Read Novel Full Chapter 1939: History will record that an Otherworlder gave his life for humanity.
Chapter 1939: History will record that an Otherworlder gave his life for humanity.
“Arrrhhh!”
Henry groaned as he struggled to his feet on unfamiliar ground.
He steadied himself and surveyed his surroundings.
All around him, survivors were emerging from their emergency pods, some stumbling out in confusion while others desperately searched for familiar faces.
The transparent capsules shrank immediately after releasing their occupants, their outer shells folding inward with a mechanical hiss.
Above the withered emergency pod, a red beacon continued to blink.
Henry clenched his fists, his expression darkening as the reality of their situation settled in. He hadn’t expected to end up in Hell’s Gate, of all places.
Turning toward Lackey, he found the man standing nearby with a casualness that seemed almost insulting.
Henry frowned. Something about Lackey’s behaviour had been bothering him.
The way the slave had spoken those words beforehand, with such unsettling certainty, made it seem as though he had known exactly what was going to happen.
“Stop thinking and get ready,” Lackey said with a soft yawn, barely sparing Henry a glance.
Just then, a woman’s scream pierced the air.
“OH, MY GOD!”
Henry immediately turned toward the sound and froze.
Several meters away from the nearest survivors stood a grotesque creature, its silhouette unmistakably inhuman.
Its body crawled on four twisted limbs that bent at unnatural angles, each movement producing a faint, sickening scrape against the ground. Its elongated body resembled some nightmarish combination of predator and insect, with a hunched torso and a misshapen head that seemed almost too small for its body.
The creature slowly tilted its head, fixing its gaze on the terrified woman.
“SHIT!”
“RUN!”
“EVERYONE, GET TO THE FORES—”
BOOM!!!
A deafening blast tore through the air, drowning out the desperate screams. In the next second, the monster that had been about to devour the woman melted into a bubbling mass of flesh.
Its body collapsed into a steaming puddle, the last remnants of its twisted limbs dissolving beneath the violent heat.
For a brief moment, the survivors stood frozen, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Then, one by one, they turned toward the source of the blast.
Standing amid the drifting smoke was a black mech-suit adorned with pink stripes. Its armoured frame gleamed beneath the sky blue light, while the weapon in its hand emitted a faint, pulsing glow.
“I-Is that a Commander?”
“Wait… from Beta?”
“Holy shit, we’re safe!”
“Everyone, there’s a Commander here! We don’t need to worry anymore!”
Relief swept through the survivors as their fear gave way to desperate hope.
The Commander, however, paid little attention to their celebration. Holding a pulsing, ringed gun in one hand, the armoured figure turned toward Lackey.
“What’s going on here?” the Commander asked coldly. “And do you have any idea what we’re dealing with?”
Lackey remained unfazed. He merely gestured toward a distant direction.
“You can head that way and wait there until I return,” he said calmly.
“Huh?” The Commander was momentarily taken aback.
Lackey let out a quiet sigh. “If you want to save these people, save the people from slums, protect the Beta Division… and even save Beta herself, then you’ll have to trust me,” Lackey said, his voice growing slightly more serious.
“You don’t have the luxury of understanding everything right now. Just believe me and go.”
The Commander clenched his fist, the armour around his fingers creaking under the pressure… Why did he have to obey this slave?
Lackey leaned slightly closer and added in a dangerous whisper, “It’s alright… All I need is a few hours. Maybe until the reinforcements arrive for these people. After that, you can leave with them if you want… but until then, I want you to stay here with them.”
If these people escaped, the squadron wouldn’t come to investigate this place. Worse, there was a chance that he might never arrive at all.
As long as the people remained here, they would come.
And honestly, as much as Lackey wanted to leave them to their fate, another part of him wanted to give them a chance.
Irony, wasn’t it?
He had decided to kill the people in the zoo, yet here he was, trying to give these people a chance to survive.
That contradictory part of him had always been there, and this time, he had decided to accept it.
For him, there was no choice but to judge.
Whatever the outcome, someone had to make the decision, and he had already made his.
For now, he wanted Henry to keep these people here, at least until the time was right.
Meanwhile, Henry was completely lost.
His duty was to save the survivors and get them out of Hell’s Gate.
That was what he had been taught to do.
Yet, whenever he thought about refusing Lackey’s request, the image of his Governor came to mind.
She had placed her trust in him, and Lackey was behaving as though he knew something that Henry couldn’t possibly understand.
For a moment, Henry remained silent, caught between his duty and the unsettling feeling that there was more to this situation than he could see.
Before he could make a decision, several survivors approached him.
Their faces were pale, their eyes wide with desperation, and their trembling voices carried the last fragments of hope they had left.
“C-Commander, can you take us back?”
“Please… I have a family!”
“I’m scared, Commander!”
More people gathered around Henry, their hopeful expressions fixed on him as though he were their only chance of escaping this nightmare. Some clutched their belongings tightly, while others held on to their children, desperately trying to reassure them despite their own fear.
Henry looked at the crowd before him.
There were adults, the elderly, and even children who could barely understand what was happening around them. He couldn’t simply abandon them, not when they were looking at him as though their lives rested entirely in his hands.
At the same time, Lackey’s words continued to echo in his mind.
Trust me.
Henry’s jaw tightened. He still didn’t understand what Lackey was planning.
The governor believed him enough to put him with this slave…
What should he do?
“GRRGGRRR!!”
A horrifying screech suddenly echoed across the landscape, cutting through the anxious murmurs of the survivors.
Everyone instinctively flinched. The sound came from somewhere beyond the tall grass, carrying a guttural resonance that made the air itself seem to vibrate. Several people turned toward the noise and… their expressions shifted from confusion to sheer terror.
Monsters crawled out of the tall grass and emerged from behind rocky outcroppings that, only moments earlier, had appeared completely empty.
Their twisted silhouettes moved against the dim landscape, their black skin glistening beneath the light as their limbs dragged and scraped across the ground.
The creatures surged forward with terrifying speed, closing the distance before the survivors could even begin to react.
“N-NO!!!”
“COMMANDER!!!”
The Commander snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the approaching monsters. His gaze darted toward the terrified people before shifting to Lackey, who stood nearby with a faint smile on his face.
The Commander clenched his fist, his armour creaking under the pressure.
“Fuck! If any of them die here, you’ll be responsible!”
Lackey nodded with satisfaction.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The Commander raised his pulsing gun and unleashed a barrage of pink energy blasts at the approaching monsters. Each shot struck with devastating force, instantly reducing the creatures to melted flesh. Their bodies collapsed into bubbling puddles, while their Origin Crystals shattered or fell into the steaming remains.
“Everyone! Follow me!” the Commander ordered.
The survivors immediately rushed after him as he led them across the treacherous terrain, firing blast after blast at the monsters to keep them at bay.
Pink flashes illuminated the landscape.
Yet the monsters didn’t seem to care about their fallen kin. Even as their kind were reduced to molten flesh before their eyes, the remaining creatures continued charging forward without hesitation, their movements driven by what appeared to be an insatiable hunger.
The survivors were horrified. No matter how many monsters the Commander killed, more continued to appear, relentlessly pursuing them as though nothing else in the world mattered except the food running desperately before them.
Just then, Lackey leaned closer and whispered something into the Commander’s ear.
In the next second, the Commander abruptly shoved him away.
“You! Go and divert those monsters!”
Lackey stumbled backwards, his expression turning horrified. “B-But, Master…”
The Commander glared at him, his voice hardening into an uncompromising command. “Compared to human lives, you’re nothing! Now get the fuck out of here and divert them!”
The survivors immediately nodded in agreement, convinced that the Commander was right.
After all, Lackey was a slave from another world. In their eyes, sacrificing him to save themselves seemed like the obvious choice.
“Yes! Run, you wretched monster!”
“Yeah! This is all your fault!”
“You people are the ones who caused all this! Go and suffer!”
Their voices rose together, the hatred they held toward otherworlders becoming painfully evident.
Lackey’s expression twisted with pain as he clenched his fists. His shoulders trembled, and for a moment, he seemed unable to find the words to respond.
“I… I didn’t do anything… Why are you all treating me like this?” His voice faltered as he looked from one face to another. “Y-You people are the monsters!”
His eyes began to glow with a deep crimson light.
“Yes, you are!”
“You’re the monster!”
“Now get out there and divert them!”
The people continued shouting without hesitation, their accusations drowning out whatever he might have wanted to say.
Lackey’s crimson eyes trembled as tears gathered at their corners. He stared at the people before him, his clenched fists shaking more violently as his voice broke.
“I… I didn’t do anything…” He swallowed hard, struggling to understand what he had done to deserve their hatred.
“Did I hurt you? Tell me… did I do something that hurt you?”
Everyone fell silent for a moment before one of them finally spoke. “But you people caused this…”
“Yes! You all did it!”
“Now go!”
The survivors erupted into shouts once again, their accusations drowning out any chance Lackey had of defending himself.
Lackey stared at them for several seconds before slowly taking a breath. Then, he lifted his head and looked at them with the gentlest expression he could muster.
“Very well… If my sacrifice can free your hearts from this hatred, then so be it.”
His voice trembled painfully as he continued,
“I will protect you, even if it costs me my life. And when this day is remembered, history will record that an Otherworlder gave his life for humanity.”
With those words, he departed.
Sshhh~
For some fucking reason, a sudden breeze swept across the landscape, stirring the tall grass and carrying a few strands of dust through the air.
It felt almost like the departure of a warrior marching toward his final battle, prepared to sacrifice everything for the people he had sworn to protect.
For a brief moment, the survivors stood entranced by the scene, watching Lackey’s retreating figure with complicated expressions.
Except for the Commander, who merely gave Lackey a deadpan look.
‘This guy… He’s really good at this,’ he couldn’t help but think.