Chapter 463

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 463: High-Growth Stock (7)

It was truly overwhelming.

The power of the breath unleashed by Kang Hongtae, Korea’s first mutant, was incredible.

Even though the flames were shot from several hundred meters above, they roared down with the momentum of a waterfall.

KWAAAAAA!

The clan heads standing in front of Kang Hongtae recoiled in shock, hastily stretching their bodies out of harm's way.

Everyone knew that Emel would be dealing with the monster, so they saw no reason to let their clothes be scorched by the flames.

In contrast, Emel and Maon, as always, didn’t so much as flinch in front of the blazing breath.

―Stand back.

Maon gave instructions to his guards and swept his right hand through the air.

A large, circular barrier formed around the sphere he was riding in—a protective shield of sorts.

Seeing this, Emel stepped forward with his twin swords drawn, deliberately moving beyond the range of Maon’s barrier.

It was a statement: he didn’t need anyone’s help.

Yeongwoo, observing this, shook his head in disbelief.

‘He’s unbelievably stubborn. Is every clan head from Shirach like this?’

Of course, Yeongwoo was also within range of the breath alongside the two clan heads, so he quickly had to raise his Aratubank.

FWOOOOSH!

Scorching flames were already pouring down above his head.

「Die……!」

As Kang Hongtae’s furious voice rang out and the surroundings turned a deep crimson, the silhouettes of the clan heads could still be seen beyond the flames.

‘Ah, they really aren’t ordinary people.’

As expected, Maon was calmly seated within his protective barrier, and the vice head of the Shirach clan, Emel…

―This planet is full of savages.

…was actually speaking within the fire itself, standing his ground and staring up into the sky.

He hadn’t even raised his guard.

‘If that’s the case, Hongtae’s going to get wrecked…’

Breath attacks weren’t everything to the dragon, but it was undeniably their signature technique.

If the breath didn’t work, there was a high chance that none of their other skills would either.

Moreover, the “First Calamity” buff didn’t weaken opponents; it only strengthened surrounding mutants or monsters.

‘…Wait?’

At this thought, Yeongwoo slowly lowered his Aratubank, which he’d raised to his face, and looked through the flames at Kang Hongtae.

「Die, all of you…!」

The First Calamity.

If he could recruit this former chaebol CEO as a “friend,” then wouldn’t the rest of the friends—currently imprisoned in the Returnee’s Room—also get stronger?

‘The monsters buffed by the calamity were strong enough to push back the guards of the clan heads…’

So then, how powerful would the “friends,” who grew stronger over time, become?

Especially since the friends were already significantly stronger than ordinary mutants.

Even the friends summoned with a whistle on Day 9 were stronger than mutants appearing naturally on the same day.

‘Wait a minute.’

If the reason the “First Mutant” appeared today was because there were no more remaining mutants to appear, then Kang Hongtae might also be the last mutant.

In other words, after today, it might be impossible to make any more friends.

‘Is that really true? Could this be the last time?’

Mutants usually appeared on a city scale, but in large cities like Seoul or Busan, they showed up by district.

‘That means hundreds of mutants have been appearing every day across the country.’

Which implies:

‘Since this is Day 9… there must have been thousands of mutants by now.’

So how many people chose to become mutants on the first day, when the Extinction Vote took place?

Only those who chose mutation from among the extinction candidates could become mutants, so the number couldn’t be that high.

Plus, the extinction candidates themselves were just people the public hastily thought of on Reset Day—targets of spontaneous resentment.

That means the number would be limited.

‘So this really could be the last day mutants appear?’

Yeongwoo could ask Earth directly to confirm, but even without that, the special ability First Calamity that Kang Hongtae had was too tempting to pass up.

If, by recruiting Kang Hongtae, the powered-up friends could defeat a single clan head, that would be an invaluable asset—something beyond monetary value.

By now, the inferno Kang Hongtae had been spewing finally subsided.

FWOOOSH!

He closed his massive mouth and took a deep breath. A smoky stench rose from the scorched earth.

―Are you done now?”

Emel parted the lingering smoke with his hand as he spoke.

Kang Hongtae’s expression twisted as he realized that his opponent hadn’t suffered a single singed hair.

「What the…? This guy…」

He was starting to catch on.

The people gathered here weren’t normal—not by a long shot.

「Huh…?」

Until now, he hadn’t thought much about the unusual name Emel, but now Kang Hongtae turned to take a closer look at his opponent.

Pale skin, white hair.

At a glance, he looked human, but there was an uncanny, otherworldly aura about Emel.

「Wait a damn minute…」

Kang Hongtae turned his huge head and looked at the others.

Then he began to notice the oddities.

He spotted Zeana, the clan head of the Tucson family, who looked like a porcelain mannequin.

「These bastards… aren’t even human, are they?」

The newly-arrived mutant let out a bewildered groan, prompting Emel to firmly grip his twin swords and speak.

―You now stand before the great houses of the universe.

「What? Universe?」

Krrk.

Kang Hongtae tilted his head upward, then locked his eyes back onto Emel.

「You’re telling me… you’re all aliens?」

―……

Of course, from Emel’s perspective, Kang Hongtae and the Earthlings were the aliens, so he didn’t bother replying.

「Then… there’s no one human here but me?」

Suddenly overcome by loneliness, Kang Hongtae gently raised one of his front paws.

He belatedly tried to check on the corpse of Seoul Mayor Yang Suwon.

However, the physical body of Yang Suwon had long since dissolved into nothingness, leaving behind only a golden sphere in its place.

「What, Yang Suwon…?」

Just the fact that a sphere appeared instead of the corpse of the dead made it clear that this world was far from normal.

In other words, the high likelihood that this place was filled not with people, but with aliens, was undeniable.

「Oi.」

Following that, Kang Hongtae—who had his head suspended hundreds of meters in the air—turned his gaze toward the distant view of “Metal Seoul.”

A rather bleak and desolate version of the Special City of Dogo, where every structure was wrapped in reinforced steel.

For Kang Hongtae, who had never visited this reset world before, the sight was inevitably disorienting.

「Where… no, where am I right now…?」

As the flustered Kang Hongtae opened his massive jaws wide, the only human in the crowd raised his hand high.

“There's a human right here!”

「What? Really?」

Kang Hongtae involuntarily let out a voice of delight.

But as soon as he saw Yeongwoo stepping out from among the noble houses, his expression twisted into a frown.

「You? A human?」

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Yeongwoo, like the other aliens, was clad in bizarre armor.

But more than anyone else, there was a particularly unpleasant stench coming from him.

The smell of mutated equipment—proof that he had slain mutated beings.

「You bastard.」

Kang Hongtae flared his large nostrils and bared his teeth, prompting Yeongwoo to quickly hide his mutation gear inside his codex and shake his head.

“It’s exactly what you're thinking. I killed a lot of mutants—no, returnees.”

「What?」

“But only because they refused to become my ‘friend.’ I held no malice.”

「……?」

Kang Hongtae tilted his eyes upward into the air, trying to digest the strange sentence, while Yeongwoo extended his right hand.

Swish.

Just like when he made a pact with Maon earlier.

“You must’ve heard about the return method before coming here.”

「Return?」

Kang Hongtae then bent his front claw, covered in red scales, and projected a door-shaped sigil from his palm.

Fwaaash!

“Oh.”

So even a dragon could become a ‘friend.’

“Well then, shall we shake hands? Otherwise…”

Just as Yeongwoo said this and took a step forward—

BOOOOM!

An immense impact suddenly struck Yeongwoo.

“Guh…!”

Probably in the side.

Yeongwoo, slammed by a tremendous force and flung aside, looked up from where he lay on the ground to see what had happened.

『What the hell? Before the hologram could even activate…』

There stood Emel, calmly retracting his leg.

『That son of a bitch?』

That silver-haired alien bastard had kicked him in the side.

―Otherwise, what exactly would happen? Weren’t you the one who said earlier that I should eliminate him?

Even after kicking a lord of Renaissance, Emel spoke in polite language with blatant audacity.

Maon looked extremely troubled, glancing between Emel and Yeongwoo—the two heads of their houses.

The mutual non-aggression and mutual defense pact they had just formed had already come into effect.

In other words, if someone attacked Renaissance, then House Tisef would be obliged to intervene.

―……

Of course, Maon had accepted the pact fully prepared for such consequences.

But he hadn’t expected such a thing to happen right after it took effect.

Just as he had said—one cannot easily predict the future.

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo was pushing himself off the ground with his Aratubank.

“It’s true that removing the mark requires eliminating him, but the situation has changed. If I reconcile with him, your house won’t need to fight at all.”

To this, Emel laughed with scorn.

―That one… is my enemy.

“……!”

A declaration that he didn’t care about Yeongwoo or Earth’s circumstances.

An outright provocation.

Emel then crossed his twin swords menacingly, his eyes flashing with pure white light.

「You…!」

This was the power and presence of Emel, heir to the House of Shirach.

He was finally beginning to show his true strength.

FWOOOOOSH!

As his eyes glowed, Yeongwoo—standing over ten meters away—began to tremble subtly.

『Shit.』

It was reverence.

The universe was pressuring him to show respect to a superior being.

―Lawless things must be purged immediately, for the benefit of the cosmos.

Emel was already staring at the flame dragon Kang Hongtae.

Not only did he hold a clear power advantage, but the opponent had also dared to strike first—Emel saw no reason to let him live.

On the other hand, Yeongwoo shouted,

“That might be my last friend!”

Raising his Aratubank into a strong guard, he charged toward Emel.

He knew he couldn’t win in a one-on-one, so this was essentially a performance—urging Maon to intervene.

But before Maon could act, someone else lent strength to Yeongwoo’s retaliation.

CRAAAASH!

It was a razor-sharp claw swinging from hundreds of meters above.

「How dare an alien hit a human? Atone with your life!」

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]