Absolute Cheater - Chapter 535
Capítulo 535: Treasures III
For a split second, the Berserker hesitated.
Not in his body—his body kept attacking, kept pushing, kept trying to crush Asher—but something in his eyes flickered. A tiny spark of fear. Or memory. Or just confusion.
Asher saw it.
“There you are,” he said.
The Berserker roared again, the tubes on his back flashing red, forcing more rage through him. His muscles tensed until they looked ready to snap. He swung another heavy punch at Asher’s head.
This time Asher didn’t block.
He stepped back, letting the fist cut through empty air. The punch hit the floor instead, smashing it open and sending metal fragments flying.
The Knight shielded his face. “He’s going to destroy the whole hallway at this rate!”
“He doesn’t care about the hallway,” Asher replied, moving calmly around the Berserker’s wild swings. “He only knows the command in his head.”
The Berserker turned and charged again, grabbing Asher by the shoulders and trying to throw him into the wall.
Asher stood firm.
The boy’s strength was huge—enough to tear metal doors off their hinges—but Asher didn’t budge even an inch.
“You’re being controlled,” Asher said. “He turned you into a weapon.”
The Berserker screamed in Asher’s face and drove a knee into Asher’s ribs. The hit made a loud crack in the armor plating around the boy’s leg.
Asher didn’t move.
Instead, he grabbed the Berserker’s wrist and pushed it down. The boy tried to resist, but Asher’s strength was far greater. He slowly forced the Berserker to his knees.
The tubes on the boy’s spine flickered urgently, trying to pump more rage into him, trying to make him fight harder.
Asher ignored all of it.
“Look at me,” Asher said.
The Berserker struggled, muscles shaking, teeth gritted. But Asher held him still. Not hurting him—just stopping him.
The boy’s breathing turned rough and uneven. His eyes flashed red again, then briefly shifted to a more normal color.
Just for a heartbeat.
The Knight saw it. “Asher! He’s aware! He’s fighting the serum!”
“I know.”
The Berserker suddenly jerked and slammed his forehead into Asher’s. It was a brutal, desperate hit. Most people would have been knocked unconscious.
Asher didn’t even blink.
“You’re in pain,” Asher said quietly. “Let me help you.”
The Berserker screamed louder than before, but now the scream wasn’t anger.
It was fear.
It was confusion.
It was someone trapped inside his own body.
Asher placed his hand on the metal harness locked around the boy’s spine. Sparks jumped from the tubes, warning of overload.
“Asher!” the Knight shouted. “That hardware looks unstable—”
“It is,” Asher said. “But keeping it on him is worse.”
The Berserker swung wildly again, but Asher held him steady with one arm, pinning him to the ground.
“Hang on,” Asher said. “I’m getting you out of this.”
And for the first time, the Berserker’s crazy, rage-filled shouts fell silent.
His eyes were shaking.
He didn’t understand what was happening.
But he could feel something:
Asher wasn’t there to kill him.
He was trying to save him.
The Berserker trembled under Asher’s grip. His arms shook, not from strength this time, but from confusion. His breathing turned sharp and uneven.
Then the Venos man’s voice blasted through the speakers:
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
His voice cracked with panic.
“DON’T TOUCH THE HARNESS!”
Asher didn’t look up. “So this is your control point.”
He gripped the metal clamp at the center of the boy’s spine. The wires sparked harder, as if the system was trying to warn him to stop.
The Berserker’s voice came out choked and broken.
“D…don’t… touch… it…”
Asher paused for a moment.
The boy wasn’t threatening him.
He was afraid.
“It hurts you, doesn’t it?” Asher asked.
The boy squeezed his eyes shut, shaking, barely able to speak through the rage-serum twisting his body.
“Burns… inside… make it… stop…”
The Knight stepped closer, voice tight with concern. “Asher, the whole thing looks ready to explode.”
“I won’t let it,” Asher said.
He placed his other hand on the harness and pressed his thumb against the lock mechanism. A bright spark popped out, burning his skin slightly.
The Berserker jerked in pain but didn’t pull away.
He wasn’t attacking anymore.
He was clinging to the ground, trying not to scream.
From the speakers, the Venos man yelled again, voice frantic:
“You idiot! That lock is tied to his neural core! If you try to break it, you’ll kill him!”
Asher finally looked up at the nearest camera.
“You wired a child’s nervous system into your tech. You already tried to kill him.”
Then he pulled.
The lock resisted. The metal groaned. The tubes along the boy’s back shook violently, pumping faster and faster, trying to keep the rage-serum active.
The boy cried out, grabbing Asher’s arm—not to stop him, but out of desperation.
“Asher…” the Knight warned. “It’s overloading!”
The lights in the hallway flickered.
The harness started glowing red.
Asher tightened his grip.
“Stay with me,” he told the boy. “You’re stronger than what he did to you.”
“…Asher… move!” the Knight shouted, stepping back.
The harness emitted a sharp, high-pitched whine—the sign of a full system meltdown.
And Asher made his decision.
He ripped the entire lock module out of the boy’s spine.
A burst of sparks exploded outward, lighting up the entire corridor with a flash. The tubes snapped loose, whipping around like cut wires before going dark.
The Berserker screamed once—a loud, raw sound—but then it cut off suddenly.
He collapsed forward, falling against Asher’s chest.
The hallway went silent.
No more rage.
No more machine noises.
No more control signals.
Just a boy, unconscious and breathing hard.
Asher held him gently and lowered him to the floor.
The Knight stepped up beside him. “Is he alive?”
Asher checked his pulse, then nodded.
“He’s alive. The serum will fade soon.”
On the speakers, the Venos man had gone quiet. Too quiet.
Then his voice returned, shaking with anger.
“You… you RUINED it. My perfect work. My masterpiece!”
Asher stood up slowly, cracking his knuckles.
“Knight,” he said calmly.
“Yes?”
“We’re done playing his game.”
The Knight tightened his grip on his sword. “Let’s go find him.”
Asher stepped forward.
“And this time,” he said, “he doesn’t get to hide.”