Age of Chaos
The mission Jeyca had authorized was a contaminated porter.
It was the perfect assignment for testing the performance of the equipment she had customized exactly as she’d claimed she would.
In the ruins where he’d come alone, expecting the job to be over quickly, Yoo Sung-jun cut down the charging Infectors and pressed forward, shooting and carving his way through them.
Hours passed like that before he finally came face-to-face with the mission’s target.
A level 5 end-stage Infector: Camonute.
Its body, wrapped in armor-like carapace, and its pillar-thick limbs made it both the strongest shield and the deadliest blade.
That alone made it an exceptionally difficult prey to bring down, but Camonute’s true strength lay elsewhere.
“Krrrgh…”
From between the teeth jutting out of its flat face, it exhaled a ragged breath.
Its body was pocked and gouged all over, carved open in multiple places.
The man who had done that, Yoo Sung-jun, tightened his grip on the greatsword and thought to himself.
There was no need to say it out loud.
It’s coming. Its fungal cluster.
I’ll handle it. Please focus on the main body, Yoo Sung-jun-nim.
I was planning to.
He gave a slight grin and tipped the blade a little when—
It’s coming! The whole area around Sung-jun oppa is glowing crimson! Especially the right shoulder!
Jeyca’s support came through the in-ear communicator.
The moment her voice rang out, Yoo Sung-jun swung his sword.
Camonute, which had been far away only an instant before, closed the distance in a blink.
For a body nearly five meters tall, fully encased in seamless armor, it was an astonishing burst of speed.
But he’d already seen it coming.
The instant it chopped down with its arm toward his right shoulder, the fungal clusters swelling across its back burst up in droves and began to constrict him.
In that split second, there was only one thing he needed.
Intercept.
Sheeek!
As Yoo Sung-jun severed the creature’s arm, the Untouch Shooter mounted on his left shoulder spat fire.
Thoom! Boom!
The sound was like a howitzer going off.
The recoil was only enough to nudge his shoulder back slightly.
It was nothing that would interfere with combat.
And Loki’s marksmanship was strong enough now to brag about without hesitation.
Swarming fungal clusters, dozens of them, beating their noisy wings.
As shots raked through the gray mass filling the air, holes began to blast open one after another.
“Kraaaah!”
Yoo Sung-jun tore his gaze from the fungal clusters and focused on Camonute.
The creature let out a violent bellow and swung its remaining arm.
Air interference. He answered with the face of Alpha Strike leading the way.
Phwoom!
The shockwave that shook space sent both their bodies skidding backward.
The one who recovered first was Yoo Sung-jun.
The difference lay in whether you knew what was coming or not.
And once he seized the advantage, the final strike gathered along the blade.
Whooooo—
The gray current of nano-particles turned jet black.
With forty percent of his nano-particles and power consumed, the light of annihilation settled into the sword.
Six-Cracking Bone-Cutting Slash. In plain terms, by paying with the nano-particles and power that were as good as blood and flesh in battle, he took the enemy’s bones—and ultimately its life.
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The eerie black crescent pierced straight through Camonute’s center.
Yoo Sung-jun didn’t even bother to confirm its death. He simply pointed, with one finger, at the side of his left knee.
Ah!
Along with Loki’s exclamation, a particle round fired from somewhere and blew apart a fungal cluster creeping in unnoticed.
The targeting designation had worked perfectly.
With that, silence settled over the battlefield.
The fungal clusters, those giant flying insects steeped in D-Virus, had all been eliminated by Loki.
Camonute, the host that had harbored them, had also been split in half by Six-Cracking Bone-Cutting Slash and was dead instantly.
It was an ability that could put down a level 5 in a single blow.
Not only that.
Even after cleaving Camonute apart, the force of the strike had continued on and sliced halfway through the iron structure behind it.
At this level, assuming I use it well, I could probably kill a level 7 entity in one hit too.
The equipment test had been a complete success.
Now it was time to go back.
How was it?
He stopped walking at Loki’s voice, which had slipped in with obvious pride.
Yoo Sung-jun tapped the cover over the Untouch Shooter and pointed at the fungal corpses.
“You seem to know one thing but not two. So what if you can hit the target? You need to identify the enemy’s weak point—and the movement paths each type tends to follow, almost by habit—with a single shot.”
That’s a technique only possible because Yoo Sung-hwan-nim is exceptionally talented, isn’t it?
“Exactly. That’s what you’re lacking. Train more. Still… for your first time, it was decent.”
Was I like the Ultimate Shooter?
“...I still don’t know what that is, but I don’t think you’re quite there yet.”
Hiiing…
While he was talking with Loki, he glanced behind him.
Looking for a moment at the building where Jeyca was waiting, Yoo Sung-jun muttered softly, “...I don’t trust your answer.”
With that, he headed back.
Meanwhile, Jeyca was delaying her return a little.
She was leaning against a crumbling wall on the rooftop of an old, decayed building, trying to catch her breath.
Her face was full of regret, as if she’d been thinking about what had happened only a few hours earlier.
Haah… why did I say that?
Who would have guessed he’d ask so directly?
Even her supporter, Mac Kludy, seemed to have never imagined such a situation.
So she’d had to think it through alone, and the answer she came up with in that instant had been brief.
—Oh, no, it’s not like that?
—Really? Then… all right, I see.
It was the best answer the timid Jeyca could come up with.
The situation had been too fast for her to keep up with.
She thought the best way was to take it slowly, share feelings over time, get to know each other, and confirm those feelings through one incident after another.
That was what she believed was best.
So she was afraid.
Because the future that would unfold if she answered yes instead of no had already taken shape in her mind in the worst possible way.
Even if I say yes, it doesn’t mean we start dating right away. It could make things awkward between us. That would become a variable in the operation, and that’s not what Sung-jun oppa wants.
Jeyca didn’t want that either.
If the operation went wrong, it would cast a shadow over the safety of their comrades.
That was why she’d denied it.
It was also why she kept regretting it.
Yoo Sung-jun’s question might have been a golden opportunity after all.
She’d turned it down so neatly—how could she not regret it?
Jeyca-nim, cheer up. There’s still a chance.
No… it’s already over. Even if he acts like nothing happened, Sung-jun oppa will definitely believe I meant what I said.
Tsk! That’s the problem, Jeyca-nim. You didn’t even hear Yoo Sung-jun-nim’s true feelings, and you already made the decision on your own! From where I’m standing, the door is still open. He might have interpreted it as you not liking him right away, you know.
At Mac Kludy’s words, Jeyca lifted her head.
As if she’d realized something, her eyes gleamed with hope.
“Then what do I do now? Should I just act normal and move at my own pace?”
Exactly! You knew the answer all along and still suffered over it. For the important moments, I, your supporter, will handle the assistance. For now, just treat Yoo Sung-jun-nim as usual. Understood?
“Yeah… Just remember one thing, Mac. I really, truly like Sung-jun oppa—he helped my parents and guided me. So you need to treat this seriously too.”
Of course!
There was still plenty of time left to be together.
Thinking that, confidence surged up inside her.
The despair that had filled her face only moments ago was gone.
With the same liveliness and self-assurance as before, she returned to the Enter Room.
At the Gimpo Airport Bunker, a group of people sat gathered together.
Most of them were strong enough to be considered at team-leader level.
Every one of them was looking in the same direction.
There, standing with a tablet in hand, was Yoon Choi.
“Then I’ll begin the meeting to decide the final operation plan for the Kalakwa subjugation.”
With her calm voice came a series of images on the wall screen.
A canyon region bathed in sunset. A pack of Infectors moving along its bottom.
They all came in a wild variety of shapes and forms.
“At long last, Kalakwa has entered a canyon zone rather than the plains it’s been traversing until now.”
Yoon Choi manipulated the buttons and brought up Kalakwa on one side and each Infector on the other.
“To put it simply, the final objective is to use this canyon to create a one-on-one match between Meteor and Kalakwa.”
The screen changed.
The bottom of the canyon, stretching out like a spider web, was highlighted in red.
“Our main goal is to scatter the Infectors escorting Kalakwa and turn the terrain from the shortest route toward Kalakwa into the longest possible one.”
“Question! Question, question!”
At that moment, someone cut off Yoon Choi’s explanation and shot their hand into the air.
The timing was a little abrupt, but everyone had already started to have questions themselves.
The one who raised his hand at precisely the right moment was Alexei Cruiser.
The gentle Russian grizzly bear who had made major contributions to suppressing the Balugle swarm along with Blood Rain.
“So there’s no chance at all that we’ll be fighting Kalakwa directly?”
Yoon Choi answered the instant she heard the question.
“Correct. Fighting Kalakwa will be limited to Meteor-nim and Jack Kalt-nim. I can’t tell you everything, but the abilities of their equipment could harm allies as well. Is that enough of an answer? Then may I continue?”
“Oh, I get it. You bought some ridiculously strong weapons.”
Somehow still a long way to go before he could catch up to the hyung he admired, he muttered under his breath.
Ignoring Cruiser’s complaint, the meeting went on.
Which canyon entrance should be blocked.
How to separate the escorting Infector packs, each averaging level 6.
And finally, who would be the ones to take them on.
“From this point on, assuming the operation proceeds smoothly, I’ll announce the teams that will be assigned.”
Twelve Infectors in total.
Eighty-eight people assigned to fight them.
It was an overwhelming number of humans, but still far too few to handle the Infectors escorting Kalakwa.
Since those numbers had been gathered based on whether they could land effective strikes against level 5 Infectors, it was inevitable that facing level 6s would be a stretch.
But they had to do it anyway.
Once Kalakwa awoke, the fallout would cross continents and oceans alike.
That had to be stopped, no matter what.
We’ve only just managed to carve out this refuge. We can’t lose it here.
Yoo Sung-jun watched his younger brother and Jeyca focusing on the screen, then looked away.
By now, appropriate positions and combat levels had already been assigned, and the list of newly formed team leaders and deputy leaders was displayed.
Since Jack Kalt and I will be handling Kalakwa, we’re out. That leaves eighty-six people to deal with eleven level 6 entities.
Even if they distributed the workload as evenly as possible, assigning eight people per Infector…
Two teams will have to face level 6s with just seven people each.
That was the point he focused on.
Could seven people really take down the confirmed Infectors?
His eyes widened when he saw the team leaders.
Choi Hyun-seok… and Sung-hwan…
Choi Hyun-seok had been expected.
His innate wave detection would obviously be a huge help in leading subordinates and hunting Infectors.
But his brother was unexpected.
He was in the sniper position, not the helper.
No matter how much aerial control he could secure through Ryong-i, that still didn’t mean he could read the entire battlefield at a glance and issue orders in an instant. He couldn’t.
I know Sung-hwan’s grown fast. I admit he’s become strong enough now that nobody can look down on him.
But the opponent was the problem.
A level 6 Infector. A creature so powerful that even Yoo Sung-jun couldn’t bring it down unless he poured in the terrain, the environment, and everything else he had.
As Jack Kalt had said, there were 514 people worldwide who stood beyond the standard threshold. That meant the number of entities beyond level 6 was also small.
Which meant they were equally exceptional—and frighteningly strong.
That was why he was worried.
Even if Jeyca and Yoon Choi are on the team Sung-hwan leads, in the end they’ll have to rely heavily on Ryong-i’s firepower and Sung-hwan’s sniping.
Still, he couldn’t just reshuffle the team members who had already learned the operation and begun syncing their movements.
No, this wouldn’t do.
He’d have to check for himself once the meeting was over.
Whether Sung-hwan’s team can reach the level needed to subjugate a level 6 Infector. I need to confirm it with my own body.
D-2. With only two days left until the operation that would decide the fate of two clans, Yoo Sung-jun clenched his fist with a creak.
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