NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 381
The thunderous explosions constantly shook the platform.
A battlefield tangled with flesh and steel. The relentless advance of clones. The defense lines of mechanized soldiers and elite agents were crumbling.
Information’s net bound the troops, desperately trying to grasp the pouring enemy.
Smoke billowed up in every direction, long ago swallowing the night sky, even choking the moonlight.
The Foundation’s maritime base was groaning under the mad tides of Violets.
[Sector A-3 defense line collapse! It’s going down!]
[Sector D-7 has been suppressed! Reinforcements needed!]
Reports stained with despair flooded the communication network, yet the battle’s bombardment showed no signs of stopping.
Yellow lasers sliced through the night air, and blue plasma scorched the darkness.
Each time new-model androids unleashed a hail of heavy metal bullets, crimson sparks erupted as they pierced the Violets’ armor; the railgun from a hover tank toppled a walker with a thunderous sound.
Anti-aircraft turrets wove a net of death in the night sky.
A squadron of unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with electronic brains dove through that net like eagles, fighting for air superiority.
Yet the swarm of collective intelligence did not cease. The great swords wielded by armored knights cut through the bodies of androids while walkers and heavy weapons crushed resistance behind the shield of the Violet infantry.
Above it all, fighter jets carved fiery trails, relentlessly bombarding weaknesses.
Violets charged through the chaos, encircling and tearing apart.
In this hellish downpour of flames and gunfire, the Violets did not falter.
The target was the heart of the Foundation.
The mad dash wouldn’t end; it wouldn’t stop until their bodies shattered.
[Network overload! Three Nimosis terminals overheating!]
The realm of battle extended even beyond the invisible curtain.
The war of information was like an intangible storm, swirling strategies, deceptions, ideas, and figures. A chaos created by ten thousand consciousnesses clashed with the elegant order of calculated formulas.
The Nimosis protocol terminals spewed forth a waterfall of information, assisting the nervous network of Foundation agents. The unmanned weapons moved swiftly within the accelerating computations.
Every moment, tens of thousands of tactical equations ignited. The angles of gun barrels, the curves of trajectories, enemy movements, and counter-patterns were calculated down to the smallest fractions of time.
Aim, correct. Fire. Close combat protocol activated—
The network of collective intelligence responded against the Foundation’s alien engineering.
A race that could never stop. The immense neural net formed by thousands of Violet consciousnesses sought to interpret enemy patterns, almost as if it could foresee their actions.
Evading movements began before the trigger was even pulled. Critical hits that landed the moment any weakness presented itself.
If the prediction network crafted by the quantum computation of Nimosis controlled the movements of the Foundation’s forces, the collective consciousness of the Violets twisted and deceived those predictions.
Those who stop fall behind.
In this race that could never rest, the operational systems of both forces clashed incessantly.
[Defense protocols activated, no matter what happens. Do not retreat.]
“For the democracy of clones! Charge!”
But the current of fate had already flowed irreversibly.
[The evacuation of researchers and staff is delayed! They’re taking prisoners!]
The Violets, like ancient nomads pillaging agricultural societies, forced unarmed lives to surrender and bind them.
“Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!”
“You’re our prisoner now! Hehe!”
[Squad 3, veer right while providing cover fire—Aaaaah!]
In the pitch blackness, the dance of death fell into a stalemate.
The Violets’ fighter jets engaged in an endless ballet with the drone squadrons above.
In the meantime, armored Violets sliced through the Foundation’s defenses, with magic and bombing pressing into those wounds.
Intense assaults began towards the connection rooms throughout Rust Room.
In the midst of all this chaos, there was only one thing maintaining agency.
—Puff!
“Another one blocks us!”
In the heart of chaos, the sword user danced the dance of death.
Hellman’s cutlass traced a silver trajectory as it harvested the Violets’ necks. In an instant, three lives were reaped.
The next moment, six new lives sprung forth.
Killing one only revealed an endless wave of humanity charging forward; even the reaper awakened by biotechnology gasped for breath.
“Surround them!”
In the vast space, looking up revealed throngs, above, below, and all around in squads. Gunfire and crossbow bolts were raining down.
Hundreds of malevolence aimed at Hellman. From the air, from the ground, an onslaught burst forth from every angle.
Thus began an advance by the collective intelligence command.
“Now’s our chance!”
At the moment the blade cleaved the air, the Violets’ tactical immersion accelerated.
Thousands of consciousnesses intertwined, calculating Hellman’s movements.
The bitter lesson of defeat in the first battle weighed heavily.
The space within the underground facility was too confined. They couldn’t concentrate their firepower, nor could they utilize their numerical superiority properly.
Now things were different.
“This place is spacious!”
They would spare no effort to slay the monster.
“Crush it! We need to distract them!”
The assault squad surrounded Hellman with determination.
Meanwhile, the snipers had taken positions atop cranes and steel structures. The aerial squadrons prepared for machine-gun fire, while the surviving biplanes desperately assembled one-ton bombs within.
Heavy weapon squads established strongholds between the structural steel columns and containers.
There would be no one-on-one close-quarters combat in narrow corridors anymore.
Only withering fire in open space.
“Command center relays! 3, 2, 1!”
Hellman momentarily grasped the situation.
-Taka-taka-taka!
The cutlass spun, decapitating the three closest enemies.
He drew a line toward an approaching foe. A crescent slash cleaved through.
The torrent of machine-gun fire rained down. Using corpses as shields, he hid behind a pile of containers.
Naturally, Hellman moved from cover to cover, running like a phantom.
“This time I can’t escape!”
The explosion engulfed the container. A volley of rockets and anti-tank missiles barely missed behind him.
Shrapnel scattered, and Hellman sprinted up the nearby crane pillar. The Violets chased after him.
Finally, one of their shots hits nearby and explodes. Just for a moment, there’s a brief stupor.
“Now!”
As the curse was aimed, dozens of scopes crossed in the air.
Simultaneous strikes plotted on the map hit the target with large-caliber bullets of different types simultaneously.
They had to hit.
—Kiiing!
A blade of light traced arcs in the air. Bullets ricocheted and dropped.
For just a moment, disappointment lingered as the snipers’ sights danced continuously. Bullets struck steel, sparking explosions.
“Surround net complete! Air superiority secured! Assigning two fighter planes!”
“Command center directives! Give the signal for concentrated fire!”
They died, were cut, were sliced. Immediately another Violet replaced them.
Endless reinforcements, unyielding offense. This was the battlefield the Violets desired.
Hundreds of gun barrels roared in unison. The melting ray of the crow barred their way, leaping over, and with every leap, bullets filled the air.
A barrage formed that was impossible to avoid, but Hellman moved with foresight.
The next strike was above, which could be unfathomable.
At this bewildering moment, a crane wire snapped, and a steel container plummeted.
—Kuwung!
The container rolled to the side, becoming an instant shield, ducking under electrified whip and explosive attacks.
The time gained was barely a few seconds. But for that superhuman, it was enough.
“You’re blocking with that?”
A deadly explosion came. Each time, Hellman used nearby objects and terrain as instant shields to evade attacks.
The hail of bullets riddled the rooftop with countless holes, chasing him every second.
He raced down pipelines, his movements barely caught in the Violets’ vision.
Dozens of scopes and a thousand sets of eyes tracked his every move.
Calculating the next trajectory.
“The reaction speed has slowed. He’s injured!”
The collective intelligence reacted instantly. The snipers rained fire to blockade Hellman’s path, while assault units encroached on likely escape routes.
The Violets were resolute.
“This is open ground. In firepower and brawls, nothing could be more advantageous to the Violets.”
“This time, it’s different!”
High-density computations tracked Hellman’s movements inch by inch.
A walker blocked the path. With ruthless thrusts, the glowing sword slashed it down.
The Violet laughed. The titanic frame charged, exploding.
The 31st Clone fell from above. Its head came off, but it was too late.
Magic flared red in its hands.
“It’s a trap!”
A melting ray split the air from close range. Just before, Hellman threw a smoke grenade above him.
A violent flash and deafening sound ignited the platform. The smoke cleared.
The enemy was nowhere to be found. What remained were sharply carved dark holes like they were sliced cleanly. The suicide squad advanced as if ready.
“If they hid deep inside and escaped, I shall blow them up!”
The hero of the great war did not easily concede.
—Kuwung!
The Suicide Squad Violet faced a desk that erupted right before them.
Two Violets, propelled backward by the desk, beheld blue flames.
The sword user’s left hand, gripping a plasma pistol, expelled a cerulean flash.
In the air, surrounded by flames, the suicide squad surged.
An explosion, this time, breaching the sidewalls to break through the enemy. They moved even more cunningly, demanding casualties.
—Puff!
The cutlass gleamed as it sliced through the pipes. Scalding steam clouded the Violets’ view.
Once more, the plasma pistol ejected flames. The figure emerging amidst the steam dodged the Violets’ anticipations yet again.
The movement climbed the walls and onto the roof of the hangar. Accelerating like lightning.
This tug-of-war—pulling one piece would just reveal another to block it.
The protagonist of this scene was like a legion composed of individuals.
One among ten thousand, and one among ten thousand opposing them.
Before long, the Foundation’s maritime base became a stage for the duel of two superhumans.
“We’re going back up onto the platform! Rugilinn-1! Rugilinn-2! Attack!”
The piercing sound of auxiliary thrusters drew attention.
The collective intelligence deployed two fighter planes. Diving at low altitude while hovering, the HUD of the plane locked onto the running human weapon.
Machine-gun fire poured down. Sparks soared, and the beam of explosive rounds and rockets slammed down where Hellman had been. The hangar roof shattered, collapsing.
Simultaneously, wing-suit bombs rained down like surrounding artillery. Explosions erupted in a chain reaction.
“Where are you?”
Expectations twisted once more. All that appeared amid smoke were broken pipes and tangled wires, debris everywhere.
A shape sprang from the smoke, darting like a shadow between buildings.
“Where are you!”
Over the hangar roof, on top of the spire, the enemy appeared. He glided down, stepping on a wire, unleashing a barrage from his plasma pistol.
As a handful of Violets fell, the enemy leaped into the air. Immediately after, several passing drones served as stepping stones, leaping into the air.
The miracle born from the tactics of a battle-hardened veteran and the physical ability of a superhuman.
“…Does that even make sense?”
No matter how overwhelming the numbers, the air superiority could not pin down the adept warrior.
“Second encirclement deployed! No blind spots!”
Now the enemy sought to race around nearby iron towers, blocking access to the connection rooms. Secreting hidden snipers were simultaneously triggered.
At the same time, assigned armored knights charged forward. Forming a perfect firepower network with no escape route or space to breathe.
The sword user leaped off the metal tower, clinging to a single tether.
As he fell, the Violets unleashed concentrated fire.
The sky filled with flames. Hellman’s body spun as it broke through light beams.
As magic focused on the cutlass, blue slashes traced a parabola.
Just before landing, the enemy’s left hand grasped a flashbang from his belt. A blinding flash cut through the encirclement.
The sword user felt a pang of regret. He should’ve breached right here. Too late.
The blinded Violets seemed to have clear sight, grabbing onto Hellman.
“We share all our sights!”
A black silhouette soaring along the outer wall was pushed into the building’s interior.
With the sound of shattering, the laboratory window broke, and the battlefield was transported among a plethora of various equipment and facilities within.
-Kwa-jik!
The cutlass severed a large server used for research. Amid the pouring flames, Hellman burrowed deep into the laboratory.
The heavy weapon squad member’s concentrated fire scoured the interior, but Hellman had already calculated the next maneuver.
“Squad 04! They’re coming out that door!”
The Violets’ prediction was only half correct. The moment the door swung open, what burst forth was a high-performance grenade.
The explosion fragmented the squad. The Foundation’s tactical android units dispatched reinforcements from the adjacent area. While the machines provided fire support, the enemy took a moment to breathe.
“Don’t interfere!”
The missiles from walkers traced fiery arcs as they flew. The androids disintegrated amid the explosions. A blue light enveloped Hellman. An expendable shield deployed, blocking shrapnel.
“Surround him! This time, don’t let him escape!”
Dozens of swords flashed brightly as they surged forward. Simultaneously, a new squadron of fighter planes dove from above. The endless assault continued.
The cutlass collided with the wails of mourning. Even as flames and bullets thickened, close-quarters combat never ceased.
Hellman’s sword had already sliced through countless Violets, yet another one immediately took its place.
Their endless reinforcements and their adaptability were worth noting.
“Tactical immersion, to the limit!”
The collective intelligence activated as though it were going berserk. The unified consciousness desperately scraped away everything it could learn about the enemy.
The enemy’s breath, the trembles of their muscles, the flow of their magical energy. Understanding others became a way to reassess oneself.
The desperate struggle to mimic and catch up to a distant understanding constantly stimulated the entire network.
It was at that moment the beleaguered network made a significant leap.
“…?”
At the moment tactical immersion reached its peak, an extraordinary force approached from deep within the network.
“This is…”
The awareness of the Violet stirred.
Slowly, everything began to bend and warp. The phenomenon felt earlier began resonating strongly.
Everything starts with controlling oneself, governing one’s small world, expanding the range, gradually reaching outward, to the world.
“You govern me.”
The Violet thought.
Time grew sticky and blurred, reality warped.
**
At first, there were minute ripples. The reality around the Violet began to create a ripple effect.
The air thickened, enveloping movement, and that influence gradually spread outward.
Like ink slowly diffusing through water.
The change ceased there. This was all the area the Violet could interfere with.
The locality of reality manipulation remained limited to the body and a tiny fraction beyond it.
Yet miracles are miracles; the Violet’s body began surpassing limitations.
In the minutiae, breath became clearer, and muscles responded with sharper reflexes.
Small changes stacked upon one another.
The sensation that beats reality permeated the nerves and spread through the entire body.
“Run!”
Hellman’s movements slipped into view. Still as quick as lightning, yet now it felt different.
The movements of the foe began to fit within its field of vision.
The whole world began to slow down, taking on a viscous state.
The trajectory of the cutlass became visibly clear, like a gleaming silver line drawn in the air.
“A little more!”
The Violet’s reality manipulation approached its limit. Every muscle, nerve, and cell twisted in time’s cruel grip, spinning to the extremes.
Though this power was confined to its body and the narrow periphery, it was enough.
Finally, the Violet’s body raced forward, leaving behind a striking afterimage.
A riot of colors chased after its master.
“…”
The Violet’s time accelerated.
The imitation of the Great War sensed the anomaly.
The impact of its first acceleration reached ahead; the superhuman visual acuity and reflex speed doggedly pursued the distortion of reality.
The cutlass arced, slicing through the Violet.
In a single step, it leapt great distances, forging gaps. The plasma pistol unleashed cerulean flashes.
To face the increasingly faster enemy, even the superhuman sprint had crossed its limits.
—Pachink!
Though crude, the twisted time difference undeniably shifted the flow of battle. The Violet felt it.
“I’ve reached you!”
Another Violet raced along the pipes.
From behind containers, amidst piles of machines, clones brimming with afterimages surged on every front.
Collision. The lights of their blades intertwined, dazzling the surroundings. The strikes now became impossible to track with the naked eye.
Thunder and flames erupted; the chaos born of instantaneous acceleration blurred the area.
The superhuman’s skill that faced the localized reality manipulation inevitably left gaps.
—Puff!
A blade came flying from behind, stabbing at the waist.
Hellman reflexively adapted his stance. Though the blade of the Violet ricocheted behind him, he saw it. It was the first time he witnessed the enemy staggering.
“You bleed too!”
Blood flowed from behind the armor. It wasn’t a small wound.
It was ample enough for the Violets to swarm in.
“Die! Impostor!”
At the railing near the platform, a tussle ensued. Just as the tense battle was about to spiral into an unknown situation.
—Giiing!
A thunderous tremor struck the platform.
**
Steel structures screamed. A massive shock silenced every movement in the battlefield for a moment.
“Huh?”
“…”
Both the Violet and Hellman instinctively stabilized themselves, turning their eyes toward the source of the tremors in the platform’s center where a massive hole festered.
A strange light surged from the depths of night.
A cyan-white beam burst forth from the black abyss.
Explosive energy boiled the seawater. Through the cascading spray, a colossal armored frame emerged. Green circuits stirred within the rusty armor.
—Pachink!
The dazzling flash streaked across the battlefield. The explosion’s shockwave crashed into the battles raging near the rails.
Mechanical groans sliced through the air.
From the depths of the surface, a titanic form rose. Severed wires writhed like serpents, and steam spurted from broken pipes.
Awakened from a slumber lasting millennia, the colossal body slowly began to rise into the air.
Parts of the vessel had fragmented off, but the core and vital sections remained afloat.
Yet, its size exceeded imagination.
The otherworldly metal shimmered ominously in the moonlight.
A body covered in armors and weapons unimaginable by human technology unveiled itself under the moon’s glow.
[…The arch-enemy of humanity.]
The vessel gazed at its opponents.
A new world unfolded before its eyes, new beings were unveiled. Everything felt foreign.
However, malignant entities were present here.
[…I will annihilate them all.]
The ancient war machine awakened.
In the midst of this absurdity, there was one single point of solace for the collective intelligence.
“Boss! Our allies are arriving soon!”
Even with the good news of incoming reinforcements, the Violets fell into contemplation.
“How do I explain that?”
The night now flowed in uncertain directions that no one could predict.