Chapter 90: The Trapped Summit

“Chae-jun. Should we put on masks? We might end up on the news.”

“Perhaps. That’s uncharacteristically smart of you for once.”

News outlets from every nation were already red-eyed, scrambling to break the story. The mere thought of the uproar if Air Rain failed to attend the summit was dizzying.

“Kang Ah-jun. When the cameras get close, try to hunch down a bit. You’re so massive, they’ll recognize you instantly.”

“There are so many foreigners here, my size won’t stand out that much. They’ll recognize you, Chae-jun, because you’re so tiny.”

“Do you actually want to die?”

“Try me.”

As Sa-yoon listened to their pointless bickering, he suddenly straightened his back and gazed at the sky. A subtle hue reflected in the clouds.

Slowly, the dense blanket of clouds covering the heavens began to part, gradually revealing a colossal hole in the sky.

-Gwooong.

“They’re coming.”

A deafening roar echoed through the atmosphere, a colossal vibration that made ears ring. Now, everyone else looked up at the sky as well.

“What is that?”

The unidentified object descending from the heavens was too vast to comprehend at a glance. As its form slowly revealed itself, people were seized by terror.

Sa-yoon, witnessing such a sight for the first time, gaped openly.

“Could that possibly be a Rain?”

The object falling from the sky slowly unveiled its true nature. It was an ultra-massive Rain, even larger than the immense Rain that had previously appeared on the West Coast, putting Korea on high alert.

[Everyone, hold your positions. Do not panic.]

A panicked voice erupted from the terminal. Despite urging calm, the commander delivering the news sounded utterly shaken.

[This summit is a trap! Everyone, prepare for battle.]

It wasn’t just the Esper Alliance who had seized this opportunity to act.

“Team Leader. What should we do?”

“…”

Sa-yoon stared at the ultra-massive Rain, his eyes unblinking. He hadn’t imagined they would go to such lengths.

“What can we do? Our current formation is far too disadvantageous against a Rain.”

Sa-yoon patted Chae-jun’s trembling hand. The current formation, designed to counter human threats, was the worst possible arrangement for confronting a single, colossal entity.

It was a perfect scenario for the widely spread-out squad members to be individually overwhelmed and destroyed.

Sa-yoon gripped Chae-jun’s shoulder, steadying the agitated man.

“Chae-jun. Calm down and observe carefully. That thing is huge, so it will be slow. Moreover, in such a vast area, no matter how big it is, it can’t see in all directions. So, we must escape in the opposite direction of where it’s looking.”

This was an open field with no facilities to protect, no people to guard. The best course of action was to evade its sight and flee, rather than needlessly clashing with the colossal creature.

“Understood.”

Kim Chae-jun and Kang Ah-jun nodded. Other squad members nearby also gathered their gear, ready to follow Sa-yoon. No retreat signal had been given, but waiting for one would mean certain annihilation.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, the sky above them darkened. Shadows slowly spread out from beside the ultra-massive Rain.

“Team Leader?”

The sky tore open. Several holes punctured through the clouds, and from within, more Rains revealed their heads.

Scores of Rains, each as large as the initial ultra-massive giant, descended towards the ground. Their combined shadows blotted out the sky, turning it as black as dawn.

Was the operation name ‘Heatwave’? Colossal hailstones, enough to completely quell a midsummer heatwave, plummeted from the sky. Each time a giant Rain struck the earth, a thunderous roar erupted, and the ground trembled.

Witnessing the multitude of Rains pouring into their vision, people fell into despair.

The terminal, which had been trying to calm everyone moments before, fell silent.

Was this what it was like when the Rains first appeared on Earth? The sight of immense beings standing firm on the ground, looking down upon humanity, felt like the gaze of Ymir from Norse mythology.

Despite being threatened by an absolute sense of overwhelming power, the Espers fought back with all their might. Sparks flew, and powerful heat storms raged, electrifying their skin.

Even with everyone concentrating so intensely their hands trembled, the Rains remained unscathed. Ignoring the barrage of attacks, the Rains moved towards the summit hall.

[Stop them. We must prevent them from reaching the summit hall!]

“Why are they holding out at the summit hall? Wouldn’t it be better to retreat? Those things are slow, after all.”

Chae-jun raised a valid point, one that Sa-yoon agreed with. The colossal Rains exhibited low aggression. They paid no attention to the Espers, who were scattered like ants on the ground, and slowly lumbered towards the summit hall.

It would have been better to just let them do whatever they wanted here, evacuate everyone to headquarters, and then return with reinforcements. Preparing a large quantity of explosives and injecting them into the Rains’ bodies, as Sa-yoon had done when dealing with the large Rain on the West Coast, would have been far more efficient.

There was no need for Espers to sacrifice their lifespans by attacking recklessly as they were now.

“Did they smear honey all over the summit hall or something?”

“There must be a reason they can’t move. Or maybe it’s a matter of pride.”

Kang Ah-jun grumbled, wiping the sweat from his forehead. So far, there were no casualties on the Esper side. Although the damage was minimal due to the one-sided attacks on the Rains, people were gradually growing tired or collapsing from exhaustion.

Even with all their efforts, they could only manage to slow the Rains down.

“The higher-ups must have another plan. Just hold out until then.”

Even as he tried to reassure his squad members, Sa-yoon pressed his lips together. There couldn’t possibly be a plan. If anyone could have foreseen this situation, they wouldn’t have deployed the forces in such a formation from the start. This meant it was a sudden disaster even for command.

‘The scale is too massive. Can’t they be a little more moderate?’

Sa-yoon cursed the unknown adversary inwardly as he targeted the feet of the advancing Rains, trying to impede their progress.

“Stab there! That’s its weak point!”

A roar erupted from beyond the dust cloud. One of the colossal Rains, visible only as a silhouette in the distance, crashed to the ground. The earth trembled with a resounding thud, and people, exhilarated by their first success, rushed towards the fallen Rain.

It was then that a thick fog suddenly mixed with the dust cloud and rose. The mist, emanating from the fallen Rain, crept up from their ankles, gradually engulfing everyone up to their knees. The dense fog swiftly covered everything.

Those who belatedly noticed something amiss tried to escape the fog by running in the opposite direction, but they were soon swallowed by the hazy mist.

“Chae-jun.”

“Yes.”

Kim Chae-jun quickly purified the surroundings, creating a spherical air barrier around his team members. This was one of Chae-jun’s abilities; in a confined space, he could alter the properties of the atmosphere as he wished, even without walls.

Outside the air barrier, everything had transformed into a completely hazy fog. Kang Ah-jun reached out and stirred the mist beyond the barrier.

“What kind of fog is this? It doesn’t look good for the body.”

“Don’t even think about inhaling it.”

Sa-yoon scanned the surroundings, his vision obscured. Fortunately, the people in the fog had only stopped moving; their numbers seemed consistent. There were no casualties yet.

Sa-yoon looked around. Kang Ah-jun, Chae-jun, and Sa-yoon himself were the only ones not enveloped by the fog. Sa-yoon approached another squad member who had been fighting nearby. They were lying on the ground, having inhaled the mist.

Sa-yoon carefully turned over the unmoving squad member, whose name he didn’t even know.

“It looks like they’re just sleeping?”

“Indeed. They don’t seem to be in distress.”

Even after a few gentle taps on the unknown squad member’s cheek, there was no reaction. It seemed the fog wasn’t life-threatening; it was either a sleeping gas or had the ability to immobilize people.

“Let’s head to the summit hall.”

“Just us? It could be dangerous.”

“But there’s no other way.”

Sa-yoon looked towards the summit hall. While others might not, Sa-yoon could roughly discern the situation there. Amidst all the stopped green dots, only the life forms near the summit hall were moving, changing positions.

He didn’t know how, but it was evidence that they had avoided the fog’s effects. They had to go there. The aircraft was also at the summit hall, and the means to safely evacuate Sa-yoon’s team members were there.

“Stay close and follow me.”

The Rains, seemingly unaffected by the fog, continued their slow crawl towards the summit hall. They had to navigate, avoiding the detected Rains. Sa-yoon led the two, moving stealthily.

The summit hall, which had appeared distant, took on a peculiar form up close. The blueprint in the operation command brief showed a perfectly intact building, but now one wall had collapsed, leaving it half-destroyed. And as if encircled by something, a boundary of mist and a perimeter had been set up around the building.

When Sa-yoon opened an undamaged door, he saw people hiding inside a corner of the building. They were the secretaries assisting the General Commander.

“Wh-who’s there!”

“Esper Jin Sa-yoon, from the Korean branch of the Asia Division.”

“Ah…”

The people, whose shoulders had been tense, relaxed. The secretaries rushed out, welcoming the three. They sighed in relief, thinking they were saved now that powerful Espers had arrived.

“What’s the situation here?”

“We’re fine here, as a shield was put up in advance. But honestly, we don’t know what’s happening outside. The Rains, what happened to the Rains?”

“They’re coming this way.”

“Gasp.”

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Heemin’s One-Sided Love

AdultBoys LoveDrama

Read Now →
Not interested