The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 424

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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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Yeo Joo Saves the World
Part 3, Episode 28

The Bio-Mother—the very source of chimera synthesis technology.
The creature that had consumed the nutrient solution to elevate its combat prowess and completed an emergency synthesis now paradoxically bore a form closer to that of a pure human.
Save for the undulating tentacles rippling across its back and the newly formed eyes on both shoulders, one might mistake it for a tall human woman with pallid skin.
The fact that it even wore a crudely fashioned black garment only reinforced this illusion.
Yet there was no time to marvel at the Bio-Mother’s transformed appearance.
“SS…?”
Someone muttered in disbelief.
A rank never before witnessed struck like a thunderbolt.
“That… was even possible?”
“An SS-rank…?”
Even Oh Young In and Bang Wi Jin, typically restrained in their expressions, could not conceal their shock.
They looked utterly dumbfounded.
Though no rulebook existed, everyone had believed S-rank to be the highest tier an awakener or monster could achieve.
I was no less shaken than they were.
‘Does the sixth-tier Dungeon Break truly have to occur?’
I had thought it merely a matter of time constraints.
Thus, if we could shorten the conquest duration, I believed we had a genuine chance at victory.
Yet here we stood, facing an SS-rank monster while Kang Han himself remained at S-rank.
The rank assigned to an awakener represents the ‘zenith of potential’—the upper limit of power their granted skills could manifest.
By contrast, a monster’s rank served as a measure of difficulty.
It was a metric that simply reflected how arduous it would be to erase this creature’s existence from the world.
‘Is it… possible?’
I was adrift, searching for an answer to this futile yet inevitable question, when—
The desolate silence that had settled over us shattered with Kang Han’s voice.
“Justice Guild.”
The guild members snapped to attention, and even the Bio-Mother’s gaze turned toward him.
The protagonist of this world—the one who alone had not extinguished the flame of determination while all others lost their way—spoke.
“We will close this Gate with our own hands.”

* * *

Kang Han tightened his grip on the Muk Chang, his knuckles whitening with tension.
My skin prickled at the overwhelming aura emanating from the monster bearing the grandiose name Bio-Mother.
Since reclaiming my S-rank power, I had never experienced such a sense of dread.
It whispered that victory was impossible, that I should flee.
I did not resist the warning my survival instinct sent.
Instead, I embraced it.
The helplessness of confronting a hopeless situation.
It was familiar to me.
That was why I could remain composed.
I realized that the terrible, agonizing past had become solid ground beneath my feet in this very moment—something I could stand upon and push forward from.
It would be difficult.
I would have to sacrifice everything, perhaps even my life.
Yet my objective remained unchanged.
‘I will hold the line here.’
Kang Han turned his head one last time to look back at Yeo Joo, then drew upon his power.
Because there was something I needed to protect.
Crackle—crackle—crackle!
Yellow and white sparks enveloped my entire body, and Bio-Mother’s blood-red lips curved into a smile.
[ “Self-destruct protocol, resuming.” ]
The red numbers on the frozen timer began moving again.
One second, one second, and then at some point the pace accelerated.
[ “Countdown acceleration.” ]

* * *

Crack!
As I severed the tentacle, black blood sprayed in all directions. I leaned my upper body back to avoid it.
Yet the sticky fluid still soiled my sleeve.
I clicked my tongue in annoyance and swung my sword, wreathed in blue flames, in a wide arc.
I intended to sever two at once, but only one was cut by the blade.
Whoosh—!
Detecting something lunging at my face from the edge of my vision, I flicked my left hand and hurled a blue fireball.
“Kiieeek!”
Thud.
The tentacle with a snake-like head writhed on the ground, engulfed in blue flames.
Though I had thought of them as mere appendages connected to the Bio-Mother’s body, like arms or legs, they were independent entities.
Depending on the moment, they sprouted heads like this one, or transformed into blade-like shapes.
While each individual attack posed no serious threat, their erratic patterns and endless regeneration even after being severed made them troublesome opponents.
If only more hunters had rushed in, these tentacles would have been no problem at all.
“Evade!”
“Don’t let that one escape—capture it!”
Clang! Rat-a-tat-tat!
With the second battle came more than just a resumed countdown.
As if the previous monster rush had been merely a taste, increasingly numerous and grotesque chimeras poured forth without respite.
Because of this, I alone faced the tentacles.
Boom—!
A deafening roar unlike anything before erupted from elsewhere.
It came from where the Bio-Mother’s main body was being directly engaged.
“Damn it.”
Even as I relentlessly severed tentacles, my gaze turned toward that direction.
‘Yeo Joo.’
The Bio-Mother was relentlessly targeting only Yeo Joo.
It was impossible for Bang Wi Jin and Oh Young In, both merely A-rank hunters, to face a creature bearing an unprecedented SS-rank grade.
That was why Kang Han, Lee Tae Yoon, and Han Ji Sung fought the main body while guarding the protective barrier, yet the battle situation had long since turned unfavorable.
“This is maddening.”
I caught sight of Yeo Joo using a purification skill behind the barrier.
She was in danger.
Whether chimera or some bizarre lesser monster, the creature’s eyes gleamed ceaselessly toward Yeo Joo.
I wanted nothing more than to rush in and shield her from its gaze, yet I was shackled by merely dealing with these tentacles.
Then it happened.
Crash!
The Bio-Mother’s main body, struck by Kang Han’s now-famous signature skill “Spear of Justice,” was driven backward, gouging the ground beneath it.
Confirming that the frantically charging tentacles had created distance, I immediately pivoted my body toward the barrier where Yeo Joo stood.
Borrowing the function of the footwear item I wore, I propelled myself through the air at a speed no ordinary person could follow.
My intention was to rejoin the front of the barrier and shift the precarious situation.
“Ugh!”
At the same moment I saw Yeo Joo’s eyes widen as our gazes locked, a searing pain erupted from my solar plexus.
Looking down, I glimpsed the claw-like tip of a tentacle glistening with blood between the shreds of my torn clothing.
Had I not twisted my body at the last instant to evade, that attack would have pierced my heart clean through.
Crunch!
The tentacle tore greedily through my insides before wrenching free, and my body plummeted downward.
“Sa Ma Young!”
The blinding pain flooding my vision was far more immediate than the sound of Yeo Joo’s distant scream.
It was Ryu Sang Eun who swiftly caught me before I could crash, pulling me into the barrier’s sanctuary.
When I regained consciousness and opened my eyes, I reflexively smiled at the sight of Yeo Joo’s face hovering directly above me.
“Ha, Yeo Joo.”
“What’s so funny about this?”
Her exasperated voice was strangely comforting to hear.
My eyes fluttered shut and open again.
“Hurry… use a potion.”
I was about to ask her to splash a trauma-healing potion on me since time was running short.
But against my will, my consciousness kept fragmenting, and I couldn’t form the words.
“Don’t speak. Sa Ma Young is in a rampage right now.”
Sa Ma Young, whose lips had been moving soundlessly, finally understood his own condition from Yeo Joo’s words delivered through gritted teeth.
Ah, so that was it.
No matter how formidable an SS-rank monster was, a mere puncture wound to the solar plexus shouldn’t have rendered me this helpless.
Fortunately, the time I spent lying in the barrier wasn’t long.
Someone fed me a purification potion through my lips, and Yeo Joo used her skill directly on me.
The moment my toxin levels stabilized into safe territory, I pushed myself up and was about to rush back into battle when my eyes widened in shock.
[ “Sample acquisition successful.” ]
[ “Skill copy complete.” ]
The Bio-Mother laughed cunningly, wreathing both her hands in blue flames.
It was the skill I had only obtained after re-awakening to S-rank and dancing on the edge of death against the Death Knight—’Calamity Flame
(劫火)
‘.

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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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