Cosmic Demon 3077 - Chapter 346



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Space Heavenly Horse 3077 Episode 346

50. Final Dance (7) – He’s Coming

A terrible silence fell over the room.

Athena’s single sentence had that much power.

“Is this······a prank call?”

The first to speak was Zhuge Liang. As a third party who had no idea about the true identity of the Blood Cult or Athena’s status, hearing that “Zhou Ma will lead the space battleships that have been corrupted by the Blood Cult and invade Zhuge Liang’s house” was the most natural reaction.

First of all, who is Sin-ma and how did the military’s space battleship become contaminated with the Blood Cult? Putting that aside, why is it suddenly attacking Jegal Se-ga?

However, no one among the others agreed that his words were in fact a prank call, because they all knew that his words were the truth and not some bad joke.

“The blood sect’s warship was eroded, what is that······.”

Yongjeoksan didn’t know what it meant to be a sin-ma, but he knew Athena’s identity. So he focused only on the fact that the blood cult’s warships had been eroded.

On the other hand, Asura Buddha was a little different.

He was the one who knew the most about this place after Mokjin and his group, and he was the one who confirmed that the being Mokjin had encountered was Sinma. As soon as he figured out what was going on, he asked the terminal that Sunja was holding.

“Wait a minute, you said that the devil himself descended?!”

“······Who are you?”

“I am······.”

Asura Buddha paused for a moment as he answered Athena’s question.

“I······am from Shaolin.”

– Shaolin······I guess you are the one who confirmed the identity of Sinma.

Fortunately, Athena was able to roughly figure out the identity of the Asura Buddha without asking any further questions. The current situation was too urgent to confirm the other person’s identity in detail.

She asked.

– Do you know about the Blood Cult Protocol?

“Yes. I heard something from the manager last time.”

– That’s great. I guess I don’t need to explain it in detail.

“Could it be that the protocol has already been activated?”

Even if it is faster than expected, it is too fast. Asura Buddha asked Athena’s words.

– Not yet. ······Since we don’t have time, I’ll explain quickly. After securing the safety of the Central Council, our committee decided to activate the protocol, and to do so, we went to Sanctuary, the core area of ​​the Central Army, to check for contamination. And in the Defense Experiment Bureau, a top-secret facility within Sanctuary, we discovered a Blood Cult contamination zone that had reached the highest level of erosion. Immediately after, the source of the Blood Cult, Sin-ma, descended on the latest battleship-type weapon built by the Defense Experiment Bureau.

“······.”

– The Central Army launched an unlimited artillery operation to destroy Sinma, but the operation failed due to Sinma’s psychic wave attack just a moment ago. Immediately after, some of the fleet was eroded by Sinma, and Sinma led a fleet of sixteen eroded battleships and warped to the Shaanxi constellation there.

Asura Buddha’s mouth slowly opened. The fact that the army was contaminated by the Blood Cult was shocking enough, but the Sin Demon descended and broke through the central army’s offensive and eroded the fleet. And he came here with that fleet.

Where on earth should I start asking for an explanation? Mokjin pushed away Asura Buddha, who was holding his head in confusion, and spoke into the terminal.

“I understand the general situation. But why did you come here? Is there something it’s after here?”

-······.

Athena was momentarily silent at Mokjin’s question.

And after a moment, she answered.

– The great swordsman, Lee Mok-jin, the true dragon swordsman. The one that Sin-ma is after is you.

“······.”

There was a deep furrow between Mokjin’s eyebrows.

“me?”

The reason wasn’t hard to guess. Just a few days ago, hadn’t he unleashed his sword and struck the bastard?

“I destroyed part of it a while ago. Could that be the cause?”

As expected, it was the work of the True Dragon Sword Master. Athena trembled slightly at Mokjin’s words over the other end of the line. At first, she was not sure even after hearing Dr. Weir’s words, but when she saw that what he said matched what Dr. Weir said, there was no reason to doubt it anymore.

– Yes, that’s right. Sin-ma considers Daehyeop to be the only existing threat and is trying to eliminate it as a top priority.

“······But according to what you said, it doesn’t seem like you should confront me in your unmanned body.”

– Sin-ma will never show himself before the Great Sword again. That’s why he eroded the battleships.

“You’re planning to bring a battleship and some cannons and kill me.”

Mokjin furrowed his brow. He remembered witnessing the orbital bombardment by a warship operated by the human government during the past Cheolshiguiong incident.

The orbital bombardment itself could withstand it. Even in the magma river boasting unimaginable pressure and heat, the self-defense force could withstand anything but direct hits or close-range hits, and direct hits could be intercepted with the sword.

But the problem is what comes next. How can we reach the spaceship that is located in the far reaches of space where humans cannot reach? Mokjin has yet to find an answer to the physical gap that cannot be overcome by anything like the Renewal Method.

How on earth should he deal with the Sin-ma who brought the asymmetrical power of the battleship? As Mok-jin was pondering such things, a third party’s voice suddenly intervened.

“Wait, wait. What are you talking about?!”

Until now, Jegal Jiwon had been quietly listening to their conversation with a confused expression.

“Does that mean that the fleet is going to bomb the planet where this Zhuge Liang family is located?”

At first, he thought it was just a bad prank call. However, he was not so out of touch with reality that he simply denied it even when he saw other people’s reactions and the atmosphere becoming more serious.

There are still many parts of the situation that are not fully understood, but at least one thing is certain: the fleet of the army contaminated by the Blood Cult will bomb Zhuge Liang here. That is why Zhuge Liang could no longer bear it and spoke to the other party through the communication line.

– It’s someone else. Who is it?

Athena asked at the unfamiliar voice that interrupted the conversation.

“I am Zhuge Liang, the current head of the Zhuge Liang family. Who are you?”

– I am Athena Kapur, a first-class executive officer belonging to the Executive Committee of the Martial Arts Exchange Department.

First Class Executor. When he heard that name, Zhuge Liang’s hair stood on end.

He looked back at the others reflexively. Not only Mokjin and Sunja, but even Yongjeoksan and Asura Buddha did not deny that the person they were talking to on the other end of the line was the First Executor.

“She is the first-class executor.”

Yongjiksan, who was renowned as the elder of the Jeongpa clan, nodded slightly. Only then did Zhuge Zhiyuan realize that the Shaanxi Province and the Zhuge family were facing a crisis of unprecedented scale.

– Lord Zhuge. As you just said, a fleet will soon appear in the Shaanxi constellation and bomb the entire planet where the Zhuge family is located. So······.

Call the planetary administrator and have him issue an evacuation order for the entire planet.

Athena’s words coming from the other end of the line were dry and eerie. The color drained from Zhuge Liang’s face.

“hmm.”

Mokjin’s face hardened slightly. The talk of bombing the entire planet meant that there would be casualties not only among martial artists but also among ordinary people.

“Executor. If the Sin-Ma is after me, wouldn’t it be okay if I took a spaceship and went off-planet?”

– No. But that doesn’t mean that Jegal Se-ga is safe from the bombing. Because the Great Swordsman knows that Jegal Se-ga is there. And most of all… There’s no time.

“Athena, how long will it take for the Sinma and the fleet to arrive?”

– It’s short.

Athena answered Sunja’s question right away.

– I used the wormhole warp. The remaining time is 30 minutes at the shortest, and 50 minutes at the longest.

“It would be impossible to escape into space.”

Sunja, who had quickly completed her calculations, came to a conclusion. That amount of time was barely enough to launch the spaceship, let alone escape the outer atmosphere.

“When will the Central Army fleet arrive?”

-······The Central Army fleet will take 13 hours, and the 3rd-class security fleet around Shaanxi Province will take about 6 hours at the fastest.

It’s late. In reality, it means having to hold out for six hours without any allies.

At that moment, Zhuge Liang, who was quickly contacting the planetary administrator on one side, spoke.

“There are underground shelters in each district’s cities and residential areas for disaster relief. Fortunately, they say that everyone on the planet can evacuate there in a short period of time.”

“What is the shelter level?”

“It is designed to withstand orbital bombardment from battleships as a level 5 shelter. However······.”

Zhuge Liang’s face darkened and he trailed off.

“They say that the emergency power plant cannot handle the entire barrier of the shelter, and that a central power plant is needed. And that power plant is exposed to the outside, so it cannot withstand orbital bombardment.”

“That means······.”

“Ultimately, someone has to be outside guarding the power plant. ······For at least six hours.”

“Whew.” Zhuge Jiwon let out a small sigh and continued speaking.

“Cheonseongdan and Muhugak will be in charge of defending the power plant. They can block energy concentrated cannons with the Yukhap Gongmyeongdaejin and block missile bombardments with the Gangmoreo Ship Technique.”

In theory, yes. The problem is that theory and reality are very different.

But for now, we had to rely on even that theoretical possibility, because there was no other way to save the people living on this planet.

– It’s impossible. The Central Army’s battleships are in a completely different category from the battleships that are generally known. Their firepower is incomparable to that of third-class battleships.

Athena immediately objected to his words.

“But there’s nothing we can do. If we can’t protect the power plant, the shelter won’t be able to do its job. We can withstand normal missiles, but we definitely need a barrier to withstand orbital bombardment. The central power plant… we absolutely must secure it.”

– There are choices.

Athena said in response to Zhuge Liang’s strong tone of voice, as if he could never give in.

– If we abandon the power generation facilities and concentrate the power of the emergency power generation facilities in one place, some of the shelters can be saved.

“······.”

Zhuge Jiwon’s body suddenly froze.

Concentrate your weak power in one place. What that meant was that you had to sacrifice some to save others.

“That option is not even a consideration.”

Zhuge Liang spoke. His voice was terrifyingly cold.

– It’s the method with the highest probability of saving the most people.

“But those who are not chosen will surely die. Our Zhuge Liang will not abandon the family line.”

-······Is Zhuge Liang willing to give up on saving even a small portion of the people and risk their lives on a gamble that has almost no chance of winning?

Athena’s voice also became cold at the stubborn words of Zhuge Liang.

She was made to calculate human lives without any ‘personal feelings’. She could not understand his judgment, which seemed to be betting the entire planet’s population on the self-proclaimed Jegal Se-ga’s unmanned forces that could stop the orbital bombardment.

“Hoooo······.”

Zhuge Liang opened his mouth after letting out a long sigh.

“······First Executor. As you probably know, our Zhuge Liang has chosen to cut off the minority and save the majority before.”

There was no one here who did not know what past he was talking about.

The story of the Five Great Clans who drove out the Sacheondang family.

It is difficult to directly apply this to the current situation, but the essence of both was the sacrifice of the minority for the majority.

“And today, we have paid the price of our revered Supreme Lord’s life to take responsibility for that choice. ······And yet, while his body has not yet cooled, are you saying that we should repeat that mistake again?”

Then, why did Jegal Hyeon, the Seungryongje who took sole responsibility for expelling the Sacheondangga and lost his life in a life-or-death battle, die?

But despite his almost screaming appeal, his voice did not reach Athena.

– If you are the head of an organization, put aside your personal feelings and make rational choices.

She makes thoroughly rational and calculated decisions when dealing with human lives. This is because first-class executors like her were made to ‘act that way’ in order to save more people.

So the conversation between the two people could not help but be parallel. Only then did Jegal Hyun realize that fact.

“······There is no point in discussing it any further. The fate of the Zhuge family will be decided by the Zhuge family.”

– Is that so? I hope you make a wise choice.

“A wise choice······Yes. Let’s do that.”

Zhuge Liang answered, biting his lower lip.

– Oh, and one more thing, please.

Athena said to him.

“What is it?”

– You must ensure the safety of outside personnel who are not part of Jegal Se-ga.

It was obvious who the outsider she was talking about was. Sunja, holding the communication terminal, made a puzzled expression.

However, Zhuge Liang only answered Athena in a cold voice.

“Of course. It is the landlord’s responsibility to ensure the safety of his guests.”

– I confirmed it. Finally, I will send you information about the battleships contaminated by the Blood Cult and the new battleship weapons.

“thank you.”

– Good luck.

After a very dry conversation, communication with Athena was cut off.

Hoo. Zhuge Liang sighed deeply once again and raised his head after a while.

“I’m sorry for showing you such an embarrassing appearance.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Mokjin shook his head quietly. This time, his heart was more inclined towards Zhuge Jiwon than Athena.

Although there had been some interaction in the past, the first-class executors were originally the type of people who acted mechanically when it came to matters where people’s lives were at stake.

“And don’t worry about what the bailiff says.”

It was a request, not a demand, to ensure their safety.

However, Zhuge Liang shook his head quietly at Mok Jin’s words.

“No. That’s not wrong. Even if she hadn’t said it, I wouldn’t have intended to involve guests in our Zhuge Liang’s business.”

Aaaah!

As soon as he finished speaking, the piercing sound of evacuation sirens filled the entire city. Jegal Jiwon tried to hide his slightly trembling hands and smiled awkwardly at Mok Jin and the others.

“We will call the ambulance and guide you to the guest evacuation shelter with power supply. We ask that guests evacuate quickly and wait in peace until the disaster passes.”

My head is spinning in the face of such sudden events, there is no solution to overcome this situation, and the situation is hopeless.

But even so, he must act as the head of Sega.

And the task that immediately confronted him was to evacuate Sega’s guests to a safe place.

Mokjin’s eyes moved.

“······Is Zhuge Shi really going to stand against the fleet of Sinma alone?”

“As I said earlier, that is the duty of the host who invited the guest. A guest is just a guest, and it is a great dishonor to risk the guest’s life for the safety of the family.”

“That’s foolish talk. Your family’s fate is at stake, so why are you trying to gain such meager fame?”

An extremely orthodox attitude. The attitude itself deserves praise. However, if it is not determined by time and place, it cannot escape being a mere guest.

However, despite Mokjin’s reprimand, he denied his words with a stern face.

“No, you should take care of it.”

He turned his head and looked somewhere. It was the direction where Jegal Hyun’s body had gone.

“This is the honor that the Supreme Lord barely regained at the cost of his last life. If he were to throw that away, wouldn’t he be unworthy of honoring him?”

He knows, too, that holding out for six hours until cheering comes against a double-digit number of battleships is next to impossible.

But they could not back down. No, they should not back down.

Because they witnessed it.

That it took too much time and too much price for Zhuge Liang to regain his honor after giving up his honor to survive. And yet, an indelible mark was engraved on Zhuge Liang’s name.

That was why Zhuge Liang strongly opposed Athena’s words.

In fact, she may be right. But even so, they could not throw away their honor. Especially since they had once lost it and now regained it.

Even if he is an enemy who took the lives of his family, he can protect it for the sake of the honor that the Zhuge family has protected.

That was the consensus of Zhuge Liang and the Zhuge Liang family.

“Yes. Is that your belief?”

Mokjin nodded.

“Okay. I respect your determination.”

However, Mokjin looked at Jegal Jiwon and continued speaking.

“That and heading to the shelter are separate issues.”

“What is that······.”

“Since when have I been a mere guest?”

Mokjin smiled faintly and pointed to the sky with his finger.

“The reason Sin-ma came here is because of me. So I have the responsibility to go out and meet him.”

Mok-jin doesn’t like the Zhuge family. Just a few hours ago, they were making a fuss with Zhuge’s men and even making a fuss about killing each other. Since their first meeting was so bad, Mok-jin had no reason to be fond of them.

However, that does not mean that they harbored such hatred that they thought they should be exterminated.

So, Mokjin turned his back on Zhuge Liang, who was willing to kill him, and took up his sword.

“What my senior said is right. The head of the Zhuge family.”

Yongjeoksan smiled gently and came forward to support Mokjin.

He looked at Zhuge Jiwon, who was showing embarrassment, and touched the sword he was carrying.

“And I will also step forward.”

“What will your Majesty do next······.”

“Even though I have left the Buddhist sect, I am still a warrior of the sect. How could I seek only my own safety when the Blood Sect’s mob is trying to harm not only the warriors of the sect but also innocent civilians?”

Yongjeoksan smiled brightly.

“And if we’re going to save, it would be better to save everyone.”

Zhuge Liang kept his mouth shut. Yongjiksan’s words were not wrong either.

Asura Buddha patted Zhuge Liang’s shoulder and laughed heartily.

“Give up, Zhuge Liang. Isn’t the original title an earring if worn on the ear, and a nose ring if worn on the nose? So, Liang, take good care of your family.”

“Would you like to come forward, Ambassador?”

“Why are you asking so suddenly?”

Asura Buddha chuckled.

“From the beginning, we, the Buddhists and the Blood Sect’s followers, have been mortal enemies. Do you know? If you fight fiercely against the evil Blood Sect’s group and save sentient beings, the virtue you have accumulated so far may pass the critical point and you may become a Buddha.”

He had returned to his usual self before I knew it, and was laughing out loud while saying ridiculous things that I couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking.

“······The seniors are embarrassing this junior.”

Zhuge Liang said with a red face. Although I had made up my mind to fight to the death, I ended up receiving help from them.

I can’t say thank you. No matter what the reason, how could I shamelessly express my gratitude when the guests stepped in during Sega’s crisis?

So he just set an example for them by giving them short and sweet tickets.

“Please take care of Sunja here. And Seolyeong on the spaceship too. The child is no longer in a state to fight.”

“Don’t worry. I will take responsibility for their safety in the name of the Zhuge Family.”

Despite being a low-ranking official who protected Seolyeong, his father’s enemy, Jegal Jiwon nodded with determined eyes.

After seeing that, Mok-jin finally felt like he could trust him and Jegal Se-ga.

He said.

“Hurry up. He’s coming.”