Chapter 161
Chapter 161
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: 19530305 (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* * *
***
The moment flames erupted from the tank's main gun, a deafening roar tore through the air.
125mm smoothbore gun.
The instant it collided with the shell spat out by the steel behemoth weighing dozens of tons, Kahal Magdu unhesitatingly hurled the South Palace Lord behind him.
No matter how mighty a dragon, it couldn't block a tank shell's ambush.
Kwaaang!
With the explosion, the skull shattered into pieces, and chunks of concrete around the blast radius scattered everywhere.
“Urk!”
Moments later, the South Palace Lord, who had barely escaped the blast, rolled across the corridor floor.
As he swallowed the shock and tried to stand, he caught sight of the tank's main gun swiveling toward him.
[Haha! Die!]
A clear voice rang out from inside the tank. The South Palace Lord bit back a curse and deployed barrier after barrier.
The first shot had landed only because it was a surprise. For a true mage focusing seriously on defense, blocking a tank's main gun wasn't hard.
The problem was that the enemy didn't have just one tank.
Through the gaps in the South Palace Lord's barriers, ice spikes launched by Yeomyeong flew toward him.
The ice spikes arced openly in parabolic trajectories, each one aimed at vital spots like the throat or major organs.
Block the spikes, and the main gun would hit next. Block the main gun, and the spikes would kill him.
Caught in this vicious dilemma, unable to act, just then—
The skull of Kahal Magdu, which had been rolling on the floor, opened its mouth.
—A tank? How unromantic.
A sinister voice brimming with warped mana enveloped the entire corridor.
Soon after, the shattered bone fragments floated lightly into the air, blocking the ice spikes one by one.
'It took a tank shell and survived? As expected, not ordinary bones.'
Yeomyeong frowned and slashed at the nearest bone fragments, but the others began to twist and swell.
He didn't know what magic it was, but he was certain he couldn't just leave it alone.
[Where do you think you're going!]
Neti must have thought the same, as the tank's main gun roared again.
The bone fragments caught in the 125mm shell rained down to the ground, but more than half completed their spell.
—My numbers are countless, so call me a legion.
With the eerie incantation, each floating bone fragment transformed into a perfect skeleton.
[...Not zombies, but skeletons multiplying?]
While Neti inside the tank freaked out, dozens of skeletons landed in the corridor.
Each one was a clone of Kahal Magdu, flickering with blue flames.
—These are the dragon soldiers I created with my fangs. If they can't handle this much, they're useless.
The voices of dozens of Kahal Magdus chattering in unison filled the corridor.
—Now, shall we start again?
Start again my ass. Yeomyeong leaped onto the tank, ignoring the horde of skulls, and knocked on the turret hatch.
“Neti, ram them all with the tank.”
[What?]
“Ram them.”
[But the magic...]
“Drive. I'll block the magic.”
No further explanation was needed. The moment Yeomyeong stood on the tank and raised his sword, the engine let out a roar.
The corridor leading to the armory was just wide enough for the tank to barely squeeze through. Seeing the tank barreling down the corridor, the South Palace Lord shouted.
“You mad bastard!”
He fired an invisible force spell at the tank's tracks, aiming to destroy the wheels and stop it dead—but Yeomyeong's sword aura sliced the spell in half.
“Immortal Dragon! What are you doing? Block that tank now!”
In response to the South Palace Lord's scream, dozens of Kahal Magdu's skeletons began weaving spells.
The instant dozens of spells detonated simultaneously—
Yeomyeong scattered the golden feathers of his black wings and wove his own spells.
Fireballs flying toward the driver's seat. Intercepted with ice spikes.
Ice spears trying to freeze the floor, deflected with telekinesis.
And finally, lightning aimed at the tracks.
Yeomyeong fired an identical lightning spell from his hand.
Pajijik—! Kahal Magdu's crimson-black lightning clashed with Yeomyeong's golden lightning and neutralized each other.
—Lightning? You were hiding it all this time...? No, you learned it in the meantime?
Whether Kahal Magdu was impressed or not, Yeomyeong kept clashing spells. His veins burst from the massive mana collision, unable to withstand it.
A metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, but Yeomyeong didn't stop.
At last.
The tank crushed the dragon soldiers with a crunch. Under the tracks of the 40-ton steel monster, shattered bone fragments splattered.
“Hilaria's night, song of the deep tower! Answer my call... Damn it!”
The South Palace Lord belatedly prepared a grand spell, but each time, the tank's main gun fired.
In an open field, maybe, but in this narrow corridor, the only way to counter the main gun was with barriers.
—Hahaha! Masterpiece! It's a masterpiece!
For whatever reason, Kahal Magdu laughed uproariously even as he fled from the tank.
A stark contrast to the South Palace Lord, who looked on the verge of tears.
The tank that crushed dozens of dragon soldiers finally stopped after smashing them all the way to the entrance of another warehouse room.
Just as the South Palace Lord and that bastard barely leaped through the steel door, the tank slammed into the entrance, sealing it.
Thud!
More precisely, it rammed the tank into the entrance. They'd have a hell of a time prying the door open again.
Of course, this was just buying time. Yeomyeong knocked on the turret hatch.
“Both of you, out. Time to retreat.”
The turret hatch clanked open, and Neti poked her head out first.
She wore a smile of pure joy, like someone whose wish had come true, though her body was drenched in sweat.
“…You okay?”
“Me? Of course! It was tough handling a three-man job with two, but thanks to the autoloader, I could focus my telekinesis on driving...”
As her words started to drag on, Seti, who had climbed out after her, cut her off.
“Neti, that's enough.”
She shook her head like someone suffering from motion sickness, then spotted the blood trickling from Yeomyeong's mouth and made a pained face.
Yeomyeong cut in before she could say anything.
“Let's go now, before they push the tank out.”
Seti sighed.
“…What about the armory? We had business there.”
The nuclear weapon slumbering underground in the armory. Unless they had the launch codes, retreating now was the right call.
Especially since one of Kahal Magdu's comrades hadn't shown up yet.
Yeomyeong shook his head.
“They can't touch it anyway. We need to regroup.”
Seti nodded and hopped down from the tank after Yeomyeong.
As the group headed for the armory entrance, Kahal Magdu's voice came from behind the tank.
—Cheon Yeomyeong, wash your neck and wait. I'll definitely kill you.
His tone was as casual as making plans with a friend. Yeomyeong replied by shoving the tank against the wall with telekinesis, shaking it.
With Kahal Magdu's laughter as background noise, Yeomyeong and the group left the armory.
***
Passing the warehouse full of tanks, the shepherds reached the entrance piled with corpses, then the stairs leading to the sewers.
As Yeomyeong arrived at the West Palace Lord's corpse and prepared to climb back into the sewers, someone called out to him.
“You shouldn't go into the sewers.”
Turning around, he saw a familiar figure sitting on the stairs. A one-armed elf covered in so much blood the floor was getting sticky.
“…Pinel? You here for me?”
Pinel nodded quietly.
Yeomyeong didn't ask how he found him. In this city, the only ones with World Tree mana were Yeomyeong and the crystal, so tracking him wouldn't have been hard.
The elf paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and said.
“The outside... it's not good. The Ratkin legion is swarming the sewers. At this rate, taking over the whole city is just a matter of time.”
The artificial soldiers mass-produced with the World Tree Crystal.
One mountain after another. Yeomyeong glanced between the stairs below and Pinel before speaking.
“…Who stole the World Tree Crystal? Found out yet?”
“East Palace Lord.”
Instant answer. Yeomyeong gave a wry smile.
So all the East, West, and South Palace Lords were in on the conspiracy together.
South Palace Lord and skull dragon below, East Palace Lord and Ratkin legion above.
“…What a mess.”
“Yeah, a total mess.”
With that, Pinel hacked up blood. His weakened mana and shallow breaths. Yeomyeong sensed he was dying.
Seti sensed it too and, with Yeomyeong's permission, pulled a healing potion from her bag.
“…I wasn't planning on accepting help.”
The elf said that but didn't refuse the potion. He downed it in one gulp, his expression improving noticeably, then continued.
“Bit late to say this now, but... Cheon Yeomyeong, I have a favor to ask.”
“…A favor?”
As Yeomyeong repeated it, Pinel pulled something sparkling from his bosom.
The World Tree Crystal, a bit smaller than in his dream, yet still nearly the size of a fist.
“I stole it back from the East Palace Lord. I'd like to ask you to return it to our forest, but... in this situation, that's impossible.”
“...”
“Take it.”
Yeomyeong caught the World Tree Crystal he tossed. He half-expected it to speak, but it stayed silent.
“Why give this to me? What if I eat it?”
“…Is that your choice? Then eat it.”
“What?”
Pinel steadied his breathing with a long exhale, then stood up, brushing off his clothes.
“I saw the World Tree talking to you. Since It intervened, whatever you do is none of my business.”
“...”
Yeomyeong silently alternated his gaze between the crystal and Pinel.
Neti, having overheard, seemed about to ask something, but Seti clamped her mouth shut first.
A brief silence, a brief deliberation.
Moments later, Yeomyeong tucked the crystal into his bosom, as if resolving himself.
“Pinel, come to our base camp first.”
“Base camp? Appreciate the offer, but... I can't manage it in this state.”
Pinel shrugged his remaining shoulder. The potion had pulled him from the brink, but he wasn't fit for combat.
“Gear? No need to worry. There won't be any fighting.”
“Cheon Yeomyeong, again, the Ratkin have already taken the city...”
His words didn't finish. Yeomyeong's face had suddenly transformed into that of a Ratkin.
Illusion of blood tears. Speaking with a Ratkin's face, Yeomyeong said.
“This should be enough.”
* * *