Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: It Works (2)
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Auto-combat main gun fired.
Iron Blood plummeted into the sea from a single main gun blast.
"........."
And I immediately shut down auto-combat.
I had no choice but to stop the fight.
Otherwise, every missile and gun on this ship—the Illinois—would have started spewing fire.
"Iron Blood, you dead?"
On the surface of the sea.
Iron Blood's back was floating buoyantly.
Her body bobbed up like a drowned swimmer, but I didn't turn the ship away. Instead, I kept a close eye on her through the monitors.
"You never know. She might be playing dead, waiting for us to let our guard down. Or she could start swimming straight for the ship and try to climb aboard."
"She's not dead... but she seems to have passed out."
Elaine tilted her head as she gazed at Iron Blood drifting like a jellyfish.
"One thing's for sure—no mana can be sensed from her."
"Mana?"
"Yes. It's like her mana got deleted by that main gun blast... Completely gone."
"......No way, that's not possible."
A fleeting thought crossed my mind.
"She just lost her mana temporarily, right?"
"Commander, are you worried she might have lost it permanently?"
"It's not worry for Iron Blood turning into a mana eunuch. It's worry for myself—having the power to strip even an S-Rank of all their mana."
"You get that kind of power, and you're scared? Of what?"
"Not scared of it myself. Scared the whole Earth might fear me."
It might sound like a joke, but on a global scale, it's terrifying.
The nuclear button in the hands of an ordinary twenty-something guy who was mumbling "quit my job" just two months ago?
No wonder the world would tremble in fear.
Being Korean, even Japan next door is probably turning a blind eye out of caution without making a move. Other countries must be even worse.
Especially China and the US.
China must be spooked after I sent their three S-Ranks back under the sea off Jeju Island.
And the US...
"Dry. While crossing the Pacific, look into that for me."
"Who should I investigate?"
"Iron Blood's family, relatives, or associates. If any of them say someone from the US made contact, it's probably a political rival of President Luigi or someone who doesn't want a Korean-born Awakener setting foot in America."
Using Iron Blood to take me out.
If she rampages, Korea's S-Rank Hunters paint me as a traitor and try to kill me. But once I leave Korea, the ones in the US have to start moving one by one.
'Not that I'm not going anyway.'
Too many things have happened to stay put.
Especially blasting Iron Blood with the main gun—even if it was auto-combat fire—there's no turning back now.
More than anything...
"Dry. That thing, still under review?"
"Under review... Oh my, looks like they're finally going through with it."
The rumor mill info—the stuff the US kept trying to scrub—was finally leaking out.
"Still, gotta hand it to them. Spitting in the president's face and pushing through anyway."
Gwanghwamun.
A live stream popped up on a streaming site: a man atop a ladder truck, screaming amid a crowd of citizens.
📰 Breaking News "Everyone!! Right here, I'm revealing the true identity of the one trying to go to America...!!" ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Splash.
Two A-Rank Hunters who swam out dragged Iron Blood—who had plunged into the water—onto the shore.
"Ah, shit, seriously..."
"Cough, cough. Don't we need to do CPR or something?"
"You crazy? Wait for the women to get here. If you or I do it, we're done for—done."
As the two male Hunters shook off the seawater from their bodies, a female Hunter came running up but stopped short with a flinch.
"What're you doing?"
"Ah, seriously..."
"You're not telling us to do CPR, right?"
"No, not that...! If it were some other sister, it'd be fine, but ah, seriously...!"
The female Hunter looked down at the unconscious Iron Blood with a self-reproachful face, wondering why she'd rushed over.
"Ugh. If she gets mad later about touching her body, you guys help me out, okay? Please!"
Wearing a teary expression, the female Hunter still reached out with interlaced hands toward Iron Blood's solar plexus, channeling mana.
Even if she'd taken a direct hit and crashed into the sea, being S-Rank meant packing mana into your hands and pressing for CPR against an S-Rank—
"Eek?!"
The moment her palm pressed down on Iron Blood's solar plexus, the female Hunter screamed and recoiled.
"W-What?!"
"N-No mana!"
"...What?"
"No mana in her body! My palm nearly sank right in! L-Like pressing a palm onto an egg!!"
About to crush it.
The female Hunter swallowed those words hard, trembling her hands in panic as other Hunters started arriving one by one, albeit late.
"What's up?"
"No mana?"
"No way, an attack that wipes out all mana?"
Mana evaporation.
They'd all clearly seen that overwhelming beam of light with their own eyes, and now witnessing Iron Blood's mana-completely-drained state in real time, the Hunters couldn't help but be bewildered.
"Summoning an aircraft carrier out of nowhere is insane enough, but an attack that erases mana too...? W-What the hell is Master...?"
"Whoa, insane."
Someone pulled out their smartphone to report, but ended up playing a video.
"Insane, a congressman dropped it."
"...What?"
"A congressman is live-streaming Master's personal info right now!!"
"!!"
The Hunters flinched in shock and whipped out their smartphones.
Some started to but glanced around nervously and put them away; others opened video sites only to see [Video cannot be played.]
But while sites worldwide could block uploads, they couldn't erase people's memories.
"No way, 27 years old...? A guy who turns into a maid...?"
"Nah, it's a separate existence. Shapeshifting ability—changes into various forms, now an aircraft carrier?"
"Not just any carrier, the Iowa-class fifth ship, Illinois... Wait, that's not the point! It kinda is!"
"Fuck, we're screwed."
One Hunter raised both hands in helpless exasperation.
"The guy who crashed the helicopter on someone just trying to leave quietly for the US, or the congressman spewing his info. Aren't they crazy?"
Crazy.
Sure, people joke about it lightly sometimes, but no one expected it to escalate this far.
"Just let him go peacefully."
One A-Rank Hunter sneered down at Iron Blood.
"Sticking around, she'd just grab you by the collar and beat you, or that do-nothing congressman would threaten you."
"With power like that...?"
"People like that don't realize until there's a bullet hole in their own head."
"You, don't tell me...?"
"I wouldn't, but someone might."
"Um, excuse me..."
One Hunter cautiously raised a hand.
"What do we do now...?"
"........."
"I-I mean, so many insane things keep happening, I don't know what to do. No matter how you think about it, for people..."
"Do your job, but follow your heart, sunbae."
"!!"
Blue Lightning walked through the bewildered Hunters.
"Hey, you..."
"Choice is free. Responsibility too. But with one person taking the lead like that, no one can complain even if you leave."
"Daram-ssi, you...?"
"Not for show—I'm serious. I'm staying. Here."
"......!"
"I'll stay, so sunbaes do what you want. Internet or news might yap, but at least among us here, no judging wherever anyone goes."
Blue Lightning reached out toward Iron Blood.
"The root cause is with those who treated Awakeners like disposable tools... And the suckers who let themselves get played by them."
Crackle.
A faint spark from Blue Lightning touched Iron Blood, making her convulse and vomit seawater.
"I'm... grateful to Master. If I had power like that, I couldn't make that choice—I'd just play the idiot hero."
"........."
"He didn't abandon this country. He just changed where he needs to be to protect something bigger."
"What's that?"
"Earth."
Blue Lightning clenched his fist.
"To us Hunters who only protected one country, he made clear what we should protect. And to protect the world... he chose the surest ally."
"Isn't that just you seeing it positively, Daram-ssi?"
"Then how do you see it negatively?"
The Hunter flinched at Blue Lightning's irritation, face stiffening.
"Sigh... whatever. Anyone staying in this country, let's film a video right now."
"Video?"
"Yes. 'We Hunters express grave concern over the politician who leaked personal info.' Basic political rhetoric, but... we gotta take that first step."
Crackle.
"We've just moved for people until now, but now it's shit enough to make one."
"M-Make what...?"
"Party, union, association—whatever."
Blue Lightning's eyes began glowing blue.
"So when Master—who left this shithole for America—fights alongside us someday, he thinks a spark of hope remains here. Someone has to be hope for Master... and others like him."
"........."
"For starters, that politician who exposed him."
Blue Lightning shaped the lightning in his hand into a blade.
"Let's make his life not worth living."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [3 Hours Later, Blue House.]
"Should I resign?"
The President sat alone in the residence office chair, covering his face with both hands.
Chaos.
Total chaos.
He'd thought once all the S-Rank Towers vanished, there'd be euphoria, cheers for peace. But the whole country was drowning in rage, disorder, and madness.
Kill Iron Blood. Lost an EX-Rank Hunter because she went berserk. Abolish the Hunter Conscription Law. Government treating Hunters like convenient hounds—wake up. Stick politicians who proposed Tower bills in there to clear them. Leaking personal info doomed us. Congressman A who ruined the country—apologize at Gwanghwamun. He's probably a foreign spy—seppuku. And so on.
Bzzz.
The phone rang.
Not the office line, but one of the President's personal mobiles.
"...Have you lost your mind?"
[What's crazy? He was beyond our control anyway.]
The President snapped the moment he picked up, but the other side continued unfazed.
[Iron Blood's toast, right?]
"Not dead. Just..."
[If mana doesn't recover, same as murdered. So—]
"Ah, you crazy old fart...! If you took bribes from China and Japan, just age gracefully...!"
[Heh heh, you've cracked. Yeah, that seat's tough? Follow our lead then. We're better off teaming with neighbors. Sacrifice one, unite the nation—what's not to like?]
"Bullshit."
The President spat back irritably.
"What if we need that one guy's help later? You pulling this crap?"
[Ha. Ridiculous. Think vanished S-Rank Towers are coming back? They're all gone—]
Flash.
A light suddenly twinkled in the dark night sky.
"......!!"
The President felt it.
Something—whatever it was—had happened the moment that light flashed.
[What the hell?]
The caller seemed to sense it too—a sudden crisis.
[A Tower... in the sky?]
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ That day.
Towers began appearing all over the Earth.
Towers larger and more massive than existing S-Rank ones, on a scale that seemed to blanket entire nations.