Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

125 – Strongest vs Strongest

‘Why is Cha Myung-jun here? And why would he come out to fight now?’

Although the connection with the bug dolls, whose connection had been weak from the start, had been cut off, Hee-cheol, who was strongly connected to the knight doll, maintained his connection and spoke to Myung-jun through the knight doll.

“Why is the Liberal Clan getting involved in this?”

“You both are in a place where you shouldn’t be, aren’t you? Mr. Moon Hee-cheol as the director of EDA in South Korea.”

“I’m sorry, but my visit is at the request of the Chinese government. I didn’t sneak in like a rat like you did.”

“So, are you saying you came here to kill the girl on behalf of the request? I’m the same as you. Just as you received a request to kill her, I received a request to protect her.”

“A request? Who on earth? Did she have someone backing her?”

However, Myung-jun, as if telling Hee-cheol not to think deeply, flicked his palm and him.

“You seem to be wondering who’s backing her, but don’t worry about it. What’s important now is that I’m here to fight you.”

“Fight? With me?”

A scornful smile appeared on the corner of the doll’s mouth that Hee-cheol had summoned.

“Despite having had many chances to fight me before, you’re now willing to fight, disregarding the fear of friction with the South Korean government? Have you forgotten what it means to attack me?”

“I know. And you seem to be mistaken about something. I didn’t avoid fighting with you because I was afraid of the South Korean government. It’s just that if I fought you there, I would inevitably have to fight the soldiers who were brought here innocently, so I had no choice but to avoid it.”

When the headquarters of the Liberal Clan was established in South Korea, Myung-jun avoided fighting with Hee-cheol as much as possible.

Because the act of attacking Moon Hee-cheol, who oversees the Awakener agents of South Korea as the director of EDA, was akin to declaring an all-out war with the South Korean government.

Of course, if the target of that fight had been limited to EDA members or just Moon Hee-cheol, Myung-jun would not have avoided the fight.

However, Myung-jun knew that if such a situation arose, the government would mobilize regular soldiers with a 100% certainty to deal with the situation.

Whether it was a flood, a department store collapse, or even a shortage of labor during farming season, the way the South Korean government dealt with things was to deploy soldiers first.

So, Myung-jun avoided the fight.

Even though he had been imprisoned in the underground of the Ministry of National Defense for 30 years before returning home after completing his 1 year and 6 months of military service, and had been subjected to relentless hammering by a hateful adversary, he deliberately left Hee-cheol alone, just as he did with the other soldiers who were brought there due to their duty to the national defense, not wanting to face them.

Although he had the power to kill Hee-cheol anytime he wanted.

However, Hee-cheol was under the mistaken belief that all of Myung-jun’s evasions stemmed solely from his fear of himself and the South Korean government.

“You’re just bluffing. Are you saying that you’ve been keeping me alive all this time because you felt sorry for soldiers you’ve never even met?”

“If you want to think of it as bluffing, go ahead. Anyway….”

Suddenly, hundreds of turrets appeared simultaneously in the valley where Myung-jun and Deci were located.

Upon seeing this, the knight doll controlled by Hee-cheol spoke to Myung-jun.

“Did you know?”

“Did I know? That you were retrieving the disconnected bug-shaped dolls and reassembling them into other dolls? Or were you deliberately talking to me to buy time?”

“You knew both. But why didn’t you stop me?”

“Because the result would be the same anyway.”

“I’m sorry, but things will be much different from when you saw me in Sejong City. I’ve become much stronger than before.”

Myung-jun looked around.

Hee-cheol, who could summon at most a hundred dolls, had surrounded the valley by summoning over a thousand dolls.

‘He has definitely become stronger. Did he gain some kind of advantage?’

When they met in Sejong City, the maximum number of dolls Hee-cheol could summon was around a hundred at most.

But now, Hee-cheol not only summoned over a thousand dolls but also handled dolls of a different form than the human-shaped ones he had used before.

Like four-legged walking dolls that resembled beasts or giant dolls over 5 meters tall, three times larger than the others.

Among them, what made Myung-jun concerned was not the number of dolls, but their size.

‘Until just now, he could control what seemed like tens of millions of bug-shaped dolls. And now, he’s handling thousands of larger dolls by reducing the numbers. Could it be that his new ability allows him to freely control the size of the dolls he summons? If he had this ability when we fought in Sejong City, I might have lost.’

Myung-jun seemed to understand the reason for Hee-cheol’s confidence. However, there was a fact that Hee-cheol didn’t know, and that was the fact that Myung-jun had also become stronger, beyond just becoming strong.

Myung-jun whispered with a small smile on his lips.

“Elimination Protocol, activate.”

<Confirmation of E.P mode activation. Current coordinates confirmed… Initiating elimination support preset deployment from Liberator to current coordinates. Estimated time of arrival: 1 minute and 30 seconds.>

At that moment, the deck of the Liberator, which was conducting deep-sea monsters extermination operations in the Sea of Japan, began to open. Then, like a giant cannon, it aimed the catapult-like apparatus into the air and began to launch a series of large, machine-like equipment towards the northwest.

At the same time, Soo-jeong, who was supervising the construction work in Liberty City, felt her smartwatch vibrate with an alarm.

<User Cha Myung-jun’s E.P mode activation request. Calling coordinates HRCP 34945. DFAR 24642>

“E.P.? Could it be that a new Twelve Divine Beings has appeared?”

The ‘Protocol Series’ was a combat support system developed by Soo-jeong to improve Myung-jun’s combat patterns, which were overly reliant on Knights. While Knights were perfect for dealing with enemies with strong physical strength and large size like the Twelve Divine Beings they had fought before, Knights’ combat style was too inefficient for dealing with small, fast enemies or enemies in large numbers.

Soo-jeong unlocked Cain’s First Legacy, incorporating her ideas into the open design knowledge of Knights to design special support parts that could perform combat according to the situation. She then bundled them into sets according to their purposes and named them ‘Protocols’.

For example, there was the ‘Anti-Chemical Protocol’ developed to fight enemies using poison like Zhai Tianlin, or the ‘Lightning Protocol’ developed to engage in ultra-high-speed combat against enemies with tremendous mobility.

Among the five sets developed in the Protocol Series, the one with the most destructive power was the ‘Elimination Protocol’.

Able to fight enemies with strength comparable to the Twelve Divine Beings without relying on Knights, the strongest combat equipment set was designed. Each piece of equipment in the set was made of materials of grade 8 or higher. Myung-jun’s summoning of such a set meant that he was facing an opponent demanding that level of strength.

Upon seeing the message on her smartwatch, Soo-jeong immediately contacted Arin, who was out with Shadow Hawk to bring Myung-jun.

“Hello? Arin? I just saw a request for the use of the Elimination Protocol. What’s going on?”

Arin’s voice, sounding urgent, resonated from Soo-jeong’s wrist.

[Soo-jeong Unni!? Oh, Myung-jun Oppa is fighting right now!]

“Fight? With whom? Has a Gate Boss appeared?”

[No… It’s a human… Someone you know well…]

“Someone I know? At least among the ‘humans,’ there shouldn’t be anyone who needs to use EP equipment.”

[There is now. Just a moment. I’m filming right now, so I’ll send it to you right away.]

After hearing Arin’s words, Soo-jeong raised her hand, and a mechanical sphere flew to her side.

“There should be a video signal being sent from Shadow Hawk. Play it.”

A holographic screen was projected from the mechanical sphere, showing a large video in front of Soo-jeong. Seeing the video, Soo-jeong looked bewildered and spoke in a tone of disbelief.

“Director Moon Hee-cheol? When did he become so strong?!”

In the video before her, thousands of dolls were fiercely attacking Myung-jun in his power suit.

====

***

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<Warning. Suit exterior damage rate: 37%. Left leg thruster damaged. Flight function lost.>

“I know!”

Dodging an attack from the left, Myung-jun shouted. Then, he grabbed a spear held by another doll and hurled it towards where he had fallen. Myung-jun desperately tried to block the spear with the small shield on his left arm, but unfortunately, the spear was too strong for the small shield to handle.

– Kwang! –

Parts of the power suit made of grade 7 materials shattered, and Myung-jun’s new form was thrown backward. In response to the crisis of his ally who came to help, Deki summoned a giant stone wall to block the charging dolls behind Myung-jun. At the same time, the turrets Myung-jun summoned spewed fire, destroying five approaching dolls.

The battlefield unfolded more like a war than a mere fight. Myung-jun unleashed the firepower of an army with dozens of turrets. Meanwhile, Hee-cheol manipulated nearly 1,000 dolls, using all kinds of weapons. Both possessing combat abilities worthy of being called “one-man armies,” their battle unfolded not in one place but in all directions, resembling a group battle.

Within this chaos, Hee-cheol felt a sense of impending victory.

“Hahaha! I knew it would be like this! You thought you wouldn’t be my match!”

The exhilaration boiling in his heart fueled an endless surge of hope that he might be able to defeat the opponent known as the world’s strongest.

While Hee-cheol could repair his dolls immediately after they were destroyed, Myung-jun’s turrets were gradually being disabled one by one. Moreover, each time Myung-jun’s power suit took damage, it solidified Hee-cheol’s belief in his imminent victory.

“You probably regret not wearing a stronger suit, don’t you? But it’s too late! You’re going to lose here!”

Listening to Hee-cheol’s voice echoing through hundreds of dolls, Deki felt a chilling sense of dread. However, despite such a dire situation, Myung-jun continued to fight silently, almost as if ignoring Hee-cheol’s proclaimed victory.

Seeing this, Hee-cheol became even more excited and provoked Myung-jun.

“Why, are you the strongest? Yet, doesn’t this situation feel familiar to you? Then behold! This is my power! Soon, I will kill you and become the world’s strongest awakened, the greatest hero in the world!”

Myung-jun remained silent, continuing to fight despite the taunts, as if ignoring Hee-cheol’s declaration of victory.

“If I defeat you, I’ll dismantle your precious Liberal Clan first! Before that, I’ll kill that woman you promised to protect! Feel the agony of breaking your own beliefs without any power!”

Seeing no reaction from Myung-jun, Hee-cheol commanded about 50 dolls to charge towards Deki, wanting to see if Myung-jun could maintain his composure even in the face of his protected target’s death.

However, Myung-jun remained motionless even as Hee-cheol’s dolls rushed towards Deki. Instead, he quietly raised the index finger of his power suit towards Deki, as if instructing her to look up at the sky. Despite the charging dolls, Deki turned her head towards the sky as if mesmerized by Myung-jun’s gesture.

What entered her sight was a barrage of countless mechanical parts raining down fiercely towards their direction, like an intercontinental ballistic missile. In that moment, Myung-jun quietly smiled as he folded his extended index finger.

“……0……”

– Clang clang clang boom boom clang! –

Descending from the sky like the messengers of the gods, numerous metal masses erupted with a dazzling radiance upon the earth. It was none other than the ‘Elimination Protocol’, specially designed by Myung-jun himself and hammered by him to confront adversaries of the ‘Twelve Divine Beings’ caliber, the strongest equipment set possessed by the Liberal Clan.

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