After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 39 - Welcome To Earth (4)

Tsssssssssss!!

The thick steam filled the control room like fog.

“Arghhh!!”

“S-So hot!!”

“I’m burniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!”

The soldiers of the Galactic Federation remaining in the control room screamed in agony. Their skin melted due to the heat from the steam. The scent of burnt flesh filled the control room in an instant along with horrifying screams.

“Kurgh! A-Are you planning on killing me as well?!”

A translucent energy barrier had formed around the commander, pushing away the steam and its heat as his subordinates were burning to death; he seemed to be the only one wearing special protective clothing.

Lactheon Alpha clenched his fists in silence. His eyes gleamed brightly under the visor. “Fuuu, haaa.”

Tsssss.

Scorching steam poured from the gaps in the suit each time he breathed.

Ker-thunk!

The suit's backhand portion opened and shot out from it another blade. Lactheon Alpha crossed the two glowing-red blades into an X.

“Sheesh, here’s another dual-wielding simp.”

‘One Varian green tea latte, please!’[1]

Boom!

Lactheon charged at Kang-Woo without a word.

“Twin blades are best matched with twin blades.”

Kang-Woo snickered and extended his left arm. The back of his left hand split and from it shot out a black blade as he activated the Authority of Blades. Kang-Woo swung his arms at the charging Lactheon Alpha.

Clang—!!!

The four blades clashed hundreds of times in a fraction of a second, each aiming for the opponent’s vitals.

“Kaaah, this is it!!”

Sparks ran throughout his body. It had been a while since he had this much fun swinging swords. The Flames of Voracity, which he had been relying on far too heavily, was so overpowered that he had forgotten how fun it was to use swords.

“Starbust Streeeeeeeeeeeeeam!!!”

Kang-Woo swung his blades as if he were in a trance. Sparks flew from each clash of the blades. It was even more fun because his opponent was not a martial arts master like Kim Si-Hun; Kang-Woo would have been floored almost instantly if he faced Si-Hun with twin blades.

“Haaa, haaa.”

Lactheon Alpha, who seemed to have used his trump card, was the first to tire out. He panted heavily as he widened the distance between him and Kang-Woo and gritted his teeth.

“Wha? Are you gonna bring out another blade? Are we going three-sword style this time?”

Lactheon Alpha retracted his blades into his suit in silence.

“The hell, man? I was having so much fun. Stop fucking around and take out your weapons ag—”

“Rocket—”

Click.

As Kang-Woo approached Lactheon Alpha in disappointment, Lactheon Alpha extended his arm and pointed it at Kang-Woo. He lowered his stance and grabbed his right forearm with his left hand.

Tsssssssssssss!!

White steam burst out of Lactheon Alpha.

“Punch.”

Boom—!!

Lactheon Alpha’s right arm shot forward from the elbow down along with a thunderous explosion. The right arm, accelerated by a jet engine, reached Kang-Woo before he had time to react.

“What?”

Kang-Woo’s eyes widened.

‘The hell? What the fuck is he using his arm to attack for? What are you gonna do after? What kind of garbage technique is this?’

“Kurgh!!”

Kang-Woo’s Deific Essence barrier was penetrated by pure physical power before he had a chance to resolve the questions in his head. A fist-sized hole was made in his chest and the resulting shockwave tore apart his body. Kang-Woo was turned to mush from his waist up and exploded, his internal organs splattering all over the place.

“Haaa, haaa, haaa,” Lactheon Alpha panted heavily after firing his Rocket Punch and staggered.

“D-Did you kill him?” The commander smiled brightly and stood up.

“Hand over... the code,” said Lactheon Alpha, collapsing as if he would shut down at any moment.

Crackle!

The glowing red suit was dismantled as sparks flew from his body.

“H-Hahahahah!!” The commander laughed wickedly, overjoyed by the situation. “Using Overheat with an unstable core... You’ve practically killed yourself without me having to do anything!”

Bash!

He kicked the collapsed Lactheon Alpha and then typed on the holographic keyboard.

“There should be at least one escape pod remaining— Kurgh!”

Wriggle.

Someone placed their hand on the commander’s head along with the sound of sticky mucus.

“Wh-What the...?” The commander turned back in shock. “H-How are you still alive?”

It was Kang-Woo, who should have died from his upper body being torn to bits. He couldn’t be alive.

“WHY WON’T YOU DIE, YOU DAMN MONSTEEEEEEEEEEEEER?!”

Kang-Woo looked down at the commander apathetically. He had heard that line from his enemies countless times and had become sick of it.

“Shut the hell up, man.”

Crack.

He grabbed one of the commander’s teeth and yanked it out, a fountain of blood pouring from where it was.

“Urgh! Uuuuuuuuurghhh!!”

The commander trembled and burst into tears. Kang-Woo paid him no mind and turned to look at the collapsed Lactheon Alpha— to be more precise, at his right arm, missing from the elbow down.

“What the fuck? Why is it so cool yet stupid at the same time?”

Kang-Woo tilted his head in confusion after getting a taste of a rocket punch. It was weirdly badass despite being a garbage technique that fired a fully functioning limb at the enemy.

“Anyway.” Kang-Woo walked toward the collapsed Lactheon Alpha as he dragged the commander by his head. “Thanks. You helped me stimulate the Demonic Sea.”

The Demonic Sea’s energy circulated due to an attack it had never experienced before. To survive, it released the demonic energy it had been preserving. Kang-Woo nodded in satisfaction as he felt his demonic energy that had become thicker than before.

Lactheon Alpha looked up at Kang-Woo with deeply sunken eyes. He was calm as if he had known Kang-Woo would not die from that attack. “I have... a favor to ask.”

“What? Are you gonna ask me to get that code or whatever it is for you?”

Lactheon Alpha nodded.

Kang-Woo smirked and replied, “Sure. I’ve been curious to death about what you guys were talking about anyway.”

He gripped the commander’s head harder.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!”

“Now, it’s time for you to talk. What is this code thingie?”

“Harghh! Z-Zdop! Zdop!!!” The commander shouted incoherently because of his yanked-out tooth. “A-Ayy daak!!!”

“What?”

“Ayy daak!”

“SPEAK PROPERLY, MOTHERFUCKER!!!”

Bash!

Kang-Woo kicked the commander in the stomach.

“WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SO INARTICULATE?!!”

Bash! Bash! Bash!

“Hurgh! Z-Zdop! Zdoooooooop!”

Unable to contain his rage, Kang-Woo beat the commander senselessly. The ragged commander became even more of a mess than before.

“Fuuu. That’s what you get for fucking around with me.”

It was the commander’s fault for pretending to be inarticulate to mock Kang-Woo.

“I-I’ll... talk...”

His speech was much better than before.

“Good. Now we can get somewhere.”

As Kang-Woo thought, violence was the best mode of conversation.

“Sniff... Waaaaaah.”

The commander pulled out a small chip from his pocket as he bawled his eyes out. He inserted it under the holographic monitor and typed a complex password to deactivate the security programs. A file named Project appeared.

“Is this what you were looking for?” asked Kang-Woo as he looked down at Lactheon Alpha.

“That’s... correct.”

“Let’s see.” Kang-Woo opened the file and checked its contents. “Project Deus Ex Machina?”

It was a rather overblown project name. He checked the file’s contents with the Authority of Insight activated, but there were so many terms and skills he did not know that nothing stuck in his mind.

“Well... I understood that an android is going to be sent to another planet. What does this mean?” asked Kang-Woo, tilting his head.

“There is... no... time.” Lactheon Alpha grabbed Kang-Woo’s ankle as sparks flew from him and begged, “The battleship’s... communication system... will soon be.... down. The project... must be stopped... before...”

Crackle!

The sparks flew from Lactheon Alpha even more aggressively as he began to fall apart.

“H-Hurry. Stop... the project.”

His body, made of machinery instead of flesh and blood, was falling apart like a sand castle.

“I still don’t know what’s going on, but...” Kang-Woo smiled as he looked down at the dying Lactheon Alpha. “Since you helped me gain tons of demonic energy, I’ll do you a favor.”

Based on the little of what he understood from the project file, it was about sending an android to a faraway planet to conquer it.

‘If the android being sent is anything like Lactheon Alpha, then that planet would be razed to the ground if the project isn’t stopped.’

There was no question the destruction a machine, who penetrated a Deific Essence barrier with pure physical power, could enact on a planet, even on its own.

‘That planet’s fate has nothing to do with me, but that’s not reason enough to do nothing when I can stop it.’

Beep.

Kang-Woo used the Authority of Insight to set up a communication array as it was explained in the project file.

Zzzzt.

The communication was filled with large amounts of static, likely because the battleship was half-destroyed.

This is a message from the Galactic Federation,” said Kang-Woo in a deep voice into a microphone. “From today, the federation is disbanded. Hence, all ongoing projects, including Project Deus Ex Machina, are to be suspended.”

He did not know if anyone was listening to his message.

“I repeat.”

Nor did he know what would result from his message.

“All ongoing projects are to be suspended.”

Beep.

The hologram turned red and a message appeared on it before the communication array was shut down.

[Forcefully ending communication with ‘Deus Ex Machina Mk. 0’ due to bad connection.]

1. This is a reference to Varian Wrynn, a character in the Warcraft lore who uses a sword named Shalamayne, made of two fused swords that can be detached. He dies from being flooded with Fel magic and exploding, which Koreans turned into a green tea meme. ☜

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