The All-Time Best Talent was F-Class Purification - Chapter 48

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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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48
Chapter 48 – An Elite Talent Awakened as an F-Rank Purifier
Wiiiiing—!
The alarm blaring from the Central Control Room felt like it was tearing my eardrums apart. Beyond the window, the drilling pipe had transcended crimson, now glowing white-hot, and high-pressure steam hissed violently from every seam with a piercing screech.
[Warning: Pressure exceeds 300%.]
[Explosion imminent. Countdown: 180 seconds.]
“Damn it… we’re too late.”
Lee Ji-young reached for the control console, but it wouldn’t respond.
“The control codes aren’t working… there’s no signal. We’ll have to… close it manually. Directly.”
“Directly? You want me to walk into that inferno?”
Seo Eun-ha pointed at the drilling machine. The temperature around it already exceeded 2,000 degrees—anything that approached would evaporate instantly.
“There’s no other way.”
I stripped off my tactical jacket. The shirt underneath was already drenched in sweat.
“I’ll go.”
“Are you insane, Director?”
Park Jae-jung grabbed my arm.
“No matter how strong your purification abilities are, that’s physical heat. Without flame resistance, how do you expect to survive?”
“I have something to rely on.”
I pointed to Park Jae-jung’s Black Mamba Armor.
“Your armor and Eun-ha’s cooling magic. I’ll synchronize with both.”
“What?”
“I’ll temporarily overlay your mana and the armor’s properties onto my body. I just need to endure for thirty seconds—until I reach the pipe.”
It was madness. Forcibly fusing another person’s mana and metallic properties into a human body… if it failed, my body could rupture. But there was no other choice.
“…Understood.”
Park Jae-jung, his expression anxious, detached the breastplate from his armor and pressed it against my chest. Seo Eun-ha placed her staff on my shoulder. Han Su-jin placed her hand on my back from behind.
“Beginning now.”
Uuuung—!
Three different forces poured into my body. I felt like I would burst. Park Jae-jung’s solidity, Seo Eun-ha’s chill, Han Su-jin’s vitality. All three powers tore through my veins as they flooded in. There was no time to scream. The pain was overwhelming, but only for a moment—I channeled my synchronization energy to bind those forces into one.
In an instant, a thin black metallic membrane and blue frost erupted across my skin simultaneously.
“I’m going.”
I shattered the control room glass and leaped toward the drilling machine.
Whoooosh!
Scorching heat assaulted my body with ferocious intensity. I heard that dreadful sizzling sound—skin crackling. But thanks to the protective barrier created by my comrades’ power, I could endure it.
“Aaahhh!”
The moment my feet touched the white-hot drilling pipe, my thoughts shattered. The agony of my soles burning consumed my consciousness. Every nerve in my body screamed.
I forced myself to focus, drove my white fang—my dagger—into the pipe’s seam to anchor myself, then brought my gauntleted hand to the main valve.
But the valve wouldn’t budge. It had already melted, fused with the pipe itself. Turning it to close was impossible.
Then… was there a way to drain the energy?
I synchronized my gauntlet… my hand… my nervous system with the drilling pipe. It was a gamble, but I had no choice. I couldn’t just walk away and do nothing.
Craaaash!
An explosion erupted in my mind like the universe itself was detonating. This was no mere monster’s mana.
‘Who dares… to awaken me, you insignificant insect…?’
A colossal will reverberated through my consciousness. Whether it was the will of this polluted Earth or its fury, I couldn’t tell—but it felt like it was trying to devour my very mind.
‘Shut your mouth, you bastard.’
I clenched my teeth so hard I thought they might shatter.
‘I didn’t come here to wake you. I came to clean up the filthy sewage you’re spewing.’
[Purification.]
I ignited the flames of purification by burning every ounce of my life force. The black pollutants flowing backward through the pipe began to burn white as they passed through my body. I had become a human filter.
“Gaaahhhhh—!”
The pain that suddenly struck me transcended imagination. It felt like molten lava was being injected into every blood vessel. But I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t let go, and if I did, everything might end.
“Boss!”
“Tae-hyun!”
“Hold on! Please…!”
My colleagues’ screams seemed to reach me. Han Su-jin’s healing continuously poured in, repairing my burned nerves only for them to burn again in an endless cycle.
[System: Limit Breakthrough.]
[Latent talent awakens.]
In this extreme situation, I heard something transforming within my core.
My D-rank vessel shattered, and a larger, more resilient one formed in its place. A complete cycle was established—one that absorbed the polluted mana of this Earth, purified it, and converted it into my own power.
[Rank Ascension: C-rank.]
[Skill Evolution: Purification → Sanctification.]
A pillar of white flame erupted from my body. The inferno traveled through the drilling pipe, extending deep into the underground. The pollutants flowing backward were consumed by those flames and dissipated.
Whoooosh—
The drilling machine’s deafening noise subsided, and the pipe that had glowed white gradually cooled to red, then black.
[Pressure Normalized.]
[Explosion Risk Averted.]
“…Haa… haa…!”
I sprawled across the pipe. My gauntlets had overheated and shattered, and my clothes were completely burned to tatters. But I was alive. And within my body, the vast amount of energy I’d just absorbed was pulsing like a new heart.
“…Success.”
I clenched my fist. It felt much lighter and stronger.
But relief came too soon. Though I’d prevented the explosion, gases had already leaked through the valve cracks.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
An ominous vibration rose from deep underground. The polluted energy that couldn’t explode was spreading in all directions, seeping through the cracks in the ground.
“Look at this.”
Lee Ji-young pointed at the monitor with a hardened expression from the control room.
The screen displayed not only the map of Zone 9 but also the adjacent Lower District, both now stained red.
[Warning: Pollutant Backflow.]
[High-concentration Mana Fog Spreading to Lower District.]
The bomb hadn’t detonated, but the polluted gas had dispersed. And within that fog, signals from A-rank and S-rank monsters hiding deep underground began appearing one after another.
[Dominion Central Control Room Connection Request.]
Then the main screen in the control room flickered to life with static, and the face of a man in an immaculate suit appeared. It was Kang Chang-gyung. He gazed down at us with a leisurely expression, wine glass in hand.
“You’ve done well, Moonglade. Thanks to you, we’ve prevented the catastrophic explosion.”
“Kang Chang-gyung… this bastard…”
I couldn’t contain my rage.
“However, it’s unfortunate. Your reckless work has caused toxic gases to leak out. You see, Dominion prioritizes citizen safety above all else.”
He laughed mockingly and pressed a button.
“Therefore, we’ve decided to seal all gates leading to the Lower District. We can’t have the contamination spreading to the upper levels.”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sound of explosions echoed as not only Basement Level 3, but also the entrance we’d descended through and every elevator and corridor connecting the Lower District to the Middle District collapsed in a cascade of destruction.
“Go ahead and play hero down there. You rats can keep each other company.”
Click. The communication cut off.
We were trapped. Surrounded by the pouring flood of monsters, abandoned in this forsaken land.
This was Dominion’s true plan. Cutting off the tail. And perfect isolation.
I tore off my shattered gauntlets and glared at the pitch-black screen that had already gone dark.
“So… they’ve closed the door.”
A fury that threatened to explode surged through me, reaching the very tips of my hair.
“That door… I will absolutely open it again…”
Rumble—.
The ground beneath my feet began to convulse. Dust and concrete fragments rained down from the ceiling as the bombs Dominion had detonated shook not just the entrance we’d come through, but the entire structural framework supporting this underground facility.
“Hurry. We’re going to be buried…”
At Lee Ji-young’s cry, I snapped back to reality. Fresh vitality from my promotion to C-rank coursed through my veins, but the burns and muscle soreness from synchronizing with the drilling pipe still throbbed painfully.
“Director, let me carry you.”
Park Jae-jung offered his back to me.
“No. I can run on my own. Just grab the equipment.”
I refused and staggered to my feet. A leader cannot become a burden. Han Su-jin rushed over and urgently cast her healing light upon me. Warm energy enveloped my scorched skin.
“Let’s go. The elevators are dead. We’ll take the emergency stairs.”
We fled the Central Control Room toward the emergency exit. Behind us, the red warning lights continued to spin, and from the now-silent drilling machine came the cooling metallic sounds of cooling metal.
Basement Level 2. The laboratory district where we’d held Lee Jin-sung’s funeral.
“Huff… huff…”
Our breathing grew ragged as we climbed the stairs. With the power cut, we were engulfed in pitch darkness—only Seo Eun-ha’s staff light and our helmet lamps illuminated the way forward.
“Wait.”
I raised my hand to stop us. The laboratory corridor had collapsed. The ceiling had caved in, blocking half the passage, and shattered fragments of culture tanks jutted from the floor like blades.
“We’ll have to crawl through. Be careful.”
We moved forward on our bellies, squeezing through the gaps in the debris. The stench of dried green culture medium and the lingering reek of decomposing corpses assaulted our nostrils.
“…I’m sorry.”
Han Su-jin whispered softly, looking toward Lee Jin-sung’s research lab buried beneath the rubble. We had cremated him, but this hellish space where he’d been trapped was now collapsing forever.
Basement Level 1. The concourse filled with skeletal remains.
“We’re almost there.”
As I bounded up the final flight of stairs, the familiar turnstiles came into view. But the situation was dire. The exit to the surface—the stairwell entrance where we’d descended in the Moon Rover—was completely blocked by massive chunks of concrete.
“…Damn it.”
Park Jae-jung tried to push the debris aside with his shield, but the weight of hundreds of tons wouldn’t budge an inch.
“It’s completely collapsed. We can’t get out this way.”
Lee Ji-young’s voice came through, tinged with despair.
“We need to find another exit. A ventilation shaft, the sewers, anything….”
“Probably… the ventilation shaft is blocked too.”
The ventilation shaft, the sewers—all possible entry and exit points were likely sealed.
“But they wouldn’t have touched this.”
I pointed toward the platform tracks. The subway tunnel where trains once ran.
“We’ll follow the tracks. Since Guro Digital Complex Station is above ground, if we follow the tunnel, we’ll eventually reach an exit that leads outside.”
“What about the Moon Rover? Are you planning to abandon the vehicle?”
Seo Eun-ha asked.
“No. We’re taking it with us.”
I gazed at the Moon Rover parked in the corner of the concourse. Fortunately, it had escaped being crushed by the debris and remained intact.
“We’ll lower the vehicle onto the tracks.”
“What? There are no stairs…”
“We’ll push it.”
We positioned ourselves behind the vehicle and applied our strength. Using Park Jae-jung’s monstrous power and my enhanced physical capabilities, we pushed the car toward the platform railing.
“One, two, three!”
Crash! Boom!
The heavy Moon Rover smashed through the railing and plummeted onto the tracks below. Though it was a two-meter drop, the specially modified suspension absorbed the impact with a groan.
“Everyone aboard! From here on, we move by vehicle.”
Vroooom—.
The Moon Rover tore through the dark tunnel. Its massive wheels devoured the gravel-covered tracks as it surged forward.
“Watch ahead. This is a nest of Pale Creepers.”
Lee Ji-young was monitoring the area with her Eye of Truth.
“Screeeee.”
The moment she finished speaking, pale monsters hanging from the ceiling dropped onto the vehicle. Crash! Crash!
“Damn, these persistent bastards!”
Seo Eun-ha rolled down the window and thrust her staff outside.
[Fire Bolt – Rapid Fire]
Red flashes erupted within the tunnel. The deafening explosions in the confined space hammered against our eardrums, but it was enough to shake the creatures off.
Five minutes later. A faint gray light appeared at the tunnel’s end.
“The exit.”
Crash! The vehicle burst through a dilapidated fence and shot outside. We had finally returned to the surface—to the ruins of Zone 9.
But there was no joy in it. The landscape above ground had become far more horrifying than when we’d entered.
[Warning: Atmospheric contamination at lethal levels.]
The underground had been purified, but the erupted gases now blanketed the surface. Visibility didn’t exceed five meters, and within the mist, the shadows of enlarged monsters writhed and twisted.

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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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