Ch.5555. Black of Famine (1)

“Tsk.”

The hospital bed was empty. No warmth remained. It seemed to have been vacant for quite some time.

I had judged that Choi Minseo was incapable of rational thought, but was it all an act?

She must have fled early, considering the possibility her lies would be exposed.

If we were to assign blame for that day’s incident, Choi Minseo bears the greatest responsibility, Shin Yukyong the second. Ji Se-hwa is third for the crime of doing nothing.

The order of killing should rightfully follow the same pattern.

There’s nothing more to see here. I jumped down and left the building.

“Ui-seok!”

Kang Yerin stopped me in my tracks. Her golden hair fluttered in the wind after she had released her transformation. Unlike Ji Se-hwa who bleaches her hair, Yerin’s mother was of Irish descent.

She looked at me with tired eyes, breathing heavily.

“Of course, I know what we did is unforgivable. I also know how lonely you’ve been fighting for peace all by yourself. But…”

Kang Yerin cried out as if squeezing the words from herself.

“But why are you going this far…!”

I looked at Kang Yerin askance and answered.

“You didn’t know they were trying to kill me, did you?”

“…No, not that far. I’m sorry. Truly, sorry…”

“You also didn’t know they killed Somi, did you?”

“…What?”

“Yerin. Not knowing is a sin.”

I said that and turned around.

A gust of wind rose. Vengeance’s airship, its optical camouflage deactivated, landed to pick me up. When the door opened, I saw Lu-a wearing her mask.

Without hesitation, I boarded and looked down at Kang Yerin as we departed from the association.

She stared at me for a long time with a dazed expression.

***

“Reporting live from Washington! The newly crowned S-Sentai, Absolute League, continues to receive challenges…”

“Two sentai teams have clashed for the right to challenge for the title match! This is in downtown New York! Citizens are evacuating…”

“Taking advantage of the heroes’ absence, a large-scale terrorist attack has occurred in Indonesia! They’ve kidnapped the president…”

“News that Australia has been occupied by the Galaxy Empire! The national system appears to have completely collapsed, and is currently controlled by a small villain organization…”

Two weeks after the S-Sentai Tournament began. The world has become a wasteland.

America, home of the S-Sentai, is in the worst shape. Promising sentai teams from around the world have gathered there, turning it into a battlefield. They’re still holding up well enough, being a powerful country with vast territory.

If we hadn’t taken the Dragon King Sentai’s title right after the tournament began, Seoul would be in that state.

It was only natural to protect it, since it’s the base for Vengeance and the villain alliance.

Damaged urban infrastructure would hinder our expansion.

“Geo, it seems the items have arrived.”

Lena reported to me. I took the holographic tablet and checked the list.

It was about the contract I made with Washington when I stepped in as a substitute for the Absolute League.

—-

Defector (SSS)

Prism God (SSS)

Log Off (SSS)

Mute (SSS)

…

—-

“Impressive.”

A satisfied smile crossed my face.

“Is that a list of villains?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of villains?”

“Villains being transferred from America to Korea today, Lu-a.”

“Transferred? Villains who were already captured?”

“Yes. The contract was simple. Transfer villains imprisoned in San Francisco to the underwater prison in the East Sea.”

“The Americans were having trouble with overcrowded prisons, weren’t they? They had no reason to refuse.”

“Huh. How many are there?”

“SS-rank and above. 52 of them.”

“Fufu. I hope there are many useful ones.”

I agreed with Lena’s opinion.

I plan to break them all out and make them my subordinates.

“You two continue with the operation. I have somewhere to go alone.”

“Alone? Is it an operation?”

Lu-a asked.

“It’s personal business. I’ll take a mecha.”

“I want to come too.”

“I said it’s personal.”

“Still. I’ve caught a lot of monsters lately. I could be helpful, you know?”

Lu-a’s eyes sparkled. She has been quite enthusiastic lately.

Since she’s this insistent, there’s no need to leave her behind.

“Alright. Come along.”

“Then I want to come too. You’ve been leaving me out lately, haven’t you?”

“Why are you trying to join in too?”

When Lena spoke up, Lu-a gave her a displeased look. If I refuse, she’ll usually be annoying about it, and there’s no particular reason to stop her.

“Let’s go, the three of us. We’ll depart immediately.”

Lu-a, Lena, and I boarded the mecha. I’m piloting.

“It’s cramped. Move over.”

“You’re the one who should move that sturdy backside of yours to the other side. Hey Geo, shouldn’t you have prepared a passenger seat earlier?”

“This was originally a single-seater. You two followed me on your own.”

“So where are we going?”

I answered while activating all the buttons above my head.

“We’re going to space, so put on your space suits.”

“You should have said that earlier!”

Lu-a hurriedly took out a palm-sized device from her waist and attached it to her shoulder. When she touched it to activate it, a blue veil wrapped around her entire body.

Lena also completed putting hers on. I piloted the Magentaurus to ascend vertically from underground, activated the jet engines, and instantly reached the stratosphere. From there, we slowly advanced into space using the floating system to ignore gravity.

“What sudden business do you have in space? Did you run out of cheese to spread on crackers?”

“The moon isn’t cheese but a giant butter, you idiot.”

Listening to Lena and Lu-a’s banter, we almost reached our destination.

The place where the final battle with the Dark Kingdom took place. Right where the fragments of the spaceship are floating.

“Geo, is this…?”

“Look around carefully. You might see my corpse.”

“That’s not a funny joke.”

I scanned the structures with radar.

“…That was a joke, right?”

During the time I observed the fragments floating in this space, I realized something.

The Dragon King Sentai hadn’t placed their bombs very precisely.

Much of the ship was still intact. I landed on the largest fragment.

“These are the remains of the Dark Kingdom. What are you looking for?”

“Anything. You two, don’t stray from me.”

I turned on the lights and advanced into the ship’s interior. We moved slowly through the dark, ruined space.

In this place without atmosphere or warmth, everything was perfectly preserved.

After wandering for a while, we arrived at a certain space. It looked like an engine room.

“Bingo. We need to find data.”

“Data?”

“Lu-a, connect the power supply we brought. We need to get this working.”

Lu-a found a port for the large battery she was carrying and connected it to the power line. The monitor lit up.

Although I didn’t know the Dark Kingdom’s language and interface, I operated it based on reasonable guesses. I copied as much data as possible.

“What are you trying to find out now?”

“The operating principles of a certain device. Deep Dive should be able to interpret it.”

It’s too late, but even now I need to face how Somi died.

All the civilians used in that enhancement device were found dead.

I intend to understand what role the device played, and what kind of pain was involved in the process leading to death.

“Hmm. Since it’s something you’re doing, it’s bound to be something nefarious. Are you planning to make villains stronger with it?”

“Think what you want.”

“Those weapons are almost finished production too. I can hardly believe such things can neutralize the Galaxy Empire, but you really do know a lot, Geo.”

“As I always say.”

“You only know what you know. Right.”

Lena gave a short “huhu” laugh.

I quickly browsed through the data. Most of it was already used or discarded material, so it was useless.

Among them, one thing caught my eye.

I couldn’t miss it. The familiar blueprint was of the very enhancement device that had swallowed Somi.

“…What is this?”

The shape of the blueprint was a bit strange. I thought it showed the front and back of the enhancement device separately, but there were two fronts drawn, connected by several lines. The explanation was in their language, so I couldn’t understand it.

“Geo, wait.”

I turned my head when Lu-a called. Dark Kingdom warriors were approaching us.

Were there survivors? Tough bastards.

“Take care of them.”

“‘Break.'”

“Non-quark, Zwei.”

“Did you come up with technique names?”

“Shut up.”

Lena casually cast her verbal command and Lu-a fired dark matter.

However, the warriors only suffered minor injuries. Something felt off. Those guys should be D-rank at best.

I opened the system window.

“…T2-rank?”

“The same level as Cancer? Each one of them?”

Lu-a was a bit flustered. So was I. Moreover, their numbers kept increasing. Warriors appearing through the corridor. Ten, twenty, continuously filling up.

“Was there a device still operating that keeps producing warriors? Or did they gain infinite experience by eating each other without food?”

“…Geo.”

I placed my hand on the anxious Lu-a’s shoulder. There seemed to be no way out.

“Lena, Lu-a. Get in there.”

I pointed to an emergency evacuation passage inside.

“Geo. You should throw away those hero habits. A proper villain should use subordinates as bait and escape.”

“Ha. You’re underestimating me, severely.”

I forcibly pushed Lena and Lu-a into the safe zone.

“Don’t come out until 30 minutes have passed. Even after that, don’t open it until I call your names first.”

“…Geo?”

“You might die too if you don’t follow this. Understand, Lu-a?”

“…I got it.”

Lu-a nodded. I pressed the button. A thick shield came down.

I turned to face the warriors. They were grotesquely twisting their necks with pieces of their comrades’ bodies in their mouths.

“Transform.”

[Up a blind Alley]

I face the enemies as a red dragon man.

No, I feel like the dragon aspect has been gradually disappearing from my appearance.

What remains are two sharp horns rising from behind my ears. Fierce and threatening spine.

Since there are no watching eyes, let’s get messy.

This one is very good in this situation.

No, it can only be used in situations like this.

“Apocalypse.”

[REVELATION]

I’m hungry.

“Black of Famine.”

[FAMSTROM]