Ch.5454. With Overwhelming Power!

I saw it clearly. The adult form that appeared as a silhouette before evolution.

My bones transformed into metal-like structures, and something was attached to my jaw. The magnificent horns grew even larger, and spikes appeared on my back.

The black body gleamed with gray metallic parts.

Like robot parts attached to a body, mechanical components connected to necessary areas like wrists, thighs, and shoulders.

Circuits glittered inside, linking the body parts together.

This mechanical-looking dinosaur is now me.

It was enormous. A massive body grown to 1.5 times the size of the 6-meter dinosaur Sura, now looking down at this terrain.

Main Card

-Species: Dinosaur+Machine Name: Mechanical Dinosaur Sura Growth Form: Adult

Characteristics: Restrained Primal Power (All stats increase by 1 rank, but without risk of losing control), Full-Body Auxiliary Enhancement (Emits magical power to increase attack power, energy, and magic by 1 rank), Judgment (The ferocious dinosaur gains strength each time it identifies and defeats an enemy), Tenacity (The savage dinosaur’s nature lies dormant in its circuits, allowing it to trigger an overload that increases all stats for 1 minute. During overload, characteristics are nullified and all stats decrease by 1 rank)

Strength: S

Agility: A

Resistance: S

Magic Resistance: A

Energy: S

Magic Power: S

Skills: Gaia Flame, Full-Body Armament, Claw Swing, Horn Drill

Evolution: Insect, Dinosaur, Fish

[Sub-card added: Claw Enhancement, Special Annihilation Shot]

The new adult form appeared before my eyes. At the same time, Ariel’s flames touched my body.

But the impact wasn’t as great as before.

Ariel’s power, which used to damage me, now felt as insignificant as hair brushing against skin.

I’m strong.

[Restrained Primal Power]

-All stats increased by 1 rank

Resistance, Magic Resistance too. With these increases, I—

Strength: SS

Agility: S

Resistance: SS

Magic Resistance: S

Energy: SS

Magic Power: SS

With stats that felt like they’d reached their limit, I moved my body.

Through mechanical vision, I detected Ariel’s incoming attack.

[Judgment]

My body analyzed Ariel’s movements, then focused on the claw attached to one hand.

The moment I raised the thick, massive claw, Ariel’s attack was blocked.

“Kuhak!”

Blood spilled from Ariel’s mouth, and I didn’t drag it out.

With this body, it’s possible.

As Ariel charged at me, I recalled my time as Seo Min-woo.

I blocked with the metal claw and moved around to Ariel’s side with my intact hand.

With movement that belied my massive form, I aimed my palm directly above Ariel.

Tak.

The moment I struck down lightly, Ariel crashed to the ground from the air pressure.

Making a sound loud enough even for my 9-meter form to hear clearly. But it wasn’t over.

I removed Gram from Ariel’s hand.

Crack.

The sound of fingers breaking echoed, but better than dying. Understand.

The situation was resolved. With the noisy entrance of this massive body, the surroundings fell silent.

I moved while carrying Ariel. Step by step, I headed toward the B-rank gate entrance.

Monsters I encountered along the way growled at me, but they posed no threat whatsoever.

Even A-rank ones. Enemies that would have concerned me as just Dinosaur Sura now meant nothing.

[Gaia Flame]

The moment I opened my mouth, a red beam instantly penetrated the monsters.

Why is this so much longer than before?

The Gaia Flame’s range far exceeded what it was in my sub-adult form, and points began pouring in.

-4,600 DNA Points acquired!

-Machine parts acquired

-Beast DNA acquired!

The upper body of that powerful A-rank monster fell to the ground, melted.

I suppose that’s natural after ranking up.

Additionally, a Killer Bee with incredible speed was buzzing around me.

When I simply swung my claw upward, the Killer Bee’s body split in half.

-1,500 DNA Points acquired!

-Insect DNA acquired!

This is easy. I thought that fast one would be difficult to handle with a sluggish dinosaur body. But the listed speed and actual speed are different.

If the Killer Bee and I were to race, it could lie down, clean its feet, and take a nap, and I still wouldn’t catch up.

The same goes for Jaegers—even at the same rank, differences in species characteristics and abilities exist.

Matching a Killer Bee’s speed with this massive body would be impossible.

However, catching it using burst speed like just now is possible.

“Come to think of it, I’ve been fighting with just one hand?”

I’d become so strong that I’d even forgotten I was protecting Ariel at the same time.

That’s how easily I subdued my opponents.

Normally, it wouldn’t have been this easy. Amazed by this power, I hid in the surroundings.

The entrance gate could have Jaegers appear at any time, even if the probability was low, so I couldn’t risk being discovered in this state.

“Get lost!”

When I growled, some monsters even ran away.

Overwhelming power. And I hadn’t even used my main sub-cards or techniques yet, but it was this easy?

After dealing with monsters along the way, I found a suitable hiding place and deactivated my transformation.

In this state, I examined Ariel’s condition. All fingers on her left hand were shattered, a third of her upper clothing was torn, and wounds covered her body.

Her fancy underwear… well, that doesn’t matter. The priority now is stopping the bleeding.

“Good thing I’m in the lower class.”

Like when submitting reports, I always carry medical supplies.

So I applied medicine after stopping the bleeding. She needs a magic recovery potion too, but that’s difficult right now.

I hoped she would stay still, but a problem arose.

“Kuhk! Kuk!”

Ariel’s breathing became rapid. Her body trembled as she unconsciously emitted magical power.

A phenomenon that occurs when a summoner’s weapon is mishandled. With the continued surge of magical power, her body was automatically expelling and consuming it.

“So this is what happens when magical power goes berserk…”

I never thought I’d witness what I learned in textbooks.

If this continues, it’s dangerous. I need to give her a magic recovery potion to supply additional magic power and then a nerve stabilizer.

But how?

I stared blankly at the unconscious Ariel.

*

[Ariel! Wake up! Ariel!]

As soon as Ariel opened her eyes, she wiped the moisture dripping from her lips.

‘It’s cold.’

Startled as she woke up, Ariel was immediately assaulted by merciless pain.

“Ugh!”

Falling back again, she stared blankly ahead.

‘Where am I? Inside a gate?’

She suddenly realized she was in a gate when she noticed the environment differed from typical Korean scenery.

‘Oh, so I’m now…’

“Ouch!”

She tried to get up in surprise but collapsed again as pain washed over her.

“Why do you keep trying to move?”

“Do Jong… Du Jonghyun?”

She saw Du Jonghyun organizing the bag she had brought.

There was slight moisture at the corner of his mouth, but Ariel had no time to notice that.

“Will it hurt you to call me Du Jonghyun?”

“Du Jonghyun. What happened?”

“You went berserk. What were you doing? Knowing your personality, you probably misused Gram despite calling yourself a genius.”

Ariel didn’t respond, both because she was in pain and because he wasn’t wrong.

She judged that it was her own overconfidence rather than Eun Serin’s miscalculation.

After all, Ariel had that confidence and ended up like this.

[Anyway, Ariel will have her butler or Yoo Jia with her. Let her live or die as she pleases.]

It was like throwing her in with a “whatever happens, happens” attitude. With the White Dragon Guild restricting movement, this level of “retaliation” seemed acceptable.

Ariel didn’t care much about Eun Serin either.

“To think that I, a genius, would do something like this. This is a disaster.”

“So next time, take someone else instead of me. I can’t even stop you.”

“If I, a genius, go berserk, who could stop me? That’s the point, Du Jonghyun.”

Ariel looked around.

“But you managed to get here?”

“You blasted away all the monsters. Thanks to that, carrying you was easy.”

“…Really? Then carry me once more.”

“What?”

Ariel said to the confused Du Jonghyun with an embarrassed face:

“I can’t get up right now.”

“Right. Getting out of here is what matters.”

When Du Jonghyun pulled on Ariel’s childishly outstretched arms, an awkward groan sounded.

“Ouch… it hurts too much.”

“Geez. Really.”

“Be careful. I won’t be able to save you if you get into trouble.”

Ariel wrapped her arms tightly around Du Jonghyun’s neck and buried her face deeply.

So close that she could feel Du Jonghyun’s breath and face right next to hers.

‘Why do I keep ending up like this with him?’

Though unlikely anyone would see, yet another incident was happening with Du Jonghyun.

‘I really don’t know. I don’t get it. But he does take care of me.’

“Thank you.”

“Huh? For what?”

Ariel didn’t answer Du Jonghyun’s question. Instead, she asked something:

“Hmm? Du Jonghyun? Do you use the same lip gloss as me? The scent is the same.”

“What? What? What?”

For some reason, the very surprised Du Jonghyun flinched.

“No, I’m asking if you use the same cosmetics as me. I guess all men use lip gloss too?”

“Well…”

Du Jonghyun avoided Ariel’s gaze.

“Men don’t really pay attention to cosmetics. We just use what’s available.”

“I see. A coincidence then?”

Ariel closed her eyes while leaning on him. Perhaps feeling at ease? She fell back asleep.

Leaving Du Jonghyun to explain everything to her butler who had caught up with them.

*

[Delete this data and hand it over to Instructor Eun Serin.]

With Ariel’s message from the hospital, I went to find Eun Serin.

Of course, I didn’t delete anything. Ariel might be embarrassed, but one needs to see their own flaws clearly to grow.

Ariel, humanity will be better off if you develop properly. With that mindset, I headed to the faculty office.

Surprisingly, Eun Serin comes to work normally during vacation periods instead of staying home.

“Don’t most teachers rest during vacations?”

“Some people come in like me.”

Eun Serin accepted the USB I handed over. Honestly, with Eun Serin involved, I suspect she might have orchestrated this incident too.

But Ariel didn’t say anything, so the truth remains unknown.

“I didn’t expect you to be with Ariel. Are you two already that close? Meeting even during vacation?”

“Not particularly. Honestly, while the White Dragon Guild’s protection is helpful, it’s stifling. Since Ariel and I aren’t on good terms, going with her allows me to exclude the White Dragon Guild.”

Thanks to that, I also gained DNA points.

“The White Dragon Guild’s surveillance? They’re protecting us.”

“Yes. But being watched makes things uncomfortable in many ways.”

“Well, if someone is watching, I suppose even your sex life would be uncomfortable.”

“…?”

What is this person talking about?

“No, not like that, but psychologically… what I mean…”

“Haha, don’t be flustered. You can’t even take an auntie’s joke.”

“You’re too young to be called an auntie, Instructor.”

“Oh, thank you. Ah, Jonghyun, are you interested in the short-term training camp?”

“Training camp?”

“August 5th to 15th. Instructor Oh Juhwan wants to gather lower-class students for some intensive training. What do you think?”

“If it helps me get stronger despite being in the lower class, that’s good. But during vacation…”

It’s a shame to waste the vacation, but it’s also a waste to just stay idle.

“School starts on August 25th, right? But it’s worth investing in. Instructor Oh Juhwan is known for teaching fundamentals well.”

It doesn’t sound bad, but Eun Serin makes me uneasy. The second semester is when things really start happening… I wonder if the future will change?

Preventing Eun Serin from committing suicide and making her expose the truth. I’ll add that to my goals.

“I should try it. Please sign me up.”

“Alright, I’ll tell Instructor Oh Juhwan.”

Eun Serin smiled as she sent me off. I hope nothing happens.

I left with these worries on my mind.