Chapter 362: Bomb (2)

Kyaaaaaaak!

—kuduk!—

Hansoo frowned at the sensation on his fingertips as he destroyed the countless monsters.

Before, he could kill these things even with the barest touch of his lightning.

But not now.

The hard shells.

And the energy that flowed beneath them.

The skills they subconsciously released to survive.

Because they had fused their hard shells with a human's positive traits, he now had to smash them apart one-by-one.

—crunch!—

—booooom!—

A tremendous amount of insectoids were charging at him to get past his hammer.

Hansoo continued to smash away at these monsters that continued to jump at him, seeing if they could land a single bite.

Although their shells had hardened, it was barely enough to withstand his thunder.

With every swing, their shells exploded, and their inner flesh blew apart.

As well as their claws.

...sss...

As the bright energy from his blue armor touched their claws, they melted away like butter in a hot pan.

Even if their claws were tightly hardened, it was useless.

—rumble!—

The bright energy surrounding his blue armor melted everything that approached his surroundings.

And even if they got through, it wouldn't matter so much.

—crunch!—

"Kyaaaaaak!"

The half-human, half-insect-like monster screamed after seeing the state of its hand, which had broke into pieces after attacking Hansoo's armor.

An even harder armor than the Quirae's hardened body.

"It's not bad."

—booom!—

Hansoo said to himself, sending the Quirae flying.

'At this rate, it looks like it won't be long before I arrive.'

If he took things slow, then it would probably take about a day.

Just about a day until he reached the central area of the city.

Although his speed was decreasing because of how fast the armor sucked away his energy, the armor was truly living up to its worth.

He could recover his lost mana after a bit of rest once the fight ended.

As long as he continued like this, then it was perfect.

Either he would arrive first, or Kiriel would finish healing Enbi Arin and join him.

One or way another, things would end.

—crunch!—

But as he slammed them away one by one—

—a change occurred in the distance.

"Kyaaak!"

One of them had stopped attacking Hansoo and had started to devour its surrounding members.

—chomp!—

One of the Quirae next to it got devoured in an instant.

It took no less than ten seconds to devour something that was as big as itself.

And this was thanks to its still insect-like stomach opening wide—like a mouth turned sideways—and swallowing its nearby comrade in one bite.

The weirdest thing was, the one it ate didn't put up any resistance.

No, it was the exact opposite.

"Kyaaaak!"

Hundreds of Quirae split up into two groups and moved in a very organized manner.

Half of them started to charge towards Hansoo and frenziedly blocked his path.

While the other half started to throw themselves in front of that one special Quirae while taking apart their shells.

As if they were handing over their bodies to that one Quirae.

And thanks to its painstaking efforts in taking apart the shells of its comrades, the speed of the special one rose by a massive amount.

—chomp!—

—kuduk!—

Strangely, the size of its body didn't change at all.

Going by the logic of physics, its body should have at least multiplied dozens of times over since it had devoured hundreds of its own kind.

No, there was a different change instead.

...sssss...

The insect parts of its body quickly disappeared as a humanoid appearance replaced them.

No, the appearance itself became similar to Hansoo's.

A humanoid, but with a hard outer shell.

—kuduk!—

After so much compression, the scarlet-looking shells had turned almost black.

Hansoo chuckled.

"It seems I've made quite an impression."

Then—

"D...Die."

—booom!—

—the evolved Quirae charged towards Hansoo in a crazed manner.

...................................................

—rumble!—

Melchizedek looked amused as it heard the loud sounds coming from both sides of the city.

"I really cannot understand them, both sides."

One side came from the wilderness.

The other from a battlefield.

But shouldn't they at least keep their manners at a time like this?

Melchizedek clenched its teeth.

Originally, it shouldn't have turned out like this.

Once it finished digging out the legacy, it just needed to take this giant thing and head towards Angkara.

The Kalkuroun Fleet flying above was all within its plans as well.

Except for Clementine's sudden betrayal.

As well as the sudden appearance of that little monster called Hansoo.

Every one of its forces was important, but because of these damned bastards, it could not get them to complete the most important task.

'Well, maybe this is for the best.'

Melchizedek looked at the hole beneath its feet and thought to itself.

Although no one could see it from beyond the giant metal walls of Aokan, the hole beneath it was hundreds of meters wide in diameter and so deep that one couldn't even see the bottom.

But it wasn't completely dark.

Since a bright blue light was continuously radiating out from somewhere within its depths.

Although it was a bit too deep, the light was so intense that it had even reached Melchizedek's location.

And below the metal city, thousands of thick tubes were connected in a complex manner.

Just like veins.

Melchizedek looked at the light and thought of Hansoo.

'You... are probably thinking of using this place to become stronger, right?'

Its opponent was a transcendent.

According to what it knew, that man had to devour crystals to become stronger.

Its aim in coming here was also for the monsters grown by Melchizedek.

But at this rate, things didn't look good.

Since this giant creature was a very precious that it had painstakingly created.

'Time to begin.'

With its hand that was made entirely of nanomachines, Melchizedek smiled as it caressed the floor.

It didn't matter what Hansoo did.

Since it had already finished its preparations.

And as Melchizedekwilled.

—swooosh!—

Vast amounts of energy were sucked out from a mysterious location in the depths.

The translucent tubes turned extremely bright.

Due to the energy that was flowing through them.

Then—

—boooom!—

—beneath Mimir, the giant tower that Melchizedek had been standing on, a mechanism made loud noises as it activated.

It was the fusion reactor located beneath Mimir.

Melchizedek smiled as the fusion reactor filled up with energy, and then turned its head towards a specific direction in the city.

'I will turn it all to hell. All of it.'

...sssssk...

Melchizedek's fake body turned transparent and disappeared as it continued to smile.

—rumble—

And in its place was only the sound of a machine, loud enough to shakethe entire metal city.

...................................................

"Not bad."

Hansoo mumbled as he looked at the ripped-apart pieces of the Quirae beneath his feet.

The evolved Quirae had succeeded in reaching past the blue-armor's light.

No, it had even succeeded in dealing a significant amount of damage.

'No, maybe it's because they're Quirae... But is Melchizedek really not going to control them?'

If these guys continued to multiply and grow their strength, they'd be hard to control even for Melchizedek.

Since it wasn't a god.

The Abyssal beings were not something one could ignore.

As Hansoo whistled at his cracked armor—

—boom!—

—a loud noise occurred in the distance.

At the same time, the shockwaves of a very familiar sensation swept past his location.

Quantum Transmission.

But its sheer size was different from that of the research center.

And then—

Hansoo realized what Melchizedek had been planning the whole time.

'...Is it planning to warp them? To Angkara?'

And Hansoo frowned, realizing why Melchizedek wasn't controlling them.

If Melchizedek was planning to take this entire city apart into pieces and throwing the Quirae at Angkara, there was no need to control them.

Since the Quirae would follow their instincts and continue to multiply.

As long as nothing prevented them from multiplying, these things would increase their numbers at a monstrous speed.

Using the other race as hosts or even food.

It used races with DNA that would be useful if integrated, and then used inferior species as food.

Solely focusing on multiplying at a tremendous speed as seen from before.

And if successful, Melchizedek would be at an absolute advantage in the war against Angkara.

Since it would be hard to focus on the invasion of outer forces if they turned their home ground upside down.

—rumble!—

Hansoo frowned at the sounds that were occurring around him.

'There's not enough time.'

Hansoo thought to himself as he felt the faint shockwaves from the Quantum Transmission.

The entire city trembled as if there wasn't enough energy, but the transmission would soon happen.

Probably within a few hours.

So he had to decide.

Whether to stop this transmission.

Or escape a place that would soon get sent away.

If he did escape?

'...Enbi Arin would die.'

And the next issue.

There was no other place he could gather these many crystals in a short time.

This place was the best location for strengthening themselves.

But staying in this place and fighting was also an issue.

If he failed to find the Quantum Transmission and got sent away?

They would be stuck on Angkara along with this city.

'A bit too difficult at this moment.'

Both had risks.

But Hansoo was able to make a decision.

'Stop it.'

This giant city was a bomb that could be used for Melchizedek's revenge, but for him, it would be a location for his growth.

And if he left?

They would need to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort in order to reach the level of a 3-Star Transcendent and continue upwards.

And of course, Clementine would not wait kindly for him.

Nelkipa would have long reached Angkara and end up causing a tremendous ruckus.

Hansoo breathed in and out.

'My Immortal Soul, you'll need to work a bit harder.'

...sssss...

Hansoo released the limiter on the spines embedded on his body which he'd been suppressing with his mana.

At that moment—

—rumble—

The blue armor surrounding Hansoo's body screamed in glee and squirmed intensely.

He'd released the limiter he'd set to prevent the armor from continuously sucking away at his mana.

Which meant that it could eat more, right?

The blue armor trembled in joy.

—crunch!—

The armor's smooth surface turned bumpy, and its thickness increased.

Even more vicious, and denser than before.

The heavy-armor style of the armor had now turned into a full plate armor.

Hansoo felt his Immortal Soul acting up in a crazed manner and thought:

'I guess... the other guys will have to suffer for a bit.'

Those guys would have to suffer countless times more than him.

Since they wouldn't have a choice of leaving or staying, unlike himself.

Hansoo chuckled as he thought of the Dragon God Soldiers that would be somewhere in this city.

...................................................

"..."

R-Zairon Nell's expression turned dark when he heard the message.

Heavy armor is the kind of armor you see that has the majority of body parts covered in metal pieces which are interlinked with other materials such as hardened leather or scale mail. Full plate armor is similar to something a medieval knight might've worn, an armor that is almost entirely made of metal.