Chapter 97
Crack—!
The wave of molten metal that had been about to engulf the people suddenly froze in midair.
The molten metal surging behind it slammed into the hardened steel wall and splashed in every direction.
Sssss—
In an instant, the inside of the factory filled with thick steam produced by the collision of extreme heat and cold.
“W-what? What is this…?”
“The molten metal stopped?”
While the people stared at the suddenly formed steel barrier, a blue lens light flashed above their heads within the dense steam.
—Ugh! Boss! Look how fast my battery’s draining! Fifty percent gone in a single shot!
Picker’s frantic scream.
The miracle just now had been the result of Frost Storm, cast by pushing the power of the Frost-Formed Orb to its limit.
“…You’ve really gone all the way.”
—Boss, that’s cheating. That’s not even a raid boss monster!
“Tell me about it. I prepared thoroughly too.”
Facing that enormous molten-metal giant made cold sweat run down my back. I expected him to have a hidden card, but wasn’t that going a little too far?
—With that mass, even Frost Storm can bind it for only three seconds! I can’t keep freezing it!
“I know. That’s why we need to find an answer. I’ll force him to keep using his ability—analyze the mana pattern.”
—Understood, Boss!
Just then, Choi Manseok spotted me and shouted furiously.
“Bomb Maniac! You bastard! Do you even know where you are, crawling in here?!”
Perhaps because of his rage, the molten metal trembled violently.
“…I see. So all of this was your doing! Those insects wouldn’t dare rebel against me otherwise!”
…No, that’s a misunderstanding.
I just came here to clean up the mess.
“I’ll kill you!”
As Choi Manseok swung his arm, the giant’s arm split into dozens of molten whips and lashed toward me.
Sssshhh!
Wherever the whips brushed past, the air ignited and the steel structures bent like soft candy.
I pushed the exoskeleton’s output to its maximum and hurled myself sideways.
BOOM!
The spot where I had been standing melted red and collapsed into a pit.
At this rate, approaching Choi Manseok was impossible.
Even Porter, the trump card I brought, would melt before it could ram him.
—Analysis complete! The problem is the artifact on his chest!
“An artifact?”
He’s wearing something like that?
The molten metal surrounding him made it impossible to see.
—Look harder! When the molten metal ripples, you can see it!
“You idiot—of course you can see it, you’ve got a high-speed camera!”
—Boss could install a camera too.
“Humans can’t analyze the data even if we did.”
Slash!
Damn—almost got hit by another molten whip while talking.
The artifact appeared on the status HUD.
[Hephaestus’s Crucible]
[Grade: β-C]
[Projects special mana waves into nearby molten metal, freely manipulating its flow and shape.]
“A C-grade artifact?”
As expected of the head of a massive production organization like Guro Foundry, he had hidden something truly serious.
Not only was it high-grade, it created synergy with Metal Melting.
He must have spent an astronomical price to obtain it.
—Originally it’s a production item, but that lunatic connected it to his Metal Melting ability and is controlling molten metal like limbs!
After hearing Picker’s explanation, I was speechless.
So Choi Manseok had combined a production-type artifact with his ability and was using it as his ultimate move.
Just as expected.
Everyone in this world hides an ace up their sleeve.
No wonder he had been ruling like a king in this rotten world.
Now I understood the mechanism.
But understanding it didn’t mean a solution suddenly appeared.
Another molten whip flew toward me.
I was too busy thinking and failed to dodge.
“Damn!”
The molten whip wrapped around my left arm as soon as I raised it to guard.
Szzzt—!
The smell of burning leather filled my nose.
At the same time, the mana pattern engraved on the exoskeleton flashed and repelled the molten metal’s mana.
[Warning! Left gauntlet surface temperature rising rapidly!]
[Heat-resistant inner lining damage: 12%]
The coated mana pattern had been erased, meaning the same defense would not work again.
“Ugh…!”
I shook the molten metal off and retreated.
Just one contact caused this much damage.
If it became a prolonged fight, I would lose.
I should run before that happened—but…
If I ran, everyone here would die to Choi Manseok.
I could ignore the five hundred strangers or his own subordinates.
But the problem was people like Han Daeman’s nephew, families of those under my command.
In the end, there was only one method left.
Destruction at the molecular level.
The Ultra-Vibration Module.
I pulled an F-Grade Core from the exoskeleton’s inner pocket.
“Ha… this really hurts.”
But if I tried to save it, I’d end up roasted alive.
In a week, I would receive 450 cores from the third military supply contract anyway.
If Lieutenant Colonel Kang had any conscience, maybe he’d even add a bonus.
After all, the mortar I sent as a freebie had done great work defending the Northern Front.
Gripping the core and activating Manufacture, a single round appeared in my hand.
The ammunition for a Pneumatic Railgun.
Of course, this wasn’t a simple tranquilizer dart.
It was a special projectile that generated ultra-high-frequency vibrations upon contact.
Ultra-Vibration Needle.
“Expensive shot. Let’s finish this in one.”
I aimed at Choi Manseok’s head—more precisely, the face of the molten giant surrounding him.
“Fire.”
POOM!
Compressed air exploded as the projectile launched.
Moving too fast for the naked eye, the round struck the molten giant’s face.
My shooting skill had improved a lot.
I could hit even without Picker’s assistance.
With a bizarre resonance, the molten metal at the impact point disintegrated like mist.
The molecular bonds broke, leaving a hole.
Through it I could see Choi Manseok’s startled face.
“Uh…?”
Did it work?
—Do you really think so?
Right. If his head had been pierced, he wouldn’t be making that face.
But this was the moment.
If I followed up while his face was exposed, it would be over.
But during the split second it took to manufacture a second Ultra-Vibration Needle, molten metal flowed back and sealed the hole.
Choi Manseok’s face disappeared again behind the molten metal, leaving only his eyes visible.
His mocking laughter echoed through the factory.
“HAHAHAHA! You scared me for a second, bastard! Did you really think a tiny needle like that could pierce this massive blast furnace?!”
—Not anymore. The molten metal thickness has tripled. That bastard’s completely scared now.
Damn.
Should I have fired a burst from the start?
But using cores without knowing if it would work was not an easy decision.
—See?! That’s why you should’ve stopped the workshop from eating all the cores! Now look at us, broke and desperate!
“Like I had a choice? It was a forced upgrade!”
Another method… I needed another method.
While dodging another molten whip, I desperately thought.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
There was a way to defeat him.
Porter’s attack.
The problem was freezing the molten metal.
Wait—freezing?
Recently, the team leaders had built a crude oil distillation unit to refine bio-oil.
I turned it into blueprints and built several, delivering them to Mapo Police Station.
During that process I had learned enough thermodynamics.
Entropy.
Energy flows from high concentration to low.
Simply cooling something by splashing cold onto it was inefficient.
A better method was creating a pathway for heat to flow.
If I built a device that allowed thermal energy to move according to the laws of nature…
I pulled out a D-Grade Core.
A precious resource obtained from the hunt Picker and Porter carried out alone last time.
This wasn’t the moment to save it.
I would prefer an A-grade or B-grade core, but the highest I currently had was D-grade.
Choi Manseok’s Metal Melting was a B-grade trait.
But now he was controlling it through the artifact.
If the plan worked, even a D-grade core might be enough.
“Porter, come here.”
Porter activated its Nitro Booster and quickly approached.
[Manufacture]
[Thermodynamic Reversal Device]
[Grade: D+]
[Forcibly absorbs thermal energy within a 10-meter radius and converts it into high-density physical kinetic energy.]
I mounted the device between Porter’s two horns.
—Boss, I am significantly heavier now.
“Good. Here’s the plan.”
Picker responded immediately.
—No need to explain. I can hear your thoughts. Hey, bear! You got the plan, right? I’ll open the path. You just ram straight through!
Picker gathered every bit of its remaining battery.
Full-power deployment.
KRAAAAA—
The cooling gas blasting from Picker’s body became a white storm that engulfed Choi Manseok.
The boiling molten metal began cooling, forming a black crust.
Sssss—
A massive amount of steam filled the air.
“Hmph! You should know that won’t work!”
Choi Manseok snorted.
If the outer shell cooled, he could simply discard it and replenish it.
The surrounding steel frames bent like candy and began melting again.
But.
He overlooked one thing.
Metal takes time to melt.
VROOOOM!!
A giant shadow burst through the steam.
Porter.
Behind it, the Nitro Booster spewed blue flames, accelerating its body like a missile.
“So now you’re bringing out toys?”
Choi Manseok swung a molten whip toward the charging Porter.
A mass of molten metal thousands of degrees hot.
The toy car would evaporate the moment it touched it.
But at the moment of collision, something strange happened.
WHOOOSH—!
The Thermodynamic Reversal Device mounted at Porter’s front spun with a deafening roar.
The red heat pouring from Choi Manseok’s arm was sucked into Porter’s ram like a black hole.
“W-what?!”
Choi Manseok’s eyes widened in shock.
The molten metal touching Porter instantly lost its red glow and turned gray.
The liquid metal had been robbed of heat and rapidly cooled into solid steel.
Meanwhile, Porter’s ram, having devoured the heat, glowed white like the sun.
The thermal energy had been converted entirely into kinetic energy—vibration.
VRRRRRRR—
A high-frequency vibration that seemed to tear the air itself apart.
Porter charged into the frozen giant with that overwhelming energy.
—Steel wall. Let’s see which one weighs more.
The ram vibrating tens of thousands of times per second struck the rapidly frozen metal giant.
There was no impact sound.
The giant’s arm, torso, and legs shattered and exploded into fragments.
Amid the storm of debris, Choi Manseok’s face appeared briefly.
For a single moment, Kang Sinhyeok and Choi Manseok locked eyes.
Then Porter passed straight through him.
Where Porter had swept through, there was not even a trace that a human named Choi Manseok had existed.
As if erased by a graphics tool, only empty space remained.
His bones, flesh, blood, and organs had all been reduced into microscopic salt-like particles by the ultra-vibration and evaporated into the air.
Tap. Tap.
The white powder drifting in the air fell to the floor like snow.
That was what Choi Manseok had become.
Silence fell.
No one fully understood what had just happened.
Then something dropped onto the pile of white powder.
A cube emitting a brilliant orange light.
—Boss! Jackpot! That bastard left an inheritance when he died!
Porter had perfectly avoided damaging Hephaestus’s Crucible.
If the artifact had touched the Ultra-Vibration Ram enhanced by the Thermodynamic Reversal Device, it would not have survived.
—Target eliminated. True weight has prevailed.
It was the moment when one of the pillars of the Southwestern Alliance, and Atlas’s greatest rival, vanished into history.