Chapter 86
5.
When Kim Seojun suggested going inside the Sky Whale’s mouth, no one objected.
Nor was anyone afraid of dying.
“If it weren’t for Staff Sergeant Kim, we’d be dead already.”
In the first place, Kim Seojun’s comrades had already transcended death.
“Let’s just give it a shot.”
In that situation, only one thought crossed their minds.
“It won’t be easy, though.”
That it would be an extremely difficult battle.
And rightfully so, as not a single person in humanity had ever fought inside a Sky Whale’s mouth.
They couldn’t even imagine what kind of environment it would be.
Above all, not knowing what was inside was a heavier burden than ever before.
And as expected, the battle was not easy.
Screeeech!
“They’re swarming behind us! I’ll move to the right!”
Private First Class Park Boseop, piloting the Battle Tank, showed more signs of struggle than ever before while piloting it.
And rightfully so, as the inside of the Sky Whale’s mouth wasn’t some vast, open clearing.
It was closer to mountainous terrain.
No matter how much the Battle Tank Uroe was built for driving on rugged planets, moving across such a curved stage inevitably came with various restrictions.
'If it breaks, it’s over.'
What made Private First Class Park Boseop more nervous than ever was the possibility of a problem with Uroe’s wheels.
Even though Jo I-hyeon had worked hard to replace parts and reinforce it, a vehicle was something that could develop a problem at any given moment.
And recognizing those problems was a pilot’s exact ability.
Clank!
'Let’s focus, focus.'
All sorts of sounds were being spat out by the Battle Tank.
'If there’s anything strange, I have to stop.'
He had to stop the moment he felt something strange among those sounds, because only then could he avoid a problem.
It wasn’t a skill that could be performed just by having an outstanding auditory sense.
It was a skill that Private First Class Park Boseop could utilize because he understood vehicles and had studied hard next to Jo I-hyeon.
Of course, it was extremely difficult work.
But Private First Class Park Boseop did not voice any complaints about that.
Because he knew.
'Compared to Major Lee Hyena, I’m in heaven.'
That the one suffering more than anyone right now was Major Lee Hyena.
And rightfully so, as Major Lee Hyena was currently playing the role of blocking an absurd number of Mogs all by herself here.
Kasaknat said he would help, but Kasaknat was essentially invisible in this situation!
Ultimately, the Mogs' attention inevitably turned toward Major Lee Hyena first.
“Come on!”
And instead of running away in that situation, she added fuel to the fire.
“Come on!”
Kiek!
After smashing a Mogdog’s head, she threw it, as an angry provocation toward all the Mogs, including the Mogdogs.
She strove to fulfill her role to over 120 percent.
It wasn’t simply because she was faithful to her role.
“I have to do at least this much.”
It was out of gratitude and a sense of indebtedness toward Kim Seojun.
Furthermore, Major Lee Hyena knew.
That the others were paying off their debts to Kim Seojun, to some extent.
While she herself hadn’t properly done anything for him.
In such a situation, an opportunity to repay her debt had arrived, and Major Lee Hyena did not want to miss this chance.
She gave it her all.
She moved, piercing through the incoming Mogdogs.
“Huu, huu.”
And naturally, her breathing grew rough.
Private First Class Park Boseop, hearing that sound through his earphones, clenched his teeth.
Now everyone knew.
That Major Lee Hyena was starting to reach her limit.
That a dangerous moment could arrive.
“What do I do?”
Private First Class Park Boseop worried about that fact.
It was then.
[The Blessing of Ares effect is applied to the legion.]
“Huh?”
An unexpected notification was heard.
And the moment that notification was heard, those belonging to Kim Seojun’s Legion, the psychers, could all feel it.
“Th-this is?”
Something suddenly wriggling inside their bodies.
It felt just like being hit with a stimpack.
The feeling that they could do anything!
“Wh-what is this?”
Private First Class Park Boseop felt bewildered by that overwhelmingly powerful force.
He couldn’t tell what had happened.
The one who let Private First Class Park Boseop know what had happened was none other than Major Lee Hyena.
CRACK!
The moment she received the Blessing of Ares, Major Lee Hyena’s movements began to change.
She began to smash the heads of the swarming Mogdogs even more ruthlessly.
It was natural.
The Blessing of Ares effect raised both Psycher and physical performance by one rank each.
Raising just one would change a person’s strength, but raising both?
Furthermore, Major Lee Hyena’s Psycher ability was superhuman strength, and she possessed a large number of Prophet’s Relics related to it.
Because they had diligently collected the Prophet’s Relics that dropped from hunting psychers or raiding the China headquarters.
Also, out of those, everything that Major Lee Hyena could use was given to her.
There was nothing strange about it.
Having many Prophet’s Relics didn’t cause side effects or anything like that.
It was just that they couldn’t all be used at once.
Even so, the reason Psycher agents carried few of them was because Prophet’s Relics were far too precious.
Rather, considering cases where they might be destroyed or damaged during battle, there was absolutely nothing bad about carrying a lot of them.
Anyway, in such a situation, even her Psycher Performance had now risen by one rank?
At this moment, the superhuman strength Major Lee Hyena could exert was double what it was before, if not more.
From the perspective of Major Lee Hyena, who could already smash a Mogdog’s head in one strike with her axe, it was as if the Mogdogs, which used to feel like large dogs, had suddenly turned into small dogs.
And Major Lee Hyena gladly used that power.
CRACK!
Her axe swings grew faster.
Furthermore, she didn’t even need to swing her axe anymore.
Instead of swinging her axe, Major Lee Hyena threw a punch at a Mogdog flying in from the side.
THWACK!
The moment that fist landed, the Mogdog’s head was crushed, and it collapsed straight to the floor.
“My god.”
Seeing that, Private First Class Park Boseop made an expression of awe.
“H-how is th-this?”
Because something truly absurd had happened.
A voice reached the ears of the startled Private First Class Park Boseop.
- Wow, something interesting just happened.
Noah Winston spoke.
- my ability suddenly evolved, and thanks to that, I think something fun is possible?
At those words, Kim Seojun replied.
“What do I need to prepare?”
- open up your inventory for a bit.
Noah Winston said to Kim Seojun.
- Let’s try planting some bombs in the Sky Whale’s body.
6.
When they first entered the Sky Whale’s mouth, Kim Seojun’s Group’s goal was to reduce the number of Mogs even a little.
However, the moment the Blessing of Ares appeared, the situation changed.
Kim Seojun’s Party began to display a combat power that couldn’t be compared to before.
First of all, Major Lee Hyena began to overwhelm the Mogdogs.
With Kasaknat joining in, no matter how many Mogdogs came, they couldn’t do anything against the two of them.
BOOM!
And thanks to the two of them holding out like that, the Uroe carrying Kim Seojun and Private First Class Park Boseop could now take position and lay down reliable artillery fire without reckless driving.
Kiek!
In the face of that artillery fire, the Tank Beetles and Thorn Snakes collapsed helplessly.
Of course, it was impossible to bring down the astonishing Sky Whale with just this.
Even shaking the Sky Whale was impossible.
From the Sky Whale’s perspective, all of this was nothing more than ants making a fuss on its body.
No matter how many Mogs were swept away, it wasn’t something that would even evoke a reaction from the Sky Whale.
However, the moment Noah Winston stepped up, things changed.
“My ability is penetration. It grants a target the ability to ignore physical collisions. And the duration of that grant is inversely proportional to size. I guess you could say it’s a concept where the larger the target, the shorter the duration? Anyway, I don’t know the exact numbers either. But one thing is certain.”
She said.
“One second. If I can extend my penetration ability by just one second, then I can do anything.”
That one second of her ability was incomparable to others' one second.
“Think about it.”
It had to be.
“A bullet flies one kilometer in one second. A Gauss Gun? It’s even faster. Even something like Aladdin’s magic Wand clocks in at 300 meters per second. If it gets just one second faster, I can shove Allah’s Magic Wand 300 meters deeper. In other words, it means it becomes possible to shove something even bigger than a bullet dozens of meters inside. A rocket.”
Because most modern weapons made a mockery of the speed of sound.
“Ah, of course, that’s bullshit.”
Of course, all of this was a meaningless calculation.
Until now, cases where a Psycher Agent’s abilities were strengthened almost never existed.
In the first place, a Psycher Agent wasn’t an existence that could be born through training.
“It’s similar to lying in bed and worrying about what to do if the beautiful Hollywood actor from the movie I just watched suddenly says she likes me and asks to marry me.”
Even if one thought, “I wish that would happen,” there was absolutely no chance of it coming true.
“But that just became reality, didn’t it?”
However, the Blessing of Ares had turned that imagination into reality.
At that point, Noah Winston hesitated no longer.
She brought out a rocket launcher from among the weapons filling Kim Seojun’s inventory.
After granting the penetration ability to the rocket launcher’s rocket, she fired it right away.
Fwoooosh!
The rocket, flying at tremendous speed, passed straight through the Sky Whale’s body and entered deep into its skin.
And the moment the penetration ability vanished, it exploded in that stopped space.
There was no sound.
Rumble…
Only a very faint tremor could be felt from the direction the rocket had flown.
But this was definitely an effective attack.
To compare it to a person, it was the difference between an ant biting on top of clothes versus going deep inside the skin to bite.
Of course, the Sky Whale was far too massive to be shaken by just this single attack.
“One shot doesn’t even make a dent. Sure, I get it. One can of cola doesn’t do it for me either. A 900-liter fridge has to be full of cola cans for me to be satisfied.”
However, Noah Winston had more than enough firepower prepared, and when all that firepower began to accumulate in one spot, the situation was bound to change.
And five minutes after Noah Winston’s penetration bombing began, everyone could now feel it.
RUMBLE!
Along with a bizarre sound, everything, including Kim Seojun’s Group, suddenly began to float.
It was a momentary weightlessness created by the Sky Whale’s sudden steep dive.
Everyone in Kim Seojun’s Group was surprised by that fact.
It wasn’t because of the sudden weightlessness.
In the space age, for Space Marines who crossed planets in this era, weightlessness was a familiar sensation.
On the contrary, for those who had traveled back and forth between planets for a long time, earth’s gravity was almost an awkward sensation.
“Did everyone see that?”
“Yes, we saw it.”
What surprised them was this.
“The Sky Whale reacted!”
That this attack, Noah Winston’s repeated attacks, had made the Sky Whale move!
In other words, this meant they could finish off the Sky Whale itself, not just the Mogs it held.
Of course, considering the Sky Whale’s size, it would take an incredibly long time, but the difference between having a possibility and not having one was absolute.
It was at that moment.
[Oh, labyrinth!]
The voice of Kasaknat, who had been quiet until now, silently fighting in the background, echoed in everyone’s minds.
“Haha, surprised? Sorry, I’ll treat you to a cola as an apology!”
At Kasaknat’s exclamation, Noah Winston smiled pleasantly and offered a joke.
[That is not it.]
“What?”
To Noah Winston, and furthermore to Kim Seojun’s comrades, Kasaknat spoke.
[Within the Sky Whale exists a core similar to that of a behemoth.]
“A core? Like a weakness? Something that dies if you stab it?”
At those words, Noah Winston spoke as if she was dumbfounded.
“Why are you only saying that now? We have to go destroy it right away!”
At those words, Kasaknat explained.
[It lies within a tough mass of flesh.]
“Mass of flesh? How much of a mass of flesh?”
[In human measurements… it would be about 100 meters in width, length, and height. But its toughness is on a different level than its size. Even with our Xeno technology, the only thing that can pierce it is Ishimomopa’s Spear.]
That it wasn’t something that could be destroyed with the weapons humanity currently possessed.
That was the reason Kasaknat hadn’t bothered to mention it.
Because there was nothing Kim Seojun’s Group could do against it.
“Oh, really?”
But the situation had changed.
“Seojun! What should we do?”
Now, an opportunity to target it had arisen.
“Wait a moment.”
“Huh?”
“Please let me think for a moment.”
The moment he saw that opportunity, Kim Seojun hesitated.
Everyone was surprised by this uncharacteristic behavior from Kim Seojun, who had always chosen without hesitation whenever an opportunity arose.
To them, Kim Seojun said.
“If the Sky Whale dies just like this and falls straight to the ground, then it will be a massive disaster.”
“Ah.”
They realized what Kim Seojun was worrying about right now.
And it was a very serious concern.
Considering the Sky Whale’s sheer size and mass, if it crashed like this, even if it landed in the ocean, it would inevitably cause a massive tsunami.
At the very least, Busan Port would inevitably become a place that no longer existed on earth.
“Then what do we do?”
At that question, Kim Seojun raised his head.
“When it was attacked, the Sky Whale descended. The Sky Whale instinctively knows it too. That if it crashes, it won’t be fine either. The more severe the wound, the higher the probability it will descend further.”
“Then we widen the wound?”
At those words, everyone thought of Noah Winston.
“Yeah, just leave it to me! It won’t be hard at all!”
She immediately showed a triumphant attitude.
But everyone knew.
That no matter how much her abilities had been strengthened by the Blessing of Ares effect, it was impossible for her to do all of this alone.
Even so, it wasn’t like there was another way.
“Everyone, just keep hunting Mogs!”
The only way the rest of them could help Noah Winston was to take care of the Mogs so she could focus on launching bombs.
That was certainly true.
It looked that way to Kim Seojun’s eyes as well.
“Clairvoyance.”
However, the moment he saw the wound Noah Winston had created through clairvoyance, the world Kim Seojun saw changed.
Kim Seojun spoke.
“Everyone, please go inside the inventory.”
“The inventory? Why?”
“We are going inside there.”
“Inside there?”
“The wound Ms. No-ah just made, we are going inside it.”
“We’re going inside the wound?”
To everyone who was astonished by that fact, Kim Seojun said.
“We’re going to widen the wound from the inside. And if we’re in there, we won’t have to worry about being attacked by the Mogs.”
They realized what method he had proposed.
At that moment, Kim Seojun’s comrades did not deliberate for long.
It was still a method they couldn’t even grasp, but instead, Kim Seojun’s comrades knew one thing.
That Kim Seojun was their Legion Commander, and they had to follow that Legion Commander’s orders.
Just like that, Kim Seojun’s Group entered the inventory.
Ten minutes later, everyone could feel it.
Vwoooooom!
The Sky Whale slowly beginning to descend toward the ocean.
As time passed, the Sky Whale’s body descended further and further down.
By the time 50 minutes had passed since Kim Seojun’s Group entered the Sky Whale’s mouth, the Sky Whale’s body was now touching the ocean.
And when that moment arrived, Kim Seojun shouted.
“Now we move to the source!”
Since they had avoided disaster, it was time to finish it.
Ten minutes after letting out that shout, Kim Seojun could hear it.
[Noah Winston has Defeated the Sky Whale.]
[First kill of a Sky Whale. A 1-Time use warp skill ticket is provided.]
[Mission conditions have been met. A Blessing Duration Extension Ticket (Unlimited) is provided.]
[The legion has gathered its strength and Defeated the Sky Whale. A Random Legion Skill Ticket (Platinum) is provided.]