Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: He Who Saved the World Saves It Well
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Lee Se-eun, who had been examining the seal surrounding her, spoke into the radio.
"Hold the train. I'll smash this as fast as I can and get out."
"Even if you hurry, it'll be too late."
Turning her gaze, she saw a man in a loosely draped robe standing there with a grinning face. Not a real entity—just an illusion.
"Yeah?"
As she spoke, Lee Se-eun gripped her greatsword and drew up her mana. Even that alone made the surrounding air resonate with her power, emitting a humming vibration.
"Judging by your outfit, you must be those Dan-gun descendant types or whatever."
"I'm I Ha-yoon. You're Lee Se-eun from the Yangnyeong Grand Prince faction, right? Same here. Turns out I'm some kind of collateral relative of yours—nice to meet you."
"And?"
As she replied, Lee Se-eun swung her greatsword, smashing into the seal isolating her. The blade exploded entirely upon impact with the seal.
At the same time, the seal shrieked and shook violently as a whole.
"Brute force, huh."
Sweat beaded on I Ha-yoon's forehead. What kind of monster woman is this? He'd guessed, but the gap between expectation and reality was enormous.
She'd poured in enough mana to blow up her own weapon, yet Lee Se-eun showed no sign of her total mana reserves diminishing.
"Guess you thought it was pretty sturdy."
Lee Se-eun extended her hand to the side, and the ring on her finger glowed. An identical greatsword to the one she'd just swung materialized perfectly in her grasp.
"Mirror Ring."
"You know it? Well, more people don't know about it than do."
It was the ring reportedly acquired after she cleared a Rank-1 Erosion Core. It could register one piece of equipment, and any gear registered to it would be instantly duplicated in the owner's hand the moment it broke.
The freshly recreated greatsword smashed into the seal and exploded.
Yoo Chan-seok's voice came through the radio.
"What a clown. What can a punk like him do?"
I Ha-yoon scoffed upon hearing the transmission. Lee Se-eun swung her greatsword into the seal again and replied.
"Who knows."
"Nikolai may be from an inferior race, but the gear he's got is decent."
Lee Se-eun answered coldly.
"Three years ago, those Dan-gun descendant guys approached me."
"I heard you turned them down. Change your mind now, and we'd welcome you anytime."
Instead of replying, Lee Se-eun summoned a new greatsword to replace the shattered one, smiled, and said,
"Go fuck yourself, you Nazi bastards."
"Such foul language. We're patriots. Ever even thought about your country for five minutes a day?"
It was a quote from Dosan An Chang-ho. He probably never imagined it'd be twisted like that. Their antics were straight out of some cult cherry-picking Bible verses to suit their tastes.
Lee Se-eun grimaced and replied,
"Got plenty to say... but nah."
Waste of time. Lee Se-eun shut her mouth and focused on demolishing the seal with her greatsword.
Lee Se-eun was trapped in the seal. And inside, she kept hammering away at it to break free.
"At this rate..."
She'd probably shatter it in about 40 minutes. And that was how long we'd have to hold out without her.
In the distance, a guy blasting flames from what looked like a jetpack landed with a thunderous boom.
"What is that, Iron Man wannabe?"
A massive frame encased in sturdy-looking steel aimed a heavy cannon at us. The glass visor let us make out his face.
Bald head, scar. That had to be Nikolai. Matched the photo perfectly. He bellowed confidently through a loudspeaker.
― Drop all weapons and surrender, and I might let you live!
Who'd surrender to that? "Might let you live"? Just say "don't surrender" and be done with it.
"Guy's got some wild gear, though."
No mana inside that body at all. Whoever was in that steel shell was just a regular human. Han Sang-ah drew her sword, steadied her breath, and spoke.
"From the Predator Project ten years back. They made a few prototypes. The Korean military tried operating them, but sourcing materials was too tough, so they scrapped it."
How the hell did a Russian thug end up with gear like that? Getting it was one thing—holding onto it was another.
Unless the Korean government was turning a blind eye, he'd have lost it in seconds and gotten the death penalty.
Anyway, the steel suit Nikolai was piloting ran on mana as fuel. Meaning somewhere in there was a mana source.
"Hope it's not the kind that blows up if you eat it."
Not all mana-infused materials were edible.
Using calories as an example: a fried chicken could pack about 2,000 calories per bird—edible.
Uranium? Roughly 80 billion calories per gram—inedible. Sure, you could eat it, but surviving afterward? No chance.
Taking in a material that reinforces your bloodline but can't be processed was like chowing down on uranium because you wanted a massive calorie hit. Insane.
― Alright, wipe 'em out!
Funny part? All his grunts could actually wield mana.
"Soldiers, stay back."
I gripped my spear alongside the other hunters and charged the enemy, telling Han Sang-ah,
"First time against people, right?"
"Same for you."
I gleefully swung my twin blades to parry a rushing attack, then pierced the guy's skull with my spear.
He crumpled without a scream, brains splattered, blood pouring out.
"I'm ready for it."
Han Sang-ah flinched at the sight. Butchering monsters and killing humans were as different as eating meat versus cannibalism.
"If you can't handle it, just go back."
Pity for the enemy makes allies more hindrance than help. Better off without them.
"No."
Han Sang-ah gripped her sword tight, charged an enemy, and said,
"I can do it."
"Then do it."
I replied firmly to her and moved.
Guilt over killing creeps in like a ghost after everything's over.
You get twitchy, dream of that first kill nonstop, avoid certain triggers.
Usually fades in days to a month, tops.
"Hah."
Screams everywhere, curses in their native tongues. Weapons clash, guts spill, blood flows.
A filthy whirlwind of raw, brutal human emotion.
Feels weird. I didn't want to see this shit again.
"Fucking disgusting."
Not the scene—the fact that being here felt like coming home.
― Ahahahahaha!
In my sights: Nikolai rocketing toward the train with its shield generator, boosters blazing behind him. Firing his cannon wildly while slashing with a mana-forged lightsaber in the other hand.
Ferocious momentum, devastating power. Zanabi hunters were straining to block him, but they wouldn't last long.
"Hey, tin can."
A lightsaber plummeting toward one hunter's head was blocked by my extended spear. Then my spear stretched and contracted repeatedly, targeting his suit.
He parried swiftly with his lightblade and eyed me.
Text scrolled across his visor glass. Analyzing me, maybe.
"Everyone says that."
I motioned for the Zanabi hunters blocking Nikolai to move aside, ignited black flames along my spear, and said,
"Until they get punched and turn stupid."
Turbines whirred, lights flared across his suit. Powering up.
"Fast. Strong."
Always the same shtick. He closed the gap in a flash, shoving his cannon in my face.
I dodged with a deadpan look. Naturally, Nikolai didn't fire.
"If destruction was the goal, you'd have shelled the cargo from way over there."
What idiot charges in with a cannon like that without firing? Means he doesn't want to wreck it.
I swung my black-flamed spear wide; he leaped into the air to dodge, then boosted back a bit.
"Not everyone's as dumb as you."
If you've got a head, use it.
His cannon barrel shifted gauge and hosed me with machine-gun mana shots. The projectiles were crystal clear to my eyes.
No need for fancy footwork. Just swing the spear and deflect. Batting away the searing mana bolts, I closed in.
He brought his lightblade down on my head. It missed. Even if it connected someday, it'd never land clean.
"Buddy, your quote's already in."
I don't charge blindly, take a hit, then go "Whoa, tough guy." That's just dumb.
I'd clocked his range, the mana shots' power and speed. This guy's winnable.
About five minutes of back-and-forth, and he looked rattled. Sure, my spear wasn't made to crack that tough metal shell.
But I wasn't attacking with the spear itself—more the Paradox Flame that came with it. Spear just needed to be durable.
"Dumbass."
Subtly, the machine's movements lagged. I could guess why. It wasn't blocking what it could, dodging what it should.
"So you weren't even fighting."
That explained it. The machine was defending—not him.
Made sense. A normal human can't track a mana user's moves. But a mana-powered machine? Totally could.
The glitch stemmed from my overhauled nervous system at the hospital.
I process and react a hair faster than most.
Nikolai's tin can was erroring out because of that. Human nerves have limits on signal speed—and I exceeded them, freaking the machine out.
"Machine's fine."
If he were a genius engineer, he might debug it on the fly... but a bald, muscled Russian gangster smart enough for that wouldn't be robbing trains.
"Let's get you properly thrashed out on the Siberian plains today."
A blue trail lingered in the wake of my swinging spear.