Chapter 348. Inhabitants (3)

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‘… Damn.’

-Rumble-

N-Maria felt the faint vibrations through the walls of the corridor inside the armored vehicle.

This vehicle was heading towards a certain direction.

Towards the Main Research Center: the origin of all these traitorous robots.

They had made this decision after listening to the man’s words.

‘I’m still not sure if this is a good idea.’

N-Maria had just settled the intruders into their rooms and was just on the way back to her own room.

She frowned as she thought back to the scene when the foot soldiers had tracked them down.

— Since I’m the reason this happened, I’ll deal with it.

…

The man who called himself Kang Hansoo walked out, looking at the screen that was showing scenes from the outside.

With just a hammer in his head.

She had scoffed at him for walking out with an ancient weapon, one that even they wouldn’t be able to find in their museums, to fight against thousands of Melchizedek’s forces.

But her smile soon froze.

She’d witnessed the battle between him and Melchizedek’s army.

“…”

N-Maria shook her head and pinched the air.

To replay that earlier scene.

-Tiriririk-

A translucent panel appeared in the air and started to replay the video of the fight below.

-Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!-

-Rumble!-

-Clank-

With every swipe of his hand, he threw hundreds of robots away.

With every swing of his hammer, he destroyed Melchizedek’s powerful elite soldiers.

N-Maria continued to stare at the man who wielded lightning and flames to single-handedly destroy the entire army.

This was the fourth time.

She had replayed it four times on the way back, but it was still hard to believe.

“Ugh…”

‘Is that even something a single being can achieve?’

That strength would be hard to find, even back on their original planet.

Even more so if it was achieved without the backing of technology or civilization.

The M-waves emitted by their soldiers was used to control weapons, not to actually destroy things like this.

‘No, there might be something in the military that can rival him.’

She thought of the battleships from Angkara but soon shook her head.

Of course, she had to admit what she had to.

The man was disgustingly powerful.

In their current armyless situation, this man’s strength would be of extreme help.

So the offer the man had made to them was truly enticing.

— I will help you, and you will help me. Help me take over the Main Research Center. You guys can have full control of it afterward.

To have control over the Main Research Center.

An alluring offer.

The giant train-shaped Main Research Center wasn’t simply a research center.

All the robots that had attacked and chased them down had all been created from the Plant attached to the research center.

Most of the topics researched on Angkara were about the robots used for battle, and these had to be tested for their efficiency and strength.

Of course, it wasn’t as good as the Armory attached to the newest research centers, but it was still something.

‘If we can acquire that… It’ll be of great help.’

This man had probably asked them for this very reason as well.

Since the man wouldn’t have the abilities required to control the research center.

N-Maria consoled herself.

‘Yeah, it was a good decision.’

One needed a certain amount of power in a chaotic situation such as this.

Just like what had happened to them when they were up against Melchizedek’s forces.

If they could obtain the research center, then it would be of tremendous help to them.

‘I must go back.’

She could not die on top of a filthy beast such as this.

N-Maria continued to mumble to herself as she looked towards the giant planet that was her home, Angkara.

At that moment, sounds of footsteps could be heard from the end of the corridor.

‘Who?’

N-Maria tensed up and reached for her waist.

This corridor was the path leading to her personal room.

Normally, there shouldn’t be anybody else taking this path.

But N-Maria soon sighed in relief and dropped her hand.

“N-Martin? What’s the issue? I don’t plan on reprimanding you for what just happened, so just go back. Nobody can beat a monster like that.”

The only soldier within the armored vehicle.

Almost everybody liked this man because of his kind attitude and laid-back personality.

That was why his main duty was to just protect them.

Although he had indeed failed his job earlier, she wasn’t planning to pursue it further.

Even if they had a small army to protect them, that monster of a man would’ve made his way through to her.

‘Is this because of those newcomers?’

That was possible.

It was her job to listen to her team’s issues and to find a solution to their problems.

But as N-Maria was about to speak up with a smile.

N-Martin started cursing from the end of the corridor.

“You crazy b*tch. You actually put the repulsion coating on those aliens? That’s treason.”

“Huh…?”

He wasn’t smiling.

N-Maria stared at N-Martin’s cold expression, her own face darkening as well.

Though they were both N-levels, there was a difference of status.

“I can’t just ignore that, and you’d better watch your words. You and I have a difference in status.”

“Status? Haha…”

N-Martin glared at N-Maria and clenched his teeth.

“You b*tch, you still haven’t realized it yet?”

N-Maria started to feel uneasy.

Their planet, Angkara, was a planet of warriors.

Usually, the hierarchy was well-maintained, and they divided everybody’s statuses accordingly. But there was were certain situations when that could change.

Something that she, coming from the Tetnorat branch of the family, could not flip.

“Wait…”

“Yeah. This place is now under the direct control of the Kalkuroun Fleet. I will be the commanding officer from this point on.”

This was an absolute order.

Nobody from the Neropa Union could go against this order.

N-Martin showed a line of red words on his panel and announced:

“For now, I’ll let you maintain your authority here. Let’s just continue like this.”

‘If the person in command were to suddenly change, they would suspect something.’

The red words read out:

[Main fleet on the way. Maintain current status and await our arrival].

‘Barbarians.’

N-Martin mumbled to himself as he thought of the two intruders.

The fleet of flames was on the way.

The powerful fleet that burned up planets and sliced moons apart.

Once it arrives then this aberration of a beast, as well as every bug on top of it, would be annihilated.

The strength of the union was not to be messed with.

But of course, he couldn’t just sit around until then.

It would go against the standards of the union’s army.

— A soldier must live up to their role. If you have no limbs, then bite them. If you have no teeth, then use your gums. Live for your people, die for your people.

He, a soldier, could not just wait until the fleet arrived.

‘Things won’t work the way you want.’

N-Martin smiled as he thought of the two people who would be receiving the repulsion coating at this moment.

***

-Kiiiiing-

A research room within the giant armored vehicle.

Lights flashed within the giant vacuum flask as something was being assembled within it.

-Chiiijijiik-

The fine powders assembled were sucked into two tubes attached to the flask.

-Chijijik-

‘Good.’

Hansoo nodded as he looked at the nanoparticles they applied to his body.

Nanoparticles so tiny that he could barely even feel them on his skin.

But this thin coating was able to withstand any attack from the main planet Angkara.

It couldn’t block a concentrated attack or a high-level weapon, but there was no chance that’d be attacked by such things, so this was good enough for now.

-Chijijik-

The B-level female who handled the coating spoke to Hansoo.

“It will last for about two weeks. After that, the durability of the nanoparticles will cause them to start disintegrating. We’ll reapply it when that happens, so don’t worry so much.”

‘Two weeks, huh?’

Hansoo chuckled inwardly.

He knew that they could make these nanoparticles last forever as long they weren’t physically destroyed.

But he also knew why they were making it last for two weeks. In the end, he decided not to question it.

‘They’re probably holding onto it, so we don’t betray them.’

If he could settle their differences with just this, then it wasn’t that bad.

Though it was still a little annoying.

“I’m done. Wow… So this is what it feels like.”

Kiriel was extremely excited when they finished her coating.

‘Hansoo is still receiving it…’

Although she was tall for a woman, she had ended much earlier because she was still much smaller in comparison to Hansoo.

The most important parts had been covered already.

Heart, head, and spine.

Kiriel was shocked as she looked at Hansoo’s body where the coating was now going over his back, stomach and his limbs.

‘Mmm…’

Though the injuries were healing at a rapid pace, he still had countless numbers of them.

She grew curious.

As to the number of hidden injuries Hansoo had beneath the regenerating flesh.

‘… If he didn’t have his regenerative capabilities, then he’d be dead by now.’

Kiriel thought back to when Hansoo’s entire body had burned up and frowned.

But she maintained her smile so Hansoo wouldn’t know of her worries.

“So this is just like a tour until we reach the research center, right?”

Kiriel laughed as she looked around the room.

Of course, she and Hansoo would have to fight the moment they arrived.

Maybe even put their lives on the line.

But they could rest until then.

‘Prolonging the tension isn’t good.’

Actually, they had seen a place where they could rest on their way here.

A place that looked like it was meant for researchers to rest after going through prolonged periods of research.

It wasn’t good to relax too much, but taking a small break in preparation for the next battle had its advantages.

‘Good. Good.’

“Hey Hansoo, what food do you like the mos…”

Kiriel asked, deciding to treat this as a date, but…

-Beep! Beeeeep!-

“Huh?”

The person in charge of the coating suddenly looked at the machine in confusion.

‘What’s going on?’

-Kiiiing-

Red lights shone from the repulsion coating system, and the machine stopped moving even though it hadn’t completed the application.

-Chiiiii-

“Ah… We haven’t finished it!”

“It won’t finish anyway, right?”

Hansoo smiled as he looked at the coating on his body that was peeling away.

‘This world… This is what I like about it.’

Everyone had made fun of him.

Saying that he might become lazy after going back into the past.

Some said that he was definitely going to become lazy when he returned to the past. After fighting against the races of the Abyss for so long, he’d be dealing with weaklings instead.

Some even pleaded for him to remember that they were fighting with their lives on the line, and told him to hurry his way up.

To limit his sightseeing.

But it seemed like there was no need for him to worry.

This world didn’t give him a second to take a break.

‘I wonder who it could be?’

Of course, he had a person in mind.

The soldier who had stared at him in disgust.

But wouldn’t that be too obvious?

Hansoo smiled coldly as he looked between the giant train on the panel and the small area he was standing on.

Seems to be a branch of family maybe.