Chapter 106: Backdoor Deal. Another Backroom Deal. |
Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense
106 – Backdoor Deal. Another Backroom Deal.
“You dreadful brute! Just die already!”
Zhai Tianlin screamed in anger, biting into his own thumb.
Instantly, blood spurted from the wound, forming into the shape of a sword in Zhai Tianlin’s grip.
Seeing this, the beast roared and swiped its claws at Zhai Tianlin, who countered with his sword, blocking the attack.
– Kuwaaargh! –
Zhai Tianlin was not ineffective in dealing damage. It’s just that the opponent’s regeneration was extraordinary enough to swiftly nullify the damage.
Once again, the beast tore off entire arm that the sword had touched, hurling it towards him with a growl.
A colossal roar reverberated in all directions, the result of the clash between supple flesh and solid ground, but Zhai Tianlin remained unscathed.
Just before the attack landed, he transformed his body into a toxic mist, avoiding the damage.
However, the technique of ‘Toxic Vaporization’ consumed a considerable amount of energy, making it difficult to repeat multiple times.
Moreover, half of the restricted time of 10 minutes for the enhancement drug had already passed.
Unable to overcome his anxiety, Zhai Tianlin cursed inwardly.
‘Darn it, the matchup is just too unfavorable.’
In fact, Zhai Tianlin’s belief that the matchup was unfavorable was a mistake.
His ability, the poison attribute, was virtually ‘poison’ to beasts-type monster with strong vitality.
Conversely, fighting against Myung-jun, who relied on ‘physical destruction’, could be considered more disadvantageous in terms of matchup.
However, there was a crucial difference between Myung-jun and Zhai Tianlin, and that was their perspective on these monsters.
Viewing the conquest of the gate as a kind of achievement and considering these monsters simply as ‘enemies to be defeated’, Zhai Tianlin differed from Myung-jun, who regarded all these monsters as ‘materials’ to be harvested.
If Myung-jun encountered a monster with endless regeneration, he would have thought with a glint in his eyes, ‘Could I obtain an infinite supply of materials if I keep tearing apart its flesh?’
And the Soo-jeong that observed the battle would have thought, ‘What if I could fuse the materials of this monster with metal to create regenerating metal?’
Having such thoughts, Myung-jun’s battles tended to proceed as a series of repetitive experiments.
He would attack with Turret A and if it proved ineffective, immediately switch to Turret B, and if that failed as well, he would try Turret C.
Unlike Myung-jun, who continuously assessed his opponent and fought within a rapid feedback loop, Zhai Tianlin had a combat style that seemed to test the limits of his own strength.
And now, even at this moment, Zhai Tianlin was trying to use his ‘strength’ to suppress the opponent who was overcoming his poison with its almost infinite regenerative power.
“Poison doesn’t work? Don’t talk nonsense. If you withstand this too, I’ll grant you the title of ‘Immune to All Poisons’.”
Instantly, Zhai Tianlin’s right palm began to darken.
It wasn’t just the poison condensing, it felt as if the hand itself was transforming into poison.
The tremendous poison coming from it was enough to make even Zhai Tianlin, who bore the title of Poison Emperor, dizzy, but he didn’t stop injecting the poison into his right hand.
‘Fudok (Corrosive Poison) Kagosa (Bone Powder).’
It was a name Zhai Tianlin had given, inspired by the name of a poison from a martial arts novel he had read, which turned corpses into yellowish liquid without leaving even bones behind with just a drop.
And true to its name, the Kagosa he created was a ‘living’ poison that incessantly consumed the flesh and bones of the opponent until everything turned into a handful of liquid from the moment it touched.
Due to the extreme destructive power that even melted the caster’s own body, it was a technique that even Zhai Tianlin, dubbed the Poison Emperor, couldn’t use lightly.
Driven by the desire to surpass Myung-jun’s record, Zhai Tianlin was prepared to sacrifice his right hand.
“Kwaaaaagh!”
As he watched his right hand boil and bubble like water in a pot, Zhai Tianlin let out a scream full of pain.
At that moment, the beast, instinctively sensing the danger posed by the opponent’s technique, flapped its wings and flew backward.
However, the lightning-fast evasion of the beast came too late to avoid the opponent’s attack.
“It’s too late!”
In an instant, Zhai Tianlin’s right hand transformed into thousands of thin poisonous threads, covering the beast like a net.
The beast, at lightning speed, tried to evade those poisonous threads, but they changed direction in mid-air as if alive, lashing out towards the direction of the beast.
And finally, as the tip of the beast’s fur touched the poisonous net, the poison that had spread in all directions began to gather towards that point as if being sucked in.
“Kweeeeeeeeeek!!!!”
As the giant body of the beast, which had never been poisoned by any poison until now, began to decay with a nauseating smell, the beast let out a scream of agony.
And from that moment on, the pride of the beast, its regeneration, turned into a terrible curse and returned to haunt it.
“Kuwaargh! Kweeeeeeeek! Kuhuhuhuhuh!”
Amidst the flesh melting into blackened sludge, blood gushed endlessly, thickened calluses split apart, and red fresh flesh protruded.
The newly regenerated tissues began to decay again as soon as they regenerated, under the relentless assault of the waiting poison.
How much time had passed?
When the beast, writhing in agony, gave up its will to live, its body finally ceased the regeneration in pain and collapsed on the spot.
In less than 30 seconds.
It was such a horrific and futile end, far from the eternal regeneration the beast seemed to promise.
“Haah, haah, haah…”
Zhai Tianlin’s body wasn’t exactly intact either.
To suppress the endless regeneration of this monster and his resistance, he needed to transform everything from his wrist to his elbow into poison.
Zhai Tianlin’s right arm, now melted like cheese, was elongated and connected to where the beast’s body had been.
– Tuck. –
As Zhai Tianlin ceased his infusion of power, the strands of blood that had been connected fell apart.
Zhai Tianlin, leaving only a brilliant crystal behind, laughed as the giant pool of blood where the beast had been collapsed.
“Euhahaha!! Hahaha!!”
It was a victorious roar, successfully overpowering the overflow of a monster even larger and faster than Myung-jun.
“I am strong! I am stronger than that Myung-jun!!!”
Of course, it was true that Zhai Tianlin’s subjugation speed was faster than the one Myung-jun achieved in Manaus City.
While it took Myung-jun about 6 minutes to subdue a group of 3,400 monsters in Manaus City, Zhai Tianlin managed to clear a group of over 6,000 monsters in just 5 minutes and 52 seconds.
Even if the time taken to subdue Banara was included, Zhai Tianlin’s clearing of the monster group was overwhelmingly faster than Myung-jun’s, but that alone couldn’t prove that Zhai Tianlin was stronger than Myung-jun.
The average rank of the group of monsters Myung-jun dealt with was higher than the one Zhai Tianlin dealt with, and the dinosaur-type beast Zhai Tianlin dealt with was only one of Banara’s subordinates, not the Twelve Heavenly Lords.
Moreover, Myung-jun had become significantly stronger by subduing Leviathan after Banara.
However, unaware of such facts, Zhai Tianlin, after being the second to clear the overflow solo following Myung-jun, laughed uncontrollably.
“Kuhahahaha! Now I am the strongest in the world! The strongest!”
At that moment, as the battle ended and the communication system was restored, a drone swiftly flew over Zhai Tianlin’s head.
Then, it dropped a walkie-talkie at his location.
“What’s this??”
[Congratulations on the subjugation. Even faster than that Myung-jun, now it’s time for the position of the world’s strongest to change.]
The voice coming from the walkie-talkie was that of someone Zhai Tianlin knew well.
It was the voice of Li Chenhao, ‘Heavenly Voice’, a Seeker who used sonic waves to detect enemies over a wide area, and a fellow member of the Special Operations Unit with the combat power rivaling those of a Combat-type Awakener.
Zhai Tianlin smiled at the sincere congratulations from his colleague and replied.
“Yeah… that’s right.”
[But the damage is too severe. To use Kagosa. And even up to your elbow?]
“The arm will regenerate slowly over time. And without using that technique, it would have been difficult to defeat the opponent.”
[The problem isn’t just your arm. We can retrieve the crystals, but all the materials have melted away, rendering them unusable.]
“If you didn’t want that, you shouldn’t have entrusted the subjugation to me.”
[That’s a fair point. I’ve prepared new clothes nearby. Please go to the eastern direction and change into the new clothes. If possible, as quickly as possible, please.]
Zhai Tianlin sensed a strong sense of anxiety in Li Chenhao’s voice.
“What’s going on?”
[There’s an order to move immediately to the Second Operation Zone.]
“The Second Zone… isn’t that the territory of Sword of Devastation Doxiao?”
Doxiao, the second in command of the Special Operations Unit, didn’t just cut object, he could split space itself with a single sword.
At the same time, within the Unit, he was one of the few acknowledged by Zhai Tianlin as a formidable opponent.
Zhai Tianlin couldn’t believe that there was a problem in the area guarded by Doxiao.
“What’s happening? Did the barrier collapse before the overflow? Even if it’s Doxiao, he should be able to handle it.”
[That Sword of Devastation has died.]
Zhai Tianlin doubted his ears. Even disregarding the psychic ability that completely ignored attributes, the fact that Doxiao, who had ventured into an area beyond imagination in terms of his own strength, had died, was beyond belief.
With a serious expression, Zhai Tianlin said as he walked.
“We have to go now.”
[A helicopter is ready. Meet with the person waiting for you inside and discuss the situation.]
“Who am I going to meet? Is it a Communist Party official?”
[No.]
“Then a soldier?”
[No. For security reasons, I can’t provide details, but I can tell you that this person is a collaborator in this situation.]
Zhai Tianlin couldn’t understand why even he was being kept in the dark about the identity of the other person. He quickly changed into new clothes and boarded the helicopter waiting for him.
And there, he was shocked to see the person waiting for him.
“Hello. Nice to meet you. I am Moon Hee-cheol, the Director of the Awakener Security Bureau under the Government of the Republic of Korea.”
A figure who had come to help the Chinese government in crisis following the death of Doxiao.
The identity of this person was none other than Moon Hee-cheol, the third strongest individual in the world after Myung-jun and Zhai Tianlin, and the former military hero of South Korea, now considered the country’s only hope since the disappearance of the Liberal Clan.
“How did you…? This operation was supposed to be top secret.”
“Did you receive the gift well?”
Only now did Zhai Tianlin realize how Hee-cheol obtained the Awakener Ability Enhancer, which were as rare as finding a star in the sky, even within South Korea’s borders, from the Communist Party, and how some kind of deal had been struck during the delivery.
As he briefly pondered what that deal might be, Zhai Tianlin quickly dismissed the thought. Complex political issues were matters for the higher-ups in the party to resolve, not something he was concerned with.
Extending his only remaining arm, Zhai Tianlin greet Hee-cheol.
“I am Zhai Tianlin, Commander of the Special Operations Unit under the Central Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. It’s an honor to meet Director Moon Hee-cheol, a globally renowned Awakener.”
The meeting of the second and third strongest men in the world.
Thus, the helicopter carried the two of them towards their destination at high speed.
