Ch.7878. Intrusion

I approached right up to the front and aimed at its body, firing a laser shotgun blast.

But to get straight to the point, this attack was defended by the mechanical angel.

[This is, wi───]

───WHACK!

More precisely, it would be correct to say that the wings extending from the mechanical angel’s back defended against my attack after knocking away my laser shotgun.

‘So they weren’t just for decoration?!’

Moreover, these wings weren’t simply flight devices—they easily struck my mythril laser shotgun and reduced it to tatters.

I was momentarily bewildered by the difference in strength despite both being made of mythril… but only for a moment.

Whoosh!

Wooooooong…

Instantly regaining my composure, I detached and stored the tattered laser shotgun, then drew a short weapon in each hand to attempt close-quarters combat.

In my left hand, I held a knife glowing red with heat, and in my right, a gladius with an ultra-vibrating blade.

Under the judgment that I would certainly lose if I maintained distance for high-speed ranged combat—or psychic barrage at medium range—I dove into the mechanical angel’s embrace.

Cha-aaaaang!

‘Huh?’

Of course, being a mechanical angel didn’t mean it was particularly bad at close combat.

At some point, the mechanical angel had drawn a one-handed sword of moderate length (50-60cm) from within its garments, easily deflecting my super-heated knife. Immediately after, it gathered psychic energy in its empty hand—and transformed it into a blast of cold.

KWAJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIK!!!!!!

The extreme cold erupting from its hand instantly freezes everything it touches.

Before the overwhelming output of psychic cold, even the minute moisture in the air completely freezes, and in the process, a massive iceberg forms as if trying to trap me—but—

Whoosh——KWAAAAAAANG!!!

With a massive battle hammer that generates shockwaves expanding from within, I smashed through, destroying the iceberg that tried to imprison me as I advanced.

This adamantium battle hammer, shaped like a sledgehammer with a head twice the normal size, is equipped with a function that drives shockwaves deep inside targets. With each swing, dozens of tons of ice completely disintegrate and scatter.

And when the distance narrowed to about 80 meters between me and the creature.

PAJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIK!!!!

‘Now it’s lightning this time?’

Instead of blasting psychic cold, the mechanical angel attacked me—now soaked from the previous psychic cold—by emitting purple lightning from both hands.

Lightning is just a word for it; from my perspective, it was like being hit with bolts of lightning seven times per second from its hands… but surprisingly, this level was somewhat bearable.

As in games, electricity’s characteristic of being fast and easy to hit comes with relatively lower power, and this manifested in reality as the attack ended with only slight surface damage due to its low firepower.

Anyway, this actually made it easier to approach. While exposed to the psychic lightning, I advanced relentlessly, turning the hammer head behind my back.

KUUUUNG!

I deliberately generated a shockwave and used the recoil to fly toward the mechanical angel—swinging my battle hammer trailing blue sparks.

KWAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!

When my battle hammer collided with the protective barrier deployed by the mechanical angel, a deafening sound like a bomb exploding right in front of me erupted, and the barrier shattered to pieces.

Additionally, the battle hammer was repelled by the recoil and flew far away, but that was fine.

‘───!!’

I had already prepared a spear to throw long before this moment.

This spear, consisting of a 2-meter shaft made of pure orichalcum and a 50cm psychic crystal spearhead, was designed specifically for throwing.

The surface of the shaft is intricately and precisely engraved with various circuits that activate when psychic energy flows through them, and the same applies to the obsidian-like blade made of solid red psychic crystal.

As I channeled psychic energy into it, the spear glowed red and continuously emitted sparkling red sparks. I hurled it with all my might at the mechanical angel’s chest—

———KUGUGUGUGUGUGUNG!!!

The spear became a flash of light, piercing straight through the center of the mechanical angel’s body, creating a huge hole in the clouds before disappearing somewhere beyond.

Feeling a strange satisfaction from watching the spear’s clean trajectory, I briefly gazed after it before turning my attention back to the mechanical angel.

Despite having a hole in its chest large enough for an arm to pass through, turning it into a donut…

WUUUUNG———KWAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG!!!!

Apparently, a mecha-donut is different in some way, as the mechanical angel was still indiscriminately firing psychic bullets at me with an outstretched hand, seemingly unaffected by its miserable condition.

But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t guess the reason.

That body possessed by the Pyongyang Hive Mind is just shaped that way; in reality, it’s essentially no different from a mass of mythril with layers of thin mythril membranes stacked like pastry. Even if partially damaged, it only needs to patch that part—while it may look ugly, it doesn’t significantly affect its combat ability.

Additionally, this mechanical angel’s frame somehow incorporated my nanomachine technology, allowing it to cover the exposed interior of the “donut” body with a membrane made of mythril nanomachines.

Of course, such a mechanism is merely a temporary measure; it doesn’t mean this frame is immortal.

Judging by the lack of psychic energy from the mythril chunks that fell off during the chest penetration, it seems that once separated into pieces below a certain size, they can no longer serve as vessels for possession.

‘So you’ll die too if I cut you to pieces.’

With that provocative thought, I drew out a chain-axe and an ultra-vibrating gladius—

Whoosh——SLASH!

Beginning by cutting down the icicle spears it launched at me, I initiated full-fledged close-quarters combat.

※ ※ ※

The ensuing battle was incredibly fierce.

Although it had recovered, the large hole in its chest must have been quite burdensome for the mechanical angel. Instead of overwhelming area attacks like before, it focused on smaller but more lethal strikes.

For instance, there were icicle spears filled with compressed psychic cold that, when cut with my chain-axe, burst and froze the saw blade.

There were psychic explosions powerful enough to sink entire sections of ground.

It also repeatedly fired psychic arrows—similar to psychic constructs but powerful enough to penetrate a 10cm compressed adamantium shield—formed by condensing telekinetic force to the size of arrows.

Despite all these bizarre and innovative attack methods the mechanical angel used against me…

I eventually succeeded in countering every attack.

The telekinetic arrows were surprisingly unstable, so I neutralized them by spraying anti-psychic paint (more like a flamethrower) that lasted about 10 seconds.

For psychic explosions, I simply blocked them with 10cm thick compressed adamantium plates I had brought from subspace.

As for the icicle spears, although I sacrificed my trusty chain-axe, I immediately switched to a greatsword perpetually burning with psychic flames to counteract the cold.

Although I lost most of my primary weapons in this process, leaving only the burning greatsword, this alone was enough.

‘You seem to be dying too…’

‘………..’

Just as I had depleted my weapons, the mechanical angel had also become tattered as a result of the intense battle.

Its left wing had my ultra-vibrating gladius embedded in it, rendering it immobile, while the right wing had been chopped into pieces by my super-heated knife and was scattered on the ground, forcing it to compensate for flight with telekinesis.

Additionally, its left arm had been severed, making it “dis■bled,” and my cleaver was lodged in its pelvis, ensuring its legs were far from functional.

With my thrown hand-axe embedded in its crown, the mechanical angel was literally barely clinging to life.

‘Let’s end this now.’

Yes, it’s finally time to extinguish this monster’s life.

I compressed the psychic flames wrapping around my greatsword, making them adhere to the blade’s surface. I quickly approached and swung the sword with all my might.

The mechanical angel, particularly severely damaged, couldn’t even react to my movement. I began by decapitating it, then swung my greatsword dozens of times to dismember it—

Thud.

As the chopped mythril frame fell, I felt its soul being absorbed into me, and I was about to satisfyingly devour the soul—

“————Die.”

KWAAAAAAAAAAAAANG———!!!!!

…or so I thought?

※ ※ ※

The one who burst onto the battlefield was none other than a Hunter—and a woman whose face I recognized.

This female Hunter, with her light brown long hair flowing, wore a black coat, held twin pistols in her hands, and carried a massive dark greatsword on her back.

Additionally, floating above her shoulders was a coffin-like weapon vibrating with blue energy—the one that had fired at my frame. Her name was… Yusea.

She was considered the strongest Hunter in South Korea and the only top-tier Hunter with whom I shared a peculiar connection.