Chapter 42 (1/2)

TL: emptycube

Editor: Obelisk

Each alien had their own way of trembling.

The skin of an alien with transparent skin, allowing you to see his insides, would turn red. His actions would also become larger and awkward.

On the other hand, a short, chubby alien without a single hair on his body would stop where he stood and stiffen like a rock. He looked exactly like a rock in Baek Seoin’s eyes.

Crack!

That was until the rock crumbled and white juice spilled out. He really did look like a rock though.

The thing that smashed the alien, who had transformed into a rock, was telekinesis. A silver-eyed alien didn’t even use a finger as he lifted the alien and kneaded him like dough before gently spreading him on the ground like jam.

Baek Seoin, who saw this from a distance, gulped his saliva.

“Now, this way.”

His back was dripping with cold sweat as he led the way while running at full speed. Danger lurked everywhere.

‘Why is it like this? If we’re soldiers, aren’t they not supposed to let us die like this?’

Unfair! Irrational!

Rage boiled in his chest, however, at the same time, he knew.

‘Because they can. Because the ones who die so easily aren’t needed in war.’

The battle humans were caught up in was on an unimaginable scale. It was so large that humans wouldn’t be able to understand with their small brains for their whole life.

‘If this war is like a bindaetteok[1], the tens of thousands of aliens here are only a small piece of onion on top, no, a single cell of that onion, no, an atom that makes up that cell. A war… where the deaths of hundreds of millions of aliens are insignificant… that sort of scale…’

Baek Seoin imagined himself dying, buried inside a bindaetteok. He tried to shout for help but the bindaetteok blocked his throat. He died of suffocation.

It wasn’t even funny. It was a miserable thought. However, it could be how those above, the ones who actually commanded this war, saw him. No, he wouldn’t even be seen. He was an existence who didn’t even have enough value for them to look back and see him.

A thoroughly ignored existence.

And the only way for such an existence to prove himself was to survive again and again.

“There!”

Baek Seoin pointed at a coc.o.o.n. None of the ranked warriors, who were slaughtering the others, were there. Baek Seoin utilized his Intuition to the best of his abilities to find the safest path. That was how they had obtained 2 return codes already. Now, he only needed to find his.

“Okay!”

Lee Jinhee ran forward. She swiftly leaped up and sliced the coc.o.o.n along with a thud.

“Kiiieeek!”

Screamed the monster inside. When the monster spread its legs, Chu Youngjin cut them off.

Baek Seoin would jump afterwards. He pierced his longsword into its head.

[Cleared target. Transforming the corpse into return energy. Remaining Time: 5 minutes]

That was how he activated his return code. He could escape if he endured for 5 minutes. He let out a sigh. As he didn’t feel as though he was in immediate danger, he took this chance to examine the battlefield.

Utter chaos.

Humans and aliens were flying about everywhere. Some flew off as they were hit and others leaped up in an attempt to flee. In the basin, which was now void of monsters, they became each other’s monsters.

However, even so, there was a fight that caught his eye – Choi Hyuk and Keus.h.i.+suit’s.

Usually, Choi Hyuk would dodge while the alien with antlers would charge at him. It was to the point that Choi Hyuk hadn’t even used any attacks yet. However, the moment Keus.h.i.+suit, who was enraged even further, stepped in one more time, Choi Hyuk dyed the Predator’s Blade blue and stabbed at Keus.h.i.+suit’s weak point. The alien was frightened out of his wits and fell back. His arm, which was unable to avoid the blade in time, had a long cut sliced by the blade with yellow blood flowing from it.

When he had suffered a wound, Keus.h.i.+suit became concerned about his body. However, as his center of gravity was tilted forwards, his main advantage was his swift charge. When he started to get concerned over his body, he had lost his advantage and, on the other hand, Choi Hyuk’s attacks became even fiercer. Keus.h.i.+suit became more and more confused as he blocked Choi Hyuk’s skilled swordsmans.h.i.+p with his sloppy defense.

“Kihiiiyaah!”

Eventually, he was unable to come up with a solution and started to charge again. Choi Hyuk immediately switched strategies and started to avoid him again. Then he would counterattack at a crucial moment and slice off another portion of his antlers.

It was checkmate. Keus.h.i.+suit was getting beat up.

“He’s our leader but… haa. Is he even human?”

Baek Seoin, who was watching the fight, shook his head and mumbled. On the other hand, Lee Jinhee’s odd compet.i.tive spirit started to burn.

“Kyahh. Our hyung. He’s good at fighting. Watch out, I’m going to surpa.s.s him one day.”

Chu Youngjin heard her words and revealed a strange expression.

“Hey wait. Jinhee. You’re human.”

“Ha? Then is our leader a monster? If he can do it, so can I.”

“What…!”

Baek Seoin, who was squabbling with Lee Jinhee, suddenly became serious.

“Wha… what? Are my words that shocking?”

Lee Jinhee became a little disappointed. However, he wasn’t looking at her. He had already turned his back away from her.

“Run!”

Baek Seoin started to run before a shout that was like a scream escaped his lips. Both Chu Youngjin and Lee Jinhee became nervous and followed behind him.

“d.a.m.n! d.a.m.n it!”

He swore as he ran. No matter which direction he ran towards, he couldn’t get rid of the imminent feeling of danger. He felt this way even though he couldn’t see any ranked warrior nearby, which was why it felt all the more frightening.

‘We’ve been targeted…’

He was sure of it. Someone among the crazy slaughterers, who were prideful that they were the lowest ranked monsters, had targeted them. Though Choi Hyuk was able to beat them up, to others, these lowest ranked monsters were nothing short of a natural disaster.

The fleeing Baek Seoin saw other aliens fleeing and falling into despair. He also saw other humans mixed in the crowd. Though they all looked different and were from different galaxies, in this moment, they experienced the same fate. Horror and despair. A desperate escape.

‘Around 4 minutes. The rest… are done.’

There was a [4 minutes 17 seconds] above Baek Seoin’s head while Lee Jinhee and Chu Youngjin both had [Complete]. Because he was the last one to activate his return code, only Baek Seoin had 4 minutes left.

He decided.

“Chu Youngjin! Lee Jinhee! Return right now!”

“Don’t wanna.”

She replied.

“I’m not joking! Return for now!”

“I know. I guess an enemy is coming?”

Baek Seoin stiffened at her calm reply. She punched his shoulder.

“You want us to leave you and flee? Just how do you think of us?”

“… You’ll die!”

“Die?”

She snorted.

“What is our final goal? Isn’t it even higher than the sky above us? But you’re scared of a d.a.m.n lowest warrior? If you have a big goal, you need to take bigger risks.”

She briefly glanced at Choi Hyuk, who was fighting in the distance.

“And just watch me; I’m going to surpa.s.s our leader one day.”

Chu Youngjin unsheathed his sword.

“Jinhee nuna’s[2] words are right. If your ‘revenge’ wasn’t a joke, then you need to at least overcome this.”

Baek Seoin was about to go crazy.

‘You d.a.m.n people! You wouldn’t be saying that if you had my Intuition! You want to fight with that? Fi… huh?’

It was strange. He placed his hand on his chest. His heart that was screaming like a siren had become silent as if submerged in water. Instead of cold sweat, his hair stood up and his body became heated.

It was his first time experiencing something like this. The moment he thought about ‘fighting’, the anxiety he felt from his Intuition had died down. Of course, the feeling of danger was still strong, however, it wasn’t as strong as before. His anxiety dropped from a ‘We will definitely die’ level to a ‘We might die’.

‘Does this mean that if we were to run, we would have definitely died but if we fight, our chances of survival are quite high?’

However, his Intuition was only related to his safety. He didn’t know what to do as his enemy wouldn’t simply wait.

“He’s here.”

Lee Jinhee spoke. Baek Seoin replied with a desperate heart.

“… If it gets dangerous, immediately return.”

“Okay. Okay.”

She replied nonchalantly.

Thud!

A disgusting looking alien dropped down from above. His reason for targeting Baek Seoin’s group was simple.