Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: A Victorless Power Plant
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* * *
Footsteps echoed.
Squelch—
A filthy intestine was crushed underfoot.
Scattered hunter corpses and coins littered the excavated pit.
Wrecked hunks of metal piled up amid the crumbled walls, decorated with beastkin bloodstains.
An eerie, deserted power plant.
Untended bodies and scars bore witness to yesterday's fierce battle.
Crunch—
Someone stepped over the fallen wall.
It was Ju Gonghyeok.
No victorious tribe had claimed the power plant because of him.
He had smashed both the walls and the generators.
Ju Gonghyeok had aided the humans, earning heaps of rewards.
Yet paradoxically, he had to shine for the beastkin tribe too.
He needed the trust of the canine tribe and the equestrian riders.
‘So...’
He had made the beastkin lose in an ‘unfair’ way.
Heroes are born not just from overwhelming victories, but from overwhelming defeats as well.
The deeper the beastkin's crisis, the more Gonghyeok became their hero.
When the walls fell, he displayed valor rivaling the chieftains.
To protect the retreating beastkin, he single-handedly clashed with tens of thousands of foes.
A textbook legend-worthy performance.
‘Minimum objectives achieved.’
Gonghyeok, the new wolf-headed hero of the canine tribe.
The hero was born.
There was no winner in the power plant.
With all generators destroyed, the facility stood empty.
Everything had gone exactly as ‘intended.’
Kyaargh!
Space tore open with a shriek.
Thud!
Lilianne appeared, falling flat on her ass.
Several demons tumbled out of the rift.
“Where do you think you’re running, succubus bitch?”
“Today, we avenge Lady Cluesti.”
Lilianne crawled on all fours with a rustle, hiding behind Ju Gonghyeok.
“Oppa! Do it like we agreed, quick! I’m gonna die! For real this time!”
“So you’re that hotshot contractor, huh.”
“The one who fucked up this whole op.”
“Lilianne, no results? Don’t come back. Everyone’s debating how hard to fuck you before slicing you into pieces.”
“See you later.”
The space sealed shut, sending the furious demons away.
Lilianne, her wing membranes torn and body caked in mud, sobbed pitifully.
From the moment she killed her lord Cluesti, Lilianne’s fate was sealed.
Become queen, or traitor.
Lilianne could only survive by winning nonstop.
Otherwise, the demons would devour her.
“Waaah, Oppa has to take care of me. You promised responsibility.”
“Got it. Got it.”
“Hurry and do the quest like we said! Catching that messenger isn’t enough...”
Gonghyeok had received quests from her.
One was 「Exterminate All Twelve Apostles of the Serpent Tribe」. The other...
「Seize the Power Plant」
He kept walking, spotting a massive hole.
The power plant core Ju Gonghyeok had blasted from the underground waterway.
Faint traces of where the generators once stood remained.
Even as Lilianne begged desperately, there was a reason he hadn’t taken the power plant quest.
The same went for the defense one.
They guaranteed top contributions, but Ju Gonghyeok had no reason to take them.
- I heard about it, but... is that really possible?
Nathaniel asked suspiciously.
“What.”
- You know, that thing. Even without a generator, right on the spot...
“Like this?”
Groooowl—
The generator wreckage slowly floated into the air.
Corpses of machine god tribe members and beastkin weapons—all metal—rose and gathered in one spot.
An iron orb hovering in the sky.
Looking up at it, Ju Gonghyeok murmured softly.
“It’ll take a bit. About 10 seconds?”
- I’m the one making it, you ugly meatbag.
The platinum iron giant, Vulcanus, revealed himself.
[『Creation Machine God Vulcanus (SSS)』 Secondary Ability 「Reconstruction」, Fourth Ability 「Divine Machine Manufacturing」 activated.]
[The Machine God Vulcanus rebuilds the power plant with a new blueprint.]
- Facility grade converts to Divine Machine (SSS).
- Power plant efficiency vastly surpasses the original facility (A).
The iron orb melted like water, reshaping into a familiar form.
The generator room Gonghyeok had wrecked just a day ago.
The generators he had demolished.
Metal turbine prototypes and intricate parts were reforged anew in the sky.
Against the heavens, screws and bolts flowed like rivers, assembling seamlessly—a spectacular sight.
Lilianne’s knees trembled at the grand vista filling the sky.
‘I heard the talk, but to actually pull this shit off.’
A complete shift in thinking.
The hunters and beastkin who fled the power plant never dreamed it.
If there’s no generator, ‘just make one.’
[Divine Machine Vulcanus-Style Power System (SSS) Reconstructed!]
[Divine Machine Vulcanus-Style Generator (SSS) Generated!]
[The facility created by Contractor Ju Gonghyeok fully functions as a power plant.]
[The tribes interfering with the quest have already been defeated and no longer exist in the power plant.]
[Demon Realm Quest 「Seize the Power Plant」 completed.]
[Achievement rate 100%. Rewards can be discussed later with Celestial Knight Lilianne.]
As the iron orb took new form, messages appeared.
In mere seconds, the power plant facilities were rebuilt.
Nathaniel couldn’t hide his awe at the platinum equipment.
- The world... it really worked.
“It had to! Or I’d be dead!”
- Whether you live or die is none of my business.
Gonghyeok glanced boredly at the new generator.
“Generators? Never needed them from the start.”
Beastkin generators or human ones.
He could smash as many as he wanted.
Because he could make them.
Vulcanus was the creation god of the machine god tribe.
Among transcendent Gigadeus-class machine gods like:
Cannonfire Machine God Super Tyrant.
Control-Type Computer Machine God David.
Conquest-Type Warhorse Machine God Temujin.
Dominion-Type Dignity Machine God Augustus.
Swarm-Type Integration Machine God Gigalo Machina.
He was on another level entirely.
‘Making a mere generator like this? Child’s play.’
Lilianne shuddered violently.
This quest wasn’t meant to be cleared like this, but who cared.
‘I’ll smash all those assholes who chased me.’
Summoning Evil Duke Baphomet with that generator meant certain human victory.
Contributions would pile up like mountains.
She clung to Gonghyeok.
“Customer! Master! Oppa! Turn on the generator quick! Summon the demon grand dukes...”
“Not over yet.”
“Huh?”
Lilianne blinked at the out-of-left-field reply.
Before her question cleared, a new orb formed.
The generator room expanded several times over, and new generators began assembling in midair.
“Oppa? What are those?”
“Making two more.”
Three generators total.
A vastly larger system installed in the power plant.
Lilianne’s face stiffened slightly.
“...My dear Oppa~ What do you plan to do with two extras~?”
Ju Gonghyeok smiled calmly at her.
“Summoning just one would be boring, right?”
Whiiiiiir!
The golden generators spun wildly.
Zeus, supplying power to the generators, shouted.
- Hey! Pump more juice! This is weak compared to my prime! Your mana’s too puny!
“I know. It’s lacking.”
Preparations to bare his hand were complete.
Black and white coins emerged from his inventory.
“GM. Expand avatar space. Add simultaneous summons.”
The magician-hatted avatar with its eerie grin appeared.
[Expanding privileges with 1 Black Coin, 1 White Coin.]
[Avatar expansion, remaining slots 8/9.]
[Avatar 5-body simultaneous summon expansion 4/5.]
“Open buff list too.”
At the long-overdue command, the GM gazed cheerfully at Gonghyeok.
[Which buff to apply?]
“Hell Gate Open.”
[Consuming 433 Green Coins to apply buff ‘Hell Gate Open’!]
[User mana stat exceeds 1,000! Increase reduced to 20, but Hell Gate will supply consumed mana.]
[Buff overuse! User stats and buff cost conversion imbalance detected. Required coin grade rises one step.]
Base mana 1,001 plus Trait 「Final Mental Armament (SS++)」 +100.
Already peak SS-grade mana, now boosted by interdimensional ‘Hell Gate’ mana support.
Lilianne shivered at the storm of mana pouring out.
‘At this level, mana’s 1,195. Only 70 less than Lady Cluesti’s SS-grade at her peak.’
Not the nerfed Cluesti from floor 39.
The true Four Heavenly Kings of floor 87.
A presence matching Thunderlight Pursuer Cluesti’s mana.
Sweating coldly, Lilianne barely approached Gonghyeok.
“U-um, Oppa. What exactly are you planning with all this...”
“Out of the way.”
Ju Gonghyeok’s body glowed brilliantly.
The five great gods descended behind him, sending nearby Lilianne rolling.
- This body shall begin.
A small sun formed in Ra-Djehuty’s hand.
[Summoning Avatars ‘Sun God Ra-Djehuty (SSS), Thunder God Zeus (SS++), Great Sage Equaling Heaven Six-Eared Macaque (SSS), Asura King Prajapati (SS), Creation Machine God Vulcanus (SSS)’.]
Ra-Djehuty’s small sun multiplied eightfold in the Asura King’s Eight-Handled Gourd.
Vulcanus crafted energy absorption panels, converting sunspot explosions straight to energy, while the Great Sage’s Muscle Cloud accelerated the turbines to max speed.
- Kraaah~~ That’s more like it! Now it feels right to unleash lightning!
The immense power forged by the gods’ authorities concentrated on Zeus.
- Yes! This is my power! The Olympian king no one can touch! Slayer of sky gods! Lord of thunderclouds who dyes heaven and earth in lightning! I am Zeus!
- Showboating as always.
Despite Ra-Djehuty’s jab, Zeus cackled, hurling crackling bolts.
The thunder god’s ultimate authority—a sea of world-burning lightning—poured into the generators.
[Abilities 「Sunspot Explosion」, 「Eight-Handled Gourd」, 「Muscle Cloud Technique」, 「Divine Machine Manufacturing」, 「Astrape」 activated!]
[Five Gods Synthesis!]
[「Eco-Friendly Power Generation」 - Let’s cherish the environment!]
A grand aurora unfurled above the power plant, blinding light stretching hundreds of kilometers.
[Demon Realm Quest 「Seize the Power Plant」 additionally completed!]
[Achievement rate 300%. Rewards can be discussed later with Celestial Knight Lilianne!]
Feeling the massive power heading to the warp gate on the planet’s far side, Ju Gonghyeok spoke.
“Fight.”
Fight...
And slaughter each other to the death.
Plans to screw over the beastkin and machine god tribes while force-feeding the humans sweet honey would start after.
Two hundred years ago, it had been a grueling task.
After abandoning everything, he had ignored the screams in his ears and done the opposite.
Ju Gonghyeok twisted his lips oddly.
“Ah~ Damn humanity forever.”
* * *
“It’s open!”
The golden warp gate fully activated.
The blue veil lifted, and a demon with a half-skeletal head stepped out.
The demon was Duke of Ten Thousand Evils, Chernobog.
One of the three demon grand dukes serving the Four Heavenly King ‘Unsleeper Vinecliff’.
Fifteen celestial knights lined up behind Chernobog.
Five thousand demons formed ranks behind the celestial knights.
“You did well. We have come.”
Tiger God Jian nodded at Chernobog’s eerie voice.
A sidelong glance showed the Dragon God already marching grandly with his kin.
Tiger God turned, raising his glaive.
“The hour of glorious combat is upon us!”
Male kin, thousands of warriors, looked up to Tiger God.
“The sky tigers and sky ancestors watch over us! Fight without shame! Swear to the ancestors, warriors!”
Boom—
Tiger God slammed down his glaive and roared.
“Howl, warriors!”
Aaaaooooo—
Thousands of beasts cried out their great progenitors’ or ancestral gods’ names in their own roars.
Burning with fervor, Tiger God turned and bared his claws.
“Charge—! We offer our souls to the great ancestors!”
Kraaaah—
The sturdy beasts trampled the earth, surging forward.
* * *