Episode 167
Kang Tae-min and Yohanna went straight to the headquarters of the Association. Coincidentally, all the strongest people were gathered there.
“I finally got to meet you in person.”
“Thanks to the clone you created, I was able to save many people.”
Ju Tae-ji and Pyo Ji-hoon welcomed Iron Man and Kang Tae-min. However, Hwang Ye-ri and Jung Jun-hyeok were not in a very welcome situation.
The two of them were just standing there with serious expressions on their faces.
“… I don’t all agree with your methods, but I am greatly indebted.”
Bae Seung-ju looked at him for a moment and lowered his head. Taemin Kang didn’t answer.
He didn’t need Bae Seung-ju’s approval.
“It’s amazing that everyone already knows.”
Johanna glanced at Kang Tae-min’s alter ego. He had already delivered the news that the pale moon was a creature.
“I’ll explain it only once, so everyone pay attention.”
Everyone nodded at her words. Johanna explained quickly.
“… You said you came from another world?”
“I wonder if that was the reason I was good at magic.”
The explanation had to include that she was a spirit from another dimension. Only then could he understand that the pale moon was in a vulnerable state.
Surprisingly, everyone accepted it. In fact, it wasn’t even a situation where I couldn’t believe it.
“It doesn’t matter where you are from. So, is there even a sharp tip?”
Hwang Ye-ri asked in a sharp tone. It was because I was nervous as much as I was in a hurry.
“That’s when you literally need a sharp edge.”
Johanna shook her head. At that, everyone expressed their doubts.
“It’s better to see it for yourself than explain it.”
When Yohanna looked away, Kang Tae-min moved. Eventually, as he manifested his ability, he saw metal bodies gathering outside the window.
“This?”
“Huh… .”
Crashed cars, downed streetlights, and steel frames mixed with the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Metal overflowed all over the city, and when they came together, an unexpected spectacle unfolded.
Everyone couldn’t close their mouths.
But that was just the beginning.
“What, what!?”
“What is this!?”
“What is going on!?”
In an instant, there was a commotion outside.
It was because the association hunters who were delivering the news were surprised to see the structure that suddenly appeared.
The aggregated metal quickly formed a shape and rose higher and higher. The structure thus formed was taller than the Society’s headquarters building.
“What the hell is this… .”
“A window, a window!”
While everyone was confused, Ju Taiji raised his voice. Surprised by those words, the others turned their eyes to Johanna and the iron man.
His eyes were filled with questions about whether those words were true.
“Yes.”
The answer came from an iron man.
When Kang Tae-min finished the modeling, the result was revealed.
“I will pierce the moon with this.”
It was a weapon to attack the pale moon. Everyone was surprised by his majesty, but soon his expression darkened.
“But how do I shoot this?”
“I don’t know if I can defeat him with just this… .”
“Rock with eggs. No, isn’t it just hitting rocks with a needle?”
“… Please tell me this is not the end.”
Doubts and disbelief ensued.
However, Yohanna and Kang Tae-min were not taken aback. That kind of reaction was expected.
“It is not the spear that kills the moon.”
“In any case, this is the means to reach the pale moon.”
The secret weapon was different.
Johanna took out a black vial from her bosom and shook it.
“… Sanity?”
The cure for madness, sanity.
Why did that come out now?
“It’s not his body that we have to destroy, it’s his soul.”
Since it is the pale moon that is the source of madness, Sanity will be like deadly poison to him.
That was the answer Taemin Kang came up with.
* * *
“This is true. You keep surprising me.”
Noname’s voice was mixed with laughter. Rex, who was standing behind him, cautiously stepped aside.
“Wouldn’t it be better to stop it?”
A huge window towering in the middle of a city that has collapsed like ruins. Rex had a hunch that it was the last stand they had prepared.
When the pale moon descends completely beyond the dimensional rift, the world collapses. It would guarantee the freedom of Noname, which she followed.
“Rex, I am very happy.”
No Name turned around.
His face was not visible, but his cheerful gestures proved the truth.
“I feel it. A lot of people want to change the world.”
He clenched his fists and trembled.
“Those who have been living as they go and go with the flow are now yearning for life. People who used to watch the world change are now trying to change it!”
“You only realize it when death comes.”
“That’s right! You will only know when destruction is right around the corner. It is to look back on the value of one’s existence and that life should be intense.”
No Name looked back toward the headquarters with a voice full of emotion.
“I still want to make my wish come true. In my heart, I want to join that gap and help, but… . Probably, they won’t welcome me.”
He shrugged. Rex said to him.
“If I try to stop them… .”
“Rex.”
No Name cut her off.
“Do you know why I made you?”
“… I know. Since you gave me life, I have never forgotten you.”
Rex was an artificial soul born from Seed. Just as Pyo Soo-ho and Johanna made Pyo Soo-ho with seeds, No Name created Rex.
“Rex, you were my freedom. It was an alter ego that could harbor wishes on behalf of me who was entangled in inconvenient freedom.”
Rex yearned for the freedom of No Name. Because that was her reason for being.
“I am deeply grateful for your dedication. Without that help, I wouldn’t have come this far.”
She made the decision for No Name’s freedom. It was she, not Head, who gave orders behind the screen.
“Thank you very much for your hard work.”
But now No-Name was regaining freedom. In other words, the need for Rex was disappearing.
“Nevertheless, I am still cheering for your wish to come true.”
Now, she was free.
However, freedom given without any preparation causes fear. Not knowing what to do, she had only one choice.
“May you be completely free.”
Again, to wear the shackles that bound you.
I decided to give up the given freedom and choose inertia, giving up my thoughts and continuing my actions. Unlike the others, she had no one to show her the way.
‘With the descent of the pale moon, he will finally be free.’
As always, Rex decided to devote himself to No Name. I decided to somehow thwart the plans of the strongest.
“Pete, the portal.”
So Rex disappeared with Pete.
Make sure to read from noble mtl dot com
Left alone, No Name burst into laughter.
* * *
People were busy moving in front of the headquarters. Association hunters went around shelters and branches to collect extra Sanity.
The additions made by the Veritas Guild and the Sanity copied by Seol Gyu-jin were also gathered one after another.
“how?”
“Um… No, I don’t think this is either.”
Among them, Pyo Ji-hun, Johanna, and Hwang Ye-rin were gathered in front of the giant spear named ‘Gungnir’, the ultimate weapon made by Kang Tae-min.
Hoping that Pyo Ji-hoon would live up to his name, he named the spear in Norse mythology, Baekbal Baekjung.
“Oh, I’m going crazy. Are you sure that déjà vu?”
Hwang Ye-ri opened her ax eye and said. As for why they are like this.
“The most efficient way to calculate hitting points is Pyo Ji-Hoon’s ability. This is for the best, so be patient.”
Shooting Gungnir toward the pale moon was certain. The problem was its trajectory.
In order to find the optimal trajectory, complex calculations are required, but the simulation was impossible because the electronic devices are currently unavailable.
Therefore, it was decided to grasp the result in advance, although it is incomplete with Pyo Ji-hoon’s ability, ‘Déjà vu’.
“Sigh… It is more difficult to change little by little than to change suddenly.”
“Once the trajectory is confirmed, you can rest, so be patient.”
No matter how strong Taemin was, there was a limit to moving an object of this size.
For this, Hwang Ye-ri’s ability, ‘Ricochet Lock-On’, needed help. It was because the projectiles in the trajectory she set had an acceleration effect.
Although Gungnir is large, it belongs to projectiles, so it was able to receive the effect of its ability.
“Hmm, I don’t think this is either. Rather, it worked best the first time.”
“… You want to fight now?”
“I never intended to… Well?”
For a moment, Pyo Ji-hoon frowned.
“what’s the matter?”
“no… what? The pale moon suddenly got bigger?”
Pyo Ji-hoon opened his closed eyes. Johanna and Hwang Ye-ri also looked up at the pale moon.
During the work, Bae Seung-joo was constantly manifesting his abilities, so the mental protection effect was being applied.
“… Are you real?”
“Has your speed increased?”
It was rather difficult to deal with when the pale moon completely came out of the dimensional gap.
It was because Kang Tae-min’s plan was to use Sanity to disintegrate the soul of the pale moon, and make it a dimensional lost child by getting swept away in a dimensional rift.
“What is going on?”
Kang Tae-min, who was checking the sanity, felt something unusual and approached. Instead of answering, Johanna quickly looked away.
“… There he is!”
She pointed in one direction. It was the result of chasing a foreign sensation that suddenly felt.
‘Similar feeling to Pyo Soo-ho… !’
It was Rex, a white-haired woman, who was captured by her with eyes that see souls. On a building far away, at least in good condition, she stretched out her hands toward the pale moon.
Hwang Ye-ri, who had a good eye, found her afterwards.
“It should be dealt with!”
It was the reaction speed of a professional mercenary.
She manifested her ability in an instant, set a trajectory for Rex and fired her mana rifle. The magic bullet, which flew in an instant, seemed to have successfully reached its destination.
“What… ?”
For a moment, Rex’s body seemed to blur, and Mattan disappeared into the air.
‘Is it an acceleration-type ability!?’
It was clear that he was helping the pale moon with that ability. Taemin Kang immediately moved and said.
“Continue the work.”
At this point, there was only one person who could stand in their way.
“Be careful, you never know where Pete will appear.”
Nobody.
Among them, there was no doubt that he was the last member. Taemin Kang flew towards Rex.
‘How fast can it accelerate?’
He quickly formed a metal blade and sent it flying. Rex didn’t move as if he had been frozen by the blades rushing in from all directions.
‘… Again.’
Before the metal blade touched her, her body blurred again, and the blade was hollowed into the floor.
‘First of all, interfering with the use of abilities is an urgent priority.’
Upon landing, Kang Tae-min formed an alter ego and tried to surround her. But I couldn’t.
‘… What is this?’
In an instant, the alter egos became scrap metal and collapsed, and among them, afterimages of Rex appeared everywhere.
It was as if someone was fast-winding around her.
However, there was something more strange than that.
‘Is time passing slowly?’
Everything except him and Rex were moving slowly.
* * *
Rex took a short breath.
‘Caught.’
As soon as Kang Tae-min approached, she activated the barrier area. Having already been aware of his danger, he made the best move from the start.
‘With this he can’t do anything.’
Rex was able to speed up time in a specific area within the barrier area.
But time is relative.
She set the time distribution of the area around Kang Tae-min and the area where she is located differently.
The difference in speed between the two areas is 600 times. One second for Kang Tae-min was like 10 minutes for Rex.
‘No matter what attack, I have enough response time.’
Thanks to this, I was able to deal with it comfortably even when the alter ego appeared. Kang Tae-min would think that he created an alter ego at once, but it was because it took 10 minutes in her domain.
That amount of time was enough to turn the alter ego’s time quickly and turn it into scrap metal.
‘I can’t remove it, but I can set aside time.’
Her purpose was not to eliminate Kang Tae-min. The first priority is to make the descent of the pale moon succeed.
So, she created a kind of time prison.
‘They alone won’t be able to remove the pale moon.’
Moreover, she was not alone in coming here.
‘Because it even has Pete.’