Chapter 530
Chapter 530
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 530
Chapter Title: Steel Colossus (1)
It was an urgent situation, but there was one crucial fact that absolutely could not be forgotten amid the chaos.
"We must avoid exposing our forces as much as possible."
Now that it was clear the Reverse Heaven Society's hand was involved in this incident, figuring out their scheme wasn't all that difficult.
This sudden war was probably meant to probe... Masquerade.
Since they were using South Korea as their base, this was bound to happen eventually.
"If I go all out, handling something like this wouldn't be hard at all."
But that would mean playing right into the Reverse Heaven Society's hands.
That was something he absolutely could not allow.
"I've already revealed Hans and Hela—that's plenty. I need to resolve this while minimizing any further exposure. To do that, the first step is..."
There was no need to resort to "Entity Assembly."
Thanks to strengthening his Unique Skill, the summoning range for "Avatar" now extended nearly 300 kilometers around his main body.
The first to appear at Hesperon's side was the phantom wearing a white opera half-mask—Heinz 2nd.
Everyone already knew he was based in Korea, so his presence here wouldn't raise any eyebrows.
"...I can feel an unpleasant gaze."
Sensitive to the flow of causality, Heinz frowned at the sky the moment he arrived.
A dissonant sensation, as if something was licking over them while blended into the currents enveloping the world.
It was an extremely covert gaze, but it couldn't evade the senses of someone who'd been on guard from the start.
"How dare you."
He thrust one hand forward and clenched his fist lightly.
At the same time, "Existence Negation" activated, momentarily twisting the distorted flow and shielding their presence from the world's gaze.
"Good. That should make it hard for them to observe us easily. Next up."
The next to appear was Harris, sealed off from the air in a custom helmet and fully enclosed suit.
Though he'd grown far stronger with additional investment from the World Tree, the Earth's harsh natural environment still felt unpleasant to his innate senses, so this outfit remained the most comfortable option.
"Haha, well now... They're really coming in thick..."
Enveloped in the wind and dangling limply in midair, Harris murmured softly.
Suppressing his discomfort, he'd assimilated with the atmosphere to scan the upper currents.
And he'd detected countless steel torrents approaching against the natural flow.
"Even with Hela blocking follow-ups, it's this bad? They came prepared from the start. Just how much did they prepare?"
Hela, dispatched to North Korea, had swept the border region and neutralized most of the artillery batteries launching attacks.
The first volley hadn't even reached South Korean soil yet, but while seizing control of North Korean troops through her魅惑, she'd nearly crossed the entire peninsula.
If not for the pendant imbued with the "Infinite Archdemon's" authority enhancing her abilities further, wrapping things up this quickly would have been impossible.
"A huge number are targeting Seoul... but that's not all. They're aiming to strike major cities all at once."
The analysis capabilities of Habis, embedded in the Over Technology artifact "Mechanical Eye: Kallikas," were exceptional, but since it relied on Earth-made detection devices, some margin of error was inevitable.
However, combining that with Harris's ability to read the atmosphere itself through assimilation with nature brought the attack trajectory predictions near perfection...
And in the process, one more fact came to light.
"Wait, stealth functions? Now I see—quite a few aren't ordinary conventional weapons. Don't tell me... Doctor's involved here too?"
It was entirely plausible.
The Usurper wouldn't have teamed up with the Reverse Heaven Society just once or twice.
He could interrogate Doctor, now the auxiliary personality of "Dragon Lair," later to confirm, but that wasn't the priority right now.
"If it's that madman, even tampering with nukes wouldn't be surprising."
South Korea surely had its own countermeasures.
But no interception system was ever 100% perfect.
Especially against weapons touched by Doctor's hand—there was no need to elaborate.
The Usurper hadn't been so confident for no reason.
"Definitely. Blocking this safely with ordinary means is out of the question."
If the attacks were focused on one spot in Seoul, defense would have been easier.
Heinrich alone had perfectly blocked ultra-long-range sniper fire akin to carpet bombing in Southeast Asia, hadn't he?
But with attacks targeting the entire South Korean territory, it was a different story.
"The only surefire way to stop this is..."
Mobilizing as many Avatars as possible to intercept the incoming barrage from the north would be best.
The Reverse Heaven Society was likely counting on that.
To test Masquerade's capabilities by holding Korea hostage.
"Ha, who would've thought its first real combat deployment would be like this."
Without other options, things might have gone their way.
He couldn't just stand by and watch Korea burn because of him.
At minimum, Harris's abilities—perfect for long-range interceptions—couldn't be hidden.
"Well, fine. Might as well run a mid-test while we're at it."
But very conveniently,
he had a countermeasure perfectly suited for firepower battles like this—one that wouldn't matter much even if exposed to the Reverse Heaven Society.
"Habis, ready?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ With solid backups in place for any mishaps, there was no longer any hesitation.
Hesperon glanced at Heinz 2nd and Harris, who were prepared for emergencies, then focused his mind.
"Alright, let's go."
And so, at the very moment before the steel-shrouded rain of death could ravage the entire nation...
A colossal god forged of metal descended upon South Korea's skies.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Zzzt—
Fierce sparks erupted wildly.
"Damn it, these lunatics! Are they seriously insane?!"
A woman cloaked in lightning streaked across the skies above Seoul's high-rise district.
She ground her teeth while glaring skyward, having formed magnetic fields around the rebar skeletons of buildings to propel herself at tremendous speeds.
"Can I stop them?"
Always brimming with confidence, even she couldn't help but voice her doubts now.
No matter that she was Yun Jiyun, the Thunder Emperor hailed as a hero of the Saha Realm—protecting the city from nuclear missiles plunging at several times the speed of sound was another matter entirely.
"Tch, if only I'd had time to prepare...!"
Time was too short for anything else.
In just a few minutes, steel rain would pour across the city.
All she could do was charge out bare-handed and claim the optimal interception spot.
"With this, I can boost my odds... Though it has its limits, of course."
Standing atop a skyscraper in the city center, she sighed and gazed at the bracelet on her wrist.
A slender golden chain engraved with mystical runes, suspending a tiny hammer-shaped ornament.
The finest magic tool from Howard Industries, acquired in exchange for elixirs.
Bzzzt—!
A short-handled hammer materialized in her grasp amid fierce sparks.
With hit-correction, retrieval functions, and pure lightning imbued within, it was essentially a surefire railgun for her.
"The Ministry of Defense won't sit idle. Even without a declaration of war, they've probably finished interception prep by now. I just need to handle whatever breaks through their air defenses."
To minimize radiation damage, missiles needed to be neutralized as far out as possible.
But with every one screaming in at hypersonic speeds, the difficulty was self-evident.
"If only Heokyeon were still around, this would be easier..."
With his defensive Ability, he'd be far more helpful than her, honed in ultra-aggressive, destructive Lightning Chakra.
The Association Chairman, a knight-type specialized in close combat, probably wouldn't differ much.
No—lacking decent ranged options, he might be even less useful.
"At the very least, I'll protect Seoul."
Yun Jiyun took a deep breath, golden lightning surging repeatedly from her body.
Electricity whirled violently within, accelerating her thoughts beyond limits.
Chakra spinning infinitely through "Lightning Wheel Path" resonated with the hammer's pure lightning, transforming her flesh into a bolt of lightning in human form.
"As fast as possible. As efficiently as possible."
Her senses began expanding and heightening continuously.
Micro magnetic fields stretched beyond the skyscraper across the district, replacing her senses, while amplified electrical signals throughout her body—including her brain—processed information at superhuman levels.
"Huh?"
And so, becoming a streak of lightning,
with senses far transcending humanity, she noticed it.
"...What the hell? What's that?"
Something teetering at the edge of her detection range.
The problem was its identity—absurdly, ridiculously out of place.
A structure made entirely of unknown metal, colossal in scale and impossible to gauge at a glance.
"A robot?"
A massive humanoid weapon straight out of comics stood there.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Giant robot.
Fundamentally, it was designed for space combat.
With vast space as the backdrop, space battles dwarfed ground warfare in scale, demanding exponentially greater power and range from the machines.
"The Korean Peninsula's width is nothing compared to that."
A torrent of messages scrolled over Hesperon's Mechanical Eye.
An overwhelming data volume that would stutter supercomputers.
But he ignored it, methodically checking his senses.
He always fought clad in the metal suit Titan, but this sensation felt far more alien than usual.
His limbs rigidly fixed within machinery, every nerve ending fused with circuits.
It wasn't unpleasant.
In fact, at this level...
"...Not bad? No, actually pretty good."
The onboard devices intertwined with his nerves, sublimating into new senses.
Infrared, ultraviolet, ultrasound, electromagnetic waves—realms imperceptible to flesh—came naturally, while boundless power welled from his body, buried in immense energy sources.
Giant puppet weapon—Heaven Titan.
A massive robot from Doctor's secret lab, reborn through Howard and Doctor's joint work in time accelerated 100-fold.
The world's strongest dedicated anti-firepower decisive battle machine.
"Well, it's not fully complete—docking functions are unimplemented... But this should suffice for now."
"Deus Ex Machina" activated, bringing the over-20-meter frame fully under his control.
Simultaneously, detection arrays across the machine ramped up, radar encompassing the peninsula dotted with red blips.
Whirr—
With a heavy metallic clang, wing-like structures folded on Heaven Titan's back unfurled like a fan.
Mage-tech cannons, each etched with intricate runes.
Dozens fixed forward in a wide spread—
Vrrr—
Runes glowed as massive energy concentrated in the barrels.
To eradicate targets without a trace.
"Alright, let's make this flashy!"
There was reason to hide the other Avatars for minimal exposure while boldly unveiling this magnificent robot.
As indicated by "dedicated anti-firepower," Heaven Titan lost merit against Transcendents and above.
The energy it wielded rivaled giant space battleships, surpassing even Transcendents...
But only there.
No divine ingenuity or world-defying principles infused this brute-force assault—who would face it head-on?
Obviously useless against the Reverse Heaven Society Lord, it was little more than flashy eye-candy.
"Well, that's romance for you."
Conversely,
in pure firepower terms, Heaven Titan vastly outclassed most Transcendents.
"Fire!"
Exactly like now.
Countless beams erupted from the steel colossus with wings spread wide in the heavens.
Kaboom—!
It took little time for the myriad light beams crossing the peninsula's skies to precisely strike their hypersonic targets.