Beyond Elite Black Evil Dragon (5)
The full-scale Thousand Li Great Wall wave had erupted, but they were holding it back better than expected.
Awakener forces had poured in from across the empire, including over a hundred Masters alone. It was practically the entire mobilization of the Imperial Army's Masters.
Not to mention the Masters from the imperial family.
Yet the atmosphere at the Thousand Li Great Wall wave headquarters was grim.
If they couldn't eradicate the root of the wave, this war was doomed to defeat in the end.
The topic of the key commanders' meeting currently underway at headquarters was precisely that: how to deal with the Black Evil Dragon?
The Crown Prince, other princes, and princesses had also attended the commanders' meeting.
A staff officer was briefing them while pointing at a map on the large screen.
"This is the final line. If it crosses this, we'll have to engage it directly."
If the Black Evil Dragon entrenched itself at that point—or even further north—then Beijing outpost city would fall into its territory.
Allowing a Beyond Elite monster just five hours away from New Seoul by train? Absolutely not.
Crown Prince Ryu Jinyeong slammed his fist on the table.
"Then what the hell are you doing? Issue a mandatory conscription for civilian awakeners right now—reserves too! I'll petition His Majesty myself."
At that, Second Prince Ryu Jinsu let out a snort of derision.
"Mandatory conscription of civilian awakeners? You trying to spark a rebellion just to hunt a Beyond Elite monster?"
"You little shit... "
"Use that brain of yours if you've got one. Would you enlist yourself, brother? You'd just run away."
"Defending the nation is an unbreakable duty for every imperial subject."
"That's your opinion."
"You wanna go at it with me?"
"Why not?"
The other princes and princesses watched the spectacle with amused, silent gazes.
Meanwhile, Joint Chiefs Chairman Kim Songgyeom's head throbbed painfully.
The meeting hadn't even started, and already the two brothers were at each other's throats.
He had no choice but to step in.
"Both of you have valid points. Mobilizing civilian awakeners is necessary, but we must approach it with utmost caution. However, this decision rests solely with His Majesty the Emperor—"
That was when it happened.
The conference room door burst open.
It was a soldier monitoring the Black Evil Dragon's movements.
He flung open the door without knocking, barging into a room packed with the Crown Prince, princes, princesses, and a sea of stars.
"Uh, um, I have a report, sir."
"What is it? This better be urgent. Otherwise—"
"I-it's dead."
"Who's dead? Context, soldier."
"...The, the Beyond Elite monster, the Black Evil Dragon."
The conference room fell utterly silent.
It was too absurd for words.
"Have you lost your mind? Where do you get off spouting such lies—"
"It's true."
"Hey now!"
"It's really dead. Confirmed via footage from the recon drone."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Silence flowed once more.
Suddenly?
"H-how?"
"Remember that guy from before?"
"Who...?"
"The one who stood in the Black Evil Dragon's path."
"Oh! Him? ...Wasn't he dead?"
"He survived. He even showed up with a massive monster in tow and fought the Black Evil Dragon."
Another long stretch of stunned silence.
"...Why didn't you report it then? You should've rushed here the moment combat started."
"It, it ended too fast."
"Too fast?"
"Thirty seconds. That's how long it took for the Black Evil Dragon to fall."
Laughter erupted simultaneously from the conference room.
"Pfft! Damn, almost had me."
"Kekeke, same here."
"Aigoo, I fell for it for a second. That guy's nuts, huh?"
"Send him for evac right now. We can't have a lunatic on surveillance duty."
"Evac? Straight to the brig. He's faking crazy to get a psych discharge. Seen it a million times."
The surveillance soldier bristled and shouted.
"I've got the recording right here! Judge for yourselves!"
The soldier strode forward, plugged a storage device into the monitor, and navigated the menu.
Soon, the footage played.
The Beyond Elite Black Evil Dragon advancing amid swirling dust clouds.
Suddenly!
The screen flashed white as a colossal beast plummeted from the sky.
A monster with pristine white fur and three heads.
"Huh?"
"A th-three-headed white tiger?"
"Why's that thing there...?"
"That's one massive bastard."
"...Way bigger than the Jirisan Elite Three-Headed White Tiger."
"Beyond-level then?"
"Who knows."
No one knew where it came from, but the three-headed white tiger smashed into the Black Evil Dragon at terminal velocity, crushing its body.
Everyone surged forward, crowding around the monitor.
For real?
CG maybe?
Then, a single human plummeting in the three-headed white tiger's wake.
Stabbing and slashing the Black Evil Dragon's ironclad scales with a sword blazing like a lightsaber.
The beast couldn't even resist the human and tiger's assault.
"Holy..."
"Ah..."
"Mm."
"Wh-what the hell?"
"In-insane!"
"...My God!"
"This ain't a movie scene, right?"
True to his word, exactly thirty seconds.
The mysterious man and three-headed white tiger pulled back, while the battered Black Evil Dragon halted and collapsed flat on the ground.
"Th-that the same guy from before?"
"Blurry, but the features..."
"Clothes match too, even all torn and ragged."
The Black Evil Dragon twitched for a moment.
Then went limp.
But right then!
Shh!
The monster and human vanished from the screen like they'd been erased.
"Hm? Wh-where'd they go?"
"...Ghosts?"
"No way, probably an invisibility skill."
"The three-headed white tiger vanished too."
"Could be an invisibility magic item."
In any case, with no further movement, the Black Evil Dragon was clearly dead.
The attendees wore expressions of utter confusion.
Even seeing it with their own eyes, they couldn't believe it.
How were they supposed to process this?
They should be thrilled, obviously... but the bewilderment was inescapable.
Amid it all, only Major General Oh Jinhyeong bowed his head gravely.
His suspicions had hardened into certainty.
...It's definitely Chairman Kim Taeju.
He knew the face and build were different.
But Oh Jinhyeong had fought alongside Taeju during the Jirisan monster subjugation.
How could he not recognize him?
That distinctive movement, speed, habits when he moved.
I already knew he wasn't ordinary back then, but...
Hunting a Beyond monster, no less.
Even bringing the Jirisan Elite Three-Headed White Tiger along.
Changing his face and build means...
He didn't want to reveal himself, whatever the reason.
I should respect that.
So Oh Jinhyeong said nothing and stayed quiet.
Taeju didn't approach the now-still Black Evil Dragon recklessly.
The three-headed white tiger hadn't reverted to cat form either, still warily eyeing it.
It would die soon enough.
He'd stuffed it with every poison imaginable.
Taeju glanced up at the sky.
Still watching?
Probably.
High-altitude recon drones were circling the Black Evil Dragon nonstop.
So the fight would've been captured on camera.
Taeju didn't fully trust his disguise arts or bone-shrinking technique.
Anyone with a keen eye might suspect.
Were there perfect secrets in this world?
Eventually, the truth would out: he was the one who slew the Beyond Elite monster.
Still, he'd done what he could.
The disguise and bone-shrinking were expressions of his will to hide.
Kim Taeju, pharmaceutical chairman rivaling a Master.
That was it.
All because of the ongoing imperial succession struggle.
Pick a side, and the rest become enemies in that muddy quagmire.
He'd sworn never to go near it.
Even in the martial world, power struggles were commonplace.
The Absolute Poison Demon Dang Gunak had grown sick of them.
He just wanted to do business with good people and live easy.
Waiting a bit, the Black Evil Dragon's life signs flatlined.
Dead.
After reaching 9th stage of Hunwon Musang Dokryeong Gong, he'd gained a new ability.
Toxin cultivation and combination.
Even the tiniest trace of poison multiplied virally inside.
Simultaneously, it auto-combined into the most effective toxin, assaulting organs and cells.
That massive Black Evil Dragon body must be flooded with poison by now.
Its corpse was already rotting rapidly.
Truth be told, he hadn't slain it with pure skill.
Lucky break.
Protective talismans and such, Geomseon's sword, celestial treasures, the upgraded three-headed white tiger, and crucially, the sluggish Black Evil Dragon's weakness.
All factors aligned perfectly.
If it'd been a speedy Beyond Elite monster?
Impossible.
Time to harvest?
Dismantling the whole body was overkill... just extract the essence.
Taeju eyed the three-headed white tiger, still in true form, vigilance unbroken.
He opened his infinite space and slapped a transparency talisman on one massive leg.
Shh!
"Grrow?"
It startled slightly as its form vanished.
"You can turn back to cat now."
Pssshhh...
The colossal presence vanished in an instant.
"C'mere."
"Meow!"
Something invisible leaped into his arms and snuggled.
He slapped one on himself too.
Shh!
Taeju approached the corpse, placed a hand on it, and sent qi flowing.
Intense mana pulsed.
Good, it's there.
Slicing deep with his Thousand-Li Flying Sword,
...Whoa!
Near the heart: the Beyond Elite monster's mana crystal.
Enormous.
A riot of iridescent colors.
Will this fit in infinite space?
Anything over a meter diameter might not... looks borderline.
Try it.
Shh!
The Beyond crystal vanished instantly.
Fits.
That was enough.
No need for scraps.
But what to do with it?
Probably the first Beyond mana crystal ever.
Anyone on Earth who could handle it?
No.
But elsewhere...?
Time to head back.
Monsters were appearing.
With the tyrant gone, territory was up for grabs.
Transparency talisman lasted an hour.
Slap on another before it wore off.
Samhan Empire's Emperor Ryu Taehyeon.
The Emperor wasn't called by name.
There was only one, after all.
No need to distinguish.
The Emperor hadn't appeared in public for years.
Imperial edicts came solely through Chief Secretary Geum Suhu.
In the imperial palace's private chambers.
Geum Suhu paid audience to the Emperor in a bedroom equipped with state-of-the-art medical facilities.
"You've come."
"How fares Your Majesty's health?"
"Same as always. What's different?"
The Emperor was dying.
Not from old age.
He was a 1st-gen Master beyond realms.
Two centuries lived, potentially more ahead.
But years ago, in a fight with an intruding Mine Master, he'd taken a single blow.
That wound hadn't healed.
Not poison, not disease.
Mana was gnawing his life away.
The eerie mana left by the enigmatic Mine Master.
It had spread to every corner, refusing to dissipate.
"Cough, cough. Let me see it."
"Here it is, Your Majesty."
Fresh footage just transmitted from Beijing Thousand Li Great Wall defense HQ.
The Emperor took the tablet and watched intently.
Pausing sections, zooming in.
"Recognize him?"
"I have a suspect."
"Speak."
"Looks like Chairman Kim Taeju. Face is different, but... the gait, silhouette, arm swings, stance—they all remind me of him."
"Face- and body-altering magic items aren't rare."
Geum Suhu agreed.
"Anyway, a relief. Grateful, cough! For handling the empire's headache like this."
"Even if it is him, he couldn't have done it alone. Three-headed white tiger helped, he neutralized the Beyond Elite's attacks somehow, and that sword... no ordinary blade."
"So what? Items count as ability too."
The Emperor handed back the tablet and said,
"Assuming it's Chairman Kim Taeju, hiding his identity means he doesn't want exposure?"
"Yes. From meeting him, he doesn't crave fame."
"Then keep it hidden. We owe him that."
"I'd like to test the waters..."
"Handle it your way. Delete this footage. And the old Jirisan Cheonwangbong video too."
Geum Suhu saw the Emperor's face relaxed for the first time in ages.
One less worry?
"Still, we should reward him somehow..."
"Like before, an Elite weapon grant?"
"Can you make one like the sword Kim Taeju wielded?"
"Impossible."
The Emperor pondered deeply.
"No helping it. Hand over Gurye then."
"Pardon? A fief grant? Chairman Kim has no military ambitions."
"Issue an edict. Lifetime Mayor of Gurye—how's that? Grant succession rights too."
"Wh-what's that different from a fief?"
"The name."
"...True."
Geum Suhu had no choice but to nod.
His contributions were too great, after all.
His drugs alone justified ample rewards.
"Precious talent. Europe Empire and Ameria Republic are eyeing him too—what if we lose him?"
"Never."
The Celestial Realm.
Poison Immortal Dang Gunak had fretted when first unveiling the gaming console Taeju sent.
Would the immortals like it?
So even connecting it and halting movies, he was half-doubtful.
No big loss if they hated it.
But unexpectedly, they loved it.
Watching was fun.
backseat gaming too.
One celestial point per round.
Lines formed.
First up: a mustachioed human hopping on turtles, eating mushrooms to power up.
"Hey! Jump there—why skip with that gut?"
"Shh! Annoying—play yourself if you can't wait."
"That's why I'm waiting."
"...Aish! You killed me!"
"Tsk tsk, excuses—move it."
"No way! Not budging!"
Two-player fighters next.
"Gah! Immortals this sneaky?"
"Sneaky? Win and done."
"One round?"
"Bring it! Behind the tent!"
Geomseon took the cake.
Two hours on one peach already.
"Hey, Dokseon! Do something about Geomseon. Won't yield the seat."
"True. Look at the waiting immortals."
Dang Gunak reluctantly shoved three celestial points at Geomseon and shut down the game.
Good call introducing games.
Immortals hooked meant less content burn, steady point income.
Thus, peaceful Celestial Realm.
Until the massive scale plummeted from the void,
Whiiiiiish!
Boom!
Judge's scale.
Taeshang Nogun's tool for managing immortals.
All theater spells nullified instantly.
"What are these monstrosities? Have you all lost your minds?"
Taeshang Nogun appeared.
"Mindless, obviously. Would sane folk rob the Peach Garden?"
Seowangmo appeared too.
Oh no!
Dang Gunak squeezed his eyes shut.
It came.
Business doomed.