The One Who Saved a World Before Will be Best at Saving Another

Chapter 35

Lee Se-eun examined the seal surrounding her and spoke into the radio.

"Protect the train. I will break this as quickly as possible and come out."

"Even if you hurry, it will be too late."

When I turned my gaze, there was a man wearing a robe loosely over his shoulders, smiling. It was not his real body but an apparition.

"Is that so?"

As she spoke, Lee Se-eun gripped her greatsword and drew up her mana. Just that alone made the surrounding air resonate with her power and emit a vibrating sound.

"Judging by your clothes, you must be one of those so-called Descendants of Dangun."

"I am Lee Hayoon. You are from the Yangnyeong Daegun line, I hear. So am I. I checked, and it turns out I am your fourth cousin once removed. Nice to meet you."

"And what exactly do you expect me to do with that information?"

While speaking, Lee Se-eun swung her greatsword and slammed it into the seal isolating her. The greatsword embedded in the seal exploded entirely.

At the same time, the seal shrieked and shook violently.

"Resorting to brute force, I see."

Sweat beaded on Lee Hayoon’s forehead. What kind of monster of a woman was this? He had suspected her power, but the gap between his expectations and reality was enormous.

She had poured so much mana into the attack that it blew up her own weapon, yet her total mana reserves showed no sign of having decreased.

"You seem confident about how sturdy it is."

When she extended her hand to the side, the ring on her finger shone, and a greatsword identical to the one she had just swung appeared in her grasp.

"Mirror Ring."

"So you know what it is? I suppose that makes sense, it’s rarer to find those that don’t."

It was known that she had acquired the ring after eliminating a grade 1 Erosion Zone. You could register exactly one piece of equipment in it, and any registered item would be instantly duplicated and placed back in your hand the moment it broke.

The newly formed greatsword slammed into the seal and exploded again.

— You can take your time. I will hold them off.

Yoo Chan-seok’s voice came through the radio.

"What a ridiculous fellow he is. What could someone like him possibly do?"

Hearing the radio, Lee Hayoon spoke in a tone that sounded like mockery. As Lee Se-eun swung her greatsword against the seal, she replied,

"You never know."

"Even if Nikolai is of an inferior race, his equipment is rather good."

Lee Se-eun answered coldly after hearing him.

"Three years ago, the Descendants of Dangun tried to approach me."

"I heard you refused. Even now, if you change your mind, we would welcome you without hesitation."

Instead of answering directly, Lee Se-eun grabbed another newly formed greatsword to replace the one that had shattered and smiled.

"Go eat taffy, you Nazi bastards."

"That is harsh language. We are patriots. Have you ever spent even five minutes a day thinking about your country?"

It was a quote from Dosan Ahn Changho. Surely he had not said it expecting it to be used in this way. It was like how cults cherry-pick lines from the Bible to suit themselves.

Lee Se-eun scowled.

"I have many things to say… but I will not bother."

It was a waste of time. She shut her mouth and focused on smashing the seal with her greatsword.

Lee Se-eun was trapped inside the seal, striking it over and over to escape.

"Huh, at this rate…"

It looked like she could break it in about forty minutes. That meant we would have to endure without her for that long.

From the distance, something spouting flames like a jetpack came flying and landed with a tremendous noise.

"What is this, some kind of Iron Man?"

A massive figure encased in what looked like solid steel aimed a huge cannon at us. Thanks to the glass-like visor, I could see his face.

Shaved head, a scar. This had to be the bastard who went by the name Nikolai. His appearance matched the photos I had seen. He called out boldly through a loudspeaker.

— If you throw away your weapons and surrender, I might let you live!

Who would surrender after hearing that? And what was "might let you live"? He could have just told us not to surrender.

"What an interesting guy."

He had no mana inside him at all. The man inside that steel shell was just human. Han Sang-ah, drawing her sword, steadied her breath and spoke.

"Ten years ago, during the Predator Project, a few of these were made. The Korean military tried to use them, but they gave up because acquiring the necessary materials was too difficult."

Why was equipment like that in the hands of a Russian gang leader? Getting it was one thing, keeping it was another. Unless the Korean government had tacitly allowed it, the normal result would have been having it seized instantly and the user executed.

Anyway, the steel shell Nikolai was operating ran on mana. Which meant there was something in there supplying it with mana.

"I just gotta hope it’s nothing dangerous to consume."

Not all mana-infused substances were safe to ingest. In calorie terms, fried chicken might be around 2,000 calories for a whole bird and was edible. Uranium might be around 80 billion calories per gram and was inedible. Well, you could eat it, but you would not survive.

Trying to strengthen your blood vessels by consuming something you could not absorb was like eating uranium because you wanted a quick calorie boost. In other words, insane.

— Alright, wipe them out!

The funny thing was, all his underlings were able to use mana.

"Soldiers, do not come out."

I told Han Sang-ah as I ran toward the enemies with my spear alongside the other Hunters.

"This is your first time fighting people, right?"

"Isn't it the same for you?"

I cheerfully deflected an incoming dual-blade attack and then thrusted my spear through the attacker’s head. The body collapsed with a thud, blood pouring out.

"I am ready for this."

Han Sang-ah flinched at the sight. Killing a monster and killing a person were as different as eating meat and eating human flesh.

"If you cannot do it, go back."

An ally who feels sympathy for the enemy is more of a hindrance than a help. Better not to have them at all.

"No."

She gripped her sword tightly and charged at the enemy.

"I can do it."

"Then do it."

I spoke firmly and moved.

The guilt from killing comes creeping like a ghost only after everything is over. In a nervous state, people dream repeatedly of their first kill, and avoid certain situations. Usually it fades in a few days to a month.

“Hah.”

People screamed, shouted, and cursed in their native tongues. Weapons clashed, guts spilled, and blood ran. The storm of raw, violent human emotion battered us.

It felt strange. I had not wanted to see anything like this here ever again.

"It’s disgusting."

Not the situation, but the fact that I felt almost at home in it.

— Ahahahahahahah!

A manic laugh rang out.

I saw Nikolai, boosters flaring, charging toward the train car housing the shield generator. He fired his cannon wildly while swinging a mana-forged lightsaber.

The force and momentum were terrifying. The Hunters from Jannabi tried desperately to stop him, but they did not look like they could hold for long.

"Hey, tin can."

The lightsaber swung down at one Hunter’s head, but my spear blocked it. Then the shaft in my hands extended and contracted as I aimed at his armor.

He quickly swung his lightsaber to block my attack and then looked at me.

— So it’s you? That Korean rookie?

The glass-like visor protecting his face lit up with scrolling text. Probably trying to analyze me.

— Huh, nothing special. Does Korea really have no talent?

"Everyone says that."

I gestured for the Jannabi Hunters to go elsewhere, then black flames flared on my spear.

"They say that until they get beaten half to death."

— Big talk. I will tear out your tongue, dry it well, and keep it as a trophy.

The hum of turbines filled the air as light streamed from parts of his armor. He was increasing the output.

"Fast and strong."

It was always like this. Nikolai closed the distance instantly and shoved his cannon in my face. — If you dodge, the cargo will be destroyed!

I gave him a look of disbelief and avoided it. Of course, he did not fire.

— Eh? How did you know?!

"If destruction was your goal, you would have just fired at the cargo from a distance."

What idiot would run all the way here instead of firing from far away? He had no intention of destroying it.

When I swung my spear wreathed in black flame, he leapt into the air to dodge and used his boosters to gain some distance.

"Not everyone is as stupid as you."

— Those who bragged about their brains, I crushed them. Every one of them. Haha!

The barrel on his cannon shifted, and he fired mana shots at me like a machine gun. The blazing projectiles were easy to see. There was no need for fancy moves. I batted them away with my spear and closed the gap.

— Those eyes, those eyes. Let’s see if you can still make that face after I turn you into a cripple!

He brought his lightsaber down at me. It would not connect. Even if it ever did, it would never land a decisive blow.

"You have already been measured, bastard."

In less than a second, I could tell how fast he could move, and the power and speed of his shots and swings. I did not just rush in to see if he was strong as that would have been stupid.

I knew I could win this battle

— No…!

After about five minutes of fighting, he looked unsettled. My spear was not strong enough to break his armor by itself. But that was fine as I was not relying on the spear to attack. The Paradoxical Flames it carried were what mattered. The spear only needed to be sturdy.

"You fool."

Very oddly, his machine’s movements were slowing down. I knew why. He was failing to block attacks he could have blocked, and failing to dodge ones he could have avoided.

— Why is the auto-defense system acting up?

"So you weren’t even the one fighting."

Now it all made sense after hearing from him. The machine was blocking my attacks, not him.  

It was obvious. A normal person could not track the movements of a mana-wielding fighter with the naked eye. But a machine, especially one powered by mana, could.

The problem for that machine was rooted in my nervous system, which had been entirely replaced in the hospital. I processed situations faster and reacted faster than normal humans. His suit’s systems could not handle it, creating errors.

"The machine did nothing wrong."

If he had been a skilled engineer, he might have detected and fixed the problem right now. But a muscle-bound, shaved-head Russian thug smart enough to repair such complex equipment would not be here robbing trains in Siberia.

"Let’s see how you like getting beaten into the dirt out here on the Siberian plains."

Blue trails followed the arc of my swinging spear.