Chapter 999
Episode 246: The Great Desert of Mitra – Battle for Supremacy (9)
KRAAANG—! THOOM!
Two massive greatswords slammed against the underside of the airborne fortress, Rital. The Twin Kings rode the turbulent air currents stirred up by the enemy’s brain cannon, relentlessly ascending and swinging their blades.
They moved through the sky as if they had wings, soaring freely. Hundreds of enemy brain cannon blasts failed to intercept them, often colliding midair and dissipating uselessly.
“Where is the one who spoke with us earlier? Show yourself! Are you going to keep hiding inside the fortress forever?” Beliz’s voice thundered across the battlefield.
‘Simat doesn’t seem willing to come out this time,’ Jin thought. ‘With so many unexpected variables cropping up, perhaps he’s choosing to observe the situation carefully for now.’
A cautious decision, no doubt.
Yet Jin felt as if fate was smiling upon him. The summoned demons had, from the start, worked against Simat’s side, and he hadn’t expected to reunite with his brothers so soon.
Moreover, those who had always prioritized safe, cautious decisions against him had mostly ended up defeated.
Sometimes, you have to take risks and embrace adventure. From Jin’s perspective, Simat was failing to make that call.
‘If you keep hesitating like this, you’ll end up falling before me, Simat.’
Leaping high into the sky, Jin swung Sigmund.
Golden lightning crackled along the blade’s arc. The strike—known as the Pluto Sword’s Golden Thunderbolt—each blow carried the majestic power of the Celestial Sovereign.
Below, Linpa and Beliz’s greatswords clashed, while above, Jin’s golden lightning rained down, shattering the enemy’s protective shields again and again.
Though the airborne fortresses held firm for now, the general fleet—except for the flagship—couldn’t avoid taking damage.
“Ancient Pluto Tribe, you say? What a joke. Our brothers’ ships are being shot down left and right, and not a single one of you steps up to protect them?”
“Yeah… this is strange.”
Beliz and Linpa couldn’t understand the enemy’s approach.
The enemy’s strict hierarchy and extreme authoritarianism bore no resemblance to the current Pluto Tribe’s traditions.
That only fueled Beliz and Linpa’s anger. They couldn’t stand that these cold, ruthless fiends dared to use the name of the Pluto Sovereign as they did.
Simat and the enemy ignored their taunts, focusing solely on analyzing the combat capabilities of the two Twin Kings as planned.
‘It’s almost like… a small airborne fortress,’ Simat mused. ‘The moment the two descendants of Cheongmyeong appeared, Jin Runkandel fought as if supported by an airborne fortress—like I’m receiving backup from one.’
Simat regarded the two as a sort of small airborne fortress.
Though they seemed to be wildly rampaging across land and sky, a closer look revealed they moved strictly around Jin.
They never strayed far from him, intercepting most of the incoming fire that Jin could have handled himself.
In fact, the Twin Kings were very familiar with this style of combat. Previously, when the Twin Kings fought together, Babah—the First Twin King’s Sword—had been the center. Now, the standard had simply shifted to Jin.
“Have you located Cheongpungje yet?”
{Not yet.}
As Bakarun answered Simat, a red dimensional gate opened high above the battlefield.
“Huh? I told you to send out the commander, and instead, you send another airborne fortress?”
Besel, the enemy’s fourth airborne fortress, had just teleported into the Great Desert. Except for the airborne fortresses of Usrok and Tushin, which had been taken by Ziphl, this meant all the enemy’s usual airborne fortresses were now deployed.
Following Rimagas’s orders, Besel was set to strike Laprarosa.
KREEEEE!
As Besel appeared, the brain cannon waves spreading like a poisonous fog thickened further. Linpa and Beliz felt uneasy and instinctively moved closer to Jin.
“Brothers, I think that airborne fortress appeared to attack Laprarosa.”
“Laprarosa!?”
“If they intended to settle things with us, Simat would have come out by now. They have interdimensional tracking technology. So they’re probably aiming to destroy the passage connecting Laprarosa and Insero, or to strike inside it.”
“Hmph! Let them try all they want. The Twin Kings won’t be fazed by some fortress like that.”
Jin agreed. The firepower of a single airborne fortress was no threat to Ban.
Still, Ban was currently tasked with protecting the ordinary warriors, and above all, the thought of the passage being destroyed gnawed at him.
‘Beliz and Linpa can’t handle worrying about a fourth airborne fortress. But if the three of us go deeper, I’ll be worried about Luna’s safety…’
Just then, a sharp idea flashed through Jin’s mind.
He turned to look at the demons greedily absorbing the desert’s power. In that brief moment, they had absorbed so much energy that all three now radiated a strong aura.
“Hey, Masalun!”
Masalun uncurled his body like a pillbug and met Jin’s gaze.
[Why do you call, Jin Runkandel? Masalun has no intention of killing you yet.]
“Cut the crap. I have a good proposal. Interested?”
[Proposal…? What do you think our relationship is, Jin Runkandel?]
“There’s another airborne fortress now. If you actively move to stop it, I’ll ask if you can touch Shuri.”
A flicker of light sparked in Masalun’s dark eyes.
{Masalun… Shuri…?}
“Yeah. If I ask, they’ll probably agree. That’s not too much to ask.”
{But Masalun cannot trust you. Humans—especially orphans like you—have filthy, deceitful tongues.}
Jin quickly pulled out Shuri.
[Meow.]
“Shuri, you heard that?”
[Meownya.]
No.
Though Shuri said no, Masalun heard the opposite. Only those who have long shared a bond with an animal can truly understand their language.
{Enemy Pluto Tribe, stand back. Masalun is coming.}
Jin doubted the intelligence of the summoned demons and wore a look of regret.
Regardless, Masalun surged forward, radiating a fighting spirit that overwhelmed even Sribina and Karmashu. Of the three, Masalun had been the strongest in life.
{May sorrow curse you! May the curse plunge you into despair!}
Masalun’s specialty was curses.
As he chanted strange incantations and stretched out his hand, the brain cannon waves before him began to recede as if a curtain was being pulled back.
“Jin, brother, what’s with that guy? He’s insanely strong…”
“A curse… if it’s from the enemy, it’s a tricky one.”
The area once filled with brain cannon waves was now replaced by thick, purple magic and demonic energy. At first, the enemy thought they could easily avoid it.
But Masalun’s curse ignored their shields, instantly corroding the fleet inside.
Ssssssshhh…!
The sticky cursed magic pierced through the shields like light, striking the fleet directly. The closest ships melted into blackened lumps and plummeted to the ground in under three seconds.
‘A curse I’ve never seen before. Is it related to witches? It’s far more dangerous than the curses wielded by the demon gods of the True Demon Realm.’
The enemy lost seven ships but managed to escape Masalun’s cursed zone, which shifted with them.
[Masalun! Looks like you’re finally ready to fight properly. Good. Let’s wipe out the enemy Pluto Tribe and finish off Jin Runkandel.]
[Sribi, he’s just trying to touch the enemy’s jade cat.]
[Ah, I see. Still, let’s play along. He’s showing enthusiasm for the first time.]
Sribi and Karmashu immediately began supporting Masalun. Following the curse came Sribi’s strikes and Karmashu’s flame attacks. Besel, having just arrived, immediately began evasive maneuvers.
The demons remained immune to all attacks. No matter how powerful Besel was, it could neither suppress nor kill an enemy it couldn’t even touch.
Of course, the demons couldn’t match Besel’s mobility. Besel weaved through the battlefield, dodging Masalun’s cursed zone.
Occasionally, it would settle and unleash brain cannon blasts toward Laprarosa’s entrance at maximum power.
The terrifying shockwaves battered the entire Great Desert, forcing even Jin’s group to dodge.
Even the enemy’s general fleet scattered hastily to avoid the shockwaves. Only the airborne fortresses could withstand the blasts with their shields.
‘Those main cannons are dangerous, as expected. Ban and the others will be fine, but I’m still worried about the passage itself. The Second Squad must be doing well, right?’
They were.
The Second Squad had just joined Luna and was analyzing the entrance to Laprarosa.
“Ugh! That damn shockwave almost broke the device.”
Inside the shielded area of the unmanned units, Kwawl pulled out a device the size of a fist.
It was a makeshift interdimensional tracking device, cobbled together from parts of Pibil. Not as advanced as the enemy’s, but with the aid of record magic, it could detect spatial rifts.
“Dr. Kwawl, any clues about Laprarosa?”
Hedo asked, and Kwawl nodded.
“The clue has been there ever since Lady Luna told us that the Pluto tribe’s Twin Kings had come into the Inse realm! Now all that’s left is to create a device that fits the passage between Laprarosa and Inse.”
“Is that difficult?”
“No, making the device itself won’t be hard. From what I’ve seen, widening the passage is actually quite simple! The real challenge is buying enough time to use the device.”
Eltiot nodded in agreement.
“As expected of Quawil. I think the same. In the middle of this fierce battlefield, the device has to remain intact and functional for at least twelve hours if we want to summon the descendants of Cheongmyeong into Inse.”
“That’s enough analysis for now. Let’s report to the commander and get moving! Once we’re back, we need to start building the device and figure out how to buy that time.”