Chapter 189: Birdcage 1
Rumble
Whoooosh!
The upper body of the giant wolf, Junghwan, lowered.
Of course it wasn't hard for him to crush them by stepping on them in an instant.
But Junghwan suddenly got curious.
As to what he wanted to say so much that he attacked him, this form of his, with the Akion.
Soon a huge voice came out from the mouth of the demonic beast which had stooped over.
<kang hansoo. you aren't thinking that i will continue to let you live because i let you go once right? i don't believe in debts of the mind.>
'If you trying to waste my time...You are going to pay for it.'
He had gained power and his suppressed goals had been remembered.
His younger sibling.
His younger sibling who had been dragged away as a sacrifice while they were searching for the village.
He himself was confident in his skills and he had to protect his sibling so he was overly arrogant and aggressive in the village but it was too late for him when he realized something was wrong.
Since the people in the village sent away his younger sibling as a sacrifice in revenge.
And it was too late after he realized he had been tied down completely after going under Meitron and Karon.
'I will find him.'
He was alive and he knew where he was.
He also knew how he was being treated.
There was no reason to not go find him.
If he wasn't curious and nervous at the same time then he wouldn't even have given Hansoo time to speak.
<hurry and get to the point!>
Rumble
Everytime the mouth of the giant wolfman moved, a thunder-like noise came out from it along with a hurricane-like gale.
Karhal and Ekidu frowned as they felt like they were in the midst of a storm.
Well, that wasn't the problem anyway.
'Fuck. Anyone can tell that he looks pissed off.'
Karhal nervously looked at the face the size of a large house.
And Hansoo replied leisurely.
"If you're thinking of going to the Birdcage then it'll be a useless death. Are you trying to commit suicide?"
He could tell from the direction Junghwan was trying to head towards.
The area between the outer regions of the Green Road and the Arukon's territory, the playground and the aquarium of the Higher Races.
Hansoo knew the moment he saw Junghwan trying to run towards the Birdcage after he gained power and the clan's symbol disappeared.
That someone precious to him had been captured and taken from him.
Junghwan stopped at those words.
Suicide.
<...>
His consciousness came back slightly from Hansoo's words.
Though he had gained a tremendous amount of strength, his opponent was not simple.
Seriously.
'...Could I do it?'
He ran the possibility of him charging into the <birdcage> his sibling was in and rescuing him through his mind several times but the more he thought about it the more nervous he felt.
He realized this after being hit by the Akion.
He was not invincible.
The location he had been hit was still hurting.
The Akion, which was a bit weaker than the Satellite Fortress, was this much already.
If he were to hit by multiple Satellite Fortresses, which each shot multiple shots like this, would he be able to survive?
He wouldn't be.
No, even if he rescued his sibling what would he do?
His strength was time-limited and his sibling will die the moment he died.
Even if he rescued his brother from the Birdcage he wouldn't be able to take him to the portal at the end of the Green Road.
Junghwan started to calm down and made a despair-stricken expression.
<fuck.>
Whooooshhh
A gale caused by a sigh came out from the giant Demonic Beast's mouth.
Hansoo spoke towards Junghwan.
"So just instead of doing something stupid, just help me. If you help me I'll take care of the rest."
<...what are you going to do?>
Hansoo laughed as he spoke.
"I'll rescue the people in the Birdcage for you."
He needed to attack to Birdcage anyway.
Since Metiron was hidden below the Birdcage.
Get rid of Metiron who will get in the way of him getting the Destruction Jade at the Birdcage.
Then activate the Destruction Jade.
"If you cause a ruckus with your huge body you'd fail but... I can do it."
<...>
"So just help me, you know right? Where they hid the Destruction Jade."
It'd be better to squeeze out the location of the Destruction Jade from Metiron but he had to prepare for a situation where Metiron would refuse to speak.
Since everything will have been useless if he couldn't find the Destruction Jade.
Junghwan nodded at those words.
He knew.
Them, together as a clan, were set up so they couldn't betray each other and so they had shared all the information with each other.
If something like this hadn't happened then he wouldn't have been able to even dream about telling anything to Hansoo.
'If this guy really activated the Destruction Jade...'
There was an actual possibility.
'...Well, I'll die too but that doesn't matter.'
If mana disappeared then he, who moved from mana, would stop and his conscious would fade as well but that didn't matter.
His soul will burn up eventually, it happening a bit sooner doesn't matter.
If somebody as big as him charged in then countless Satellite Fortresses would charge in but someone like Hansoo could get in without getting caught.
Even to Metiron under the Birdcage.
But there was a problem.
Junghwan quietly looked at Hansoo and then lifted his hands.
Then he smashed the two huge hands downwards.
Boooom!
Boom!
"Uwaaak!"
Karhal almost fell down from shock but unlike his fears, the giant hands didn't squish him flat or anything.
It was actually the opposite.
The giant hand of Junghwan was actually surrounding them.
As if he was protecting them like they were a small chick.
Of course that wasn't what was intended.
<you speak quite well. but how can i trust you?>
While he spoke Junghwan moved his outwards and inwards as if he could crush them at any moment.
Implying that he would kill them the moment they said something funny.
Hansoo laughed as he looked at Junghwan.
"I have a method. Oh and there's something you need to do for me."
..............
Booooom!
'Fucking bastard! Just buy time? If you fail I'm going to fucking kill you!'
He had been persuaded back then but he started to curse Hansoo as he felt the pain from the Satellite Fortress's assault.
Since it was much harder and more dangerous than he had expected.
<kuaaaaa!>
Booom!
Junghwan kicked the fortress pushing him from the acceleration of the mana engine as he rebalanced himself and lifted his right hand up in order to smash the Satellite Fortress again.
Boooom!
The claws that had flown high up into the skies fell down as they sliced away the surface of the Satellite Fortress.
Then.
Kiiiiing!
Countless attacks shot towards Junghwan who had become defenseless from the large attack.
Booooom! Boom!
'Fuck!'
Junghwan grinded his teeth while balancing himself.
The single Satellite Fortress was pushing him back even whilst becoming a mess in order to buy time.
It was clear to Junghwan what it was doing.
It was buying time.
But he laughed coldly.
'You damned bastard. I'm the same as well.'
Junghwan saw the Satellite Fortresses coming in from the distance, roared loudly and then jumped into the skies.
<uaaaaap!>
Booom!
The surrounding land trembled from the giant body jumping into the skies.
Junghwan, after jumping into the skies, used both hands to smash the mana engine of the Satellite Fortress while falling down.
Boooooom!
The hammer created from his two hands caused the entire Satellite Fortress to tremble.
Rumble!
The Satellite Fortress, which had turned into quite a mess, couldn't handle the tremendous force pushing it down as it crashed down onto the ground.
Junghwan tried to spit as he destroyed a Satellite Fortress but then realized he wasn't an living being anymore as he drove his claws into the Satellite Fortress with a bitter smile.
Crunch!
He pulled out the mana engine that was filled with mana crystals and devoured it as he refilled his used up energy.
'Fucking hell...Isn't this a bit too well made? I feel exhausted already.'
It wasn't physical.
It was mental exhaustion from controlling this humongous wolfman.
Since he could feel his soul burning up.
'I think I'll die.'
As energy refilled, the damaged body quickly fixed itself and recovered.
Suuuuurururk
The broken arm fixed itself as the metal bits that fell off flew back in and recombined onto the body.
If it had enough energy and Junghwan's soul remained intact then this monster could fight like an immortal.
Of course those two things were the biggest issues.
The body was fine but he still felt like he would fall down.
But he couldn't stop here.
Since he had made a contract with Hansoo.
'They're...Coming.'
Then.
Whooooosh!
He could see two Satellite Fortress approaching towards him from across the horizon.
It was clear that the ones patrolling around the Birdcage were hurriedly flying towards this location.
'They won't give me any time to rest huh.'
He had caused a ruckus around the Birdcage in order to pull these guys out on purpose.
Though he had achieved his goal, he started to feel a bit pressured facing two when one was hard already.
He watched the Satellite Fortresses approaching him slowly, grinded his teeth and prepared himself.
Since he needed to fulfill his part.
That was the only method for success.
'Damned bastard. You have to succeed. If not...It'll be the end of you as well.'
He thought of the prohibition that Hansoo thought of and mumbled while thinking about his sibling.
..............
"...Hey, are you okay?"
Karhal made a confused expression while looking at the liquid metal squirming around Hansoo's body.
The metal that had separated from Junghwan's body had surrounded Hansoo's body like armor and was constantly squirming around.
It looked like it was protecting Hansoo and it was indeed doing so but Karhal knew what purpose it had.
It was the evidence of Hansoo and Junghwan's contract.
If Hansoo did as he wanted then the liquid metal around his body will try to penetrate into his heart and brain.
Hansoo replied nonchalantly at Karhal.
"I need to at least do this much in order to make him move.
If he hadn't done this much then Junghwan wouldn't have believed him and instead would have charged into this place.
Towards the Birdcage he could see in the distance.
A 15m-tall tower that seemed tiny from the outside.
But Karhal, who had checked the intel in Dakidus's Satellite Fortress, knew.
That it was merely the entrance.
The true structure of the humongous underground structure that spread out multiple kilometers wide.
Birdcage.
One of the King's favorite resorts.
The King watched the humans the Hunting Dogs caught for him and enjoyed his time there.
Along with countless other Arukons.
Usually a Birdcage was just for watching but that giant Birdcage had many things used to play around with humans as well as using the humans as snacks.
The three races were usually hostile against each other but in there they were all quite friendly as they enjoyed their time.
One of the only locations where the three races found peace with each other.
'Anyway...For the Destruction Jade to be with Metiron.'
Hansoo mumbled as he thought of the Destruction Jade's location he heard from Junghwan.
Eres had told him how it looked like in the past but Hansoo didn't have a method of knowing where it had gone after it fell into Clementine's hands.
He had thought that they would've hidden it somewhere but for Metiron to have it in person.
'Well. That's not bad really.'
From what he had heard, the Destruction Jade was a very small object.
Even smaller than the Sealing Jade he had in the past.
Since it wasn't hard to carry it around, it was better to hold onto it so they could use it in times of emergencies.
"Let's go."
Hansoo spoke towards the Birdcage.
He just needed to kill Metiron hiding below the Birdcage and activate the Destruction Jade.
Karhal asked Hansoo at those words.
"Hey, it should be easier this time around since our opponents are humans right?"
It was hard to imagine that a human could be stronger than the Satellite Fortress or the Judge they had fought.
Though there were quite a lot of Arukons inside the Birdcage, the liquid metal around Hansoo's body was quite good at hiding from their senses to a degree so the thing they had to be cautious of the most were humans.
But Hansoo shook his head.
"Well...They aren't pushovers."
Mad Monarch's* underlings, Dark Lords.
And one of them.
Though he had the power of a lord, he was far beyond normal lords in terms of strength and thanks to the power of his trait.
Hansoo frowned as he thought of Metiron, the Dark General.
................
Below the Birdcage.
Metiron, who had a extremely dark ring on his hand, frowned while listening to the reports.
'White a ruckus.'
And thousands of people were gathered around Metiron.
People who had gathered from the sudden movements of the Satellite Fortress.
Metiron mumbled after hearing the reports from Karon who had escaped while being surrounded by countless amounts of people lined up perfectly around him as if they were soldiers in an army.
"...The Maze got destroyed completely? And this is what happened afterwards?"
"Yes."
"How strange. What the hell happened there? Why are these crazy bastards trying to kill us all?"
Metiron then looked towards the Arukon laying on the ground in the distance.
A 6m large body and armor that looked quite good.
Around the Arukon, who seemed to have a high position, there were corpses of tens of other Arukons as well.
A scene that was impossible to even imagine if one thought about the differences between an Arukon and humans.
But this was the reality.
"A King shouldn't go crazy in front of us yeah? If you came to a resort then you should just enjoy yourself and leave."
"Grrr...You fucking viper-like bastard."
"If you are going to hit us from the back then do it properly like me. This is what happens when you leave loose ends."
Metiron laughed coldly as he looked at the owner of the Birdcage that they had caught, the Arukon's King.