Chapter 100
A purple mist lay thick over the main road in front of Hongdae in Seogyo-dong.
Before the collapse, this place had been boiling day and night with the energy of youth. Now, only the silence of death lingered.
“Ugh… Boss, there’s a real bumper harvest of bones here. Even with my steel heart, this place is pretty creepy.”
Picker made a show of covering his face with his drone wings while fussing nervously.
Just as he said, skeletons without owners were scattered everywhere along the street.
They were the remains of people who had been trampled and devoured in the chaos ten years ago.
“This place used to be packed with people. You couldn’t even find space to step.”
I looked around the ruined street with lonely eyes.
When I was young, I had once passed through here with my father.
Back then, Hongdae had been dazzling.
Music echoed everywhere, and the faces of the people were full of life.
But now…
It had become a ghost town where not even a rat dared show itself.
The enormous contrast sent a chill through my chest.
“Stay alert and watch the front!”
Jeon Bongsik, the veteran leading the Machine Society mobile strike team, shouted tensely.
Behind him, twenty members moved forward wearing biomechanical prosthetic arms and legs I had made for them.
I was only here to observe their abilities, so I followed from a slight distance.
Perhaps they found that strange—or maybe they were curious about Picker and Shadow floating beside me.
Several of them kept glancing back.
“What are you looking at, punk?”
Most likely the latter.
Every time their eyes met his, Picker moved his lens as if glaring.
What was strange was that we hadn’t encountered a single mutant on the way to Hongdae.
The Machine Society seemed to know exactly where and when mutants appeared within their operating range.
Even without something like my Honeybee swarm, they could manage that much.
No wonder they had survived ten years.
Perhaps because he was bored, Picker started provoking Porter.
“Hey, Bear! How does it feel doing construction labor while we’re out on a walk?”
Porter had stayed behind at Atlas Industrial Complex, constantly transporting supplies.
Like a giant forklift, he kept loading materials into storage and pulling them back out whenever needed.
“You lightweight creature. You know nothing of the value of heavy labor.”
Porter replied calmly while lifting a pallet loaded with cargo and stuffing it into storage.
“Ugh, that weight freak. His eyes light up whenever he sees a chunk of metal.”
I chuckled quietly as I listened to their banter.
Just then, someone approached.
It was Lee Jinwoo, a promising member of the Machine Society and a key combatant of this expedition.
He had just turned twenty, if I remembered correctly.
Before leaving, Jeon Bongsik had warned me to forgive him if the kid came off a little arrogant.
Now I understood why.
That challenging gaze explained everything.
“I heard you killed the giant slime.”
His eyes fixed on Picker and Shadow circling around me.
“Was it thanks to those summons? Or your own ability?”
A provocative question.
Basically asking whether I was truly strong—or just carried by equipment.
I answered indifferently.
“Both.”
My short reply made Lee Jinwoo frown.
At that moment, Jeon Bongsik hurried over and smacked the back of his head.
“You idiot! Watch your mouth when speaking to the boss!”
Sweating nervously, Jeon Bongsik bowed to me.
“I’m sorry, boss. This kid has spent his whole life hunting mutants, so he has no manners. I’ll discipline him again.”
“It’s fine. I like that confidence. Everyone’s like that when they’re young.”
“Boss, you’re not that much older.”
Ten years had passed since the collapse.
Manners had long since become a luxury for the well-fed.
In this world, power itself was law.
If I got worked up over the provocation of some green rookie like that, I would have been beaten to death by Kim Cheolmin back when I lived in Mapo Shelter.
Honestly, I liked it.
Everyone who saw Bomb Man had trembled in fear.
This one at least had guts.
But my indifference seemed to be interpreted differently by Lee Jinwoo.
He snorted.
“…Just acting cocky because you lucked into a good class.”
A clear competitive fire burned in his eyes.
Fine.
Let’s see what you’ve got.
As we neared our destination, the fog grew thicker.
Visibility dropped to barely five meters.
“Hm… something feels suspicious.”
Just as Jeon Bongsik’s vigilance peaked—
Shapes began to flicker inside the dense fog as if they had been waiting.
Swoosh.
Blurry human-shaped shadows.
One, two, three…
Before long, more than ten figures had surrounded us.
[Mist Phantom]
Grade: C
Oh.
A mutant that even the Honeybee scouting network hadn’t detected.
“What… what is that?”
“Is that a person?”
“Does that look like a person to you? That’s a ghost.”
The Machine Society members were shaken by the sudden appearance of a mutant they had never seen before.
Their bodies looked intangible, like specters.
Jeon Bongsik shouted urgently.
“Don’t panic! Form firing formation! First, identify their characteristics!”
But before his order even finished—
“Move aside! I’ll tear them apart!”
Lee Jinwoo shouted and dashed forward.
He pulled out a massive mechanical axe strapped to his back.
It wasn’t an ordinary axe.
The handle extended hydraulically, and the blade shimmered with blue mana.
He fitted an axe into each arm exoskeleton and shouted.
“[Limit Breaker]!”
…Was that the name of his ability?
“I’ve never seen someone shout their skill name while fighting. Maybe he watched too many comics.”
Probably not.
That kind of luxury was for VIPs.
Whoooom!
A deafening roar erupted as crimson flames burst from the exhaust ports of his exoskeleton.
Mechanical joints screamed as they rotated at abnormal speeds.
Tap tap!
Lee Jinwoo shot forward like a bullet.
Fast.
Without hesitation, he plunged straight into the center of the Mist Phantom group and began swinging his axes wildly.
Swish! Whoosh!
The sound of blades slicing the air echoed brutally.
He looked like a berserker—a barbarian.
But even when the axe sliced through a phantom’s waist, there was no impact.
The phantom dispersed like mist, then reformed once the blade passed.
“What? Why won’t it die?!”
Jinwoo swung his axes frantically, but it was useless.
The phantoms merely circled him mockingly, releasing more mist.
Purple fog seeped through the gaps in his exoskeleton.
Crackling sounds followed as the internal circuits began corroding.
“Boss! That guy’s efficiency is absolute garbage!”
Picker shouted in disbelief.
“Output 500%, but effective hit rate is 0.8%? What is that? A machine that pours oil onto the ground?”
He was right.
The data spoke for itself.
[Limit Breaker]
An ability that removes the safety limiters of mechanical devices and boosts output beyond 500% using mana.
It was a powerful buff-type ability capable of explosive short-term power.
But his usage was terrible.
“He doesn’t know how to control it.”
He kept unleashing useless attacks while his mana overloaded.
And because he forced the output upward, the durability of his equipment was rapidly degrading.
It was like the mechanical version of Cha Yumin, the Gangnam madwoman who shattered countless blades.
At this rate, his equipment would break before he killed the enemy.
His firepower was impressive.
But the reckless way he used it made me click my tongue.
Still, the hits were technically landing.
It looked like he was simply beating them to death with brute force.
Clank!
Then it happened.
The joint in Jinwoo’s exoskeleton leg seized from overheating.
“Huh? Why can’t I move?!”
He struggled in panic, but the frozen mechanical leg wouldn’t budge.
“Ugh! He needs to learn moderation! Is he stupid?”
Judging from the overheating, it would take at least a minute before the system recovered.
Ridiculous—but understandable.
He probably had never fought at that intensity before.
Still, his destructive power was undeniably impressive.
The Mist Phantoms seized the opportunity and surrounded him.
Poisonous mist engulfed his nose and mouth, choking his breath.
“Khk! Cough!”
Jinwoo’s face turned purple.
At this rate, he would suffocate or die from poisoning.
“Analysis complete! Those idiots are nothing special!”
Picker shouted confidently.
“Their physical resistance pattern is the same as Ghost Bats and Slimes! Phase-shift type!”
In other words—
The solution was already known.
I immediately drew a blueprint in my mind.
The necessary technologies were already overflowing in my head.
Mana Reset Pattern.
The core algorithm that forcibly cuts and resets mana flow.
Then the Mana Resonance Crystal.
A crystal created by infusing mana into 99.9% pure silicon.
With it, one could read and synchronize with an enemy’s mana frequency.
It functioned as both antenna and filter in equipment.
Finally, a high-purity silver conductor to transmit mana without loss.
After leaving most military supply production to Atlas, I had the workshop’s central system automatically manufacture these base components.
When I used them like this, they replenished themselves automatically.
Thanks to that, producing what I needed took only seconds.
[Phase-Interference Mana Hook]
Grade: D+
“Shadow. Delivery.”
The moment I gave the order, Shadow activated stealth and flew toward the battlefield.
“Kgh…”
From midair, a black hand suddenly appeared before the struggling Jinwoo.
“Huh?!”
Startled, Jinwoo instinctively grabbed what was offered.
It was a glowing blue metal hook.
He quickly realized the Mana Hook could be mounted onto his arm exoskeleton in place of the axe.
Of course—it was built to Machine Society standard specifications.
There was no time to think.
Jinwoo removed one axe with trembling hands and attached the hook.
Click.
The moment it locked into place, a deep vibration resonated from the hook.
At the same time, his frozen leg exoskeleton restarted.
The Mana Hook had influenced Limit Breaker.
“Die!”
Jinwoo roared and swung the hook at the phantom before him.
The phantom tried to disperse again—
But—
Crunch!
A shrill scream tore from the phantom the moment the hook struck.
Even Picker flinched at the ghostly wail.
Crackle!
Blinding white plasma erupted, ripping through the mist.
Then something incredible happened.
The hazy cloud instantly hardened like glass.
The phantom now had a physical form.
Its instincts screamed.
This was the chance.
Without hesitation, Jinwoo swung the axe in his other hand.
Smash! Crash!
The phantom shattered like glass.
This time it didn’t reform.
Complete annihilation.
“Hahaha! Die, all of you!”
Seizing momentum, Jinwoo rampaged wildly.
With Limit Breaker boosting his speed and the Mana Hook amplifying his attacks, the battlefield became a slaughterhouse.
Hook to freeze.
Axe to shatter.
Simple—but devastating.
The enemies that had toyed with them for ten minutes disappeared into dust in just ten seconds.