Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Episode 25. Happy Happy Gym (2)
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“Hngaaah!”
Hate Ling’s construction site.
In the underground of a barren wasteland marked only by a control line.
Something was happening.
“K-Kim!”
The facility manager was a man in his late seventies, a former soldier. Having sold his medals due to financial hardship, he lived on the pride of having protected humanity from monsters. When he got hired as a construction company facility manager, how happy he was that he wouldn’t have to beg his distant son for money anymore. He vowed to work until his body gave out on his first day.
And that morning had come.
“Kim. Kim! You damn fool…!”
Old man Kim, the manager’s mentor, had passed out.
Fortunately, he was wearing protective gear, so it seemed like he’d only lost consciousness.
“Th-this… damn it all…”
The old man lifted his head and looked at ‘them.’
Some 30-man raid team or whatever.
They said they had permission from above. Old man Kim had cheerfully granted entry.
But then they started rummaging through the facility in an annoyingly thorough way. It must have been rude enough to fluster old man Kim.
That was tolerable.
“You can’t go in there!”
They suddenly headed for the underground controlled area, the ‘Mana Core Storage Room.’ He tried warning them it was an abandoned facility and dangerous, but they ignored him.
It was a massive underground space the size of three or four basketball courts stuck together. The thirty soldiers spread out, searching for something.
Then, at some point, the raid team leader shouted loudly.
“Graaaah!”
And swung her fist at some facility. Boom! With an explosion, a complex mana engine shattered.
“What the hell! What do you think you’re doing?!”
The startled facility managers rushed over.
The next moment, old man Kim was struck by a hand chop and sent flying.
And now it had come to this.
These bastards. Something was off. They’d seemed like proper soldiers earlier, but now their eyes were glazed like they were on drugs.
Among them, only one seemed normal. No, only one woman.
The old man looked up at the 30-man raid team leader.
A height with a head twice the size of an average man’s. A build so massive it was questionable if she was even human.
An enormous, imposing mixed-race woman was looking down at him.
Fear instinctively surged up.
“You damn fools! What the hell are you?!”
He forced himself to shout, but couldn’t hide the tremor in his voice.
“Shut your trap and stay out of it, old man.”
The leader spoke.
One word.
Just one word, and the air in the basement felt crushed.
“Y-you…”
No good. If he lost in presence, it was over.
The old man belatedly drew the mana gun from his waist and aimed at them.
“Don’t move! Before I put another hole in your skull for your damn eyes!”
“Old timer. Put away your toy and listen to me.”
“What?”
“Looks like we touched something we shouldn’t have. I feel really weird. Like I’m going insane wanting to smash everything. My subordinates too.”
“Wh-what are you talking about…?”
Come to think of it, this huge woman had been subtly trembling her hands and legs since earlier.
As if her body wanted to move on its own, and she was forcibly holding it back.
“All I can do is keep my mind together.”
“...!”
“While I can still hold on, take the old man and get out of here.”
“What are you…!”
When the old man still didn’t snap out of it, the leader bellowed.
Clang—!
Lion’s Roar. A shout that shook the space. Glass objects in the underground facility shattered.
With her final patience, she adjusted it so the old man wasn’t affected. If she’d slipped, his head would have exploded.
“...”
But the stubborn old man just gripped his gun tightly with trembling hands.
Her mood was raging wildly.
This crazy old geezer wouldn’t listen.
There were traces of filthy demon energy here.
Everything grated on her nerves.
Then?
Just smash it all, right?
Her logic leaped wildly on its own.
By the time her subordinates belatedly regained their senses, she threw away the reason binding her.
“I said don’t move!!”
The old man reflexively pulled the trigger. Bang—! A mana bullet hit her forehead. Ting. A very light sound.
That was it.
She moved quickly.
Horror spread across the old man’s face.
A devilish smile appeared on the woman’s.
Her hand reached out.
Toward the old man’s head.
The next moment, her jaw turned.
Crack!
A shock like being hit by a speeding car. She tumbled across the floor and crashed into the underground facility wall.
When she lifted her head again, a blurry-faced man stood there.
“...”
It was Yoo Ji-tae.
He checked on the old man. He seemed unconscious.
Apparently, contamination took time. The timing was perfect.
Power was cut off nearby, no CCTV. Good spot too.
The leader, embedded in the wall, staggered up and screamed.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah—!!”
The underground facility rang loudly.
Her unit members howled like beasts in response.
“Aaaargh—!”
“Iyaaaa—!”
“Haaaak—!”
It was a sight.
Some jumping in place, stomping their feet. Others thrashing on the floor like tantruming kids. Some pounding their chests like gorillas.
Unlike the relatively kind-hearted Ha Saetbyeol, these were violent types to begin with.
Once their minds were contaminated, they were uncontrollable.
“Anything in our way—!”
““Smash it—!””
Muttering slogans, their fervor shifted.
Yoo Ji-tae shook his head.
They weren’t sane, so no point trying to talk.
“Smash it!”
“Uwaaaah!”
The unit members charged at him like beasts, thudding along.
He thrust out a fist. Bam—! One unit member’s body flew and embedded in the wall.
Another raised a longsword and swung down at him. The regressor caught the falling blade and threw it. “Eek!” A charging man tangled with other unit members and flew off.
Someone far away clapped two fists together, crouched low like a quadrupedal animal, then charged like a rhino, slamming into Yoo Ji-tae with his whole body. Yoo Ji-tae sidestepped. Unable to overcome the momentum, he crashed into the wall, upper body buried, legs flailing.
“You’ve got some strength too!”
By then, she had ripped out an entire massive drum barrel from the underground facility. Metal barrel the size of a dump truck.
“Take this!”
She threw the drum at Yoo Ji-tae and closely followed. Then, in the blinded moment, she drew a large flail from subspace.
Swish—
The drum split without resistance. As expected. As it began cleaving apart in front of the man. On exact beat, the massive flail fell on him.
Kaaaaang—!
A strike infused with mana.
Power to half-sink a frigate!
...Or so it should have been.
“...!”
The leader’s eyes widened.
The man lightly caught the flail with one hand.
“This can’t be…!”
Her words cut off. He pulled the flail, dragging her body helplessly.
“...impossible!!”
She slammed her legs into the ground. Boom! Grotesque force cracked the floor, burying her legs.
She gathered all her body’s strength.
Her leg muscles bulged, arm muscles swelled. Her already huge body thickened at least twice over.
A blessing so intense it looked grotesque. At least tenfold strength added to her body.
That was why she led this combat unit—her frame-breaking sturdy body.
So she was confident.
Thus, when the flail didn’t budge, she couldn’t believe what was happening before her eyes.
The flail didn’t move.
As if gripped by a giant.
“Ah…!”
As horror dawned in her eyes.
Yoo Ji-tae, who had closed in unnoticed, grabbed her ear.
“Eek!”
Such brutish strength—despite her size, she was dragged along like nothing by Yoo Ji-tae’s hand.
Before a being beyond norms, even this elite soldier became like a child.
“Aaaah! Let go!”
“...”
“What the hell are you?! Huh?! Aak! Fuck, let go!”
“Stay still.”
“Grraaah! Let go! You can’t stop us all anyway! I’ve got over twenty subordinates. You see how many are here?!”
As she said.
While Yoo Ji-tae dealt with her, the other subordinates had rampaged out of the underground facility.
However, dragged out by the ear, the leader doubted her eyes.
For some reason, her subordinates were tightly bound, kneeling.
And behind them… angels in white robes with eyes covered by black cloth stood.
No, not angels. Incongruous with their graceful forms were bat-like wings. Angels wouldn’t have such things.
It was one of the three powers Yoo Ji-tae took from the ‘Demon World Archduke,’ alongside Scales Eye (SS) and Archduke’s Shadow (SS).
“Sleep.”
“Keh!”
Yoo Ji-tae knocked out the leader with a knifehand to the neck, then shoved them all into Shallowest Abyss (S). Thirty massive bodies made the black subspace feel cramped.
Capturing without killing meant using powers he didn’t like normally.
Conversely, it meant he had to keep the 30-man airborne special forces alive, troublesome as it was.
Because of this.
Traces of Evil Fragments Collection: 15.5%...
The percentage, stuck at 15.1%, began rising slowly.
Steadily building this would let Apocalyptic Clock (EX) gain info on ‘that guy’ beyond providence’s horizon.
So he had to collect diligently.
On the way to the ‘Underground Labyrinth,’ he checked his status window. Felt like grinding EXP.
The one and only EXP to avert the apocalypse.
So for the first time in ages, he felt satisfied.
BM thought.
It was a strange combination to watch.
One day, the iron armor asked for a broom and started sweeping the clean inner room floor.
The mild-faced woman beside him mopped the floor with a rag.
Her name was Ha Saetbyeol, was it?
Mind contaminated? Yet they didn’t lounge satisfied under the light pouring from the Paradise Fragment.
They followed instincts, habitual motions.
“Hey. Mealtime.”
The iron armor creaked as it stood, Ha Saetbyeol approached with a bright smile.
All with a screw loose in their movements.
BM handed Ha Saetbyeol homemade soup, simple salad, bread.
To the iron armor, high-quality monster oil. It rubbed it on itself instead of eating, satisfied.
They didn’t need food. Energy from the Paradise Fragment.
Still, for the future, better instill eating habits. They wouldn’t stay here forever.
Ha Saetbyeol giggled after stuffing salad in her mouth.
“Delicious. Thank you.”
BM guessed once.
Iron armor seemed a maidservant. Sweeping, scrubbing all day. Often asked for dishes to wash.
But the woman? Unsure. She cleaned following iron armor, but sometimes asked out of nowhere, “Any kids need help?”
When iron armor lay after cleaning, she’d pillow its head on her lap, sing lullabies.
Maybe a mom. Or...
Didn’t matter to BM.
He wasn’t one to get attached easily.
But today, an inexplicable feeling stirred him.
He asked casually.
“How’s it here? Livable?”
“Livable.”
Iron armor answered. Its red eyes rippled.
“No shortages?”
“None in particular. But...”
“But?”
“Wandered long. Most important thing missing.”
“What’re you looking for?”
Iron armor paused brushing, stared blankly afar.
Then, in a scraping metal voice, quietly asked.
“Where’s our lady?”
“Lady?”
“...There is a lady. One I must protect. One who needs me. Other ladies too. I don’t know where they are.”
Iron armor looked around vacantly.
“They can’t be without you?”
“All busy. Little lady left alone without me. She needs me...”
Iron armor stayed dazed. Like reminiscing.
BM’s brow furrowed.
Iron armor’s reaction was quite dangerous.
He turned his gaze.
“And you, lady. Any inconveniences?”
“...”
Ha Saetbyeol, munching salad crisply, froze.
She stared blankly at BM.
“Tell me if you need or want anything.”
“...Anything?”
“Anything. Go on.”
“...”
BM thought he mis-saw for a moment.
Ha Saetbyeol smiled faintly, lifelessly.
“Can you kill me?”
BM’s hand, tearing bread, stopped.
“Joking.”
She giggled, stuffing salad in her mouth.
“Jeez. Scared me.”
BM snorted, finished his bread.
But inside, it got complicated.
These guys’ states were pretty bad.
Seemed like he’d have to talk to Yoo Ji-tae about it when he came.
A rift tore through the inner room’s air just as they finished eating.
Subspace opened like a greedy maw.
From the darkness, a man stepped out.
“Been well?”
“Ah, long time.”
BM’s eyes widened mid-greeting.
From the darkness behind Yoo Ji-tae’s back, something enormous began emerging.