I’m not in my right mind.
But I still believe I’m human.
Unless you plan to strip every right away from ntally unstable people, isn’t this treatnt too harsh?
Worse than a stray dog.
A dog.
Being a dog would be better.
Didn’t everyone raise a dog at least once when they were kids?
Anyone want to adopt a Seo Ah?
Ah, no—more like a dog without a leash.
But one that still wears a collar.
I rember trying to raise one like that and failing.
It feels like sothing similar to that.
If you ask whether a dog can handle explosives, the answer is yes.
Boom.
The building explodes entirely.
The "can of tuna" perched on top cos crashing down.
[37%]
There’s no real retaliation.
Cheon Yuhwa is using her skill to protect Shihu.
Thud.
I fell.
Thanks to body reinforcent, I’m not hurt.
I surround my body with mana to harden it.
I’ve learned not to release this barrier—last ti I did, I got skewered by a sword.
I need to keep it up at all tis.
The explosions follow a similar principle.
Instead of creating attacking thorns, I form a sphere.
If you keep inflating a sphere made of mana, eventually the surrounding area explodes.
Watching them send specialized vehicles to capture , I had a thought:
Maybe I’m pretty strong.
This is no different from a boss raid.
Doesn’t that make at least a mid-boss?
If I’m a boss, I should be able to use attacks worthy of one.
That much would be fair.
A dog.
A wolf.
No, sothing else.
I think I’ve beco a similar kind of monster.
A creature that only looks vaguely human.
To keep the dog from running, they tie it down.
Drive stakes into the ground and leash it.
A hamr?
That looks nice.
“How about a giant hamr?”
I create a weapon, making it massive.
It doesn’t matter how heavy it is—I can’t feel the weight.
The hamr’s head grows as large as a building, but the handle remains relatively thin.
F = M * A
Force equals mass tis acceleration.
Here, mass is replaced by mana.
What a nonsensical world.
It must be because this is like a novel.
The laws of physics are completely twisted.
I slam the hamr down.
Boom!
Crash, crash, crash…
I grind the debris of the destroyed building into dust.
Fragnts scatter everywhere.
Cheon Yuhwa is nowhere to be seen.
Oh, there she is.
She’s put so distance between us.
It seems like she’s hesitant to attack directly.
“I won’t let it happen like last ti,” she says.
Rena must be nearby.
Which ans soone could appear behind at any mont.
I’ve learned not to drop my barrier—it leads to imdiate penetration.
Pierced, pierced, pierced.
The sll of blood was unbearable.
[57%]
I rember being stabbed by a sword.
Right.
There’s no weapon as effective as that.
“This ti, it’s going to be a massive sword.”
Instead of a hamr, I create a giant sword.
The blade is absurdly disproportionate to the hilt.
I swing it.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Forget air resistance—it tears through space itself.
“This doesn’t even make sense,” I mutter.
Everything in the sword’s path turns to ruins.
Structures are reduced to dust.
It’s less a sword and more a massive black rectangular prism.
I swing it again.
This isn’t the kind of attack a little ice can block.
Cheon Yuhwa knows that too—that’s why she’s keeping her distance.
Does she have a movent skill?
Boom!
A shockwave erupts.
[68%]
“My head… feels strange.”
Is it because of the shockwaves?
No.
The effects of the drug are wearing off.
I can feel it.
This peculiar, unpleasant sensation.
“How much ti… How much ti is left?”
Of course, I can’t use this power forever.
The accumulated drug effects must’ve lasted for a thousand hours by now.
I feel horrible.
Ergency stash in my pocket?
Gone.
“What ti is it?”
[68%]
Give the tir.
Why is my status window so limited in its functions?
The ringing in my ears grows louder.
Discomfort crawls up my body.
I need to resolve this quickly.
I swing the sword down.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Am I even swinging this by my own will?
Why am I wielding the sword again?
To beco normal.
Sohow, swinging it makes the percentage go up.
[74%]
Starlight flickers.
And then it grows brighter.
Beams of light launch toward from the horizon.
Not shooting stars—missiles, or maybe magic.
Who else would be hit by such weapons but ?
That’s why they kept their distance.
So they wouldn’t be caught in the attack.
“…What did I even do wrong…”
Boom!
I raise a mana shield to block it.
It’s less a shield and more of a do.
This is why they don’t use modern weapons much—spending a fortune on them only to have soone like block them effortlessly.
Crash.
At this point, I think my eardrums are completely shot.
I can feel the shockwaves, but I can’t hear a thing.
This kind of attack would’ve vaporized an ordinary person—or even a tank.
Why do they want dead so badly?
- You’ve nearly exhausted your supply.
I rember my last conversation with the doctor.
- Unfortunately…
- If it were going to work, it would’ve succeeded by now.
- It’s over.
- I underestimated Seo Ah. That’s my failure.
- If we had used pure solution from the start, this wouldn’t have happened.
“I didn’t fail.”
Whatever it is, I can’t afford to fail.
No matter what the doctor intended.
I refuse to be left as a failure.
That much, at least, cannot happen.
Please, give a reason to live.
Tell I’ve lived a life of value, even in so small way.
Don’t tell I’ve beco this for nothing.
I need to believe I’ve done this for sothing worthwhile.
- Well done, Seo Ah. From here on…
When I ca to, I had already killed the doctor.
Though, sohow, I feel like he’s still alive sowhere.
***
Concentrated fire.
The bombardnt continued, one strike after another.
Amidst the dense smoke, a black sphere erged.
“That must be the source of the sudden surge in monster activity.”
“What… is that?”
The massive trail left by a clump of mana passing through.
The area, already a ruin, had turned into an even greater wasteland.
“Don’t get too close. We’ll provide support from a distance. The 'Awakened' will handle the frontlines.”
“And the people already fighting over there…?”
“Probably the 'Awakened' who arrived after hearing the reports. Either way, we keep our distance.”
The black sphere didn’t seem to have taken any significant damage.
Waiting for the 'Awakened' to handle things had beco the military’s standard tactic.
But there wasn’t much choice.
If the monster was too strong, leaving it to the 'Awakened' was the most efficient approach.
“Did you see that earlier? Swinging a sword the size of a building?”
“Yes.”
No one wanted to get close to that.
“To pull off sothing like that, it must have strength equivalent to launching rockets. The main body looked humanoid, but there’s no way it’s human.”
“There’s been an increase in humanoid monsters lately.”
“Ah, that’s… You know this is near an experintal facility, right?”
“I heard it was a testing area.”
A governnt site for experints involving monsters.
“They say they’ve been capturing 'Awakened' and experinting on them.”
“That’s real?!”
“Yeah, it’s real.”
Silence.
We wait for the order to fire again.
“So that thing, too… from the experintal facility?”
“There’s been a string of incidents near testing zones lately. Those in the know can put two and two together. I’ve seen them transporting monsters in vehicles… That thing’s no human.”
“I never thought the governnt would go that far.”
“That’s why a lot of the weaker 'Awakened' keep their abilities hidden these days.”
“Really?”
“Of course. It’s better that way. If you don’t have anything to back you up and enroll in the academy, you’ll end up like those guys—fighting on the frontlines before anyone else. Even fully grown adults get dragged into these fights all over the place.”
It was easy to envy the 'Awakened,' but their reality wasn’t always desirable.
Being exploited under the guise of being humanity’s only hope seed like too high a price.
“But still, don’t they seem cool, like the protagonists of a novel or comic?”
“Dragged off to experints. Different genre entirely. It’s not a hero story…”
“Oh, look, the 'Awakened' have arrived.”
The 'Awakened' moved alongside the military forces.
I heard one of them was an academy professor.
Apparently, their students borrowed a vehicle for this mission.
“They’ll handle it just fine.”
“What is that? So kind of summoning spell?”
From the ground, enormous arms rose up, attempting to crush the black sphere.
They looked like they were trying to smash the sphere into the concrete floor.
“A monster. A total monster.”
A battle beyond human comprehension had begun.
Here, a re soldier was nothing more than an extra.
Holding position was enough.
“Whoa, is that a beam? Could it reach us here…?”
“Looks more like spikes.”
The giant hand was pierced by black spikes and shattered.
From a distance, the battle looked like an entertaining spectacle.
But it was hard to fully enjoy when your life might be on the line.
“Whoa, there’s more coming! How many arms does that thing have?”
Four or five arms rose from the ground, trying to crush the black sphere again.
It looked even more intense through binoculars.
“What is that? Giant plants… and ice? There’s so much going on.”
“Yes.”
Huge tree trunks grew, as if they were about to turn the concrete into a forest.
Whoever was doing this must be a skilled 'Awakened.'
“But I’ve got a bad feeling. Forcing things like that usually leads to trouble.”
“You an the black sphere?”
Now lightning was striking from the sky.
Lights of various sizes flashed, accompanied by a storm of spells.
Even from a distance, the explosions echoed loudly.
“It’s like in gas, you know, boss battles…”
“Yes?”
“There’s always a second phase, right? You think you’ve won, but it’s just getting started.”
“Don’t jinx it. We don’t even know what that thing is, but… we should be fine, right?”
Haha.
A weak chuckle escaped.
“They should be able to handle it. If they capture it, they’ll hand it over to the governnt anyway. Not our problem.”
Not our problem.
After all, we couldn’t get involved in a fight between monsters like this.
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