Chapter 52
4.
The moment the skill Haste appeared, no particular doubts entered Kim Seojun's mind.
It wasn't something to question.
‘It's a Diamond Rank skill.’
First of all, it was a skill classified as Diamond Rank by the status window, so its value was bound to be high.
Even Apollo's Blessing, which Kim Seojun was so enthusiastic about, was Platinum Rank despite having a time limit, wasn't it?
Furthermore, skills like Inventory, Stealth, and Clairvoyance were also Platinum Rank themselves.
‘For the first time.’
In other words, this was his first Diamond Rank skill.
It meant it had to be good!
Kim Seojun also knew of precedents.
‘You can't touch what's fast.’
Among Psycher agents, there were those who used speed as their weapon, and they were absolute beings on the battlefield.
Even the Mogdog, which was among the fastest Mog Individuals, clocked in at around 100 kilometers per hour.
But what if he were faster than that?
It meant that unless he was a Special Individual, he would never be caught by a Mog!
There are even a very small number of Psycher Agents who move much faster than that, and naturally, they are traversing space at this very moment, forging legends.
In any case, from Kim Seojun's perspective, the value of the Haste skill was immense.
Moreover, Kim Seojun had plenty of other abilities.
‘Stealth, Teleport, and Haste…….’
As he combined them, various scenarios began to form in Kim Seojun's mind.
‘It's doable.’
And naturally, the target of those scenarios was the Chinese Headquarters.
This meant that, at this moment, Kim Seojun is already preparing for war with the Chinese Headquarters.
Naturally, Kim Seojun didn't hesitate to use the Skill Upgrade Ticket (C) he had just obtained.
He raised the skill ranks of Clairvoyance, Stealth, and Haste to C-Rank.
After that, he was about to start testing them immediately.
"Hey."
Noah Winston spoke up just then.
"What are you thinking about so hard that you're zoning out?"
"I apologize."
Kim Seojun apologized and looked at Noah Winston, and the moment he saw her expression, he knew.
Noah Winston was pointing in a certain direction just by moving her eyes.
In other words, it was a signal.
A signal that there are people over there watching them right now.
In truth, it wasn't strange.
Kim Seojun had already figured out earlier that the Chinese Headquarters was controlling the Mog legion at every moment.
He also knew their goal was the abolition of nuclear weapons.
There wasn't even a speck of chance that such a Chinese Headquarters would leave Kim Seojun's Group's battle scene and return to its base, claiming it wouldn't watch for the sake of a fair fight!
That was why Noah Winston had asked if he was zoning out.
Because the usual Kim Seojun wouldn't have failed to notice what she had picked up on.
And that was indeed the case.
Kim Seojun had been distracted, and fortunately, thanks to Noah Winston, he was able to snap back to reality.
"So, do you see them?"
Kim Seojun then scanned the area Noah Winston indicated, and soon enough, he could see them.
"Yes, I see them."
5.
"They are looking this way."
Major Zhao Hao, the unit commander of the Cyclops unit, didn't attach much meaning to the words of his subordinate who was monitoring Kim Seojun's Group through binoculars.
The distance between the two groups right now is three kilometers, and they are currently hiding behind the cover of a rock, carefully poking out only their binoculars.
Unless the other side was using a tool like binoculars to look at them, merely glancing in this direction meant absolutely nothing.
Thus, Major Zhao Hao didn't reply, and the subordinate who reported it didn't say it exactly to get an answer either.
He had just done it because reporting every single move was a subordinate's duty.
And so, everyone was just waiting while doing meaningless things.
‘When is the return order coming?’
They were hoping for an order from Headquarters telling them to come back.
‘I want to run away from this damn place right this second.’
Furthermore, no one gathered here wanted to stay in this place for even a second longer.
It was only natural.
‘Just looking at those monsters is suffocating.’
What Kim Seojun's Group had shown wasn't on the level of combat power that could simply be called 'strong'.
To be precise, the combat power they displayed was incredible, but it wasn't absolute.
There definitely existed Psycher Agents who showed power equal to or even greater than what they displayed.
Even in the Chinese People's Space Force, there were as many as three Psycher agent units capable of taking on Mog legions in the hundreds of thousands.
The Cyclops Unit itself wasn't an ordinary unit either. Everyone was a Psycher Agent and a recognized expert.
‘I can't even understand what kind of abilities they have.’
Nevertheless, the reason they felt fear was that they couldn't fathom what Kim Seojun's Group was showing them.
In other words, it wasn't a fear born of strength, but a fear of the unknown.
And that fear was the most terrifying fear in the space era.
The biggest reason humanity feared space wasn't that there was something powerful out there, but that it didn't know what was out there.
In any case, everyone in the Cyclops Unit waited for the return order to be issued.
Furthermore, they didn't doubt for a second that the return order would come.
Not only was the possibility of the Headquarters issuing a combat order after receiving the report infinitely low, but the Headquarters was also a unit operating Cyclops—a highly valuable asset.
There was no way they would be made to fight.
"An order has arrived from Headquarters!"
And that expectation soon became reality.
"The return order has been issued!"
"We return to Headquarters."
At that moment, Major Zhao Hao immediately gave the order, and the unit members moved swiftly.
They reached the military truck covered by a camouflage net so carefully that they didn't even make a sound, and then, riding the military truck, they moved toward the Chinese Headquarters.
Vroooom!
Only after traveling for about ten minutes like that did everyone finally let out a sigh of relief.
They started to make noise.
"It's truly a relief, sir."
CRACK—!
And the moment those words were spoken, blood splattered along with the sound of the speaker's helmet being destroyed.
The cargo bed of the military truck was dyed with blood.
"Enemy atta—!"
CRUNCH!
Just as Major Zhao Hao was about to shout something in response, his helmet was also destroyed just like that.
"Uh, ugh!"
CRACK!
Just like that, even the last Driver's helmet was destroyed, and the Military Truck, having lost its driver, swerved back and forth before slowly coming to a stop.
Silence fell.
Vwoooom!
A Hoverbike approached the silence.
However, the Hoverbike didn't approach all the way. It stopped about one kilometer away, and Kim Seojun got off the stopped bike.
It was at that moment.
BOOOOOM!
Suddenly, a massive explosion erupted from the Military Truck.
The moment no further action was taken after the life signal of Major Zhao Hao, the person in charge of the Cyclops Unit, disappeared, the bomb set up on the Cyclops detonated.
It was a reasonable measure, and so Kim Seojun, who had been waiting, moved again after the explosion ended.
He began searching for anything relatively intact among the exploded debris.
"Inventory."
Soon after, he took them and entered Inventory.
"How did it go?"
Everyone was there, having paused their rest to wait for Kim Seojun, and Kim Seojun showed them what he had brought.
Honestly, the moment they saw it, everyone tilted their heads.
They were just pieces of debris.
"Huh?"
However, Jo I-Hyeon was different.
The moment she saw a black-colored fragment among the blown-off pieces, she spoke.
"This looks like Aitenium……."
"Do you know what it is?"
"Ah, it's a very precious metal Aitenium."
"What is it used for?"
"It's used in communications. It creates a unique wavelength that doesn't suffer from radio interference in space. But it's incredibly rare."
"How rare is it?"
"Rare enough that you have to ask me what it is."
"Excuse me?"
"Because if people knew its value, everyone would try to take it. That's why the very existence of Aitenium is top secret. More importantly, the only thing worth using something like this for would be…… a monster controller, I think?"
And the moment they heard those words, everyone understood.
Who these people were.
"Wow, I thought we were hunting small game, but we stumbled upon a behemoth. We caught something massive."
Noah Winston let out an exclamation of awe at that fact.
The rest of them were the same.
In this moment, Kim Seojun's Group destroyed one of the Chinese Headquarters' most powerful weapons.
"It's the last one."
"Pardon?"
"Unless it has more nuclear weapons, this is the last card the Chinese Headquarters has."
"Ah!"
Furthermore, this was the end of it.
The Chinese Headquarters might have battle tanks, various weapons, space marines, and Psycher Agents, but at this point in time, it has no surefire card to reverse the entire situation.
"Th-That's amazing!"
Private First Class Park Boseop exclaimed in surprise at that fact.
With all his heart.
Major Lee Hyena and Jo I-Hyeon felt the same.
In the end, wasn't this no different from Kim Seojun bringing down the Chinese Headquarters all by himself?
An astonishing feat!
"Huh?"
However, Kim Seojun and Noah Winston's expressions were actually not good.
"I really don't want to see the Chinese backed into a corner any more than I want to see a behemoth."
"I agree."
Those two knew.
"Because now they're going to do something completely absurd."
6.
"Cyclops has self-destructed."
Major Lin Jia'ai didn't answer the moment she heard those words.
In truth, she had already been out of her mind for several hours.
That is, from the moment she heard that the Poland Headquarters side had dealt a devastating blow to the Mog Legion with just a single nuclear weapon, she knew.
This situation had now left her hands.
The contents of the reports coming through the Cyclops Unit after that were, without exception, more than enough to drive her crazy.
The sudden disappearance, becoming invisible, a Battle Tank appearing out of thin air and vanishing, Psycher Agents popping out—every single one of them was utterly incomprehensible.
No, if she really tried to understand it, she could.
Psychers easily crushed common sense.
That was why it was an even bigger problem.
If they were Psychers, it meant the Psycher abilities they possessed were on an unfathomable level.
And there was no means to stop that at the Chinese Headquarters where Major Lin Jia'ai currently was.
Crucially, Major Lin Jia'ai knew.
‘They still have a nuclear weapon left.’
They had a weapon capable of instantly rendering the Space Marines, Psycher Agents, and armored forces possessed by the Chinese Headquarters completely obsolete.
Major Lin Jia'ai, who had brought it herself, knew better than anyone just how powerful that weapon was.
So Major Lin Jia'ai didn't agonize over it any longer.
‘I am a failure.’
In this moment, she admitted that she had failed her mission.
She knew that no matter how much she struggled here, a reversal was impossible.
So she chose the Last Resort.
She rolled her tongue, touching her left molar.
Then, a tiny gem disguised as a molar fell into her mouth
CRUNCH!
She crushed it and swallowed it whole
It was at that moment.
RUMBLE—!
The world she was looking at suddenly began to melt away.
And soon, a new world came into view.
It was a world blocked off by black walls and filled with nothing but chairs.
Major Lin Jia'ai sat among them in the chair that had her name written on it.
Major Lin Jia'ai's face as she sat down was stiffer than ever.
She couldn't help it.
The ability she had just used was Telepathy.
Furthermore, the place she contacted through Telepathy was a light-year away from Planet Amotia.
It was a distant place
Reaching such a place was impossible with ordinary abilities, which was why she had become the supreme commander for this operation on Planet Amotia.
She was the only one who could report the situation.
Of course, this wasn't easy.
The price she was paying to have this conversation was her lifespan.
Connecting for one second cost her one year of her lifespan.
It meant she was currently making a life-threatening report.
"Operation Status?"
Just then, a voice was suddenly heard, and Major Lin Jia'ai answered that voice.
"I-I have failed."
The voice didn't reply to that answer.
Silence followed.
It was a scene commonly seen anywhere.
A high-ranking official remained silent without saying a word to a subordinate who failed to properly carry out their assigned mission.
‘Please.’
However, from Major Lin Jia'ai's perspective, her lifespan decreased with every second this silence dragged on.
If the silence lasted for a minute, it wouldn't be strange for Major Lin Jia'ai to drop dead right then.
‘Please.’
So she waited, praying for an answer to come.
It was then.
"The operation will continue."
The answer came, and the moment she heard it, Major Lin Jia'ai's face brightened.
"Th-Thank you."
The voice spoke to her.
"I will send Mad Horse."
"Pardon?"
Her face stiffened at the word 'Mad Horse' that came out.
‘Th-That cr-crazy bitch?’
But there was no rebuttal.
Only one thing was permitted to her here.
"Together with Mad Horse, eliminate everyone on Planet Amotia."
It was to execute orders.
"After that, board a spaceship and return."
With those final words, her world changed
She returned to the command room of the Chinese Headquarters on Planet Amotia.
"Huuuuurk!"
Soon, everyone looked at her in surprise at her gasp, and everyone could see it.
"M-Major?"
Major Lin Jia'ai, who had the youthful appearance of someone in her twenties, turned into a middle-aged woman in her late fifties.
"Wh-What happened to you?"
The subordinate soldiers asked in shock at that fact, but Major Lin Jia'ai didn't answer those subordinate soldiers.
Only one thing could be heard.
BANG, BANG, BANG!
Gunshots—they filled the Command Room.