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Ubermensch – Chapter 20

20

Chapter 20

Sung Kijun’s body was pushed back a few steps from the clash, and his shield was dented. However… he had clearly repelled Mason.

“Of course, your strength is dozens of times greater than mine. But… there’s something that’s not much different between you and me.”

“What’s that?”

“Weight.”

Mason, fully charged with Barbarianigen, weighed nearly 200 kilograms. He was only a few dozen kilograms heavier than Sung Kijun in heavy armor.

“You put all your strength into charging forward, and I put all my strength into lifting you. I only had to lift 200 kilograms.”

Sung Kijun took a stance.

“Your biggest weakness is… your physique and weight.”

Mason’s stats were the limit of what could be achieved as a ‘humanoid’. He had the strength and stamina of a large monster, but his body, which actually handled that power, was too small and light.

This was also why Mason’s most powerful attack was not slashing or striking, but tearing.

Destructive power is the product of speed and mass. Mason lacked mass.

“Don’t just charge blindly. Charge while thinking about what to do next. And conversely…”

“…Think about how to deal with it if the enemy charges at me?”

Then, the lacking amount had to be filled with technique.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

It was a more worthwhile practice than weapon practice.

“Let’s do it again!”

“Ah, wait.”

Sung Kijun held out his hand.

“…Go easy on me. My hand is numb.”

Mason laughed heartily.

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

If Sung Kijun could lift or pin down Mason, who was heavier than him, there was no reason why Mason couldn’t do the same to monsters.

Mason charged like a bull, and Sung Kijun received Mason’s charge like a bullfighter.

The ‘lift tackle’ that lifts, the ‘pressure tackle’ that pins down, and the ‘pulling tackle’ that pulls the legs and knocks them down.

Sung Kijun, relying only on his shield, blocked and repelled Mason’s monstrous strength.

As Mason’s body became drenched in sweat, Sung Kijun was the first to shake his hands.

“Stop, stop it.”

“Shall we do a little more?”

Mason seemed to be enjoying himself.

No, he was actually enjoying himself.

Learning something new, not something he received or was born with, was a great joy to Mason.

And it was actually fun.

“You may be enjoying it, but my back is breaking.”

Sung Kijun grumbled.

“Getting injured while practicing during standby, what a joke is that?”

“…Hmm, can’t be helped.”

“Now, let’s fold up and clean up.”

Mason gathered his belongings.

In the distance, there was a broken practice sword.

‘Ah, I need to pick up the sword.’

At that moment.

Swoosh

With a strange tremor, the broken practice sword was sucked into Mason’s hand.

“…Huh?”

Mason tilted his head.

‘Did I make a mistake?’

Clearly, the broken sword that was far away had flown and been caught.

Just in case, Mason dropped the sword to the floor.

‘I need to pick up the sword.’

Swoosh

It was the same this time.

The sword was caught in Mason’s hand as if it had been sucked in.

‘Is it a mistake? Or an illusion?’

Mason looked at Sung Kijun, who was about to go outside.

“Squad Leader!”

“Why?”

“Just stand there for a second.”

Mason threw the sword on the floor.

‘I need to pick up the sword.’

Swoosh

Once again, the sword was sucked into Mason’s hand.

“…?!”

Sung Kijun asked in surprise,

“What did you do?”

It seemed it wasn’t a mistake.

“I don’t know exactly…”

Mason threw the sword far away, to the end of the training ground.

‘Sword, come back.’

As he thought to himself, the sword quickly flew back and was caught in Mason’s hand.

At that moment, something flashed through Mason’s mind.

Yekaterina. She had held Mason’s hand and chanted a strange spell, and a strange rune had been engraved on his palm.

‘Could it be the Heavenly King?’

This time, Mason thought with his palm outstretched.

‘Sword, come back.’

The moment the rune on Mason’s palm glowed, the sword was caught in his hand.

It was clear.

It seemed to be a gift from the Heavenly King.

Mason pointed at the large practice hammer and stretched out his hand.

‘Hammer, come here.’

However, only the sword returned instead of the hammer.

After thinking for a moment, Mason looked down at his palm.

“Perhaps…”

He went over, grabbed the hammer, and stepped back.

‘Hammer, come here.’

Swoosh

Thud!

The hammer was caught in Mason’s hand.

It was clear.

The ‘last weapon he had held’ was returning.

It was an ability that could be used effectively.

“Then…”

Mason walked out of the building with the hammer.

He threw the hammer into the air.

Whizz!

The hammer, imbued with Mason’s monstrous strength, flew far away, so far that it was out of sight.

Mason raised his hand.

‘Hammer, come back!’

At that moment.

The hammer flew back as quickly as it had flown.

“…Hmm.”

Mason grinned.

“It seems like I owe the Heavenly King a debt.”

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

Sung Kijun taught Mason various things whenever he had time.

Almost everything he taught was about the skills of a tanker.

If the first day’s lesson was tackling, the next day’s lesson was how to deal with being tackled.

“The ideal would be to deflect the opponent’s power. But I’m not going to teach you that.”

“Because I have to end it within my own means?”

“Yes.”

A tanker’s battlefield was close to the enemy. If the tanker stepped back, it would give the enemy another step to roam free.

“Block it with your arms, tighten your shoulders, and push your body forward while extending your hind legs. Even if your body breaks, you must not give an inch.”

The techniques Sung Kijun taught were derived from martial arts such as wrestling and sambo. They were, so to speak, ‘enduring’ techniques that focused on holding firm and receiving attacks rather than counterattacking.

How the weak withstand the attacks of the strong.

It was during this repeated training.

“Mason, we’re not practicing tomorrow.”

“Why? What day is tomorrow?”

“Memorial Day.”

When Mason tilted his head, Sung Kijun gave a wry smile.

“It’s a day to commemorate those who died in battle.”

“Is that so…”

The hundred-year history of the Korean peninsula was a history of war.

Not only the Korean War, but now the war with monsters.

There were many to be commemorated, and few to commemorate them.

Especially… Sung Kijun, who had been active since the early days of players, would have seen many pass away.

“Commemoration is important. It’s a time to remember how precious the loved ones were.”

Sung Kijun smiled and turned around.

The next day was a quiet one.

The soldiers and military personnel maintained a somber atmosphere, and the players did the same.

Mason also commemorated those he had lost that day.

In the distance, there was a small tombstone.

A small tombstone engraved with the names of the dead.

Sung Kijun was smoking a cigarette in front of it.

The cigarette smoke flowed like incense.

Mason approached him.

“Squad Leader.”

The names engraved on the tombstone were unfamiliar to Mason.

However, he could tell at a glance.

“Are they your former comrades?”

“Yes.”

Sung Kijun wore a bitter expression.

“I think I’ll have to add another tombstone soon.”

“I see…”

Each stroke was filled with regret. Each name overflowed with memories. Life was a difficult thing, and living while carrying the dead on your back was even more so.

“They were good guys. Good enough to join our attack team without proper pay…”

Sung Kijun put the cigarette, burnt to the end, into his pocket ashtray. He asked, still looking at the tombstone,

“Who are you commemorating?”

“Everyone I knew.”

Mason knew the entire human race of the 28th century.

They were too close to live without knowing, and too few to forget.

And he had lost them all.

But Mason did not recall their end, but the good times he had spent with them.

Wouldn’t they deserve that?

Especially…

‘Uncle…’

His father had jumped into terraforming Mars since Mason was young, and it was his uncle, Robert Park, who took care of young Mason.

The god-king of science who grants the wishes of all.

How moved he was by his wondrous abilities.

He wanted to be like his uncle.

Someone who grants everyone’s wishes.

But he couldn’t.

So he wanted to be like his father.

Someone who dreams dreams so grand they captivate people.

But he couldn’t become that either.

With only a vague desire to become an explorer, he was forced to leap through time and space, engaging in slaughter.

‘What can I… do for humanity?’

Revenge was his privilege, and slaughter was his duty.

But what if he excluded fighting?

Mason was afraid.

He would only be remembered as a being capable of slaughter. That the things Mason dreamed of and tried to do would be forgotten.

As if he were just a monster on a different side…

So Mason commemorated.

Those who died with his world…

“Whew…”

It was a moment of shared silence between the two.

Sung Kijun’s phone rang. It was a message from Yoo Jinah.

Sung Kijun frowned.

Anyone else might, but Yoo Jinah wouldn’t interrupt the commemoration for no reason.

“Go.”

Sung Kijun and Mason headed to the situation room.

“What’s going on?”

A TV screen was on in the situation room.

“It seems there’s a problem at the National Cemetery Camp.”

The National Cemetery. It was the resting place of Korea’s patriots, and also a territory that had been taken over by monsters.

Low-level undead monsters were endlessly spawned there, so it was an annual event to hold a camp at the National Cemetery to exterminate the accumulated undead monsters.

Because it was mostly low-level monsters, there was also a considerable entertainment element.

That was, live broadcasting.

Although it was just a short news segment, it was often broadcasted live on national news.

The problem was…

“Why is there no footage from the National Cemetery? Is it a broadcasting accident?”

There was no footage of the National Cemetery on the screen.

“It seems to be more than a simple broadcasting accident.”

Several broadcasting vans from several different stations were unable to transmit their footage. It seemed that there was some kind of radio interference.

The worst-case scenario began to form in the mind of Sung Kijun, a veteran player.

“…Dungeonization?”

Some raid boss-level monsters had the ability to alter the surrounding environment to their advantage. Radio interference was a basic sign of dungeonization.

“It seems the government thinks so too.”

Sung Kijun said to Yoo Jinah,

“Gather the team.”

He took out his phone and made a call.

“Seo Yeonhee, you’re probably aware of the situation at the National Cemetery, right?”

It was Seo Yeonhee.

“Can I ask you to do some reconnaissance before we get there?”

Seo Yeonhee was the best in Korea when it came to irregular warfare and reconnaissance. There was no reason to waste her abilities when every second counted.

People gathered. They all had serious expressions as if they understood the gravity of the situation.

Yoo Jinah said to Sung Kijun,

“Where are we going? To the camp?”

“No.”

Sung Kijun said with a stiff expression.

“To the Ministry of National Defense.”


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(🇰🇷)Ubermensch

🇰🇷)Ubermensch

Score 8
Status: Ongoing Released: 2023 Native Language: Korean
Mason Park, a "Barbarian" bioengineered for space exploration, is sent back in time from a decimated 28th century to find hope for humanity. He lands in a war-torn Seoul where monsters roam freely and the remnants of society cling to survival through the Player System, a program that empowers soldiers with monster cores. Gifted with extraordinary strength, regenerative abilities, and the advanced technology of his time, Mason becomes a beacon of hope against the monstrous threats. He joins the Holy Knights, a band of players dedicated to selfless service, and quickly rises to prominence. However, Mason's idealism clashes with the reality of human conflict as he gets caught in the struggle between the benevolent but struggling Holy Knights and the ambitious, power-hungry Heavenly King Yekaterina who controls the Player System. Torn between the conflicting ideologies, Mason forms his own raid team, the Revengers, determined to carve his own path. He faces increasingly powerful monsters, including the Lich and the Ghost Dragon, battling not only for humanity's survival but also for his own sanity as he grapples with the darkness within him. His past trauma and his monstrous strength threaten to consume him, but he finds solace and support in the Healer Eun Yuri and the enigmatic Seo Yeonhee, both women drawn to his unique power and burdened by their own past. As Mason's fame grows and the world's eyes turn to him, he faces a choice: to be a tool of power used by others, or to be a symbol of hope that transcends human limitations and unites humanity against a common enemy. His journey is one of self-discovery, where he confronts the complexities of human nature and the meaning of true heroism in a world teetering on the edge of oblivion.

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