Ch.277[Chapter 277] Repayment

A single beam of light descended in the deep underground where such a dense ray of light should never reach.

The light began to emit a slightly painful high-frequency sound, as if gradually increasing its output.

With the appearance of this light beam, Sir Dominic closed his pocket watch with a snap and put it in his pocket.

“Perfect timing. Remi.”

Sir Dominic muttered quietly with a bright smile.

As soon as Sir Dominic pocketed his watch, the beam of light gradually faded until only a very thin line remained.

A line so thin it would be nearly invisible unless viewed up close.

However, Sir Dominic knew well that this thin line represented the most dangerous state.

It was thanks to the warning from Remi, the owner of this ability.

‘If you register me as your supporter, I’ll launch an orbital strike wherever you are. At first, I’ll fire a single shot as a warning. If you need more later, just say so.’

Before entering the secret base, Sir Dominic had contacted a few people he could trust.

Of course, Sir Dominic could have stormed the secret base alone, but he informed others of the situation and requested help just in case.

Remi was the first to respond to Sir Dominic’s message, and he designated her as his supporter as she suggested.

‘When I fire, a thin beam of light will appear like a guideline. Then the light will slowly disappear, and after it’s completely gone—’

Remi had given excessive warnings about her ability.

The ultimate special ability created by combining Remi’s genius intellect and the wealth of Chairman Morgana Black who favored her was so powerful that no amount of warnings would be enough.

Remi had described the power of this special ability like this:

‘Everything in that orbit will be crushed and disappear. Or melt away. Depending on the AI’s mood… perhaps even souls.’

The faint remaining light beam completely disappeared.

And from the small hole in the ceiling created by the light beam, a sparkling effect appeared, followed suddenly by a bouncing sound.

Sir Dominic was startled by the unexpectedly cheerful sound, but he realized that the small bouncing noise was still coming from the top of the secret base.

He could tell because the sound was growing louder and rougher as it approached.

“W-what? What’s happening?”

General Joseph and the monsters couldn’t help but be confused by the situation. Suddenly a beam of light had appeared underground, followed by rhythmic bouncing sounds.

The bouncing sound began to thump, the thumping turned to clanging, the clanging turned to banging, and the banging turned to booming.

And with each approaching sound, the ceiling shook terribly, shedding enormous amounts of dust.

It was approaching terror incarnate.

Whatever it was, the sound of its approach was terrifying in itself.

The sound had now passed the middle and was heading deeper.

Finally, the deafening, terrifying sound was now coming from just five floors above where Sir Dominic was.

“…Good heavens.”

The floors of those five levels weren’t particularly durable.

Or rather, to be precise, durability was no issue compared to “that.”

Because it would undoubtedly destroy everything in its path.

With a BOOM! BOOM! the last floor separating it from this level was shattered, and finally it revealed its true form.

It was— it was—

“A knight statue…?”

It was a massive bronze statue of two knights riding a single horse.

The bronze statue bounced between the dumbfounded General Joseph and Sir Dominic, then began to break through the floor again… no, it began to drill through the ground itself.

Sir Dominic and General Joseph looked down at the massive hole suddenly created in the floor.

The bronze statue that had instantly burrowed into the ground had already disappeared into the darkness.

“…Impressive.”

General Joseph suddenly began to applaud.

It was praise for this technique of tremendous power.

“But this isn’t enough to stop us. I’ll admit it was excellent if you were just buying time. But—”

General Joseph taunted Sir Dominic, confident that the monsters were still unharmed.

Although the powerful special ability was frightening, he thought they could easily avoid it if it was that slow.

“—at that speed, it’s just a waste of cost—”

General Joseph suddenly realized he felt a breeze on the bridge of his nose.

And when he realized that…

Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.

Only that one sentence remained in General Joseph’s mind.

Before General Joseph stood a pillar of light with incredible density.

No, to be precise, it was being fired down from a satellite above.

The pillar of light pulsed, smoothly melting through the hole the bronze statue had just created, with power so strong it seemed capable of annihilating everything.

Physical bodies, souls, even General Joseph’s will.

General Joseph quickly turned and ran to get away from the pillar of light.

In his mind, the objective of subduing Sir Dominic had completely vanished, replaced only by the survival instinct to get as far away from that pillar of light as possible.

The pillar of light continued to grow.

Gradually increasing its output and size, the pillar of light seemed to reach its maximum size, maintained for about 5 seconds, then disappeared.

As the pillar of light vanished, the private room returned to its original state.

Since Sir Dominic had carefully designated the coordinates, and considering that this secret base had few people inside due to security concerns, the damage was quite minimal.

However, regardless of its lethality, the three people who had witnessed the pillar of light up close—Sir Dominic, Mister Wang, and General Joseph—were all speechless.

The pillar of light had created a hole of tremendous depth in both ceiling and floor before disappearing, but it caused no additional collateral damage.

There was a slight heat wave that pushed the furniture a bit, but overall everything was practically intact.

In other words, this pillar of light could be precisely targeted.

Realizing this fact, the three were too shocked by its power and accuracy to speak.

“…What was all that?”

Mister Wang, amazed by this incredible sight, approached Sir Dominic and asked.

“It’s my sister’s special technique. I’m seeing it for the first time today myself.”

“…Be good to your sister.”

Mister Wang, astonished by the power of Sir Dominic’s sister’s technique, realized that his decision to yield to Sir Dominic earlier had been correct.

At the very least, Mister Wang had neither the means nor the methods to defend against such a technique.

Sir Dominic looked at the mark created by the orbital strike with dejected eyes.

Although Remi had warned him via text message, he never imagined it would be this powerful.

Sir Dominic had never properly seen tactical-grade or strategic-grade special abilities before.

He had seen various abilities while fighting in Region 3 in the past, but he had been too focused on fighting to observe others’ abilities in detail.

Looking down at the smooth hole created by this strategic-grade special ability, Sir Dominic thought, ‘I still have a long way to go.’

“Ha, haha…”

Just as Sir Dominic was renewing his determination, a dazed laughing sound came from the opposite side of the hole.

When Sir Dominic turned his head, there was General Joseph who had fallen backward in shock at this tremendous power.

She had fallen while trying to flee with all her might, but was now in a daze from the tactical-grade special ability used right in front of her.

“This, this isn’t fair. This is too much. A tanker with this kind of power? That’s corrupt…”

General Joseph continued to mutter complaints.

Sir Dominic, realizing something was wrong with General Joseph’s state, approached to check on her.

The monsters had apparently fled in shock from the orbital strike, as there was no one else around.

Or perhaps they had been caught in the aftermath and died once.

Of course, the monsters weren’t important, so it didn’t matter either way.

Sir Dominic stood beside General Joseph and waved his palm in front of her face.

But General Joseph seemed unable to perceive even that.

Instead, she suddenly had a fit, pounding the ground with her fist and shouting in frustration.

“This, this filth! This corruption! Corruption!”

General Joseph kept saying things like “This scum, corruption, tanker! This tanker-like tanker!” or “Sir Dominic is a serious tanker.”

For some reason, even words that weren’t profanity sounded like curses as she wept bitterly.

That’s how great the shock she received must have been.

Sir Dominic carried her to a sofa that had been pushed to the corner, hoping she would come to her senses.

Although she had inexplicably been hostile toward Sir Dominic, he was uncomfortable wielding his sword against someone who had lost their will to fight.

“…! That!”

While Sir Dominic was checking on General Joseph’s condition, Mister Wang, who had been admiring the holes in the ceiling, noticed something coming down through the holes.

It was a black flying object with six propellers and four thrusters, and the hole created by the orbital strike was so large that the big flying object could descend vertically without difficulty.

Finally reaching the bottom floor, the flying object hovered in the air, wobbling slightly before stabilizing, and then the hangar door on its side opened.

“I returned because I heard there was suddenly a problem at the secret base.”

“!”

The person who appeared as the hangar door opened was someone with a handsome appearance, skin like white jade, dressed in royal attire.

He was holding onto the safety bar next to the hangar, looking down at Sir Dominic. While Sir Dominic didn’t recognize him, Mister Wang identified him just by his voice.

“I never imagined vermin would be causing such a commotion.”

It was Mister Wang’s son, Wang.