Chapter 530. First contact (4)
Kang Changho had obtained a magical art that could read a creature's mind directly by collaborating with a certain genius.
While the accuracy wasn't particularly high, he had beco able to understand, to so extent, what they were saying.
"The physical modification is functioning normally."
But what on earth was that swarming, unpleasant noise coming out now?
[S-rank!]
[Advanced body into one's own tentacles (*feet!)]
[Why is there another person here?]
[Research that too.]
[Confirm features.]
[Seen it sowhere.]
It seed the fact that he had killed their kin from 3,000 years in the future was already shared among them...
[—The ancient engineer!]
"Did they just refer to as an old-tir?"
Swish.
At this, Kang Changho blatantly raised one corner of his mouth. Because his ability to control his body was superior, this engineer could express Earth-style emotions even more perfectly than the Magic Master.
"By the way, to think these things would covet the precious machine I've already claid right before my eyes."
The engineer revealed his emotions purely. The expression he showed now was one of contempt. Soon, a glint flickered in his eyes.
"As expected, living here as an alien is a hundred, no, a thousand tis better than surrendering to things like these."
He wasn't sure if the natives of Earth would welco this choice. With an aggressive smile, he proceeded to the next stage of his plan.
Since the Alphaurin invasion was a matter he had already known about, he had naturally prepared in his own way before stepping out. This Gate had been in a "closed world" state for a while, but the fact that he had found the space fast er than anyone else was proof of his preparedness. However, there was no telling if the plan he had devised by putting his head together with the Magic Master would work.
"A certain great genius evaluated that I have a fairly high chance of winning in combat."
The engineer's heavy body tilted for a mont.
"Even that clever Earthling is powerless once they enter the water, isn't that the reality... Co to think of it, if one utilizes environntal characteristics well, one could transcend the gap of ti and flip the outco of the battle..."
He still found it difficult to predict the success rate himself, but since 0% is a rarity in this world, wasn't it worth a try?
"It's certainly a bit too early to give up and commit suicide."
The contemplation was long, but the conclusion was not complex.
Execution.
Kang Changho made up his mind and imdiately began to emit vibrations.
[Hello.]
[!]
[!]
Alphaurin. He spoke a word that was presumably used by the "New Era" people, not so distant ancient language, with a lightning-fast delivery.
[You guys.]
[Why catch] [people and take them?]
Of course, this wasn't a sentence he used because he genuinely wanted to hold a conversation.
"There's no need to verbalize the intent and listen. They've already shown their actions."
For reference, the gray, asymtrical beings before his eyes had long since inflicted profound damage on humanity. Snatching up psychics every by grade for dirty purposes was, of course, a given...
"If the Archmage, my ally, had actually discovered such selfish flesh, he would be quite heated right now."
The elent that would stimulate the green mage more than anything else was exactly that.
Shells.
The Beta-star-type modifications blocking Kang Changho's path were, in fact, golems containing human bones. Standing with his feet on Earth, he couldn't view the enemy favorably. To deceive the sharp core of mana, they had even made and worn such grotesque skins.
[Don't do that.]
The calculation was made. Kang Changho had already judged that it was fine to eradicate the enemies without further ado. And because it felt premature to unleash a preemptive strike, he was stalling for ti by speaking sporadically for now.
[!]
[!]
He hadn't expected the enemies to be this surprised by just a few fragntary words.
[How do you know our language...]
[Magic level!]
[I don't know.]
[Kill him first.]
The entities with white insect-like bodies gathered and murmured. Listening closely, it seed this was only because their language had spread—
[Kill him!]
Imdiately after the aggressive word was repeated.
—Whiz!
Suddenly, brightly glowing strings popped out from the nearby ground.
[Binding?]
A low-level restraint spell extrely familiar to Earthlings. But why would descendants who were 3,000 years older choose to use such an inferior incantation?
"It seems it's not my fate to die today."
Kang Changho looked at his bound legs and continued his thoughts. Since they had fired the signal flare first, he needed to show them the weapons he had prepared as well.
"Well, it seems the fact that I'm an engineer has already spread among them."
But no matter what the outco of the battle was, one of them was destined to die after today. Kang Changho poured out everything he wanted to say to the enemy so he would have no regrets.
"By the way, sorry about the first eting, but—"
"..!"
"Does any of you have a descendant of that family that handled executions and torture for generations?"
As he heard later from the fellow tribesman nad Lemming, his original body had had a fairly shocking end. Spine pulled out. Red flesh, which had struggled to maintain its volu, discarded like marine waste. This was truly an act that showed no consideration at all for the one who had crafted the vessel. Thinking that his masterpiece—his old body—had been carelessly damaged by another's hands, Kang Changho could not help but make this declaration of war.
"Honestly, I'm not very strong."
7thump.
Kang Changho. The stranger now wearing a new na lowered one hand toward the desert sand. And, as if to say "when in Ro, do as the Romans do," he used Korean more clearly than ever.
"But if luck is on my side, I will at least make sure you die miserably on land without a single drop of water."
A public display of shallow grudges.
By the way, this was unexpected. Additionally, only now did Kang Changho realize why they had chosen the terrain of a desert. This place, dry in all directions, was a structure that was relatively easy for those born as marine creatures to move in. But speaking purely of the atmosphere, this was the greatest hellscape imaginable for the citizens of the sea.
—They are short-sighted...
Kang Changho's voice gradually faded.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
No, in truth, it wasn't that his vocal cords had weakened. It was just that the entire desert was violently shaking as if heaven and earth were being turned upside down, and his speech was buried by the loud noise.
—Did you assu that because it's sothing you fear, your brothers from this star would also find it terrifying?
Normally, golems are ant to be called with a [Summoning] magic circle, but exceptionally, he utilized [Microminiaturization] within the space of the Gate. Kang Changho had been leading his chanical subordinates from the mont he arrived in the desert. And while conversing with the enemies, he had rely released the suppression placed on the golems.
[?]
[!]
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
The sound was truly ominous.
[What on earth is this.]
[Defense magic.]
[Use it!]
[Defense magic.]
Innurable dust clouds rose among the thin-ard Alphaurins who were running around in confusion. However, to explain in advance, the golems summoned now had special nas. The owner of these golems was a person who had abandoned [Plan Control] simply because he thought it would be more fun to live more like an Earthling. As can be seen from this, Kang Changho occasionally followed traditions in his own way. The engineer changed his machine nas entirely to Earth-style.
Thus, the object that was born with a new na was this thing that appeared with its mouth wide open from the very bottom.
—Grrr.
Drinking in the river water. A beast of strength that makes the ground humans step on tremble.
Two [Behemoths] appear.
"Grroooooooo————!"
As the heavy-weight golems soared out from the desert, tension imdiately heightened. But although they only borrowed their nas from the Bible, their forms were actually modified to be easily controlled by the engineer. In other words, their silhouettes were slightly different from the actual [Behemoth] known to humanity...
Teeth in several layers like a blender. A round mouth. And a massive torso to support all of this.
One of the simple golems, which resembled a lugworm more than a land creature, suddenly swallowed Kang Changho and hid back into the desert.
—The caster entered the golem...
Complete boarding. Well, this process was indispensable to withstand the magic of the mages. Since he had held the control lever after a long ti, it was ti to properly clash with the enemy.
—If it's like that, the [Binding] I cast won't be of any use.
—By the way, he left the weaklings on the ground and hid only himself in that great shell?"
—Despicable, despicable."
Scritch-scritch.
The enemies with asymtrical bodies maintained their thoughts breathlessly. Even in this state, they steadily used various magics, and the New Era Alphaurins who appeared would set up defense walls by applying barriers and then imdiately switch their posture.
—Cling.
Now they instantly modified their bodies, honing one arm like a sharp sword. A magic that would tear a B-class Awakened apart in a single blow was dwelling in their arms.
[Ugh, ugh...]
But at this mont, Kang Changho, who was watching the outside situation while hidden inside the golem, had a question arise.
"Physical form modification... it's excellent considering it was done in a short period, but isn't it still a bit lacking in this state?"
If asked what the problem was, this part bothered him.
—Crash!
[Whoat]
[Gah!]
There was a severe difference in physical class between Kang Changho's golem and the enemy's second or third units that had appeared. Of course, the Beta-star modifications were larger than the humanity trembling in the corner, but they were truly far smaller than the individual bearing the legendary na of Behemoth.
Yet, breaking a heavy-weight machine with a thin hand-blade under these conditions?
—Krr-krr-krr!
[What is this.]
[If eaten, mana...]
[Mana within our kinsman's body is vanishing!]
The situation was proceeding quite logically. One [Behemoth] created by Kang Changho wandered through the desert ground and swallowed the enemies one by one in a way that it popped out suddenly. Furthermore, since there were two giant beast-type golems wandering within this sand terrain, the Alphaurins found it difficult to predict where the golems would pop out. Kang Changho's golems had overlapping sounds and mana on a wide scale. Furthermore, unless they were in the state of "ingesting" an Alphaurin, they were very fast even with their massive size.
[Eek!]
[Don't get eaten!]
[Magic inside the mouth!]
[Hey! There's a magic inhibition spell in the golem's oral cavity!]
To shoot down such golems efficiently, they would have to aim for the mont it fully erged outside.
—By the way, which side is the ancient engineer in...?
[Behemoth] had amphibious fins. Perhaps that was why it was possible to move even in the desert where feet sank deep, but the Alphaurins wearing shells looked at the rushing golems and quickly unified their opinions.
[Now!]
There was no need to express these thoughts wordly. If the enemy entered the sand again, they would only have to exert more miracles like [Clairvoyance]. Those in the form of Beta-stars unleashed a volley of shots the mont the enemy was out on the land.
Flash!
Boom, boom.
Strong light shone, and noise rang out as impacts occurred on the golem's massive body. What was happening now was truly a mage battle that anyone could imagine...
—Hahaha.
For reference, Kang Changho, who had been swallowed by the [Behemoth], did not have his exact location revealed. So, the Earth-style sneer that just occurred was echoing from two golems simultaneously.
"It seems my guess was right—the first floor is only filled with expendables. Even as I'm controlling the golems remotely in such an obvious manner, you still haven't found ."
However, separate from the laughter seen on the outside, Kang Changho, who had hidden his body sowhere, was now deep in thought with a fairly serious attitude.
"Oh, it seems my prediction was correct after all. These guys, in their state of having landed on Earth..."
The terrifying species that had even made the Magic Master a slave was right in front of him, but all combat was proceeding according to his thoughts. As the situation turned out this way, Kang Changho could only be sure that the hypothesis he had set up so far was correct.
"They share the "sa limit" as us! Their new bodies fundantally can't withstand the process of using high-output magic."
It was sowhat shocking news to Kang Changho.
"Well, to maintain consciousness on Earth, they have no choice but to wear native skins that avoid the core's immunity portion and find the enemy at once is excessively high in terms of magical hierarchy."
Then, from now on, it was just a simple question.
The certain Archmage. The end invading army in front of his eyes. In the end, the conditions were identical. They were truly identical. Because they were dropped into a strange world in the form of Earth, they experienced various problems. To be active in a world too low to fight normally... Even the technique to peel off the [Stealth] distant star materials with too dense mana, the enemy's body would change and be destroyed anyway. They could never use magic above a certain power.
In this state of sharing a so-called "ceiling of power," only who had better magic skills would be the issue...
—Hoo.
Indeed, how much had the average combat skill of the New Era Alphaurins increased over the past 3,000 years? Kang Changho still couldn't know the answer to that, but there was one piece of information he rembered. The rumor that the Archmage he had found had been called a talent "that might appear once in ten million years" in his first life.
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