Black Badger

But Yehyeon couldn’t answer their gazes. The sonic attack of the Creature known as the “Angel” slammed into their ears.

Ah ah ah ah ah!

He lowered his head and twisted his face.

BOOOOM!

A heavy shockwave swept across the ground. Along with the sand came the screams of Creatures. Monsters that had been released into the wasteland without a handler did not distinguish between friend and foe.

And so, many Creatures burst apart and died from the Angel’s cry.

A welcome development, but—

Blood streamed steadily from Yehyeon’s ears.

Blood was also flowing from the ears of the juniors. Of course, it would heal soon. No one bothered to raise a hand to wipe it away.

The trench was silver.

It had been created by combining Ricardo’s morphing weapon and Yehyeon’s morphing weapon.

Because they had to cover all directions, a single person’s morphing weapon would not have been enough. But merging one person’s morphing weapon with another’s was always extremely tricky.

It’s better if I stack on top.

Since Yehyeon was slightly more skilled, Ricardo built the lower part of the trench while Yehyeon placed his weapon over it like a lid.

Thus, an emergency temporary base for four adult men was completed in haste.

“What happened to Hildebert?”

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

Even while firing through the gaps in the trench, Jonathan Kudo threw the question over.

Yehyeon gritted his teeth and quickly changed magazines.

His hands moved according to the method engraved into his body. Afterward, he shoved the muzzle through the opening in the base.

At this rate, their ammunition would run out in ten minutes at most.

Comparing the time their bullets would run dry with the arrival time of the requested air support, Yehyeon answered.

“Sorry. I don’t know either.”

“Just now—”

“Kudo, focus on the fight first!”

“Do you feel the heat?”

Ricardo spoke.

Yes. Yehyeon had already noticed it. The trench would not last much longer. The greatest weakness of morphing weapons was extreme temperatures. Too hot or too cold. If those two states repeated, there would be no way to deal with it.

Right now, it was getting too hot.

There seemed to be a heat-emitting Creature nearby.

The smell of burning protein filled the air.

“We can’t stay here long.”

Ju’s voice came from behind Yehyeon.

Yehyeon quietly agreed.

If they stayed like this, they would boil alive.

“Prepare to move out.”

Ideally they would leave after the air support arrived, but—

If they burst out two minutes from now, their bodies would already be overheated, making it impossible to fight properly or escape.

In fact, the wall between Yehyeon and Ricardo had already begun to melt.

From the point where the weapon melted, tremendous heat transmitted through.

“In three seconds we break through the door on the Personnel Director’s side.”

Three.

Two.

“One.”

BOOOOM!

Sound flooded in.

The moment they burst out of the silver trench, deafening noise, scorching heat, and a horrible smell rushed at them. The instant they left the melted trench, the Creatures bared their teeth and charged.

Individually, each one was manageable.

But there were too many.

The reason they didn’t get pushed back into the collapsing trench was because Ju, who had leapt out first, carved them a path.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

The bullets struck Creatures without waste, opening a path.

“Your skills haven’t dulled.”

Ju took the front.

The two junior members were in the middle.

Yehyeon brought up the rear.

They advanced while stepping over the bodies of Creatures Ju had cleared with his gun. Even without Yehyeon telling him where to go, the Personnel Director read the flow within the swarm of Creatures with astonishing accuracy.

Thanks to that, even as they were being bitten and torn from every direction, they avoided being crushed to death by the swarm.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

Blood, chunks of flesh, and sand splattered.

Their own blood and flesh splattered as well. Muscles tore. Blood vessels snapped. Skin burned away.

In the middle of all that, Jonathan’s ammunition ran out. But there was no room for Jonathan Kudo to swing his sword. Jonathan’s blade was thinner than Hildebert’s, but its length was almost the same.

If he swung it normally, he would hit Ju in front or Ricardo behind.

So Jonathan switched to a dagger, though it was obvious he couldn’t demonstrate the same skill as with his longsword.

Ricardo’s ammunition ran out just then as well.

Yehyeon stabbed a Creature biting his calf with his dagger and kicked it away, then pulled a blood injection from his thigh.

He drove it straight into Ricardo’s neck.

Thunk!

The junior flinched but didn’t turn around.

Ahead, Ju split a flying Creature charging at Jonathan clean in two with his sword.

He wanted to watch the people ahead as well, but there was no time.

Crunch!

“Where’s the air support~?”

As he grabbed the neck of a Creature that flew in from somewhere and bit into his shoulder and hurled it away, a junior asked.

Their speed was slowing more and more.

Yehyeon replied while throwing the Creature like a bullet.

“One minute.”

“Ah... this isn’t easy...”

That was true.

The situation was bad. Humans died easily. Humans with enhanced bodies did not die easily, but even they died if they received fatal wounds. The problem was that their bodies’ healing speed could no longer keep up with the rate at which they were being injured.

If they stayed here any longer, they would become corpses too.

There were simply too many.

To face this number, they would need at least twenty outstanding Badgers.

And that assumed their ammunition would never run out. In the current situation, that was impossible.

If air support arrived, the story would change, but—

Ju, the one breaking through the front, was probably in the worst condition.

If someone collapsed, it would be either the front or the rear first—

Thud!

A strange sound rang out.

Smack!

A Creature falling from the sky crushed the Creature that had been about to bite Jonathan’s neck.

Yehyeon and Ricardo blinked simultaneously.

They widened their eyes and looked toward where the swarm ended.

Thud!

Three or four Creatures flew up into the air again.

It looked as though someone had shoved Creatures into a cannon barrel and fired them skyward. Creatures launched like shells. The airborne Creatures traced arcs through the sky and crashed down onto the Creatures near them.

Smack! Smack!

Thud!

Another Creature shell shot upward.

Yehyeon knew the name of the person who used such an absurd fighting method.

There was no way he wouldn’t.

Because there was only one such person among the Black Badgers.

“Will!”

Ju’s bright shout rang out.

“Seriously, you always show up like the main character!”

BAM!

Another Creature flew in an arc and crushed the Creatures near Ju.

At the same time, the sound of propellers began to echo from the sky.

Air support.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

Looks like we’ll avoid annihilation.

Relieved, Yehyeon exhaled deeply and stabbed another blood injection into Ricardo’s neck.

The junior who was stabbing a wild dog–type Creature clinging to Jonathan’s shoulder with a dagger sounded slightly irritated.

“I’ll take care of it myself...”

If it had been anyone else, he probably would have snapped outright.

Since it was obvious he was holding back his temper, Yehyeon smiled faintly.

For a moment he felt the urge to tease the junior who seemed particularly uncomfortable around him, but he restrained himself.

Ricardo Sordi was not the only Black Badger who felt uneasy around someone with his rank.

Bobby Winter was the same, and there were several people who started backing away the moment they saw him. So Yehyeon didn’t find the green-eyed junior who was wary of him particularly uncomfortable compared to the others.

However, this junior seemed especially awkward with him compared to other seniors, so it was best to be considerate.

Yehyeon stabbed the last remaining blood injection into his own wrist.

Then he began issuing instructions through the communicator to the combat drone pilot.

***

Seunghyun ended the phone call and drew his dagger.

Up to that moment, I still hadn’t fully regained my senses.

The hyperventilation had subsided, but for some reason my mind was still foggy.

It was probably because decades of emptiness had come crashing down all at once.

I didn’t even stand up. I remained sitting on the floor.

I noticed that more and more people were gathering, but I couldn’t recognize exactly who had arrived.

I didn’t have the mental capacity for that.

The only thought I could barely manage was that I should cut my hair.

After all, only my final confrontation with Kyle remained.

I should cut it before I go.

I want to face Kyle with the same appearance as during the last battle.

I don’t particularly care about my hair, but I still remembered Kyle widening his eyes in surprise when he saw how short it had become.

And how that surprise quickly turned into anger.

He must have thought the cut hair was some declaration of intent.

Back then it wasn’t anything like that.

I had simply grown tired of washing long hair.

At some point it became unbearable that I had to dry long hair while standing on humanity’s side and waging war against my own kind.

So I cut it.

That was all.

Back then.

But now it ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ was indeed a kind of declaration of will.

I felt that unless I went through some kind of ritual like cutting it off, I wouldn’t be able to face him without collapsing.

Honestly, I wish you would give up your revenge.

I thought as I looked at my white hair entering my field of vision.

I know that’s terribly selfish.

No one would try to hunt the kin outside the Core immediately anymore.

And even if someone did, I could stop them for a while.

If you just give up revenge, everyone might be able to live peacefully for a while.

I knew very well how cruel a request that was for Kyle.

But at least I should be allowed to be cruel to you.

After all, you were cruel to me too when you woke again from the sleep of death.

I actually—

“Commander!”

My thoughts were shattered by Igor’s sharp voice.

“Put that knife away!”

“No.”

I understood why my subordinates, including Igor, had become tense.

They were trying to push through the humans and come toward me.

There really are a lot of humans here.

I thought blankly and stopped them from approaching.

“I asked him to cut my hair. There’s no need to be surprised.”

“Seunghyun.”

Yekaterina’s voice echoed as well.

“Drive it in deeper.”

The chill radiating from the dagger touched the back of my neck.

Seunghyun had grabbed a handful of my hair to cut it and brought the blade to my neck.

At that moment, Yekaterina’s command froze the surroundings.

When my nape was completely exposed before the blade in Seunghyun’s hand—

If the owner of that neck had not been me, blood would already have been pouring from the carotid artery.

Seunghyun was highly skilled and absolutely obedient to Yekaterina’s orders.

A professional anyone would envy.

But I didn’t feel the burning pain that usually came with being cut by a blade.

“Yekaterina?”

Seunghyun called his superior’s name in a strained voice.

Surprisingly, there was hesitation in his voice.

“Seunghyun.”

Yekaterina had also sensed the hesitation.

“This is our only chance.”

“You ungrateful bastard.”

Igor muttered gloomily.

Whoosh!

The sound of a blade slicing through the air rang out.

I watched as my subordinate instantly drew his sword and placed it against Yekaterina’s neck.

At the same time, the humans gathered around her pulled out their guns and aimed them at Igor, Yoow, and Rose.

So that’s why there were so many people.

My blurry awareness slowly sharpened.

Only then did I fully grasp the situation.

Colton was dead.

Jaeyeon had entered Erich Erhart’s jewel box.

The ticking atomic bomb at the mansion had been dealt with.

Which meant only two things remained.

The empty throne.

And the two Elders ready to sit upon it.

I intended to place Erich Erhart on that throne.

Yekaterina must have known that.

“The throne isn’t the problem.”

As if she had read my thoughts, the woman said calmly, even with Igor’s blade at her throat.

“The problem is that the one sitting there can be decided solely by that man.”

“You sound just like the Ice Empress.”

I let out a hollow laugh as old memories resurfaced.

“She said something very similar to me.”

“Because it’s true.”

The woman with the cold expression replied.

“I wasn’t personally close with the Ice Empress, but I respected her for a long time. I agreed with her convictions and tried to learn the way she acted. I didn’t manage to master all of it, though.”

“Kai really did have a strange talent for judging people.”

“If you stab the Commander’s neck, it won’t mean you get the throne.”

I murmured idly to myself while Yoow spoke to Yekaterina in a dark tone instead.

He held poisoned spikes in both hands.

“The moment that man’s sword pierces the Commander’s neck, our blade will pierce yours as well. So stop being greedy and withdraw that stupid order. You need to be alive to sit on a throne.”

“You misunderstand.”

Yekaterina said calmly.

“It seems Prometheus understood immediately. This is not about the throne.”

“That damned freedom! Are you insane?! Do you think Hildebert is the kind of man who would rule with tyranny?!”

Yoow exploded in anger, but the woman remained composed.

“Perhaps you forgot. Until the First War began, the one who killed the most humans was Hildebert Taleb.”

Yoow raged, but the woman remained calm.

I watched the scene without feeling much of anything.

I wasn’t particularly angry.

In fact, I could understand Yekaterina’s reasoning.

How could I not understand?

Hadn’t the Ice Empress explained it perfectly in her final moments?

“You expect us to live under your mercy? Like those miserable Greeks who placed the Olympian gods above the sky?”

“You’re willing to die just to remove us?”

Yoow sneered.

“I didn’t realize you had such noble convictions.”

“Everyone who climbs this far has something unusual about them. Blind lust for power alone isn’t enough to remain in position for long.”

Of course.

After hearing Yekaterina’s explanation again, I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

Then I rolled my eyes and looked toward the person sitting on something like a second-floor railing.

Don’t.

When I mouthed the words, Shashinsky—who had been aiming his gun at Lee Seunghyun—flinched slightly.

Understandably so.

But I had already known that a moment like this would come.

In fact, I was almost grateful that it had arrived so quickly and in such a clear form.

After confirming that my intention had been delivered precisely to Erich Erhart’s side, I smiled faintly.

Then I turned my gaze back to Yekaterina, her many subordinates, and my precious followers facing them.

The woman’s cold gaze remained fixed on Lee Seunghyun.

Frozen since the command had been given.

The one who had served as Yekaterina’s right hand for so long—

“Seunghyun.”

Yekaterina called his name again.

“Those are orders. Cut off his head.”

Seunghyun’s hand trembled faintly.