shot out from their pathways and into the muscles, bones, and skin. My body hardened like a rock and then grew even harder.

And then I punched just as I got in reach of the van.

My fist struck the top of the van, and the aluminum roof caved in under it. My fist continued onward and I felt something hairy. And then something hard. And then something warm and wet.

My feet slammed into the roof and the entire van shook up and down from the impact. It veered off to the right and then slammed into a tree. I winced as the shredded aluminum car roof uncomfortably - but not painfully - dug into my arm. I quickly pulled my fist out and saw blood all the way up to my wrist. Jumping off of the van, I looked at the driver seat … and yeah, that was Manton, looking roughly like he did in the last public picture he took.

I warily looked around.

Now, this could be Cauldron putting in a pretty good double for all I knew, so I looked around.

I waited.

Nothing. No Siberian. No portal. No Contessa.

Okay. Alright.

I just killed Siberian and Manton. Nice.

I took a picture of the scene and made a quick post.

[Siberian’s Master, Doctor Manton, killed.]

And then I took off. I didn’t want to stick around when Jack realized that he just lost his invulnerable stripper. Let the other capes deal with him.