Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Chapter 147: Anomaly

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

147 – Anomaly

The national representative applicants firmly believed that the existing Awakener rankings, based on gate subjugation records, were meaningless and that their own rankings should be much higher.

Some even believed they were much stronger than the academy instructors selected by the Liberal Clan.

In their minds, they were the protagonists of this world.

To these applicants, Byung-tae and the other instructors from Icarus were showing firsthand what it meant to be a ‘world ranker.’

“What? Wasn’t it supposed to be easy to take down an instructor?”

Orléans Perraudière, who had provocatively challenged 20 applicants at once, saying that one or two wouldn’t even be a warm-up, spoke to the fallen applicants.

Around him, pieces of the applicants’ equipment, cut into dozens of pieces, were scattered along with a rapidly spinning ring of water.

At the same time, Luis Pereira, the leader of the Floresta Clan, who was said to be unable to exert even 1/10th of his power outside the forest, was also mocking the applicants with a humanoid tree giant glowing a dark hue by his side.

In the hands of the tree giant was a massive, muscular man struggling in mid-air, his neck gripped tightly.

“Ugh… Ugh… Ugh…”

“Oh, sorry. Was it hard to breathe?”

As the grip of the tree trunk holding the man’s neck loosened, he grabbed the trunk.

He then began to exert immense strength, his arm muscles bulging.

It was a strength that could crush even the sturdiest tree with just his grip.

However, no matter how much strength he exerted, he couldn’t make a scratch on the black tree giant’s arm.

“This isn’t even a forest… How?!”

“Well, they say my power is reduced to 1/10 outside the forest? That’s somewhat true. It’s just that your power isn’t even 1/10 of mine.”

With a gaze like an adult looking at a child, Pereira, ranked 9th among Awakeners worldwide, spoke to the applicants.

“So, show some respect to your instructors from now on, rookies.”

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“Damn it!! Just get hit already!!”

Unlike Orléans or Pereira, who were ranked in the top 10, Sophie Müller, who had confidently challenged Byung-tae, who wasn’t even in the top 100, was struggling against his combat abilities that far exceeded her expectations.

Her Awakening ability, ‘Mobile Turret,’ granted various effects such as recoil reduction, range increase, and attack correction for her firearms, but all of these were meaningful only if they hit.

– BOOM –

With a deafening roar that was hard to believe came from a rifle the size of an anti-materiel sniper rifle, her beloved weapon ‘Eisenspäherin’ fired.

The enormous recoil, enough to make a 40-ton self-propelled gun sway, was something no slender woman could withstand, but her special armor absorbed all the shock and transferred it to the ground.

At the same time, the ultra-high-speed special bullet, accelerated to more than three times the speed of sound, was fired at Byung-tae, but he easily dodged her attack with a simple mid-air twist.

“The power looks strong, but it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t hit. Now, it’s my turn.”

Byung-tae unleashed the same attack that had already knocked out many applicants lying around Sophie.

It was an attack using non-lethal suppression rounds that, while not deadly, inflicted immense pain upon contact.

Sensing the danger, Sophie urgently shouted into the air.

“Siege mode disengage!”

In an instant, the anchoring spikes of her boots, which had been firmly fixing her to the ground and absorbing the recoil from her shots, retracted from the ground with a ‘thunk.’

As she pulled back, countless holes resembling a honeycomb appeared on the ground with a tremendous impact sound.

– Tatatatatatatatata! –

“Are you trying to kill me?!”

“You won’t die. It’ll just hurt a lot.”

Against the applicants charging at him as if to kill, Byung-tae was using only non-lethal weapons.

Unlike Orléans or Pereira, who could finely control the intensity of their abilities, Byung-tae’s ‘thermal weapon’ series were not non-lethal just because they were lightly hit.

Even though the opponents were Awakeners, far sturdier than ordinary people, the moment Byung-tae used lethal weapons in earnest, casualties could occur. Hence, Byung-tae used special rounds developed by Soo-jeong specifically for ‘etiquette injection’ to push the applicants back.

As a result, within less than a minute since the battle started, 19 applicants were already lying on the ground.

‘Why is he so strong?!’

Seeing applicants with higher world rankings than herself fall in an instant, Sophie was overwhelmed with a desire to deny reality.

She was one of those who believed that world rankings were not an absolute measure of an Awakener’s strength, but it was still hard to accept that she, ranked 43rd, was weaker than Byung-tae, who wasn’t even in the top 100.

The only reason she could withstand Byung-tae’s attacks, unlike her peers, was because of her equipment.

‘As expected of the equipment made by the boss. It’s holding up better than I thought.’

Her weapon, ‘Eisenspäherin,’ which had the power of a self-propelled gun with the caliber of an anti-materiel sniper rifle, and the ‘Siege Mode’ that completely absorbed the recoil.

The ‘Tank Mode’ that discharged the shock from firing into the ground, allowing for ultra-high-speed evasive maneuvers.

The ‘Claymore Mode’ that caused the fired bullets to explode mid-air, dealing wide-area damage.

Though inferior to Byung-tae’s variable combat test machine ‘Dog Fight,’ Sophie’s equipment, which could switch modes to respond to various situations, was one of the custom equipment directly made by Myung-jun at the request of Germany’s ‘Hunter Support Division.’

It was the source of her confidence to boldly challenge a ‘Liberal Clan member,’ but at the same time, it was also a lower-tier version of the technology applied to Byung-tae’s custom machine ‘Dog Fight.’

While her equipment was designed to handle 10 different situations, Byung-tae’s equipment was designed to handle over 100 different situations.

Byung-tae, stopping his evasive maneuvers, spoke to Sophie, who was looking at him with the most aggrieved expression in the world.

“Are you thinking that if you just hit me once, you’ll win?”

“Honestly, I didn’t expect you to dodge like a fly in the air.”

“Really? Then for the sake of my future student, I’ll let you hit me once.”

Sophie’s face, which had brightened for a moment, darkened instantly.

This was because, around Byung-tae, who had declared he wouldn’t dodge, thick-looking armor pieces flew in from all directions and began to cover his front.

Byung-tae, who had transformed from high-speed maneuver mode to heavy armor mode in an instant, spoke to Sophie.

“Go ahead, shoot.”

“Isn’t that too unfair?”

“When you raid gates, you’ll have to face monsters tougher than me. Will you call it unfair then? If you complain about flying and complain about being tough, you should pick opponents you can handle from the start.”

“I’ll make you regret those words.”

As Sophie activated Siege Mode, the metal spikes on her boots drove into the ground.

Simultaneously, the fixtures on her joints, including her knees, elbows, and shoulders, tightened around her body with a sound like bolts being fastened.

The gun she was holding also transformed, its many parts shifting from an anti-materiel sniper rifle into something resembling a beam cannon.

This was the activation of ‘Maximum Firepower Mode,’ which, unlike Siege Mode that only anchored the lower body to absorb recoil, completely sacrificed mobility to turn the entire body into a turret.

Taking over 30 seconds just to prepare, Sophie activated her trump card, which she hadn’t used until now, and with a smile on her lips, she said to Byung-tae,

“What do I get if I win?”

“Immediate graduation guarantee and my instructor badge too.”

“One more thing. The equipment you’re wearing. Give that to me as well.”

“This is equipment that only I can handle in our clan.”

“You can teach me. That is, if you can still be alive after taking my maximum firepower.”

Noticing that Sophie now addressed him as ‘Instructor,’ Byung-tae’s lips curled up.

“Try if you can.”

At that moment, a massive beam shot out from her weapon, which had only fired live ammunition until now.

It collided head-on with the floating armor Byung-tae had summoned.

– Chiiiiiiiiik! –       

The support armor of Dog Fight, made using materials from a grade 7 monster, melted away in an instant, but Byung-tae was not flustered.

His trust in the custom machine designed by Soo-jeong and personally made by Myung-jun was not so fragile as to be shaken by such an attack.

And as if to prove Byung-tae’s trust, Sophie’s attack, which had penetrated four layers of special armor, was stopped by the fifth layer.

Byung-tae then cleared the auxiliary armor in front of him and said to her,

“What to do now. I’ve blocked it.”

“Ugh… If only I had pierced through one more layer…”

“Sorry, but in a battle between Awakeners, a single misjudgment like that can cost a life. Just like the risk you would have faced if your attack, which gave up mobility, had failed.”

At that moment, the armor floating around Byung-tae flew back to its original position.

Simultaneously, numerous cannon-like devices began to attach to Byung-tae’s entire body.

Seeing the massive barrels enveloping Byung-tae, Sophie desperately tried to disengage Maximum Firepower Mode.

– Whirr, whirr, whirrr, click –

But just as it took 30 seconds to prepare, her equipment, which also took 30 seconds to disengage, was firmly locking her entire body in place, and ultimately, she could do nothing but watch Byung-tae, who was aiming at her, with eyes filled with terror.

“Is it my turn to show you my ‘Siege Mode’?”

All she could do upon hearing the chilling sound of loading was to shout at Byung-tae with a voice full of despair.

“I surrender!!!! I lost!!! Instructor! I won’t challenge you again!”

Imagining the immense pain, Sophie screamed involuntarily as she felt a sharp pain on her forehead.

Then, with a look of incomprehension, she slowly opened her eyes and looked towards Byung-tae.

The pain she felt on her forehead was certainly sharp enough to make her cry out, but it was nowhere near the level of excruciating pain she had imagined.

In front of her, Byung-tae was still aiming at her with a massive number of gun barrels.

Sitting in the open cockpit, he was spinning a toy gun around his finger.

It was only then that she realized what Byung-tae had shot at her forehead while her eyes were closed.

“BB pellet…?!”

Seeing her bewilderment, Byung-tae sent the turrets attached to his body back to their original positions.

He then slowly descended to the ground and spoke to her.

“Unless you’re absolutely sure you can win, never challenge an instructor.”

Sophie nodded vigorously and replied.

“Yes… Yes! I won’t challenge you again!”

“And gather the rest of the team and move to the waiting area.”

“Yes, Instructor.”

Leaving Sophie to wake her comrades, Byung-tae got into Dog Fight, which had transformed back into sports car mode, and drove out of the waiting area.

Holding the steering wheel, he shook his head and muttered.

“Damn, I almost got killed. I need to ask Soo-jeong to reinforce the armor parts.”

As he said this, Byung-tae firmly resolved in his heart never to recklessly challenge an opponent armed with equipment made by Myung-jun.

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