Volume 9 / Chapter 246

TL: LightNovelCafe

Editor: Hungry Panda

[Level S Mission: Asura's Birth] [Goal: Attainment]

[Description: Black Devil attacked Evil Queen's daughters and seized the opportunity to take over North America. Driven to an extreme situation of life-or-death, he transcended the limits of his species and succeeded in final evolution. Black Devil killed Cruel King to take over the empty Disaster spot, becoming the nucleus of the storm and shaking up the structure of existing Disasters for many years to come. The only thing that is somewhat questionable is that Black Devil, who has gone through final evolution, is similar to Asia's Disaster, Black Lord. Nothing has been revealed. Lifers. Test the limits. Kill the Disaster and close the curtain on Life Mission.] [Reward: 100,000,000,000 points, dream box.]

At that moment, a challenge itself is impossible. Even if World Federation and b.l.o.o.d.y Kingdom unite and all Rankers mobilize, they would all be killed.

1,500 people were swept away like dust in 30 minutes. That's why he abandoned his guild members and ran away. Cha Jun Sung didn't rush after him.

He followed after him slowly while killing annoying Rage guild members.

Cha Jun Sung squeezes the six Lifers he is holding in each of his arms. Their battlesuits become sc.r.a.p metal in the gruesome grip. Blood and organs spout out from between his palms, but there are no screams of pain. They had already been dead when he grabbed them.

Tyrant watched his subordinates pop and vomited. Corpses? He's seen a lot, but he never imagined that they could look like that.

He hadn't been able to sympathize until now. Now, he can. The probability that he will become like his subordinates is more than 99.9%.

"How refres.h.i.+ng."

Cha Jun Sung becomes intoxicated by the incredible strength he gives off. He realized after he evolved. Level 9 in reality is different from level 9 in the virtual. Level 9s can't be taken on with one or two fully armed level S Lifers. Would a party - 10 people - be enough? Cha Jun Sung tried calculating the odds based on himself.

'It would be a loss.'

10 people might be too much, but 5 or 6 people would be possible. The only complete level S Lifer right now is Cha Jun Sung. There are only a couple level A Lifers as well.

With this as a foundation, Lifer would never be able to fight Disasters with current standards. Cha Jun Sung is alone.

Other Disasters? They go around with level 8s like ornaments.

"Missions are going to get easier from now on."

It seems like a destruction of balance, but he has no intention of saving this strength. He will kill each level 8, cut the level 9's hands and feet, and go one-on-one. He cannot be sure, but if he has the same strength that Black Lord has, he won't lose to anyone other than Black Lord himself, whether it is Evil Queen or Bon Load.

"I'll put White Queen and Levadan on hold."

He has no intention of fighting Black Lord. He doesn't want to. White Queen is his ally and Levadan lives in a tricky environment, the ocean.

First are Evil Queen and Bon Load. Evil Queen is the only goal for now.

Even one is hard, so he isn't confident that he can take on a level S mission alone. But since he has gained this strength, he will try to kill. If the most potent level A Rankers try to complete a level S mission, they might have to go in for a few years to dozens of years.

They might not even get to face off after that time.

Very few Lifers are going into missions up to level B periodically, but they can't even imagine level A unless they are the World Federation or b.l.o.o.d.y Kingdom.

They are wary of level A too. So level S is overwhelming. Cha Jun Sung is taking over level S alone during that time.

Cha Jun Sung had left Tyrant and been thinking of something else, when he turned his head. Tyrant hadn't cleaned his dirty mouth, and he was looking at Cha Jun Sung with fear. His face had a bit of wonder in it.

"Are you curious about something? Tanaka."

"How - how!"

His battlesuit was destroyed, but his PDA is fine and his translator works.

It's still a wonder that Black Devil is speaking Korean, but he can just get over this.

Levels 8 and 9 have abilities that are similar to those of humans. The problem is that this mutant spoke his name. A mutant clearly said a Lifer's name.

How could it know the name of a human from a different world, another dimension?

"Since you need to die anyway. I wanted to tell my secret to someone at least once. Though I didn't know that you'd be the unlucky one."

Cha Jun Sung's 12m body from head to toe shrinks. He kept shrinking until he became so small he was only about 2m tall.

A few pairs of horns disappeared, and only a pair each of arms and eyes were left. His skin tone went from black to a yellowish white. Human Cha Jun Sung.

"You'll know this form of me, right? Murayama Tanaka."

"Cha - Cha Jun Sung? Overload? What is this! You're a mutant?"

Tyrant raises his voice in disbelief. The way he speaks grows faster as well. His fear went away for just a moment. That is how shocked he is.

"I was active as a normal Lifer, and then became like this a few years ago. You know the parasitic mutant Oriax, right? That invaded my body and bothered the A virus that's in our bodies. After I woke up from living in a craze like that for 1 year and 5 months, I had been transformed into a level 8 mutant."

Had the dam broken? Cha Jun Sung told everything about this secret that he's never told anyone about before. The amount that the supervisors know.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Are you expecting me to believe that?"

"You're mistaken."

Cha Jun Sung went toward Tyrant. He is completely naked, but he didn't feel anything like embarra.s.sment.

Tyrant's surprise attack? He won't even have the energy to do it, but it doesn't matter even if he does. He is a semi-immortal being, and he won't die even if his neck is cut off or his brain and heart burst.

He put his face forward. He looked at Tyrant from a distance so close he can feel his breath on him. He looks like a human, but there is a ferocity in his eyes.

"Believing or not is up to you. There's no reason for me to convince you. I just told you because I've been itching to say it."

"Then all of this was your trick? This whole mission."

"I guess I didn't tell you that."

Cha Jun Sung held his stomach and laughed, and then told Tyrant all about the supervisors, helpers, and how this situation had come about.

"How could this…"

Tyrant was devastated by the fact that he was just a knight on a chess board.

To summarize, he was chosen randomly for this mission as Jigneon's punishment for  Borteth's improper intervention.

"Borteth will try to eat me alive if this goes wrong, but I'm not scared. I hope he appears in front of me. So I can rip him into pieces."

Cha Jun Sung cursed Borteth and transformed his left hand into a sharp sword. Since their conversation is nearly over, he is going to kill Tyrant.

"To be frank, you have no fault in this. We're just not on good terms, but we haven't done enough to each other to want to kill the other."

Having a bad relations.h.i.+p in the virtual version doesn't warrant a death sentence. He knows that Tyrant is bad in the virtual and reality version, but that's just that. He hasn't really done much wrong to Cha Jun Sung. If there had been anything, it is that he threw a white phosphorus sh.e.l.l during the battle between their federations. That could be his sin since Cha Jun Sung almost died then.

"Save - Save me! I'll do whatever you want! Like you said, I was used too!"

"You're right. But I can't let you live. That's the goal of the mission. If I let you live, the supervisors will look at me in a bad light and that's just trouble."

"Ri - right! You don't like b.l.o.o.d.y Kingdom, right? I'll give you information on b.l.o.o.d.y Kingdom. Money too! Trillions! Anything! Please!"

"I don't need it. Tell them to live the way they live. Farewell, Tyrant."

The blade cuts Tyrant's neck. Blood spurts out like a fountain. It's the end. He has gone through 10 stages of body modifications, but humans cannot survive after having their necks cut even if they went through 30 or 40 stages.

"How boring."

Maybe it is because he has become level 9, but the course felt hollow. Though he had used the opening card, he had been a level S Lifer and killing him had been as easy as popping a cap off a bottle.

It could have been easier because Tyrant had sustained injuries from the continuous battles. But even if he had been in perfect state, it would have been over in 20 minutes.

"So I resurrected from my nucleus."

His organs including his brain and heart had been blasted away by the light bomb explosion.

There are very few among ultra high levels that are able to resurrect from their nuclei. They are basically going around with extra lives. Beholder loses his memory if he resurrects from his nucleus. But this hadn't happened to Cha Jun Sung. It's proof that he is superior to Beholder.

Also, there's no way to know whether even mutants with nuclei that can bring on resurrection are able to do so with just the nuclei left over. There's no way to test it either since they would just die if they don't have that ability. If there hadn't been a big danger for Black Lord, he wouldn't have known about his state either.

It is a strange feeling to know something that Black Lord doesn't know when he thought that Black Lord was superior to him in every way.

He will have to let Black Lord know later if they have the chance to meet again. There has to be give and take. He might get useful information.

"I should get back first."

He needs to go back to the city with Ant h.e.l.l since his PDA evaporated. The PDA he normally used is in the s.p.a.ce compression bag that he left there.

Things will get complicated from now on, but he can just resolve everything step by step. Nothing stands out in the face of overwhelming force.

 /  / 

Volume 9 / Chapter 247

TL: LightNovelCafe

Editor: Hungry Panda

Queen Bomb Ant's body split in half in a vertical solid line in front of him. Cha Jun Sung can be seen in between the two halves.

"Arrogant b.i.t.c.h."

To rebel against a king, one must hide their intentions until they have the means to bring on action. That is how they can take a hit.

Queen Bomb Ant is the worst in that aspect.

She complained multiple times to a predator who is much stronger than she is.

If she had just obeyed him, he would have helped her maintain her power, but it was too late.

He killed her himself just as he had decided he would.

Boom boom boom!

The Queen Bomb Ant is the Bomb Ants' matrix.

When this constancy was cut off, the surviving Bomb Ants from Ant h.e.l.l all committed suicide.

The flying Bomb Ants had been annihilated and there had been thousands of ground-based ones, but not a single one stayed alive. It is true annihilation.

The Rage guild and Bomb Ants are all dead.

There is only Cha Jun Sung.

Cha Jun Sung took clothing and his PDA out of the s.p.a.ce compression bag he had left hidden. He left the battlesuit.

Mission complete.

He doesn't need it.

Beep beep!

All he did was put it on his wrist, but the PDA turned on.

Cha Jun Sung wasn't even surprised. He had moved deliberately. Tracking him wouldn't have been hard.

Papat!

As soon as the PDA turned on, a large hologram came up as a turning 3D model of a single mutant.

A description of the mutant is next to the figure.

The mutant's name is Black Lord.

It is written in Korean for Cha Jun Sung, and it contains everything that Life Mission has investigated until now.

Woong!

Another hologram comes up.

The subject is Cha Jun Sung. It is as though the two are meant to be compared.

[What happened?]

It isn't hard to respond to Odin's question.

So he answered.

"The same person."

[… Are you saying Black Lord and Lifer Cha Jun Sung are?]

"Aren't you guys the ones who connected the two worlds through Life Mission? There's a slight time difference, but of course they're the same people."

Cha Jun Sung speaks bluntly.

Odin knows what he's saying, but he hadn't imagined this would be the extent. There are only six.

That number exceeded limits among every living thing on the planet.

A virus was first spread in the world inside the mission. They spread it in a gap in dimensions, so it was impossible for people of the times to identify the cause.

It was random.

They hadn't been able to discriminate between who became a mutant and how they were evolving. It's because they can't investigate each person. They had started to get a handle over the system when the mutant food chain became configured.

Until then, they had only observed.

They opened another dimension after with the game's frame as the reality version, a training center where Lifers could become educated on Life Mission.

It was on a registered account basis, so they were able to distinguish those who are talented.

They hadn't suspected that they may be the same people because of this difference.

[Then inside there too?]

"I guess I'd have to say he recognized me? Black Lord recognized me. We talked a little too."

Odin is referring to the dark tent.

He confessed everything excluding personal matters.

The only thing that the supervisors and helpers don't know about now, is the 3rd person in their relations.h.i.+p.

Cha Jun Sung doesn't know about this issue either.

He left it out because he doesn't know if they'll be able to meet or what will happen going forward. They'll be busy with the fact that he and Black Lord are the same people as it is.

[Lifer Cha Jun Sung, do you know who has evolved to level 9?]

"Other than me?"

[Cruel King, Sea G.o.d, and Bon Load can't know, but White Queen and Evil Queen were humans, so there is one of them in each world.]

It is already in the past. Nothing will happen if he tells.

"I don't know. I wouldn't tell you even if I did."

Cha Jun Sung cut him off bluntly.

He can guarantee 99% that they will drag him off as a subject for experiments. He was a bonus sample unlike the other mutants inside missions.

At this moment, they could choose to be active as a Lifer or to live a normal life. That is their personal lives. He doesn't want to interfere.

"Or just open another dimension and use me as a sample."

[We used a tremendous amount of human and material resources in opening just the two.]

[It seems simple when looking at just the results, but the effort to go through that process is unmeasurable.]

"Then just leave it."

He has no intention of becoming a p.a.w.n.

One time is bound to become two times, and two times becomes three.

His business with the supervisors is done as well. He was promised protection from Borteth when he took care of Tyrant. They have each traded one thing.

"I want to go back."

[Wait. Shall we talk before you go back?]

The voice coming through the PDA is not Odin.

Cha Jun Sung thought that it was Gabenu. He is the only person who would be talking to him right now.

Woong!

A summons gate opens in front of Cha Jun Sung.

Jigneon and another middle-aged man come out.

The 3rd supervisor, Gabenu.

"How surprising…"

What do they want that they have appeared before him?

He'll get to see all of the supervisors at this rate. Since there are three of them, he only needs to see Borteth.

"I'll get to the point. There's no reason for you to help us with our work, but there's also no reason for you to get in the way. I'll ask. Are you a Lifer or a mutant?"

Cha Jun Sung couldn't answer right away.

If a Lifer's focus is matched to humans, Cha Jun Sung is not a Lifer. He could be called a mutant.

"I guess I'm a mutant?"

"I guess you could say that."

"We left you alone because up to level 8 is acceptable, but it becomes completely different when you're level 9. You can't go into level S missions."

This is nonsense.

Cha Jun Sung is confused. They appeared out of nowhere and are telling him that he can't go into level S missions. This is unacceptable.

"Do you think it will be possible for a level S Lifer to raid level 9s?"

"… If it's a party."

"Good point. You're right. It might be possible if it is a party with level S Lifers fully set with 10 stages of body modifications and 10-combination battlesuits. The problem here?"

Cha Jun Sung didn't speak.

Gabenu knows what he is trying to say as well. A party of 10 people means 10 level S Lifers.

If the target is just one level 9, five or six people could have enough power. But they have to consider the level 8s that follow level 9s.

When Tyrant died, Cha Jun Sung became the only level S Lifer. To become level S, they need to go through level A advancement. They need to complete a mission at the same level as Deep Sea Teeth.

"We calculated it and if the World Federation tries level A advancement, about 2 or 3 people would be able to advance. The problem is that everyone else would die. You know well that going through missions with stronger Lifers doesn't guarantee advancement."

He knows.

Even if he tries to help others advance after he advanced from World Federation, it doesn't work. It ends up being that he advanced, so he acts on his own.

There are about 30 level A Lifers in the world.

Of those, a few need to wait until level Bs grow. How long will that take?

"What if you enter level S in this situation? You'll probably complete it. Then what choice will you make to complete it?"

If he can't complete it with the strength of a Lifer, he will use his strength as a level 9 mutant. His ident.i.ty has already been exposed. There's no reason to hide it.

"Completing a mission with mutant strength? We're testing Lifers and mutants to see who is superior. We don't want there to be in-species fighting. There's nothing we can do if it occurs naturally, but we can't accept it if it comes artificially."

It doesn't matter if he doesn't use his mutant strength, but they are saying that he can't use it. If he does, he can't go into level S missions.

It is too hard to do alone.

He needs to either wait until other Lifers advance, or go into level A missions with his battlesuit.

"We'll sanction you if you try to take shortcuts and go into lower levels to get special missions. We'll do whatever it takes, whether it is intervention."

Cha Jun Sung's face convulsed and his eyes became dark red. It is as though they turned into gla.s.s marbles.

"Whatever it takes?"

"I overreacted. I'll apologize. That's how important this matter is. Anyway, we'll limit the level 9 strength you use inside missions."

To the supervisors, Cha Jun Sung is something strange that came out of nowhere.

They can't control it and they don't have the authority to do so.

If they want Life Mission to run properly, they can't let him go around in missions as a mutant with strong and transcendent power.

"Now you say that?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Whose fault is this that I've become like this? Who created Life Mission? You created this mess and now you're saying you're going to kick me out?"

The clothes he just put on begins to rip. He hadn't been able to suppress his swelling power. The floor becomes dented under his incredible weight.

Cha Jun Sung's aura is so murderous that even level 8s would whimper in fear, but Gabenu looked unconcerned.

"Well this."

It seems that their honest thoughts had touched on the feelings that Cha Jun Sung had been suppressing. It is possible for him to see this as a provocation.

"You want me to quit after all of this?"

9 eyes look over Gabenu.

He has no intention of killing Gabenu. He just needs to take back what he said. All he needs to do is give him his pride.

"We did create Life Mission. The operators are saying that they will block an account because of a bug. Isn't it weird to argue that?"

Gabenu countered him with his own logic.

Cha Jun Sung felt it.

An argument won't end this. Gabenu shows no signs of yielding.

"You said that you would do whatever it takes if I don't listen, right?"

"Right."

"Then try it."

He is accepting.

He won't use level 9 strength inside missions.

"Jigneon could probably beat you, but the probability is 50/50 in my case, so it's fair. Since we each have our own thoughts."

Gabenu relaxes his backward stance.

The opponent is a Lifer and level 9 mutant. He has a completely different combat ark from existing mutants.

"Did you know? Apparently, your name is Asura. Isn't it cool? I came up with it."

Supervisors manage levels S and A missions instead of helpers. Gabenu has authority because Jigneon and Borteth can't be reached.

"I chose Asura because of your appearance… but also because I expected this situation. That you would go against us if I tried to bring sanctions."

Cha Jun Sung could kind of understand what he was saying, but there were also things he couldn't.

"For this moment at least… I'll become the Sakra that can overpower Asura."

 /  /