Chapter 295
Chapter 295
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 295
Chapter Title: Part 91. With Spear and Shield, Into the Eye of the Storm (6)
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The presence of the soldiers felt like some kind of scent. A fishy tang reminiscent of blood.
Breathing in that smell calmed the wild swings of emotion from the sudden situation. The regressor's mind cooled coldly.
Kruk, kruk...
From atop the massive dragon still heaving ragged breaths.
The regressor thought.
Spatial transfer devices near the South China Sea.
Spratly Islands had Australia's multipurpose warp station.
Paracel Islands had China's military portal station nearby.
The rift was roughly midway between the two stations, located in an urban area.
Thus, the distance to both places was about 500 km. The superhumans had already scattered their presence and arrived at the stations. They would be wearing large flying-type powered suits capable of speeds up to 750 km per hour.
It would take them 45 minutes to reach here.
The Black Dragon specimen before his eyes didn't sit right with him.
It wasn't because it had torn people apart or because it was hostile to the Federation.
He had always harbored extreme disgust for the Black Dragon clan.
The act of descending upon a completely unrelated world and destroying it overlapped in his mind with the adult dragons that had obliterated his world multiple times.
After facing them a whopping twenty-seven times, that disgust had taken deep root in one corner of his emotions.
However, even after confirming the "Fragment of Origin" with the awakened "Will of the Ancient Dragon," he wasn't foolish enough to act purely on emotion.
If he experimented with the Black Dragon's heart related to "Playtime Emergency Recall," he might be able to safely return the baby dragons of Unit 301, adrift due to dimensional distortion, back home.
If that could happen.
The long, drawn-out playtime of those creatures would finally come to an end.
Yoo Ji-tae's earnest wish would at last be fulfilled.
Thus, he suppressed the urge to rip out its heart. For now, he had to save the Black Dragon and sneak it away. The heart, doused in elixir, was enveloped in light as it healed the wounds. But even with the elixir and the dragon's tremendous regenerative power, the injuries didn't heal easily.
Because he was the one who had inflicted them.
Soldiers would swarm in soon. If they confirmed the dragon's presence, Yoo Ji-tae would lose any pretext to take it away. Starting with Australia, which had suffered the most damage, the G12 nations and the Federation would jointly isolate and analyze the dragon.
He would lose any chance for a private experiment.
'Since the dimensions are separated, there are no watching eyes. Once everyone enters, how about killing them all and closing the dimension?'
It was the thought of Clone 1, sharing his mind.
Clone 1 was currently part of Humanity's Last Resistance Force.
'Forcibly closing this rift will take about two hours, so I'll stand at the entrance and block the superhumans from exiting.'
'Just give the order, my liege.'
In short, use the rift like a net to trap fish.
The Yoo Ji-tae of the 6th cycle would have made that call.
It was simple and certain.
But Yoo Ji-tae shook his head.
That was the worst option.
The approaching soldiers were elite troops on par with heads of state from each nation.
Great. Noble. Powerful superhumans.
They were the ones who had to protect humanity through the endless night someday. He couldn't afford to kill even one more than necessary.
Besides, the dragon's rampage had crossed the line.
In such an incident, "that one" would definitely show up.
Even if he killed all the soldiers, he had to avoid killing "that one."
For now, the best was to escape with this massive body.
Conveniently, he had his inner subspace, "Shallowest Abyss (S)." He just needed to stuff Mu in there.
But that didn't look easy either. An adult dragon was on a much higher level than even a disaster-class mine. To fit it into "Shallowest Abyss (S)," he at least needed to polymorph it into humanoid form to reduce its presence.
The problem was.
There was no sign of this thing waking up within 45 minutes.
"Hey."
Yoo Ji-tae approached the dragon's scruff.
And kicked its jaw, which was larger than his own height.
"Wake up."
He kicked it again.
But the unconscious Mu showed no reaction.
After pondering briefly, Yoo Ji-tae eyed a single scale jutting upward under its jaw.
"......"
It was called the "reverse scale," a scale growing in the opposite direction from the others. Like the quick under a human fingernail. The thing a dragon hated most was having its reverse scale touched.
He approached and gripped the reverse scale with his hand. Then he pushed it upward against its direction. The scale, intertwined with flesh, slid up smoothly.
As expected, no reaction.
It wasn't in a state to wake from something like this to begin with.
Yoo Ji-tae let go of his hand.
Now, he had only one choice left.
Yoo Ji-tae invoked the ability he had stolen after killing a certain ruler in the past.
It was the power to forcibly close a rift. Closing a 40-meter-class massive rift would take about two hours.
Once the soldiers arrived, he would block the rift for 1 hour and 15 minutes, preventing anyone from entering.
After the rift closed, he could beat the Black Dragon into humanoid form and extract its body via "Shallowest Abyss (S)."
He glanced at the limp dragon with hazy eyes, then turned away.
Standing before the vertically slit rift, he gazed at the vast Earth ocean on the opposite side.
He felt a slight contradiction in this situation.
Just moments ago, he had thrust his spear at the Black Dragon to kill it, and now he was about to raise a shield to protect it. From here on, he had to block the spears coming from others.
If he could have an open-hearted conversation, someone might ask him.
Why the sudden change?
But he couldn't answer honestly.
His actions were in a realm only he could understand. No explanation to anyone who appeared from now on would earn empathy.
In other words, to any onlooker, his actions lacked any external justification.
Even if he spoke frankly, no one would listen.
No one would understand and help him.
He was utterly alone on this Earth.
Yet he had to do this.
And he had the power to see through this justification-less contradiction.
Soldiers poured endlessly out of the two warp stations.
Those who faced each other confirmed with glances.
Amid the chaos of the Mexico terrorist attack, G12 and the Federation had declared an emergency summit for this situation.
Those who couldn't gather in one place had assembled for the common goal of killing the shared enemy.
The number of gathered superhumans: around 1,800.
All of them were ranker superhumans from around the world.
They were called "Humanity's Last Resistance Force."
And the commander of Humanity's Last Resistance Force was the most respected superhuman in the world, transcending nations and affiliations.
The returner, "BM."
"Commencing 'Rift Trajectory Entry' operation as of now."
At BM's command, the soldiers flew through the air.
The weapons in their hands exuded extraordinary auras. Swords, bows, guns, spears, and more... All top-grade artifacts taken from each nation's central armories. Among them were even level 3 artifacts, and rarely, level 4 ones. Even just held still, they made the air heavy, resonating with the atmosphere's mana and humming.
Nations' strategic weapons.
Now in the hands of the world's strongest superhumans.
Meanwhile, they were solemn.
With so many superhumans gathered and flying through the air, no one chattered idly.
Though emotions were stained with anger and excitement, the trained soldiers were calm in demeanor and cold in thought.
SSS-class large-type monster.
A colossal beast presumed equivalent to the one that triggered the First East Asia Great War in the past, plunging all humanity into terror.
Its detected form resembled a giant gargoyle.
Tentative name due to its overall black color.
「Black Dragon」
A name everyone had imagined might exist someday, but one that had never appeared in the world until now: "Dragon." The designation efficiently heightened vigilance. The soldiers tensed even more.
Among them, Clone 1 thought.
'They've gathered a lot in that short time.'
The day of the apocalypse.
A massive rift opened, and over 60 dragons descended upon Earth.
When they lost their reason and attacked Earth.
At the end of the 6th cycle, Yoo Ji-tae alone had killed 10 dragons. The result of nearly 30 days of non-stop combat.
'With the forces gathered here, they could take down two dragons easily.'
Back then, humanity fighting them had also killed 10 dragons, uniting all of mankind including rulers like "Oscar Bljenk," hidden "disaster-class mines," "witches," "Kaliovan," "high rankers," and more—yet only managed 10.
After throwing ten thousand superhumans per dragon, that was the result.
Simply put, the gathered here represented about 20% of Earth's total military power.
Such forces advanced toward the rift.
Soon, far ahead, a 40-meter vertical black void welcomed them.
Hot blood surged in everyone's chests.
The thought of clashing with the colossal monster ahead excited them.
Even if they died, they resolved to at least scratch its shell before going down.
An Australian soldier had to suppress the urge to charge ahead, ignoring formation.
As that intangible will mixed and nearly burst forth.
Suddenly.
An invisible energy rippled through, enveloping and passing over them.
Immediately after, everyone halted in midair.
"......"
"......"
No one acted rashly.
No one found it odd that the person next to them had stopped.
Such a clear "presence" existed within the rift's darkness.
Vice-commander BM peered into the rift, holding his sunglasses.
In the pitch-black spread of darkness.
A "being" stood blocking their way.
Someone with an overwhelming presence.
"......Unit, hold position."
BM spat out the words.
His quiet voice spread clearly.
The overwhelmingly massive presence created an indescribable pressure.
The rising morale until moments ago was crumbling.
Some felt puzzled.
What was this aura?
How could such a thing exist?
Such doubts spread like a plague.
"......"
At the center, BM felt inwardly disturbed.
Just before stepping out here, he had heard from Jeon Haeyeon that "Season" had gone to tackle the dragon.
In the world, only Kaliovan, Jeon Haeyeon, and himself—three people—knew that fact.
BM had long known that "Season" was Yoo Ji-tae.
Thus, he naturally deduced that the massive presence before them was also "Yoo Ji-tae."
He had always seen him as strong and great, but the presence felt from within the rift now was on another dimension from what he knew.
Just one person.
The unprecedented pressure from a single individual was crushing 1,800 rankers.
But BM knew they couldn't stop here.
He didn't know what "Season" was thinking, but blindly blocking entry into the rift in this situation lacked justification.
He respected and revered him.
But Humanity's Last Resistance Force had to enter there.
No matter how much it was Yoo Ji-tae, he couldn't block it without reason.
After brief contemplation, BM clearly realized what he had to do.
If he was blocking them, there must be a reason.
And it would inevitably relate to humanity's survival.
Yoo Ji-tae would have to persuade the gathered superhumans with that justification.
"I am the returner BM of Humanity's Last Resistance Force."
Representing the force, BM spoke.
Tension mounted.
Genie Ansirem and Christophe also frowned as they peered into the rift's darkness.
Regular superhuman rankers could barely breathe.
"Judging from your attack on the so-called 'Black Dragon,' I presume you share our goal and have fought the monster for humanity's sake."
BM's tone was cautious.
He did not designate the unknown opponent as an enemy.
"However, your battle-hardened efforts do not justify blocking us now from seeing the 'truth.' As soldiers protecting humanity, we must verify the facts of this incident."
He brought out the justification for entry and demanded cooperation.
"Thus, come forward from within the rift. Reveal your identity to us, and inform us of the truth about the colossal monster Black Dragon."
"Before we force our way in."
The logic fit perfectly without flaw.
BM thought so as cold sweat dripped.
He didn't know how Yoo Ji-tae would react here. He only hoped it wouldn't come to all-out war with him.
As everyone tensed, staring into the rift.
An indescribable presence wormed into their minds.
A sensation like a mental link forming with someone.
Amid the tension swelling to bursting under the immense pressure.
The invisible being spoke to them.
「Only those willing to offer their lives as sacrifice may enter and face the truth.」
Right after. The pressure crushing them vanished.