boyutpedia Chapter 138 The monster has evolved.
Chapter 138 The monster has evolved.
"What are you doing!"
In a corner, the old scholar's devout prayers sounded particularly jarring in the deathly silent command center.
Yoshino turned his head stiffly, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the kneeling figure. The despair and anger that had been building up in his chest found an outlet at that moment.
He strode over, grabbed the old scholar by the collar, and lifted him off the ground. The old scholar's feet left the ground, his withered body swaying in Yoshino's hands.
"God?" Yoshino's teeth clenched so hard they rattled, the sound forced from deep in his throat, each word dripping with blood. "You call that thing God?"
He pointed at the moving red dot on the screen with his other finger, his fingertip turning white from the pressure.
"This guy is a complete monster."
"Three thousand A-rank Awakened! The entire secret ecosystem of Hokkaido! Completely destroyed!" Yoshino spat in the old scholar's face. "Wasn't your plan to guide the gods to descend? Didn't you say that as long as we offered up a priestess, we would receive protection? And now? How come our city is destroyed?!"
The old scholar's face turned bright red from being pinched, yet he continued to laugh. It was an extremely twisted, ecstatic joy that emanated from his very bones.
"Ignorance... utter ignorance..." the old scholar uttered with difficulty, his cloudy eyes devoid of any fear. "Yoshino-kun, you don't understand... you understand nothing..."
Yoshino released his grip and slammed him hard to the ground.
He didn't look at the old scholar again, but turned around and grabbed the red encrypted phone on the table.
"First, Third, and Seventh Mobile Squads, all of you, get back here!"
The call was quickly connected, and a commander's urgent voice came from the other end.
"All advanced Awakened Ones currently attacking the secret realms, withdraw completely." Yoshino's voice regained the calm characteristic of a soldier, but beneath that calm lay a fury capable of melting steel. "Abandon all mission objectives. I don't care what you're fighting for, abandon all secret realms. Within thirty minutes, I want you to assemble at the outer perimeter of the capital region."
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.
"Sir, we are currently attacking the core area of the 'Yamata no Orochi'. In just half an hour..."
"I'll say it again, abandon all missions!" Yoshino roared into the microphone. "Take all of you and go stop that monster!"
monster.
He was referring to monsters, not gods.
In the command center, all the officers still standing heard the word clearly. Their gazes towards Yoshino changed.
While everyone was blinded by the fervor of the "Takamagahara Project," this supreme commander of the Unification Headquarters never believed in any gods from the very beginning.
"But Your Excellency, that was our last..."
"Execute the command!"
Yoshino hung up the phone and dialed the next number, repeating the same instructions.
Orders were issued from the command center 300 meters underground, heading towards the last few elite troops of the Sakura Kingdom.
The plan, which risked the fate of the nation, has completely failed. Now, it's time to fill this hole with human lives.
"Hehe... Hahahaha!"
A sharp laugh interrupted Yoshino's plan.
The old scholar, who had fallen to the ground, struggled to his feet. He leaned against the cold alloy wall, laughing so hard that he was doubled over, tears streaming down his face.
"Stop them? Yoshino-kun, you actually want to stop a god?"
He opened his arms as if to embrace the monster on the screen. "How naive! How ridiculous! You think the war hasn't even started? No, the war is already over!"
He took two steps forward, his face displaying a frenzied yet devout expression.
"The moment Amaterasu Omikami descended, we had already won! What are the White Eagles? What is China? They will all be reduced to dust before the power of the gods! And we, the Great Sakura Empire, will become the sole rulers of this world!"
"All the sacrifices were worthwhile! Those three thousand useless people becoming food for the gods is their highest honor!"
"Does the sacrifice you're talking about include us?"
The old scholar remained silent.
Yoshino put down the phone.
He turned around and quietly looked at the old scholar who seemed to have gone mad.
The entire command center was completely silent, except for the old scholar's maniacal laughter echoing through the room.
"madman."
Yoshino said.
He drew his standard-issue pistol from his waist without the slightest hesitation.
The insurance has been opened.
The old scholar's laughter abruptly stopped. He stared at the dark muzzle of Yoshino's gun, the fanaticism fading from his face, finally revealing a hint of fear.
"What...what are you going to do? I'm the chief strategist for this project! You can't..."
boom.
A gunshot rang out.
The old scholar had a bloody hole in the center of his forehead.
His expression froze in shock at the last moment, and his body fell straight backward, crashing to the floor with a dull thud.
Blood and brain matter mingled together, slowly flowing across the floor.
Yoshino gripped the still-smoking pistol, his face expressionless.
"Drag him out."
Two guards stepped forward, lifted the old scholar's body, and quickly walked out of the command center.
Cleaning staff quickly came in and used a high-efficiency cleaning agent to wipe the bloodstains off the floor, as if nothing had happened.
Yoshino picked up the phone again, his voice devoid of any emotion.
"Connect me to the Aerospace Self-Defense Force. Give me top-level access to all satellites. I need to monitor that in real time..."
He paused.
"...monitor all movements of the target."
……
It is moving.
For "it", this world has no color, no sound, and no smell.
Only the flow of "energy" occurs.
Those tiny, fragile life forms, emitting a faint glow, are like fireflies in a dark wilderness. Just now, a large swarm of fireflies gathered together, trying to provoke me with their laughable light.
It simply waved its hand.
The world will then be peaceful.
The energy contained in those life forms was too thin and too mixed; it was too lazy to even absorb it.
It is searching.
A purer, warmer, and more immense energy.
It was the call from the other side of the "door" that awakened it from its slumber.
That call was filled with longing, resentment, and... an extreme thirst for something.
It came following the summons, devouring the offerings and tearing apart the fragile spatial barrier.
What is that?
It is the will that summoned it, the thing it desires most.
It was the sun she hid...
Inside the command center, 300 meters underground, the satellite thermal image on the main screen is constantly being refreshed.
On the main screen, the cluster of green dots representing the interception force was moving towards the red line. Two squadrons of 100 Awakened individuals, urgently dispatched by the Ministry of Defense, had arrived at their designated coordinates.
At the front lines, rainwater mixed with mud pounded into the trenches.
"Mage formation ready, earth shield deployed!" came the shout from the front-line captain over the communication channel, mixed with the metallic clanging of guns being cocked in the background.
"The target is three kilometers away and is still getting closer!"
"All personnel, disarm your weapons!"
The audio on the communication channel suddenly cut off.
In front of the position, a massive gray-white outline filled the horizon.
"Fire! Fire immediately!" the captain roared, grabbing the communicator.
A few scattered fireballs had just risen into the air when they were annihilated without even a spark when they touched the edge of the shadow.
The shadow rolled over.
Inside the command center, 300 meters underground, a piercing buzzing sound shattered the deathly silence.
On the vital signs monitoring screen, two hundred fluctuating curves representing the heart rate of the awakened individuals simultaneously stretched into a glaring straight line.
A single, instant kill. Not even a scream could be heard.
Yoshino braced his hands on the alloy tabletop, his fingernails digging into the cracks.
"Sir!" The radar operator jumped to his feet, knocking over the chair behind him. "The target has stopped!"
The satellite image on the main screen was forcibly zoomed in.
The enormous, grayish-white monster stopped moving.
Its enormous mouth, which occupied most of its head, folded outwards, spewing out large amounts of thick, black threads.
The silk threads wrapped and intertwined layer by layer, completely enveloping its body.
In less than ten seconds, only a huge black substance, hundreds of meters tall, remained on the spot.
"Yoshino-kun, the target... has turned into a cocoon!"
The operator stared at the soaring energy index on the screen, his Adam's apple bobbing. "The target is very likely... evolving!"