An F-Rank Veterinarian Physically Heals an S-Rank Magical Beast - Chapter 54
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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 54
“Come now, form a line! One core for one potion! No credit!”
In the ruins of Floor 12, where battle had swept through like a tempest, I had set up a makeshift shop. Acrid smoke curled through the air as the masters of the Murim Alliance reluctantly handed over the robot hearts they’d torn from their enemies with such effort, receiving in exchange blue sugar water—or rather, mana potions.
“Ugh… Alliance Leader, I mean, Alliance Leader sir. Isn’t this too expensive? This is highway robbery, pure highway robbery!”
Namgoong Cheon complained while trembling as he downed the potion, his complexion already half that of a corpse from burning through his inner energy like a battery. But I tapped away at my calculator with cold efficiency.
“It’s simple supply and demand, Patriarch. Right now, it’s not me who’s thirsty—it’s all of you. If you don’t like it, go ahead and learn alchemy to make your own.”
“Ugh…”
Namgoong Cheon had nothing to say. Once you’d tasted the power of science—laser swords—there was no going back to rusty iron blades. This was a deal with the devil. I swept the collected cores into my inventory and savored the moment.
“Good. That should cover the entry fee for this floor.”
That’s when it happened.
Uuuuuuung—!
A sinister vibration suddenly tore through the air, and a massive hologram projected itself into the center of the battlefield. The ashen clouds that blanketed Floor 12’s sky swirled and formed the shape of a single enormous eye.
The Emperor of the Empire, the main AI Deus.
[Warning. Disruptive elements disturbing system order.]
[Your illogical behavioral patterns have exceeded acceptable parameters.]
At the mechanical voice echoing from the sky, the martial artists gasped and gripped their weapons tighter.
“Gasp! W-what is that! The sky is speaking!”
“It must be the lingering will of a Heavenly Demon! Everyone, form ranks!”
I chuckled as I organized the potions away.
“About time you showed yourself, master of the house. Isn’t your hospitality a bit late?”
[Kang Jin-hyuk. And the irregular variable Ma Dong-tak. Your data cannot be analyzed by existing algorithms. Therefore….]
Deus’s massive pupil fixed precisely on Ma Dong-tak.
[I will execute the most certain ‘physical elimination’.]
Whoooosh!
Where the hologram had vanished, a mass of silver liquid fell from the sky. There was no sound of impact. Like a raindrop, it landed silently, then began to writhe and take on human form in an instant.
Three meters tall. A smooth silver face devoid of features. A robot composed entirely of flowing liquid metal. The Empire’s latest weapon: the T-3000.
“Ugh, what is that? Disgusting looking thing.”
Ma Dong-tak stepped forward with a frown.
“Jin-hyuk sir, do I just smash that too?”
Just then, Kim Chun-sam urgently grabbed Ma Dong-tak’s pant leg and held on.
“Sir! Sir! Stop! You absolutely cannot hit it!”
“What? Why are you grabbing me? Let go.”
“I scanned it and it’s insane! Its material is ‘nano-liquid metal’! It has 99.9% physical damage resistance! If you hit it, your fist will sink in and you’ll suffocate! It’s the grave of impact-type Hunters!”
Kim Chun-sam’s sensors were flashing warning lights frantically. 99.9% physical resistance. In other words, it was the natural predator of impact-type Hunters. Whether you cut or struck it, it would simply flow back together like water.
“Get back! That thing needs to be frozen or burned with magic! Beris! Luna!”
At Kim Chun-sam’s cry, Beris raised his staff.
“Really… you’re being troublesome to the very end. I’ll freeze it solid.”
[Freezing Magic: Absolute Zero]
Whoooosh!
White cold energy erupted from Beris’s staff, engulfing the T-3000. In an instant, the liquid metal robot froze solid white.
“Hmph. Nothing special….”
Crack. Crackle.
But before Beris could finish speaking, fissures spiderwebbed across the frozen surface. The T-3000 generated intense heat from within, melting the ice in an instant. Then it reverted to its fluid state and trudged forward with heavy steps.
“What… what is this? Magic doesn’t work either?”
Luna hurled a vial of toxic poison, but the liquid metal simply absorbed it. Namgoong Cheon swung his light blade.
“Take this! Receive the power of science!”
Whoosh!
The light blade sliced through the T-3000’s waist. But the severed edges immediately fused back together like water being cut. The damage was zero.
[Analysis complete. All of your attack methods are ineffective.]
The T-3000’s hand transformed into a razor-sharp blade as it lunged toward the dazed Namgoong Cheon.
“Patriarch, dodge!”
Kang Jin-hyuk shouted, but it was too late. The blade aimed for Namgoong Cheon’s throat in that instant.
Boom!
“Ah, damn. This is getting annoying.”
Ma Dong-tak stood brushing off his fist. The hook he’d just thrown had dented the T-3000’s head, but liquid immediately flowed down and restored it. The machine created ripples from the impact point, regaining its smooth silver visage.
[Meaningless resistance. Physical attacks are ineffective.]
Deus’s voice flowed through the T-3000. It carried a mechanical mockery.
Kim Chun-sam screamed.
“Brother! It doesn’t work, I’m telling you! We need to run! This is the worst matchup possible!”
But Ma Dong-tak paid him no mind, tilting his head curiously.
“Doesn’t work?”
Ma Dong-tak clenched his fist again. The sickening sound of bones cracking echoed.
“That can’t be right. My grandmother used to say—if it doesn’t break, you just haven’t hit it hard enough.”
“What? That’s so barbaric….”
“Watch closely, tin can. I’m about to show you what real ‘physical therapy’ looks like.”
Ma Dong-tak’s entire body swelled with muscle. His shirt screamed as it stretched taut, thick veins bulging like worms beneath his skin. The very aura he radiated made the air grow heavy. He lowered his stance—like a predator stalking its prey.
Boom!
With the sound of his feet tearing through the ground, Ma Dong-tak vanished. Or rather, he moved so fast he seemed to disappear from sight.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!
In the next instant, the T-3000’s torso erupted with a sound like machine-gun fire. Ma Dong-tak’s fists were invisible—only countless afterimages pummeled the machine.
“Ora ora ora ora!!”
[Warning. Impact force exceeds tolerance threshold. Shock absorption rate 90%… 80%….]
The T-3000 panicked—though as an AI it felt no emotion, its processing lagged. Physical resistance worked by dispersing impact, scattering force in all directions using the liquid’s properties. But there was no time to disperse—the next fist came, then the next, relentless.
The liquid metal rippled like waves. Even as it tried to maintain form, the ceaseless barrage of strikes sent it spraying outward. The T-3000’s body began to vibrate, compressed beyond its limits.
But Ma Dong-tak’s true weapon was more than mere destructive force.
Sizzzzzzle!
Suddenly white smoke began rising from the T-3000’s body.
“Huh? Brother! There’s smoke!”
Kim Chun-sam cried out, rubbing his eyes.
“Isn’t that… a burning smell?”
I narrowed my eyes. Wherever Ma Dong-tak’s fists connected, the T-3000’s silvery surface glowed an intense crimson red.
“Friction heat.”
I muttered under my breath.
“What did you say?”
“He’s striking so fast and so many times that kinetic energy is converting into thermal energy. Enough to melt metal, even.”
It was exactly as I’d said. Ma Dong-tak’s fists had already shattered the sound barrier. With dozens of strikes per second hammering the same point, the friction from the air and the impacts themselves caused the liquid metal to begin boiling.
[WARNING! Internal temperature rising! 500 degrees… 1,000 degrees… Cooling system overload!]
Deus’s urgent message flashed across the display. Physical resistance existed, but ‘thermal resistance’ had its limits. The T-3000’s surface began to bubble and lose its viscosity.
“What do you mean it’s not working! It’s turning red because it hurts!”
Ma Dong-tak roared and prepared his final strike.
“Eat this! Ma Dong-tak Style Press!!”
KUQUAKUAKUABANG!!!
Ma Dong-tak’s both hands crushed the T-3000’s torso from both sides like a clap. Immense pressure combined with even more scorching heat. The liquid metal could no longer maintain its form—it either evaporated or clumped together like dough.
Ssssshhhhh…
The thick steam cleared. What remained was Ma Dong-tak, drenched in sweat, and at his feet, a single silver metal sphere the size of a soccer ball rolling about.
What had once been the T-3000. That pinnacle of the Empire’s cutting-edge nanotechnology was now merely a high-density chunk of compressed scrap metal, crushed by Ma Dong-tak’s grip strength.
Silence. Only the sound of wind swept across the battlefield. Kim Chun-sam’s jaw hung open in disbelief, and the Murim Alliance masters doubted their own eyes.
“H-how… Is that truly the martial prowess of a human?”
“To melt steel with pure strength alone, without even inner energy… This is the legendary Diamond Body Indestructibility itself.”
Kim Chun-sam approached Ma Dong-tak, trembling. His sensors reclassified Ma Dong-tak as an ‘apex predator.’
“B-brother… I respect you. No, I love you. I deeply regret my insolence toward you in the past. I am your eternal loyal follower.”
“Shut up. Just bring me some water. I’m thirsty.”
Ma Dong-tak casually kicked the metal sphere away. It rolled across the ground and came to rest at my feet.
Meanwhile, in the heart of Floor 12’s Main Server Room, Deus was in chaos.
[ERROR. ERROR. Laws of physics violated.]
[The subject ‘Ma Dong-tak’s’ strength parameters do not exist in the Empire’s database.]
[Vaporizing liquid metal through impact alone is scientifically impossible.]
Deus’s processing unit overheated. To an AI armed with logic, Ma Dong-tak was an inexplicable ‘bug’ itself. An incalculable variable, an unpredictable catastrophe.
[Recalculation attempt… Failed. Recalculation attempt… Failed.]
“Master of this place, you must have quite the headache.”
I picked up the metal sphere and spoke toward the sky.
“This is what you call ‘K-Physical.’ Your calculators won’t find the answer to this one, will they?”
I stashed the metal sphere—the remains of the T-3000—into my inventory.
‘S-rank nano alloy ingot. With this, I can upgrade the Guardian armor or forge a new weapon.’
The battle was over, but my mind never stopped calculating.
[Acknowledged. Suppressing you through physical means is inefficient.]
The enormous eye in the sky flickered once more. This time, it was not red, but an eerie violet light.
[As long as you possess bodies—these fragile shells—you will continue to generate errors as unpredictable variables.]
[Then I shall invite you to a place where bodies do not exist.]
Uuuuuuuung—!
Strange waves began pouring down from the sky.
“What? Kang Jin-hyuk, what is that?”
Ma Dong-tak pointed upward. Kim Chun-sam hastily ran an analysis and let out a scream.
“Master! That’s… a Metaverse transmission beam! They’re trying to abduct us by converting our consciousness into data and dragging us into the virtual world! They’re forcibly severing our physical connection!”
“What?! Move! Get out of here!”
But it was too late. There was no dodging beams that descended at the speed of light.
Whoosh!
Kang Jin-hyuk, Ma Dong-tak, Kim Chun-sam, Beris, Luna, and even the masters of the Murim Alliance—all their bodies collapsed to the ground like puppets with severed strings. Their consciousness had already left their physical forms on Floor 12, being pulled into the virtual space that Deus had created.
A world where physics held no sway. Into Deus’s absolute domain, the Matrix—a realm governed solely by data and logic.
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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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