Ubermensch – Chapter 75

Chapter 75

The goblin wave was ready the next day.

That day, for the first time, Mason was facing a battle not from the front lines but from a rear base.

The operation was as follows:

First, identify Needle’s location.

Second, shoot down all flying monsters near Needle.

Third, deploy Mason by helicopter.

It was a simple plan.

If it worked, that is.

Mason took off his Golden Lion Armor and put down his Lion’s Great Hammer. Even though it was a helicopter deployment, he couldn’t expect the luxury of landing. He would have to use a method closer to parachuting, or even crashing.

Then it was advantageous to reduce the weight even a little.

The only equipment Mason took was a two-handed greatsword.

That was the end of the preparation.

All that was left was… to wait.

Mason was anxiously waiting at the command center.

“Needle?”

“He hasn’t appeared yet.”

“Hmm…”

Mason frowned.

‘Is he wary of me not being visible?’

Needle was Scar’s subordinate. Then, of course, he wouldn’t be able to forget Scar’s death, and he wouldn’t be able to forget Mason.

If Needle was conscious of Mason, there was a good chance of that…

Oh Junghee approached Mason, who was waiting anxiously.

“Are you nervous?”

“I can’t say I’m not.”

Mason smiled bitterly.

The enemy couldn’t frighten him, and the fight didn’t make him anxious. What really frightened him was people dying. No, it was making people die.

By Mason’s mistakes and misjudgments!

“I hope this operation works.”

“It will work out well.”

“Are you trying to comfort me?”

“No, I’m predicting it.”

Oh Junghee said with a calm expression.

“The enemies have never experienced airdrop tactics.”

Monsters like Scar and Needle, who showed tactical movements, often became several times more dangerous enemies than other monsters.

However, when it came to tactics, monsters were no match for humans.

Animals with wings or claws only need to learn how to use them, but humans, who have neither wings nor claws, had to replace them by devising.

The result was civilization and science. This was because the human race was a fighting race that had been studying how to kill someone for tens of thousands of years.

“You can’t deal with what you can’t even imagine.”

“…Right, that’s right.”

Whatever Needle’s vigilance was, he couldn’t have predicted this surprise attack. Because he had never seen an airplane or a helicopter.

It wasn’t a matter of intelligence or wisdom. It was a matter of knowledge. It was impossible to anticipate what could not be imagined.

Thinking that way made Mason feel a little more at ease.

He looked at Oh Junghee.

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“If it’s a question I can answer.”

“Why are you a soldier?”

Oh Junghee had a calm and composed personality. It was a quality of a soldier, but it was also a quality of a scholar or a researcher.

“Because I admire my father, who is a soldier… as my father knows.”

“Then in reality?”

She smiled faintly.

“I read the wrong book when I was a teenager.”

“Did you read some forbidden book?”

“It was an SF novel called Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I fell in love with one of the characters and decided to become a historian and soldier…”

“Decided to become?”

“There were at least a dozen people in the military academy’s military history club who became soldiers for the same reason as me.”

Mason smiled bitterly.

“One book ruined the lives of so many people…”

“Still, I don’t regret becoming a soldier. No, in a way, I should say that I’m having a blessed military life.”

“Blessed? Fighting monsters?”

“Yes.”

Oh Junghee said with a calm expression.

“To be able to protect the country and its people without harming others. What could be more meaningful than this as a soldier?”

“I see. It’s a blessed life if you look at it that way.”

“It’s a life with nothing to regret. Except for one thing, that there’s something I want to say at least once.”

“What is it?”

Oh Junghee smiled faintly.

“It’s cheesy, so I’ll keep it a secret.”

“Okay, then.”

Mason said with a smile.

“I hope the day comes when you can say that.”

“Yes.”

At that moment, Seo Yeonhee’s voice came from the communicator.

<Mason, Needle’s location has been identified.>

“Where is he?”

<Hannam Bridge. He’s on the Forest Guard and Mage Corps side.>

“What about the aerial monsters?”

<They’ve already been subdued.>

“Good.”

Mason got on the helicopter.

The helicopter rotors started spinning. Oh Junghee saluted.

“Please, return safely.”

Mason grinned.

“Have you ever seen me die?”

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The Forest Guard was a solid and fast attack team. However, the Mage Corps was a specialized attack team that gave up combat sustainability and defense for excellent wide-area attack power.

“If Needle chooses a target, he will aim for the Mage Corps.”

Liza said in a calm voice.

“Retreat to the rear as much as possible. Even if you have to give up fire support, get out of Scar’s range.”

Simon Magus also spoke in a calm voice.

“Will it be alright without our fire support?”

“Commander Mason will be here. For a short period of time… we’ll be able to hold out on our own.”

“Alright.”

Simon Magus moved all the raid members, except for the frontline class, as far back as possible. The distance of Hannam Bridge was 919 meters. They had retreated a kilometer further back from there.

It was a safe distance, well beyond the 1.5 kilometers of Needle’s effective range confirmed so far.

Of course, there was no guarantee that 1.5 kilometers was the limit of Needle’s range. He could shoot and hit from a distance farther than this.

“If we get shot from this distance, let’s retreat further.”

“Yes.”

As the Mage Corps’ fire support disappeared, the pressure on the Forest Guard doubled. However, the raid members fought back calmly, striking and cutting without any sign of fear.

The Forest Guard was mentally tough in a sense opposite to the Holy Knights.

They didn’t value their lives. Neither the lives of other raid members nor their own.

‘Let’s not let them go through what we did.’

Most of the Forest Guard were the last survivors of their respective races. If the Holy Knights were noble warriors who swore to die for the weak… the Forest Guard were those who fought only out of a sense of duty, without the will to live.

‘Let’s not let other races with a future go through what we did.’

That’s why they couldn’t know fear.

The Forest Guard was holding back the wave of monsters with cold and silent hostility.

At that moment.

Thud!

Needle fired his first shot.

“Ugh…”

With a sound like air leaking from a balloon, a man collapsed on the spot. He was one of the Forest Guard’s ranged dealers.

Liza glanced at him and confirmed that he was dead.

“Forest Guard to command, reporting.”

Liza made a call. She spoke in a businesslike voice.

“Needle’s effective range is estimated to be less than 2 kilometers.”

Even within the same class, the Mage Corps was less mobile and slower than the Forest Guard. They were easier targets to hit. Despite that, the fact that he aimed for the Forest Guard meant that he wasn’t confident in hitting the Mage Corps.

<Updating.>

Seo Yeonhee also replied in a businesslike tone.

After ending the call, Liza said calmly.

“Yun Piljung.”

“Yes.”

It was Yun Piljung, the Forest Guard’s new recruit and sub-tanker, who answered.

“Retreat to the rear and protect the ranged dealers.”

“But…”

Theoretically, it was right. Needle’s shots could instantly kill those who weren’t wearing armor, but if they wore even light armor, they could avoid instant death. Yun Piljung could survive even if he took the hit instead.

But that meant…

“The front line might weaken.”

The situation was already lacking fire support from the rear. Reducing the number of combatants on the front line would inevitably increase the pressure on the front line.

“Go.”

Liza said curtly and thrust her spear like a flash of lightning.

Turning around, Yun Piljung glanced at the dead ranged dealer with a bitter expression.

They were a legion of the dead. A legion of the less dead, not the living.

That’s why their movements were precise and swift. Because they didn’t value the lives of any of the raid members, they didn’t stop even if someone died.

Yun Piljung understood them.

Their history. The sorrowful despair of those who were exterminated by the madness of fascism.

However, that’s why he couldn’t help but look at them with bitter eyes…

‘Please… salvation.’

He had once been frustrated, and he knew well the suffocating pressure that was unique to those who were frustrated.

And he knew well that the pain they had gone through was hundreds, thousands of times greater than the frustration that had broken him.

‘I don’t know if I’m qualified to pray… but please, to them…’

Yun Piljung looked up at the sky.

“…Salvation.”

It was that moment.

Whirring…

A steel hawk swept past their heads.

“Mason…!”

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Needle was bewildered.

It was understandable. Because Needle was seeing a machine called a helicopter for the first time.

However, one thing was certain.

Inside it, there was a being that he must never let get close!

Thud!

The thorn he reflexively shot out got stuck in the rotor, and the helicopter lost its balance and started spinning.

“Crash! Aircraft crash! Ejecting!”

The pilot screamed and opened his parachute.

“A crash, huh.”

However, Mason wasn’t flustered.

“That’s not bad!”

He kicked the helicopter and jumped out.

Whoosh!

Because the helicopter was intercepted, he fell much further ahead than the originally intended location.

It was a trajectory that would hit the building’s outer wall.

“Hmm!”

Bang!

Mason punched the concrete outer wall.

And he soared up the concrete wall.

On the rooftop of the building. Needle, who realized it was too late to escape, was growling with his body crouched down.

Facing the hateful enemy who had slaughtered his lord, comrades, and subordinates.

“Do you hate me…?”

Mason was also growling.

Looking at the invader who had harmed his comrades in addition to countless slaughters.

“I hate you too!”

The moment Mason charged.

“Screech!”

Rat-a-tat-tat!

Needle fired all the thorns embedded in his body at once. At this distance against Mason’s large build, even a shotgun would be a hundred percent accurate. Mason’s chest, which wasn’t even wearing a breastplate, instantly turned into a mangled mess of minced meat.

This was the power of the named boss monster, Needle.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!”

However, the shotgun blast of thorns didn’t even slow Mason down a step. The moment his foot touched the ground, the bleeding stopped, and the moment he lifted his foot, the flesh began to heal.

This was the regenerative power of the modified human from the future, Mason.

And now, it was time for his violence to tear Needle apart.

“Aaaaaaaaah!”

Crack!

Even after piercing through Needle’s torso, the greatsword’s remaining power overflowed like a storm. Piercing through the building’s rooftop and smashing the concrete floor, Mason and Needle’s bodies fell to the floor below.

“…Hmph!”

Mason stomped on Needle’s body with his foot and pulled out his greatsword.