Saturn Raid

I and Go Yu-jin were chosen as the personnel in charge of movement.

Most of the people were scheduled to enter the mobile Magic Tower that had been transferred from Baek Da-gyeong and wait inside it, and I and Go Yu-jin were chosen as the personnel who could buy time against Saturn once we tracked Saturn and reached the destination.

To be precise, it seemed more correct to say that everyone’s safety had been entrusted to me because I was the strongest person.

“I’m nervous. Is it really okay to move like this?”

“We have Invisibility cast, so unless we receive a direct shock, there should be no occasion where our figures are revealed.”

We were flying through the air.

We were crossing the West Sea, and Go Yu-jin, who was being held in my arms, asked as though she were embarrassed.

“But it still feels nice.”

“You say that when we are about to arrive at the jaws of death?”

“Of course. It is a dangerous operation, but it does not feel that dangerous. Besides, Saturn should not be in a strong state yet, right?”

Although she said that, it would actually still be strong.

Just the fact that several hundred Chinese people had rushed at it and all been killed was enough to show how powerful Saturn’s military strength would be.

However, we were not weak either.

I was there, and Go Yu-jin, who could receive my buffs and her own buffs to enhance herself through overlapping reinforcement, was also there.

What Go Yu-jin had prepared this time was Keltinum, a metal from another world, and she had brought an enormous amount of it in sub-space, enough to create one large golem.

It was the result of the government actively accepting Go Yu-jin’s opinion. In truth, the amount of Keltinum provided to Go Yu-jin was worth around two trillion won at market price, so it had not been easy support for the government either.

However, because Keltinum was also famous as a magical metal, it was a material that could further draw out Go Yu-jin’s abilities, so we had even applied pressure, saying it was absolutely necessary, and prepared it.

“We prepared a lot, so there should not be any great difficulty.”

“I’m looking forward to it. I never even imagined a Keltinum Golem.”

I was also quietly looking forward to it.

Even an Iron Golem possessed absurd durability and strength.

That was because it could produce overwhelming power through absolute mass. But if we created a golem using Keltinum, which was even heavier, even harder, and had extremely excellent mana conductivity, then enhanced it with my buffs and Go Yu-jin’s abilities, just what kind of power would it produce?

I was certain it might be able to produce strength capable of overwhelming Kim Dae-san and An Sang-ik, who were called the peak of physical Awakeners.

“I hope Saturn cannot gain enough strength from just one Red Gate.”

Go Yu-jin nodded after hearing my words.

In truth, the number of Red Gates Beral was estimated to have devoured was seventeen.

It was an enormous number, and since it had devoured that much, one could speculate that perhaps that was why even the Sea Sun Brigade could not avoid struggling.

But conversely, in Saturn’s case, it was already powerful even without that.

That did not mean Beral had been weak, but since each Apostle’s stats would all be different, I hoped we could overwhelm it in terms of compatibility.

After several hours of movement, we were able to reach Hangzhou.

If we had taken a plane, it would have been a travel distance of around three hours, but because we had actually moved through magic, it had taken a little longer.

And as I looked down at China’s current desolate appearance, I could not help but frown.

“It is not the city we knew….”

As Go Yu-jin said, the current Hangzhou was no different from a city of death.

The reason was probably Saturn.

An enormous number of people must have entered a line of refugees to avoid Saturn as it headed toward the Red Gate, and it did not seem likely that Saturn, after actually arriving in Hangzhou, would just leave humans alone after seeing them.

As a result, I did not know whether Saturn had used its power, or whether the city had been living in a state that had already been damaged beyond recovery since the previous Great Cataclysm, but one thing was certain.

There were almost no traces of people where we had arrived.

“Where was the Red Gate’s location?”

Go Yu-jin showed me the map. Through it, I was able to estimate the approximate location, and I judged that it would be right to first take everyone outside before moving, so we descended to the ground.

Then, just as I took out and activated the mobile Magic Tower I had stored in sub-space…

Kwakagagang!! A tremendous roar rang out, and the buildings in the area collapsed in a heap.

Because I could clearly feel the traces of overwhelming power being used, I looked at the growing Magic Tower and spoke to Go Yu-jin.

“I will buy time. It seems it sensed that we came.”

Go Yu-jin nodded firmly and poured Keltinum out of sub-space.

I slowly flew up into the air and released mana toward the place where the power had manifested.

And before long, I confirmed the existence that possessed powerful strength and slightly raised my tension.

‘It is strong.’

I could not tell what level the power used had been, but one thing was clear: if I was careless, I would suffer greatly.

At that moment, Saturn closed the distance, perhaps to confirm me.

A moment later, I faced a young girl in the air. It was the appearance already well known to the world, but if there was one thing that had changed, it was that strange patterns had appeared all over her body.

“You changed. Did you absorb power?”

“You know me?”

“I think you were cuter before. I’m disappointed.”

After hearing my words, Saturn’s expression hardened, and in an instant, tremendous pressure poured down on me. However, I lightly defended by using resonance to densely gather mana outside my body, and seeing that, it asked as though surprised.

“…What are you?”

“Are you surprised that a human who should have been crushed to death as usual is intact?”

“You’re an amusing toy.”

It was certainly strong. However, it was not a presence that would make the world’s peak struggle. That was the part that showed just how much devouring Red Gates strengthened these beings.

Perhaps I should be thankful that we had come to learn how to prepare against them even now.

At that moment, Saturn narrowed the distance toward me.

‘It is lightly tearing through the mana barrier.’

Even if the power I had raised with resonance had not been that strong, I had not thought it was weak enough to be pierced this easily. But Saturn, who had narrowed the distance, met my gaze and asked.

“Are you really human?”

“Why, do I look like an Apostle too?”

“Die!”

Its answer and actions were impossible to grasp.

Following the hand it swung, the atmosphere released waves.

‘It is displaying power similar to psychic ability.’

Because it was a god’s Apostle, I had been thinking of “Chantra,” but the way its power manifested was separate from Chantra.

It might have been transformed during its descent, but if it was psychic ability, there were countless ways to deal with it.

In the brief gap when the psychic ability manifested and the wave flew toward me, I raised resonance and widened space.

Psychic ability was a single-direction manifestation of power.

Literally, it meant that power manifested in only one direction. Because of that, it displayed concentrated destructive power, but if power was manifested in another direction and the gap was widened, it quickly lost power.

That was what happened now.

By the time the wave reached me, it changed as though a warm breeze were blowing and brushed past me.

Seeing Saturn’s expression crumple at that, I also began to release mana to the fullest this time and spoke.

“I prepared a truly great deal to face you. And I was also quite tense, but I am glad you are not at the level I was worried about.”

“Don’t look down on me!! It’s unpleasant, it annoys me!!”

Kwakakakaka, with that sound, tremendous waves poured out from its entire body.

Just the aftermath alone tore everything nearby to pieces, but it could not exert influence over me.

It had been blocked by mana.

The manifestation of power was the same as the manifestation of influence.

If its control over power was weaker than mine, it could not penetrate my space.

Conversely, just as I could not penetrate the opponent if my control was weaker, right now, Saturn and I came to confront each other without yielding even an inch within each other’s domains.

“This is impossible. Someone like you cannot exist in this world! Just what method did you use?!”

“There are many methods. They are hanging all over me, are they not?”

The many relics all over my body, all of them made me stronger.

They raised the quality of my mana and increased its quantity.

They also expanded my influence and increased the speed at which I manifested power.

That was the reason I had demanded relics designated as national treasures.

‘It feels like I have become at least several times stronger than before. No wonder it feels weaker.’

I thought that the reason many heroes had made their names in the previous war, displayed inhuman strength, and become truly beloved heroes was also because of these relics.

Without such things, we had struggled desperately to survive by our own strength somehow, and had continued until now as though prolonging our lives by standing on massive sacrifices.

But now, things would change.

“This feels quite special. Try harder so I can feel it properly.”

“I hate humans. When I step on them, they do not even wriggle like worms, and I hate seeing them just become a handful of blood and get crushed flat. But the pleasure is extraordinary. That pathetic sight of them struggling and bursting to death! So you die too!!”

It closed the distance toward me in an instant.

But at that moment, something suddenly surged upward, and it crashed into Saturn in an instant, making a roar.

Kwaaaang!! Seeing Saturn bounce away with a “Kyaaah!” was absurd, but what was even more absurd than that was the sight of the Keltinum Golem leaping into the air.

‘…This is why they call Go Yu-jin an absurd monster.’

The ability to control a golem as though handling a real body. Even though it was not protein, she created muscle-like forms inside the golem’s body and made the same movements.

Her ability to make a golem in such detail, as if she had implemented artificial muscles and joints exactly, could be called a miracle without shame.

It was not able to float for a long time, but Go Yu-jin had risen up, attacked once, and then fallen back to the ground. And just then, from the presence I felt on the ground, I could tell that everyone had exited the Magic Tower.

‘Fortunately, this may become an easier fight than expected.’

I prepared the magic I would cast on Go Yu-jin.

In the meantime, I saw Saturn fly back up into the air, but I also saw the masters who did not miss that moment and charged toward Saturn.

The Saturn raid had begun in earnest.