Chapter 686
Chapter 686
With the spirits joining the battle, the threat overhead disappeared, allowing the awakened to focus on fighting the monsters.
Thanks to that, the precarious front line regained its stability.
Meanwhile, preparations to launch the Divine Judgement proceeded smoothly.
Thud!
At last, the Divine Judgement was placed atop the launch pad.
“Hoo...”
Seo Taeran let out a quiet sigh as she looked up at the sky.
Above, a fierce battle was unfolding between the monsters and the spirits.
Countless spirits and monsters were tangled together in utter chaos.
Under normal circumstances, they would never have launched the Divine Judgement in a situation like this.
But they had no choice.
If they delayed any longer, Neo Seoul would be placed in even greater danger.
More than anything, the greatest threats were Abyss and the giant bat.
Even now, the two enormous monsters were flying toward Neo Seoul at terrifying speed.
If those two giant monsters spread their wings above Neo Seoul, there would be no space left for the Divine Judgement to launch.
Because of that, Zeon and Levin could not even help the spirits, having flown far away to confront the two monsters.
They had to launch the Divine Judgement somehow while Zeon and Levin were holding them back.
Just then, the technicians shouted.
“Launch preparations are complete!”
“We can launch immediately on your command!”
Despite the workers' words, Seo Taeran could not answer right away.
There was still no opening in the sky.
At this rate, even if they launched the Divine Judgement, it would inevitably be struck by the monsters and crash before it could ascend.
The spirits were doing their utmost to hold the monsters back, but they could not stop every single one.
It was then, as Seo Taeran bit her lip until it bled—
“We shall ride atop the Divine Judgement.”
Seong Hoyeon suddenly spoke.
“What do you mean?”
“If we delay the launch any further, Neo Seoul will be endangered. So Grain and I will ride atop the Divine Judgement and prevent the monsters from approaching it.”
“That...”
Seo Taeran trailed off.
The rockets from before the Great Cataclysm burned enormous amounts of fuel to escape Earth's gravity, ascending at terrifying speed.
But the Divine Judgement had no need for that.
Among the monster byproducts used in its construction were the wings of the Ghost Queen Dragonfly.
The Ghost Queen Dragonfly's wings were extremely thin, yet they possessed the innate property of lifting themselves into the sky.
Because of that, once the Divine Judgement reached a certain altitude, it would naturally continue rising higher like a balloon.
Since it did not ascend at the terrifying speed of a rocket, Seong Hoyeon and Grain would be able to endure it.
It would have been impossible for an ordinary person, but the two of them were awakened whose abilities were unmatched even within Neo Seoul.
Seong Hoyeon persuaded Seo Taeran.
“We only need to endure until the Divine Judgement reaches the mana field. After that, Grain and I will jump off.”
“With Lord Grain's gravity manipulation ability...”
“We can land safely on the ground without so much as a scratch.”
“...All right. We'll do it.”
Having no other choice, Seo Taeran accepted Seong Hoyeon's proposal.
“Thank you.”
“You both must return safely.”
“Don't worry. We'll escort the Mayor on his way, then return immediately.”
“All right. Then we'll launch it now.”
Unable to delay any longer, Seo Taeran gave her approval.
Seong Hoyeon and Grain immediately climbed atop the Divine Judgement.
“We'll escort you to the very end, Mayor!”
“Just leave everything to us!”
—Thank you, both of you. Taeran, you've worked hard all this time as well.
Jin Geumho's voice came from inside the Divine Judgement.
Suppressing the tears threatening to spill, Seo Taeran spoke.
“Will you not go see Lemura before you leave?”
—No. If she learns that I ended up like this because I went to see her, how heartbroken would that child be? I'll simply go into space like this and watch over her as she grows.
“I understand. We'll launch immediately. I pray that you safely break through the mana field.”
—Yes! Farewell.
“Yes!”
Thus, the two exchanged their final farewell.
Having already shed all the tears she could, Seo Taeran no longer cried, meeting their parting with a calm expression.
At last, the Divine Judgement entered its launch countdown.
“Ten, nine, eight... three, two, one. Launch!”
KWAHHHH!
With a thunderous roar, the Divine Judgement shot into the sky.
The tremendous noise drew the attention of the flying monsters.
The flying monsters that had been battling the spirits all turned their eyes toward the Divine Judgement.
At that instant, the look in their eyes changed.
They had received Abyss's command to bring the Divine Judgement down at all costs.
—KRAAAAH!
—KIEEE!
Ignoring the spirits' attacks, the flying monsters let out savage shrieks and charged toward the Divine Judgement all at once.
The spirits did everything they could to stop them, but they could not block every monster.
“Intercept them!”
“Stop the monsters!”
The magic-type awakened waiting atop the wall unleashed their spells at the monsters rushing toward the Divine Judgement.
Flames, lightning, and all kinds of weapons struck countless monsters.
The smaller, lower-ranked monsters dropped like flies under the awakened's attacks, but the medium-sized monsters and above pushed through the barrage with their terrifying defenses.
Awaiting the monsters that barely broke through the hail of attacks were Seong Hoyeon and Grain.
“Hyaaaah!”
“Chaaat!”
Seong Hoyeon slaughtered monsters by swinging his greatsword or unleashing Aura Blades, while Grain activated his Gravity Increase skill, sending them crashing to the ground.
The two of them poured every ounce of their strength into preventing the monsters from reaching the Divine Judgement.
Thanks to their efforts, the Divine Judgement continued ascending higher and higher without suffering any damage.
But it was too soon to relax.
Flash!
Abyss fired its Destruction Ray toward the Divine Judgement.
Ten Destruction Rays shot forth from its ten eyes.
Zeon blocked seven of them, but the remaining three flew straight toward the Divine Judgement.
Stopping them fell to Seong Hoyeon.
“Hyaaaah!”
He pulled a massive shield as smooth as glass out of subspace and raised it in front of the Divine Judgement.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
The Destruction Rays struck the shield and ricocheted off in different directions.
One of them fell toward the awakened fighting the monsters on the ground.
KWAAANG!
With a deafening explosion, both the awakened and the monsters struck by the Destruction Ray were vaporized in an instant.
They were erased without leaving behind a single trace.
The terrifying destructive power of the Destruction Ray sent chills down Seong Hoyeon's and Grain's spines.
Seong Hoyeon looked at the shield in his hand.
The shield that had deflected the Destruction Ray had melted halfway.
Even though it was an item excavated from a dungeon, it had lost its function after a single Destruction Ray from Abyss.
“Damn it!”
Throwing the ruined shield aside, Seong Hoyeon glared at Abyss.
All ten of Abyss's eyes turned crimson.
It was preparing to fire another Destruction Ray.
At that moment, Zeon unleashed a massive sandstorm.
KWAAAH!
The powerful sandstorm swallowed Abyss whole.
But the gigantic creature, over a hundred meters long, remained completely unmoved as it steadily fired its Destruction Rays.
No matter how enormous the sandstorm was, it could not stop the Destruction Rays.
Zeon knew that.
That was why he had created hundreds of diamond crystals within the sandstorm.
Jjeojeojeong!
The Destruction Rays that pierced through the sandstorm without resistance struck the diamond crystals and scattered in every direction through countless reflections.
Not a single one of the ten Destruction Rays avoided the diamond crystals.
Zeon had placed them that densely.
—UWOOOAR!
For the first time, Abyss opened its mouth and let out a roar.
It was that enraged.
Abyss was a monster that had naturally come into existence on Earth.
Just like Gaia and Arisedon.
The difference was that Abyss possessed a far stronger identity as a monster than either of them.
From the very moment it appeared on Earth, it wielded immense authority with complete freedom.
One of those authorities was its dominion over monsters.
Another was the Destruction Ray.
And Abyss possessed yet another authority.
KWAAAH!
From Abyss's wide-open mouth, countless baby manta rays poured forth.
Thousands—tens of thousands—of baby manta rays, identical in appearance to Abyss itself, flew in swarms toward the Divine Judgement.
“Fuck! What the hell is that...?”
Levin, who had been fighting the giant bat all this time, widened his eyes in shock.
He had never imagined that so many offspring had been hidden inside the giant monster's body.
Zeon was just as surprised.
But he did not hesitate for even a single moment before moving to stop the baby Abysses.
“Chaat! Sand Viper!”
Thousands of sand snakes burst out from the sandstorm and attacked the baby Abysses.
Puh-buh-buh-boom!
The baby Abysses collided with the sand snakes and exploded in midair.
Brilliant bursts of light painted the sky like fireworks.
Thousands of baby Abysses exploded.
But there were more than ten times that number remaining.
Avoiding Zeon's Sand Vipers, they continued flying toward the Divine Judgement.
Seong Hoyeon and Grain atop the Divine Judgement also noticed the baby Abysses approaching.
The sight of more than tens of thousands of baby Abysses flying together in a swarm was truly horrifying.
If even one of them slipped through, it would result in a catastrophe.
“Hyaaa!”
Seong Hoyeon immediately pulled out an anti-monster machine gun from subspace and opened fire.
Tudadadadada!
An overwhelming torrent of bullets formed a tightly woven net of fire, shooting down the baby Abysses.
But it was impossible to destroy every baby Abyss with the anti-monster machine gun alone.
The baby Abysses that survived the barrage closed in on the Divine Judgement.
At that moment, Grain made his decision.
He shouted to Seong Hoyeon.
“Get on my back!”
“Understood.”
Without asking why, Seong Hoyeon immediately climbed onto Grain's back.
In that instant, Grain activated a skill on the Divine Judgement.
“Gravity Reversal!”
Just as its name implied, it was a skill that reversed gravity, causing its target to float into the air.
The Divine Judgement, which had already been ascending at tremendous speed, accelerated several times faster once Gravity Reversal took effect.
By the time the baby Abysses arrived, the Divine Judgement had already soared far higher.
In an instant, it reached the mana field.
Now, as long as it broke through the mana field, nothing else could stop the Divine Judgement.
It was then—
—KYAOOO!
Breaking through the clouds, a gigantic wyvern revealed itself.
It was several times larger than the other wyverns.
Most unusually, three horns protruded from its head.
It was clearly a unique specimen.
Opening its enormous jaws, the Three-Horned Wyvern lunged to bite the Divine Judgement apart.
“You cunning manta ray bastard...”
Grain and Seong Hoyeon instantly realized that the Three-Horned Wyvern was the trump card Abyss had hidden until the very end.
But by the time they realized it, the Three-Horned Wyvern had already nearly reached the Divine Judgement.
At this rate, the Divine Judgement would be torn apart like paper beneath its jaws.
Just as they squeezed their eyes shut, bracing for the impending catastrophe—
“Sand Soldier!”
Zeon summoned Sand Soldiers directly above the Three-Horned Wyvern's head.
They were not ordinary Sand Soldiers, but enhanced Sand Soldiers made of solid rock.
Dozens of enhanced Sand Soldiers rained punches down upon the Three-Horned Wyvern's head and body before clinging to it.
With dozens of Sand Soldiers of tremendous weight hanging from it, the Three-Horned Wyvern lost its balance and plummeted.
—KWOOOAR!
By the time the Three-Horned Wyvern finally shook off the Sand Soldiers and took flight again, the Divine Judgement had already reached the mana field.
The tightly woven mana field, like a giant net, attempted to ensnare the Divine Judgement.
At that instant, a brilliant light erupted from the Divine Judgement, blasting a massive hole through the mana field.
The Divine Judgement calmly disappeared through the opening.
The Three-Horned Wyvern chased after it.
But by then, the mana field had already restored itself.
KWAAANG!
The Three-Horned Wyvern slammed directly into the mana field and exploded.
Fragments of the Three-Horned Wyvern rained down from the sky like a shower.