Chapter 155: Beyond the Heavens

Chapter 155: Beyond the Heavens

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

155 – Beyond the Heavens

In the middle of the mushroom forest, about 30 kilometers from the entry area where Myung-jun had arrived, James Garner and two members of Team 5, along with one Seeker, were frantically running through the forest.

Chasing them were twenty monstrous creatures with enormous teeth.

To hinder their pursuers, James used his awakening ability once more.

“Bind them! Chains of Steel!”

In an instant, dozens of chains sprang up from the ground, blocking the monsters’ path, but the creatures easily bit through the chains James had summoned.

Unlike the teeth of Earth’s predators, the monsters’ teeth were razor-sharp, resembling those of a cookie-cutter shark.

However, this was precisely what James had intended.

Most of the chains he summoned to block their path were merely bait.

“Queeeck!!”

James deliberately summoned dozens of chains towards the monsters’ heads, while summoning two much thinner chains at their feet.

As a result, one of the creatures tripped and fell, screaming as it rolled on the ground, allowing James and his team to widen the distance.

“Huff... huff...”

“Captain, are you alright?”

“No. I can only manage about three more times. If it weren’t for the techniques I learned from Mr. Ho-chang, we would have been torn apart long ago.”

“Those teeth are truly terrifying.”

The razor-sharp teeth of the monsters could bite through the Striker’s external armor, which could withstand hundreds of anti-tank rounds without a scratch, as if it were tough steak.

Recalling that shocking sight, Robert Junior, the weapon specialist of Team 5, handed over Lena Dunham, who he had been carrying on his back, to the exhausted captain.

“Recover yourself. I’ll handle the rest.”

Handing over an injured person while telling someone to recover might seem nonsensical by general standards, but it was a common concept among Awakener individuals.

For Awakener individuals, whose physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people, carrying a person took less stamina than using their abilities even once.

Having handed the injured person to James, Robert did not slow his pace as he drew the Magnum from his waist.

He then took a round with a yellow tip from the bandolier slung across his body and loaded it.

“Is that a stopping round? How many do you have left?”

“Five rounds.”

“Not even enough to fill a magazine.”

“We’ll have to make do with other rounds. We’re short on ammo as it is.”

Without looking back, Robert fired the Magnum towards the rear.

– Bang!! –

A monster hit squarely in the forehead was sent flying dozens of meters by the tremendous impact.

“Queeeck!!!”

“Not only is it impressive that you hit without looking, but it’s also shocking that a single handgun round can send that monster flying dozens of meters.”

“It’s a special round made by the Liberal Clan, just for me. Considering the cost of one of these rounds, it better do at least that much.”

The round Robert used was a special round made by Myung-jun, focused solely on stopping power.

The special round converted all its power into impact force, designed to send charging enemies flying backward. It had such poor destructive power that even an ordinary person hit by it would remain unharmed, but it had enough stopping power to send a multi-ton tank flying.

However, Robert knew well.

Simply sending the enemy flying was far from enough to escape this situation.

For now, they could only push back the enemies instead of killing them.

At that moment, a woman who had been struggling to keep up with the two men finally spoke up.

“Um... sorry, but do you have any water left?”

James, who was about to hand over his canteen, realized it was empty and looked at Robert.

Robert shook his canteen a couple of times and then handed it to her.

“This is the last of it. How many times can you use it?”

“...Just once. And it won’t last long.”

‘This might be my last request. Go and find what I’m looking for.’

As if it had heard her inner thoughts, the tiny water dragon nodded its head.

Then it soared high into the sky at an incredible speed.

‘Considering the amount of water, I have about two minutes. I need to find the rescuer’s location within that time.’

Skyler’s original ability was to summon small animal-shaped familiars using water.

The familiar she summoned now, the ‘Aqua Worm,’ had the ability to reveal the location of all water within its sight.

From tiny droplets of dew on leaves to the water inside the human body, which is 70% water, it could see it all.

Using this ability, she could grasp not only the monsters tracking them but also those forming a siege from afar and the surrounding terrain through the moisture in the ground.

However, as soon as Skyler fully activated her ability, she realized there was no need to search hard for the rescue team.

The tiny water dragon flying in the sky had spotted a terrifying presence advancing with immense destructive power, evaporating all moisture around it.

A single airborne fortress performing such devastating bombardments that it was altering the terrain itself, advancing northward.

Below it, a man clad in 5-meter-tall steel armor was running fiercely, as if out for a jog, following the fortress.

“I found them. 23 kilometers north of here, the rescue team you mentioned has arrived.”

“Really? Who is it?”

“I don’t know. All I saw was a massive airborne battleship and a man in 5-meter-tall power armor turning everything around him to ashes.”

“It’s Cha Myung-jun.”

“It’s Cha Myung-jun.”

“Oh, so that person is Cha Myung-jun?”

“With an airborne battleship and power armor, it can only be him. Those monsters that wrecked the Strikers are probably being pulverized like meat in a grinder in front of him.”

“That’s exactly what I saw.”

“See? Just like I said, he’s a monster, right?”

As Robert, relieved by the long-awaited rescue request from Myung-jun, spoke, Skyler responded.

“A monster? No. I think ‘monster’ is too cute a nickname for him.”

She honestly shared her impression of witnessing Myung-jun’s battle for the first time.

“Rather than a monster, he felt more like a god.”

“Looks like he’s gotten even stronger since we met in Brazil. Hehehe... We’re saved now.”

Unlike the relieved Robert, James wore a contemplative expression.

He then asked Skyler,

“Which direction is Cha Myung-jun heading now?”

“West from the entry area.”

“Is he conducting a wide-area search?”

“No. It seemed more like he was clearing the surroundings as flashily as possible.”

“Then he’s probably not looking for us but for the gate boss. If he deals with the gate boss, he won’t need to find us to resolve the situation.”

Skyler, with a pale face, said,

“But the gate boss is in the opposite direction, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. But Cha Myung-jun is moving without a Seeker. He’s trying to draw as much attention as possible while advancing. He wants the gate boss to come to him, reacting to the deaths of its subordinates.”

“But if he continues advancing in the opposite direction...”

“He might run out of time to find the gate boss before the clear time expires.”

“Then what should we do?”

James responded to Skyler’s question.

“Robert, from now on, you’re the captain. You two, run as fast as you can to where Cha Myung-jun is.”

“What about you, Captain?”

“I need to bring the gate boss to where Cha Myung-jun is before the clear time expires.”

James’s face, as he said this, bore the same expression he had when Brown had tried to sacrifice himself for everyone.