83 Father

By nature, divine beasts were beings praised as the gods of the old Murim, yet they were rather indifferent to human affairs.

No encroachment between the court and the martial world.

The court and the martial world do not interfere in one another's affairs.

Simply put, the imperial court and the martial world do not meddle in one another's affairs, and this unspoken rule that neither side challenges the other is kept as a matter of course.

But the old Murim had one more unwritten rule.

Sininbulgan (神人不干).

Gods and humans do not interfere in one another's affairs.

People often say that gods do not touch the mortal world and preserve their lofty dignity.

But if you trace the word back to its roots, it actually came from utter indifference.

Divine beasts have no interest in humans.

So whatever they do, it doesn't matter.

Right up until fifty years ago.

Even during the floor war fifty years ago, the divine beasts didn't budge.

To them, it was just another war among humans.

So, above Cyber City...

No one had expected the Azure Dragon to appear, tearing through space.

What's more, the reason it moved this time was that Azure Dragon had a daughter it cherished as its own,

and that it was because of that daughter's childish tantrum, too.

- That is as far as it goes.

Beyond the torn space, Azure Dragon, still not fully revealing its form, said in a low voice.

If it came any farther this way, Cyber City would suffer irreparable damage.

The reason they had come here was not to destroy Cyber City, but to restore the city to normal.

Just opening the gate had already meant Azure Dragon took on the hardest part.

“Thank you.”

Baek Yeonhwa bowed to him from atop Azure Dragon.

While gazing out over Cyber City's skyline, a faint aside reached her ears.

- I wish it were a son.

“I'm a daughter.”

- ...As you wish.

Figures from each floor arrived one after another through the rift Azure Dragon had made.

The Third Floor's Seven Extremes, led by Yoo Yena, and the soldiers.

The Fourth Floor's Holy Knight corps.

Even the Fifth Floor's Court Golden Guard.

Everyone added their full strength to suppress Cyber City's AI rebellion.

Tududududu!

The sound of a helicopter reached Baek Yeonhwa's ears. Seeing the man inside the helicopter who had come to pick her up, she broke into a bright smile.

It's been months!

“I'm heading out!”

At Baek Yeonhwa's cheerful farewell, Azure Dragon calmly stepped aside.

* * *

Inside the helicopter.

I was seated, seat-belted in, when Baek Yeonhwa caught me in a hug before I could even dodge.

“Great Hero!”

“Kugh?!”

Her grip was stronger than I expected.

Before I could react, Baek Yeonhwa clung to me tightly and rubbed her face against the nape of my neck, sniffing.

"Haa, the Great Hero's scent...! I like it. Ah, Great Hero."

Because she was licking the back of my throat with her tongue, chills ran down my spine, but peeling her off was difficult.

She had helped us this far, after all.

For reference, the condition Azure Dragon asked for in exchange for helping with this operation was that Baek Yeonhwa's ban from the Third Floor be lifted.

"K, cough. I should've smoked."

"N-no. Cigarettes will erase the Great Hero's scent."

Whining, Baek Yeonhwa pressed even closer. Yoo Yena, who had been staring at her, cleared her throat.

"Ahem, Miss Baek Yeonhwa of the Yin-Yang Dual Meridians. Thank you for helping us like this."

"It's nothing. Helping our Great Hero this much is hardly difficult."

Our Great Hero.

There had been a time when I said it bothered me that Yoo Yena had written 'our Juseon' in a letter.

That was her own sharp counterattack.

"......"

Yoo Yena looked at me for a moment, then said expressionlessly.

"Kim Juseon, you said there was something you wanted to check, so I came with you this far. Still, keep public and private separate."

"I know, I know."

"Right."

Then the sky flashed.

A blue light, fiercer than lightning, carried heat that seemed to warm the chilly air in an instant.

Beyond the clouds.

A blue laser slammed straight down onto Azure Dragon's head like judgment.

- Kraaaargh!

"Azure Dragon-nim!"

The panicked Baek Yeonhwa finally let go of me and looked up at the sky.

"It's Cyber City's satellite laser..."

Yoo Yena, who explained in a low voice, bit her lip. I had already heard about Cyber City's defense system, but I hadn't expected it to fire a satellite laser directly like this.

"Hurry up and go. There's no way to stop that. At the very least, we need to finish this while its attention is on Azure Dragon."

The satellite laser fired once, and perhaps because it needed time to recharge, it quickly went quiet, but.

- Kraaaargh!

Unable to contain its rage, Azure Dragon breathed toward the sky, trying to smash the satellite.

It wouldn't be able to hit the satellite, but at least it could keep it from firing again.

'But it survived even after taking that to the head.'

I thought it was a little cold because of the high altitude and the night air.

But after one laser shot, the air grew hot enough to make my skin tingle.

At this rate, a human hit by it would probably just melt away without leaving a trace.

A divine beast, even after taking a direct hit to the head, would only be injured, not killed.

The helicopter continued forward.

Just before dropping from the helicopter's side door, Yoo Yena reminded us of the plan once more.

"From here on, this helicopter will head to the Central Control Management Center. See over there? The tallest building among the skyscrapers."

The jutting building visible through the helicopter window.

That was the agency that managed the city together with Axis, and the first place Axis had seized.

"The plan is clear. While we draw their attention here, you need to properly carry out the role of the separate detachment."

A precarious tightrope walk to avoid turning this into the Interfloor War.

The main force would absolutely not advance.

Draw their attention and split their strength.

The main forces aboard the helicopter would neutralize Axis.

As long as Axis was neutralized, there'd be no reason to keep fighting.

"I'll cover you, so absolutely don't stop. Be careful."

When I said the last of it, our eyes met, but she had already thrown herself outside.

No equipment, just free fall.

But she flew ahead faster than the helicopter and started keeping the incoming drones in check.

"If I had an ability like that, it would be convenient."

Victor Brook, the Black man in a U.S. military uniform sitting behind me, grumbled with his thick arms folded.

He, too, had been selected as a major force in this operation as one of the Seven Extremes.

Everyone aboard the helicopter was formidable.

The woman sitting next to Victor Brook, Joanna Carlson, was likewise one of the Seven Extremes from the United States.

Behind them, Gawain, the Holy See's ace Holy Knight, sat calmly in armor.

And beyond that, our strongest fighter from the old Murim—.

"Great Hero, the battle below has already started."

"It really has."

Baek Yeonhwa tugged at me and pointed downward.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Heavy footsteps rang out rhythmically over the asphalt road.

The Holy Knights of the Holy See.

In silver-white armor, they formed a shield wall with shields in hand.

"Sound the battle hymn!"

With a long trumpet blast, the Holy Knights struck the ground with their shields.

"Holy Light!"

"Holy Light!"

"Burn the enemy!"

"Burn the enemy!"

A knightly order in full plate armor, chanting a hymn.

At a glance, they were magnificent, but the emotion they carried was razor-sharp.

"Great Hero, those people look pretty fierce."

"They're probably upset that they're not allowed to advance any farther. The Holy Knights have hated Cyber City for a long time."

I glanced over at Gawain, but he neither denied nor confirmed it, silently keeping his eyes closed.

The Holy Knights and Cyber City had been bitter enemies since ancient times.

To be precise, there had been several complicated incidents involving Cyber City's demon worshippers.

They seemed to be burning off the hostility they'd been suppressing all this time.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Artillery fire sliced across the eight-lane road where the Holy Knights stood.

Asphalt flipped over, and several Holy Knights who had been maintaining a solid formation were thrown aside.

What appeared on the road was a three-meter-tall two-legged tank, a Harbinger.

Looking down from above, I could feel in real time how the Harbingers were steadily filling the road.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

The shelling continued.

A huge shield made of divine power protected the Holy Knights' group.

"So that's Cyber City's weapon."

Baek Yeonhwa, who knew little outside the old Murim, tightly grabbed my collar.

The sight of those huge barrels firing indiscriminately was a spectacle, though.

"That's the old model, at least. Cyber City always downgrades its unmanned war machines before manufacturing them."

"Really?"

"Yeah. They know it too. After all, people have to be at the center of it all."

Or maybe they were afraid of an AI rebellion, just like this one.

By the time the shelling was underway, the Holy Knights had already started their counterattack.

Behind the huge shield of divine power, the Holy Knight who looked like their commander drew a spear.

"Praesto-!"

(Prepare-!)

At the command, the Holy Knights likewise drew spears and took up javelin-throwing stances.

The sequence of movements was all crisp and swift, as though they were one body.

"Iudicium-!"

(Judgment-!)

Spears shot out like a torrential downpour.

The Harbingers blocking the road were pierced and crushed.

The Harbingers' formation collapsed in an instant.

Stepping on the oil they had spilled like blood, the Golden Guard of the old Murim surged ahead.

"Build a wall!"

"There are no people inside, so don't hesitate!"

"Value your own life above all else! No one dies! No one kills!"

The Golden Guard quickly built cover from the wreckage of the howitzers.

Usually in wuxia novels, the gap in skill between the court and the martial world is enormous.

The old Murim was nothing like that.

If anything, the court's soldiers, trained systematically, were on average more skilled than the martial artists.

Even so, Cyber City's sheer numbers had no end.

As if mocking the spears, howitzers twice their size raced down the road.

Kwoong! Kwoong!

The battle wasn't only taking place on the asphalt road.

A swarm of drones filled the sky.

Helicopters had formed a protective ring around us.

And at the center, Yoo Yena manipulated telekinesis as if coordinating it all.

The drones fought quickly and cunningly, and though they shot down a few helicopters along the way,

they couldn't even touch this helicopter, which Yoo Yena was firmly protecting.

Beyond the darkness, at the far end of the road, the silhouette of the tallest building among Cyber City's skyscrapers finally came clearly into view.

Central Control Management Center.

'Axis's wish...'

I kept mulling over what that bastard had said.

Wish.

A somewhat unfamiliar word for an AI to have.

The reason I had forced myself to come this far was because there was something I wanted to verify.

At that moment, the helicopter slowly began shutting off its engine.

"We've got contact! From here on, the Comet begins now! Hold on tight!"

At the pilot's words, we all unbuckled our seat belts together. Even as the helicopter's propellers gradually stopped, it didn't fall.

"It was an honor to carry great people! May victory and peace be ours!"

The pilot came all the way back to the rear seats, saluted, then jumped out. A moment later, he opened his parachute and landed safely on a nearby rooftop.

Before long, Yoo Yena reached the side of the helicopter.

Touching the helicopter, she bit her lip hard and swung her hand with all her strength, as if throwing a pitch—.

The helicopter began surging forward at tremendous speed.

It wasn't flying.

The helicopter was being thrown.

It tore through the drones, drawing closer and closer to the Central Control Management Center.

The sensation was like riding a rocket bound for space, my skin rippling as I was shoved backward.

"Great Hero!"

Baek Yeonhwa tightly grabbed my hand, then hurled herself toward the side door.

"Aaaah!"

"Come into my arms, Great Hero!"

Baek Yeonhwa pulled me into a tight hug.

With wings sprouting behind her back, clinging to my body with both arms and legs, she landed on the rooftop of the Central Control Management Center.

"...It felt like riding a roller coaster without a safety bar."

I lay on the rooftop floor, calming my pounding heart.

On top of that, Baek Yeonhwa kept hugging me tightly and wouldn't let go.

"So you're dating."

"Whew! Breaking the tension is nice and all."

The two Seven Extremes who landed after us.

Victor Brook and Joanna Carlson.

Kwoong!

Gawain landed with a heavy clang of armor, cracking the rooftop floor.

And then, the last one.

The man who descended like a feather.

In effect, he was one of the core combatants in this operation, and in a way, he too had come because of a no-good child.

"Protecting this unworthy one would be tantamount to shaking the roots of the clan."

Namgung Pacheon, the head of the Namgung Clan.

Even while clicking his tongue, he moved forward.

To save his useless son and daughter-in-law.