Etranger

“Bingo! That’s exactly right! So nice of you to do exactly as we wish!”

Tuk turned her head towards the sound. In the distance, she saw a smiling Biyeon.

That image was to become the last thing she saw in her two hundred years of life in this world.

Bang- Boom- Boom- Boom- Boom- Boom- Boom- Boom -

Eight weapons of destruction were simultaneously fired from eight different directions towards the sky where Tuk went up.

Tuk’s body was pulverized and scattered in all directions, leaving no trace.

It was the very simple power of the ultimate mass-killing bomb, the modern Earth’s Claymore recreated in this world.

“Today…” Biyeon said. 

“… we ended it fairly economically,” San concluded.

Confrontation – Chapter 1

Dam!

Tuk!

The ground was split. A storm blew in. A beautiful tree was uprooted, and a boom burst out from the forest. All the living things surrounding the area were trembling in their nest with bated breath and their ears and eyes shut tight.

Below the cemetery in Syrid Square, on the outskirts of Porato City, a huge gust of wind blew. In the dark sky, the rain started falling with the sound of thunder.

The surprised mercenaries who were stationed at the square stared up at the sky at a loss for words.

“What the hell is going on?” a mercenary member said, lying flat on the still shaking ground. He looked up at the sky with fear.

“Is a god angry?”

“Ack! I think I’m going to go deaf!”

A colleague next to him cried out in pain. Many of Porato’s citizens returned home early that night and closed their doors shut.

In the temple, the prayers of the priests were getting louder.

“Have you calmed down a bit now?”

Nakun was looking at Siluone. Siluone was still crying in pain.

A five-kilometer radius area outside her nest was completely devastated as the sudden storm swept through it.

Nakun had never seen Siluone so angry. Nakun himself could not believe the outcome of the battle.

“Only… only to two humans! Combat sages!”

Siluone was a powerful being who personally possessed two of only thirty total combat sages in the entire world. Now, just like her crying scream, the two combat sages had disappeared into the ether.

One of the combat sages was completely defeated in close combat, which he was most confident and proficient in, and the other was caught in a crude trap without leaving a single trace of her existence.

Siluone still couldn’t fully understand the situation.

“They are devious and cunning human beings! They deceived us.”

“No, you knew that they had something up their sleeve, right? The problem is that it was far out of your predicted range,” Nakun murmured as he too exhaled deeply.

“It wasn’t even close to the data we collected. They even played around with our ability to measure directly from their bodies. What the hell… how is this possible?”

“Show me the battle again. From the 6th Stage of Acceleration. I have to check this out again.”

Siluone reproduced the battle without saying another word. Her mighty energy writhed once more.

It was torturous to see her sages, essentially her children, disappear again. Especially now, after she mutated, she had obtained a sense called emotion…

“Now… overlap the woman’s physical readings at the same time as the man’s when he was in battle.”

Biyeon’s data, which was constructed into a three-dimensional form, was superimposed on San’s.

“Now, try to tie together the changes in men and women’s consciousness as relayed by the data collected by the gods. Also, show me the real-time condition of Dam and Tuk as the battle goes on.”

“…”

“Alright. Come out and show me. Show me what the hell just happened,” Nakun muttered as he focused on the deluge of data.

The battle went on. It was a short time. However, Siluone’s eyes seemed to be sharpening with fury with every passing second.

“Oh no…”

Siluone let out a groan.

The woman showed her willingness to intervene in various parts of the battle. The data the gods collected, which was relaying Biyeon’s thoughts, was directly fed to Siluone in real-time.

However, there was clearly a constant disturbance affecting the data feed. Furthermore, there was excess, useless information, in other words, a data dump. Dam and Tuk were missing the crucial timing to attack or defend due to their deciphering limitations.

Furthermore, at that time, Siluone herself had lost her concentration because she was gathering and trying to process massive amounts of data. Eventually, her clever Dam started ignoring the information and orders Siluone was sending him.

Towards the end of the battle when they were in the 6th Stage of Acceleration…

The woman and man’s aura perfectly matched up. Siluone gulped. The information showed a perfect overlap with no time difference.

Siluone had mistaken the incoming data and signal as the power of a single man. Thus, she misjudged the situation. Using the data she collected, Siluone had improperly instructed Dam to enter the 7th Stage of Acceleration and fight an unreasonable, uphill battle.

As a result, Dam’s fate was on the brink of catastrophe.

Once they entered the 7th Stage of Acceleration…

Dam had no time to consider anything else. He was thoroughly overwhelmed. However, the human man was reducing his power output. The human woman’s power was being added to the man’s… and time passed like that. The woman continued to move around the outskirts of the battlefield.

Multidimensional intentions and messages were constantly overlapping. The gods had read the strategy in the woman’s mind and sent a deluge of warnings about it.

But… at that moment, no one was listening!

Then, the woman actually moved. Biyeon had engaged into the fray. Siluone hesitated to make a decision.

She missed her timing to engage Tuk. Thus, Tuk moved late. Everything was coming to an end.

“This is… this is a foul!”

Nakun and Siluone remained silent for a long time. Something was swarming in their chests. It was the anger of those who experienced the dirty trickery and deadly method of information warfare.

A mournful scream erupted in both of their minds as they finally understood how utterly foolish they had been.

“It’s disappointing. Information and data from the gods became a poison. At that level, the gods’ data and information only instigated greater confusion. Ah! This is really crazy. What should I do with them!”

Siluone ground her teeth.

“Stop sending in any more combat sages. It makes no sense. Hand this over to Satan,” Nakun stated solemnly.

“What do you mean?” Siluone growled.

“Can’t you see? You’ll need at least three combat sages to catch them. Even if three are put in, up to two must be sacrificed. Is it really that urgent to catch them now? There are now only 28 combat sages left. The number of five skilled units that will be completed in five years is not enough! No more power loss. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

“…”

“Furthermore, I don’t fully understand the skills they showed just now. Furthermore, I don’t trust what they showed. It seems like they’re having a grand time plastering poison everywhere, don’t you think?”

“No! I’ve already grasped the principle and application of their skills. Are you doubting my abilities?”

“Well, even if you recreate it a hundred times, those skills will become useless. Do you dare use their skills against them? You already know that known skills all have a weakness, right?”

“…”

“And, if I'm right…”

Nakun raised his head and looked at Siluone’s projected image. Siluone’s three-dimensional hologram sat proudly in the form of a mature woman. 

Nakun continued, “You’re going to have to worry about your own defense.”

“What? That’s… that’s… a joke, right? Are you worried about me after I lost two children?”

Siluone’s hologram grabbed her waist and chuckled. What Nakun said wasn’t a joke, but right now for Siluone, the meaning of his words was funnier than a joke. When it comes to defense, the body of a dragon was such that even Original Beings, including the Fallen, had to think twice before confronting.

Dragons were the beings who maintained the balance of the world. The magic dragon especially was an all-weather biomechanical complex that had evolved and upgraded constantly, enduring any challenge and harsh environment thrown at it for tens of millions of years.

Among the dragons, Magic Dragon Siluone was one who attained the highest degree of perfect development and upgrades for nearly ten thousand years.

“I’m not joking. I’m seriously advising you. These guys showed their skills. Besides, they mercilessly annihilated two sages. Do you think those clever bastards would do this without understanding where they stood?”

“You think they’re provoking me on purpose?”

“I have no idea. I can’t believe anything anymore. However, there’s nothing bad about preparing for the worst.”

“Thanks for the advice. Do you know what bombs I planted on them?”

“Didn’t you say Nectar?”

“Yes, a specially modified Nectar.”

“How much variation?”

“Around 90%.” 

“With that much variation…”

***

San and Biyeon were resting. San was lying on the extra bed, and Biyeon was guarding his bedside. Biyeon had moved San to a safe place.

They were at the base they had set up in advance for reconnaissance. There were guards standing around.

In a small oasis area, where groundwater sprang up, one could see small, thick shrubs and desert plants growing quite luxuriously around the base.

“How is it?”

“Around subtracting one from the worst. Was it necessary to go that far? There was an easier way,” Biyeon replied bitterly with a slightly annoyed voice.

“It’s been a long time, so I wanted to test the limit. Enough to drive me crazy.”

San gazed at the ceiling. 

Biyeon felt that San’s speech lacked energy.

“What…?”

Biyeon was about to say something, but then closed her mouth.

“Will you give me some Nectar?”

“Are you sure you want to drink it?”

“Do we have that much time? If you decide to commit this far, we’ll have to see it to the end.”

San laughed bitterly. Biyeon handed San a bottle without saying another word.

“You’ll protect me, right?”

San held Biyeon’s hand tightly. Biyeon nodded her head instead of answering. San drank the Nectar. He slowly closed his eyes and waited for a response.

He was a little nervous, so his neck was trembling. He started to speak in a flat voice, as if he was reading a monologue, “We are going to see this through together. Don’t think otherwise.”

“…”

“I don’t know what you’re so concerned about, but I haven’t seen a problem solved through concern,” San added. 

Biyeon’s fingertips trembled a little. San grimaced.

This time, the recuperating process would hurt quite a bit. 

All his bones were broken, and his intestines and circulatory system were almost destroyed from internal bleeding and stress.

It appeared some parts were intentionally broken or disconnected. Biyeon’s eyes began to fill with tears.

San gradually increased his body’s Acceleration. The healing effect was greatest when the Nectar permeated his body at the 3rd Stage of Acceleration.

The downside was that the pain was excruciatingly great after overcoming the hallucination effects of the Nectar. However, San continued to mumble, “Nectar… I don’t like you. Anyway, let’s have some fun…”

Another war broke out. This time, it was within his own body. It was their war, and it was still ongoing.

San’s eyelids twitched. The temptation of pain and pleasure ebbed and flowed. Sometimes, both sensations came at the same time. Whenever that happened, it became more painful.

It was so easy to avoid the pain… one just had to give up on being human…

Biyeon took out her handkerchief and wiped San’s forehead. She glances at the handkerchief. It was stained red. It wasn’t sweat. It felt like oil. Its sweet, stimulating scent seemed to beckon her heart.