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Ubermensch – Chapter 76

76

Chapter 76

There was no time to waste.

He had to make sure the kill by beheading, retrieve the core, and return.

The longer he stayed here, the more monsters would swarm.

Even if other monsters didn’t attack, getting past thousands of goblins wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded…

Kwaak!

Mason stomped on Needle’s head. 

He raised his greatsword high.

It was time to declare victory with a single strike.

“…?”

At that moment.

Mason faltered unconsciously.

Before his reason could find a logical explanation, a premonition of danger flashed through him, faster than his conscious thought.

‘What is it? What am I missing?’

He missed something. Something he shouldn’t have missed.

‘Needle was Scar’s subordinate. And Scar…’

Mason reflexively turned to look out the window.

It was the same.

The special monster created from the repeated battles at Castle.

‘Warlord’ Scar.

Then… wouldn’t the repeated battles of the Han River defense create a special entity as well?

Like a dam bursting, thoughts flooded Mason’s mind.

And those streams of thought led him to one conclusion.

Needle didn’t join the goblin waves like other boss monsters or raid bosses. He moved independently and tactically.

If Needle hadn’t acted alone…

‘…If he was acting as someone’s subordinate like before?’

As a subordinate of another ‘Warlord’?

“Beeeeeep!”

A shadow loomed from above.

It was the shadow of a blood-red raven flying through the sky.

“Krrr…”

A hellhound, burning blue like a will-o’-the-wisp, emerged from the darkness.

“Kuwoooong!”

A polar bear, its entire body wrapped in lightning, roared from afar.

And atop that polar bear, a white goblin stared at Mason.

“Krrrk…”

A small, ordinary-looking goblin.

But it had eyes that shone with a vicious intelligence and wicked wisdom that no other goblin possessed. A red aura emanated from its body, enveloping the polar bear.

Mason had a gut feeling.

‘That’s the one.’

Size and species didn’t matter.

This small goblin that Mason faced was a more dangerous and powerful enemy than any monster he had encountered before.

‘I failed.’

Mason gritted his teeth. The veteran from the future slowly, but surely…

‘This operation… failed.’

He had to admit that he had walked into a death trap.

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

For a moment, there was silence.

A momentary standoff, where their tension and wariness countered each other.

But that standoff was quickly broken.

Whoosh…

“KwaaAAAA!”

The Frozen Hound, glowing with a blue phosphorescence, breathed a blue breath towards Mason. Mason angled his greatsword to split the breath.

‘It’s not fire.’

At that moment, Mason was startled.

‘It’s cold!’

Frost was forming on his sword. The Frozen Hound was breathing a breath of cold.

“Ugh…!”

As a modified human specialized in regeneration, fire would have been easier for Mason. Burns could be healed by regenerating skin and muscles, but frostbite slowed his movements and dulled his regenerative abilities.

Mason glanced at Needle.

If he swung his sword now, he could take Needle’s head.

But…

‘…It’s time to retreat.’

Mason decided, suppressing his boiling anger. As dangerous as Needle was, he was just a sniper. Losing Mason for one sniper would be a huge loss for humanity.

“Hmph!”

Mason put strength into his feet.

Rumble!

The entire floor of the level collapsed, sending everything crashing down. Taking advantage of the chaos, Mason leaped out of the building.

But at that moment, the Blood Raven circling in the sky swooped down at Mason.

Thud!

The Blood Raven’s claws grasped Mason’s abdomen. It squeezed and shook, as if trying to rip out his insides.

“Hmph!”

Having fought the Darkwing before, Mason, without hesitation, dropped his greatsword and grabbed the Blood Raven’s ankles with both hands.

Crack!

As the ankle snapped, the grip on Mason’s abdomen loosened.

Mason stretched out a hand in that state, summoning his greatsword and grasping it.

“Heave!”

Thud!

The two-handed greatsword was buried up to the pommel in the Blood Raven’s body.

Unfortunately, it seemed he hadn’t hit a vital point.

However, the Blood Raven could no longer fly and began to plummet.

At that moment.

The white goblin riding the polar bear reached out towards the Blood Raven. The red energy extending from its hand seeped into the Blood Raven, healing its wounds and transforming it into a creature twice as large as before.

“…?!”

Thud!

The Blood Raven spread its wings and struck Mason.

Mason’s grip was transcendental. It seemed the raven realized getting caught would be suicide.

Mason fell straight into the Han River.

Splash!

‘Ugh…!’

From large monsters the size of sharks to swarming monsters like piranhas, countless aquatic monsters, drawn by the scent of blood, were converging on Mason.

Mason gritted his teeth.

‘Swimming on the surface will leave me defenseless.’

He himself had thrown monsters into the Han River to kill them countless times. The Han River was no longer a place one could escape by swimming.

‘Then I’d rather…!’

Mason desperately dove deeper underwater. Small aquatic monsters clung to his body, and a monster the size of a shark bit into his side.

Mason endured the pain, holding back a scream. He needed to conserve what little air he had left.

Thump.

Finally, the riverbed touched Mason’s hand.

At that moment, Mason pushed off the riverbed with both feet and jumped.

Splash!

With a spray of water, Mason’s body shot above the surface.

Grab!

Mason grabbed onto a structure of the Hannam Bridge.

“Cough… Hack…”

Aquatic monsters were still clinging to his side. Mason tensed his side, shaking them off.

The Blood Raven tried to attack again, but the Mage Corps and the Forest Guard bombarded it with gunfire and magic.

“Cover Raid Leader Mason!”

The Forest Guard pushed forward to meet Mason. Mason staggered into their ranks, and the Forest Guard retreated, shielding him.

The battle of that day ended in a stalemate.

“…”

However…

The operation was a failure.

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

That evening.

The raid leader meeting was more somber than ever.

“Four additional Named monsters…”

Needle alone was a headache. But to have four more enemies added, on par with or even stronger than Needle… It was truly the worst-case scenario.

The surprise air raid tactic had already been used. It wouldn’t work next time…

Oh Junghee calmly assessed the situation.

“First, we’ll update the monsters’ designations.”

The Blood Raven, ‘Blood Raven’.

The icy hellhound, ‘Frozen Hound’.

The lightning polar bear, ‘Thunder Bear’.

And…

“The goblin that seems to be their leader, we’ve decided to designate it as ‘Winter Lord’.”

Individually, they weren’t that formidable. At best, they were boss monster level. They weren’t enemies Mason or the raid teams couldn’t handle.

But the problem was Winter Lord.

“Observations show that Winter Lord possesses a ‘buff’ ability that heals and strengthens other monsters.”

Winter Lord itself wasn’t that strong. It possessed raid boss level energy, but it couldn’t surpass its inherent limitations.

The problem was its ability to transfer its energy to other monsters.

The ability to heal like a healer, plus the ability to buff.

Indeed, the Blood Raven, which Mason had almost killed, had been revived by Winter Lord’s buff, bigger and stronger than before.

“So, that means we have to make sure we kill the boss monsters instantly.”

“And that’s after we get past the goblin wave…”

It was a troublesome situation.

People were hesitant to speak. It was difficult enough to accept the worsening situation.

Beyond the barrier of the goblin wave, they would be under Needle’s sniping. That alone was a headache, but now there were four boss monsters that could be strengthened to raid boss level?

Amidst the silence, Sung Kijun spoke.

“Can’t we get fire support from the military?”

“As you know, the bridge…”

“The situation has changed now.”

Oh Junghee fell into thought for a moment.

But she soon shook her head.

“It’s difficult to find a way to effectively apply firepower against monsters.”

Modern firearms had two main attack methods: penetration and explosion.

They could pierce heavy armor like tanks, and light armor could be destroyed with the energy of an explosion alone.

But monsters had a unique protective measure: barriers. An unconventional shield that couldn’t be penetrated by ordinary bullets and was hard to destroy with explosions because their power was dispersed.

“…”

People were speechless.

Just the addition of intelligence to monsters made them such formidable opponents.

Then Han Areum spoke up.

“Let’s not think about it as one big problem, let’s break it down.”

“What do you mean?”

“We don’t have to wipe them all out at once. Let’s try eliminating them one by one.”

Han Areum drew a large circle on the tactical map.

“This is Needle’s effective range, and tactically, the biggest threat, right?”

That was right. Needle had caused the most casualties so far. The other boss monsters were problematic because they made it difficult to eliminate Needle.

“An air raid would be the most efficient, but…”

“…But it’s impossible because of the Blood Raven.”

Whether it was a fighter jet or an armed helicopter, their defenses were inevitably weak. They couldn’t be equipped with heavy armor like tanks.

Fighter jets or bombers at least had ways to cope with the Blood Raven, like high-speed attacks or high-altitude bombing, but the helicopters that needed to be used for the air raid were within the Blood Raven’s flight range.

“So the conclusion is… either we take out the Blood Raven and then Needle, or we find a way to take out Needle alone. Isn’t that right?”

“The problem is finding that way.”

At Sung Kijun’s rebuttal, Jang Geun-uk from Over Armor spoke.

“Then let’s go classic.”

“Classic? What do you mean?”

“Power solves problems! Overwhelm them with large caliber firepower!”

Over Armor, with their high strength, mainly used heavy weaponry like beam bazookas and beam Gatling guns.

Weapons with short range and long delays, but guaranteed firepower if they hit.

“Large caliber, huh.”

Considering that the Revengers’ ranged dealers mainly used sniper rifles, a change in weaponry was a plausible tactic.

“A change in weaponry?”

Mason thought for a moment and then said,

“Then how about increasing the caliber enough to take out a monster in one shot?”

“There’s no such high-powered core weapon.”

Han Areum said.

“Even if there was, it would take a whole day just to charge the energy.”

“…Wait. Hold on a second.”

Mason frowned.

That unique intuition of his, where instinct preceded reason. That intuition was telling him something.

Right now, Mason was missing something.

‘What is it? What am I missing?’ 


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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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