Chapter 367. The Buried Natives (4)

“Dammit…! Block her!”

R-Zairon Nell screamed, freaking out.

They became stronger when they ate crystals.

They didn’t know how much stronger she’d become after eating that.

But the Dragon God Soldiers all hesitated.

‘Damned bastards…’

R-Zairon Nell gritted his teeth.

He knew what they were thinking.

There wasn’t much time left until the transmission was complete.

They could win by just standing their ground; there was no point fighting her if they didn’t need to.

It would be a great loss if they got hurt after charging in recklessly.

‘And… Just how much stronger can she become anyway?’

Thought one of the Dragon God Soldiers.

They knew that those aliens grew stronger when they ate the crystals.

N-Aroel had told them, and they had seen it.

If Kiriel hadn’t continued to eat the crystals and gotten stronger, they wouldn’t have been able to get to this point either.

So they didn’t feel the need to attack.

Even if she ate that crystal, they could easily hold their ground.

And as they held their formation, Kiriel smiled and absorbed the crystal.

-Ssss-

-Rumble-

Something deep inside her twisted around and started to rise.

Unlike the minute changes up until now, this was on a grander scale.

-Crackle-

Walls broke down around her as lightning exploded and the space shook.

Just from a simple change.

Of course, if there were this much change outside the body, the insides wouldn’t stay the same either.

‘Ahhh… This is it!’

Kiriel felt the overflowing strength in her body.

-Kuduk-

-Crackle-

Bones rearranged, and her body changed.

Becoming a body that was more fitting to someone who’d crossed over another wall.

She had only felt something like this twice in her life.

First, when she had transcended beyond human limits.

And second, when she had become a 2-Star Transcendent.

A sensation that felt better than anything a human could ever hope to experience.

A feeling that one would pay any price to sense again.

‘Maybe this is why everyone tries so hard to gain more strength.’

-Whooosh-

Thought Kiriel to herself as the energy within her calmed down.

It was possible that people were chasing after this brief moment rather than the actual strength itself.

Of course, the strength was good too.

-Crackle-

‘Good.’

Kiriel clenched her fist, looked at the Dragon God Soldiers looking at her in fear in the distance, and then poured all her remaining crystals into Enbi Arin.

-Whooosh!-

Despite being unconscious, the damaged body madly absorbed the crystals.

And as Enbi Arin grew stronger from absorbing the crystals, her body slowly regenerated.

‘It’s not a complete recovery since she didn’t cross the wall, but…’

This was good enough.

She just needed Enbi to hold on until she wrapped things up in this place.

Kiriel looked at the people in front of her with a calm expression.

The whole process had taken just an instant.

The Dragon God Soldiers then realized that the change that had happened within Kiriel’s body wasn’t natural, and they backed off.

‘Heh. Right, they wouldn’t want to fight since there’s just a little bit of time until it’s all over.’

Kiriel looked at the blue particles surrounding her and their bodies.

The flower-like, blue droplets were continuously swirling and pulsing as if ready to send them away at a moment’s notice.

One minute. No, just thirty seconds. They just needed to hold on for thirty seconds; there was no reason for them to risk their lives.

‘Thirty seconds. Good enough.’

In the next instant…

-Swoosh!-

… Kiriel’s fang cut across the air again.

The same weapon and the same motion as before.

“Damn!”

The Dragon God Soldiers unconsciously fell into defensive positions to protect themselves.

It was the same attack as before, but it made them feel extremely uneasy.

If they could hold on for just a bit longer, it would safely teleport them away.

The Dragon God Soldiers prepared for impact.

But only for a moment.

“…?”

The Dragon God Soldiers made confused expressions.

The attack that threatened to slice them apart hadn’t done anything.

‘What the hell is this, crazy b****?’

R-Zairon Nell, who had also flinched and gotten into a defensive position like the others, made a confused expression as well.

But he soon shook his head; it was all over.

As long as they returned to the fleet, they wouldn’t see her face anymore.

No, they just need to fire at her from the fleet and end her.

If the Quantum Transmission successfully activated, there wouldn’t be enough energy for the Mimir to activate anyway.

But their expressions soon turned into one of panic.

“Wha… What the hell!”

The blue particles.

The blue flowers that had been blooming around their bodies were dispersing.

The blue droplets disappeared like popped bubbles.

Meaning that the Quantum Transmission had stopped.

“No! Dammit! N-Aroel! What’s going…!”

At the sudden turn of events, R-Zairon Nell and everyone else spun around.

They’d thought that N-Aroel had caused this.

But R-Zairon Nell realized that it wasn’t N-Aroel’s fault after turning around.

-Crackle-

-Ssss-

She had sliced apart the Quantum Transmission machine.

The giant tower-like machine had been cut diagonally down the middle, causing the upper segment to slide down.

And R-Zairon Nell realized what she’d cut.

“Damn…”

The faint trace of hope within his mind disappeared with the machine’s destruction.

As R-Zairon Nell stared at the giant machine in a daze, Kiriel spoke out:

“I told you, right?”

All the Dragon God Soldiers fell into despair at this voice.

And Kiriel shrugged her shoulders.

“Well… I never said I was going to kill you. After all, we fought together before.”

The expressions of the Dragon God Soldiers brightened up at these words.

And it was the same for R-Zairon Nell.

Seeing a ray of hope, R-Zairon Nell quickly changed his expression and spoke to Kiriel,

“Sorry about that before. Please… If you let us go, just this once… The Kalkuroun will never mistreat you…”

Words that were full of shame, but that didn’t matter.

Since there was nothing more important than one’s life.

Even if he had to lick her toes, he had to survive.

Kiriel chuckled as she said,

“Sure. Let’s just go our separate ways.”

“… Where are you going? You aren’t going with us?”

Kiriel smirked at R-Zairon Nell’s words.

“Well, I have a comrade. Good luck.”

“Wha… NOO!”

If Kiriel disappeared like this, then it was over for them.

R-Zairon Nell freaked out and screamed, but it was of no use.

Since Kiriel had already disappeared.

-Booooom!-

Even before R-Zairon Nell’s screams reached the place she’d been standing on, she had already left.

“Keke…”

“Kaa…”

The Quirae, who had flinched at the sudden appearance of the blue particles, started slowly moving towards them again.

Towards the Dragon God Soldiers who were already exhausted from internal struggles and no longer had an escape path.

“… Damn.”

It would’ve been better to die at Kiriel’s hands.

The Dragon God Soldier’s expressions were filled with despair and fear as the swarms of Quirae, covering the whole horizon in their entirety, charged towards them.

***

-Booom!-

Hansoo smiled as he looked at the blue particles disappearing while he smashed a Quirae away.

‘She succeeded.’

The Quantum Transmission had stopped.

Everything had returned to plan.

He just needed to defeat his opponent and move up.

The Mjolnir swung even more powerfully as if it had read Hansoo’s thoughts.

At that moment…

-Crack!-

… A sound of something breaking rang out from inside him.

— Good job. I don’t know what you’ll do with this strength, but… I really do wish you won’t have to use it.

The consciousness of the seed, which had stayed silent for most of the time it had been inside his body, spoke to him with worry.

Its power was an immortal’s rate of recovery.

Meaning that if he needed its strength, then his life was possibly in danger, and his body crushed apart.

A strength that was better the less one used it.

But Hansoo couldn’t respond to it anyway.

Since he had fallen into silence.

And as if the Quirae had sensed the changes inside his body, they charged forward to rip him apart.

But they couldn’t stop the change anymore.

Something similar to what had happened to Kiriel just now, but more natural, started to rush through his insides.

If Kiriel’s change was that of forcefully hacking apart something forbidden, Hansoo’s change was the exact opposite.

He knew what he needed. He excavated it from the seed and proceeded to the next step.

Hansoo’s destroyed body then started to recover at an insane rate.

The Quirae charged at him like countless moths to a flame, and Hansoo smashed them apart as he got accustomed to his changing body.

And then…

-Boooooooom!-

… The sound of something exploding reverberated from inside his body.

***

“… What a crazy world. What the hell is going on down there?”

R-Koronaita Nell frowned as he watched the scenes happening below, and then turned around.

There was a target which he could ask in more detail.

“So… You managed to survive on your own? The other Dragon God Soldiers all died?”

“Yes, only me.”

“Just you… Hmm…”

The man who had been acting alongside the Dragon God Soldiers below.

N-Aroel smiled at R-Koronaita Nell.