Chapter 111: Pre-emptive Attack (2) (1/2)
Episode 7: Tidal Wave of Monsters / Chapter 111: Pre-emptive Attack (2)
TL: emptycube / ED: Hungry_Panda900
Choi Hyuk reported the data collected by Naro to the Virgo Cluster.
Not long after the Virgo Cluster investigated themselves did Commander Mack personally contact him. She bowed so deeply that her blue hair tumbled down. She was expressing that she was sorry in the manner people on Earth, specifically in Korea, would.
{I am ashamed. I am sorry I didn’t notice this sooner. The result of the investigation was that 3 more Kahur Kabkuns were detected besides the 10 you found. As the Kahur Kabkuns were well-hidden, it would have been difficult for you to detect.}
“… There are a lot.”
{There are. Their levels aren’t low either. Although you have destroyed quite a few middle-ranked Kahur Kabkuns before, they were all mostly underdeveloped ones. The ones detected this time are sturdy, having been completed a long time ago. There will probably be monsters that even you will have trouble dealing with.}
“Finished a long time ago? They’ve been there for a long time? They aren’t newly created?”
{Yes, they aren’t newly created. They were simply dormant and are now being reactivated. Like you know, Dragonic was a planet that had been captured by the monsters a long time ago. Although it was assigned as the earthlings’ colonized land, strictly speaking, that place is still within the monsters’ territory. The Kahur Kabkuns used when the monsters attacked have still remained intact.}
“But, from Naro’s analysis, rather than being neglected for a long time, they looked to be active.”
{It seems like they recently started becoming active again. Haa… To be honest, Dragonic is located at the Virgo Cluster’s frontier. The reason why it was allowed to be a colonized land for earthlings, who used to be deferred consumables, was because the higher-ups decided to expand the alliance’s territory.}
According to Commander Mack, Dragonic was a planet whose location made it look like it had seemingly been stabbed into the monsters’ territory. Earthlings, who used Dragonic as their colonized land, had unknowingly been treated as special ‘airborne’ troops as part of a ‘landing operation’.
{Because it’s so dangerous, we conducted a large-scale cleanup of the dimensional wasps’ nests, which serve as information relay stations for the monsters, in the entire region. Also, we repeatedly launched waves of attacks in that region. It was an attempt to conceal the fact that earthlings had arrived on Dragonic… However, it seems that a flaw in our containment opened while we were dealing with the Kahur Kabkuns, that have been increasing drastically recently. The monsters found out that Dragonic contains the colonized lands of karmalings. As a result, earthlings have fallen into danger. I am sorry.}
Mack bowed her head deeply once more.
Yet, Choi Hyuk was calm. Although he had never thought that there would be 10 Kahur Kabkuns, he had already guessed that the reasoning behind the alliance assigning them Dragonic as their colonized land wasn’t all good. Knowing that the monsters resided in a different dimension, it seemed that they thought they could secretly nibble away at the monsters’ territory and regain Dragonic, but they already had an ‘if it fails, it fails’ attitude from the start. Since only earthlings, who were deferred consumables at the time, would suffer even if they failed, they didn’t have a guilty conscience about failing. Among the facts learned by analyzing information about the alliance with Naro, there were a few bits of information that let him guess these circumstances. He wasn’t surprised.
People without strength would suffer anyways. Because of this, receiving an apology wasn’t what was important.
Choi Hyuk asked,
“Well, instead of an apology… Will you provide support?”
Mack’s eyes looked up sharply. Her blue pupils didn’t waver in the slightest.
{Of course, we will! Since the base of the earthlings, who are members of the alliance, has fallen into danger, of course, we will. Bilu{1} and Tangka. I’ll send those two warrior leaders.}
Commander Mack’s blue hair swayed as she assured,
{It’ll be tough, but it’s not to the point of despair. I’ll make you win. Earthlings will become stronger through this fight.}
“What welcome words.”
Choi Hyuk grinned like an upright warrior of the alliance.
Commander Mack acted quickly.
She sent an order to the 7 overseers…
{13 Kahur Kabkuns have been detected. From this point onwards, all earthlings’ space missions will halt. You will quickly eliminate the enemies that have appeared in Dragonic first. Bilu and Tangka, warrior leaders of the Virgo Cluster, have been dispatched. Earth’s overseers will be in command of the dispatched warrior leaders and have the authority to plan the strategy. You will decide on a commander-in-chief and notify the dispatched warrior leaders.}
The overseers, excluding Choi Hyuk and Richard, simply became disoriented at the sudden announcement.
‘What? There are 13 Kahur Kabkuns?’
An emergency meeting was set up.
**
The day before the emergency meeting.
Richard, wearing his ‘work clothes’, observed the ‘hunt’.
The hunting method was simple. The secretly deployed ‘Der Schatten’ gathered as many strong monsters as they could and passed them over to the ‘prey’.
Once they were surrounded by monsters beyond their level, 9 out of 10 ‘prey’ would die. It would be futile no matter how much they struggled.
Penelope’s{2} troop, which was conducting a monster cleanup mission, didn’t notice anything different at first. They had initially thought monsters, that were stronger than the ones usually seen here, had appeared, but at some point, they were completely surrounded. They not only lacked the numerical advantage but also faced difficulty in terms of individual capabilities as well. The newly appeared monsters possessed enormous heads that made up half their body. They swung their enormous heads with their thin, elastic bodies, similar to that of bamboo, to attack, and even if their attacks glanced off members of Penelope’s troop, the attacks possessed such an incredible force that they made their ribs ache.
Kwaoo! Kwaoo!
Whenever the sounds of their heads smashing down resounded in the wind-
Break! Crack!
Terrifying sounds of bones breaking and denting could be heard everywhere. Human bodies became broken and smashed, leaving their remains littered on the ground like popped water balloons.
Penelope’s troop quickly realized the situation they were in.
Above all, they became disheartened. ‘Ahh, so this is where I die.’
They burned the last of their loyalty to save Penelope.
“Troop leader! You need to escape!”
However, Penelope pushed past her subordinates, who gathered to protect her, and came forward instead.
“No! Everyone can live. We can break through! Holy Light Scatter{3}!”
Possessing wavy hair and large eyes, Penelope showed no sign of being taken aback even though she was surrounded by strong monsters in an unexpected place.
When Penelope, Camilla’s sworn sister, shouted while rushing forward, a bright light appeared around her. Bathed in this light, her subordinates’ wounds slowly stanched, and their fear-stricken hearts calmly regained their cool.
Bang! Slice!
That wasn’t all. Whenever she swung her sword, which was immersed in light, the monsters, that had overwhelmed the warriors with their powerful strength, were shattered and sliced. The monsters’ incredibly solid-looking, enormous heads were split like watermelons.
Although she always looked gentle, she was incredibly resolute whenever she wielded her sword.
Penelope showed off her powerful strength while healing others. Following behind her, her troop members recovered their hope and courage.
“Wow! We can break through!”
However, there was someone else who had a headache because of this.
“They really are about to break through.”
Richard, who ordered ‘Der Schatten’ to push Penelope into a corner, clicked his tongue.
“Well, I personally came here in case this happened.”
It had been a long time since he had personally taken action on the field. He had come in case something happened as it was difficult to restrain a bigshot like Penelope with decent skill, and as expected, he personally had to act.
Whoosh!
Richard, who had been observing Penelope from afar, disappeared from his spot with a whoosh. Richard’s Speed had already increased from when he had just reached the 5-star level, reaching 100 Speed at the 5-star level. If he was determined to act, there weren’t many existences that could perceive his movements.
This was the same for monsters. He passed between monsters like the wind while he stealthily oscillated his karma.
‘Shockwave.’
Baaang!
His karma, which was oscillating so subtly it was difficult to notice, flew towards Penelope.
Just then, as if she felt something, Penelope narrowed her eyes as she glanced at the place Richard was a moment ago.
“Who is it?!”
Of course, this was after Richard had left that spot.
Penelope frowned.
“Who was it?”
If Richard had slipped up, he might have been caught by Penelope.
‘Huh… Did she sense something?’
Richard calmed his astonished heart. What he was most cautious of, even more than failing the mission, was getting caught.
Something had appeared and disappeared abruptly. Unable to confirm its identity, Penelope tilted her head.