Volume 9 / Chapter 267
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
Cha Jun Sung felt a pain that felt like his head was going to break.
He remembers.
In a moment of crisis, a giant mutant-aimed bullet went into Bon Load's forehead and exploded, and he had been swept away in that explosion.
The impact was incredible because he hadn't strengthened his outer armor and had only used basic defense. It'll be a weapon like sniper rifles or cannons.
'What is this? What happened?'
Someone is supporting his body and running. He can see an incredible number of Lifers surrounding him beyond his battlesuit. Guessing by their battlesuits, they are all Lifers beyond level A.
"Odin. What's the situation?"
[The Lifers in the area rescued you. They are currently running away from Evil Queen and after a.n.a.lyzing the conversations, the World Federation of this era saved you. You are currently on your way to World Federation's headquarters.]"Ack. I can't."
Things will get messed up if he just goes like this.
He'll be caught in the supervisors' monitoring network and he might meet the real Cha Jun Sung. An outsider needs to act like an outsider.
[Since this has ended up this way, do you want to regenerate your arm, replenish supplies, and kill Evil Queen with these people? This has already happened anyway.]Odin is a helper.
Life Mission's system is enormous. From this much exposure, he has probably already been found out by the supervisors.
[If you are with these people, the supervisors won't appear in front of you. They don't want the system to get tangled up.]It is just a temporary measure, but they could buy some time.
It is just that he'll be thoroughly monitored from now on. He'll have to take care of it after that. Cha Jun Sung caught up with everything Odin was saying. It is too late to fix this. It's a reality he can't avoid unless he dies there.
The sound of an engine from the sky.
Cha Jun Sung took a glance. 10 sentinels settle down in a vacant lot. Lifers quickly board. There are exactly 1001 people.
The capacity for each is 100, but a few more can get on.
The sentinels take off and head toward headquarters. Lifers finally relaxed and took a breath.
"You felt it?"
"It was incredible. A skeleton monster…"
"I think that's Bon Load. The name matches."
Lifers chat among themselves. They eased their tension. They try to figure out the situation on their own.
Being big doesn't necessarily mean strength, but from what they witnessed themselves of White Ghost, she has an energy that overwhelms Evil Queen. It is an energy that far surpa.s.ses what a level 8 should give off. This is the Amazon.
If they are sure that it's a level 9, there is only Bon Load.
"It divided, right?"
They think of the scene they saw right before they ran away. The skeletons stuck to her bones fell off and transformed into things that looked like jellyfish. They were about medium-large sized.
"What proportion of the body's power were the separated parts?"
"In Europe, a level 7 split into dozens of level 5s within a minute. The main body was weak, probably because it survived off separating."
In exchange for the separations retaining special abilities, the main body is on the weak side. The separation of a level 9 will be different, but there is a strategy.
It didn't take long for the sentinels to arrive at headquarters. They are fast planes flying in the sky, so they can travel long distances within short periods of time.
The area where they had been in battle is only 150km away from headquarters. It is a short distances for beings other than humans.
Evil Queen's body is so giant that they will be able to see her shape from this distance with the aid of battlesuits and various equipment.
Weapon Master's Universe Eye picks up Evil Queen in motion.
This will be her destination.
She doesn't have a definite direction because she doesn't have the location yet, but if she uses her splitting abilities to send out alters, it will be quick.
Strategist is prepared.
Lifers get off of the sentinels.
Headquarters is being packed up. While they were being dispatched, the remaining members and cyborgs had been preparing their retreat.
They can't avoid fighting, but they need a bit of time. The only person who went up against her and survived is Cha Jun Sung.
They need to get information from him.
Even a single day would be good. That's why they are moving to a different area that they had scouted. They can finish up clearing everything up in a few hours.
Cyborgs separate materials by type and Lifers sweep them into s.p.a.ce compression bags. They aren't packing them up because it would be a waste of points to leave them behind.
It's because there's a limit to the volume they could bring in.
If they don't take all of this while they are staying in a mission long term, they will have to endure a lot of discomfort.
Rankers and Park Jin Hyuk's group gather to Strategist. And Cha Jun Sung, supported by two people, came into the center.
"Jun Sung!"
"Jun Sung!"
Cha Jun Sng's body slightly trembles.
They are voices that he couldn't hear where he had come from even if he wanted to, voices he had not heard in so long that he had forgotten them.
They are familiar. His body remembers them. Cha Jun Sung can see his party members running toward him.
Park Jin Hyuk, Koharu, Violet, Basil.
He knows the first three from his former world, but he doesn't have any particular relations.h.i.+p with the last. He didn't show it. He can't show it.
'There are four of them.'
Cha Jun Sung realized that there are 5 people here who are with him now.
It wasn't difficult.
It is a kind of boundary or line.
The rest didn't say anything and just waited for them greetings to be over. This included Nine Tail and Light Shooter, his future colleagues as well. Cha Jun Sung wanted to greet them happily, but he couldn't.
'I'm a fake.'
He can't forget who he is.
He can't take the life of his own self. As soon as he decides to do so, he will be on a path of self-destruction.
"What happened? What happened to your arm? Why are you here?"
Park Jin Hyuk asked several questions at the same time.
Cha Jun Sung spoke carefully.
It's because he doesn't know what to say. His personality will be similar to his self in this place, but it is strange to explain the situation because their experiences were different. He'll have to act injured.
"Ugh, my head…"
"He seems to be suffering from the aftermath of the explosion. First, let's move."
Strategist spoke.
He has questions just like Park Jin Hyuk, but their priority is to move their headquarters. This isn't a good location to hold an extensive talk.
Jigneon showed interest in the absurd situation.
It has become interesting.
He had expected something like this to happen sometime.
"It's inevitable that the past, present, and future get twisted when we are distorting dimensions and adjusting time. Now I know why he wasn't registered."
Jigneon smirked as he looked at Cha Jun Sung surrounded by World Federation's Lifers.
His questions were answered all at once.
"The person that mutant Cha Jun Sung is looking for is his own self who has reversed time? Does that mean there are two of them in one era? Is it three including Black Lord?"
This is why he finds it interesting.
If you look at it this way, other Lifers have 1 person in each world as well.
But no one revealed this.
Only Cha Jun Sung. He has combined everything, so he will achieve the same results wherever he is.
He is quite fascinating.
"This is good for us."
It isn't bad.
They are reluctant to use mutant Cha Jun Sung in missions.
On the other hand, the sudden appearance of Lifer Cha Jun Sung poses no problems. It would have been an issue if the original Cha Jun Sung were to be active normally, but this isn't the case.
His emergence could become the Joker card in Life Mission.
"Connect me to the situation room."
Zing!
Jigneon is connected to the situation room managing Life Mission's system.
It is controlling thousands of translucent holograms.
The computers of this era.
It is the central pillar overseeing everything including Lifer activity videos and equipment purchase lists.
"The work?"
[It is over. It was easy because it was in the middle of helpers. And he didn't even refuse. It seems to have been planned.]There aren't just Lifers around Cha Jun Sung.
If there are 100,000 Lifers, there are also 100,000 helpers.
They are close to each other, so they are vulnerable to hacking.
Odin would have been able to defend themselves against it if he had been determined to, but he allowed it to happen. He will have his own plans. Jigneon hacked Odin's code and registered him as a Lifer.
As a result, Life Mission came to manage two Cha Jun Sungs.
This is where it became important. They need to coordinate both by the mesotrons. They stopped mutant Cha Jun Sung's duty and focused on Lifer Cha Jun Sung.
He recalls what Gabenu proposed. It sounded appealing after hearing it. It could be nonsense, but he does have a point.
"Evil Queen who fused with Bon Load has been deemed a level 10. There won't be another opportunity for experiment like this. We might be able to end this."
Even if there are level S missions left, it doesn't matter if there are no Lifers to complete them. All that is left is b.l.o.o.d.y Kingdom if the World Federation's power dies here, but their situation is similar and the scale here is much larger.
"I was thinking of using mutant Cha Jun Sung, but shall we try this out first?"
They have two chances.
One of those will come up shortly.
/ /
Volume 9 / Chapter 268
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
[Let's give the authority to Jigneon. Raise the probability of this mission's success.]
Writing on the PDA. Cha Jun Sung read this and was frozen in surprise for a moment from the fact that he had been registered as a Lifer after living nomadically for a while.
The store opens up.
He can go to the briefing room as well. But restrictions still followed him around like a shadow.
He can't return to reality or Mechanic City.
He is limited to missions. He doesn't have a problem with this since he is grateful for even this.
[Opening the store isn't normally allowed inside missions, but we will allow it this one time. You have 50 billion points, so use it as you please.]50 billion points is enough to purchase advanced equipment in the level S store.
To Cha Jun Sung, this is like much needed rain in a drought.
He now has nothing other than his battlesuit, which has been reduced to sc.r.a.p metal. Cha Jun Sung purchased plenty of necessities like a repair robot to fix his battlesuit, switching gear, and expendables. He didn't leave spare points.
He will keep using later, but he needs to fill up his gear while he can.
He doesn't know whether regaining his qualifications will be for this one time or if it will continue. If it is the former, having the tangibles is more important than having points, which are just in numbers.
Cha Jun Sung clenches his fist.
His right hand?
It's his left. His left arm was regenerated.
He could have gone back to the briefing room or purchased medical equipment, but he didn't do it. There are medics everywhere at World Federation's headquarters.
Lifers each take care of their own basic gear, but they left treatment to the medics.
In Cha Jun Sung's case, the cells were dead because it had been long since his arm was cut off and he didn't have the arm, so they regenerated it by using special medicine.
[It's time.]"Alright."
Cha Jun Sung put his battlesuit on. It gives off light. There were a lot of dents and scratches, but it was made to be like new thanks to the store.
Cha Jun Sung went to Strategist's residence, looking for him.
Everyone will be gathered there now. It has only been one week since they moved their headquarters. All Lifers stopped being active for that week and lived inside headquarters.
It could have been buzzing with so many people gathered together in one place, but it was extremely peaceful. They will have to go into a battle in which they put their lives on the line. This is the peace before the storm.
"To get straight to the point by mission standards, the one you all call the White Ghost isn't Bon Load. But if I'm not explaining in mission standards, it could be Bon Load."
"That means it's Bon Load but also something else."
Strategist understood the main point.
Cha Jun Sung thought 'Expected from Strategist' to himself.
If there is someone who understands, it is much easier to explain.
"Before I get to that, some time ago – about 5 years ago – I killed Evil Queen in North America."
Rankers' expressions trembled suddenly.
No one knew that Cha Jun Sung had killed Evil Queen. Not even the Park Jin Hyuk's group, who were his party members.
"By yourself?"
"Yes."
"Is that why you were disqualified from entering level S and A missions?"
Cha Jun Sung maintained his composure.
He doesn't know why, but it seems the Cha Jun Sung of this world cannot enter missions at level A and beyond.
"That is the main cause, but there is something else that is more important."
He only hid the truth about himself with lies. Cha Jun Sung stressed that the Evil Queen he took on at the time was only an alter, a sh.e.l.l.
He had followed traces of her down to South America because he had felt something was off, and he had come across them by coincidence.
"Evil Queen and Bon Load fused…"
"She said that the two of them became one. I didn't understand at first, but I realized during that last attack that I had just given up on surviving and launched."
The subject is Evil Queen, but Bon Load must have agreed to it because his will remained alive. This is a monster within a monster.
The splitting ability they saw as they ran away wasn't Evil Queen's.
She is a type that battles with her body. It must be Bon Load's.
The only ability that Evil Queen showed was splitting. She must have retained her own abilities, so they cannot overlook that.
"If that's true, it means we need to take on Evil Queen separately apart from the splitting? A splitting mutant is extremely difficult. This is crazy."
Everyone agreed with Nuclear.
Normally, a splitting mutant's main body is treated as one or two levels below in strength.
A level 7 would be about 5 or 6.
But there are those that take level 7 with one split. There's no end if they just get supplemented with stamina and nutrients.
A level 9's splitting ability makes each being level 6 or even 7.
If hundreds and thousands of them come out?
Of course they wouldn't worry if that was it. The problem is Evil Queen.
"Will she have gotten stronger?"
"Probably. Bon Load is level 9 too."
"The only person who has fought against both is Overload. What do you think?"
If the main body's attacking ability is the same as Evil Queen's, the four of them – he, Violet, Weapon Master, and Chamma Sword – could keep her tied down.
Splitting ability?
World Federation entered with a full 100,000 people. The death toll is only a small percentage of the total number of members. Then their worry?
'A level 9's dominion is beyond imagination. I know because I've experienced it before.'
The Evil Queen raid that he would have tried in his world, the Queen of Evil mission.
100,000 people entered like now, but the situation had been completely different.
As an individual the Evil Queen now is stronger than the Evil Queen then.
Beyond that?
They showed the overwhelming volume of level 8 limbs and mutant armies to the World Federation and Cha Jun Sung's group.
This isn't North America.
They can't know Bon Load's personality, but what if he is similar to Evil Queen? What if they have troops?
Beep beep beep!
Chamma Sword's PDA blinked and a hologram came up. The gathered Lifers' attention focused on this sudden phenomenon.
"What… That?"
Someone's words are met with silence.
Small black objects are gathering to the vast forest surrounding their headquarters. The being in the middle.
"She's coming."
Evil Queen.
The square outer walls of World Federation's headquarters are self-a.s.sembled. Rather than for defense, they are more a boundary to separate the inside and outside.
3m high, 1m thick.
It isn't st.u.r.dy because the material is thin, but it is a wall.
Ordinary humans can't knock it over without tools.
But this only in the case of humans. It is different when the opponent is a mutant. Weak level 1s would be an exception.
Body-focused level 2s have 5 to 6 times the physical ability of humans. This is enough to take a car apart with bare hands. It would be enough to take the wall apart even if it took a little time.
So it is like a paper wall to mutants level 3 and beyond.
"Deploy cyborgs!"
"I'll make it into a beehive!"
"Let's show her what a real bombing looks like!"
10,000 cyborgs climb the wall and go to the points where weapons like automatic cannons and machine guns have been installed.
The wall itself can't withstand the vibrations generated by the weapons, but the places where the weapons are installed are separate from the wall.
These places were created like bunkers in order to ensure safe locations for shooting, so they don't have to worry about collapsing.
"f.u.c.k! She's seized the skies too!"
"Who does she think she's kidding? Do the sentinels look like they're there for form?"
300 sentinels roar with their engines turned on and their launch preparation complete. When the sentinels take off, tens of thousands of Lifers follow.
Tens of thousands of Lifers protect the 300 sentinels and go into an aerial war with the flying mutants. Then they support the ground as they push through.
Beyond that, while Lifers and cyborgs stopped mutants' advance with weapons, they were thinking of shooting from the air from beginning to end. There was no need to get tangled up in a close quarters battle.
Nearly an hour earlier, there was an emergency call at headquarters.
Chamma Sword's Universe Eye discovered her first, and Strategist relayed news on the mutant attack.
They closed the distance and waited.
As soon as the signal falls on either the mutant or Lifer side, all h.e.l.l will break loose.
His hand trembles against his will. The area outside of the wall is pitch black.
There looks to be more than tens of thousands of them. It looks like all the mutants that live in the Amazon have gathered here. They can't predict how many will die.
At this point, only one week has pa.s.sed.
They wonder how she managed to gather so many of them, but that isn't important. What's important is that they have gathered.
"It's scary."
"Phew!"
A large tower built in the middle of headquarters.
Rankers and Cha Jun Sung's group went to the top of what they call the bell tower to get an eye on the situation.
"d.a.m.n it! We overlooked her dominion because she kept going around by herself!"
"Flying mutants are incredibly important. I see those that are capable of long-range attack. It's a combination that's aimed at the battlesuit's flying ability."
No matter how strong the mutant is, it cannot fly if it does not have wings.
There's nothing they can do but run away if they attack from the sky.
They can't do everything just because they can fly in the sky, but it is advantageous. But Evil Queen attacked the aspects that Lifers were advantageous in.
On top of that, there was as much variety in types as there were in numbers. The slow but large ones with incredible defensive systems are standing in the front.
The ones that have low defense but are small and fast, are gathered around them. They look like a s.h.i.+eld and the offensive force.
There were other mutant roles like those in charge of distracting the enemy, and they were separated like the groups in human militaries.
They can't win just by taking control of the skies. Even Strategist looked at the mutants and felt frustration.
They don't see level 8s, but they can tell there are hundreds of level 7s from just a glance.
"The fact that she gathered this kind of group in such a short amount of time is dominion, but it also means she had been prepared to some extent."
Strategist expressed his thoughts.
/ /
