Chapter 140: You Have to Take Responsibility for Your Actions.
Chapter 140: You Have to Take Responsibility for Your Actions.
Was this how the monsters felt when they looked at us while fighting?
Whoosh.
With every small movement, yellow flowers bloomed in the sky.
Beautiful flowers dyed the violet palette a vivid yellow.
Surely, from the monster's perspective, it must have seen these mottled flowers blooming in the wake of its own footsteps.
With that thought, I swung a massive tentacle.
Perhaps because it was an unfamiliar limb, the swing veered lower than intended.
Boom, boom, boom!
However, thanks to the withered branches sprouting between the tentacles, I managed to avoid missing the bombardment.
Once again, yellow flowers accompanied by shockwaves blossomed.
It was a relief they were unmanned weapons.
If people had been inside those machines, I wouldn't have been able to swing so recklessly.
If I had swung after careful deliberation, the yellow flowers would have been accented with red.
Whoosh.
Once more, black pillars sliced through the sky, batting away the falling explosives.
The Cycle repeated.
Not a single missile.
Not a single bomb.
They only hammered against my body; I didn't let a single one fall on Nanjido.
Of course, there was a price to pay.
【To possess such power.】
【This is power given to kill.】
The wills attached to the Otherworldly Power I was currently using whispered to me.
Though they didn't dominate my body like before, they spoke as if trying to coax me.
As I crouched within the dark slime, operating this gargantuan form, they whispered—inflicting the pain they had suffered upon me as the price for borrowing their strength.
One swing to block the shells.
It returned to me as fourteen deaths.
The cost of consuming that much Otherworldly Power.
"What does it matter to you lot?"
The grudges of you fourteen are saving hundreds of thousands of lives right now.
That’s a pretty good exchange rate, isn't it?
"I'm doing a good deed here, so stop whining, shut your mouths, and just watch."
Gurgle.
My voice didn't actually come out, as my mouth had long since vanished.
"Just because your past was miserable, don't go dumping it on the future."
【Ridiculous.】
【Nonsense.】
【Not even worth listening to, fallen Hero.】
【When you yourself are the same.】
Like I care.
"I'm not exactly the logical type."
I do what I want to do.
I make impulsive choices.
And I leave the consequences to the future me.
"That's just the kind of guy I am."
I know.
I know well enough that I'm twisted.
But still.
"I can't stand seeing someone die right in front of my eyes."
Thump.
I swung again.
I felt strangled.
Another death.
Violence inflicted not on the body, but on the mind.
Did that strange Magical Girl say I wouldn't die as long as my will held out?
What a joke.
This is far from immortality.
This is a curse.
A curse laid upon those who have stopped.
A curse that can never be broken as long as the will overwhelms death.
A self-imposed shackle to survive forever in this world and protect others.
So.
For now, I'll be grateful for it.
Because I can protect things with this power.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Surpassing yet another death.
I swung my tentacles.
For justice.
For an environment where humanity can survive.
For more people. More.
Engraving only that into my mind.
To endure the darkness reaching out to tear me down.
So that my will wouldn't vanish.
So that I wouldn't be consumed by the black malice.
I carved my will into my soul.
Even more firmly.
Thump.
As if resonating with it, something began to pulse inside me.
* * *
Is it over?
The bombardment had stopped everywhere within my sight, but a vast amount of Otherworldly Power was still gnawing at me.
To be precise, an amount equivalent to one arm.
My right arm had already vanished after enduring countless explosions, and my left arm was reduced to little more than a skeletal frame.
If it had gone on any longer, I would have had to ram them with my body.
With that thought, I shrank my massive form.
I had to return to my original body.
I didn't know how long it would take or if I had enough strength left.
But I had succeeded once, so I could do it again.
Just as I was about to gather my scattered strength—
Sh-sh-sh-shoo!
The sound of something slicing through the air reached my ears.
"Ha."
Showing up now, are we?
I was wondering why they hadn't appeared.
Not only did they send a Second Wave after dumping all that bombardment.
But they're finally dropping the nukes.
They looked like ICBMs, so there was no guarantee the warheads inside were nuclear, but...
Seeing four or five of them flying in as the "Second Wave," the probability of them being nukes seemed high.
Simply blocking those would be a disaster.
I might survive somehow even if I got hit, but everyone else would die.
In that case.
I cleared my thoughts and poured my will into the Otherworldly Power.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My feet, which had been stuck in the concrete, bent deeply at the joints.
Crack, crunch, snap.
My left arm, which was nothing but bone, twisted to form a massive membrane.
Grasshopper-like legs.
And bat wings to swallow the explosion.
They're listening well...
Is the Otherworldly Power actually cooperating?
Thinking back, I realized I hadn't heard their voices for a while. The head-splitting pain was still there, so I only just noticed.
I didn't know what had happened, but I figured a win was a win.
With that thought, I channeled strength into my legs.
I didn't know if I could block it with this.
But I couldn't give up without trying.
Thump, thump, thump, screeeech.
As I gathered strength by snapping my leg joints, the concrete roof that had held out until now let out its final scream.
Boom!
It collapsed the moment I leaped.
Thanks for holding out.
I offered my gratitude to the building, which was nothing more than a lump of concrete, and forced a bitter smile with a mouth that didn't exist.
I was about to collide with nukes; was I really in a position to worry about inanimate objects?
I turned my gaze toward the ICBMs.
Massive objects breaking the sound barrier, flying toward me.
And I, too, was breaking the sound barrier, closing the distance.
Anxiety crept in.
Even for me, it had been a long time since I'd thrown my body directly at a fully enhanced Thermonuclear Weapon.
It wasn't blocking with a hammer.
It wasn't enduring behind a shield with Un-ho.
It wasn't reinforcing my body with mana to take the hit.
It was a raw collision with my body itself.
And I had to absorb all the explosive energy.
Setting aside Nanjido, even Seoul and Incheon would be within the blast radius.
After a brief moment of thought.
The ICBMs were close enough that I could see every tightened nut.
Creeeak.
The hideous wing on my left hand unfurled wide.
A rounded bat wing bristling with hook-like bones.
It spread around me to absorb all the impact, and the steel tips drew near.
...See you on the other side.
Boom!
Something collided.
Something bright yellow.
Something bright yellow that had flown in a straight line, piercing through the violet sky.
The impact shook my body, but the expected shock, explosion, or loss of sensation didn't come.
On the contrary, the ICBMs began to move away from me.
As if the ICBMs were retreating.
No, that wasn't it.
I was the one falling.
Losing propulsion and heading toward the ground.
Because of the yellow girl who had stepped between me and the ICBMs.
Because of her, with the black bridge in her hair, carrying a girl in black on her back and smiling brightly at me.
"Linshua!"
"Yeah!"
She—the Thunder God—spoke as she moved to the side of the nuke.
Whoosh.
Red paint surged from both of Linshua’s hands.
Linshua’s special ability: Paint Threads.
They brilliantly embroidered the sky, becoming a net.
Zap!
A short burst of lightning sparked from Thunder God’s hand as it touched the surface of the ICBM.
"Detonator neutralized!"
"Thanks, Auntie Thunder God!"
"Um... call me Big Sister!"
Screeeech.
The ICBM's progress halted.
It was fiercely spewing flames, but it couldn't move forward, caught in Linshua’s red net.
Crunch.
Along with the sensation of Otherworldly Power surging.
【For art shall contain salvation.】
Linshua opened her eyes.
Her inhuman violet eyes widened as she manifested her inner self.
The effect was definitely...
The neutralization of all nearby weapons, wasn't it?
As if confirming that thought.
Ping!
Every part of the ICBM scattered into the air.
It's really... over.
Seeing the silver parts fluttering in the sky, I finally relaxed.
the end of a long battle that had stretched from deep underground Nanjido to the rooftop.
It was right there before my eyes.
Thunder God was jumping around, stepping on the parts to prevent a chain reaction from the critical mass, but she wouldn't make a mistake there.
Thump.
After a short leap.
My body finally landed on top of the Nanjido building.
A brief moment of rest followed.
I looked up at the sky for a moment to check for any additional problems.
Before long, I saw a yellow line descending, holding a black dot.
I can rest now.
Thunder God and Linshua will take care of the aftermath for me.
Now... let me close my eyes for a bit...
"Who said you could sleep, you crazy bastard!"
Wham!
"Guh!"
Thunder God’s kick landed squarely on my torso.
It felt as if my non-existent internal organs were being twisted.
"And what's with this look? Are you the Yellow King? Huh? Are you the Yellow King?"
Following that, Thunder God grabbed a part of my body and started shaking me violently as if she were threshing grain.
"Ah... well, a lot of things happened..."
"Speak in human!"
Slap!
I got smacked across the face.
"He says things happened, Auntie Thunder God."
"Oh, you can understand him?"
Wow, my daughter is amazing.
"Yes! He's my dad, after all!"
"Dad, my foot."
"Don't talk to my daughter like that."
"I told you to speak in human!"
Thunder God’s knee slammed into what passed for my solar plexus.
An overwhelming knee strike from the former S-Rank Hero who had completely regained her prime.
No. Was she even stronger than back then?
Maybe the impact was greater because her arms and legs had gotten longer...
"Ugh..."
"Hmm?"
Gurgle!
Was it thanks to Thunder God’s knee strike? Black Slime erupted from what served as my mouth.
Filthy slime filled with Otherworldly Power.
"Ugh, gross..."
"That's because you hit Dad!"
"Gah, gurgle."
"See, Dad says so too!"
No, I never said that...
"Is this the mouth that said that?!"
Bam!
Thunder God’s fist buried itself in my body.
A punch from a former S-Rank Hero packed with overwhelming acceleration.
My resilient black body was completely distorted, crushed like bread dough.
Am I seriously going to die at the hands of Thunder God...?
"Gurgle..."
Something kept coming out of my mouth, but Thunder God ignored it and turned her head toward Linshua.
"So, can you fix this?"
"Hmm... if I refine the Otherworldly Power and turn it clean, Dad should be able to restore himself!"
I didn't even know that.
"Hmm... no, not that."
Thunder God spoke, finally letting go of me as if she had no intention of hitting me further.
Even so, my body was a wreck, unable to move and only squirming on the concrete floor.
"He seems to have completely lost his original form. I was asking if you could sculpt him anew."
"Gurgle, gurgle."
Well said, Thunder God. While you're at it, I'd like to be a bit taller.
I don't even expect to go back to my old self, but that would be nice too.
"I can't! Dad is Dad!"
Then at least the height...
"I can't do it!"
So.