Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Eternal Sleep
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Furen gazed at the back of the Bluerobic woman dressed in a black tactical suit.
She slowly turned around.
At first, all Furen could see were round glasses obscured by the light.
Soon after, their eyes met, and the sight of the woman's eyes made Furen's heart swell.
“It's been a while, Furen.”
Enri grinned.
Furen smiled back at her.
A wave of emotion washed over her, seeing her sister appear on this distant alien planet, looking even healthier than before.
“Enriiiiiii~!!!”
Kirina's shrill voice echoed from a distance.
Kirina ran and buried her face in Enri's chest.
“I was so worried when you went ahead on your own….”
Kirina, dagger still in hand, bowed her head and sobbed.
“Ahaha! Kirina, it's been a while! You haven't changed a bit.”
Startled at first, Enri soon recognized the Kirina she used to play with as a child and broke into a wide smile.
For a moment, it felt like she was back home on Bluerobic.
“Everyone, help the Tankobichis!!”
A moment later, Kirina's clear, sharp voice rang out from behind.
The Bluerobic refugees began to swarm down, each carrying weapons.
True to their nature as a warrior race, they each picked up scraps from inside the factory to use as weapons.
Under their fierce assault, the alien beasts fell like autumn leaves.
They were already seasoned veterans of battle.
Enri's wide eyes sharpened.
She pressed the button on her three-section staff.
The bone blades attached to the staff's sections sprang up sharply.
*Thwack-!! Thwack!! Thwack!*
She immediately began to expertly strike down the alien beasts charging at her.
*Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!*
Jason also found a safe spot and began to deal with the alien beasts.
Sharp, silver bullets pierced through the alien beasts in a single shot.
Three alien beasts standing in a line collapsed from a single bullet.
*Grrrrr!*
At that moment, an alien beast that had snuck up behind him pounced on Jason.
“Kuhk!!”
Jason quickly spun around and aimed his gun, but he was a step too late.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
*Keeeeek!!*
At the alien beast's scream, Jason cautiously opened one eye.
Before him, a mass of shadows was ensnaring the alien beast.
From a distance, Shin-ju made a squeezing motion.
*Splat-!*
The alien beast exploded on the spot.
*Splat. Splat.*
Chunks of the alien beast's blood and flesh rained down on Jason.
“Ugh!!”
“Jason!!”
Shin-ju was suddenly by Jason's side.
“Something's weird.”
Jason looked at Shin-ju, skipping the pleasantries and immediately voicing his suspicion.
“It’s plenty weird. None of the small fry have collars, only that big monster over there.”
“Well, I guess it’s a blessing in disguise.”
From the Planet Destroyer's perspective, it would be much easier to handle the alien beasts if they had collars.
But the alien beasts swarming them now were all collarless.
*What's going on? It would be easier to defeat us with the collars. Why?*
Shin-ju couldn't understand the Planet Destroyer's decision.
“Let’s use this chance to wipe them all out.”
At Jason's words, Shin-ju's expression brightened for a moment, but then worry settled on his face again.
Then, as if he'd made a decision, Shin-ju looked at Jason.
“No. You're right. Let's wipe them all out this time.”
“…What?”
Jason gave Shin-ju a suspicious look, but there was no time for questions.
Jason took a steady stance, aimed, and fired, while Shin-ju began to chant a spell from the Old Book.
Meanwhile, Speeder, along with Jekovic who was hiding in a corner of the ceiling, was observing the massive gate that had opened below.
Just as Jekovic was about to go down to help the others, Speeder blocked his path.
Speeder asked Jekovic to stay and help her.
“Help you with what?”
Speeder's brow furrowed.
The gates inside both of her sleeves were turned off.
There was clearly some kind of law at work here that prevented gate summoning.
But the Planet Destroyer had ignored such a law.
Or perhaps he had unilaterally established a law that was advantageous only to himself.
In any case, as a gate researcher, she was planning to close the gate somehow.
She casually glanced at a conveyor belt that had been pushed to one side.
And there, she spotted Bol-code's arms hanging on either side of it.
*Beep-boop.*
Speeder looked at Jekovic.
She sent a signal to Jekovic using sign language.
“I… I don't know sign language.”
*Bweee-*
Speeder realized her mistake and closed her eyes.
She had only ever met members who understood sign language, so she'd overlooked the possibility that Jekovic might not.
As simply as she could, she pointed a finger, gesturing for Jekovic to look over there.
Jekovic turned his head in the direction Speeder was pointing.
He saw Bol-code's arms.
The arms were systematically moving the corpses from the biological experiments that lay on the conveyor belt.
Speeder mimed grabbing something with both hands and tearing it apart with her teeth.
Jekovic watched her actions for a moment without a word.
“So, you want me to bite something?”
Speeder kept pointing at Bol-code's arms.
“I get it. You want me to stop those moving arms.”
Speeder nodded furiously.
Jekovic immediately got on all fours, ready to leap.
*Whoosh-*
He jumped toward Bol-code in a wide arc.
A great battle unfolded.
It seemed like a reenactment of the war on Bluerobic.
*Whir, clank, whir, clank.*
Sharin and Furen, piloting combat robots, took the lead on the battlefield.
The pincer blades of Furen's robot began to slice through the alien beasts' torsos as if they were cutting meat.
“Uwoooah!”
The Bluerobic refugees also showed off their combat skills, stabbing, slashing, and striking the alien beasts.
Soon, the energy condensation in the arms of Sharin's robot was complete.
“Here I go! Everyone, stand back!”
At Sharin's shout, the Bluerobic refugees quickly took cover behind her.
*Whir! Clank!*
Sharin aimed the laser cannons forward.
A tremendous amount of purple laser energy erupted from both hands.
Sharin slowly rotated the robot's body.
*Grororororok-!*
*Zzzzzzzzzzzk-*
The laser drew a horizontal line, sweeping through the horde of alien beasts.
Dozens of alien beasts melted on the spot, disappearing without a trace.
Katrin, having finished off another alien beast, smiled in victory.
Suddenly, Furen shouted.
*Kuwaaaaak!!*
The giant, dinosaur-like alien beast, which had only been observing the situation until now, opened its massive jaws and lunged at Sharin.
*Crunch.*
It all happened in an instant.
Sharp teeth began to crush Sharin's mechanical robot.
*Creak, crash!*
The robot collapsed to the floor.
“Kuaaak! Dammit!”
“Sharin! Get out of there!!”
“I can't! Ugh! I'm stuck!!”
*Clatter, clatter.*
She struggled to get free, but her body was pinned by the crushed machine parts.
The sharp teeth gradually closed in on Sharin.
One wrong move and she would be swallowed whole.
Sharin whistled.
“Wheeeeew-!!”
It was the whistle to summon her partner, Actrazer.
“Dammit…!!”
*Swoooosh-*
She could hear Actrazer flying toward her from a distance.
But Sharin was already on the verge of being swallowed by the alien beast.
“Kuh, am I too late…!!”
“Sharin!!”
Furen's machine started running at full speed.
Sharin was gradually being swallowed into the alien beast's mouth.
“Shariiiin!!”
“Sister!!”
Furen and Enri's eyes widened as they shouted urgently.
“It's alright.”
Suddenly, Shin-ju's voice rang in her ears.
“I'm a little late. I was chanting a spell.”
Furen looked up.
She saw Shin-ju floating in the air.
Above him, a huge mass of shadow and a mass of lava were merging together.
It looked as if brilliant light and dark shadow were harmonizing as one.
Soon, a pitch-black sphere, encircled by a white band, formed above Shin-ju.
It was reminiscent of a total lunar eclipse.
The most brilliant darkness shimmered in the air.
He looked down.
The SS-Class alien beast with the collar.
And Sharin, on the verge of being devoured by that monster.
‘Should I break the contract with the Planet Destroyer to save one person's life?’
Shin-ju closed his eyes.
Thanks to the Planet Destroyer's trickery, neither gates nor black holes could be summoned.
If he killed the collared alien beast, it would be a unilateral breach of contract, and he would have to face a war with the Planet Destroyer.
*Right. This might be what 'he' wanted.*
He made his decision.
Shin-ju opened his eyes.
Could he really choose 'war' just to save one person?
Shin-ju was being cautious.
*Crunch-*
A sickening mechanical screech echoed.
The dinosaur-shaped alien beast was chewing on the mechanical robot with its powerful jaws.
Actrazer flew in like an arrow.
Actrazer slammed into the side of the robot's cockpit.
But it was no use.
One of Sharin's arms was already pinned by mechanical debris, rendering her immobile.
“Shaaaariiiin!!”
Furen's thunderous voice echoed from a distance.
The circular saw blade on Furen's machine spun at a ferocious speed.
The robot stomped forward, running at an incredible speed.
Furen launched a reckless attack, willing to do anything to save Sharin.
Just before the saw blade touched the alien beast's body.
*Clang!*
“No…!!”
Furen's face twisted in disbelief as a figure appeared before her.
“Kuhk, Sister!!!”
Enri was blocking Furen's circular saw blade with her three-section staff.
“Calm down!!”
Yellow sparks flew in all directions as the staff and the saw blade ground against each other.
*Screech-*
The circular saw soon came to a halt.
“Sister! We can't interfere!”
“What are you doing?! Enri!! Sharin's going to die!!!”
Enri lifted her head.
In her line of sight, she saw Shin-ju, who had already finished preparing his attack.
“Trust Shin-ju!!”
Sharin looked up at Shin-ju.
Shin-ju was smiling faintly.
Seeing his face, Sharin felt an inexplicable sense of relief.
She gave him a look that said she trusted him.
*Crunch-*
A moment later, her form completely disappeared into the alien beast's mouth.
Shin-ju raised his hand.
And pointed a finger at the alien beast.
The eclipse slowly flew toward the alien beast, following his finger.
The bright darkness began to slowly consume the area around the alien beast.
“This is destruction, but it is not destruction.”
As Shin-ju muttered, a deep darkness began to settle around the alien beast.
Shin-ju lightly clenched his fist.
Then, he began to gently open it again.
A moment later, after he finished the motion, the thick veil of darkness that had settled over the alien beast vanished.
The alien beast appeared, resting its chin quietly on the floor.
The alien beast was fast asleep.
“Eternal rest.”
Shin-ju, who had been floating in the air, slowly descended to the floor.
“Enri, Furen. You can rescue Sharin now.”
Furen and Enri, who had been watching in a daze, snapped back to their senses.
Furen used her robot to pry open the alien beast's maw.
Inside the wide-open mouth, they could see Sharin, covered in saliva.
“Did you really have to wait that long?”
Sharin grumbled nonchalantly.
At her complaint, Enri, Furen, and Shin-ju slowly smiled.
“Haha, that’s my only penalty. Such great power requires time.”
*Stomp, stomp.*
As Sharin climbed out of the mouth, Furen turned to Shin-ju.
“How did you do that?”
“Oh, this? As you can see, I put it to sleep.”
Shin-ju replied, looking at Furen,
“'Eternally,' that is.”
While Sharin brushed the saliva off her body, Enri and Furen gaped in astonishment.
“You didn't kill it….”
“…You put it to sleep.”
“Yes. 'Sleep' is another form of 'death'.”
“Then the contract with the Planet Destroyer….”
Enri's face was filled with worry.
“Strictly speaking, this does not violate the terms of the contract.”
Shin-ju smiled reassuringly.