Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

107 – Sword of Devastation Doxiao

“How much do you know?” 

Hee-cheol responded to Zhai Tianlin’s question that popped out in the awkward atmosphere.

“Are you referring to the violation of the Gate Management Agreement by the Chinese government at the UN, causing an artificial overflow? or the fact that one of the overflows succeeded and the other failed, resulting in the death of one of the most powerful members of Chinese National Defense, Sword of Devastation Doxiao, or the fact that a horde of monsters, spiralling out of control in the wake of his death, is advancing on the city of Hohhot at a terrifying rate?”

“…You seem to know everything.”

“Probably everyone knows except for Sword of Devastation’s death. No, the US government might already know everything. Moreover, if it weren’t for Sword of Devastation’s death, the fact that the overflow had become uncontrollable in the Second Operation Zone might have been exposed.”

“I don’t understand. I know it’s an emergency situation, but there’s no way the party would request support from the Korean government, and even if they did, it arrived too quickly.”

“The party didn’t request it. I volunteered.”

“Should I say the timing was right… I was staying in Beijing for another matter, and the incident happened to occur. And I said I wanted to help resolve the situation not as the head of the EDA, but in a personal capacity.”

Under normal circumstances, the party would never have accepted Hee-cheol’s request.

However, the fact that overflows were occurring simultaneously in two locations and the success or failure of Zhai Tianlin’s suppression had not been determined forced the party to accept Hee-cheol’s proposal.

If both Sword of Devastation and Zhai Tianlin were to fail in suppressing the overflows, it could become a situation that could not be resolved even if the entire People’s Liberation Army were deployed.

Choosing between launching nuclear weapons on their own territory and accepting the offer of assistance from an accomplice who claimed to help in a personal capacity, the party leadership chose the latter.

“What do you mean by another matter?”

“I can’t tell you because it’s a deal with the party leadership. If you’re curious, ask them directly.”

“Do you know why Sword of Devastation died?”

“Why would there be a reason? Probably because he was weak.”

“Weak? Doxiao?”

At that moment, along with vitality from Zhai Tianlin’s body, a faint toxic mist spread out. However, Hee-cheol calmly spoke without changing his expression even after seeing the green smoke emanating from the opponent’s body.

“It’s a sealed helicopter. Please refrain from using your abilities.”

“I just have to prevent it from flowing to the cockpit. After all, there are only two of us inside the passenger seats.”

“Two? Who said there were two?”

At that moment, the smoke emanating from Zhai Tianlin’s body disappeared as if it were a lie. Before he could deploy his abilities, a sharp blade aimed at his throat was right in front of him.

Feeling the sharp metal sensation on his skin, Zhai Tianlin cautiously glanced in the direction where the blade had extended.

‘What on earth!? There were only two people here, weren’t there?’

Zhai Tianlin’s memory was not mistaken. The person holding the sword to his throat was not a human but a doll.

He couldn’t help but be astonished at Hee-cheol’s natural use of his ability, as if breathing.

‘Much stronger than the rumors suggest.’

The ‘strength’ of an Awakener wasn’t simply judged by the superiority of their abilities. Some Awakeners, despite possessing immensely superior abilities, lost their lives due to compatibility issues, while others with mediocre abilities displayed tremendous strength by utilizing them freely. That’s why when discussing the strength of Awakeners, the criterion commonly used was ‘lethality’.

It wasn’t just about how much damage one could inflict on humans, it evaluated how effectively an Awakener could kill their opponent in a confrontation with another Awakener or a monster. And Hee-cheol, as seen by Zhai Tianlin, was a person at the pinnacle of that concept of ‘lethality’.

While it took some time for himself to use his abilities, Hee-cheol had the ability to kill his opponent before they even realized it.

However, after showcasing such overwhelming ‘lethality’, Hee-cheol suddenly raised both hands as if he had no intention of fighting and dismissed the doll he had summoned.

“I apologize for my rudeness.”

“No, I suppose the Director wanted to talk to me about the essence of strength pursued by Awakeners. Despite the strength Doxiao possessed, he lost because his ‘lethality’ compared to his opponent was weak.”

“That’s right. The characteristics of the monster we will face shortly are exactly that.”

“But in terms of lethality, Doxiao was stronger than me. Even aside from abilities, he had superior physical abilities and swordsmanship. Probably, if you had attacked me a moment ago, Doxiao would have easily blocked it.”

“That’s true. Stories like cutting a waterfall in half with a single sword stroke or dividing a monster that didn’t suffer a scratch from missiles into 36 pieces are famous tales in the awakener world. But what’s important now is that someone so strong ultimately died. We need to find clues to defeat our opponent within that.”

“How much time do we have left?”

“About 10 minutes until arrival.”

“Please tell me about our opponent.”

Hee-cheol explained the information received from the party leadership for a quick briefing.

“The initial operation was proceeding smoothly according to the plan set by the party leadership. The Awakeners and troops deployed from the Records Department were capturing the monsters flowing out of the gate thoroughly, and whenever there was a shortage of strength, Sword of Devastation would leap in and resolve the situation.”

“So, the problem arose right after the overflow.”

Hee-cheol nodded.

“Just one. It’s reported that thousands of soldiers and Awakeners on the scene, as well as the mechanized corps deployed for frontline defense, were completely annihilated by a single monster.”

Hee-cheol’s subsequent words contained content so shocking that Zhai Tianlin felt like blocking his ears.

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In the first operation area where Zhai Tianlin fought endlessly regenerating monsters, located 300km southwest of the desert.

In what the party termed the ‘Second Operation Zone,’ thousands of soldiers were fiercely battling.

Nearby, just like in the first operation area, numerous bodies sacrificed during combat were piled up so high that the ground couldn’t be seen.

However, upon closer inspection, the landscape of the second area was completely different from the first.

While the desert landscape itself didn’t differ much from the first area, the appearance of the fallen bodies was completely different.

Unlike the monsters in the first area, which could be generally defined as ‘monsters’ or ‘beasts’ despite their diverse appearances, the lifeform in the second area had human-like forms.

Though their skin colors varied, and their sizes differed, they all had limbs capable of grasping objects and legs to walk on the ground.

The lifeform in the second area, resembling ‘aliens’ from SF movies in appearance, emitted even more terrifying madness than beast-like monsters and charged at the soldiers.

Alien-like lifeform, resembling humans, who screamed and charged even with knees shattered by bullets and bodies riddled with holes.

The soldiers were on the verge of losing their minds due to the onslaught of these bizarre beings.

“The enemy has no reason! Treat them as animals in human form and respond!”

Doxiao, the overall commander of the Second Operation Zone, wielded a long sword as tall as a child, constantly moving around the operation area, relentlessly cutting down the monsters.

“Kraaaah!”

As he swung his sword, the body of the monster rushing towards him with outstretched claws was strangely divided.

However, even with its lower body severed, the monster, shedding tears of blood, began to crawl towards Doxiao with its two hands.

To bite with its teeth if its claws couldn’t do the job.

In response, Doxiao made a disgusted expression and severed the upper body of the monster from side to side.

“Poo……”

As Doxiao wiped his face with his palm, blood of various colors shed by the various life stuck to him.

However, without a moment’s rest, he immediately rushed towards the next area.

‘Strange.’

Even as he swung his sword, he felt something strange.

Although there were many of these monsters rushing at him, not a single one with special abilities like deflecting bullets or regenerating wounds was seen, except for the psychological resistance of facing humanoid enemies.

Moreover, these monsters were easily neutralized even by conventional weapons humanity had used before.

As a result, the operation area was dominated by a creepy feeling, as if slaughtering an alien race charging at them with their bare hands.

“I can’t take it anymore! This is massacre!”

Doxiao saw a soldier in the distance lowering his gun and giving up resistance.

Then, before he could rush over, countless aliens charging towards him tore the soldier apart in front of him.

“Stop it! Stop coming!”

In another part of the battlefield, a soldier, showing signs of mental confusion, aimed his gun at nearby comrades.

Watching this, Doxiao began to ponder the nature of this gate.

‘What kind of ability is this?’

A gate like none he had ever experienced, despite participating in countless gate assaults.

The absence of information only added to his frustration.

‘I must contain the soldiers morale before they lose their minds.’

As if to relieve the tension in his mind, Doxiao leaped into the center of the battlefield.

Then, he invoked a technique bestowed upon him, known as Sword of Devastation.

“Ten Thousand Forms, Absolute Separation.”

As the circular blade emanated from Doxiao’s location, the movements of thousands of monsters nearby came to a halt.

Then, their upper and lower bodies cleanly separated, collapsing downward.

However, as Doxiao cleanly eliminated thousands of monsters, more poured out from the gate.

‘This is insane!’

Doxiao desperately suppressed the urge to flee, knowing that if he crumbled here, the endless stream of these entities would charge towards Hohhot, the nearest city.

Amidst the rising nausea and the burden of responsibility weighing on his shoulders, Doxiao emptied his mind and swung his sword tirelessly.

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“It’s commonly expressed that an Awakener with strong lethality is considered strong.”

Listening to Hee-cheol’s story with a gloomy expression, Zhai Tianlin was startled by Hee-cheol’s sudden discourse.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“That’s common sense. Assuming two Awakeners are fighting, the one who can better suppress the other will survive. In that sense, Doxiao can truly be considered a strong Awakener. With his sword capable of cutting through anything, there aren’t many who can stand against him.”

Hee-cheol lit a cigarette from his pocket and spoke.

“But that ended up being his downfall. Saying that one can confront any ability also means, conversely, that there’s no merit against an opponent with no ability.”

“Are you saying the Gate Boss was not favorable to him?”

“Not favorable at all.”

Hee-cheol’s expression darkened.

The battle report he read contained content that couldn’t simply be summed up as ‘not favorable’. It was about a being that could be described as the ‘worst possible opponent’.

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