Ubermensch – Chapter 176

Chapter 176

Mason created clothes with divine power and put them on. Then, he headed to the cockpit.

“What’s the current situation? How much time has passed?”

“The nanomachines are still in the same place. And time… A total of six hours have passed.”

Deroa asked with her arms crossed.

“Hey, why are you asking about time?”

“…”

“Don’t tell me, you’re thinking of going back in there?”

Mason nodded.

“Albert is there. And there are a million weakened people who need help. I have to go back.”

At that moment, an enraged Deroa kicked Mason’s shin.

Whack!

“Ouch, ouch, ouch…”

Deroa grabbed her foot.

Mason asked.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not okay! I’m not okay! Do I look okay right now?!”

Deroa shouted angrily.

“You crazy bastard! I’d be pissed even if you barely survived, but you died and came back to life! Why are you going back there on your own two feet, why?!”

“There are people who need my help.”

“So you’re going to go and die too?”

“It’s okay, Deroa. Even if it’s an enemy I couldn’t defeat…”

Mason looked around.

“We, the Oztalon Pantheon, can win!”

Deroa crossed her arms.

“Hey, don’t try to brush it off with bravado and come up with a proper plan.”

“…You’re not buying it.”

“Would you be fooled if you were me?”

Mason said.

“I think I would’ve been fooled…”

“You can’t go without a proper plan. Make a plan before I get really angry.”

Mason looked at Teshub.

“Teshub, how much divine power is left?”

“There’s still about 140% divine power left even after fully charging Nymphassil.”

It was thanks to the prayer meeting. Thanks to the concentrated faith in the face of crisis, they were receiving much more faith than usual.

“We’ll use all this energy for battle.”

“Can we win?”

“At least we won’t be lacking in divine power. That means… we can teleport.”

“You’re saying we can escape if things go south…”

“Yes.”

Deroa pointed out sharply.

“Our current divine power is like having a booster attached. It’ll soon drop to normal levels.”

“We have to finish it within that time.”

Deroa frowned.

“It’s a gamble.”

“Do you think it won’t work?”

“…Would you not go if I said it wouldn’t work?”

“I’ll go.”

Deroa sighed.

“Then I have no choice but to go too…”

Mason looked at Teshub.

Teshub nodded.

“Dimensional shift, commencing!”

Mason placed his hand on the engine and added his divine power.

“Haaaaaaaaaa!”

Nymphassil’s massive body began to glow with a holy light.

Like the morning star. It was a strong and noble light, like the rising sun.

“Now!”

The moment Mason roared, all that light concentrated at the forefront.

Crash!

It shattered the dimensional wall that was blocked by the nanomachines.

“Let’s go!”

As Mason roared, Teshub shouted.

“Worldship Nymphassil, advance!”

Nymphassil shifted dimensions.

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The moment Nymphassil entered, the nanomachines swung an absurdly long sword. It was a monomolecular cutter spanning hundreds of kilometers.

“Uh oh?!”

Just as Nymphassil was about to be cut in half.

Clang!

Something struck the back of the monomolecular cutter, breaking it.

A dark red, menacing-looking robot.

It was the Champion piloted by Mason.

The term monomolecular cutter meant that its width was only a single molecule. It was an incredibly sharp but incredibly fragile glass blade.

Breaking it itself wasn’t difficult.

The chain blade wielded by the Champion had broken the monomolecular cutter.

The nanomachines expressed their rage.

“Are you pissed?”

Mason gritted his teeth.

“I’m… pissed too!”

Rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle!

Dozens of divine power bullets flew towards the nanomachines.

At that moment, the nanomachines spread their wings and soared into the sky.

If it was an opponent he couldn’t handle with divine power, it was better to be aboard the Champion than to fight with his own body. This was because Mason was more skilled at piloting than hand-to-hand combat.

Mason and the nanomachines began to fight in the air.

“Good. Now’s our chance!”

Meanwhile, Nymphassil landed on the ground.

Cú Chulainn shouted.

“Deploy ground forces!”

A large number of Earthmen and Treemen began to move.

Cú Chulainn commanded them, searching for survivors.

The Spirit Dragon ascended into the sky.

“Kyaaaaaaaa!”

By combining his abilities as a Ghost Dragon, who commanded death and souls, and a Spirit Dragon, who controlled spirits, he could also use them to search for survivors.

The Spirit Dragon used spirit bullets like signal flares, scattering them towards the survivors’ locations.

The rescue operation progressed quickly.

“You… bastards…!”

Then, realizing the situation, the nanomachines scattered a part of themselves.

The nanomachines returned to the people’s bodies, turning them back into zombies.

“Groooooowl!”

And into aggressive zombies that attacked the Treemen and Earthmen!

“Don’t kill them! They’re just possessed!”

Cú Chulainn subdued the zombies by swinging the opposite end of his spear like a club.

He grabbed the heads of the subdued zombies with both hands.

“Hup!”

Cú Chulainn was Mason’s champion. The divine power he used burned the nanomachines inside the zombies’ bodies.

“The internal adjustments to Nymphassil are complete.”

Teshub had transformed Nymphassil’s storage into an emergency medical bay, allowing them to provide IV fluids and nutritional solutions to the survivors.

“What should I do?”

As Randy stood there blankly, Deroa yelled at him.

“Go and take care of the patients!”

“Y-yes, ma’am.”

Deroa watched the battle between the Champion and the nanomachines with an anxious expression.

The fight between the Champion and the nanomachines took the form of high-speed aerial combat. They would circle each other, and every time they made contact, they would exchange blows.

‘This is better than close combat.’

Even the nanomachines couldn’t assimilate the Champion, whose power system had been replaced with Nodens’ divine blood. Conversely, the Champion’s various internal weapons could inflict significant damage on the nanomachines.

On the other hand, Mason wanted to attempt close combat, but the nanomachines had the upper hand in terms of specs and divine power.

‘What should I do?’

However, it wasn’t all good that the nanomachines were fighting passively.

His power, amplified by the prayer meeting, was weakening as time passed. From the nanomachines’ perspective, there was nothing to lose even if they fought passively, but for Mason, a prolonged battle meant guaranteed defeat.

Moreover, the Destroyer would arrive in 30 hours.

‘I need to buy time to save the people…’

Even if he went for a quick victory, he couldn’t win. But he needed to buy time to save the people. Due to the unfavorable preconditions, even devising a strategy was not easy.

‘Ugh…’

Apart from that, the moments of clashing with the nanomachines were extremely dangerous. Their attacks were both destructive and delicate, and above all, their ability to freely transform meant that Mason often faced unexpected attacks.

‘I can’t give them time to think!’

This kind of battle, where the nanomachines were analyzing his attack patterns and planning their own, allowed them to fully utilize their computational power. Mason also came up with deadly and ingenious attacks, but he couldn’t match the nanomachines’ computational power with his human brain.

While Mason continued this disadvantageous battle, the members of the Oztalon Pantheon focused on rescuing civilians.

“Hey! How’s the civilian rescue going?!”

“About 90% complete, sir!”

“Report to the big guy! Tell him we need to prepare to escape!”

The Destroyer’s objective was annihilation. The purpose of this trap was to intercept Oztalon. If Oztalon himself and the others escaped alive, it would be a victory in itself.

The Spirit Dragon soared into the sky.

“I’ll join the fight!”

The Spirit Dragon roared and fired spirit bullets.

“Kyaaaaaaaa!”

Tens of thousands of spirit bullets flew, disrupting the flight paths of the Champion and the nanomachines. His firepower was a variable that even the nanomachines couldn’t ignore.

The nanomachines seemed to twist, and then their position reversed. They were now looking down from above.

“Spirit Dragon! Dodge!”

The moment Mason yelled, the nanomachines plummeted straight down towards the Spirit Dragon. The Spirit Dragon, like a heavy bomber, had overwhelming firepower but was relatively slow in flight.

It was a wise decision to take down the large and cumbersome Spirit Dragon first rather than dealing with a fast and small enemy like the Champion.

“D…ie…”

The nanomachines’ only mistake was that the Spirit Dragon himself knew this.

“Not gonna happen!”

Just as the nanomachines’ long monomolecular cutter flew towards him, a spear shot out from within the Spirit Dragon’s body.

It was Cú Chulainn’s Gae Bolg.

“Hyaaaaa!”

Clang!

As the monomolecular cutter broke, Cú Chulainn’s spear pierced through the center of the nanomachines’ body.

It wasn’t a major blow.

“Kyaaaaaaaa!”

If it weren’t for the Spirit Dragon’s point-blank spirit bullet barrage that followed!

Rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle!

Thousands of spirit bullets struck the nanomachines like a shotgun blast.

Thud!

Mason swooped in towards the nanomachines, momentarily stunned by the heavy blow.

‘I need an attack that hits a surface, not a point or a line!’

Mason momentarily manipulated the Champion to create a new weapon. At the same time, a massive, high-energy sphere formed in the space in front of the Champion’s chest.

“Plasma Blast!”

Booooooom!

Plasma erupted like a flamethrower!

The nanomachines’ bodies heated up and began to evaporate. This was because the attack exceeded the nanomachines’ durability.

“Barri…er…!”

Unable to withstand it any longer, the nanomachines deployed a barrier.

Now, the situation had simplified.

A simple power struggle: Would the Plasma Blast pierce the barrier, or would the barrier withstand the Plasma Blast?

‘I can win.’

Mason was certain.

If he could maintain this firepower, the barrier wouldn’t last long.

At that moment.

“…!”

The faith gathered through the prayer meeting had reached its limit.

Oztalon’s divinity was inferior to the Destroyer’s avatar, and now the nanomachines were using divine power to strengthen their defense.

“Just a little more!”

Mason cried out in a desperate voice.

“Just a little more! Lend me your strength, just a little more!”

At that moment.

The Plasma Blast glowed white-hot and began to push forward even more fiercely.

“This power… is it…?”

A completely new faith was flowing in. A strong and pure desire!

Mason realized.

“It’s the people of this world!”

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Most of the people who had been freed from zombification had not forgotten the painful memories of their time as zombies. This was because their rationality had been maintained even while they were zombies.

“You were turned into zombies by the Destroyer.”

And they learned about the evil god who had turned them into zombies for no reason.

“And our Lord, the Guardian Deity Oztalon, saved you.”

And they learned about the noble god who was fighting for them for no reason.

“Everyone, please.”

Randy said to the people.

“Pray that the only god who protects us will not be defeated.”

Albert said.

“So that we never have to experience the zombie outbreak again!”

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Living as a zombie, and living among zombies, was an unspeakable horror.

Therefore, no one wanted to experience that pain.

Their gratitude towards the one who had freed them from that pain was incomparable.

The strongest of human desires was the will to live.

The people’s desire to live, intertwined with their gratitude towards Oztalon, was giving him new strength.

“It’s coming. Come!”

A pure and vast faith was flowing into Mason’s entire body. A pure and intense faith that only those who had been saved from despair could possess!

“Uooooooooh!”

Oztalon’s divine power, surpassing the nanomachines’ evil divine power, began to strengthen the Plasma Blast.

“Vanish without a trace, nanomachines!”

Mason roared.

“For all living beings!”

Crash!

As the barrier shattered, the nanomachines evaporated entirely.

The cheers of the people flowed in through their prayers.

-We won!

-We did it!

-Glory to Oztalon!

Landing on the deck of Nymphassil, Mason smiled.

“I’m the one who’s grateful, humans.”

Amidst the cheers of the people, Mason raised the Champion’s fist high.

“For allowing me to save you.”