Ch.3030. Awakening Card

I’m carving footprints through the underbrush.

This guy is strong.

Even in this confined space, he overpowered me in close combat against my mechanized form, and he easily subdues weakened insect-types.

Considering that the strongest opponent I’ve faced was a Minotaur, Min-woo Seong is even stronger.

In other words, I need to face him as a dinosaur with stats too powerful to control.

Not being able to use my traits is unfortunate, but I can compensate with sub-cards. Let’s try it.

[Smoke Screen, Evolution, Speed Enhancement, Trait Adjustment, Blood Rage]

After checking my sub-cards, I moved swiftly with this dinosaur’s power.

Through the smoke screen, I can see him fleeing before my eyes.

He’s fast, but I have sufficient means to catch up.

[Speed Enhancement]

Using temporary speed enhancement, I chase right behind him, but he turns around.

He aims a kick precisely at my face.

But I’m just as capable. This dinosaur with its superior physical stats successfully evades.

A cool sensation passes over my head. Seizing this opening, I swing my tail in one motion.

He goes flying, but clearly with his guard up.

I realize he’s no easy opponent as he throws a wooden stick at me.

I don’t even need to dodge.

The moment I strike down the wood with my fist, he springs out from beneath it.

“You lack experience.”

Before I can respond, I feel a powerful pain in my jaw.

But I can endure it.

[Blood Rage]

The technique using my sub-card works, and I immediately launch a counter-attack.

My claws swing through the air, and I sense blood before my eyes.

“You bastard…”

For the first time, I hear anger in Min-woo Seong’s voice.

I’ve dealt real damage.

I don’t stop here. My body is already running, and I literally ram into him.

Raw strength and defense—this is why monsters have the advantage over humans of the same rank.

Min-woo Seong is strong, but I have greater strength and durability than an ordinary human.

Then Min-woo Seong makes a sound with his mouth.

As I approach him, suddenly the space around us distorts.

[Min-woo’s ability “Silent” is one of his spirit powers. When using his specialized weapon, he can place stronger restrictions on a certain area.]

The information entering my mind raises a question. Min-woo’s specialized weapon is an ocarina. He can create various hallucination effects with it besides Silent, right? But he doesn’t have an ocarina now?

However, my ears gradually realize something strange. Isn’t that weird sound he’s making starting to form notes?

Could he be… mimicking it?

The space distorts, and at that moment, I can’t move my body freely.

“Ugh!”

In that instant, my jaw snaps upward.

And pain carves through my entire body.

Min-woo’s fierce attack has begun. He launches into a barrage while avoiding my flailing limbs and hands.

I’m overwhelmed and knocked backward in an instant.

“Shit…”

But there’s no time to rest, as Min-woo continues his attack, seemingly intent on finishing me.

This is annoying.

I want to kill him. There’s no reason I should be indiscriminately beaten here.

In that moment, I dodge his attack purely by instinct.

Sensing his movement, I send him flying with a tail swipe.

My consciousness momentarily blurs. It feels like I’ve become an outsider—could this be…?

[Trait Restriction]

-You can now use traits, but their intensity is low.

As he changed his ability, my traits have come back to life.

Min-woo Seong charges at me with blood on his face. He’s even faster than before?

I swing following my instincts, but his attacks transcend me.

I’m hit repeatedly and sent rolling far away.

My vision spins, and suddenly he’s beside me.

He’s even stronger than before?

I can’t win like this.

I can’t defeat Min-woo Seong while maintaining my rationality.

Yes, I need to unleash my traits to their limit. There’s no choice but to abandon reason and fully amplify my stats.

[Trait Adjustment]

An ability that changes the values of basic traits. But what happens after I use this? What if the Academy dispatches pursuers?

Is that important right now?

I could die if I’m not careful. I’m at a crossroads between life and death. Nothing matters if I’m dead.

I’ll survive first.

To escape this crossroads, I took a gamble.

[Trait Adjustment]

I reversed the adjustment that had been focused on weakening my traits.

Making them bigger and stronger than the original traits.

[Primal Power]

-Rank increased

-Control is lost.

Suddenly I became a third party in my consciousness, watching the dinosaur’s movements.

Having abandoned everything and charged in, this dinosaur finally succeeded in tracking Min-woo’s speed.

Min-woo distorted space, but the dinosaur shattered his ability with a single swing.

Then it opened its mouth and fired what looked like a laser.

An overwhelming beam passed through trees and forest, setting them ablaze.

Min-woo dodged it, but that was what the dinosaur was aiming for.

Under the sight of falling trees, the monster closed the distance with its opponent in an instant.

And they exchanged blows.

Min-woo attempts to parry while dodging, and the monster advances regardless.

The surroundings begin to shake from the impact of this power collision. Though Silent prevents sound, it’s still sufficiently intimidating.

The winner of this exchange was the monster.

Though the exchange rate was taking three hits to land one counter, the dinosaur was still damaging Min-woo with those counters.

But Min-woo is a veteran. Moreover, he’s a powerhouse with S-class skills.

His ability began to change again before my eyes.

The space distorted, causing attacks to miss.

At the same time, the monster’s attacks slowed when they touched that space.

“Good. You’re truly a beast, aren’t you?”

At this moment, Min-woo whistled. This isn’t random. I know that before the regression, Min-woo often used his ocarina to create sound-based hallucinations.

But he’s recreating that with whistling?

The dinosaur’s movements stopped, and as it blindly swung its claws, Min-woo landed a hit.

It didn’t take long for him to beat it bloody with repeated strikes.

No. At this rate…

I can’t win. I need more power.

[Awakening Card Available]

-The power of evolution that doesn’t evolve

-The power of another possibility

At that moment, a black card was glowing before my eyes.

Is it telling me to use it?

This was the only way to win now. I used the black awakening card.

*

Min-woo Seong detected an anomaly. A sinister aura suddenly emanated like a heat haze from the fallen dinosaur’s body.

He could feel it instinctively. He had to kill it now, without fail.

As he aimed for its neck with a fist containing all his aura, it happened.

“Argh!”

Min-woo Seong screamed at the sudden pain in his leg.

Turning his head, he saw Aerial panting heavily after throwing Gram.

“You… bitch!”

She interferes until the end. Enraged, Min-woo picked up Gram from the ground.

“I’ll kill you right now!”

Whistling, he creates a hallucination. The moment Aerial’s expression became blank, he prepared to throw Gram.

“Huh?”

But Gram wouldn’t move. Rather, the recoil was enough to make Min-woo fall backward.

“What is…?”

As Min-woo turned his head, he could feel a killing intent unlike anything he’d experienced before.

A dinosaur with black, steel-like skin stood up before his eyes.

It looked different from the dinosaur that had fallen earlier. Though similar in size, its horns and claws were much longer and larger, making it more terrifying. The skull covering the dinosaur’s head had grown thicker and harder, as if “hardened.”

Additionally, the chest and claw areas had transformed to give a distinctly metallic feel, and its tail swung more nimbly.

Most peculiar of all was the black aura it was emitting.

“…”

Min-woo recalled his first encounter with Park Tae-sang, who had imprisoned him.

Though Park Tae-sang was surely stronger, the energy this dinosaur was emitting reminded him of that sensation.

“Even so…”

He tried to create a hallucinatory state again with his imperfect whistling.

It usually works.

As Min-woo was about to smile, the dinosaur swung its arm.

“That won’t reach me.”

Min-woo laughed as he dodged with ease. Suddenly, he felt his body grow heavy.

Drip. Drip.

Something was falling onto his feet. Min-woo retreated while checking the liquid.

“Blood?”

It was blood. As he wondered where it was coming from, more blood began pouring from his upper body.

“But, it didn’t touch me?”

It clearly hadn’t touched him.

‘That means it caused damage with just air pressure? Impossible.’

As he thought it made no sense, he realized he couldn’t move.

He realized he hadn’t increased the distance from the dinosaur.

He hadn’t dodged. He was in the process of falling backward after taking a hit.

Realizing this, Min-woo expressed a hollow emotion.

‘Such a monster… What the hell? What the hell have those Goegyeop bastards created?’

The stark difference in skill reminded him of the humiliation when Park Tae-sang captured him.

“Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way I’ll die here!”

He forcibly got up, but what awaited him was the monster’s tail.

He was powerless before his accumulated injuries.

“Huff! Huff!”

As Min-woo breathed roughly, the dinosaur’s tail swung, and he tumbled several meters before crashing.

And this intruder moved no more.

*

My feelings after using the awakening card are strange. My consciousness was cut off for a moment.

Though I regained consciousness, it felt like the dinosaur’s emotions were being injected into me like a syringe.

I want to kill.

I want to crush.

I was constantly tormented by the desire to simply defeat, humiliate, and destroy.

Damn it. This isn’t right. I need to get back quickly before someone comes.

I need to find control.

“Come back! I must kill… No! Why am I saying such things…”

It’s different from when I couldn’t control my traits. I was feeling the dinosaur’s emotions.

It wants destructive and powerful strength right now. I can feel its “desire” to do whatever it wants and demonstrate the life of a dominant being.

The sound of trees falling and burning finally returns to my ears.

While still unable to control myself, something strange catches my eye.

“Aerial?”

Yes, Aerial, clutching her waist, now made eye contact with the dinosaur.

“You… What are you? What kind of creature are you! You were there too, weren’t you? At Jongno!”

Aerial shouted at me, but the dinosaur doesn’t listen.

Because it’s not me. And I too wanted to shout.

Run away.

“ROAAAR!”

Yes. The dinosaur has no reason. As soon as it saw Aerial, it leaped and was before her like teleportation.

“Ugh!”

No. Aerial must not die!

From this moment, all my instincts focused on regaining control.

But will alone isn’t enough. The dinosaur grabbed Aerial’s neck and lifted her.

If it applies even a little more force, Aerial will die.

Aerial, who must live for humanity. And for me a little more…

“Stop it! You dinosaur bastard!”

I shouted, venting my anger. The dinosaur flinched for just a moment.

And in this interval, Aerial’s sword swung.

Having lost control, I don’t know what happened.

But the dinosaur was visibly agitated and struggling.

Please run away!

But Aerial stood up.

“I’ll kill you here! Monsters like you cause fear in people. You make everyone miserable!”

Aerial charged again, but the monster’s tail moved.

“Ah!”

Flying while guarding, Aerial groaned and coughed blood on the ground.

“Stop now! I said stop!”

Again the dinosaur leaps, and Aerial is before it. She’ll die.

Aerial will die.

“Don’t do it! You bastard! I control you! Listen to me!”

Again I concentrated all my mind and screamed.

As I was pounding the ground and roaring, a black card was glowing clearly before me.

[Awakening Card Second Condition Unlocked]

-Complete usage will be possible when the final condition is unlocked

Didn’t I mention before that the black card had locks and chains displayed on it? Only the lock remained, and all the chains were gone.

“Huh?”

My vision returned to normal. I could control the hands that were roaring and pounding the ground.

And in my sight, Aerial was glaring at me, breathing heavily.

I found it. I’ve regained control now. Rather than rejoicing, I fled first.

Silent had disappeared, and other Jaegers would be searching now.

But my whole body aches. Pain was surging, making it difficult to go any further.

“Well, this is the path I made. It’s all about luck from here.”

Feeling my consciousness blur, I collapsed.