Chapter 198 : The Identity of the Cargo
Chapter 198: The Identity of the Cargo
Kwaaaaaa─!
Between Baek Woohyun’s outstretched hands, a pitch-black sphere of gravitational force materialized—[Black Hole]—sucking in everything around it.
Even the swarm of [Lightning Snakes] that had been floating through the air, waiting for an opportunity to bite him, were no exception. The number of snakes, which had exceeded thousands, rapidly dwindled.
This was because even the [Lightning Snakes], which multiplied whenever they were attacked, were meaningless before the [Black Hole] that devoured and erased everything completely.
It was a result that made the Hellhound man, who had been triumphantly increasing the number of [Lightning Snakes], look foolish.
Moreover, the [Black Hole] wasn’t fixed in one place—it even moved according to Baek Woohyun’s gestures, all while continuing to suck in everything it touched.
It was like watching scribbles covering a sheet of paper being completely erased with a single sweep of an eraser. Even though the [Lightning Snakes] contained Otherworld power, it made no difference.
The fact that their numbers had increased to thousands meant that the power contained in each individual was divided accordingly, so even with Otherworld power, they couldn’t resist the [Black Hole].
“···! [Lightning Twin-Headed Serpent]!”
Shaaaak!
The alarmed Hellhound man released two streams of violet lightning, which twisted together like a braid and soon became a snake with two heads.
The [Lightning Twin-Headed Serpent] was several times larger than the other [Lightning Snakes], but unfortunately, it wasn’t a very effective countermeasure.
This was clear just from watching it charge toward Baek Woohyun with its sharp fangs bared, only to be sucked right into the [Black Hole].
It would have been more helpful to scatter the lightning itself widely rather than using the [Lightning Twin-Headed Serpent].
“······.”
“······.”
Both the attacker and the defender fell silent at the utterly futile situation.
Though for different reasons, in any case.
***
-That thing just got sucked right in lololol
-Both of them saying nothing is hilarious lololol
-??? : Now, now, there was a bit of commotion~
-It went in like water down a drain lol
‘ㅇㅇ’ donated ‘1000 won’!
[Something’s wrong. The Hellhound I know isn’t such a comedian···]
“I suppose it looks that way since Woohyun is his opponent.”
-When you watch someone skilled do something, it always looks easy
-It’s beyond looking easy—it looks downright ridiculous lol
-But for real, without Hackphysical it would’ve been terrifying;
-How would you even stop snakes that keep multiplying ㄷㄷ
“Apart from the basic skill gap, it seems the ability compatibility is just too poor.”
As could be seen from the sight of them multiplying to thousands in an instant, the Hellhound man’s ability was specialized in quantity warfare based on [Lightning Snakes] that increased the more you killed them.
On the other hand, Baek Woohyun’s [Black Hole] endlessly converged toward a single point, infinitely erasing all existence it touched—no matter how many there were.
No matter how many [Lightning Snakes] there were, they were all erased by the [Black Hole], so it was fair to say his ability build had been countered.
It’s hard to win even when you have favorable compatibility, but to have unfavorable compatibility instead? It was inevitable that the Hellhound man would look ridiculous.
Could he have known that his rather powerful technique, [Lightning Twin-Headed Serpent], would be sucked into the [Black Hole] and disappear so completely?
Just looking at the expression he made immediately after—’What?!’—it was obvious he hadn’t known.
“This shows once again how important ability build compatibility is.”
“Well, having good build compatibility doesn’t mean you can beat Hackphysical, though.”
-If you lose in compatibility, the fight doesn’t even work ㄷㄷ
-When you get countered by a build it’s tough, but getting wrecked like that is definitely a skill difference lol
-Even the Otherworld power seems useless
-Seriously, what even is that effect
***
Kiiing-!
“······.”
Contrary to the overwhelmingly dominant appearance, Baek Woohyun wasn’t in a perfectly comfortable state either. The [Tinnitus] continued to torment him.
The pain that seemed to dig through his brain was still gradually growing at this very moment. He felt that if it continued a bit longer, his head might split open.
He simply endured without even twitching an eyebrow through sheer willpower, which was why even the Hellhound man unconsciously assumed it wasn’t working and moved on.
Therefore, Baek Woohyun had no intention of leisurely pressing the Hellhound man while waiting for support.
While it might have been fine earlier before drawing upon Otherworld power, now that he was being harmed by the [Tinnitus], it wasn’t a good choice.
Since he had already completely assessed the situation with [Black Hole], he didn’t hesitate.
Kwaaaaaa─!
Following Baek Woohyun’s will, the [Black Hole] moved straight toward the Hellhound man, annihilating everything that blocked its path.
Before the extreme gravitational force that warped even space and sucked everything in, the Hellhound man had few choices. In fact, it was fair to say he had only one.
Since [Lightning Snakes] and [Lightning Twin-Headed Serpent] didn’t work, his ability itself had been neutralized, meaning fleeing was his only way out.
“Damn it!”
The Hellhound man wasn’t a fool, so he immediately gave up resistance and retreated.
This was possible because while the [Black Hole] was powerful, its movement speed itself wasn’t that fast.
The fact that the advantage of lightning attribute was speed—no matter how much summoning elements were mixed in—also played a part in his smooth escape from the [Black Hole].
Of course.
“······.”
Swish.
There was no way Baek Woohyun would just stand there blankly watching such an escape.
Having silently slipped through the encirclement of [Lightning Snakes], which was full of holes after being swept by the [Black Hole] once, he caught up to the Hellhound man from behind.
By the time the Hellhound man, who had been frantically fleeing from the source of terror, realized Baek Woohyun was behind him, it was already too late.
Kwaa─!
What manifested from the tip of Baek Woohyun’s finger touching the Hellhound man’s back was the miniature [Black Hole] he had shown when dealing with the Doppelganger before.
Though smaller in size than when properly used, it retained the same defense-ignoring peculiarity and gravitational force converging toward a single point.
A [Black Hole] was a [Black Hole], so the Hellhound man was completely exposed to it—something that would have drilled a huge hole through his torso if he responded carelessly.
The supernatural ability resistance that ability users basically possessed was meaningless.
The [Black Hole] that pierced through his torso didn’t even give the Hellhound man a chance to scream before completely devouring him.
This time, Baek Woohyun didn’t even feel the need to obtain equipment containing Otherworld power, so the Hellhound man literally disappeared without even leaving a corpse.
“······.”
“Hellhound is dead! Everyone run!”
“Damn it! Acting tough all by himself!”
“Ahahaha-! Go ahead and try running, you trash! I’ll burn you all up!”
Whoooosh!
As the terrible [Tinnitus] disappeared, Baek Woohyun caught his breath lightly and looked around.
His eyes caught sight of the hunting dogs frantically choosing to flee after realizing the Hellhound man’s death, and the three Avengers excitedly chasing them.
Even without him stepping in, the hunting dogs would all be dealt with before long. While he didn’t know about Jang Eunsu and Seo Dain, Kim Youngjun wasn’t naive enough to leave survivors.
Therefore, instead of helping them, he headed toward the container where the cargo should be.
The container, damaged when the Hellhound man and hunting dogs burst out, had been left unattended without anyone’s attention.
It was a shabby state for cargo that the research facility had guarded so strictly with armed guards, hunting dogs, and even a Hellhound attached.
‘Let’s see.’
Baek Woohyun didn’t needlessly enter the crumpled and torn container. There was no reason to bother using his body when he had supernatural abilities.
The telekinesis he manifested lightly tore off the shell called the container, then brought a box that had been inside to him.
The box, which appeared to be about 30cm per side, was truly sealed meticulously without a single gap.
‘They completely welded it shut.’
He could tear open the box like the container if he wanted to, but Baek Woohyun chose preservation.
He didn’t want to break the seal the research facility had painstakingly created when he didn’t know what was inside.
There was no reason to hurry now that the urgent situation had passed after cleanly eliminating the research facility’s forces.
“Is that what those guys were transporting?”
“Right.”
Kim Youngjun, who had returned after dealing with all the fleeing hunting dogs, asked, and Baek Woohyun nodded.
“Good. Now that we’ve got the goods, let’s get out of here. You hold onto that for now. Can you?”
“It’s fine.”
“Everyone back on the bikes! Dain! Prepare for cleanup! When you’re done, get on Eunsu’s bike!”
“I don’t want to!” “I don’t want to either.”
“Too bad! Who told you to ram a container truck with a bike and smash it to pieces?”
Seo Dain spat out thick curses, but she didn’t show any more complaints. After all, they did need transportation to get out of here.
Instead, she decided to vent her anger on the research facility bastards, spewing flames with tremendous force at the corpses and cars.
It was an action meant to burn away any traces that might remain and make fools of the research facility’s pursuit team that would arrive later. It would also serve as confirmation kills.
Vroom-!
Leaving the blazing vehicles behind, Baek Woohyun and the three departed from that place.
Thanks to moving while easily ignoring speed limits just like when they started, they soon arrived back at the underground parking lot of the abandoned building.
Though there was the question of whether to call it a parking lot since they couldn’t bring the bikes down and had to park them outside, in any case.
“Let’s open it now.”
“Okay.”
Gathered in the somewhat burnt clearing, they looked at the box placed in the center with tension.
With everyone’s attention focused, Baek Woohyun’s telekinesis grabbed and tore open the firmly welded box, and finally the item contained inside was revealed.
Inside the box was a purple gemstone of tremendous size. A gemstone with a different quality from common amethyst, with a faint blue radiance flowing around it.
“What is this···?”
Seo Dain’s murmur was closer to a lament than asking out of ignorance.
This was because any ability user could clearly feel the tremendous power surging from the gemstone the moment they saw it.
It was truly an enormous amount of energy that could easily annihilate a radius of several hundred meters if the gemstone were to break and be released.
‘What on earth did the research facility bastards here create?’
Having felt it with his body several times already, Baek Woohyun noticed that the power contained in the gemstone was that of the Otherworld.
The research facility in ‘Reverse Planet’ had not only created equipment that could use Otherworld power, but had even solidified a massive amount of Otherworld power in the form of a gemstone.
Whether they would use it as a power source or detonate it as a bomb, one thing was certain—either way wouldn’t be very beneficial to reality.
“What should we use this for?”
“It seems too dangerous to carry around.”
“If it were to explode by chance, whoever has it would definitely die.”
At Baek Woohyun’s warning, Kim Youngjun and Seo Dain nodded. They too had realized the power contained in the gemstone and were thinking the same thing.
Of course, they didn’t yet know that it was Otherworld power.
“But why did the research facility bastards make this?”
“How would we know what those bastards are thinking? They’re the type who would make something just because they could.”
“Seeing how they were transporting it for research, that could be it.”
‘Wait, could this be.’
Baek Woohyun, who had been casually listening to the conversation speculating on the gemstone’s purpose, suddenly widened his eyes.
There was a thought that crossed his mind.