Chapter 83: Incarnation of War (2)
Kugugugung—
The ground trembled, and the Creepers covering its surface bubbled and foamed.
Dudududu…
A countless procession of monsters followed.
Knights clad in full metal armor and muscular, orc-like humanoid monsters marched in perfect formation.
It looked exactly like soldiers heading out to the battlefield.
Tz-tz-tz-tz-tz—
And behind the monsters were hunters ceaselessly emitting black mana.
They were GODS villains controlling the monsters of the Volgograd Contaminated Zone.
Scattered monsters from all over were being gathered in one place and moved deep into the interior.
Normally, the poisonous miasma and fog would grow thicker the deeper they went, but strangely, there seemed to be no change.
The fog was almost nonexistent, just like at the entrance of the contaminated zone, and the poison was faint.
Thanks to that, the villains advanced into the depths without suffering any significant damage.
At that moment.
Pazijik—
A sudden red spark crackled in the air.
Spot—
Hair stood on end, and a shudder ran through their entire bodies.
The villains had experienced it before, but they could never get used to it.
Extreme terror wasn’t something one could easily adapt to no matter how many times they faced it.
Tz-tz— Pajijijik!
The deeper they moved inward, the more frequent the red sparks became.
“Ugh…”
Some villains grimaced and desperately swallowed their groans.
Strangely, the monster legion they were controlling showed no signs of being affected at all; there wasn’t the slightest hint of agitation.
After lining up the monster army in a vast open clearing, the villains moved off somewhere else.
“Is it really okay to go any further? If we keep going, we might suffocate to death.”
“If you don’t want to go, then run away. But do you really think you can escape from the Serpent of Pride?”
“You saw the ground shaking, right? As long as we’re standing on this land, she’ll know exactly where we are.”
The villains were reluctant to approach the source of the red sparks, but they couldn’t just flee either.
Enter the place where a disaster lurked, or get caught by a prophet while running and die.
“Better to at least take a chance at surviving than die for sure.”
In the end, the villains chose to press forward.
Passing through the ruins of collapsed buildings, the air became so thick it felt suffocating.
Even though they wrapped their bodies in mana barriers, it wasn’t a fundamental solution.
They had already allocated a large portion of their mana to controlling the monsters, and the weaker one’s mental fortitude, the harder it was to endure.
After moving for a while, the villains finally came to a halt.
About a hundred meters ahead, two figures came into view.
A woman in a black robe with her hood pulled low—the Prophet of Pride, Yulia Müller.
Black smoke rose from the skull-shaped censer she held in her hand.
In front of her stood a dignified man riding a red horse.
Unusually, he wore a modern military uniform, with a sword and a pistol each hanging from his waist.
The Red Knight of disaster.
Also known as the Incarnation of War.
A being whose mere presence could overwhelm 1st- to 2nd-grade hunters with sheer aura alone.
“Prophet-nim… we can’t go any closer.”
One of the villains squeezed out his voice.
“Weaklings. Stay right there and wait. It will be over soon.”
Prophet Yulia continued injecting black mana into the censer, exhaling smoke toward the Red Knight in front of her.
Pachut— Paz-tz-tz-tz!
Red sparks burst ceaselessly from the Red Knight’s body as he inhaled the smoke.
Tz-tz-tz—
Yulia endured the oppressive pressure right in front of her.
Soon after, the Red Knight’s red pupils darkened.
Finally, she had succeeded in seizing control over the Red Knight.
“Shall we run a little test?”
Closing her eyes, Yulia shook the censer and released black mana.
Shuuut—
A spatial rift opened above the Red Knight’s head, and a single missile emerged.
The massive warhead, like an anti-air missile, crossed dimensions in an instant.
Pishuuuu—
In the blink of an eye, it shot forward.
Kwaaaaang!
Not long after, a tremendous explosion echoed from far away.
Though the distance was considerable and the sound was faint, the fact that it reached all the way here spoke volumes about the sheer destructive power.
“Hm, nice. Shall we get moving now?”
Yulia nodded in satisfaction and began walking.
All that remained was to lead the Red Knight and the monster legion in an advance toward Moscow.
As she took the lead, she suddenly stopped and turned around.
The Red Knight remained motionless in his original spot.
The censer was functioning normally, yet the Red Knight refused to obey.
“So even this much isn’t enough to make you submit? Truly worthy of being called the last general. But can you hold out against this too?”
Shukwaaaaa—
Yulia explosively released a surge of black mana.
Yet the Red Knight still showed no sign of moving.
“Stubborn bastard.”
She bit her lip tightly and turned to look at her subordinates.
The villains flinched under her ominous gaze.
The next instant.
Tu-kwa-kwa—
The ground beneath where the villains stood erupted upward.
Pukwak!
A stone hand shot out, seized one villain, and crushed him into a handful of bloody pulp.
“Hiiik!”
Another villain, startled out of his wits, tried to flee.
Kwaduk— Puk!
The fleeing villains were caught just as quickly, compressed into lumps of flesh, and soon their remaining vitality and mana were absorbed into Yulia.
The only survivor was the 1st-grade villain controlling the monster legion.
Kwaaaaa—
As Yulia roughly expelled the mana she had absorbed from her subordinates, the Red Knight finally began to move.
But after taking only a few steps, he halted again.
“Even now you resist? That’s impossible.”
Yulia’s pupils trembled at the Red Knight’s overwhelming strength, far beyond her imagination.
She had boldly declared that she would control the Red Knight alone and bring Moscow to its knees.
To submit here and ask another prophet for help was something her pride would never allow.
As veins bulged on her forehead and she wrestled with the situation for a long while—
Tz-tz-tz—
A black figure suddenly emerged from the Creep.
Yulia, who had been pouring all her focus into the Red Knight, turned her head at the sudden immense presence.
A man in a black coat, fedora, sunglasses, and a mask concealing his face.
But she recognized him instantly from the aura alone.
“Father…!”
Faced with the Godfather’s unexpected appearance, Yulia was bewildered but offered her greeting first.
The Godfather glanced alternately between Yulia and the Red Knight, then extended his arm toward the Red Knight.
Shuuut—
A translucent violet barrier instantly imprisoned the Red Knight.
“Yulia. You look pathetic.”
“I am deeply ashamed.”
At the Godfather’s cold voice, Yulia felt an overwhelming urge to slam her head into the ground right then and there.
Three prophets had already failed their missions, either dying or vanishing.
If she failed here as well, it could lead to the complete collapse of GODS.
“A being has appeared that you cannot oppose with the power you currently possess. To stand against him, you will need strength befitting the task.”
The Godfather raised his hand, and dark crimson mana began to quietly swirl above his palm.
Yulia suddenly recalled the moment she first met the Godfather and received his power.
Black mana, her unique ability, and even heteromorphic transformation. Her personality had grown arrogant along with it, but that hadn’t been a problem.
She had gained power worthy of ruling the world.
But the world was vast, and there were many strong ones.
Ever since a single being began wiping out the prophets one by one, she had begun to crave even greater power.
And now, the time had finally come.
“Father…”
“If you survive, you will obtain far greater power than you have now. If your vessel cannot contain it, you will disappear from this world.”
“I am ready.”
Yulia knelt on one knee and bowed her head.
In that instant, her control over the Red Knight weakened dramatically.
The darkened pupils of the Red Knight returned to red, and he immediately drew his sword and swung.
Buung—
A silver blade sliced through the violet barrier.
Kwa-cha-cha-chang!
A tremendous roar erupted, but the barrier did not break easily.
Regardless, the Godfather placed his hand on Yulia’s head.
Tz-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
An enormous volume of dark crimson mana began pouring into her.
“……!”
Yulia’s eyes snapped wide open as the overwhelming power flooded in.
Immediately after, excruciating pain assaulted both her body and mind.
“Kwaaaaaaaaah!”
Her eyes rolled back, showing only the whites, as she let out an agonized scream.
Jjeoeok— Pukwak!
Her skin tore open as if slashed by blades, blood gushing out.
Blood poured ceaselessly from her reddened eyes.
She looked as though the slightest touch might cause her body to explode.
At that moment.
Tz-tz-tz—
Green scales began sprouting across her torn skin.
“Aaah…”
Perhaps adapting, her screams gradually subsided.
Before long, her skin was completely covered in green scales, giving her the appearance of a reptilian humanoid.
“You endured well.”
“Haa… Thank you…”
Yulia spoke while breathing heavily.
An incomparably denser black mana now emanated from her body.
She could no longer be called human.
“Now, try controlling the Red Knight with your new power.”
At the Godfather’s command, Yulia raised her black mana.
Sss-sss—
A far more refined and pure power flowed from her than before.
If her previous black mana had been a violent mountain torrent, now it resembled the calm downstream flow of a wide river.
Yet beneath that serene current lay an unimaginable force.
Once again, Yulia raised the censer.
Tz-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
She unleashed a blast of smoke toward the Red Knight as he finally tore through the barrier and burst free.
Shwooooo—
The black smoke aggressively poured into the Red Knight’s body.
In an instant, he became docile.
Not only that—he immediately began obeying Yulia’s commands.
“Thank you, Fathe—”
She turned to offer her thanks to the Godfather, but he had already vanished without a trace.
Still, she understood. The Godfather had always been like that.
Just as she prepared to resume the march toward Moscow—
Dudududu…
A distant roar reached her ears, drawing Yulia’s gaze skyward.
A single helicopter was approaching from far away.
“Who dares approach so fearlessly?”
Snorting derisively, Yulia commanded the Red Knight to move.
Tz-tz-tz—
Countless spatial rifts tore open above the Red Knight’s head, summoning dozens of missiles.
Shuuuuuu—
The anti-air missiles launched simultaneously at near-Mach speeds.
***
Dudududu—
Jin-young, Shin Soo-jeong, and Vladimir were aboard the helicopter heading toward the contaminated zone.
“We’ll soon enter the Volgograd Contaminated Zone.”
The pilot announced in a tense voice.
Flying a helicopter deep into a contaminated zone was far from routine.
Contaminated zones housed flying monsters, and ground-based ones frequently attacked aircraft.
Especially deeper inside, navigation systems became unreliable, making autopilot impossible.
While airborne, hunters had no effective way to counter monster attacks, making it an extremely dangerous situation.
Had it not been for Vladimir Zhukov, the pilot would never have agreed to come here.
Perhaps because of that, both Shin Soo-jeong and Vladimir wore tense expressions.
Jin-young glanced at the two before focusing on the aura emanating from the contaminated zone.
‘You felt it too, right?’
『Indeed. An unfathomable depth of black mana. An truly enormous quantity.』
Jin-young sensed that this presence was on a completely different level from prophets like Yoshida Satoru or Talida Abdullah he had encountered before.
Even Lyle Umkaba hadn’t reached this intensity.
Of course, the tentacle didn’t seem particularly concerned.
『This one will taste incomparably better than anything we’ve eaten so far.』
It was practically licking its lips in anticipation.
With a calm expression, Jin-young spread his psionic energy wide.
By now, the helicopter had entered the contaminated zone.
He could sense monsters wandering across the Creep, but their numbers weren’t overwhelming.
According to reconnaissance reports, at some point the humanoid monsters had vanished as if entranced.
Jin-young thought GODS should have already made their move by now, yet something felt off.
As he spread his psionic energy even thinner and wider—
Shuuuuuu—
Something streaked toward them from deep within the contaminated zone at near-sonic speed.
In the blink of an eye—but thanks to his already-deployed psionic energy—Jin-young caught it with psychokinesis.
“M-missiles!”
The panicked pilot shouted. Shin Soo-jeong and Vladimir also hardened their faces and raised their mana.
Kwa-tz-tz-tz-tz—
The missiles, held by Jin-young’s psychokinesis, continued hurtling toward the helicopter with tremendous inertia.
Part of it was because he had spread his psionic energy thinly, but the missiles’ output was formidable.
Yet before they could reach the helicopter—
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Crimson and azure energies erupted from Jin-young’s body, enveloping the entire aircraft.
Tz-tz-tz-tz-tz!
The missiles froze in midair.
“Huu…”
The pilot clutched his chest in relief.
Though they said nothing, Shin Soo-jeong and Vladimir were clearly thinking the same—thank goodness.
At that moment, pure white energy flowed from Jin-young’s body.
Cyclic energy mingled with his psionic energy, wrapping around the missiles.
Slowly, the warheads began turning back toward the direction they had come from.
Jin-young looked at the other two hunters and said,
“Approaching by helicopter is too dangerous. Let’s ride those instead.”
“Those…?”
Shin Soo-jeong couldn’t comprehend what he meant by something other than the helicopter.
Jin-young silently pointed.
When she cautiously peeked out the helicopter door, a massive missile greeted her.
“You want us to… ride that? Are you serious?”
“Looks fun.”
Shin Soo-jeong was stunned, but Vladimir’s face showed genuine interest.
“Get on.”
Jin-young lightly stepped onto one of the missiles first, followed by Vladimir landing heavily with his massive frame.
“Haa…”
Shin Soo-jeong suddenly regretted signing that electronic contract.
But having come this far, there was no turning back.
Reluctantly, she climbed onto a missile.
The helicopter immediately turned tail and fled at full speed.
“Let’s go. Time to see the Red Knight’s face.”
With dozens of missiles under his command, Jin-young shot toward the depths like an arrow.