Ubermensch - Chapter 175 - Lightnovelasia

Chapter 175

Looking at the nanomachines, Mason wore a grave expression.

“This is a real headache.”

The nanomachines were turning humans into zombies. Even with the eyes of a god, he couldn’t break the illusion cast upon the zombies.

This was a trap. A blatant, obvious trap.

36 hours. That’s how long it would take for the Destroyer’s main force to enter another dimension.

In other words, Mason had to rescue and evacuate the zombified humans within 36 hours.

And he had to do it while giving up his divine senses.

‘Can I do it?’

No, it wasn’t a matter of if he could. It was a matter of he must.

Mason took a deep breath.

He used his divine power.

“Nanomachines. Gather!”

While he couldn’t recognize the zombies, he could recognize the nanomachines.

As Mason raised his hand high, the nanomachines embedded within the zombies began to be sucked into the air. They quickly formed a fist-sized silver bead, then instantly transformed into a massive sphere the size of a house.

“Done.”

Now, there were no zombies on this land. Only patients in a weakened, starved state remained.

“Now, we only have 36 hours.”

But that meant the Destroyer would have noticed the change as well.

Mason turned around.

“Alright, let’s rescue the people…”

That’s when it happened.

The nanomachine floating above Mason’s palm suddenly extended tentacles in all directions.

“…!”

Not only were Mason’s arms and legs bound, but Albert was entangled as well.

“Let go!”

Mason exerted his divine power.

However, the nanomachine ignored Mason’s divine power.

‘The Destroyer’s divine power…!’

The Destroyer’s main body couldn’t move recklessly. Instead, it had used the nanomachine as a vessel to descend its avatar.

As the divinity and divine power of the Destroyer Yog-Sothoth surpassed that of Oztalon, the Guardian Deity, Mason couldn’t control the nanomachines, which were the Destroyer’s avatar.

Mason gritted his teeth.

‘…It was a trap.’

The zombie outbreak was just a decoy trap. A trap to lure Mason to the location where the nanomachines were planted!

Mason summoned his armor and hammer. Then, he threw the hammer with all his might.

“Return!”

Thud!

The hammer pierced through the clump of nanomachines and returned, severing the nanomachine tendrils.

“Albert! Get out of the way!”

“Uh, uwaaaaah…”

Albert desperately ran away. And Mason, while striking the nanomachine’s tentacles, attempted to communicate.

“Teshub! This is Oztalon! Can you hear me?”

“Is dimensional travel possible?”

After a moment, Teshub answered with a frustrated voice.

“Damn it!”

The nanomachine, taking the form of the Destroyer’s face, smirked.

Divine power was a force that could do anything.

Except against the divine power of a stronger god.

As the Destroyer’s divine power within the nanomachine was stronger than that of Oztalon’s main body, it could block dimensional travel.

Then, Deroa prayed.

“Got it!”

Mason swung his hammer, knocking away the nanomachines.

But it was literally like hitting sand with a hammer. The scattered nanomachines immediately recombined and extended their tentacles towards Mason.

Mason spun his hammer like a windmill, striking down the nanomachine’s tentacles.

But…

‘I can’t hold on like this!’

Even without considering divinity, the battle itself between the enhanced human and the nanomachines was disadvantageous.

Mason, despite being enhanced, was still a living being, while the nanomachines were free to disassemble and combine.

The only weakness was… the nanomachines had low mass and weight?

‘Then I have to exploit that.’

Gathering his divine power, Mason swung Lion’s Great Hammer with all his might.

“Uwaaaaah!”

Kwooong!

Along with the swing of the hammer, a fierce wind swept through. The nanomachines were blown away.

Whir!

Then, the nanomachine mass extended its tentacles and wrapped around a dead tree. And from that point, it began to solidify bit by bit.

“Not gonna happen!”

Crack!

The hammer struck down, snapping the tree in half.

In the end, the nanomachines were blown away along with the tree.

“Huff… Huff…”

Mason’s shoulders heaved.

It was a short confrontation, but he had used all his strength.

“God Oztalon!”

Albert approached from afar.

“Have you defeated it?”

“I’m sorry, but no. I just pushed it away for a moment.”

The nanomachine hadn’t suffered any damage. It was just blown away by the wind. Due to the physical limitation of having a large volume compared to its weight.

It would return at any time once it increased its density, reduced its volume, and gained enough weight to resist the force of the wind.

“We have 5 minutes at most.”

Mason gathered his strength and struck the dimensional wall.

Thud!

However, instead of the usual shattering sound, he only felt the sensation of hitting a soft rice cake with a mallet.

The nanomachine, the Destroyer’s avatar, was blocking dimensional travel.

‘Not good.’

The Destroyer’s main body would arrive in 36 hours at the latest.

If gathering the prayers of the solar system’s people to break through the dimensional wall took longer than the Destroyer’s arrival, or if Mason died to the nanomachines before the dimensional wall was breached, everything would be over.

It was a complete dead end.

Albert sighed.

“Forgive me, God. Because of me…”

Mason placed his hand on Albert’s shoulder.

“It is the natural right of a believer to ask for salvation in a desperate situation. I might apologize for failing to save you, but you have no need to apologize to me.”

Clank! Clank! Clank!

A silver humanoid figure was approaching from afar.

The house-sized nanomachine had compressed itself into a human form.

Its destructive power and durability must have increased as well.

Mason gripped Lion’s Great Hammer.

‘Chong Daolong. My friend. Please help me.’

Mason roared and charged.

“Uwaaaaah!”

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Oztalon’s Pantheon flagship. The Worldship Nymphassil.

An anxious urgency filled the air, mingled with silence.

Deroa was gathering the faith of the believers and converting it into divine power.

With the dimension itself blocked, the only place faith could gather was with the High Priest Deroa.

However, it also meant that faith couldn’t reach Mason, trapped in another dimension.

As the divine power engine charged, Mason was losing his power.

“Damn it…”

Deroa anxiously crafted divine power from the faith.

“Bug head! What’s the current status?”

“45% of the divine power needed to break the dimensional blockade has been gathered.”

45%. It wasn’t a small number.

But it wasn’t a large number either.

Especially when the life of a god, and a friend, was at stake!

“Can’t it be any faster?”

“I’ve contacted the Borbados Church and the Bastet Cult as well. They promised to hold prayer meetings.”

“Damn it…”

Then, the number on the monitor changed to 46%.

Slowly, but surely, divine power was accumulating.

But… it was still too slow.

‘What if we’re too late?’

Deroa wore an anxious expression.

‘What if we’re too late to save him?’

It was something she didn’t even want to imagine.

Losing the hope of the future, no. Losing her kindest friend.

That’s when it happened.

Randy, after a moment of contemplation, looked at Deroa.

“Sis.”

“What!”

“I have a question…”

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Clang!

The sound of hitting a sandbag no longer emanated from the solidified body of the nanomachine. Instead, a clear, metallic sound reverberated.

But that was all.

The nanomachine’s head, momentarily dented by Lion’s Great Hammer, quickly recovered.

Bang!

The nanomachine’s punch struck Mason, sending him flying.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Mason’s body finally crashed to the ground after smashing through several houses with his back.

“Cough…”

Blood spurted from Mason’s mouth.

He was losing in both divine power and physical strength.

Even when Mason struck with all his might, the nanomachine only bent or flinched momentarily, while the nanomachine’s blows either shattered or threw Mason away.

It was a hopeless fight, in a different sense than with Cthulhu.

Even more so because he couldn’t receive any help!

The nanomachine, the Destroyer’s avatar, wore a twisted smile, just like the Destroyer.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The nanomachine grabbed Mason’s neck and lifted him up.

Then, it placed its other left arm on Mason’s abdomen.

“Turbo Piston… Punch…”

The next moment, the nanomachine’s fist, transformed into a sledgehammer, repeatedly struck Mason’s abdomen.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The first blow shattered the armor, the second broke the bones. From the third attack onwards, it was no longer a strike, but a mincing of flesh.

“Kuaaaagh!”

Was it feeling humiliated by the fight between the Soldier and the Champion? The nanomachine was deliberately reenacting that fight.

Bang!

As it slammed Mason to the ground.

Screeeech!

“Aaaaagh!”

It ground and threw Mason’s body across the ground.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Mason’s body rolled across the ground.

Mason staggered, trying to get up using his hands.

However, dizziness overwhelmed him before pain could.

He had suffered a concussion from the shaking.

<...do it!>

Through the dizziness, Deroa’s prayer reached him. It was a prayer mixed with sobs.

He couldn’t understand the prayer. Only a few words reached him.

The nanomachine, approaching with a clanking sound, raised its fist high.

“Chain… Blade…”

At that moment, the nanomachine’s fist transformed into a long chainsaw.

It was a Chain Blade.

Grab!

The nanomachine, grabbing Mason’s head, lifted his body.

And the next moment.

With a whirring sound, the Chain Blade’s blade approached Mason’s neck.

Then, Deroa’s desperate prayer reached him.

Albert screamed.

“No! God!”

Slice!

Those were the last words Mason heard.

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Mason opened his eyes.

“Ugh…”

He felt a foreign sensation in his nose, throat, and stomach.

Mason vomited something.

“Blech!”

It was a plant stem. A drop of an unknown liquid was flowing from the cut section of the plant; it seemed to be something like an IV drip.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

Mason took a deep breath.

“I… I clearly died?”

He touched his neck. His neck was fine. There wasn’t even a trace of a cut.

“You have awakened.”

Teshub, sitting beside him, covered Mason with a blanket. He just realized he was naked.

“How… How did this happen?”

Teshub spoke in an elegant manner.

“Oztalon, you were killed by the Destroyer’s avatar, the nanomachine. And we resurrected you.”

“How?”

“High Priest Deroa converted the faith gathered into divine power. She poured it into the new body of Oztalon that I crafted.”

Randy, standing next to Teshub, chuckled.

“Just like Cthulhu.”

“Cthulhu?”

“Yes. You said it before, didn’t you? Cthulhu is not dead, and he will be resurrected someday.”

Cthulhu was not dead. He would be resurrected someday when people’s malice gathered.

In that sense, people’s perception, the perception that he could be killed by something like an oil tanker, was a bigger blow.

That statement was based on one premise.

Gods do not die, and they can be resurrected.

As long as people have faith.

“So, we used the gathered faith in a different way. From the power to break through the dimensional boundary…”

“…to the power to revive you, big guy.”

Deroa smacked the back of Mason’s head as she spoke.

“Hey, you trying to die without your sis’ permission? And you ignored my prayer too, didn’t you?”

“Sorry. I was too out of it to hear. What did you say?”

“Uh… well…”

Deroa blushed and said,

“…It’s fine if you didn’t hear.”