Chapter 244

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Chapter 244

The Experimenter III

In the Final Defense War, my role was always as the “firefighter” on the front lines.

And that was precisely what I intended to demonstrate.

- Wooo҉ Hoo҉ ҉ ҉ U҉ ҉ ҉ Hoo҉ O҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ O҉ Woo҉ ҉ O҉ O҉ ҉ ҉

The thrill of our opening victory was short-lived.

In no time, a tsunami of Anomalies began to surge from every direction, hitting us in one fell swoop.

These towering Hollow Anomalies varied from 30 stories to 80 stories tall. Each step they took sent tremors rippling across the horizon. As they collided, they crumbled, intermingled, and fell again, shifting the terrain in real time, with layers of bedrock rippling beneath them as if merely oil.

Without formation or order, relying solely on overwhelming mass, these Anomalies relentlessly pushed against the Final Defense Line.

“Hold the line! Don’t back down!”

“Didn’t I say not to look up at the sky during training? Is no one listening―”

“Fire!”

The red wave surged forward at the moment of impact—a crimson tide whose true identity was a spray of blood from the Awakeners standing on the defense line.

Just then, the flower petals from Ah-ryeon’s prayer scattered over the Awakeners like confetti, wrapping around them. An Awakener crushed under the foot of a 40-story Hollow Anomaly was instantly healed as the petals swirled around him. Ah-ryeon’s petals gently encased their wounds, healing them completely—even pierced abdomens, severed limbs, torn flesh.

“We can win! We can hold them off!”

“Raaaah!”

“It doesn’t hurt...! Hah! I’m really not dying! This is even easier than the simulation!”

The front line trembled like it would collapse, but the Awakeners held their ground to the very end. In fact, on some fronts, they even managed to push back, hacking down the Hollow Anomalies until they toppled.

Was this what it meant to be evenly matched?

Their mass seemed infinite, but our health points were also effectively boundless.

“Hyaaaa! Charge! Keep charging!”

“Hail the Saintess! All hail the Saintess!”

“Damn it, did the Holy State hoard such an amazing ability all this time?”

It was an immortal army. An ocean of blackness, made up of billions of Anomalies, was being driven back by the wave of humanity.

Watching from the terrace, a wide-eyed Dok-seo muttered, “Incredible... So this is Ah-ryeon unnie’s true Awakening...”

This sort of scene was routine in the Eastern Holy State, but even there, it had never reached such a massive scale. Ah-ryeon was now channeling her life force directly—essentially tapping into her innate qi, as martial artists would put it.

As I looked down at her, kneeling on the terrace floor with her eyes closed, silently praying, a thought crossed my mind.

‘Now that she’s activated that mode, there’s no going back.’

The countdown had begun. Ah-ryeon was already past the point of no return as a human.

The impressive performance humanity was putting on at the Final Defense Line relied solely on her sacrifice.

‘I’m sorry, Ah-ryeon. I’ll work quickly to stabilize the front while you hold on.’

Static crackled from my radio. We had refrained from using radios earlier due to contamination concerns, but now that the battle was in full swing, we had activated the comms.

-This is Point C3! Cr҉kk҉ ҉ ҉ , this is Point C3! The Hollow is massive! We can’t hold out much longer!

It was one of the areas I had been monitoring closely.

I turned to Do-hwa. “While I’m away, I’ll leave you in charge, Commander. Anomalies could emerge from the shoreline at any moment, so keep at least one trump card in reserve.”

“Have you told me that a hundred times already? Just go already...”

“Understood. If things go south, fall back on the Sword Marquess. I’m off.”

Exchanging quick glances with Seo-rin, Yo-hwa, Ha-yul, and Dok-seo, I pushed off the terrace and leaped into the fray.

Whoooosh.

The sticky, lukewarm air clung to my face. Though we were in the beginnings of winter, the air was disgustingly humid outside, and even carried a faintly sweet, sickening scent and an altered texture ever since the sky had turned red.

Tap, tap, tap.

I darted through the city, stepping along the tops of streetlamps set up along the alleyways. There was no need to waste Aura by hovering pointlessly in mid air.

In no time, I reached the area where our allies had called for reinforcements.

“This damn Anomaly is too tough!”

“Don’t charge it! Maintain distance! It’s slow, so focus on clearing the minions around it and fall back!”

- Gru҉ O҉ ҉ ҉ Hoo҉ ҉ Gu҉ ҉ ҉ U҉ Gu҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ Roo҉ ҉ O҉ ҉ Gu҉ Goo҉ ҉ ҉

The Anomaly assaulting this front could be described in one phrase: a medieval knight. And yet, it was enormous. Towering at 100 meters, with a width of nearly 300 meters, it was like a moving fortress.

- Gro҉ Ou҉ ҉ La҉ ҉ Cu҉ A҉ ҉ Hu҉ Hoo҉

This medieval knight was covered head to toe in thick, overlapping plates of metal.

Thick, endlessly squirming blood oozed from between the plates, while tangled blood vessels and muscles stretched across the gaps.

Embedded in a dense array into the waist of this massive, mobile fortress were numerous flags, each one bearing an incomprehensible symbol. Except on closer inspection, these flags were actually tongues, alive and writhing.

The tongues flapped violently in the wind, producing an endless chorus of uncanny wails.

Pheeuuuuw...

A sound like the whistle of a steam engine or perhaps mocking laughter—the “chanting” of these flags reverberated across the front line. The Awakeners directly exposed to it immediately began bleeding from their ears.

“Ahhhhhh!”

“Ugh, my... my ears! Ahhh!”

It wasn’t just their ears—eyeballs rolled out of sockets, teeth crumbled, and blood spewed from every orifice of their faces.

Screams echoed all around.

Had it not been for the Saintess’s AOE healing, that single blast of noise from the medieval knight would have obliterated this entire section of the front line.

But humanity still had Ah-ryeon.

And it also had me, the Undertaker.

“A-aha! That thing! It’s that thing, Your Excellency the Undertaker!”

The leader of a minor guild defending the front saw me approach, his mouth agape. One of his eyes had just been healed, thanks to Ah-ryeon’s power.

“Stand back.” I brushed past the guild leader and stepped forward.

“Oh, um, please, be care―”

One step, two steps, three steps.

The guild leader’s voice faded behind me.

On my last step, I launched off the ground.

A weightless sensation filled me.

In an instant, the massive front face of the “medieval knight,” a towering steel fortress, was in full view.

- O҉ Goo҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ Cro҉ Gro҉ ҉ ҉

It noticed me, too.

Spiked lances sprouted from the gaps between its armor plates, sharp and deadly. They resembled the lances wielded by mounted knights. Oddly, these spikes had horse legs attached to them and produced a clopping sound as they moved. They neighed like horses too.

- Neeeiiigh!

Roughly 3,000 spiked lances.

A single defensive maneuver from the Anomaly was like 3,000 knights charging at once.

I drew Do-hwa from its sheath and focused all my Aura into the blade. Wisps of dark Aura streamed from my body, coalescing into a wave around the sword.

I sent the wave surging forward.

A dark surge swept out in front of me.

Bam! Bam-bam-bam!

The spiked lances charging at me shattered like toothpicks under the wave’s impact.

My strike didn’t dissipate there.

The gust charged forward, slicing cleanly through the flags embedded like porcupine quills into the “medieval knight’s” back.

- O҉ O҉ ҉ ҉ O҉ O҉ ҉ O҉ O҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ O҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ O҉ O҉

The Anomaly shrieked.

Thousands of tongues twitched in agony, letting out dying gasps. Severed from the poles, the tongues writhed helplessly.

Using my full strength, I kicked at the massive creature’s body.

Boom!

The shockwave reverberated across the field.

Those flags were the core of the medieval knight. As long as the flags remained intact, this armored monster was essentially invulnerable.

‘Unless all the flags are taken down in a single blow, they’ll keep regenerating. It’s an incredibly tricky condition.’

However, once the requirement was met, the creature’s armor could be broken with a single strike.

Crack! Craaack!

The armor plating of the medieval knight shattered like an eggshell.

Soon after, the severed tongues gave their final death rattles before disintegrating.

The monster burst, releasing a torrent of blood. It splattered across me, causing its iron stench to fill my nose as it clung to my lips.

I turned back to the Awakeners.

“Reform your lines!”

At that moment, the Awakeners’ senses returned. They looked up at me, dazed.

I could read a multitude of emotions in their eyes: fear, awe, relief, admiration, excitement, and elation.

Their reaction made sense. In all the battles we had fought together, I had never fully revealed my strength—not even once. I only used my full power in the final battle, and for this cycle, that time had arrived.

“Do not lose hope!”

As I issued my command, Seo-rin’s song resounded from the distant Babel Tower.

“The Primary Melody.” The Fourth Movement, “Transmission.”

The effect was straightforward. Seo-rin could designate a specific individual to project onto a hologram, broadcasting their image live across the battlefield.

“The Great Witch of Samcheon World is singing for us! The Saintess of the Eastern Holy State is praying for us!”

-The Great Witch of Samcheon World is singing for us! The Saintess of the Eastern Holy State is praying for us!

My voice echoed across the entire Final Defense Line.

In the hologram projected throughout the battlefield, the Undertaker—an exact replica of myself in both stance and voice—was shouting the same words.

When fighting in the trenches, a warrior’s field of vision narrows drastically. Likewise, facing the relentless onslaught of the Anomaly army, time and senses both began to break down.

So, what did the fighters need in this moment?

[You’re not fighting alone.]

[Allied forces are triumphing on other fronts.]

[Comrades are fighting and sacrificing themselves in just as fierce a battle.]

They needed faith in their comrades. The certainty that humanity was united.

As long as they felt this assurance, the warriors never let go of their weapons.

This was why we sacrificed one of the precious movements of The Primary Melody just to project this “transmission” across the field.

‘Though the distraction of the hologram could risk breaking their combat focus―’

Ah-ryeon’s AOE healing was there to compensate for that. With her support, we minimized the impact of any momentary lapse in focus, while at the same time maximizing the morale across the battlefield.

I raised my voice again.

“We are humanity!”

-As long as you do not fall, humanity will not perish!

“Stand up and fight to the last moment of extinction! Comrades! Allies! Brothers and sisters in arms!”

-Stand up and fight to the last moment of extinction! Comrades! Allies! Brothers and sisters in arms...

Seo-rin’s voice rang out, standing alone, bright and beautiful. Flower petals filled the sky over the battlefield.

The Great Witch, the Saintess, and the Undertaker—all were here, side by side with everyone on the field.

“We are humanity!”

Without hesitation, the Awakeners echoed the cry.

“We are humanity!”

I quickly dashed toward the next front.

Overwhelming numbers. Every part of the defense line was gradually being pushed back by the tide of Anomalies. No casualties or injuries had been reported yet, but sheer numbers alone threatened to overwhelm us.

There were simply too many, an endless barrage.

“We are humanity!”

But each time I arrived at a section of the front, the United Front Forces pushed back the Anomalies just a little, driving them off bit by bit.

One front, then the next, then the one beyond that, and then back again.

Before long, a day had passed. Then two days.

Thanks to Ah-ryeon, the Awakeners were able to keep fighting, almost forgetting fatigue. But the mental strain remained, so the Final Defense Line continued rotating its forward and rear ranks without rest.

Despite everything, I didn’t stop.

I rushed to the most critical fronts, cutting down the most vicious leaders of the Anomalies. The remaining minions were then slaughtered by the Awakeners.

Overall, it was a stalemate. Although we couldn’t fully push the Anomalies back, neither could the Monster Wave breach the Final Defense Line.

A deadlock.

The waltz of carnage seemed as though it could go on forever.

- Mister!

Then again... There’s no such thing as an endless ball.

- By the sea! Battleships!

Dok-seo’s urgent voice came through the radio.

Hearing her words, I immediately climbed a partially ruined building, looking out toward the coast. Sure enough, just as Dok-seo had said, the battleships were approaching. But not from the sea, no.

They were descending from the sky.

Parting the clouds like waves, hundreds of thousands of enormous “aerial warships” were heading straight for the city.

They resembled massive leviathans, soaring across the heavens.

They were angels of death, descending to obliterate humanity’s last sanctuary.

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