Black Badger

Chapter 487: Stage Clear

[Are you holding it?]

Yun asked gently.

I ignored the goosebumps prickling along my skin.

The enhanced men had already finished preparing to push the warhead. I stared at the portal and answered.

“It’s not a size you can lift. I tried pushing it by hand earlier—there’s no way we can move it completely within the time limit. If everyone here clings to it, it’s not that it absolutely won’t budge... but I think we’ll just tip it over.”

[Dig a slope in front of it.]

Yun spoke flatly.

[Make it so when it falls, it doesn’t crash flat onto the ground but slides into the portal. Don’t install the portal vertically. Tilt it like a solar panel.]

“Oh.”

I understood immediately.

I lifted my head and looked at Lee Seunghyun. He was already moving. He and his subordinates pulled out equipment and began scanning the floor covered in thin panels.

“There are no explosives.”

“Looks like wiring runs through here.”

【08:00】

The moment it was confirmed there were no bombs, they skillfully began flipping up the panels.

Soon, thick bundles of unknown cables and heavy pipes were exposed.

“They don’t appear to be wires connected to the nuclear warhead.”

The judgment came from Lee Seunghyun.

The others were already clearing the panels in front of the warhead. They had heard Yun as well, and they knew there was no time to argue.

There truly was no time.

“I’ll cut them.”

“Do it.”

I calculated how deep the slope would need to be, considering the height of the warhead.

We had to accept this level of risk.

【07:42】

Zzzzt!

Seunghyun severed the wires cleanly.

“Ah!”

Everyone stiffened reflexively—but nothing exploded.

However, the nerves in my left hand suddenly spasmed violently.

A scream tore out of me before I could stop it. The men around me jolted in shock and turned. Even Seunghyun’s eyes went wide as he looked up.

No one was as startled as I was.

“Hilde?”

“Step back.”

Frowning, I rubbed my left arm and returned to the device.

“I’ll dig the slope.”

“Was it an absorption acceleration device?”

“Probably.”

The sudden crushing pain in the nerves of my left arm suggested as much.

It felt as though forced absorption had been rapidly accelerated and then abruptly released. Like being struck by a rubber band stretched too far and snapped back, I pressed hard against the throbbing tendon and stepped forward.

【07:00】

“Fall back.”

No one questioned it. They cleared out instantly.

I let out a breath and drew my sword. I ignored the aching left arm. If we failed to resolve this within seven minutes, there would be no need to fix the arm ever again.

That couldn’t happen.

[I can see exactly what kind of shape you’re in over there.]

Yun’s indifferent voice leaked from the phone.

There was no time to respond.

BOOOOM!

I swung.

BOOOOM, BOOOOM!

After exactly three precise strikes, the ground was carved to a decent depth. I gauged the incline, then made finishing cuts to smooth the drop.

While I refined the step, Seunghyun and his men moved swiftly. They brought the portal device down the slope and adjusted its angle.

Soon, it was positioned perfectly.

A large circular doorway, tilted upward toward the ceiling.

Blue water churned beyond it.

【05:00】

“Push on three.”

Seunghyun gave the order.

I slowly sheathed my sword and searched for a position. While carving the slope, I had cut three or four more wires. Each time, the nerve pain had flared so sharply that my face still wouldn’t relax.

At least severing them had significantly reduced the forced absorption.

“Three.”

Seunghyun signaled with his eyes for me to stay back.

“Two.”

【04:50】

Wouldn’t one more hand help?

I hesitated briefly. But they were already packed tightly against it; there was no meaningful strength I could add.

“One.”

We had to trust them.

“Uraaaah!”

The men roared.

“Push!”

Seunghyun shouted, veins standing out in his neck.

“Push!!”

Oh.

It’s moving.

The massive support frame housing the warhead began to tilt.

I watched carefully as one side lifted.

If something were triggered mid-push, that would be the end.

We would cease to exist the next instant. We wouldn’t even recognize our deaths. X District would become uninhabitable. Radioactive contamination would ride the wind straight into Center Core.

When the Chernobyl disaster occurred, it was Swedish nuclear plant workers who first detected it—even though Sweden lay over a thousand kilometers away.

This might not reach that level.

But if it detonated here, even the seniors at headquarters would not remain unharmed.

I had once studied nuclear weapons obsessively.

I knew exactly what they did.

If detonation were the only consequence, we wouldn’t have gone this far.

Watching them shove against the exposed floor, I thought:

“I was afraid.”

It’s true—I had grown terrified. At some point, I stopped even considering fighting it face-to-face. I had become too afraid of the thing they were now struggling to shove into the ocean.

“Uraaaah!”

But wasn’t that fear justified?

“Push!”

“It’s tipping!”

The device fell.

Standing at the edge of the slope, I quickly confirmed its trajectory.

Good line.

If it continues like this, it’ll pass through.

Go!

Baaang!

The edge of the structure plunged into seawater.

At the same time, seawater surged outward from the portal.

“Ah!”

A wave rose like a collapsing building.

Baaang!

It crashed white against the floor.

The water retreated at tremendous speed, dragging several men from the slope. Seunghyun managed to seize one—but another vanished beneath the water without even a scream.

I didn’t dare attempt a rescue.

“Push!”

It wasn’t fully submerged yet.

“Push it in!”

Those who had been knocked down by the water scrambled up again.

I {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} joined them, bracing my shoulder against the support frame.

A quarter of it was submerged.

The rest had to be forced down.

And it wasn’t easy.

From somewhere in the mansion, an ominous alarm blared.

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep!

【01:50】

“Just a little more!”

Water splashed outward every time we drove the frame deeper.

It felt as heavy as the sea itself.

I feared the water might cause the portal device to malfunction.

There had been a faint crackling sound for a while now.

What if it suddenly closes?

【01:00】

Time.

I shoved desperately.

Whoooosh!

Water cascaded onto the floor.

The crackling grew louder.

“Almost there!”

The flood reached the frame of the device.

“Just a bit more!”

【00:50】

Space being severed mid-transition is a terrifying thing.

I learned that during the Remnant Wraith incident. I hadn’t seen it firsthand, but Ami had destroyed the gate the instant the creature crossed over—killing something even Archmages and Swordmasters of the Empire could not.

If a living being can be cut apart like that...

What about a nuclear warhead?

Would it explode?

“It’s in!”

The thought snapped.

The weight vanished from my shoulder.

Lost in thought, I nearly pitched forward into the sea beyond the portal—but long years of training caught my balance.

The warhead was gone.

I stood on the soaked incline, watching the massive structure sink into the depths.

The reason I once had no choice but to kneel before humanity.

【00:10】

“Close it!”

Seunghyun shouted.

“Shut the portal!”

I didn’t run.

If it didn’t close, there would be no meaning in running anywhere within ten seconds.

Others, who either didn’t understand or refused to accept it, began fleeing.

I remained on the slope, watching the narrowing gap.

【00:05】

[Hildebert.]

Yun’s voice.

The warhead was no longer visible.

[I’ve deployed a drone from the nearest shelter. We’ll know if it detonates.]

【00:03】

The portal thinned.

I watched it become a line.

【00:02】

“Hilde.”

Seunghyun’s voice too.

【00:01】

“Get back—”

【00:00】

The portal closed.

The sea vanished.

The tear in space was gone.

Only the skeletal, crackling base of the soaked portal machine remained.

And seawater.

No longer churning—just pooled saltwater.

Broken pipes. Wet wires.

BOOOOM!

A thunderous sound erupted from the phone lying on the floor.

I slowly turned my head.

“Yun?”

[It detonated.]

My mentor spoke calmly.

[At Bikini Atoll.]

I didn’t move.

I just stood there.

Someone was calling my name, but I didn’t hear it.

My nerves throbbed.

It didn’t matter.

Even Yun was speaking again, but I couldn’t process it.

The distant explosion echoed in my ears.

The sound I least wanted to hear.

The one I once feared more than anything.

It feels strange.

I...

“Hilde.”

I...

“Hildebert!”

I buried my face in both hands.

I staggered across the wet floor. I stopped when my shoulder struck something. I tried to lean against it, failed, and sank to the ground.

I tried to steady my breathing.

My nerves burned.

My stomach hurt.

No—

My heart.

“Kyle.”

Tears fell before I even knew what I wanted to say.

“Rei...”

The nuclear bomb had detonated at Bikini Atoll.

Colton Wiseman, the long-standing hardliner Elder, had died by my hand.

Other Elders remained—but that would be resolved soon. One powerful figure had aligned with me. Not enough for complete relief, but enough to breathe.

The nukes still remained on Earth.

Still.

Still...

Now humans and we—

But what does any of it matter?

I stared at the floor, nails digging in.

What now?

Even then, the answer hadn’t been absolute. As Colton said, it was only his answer—not the answer of the Ice Empress or those who held power then.

History has no “if.”

Even if I declared I had been right—look, here’s the half-answer—nothing would change.

Time doesn’t turn back.

Finding a similar solution now doesn’t resurrect the dead.

It won’t soothe their rage.

I don’t even want to go to them and pour out my resentment.

I just—

I only—

“It’s over...”

My palms soaked with tears.

“Finally...”

Revenge was complete.

All that remained was to face Kyle.

The thought alone made me cry harder.

Overcome with resentment, relief, sorrow, and regret, I kept my head bowed for a long time.