Chapter 471: With All Due Respect |
Chapter 471: With All Due Respect
After skillfully avoiding the interference traps set within the gate, I even overpowered the innate magic resistance that all magic beasts naturally possessed—with sheer, overwhelming force.
'Pierce.'
Crack.
A sound like a bug being crushed seemed to echo from somewhere.
(Aaaaaah—)
"Ugh!"
When the demon of the sea let out a fragile cry, the American hunter mistook it for a [Roar] and hurriedly checked his condition. However, this scream posed no threat to us. Unless one used [Clairvoyance], it would have been impossible to notice—but in truth, water had begun to form from a fatal coordinate: the monster's heart.
'As expected of me. I hit it dead-on.'
In the end, the Nuckelavee's body—once solid and fortress-like—was shattered so completely that not even fragments remained. When its flesh was torn apart by the water bomb, all that was left at the site of its corpse was nothing more than lukewarm, lifeless water.
'Since it's the death of an unidentified, aberrant monster, it doesn't seem as cruel as I expected. To human eyes, it'll probably look that way too...'
But everything seen so far had been observed through the archmage's own perspective.
The Earthlings and I were standing at the dungeon entrance. In other words, the depths of the dungeon—reachable only after jumping across the lava river several times—were not visible at all. What the Earthlings could observe was limited to this just much.
Whoosh!
A scene unfolded where clear water suddenly shot up over the dungeon, like a whale blasting water from its blowhole.
Flash.But if we showed them these spheres of light as well, even Earthlings would be able to grasp the situation easily.
"By the way, why did it suddenly get so bright— huh? Huhhh? What?!"
"It looks like that store everyone said could hold an enchantment for a long time has appeared."
The Earthling, who had been glancing at his wristwatch in case the 'collection' came, suddenly snapped his head up.
"What on earth did you do just now?"
"Wow— looks like the boss's defenses were weaker than expected. I didn't think it would really go down in a single hit..."
At last, the Earthling who had entered with me checked the reward for contribution to the boss's defeat. It meant that [Nuckelavee]'s ambition had been thwarted before it could even bloom. Even after hearing my lighthearted tone, the Earthling wore a dazed expression—unable to tell whether this was a dream or reality.
"Uaaaaaagh!"
And for the record, that mammalian scream just now happened for a different reason. From a grand archmage's point of view, it was nothing worth mentioning. Still, it's true that I had drawn on power far beyond the human average. As a result, my body was soon massively destroyed.
'Still, maybe because this is after my lung tumor was completely cured... this time the bodily destruction came first, and I actually managed to leave some magic behind!'
My throat hurts and my chest feels a bit tight, but there's no real problem with my breathing. All things considered, the mana discharge results are perfectly stable.
"Achoo."
"Oh my God!"
I gave a short sneeze. My nose suddenly started to itch and I coughed, but what filled my nasal cavity was probably blood, not mucus. Still, showing this level of injury to a human wasn't a big deal. After all, I still had more to do after this.
'If I assume I scrape my breathing down to the very bottom like when I look down the [Beast], then dealing with that sky-blue-haired guy over there wouldn't be a problem—even if ten of him came at me...'
And on top of that, I still had a clear next move prepared.
'Still, thank goodness I have magic left. Really—saving the second and third contingency plans, the ones meant for dealing with Gisimche, is a relief in itself.'
It was at that very moment, as I was checking my own nosebleed.
"I, it's still hard to believe, but... in an age where superpowers exist, what can't be done? Kim Giryeo, you definitely did something just now—to save America!"
A familiar bout of exaggerated fuss rang out beside me.
"By the way, how much longer until the egg sac bursts?"
"I'm not exactly sure. It could be in three hours, but maybe the offspring will come out in just thirty minutes? Still, for now, we have some breathing room."
"Damn it!"
He tried to support my battered body and lead me out of the gate.
"We won't have much time to collect [Nuckelavee]'s corpse. Let's leave the aftermath to the research team for now!"
"It'll take ages to gather all the fragments, though..."
"What?"
"It's nothing. Still, I'll make sure everyone outside knows I was the one who did it."
Since the massive egg sac was still intact, it was hard to feel truly at ease. However, once the true nature of this gate became known, no one would dare attempt reckless investigations—and breaking the gate by force would no longer be considered a serious issue either.
"And by the way... does the U.S. happen to have a spare Knight's Oath?"
"You're not seriously planning to use that as a substitute for Justitia, are you?"
"They use this method all the time in this country too, so why are you looking at me like that? Anyway, when you ask about the egg sac, please use that. To be honest, I don't want to get blamed for recklessly destroying a rare gate. We had no choice—it was an emergency..."
The sentries went in, and the raiders came out.
"Have you finished your business?"
The awakened hunter, who didn't know what had happened to the Nuckelavee, approached us with the same calm demeanor as usual. This individual was also a renowned American hunter known for possessing [Clairvoyance].
"Ah, we're done, but... explaining it will take a while! There's both some really bad news and some fairly good news."
"What the heck are you talking about?"
"Anyway, the immediate priority is medical support. Call someone who can provide treatment—our Korean ally got slightly injured."
And naturally, the conversation was flowing in a way that would soon summon yet another Awakened.
'My trust in Earth's healing magic is pretty low—it's too primitive.'
For reference, health potions and mana potions share the same threshold. In other words, even if you drink them in a 50/50 mix, regeneration will stop after a certain point, so I kept a recovery limit in advance.
'..But, since I'd rather not drink potions unnecessarily, I'll just get healed with magic.'
It was like clearing the bar in the pole vault—just barely making the goal.
'The probability of S-class gate generation has already been restored. The Gisimche won't be sending out formidable foes just because they're hungry, so that kind of situation shouldn't happen often.'
But it's fine—I managed to prevent the [Nuckelavee] gate incident that could have ruined the United States in advance.
'That's settled.'
I took a moment to steady my breathing and slowly gazed up at the sky. I was admiring the foreign landscape as a small reward for successfully completing the mission.
Flap flap.And as I lifted my head, waiting for the primitive healer to arrive, a curious sight came into view through these eyes of mine.
'It looks like a shape I've seen somewhere before.'
Under the faintly moonlit sky, something with white wings was fluttering about.
"As expected, maybe because it's a foreign land, even the wild animals roaming around are all unusually large."
"Yes?"
"Oh, that bird over there? Actually, in our country, birds that large aren't common."
I squinted at the flying creature and asked the nearby American,
"By the way, what's the name of that bird?"
Then, the mammal with [Clairvoyance] activated its skill and fixed its gaze on a point in the sky.
Flap, flap...Thanks to his superior eyesight, he probably had already analyzed the creature's form within those few seconds. Strangely, however, the Earthling didn't respond at all and merely began to change expression. It was as if colored water had been spilled over paper—the nearby American's face suddenly turned blue.
"What is it?"
At first, I really thought it was a bird.
'Come to think of it, looking closely, it seems to have a bit of magic too. Could that mean it's also from the Beginner Killer class?'
However, using the [Clairvoyance] skill seemed to suggest otherwise. The Earthling, still frozen in thought, simply described the scene exactly as he saw it.
Flap, flap.The creature that appeared before our eyes resembled a butterfly of the troposphere. Its wings and body were strikingly different in form, and its body—astonishingly—was said to be far more beautiful than any metamorphosed insect.
"That... it has arms! Its joints are just like ours, and even the nails on each finger are so glossy and well-formed that you couldn't think of it as a monster—they're exactly like ours."
In other words, that thing flying through the air could be summed up as a winged human.
"What's so beautiful about a form like that?"
At this point, the Earthling and I briefly disagreed, but let's just let that slide.
"My goodness. A human flying with huge white wings? That's exactly it!"
"What is it?"
"An archangel? Are my eyes deceiving me—is this really the long-awaited proof of religion?"
I flinched.
The moment that particular word came up, my shoulders tensed automatically.
"Angel?"
But the being that had appeared just now was still hard to regard as a sign of a [Descent]. The mind-eating parasites that came from space were low in intelligence. Their true forms were unimpressive, and their inner nature was even deceitful—so how much could they really boast of?
'I wonder if this is too much cursing, but honestly, since it's directed at those who openly 'parasitize the entire planet,' I don't think it's that bad.'
Gisimche have many complexes. Perhaps to cover up these shortcomings, when they appear in front of their hosts, they tend to project as much "majesty" as possible.
'For reference, to my ears, that sounded more or less synonymous with the word "fear."'
However, it was somewhat difficult to say that the flying monster appearing now possessed a strong sense of "majesty."
'I had been studying Earth's religions little by little whenever I had spare time, intending to use it in situations like this.'
The creature, which looked like it had just run out from a neighboring house and had only grown wings, appeared to us as a cluster of hunters gathered around electronic devices. The humans were staring at the monitors they had turned on to probably move its believers to tears at first sight. However, Gisimche feed on fear and suffering, so when they descend in the form of the symbol of the religion with the most followers... they would likely adopt a "that kind of" appearance.
'It's not a perfect analogy, but in any case, some books describe the true form of angels in this way.'
If a lion-like messenger with a hundred eyes and maybe a hundred wings were to appear, that would truly be the worst case scenario. In fact, such a magnificent form of an angel is described in ancient texts, so parasitic entities that favor the old would go absolutely wild and imitate it even more.
But the human-like entity that appeared just now... honestly, it's depicted so commonly even in modern times. The current phenomenon is an ambiguous level of threat, maybe about 3 out of 10.
"Anyway, a humanoid monster isn't a good sign. It means its understanding of the inhabitants of this planet is gradually increasing."
Fortunately, it seems that Earth isn't going to be destroyed immediately.
"Captain! What should we do about this?"
"Why?"
"A new type of monster in the sky..."
"Looks like a Red Gate popped up in the nearby mountains. I'm busy setting up the Nuckelavee corpse recovery, so tell the government to handle that on their own!"
"W, wait. What did you say?"
"Phew."
The healer finally arrived.And it was at that very moment that humanity's researchers somehow managed to enter the Sea Devil's gate.
"Ahhhh!"
"Oh my god."
"Oh my God!"
Now, screams began to echo from inside the hunters' temporary camp tents.
"Damn it. What's going on over there now?"
At this, the field supervisor rushed over to where they were. Upon opening the tent, what immediately met his eyes was a cluster of hunters gathered around electronic devices. The humans were staring at the monitors they had turned on to gather various pieces of information, seemingly captivated.
"The screens are all in English, so it's hard to read."
Anyway, I wondered what kind of news article had come out that made everyone act like that.
[Beap-]
It was around the time I tried filming straight ahead with the translator that had become an essential tool for top-tier hunters. A scene like this appeared on the TV.
"It's white."
Angels, their entire bodies painted white, moving through the sky in a group of dozens.
"Our planet is doomed."
Of course, the translation of the following completed sentence wasn't any better.
[[Option: Republic of Korea] [Screen translation] Gate monsters in the form of noble angels, appearing simultaneously across global portals]
The journalists on Earth were literally on the verge of fainting.
[This monster is confirmed to be a-rank in terms of danger...]
Of course, my reaction wasn't much different from theirs.
'A-rank monsters suddenly appearing over the skies of various countries? And on top of that, the dungeon break process... where did that even get leaked?'
It's a complete mess. This is really a total mess.
The angel-shaped monsters we had accidentally discovered were invading the airspace of over 90 countries.
'H, how many countries... are there on Earth again...?'
At this point, even with just the minimum number of people around, you'd be guaranteed to see an angel. Stepping out after clearing the dungeon, it was as if the world had been reduced to a sea of fire.