Chapter 254: Last-ditch Effort
"Wow, but the research facility really never ends, no matter how many you kill. I suppose you could say it's befitting of a faction that would normally play the final boss role in the story."
"It's not for nothing that the Otherworld Management Bureau had been getting by while only dealing with those who crossed the line. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes. The Otherworld Management Bureau was already short on manpower—if they had been trying to keep catching research facility people on top of everything else, they would have had a breakdown from overwork before getting this far."
-The more you learn about the Bureau the more you feel for them honestly
-It's a wonder they lasted this long lol
-Not just a breakdown—the Bureau itself might have collapsed
-Escaping the Bureau: by order of intelligence, good luck
User 'ㅇㅇ' donated '1,000 won'!
[Fact: the funding that grew the research facility to this size came from the Corporate Alliance]
-What
-Oh no
-Fr though
-Ugh, Corporate Alliance, it's you again?
***
Wudeudeuk!
Ttiring—
"Hm."
At the sudden notification from his smartphone, Baek Woohyun released the enemy he had been gripping. The enemy, barely freed from his grasp, collapsed with a thud.
But the enemy who had been struggling until just moments ago to survive was already a corpse. Meaning freedom had been reclaimed—but not the life that had already been lost.
Just like his similarly disposed comrades lying around them in the same fashion.
Well, hoping to survive even after having one's neck seized by a Superhuman capable of crushing bones with a single finger was the stranger expectation.
Surviving even in a state where the cervical vertebrae were not merely misaligned but outright destroyed—if that were possible, it would not be an overstatement to say it had surpassed the limits of the human species.
If that had been possible in the first place, there would have been no reason to struggle so pitifully as before.
[Sender: Lee Yujin
There's been movement from the research facility side!
Please move there immediately.
I'll attach the allied rendezvous point as well.]
'So they've moved.'
The sender was Lee Yujin again, but the contents were clearly different from the previous messages that had repeated two or three times. Instead of the appearance of new enemies, this one heralded the research facility stirring into action.
The research facility, which had been holed up in its large base wrapped in silence and doing nothing but gathering more personnel, had finally moved to take some kind of action.
Baek Woohyun suddenly found himself wondering whether it was because too many of their people had been lost to being picked off during the consolidation, or because a sufficient number had gathered.
It was a question he had every right to have, having already mercilessly dealt with and sent to hell seven groups that had been trying to join up there.
'Let's go for now.'
Baek Woohyun stepped out of the seventh group's base—which amounted to nothing more than a few container vehicles pushed together—and set off toward the position marked on the map.
As always, charging along rooftops at full speed, his pace was fast enough to put most vehicles to shame, so it was a matter of moments before he was near the allied rendezvous point.
The Otherworld Management Bureau's rendezvous point was not far from the research facility's large base. That was only natural, given that they would need to strike on short notice.
And that meant—as Baek Woohyun drew closer, his senses picked up clearly the ominous energy emanating from the research facility side.
"······."
Even with considerable distance still remaining, the ominous energy was far too vivid. It was spreading continuously outward in all directions—like ink dropped into water.
To an ordinary person, it would have been perceived as nothing more than 'the air feels a bit chilly today,' but it was different for Awakeners whose energy perception had opened.
To Baek Woohyun's eyes—and those of the Awakeners with him—it was clearly visible. The Otherworld energy overflowing from the massive base where the research facility had gathered.
Furthermore, this was a sight Baek Woohyun had seen once before. Clear enough that it could not be mistaken for anything else.
In 'Reverse Planet,' when he encountered the first Otherworld Lord and a hole was punched through the creature's chest, connecting it to the Otherworld. That very moment was exactly like now.
What that implied did not need to be stated.
'A passage to the Otherworld has opened again.'
The momentum of the Otherworld energy was less than it had been with the Otherworld Lord, so Baek Woohyun judged the passage had likely not opened fully.
Or if it had opened properly, the passage itself was incomparably smaller than that time. Either way, it seemed like it would be counterproductive to Deus's goals.
He still had no clear guess as to what exactly was being planned—but regardless.
'Well, that's the expected outcome, I suppose.'
Abandoned by the Corporate Alliance, with a suppression order issued against them by the Otherworld Management Bureau—the only place the research facility had left to rely on was, effectively, one place alone: the Otherworld.
The likelihood that Deus had intervened from behind to adjust the story only made that more certain. There was no reason for him not to use this.
Even stripped of an arm and a leg as they were, a faction of the research facility's caliber had inexhaustible ways to make use of it.
Thus Baek Woohyun had predicted that the research facility's final desperate act would ultimately involve the Otherworld. Likely trying to force open a passage.
Seeing the Otherworld energy gushing from the research facility's massive base in a ferocious surge and staining everything around it—it seemed the prediction was correct after all.
'Predictable creatures,' he thought briefly—then stepped into the rendezvous point.
"Ah, Agent Baek Woohyun, you've arrived!"
"Welcome! Let's go right in! I'll guide you!"
"···Thank you."
"Oh! Agent Baek Woohyun is here as well! Now that's reassuring! Ha ha!"
The greeting that awaited Baek Woohyun upon entering the rendezvous point packed with Otherworld Management Bureau agents was one that could fairly be described as genuinely enthusiastic.
Even agents who appeared extremely busy smiled and called out their welcome as he passed—what more needed to be said.
This was, after all, the person who had appeared like a rising star for a chronically understaffed Otherworld Management Bureau and cleared mission after mission at a hundred percent success rate.
"Best of luck with this mission! Agent Baek Woohyun!"
"Yes, likewise."
An ordinary person might have felt overwhelmed by such a welcome, but Baek Woohyun—who had experienced all manner of things 'over there'—was different.
Responding appropriately and following the guidance, he arrived at a group of agents gathered with grave expressions, looking down at several documents spread across a table.
One of them—the person at the center—Kim Hana happened to look up at that moment, and the instant she spotted him approaching, her face broke into a bright expression.
"Good timing, Sunbae!"
Kim Hana practically grabbed Baek Woohyun and brought him to the table, then rapidly explained the current situation and the operation.
It did not take very long, as the operation itself was remarkably simple.
'The research facility seems to be up to something, so let's charge in right now and turn it upside down!'—that was essentially the level of it.
In truth, the current situation itself did not call for any particularly complex operation.
Because everyone already knew the enemy was gathered in their large base.
Even more so because their own forces were stronger, and all that remained was to pick a good moment and attack.
"—That's everything. Have you taken it in?"
"Yes. I have."
"Good. Sunbae."
Kim Hana smiled at Baek Woohyun.
But soon her expression hardened into something cold.
"You've probably guessed as much, but the final desperate act the research facility will pull is most likely forcing open a passage to the Otherworld. Looking at the energy surging out there, it seems like it's already half-open."
It was an insight befitting someone who had witnessed the hole punched through the [Lord of Storms]' chest—the passage to the Otherworld—up close alongside Baek Woohyun.
Listening quietly, Baek Woohyun nodded in agreement with Kim Hana's assessment. He had been thinking along similar lines on his way here.
"That needs to be closed. Somehow."
"I'll find a way."
"Thank you. Sunbae."
Their exchange complete, Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana immediately set about preparing for the operation to suppress the research facility. With the possibility that the passage to the Otherworld could grow even larger, every moment counted.
Otherworld Management Bureau agents poured out fully armed, and Baek Woohyun, judging Otherworld monsters to be the likely opposition, drew the Soul-Extinguishing Sword 'Soul Eater' and followed.
Incidentally, among the agents, only two carried melee weapons—Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana. That made the two of them at the front all the more conspicuous.
The role assigned to the Otherworld Management Bureau agents gathered here, including Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana, was to strike the research facility's large base head-on from the front.
Coordinated with that, the other Otherworld Management Bureau agents led by Kim Cheol were to strike from the opposite side, forming a perfect encirclement from both directions.
That way, any chance of research facility remnants slipping out in secret would be prevented.
-Graaah!
-Grrr!
"Wolf-type invasion entity confirmed!"
"They're charging toward us!"
The moment the Otherworld Management Bureau's side launched the operation, Otherworld monsters came pouring out of the research facility's large base as if they had been waiting!
Wolf-type invasion entities—the kind only ever seen inside a Reverse World—came charging at the Otherworld Management Bureau agents with drool streaming from their maws.
They called to mind the wolf-type invasion entities Baek Woohyun had swept through in the Reverse World long ago, and yet they were even larger and more grotesque.
And there were not only wolf-types—there were many other species of invasion entities as well. Creatures that were grotesque twists on various animals howled and bared their killing intent.
An elephant-type invasion entity larger than most two-story buildings, a gorilla-type invasion entity with crimson fur, a lion-type invasion entity composed of shadow—and more.
It was not unlike some kind of invading entity’s animal farm. Though referring to it as an animal farm in front of creatures radiating nothing but killing intent was perhaps not appropriate.
***
-Wolf, elephant, gorilla, lion, fox, cat, dog—they really collected the whole set
-What is this, an animal farm lol
-Invasion entities showing up here of all places, hmm···
-But how many are there? Why does it never end lol
"I genuinely can't even guess how many there are! They keep pouring out!"
"It's an overwhelming show of numbers!"
"Holy···!"
***
"Everyone, prepare for combat! We'll sweep them out completely without leaving a single one! If even one slips through, civilian casualties could result!"
""Understood!""
The moment civilian casualties were mentioned by Kim Hana, the expressions of the Otherworld Management Bureau agents became even more serious.
They were people who had endured while receiving less pay than the Corporate Alliance, suffering through chronic understaffing—sustained by the single honor of belonging to the Otherworld Management Bureau.
Because of that, the very idea of watching idly as civilian casualties tarnished the Otherworld Management Bureau's reputation never crossed their minds.
"And Sunbae!"
"Say the word!"
"Please!"
A single outcry with everything cut away before and after it.
But for intent to be conveyed, that was enough.
"Understood!"
Gripping the long hilt of the Soul-Extinguishing Sword 'Soul Eater' tightly in both hands, Baek Woohyun kicked off the ground in a single burst.
His body shot forward like a loosed arrow—and with that, the Slowed World arrived!
The fangs between the lead wolf-type invasion entity's jaws, and even the drifting shadow mane of the lion-type invasion entity pressing close behind, were sharply clear.
Reality itself—yet moving in slow motion as though captured by an ultra-high-speed camera—and Baek Woohyun's two eyes, surveying those creatures, gleamed coldly.
Within the inverted eyes of reversed black and white, the path along which those creatures would move and the most effective attack trajectory to meet it were clearly visible.
And so he willingly gave himself over to it.
Suh—geok—!