Chapter 460
Chapter 460
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 460
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
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Whooooosh…
In the laboratory, something that had once been human skin and four blue orbs floated aimlessly.
“…This is.”
The blue orbs drifted without will. They seemed like the essence of the frost fever at first glance, appearing utterly innocuous.
Whoooosh…
As Ur circulated his mana, the blue orbs tried to cling to his hand.
He saw, heard, and felt all of these reactions.
“Explosions trigger a chain reaction… The blue orbs, byproducts of the explosions, are engraved with secret coordinates and even consciousness resonance… For now, there’s no way to uncover the coordinates… And no way to cure it either.”
Ur let out a smirk.
The true nature of the frost fever.
“It’s trying to convert humans into mana.”
A massive human sacrifice.
The target: the entire Federation.
“It planned to absorb them upon annihilation. Then revive… or be born anew with the absorbed mana.”
He understood the purpose.
Now, how to respond.
“…Am I the only one?”
Regrettably, in the Federation, only Ur fully understood the frost fever and could counter it.
Beeeeeeep-!
BeeEEEEEEP-!
“…It’s begun.”
As if sensing that the frost fever’s secret had been exposed, alarms blared across the Federation capital, Servion.
Something enormous was happening.
* * *
Beeeeep-!
Beeeeep-!
The problems had erupted even before the alarms.
Kraaaaa!
“Kyaaaaaaaak!”
Crunch…
Craaaack…
The frost fever infectees suddenly went berserk all at once, as if no longer needing to hide their nature.
“Block them! Stop them!”
True to a developed city, defense units in each district erected barriers to contain the infectees.
“Kwaaaaaak!”
Craaaackle…
Grroooowl…
Kraaaaaaaa…
The entire city was dyed blue.
The infectees were far stronger than ordinary people, their skin incredibly tough. They attacked everything in sight, prioritizing living humans.
The defense units soon crumbled under the assault.
“Ugh! Over here! We’re going to—”
Pshuk-!
Pssshhhh—
An infectee aiming for the defense unit took a black bolt to the head.
“W-Who…?”
“Get back! Hurry!”
Han Somi sniped the infectee targeting the defense unit, then leaped onto a rooftop.
“My God…”
A flood had hit the city.
Like a sudden surge of blue seawater, a wave of humans swept through the streets.
“How could this… Don’t tell me the other cities too…”
If even Servion, with its thorough defenses, was being overwhelmed so helplessly, the Federation’s other cities must be the same.
Which meant.
“The Federation… is collapsing in an instant.”
It took ages for a crack to form in a dam, but once cracked, it collapsed in a moment.
Her legs trembled.
The shock was too great; she lost her words, her sense of purpose.
Waaaaaaah—!
An unintelligible roar—scream or cheer—deafened her ears, the metallic stench of flesh and blood clogged her nose.
And the overwhelming blue tide before her eyes stole her vision too.
Her senses failed her.
It’s over now.
Thud…
“Move.”
“Ja-Jamad?”
“The signs have started. It’s within predicted range.”
“W-What…?”
An overwhelming tsunami that crushed all hope.
Yet before a tsunami hit, there were those who could read the sea.
“Just as Ur said. High chance this would happen within days.”
“You mean… you and Ur knew in advance?”
“Talk later. No time.”
“Why… If you knew, why didn’t you stop it… You could have said something…”
Jamad shook his head.
“We didn’t not stop it. We couldn’t.”
“……”
“It’s a wave that started long ago. A few days’ warning wouldn’t have stilled it. If we’d told the Federation’s humans… what do you think would’ve changed?”
“Changed…”
Han Somi realized it.
What Ur and Jamad had realized long before.
Nothing would change.
Nothing at all.
If anything, it would’ve changed for the worse.
“Get up.”
“…What can we even do?”
“Preparations to ride the wave are done. We’re going to Ur.”
Hope flickered in Han Somi’s eyes.
Ur was superhuman, colder and stronger than anyone she’d met.
Hadn’t he come to save her when she was abandoned in the rift of time?
“We’re jumping.”
“Already? Wait…”
Jamad hoisted Han Somi over his shoulder as if time was short.
Crunch…
Powering his lower body…
Boom—!
They shot up high.
Crossing a couple of buildings, Jamad and Han Somi landed on another rooftop.
“Ur’s that way! The direction’s…”
“No, Ur’s not there.”
“…What?”
“We have a rendezvous point. We need to hurry.”
Boom—!
Boommmm—!
Their figures bounded across the air like pogo sticks.
Servion was the Federation capital, after all.
Simply leaping building to building wouldn’t get them there quickly.
“Isn’t there another way? If we go down…”
“Go down and you die. Even with Kang Seol, it’d be the same.”
“……”
Han Somi heard Kang Seol’s name after so long. She recalled he’d headed to the non-governed zone to stop the council.
Beeeeep-!
Bee… eeeek…
The alarms cut out.
Had the mage sounding them been attacked?
Kwaaaaaak—!
Craaaackle…
Craaaaaackle!
A massive crowd shook buildings as it swept up survivors.
Snap-!
“Kraaaaa!”
An infectee targeting Jamad, who carried Han Somi, leaped onto the roof.
The frost fever turned even ordinary humans into monsters.
Boommmm—!
“Keeek…”
Jamad kicked the leaping infectee, shattering its tough skin as it plummeted below.
“Get lost.”
Boom-!
Boommmm-!
Jamad accelerated.
Delay too long, and they’d have to fight infectees on the roofs. One mistake, and they’d fall and be torn apart.
Whoooosh…
Whooooosh…
“We’re almost there. Down there.”
“That’s…”
The seat of the Federation capital’s parliament. Infectees swarmed it, but the knight order barely held them off.
“We’re reinforcing them!”
“No. Wrong.”
“……?”
“Ur!”
Then, on a rooftop near the parliament, Ur appeared.
“You’re late.”
“I know. Couldn’t be helped. Was far away.”
“…You kept your promise.”
“In the end, things went as you said. The method… did you find it?”
“Yeah. I did.”
Instantly, Han Somi’s face bloomed like a flower.
“R-Really? So we can resolve this now?”
“We can resolve it.”
The answer felt off.
“…Huh?”
“The resolution you mean and the one I mean are worlds apart.”
Ominous.
She still thought she was in a movie scene.
Because it felt unreal.
This moment, with so many humans tearing into each other with desperate fury, killing and dying.
It was too agonizing to accept as reality.
“…Don’t we have to fight?”
“Then we lose. Get torn apart without a trace. Besides, those guys—that’s not all of them.”
Ur said.
“They’ll explode soon.”
“…What?”
“Explode?”
“Yeah. Boom! Confirmed it.”
“Scale?”
“Lethal ones, each. Probably take out all of Servion. Wait, the whole Federation—so the Federation goes boom.”
A dream.
Definitely a dream.
“And that’s not the end. The mana wave from it will resonate and get absorbed by the culprit.”
“…Revival ritual?”
“That’s the gist. Probably the king of the next era. Hey? Han Somi, snap out of it.”
“Ah… Y-Yes…?”
“Moving first. Over the wall into the parliament.”
“Got it.”
Boom—!
Boom—!
Jamad carrying Han Somi and Ur raced to the parliament simultaneously.
“Kraaaaaak!”
“We’re being pushed!”
“If it breaks, we’re done!”
Scaling the outer wall into the parliament. Ur relayed the plan.
“There’s an underground shelter beneath for emergencies. Inside the building, easy to find.”
“What if it’s sealed?”
“Not something you should say, after eating six of my doors. The shelter door’s same as my office one.”
“Open like usual then.”
“There’ll be a guide inside. Link up.”
“Got it. After?”
“If the plan fails, it’ll hole up. Even then, decision within a month. Need allies. Can’t face guys who pulled this scale alone.”
“Allies… I’ll think.”
“Someone who can join the front within a month. Not the eastern woman.”
“Shame. We’d just gotten friendly.”
Khan’s sky king, Seolhong, couldn’t help in this crisis. Even if she promised, she’d join after it ended.
“Jamad. To Kang Seol.”
“…That’s the solution?”
“You know. He always pulls it off.”
“Was hoping for something more original.”
“Khuk…”
“Kuhuhu…”
Han Somi asked.
“What’s that mean… Aren’t we going together?”
She panicked.
Truly panicked.
“Together…”
“Han Somi. I don’t know how many humans will be alive in a month.”
“……”
A situation straight out of a movie already unfolding.
Doubting humanity’s survival didn’t sound strange.
“Eras change. I’ve seen it countless times. Most around me die each shift. Never minded much… till now.”
“No way… Don’t… Together…”
“Feels like the next era’ll be boring without you. …So cling to life viciously and greet me in the next era.”
“Let go! Let me gooo!”
Jamad gripped Han Somi tight.
“Jamad, bring her to the next era.”
“…We’ll meet again?”
Ur grinned.
“Forgot what I am?”
“Unnecessary worry. Going.”
“Ur! Ur, don’t go! Uwaaaak!”
As Han Somi thrashed near fainting, Jamad swiftly entered the parliament.
Kwaaaak—!
Infectees were already breaching the parliament.
Ur climbed to the parliament’s rooftop peak.
“Whew… Last time Kang Seol died in my place, no pain. But now…”
Ur knew time was short.
Without hesitation, he jabbed a syringe into his forearm.
Pshuk…
He’d injected the frost fever’s origin.
“…Analyze.”
Whooooosh…
Post-revival, Ur’s magic path had simplified.
Analyze, decompose, condense.
Condensation’s power had once whipped up a fierce mana storm on the southern coast.
Strong enough to kill Kang Seol in the aftermath.
And now…
Saaaaah…
“…Found it. Resonance.”
Frost fever infectees moved like a hive. Due to the origin’s resonance. Likely designed for chain explosions.
Now Ur approached that resonance.
[Ur’s Magic Path activates.]
“Beginning condensation.”
[Condensation begins.]
[Ultra-high-speed analysis activates.]
Whoooooooosh…
“Kaaak?”
“Kiaaaaaaaa!”
The parliament was fully breached by infectees. A tsunami crashed into the building.
Craaaackle—!
Crackle—!
Infectees scaling the parliament walls.
Ziiiiiiing—
They resonated all at once.
Ur had sent the explosion signal.
“King of the new era. Tough break… Caught by me of all people.”
Pzzzzzzt…
Ur’s eyes blazed blue. He’d forcibly accepted the frost fever to resonate with them.
He took a deep breath.
This mana was death, for sure.
Kraaaaaak!
The parliament building swarmed like a beehive with infectees.
“My comrades are heading to see your face. And…”
Ziiiiing…
The moment of explosion.
“You just fell.”
[Ur uses Truth: End of the Four Seasons.]
……
Ur wrapped the exploding mana and hurled it back at the infectees.
Kwaaaaaaaaang—!
Crackle…
Craaaaackle…
The explosion didn’t spread; infectees began freezing.
Mana sealed within.
Crackle…
The frost wave from the parliament spread.
To the city of Servion.
Crackle…
Craaaaackle…
To the surrounding provinces.
Craaaaaackle…
To the entire Federation.
Craaaaaaaaackle…
The Federation froze solid.