WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Max-Level Swordsman of Fusionpunk ◈
Chapter 18
──────
“...”
Kang Doseok stared at the screen without a word.
This was the second time he had watched the city government drop a nuke in the heart of the city. That showed just how seriously they were taking the situation.
New captions scrolled across the bottom of the screen.
[All remaining forces in the area around Megabuilding 437 are to withdraw.]
[No flights permitted over District 43.]
[Tactical nuclear bomb drop in 10 minutes.]
The anchor continued speaking rapidly.
[Three million shielding drones belonging to the city government’s Department of Science and Technology are being deployed to contain the blast.]
The screen changed.
Black dots filled the sky beneath the dark clouds.
At first glance, they looked like a flock of birds. But when the image zoomed in, the shapes gliding through the air were revealed to be steel drones.
Millions of drones were converging on the megabuilding. They spread out around every side, keeping an even distance from one another.
A vast grid formed around Megabuilding 437.
[Force field shielding drone deployment in progress. Current progress: 2 percent.]
On the screen, the drones began taking their positions at the very bottom of the megabuilding.
Flying in groups of thousands, they all turned as they reached their assigned points. They stopped in midair, maintaining a fixed distance from the building’s outer walls.
Equipped with force field technology, these were no ordinary military drones.
Even in a world where new weapons and technologies appeared almost daily, force field technology, which created solid barriers in empty air, was considered one of the greatest achievements of science.
These were the highest-grade crisis-control devices available to Netron City’s Department of Science and Technology. And there were a full three million of them.
Clack.
The four corners of the shielding drones opened.
Blue light emitters hidden inside came into view.
Crackle.
One of the first drones to take its position fired a thin beam of light toward the drone floating beside it.
The beams met.
Then the drones above and below them emitted the same light.
One, two, hundreds, thousands.
Blue lines slowly began connecting from the bottom of the building. A three-dimensional diagram of Megabuilding 437 appeared on one side of the screen.
Blue dots appeared one by one along the building’s gray outline. Lines formed between the dots, joining together to make small squares.
For now, the area they covered was barely the size of a palm compared to the whole building.
Vrrrrrm.
The drones floating near the bottom of the megabuilding released blue light in unison. The interwoven beams grew thicker, then became a translucent barrier.
The blue shield slowly spread along one side of the building.
At first, it covered only part of the lower floors. But every time more drones took their positions, the force field expanded upward and to either side. Thousands of windows disappeared behind the blue barrier, one after another.
More drones poured in above them.
They shot straight up along the corners of the building. Once one drone took its position, another settled above it, followed by another above that.
Like nails being driven into an invisible wall.
The drones fixed themselves in midair at regular intervals.
According to the city government’s announcement, three million drones had been deployed for this tactical nuclear bomb drop.
It was an absurd number, but completely enclosing a megabuilding meant covering not only its front, back, and sides, but also the ground and the sky above, without leaving a single gap.
And considering the scale of Netron City, mobilizing three million drones was hardly impossible.
An expert appeared beside the anchor.
[The shielding drones are currently forming a total of five faces around Megabuilding 437.]
A huge rectangular box appeared on the screen.
[Immediately before the tactical nuclear explosion, the force field will be sealed completely, trapping the blast pressure and thermal energy inside.]
[If even a single crack forms in the shield, the entirety of District 43 could suffer catastrophic damage.]
The moment the expert finished speaking, red text appeared at the bottom of the screen.
[Tactical nuclear bomb drop in 4 minutes.]
Red numbers began counting down by the second in one corner.
03:59.
03:58.
03:57.
Kang Doseok watched the numbers from the sofa.
On the screen, more than half of Megabuilding 437 was already surrounded by the blue grid. While the drones already in position maintained the shield, black swarms of new drones continued pouring in above them.
The blue wall grew slowly upward.
One floor.
Then another.
Thousands of windows were enclosed within the shield, one after another.
[Shielding drone deployment in progress. Current progress: 63 percent.]
The screen showed the upper floors of Megabuilding 437.
Dark red rain streamed down its outer walls. Whenever blue currents flashed through the clouds, countless windows briefly emerged before sinking into darkness again.
As Kang Doseok watched, his gaze slowly shifted.
From the screen to the window.
Then to the forest of buildings in District 43 beyond it.
Even from a distance, Megabuilding No. 43-7 was easy to spot as the blue shield closed around it.
Its lower floors were already submerged in blue light. The grid formed by millions of drones was crawling up its outer walls.
Kang Doseok’s gaze followed the light upward.
The lower floors.
The middle floors.
The upper floors, where the shield had yet to reach.
And then, the very top of the megabuilding.
“...”
As Kang Doseok slowly surveyed the distant building, he suddenly frowned.
Something was standing at the edge of the roof.
At first glance, it looked like a structure installed on the rooftop. But when blue lightning burst through the clouds, its outline became clear.
A huge body resembling a human.
A monster standing motionless at the roof’s edge, both arms hanging at its sides.
One of the Twelve Baleful Stars, revealed in the game through only a single illustration.
It was Darkblood Warpsight.
It stood a full four meters tall.
Thick veins tangled beneath its dark red skin, and its long arms hung below its knees.
But its head was the most striking part.
A single enormous eye filled the space where its face should have been.
Eyes of all sizes bulged unevenly around it. Dozens of eyes without even eyelids moved in different directions.
Gurrrgle.
Gurgle.
The bulging eyes rolled. Then Kang Doseok saw them all stop at once.
“...”
It hadn’t happened to glance this way. Dozens of eyes were staring straight at him, fixed on Kang Doseok’s penthouse.
Still seated on the sofa, Kang Doseok quietly reached for his sword hilt.
With eyes that big, its eyesight couldn’t possibly be bad.
It would be able to see him.
Perhaps even read his lips.
Kang Doseok slowly opened his mouth.
“Lower your eyes.”
He tapped the sword hilt with a finger.
“Unless you want to die.”
Immediately afterward.
Gurrrgle!
Darkblood Warpsight’s eyes all twitched at once.
Gurrrrrrgle!
The enormous eye in the center of its head shook from side to side, while the dozens of eyes around it opened wide.
Still watching Kang Doseok, it slowly moved.
It raised its long arms and took a step back from the edge of the roof.
Thud.
Cracks spread across the rooftop as its huge foot came down.
Darkblood Warpsight lowered its upper body. It bent both legs and took a stance as if it might charge at any moment.
Then.
Rrrrip!
The lower part of its back split open to either side.
Folded wings forced their way through the dark red flesh. Wet membranes stretched out, and the thick blood vessels running through them writhed.
Whump!
The enormous wings struck the air for the first time.
Dark red rainwater pooled on the roof burst in every direction.
Darkblood Warpsight looked at Kang Doseok once more.
Dozens of bulging eyes scanned him.
Then it turned away.
Bang!
It kicked off the roof and launched itself into the sky.
Darkblood Warpsight turned in the opposite direction from Kang Doseok.
Whump!
Its wings swept through the air.
The huge body cut through the rain, clearing the roof of Megabuilding 437. Once, twice. With each wingbeat, the dark red rain burst into mist.
It skimmed over the top of the blue grid the drones were forming.
[An entity believed to be Darkblood Warpsight has been spotted on the roof of Megabuilding 437! It is currently moving toward the eastern outskirts!]
The anchor’s urgent voice burst from the screen.
[Darkblood Warpsight is leaving the area!]
Rrrrrumble!
Whoooosh!
Dozens of Nightfall’s aerial armored vehicles rose into the air in an instant.
But Darkblood Warpsight didn’t look back.
Whump!
Its enormous wings struck the air again.
Bang!
Its body accelerated in an instant. After only a few wingbeats, it slipped between the dark clouds and buildings and vanished at the edge of his vision.
Kang Doseok took his hand off the sword hilt.
“Staring at me like that.”
He muttered under his breath, still watching District 43.
Even after Darkblood Warpsight disappeared, the drone deployment continued.
[Shielding drone deployment in progress. Current progress: 81 percent.]
The blue grid covered the megabuilding’s upper floors. Its front, back, and sides were completely sealed.
The remaining drones converged above the megabuilding. They crossed over it, filling in the final face.
[94 percent.]
[97 percent.]
Blue beams of light joined together.
The open top slowly closed. The last gap in the huge rectangular box narrowed.
[Shielding drone deployment in progress. Current progress: 99 percent.]
Vrrrrrrm!
The moment the caption appeared at the bottom of the screen, millions of drones released light at once.
The blue force field surrounding all of Megabuilding 437 was complete.
That force field would serve as a giant coffin, sealing in tens of thousands of infected people and citizens. Kang Doseok watched the scene to the end, his eyes expressionless.
[Force field deployment complete.]
[Beginning tactical nuclear bomb release procedure.]
00:10.
00:09.
00:08.
Far across the sky, a small black dot appeared above the dark clouds.
The dot soon took the shape of a long cylinder.
It was the tactical nuclear bomb.
00:05.
00:04.
Through the heavy black rain,
the bomb fell straight down without wavering.
00:03.
00:02.
00:01.
The top of the blue force field briefly opened.
The tactical nuclear bomb was swallowed by the gap.
A moment later,
a blinding light burst from the center of Megabuilding 437.
Footnotes:
Darkblood Warpsight’s name combines “dark blood” with “astigmatism,” literally “disordered vision.”
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