Ch.117117. Choi Min-seo Urges Betrayal, Han So-mi’s Choice

“Hahahahaha! You really gave it to him, Gerogius!”

Sulphur laughed heartily.

Indeed, imagining that Red Dragon’s expression made him feel quite cheerful.

Since the underground waterway was quite deep and they hadn’t detected it, he judged that blocking their entry would be effective. Might as well taunt them while at it.

But anyway, our side can’t enter without me either, so there’s no point in dragging this out too long.

“Bring out the black hole.”

“Fine, fine. You sure use me conveniently.”

Sulphur grumbled but immediately created a black hole. It was for warping. After I, Somi, and Sulphur entered, we emerged on the opposite side of the battlefield.

The exit to our world was right in front of us. We immediately went through it.

“Geo!!”

“Master!”

Upon seeing me, Lu-a and Boksil rushed into my arms.

“Are you hurt? Is Senior Somi okay too?”

“Yes. Let’s head to round 2 first. Lena.”

Lena, who had been standing a step away, approached. She stood with her arms crossed, wearing a composed expression.

Behind her, all the villains of Vengeance were lined up waiting. Containers holding mechs and mechanical equipment were also visible.

Perfect as expected.

I explained the rules.

“We need twelve participants. Me, Somi, and Sulphur are confirmed, so nine spots remain. Inside, there are five types of barriers that can only be broken through with specific abilities. We should also prepare for combat.”

Lena immediately gave orders to the villains.

“G72, come forward.”

Six villains quickly ran out from the group and stood before us.

“Pipe Kick, Wrap Paper, Pint In, Deep Dive, Yimit, and Yallah. Good combination. Let’s depart immediately.”

Five from Sentai Vengeance plus six subordinates, and Sulphur makes twelve. It’s a combination that can handle machinery, organic matter, and information.

“Good job, Lena.”

“Give your thanks to Ellie. She worked hard in my place. Lu-a just moved here a moment ago.”

Lena doesn’t even know how to be modest.

“Won’t you need mechs?”

Lena pointed to the Magentataurus loaded in the container.

It’s just a replica with flight capabilities. The original was reduced to dust along with the Galaxy Empire’s ship.

There are no other mechs, and they’d only get in the way.

“Just give Pipe Kick the mechanical equipment.”

“B-boss. I’m not good in the field.”

“Don’t worry, traveler. This humble monk will guide you.”

Yallah the monk breathed life into Deep Dive, who looked like death warmed over.

“I can also make your legs thicker if needed, senior.”

Deep Dive made a disgusted face at Pint In’s wriggling fingers.

“Let’s go smash them.”

Cheers erupted from the villains behind us. We walked into the barrier without hesitation.

***

“A desert. I can see buried buildings, and is that a giant onion in the middle?”

Lena tilted her head.

I carefully examined the terrain that I had only briefly checked earlier when I needed to bring Vengeance.

A wasteland with sandstorms. The upper parts of skyscrapers buried in sand, giving an apocalyptic feeling of a world long destroyed.

In the center stood a massive dome-shaped barrier with multiple layers.

We quickly approached the barrier.

“Ugh, it smells terrible! Probably tastes awful too. Ouch, it burns!”

Boksil stuck her nose against the barrier, then smoke rose with the sound of burning meat. Boksil shook her head with tears in her eyes.

“The acidity is extremely high. It seems to be a substance not found in any chemical formula I know.”

Wrap Paper immediately brought paper to the barrier and checked it with his ability.

“I can guess what kind of method this is. Leave this to me.”

Somi narrowed her eyes and circulated the magical power in her body, emitting an aura.

Splash!

As she raised her hand, toxic liquid shot up like a fountain from the boundary of the barrier.

The first barrier melted and split where the toxic liquid touched it, creating a passage just wide enough for one person to pass through.

“I see. So it’s about counteracting with abilities of the same type.”

“It extends all the way inside. Boksil, will you take the lead?”

“Leave it to me!”

“Wait. What about Senior Somi?”

In response to Lu-a’s concern, Somi nodded.

“I’ll have to maintain my ability until everyone returns. Don’t worry.”

“I am worried. If enemies circle around the barrier, won’t you be directly attacked?”

Lena stood beside Somi.

“I’ll guard her. Go on.”

“Okay. We’ll come back victorious.”

Lu-a nodded.

I left Somi and Lena in charge of the first barrier and entered the passage.

“The second barrier looks like computer code. Deep Dive, please.”

When we entered the next space, countless green letters were flashing and moving across a black barrier.

As Lena described, the structure consisted of connected domes like an onion.

“I-it’s not computer code, it’s a problem of finding ECC without parameters while real-time embedding LISP-based fluid encryption. Ah, what a malicious trick.”

“Can you do it anyway?”

“I-I can, but are you going to leave me here too? That’s scary…”

“Alright. I’ll guard you. Geo, is that okay?”

I nodded at Lu-a’s question. We need to maintain the passage after entry to prepare for variables. We can’t leave Deep Dive, who has no combat ability, alone.

Deep Dive activated her ability. A multi-faceted cube appeared above her hands, continuously changing shape and sparkling. It had at least 256 faces, with thousands or tens of thousands of pieces.

Deep Dive quickly rotated the cube to find the answer. At a glance, her eyeballs were spinning wildly as if her optic nerves were malfunctioning.

“That’s sexy.”

“No wonder she’s ranked 11th in the Vengeance female villain popularity rankings.”

“But she’s dating Illusion, right? I heard rumors they’re living together.”

“I think they broke up a while ago? Ask her yourself later.”

Wrap Paper and Pint In were chatting. They’ve got some nerve to talk like that in front of me. They’re truly free-spirited villains.

“I-I got it. Hehe.”

As Deep Dive gave a haggard smile, a narrow gap appeared between the second barrier.

“Q-quickly go through. The functions keep changing.”

“Good job.”

Leaving Lu-a and Deep Dive behind, eight of us advanced to the third zone.

After passing through the barrier passage, we arrived at what appeared to be the final space.

This seemed to be the last area. In front of us stood a tall, massive tower-like structure with a large symbol visible inside.

“That’s it!”

“But we can’t reach it yet.”

As Sulphur said, the approximately 40-meter-tall massive structure containing a 5-meter symbol was blocked by three translucent barriers.

Unlike the thick final barrier surrounding everything, the other two were only blocking half like a yin-yang symbol and rotating.

“Lord, there are more on the left and right.”

There were small domes on both the left and right sides. The left one looked like machinery pressed in a press machine, while the right one resembled a chunk of meat.

It seems we need to capture one of these two places to remove one layer, and then use another type of ability for the last one.

This is where competition with the heroes begins. The best strategy would be to capture both and deny them any opportunity.

“Pipe Kick, take the left. Boksil, Yimit, and Yallah go with him. Pint In will handle the right. Wrap Paper, Sulphur, and I will support.”

After acknowledging, we split into two teams.

While running, we finally encountered them.

“It’s the villains!”

Three heroes running from the opposite side stopped when they saw us.

Yes, it’s time we met. This must be the final zone.

“Tch. They’re faster than I thought! And they outnumber us. Retreat for now! Let’s go to the other side first!”

The blue suit, Ji Se-hwa, shouted.

If they mean the other side, that would be where Boksil is headed.

I can’t allow that.

“Pint In, Wrap Paper. Keep working on disabling the barrier.”

“Yes!”

“Sulphur, come with me.”

“Hey, stop giving orders so naturally! I’m not your subordinate!”

Sulphur and I chase after the three heroes. Blue, black, and one nondescript suit.

“The plain one must be for barrier removal.”

“So you’re saying we just need to beat them up?”

Swoosh—Boom!

Sulphur excitedly flew and kicked the unnamed hero. He crashed into the outer barrier and was scraped away.

“Damn it!”

Ji Se-hwa created waves and quickly retreated. Her ability level has definitely improved her mobility.

I faced the remaining hero in the black suit.

I recognized who it was immediately. Shining Shield. Now Black Shield? Park Hayoung, who was a debut member of Dragon King Sentai on their side.

“Tch!”

Park Hayoung chose to fight, surrounding herself with a large shield and charging at me.

I lightly countered with red. In an instant, I shattered her helmet and left it in tatters.

“Haa, haa…!”

Simple braided hair. The look in her eyes behind broken glasses hadn’t died.

“You’ve got good spirit.”

“Because… I’m a hero!”

Park Hayoung charged at me. I grabbed her neck and slammed her to the ground.

It was a considerable impact. Her spine must be damaged. Yet she gets up again.

“You could just run away.”

“If I run… everyone dies…”

Park Hayoung gasped for breath.

I glanced at Sulphur. He was beginning to show hostility toward me.

Right.

I don’t dislike this type either.

“Sulphur, drive her away.”

“Well, this is something. Dragon King Sentai, huh?”

“Red Dragon is the urgent matter. The fact that they only sent three as a reconnaissance team means they have other plans.”

They must be confident in their scientific capabilities.

Considering what they did in round 1, they must be planning to use some other method.

“Don’t blame me later.”

Sulphur flicked his finger and created a black hole under Park Hayoung’s feet. She was sucked in and disappeared. He must have sent her back to their starting point.

“Whatever. Like I said, he’s up to something strange.”

BOOM!!

Just as I finished speaking, a massive explosion occurred at the ceiling of the barrier.

Breaking through the hole in the barrier appeared an elegantly red-painted mech, Magentataurus.

***

“Huff, huff.”

Han Somi was sweating profusely as she emitted aura to maintain the fountain of poison.

She had to keep the passage open since she couldn’t know what situation might unfold inside.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, strong air pressure hit her face. When Han Somi looked up, a green mech, Siagus, was landing toward her.

A green suit jumped out from inside.

It was Choi Minseo.

“Senior Somi! I’ve come to get you!”

Choi Minseo approached with a bright smile.

“Are you ready to return with me?”

Han Somi returned a gentle smile and replied.

“Yes. If I can return as a hero, anytime. Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Minseo.”

“Oh, don’t mention it. Then Senior, since you’re a hero now, you’ll help take down Gerogius the villain, right? With your abilities now, you could even assassinate him, couldn’t you?”

Han Somi nodded.

“Of course. He trusts me, after all.”

“That’s my senior! Now, let’s kill Gerogius and go back! To our Ui-seok oppa!”

Choi Minseo clapped her hands together, grinning.

She was satisfied that Han Somi’s reaction was exactly as expected.

Choi Minseo was confident.

Han Somi’s soul as Ursula was exactly the same as what she had seen before. It was clean and upright to an irritating degree.

It had annoyed her that someone who had lived a similar life to hers possessed such a soul, and she had killed her because it was frustrating to see her trying to purify Jung Ui-seok, whom she had barely managed to corrupt.

So she judged that this woman, now a monster or villain, couldn’t possibly be here of her own will. There were no traces of brainwashing. She must be infiltrating.

‘She couldn’t possibly resist the sweet temptation of returning as a hero. I can just kill her again after the Incursion ends anyway.’

Choi Minseo approached Han Somi with a grin.

Han Somi lowered her hand, withdrawing the ability she had been using on the barrier, and faced Choi Minseo with a gentle smile.

“By the way, Minseo.”

“Yes, Senior.”

“You seem very accustomed to betrayal.”

“What?”

At that moment.

“‘Obey me.'”

A sharp voice pierced Choi Minseo’s ears like a needle.

“What should I do? This isn’t my first time either.”

The corners of Han Somi’s mouth turned upward.