Chapter 223
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 223
Chapter Title: Straight to the Heart
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- There's still~ so much farther to go. Groin area... Jeez, who knows how long it'll take to reach the heart from here.
Nathaniel bit her lip anxiously.
- But look at the insane distance from our spot in the groin to the heart. We're running out of time! The Machine God's armor isn't easy to pierce, and who knows how many more layers there are until the core... This damn Machine God is vast like a cosmic plain!
Anxious, Nathaniel stomped her feet.
- Can we make it in time? At this rate, we might all end up charging into the 88th floor!
Ju Gonghyeok thoughtfully stroked his chin.
“Charging into the 88th floor to clash big-time with the Dimensional Machine God would be fun...”
Ju Gonghyeok only fought battles he was guaranteed to win.
There had been some unease against Remiel or Cluesti, but in the end, he always had a trump card to secure victory.
But jumping into a fight against three of the Four Great Kings and a thousand Machine Gods on a whim? That was a battle he couldn't be 100% sure of winning.
‘Today of all days, I miss the Progenitor.’
Progenitor Aindorf and the Dimensional Machine God.
If he could use both at once, it might be worth gambling against the three Great Kings.
‘But today's cards have already been played.’
Boom!
[Warning! Warning!]
[Eliminate the intruder.]
Heavyweight Machine Godkin and the remaining Celestial Knights swarmed in from all sides.
“You're already surrounded! S-s-surrender peacefully!”
The Celestial Knight trembled as he forced out a shout.
Ju Gonghyeok was an unprecedented heavyweight who had slain Great Kings and Archangels.
He wasn't someone a few Celestial Knights and low-tier Machine God grunts could stop.
‘Even so, if the manufacturing Machine God-tier combatants join in and the rest of the Celestial Knights arrive, that buys about 15 minutes...’
Celestial Knight Timuka was determined to hold out no matter what.
Just endure for 10 minutes until the Dimensional Machine God breached the 88th floor—there, the sturdy Great Kings would be waiting.
Gonghyeok glanced over them.
“Why'd you come all the way here?”
Ju Gonghyeok snapped his fingers.
“This place is already my domain.”
Sparks flew from the Machine Godkin combatants' eyes as they turned on each other.
Not on Ju Gonghyeok, but on the Celestial Knights.
[System normalization.]
[Attack target changed - Illegal system occupier (alias 'Babel Devil').]
“Damn it! You crazy scrap heaps!”
When a nearby Machine Godkin suddenly shoved a 40 million-degree plasma torch in his face, the Celestial Knight freaked out and dodged.
On top of that, particle cannons—like the ones that had targeted Ju Gonghyeok—began forming one by one on the outer walls.
[Protect. Aid Lord Hydrich's Celestial Knights.]
[Exterminate. Eliminate units corrupted by enemy hacking.]
The particle cannons fired at each other, Ju Gonghyeok-controlled Machine Godkin clashed with those not yet patched with the antivirus, and the area turned into total chaos.
Amid the flying machine parts, Celestial Knight Timuka desperately tried to regain control.
“Damn it! Calm down! You Celestial Knight-level guys, don't get worked up! Lead the obedient Machine Godkin and take down Ju Gonghyeok...”
Timuka paused mid-sentence.
A hammer-wielding angel stood before him.
Nathaniel, exposing her jade-like limbs, swung the hammer with all her might.
Boom!
“Gah!”
Crushed by Nathaniel's hammer, Timuka punched through the floor and got lodged tens of thousands of kilometers below.
Nathaniel, manifested in avatar form, prepared a wide-area 「Selection」 with one hand to breach the Dimensional Machine God's armor.
“Next up! I've got Selection ready!”
“Even that won't get you to the core.”
“Only Senior Remiel could do that! We don't even have the Divine Machine Missile!”
“No need to rush.”
Ju Gonghyeok had it covered. Their ride was on the way.
[Estimated arrival in about 20 seconds.]
As the GM replied, every Machine Godkin on the battlefield looked up at the upper armor in unison.
[External observation. Massive unidentified mass approaching.]
[Emergency evacuation recommended.]
“Huff, huff, you lot! Where do you think you're going!”
“Come back!”
Ignoring the frantic Celestial Knights' calls, the Machine Godkin fled like an ebbing tide.
“Huh? Wh-what?!”
“Th-that, that's!”
Inside Metatron's barrier, the hunters' eyes locked on.
The Dimensional Machine God, midway through opening a gate, had abruptly moved its arm.
People gasped at the direction the arm headed.
Crunch─!
The Dimensional Machine God scratched its own groin with its hand.
“Robots scratch their junk too?”
“It's scratching hard enough to draw blood?”
Crunch──!
Cruuunch──!
The armor crumpled and shattered, shocking the Celestial Knights inside.
“What have you done, human!? What did you do to make the Dimensional Machine God's armor...!”
“An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. You know.”
The most effective way to breach the Dimensional Machine God's defenses was its own attacks.
Boom!
“Waaah!”
Celestial Knights were crushed by the iceberg-like metal chunk that pierced inward.
It was the Dimensional Machine God's finger.
Ju Gonghyeok quickly spotted the small passage at the fingertip.
“Get on quick! My fair lady!”
Nathaniel grabbed Ju Gonghyeok's outstretched hand and yelled.
“What is this! Where are we going?!”
“A Machine God finger I reserved from the control room! Straight to the core, no guts or organs in the way!”
“What!? Kyaa!”
Whoosh!
The finger buried in the groin pulled out, revealing the vast dimensional void beyond.
Holding Nathaniel's waist tight as the angels and people beyond the barrier gawked, Gonghyeok shouted.
“Hold on tight! All fleet personnel, brace for impact!”
“What fleet?! More importantly, let go! If the impact's bad, I can just dispel manifestation!”
“No can do! Gonna tickle your belly button! Hahaha!”
“Don't touch! Let go!”
Gripping the blushing Nathaniel—from her side to her hip—the Machine God's hand rocketed straight to the heart.
Boom!
The impact of the finger burrowing into the core crumpled its tip.
Ju Gonghyeok and Nathaniel, huddled in the fingertip passage, tumbled into the debris amid the shock.
Upside down in the darkness, Nathaniel lowered her voice.
“...What the hell is this.”
“Told you to brace for impact.”
The reply came from between the angel's thighs.
Nathaniel finally looked down at her flipped skirt.
Between her slender thighs peeked a round human head.
“I'm serious. It was an accident.”
“...”
Ju Gonghyeok grabbed her thigh with a big hand and stood.
“Hm, not an accident—fortune?”
Nathaniel kicked Ju Gonghyeok with all her strength.
Smack!
Piercing dozens of armor layers, Ju Gonghyeok shot out from the fingertips, skipping across the floor like a stone.
Rolling to a stop, Ju Gonghyeok's view filled with stunned demons.
“Pig bastards! Your lord has arrived!”
The disheveled, spread-eagled Ju Gonghyeok declared triumphantly, snapping the demons out of their daze from the ceiling collapse.
“How'd the human get here so fast?”
“Run! Get to Lord Ammut!”
Ju Gonghyeok pointed at a fleeing demon.
“Bang.”
Crack! The demon spun half a turn and tumbled.
A semi-particle cannon had appeared in Ju Gonghyeok's hand.
“You cocky human shit!”
“Throw spears!”
As surrounding Celestial Knights drew magic circles for a counterattack, Ju Gonghyeok rolled several times to his feet and unleashed the semi-particle cannon.
“No! Defend at all costs! If it misses, block with your bodies!”
“Protect the cockpit! One hit severs the link to the Dimensional Machine God...”
Behind the panicking demons loomed a pitch-black Gigaro Machina.
The 1,200-meter Gigaro Machina sat in a futuristic cockpit hooked to countless tubes and circuits.
Boom!
Bursting through the fingertip armor, Nathaniel pulled down her white skirt to cover her thighs and yelled.
“Do your pervy stuff with some sense of timing! Can't you even tell that much!?”
“No, I said it wasn't on purpose. But that soft, snug wrap around my face... Pretty comfy.”
“Die! Just die!”
Whoever she was yelling at, a Celestial Knight struck by her furious hammer let out a tragic scream.
But amid the slaughtered demons, one pair of eyes burned not with fear, but scorn.
“An-gel bitch. You're getting too cocky.”
Riiip─
Nathaniel, clashing weapons with a Celestial Knight.
A sinister crocodile maw gaped open beneath her.
Gonghyeok yanked Nathaniel's wing as she panicked.
“Eat shit!”
Snap!
The long-snouted croc chomped the spot Nathaniel had vacated.
The croc, swimming the metal floor like a swamp, crawled ashore and stood on two legs like a beastman.
The muscular, upright croc drew cheers from the Celestial Knights.
“Lord Ammut!”
“Gluttony Archduke! We held this place tight as iron!”
One of the Ten Archdukes, Gluttony Archduke Ammut.
Hydrich's subordinate demon archduke and boss guarding the Dimensional Machine God's core.
“Angel and human. Know your place. We'll hit the 88th floor soon.”
Ammut's appearance tensed Nathaniel.
“Time's critical. You know?”
“Of course.”
Ju Gonghyeok shuffled forward, pointing at the Gigaro Machina.
“Rush it before I smash that thing.”
“Ku-huh. Knew Celestial Knights couldn't hold.”
“Come at me.”
“Ku-hat!”
The cheeky beckoning finger.
Ammut charged savagely toward it.
Riiip─
The croc's maw gaped maximally to rip off the upper body in one go.
Ju Gonghyeok dodged the head bite and offered his arm.
Crunch!
The divine prosthetic crumpled under Ammut's jaw strength.
Ammut was a physical powerhouse archduke.
With his remaining hand gripping the jaw to tear like paper? Ammut's strength matched Ju Gonghyeok's.
“Well then.”
“Ku-huh. Laughing now?”
Boom!
Ammut whipped his head fiercely, slamming Ju Gonghyeok into the opposite floor.
Shaking his head repeatedly to smash the human, the croc suddenly realized his body was floating.
“It's dusty.”
Behind Ju Gonghyeok—legs planted firm—stood the golden Jecheon Great Sage and the transcendent Guardian Divine Beast.
[『Jecheon Great Sage Six-Eared Macaque (SSS)』 - Mass Manipulation.]
[『Hybrid Geo (SS)』 - Master of the Twelve Divine Arts.]
[Two Gods in One.]
[Fucking hurts, right? - Earth-Shattering Toss, Wait, which way's forward?]
Boom!
Ammut slammed upside down, cracking the ground massively.
Ju Gonghyeok stomped the exposed white underside of the jaw and aimed the semi-particle cannon at the belly.
“Ku-heup!”
Ammut grunted, tensing his abs.
“Slow.”
Ratatatat!
Flashes erupted as dozens of semi-particle blasts hammered Ammut's belly.
He flung the overheated cannon aside, revealing Ammut's pale, pristine underside.
Just a few drops of blood. Untouched.
“Let go.”
“Gonna let go?”
Ammut's slurred reply came with laughing eyes.
Dragging this into a prolonged strength contest was exactly what Ammut wanted.
Ju Gonghyeok sneered coldly at the overconfident Ammut.
“Fine, then don't let go. Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel's voice echoed from afar.
“Yeah?!”
“Return the borrowed Selection. I'll use it briefly.”
“How long?!”
“About four steps.”
“Do it!”
As Nathaniel replied, a blade-sharp, storm-strong authority descended on Ju Gonghyeok's hand.
“Alright. Selection, one shot loaded.”
“Th-that's!”
Ammut gaped in horror.
“Hey now. Where you gonna run? Don't let go. Don't let go till you drop dead.”
As always, Ju Gonghyeok's eyes flashed as he gripped the croc's maw.