🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 208
While heading comfortably toward the Syrian region, disaster struck out of nowhere.
The audacious person who dared to tamper with the transport plane carrying U.S. forces—according to Lee Hyun—was only one in the entire world.
“Peng Jinghao!!”
It seemed as though he was somewhere, watching Lee Hyun and laughing.
“So this is your way of saying hello? Fine. Let’s see about that.”
As Lee Hyun’s eyes burned like fire,
“Requesting permission to drop!”
“Permission granted. Drop! Drop! Drop!!”
The metal door opened, and a black storm swept through the cabin.
The pressure difference made his ears feel like they would tear, but the external flames burned the sky and rapidly descended.
Lee Hyun unbuckled his belt and checked the equipment in his hands.
Oxygen mask, altimeter, automatic opening ring.
Bending his body, he pressed down on his helmet to secure it firmly.
“Drop!”
“Drop!!”
The prepared team members leaped outside in haste.
Into the storm.
Into the burning air.
The scorching heat, mixed with smoke, rushed into the plane.
“Jet!!”
“Michael, see you below.”
Lee Hyun’s eyes briefly met Michael’s as he waited for all team members to jump.
A silent promise to meet safely.
Michael nodded.
“See you below.”
With a faint smile, Lee Hyun threw himself into the void.
For a moment, his gaze also met Kang Yoon-su’s.
Wearing the legacy mask, he said nothing, but his deeply-set eyes seemed to silently say, “Don’t die.”
As if telling him there was still a battle to be fought below.
Blood.
As expected.
This person wasn’t evil—just inept at expressing himself.
At that moment,
Whoosh!
The cold wind swallowed every sound. The world began to spin.
Clouds below, and further down, a parched wasteland.
Looking back, the transport plane exploded into a fireball, tearing the sky.
“Everyone must survive. Absolutely.”
He saw team members being dragged toward the ground, pulling their parachute rings.
But, since it wasn’t a fully prepared drop, they all looked precarious.
Clenching his teeth, Lee Hyun turned his gaze back to the wasteland.
“The ones aiming for our emergency landing must be waiting below.”
This attack had been meticulously planned.
They knew exactly which flight path the transport would take, deceived Lee Hyun’s instincts, and fired missiles.
Surely, some sacred artifact had been used.
Peng Jinghao was well-known as a collector of sacred artifacts from around the world.
And, undoubtedly, he had already prepared the next move.
“Then, eliminate them before they make a move.”
Lee Hyun accelerated his fall instead of deploying his parachute.
At that moment,
Flash!
[Astrafe Staff activated!]
As the Kybisis opened, Snow White was flung into the air.
The moment the pure white sapphire emitted its light,
[Scanning surrounding area for magical energy!]
[Searching…]
…
[Enemy position located.]
“Here!!”
Flash!
Whee-ooooosh
[Activated ‘Sacred Artifact: Kingoa’ and successfully observed the coordinates of the located position.]
Kingoa rose above Lee Hyun’s head, spinning, and simultaneously, the front teeth of Duokshin tore through the air.
[Attempting spatial leap!]
Just like when locating Zhupalgye, Lee Hyun initiated spatial transfer using the eagle’s nest.
This consumed a significant amount of resources, but
“What’s a little resource compared to the lives of my team?!”
He also calculated that they could replenish the resources with the enemies’ spoils.
Crossing the torn space,
“他们肯定会在这附近迫降! 别放过一只老鼠似的家伙, 把他们统统找到, 直接击毙!! (They will surely make an emergency landing nearby! Don’t let a single rat escape—find them all and execute!!)”
Lee Hyun’s eyes met the commander leading the search team.
Perhaps to deal with a ranker, two small tanks were visible behind him.
In the commander’s wide-eyed gaze, Lee Hyun’s face reflected like a demon—cold and smiling.
“Found you.”
Lee Hyun ignored the reply.
By then, Duokshin’s molars were already tearing the air apart.
Crunch!!
Fshhh-
In an instant, the commander’s head was ripped off and flung into the air.
It wasn’t a clean cut.
It looked as if an invisible giant hand had violently torn it, half-crushing his face.
The power of the molars was immense.
“那边, 有敌人……! (Enemy over there…!)”
Before the enemies could aim their guns,
[Activating Duokshin’s trust!]
Rumble-
Lee Hyun moved ferociously among them.
Swish!!
Crackle.
『Cloud 1, upon landing, gather team members and move directly to designated area according to protocol.』
The voice transmitted via radio during the descent was barely audible, but Kim Min-jung instinctively knew what Lee Hyun intended to do to the enemies.
“Seriously… now that we have more team members, he keeps insisting he has to lead, yet he dumps everything on me again.”
The emergency protocol was simple: in a crisis, the team leader is Kim Min-jung, while Lee Hyun either operates separately like a special unit or clears the periphery with an infiltration squad like Oh Su-heon.
Min-jung’s leadership had been proven during the Crevasse operation, so there was no complaint.
Yet, day by day, she felt the weight on her shoulders grow.
“Still… I’ll save everyone. Somehow.”
She wanted to meet these good people on the ground, smiling.
At that moment,
Flash!
Kim Min-jung’s eyes blazed with rough flames.
A deep azure ghost flame surged, as if to burn the world.
[Transmission, ‘One Wearing the Beast Crown’ Appears!]
[Umasal activation ready.]
The activated legacy wasn’t Janghwa Hongryeon, but Umasal—the Beast King.
While Lee Hyun was absent, she had trained enough to wield Umasal freely.
“Lately, this legacy feels more active, as if its original owner has awakened from a long slumber…”
Min-jung did not yet know the true owner of this legacy.
But she now realized it was far greater than she had imagined.
The deeper she delved into it, the more raw and destructive power she could access.
“Already a god with a myth… no, a Demon King.”
She steeled herself to avoid being consumed.
“Go.”
Min-jung swallowed all her thoughts, checked the altimeter in her helmet.
300… 200…
Pulling the ring on her wrist, the parachute partially opened, preparing her landing posture.
Thunk!
As her body touched the ground, sand exploded outward.
She immediately checked her pistol—luckily, the shell was safe.
Wrapping the muzzle in cloth before sand entered the barrel was a masterstroke.
“Respond. This is Cloud 1. Landing zone secured.”
Crackle.
『…』
『…』
Despite repeated attempts, only static came through the radio.
“Is it magical interference? They really prepared thoroughly.”
Looking up, the transport plane’s wreckage burned in the distance.
Black smoke rose like a pillar, bent by desert winds.
Other team members, X Team, and Astra were probably scattered across the wasteland.
Some might have been severely injured or killed during the fiery crash.
But the most dangerous threat was the unknown time the enemies would approach like a pack of wolves.
The desert heat pierced her skin.
“Eom Gi-seon… If he were here, it would help so much.”
Muttering the absent boyfriend’s name, she sighed.
“Anyway… let’s do this.”
Min-jung stepped forward.
The sand crunched beneath her feet.
“…Someone’s here.”
In the distance, among smoke and debris, a human shadow stirred.
Ally or enemy?
“….”
Click!
Min-jung slowly moved, sliding her pistol’s slide.
“I like this.”
Inside a concrete observation tower.
Hashad, a demon affiliated with Samahoe, was in front of the monitor.
A hot afternoon.
The monitor displayed a sea of shadows, with white dots wriggling within.
Altitude, speed, trajectory—all as predicted.
“The so-called ‘Sata’s Heart’ developed in the lab… it concentrates surrounding energy to amplify the blast radius. Effective indeed. With Peng Chairman’s legacy added, it’s stealthy and powerful.”
The effect even bypassed Astra’s surveillance. They had not yet discovered Lee Hyun’s team.
A large-scale magical interference field had been activated over the battlefield, including the Palmyra Desert.
All knowledge came from prior research dismantling Sata, Bongma, and Tongpungdaeseong.
Plus, Peng Jinghao’s legacy, Soho Geumcheon’s blessing.
[Soho Geumcheon]
One of the three sovereigns who first established a nation for humans. Known for controlling birds and producing various medicines.
“Even if split from the committee, part of <Cheongyo> still protects us. With their blessing, we cannot lose this battle.”
Although Sata had escaped the lab, he could be easily recovered soon.
“Replay reconnaissance footage.”
An analyst quickly operated the UAV thermal camera, tracking the transport plane’s heat traces and the fall trajectories.
The trajectories were regular.
Combining approach angle, wind direction, low-altitude evasion, they could predict landing probabilities.
For days, they had already positioned forces according to this probability.
Recently, missiles destroyed the transport along the predicted approach, ensuring the fall aligned with the calculated point.
Even better, debris cutting through the wind formed a shape that concentrated the landing zone.
“The guilds’ grave. Or the antlion pit? This is the Near East front.”
Hashad’s cold smile widened.
“Onma cares so much about Jet and the Cheongroe squad, but…”
“Here, they’re nothing but prey.”
“Yes? S-sorry! I misheard!”
Hashad whispered and shook his head.
“No. Nothing. What’s the distribution at the landing zone?”
“Inside the circle is key. Special forces survival probability: 82%.”
“Ha! They’re something, huh? If we let them reorganize, everything will go wrong. Deploy two drones to patrol west valley. Continue thermal scanning.”
Crackle.
『Order confirmed.』
Other monitors showed allies waiting on motorcycles and light armored vehicles near the desert edge.
“Alpha, Beta lines, advance immediately. Snipers behind sand dunes. Drones search forward 500 meters with thermal.”
The orders continued.
“Mobile units rotate west. Central units cover southern ridge.”
On the monitor, one small white dot moved quickly.
Parachute lines trailing, pushing off the ground.
One or two—typical special forces pattern.
“Too easy. Encircle them first.”
Encirclement aimed to gradually constrain the target’s movement while removing air support.
In the desert, noise and sand were allies.
They would silently approach, track via thermal imaging, and tighten the noose.
Like prey slowly dying in the antlion pit…
Thud-thud-thud!
Small vehicles slid down rocks, passing between dunes.
Drones flew low, detecting debris and thermal signatures.
As small snares began to fall over the enemies,
Snap!
Fshhh-
The screen went black, static appeared.
“What? Check situation…!”
As Hashad shouted, drone feeds quickly went offline.
“Drone in valley down!”
“Drone near transport also…!”
“Signal lost!!”
The calm subordinates panicked.
“Could it be… Jet?”
At that moment,
Clang!
The offline monitors and screens simultaneously displayed the same footage.
Jet.
Dozens of Lee Hyuns stared coldly.
『Found you.』
『Found you.』
『Found you.』
The synchronized voices of dozens of Lee Hyuns sounded like the death sentence handed down by an underworld judge.
The once-confident Hashad turned pale.
