Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Surely, the Opportunity Will Come
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Crazy, right?
Even facing an opponent where victory isn't guaranteed even with a cool-headed fight, you're telling me to get more excited? To surrender to madness?
Even if there was some scheme behind it... it was too dangerous. He could be split in half and die in an instant.
And yet....
"You're really... going to pull it off somehow, right?"
Helena asked again in a trembling voice.
Was this the influence of madness too?
It felt like her heart was laid bare on her skin.
The moment Kang Geohan said he would "finish it," what she felt was a profound relief, as if even the strands of her hair were settling down.
"Yeah. I'll take it out before it's too late."
When Kang Geohan spoke,
she realized it.
'I'm trusting Kang Geohan.'
Not trust in mere words, but real trust where her skin sensed it first.
That was why. She nodded without asking more.
Perhaps she was simply exhausted from constantly suppressing the rising madness in her own fights.
-Got it.
Hiss—
Her Cyclops spewed thick steam.
Her voice, which had been desperately trying to compose itself, suddenly cracked with chilling hatred.
-Charge! Rip that Logot bastard to shreds over and over until it's dead!
Boom!
The Cyclops charged, shattering the ground.
It thrust its spear countless times, each swing whipping up fierce winds.
It was a ferocious assault pouring out every ounce of strength, with no thought for what came after.
-Die!
-You Logot dog!
-Don't get cocky in front of me...!
When she, who had been like the reins controlling their madness, began raging wildly, the others started getting fired up too.
Like marathon runners suddenly sprinting at 100-meter dash speed mid-race, they unleashed reckless attacks without a second thought.
Kang Geohan tensed.
How would the Luvheim rider react to this madness?
If he responded with the same seasoned calm as before and fell back, the entire plan would crumble.
This was a gamble, after all.
A plan based on the assumption that the enemy was tired,
and thus influenced by this land's madness.
'Will it work...?'
Fortunately, Kang Geohan's gamble paid off.
-Y-You... worthless scum worse than orc dung...!
The enemy wasn't calm. As if infected by the madness, he grew excited watching the group charge like rabid dogs.
He could have conserved energy by pulling back appropriately, but instead, he started smashing the frontal assaults head-on.
Boom!
Kaboom!
Boom! Boom!
Luvheim's massive shield spat fire as it danced.
It was a dizzying display of prowess.
Shattering every incoming attack like a downpour, he savagely swung the 5-meter shortsword in his left hand between strikes.
Crack!
Gerot's arm shattered first, flying through the air.
Slash!
Next, Harkrux's knee buckled.
Rip!
A hole punched through Loen's side,
Kaboom!
and Helena's head took a direct hit from the massive shield, caving in.
But the more it happened, the wilder the group went.
Amid Helena's screams, her spear belched fire.
-Logot! Logot! Because of you! Because of you bastards, my father! Because of you! Our family...! Arrrghhhh!
Her voice, mingled with bloody tears, cracked like it was boiling.
'...She has a grudge against the Logot.'
He felt like he now understood a bit of the anger and melancholy she'd shown since her squire died.
Those emotional tempests stirred a storm in Kang Geohan's heart too.
But Kang Geohan suppressed the impulse to charge in right away.
Now was the time to wait.
Even as Harkrux's left arm was torn off, Loen flew off making strange noises and writhed on the ground unable to stand,
and Gerot nearly lost his cockpit to a sword plunged into his left chest.
Kang Geohan clasped his hands together, forcing down his twitching shoulders as he watched the situation.
Right. The golems pulled back too, focusing solely on observation.
He cranked the SPU to maximum, reading the enemy's movements over and over.
Kiiing—!
The overworked SPU let out a ferocious whine and generated intense heat.
The liquid cooling system boiled over like water in a tin pot, and the air cooling system circulating through his body spewed steam like mad.
The cockpit wasn't just hot—it was filled with shimmering heat haze like it was on fire.
'The opportunity will definitely come.'
How to surpass a 3-core 6-thread Gigant Heart with a 1-core 2-thread one.
First, overclock the 1-core 2-thread performance to its absolute max. That's what Kang Geohan was doing now.
Second, overload the enemy's 3-core 6-thread. That's what his comrades were risking their lives for.
'Yeah. Get excited. Get so excited you overuse inertia control.'
Even the best computer slows down if you run heavy programs back-to-back.
Same principle. What happens if you abuse a high-level ability like inertia control? Even with 3 cores and 6 threads, wouldn't there be temporary performance degradation?
Kang Geohan was aiming for that one moment.
And finally,
'Now!'
The moment arrived when the enemy's intent read by the SPU matched its actual movement perfectly.
Like foresight, the motion Kang Geohan sensed aligned exactly with the enemy's reality.
'Golems! Charge!'
Right then, Kang Geohan moved.
Roooar!
The three golems that had been waiting for an opening roared toward the sky and lunged.
-Don't mess with me!
The hyped-up Luvheim rider yelled, swinging his shield.
Whoosh!
But the shield didn't even graze a single muscle fiber of the golems. It merely kicked up dust from the immense wind pressure. The shield halted right in front of the golems' faces.
Exactly as Kang Geohan had read. The golems, faithfully following his orders, stopped precisely at the edge of the shield's path, dodging it.
Then,
Grab!
Thud!
Crunch!
The 5-meter golems swelled their muscles all over, clamping onto the shield.
-Ngh!
Luvheim tried to yank the shield free but staggered momentarily under the golems' weight. The bastard was definitely worn out.
"Heavy, huh, you little shit?"
Boom!
Femoral's giant foot, armored up to the knee, spat flames. Shattering the ground, Femoral leaped sky-high, vaulting over the golem-held shield and targeting Luvheim in one go.
'I'm betting everything on this strike!'
Hoo!
Just in case, Kang Geohan pulled out a urine-soaked cloth he'd prepared and inhaled its stench deeply. The ammonia salts awakened him, unlocking his full potential.
This moment,
he challenged maximum output once more.
His muscles and fiend power swelled simultaneously.
[Willpower: 171 / 201(+110)]
[Willpower: 3 / 201(+0)]
He burned all his willpower in an instant, twisting his fiend power tight.
In one moment, he drew out every last drop of mana.
[Mana: 87 / 113]
[Mana: 5 / 113]
Mana surpassing 2RM levels surged forth.
'Ughhh....'
It was a conflicting sensation. A dizzying expansion as if his body stretched across the universe, paired with a dizzying compression as if collapsing into a single point.
Countless stars floated before his eyes, and a liberating sense that his soul would transcend the flesh and drift away forever.
His body boiled with fiend power, a serenity as if entering nirvana.
Hiss!
But Kang Geohan clung to reality.
Even as vicious pressure dyed his vision red and nosebleeds streamed down,
he tensed his abs, his lower body, slung his shoulders back, and bore the pressure with his entire frame.
He didn't forget what he had to do.
Kaboom!
The berserker pack spewed high-pressure steam, and the giant slayer detonated.
-Tch!
Luvheim's rider finally released the shield. He activated inertia control again, launching himself backward with no recoil.
He thought that would be enough.
Tin-can Gigants and their riders couldn't use abilities, so they couldn't keep up with inertia control's sudden maneuvers.
But Kang Geohan, with his 1-core 2-thread Gigant Heart, read that movement and intent perfectly.
Kaaaa—!
The giant slayer left Femoral's hand. The axe flew at several times the speed of sound, creating a sonic boom and white vapor trail in the air.
Crack!
The giant slayer's axe blade struck Luvheim's cockpit dead-on.
Crunch! Crunch! Boom! Boom!
Explosions erupted around the embedded blade, flames and smoke shooting up.
No need to check. The rider was definitely dead.
But his hyped-up comrades didn't stop.
-Raaagh! Now!
Helena charged madly, yanking out the giant slayer. Then she raised her spear and hammered Luvheim's cockpit repeatedly.
-Yeah! Kill it!
Even the exhausted ones slumped over or those with wrecked legs immobile screamed from their spots.
Kang Geohan shook his head at the sight and slumped into his seat.
"Hah... lifted it."
Beating the enemy was one thing, but the pride and satisfaction of shattering his max output record again filled his chest.
The madness churning in his head vanished in a puff of satisfaction.
Was it because Kang Geohan's voice was eerily calm?
Helena, who had been raging, suddenly froze.
The other comrades turned their Gigants toward Kang Geohan.
-Lif... ted it?
"Yeah. We overcame that weight. We won."
Helena's voice sank. Her excitement ebbed away.
"You... were fighting yourself from start to finish."
Kang Geohan had described this brutal battle like lifting a heavy barbell—like a solo workout.
To him, battle wasn't challenging the enemy so much as challenging his own limits.
That's why he's so strong. Swallowing those follow-up words, she looked at her comrades.
Harkrux's machine: left arm gone, right leg bent grotesquely.
Gerot's: right arm severed, hole in the chest.
Loen's: side pierced, retching nonstop.
And her own: head caved in, upper body moving unnaturally.
The situation was dire. They'd taken down one Luvheim, but two stronger machines still rampaged. Meanwhile, their side's combat power had plummeted from damage.
Still....
-Everyone, assess your own condition properly. Then overcome it.
Overcoming.
Beating oneself.
Challenging without being swayed by external chaos, assessing yourself coldly.
Helena etched that mindset into her heart and turned to the remaining enemies.
-Stand up. Take out the last Luvheim first.
Rumble!
At her command, her comrades rose.
We can do this. Bodies felt like a thousand tons, but it was just a really heavy fiend boulder.
Just like they'd always trained... like Kang Geohan challenging his limits... harboring such thoughts, they reignited their fighting spirit.
Kiiing!
Thud! Crumble!
Then, the Gigant slumped like it was dead in the back suddenly belched a loud startup noise and rose.
The battered yet still imposing 12-meter custom machine, Fenrir.
The silent Kali Stehold had finally finished recovering and stood.
-Juniors. You did great.
She used "juniors." Not as a commander to subordinates, but with affection and respect.
-Thanks to you, I've regained some strength. And... with the shield down, I can handle the remaining two.
Delight tinged her voice.
-No, of course I'll take them. Those arrogant pricks. I resolved to tear them apart with my own hands.
Fenrir spewed steam. Heat haze twisted like a vortex around it.
Chill—
Kang Geohan felt goosebumps crawl over his skin.
Ability...! The countess's custom Fenrir, shrouded in utmost secrecy.
The monster presumed to have a 4-core 8-thread or higher Gigant Heart prepared its killing blow.