A giant tree.

  Evil Queen, sitting on top of a branch thicker than a human waist, watches the fierce battle from afar.

  There’s no reason for her to maintain her main body when she isn’t engaged in the battle.

  The engine activates as soon as she gets out of basic form. She consumes calories even while sitting still.

  She is stronger than she was before, but she isn’t free from this invariant law because she is still a creature with limits.

  It is dangerous to stay in human form in the midst of a fierce war, but she can handle the danger because she is plenty strong.

  Kiririk!

  “Sh! Good boy.”


  Evil Queen strokes the branch as though handling a child.

  Then the rough surface jiggled like a wave and moved following her hand.

  It is camouflaged as a tree right now, but it is really level 7 mutant Eclipse.

  The smell of blood rides the wind.

  Eclipse couldn’t control its instinct, but grew quiet as Evil Queen stroked it.

  Because it feels good?

  No. Because of fear.

  Fear of a power that it cannot even determine from surface level.

  “When will it be?”


  Evil Queen knows.

  They might be on a winning streak, but her allies have the advantage.

  Lifers need to start moving unless they are stupid.

  The weapons that Lifers use are similar to the scientific weapons and abilities that were only in sci-fi movies that took place in the future when Evil Queen was human.

  They couldn’t get close.

  But just as a car needs oil to run, it also needs ammunition to show its worth.

  After they had faced off more than 10 times, the Lifers’ attacks carefully changed. They began to calculate efficiency in their heads.

  They fired precise shots to take them down one by one instead of continuous firing.

  Evil Queen saw that and was sure that their supplies were getting low. Lifers look superior right now, but there will be a dog fight once the long distance attack methods become paralyzed.

  Will they still be superior then?

  If Evil Queen were a Lifer, she would move to end it before supplies fall low.

  There is no solution beyond that.

  She actually wanted Lifers to last until the end. She’ll be able to kill all of the dumb ones without difficulty.

  But she wanted them to move as she wants them to for a bit of fun. As soon as Evil Queen woke up, she had a low understanding of her body. It’s because she never really fought or went into her awakened state.

  Her understanding increased as she hunted Lifers and went into a giant battle with them, and at some point began to understand completely.

  That’s how she knew. How much of an impressive and nonsensical presence she became.

  It is enough power to end this war right now.

  “How many Lifers are there that could do that?”


  Evil Queen thought of Cha Jun Sung.

  Even though she had been in human form, she had been split in half.

  She thinks he’s the strongest of his kind. Considering his combat ability would have fallen because his arm was cut off, he was able to kill the alter she sent to North America and Vanessa and the girls.

  “It’ll be fun if there are a few dozen of them……”


  Evil Queen hasn’t showed her full power since fusing with Bon Load. She hadn’t had the opportunity to do so and she was only half when she awakened because she had been in pieces.

  She would be able to get a measure of the strength of her power before going to Asia and Europe if there are a lot of Lifers like Cha Jun Sung, but it would be too much.

  Evil Queen gradually grew bored with this joke of a war. She remained a spectator in order to get a better understanding, but there’s no need to do that now.

  If there’s nothing left to see, if Lifers don’t have anything left, she intends to wrap it up. It is a waste of time to drag this on.

  Woo!

  Evil Queen made the mutants retreat again.

  Mutants go out like a tide.

  This is the last time. She will annihilate them in the next attack.

  Boom boom boom!

  “Oh? Yeah, you should come out like that.”


  When the mutants retreated, the Lifers who hadn’t left headquarters all jumped out and chased the mutants running away. This was the same with the sentinels. The cyborgs formed a wall and pushed forward like a defense for Lifers.

  Evil Queen awakened.

  A giant body appeared in the middle of the forest. She is telling Lifers her location on purpose.

  Conceit?

  Arrogance?

  Confidence.

  It isn’t just simple confidence that she can win.

  She didn’t even feel the smallest amount of threat from Lifers. The time to use these beings that are like candle flames that will go out with one blow, like bugs that will be crushed when stepped on, as warm up to end is coming.

  “Come. Show me what you can do. And then disappear.”


  Dozens of Lifers are captured in Evil Queen’s wide view.

  She is looking at them because they are flying toward her.

  They will disappear.

  Like dumb moths that throw their bodies into the light.

  ***

  Bang bang bang!

  Lifers poured everything out on the retreating mutants. They didn’t pay attention to waste. They used and threw everything they had.

  The final match. Lifers powered Strategist’s decision.

  Cyborgs advanced forward in a wall formation while attacking. If that didn’t work, they left their self-destructive functions on and dug into the center of a group of mutants.

  Retreating mutants changed direction and rushed at Lifers. Lifers responded to this calmly. They need to block these guys. That way, the area near Evil Queen will have more leeway.

  Papapat!

  Cha Jun Sung’s group and the Rankers land in front of Evil Queen.

  Behind them, 10,000 Lifers push back to fend off mutants. There were 16 Lifers taking on Evil Queen – 4 level S and 12 9-combination level As. This is a power that can face off against level 9.

  “You don’t have to block.”


  They don’t know what it means.

  Cha Jun Sung’s group watch Evil Queen and form two walls around her. They have surrounded her in double.

  The first wall was made of short-range Lifers like Cha Jun Sung, and the second was made of mid and long-range Lifers like Ghost Gun.

  Evil Queen kept saying what she wanted to as though she didn’t mind.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t interfere with anyone. Don’t you think you were able to get here without any problem because I opened up a path to make it like this?”


  Cha Jun Sung put his hand on Hades’ handle.

  Of course they think that. This isn’t something that Lifers with a lot of experience don’t know.

  “We thought so. But we need insurance if you’re the opponent.”


  Evil Queen is the type where they don’t know what she’ll do if she’s at a disadvantage. This isn’t just her.

  She opened up a path for them?

  Will she be able to say that when she is on the brink of death?

  She’ll call in 100 mutants if she has 100, and flail to survive for even another second. They’ll only see that ugly sight if there is a shadow of death.

  “Huh? You got your arm. I guess you’ll be stronger than before?”


  Evil Queen acknowledges Cha Jun Sung.

  Cha Jun Sung observed for a chance. The moment he attacks, they won’t stop until one side dies.

  “I see there are 4 Lifers with similar abilities to yours. They make it obvious.”


  Evil Queen laughs.

  When Cha Jun Sung got ready to move, Violet, Weapon Master, and Chamma Sword in the east, west, and south warmed up.

  The rest just stayed alert. That small difference relayed information to Evil Queen and she was disappointed in the small number.

  At first, she thought that all 16 were that powerful.

  But to have just 4. At this state, it is a power that she can handle easily.

  “Have I become too strong?”


  Considering Cha Jun Sung’s abilities, they aren’t weak. If it had been like before, she wouldn’t have been able to come out whole. She could’ve even died. Since she fused with Bon Load, she has easily gotten three times stronger.

  “To match your standards…… I guess that’ll be good.”


  The skeletons attached to Evil Queen’s giant body combine together. Two become one and two of those become one in repetition.

  Boom boom!

  Where bones come out, three skeletons that are a little less than half the size of the skeleton connected to Evil Queen fall and roll to the ground.

  The transformation was the same. Thorns and tentacles form on the skeletons. There isn’t much difference compared to the small skeleton other than that its form looks more heinous.

  ‘That giant size. All of those skeletons coalesced and there are just three left. There’s no way they’re level 7. I’m positive they’re level 8.’


  “You fought my daughters, right? One of those is similar to my eldest, Narsiel. They have as much vitality as they’re strong, too.”


  Evil Queen can adjust the strength and number of the entities that split from her. They are created powerfully if they are made with attention.

  Weak ones have short activity periods, but the strong ones extend activity following their power. They look like they could live for about half a year.

  She may not be able to produce new split entities in that time, but it doesn’t feel like she is experiencing any loss from it. It is plenty to kill Lifers.

  ‘If they’re on Narsiel’s level……’


  “Kill them.”


  While Cha Jun Sung calculated the three entities’ combat ability, Evil Queen gave her order. The skeletons pulled out thorns and tentacles, and scattered. It is a surprise attack, but everyone avoided it because they are all of high standards.

  “Damn.”


  Cha Jun Sun looks at Evil Queen. All of the bones are absorbed into Evil Queen who is on top of the skeleton like a horn. Battle mode.

  Evil Queen grew as large as the bones she absorbed, but the body’s bones including the skeleton became smaller. As that happened, her energy emanated out.

  A level 9’s energy.

  She and her split entities are separate. It is meaningless to compare the combat ability of the main body and alters.

  ‘One level 9 and three level 8s. We get overwhelmed.’


  They aren’t even weak level 8s, but level 8s as strong as Narsiel. There are 12 level A Lifers. 4 people need to take on one.

  “You guys come play with me.”


  Once Evil Queen had completed her transformation, she looked a lot like Vanessa wearing her bone armor. This seems to be the case because their gene pool is the same.

  ‘I’ll do my best.’


  There’s nothing they can do about it. They need to handle it themselves since there is no support. They cannot think about failure.

  This means 100,000 people all die.

  The 16 Lifers fighting Evil Queen’s split skeletons felt like they were being tangled up.

  They were so tangled that it seemed dark in front of them. They had expected several cases.

  All of them – the best and worst case scenarios. They had a lot of thoughts as they were in a top level difficulty mission.

  They calculated with Cha Jun Sung’s experience though it had been against an alter, and her fusion with Bon Load.

  Strategist decided that Lifers couldn’t have the advantage. They have no choice but to face off against her unless they want to quit the mission. They needed to choose the time to face off within the time allowed to them, and Strategist chose that time as Commander-in-Chief.

  He repeatedly said that people would die even if they won.

  Lifers went past it without assigning it too much importance.

  It’s because they didn’t think it would be them. That’s how much they believed in the force made of Rankers.

  They decided to have the 4 level S Lifers take on Evil Queen, and the 12 level A Lifers take on the split skeletons. There may be a lot of them, but they can handle it.

  More than half of the 12 are long-range Lifers. If they fight while falling back, hundreds of level 6 and 7 split skeletons are easy.

  But Evil Queen combined the skeletons and made them into powerful level 8s. There are just 3 of them, but quantity isn’t important.

  An attack that works on a large number of weak opponents isn’t a concept that works against a few strong opponents. With this, their existing operation went to naught.

  On top of that, Evil Queen’s transformation shocked the Lifers. She transformed from a dull form to a body suitable for battle.

  Cha Jun Sung thought she might have a second awakened state as Vanessa did.

  He had to face her to know whether she gained level 9 combat ability below standard or if she transcended that step like Vanessa.

  It was the latter.