Ubermensch – Chapter 106

Chapter 106

Kurrrrk!

In the clear, blue seawater. In the abyss where even light cannot reach and only darkness lurks, a monster was roaming.

No. Perhaps calling it a single monster is inaccurate.

It was one, yet not one; a monster, yet not a living creature.

A monstrous beast of death that had devoured tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of souls. The Ghost Dragon.

Bluish phosphorescence overflowed around it. Unfortunate souls, unable to escape even in death, screamed and overflowed.

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The Ghost Dragon could feel it.

The Great Eater. No, the World Tree had been destroyed.

A massive chunk of flesh, an escape vessel containing all the knowledge of a world. The World Tree.

The prey it had been targeting and the most efficient tool had been destroyed.

Kurrrrk!

The Ghost Dragon changed its direction.

Its creator, the Master of Death, desired the death of all things. It yearned for everything to exist in death, to achieve eternal immortality.

Foolish mortals who might believe that only life after death is salvation.

Their foolishness was as hateful and loathsome as their very existence.

But it didn’t matter.

There were still two more opportunities.

Two more chances to create a silent world, a world where everything is dead, a world that would not catch the Destroyer’s eye.

The Great Eater shone with an ominous phosphorescence in the darkness deeper than darkness.

Only for a silent world.

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Mason lived a regular life every day.

He spent happy times with Jeong Ryeogyeong, cared for Seo Yeonhee, and talked with Hope. In his spare time, he met influential figures and celebrities from various fields, requesting their cooperation regarding the sub-races.

Regardless of their opinions on sub-races, no one disliked Mason.

His innate kindness and cheerfulness had the power to make even the most calculating people momentarily forget their self-interest.

Mason’s most attractive quality was his ability to listen. He was the nephew of the God-King of Science and the lover of an ancient god. He knew how to respect and honor others but didn’t know how to ignore or despise them.

Mason listened to the opinions of others, no matter who they were, and that alone made people like him.

As a result, he was receiving love calls from the entertainment industry as well as the political world.

However, Mason’s other strength was humility, and he strived to stay true to his duty.

One day, while spending his days like this,

“Your Majesty.”

“What is it?”

The Red Knight, Yekaterina’s attendant, spoke to Mason.

“It seems a group of wandering monsters has been spotted in North Korea.”

“Really?”

“Their number is approximately two thousand. It’s quite a large scale. They’re not heading south, but if we’re not careful, their path could intersect with the railway.”

Mason frowned.

It wasn’t a scale that a single raid team could handle.

“Shall we launch a preemptive strike?”

“Let’s do that. Gather the North Koreans from nearby stations and request support from the Korean military.”

“Yes.”

The train stations of the Northern Expedition were not simply transportation facilities. They were militarized, with the intention of using them as strongholds for counterattacks if necessary.

As Mason gave the order, two thousand North Korean infantry, three hundred elite sub-race players, and the Korean military’s artillery unit completed their deployment in an instant.

Oh Junghee came as a liaison.

“It’s been a while.”

“It has been a while, Mason, Your Majesty.”

Oh Junghee saluted with a gentle smile.

Mason gave a wry smile and said,

“Only to my people, Junghee. To my friends, just Mason. Please, call me comfortably.”

“Only if you promise to call me comfortably too.”

“Of course. Junghee.”

“Yes. Mason.”

Mason smiled.

“Is the artillery ready?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then… Let’s rain down fire!”

As Oh Junghee spoke into her radio, the artillery guns began to fire.

Boom! Boom! Kaboom!

Modern weapons were never weak. They were simply inefficient. But if one decides to unleash them without regard for efficiency, modern weapons, especially artillery, still reigned supreme on the battlefield with their overwhelming firepower.

“Queek!”

“Kyaaaak!”

The monster horde was instantly turned into a bloody mess by the fire raining down from the sky, scattering flesh in all directions. Players led by Mason were deployed towards the scattering monsters.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes! Your Majesty!”

Mason’s Lion’s Great Hammer summoned a storm of steel and destruction. His path was clear, and not a single monster remained behind him.

Others also formed formations and slaughtered the monsters.

The players’ formations and tactics were as powerful as Mason’s violence.

Even while slaughtering with such overwhelming power, Mason didn’t forget to warn,

“Everyone, watch out for the Warlord!”

“Yes! Your Majesty!”

They had to be wary of both the appearance of the Warlord leading this horde and the birth of a new Warlord due to this battle.

As the ranks began to scatter and break apart, the widely deployed North Korean soldiers commenced their attack.

“Fire! Don’t leave a single one alive!”

Small-caliber firearms for human targets didn’t possess the efficiency of the players’ beam weapons or the overwhelming firepower of the artillery. But numbers were strength in themselves, and the more gun barrels, the better.

The smaller monsters, destroyed by Mason and filtered through the players, could be sufficiently dealt with by concentrated rifle fire.

Thus, the majority of the monsters were slaughtered, with only a handful escaping alive.

“Eighty or so enemies survived. Shall we pursue them?”

“Of course!”

Oh Junghee stopped Mason, who had exclaimed boldly.

“That’s not a good decision.”

“Hmm? Why?”

“They’re fleeing towards Pyongyang. If we’re not careful, we could provoke Pyongyang.”

“Pyongyang… Are you talking about the Laughing God?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm…”

The Laughing God.

If the Eliminate Empire’s division was due to the Titan Core, it was the Laughing God of Pyongyang that brought about their physical destruction.

Humanity’s adversary, one of the Five Great Demon Gods.

Now four with the Great Eater gone, but the Laughing God was the least known among them.

“…We cease pursuit.”

Mason ordered.

‘The Laughing God.’

Mason was lost in thought.

Like it or not, it was an existence he would have to fight someday.

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From that day on, Mason began gathering information on the Laughing God.

The first person he visited, of course, was Yekaterina.

“What do you know about the Laughing God?”

“Nothing can be confirmed except for its mind control abilities,”Yekaterina said firmly.

“And it shouldn’t be confirmed.”

“Why?”

“Every member of the Eliminate Empire saw something different. It means everyone perceived it in a different form. This implies it either has no form or intentionally makes itself perceived differently.”

“What did you see?”

“I saw nothing. Perhaps I wasn’t affected by its illusions.”

“Hmm…”

Mason was lost in thought.

As he pondered, Yekaterina said,

“Mason. I won’t stop you from doing what you have to do. But… Promise me one thing.”

“What is it?”

“That you won’t fight the Laughing God until you know exactly what it is.”

“That makes sense, but…”

Mason frowned.

“Who would know exactly what the Laughing God is? Even you, who actually fought it, can’t say for sure?”

“How about Hope?”

“Hope?”

“To be more precise, the World Tree’s AI. It was also one of the Five Great Demon Gods, so it might know something.”

Mason nodded.

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As Mason addressed Hope, it sent an image of welcome.

Hope sent a positive image.

Mason recalled the information he had gathered about the Laughing God.

So that Hope could read it and pass it on to the World Tree.

Suddenly, the World Tree’s orb began to glow.

Instead of the multi-layered, ambiguous images Hope had been sending, a foreign and clear black image was transmitted.

Communication between Hope and Mason was not perfect. Mason sent text, and Hope replied with images.

Therefore, there was ample room for misinterpretation.

However, Hope continued to send the black something over and over again.

It didn’t seem to be a mistake.

‘What does this mean?’

Did it mean opposition? Did it mean it was a negative or dark entity? Or… did it symbolize the abyss?

Amidst the confusion, Mason faced the darkness.

‘Does it mean it doesn’t know?’

No. No, it wasn’t. If it meant it didn’t know, it would have sent a clearer image.

However, what it sent was an image without an answer.

‘Does it mean there’s no answer?’

No, perhaps…

‘Or… does it mean I shouldn’t know the answer?’

Either way, one thing was clear.

The World Tree wouldn’t give him any further answers.

“Sigh…”

Eventually, Mason rose from his seat.

With even more confusion than when he entered.

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“I’m sorry I couldn’t visit yesterday.”

Mason apologized to Seo Yeonhee.

“There was a fight. In North Korea.”

However, his apology was meaningless.

Because Seo Yeonhee didn’t touch the food Mason brought, and only the pile of liquor bottles had grown slightly taller.

Still, Mason continued talking while cleaning.

Hoping that any words would reach Seo Yeonhee…

“I met Hope today. I asked about the Laughing God…”

That’s when it happened.

Twitch.

Seo Yeonhee twitched. It was a small movement, but there was definitely movement. A glimmer of hope bloomed in Mason’s heart, and he stopped cleaning. He knelt on one knee in front of Seo Yeonhee.

“Yes. I talked to Hope about the Laughing God.”

“…”

“I wanted to defeat the Laughing God, so I asked it to share any knowledge it had.”

“…”

Silence followed. However, it wasn’t the silent silence it had been until now.

A stiffened tongue, parched lips, and something beyond them stirring in silence.

“The… Laughing… God…”

Seo Yeonhee opened her mouth. Hatred. Hatred spread like wildfire, burning her dead spirit.

“The Laughing… God…”

Seo Yeonhee’s spirit was dead. Because her lover, no, the other half of her life, had torn the remaining half to shreds.

However, something still remained.

If anything remained in her shattered spirit, it was wounds.

Even in her wounded soul, the wounds still lingered.

“The Laughing… God…!”

He may have been a betraying lover, a disappointing person. But what took her life away from him was resentment, and what killed him was an enemy.

The Laughing God, who had robbed her of the chance to confess the betrayal, the chance to right the wrong, was one of the main culprits in this tragedy.

“Yes, Yeonhee.”

Mason gripped Seo Yeonhee’s shoulders. Her round, powerless shoulders.

“Get up, Yeonhee. Let’s go kill the Laughing God.”

Focus slowly returned to Seo Yeonhee’s eyes.

Malice!

Her broken spirit was being pieced together through malice.

Seo Yeonhee ‘looked’ at Mason, tears streaming down her face.

“Mason…”

“Yes.”

“Can you… take me? To the Laughing God?”

“Let’s go together, Yeonhee.”

Mason extended his hand to Seo Yeonhee.

A large and thick, yet warm and gentle hand.

“Let’s go, Mason. Let’s go together.”

Thump.

Seo Yeonhee took his hand.

With her delicate and soft, yet coldly lifeless hand.

“To the Laughing God!”