Episode 4: The Great Colonizing Age / Chapter 66: Demon King’s Leadership
TL: emptycube
Editor: Obelisk
The transparent dome, that covered the sky, faded as if melting away. It was night.
The monsters, which made their minds act violently, had all died. The moment he realized they had all died, almost like a flip of a switch, Choi Hyuk came to his senses. Choi Hyuk, who had regained his senses, looked inwardly at the madness inside him.
His mind was blank after burning all the monsters that attacked him. Now his madness seemed to be fueled by itself.
"Kill."
"Kill more."
But Choi Hyuk shook his head.
"This much is enough."
Choi Hyuk swallowed down his ferocious madness and buried it deep within his stomach. His madness, like a well-trained beast, returned to where it resided. It wasn"t able to beat Choi Hyuk. "Patience". This was what Choi Hyuk lived his whole life with.
He was as confident in his talent for fighting as he was in his talent for patience.
… It was also the only inheritance his mother had left him.
{Dimensional isolation released. Successfully completed dimensional transmission. Obtained the inheritance of a ruined civilization. Inspecting… Discovered a B rank Artificial Intelligence. Nothing else is of value. Provided 10,000 Mission Points as a reward.}
The message appeared. It wasn"t a message he was expecting.
"… Artificial Intelligence?"
He held his forehead.
"Ah, whatever. I don"t care."
He was too dizzy to think about it now, and his ears rung with the sounds of cicadas.
"What about the message that says I succeeded in the Sovereign Mission…?"
Whether it had come up, but he had yet to see it, or if it hadn"t ended… Now that he thought about it, it seemed like the king of observers said something before it died. "It"s not… the end…" was it? Whatever. His memories weren"t clear.
No, from the start, when did monsters even talk?
Choi Hyuk shook his head and looked around.
It seemed the Berserkers" fight had ended slightly earlier than his own. The field, which was filled with broken machines, was littered with ripped and sliced monster corpses. The Berserkers were scattered throughout.
The Berserkers succeeded in destroying the monsters before destroying themselves, but their Stamina had hit rock-bottom. Although there were still some remnants of the madness, because there wasn"t enough energy to fuel that madness, it was peaceful. They were even starting to get hungry. The Berserkers were spread out. Some were gathered in groups, chatting with each other, whilst others were sitting absentmindedly, or even chewing on something. Then, one by one, they looked up to watch the dimensional isolation wall melt away. They were currently in an alien area with no streetlights. The Earth"s sky they saw from here was very dark as countless stars shined.
And there were people spectating this from outside.
Later on, when people talked about this event, they usually started with this moment.
How unfamiliar the area they saw when the dimensional isolation wall faded away was. That place, which had no buildings, random hills, no dirt or asphalt, and looked like a planet piled with broken machines and monster corpses. How terrifying it was to see the Berserker scattered however they wanted on the dark ground. They always described this in great detail.
The Berserkers" appearance was like the Asgardian G.o.ds who had overcome collapse.
While they all captivated by this overwhelming scene, a change occurred.
A red fog spread from the dead observer corpses. At first, it was faint, almost indiscernible. The red fog crawled low on the ground as it spread. Then, when it met other monster corpses, it would "devour them" and grow.
At some point, the red fog grew at a terrifying rate. By the time they thought, "Huh? What"s that?" the red fog had already devoured its surrounding. There were hundreds of thousands of monster corpses it could devour. As soon as it started to grow, the whole area had become engulfed in the red fog.
"What is this…?"
The ones, who thought it was poison and were taken back, tilted their heads when they didn"t feel anything wrong. It was somehow frightening. Some sort of karma was melted into the fog. They felt both an ominous feeling and feeling of relief simultaneously.
Then, not long after.
"It"s slowly disappearing!"
Someone shouted. It was as he said. No, to be exact, it wasn"t disappearing but rather it was being absorbed through their mouths and noses. The process was so quick that the awakenees couldn"t see it.
"… What was it?"
Like how it suddenly appeared, the red fog suddenly disappeared as well. It felt like a hallucination as no traces of it remained.
Of course, it wasn"t as if everyone was simply tilting their heads.
"Haa… d.a.m.n. This is troublesome…"
Baek Seoin shook his head.
"We finally finished and now this…"
Baek Seoin had seen the ident.i.ty of the red fog with his Mind"s Eye and blocked it. It was a simple, yet powerful curse left by the observers. It was a curse which dumbed their patience and judgment, and instead, maximized their impulses.
"Did they wait for this opportunity?"
If there were only Berserkers present, it would have been fine. First of all, the Berserkers who possessed the Mind"s Eye trait would have been able to resist it, and those who couldn"t wouldn"t have been a problem either. Berserkers had overcome countless life-or-death situations together. Because they subconsciously differentiated between friend or foe, they wouldn"t fight their comrades simply because they were under a curse which increased their impulses.
The problem was that the first army division and the Super Soldier brigade were encircling them to restrict civilian access, and beyond them was crowded with thousands of colonizers who had come from various places. The sudden appearance of the curse, and a situation where the excitement of the battle had yet to calm. It was easy for there to be clashes between them and the Berserkers. Baek Seoin was uneasy as if he was looking at a bomb which was about to explode.
"Leader. I think it"s best we quickly clean up and leave this place."
He immediately requested Choi Hyuk. As Choi Hyuk was also aware of the situation, he understood what Baek Seoin was saying. However, his judgment was different. Because his eyes saw what Baek Seoin"s didn"t.
"It"s red."
It was deep into the night, yet the world Choi Hyuk"s eyes saw was as red as a sundown.
"Were there this many people who wanted to kill me?"
Because their patience and judgment had become dull and their impulses were maximized, their inner intentions they had hidden deep within themselves had risen to the surface.
Choi Hyuk saw the killing intent pouring in from everywhere. From the Super Soldiers to the colonizers far away, red light shone. What was more… there was no small number of Berserkers emitting it too.
Choi Hyuk said,
"Too late."
There were many who resisted it, but more than half were definitely under the curse. Since it was such a wide-scale curse, it was impossible to dispel it with the guardian"s power. You could only wait for time to pa.s.s and its effect to fade.
But, it seemed it would be difficult to leave without clashing with each other since the number of groups unreservedly emitting killing intent wasn’t small, and there were many groups who held hostility within the Berserkers. It was too late. He couldn"t stop them from clashing.
"Pardon? What"s that supposed to mean…"
Baek Seoin was taken aback by Choi Hyuk"s remark, where he gave up before even trying.
However, Choi Hyuk didn"t reply and turned around. His eyes landed on Lee Kijin in the distance. Lee Kijin. He was someone Choi Hyuk was very familiar with. He was a drifter who voluntarily joined him on his first colonization attempt. Like most of the people who joined at that time, he was someone who was looking for a place to die while fighting. Unfortunately, due to his naturally good fighting senses, he hadn"t died and had survived until now. He was an elite member who was selected as a captain-level troop leader.
Choi Hyuk saw his face. It wasn"t certain what illusions the observers had shown him, but both his cheeks were stained with dried tears.
"Is it you?"
Choi Hyuk remembered Lt. Col. Lee Kangjin"s warning. The traitors connected to Lao Ban. Although he thought it would be fun, now that he had confirmed the faces of the comrades he had fought together with, it didn"t feel good.
Lee Kijin met Choi Hyuk"s gaze. He instinctively knew that his betrayal had been figured out.
His original plan was different. He had planned on attacking the exhausted Choi Hyuk when the Berserkers had dispersed and were returning. Lee Kijin and a few other Berserkers were to lure Choi Hyuk to a designated place and wound him with a sudden attack. Then the Super Soldiers and colonizers, who had agreed to cooperate, would attack altogether.
Unfortunately, their plan was now useless.
Lee Kijin smiled with his black eyes.
"It"s a good day to die, right, leader?"
Choi Hyuk could tell when he saw his face. The reason why Lee Kijin betrayed him. He could tell simply by looking.
"Come. I will let you on your way with no regrets."
Choi Hyuk raised the tip of his sword, which had been on the ground.
Unable to follow the situation through their dialogue, Baek Seoin simply opened and closed his mouth.
"What is this…"
That moment, a commotion broke out with a shout. It wasn"t certain what was going on, but some of the Super Soldiers were fighting against the Berserkers. Due to the curse, everyone had lost their self-control, and once a fight broke out, it immediately intensified and spread. Even the colonizers, who were outside the civilian access line, became agitated. There were many groups bearing hostility towards the Berserkers amongst them.
"We just fought a dogfight, and now this?"
Choi Hyuk said one thing to Baek Seoin, who was grabbing his head in annoyance,
"Baek hyung, take care of work."
Then, perhaps it was because they were stimulated by the commotions nearby? Lee Kijin and Berserkers who followed him, whose lips were oddly distorted, rushed towards Choi Hyuk at once. Choi Hyuk didn"t evade their attack.
Bang!
Crash!
Clash!
He met each swinging sword. He precisely hit the tips of their swords to shake them.
Clang!
"Urk…"
Every time he clashed swords with Choi Hyuk, Lee Kijin felt a ripping pain in his hand. Yes. Pain. Sometimes pain was the best anesthetic. Lee Kijin wanted more pain.
Unconcerned if his hand burst or not, he gripped his sword to the point of shattering and swung. It was fine if he could never use his hand again. It would be of no use if he died anyways.
Choi Hyuk didn"t attack. He stood in place as he deflected the attacks of the surrounding Berserkers swinging their swords at him.
The Berserkers used the skills they practiced with all their strength. However, none of their attacks could pierce through Choi Hyuk"s defense. They couldn"t make him retreat one step, let alone pierce his defense. As their Stamina had hit rock-bottom, they both couldn"t use their Karma Blades. It was a battle of purely strength and skill. Although his breathing became slightly heavy, Choi Hyuk still overwhelmed them.
"Kik… As expected of our leader."
When they no longer had the strength to attack, Lee Kijin and the Berserkers distanced themselves from Choi Hyuk. They hit him with all they had. It was now time to see the victor.
Kill or be killed.
The people sent by Lao Ban"s followers arrived using the confusion.
Choi Hyuk slowly looked around. Baek Seoin, Lee Jinhee, Ryu Hyunsung, Bae Jinman, and others were busy trying to save as many Berserkers they could from within the crazy fight. Instead, using this opportunity, hundreds of unfamiliar colonizers surrounded him. Each one of them emitted killing intent.
They were experts from various parts of the world that Lao Ban"s followers had sent to kill Choi Hyuk.
Although they were surprised by Choi Hyuk"s lack of action, they were also able to see that he was exhausted at the same time. They exuded a confidence that they were able to kill him.
"You should have run wild moderately."
One said mockingly.
"Lao Ban contributed a lot more to the world than you imagined. He wasn"t a figure you could kill with your childish sense of justice."
Another added in his own opinion.
Choi Hyuk acted as if they weren"t there. He simply asked Lee Kijin,
"Is it refreshing?"
"Yeah. If this is the end… But can you do it? Maybe it"s because I scared them, but they sent a ton of them."
He never thought they would send hundreds of people. Lee Kijin thought that perhaps he may be able to witness Choi Hyuk"s dying figure.
"Quite the spectacle. But then, how do I die?"
Yet, Choi Hyuk was calm.
"You won"t be lonely."
Choi Hyuk felt his Karma Heart, which had become tattered after squeezing his karma to its limit. He then whispered,
"Heart Injection."
Thump!
His tattered heart beat heavily once again. Like a phoenix which arose from the ashes, his karma, which was as heavy as rocks, recovered all at once.
"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s acting really calm. Haa, how scary… What?"
These experts, who were dumbfounded by how Choi Hyuk was disregarding them, became surprised by the sudden burst of Choi Hyuk"s karma. His karma that should definitely have entered a cooldown stage…
"His karma recovered?"
They were surprised by the illogical event. And that was also their last will.
"Instant Void Annihilation."
Choi Hyuk drew his sword sideways. He made a 360-degree rotation with his smoothly gliding sword.
{Instant Void Annihilation}
A powerful strike that slices through s.p.a.ce.
Ignores defense. Applies the same destructive force within the skill range, independent of the number of enemies inside.
An incredible amount of Stamina is used depending on how many killed in this one strike.
It was originally a top-level skill only those at the 5-star level could use. Someone supplied a deteriorated version so that those at the lower levels could use it.
It was one of the three skills Choi Hyuk possessed besides his standard ones. Choi Hyuk"s single strike, which was able to make the Great Warrior of the El Tribe, Lantz, yield, poured out.
There wasn"t a single sound. Only s.p.a.ce was disjointed.
Lao Ban"s experts, who were chattering only a moment ago, and Lee Kijin and his followers, they were all cut in two like straws and fell to the ground. That was the end. Death was fickle and silent.
"Huuu…"
Choi Hyuk slowly walked forward and left a word as he pa.s.sed Lee Kijin.
"You worked hard."
Choi Hyuk sincerely wished for Lee Kijin and the Berserkers who followed him to rest in peace.
Afterwards, Choi Hyuk watched the wild free-for-all, people fighting each other. It was gradually becoming uncontrollable. The exhausted Berserkers were at a disadvantage.
Maybe this was what Flare-Rain meant by testing his control and command, wondering if he had the leadership to control this situation.
Now that he thought about it, Flare-Rain also said this.
"Remember that sometimes knocking everything down with a sword may not be everything."
But was it really?
Choi Hyuk"s judgment was simple.
His eyes only saw his Berserkers dying. A scene which twisted his a.s.sessment.
"How dare…"
Was this incident simply instigated by the observers" curse?
What did he care? This occurred because the Berserkers normally looked easy to push around. Control and command? Although Choi Hyuk had no talent in politics, he knew one sure method.
"From now on, people are going to p.i.s.s their pants when they hear "Ber"."
Choi Hyuk took aim with his sword.
He charged. He cut apart anyone who was hostile towards the Berserkers, regardless of whether they were Super Soldiers or colonizers dispatched from abroad. If he killed all those who didn"t follow him, he would eventually gain command, and only those who could be controlled would live.
"Gack!"
A red path made of pieces of flesh was laid down wherever Choi Hyuk pa.s.sed. Not long had pa.s.sed when,
"Do it in moderation!"
Someone tried to stop Choi Hyuk.
Looking at his military uniform, he was from the Superpower Headquarters. Colonel rank. His voice sounded quite angry.
Yet, Choi Hyuk ignored him. The angry colonel eventually unsheathed his sword and rushed towards Choi Hyuk. His head fell.
"Colonel!!"
That was the start. The fight intensified. In an instant, even those who were sober were tangled in and started to fight. The fight grew larger. Even the normal military with firearms started to join.
Then…
"Wahahahaha!"
A laughter which vibrated through the battlefield could be heard. It was Choi Hyuk. Choi Hyuk, who had activated Flaming Wing Dance, was leading the Berserkers. When he took the lead, the Berserkers instinctively followed behind him. Like a s...o...b..ll effect, the number of Berserkers gradually grew.
Experts from other parts of the world rushed in to block Choi Hyuk, and even modern weapons, such as tanks and helicopters, tried to stop him, but it was all for naught. Choi Hyuk"s eyes could see their hostility and killing intent. The moment black or red light surged, that place would become a sea of flames.
The seething free-for-all had, at some point, turned into a one-sided slaughter. Whenever Choi Hyuk pa.s.sed by, they would either be burned from the flames, or their limbs would be sliced off. Fear overcame them. If they combined all their strength and resisted, Choi Hyuk wouldn"t be able to endure. He was exhausted, and his enemies were plentiful. However, for them to do so… Choi Hyuk was too scary.
The curse of the observers?
The urge to fight changed to an urge to flee. The Berserkers chased after them. The rest fled. The chaos was starting to be controlled paradoxically.
"Oh, my G.o.d… Is he… even human?"
Leah widened her mouth.
The Sovereign of Balance, Richard, and his aide, Leah, did not lose their reason in this chaos. They were completely overwhelmed by Choi Hyuk"s figure.
The Berserk Sovereign, Choi Hyuk. He was strong. There were many rumors about him being strong, but no one thought he would be this strong.
In a free-for-all with various different forces, Choi Hyuk suppressed them solely with his overwhelming power. He started a ma.s.s slaughter by himself, and he may have erased additional casualties with his actions.
"… Amazing. Really."
Even the Sovereign of Balance, Richard, was speechless.
The ruthlessness and power to strike fear into those who had lost their minds due to the curse.
His aide, Leah, suddenly mumbled.
"Demon King…"
That word became another nickname for Choi Hyuk after that day.
A message appeared.
{Sovereign Mission success! From this moment, all of Sovereign Lao Ban"s authority is transferred to Sovereign Choi Hyuk.}
{First to succeed in an exchange between human colonized lands. (Invasion will be considered the same as exchange). Retribution increased by 10. Free karma points increased by 10.}
That moment, the Sovereign Mission ended, and two colonized lands became one.