NOVEL NEXT Episode 11: The Grand Scheme / Chapter 191: Denial and Glory (1)
TL: emptycube / ED: Obelisk
The five brothers the monster queen created were, in fact, ‘bait’ to destroy the Exalted Wings.
The five brothers had already destroyed the Heracles, Coma, and Perseus-Pisces Superclusters and were pushing the Shapley and Laniakea Superclusters to the brink of ruin.
If they crushed Choi Hyuk’s resistance and slaughtered all the soldiers attempting to flee, the queen calculated that the Exalted Wings would have no choice but to act.
The monsters’ forces were simply too powerful. With the five brothers that were comparable in strength with Exalted Wings and 13 early transcendent-level monsters, their forces equaled almost a third of the alliance’s total strength.
A third, this was the ratio the queen had painstakingly decided on. A force powerful enough that many of the Exalted Wings would have to personally partake in the battle to stop them. A force just powerful enough that they would be able to stop them if they overexerted themselves a little.
There was no doubt that the alliance would drag the five brothers deep into their formation to reduce losses, focus their forces, and prevent any of the Exalted Wings from dying in battle.
This was what the queen had predicted.
She predicted that at least eight Exalted Wings and many high-ranking warriors would participate in the battle since that would be the only way to stop the five brothers without taking any large losses.
The moment the battle began, the queen’s trap was complete.
The special youngest brother, Myeol. It was a booby trap.
The moment Myeol died, a demise-ranked monster would be born in the middle of the alliance. It was expected that the monster that could collapse an entire universe on its own would slaughter all the Exalted Wings gathered there and break all the systems in the alliance. Even if they were Exalted Wings, they wouldn’t be able to confront a demise-ranked monster without any prior preparation and in an exhausted state after fighting the five brothers.
However, this plan was ruined thanks to Choi Hyuk.
The five brothers, who had promised to meet once they annihilated the Shapley and Laniakea Superclusters, had lost Myeol before they could even gather.
Thanks to this, the booby trap that the queen had prepared had activated, not in the middle of the alliance, but in the Laniakea Supercluster, which could be considered to be at the border of the alliance.
This was great news for the alliance.
To the warriors participating in Dragonic’s defense, however, this was a nightmarish situation.
**
Even Choi Hyuk, who loved fighting, was somber regarding this situation.
Only its arm had come out, yet it felt like the entire universe was screaming.
This wasn’t the underdeveloped demise-ranked monster he had killed with Flame-Rain in the past. This was a fully matured demise-ranked monster.
In this current situation, where Flame-Sky, the alliance’s strongest warrior in history, was no longer alive, it was the only existence to have overcome the limits of the transcendent level.
Kuaaaah`!!!
The demise-ranked monster’s roar burst through Myeol’s ripped belly.
That moment, Choi Hyuk grabbed Baek Seoin and retreated. That wasn’t all. The other transcendent warriors hastily flew back as well. Chu Youngjin held Shiro as he ran back.
“Kueh… Ak….”
Yet, Baek Seoin and Shiro, who were both highest-ranked warriors, couldn’t endure the impact and trembled. Blood burst from Baek Seoin’s eyes and ears, and sparks flew from Shiro’s body accompanied by the sound of creaky, rusted gears.
It was the same for Choi Hyuk. Instantly, the senses in his entire body seemed stunned.
When he blankly turned around, he saw warriors breaking ranks and retreating like a receding tide. The ones who fled were lucky. Even though the monster had only roared, he saw quite a few whose chest had exploded from the vibrations.
The ringing of its roar vibrated and burst the warriors’ veins. A bloody taste lingered in his mouth as though he had eaten steel.
‘This is unbelievable…’
He saw a fear-stricken Kalon. It seemed Chu Youngjin’s legs had frozen up as he was punching his thighs. Light-Maze and Dark-Feet looked fine, but their bodies were trembling subtly.
Choi Hyuk had no choice but to admit that his thoughts were completely wrong.
‘There is a huge gap between reaching the limit of the transcendent level and my current level.’
Encountering a true demise-ranked monster felt like a shock, similar to when he saw the monster Narci back when he was a middle-ranked warrior.
No, it exceeded that because the demise-ranked monster made him feel that they couldn’t win. This was the first time he felt this way since meeting Dark-Sound for the first time when he joined the alliance.
Baek Seoin trembled in his arms as he barely managed to say,
“Le… Leader. Those… machines. Those machines… Reactivate them…”
It seemed he was trying to tell him to reactivate the devices that suppressed his karma before. Choi Hyuk smiled bitterly as he shook his head. It didn’t seem possible to stop this demise that had already started to move with the machines. Also, there was a bigger problem.
“Sorry, I didn’t know how to turn them off so I cut everything that looked to be a power source.”
Baek Seoin’s eyes were filled with disappointment.
“God… Damn it… This is why you have no friends…”
Baek Seoin had always been respectfully, but it looked like he bore quite a grudge. Currently in a state where his rationality was paralyzed by the fear of this demise, his inner thoughts made their way out his mouth.
It felt like he was seeing an acquaintance talking nonsense under an anesthetic.
Choi Hyuk ended up chuckling when he saw Baek Seoin grumbling nonsense while wasting away.
Thanks to that, his stiff body relaxed.
He left Baek Seoin, who had almost fainted, with the other Berserkers and examined the situation once more.
“We need to disperse in different directions!!”
Dark-Feet, who had been relatively calm, shouted.
“Do you think we can escape the demise like that?”
Light-Maze ridiculed while trembling.
Even the transcendent warriors were stricken with fear.
‘Still, this is a bit much…’
No matter how amazing a demise-ranked monster was, these reactions were too severe for experienced transcendent warriors.
A bigger problem was that Choi Hyuk himself wasn’t much different either. This was true now even though he had regained his cool. Something like a scream rampaged inside him and rocked his karma. It felt like his body wasn’t his own as though he was possessed by a ghost.
‘Ah…’
Thinking about this, Choi Hyuk found the answer.
What was scared wasn’t him.
It was the universe.
The universe itself was seized with fear at the appearance of demise. Choi Hyuk’s karma was of the universe in the end. It rolled and shook along with the scared universe.
Choi Hyuk couldn’t do anything about this universal phenomenon.
‘Flame-Rain’s father slew a monster like this on his own?’
He smiled bitterly as he mumbled,
“Just when are the support troops arriving?”
**
Around the same time.
Lights went on simultaneously at the ‘Brain’, which was located in Alliance City.
The screams of Exalted Wings filled the ‘Brain’.
{A demise! A demise-ranked monster has appeared!}
{There was no hint of it until now!!}
{That’s not the problem! It has appeared in the Laniakea Supercluster, where Army Leader Choi Hyuk and the others are isolated in!}
{If it’s that place… Isn’t that where Exalted Wings Dark-Sound and Leviathan requested support troops?}
{We need to let them know of this situation and cancel support!}
{…}
In the midst of their buzzing voices, it was Dark-Sound who was quiet. He felt like his heart was being sliced into thin pieces.
‘Shiro… So I lose you in the end as well.’
He had believed that he could give up many things for that child, yet… for a demise-ranked monster to appear. That was his limit. If he didn’t cancel sending the support troops, then even they would be annihilated, and if that happened, his grand scheme would be off the table as well. He had longed for this grand scheme his entire life – for revenge. Even if it was Shiro, he couldn’t protect her whilst giving up on his grand scheme.
‘A cruel world until the end…’
While uncertain to whom he should resent, Dark-Sound broke his silence and contacted his support troops.
{A demise-ranked monster has appeared in the Laniakea Supercluster. The 13 Exalted Wings demand the support troops to retreat.}
{Hmm…}
Leviathan groan in grief when he heard Dark-Sound’s message.
The other 11 Exalted Wings waited quietly. Soon, a reply came from the middle of the Brain.
{Is that so?}
{…}
Then there were no more words. To say, ‘Is that so?’ instead of ‘Understood’?
{We demand you retreat! Did you hear us?!}
Flame-Fog shouted in an irritated voice, unable to contain his patience.
Yet, there was no reply.
**
Just then, the demise-ranked monster was about to show its face. Its two shoulders and arms had already come out and were grabbing the universe. The distant stars looked stretched thin like a meteor shower due to how the universe was bending.
Those who wanted to flee had already fled.
Even the monsters fled. They were unconcerned about formations as all things that lived with a fate couldn’t help but run when faced with ‘demise’.
The only ones who remained were the transcendent warriors. They knew better than anyone else that running was useless. They were the only force that could resist it.
“Our goal… is to inflict even a wound the size of a fingernail. We need to make it constantly use up its strength… so that the warriors who come after us will be able to fight it a bit more easily. Leaving even the smallest wound on its body will be evidence that we lived as warriors of the alliance.”
Light-Maze resolved himself, having already given up on his life.
While Choi Hyuk was very displeased with how he assumed they would face defeat, he couldn’t correct him.
Even his fighting senses that had reached their peak after fighting Myeol was of no use. When looking at the demise-ranked monster, all he saw was demise. There was a fundamental difference between them. He couldn’t even guess its weak points, let alone find them.
Kuoaaaaah!!!
The monster’s second roar rang out. It rang more loudly this time as its entire head was extended out from Myeol. The demise-ranked monster didn’t have eyes, ears, or a nose. All he saw were its widely-opened mouth filled with teeth.
“Keuk!”
Kalon, who was the weakest among them, lowered his head. His flowing nosebleed drenched his front.
“Keuuuuh!!”
With his nose bleeding as well, Chu Youngjin bitterly endured it. His eyes were so bloodshot that blood dripped from them.
With just its roar, it was able to damage warriors who had reached the transcendent level.
Seeing them like that, Choi Hyuk silently stepped forward.
His sheath, which he threw, spun as it flew towards the other side of the universe.
“I still have to try.”
Choi Hyuk tightly gripped his sword handle.
He acknowledged that the monster was stronger than him.
He acknowledged that he couldn’t see any openings.
He acknowledged that he could die.
Acknowledging all this, Choi Hyuk stepped forward. The moment he aimed his sword at the now fully extended head, he once again denied everything.
He would break its strength, create an opening, and reject death.
Choi Hyuk’s sword shot towards the demise-ranked monster.
A completely reckless strike.
Yet, a miracle opened up behind his sword.
Kwaoooh!!!
Choi Hyuk’s sword extended towards the monster’s head while erasing space. A gate that looked like it could swallow an entire planet opened up just above it.
It looked like a prosperous sky was opening up behind Choi Hyuk’s back.
The boom that exploded from the gate erased the lingering effects of the monster’s roar.
It was a stronghold enshrouded in delicate flames. The stronghold, which could be called a planet, fell directly towards the monster’s head.
Everything changed at that moment.
Everyone felt it. The fates that had left this great universe had returned on a large-scale. This new inflow of fates awakened the universe.
A fiery shout resounded throughout the universe.
“Look at you all!! Pull yourselves together! Everyone attack!”
It was Flame-Rain’s voice.
The support troops Leviathan had promised Choi Hyuk before the situation changed had arrived.