Level 4 Human in a Ruined World

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 290: Metal Forbidden City (3)

―Your arrogance knows no bounds!

Central Politburo First Standing Committee Member, Im Dupyeong, roared as his body grew larger.

Crack!

His body was already so enormous that it obscured the sky.

Any ordinary Strongest Sword wouldn’t have dared to take a step forward.

Just standing alone in this space, under the dark canopy that covered the sky, facing this enormous dragon would have caused most to lose their fighting spirit.

But.

Ta-at!

South Korea's elected Strongest Sword Jeong Yeongwoo07, was different.

"Im Dupyeong! Hand over the core first!"

When everyone else retreated in front of the exchange office, his story began by moving forward instead.

From the moment he first grasped the Early Bird, Yeongwoo understood that everything frightening and unfamiliar in this world wasn’t something to avoid but something to overcome.

He had learned that overcoming something always brought some kind of reward in this world.

Of course, at the beginning of his journey, he overcame obstacles solely for his own safety.

But now, the driving force behind his challenges was something different.

“Contribute to the construction of Metal Seoul…!”

As Yeongwoo, holding Bastard, charged like lightning, Im Dupyeong opened his jaws wide.

Kwa-at!

From deep inside Im Dupyeong's throat came a sound that was all too familiar to Yeongwoo.

Zing!

“This bastard?”

The red laser beam that had been targeting Yeongwoo all this time was actually a breath weapon fired from Im Dupyeong's mouth.

“No doubt about it, he’s a robot dragon.”

But the laser cannon, probably installed by a military contractor, posed little threat to Yeongwoo, who already held Bastard.

Kwa-aak!

Yeongwoo easily sliced through Im Dupyeong's laser breath and leaped into the air.

Ta-at!

His target was the orb in Im Dupyeong's right arm, the core of this Metal Forbidden City.

Then.

Pew-pew-pew-pew!

“...?”

Following Im Dupyeong's ‘Annihilation Mode’ command, four turrets that had risen earlier simultaneously fired lasers at Yeongwoo.

Unlike Im Dupyeong's breath, these lasers were much thinner, but they were much faster and more physically powerful.

It was as if.

‘It's like blades are flying at me?’

Sizzle!

The actual destructive power of the lasers was impressive, as white sparks flew from where the lasers intersected in mid-air when Yeongwoo swiftly dodged them.

Yet, the ground of the Forbidden City remained unscathed.

This was because the directive from the Toma Corporation, stating that their products wouldn’t harm themselves, also applied to these turrets.

“No… this is pretty amazing.”

Lasers could be fired within the city without leaving a single scratch on the buildings.

In other words, as long as the residents were evacuated, battles could take place inside the city.

“Is that part of the Metal package too?”

As Yeongwoo pointed at the turrets and asked Im Dupyeong a question.

Crash!

The turrets, which had failed to snipe Yeongwoo, rose even higher than before.

“Huh?”

Yeongwoo’s gaze naturally followed them upward, and he soon realized something.

―……

―……

The four turrets guarding the corners of the Metal Forbidden City were, in fact, the heads of giants who had been hiding inside the city walls.

“…Oh my god.”

Yeongwoo momentarily forgot about his fight with Im Dupyeong and stared at the giant guardians walking inward from the four corners of the Forbidden City.

―……

They didn’t seem to have any lines, but instead greeted Yeongwoo with laser beams.

Pew! Pew-pew!

Once again, the crimson laser beams cut through the black sky of the Forbidden City.

As Yeongwoo watched this dazzling laser show, he understood why Im Dupyeong had been so confident.

In this Forbidden City, there were very few who could defeat him.

The only problem was that one of those few was standing right here, right now.

Swoosh!

Yeongwoo deflected the turrets’ attacks with Bastard and immediately turned his gaze back to Im Dupyeong.

“Truly impressive.”

At that moment, Im Dupyeong, who had been diving towards Yeongwoo from the sky, twitched his fiery eyebrows.

―What do you mean?

“I mean this fortress and those giant guardians. You too, Im Dupyeong. It’s all very impressive. You might have met me later if you had only collected taxes in the West. It’s a shame for you.”

―What?

Realizing that the conversation had been a setup to mock him, Im Dupyeong swung his left front paw.

Swa-aack!

A dark trail slashed through the air as Im Dupyeong's claws cut viciously. Yeongwoo narrowly dodged the attack.

Whoosh!

Then, as if waiting for the moment.

Swaa-aack!

Yeongwoo swung Bastard from top to bottom, severing one of Im Dupyeong’s front paws.

Slice!

As expected, Im Dupyeong's dragon body was cut through like tofu the moment it touched Bastard.

Even though Toma Corporation could create planet-level bombardment weapons, they couldn’t create equipment that could withstand 'mythical' attacks.

―Ah…!

Im Dupyeong, realizing a lot as he saw his limb severed so easily, hastily tried to soar into the sky.

But by then, Yeongwoo had already driven Bastard into his body and mounted him.

As a result, Im Dupyeong had no choice but to ascend into the sky above Taihe Hall with this mysterious outsider riding him.

“Chairman Im! This is the end!”

As Yeongwoo began climbing up Im Dupyeong’s arm, gripping the orb, Im Dupyeong cried out in anger, now emitting black smoke from his nostrils.

―Who are you really? How could someone like you be more…!

There was a tone of resentment in his voice so that Yeongwoo couldn’t help but ask.

“And you? Why are you going to such lengths? Was there something that made you give up being human? You weren’t really trying to regain power for the sake of the people, were you?”

From Yeongwoo’s perspective, he couldn’t understand Im Dupyeong’s motivations at all.

Yeongwoo couldn't possibly understand Im Dupyeong's motives. Despite successfully remaining human in the reset world, he had chosen a body barely distinguishable from a mutant. Why would he make such a choice?

Then Im Dupyeong turned the question on Yeongwoo.

—How can you even question that? You, too, are someone who has forsaken being human, aren't you?

"...!"

—I can sense energy coursing through your body.

He was referring to the equipment that had replaced parts of Yeongwoo's body.

In truth, the difference was only a matter of degree—Yeongwoo, too, had forsaken parts of his humanity to gain power.

"That’s…"

For the first time since coming to the Forbidden City, Yeongwoo was at a loss for words, unable to find his next line.

Im Dupyeong spun his body fiercely and shouted,

—When all of this started, the people gave me 300 million arrows! I saw them flying straight at my heart!

This meant that on the first day of the reset, 300 million people had directly shot arrows at Im Dupyeong.

"..."

Yeongwoo fell silent.

Im Bonghee.

He had once seen the final moments of his former roommate, who had trembled in fear at even a single arrow.

And as he had predicted, Im Bonghee's expression when struck by the arrow was one of sheer terror.

So, what would it feel like to learn that a staggering 300 million arrows had been fired at you, not by anyone else, but by your own people?

There was no need to ask—Yeongwoo knew Im Dupyeong must have felt overwhelming fear.

Kwaaaang!

As Im Dupyeong spun rapidly to shake Yeongwoo off, his body heated up until it burned red-hot.

The intense heat pierced Yeongwoo's palm and reached up to his elbow.

"Ugh!"

Yeongwoo was holding onto Im Dupyeong's body purely by willpower, as the talisman of the berserker wasn’t blocking the pain.

"So, you plan to grow power so immense that it can never be opposed?"

Yeongwoo asked, barely holding on.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Im Dupyeong, with his eyes glowing red, looked back at him and said,

—Exactly. The kind of fearsome power that no one can oppose. That's what I and China need.

"...Not you and China, but just you. You just don’t want to be beaten down ever again."

—Shut up!

Enraged, Im Dupyeong fired a breath attack at his own body, where Yeongwoo was hanging on, but Yeongwoo was already gone.

Flash!

Yeongwoo had quickly leapt up and clung to Im Dupyeong’s back.

"I, too, somehow ended up dreaming of ruling the Earth, so I’ve got a lot on my mind."

—What?

"How the hell do you make 300 million people shoot arrows? Even using up the points they’d need for self-defense. Have you ever thought about that?"

—You…!

For a moment, Im Dupyeong was at a loss for words, and at the same time, Yeongwoo drove his sword deeper into Im Dupyeong's back.

Slash!

"Now, step down in accordance with the people’s will! I’ll help you with that!"

As Yeongwoo pulled the sword down further, Im Dupyeong's iron skin split open, revealing a path to the afterlife.

Seeing this, the colossal soldiers of the Forbidden City rushed over, but it was too late.

Thud!

Yeongwoo was already descending toward the Yeouiju, riding the now tattered right shoulder of Im Dupyeong.

Shaaak!

The mysterious device, the core, which had been gifted to Im Dupyeong by Toma through some contract, was now on the verge of falling into the hands of a bandit from the Korean Peninsula.

Crash!

Yeongwoo, slicing through Im Dupyeong’s arm with his sword, kicked the large core beneath him.

Thud!

As soon as the core was dislodged from Im Dupyeong’s weakening right hand, at that exact moment—

—Argh…!

With Im Dupyeong's final cry, the dragon's body lost power.

"Huh?"

With Yeongwoo's surprised exclamation, Im Dupyeong’s massive body plummeted to the ground of the Taihe Plaza.

Whoooosh, Boom!

A tremendous roar and shockwave assaulted Yeongwoo’s ears, and the colossal soldiers who were rushing to the plaza all came to a halt simultaneously.

It was as if someone had unplugged the power cord; everything in the metallic Forbidden City had stopped functioning.

"No way… The core was more important than I thought."

Yeongwoo pushed Im Dupyeong's body aside and stood up, his foot stepping on the steps leading to the Taihe Hall.

Im Dupyeong's massive size had covered the entire area from the steps leading to the Taihe Hall to the central part of the plaza.

"Ah, the core. Where did the core go?"

As Yeongwoo turned his head to look for the core he had kicked away earlier, he spotted the 4-meter-wide core vibrating at a low frequency in front of the Taihe Hall.

And just in time—

Creak, creak, creak.

The doors of the Taihe Hall, which had been firmly shut, began to open.

It seemed that the core being dislodged from the dragon's hand had also unlocked the door’s mechanism.

Similarly, the gate on the opposite side, the Taihe Gate, had reopened, where Yeongwoo saw the two members of the Standing Committee he had seen earlier, collapsed in front of it.

With Im Dupyeong's death, they too had lost their lives.

"What the hell were those guys? Did they make a pact to die on the same day and hour?"

Chilled for some reason, Yeongwoo carefully touched his own neck as he walked toward the Taihe Hall.

As he approached, he could see the six dragon-carved golden pillars that supported the center of the Taihe Hall, and at the very center—

"Huh."

There was something that anyone would recognize as a throne.

Moreover, someone was already sitting on it.

"Im Dupyeong…?"

Sensing that the person on the throne was Chairman Im, Yeongwoo gripped his sword tightly and rushed into the Taihe Hall.

Thud, thud, thud!

But after just a few steps, he came to a sudden stop.

"Crazy…"

He had belatedly realized that steel hoses connected various parts of the Taihe Hall to the body of the person sitting on the throne.

He had thought that Im had abandoned his human form and been reborn as a dragon made of steel, but his true body had been confined within the Taihe Hall all along.

"What kind of madness is this?"

This was a line directed at both the late Im Dupyeong and his sponsor, Toma.

But naturally, there was no answer.

"No, seriously, this guy is insane."

Yeongwoo covered his mouth as he took in the desolate scene of the Taihe Hall, where Im Dupyeong must have spent the entire reset period.

"What on earth are you… How could you be more…?"

Im Dupyeong’s earlier words, spoken in disbelief as the dragon's body was effortlessly split open, now took on a slightly different meaning.

What he meant by "even more than me" was not the dragon he had become, but rather himself, who had craved power while binding his true form to this throne.

"Indeed, there's no such thing as power without a price."

Yeongwoo shuddered once again at the cruelty of the cosmic forces.

After all, from their perspective, both Im Dupyeong and Jeong Yeongwoo were nothing more than small beings from a remote planet.

The only difference, if any, was that Im Dupyeong desperately needed great power immediately, while Jeong Yeongwoo had at least followed the proper contractual process in line with minimal order.

"That's why there are standard contracts. He delved too deep into the dark arts."

Clicking his tongue, Yeongwoo left Taihua Hall.

Then, he saw the 'Core,' the final thing he had to deal with in the Forbidden City today, waiting for him.

"Now... Let's see what exactly I can do with this."

Just as Yeongwoo reached out for the Core, his heart pounding,

Crackle!

The sky, which had returned to its original state after Im Dupyeong's death, rippled unnaturally.

"...?"

And then,

Boom!

A shockwave that had traveled from afar swept over the skies above the Forbidden City.

"Wait, this is..."

A sense of déjà vu hit him.

He had seen this phenomenon before, when 'Dogo' was selected as the last developer of Earth.

'Those bastards!'

The other two companies that had decided to develop Earth had finally started to take action.

But that wasn't the end.

[Developer 1 'Lemu' has declared war on 'Dogo.']

[Developer 2 'Mara' has declared war on 'Dogo.']

As if they knew that Yeongwoo was in the process of taking over China, the two companies consecutively declared war on 'Dogo.'

"What? Those bastards."

As the enraged Yeongwoo glared at the sky while gripping Bastard, a new system message appeared in his view.

「A declaration of war has been made! To officially record the development rights dispute, please set the office address within 8 hours.」

"Office address?"

This meant he had to enter the developer 'Dogo' office address on Earth.

And given that he was the one responsible for this setting, it seemed...

'I'm the agent of Dogo, huh?'

If so, where should he designate as the center of the upcoming Earth development war?

Since it would be officially recorded, he couldn't take this lightly.

'...Then it has to be Metal Seoul.'

Yeongwoo's gaze shifted back to the Core.

The system then displayed a follow-up message.

「In 8 hours, all companies' office addresses will be disclosed. Non-involved parties should evacuate immediately.」

"Ah."

Only then did Yeongwoo realize that these announcements were being made to the entire Earth.

This meant that the Korean Peninsula would have already been thrown into chaos by now.

After all, due to the Supreme Sword vote, the entire Korean population knew that Jeong Yeongwoo was backed by Dogo.

"This is bad."

Yeongwoo scratched his chin with the end of Bastard.

Then, he took out the unique ring, 'Wave,' and brought it to his mouth.

《Ah, can you hear me? In one hour, we will hold a business briefing at COEX in Gangnam. The topic is the reconfiguration of Seoul's infrastructure.》

After saying this, Yeongwoo paused for a moment before adding a final word.

《And also, the matter of consenting to the war. Please be sure to attend.》

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]