An F-Rank Veterinarian Physically Heals an S-Rank Magical Beast - Chapter 53
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 53
“Kahahaha! Behold! This is the power of science!”
At the outer defensive line of Floor 12’s AI Empire, Namgoong Cheon, the Family Head of the Namgoong Family, was experiencing the greatest exhilaration of his life.
Whoooosh—!
Crack!
Every time the modified “Heavenly Thunder—Plasma Blade” in his hand danced, steel androids were sliced apart like tofu. There was no need to forcibly squeeze out sword energy. He merely had to flip the switch and swing—the plasma at 3,000 degrees Celsius melted enemies of its own accord.
“Family Head! Drone squadron approaching from the left!”
“Don’t worry! One button solves it all!”
Namgoong Cheon eagerly pressed the “Turbo Mode” button on the sword’s hilt.
Kuooooo!
The plasma blade doubled in length, scattering red sparks. As he swung the sword in a wide arc, a fan-shaped wave of heat swept across the battlefield, detonating dozens of drones mid-air.
“Is this… the incarnation of the Thunder God?”
“Long live the Namgoong Family! Long live the Alliance Leader!”
Behind the lines, the Huashan Sect Elders were gleefully pulling triggers.
“Plum Blossom Scattering! No, missile scattering!”
Shwish shwish shwish!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Guided missiles poured from the pods attached to the sword sheaths. Following their programmed coordinates, the missiles struck the enemy’s vital points with precision.
“Namo Amitabha… the vibration of this Gatling gun sounds just like a wooden temple block. Thrrrr….”
Even the Shaolin Monk temporarily forgot the precept against killing—the logic being that machines were not living beings—and vented stress by unleashing a medium machine gun.
Overwhelming firepower. The might of the “Cyber Murim Alliance,” born from the fusion of Murim Alliance martial arts and AI Empire technology, was formidable indeed.
Yet there were eyes observing this glorious spectacle with cold cynicism.
At the rear of the battlefield, on the rooftop of a safe abandoned building, I stood with arms crossed, monitoring a holographic dashboard, while beside me, Ma Dong-tak—a imposing figure with a fierce expression—was warming up.
“Director Ma, how long do you think that will last?”
“Hard to say. If they keep burning through it like that, maybe ten minutes? Actually, I doubt they’ll make it five.”
Ma Dong-tak answered while cracking his neck with an audible crunch. And Kim Chun-sam, crouched at my feet and live-streaming this spectacle on his smartphone, giggled.
“Master, battery at 5% remaining. Those old guys are running ‘overclocking’ in their excitement, so power consumption is triple. The ‘power depletion ending’ should trigger soon. Popcorn time.”
“Get ready. Hell’s gate opens soon.”
My prophecy became reality in less than a minute.
The noise of the battlefield ceased in an instant.
Piiuuuung….
Tick.
The light from the plasma blade that Namgoong Cheon had been wielding so ferociously vanished as if it were a lie. The majestic roar of plasma, the red sword aura—all extinguished with a pathetic mechanical beep. What remained was nothing but a grotesque metal club with frayed wiring.
“Huh…?”
Namgoong Cheon stared blankly down at the sword’s hilt. He frantically pressed the switch, but only a red warning light blinked in response.
“F-Family Head! The missiles won’t fire! The launch button isn’t responding!”
“My Gatling gun’s stopped too! The barrel won’t spin!”
Panicked voices erupted from all directions. Every new weapon they possessed had fallen silent simultaneously. Battery depletion. Unlike infinite inner energy, the power of science had clear, definite limits.
And breaking that silence came the cold mechanical hum of the enemy.
[Threat factors eliminated.]
[No energy response detected. Slaughter mode reactivated.]
Whirrrrr—
Click.
The Empire’s mechanical legions, which had paused momentarily, began advancing once more. Hundreds, thousands of crimson optical sensors fixed their gaze upon the defenseless martial artists.
“D-Dammit! Alliance Leader! Alliance Leader!! The blade won’t ignite!”
Namgoong Cheon spun around desperately, his voice sharp with urgency. The laser cannon began to gleam as it powered up.
“E-Evade! Channel your protective aura… Argh!”
The martial artists, already accustomed to wielding weapons and negligent in their inner energy defense, scrambled backward in disarray. But the encirclement was already complete. A desperate, inescapable crisis.
Then, through the loudspeaker, Jin-hyuk’s voice echoed across the battlefield.
“Ah, microphone test. Everyone can hear me, right? Don’t panic.”
“M-Master! What’s happening! The blade is dead!”
“It’s not dead—it’s out of juice. I told you this earlier. Use it sparingly. Who told you to fire at full power like that?”
Jin-hyuk’s voice carried a note of exasperation. He sounded like a father scolding his son for racking up a massive bill after using unlimited data without restraint.
“Then what do we do! A battery! Give us a new battery!”
“There isn’t one. We’ve used them all. What’s there is my entire fortune.”
“W-What?!”
The martial artists’ faces went ashen. The enemy was closing in, and all they held were chunks of scrap metal.
“However, it’s not as if we have no options.”
Jin-hyuk smiled wickedly and gave a signal.
“Luna! Deploy it!”
Whoooosh!
A drone descended from the sky and scattered something over the martial artists’ heads—dozens of thick cables bundled together, each fitted with sharp probes and patches at the ends.
“W-What is this?”
“Now, everyone pay attention. We’re about to activate the ‘Hybrid Charging System.’ If we don’t have a battery, what else should we use?”
Jin-hyuk spoke coldly and decisively.
“That thing below your navel, in your dantian—is it just decoration? Are you saving it to make soup?”
“Y-You can’t mean… you want us to use our inner energy?”
“Bingo. Luna developed the ‘Qi-to-Electricity Conversion Adapter.’ Attach it to your navel and lower back, circulate your inner energy, and generate your own power to activate the weapons! Execute immediately!”
The martial artists were horrified. To use their sacred inner energy as mere batteries? This was something their pride as warriors could never accept.
“Preposterous! Inner energy is the lifeblood of a warrior! How could we channel our vital essence into such crude machinery!”
The Huashan Sect Elder was about to throw down the cables in protest when—
BOOM!
The ground trembled. Through the dust, a massive shadow landed behind the Huashan Sect Elder. A shirt straining against rippling muscle, a menacing expression, and a club gripped in hand.
It was Ma Dong-tak.
“Hey there, old man. Doesn’t seem like the time to be picky about your options.”
Ma Dong-tak seized the Elder’s shoulder. His grip was so powerful that the Elder’s bones screamed in protest.
“Ugh, argh! Who are you!”
“Me? I’m a ‘Personal Trainer’ sent here at the Director’s request. Now hurry up and plug in. You know my temper’s short, right?”
Ma Dong-tak’s gaze was lethal. The thousands of robots before them seemed far less terrifying than this muscle-bound monster at their backs.
“Do it! Come on, move! Don’t be slow!”
Ma Dong-tak brought his club down against the floor. The concrete cracked with a sharp snap.
“Hiii, hiiiek!”
The elders reluctantly affixed power transmission patches to their dantians and vital meridian points, tears streaming down their faces. Then they connected adapters to their weapons.
“Begin the energy circulation!”
At Ma Dong-tak’s command, the martial artists let out synchronized battle cries.
“Hup! Hup!”
A low hum filled the air as inner energy drawn from the dantians flowed through the power lines. Faint light began to emanate from the grip of the previously dormant plasma blade.
“It… it’s working! The light is coming on!”
Namgoong Cheon cheered. But the light merely flickered like a firefly, producing none of the powerful plasma from before.
“What is this? Why is the output so weak? The voltage is too low!”
Jin-hyuk, watching from the rooftop, shouted with frustration in his voice.
“Are you serious? You call yourselves the greatest masters under heaven, and that’s all you can produce? Push harder! Faster!”
“Th-this is our limit! The machine is draining our inner energy far too quickly!”
Namgoong Cheon’s face went pale. The sensation of his energy being drained felt like being subjected to the Star Absorption Technique. His qi streamed away in torrents.
“Director Ma! Please provide some… motivation!”
At Jin-hyuk’s call, Ma Dong-tak grinned wickedly.
“Understood. It seems our members need a bit more incentive.”
Ma Dong-tak began weaving through the ranks of martial artists.
“You there, third row! Straighten your back! Not channeling enough energy into your dantian? You’ll lose muscle mass!”
Smack!
“Aaaagh!”
Ma Dong-tak’s palm struck the back of a lazy martial artist. It was no mere blow—it was shock therapy, forcibly opening blocked meridians through violent impact.
“Faster! Harder! Your lives depend on it! If the generator stops, you all die here today!”
“Grraaagh! Keep it going! Keep it going!”
Fear was the greatest motivator. The martial artists squeezed out every last ounce of strength to avoid Ma Dong-tak’s strikes and to survive, channeling their inner energy with desperate intensity.
“Hyaaah!”
Whirrrrr—
Whirrrring—!
The entire Murim Alliance had become a colossal power plant. As dozens of masters poured forth their inner energy, which was converted into electrical power, the machines shrieked to life.
Boom!
An explosive pillar of light erupted from Namgoong Cheon’s plasma blade. It was no longer red. Depending on the purity of the inner energy, golden, azure, and violet hues swirled together in an ethereal and unstable luminescence.
“Ohhh…! The output… it’s overflowing!”
Namgoong Cheon’s hands trembled violently. The vibrations from the blade transmitted all the way to his shoulders. This was something beyond science.
“Now, we counterattack! Sweep them away!”
Jin-hyuk’s command rang out.
“Let’s go! You damned metal scrap heaps!”
Namgoong Cheon swung the golden plasma blade.
Shuwoooosh!
It was on an entirely different level. Before the blade even made contact, the sword energy that erupted forth vaporized five robots in the front row in a single stroke.
“Kraaagh! My inner energy… it’s being drained! But the power… the power is boundless!”
The Huashan Sect Elders unleashed a barrage of missiles with reckless abandon. These were no ordinary explosives—their warheads were infused with inner energy, and with each detonation, the fragrance of plum blossoms shimmered through the air while azure shockwaves rippled outward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“This is hybrid technology! Experience the power of eco-friendly bio-energy!”
Kim Chun-sam chimed in from the side with his running commentary.
“Wow, carbon neutral! Perfect green energy. But is it just me, or are the users getting progressively thinner?”
Kim Chun-sam’s observation was spot on. The martial artists’ cheeks were hollowing out, and dark circles deepened beneath their eyes. The depletion of inner energy was severe.
But they couldn’t stop. Ma Dong-tak was glaring at them from behind.
“You there, Gae Bang Bang-ju! Your pace is slowing? Want to do another set?”
“N-no! I’ll go faster! Ahhhhhhh!”
Gae Bang Bang-ju wailed as he swung the modified striking rod—an EMP generator—with renewed vigor.
The battlefield was pure chaos. Ancient martial artists, now human generators, powered state-of-the-art weapons drained of their batteries. And behind them stood Ma Dong-tak, a fitness trainer wielding his whip.
“Push forward! Hill 300… no, all the way to the Production Factory entrance!”
Ma Dong-tak wasn’t merely offering encouragement. He carved a path through the oncoming enemies, pulverizing them with his bare fists.
Crack! Crunch!
“Ugh, so annoying. Get out of my way!”
With each swing of his fist, robots forged from special alloys crumpled like paper and flew backward. The martial artists, witnessing this display, squeezed out their inner energy in terror.
“If that monster catches us, there won’t even be bones left to bury… it’s better to collapse from exhausted inner energy!”
When the battle ended, the outer reaches of Floor 12 lay in complete devastation. The enemies were annihilated, and the martial artists sprawled across the ground, gasping for breath.
“Haa… haa… Alliance Leader… is it… finally over…?”
Namgoong Cheon asked with hollow eyes. His robe was drenched in sweat, and his hands trembled with spasms. He was on the verge of complete inner energy depletion.
“Yes, thank you for your hard work. We saved a fortune on fuel costs.”
Jin-hyuk descended with a refreshed expression. He walked among the fallen robots, methodically extracting only the valuable cores.
“Come now, everyone up. Lying around will give you a stroke. Ma, why don’t you lead them through some cool-down exercises?”
“You’re a demon… you’re truly a demon….”
Resentful glares poured down upon Jin-hyuk, but he paid them no mind.
“Oh, and since you’ve expended so much inner energy, you must be feeling depleted, yes? I’m selling special ‘mana potions’ here. Ten cores per bottle.”
Jin-hyuk produced a blue potion that Luna had crafted—with materials costing virtually nothing.
“Water… costs money…?”
“Of course. This is a capitalist society. If you don’t like it, you can just lie there and suffer.”
“Please… give it to us….”
In the end, the martial artists had no choice but to surrender the components salvaged from the robots they’d destroyed with their lives on the line, then purchase the potions to drink.
Watching this unfold, Kim Chun-sam shook his head in disbelief.
“Ruthless, absolutely ruthless. Squeezing blood from a stone. Master, you’re not planning to discard me like this later, are you?”
“I’m getting you an RTX 9090.”
“Put it in writing. I’m getting it notarized.”
Ma Dong-tak flicked Kim Chun-sam on the head from beside him.
“Shut up, tin can. Starting tomorrow, you’re doing some cardio. You reek of grease.”
“Eek! Yes, boss!”
The night deepened on Floor 12, and the Cyber Murim Alliance’s grueling conquest continued. But they remained unaware that Deus, the ruler of Floor 12, was observing all this chaos and preparing a new ‘natural predator’.
[Warning. Irregular variable ‘Ma Dong-tak’ identified.]
[Physical Impact Resistant Unit ‘T-3000’ deployment ready.]
An adversary was approaching—one against which Jin-hyuk’s cunning, Ma Dong-tak’s fists, and Kim Chun-sam’s silver tongue would all prove utterly useless.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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