NOVEL NEXT Chapter 221
Episode 221. The Root of All Evil (1)
Facility No. 1.
The preparations for war are practically complete. All that’s left is to launch the assault on Facility No. 1. Dozens of the Foundation’s mages have already moved into position.
[Anomaly Response Bureau. Ready.]
[Thule Branch. Ready.]
[Shanghai Branch. Ready.]
“Seoul Branch. Ready.”
Speed is of the essence.
[Passing through the gate.]
The target location’s time is midnight.
[T PLUS 00:00:01]
The moon is in its new phase. At the same moment, a teleportation gate opened at the facility, and dozens of armored vehicles were transported to a remote desert in Nevada, USA.
The surroundings were as dark as ink.
With no moon and clouds blocking even the starlight, the only visible light came from Facility No. 1.
[T PLUS 00:00:09]
It would take at least a minute for the soldiers at Facility No. 1 to get into position and start firing heavy weapons. We need to reach our positions within that minute.
The armored vehicles spewed smoke to form a smokescreen, launched smoke grenades, and kicked up dust as they moved at top speed.
Dozens of decoy tanks also appeared.
[T PLUS 00:00:20]
The enemy hasn’t started firing yet. I connected to the command vehicle’s first radio channel.
“Summon them.”
It begins.
[This is Dr. Chae. Successfully entered the operation zone. Deploying Dr. Chloe to the field.]
[This is Hasti. Bringing in the Black Dragon.]
[This is Walpurgis. Entered the operation zone. Summoning Cernunnos now.]
The voices of the gods can be heard.
The singing of the gods echoes. From across the battlefield, the roar of the Black Dragon and the footsteps of Cernunnos shook the ground.
The situation was visible on the command vehicle’s screen.
[T PLUS 00:00:35]
Black fog rose around the Black Dragon, and near Cernunnos, a forest began to grow. It was as if a thousand years had been compressed into a single moment.
Giant trees appeared near Cernunnos. Soon, a dense forest would form.
I wonder. Will our artillery take position first, or will the defenders start firing? It wouldn’t be strange if it started right now.
[Artillery deployment complete.]
[Tanks ready to fire high-explosive rounds.]
Everything is going according to plan.
When our multiple rocket launchers start firing, that will be the signal for all the tanks and other vehicles to open fire on the facility.
[T PLUS 00:00:59]
Full barrage.
The multiple rocket launchers tore through the sky with a deafening roar, and simultaneously, dozens of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles opened fire on Facility No. 1.
The ground shook, and the sky was torn apart.
Explosion.
The explosion was on a scale incomparable to the rocket launchers or tank cannons. The armored vehicle I was in seemed to lift about a meter off the ground from the shockwave.
The armored vehicle slowly descended. I pondered for a moment before realizing the situation. Ah, another nuclear explosion. I used to think nuclear bombs were some ultimate weapon.
Those Foundation Headquarters guys…
They’d drop a nuke if they saw a big cockroach in their house. They’d use tactical nukes more often than bug spray, those bastards.
The silver lining is…
A tactical nuke can’t significantly damage an armored vehicle. At first glance, it might not make sense, but it does.
I’ve read the research.
Creating an environment where a nuclear explosion can disable a tank isn’t easy. Tanks aren’t that simple to take out.
To disable a tank with a nuclear explosion, you need a shockwave at least three times atmospheric pressure. For Foundation-grade tanks, you’d need four times.
The nuclear explosion in Hiroshima only created a shockwave three times atmospheric pressure over a 0.55 square kilometer area.
I’m still not on the ground yet. Maybe it’s the adrenaline, but time feels incredibly slow.
Like an insect sinking into amber.
Anyway.
The Hiroshima bomb was 16 kilotons. The tactical nukes the Foundation uses can’t cause a Hiroshima-scale explosion. They’re closer to 16 tons than 16 kilotons.
It’s just a tickle for the armored vehicles. Unless you’re unlucky enough to take a direct hit. The radios might be damaged, though…
Even the radiation from a nuclear explosion doesn’t have much effect on the people inside the tanks. They might get cancer years later, though.
Especially the soldiers in the armored vehicles wearing protective suits…
Clunk! The armored vehicle landed back on the ground.
Good thing I was wearing my gear. It would’ve been a shame to die in a traffic accident caused by a nuclear explosion. I picked up the radio.
“Northern offensive. Any casualties?”
[None. All armored vehicles operational.]
“Proceed as planned.”
[Confirmed.]
Did Facility No. 1 not know this?
Did they just fire because a lot of enemies were coming, or did they try to take out Cernunnos or the Black Dragon with a nuke?
Special Forces ‘Last Bastion.’
Literally the last bastion. The only thing standing between Dr. Kim and the Foundation’s throne is this team.
They weren’t always called the Last Bastion. It’s a bit long. They usually went by a much simpler name.
Special Forces ‘Omega.’
The Omega Team Leader looked down at the command center.
“Even a tactical nuke… Firecrackers would’ve been more effective. In the end…”
The enemy is also the Foundation’s elite. If they were stopped by a tactical nuke, they wouldn’t have come this far. Dropping four nukes and not disabling a single tank is shocking, though.
“There’s no choice but to send out the high-level combat assets and the special forces.”
The Omega Team Leader sighed.
“That way, we can fight the first round outside. If we lose, we can prepare for the second round in close combat inside the facility.”
The command center continued its work. No one commented on the Omega Team Leader’s words. The interior of the facility is a space where supernatural phenomena can’t exert their power.
Once inside, there are no mages lighting up the sky or knights splitting mountains. The defenders of Facility No. 1 were counting on that.
“The tanks won’t be able to pass the concrete wall anyway. The security team will take out the armored vehicles one by one from the fortress wall, and we’ll go out to deal with the enemy’s high-level combat assets.”
“I’ll handle the Black Dragon. Siegfried will deal with that deer monster. The rest of Omega will prepare for enemy infiltration.”
Only two people went outside the fortress wall of Facility No. 1. But these two are among the Foundation’s strongest humanoid supernatural phenomena…
Hasti was hiding inside the armored vehicle.
Terrified by the sheer scale of the explosion.
When she first arrived in this world, the Foundation employees had told her. This is a world without magic, and the little magic that exists is in the hands of the Foundation to prevent chaos.
Then.
Is that explosion that flipped mountains and tore the sky not magic? Is the palm-sized machine that instantly transfers information equivalent to thousands of books not magic?
It was hard to tell.
Hasti was a rational person. She just thought, the enemy we’re facing today can cause an explosion that could easily wipe out a mountain.
She didn’t believe the Foundation scientists who said it wasn’t magic. Only the worshippers of the Truth Sect who have studied the principles can create such things. That’s magic.
The Black Dragon wasn’t engulfed by the massive explosion.
Rather, the opposite.
The massive explosion kicked up a dust cloud, making it impossible to see anything. It was also interfering with wireless communications and electronic equipment.
According to the Foundation soldiers, the nuke didn’t hit the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon roared in anger, aiming at the high fortress wall-
Flash!
Something passed by quickly. Hasti couldn’t understand the situation. Something pierced the Black Dragon? The Black Dragon’s body was torn apart…
Several machine guns spewed fire around the Black Dragon. Hasti grasped the situation through the Insight Orb attached to the outside of the armored vehicle.
A human holding a spear had pierced the Black Dragon.
Omega-1 tore off the wing part of the wingsuit on the Black Dragon’s corpse. It was cumbersome.
So far, so good.
After gaining altitude with a helicopter inside Facility No. 1. Using the wingsuit to accelerate and strike the Black Dragon at maximum speed. The Black Dragon fell in one hit.
Siegfried’s situation should be similar.
Supernatural phenomena of the pitch-black lineage are famous for not dying. Even if you think you’ve killed them this time, they’ll surely try to transform into something else. You have to finish them off.
The Foundation’s most powerful artifact.
The original Spear of Longinus that Omega-1 was holding moved. The weapon that killed gods began to dismantle the Black Dragon’s corpse.
Found it.
In the place where the Black Dragon’s heart should be, a black sphere the size of an ostrich egg appeared. The Omega Team Leader shattered the egg with the tip of the spear.
All of this happened in less than two seconds.
The Omega Team Leader ran towards the image reflected in the eye chasing magic. The Mage’s Eye, the Insight Orb attached to the armored vehicle, was there.
The armored vehicle started accelerating, realizing the situation, but it was too late. The Spear of Longinus opened the armored vehicle like a can.
Omega-1 was pushed back. From the nearly shredded armored vehicle, a figure cloaked in black fog, holding a staff, appeared.
“I’ll kill you.”