Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense - Chapter 99

099 – Leviathan

As Myung-jun realized that Leviathan was alive, he immediately issued the retreat order. With Taylor’s attack having failed, there was currently no way to confront the giant monster.

“Prepare for emergency evacuation! We’re evacuating the operational area immediately!”

[But what about Ho-chang…?]

“I’ll retrieve him!”

Myung-jun immediately closed his eyes and focused his mind. Then, he relayed instructions to the turret positioned underneath the Liberator.

To fire a cable-mounted harpoon in Ho-chang’s direction.

“Mr. Ho-chang!”

[Yes… Yes?!]

“It might hurt a bit.”

Before Ho-chang could reply, a non-explosive harpoon shot out from the turret with a loud bang.

As the harpoon shot out, piercing through Abyss’s leg where Ho-chang was, a strong shock was transmitted to the gas Ho-chang was riding.

[Aaaaahhhhh!!!]

While Ho-chang screamed feeling the immense gravitational acceleration pressing down on his body, Myung-jun shouted again to the panicked Soo-jeong.

“Are you ready to retreat?!”

[Wha… What?! Yes! I’ll do it!]

“Stay calm and composed! The creature must be heavily damaged, so it won’t be able to act immediately! This is our only chance to escape!”

[Got it! Disconnect the cables! Full power to propulsion! Byung-tae!]

[Understood! Emergency evasive maneuvers! Maximum output to starboard thrusters!]

With a sudden sensation of strong leaning to the right, the jet nozzles on the right side of the Liberator began expelling powerful jets of water.

At the same time, under the immense pressure of the abyssal depths, the Liberator, which had to perform an emergency evasive maneuver, began to experience an unreasonable level of pressure on its external armor.

The special armor made from top-grade monster materials couldn’t withstand the pressure and began to deform.

But since the situation didn’t call for concern about the hull’s integrity, Byung-tae pushed the Liberator beyond its limits, accepting the risk of hull damage.

<Outer armor damage in zones 42 and 82. Flooding alert in zone 55. Barricade deployment from zone 63 to 72.>

<All crew members are requested to immediately cease their duties and evacuate to the safety zones in the central hull.>

The Liberal Clan was not solely comprised of Awakeners. Instead, it consisted of a much larger number of ordinary people than Awakeners, and most of the clan members in the central control room where Byung-tae and Soo-jeong were located were ordinary people.

And the ordinary clan members, experiencing their first ‘crisis situation’ since joining the Liberal Clan, were feeling endless fear.

“Hull damage rate exceeds 15%! Ms. Soo-jeong, we’re running out of power for the shields!”

“Byung-tae! There are still clan members unable to evacuate in zone 68!”

“Injuries reported! Someone fell during emergency evasive maneuvers and hit their head!”

“Move the injured to medical capsules and instruct the clan members in zone 68 to move to the designated evacuation route immediately! Ms. Soo-jeong, please solve the power issue!”

“Ah… Power…”

Despite Byung-tae’s desperate shout, Soo-jeong couldn’t make a proper judgment.

Although Myung-jun had prepared and set up an evacuation plan for such situations, the plan was based on the assumption that Taylor’s attack had ‘missed’. Despite all calculations, she never imagined that the opponent wouldn’t go down, and she was now in a state of panic.

“… Ms. Soo-jeong…!”

“……”

” Ms. Soo-jeong!!!”

“Oh, yes?! Mr. Byung-tae?”

“Pull yourself together! You’re the only one who can handle all of the Liberator’s functions at 100%! If you lose it, we’re done for!”

“Ah… Yes! Reflex! Stealth protocol initiated! Reflex panel activated!”

<Stealth protocol initiated. Power supply for reflex panels started… Failure. Unable to use reflex panels due to severe external hull damage!>

“What!? Uh… Reinforce hull protection field!”

<Hull protection field power supply reinforced… Insufficient power. Field durability increased by 5%.>

“What?!???”

In a situation where nothing seemed to work properly, Soo-jeong felt like she might have a panic attack.

And while she was in such a panic, Leviathan was burning with hatred towards the opponent who had inflicted irreparable wounds upon it.

With a gaping hole in its forehead, at that moment when Leviathan was standing still, looking at the turning Liberator, a change occurred in Leviathan’s body.

– Thud.. –

A sinister sound, as if amplifying the heartbeat of a giant organism through a massive speaker, reverberated throughout the entire sea.

And simultaneously, Myung-jun’s pupils, who were observing Leviathan, widened in amazement.

The enormous body of Leviathan, spanning tens of kilometers, was rapidly shrinking as if disappearing in an instant.

– Thud.. –

With the resounding sound once again, Leviathan’s body, now reduced to a fraction of its original size, confirmed to Myung-jun that what he was seeing was not an illusion.

– Thud.. –

As Leviathan compressed its body once more, this time it was not just the size but also the shape that was changing.

– Thud. –

When the ominous feeling of the heartbeat sounded for the last time, the place where Leviathan had been was now replaced by a black abyss.

And in the center of that abyss, Myung-jun could see Leviathan, now about 30 meters in size, staring back at him.

“Is that its true form?”

Always ready to fire the turret at any moment, Myung-jun carefully examined Leviathan’s second form.

It was similar to the original Leviathan with its gigantic catfish-like shape but different at the same time.

While the previous form resembled a fish, the current form resembled a ‘giant’ with limbs.

However, despite being reduced to a fraction of its original size, Myung-jun felt that the intimidation emanating from the current Leviathan far surpassed that of its previous form, which boasted hundreds of kilometers in size.

And Myung-jun’s intuition turned out to be reality at its worst.

– Thud. –

As Leviathan clenched its fist, adorned with clawed hands, a sound reminiscent of bones snapping echoed in all directions.

Sensing danger instinctively upon seeing this, Myung-jun urgently shouted towards Byung-tae.

“Byung-tae! Evade…!”

Unfortunately, Leviathan’s counterattack began immediately before Myung-jun could finish his shout.

– Kwadddddeduk! –

“Uwaaaaaah!!”

All Leviathan did was swing the fist it was holding forward.

Even though it was at a distance of over hundreds of kilometers from the Liberator.

But the ‘gesture’ of Leviathan, which was only about 30 meters in size, created an invisible whip of immense water pressure, completely ignoring the tremendous pressure of the abyss where it resided.

And this invisible whip, created in such a way, shattered the shield of the Liberator, painstakingly developed by Soo-jeong, with a single blow, inflicting severe damage to the hull along with tremendous impact.

<Warning! Critical hull damage detected!>

<Warning! Hull protection field depleted! Remaining field strength 0%!>

<Warning! Outer armor damage and flooding in zones 36 to 72!>

<Warning! Engine output reduced by 32%! Auxiliary power supply activated!>

<Warning! Main propulsion units 4 and 5 completely destroyed. Emergency repair required!>

The ridiculously powerful blow completely severed the last thread of reason Soo-jeong desperately clung to.

In the face of a natural disaster-level blow that human abilities could not handle, like a volcanic eruption or a meteor impact, everything she had created had fallen apart like mere toys.

‘Was I just arrogantly thinking I was the strongest in the world with just this?’

Soo-jeong deeply regretted in her heart.

‘I should have been more prepared, and I should have tried harder.’

But now, it was too late.

With two of the five main propulsion units on the Liberator damaged, escaping the depths of the ocean, enduring the pressure of thousands of meters without the protection of shields, was almost impossible.

Amidst the ear-splitting warning sounds, she felt her thoughts slowly coming to a halt.

And then, in that moment.

[Senior!]

“…….”

[……senior!]

[Hey!! Han Soo-jeong!!

As if forcibly grabbing and pulling her consciousness out of the abyss, Myung-jun’s loud shout woke her up.

“…… Myung-jun?”

[Pull yourself together! Now’s not the time to lose it!]

“But because of me, everyone…”

[Don’t give me that nonsense!]

In a panicked state, Myung-jun shouted at her.

[Don’t you think a few broken parts of a ship matter? So what? Even if this ship is everything to you? The senior I know is someone who has invented far more remarkable things than this piece of junk countless times! So please, get a hold of yourself! I trusted you for this mission! Not because of the performance of this ship, but because I believe in you!]

“You… trust me?”

[Of course! As far as I know, you’re the greatest inventor on this Earth, no, in this universe and parallel universes combined! Surely, if it’s you, if it’s Senior Soo-jeong I know, you’ll find a way to deal with that fish head even in this worst situation!]

Even in this crisis situation, hearing Myung-jun’s unwavering trust in her, Soo-jeong felt endless gratitude.

And at the same time, her mind began to cool down.

‘Head cold, chest hot.’

With an unwavering determination hotter than ever, she began to make infinitely rational judgments.

As she began to recall the list of all the equipment she had developed so far in her mind.

‘The biggest problem right now isn’t the opponent’s strength, but the obstacles of seawater and pressure. Because of that, we can’t use all the equipment we could have used under normal circumstances. Just like Taylor attacked earlier, if we could use the original power directly in the depths…’

In that moment, among the thousands of devices she had created or was developing, only one came to her mind.

It was a device that could perfectly nullify the penalties imposed by these depths, but she couldn’t use it before because the opponent’s size was too large.

‘But now that the size has decreased, I can use it.’

Having completed that thought, Soo-jeong urgently shouted towards Myung-jun.

“Myung-jun!”

[Yes! Senior!]

“However, I have one card I can play.”

[I thought you might say that.]

Soo-jeong, filled with determination, glanced around the chaotic control room with a desperate expression. Then, picking up her fallen tablet from the floor, she sent Myung-jun the data on the device she had come up with.

Checking the data on his phone after taking it out of his pocket, Myung-jun spoke to her.

[Indeed, this could work.]

“Do you think so too?”

[Yes. Although we won’t know for sure until we try it, I believe the possibility is high.]

The device Soo-jeong showed him was designed to create a third-dimensional space with a diameter of 20km within a specific range, allowing combat without causing damage to the surrounding environment. It was a device developed to minimize damage to buildings and civilians in complex urban areas during battles, but it lay dormant in storage, its internal frame fully exposed, without proper finishing or testing. Originally, it had been one of the protagonist’s main tools in a robot animation series aired in the past.

Smiling faintly as he looked at the device’s name displayed on his phone screen, Myung-jun read it quietly to himself.

‘Dimensional Isolation Combat Field Generator.’

Underneath Soo-jeong’s name, there was a small message she had written.

‘Not a Dividing Driver.’

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