Mercenary Black Mamba

Vrrr—

The whip shook as though it was responding to Black Mamba's call. While no one noticed, Black Mamba saw the weapon shaking.

The smallest unit of matter was a wave, and the world was made up of waves. When a holy weapon recognized its owner, it meant that the frequency of the weapon's soul and the frequency of the user's soul were on the same wavelength.

For a real holy weapon to be born, one's soul must permeate the weapon, and both inorganic and organic matter must be in harmony. An ancient craftsman gathered his blood, the heart of a holy creature, a human's brain, and even his wife and sons and shoved them into a hearth to create a holy weapon. His grudges and wishes reached the weapon through a unique resonance, thus, giving birth to a holy weapon.

"Rakshasa! That's a good name. In Hinduism, she's a horrible woman who helped Asura destroy the world, but in Buddhism, she symbolizes repentance. Although we've customized it to your request, how can you wield it without a handle?"

Bonipas was right to worry. A whip's average length was less than 10 feet. Rakshasa's thong was over 30 feet. Moreover, there was no handle to control the thong and fall.

A whip's life depended on its toughness and flexibility. It had to go through a complex production process to ensure its elasticity and mobility. Its braided core was wrapped with leather and tightly braided with leather strips on top before it's finally overlaid with soft and tough leather.

The more gaps it had, the more flexible and less durable it was, and the fewer gaps it had, vice versa. The Boss-saurus' tendon was elastic and strong enough to defend against large-caliber bullets. They must have put in quite the effort to customize a tendon that could be attached to the Vajra.

A whip was made up of a handle, a thong[1], a fall[2], a fall hitch[3], and a popper[4].

In general, whips could be divided into two categories—a bullwhip came with a handle, and a snake whip came without a handle. The whip Indiana Jones used was the bullwhip. Snake whips were easy to carry around but harder to use.

Originally, the whip was used to control animals and was, therefore, a symbol of barbarism. It's used to hit animals and criminals. Modern humans who had no use for whips didn't know what it's for. Funnily enough, the most familiar whip to modern humans was the nine-tail whip that the U.S. and Japan introduced in their S&Ms.

Rakshasa looked very different from a regular whip. It was straight without the distinctive handle, thong, fall, or popper. There was no significant difference in the thickness of the gleaming dark fabric from the handle to the popper. Instead of a popper, there was a five-pointed shuriken-shaped cracker. The cracker looked like a snake with an open jaw. If the whip had to be categorized, it would fall under snake whips, which only had a thong and a cracker.

"A picky woodsman is nothing but a fake."

Black Mamba grabbed the Rakshasa. A sturdy yet flexible touch clung to his hand. The Boss-saurus, which was reborn as Rakshasa, rumbled like a dragon. Black Mamba felt a kind of satisfaction that was different from when he held modern weapons.

"Rakshasa!"

A loud howling with resonance shook the conference room.

Kuooo—

There was a big, silent sound wave. Rakshasa's main component was the tendon of the Boss-saurus, a species that disappeared several 1,000,000s of years ago. The dinosaur's intense aura, which continued from the distant past, resonated with Asura's call. With Rakshasa in one hand, Black Mamba was the true incarnation of Asura—immovable and undefeatable.

"Good!"

He flicked his wrist and returned the cracker[5]. The cracker rushed forward with its open jaw as though it was about to tear something apart. It acted just like a black mamba springing toward its prey. At the light hand movement, Rakshasa wrapped around Black Mamba's upper body. It was as though a dark black mamba had wrapped itself around a human. It was the kind of posture torn between the peaks of barbarism and primitive nature. The DGSE officials looked as though they were enamored by him.

"It's different from the material I've provided. The flexibility and durability improved. Did you mix it with some other materials?"

"It is 10 meters in length and 30 kilograms in weight, and It has a 35-millimeter diameter handle and a 20-millimeter diameter fall. Alongside the unidentified tendon provided by you, advisor, there is a mixture of polyketone and liquid metal. All materials are extracted and polymerized to 100 Millitex[6]. We combined three materials with carbon monoxide and extracted 300 Millitex fibers using a compound of barium and strontium as catalysts. The extracted fibers were compressed in a vacuum and processed into a bundle of muscle fibers. The experimental value of its tensile strength exceeded 500 tons. Its wear resistance is comparable to diamonds. It is the strongest and most unique item that only the DGSE Technology Design Division can create," Ariba boasted.

"I don't know what they are, but it sounds extremely complicated. Its properties?"

"It didn't change form in a 2,000-degree fire. Its strength is 50 times that of steel and 20 times that of titanium. Surprisingly, its modulus of elasticity is close to zero. The Technology Design Division said it's impossible for them to create another one like this."

"Ho! Good."

Black Mamba grabbed the Rakshasa's body with both hands and used his strength. The Rakshasa stretched like a rubber band. When he released it, it snapped back to its original length. He wasn't wrong to say that its modulus of elasticity was close to zero.

"What is the cracker made of?"

Black Mamba asked, lifting the five-pointed shuriken-shaped weight. He originally planned to attach the Vajra to its end, but he changed his mind. The Vajra and the Billion's Water Armor were the treasures of the heavens. Rakshasa could be recreated with modern technology as long as he had the Boss-saurus' tendons, but modern technology couldn't recreate the Vajra. He would be pounding the floor in regret if he lost it.

"Liquid metal. The surface is coated with diamond, and it weighs three kilograms."

"Good!"

That was already Black Mamba's third time saying "good." That was how much he liked the Rakshasa. Ocelot's whip, which was swept away by the flood, was a rope compared to the Rakshasa.

"Advisor, a 30-kilogram whip is something that only Titans can use. Will you be able to use it in battle?"

Black Mamba didn't answer Mekisi's question and shook his upper body instead.

Whoosh—

The Rakshasa descended effortlessly and stretched out to the front.

Whoosh—

Resonance swirled around his body and flowed through the Rakshasa. The Boss-saurus' tendon gently absorbed his resonance.

Twang—

Rakshasa, which was drooping, flew up straight like a cobra's head. The air swayed with every movement.

"Ha!"

If he swung it thoroughly, the small room would probably split in half.

Twang—

The cracker stretched out like a spear.

Bang—

A loud sound erupted from the conference room's wall.

Rumble—

The conference room protested in pain. All of the DGSE officials and Philip turned to look at the wall. A hole was made in the 10-inch concrete wall.

"Huh…" They let out a strange groan.

The mouths of four people were wide open.

As expected of Black Mamba!

Bonipas' eyes sparkled oddly. He looked like a teenage girl in love. Feeling better, Black Mamba pulled out a checkbook from his chest pocket. A check worth 10,000 francs was handed over to Mekisi.

"The center of gravity is good, and elasticity is perfect. Mekisi, treat the tech members to a meal."

"The whip is great, and you're even more so, advisor." Mekisi gave a 90-degree bow.

He changed his perception of Black Mamba from a cruel predator to a benevolent predator.

With that, he gained the Vajra, Billion's Water Armor, and Rakshasa—a set of three holy weapons. Weapons bestowed by the heavens couldn't be bought with money. Weapons could only be gained by the will of the heavens. His happiness was brief. He suddenly felt like his comfortable daily routine was growing further and further away.

Bonipas was bursting with pride at the sight of Black Mamba smiling like a child because of his weapon. If he could buy Black Mamba's favor, he would offer him Corsica instead of Novatopia.

"Advisor, I have another gift."

"The more gifts, the better."

"Hehe, I'll introduce you to a reliable guide. Mekisi, show the advisor our guide."

"Ah, GPS! I've forgotten about it."

Mekisi took out a piece of equipment as thick as a wooden board from his aluminum hard case.

Black Mamba looked at the unfamiliar equipment with skeptical eyes. In the center, there was a screen that was smaller than his palm, and below it, there were some buttons and a trackball.

"It's a GPS[7] prototype. This GPS can show you where you are by receiving location signals from four satellites. Isn't it amazing?"

"It's hard to understand."

"You don't have to understand. All you need to know is how to use it. You don't have a hard time driving cars even when you're unsure of the car's structure. It's simple to use." Mekisi sounded confident as though he'd never been intimidated.

He marked his current location and entered Calvi, Corsica. When he rolled the trackball, the direction and distance from their current location to Calvi immediately appeared.

"Huh!"

Black Mamba's eyes widened. It was a magic item that showed him his current location and the distance from a starting point to the final destination. He was a mercenary who fought and traveled 100s and 1,000s of kilometers. He immediately understood the value of that item.

"Huh! No one would have died if we had this GPS in the Sahel." Black Mamba let out a deep sigh.

If they had the GPS, his comrades wouldn't have to wander the desert aimlessly. The unnecessary walking ate away their energy and affected their judgment and ability to respond to a crisis promptly.

"Impossible. You are the first to use this GPS, advisor. The coordinates are unstable because it's a prototype. Zaire's map that we've inputted isn't accurate either. However, we're sure it'll be of great help to you."

"Thanks. It's the best guide that I can have."

Black Mamba was truly impressed. The GPS was more valuable than his guns in the forest and desert.

"I've never seen a better Zhu Bajie."

Black Mamba, who went back to Legion Etranger's equipment shelter building after the meeting, laughed. Samedi was swinging a big shovel. He looked like a child who received a toy that he wanted.

"Dude, is the meeting over?"

Emil jumped off the electric lift. Looking at how he moved, it seemed like his body had fully adapted to the prosthetic leg.

"Hm, they stuffed me with gifts to make up for the lack of information. How long has he been acting like that?"

"It's been an hour. I've never seen a person as powerful as him before. I feel like he's stronger than that terrifying dude we met in Faya."

"His movements are not as good as Ocelot's. It'll be quite the scene to see both of them go at each other."

"Ha, it's a good thing I decided to become an equipment storage supplier instead. What's the world coming to? Monsters like him keep appearing everywhere."

"Dude, you're as ignorant as he is. Why does the world's greatest troublemaker sound so weak?"

Black Mamba smacked Emil's back. His friend used to run across the battlefield with a Minimi at hand. To see him carry around weapons in the storage room made him sad. However, that was also the fate of a mercenary.

"Samedi, stop that and come here."

Whoosh—

Samedi swung the shovel hard one more time in the air and stopped. Samedi slung the shovel over his shoulder and nodded.

"Wakil, I like this a lot."

Samedi was all smiles. Black Mamba took the shovel and checked it carefully. The weapon was so absurdly powerful that it could wipe out an elephant with a blow. Its blade had a width of 200 millimeters and a length of 500 millimeters. Its center was 10 millimeters thick, and its edges were as sharp as a razor blade. The shovel stick was a three-part disassembling stick. Each part was 600 millimeters long, and including the shovel, it added up to 2.4 meters long.

It was a shovel in nothing but name and an actual Tin Yat Fang Bian Chan. Fang Bian Chan is Sha Wujing's weapon in the Journey to the West. Fang Bian Chan existed as a digging tool before it was a weapon. The number of corpses in China was as much as its population. The priests used it to ward off predators during their training journey and to bury corpses abandoned on the road. It was the perfect weapon for Samedi.

"It's much lighter than I thought. Around 40 kilograms?"

"It weighs exactly 40 kilograms. It is made of liquid metal, and it went through die-casting and forging. The blade is finished with a diamond coating. Its strength and wear resistance is about three times that of titanium."

"It must have cost quite a lot of money."

"Liquid metal isn't commonly used since it's much more expensive than gold. Who else but the DGSE would do such a crazy thing? It seems like they are scared of Black Mamba, after all. Kekeke!" Emil laughed.

He could go in and out of the DGSE Technology Design Division because Black Mamba was his backer. Even those stubborn b*stards couldn't do anything after learning it's Black Mamba's request.

"That's how desperate they are. Should I test its durability?"

Whoosh—

A big shovel split the ground open.

Bang—

The metal pipe that supported the equipment shelter building's front panel fell to the ground.

"Whoo!" Emil exhaled.

The metal pipe of 150 millimeters in diameter was sliced without a sound. He knew it was obvious, but he still was taken aback whenever he saw it.

"It's useful. Samedi, your weapon is now called Squeaker."

Squeaker. He had a hopeless naming sense.

"I like Squeaker."

Samedi agreed and disassembled Squeaker before shoving it into his backpack.

"Emil, did you find any firearms that Samedi can use?"

"I was thinking about giving him a 50-caliber machine gun, but the bullets and magazines are a problem. Obtaining additional supplies will be difficult if you go deep into the forest, which means if it breaks, it'll just be trash."

Emil took out a machine gun from a wooden box.

"This is the original 7.62-millimeter caliber FN MAG from Belgium. Its destructive power is lower than that of the M2, but it is second to none in terms of stability. It's like a toothpick for that friend. There should be enough bullets for it too. It fires 850 rounds per minute, and 10 seconds is enough to replace the barrel. It can cover enough firepower. By the way, that friend of yours, has he ever fired a gun?"

[1] A whip's body.

[2] A whip's actual impact point.

[3] The connecting point between a thong and a fall.

[4] It is what makes the popping sound.

[5] The weight at the edge of the whip.

[6] Tex is the unit of measurement of a fiber's thickness. One Tex is one kilometer if the weight is one gram. Millitex is 1/1,000 of Tex.

[7] Global Positioning System.