Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Storming In (5)
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Cornelius quietly gauged the time.
Launch was right around the corner.
Even though the humans before her had shown unexpected resilience, no matter what happened, it meant she and her husband could still accomplish the mission they had been dispatched for.
‘By the way, what did they mean by dying?’
Recalling the conversation the humans had just exchanged in front of her, Cornelius tilted her head.
Could the aura of Hell truly be stopped by such heroic sacrifice?
Well, whatever.
‘I need to keep them away from the rocket.’
She had no intention of allowing any variables.
As those thoughts crossed her mind, the clash resumed once more.
Their skills were evenly matched from the start. If she could just drag this out, it would be fine.
So.
“⋯⋯!”
Amid the ongoing exchange.
She might have stayed reassured—if she hadn’t suddenly spotted Carlyle moving far ‘faster’ than before.
Slipping through the brief gap that formed between Vespa’s magic and Panhaima’s swordplay.
Carlyle approached the rocket, which she had been rigorously defending to prevent any access right up to launch.
He moved faster than anything she had ever seen in her life. Perhaps even faster than the Hero currently battling Alistair outside—!
“—Not on your life—!”
But with that shout, she drew forth demonic energy from her entire body.
Hiding a trump card wasn’t something only her opponents could do.
In an instant, dust filled the entire chamber, thicker than anything from their previous exchanges, blanketing everything around them.
Then, she concentrated it all into a single point and fired it toward Carlyle.
The previous attacks had been lethal upon exposure, but what she unleashed now was a projectile so fast that even a target moving at that terrifying speed couldn’t evade it.
This was something impossible to counter unless one had ‘predicted’ it in advance.
Yes, prediction.
And there was indeed one person in the room who excelled at such conventionally impossible feats.
Tok.
A small pebble struck the tip of her finger.
A negligible action in the scope of their battle.
But the outcome changed dramatically because of it.
Her fingertip trembled ever so slightly.
And the projectile Cornelius fired veered far off course from Carlyle’s position.
Even that desperate block missed, allowing Carlyle to finally reach the rocket’s launch mechanism.
“-?!”
As Cornelius’s eyes widened in shock.
“-We did it.”
Rachel Kibein smiled faintly.
Her leg, slightly exposed to the ‘Twisted Trajectory,’ was melting away entirely.
Yet those words slipped from her lips.
“Future... changed—”
With that, her body collapsed.
Vespa and Panhaima, not to mention Carlyle, turned to her in alarm, but Rachel gritted her teeth and spoke.
“⋯⋯I’m fine, Mr. Carlyle! Do what you need to—!”
The epitome of self-sacrifice. Even in that state, urging him to handle the urgent matter first was enough to impress Carlyle.
“Got it!”
He couldn’t let such a sacrifice go to waste.
Carlyle nodded with resolve.
He stood before the rocket’s launch mechanism.
And casually slammed the launch button as if smashing it.
“⋯⋯?”
“⋯⋯?”
Everyone’s expressions went blank.
No.
⋯⋯Wait.
⋯⋯Weren’t we fighting this whole mess to stop the launch⋯⋯?
“Mr. Carlyle, what the hell are you doing?!”
Vespa’s horrified scream echoed as Carlyle leaped straight up nonchalantly.
His target: the rocket’s warhead. The section containing Hell’s ‘atmospheric matter.’
“Ah, well, long explanation, but! This is the best option!”
He could give a detailed, expert explanation for why he was doing this, but in this situation, it would just come off as boring and pretentious.
Actions over words. Hero-style, as always.
“I’ll die once and come back! Don’t worry!”
Flashing a brilliant white smile that bared his teeth, Carlyle gave a thumbs-up.
That was the last sight of him.
[Launching.]
With the magitech console’s announcement, Carlyle vanished into the blue sky along with the rocket.
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯.”
Even the demons and Hero Party, forgetting their battle for a moment, stared at each other in the face of the Hero’s certified madman antics.
“⋯⋯What kind of person is that?”
“⋯⋯Don’t ask us⋯⋯”
Vespa gave an awkward reply to Cornelius’s question.
They genuinely didn’t know how to respond.
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯.”
⋯⋯A heavy silence blanketed the area.
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“Your Eminence, all civilians have been evacuated!”
Siona Libel’s voice rang through the communicator.
While the insertion team was inside the spire stopping the launch, her task had been to evacuate any civilians who might get caught in the crossfire as quickly as possible.
With her Paladin and dragon specs, it hadn’t been too difficult.
[Well done! Now head inside the spire and support the others!]
Naturally, what came next was supporting the insertion team already engaged in combat.
‘Time⋯⋯’
Siona gritted her teeth and glanced at her watch.
Only the slimmest sliver of time remained. She wasn’t sure what support she could offer in that window, but still—
“?”
As those thoughts crossed her mind.
A chilling engine roar echoed from within the spire.
The moment she saw the object bursting through the spire’s ceiling, Siona’s eyes went wide.
“⋯⋯Damn it. Your Eminence, the insertion team failed! The rocket has launched!”
[-What?]
A gritted voice came through the communicator.
The worst possible news, so a natural reaction.
But it was nothing compared to what Siona reported next, which would make this seem trivial.
“⋯⋯?”
Siona blinked for a moment.
Thanks to a dragon’s superior physical abilities, she instantly made out not just the rocket, but the tiny figure clinging to its tail end.
So.
There was something—someone who absolutely shouldn’t be there—hanging off the rocket’s tail—
“Ca-Carlyle—?!”
[Why him all of a sudden? What’s going on, Siona!]
“Mr. Carlyle is hanging onto the rocket—!”
[⋯⋯.]
“⋯⋯.”
Felix and Siona shared silence simultaneously.
The speaker and listener alike couldn’t believe the insane sentence.
But that was the undeniable reality before her eyes.
[⋯⋯Why?!]
“I-I don’t know either—!”
As both plunged into chaos over the inexplicable situation.
Carlyle, clinging to the rocket, continued his actions.
“Ah, crap, I feel like I’m gonna pass out.”
He had already pulled off the stunt of possessing the Hero to break through Cornelius’s guard and reach the rocket.
The aftereffects were piling up, making him feel like he was on the verge of death even now.
The ferocious wind battered his ears, and he could barely steady his body. His unhealed injuries made this ordeal pure agony.
Even so.
He still had work to do.
Even if everything seemed to be going wrong, there was a way to turn it around in one shot.
Carlyle jammed the holy sword into the top of the warhead.
Prying off the lid revealed the contents of the ‘container’ inside.
Hell’s atmospheric matter.
Just looking at it felt like the inside of his eyes were rotting. A viscous substance like the sludge left at the bottom after boiling tar for ages writhed madly, extending claw-like ‘hands’ toward Carlyle.
Instinctively sensing a living being, it reached out like a predator to ‘infect.’
This couldn’t be unleashed on the capital.
⋯⋯This was land where people lived.
So.
“This isn’t a place for something like you.”
Muttering that, Carlyle looked around.
He had to wait for the right altitude. That was why he had deliberately launched the rocket.
Processing this thing would likely devastate the surroundings.
Once the rocket reached an altitude where even the spire looked tiny below, Carlyle smashed the container without hesitation.
“You rotten bastard—”
Then.
“—let’s play with another rotten bastard.”
The moment the container shattered, the freed black Hell matter lunged at Carlyle.
Particles capable of obliterating an entire city began enveloping his body in an instant.
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-System Message
▶ Contact with ‘Hell Matter’ detected.
▶ Extreme threat detected! Cease contact immediately.
▶ User’s ‘Corruption’ detected.
▶ ‘Hell Matter’ is synchronizing with you.
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