The Knight King Who Returned with Gods : Chapter 23
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 23 Hunting Spider (6)
Success rate 4.7%.
That was the chance of the Yakt Spinner taking down the
monstrous entity known as Leon.
The winning rate of a fighting machine that had lost most
of its legs and wire cutters was just that much. In fact, even that calculation
had included the scenario where it would self-destruct due to battery overload.
However, there was a trick that boosted those numbers to
93%.
The Yakt Spinner had a large stockpile of explosives,
about two tons, that it had buried for use in the event of a desperate last
stand, when it could no longer produce or rely on ammunition.
Attract as many threatening individuals as possible, then
detonate them all at once. Burying them along with itself.
Though it was beyond the scope of the Yakt Spinner's
calculations that only one threat would be the target of the self-destruct,
Yakt Spinner would not hesitate to risk everything to fulfill the last order.
-Boom boom boom boom boom boom!!!
The deafening blast echoed throughout the city. Two tons
of explosives went off at once, instantly consuming all the oxygen in the
building.
The sturdy structures were blown to smithereens, the
force of the explosion violently pushed away the surroundings and sent out a
powerful shockwave.
All buildings within a two-kilometer radius of the
explosion's center were gone, and all buildings within 10 kilometers were
either destroyed or crumbling.
The shockwave extended as far as 20 kilometers away, and
the hunters who were resting due to injuries must have been blown about by the
gale.
Smoke rose as air once again filled the vacuum created by
the inferno that had swallowed the air.
The smoke of the explosion billowed. The massive dust
cloud spreading in all directions was drawing a huge hemispherical shape that
resembled a mushroom.
No one would survive that blast.
It was an obvious guess.
* * * *
Unit #YS-10,253 was manufactured 1,038 years and
twenty-two days ago.
Unlike their siblings which were made as if they were
manufactured in a factory, the Yakt Spinners equipped with superior artificial
intelligence were built for civilization's final battle.
The Yakt Spinners of the 112th Unmanned Armored Regiment,
including their commander, the #10,253, had only one order: never let what is
in the city center get taken.
Carry it out by any means necessary.
However, most of them were not even given a chance to
carry out the order.
While being transported from the facility where they were
created, the train was attacked by the enemy, destroying more than half of the
train cars along with many yakt spinners before they could be put into
operation.
No. #10,253 also would have been destroyed without even
waking up if it had not been for the last-minute emergency activation by a
transporter.
"Protect the city! Go! Do your duty!"
The transporter was killed the next moment.
Inheriting the command module, #10,253 connected to the
integrated network system. With the surviving 37 units, it wiped out the
attackers and headed for the city.
The sky was filled with gray dust, and the ground shook
from time to time from explosions, impeding maneuverability.
When they approached the city's borders, they saw their comrades
buried beneath the rubble of the surroundings.
The hostile invaders attacked from all sides, constantly.
As they were surrounded by an endless stream of enemies,
and proceeded to mechanically slaughter them, a mushroom cloud bloomed.
Despite performing an emergency avoidance move, Yakt
Spinner #10,253 was unable to prevent many of its compatriots from being caught
in the blast.
「#YS-10,244 Unable to
proceed. Contamination level 8, lethal to the citizens.」
「#YS-10,185 Core damaged.
Level 14 radioactive material leakage.」
Most of them were contaminated and were late in
decontamination. They followed the logical chain to calculate the risk to the
citizens if they entered the city and reached a conclusion.
「Contaminated units
cease activity immediately. Initiate self-destruct sequence.」
「Execute order from
interim commander #YS-10,253. Initiate self-destruct sequence after all
friendly units are clear.」
The belatedly decontaminated units buried themselves in
the ground and self-destructed.
The city they arrived in was under attack.
#10,253 gave the order.
「Commence artillery
assistance to friendly forces. Defend the city.」
Twelve fighters entered the fray and were able to repel
the enemy.
They became the city's heroes.
"Yakt Spinners! Yakt Spinners!"
The people cheered for the killing machines that had
saved them.
The story of the mechs sniping down the enemy leader in a
desperate situation and willingly throwing themselves to save a citizen from
the immediate aftermath of explosions was an uplifting tale for the citizens of
the city.
They became a symbol of hope.
They became the knights of steel, protectors of the
citizens.
The reorganized Yakt Spinners, under the leadership of an
appointed commander, defended the city.
They defended and defended and defended, until when they
won the final battle, there was nothing left to defend.
A defense system that was only 3% operational. Less than
five citizens left, most of them fatally wounded.
0% chance of survival. The last inhabitants of the city
will be the bloodstained war machines.
"Yappy. This is as far as I go. This is the last
order."
The commander, vaguely ignoring the blood pooling beneath
his severed arm, gave his last order.
He explained why the city was being attacked again and
again, and what it had sealed and built upon.
That it must never be taken away.
"Protect what is sealed.
Don’t let anyone take it."
- May future survivors not be as foolish as we are.
As he fell, so did the end.
A city in the middle of the desert with only one unmanned
machine left.
#Yakt Spinner-10,253 had done its duty faithfully.
Do not allow the sealed to
be taken.
Protect the sealed.
Protect the city.
Eliminate all that approach the city.
A garage was built over the site to conceal the thing
that was sealed, and explosives were placed to
bury it in case of emergency.
Using the knowledge in the database, the last Yakt
Spinner repaired the city's defenses, repaired its body, and crafted supplies
using auxiliary limbs and tools to replenish the depleted inventory of railgun
barrels and ammunition.
It was fortunate that there was a mine near the city. At
least it could produce the basic black powder.
Prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare, for an enemy that
could come at any moment.
That was how the Yakt Spinner survived for a thousand
years.
In the aftermath of the explosions, the dust cleared, and
the invader strode through the blast zone without a strand of hair burning.
Holy Law <Blessing of Shields>.
The absolute defense against any ranged attack negated
even the Yakt Spinner's final self-destruct. It even protected the Yakt Spinner
itself.
The man swung his metal sword to break the seals on the
thing 'beneath the garage'.
"So this is what you guarded."
Yakt Spinner poured cement onto it, built a garage over
it to conceal it, and finally detonated explosives to keep it sealed.
Now, without even a password to unlock the mechanism, the
vault had been cut open with an old metal sword.
What was revealed was a black orb that seemed to
encapsulate endless darkness.
Black smoke billowed out from it, contaminating the
living with its oozing presence. This isn't a nuclear orb, or even something
radioactive.
This was the thing that endangered the city and poisoned
the world.
The Jewel of Wisdom.
This was the gate's closing requirement and the basis for
the Yakt Spinner's thousand-year mission.
-Creak! Creak!
The Yakt Spinner dragged its half-destroyed body, inching
closer to Leon.
Forcing its dismembered body to move, it wrapped its
broken cutting wire around Leon's ankle with its remaining mechanical limb.
There was no power left to even attempt to yank him. Even
if it had any energy left to fight, it had a 0.00% chance of taking down a
level 5 threat.
Obviously aware of this, the thousand-year-old machine
lurched forward, intent on taking Leon down.
"Still trying to fight?"
Leon turned to face the Yakt Spinner, holding the black
orb.
The Yakt Spinner's camera eye, now down to only one, stared
at the orb from the first second onward.
Leon closed his eyes as he watched the machine futilely
work its hardest to retrieve the orb from below.
"How long have you guarded this, how many years have
you been fighting?"
As if empathizing with the long years it had been
through, the knight gazed wordlessly at the machine before him.
The time it had spent repairing itself, dismantling
itself, rebuilding itself, replacing parts of itself... its indomitable will
was worthy of immense praise.
"You have fulfilled your duty to the end."
The man genuinely regretted his inability to communicate
with the machine in front of him. How can we not call this honorable fellow a
knight?
"A knight of loyalty, a knight of faithfulness. Your
service is beyond measure, and all living beings are indebted to you."
Leon raised his holy sword. This unholy sphere was a mass
of crystallized evil. Only divine power can cut through it.
-Slash!
The neatly sliced evil screamed in agony and dissipated.
The Holy Grail, the purifier of evil, absorbed it and finished it off.
...............
The Yakt Spinner was silent. What must the machine be
thinking, witnessing the destruction of what it had kept sealed for so, so very
long?
Silently, Leon conjured holy water from the Grail.
Pouring the holy water, Leon knighted the weak machine,
dropping on one knee in full reverence.
"Sir Yakt Spinner, I solemnly declare that your task
is complete."
Protect what is sealed.
Do not let out the one thing that destroyed the world that
contained it. It was what drove the Yakt Spinner for a thousand years.
Now that it is gone, there will be no need to uphold the
order.
The Last Order, the last of the last, had been brought to
an end after a thousand years.
-Chik! Chik...!
The only remaining camera eye blinked off. As if it knew
it was finally over, freed from its fate.
「Yappy, you are a hero
to the city.」
「Yappy! Thank you for
protecting the city!」
「Yappy!」
"May you rest in peace......."
The voices that remained in the old, worn memory module
faded to darkness.
* * * * *
[Mission cleared]
The sudden message made the hunters scratch their heads.
Cleared? What? Does that mean they've defeated the Yakt
Spinner?
The hunters, still battered by the Yakt Spinner's guerrilla
warfare, couldn't believe it. The monstrous killing machine had fallen?
But at the same time, they thought of a man.
The anachronistic knight who had stared down at them with
a dismissive, haughty gaze. Who else but him could have defeated the machine
and completed the mission?
"A great man indeed."
Hwang Gum-cheol frankly acknowledged him. After all,
though the war machine of the future was an unheard of enemy, it was a
formidable foe that even he, an S-class Hunter, could not do much about.
If the man could go solo against such a monster, the
future of Korea would inevitably be centered around him.
"Let's prepare to leave, everyone! You've worked
hard!"
He was in the midst of commending his tired men when a
man appeared in the distance.
"What is that?"
The man was gently carrying the remains of a massive
mechanical unit... the remains of the Yakt Spinner, which must have weighed
dozens of tons.
"Ohhh...! Your Majesty!"
Gil Tae-sung, who had meanwhile learned the proper way to
treat Leon from Hari, turned to him exaggeratedly.
"I was worried that the explosion might have harmed
your jade body."
"You're awfully full of flattery, Spellcaster.
What's the matter with you?"
"Haha......."
Gil Tae-sung eyed Leon, searching for something he should
be carrying.
But he wasn't holding it anywhere. Gil Tae-sung was
puzzled.
"Um... Your Majesty, do you happen to know where the
'Jewel of Wisdom' is.......?"
"Destroyed."
"Yes?"
At those words, Gil Tae-sung and the other hunters
stopped dead in their tracks.
Destroyed? The thing that Magic Tower was willing to
spend tens of billions to have? Why?
"Do, do you know what kind of object that is? The
Jewel of Wisdom... it's... it's a treasure of unchallenged grade!"
"How can you, a lowly thing, raise your voice!"
Leon shouted at Gil Tae-sung to shut her up, but Gil
Tae-sung and many other hunters didn't understand Leon's reasoning.
The condition for clearance was the destruction or the
acquisition of the Jewel of Wisdom. If it was an unchallenged-grade treasure,
as Gil Tae-sung had said, then it was something that the nations would obtain
at all costs.
"It is an evil thing. It is a malignancy that
corrupts humans. No good can come of it in human hands."
"And for that reason alone, you gave up research and
knowledge?"
"Only?"
Leon's eyes narrowed, and Gil Tae-sung felt a chill run
down her spine, overwhelmed by the intensity of his gaze alone.
"Fool, do you not realize that your worthless pursuits
will ultimately destroy the world?"
With that disdainful glare, Leon left the room. Hari
hurried after him.
-Your Majesty, shall I carry it for you? Uhm... It might
be difficult to carry it as a whole, but.......
-Keep your hands away. It is not for commoners to touch.
-Eh.......
That was the end of the attack on the Cheongju Gate.
***
Translator(s) note, or actually, Ririi’s note: No lie, no
exaggeration, I cried.
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