Chapter 99: The Great Legacy (5)
Hyun Suho once again dashed through the maze, heading toward where Maria and the children were staying.
"Maria!"
When Hyun Suho shouted, Maria approached with a startled look.
"The children are sleeping. What's going on?"
"Why did you lie?"
"What? What are you talking about...?"
"Dr. Jacob. You're Dr. Jacob's daughter, aren't you?"
As Hyun Suho spoke with a voice filled with certainty, Maria let out a small sigh and then nodded.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't trust you yet."
Maria, Dr. Jacob's daughter, knew well about Pluto too.
She simply hadn’t told Hyun Suho, who she was meeting for the first time, everything right away. It was perhaps a natural reaction.
"Okay, fine. But here's the issue... Agents targeting Dr. Jacob are about to storm this place. Where is Dr. Jacob? We need to evacuate him."
"My father passed away."
"What? How?"
"He died of an illness three years ago. His grave is in a corner of this scrapyard."
No wonder Dr. Jacob was nowhere to be seen. He had already passed away.
"Then, what about Pluto?"
"You came for Pluto too, didn’t you? But it's a very dangerous object. In the wrong hands, it could destroy the world. It’s a weapon that already caused the world to end once."
"I'm here to prevent it from falling into people's hands."
"What do you mean?"
Hyun Suho explained to Maria what had happened and how the agents would soon descend upon them.
"So... they've finally found us."
"This place is dangerous. Is there no other escape route?"
"I thought making another escape route would make the maze pointless, so I didn’t create one."
"Sigh... That's a big problem."
With his abilities, Hyun Suho could safely evacuate Maria alone.
But with more than ten children, and no mana left, he couldn’t guarantee their safe escape. The agents wouldn’t spare the children. They would torture them until they confessed everything they knew.
'Considering the difficulty level, there must be another way.'
At that moment, a thought flashed through Hyun Suho’s mind.
"Pluto! Couldn’t we escape by activating Pluto?"
Hyun Suho pulled out the photograph he had kept and showed it to Maria.
"Have you seen a robot that looks like this?"
Maria slowly nodded after seeing it.
"I hid it in a part of the scrapyard. But it ran out of fuel, so it can’t move."
"Damn…"
No matter how powerful the robot was, if it couldn’t move, it was just scrap metal. Dr. Jacob had spent years researching and barely found a way to power it. Creating energy to move Pluto here was out of the question.
After much deliberation, Hyun Suho finally made a decision.
"...There's no choice. I'll have to give up on Pluto."
"What?"
"This place is a maze. If we lure the agents properly, we can create a window for you and the children to escape."
Even though he didn’t know the rift’s true purpose yet, he could tell that Pluto was key to completing the quest.
Though securing Pluto would raise his mission completion rate and help him finish the quest...
'But I can’t let the children die for it.'
This wasn’t just a game. It was happening in a real dimension. Even if he achieved his goals, there was no bringing the dead back.
Hyun Suho had no intention of getting a good reward at the cost of the children’s lives.
"We don’t have time. The agents have probably already arrived. We need to wake the children and move into the maze."
Even though he had rushed over after receiving the radio message, the area must already be surrounded. The agents were not to be underestimated.
If so, he needed a backup plan.
"Maria, you know this place well, so you'll have to guide me."
"Wait a moment. This... would this help?"
Maria brought out something resembling a map. It was a drawing of the maze meant to help the children who were still confused about the layout.
"Good. May I take this?"
"Yes. I’ve already memorized the map."
Hyun Suho laid the map on the ground and carefully marked it as he formulated a plan.
'Nova, help me out.'
[Of course, Master.]
Nova immediately analyzed the map and found the most logical solution.
"These spots here and here would be good places to lure the agents. While I do that, Maria, you and the children can follow this route to escape."
Hyun Suho marked the map with letters like A and B.
"Once I give the signal, go from A to B. I’ll lure the agents away."
"But if you do that, Alex...," Maria began, hesitating.
If the plan went as Hyun Suho laid out, even if Maria and the children escaped, Hyun Suho would be cornered.
Maria was voicing her concern, but Hyun Suho reassured her.
"Don’t worry about me. I can get out, no matter what happens."
Of course, it wouldn’t be as easy as he made it sound. But with Alex’s top-tier skills and Hyun Suho’s abilities combined, he had no choice but to trust in that.
“It’s best to hide here for now.”
As Hyun Suho circled a spot on the map, Maria flinched in surprise.
“Is there a problem?”
“…No.”
“Alright, then let’s hurry.”
Hyun Suho and Maria quickly woke the sleeping children and headed into the maze.
They could already hear the loud voices of the agents reaching the entrance.
“They’re here. Even though this is a maze, it won’t take them long to find their way here.”
The agents were highly trained professionals. If they worked together, they could make it through even the most complex labyrinth.
When they arrived at the designated spot, Hyun Suho understood why Maria had made that strange expression earlier.
“This is...”
Among the piles of scrap, something caught Hyun Suho’s eye. It was an object that looked exactly like the one in the photo he had in his pocket.
“This is Pluto?”
A massive robot stood before them, revealing its imposing figure.
As Hyun Suho stared in shock, Maria gently touched Pluto with a sorrowful gaze and spoke.
“This is a creature from ancient times, one that consumed countless lives and even threatened the life of the stars. It’s an artifact that should not exist in this world.”
“But why didn’t Dr. Jacob destroy it? Why did he hide it instead? The president clearly ordered its destruction.”
Sigh-! “There were reasons.”
Maria only lowered her head sadly at Hyun Suho’s question, without elaborating.
There were many things he wanted to ask, but time was running out. So, he handed Maria the radio he had been carrying.
“I’ll lure them away. Once I give the signal, leave. And whatever you do, don’t run in a panic.”
“Understood.”
“Alright, then.”
Though parting like this might mean they would never see each other again, what mattered most now was their safety.
Stealthily, Hyun Suho moved toward where he sensed the agents approaching.
The agents were searching the maze in teams of two.
Without his mana, Hyun Suho was much weaker than usual. But looking at it another way, he was just an ordinary human now.
Even the martial arts learned here were little more than self-defense techniques compared to those in his world.
And with that, the two elite agents crumbled without being able to react to Hyun Suho’s swift sword strike.
“Ugh!”
In an instant, two top agents fell to the ground, clutching their necks.
Using guns would attract attention, so it was crucial to take down the enemies as silently as possible.
The agents didn’t yet know for sure that Hyun Suho was here.
'Take it slow.'
Without mana, his body was sluggish. He couldn’t make precise movements, so he had to be extra cautious.
Cold sweat dripped down his forehead, but he had no time to wipe it away.
One agent, slowly advancing with his gun drawn, failed to spot Hyun Suho hidden in the shadows, and he paid the price.
Hyun Suho silenced him by covering his mouth and stabbing his lungs.
“Hmph!”
By the time he had taken out six of them, a panicked voice came over their radios.
“Jackson! Peter! Respond!”
“Damn it! They’ve caught on.”
The enemy now knew something was wrong, and their alertness would undoubtedly increase.
Since the situation had changed, Hyun Suho altered his strategy, leaving the bodies where they lay instead of hiding them. He wanted to draw the agents away from where Maria and the children were.
“There he is!”
The moment they spotted Hyun Suho, the agents opened fire. Though the space was tight, there was enough cover to hide behind.
Bang! Bang!
Hyun Suho returned fire with his pistol.
Although they were less than 100 meters apart, hitting a moving target with a handgun, not a rifle, wasn’t easy.
But Hyun Suho’s marksmanship was on another level compared to the agents.
One by one, they fell.
“Ugh!”
Nova was also working hard to assist Hyun Suho.
“There’s an enemy hiding at your 8 o’clock.”
Although Nova couldn’t provide direct help without mana, it could still locate the enemies’ positions, which was a huge advantage in this situation.
Together, Hyun Suho and Nova were unstoppable. The agents had no chance.
“Damn it! How is this happening...?”
As another agent tried to radio for backup, Hyun Suho seized the opportunity. In the brief moment he put down his gun to reach for the radio, Hyun Suho surged forward and stabbed him with his knife.
Thwack!
The agent fell, clutching his throat, blood gurgling in his mouth.
“Ugh!”
Silent assassination with a knife was not Alex’s usual style.
In a world without mana, this was a nearly impossible technique. But Hyun Suho had exploited that very assumption.
Still, it wasn’t time to relax just yet.
“There are still more than 10 left.”
Hearing the gunfire, more agents were closing in.
“So this is what it feels like to be a rat trapped in a cage?”
The noose was tightening, but this too was part of the plan.
“It’s time. Move to area A.”
“Understood.”
The agents, focused on chasing Hyun Suho, had left an opening, and in that moment, Maria and the children began their escape.
Now, it was time to lead the enemy further away. In the winding maze, Hyun Suho lured them deeper and disappeared into the darkness.
Soon, they showed themselves.
“Be careful! The enemy is Alex!”
“Alex! I thought he wasn’t much different from me, but this is beyond my imagination.”
As their comrades fell one by one, the agents believed that Alex had been hiding his true abilities all along.
It would never cross their minds that Hyun Suho had taken over Alec’s body.
Thud!
The knife Hyun Suho threw lodged into the head of one of the cautiously moving agents.
"Hail! Damn it!"
"It came from over there!"
Gunfire erupted in response, bullets raining down, but Hyun Suho had already moved from the spot.
The maze was so dark that even the debris could be mistaken for a person.
"Is he dead?"
"I don’t know. Just stay alert."
"Damn it! Where the hell are we now?"
Just as Hyun Suho had planned, they were wandering in circles.
If he spent more time, he could probably kill all of them, but that would be a waste of time.
Hyun Suho quietly moved on to another location.
“Now, move to area B.”
“Roger.”
Everything was going according to plan.
The enemies were more powerless in the darkness than expected, and at this rate, Hyun Suho thought he might be able to escape with Maria and the children.
Most of the agents were either dead or trapped in the maze.
“This way.”
Hyun Suho finally met up with Maria and the others, and they hurried toward the exit.
Once they got out of here, they’d be out of their enemies' reach.
But then, another obstacle appeared.
“Stop. Take one more step, and you’ll be riddled with bullets.”
Bright lights suddenly turned on, revealing an army surrounding them from all sides.
Tanks and heavily armed troops were positioned everywhere. The man holding the loudspeaker in front was a face Hyun Suho recognized from Alex’s memories.
“…Deputy Director Karl?”
“It’s been a while, Alex, and Maria.”
Deputy Director Karl had shown up in person.
“You even mobilized the military for this?”
This was supposed to be a top-secret mission that couldn’t be made public without the president’s approval.
But Deputy Director Karl had moved an entire regiment, turning it into a large-scale operation.
This wasn’t the careful and discreet Karl that Hyun Suho, or rather Alex, knew.
“Why are you surprised? You think I’d be afraid of a lame-duck president for something this important?”
With less than five months left in his term, most of the president’s power had already shifted to the vice president, who was the leading candidate in the upcoming election.
The president was effectively isolated, with no way to know what the vice president was up to.
“Drop your gun. Out of old loyalty, I won’t kill you.”
If he were in his own body, Hyun Suho might have stood a chance, but fighting this military force with Alex’s body was impossible.
Hyun Suho slowly lowered the gun to the ground, just as Karl had ordered.
“Damn it!”
Karl sneered when he saw Maria and the children trembling.
“Hah! You rescued the woman and children instead of Pluto? You’ve gotten soft, Alex. What’s the matter? Did you fall for her?”
“So what if I did?”
“Hahaha! Nothing wrong with that. After all, I had my eye on Maria long ago. Hand over Pluto quietly, and I’ll guarantee your safety.”
“...Let the woman and children go. I’ll show you where Pluto is.”
“The children don’t matter, but Maria’s not going anywhere. She must know something about Dr. Jacob’s research.”
At Karl’s signal, the soldiers swarmed Maria, taking her into custody.
“Mom!”
The children screamed in panic, but Maria smiled calmly, trying to reassure them.
“Mom’s fine. I’ll come get you later, okay?”
The soldiers also gathered the children, keeping them close. They couldn’t let them roam free since they, too, knew about Pluto’s existence.
“Lead the way.”
