CHAPTER 122

Radioactive Leak (7)

While Seo Ye-jin was busy taming the scattered Ratmen in the underground parking lot, Ha Dong-geon's party turned the Hanul Nuclear Power Plant into a forward base.

Like the Gori Nuclear Power Plant, construction time was extended and there was an additional cost, but there was a workaround.

Park Sae-rom and Kim Da-bin guarded the Ulsan and Gori nuclear forward bases, and Seo Ye-jin was currently taming Ratmen at this location.

Everyone else was summoned to the Hanul Nuclear Power Plant, and construction of the forward base began.

This was the reason:

[More than 10 citizens with the title of 'Knight' or higher have gathered at the construction site.]

[Construction efficiency increased by 200%.]

[Time remaining until the completion of the forward base facilities]

-239 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds

"Complete instantly!"

[Would you like to instantly complete the construction of the 'Forward Base' facility?]

"Yes."

[24 Crystals are required for instant completion of this facility.]

Vrrroooom-

With the successful establishment of the forward base at Hanul Nuclear

Power Plant, a safe zone was formed.

Just like at the Gori plant, all dangerous nuclear waste disappeared, and only the electricity-generating function remained.

"Now I'm almost out of crystals!"

Only 38 crystals remained.

Just enough to instantly complete one more forward base of the same size as the ones at Gori and Hanul.

"Hmph!"

There were only two nuclear facilities left in Korea that hadn't been occupied yet.

One was the Wolseong site, which had experienced an accident.

The other was the Hanbit plant in Jeonnam.

The choice of which to abandon was already clear.

"I have to give up on Hanbit!"

The instant completion feature had to be used at the radiation-contaminated Wolseong site.

"That's the only way to minimize radiation exposure."

The ground there emitted such strong radiation that even Seo Ye-jin's zombie-trait Ratmen would die just approaching it.

Even if the radioactive monster responsible for the contamination was killed, there was no way the land would be fully purified.

There was no chance that vassals could survive in such a place for more than ten days-construction had to be completed instantly.

"If I had just two more people, I could've saved some crystals."

Currently, there were 18 vassals gathered at Hanul.

Even Choi Hyeong-jun, who usually wasn't called upon, had been summoned. But since the total was under 20, they only got the 10-person bonus effect.

"I need to increase the number of vassals!"

A few people immediately came to mind.

Since the vampire war, a large number of awakened individuals had joined, widening the selection pool-and a few had begun to stand out.

They'd be good candidates for vassals.

"Lee Ho-beom and Choi Do-yeon should do nicely!"

Both had awakened A-rank abilities-electricity and wind, respectively.

Just as I was checking their citizen info screens for vassal consideration, I heard heavy thumping sounds in the distance.

It was the footsteps of the Queen Ratman-with Seo Ye-jin riding on its back.

"Oppa. I tamed all the ones in the parking garage."

"Nice job."

"What should we do about the ones outside?"

"Upstairs?"

Seo Ye-jin pointed to the Queen Ratman she was riding.

"Yeah. She said some of them went out to hunt."

"Mmm. Too bad, but we'll have to give up on those."

Subduing monsters without killing them once they entered my territory consumed more mental energy than expected.

The fate of Ratmen not in areas I was directly managing was pretty much sealed.

"Ah."

Then I suddenly remembered the luck-struck survivors the Kellikans.

"I totally forgot about them!"

While trying to save the Ratmen, some of the Kellikans had survived along with them.

They were still displayed like trophies in the apartment just above.

"Persistent things, aren't they?"

Unlike the Ratmen, the Kellikans couldn't be tamed. They were just monsters that needed to be dealt with.

At an average level in the mid-20s, they gave pretty solid XP and monetary rewards.

It would be best to assign their cleanup to vassals who could maximize the gain.

I was going to give the job to Kim Min-ho's party, who had discovered the Ratmen but then I had a better idea.

"Wait... wouldn't it be better to give this to Ye-jin?"

Taking care of the idle Kellikans wasn't difficult.

Since Seo Ye-jin had evolution skills, the Ratmen she tamed could gain levels through hunting.

And as their levels increased, they'd be able to withstand radiation exposure for longer.

"It's more efficient to feed the XP to the regular Ratmen than to the already high-leveled Queen Ratman."

With that conclusion, I explained the plan to Seo Ye-jin.

"So can you pick out five of the highest-level ones from the Alpha series?"

"Sure. Got it."

Although Seo Ye-jin couldn't see the exact levels of monsters like I could, she could still gauge the rough strength of the rats she tamed.

Even if they were the same level, their actual combat capabilities varied, so in a way, her choices could be even more accurate than mine.

[Tamed Ratman (Lv. 23)]

And so, Seo Yejin, along with the five level-23 Ratmen she had carefully selected, set out to hunt the Kellikans.

By grabbing a suitable car door and using the Door of the Absolute, we were able to move to the top floor of an apartment building where a taxidermied Kellikan lay dormant.

"Kellikan (Lv. 30)"

Perhaps because it was the one occupying the top floor, this Kellikan was among the higher-level ones.

"It's huge!"

Its massive size filled the living room — it looked like it could easily carry several people on its back and fly.

"Oppa."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we could tame these things?"

I asked in surprise.

"You think it's possible?"

Seo Yejin quickly waved her hands in denial.

"No, no. I didn't mean me. I meant if you could somehow do it with your power."

"Oh."

"If we could tame them, it would make our operation way easier. We could even send Alpha units riding them..."

"That's true."

I thought about it seriously, but no good method came to mind.

'The only real possibility might be Geon Kim's power...'

But his ability was to tame crows.

Even if the Kellikan had black feathers, it was hard to see it as the same species as a crow.

'Would using enhancement work?'

It wasn't entirely out of the question.

'Summon Vassal: Geon Kim.'

Zzzing-

I explained the situation to Geon Kim, who had been summoned suddenly and looked confused.

...I'll give it a try.'

The moment we released the restraint on the Kellikan-

Screeeech!

What had appeared to be a sleeping Kellikan suddenly jolted awake and

sprang up.

From its perspective, it had just spent hours pinned down as if experiencing sleep paralysis, so the reaction was only natural.

'Invisible Hand!'

Suppressing a level-30 creature was as easy as pie.

There was no need for black energy or size amplification — the grip strength of the Invisible Hand alone was enough.

Thud!

With its head slammed into the ground, the Kellikan flapped its wings wildly as Geon Kim cautiously approached it.

'Enhance.'

Black energy rose from Geon Kim's body, but-

Screeech!

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to work.

"...It's no use."

"It can't be helped. Good job anyway."

Just as I was about to instruct Seo Yejin to finish off the Kellikan—

Geon Kim spoke.

"...Jaehyun-nim."

"Yeah?"

"...This is just my thought, but would it be possible to use the Subjugation Contract you proposed to us on a monster?"

It was a concept I had never considered.

But then-

'That... might actually work?'

The only condition for a Subjugation Contract was to subdue the target.

There was nothing that said it couldn't be used on monsters.

'If I can completely overpower it!'

I slowly stepped in front of the Kellikan.

Screeeeech!

Still restrained by the Invisible Hand, the creature thrashed more violently as I approached.

Staring into its eyes, I released it.

Screeeech!

Now free, it shrieked angrily and lunged to attack me.

"Oppa!"

"Jaehyun-nim!"

I could hear Seo Yejin and Geon Kim shouting in alarm - but I simply stood still.

Clang!

The Kellikan's beak couldn't touch me.

That was because of the transparent barrier surrounding my entire body.

I had only recently learned that my body was encased in a shield similar to the one protecting the domain of the Household Absolute.

Unless the power used was divine, not even a feather could be harmed.

'Ugh!'

However, the Kellikan managed to hurt me in an unexpected way.

[A hostile entity has been detected by the Household Absolute.]

[A hostile entity has been detected by the Household Absolute.] [A hostile entity has been detected by the Household Absolute.]

It was because the system had gone berserk, trying to kill Kellikan on the spot for showing hostility toward me.

It was harder to stop the system from killing Kellikan than it was to fend off Kellikan's beak attack.

'Wait.'

Just as I barely managed to calm the system-

Boom!

Kellikan, who had been aiming his beak at me, suddenly collapsed on the spot and began trembling.

And yet, I hadn't even used the system to subdue him.

I could tell just by looking into the creature's eyes as he looked up at me.

"You felt it too, didn't you?"

The moment he attacked me, he instinctively realized that his life had flashed before his eyes dozens of times.

"I saved you.

So then-

[Obey me.]

The instant I sent that telepathic command-

Fwoosh-

A bright light burst forth from Kellikan's body.

'Success!'

[Tamed Kellikan (Lv. 35)]

According to the Eye of the Absolute, no special abilities had been added, but its level had jumped by a full 5.

And then-

'Enhance.'

Whoosh-

A black aura like shimmering heatwaves began to rise from Kellikan's entire body.

***

Gurrrgle-

The radioactive slime occupying the Wolseong base was once again surpassing a critical threshold in size.

Having absorbed enough radiation from the site of the incident, the slime was now slowly wrapping itself around the last remaining nuclear power plant building.

It exploded to reproduce, splitting its own body, and then absorbed the radiation released there to condense it within itself and grow.

In the process, the radiation-amplified to its limit-spread in all directions, turning the entire surrounding area into a land of death.

Ssssss-

The massive radioactive slime's body began to slowly melt the building.

The corpses inside the structure had already completely evaporated, unable to withstand the immense radiation.

Another explosion would soon occur, and the radioactive slime would evolve further.

That was when-

Gurrrgle...

Something was approaching at high speed.

Startled by the overwhelming presence, the radioactive slime writhed toward the sky.

A black flame of light was descending from above.

Sensing an inexplicable sense of dread, the slime accelerated the rate at which it melted the building.

But the black flame passed overhead even faster than it could cause the power plant to explode.

Gurrk?

Just as the slime looked up in confusion at the black energy that passed by-

Something fell from above.

It was the rotting corpse of a rat, giving off a foul stench.

What was remarkable-aside from its unusually large size was that the rotting body was still moving.

As the radioactive slime stared in confusion-

Riiip-

The space above it distorted.

And in the next moment-

Fwoooosh!

A barrage of spears imbued with black flames burst from the warped space.

Gurrrk!?

A rain of black steel poured down onto the radioactive slime's head.

[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]

Last Chapter Next Chapter