Chapter 154: The Day of Destruction
Plagues are classified into different types of troops depending on their size and power.
The line that goes from Beast-Warrior-Knight-Goliath-Kraken-Behemoth-Leviathan is the regular type, and there are also Titans and other special entities.
Among them, the Knight-class is in charge of commanding the troops that are ejected from the Leviathan-class.
The Goliath-class and the Kraken-class mainly play the role of a special force, and the Knight-class stands at the front line.
Thanks to that, they have armor that matches the upper class.
They have to be sturdy to withstand the bombardment and give orders in the front line where fierce battles take place.
That’s why they have the code ‘KNIGHT’.
However, from the perspective of the United Human Federation, they were not very annoying enemies.
Having heavy armor means having low mobility, and being a commander means that the command system collapses if they are destroyed.
Of course, since the Plague’s quantity was no joke, another Knight-class would soon fill in even if one front line collapsed.
The United Human Federation used all kinds of methods to delay and break through that.
It was also since then that they started to use assault armor for mobile warfare.
Anyway, this Knight-class had intelligence unlike the Beast-class that was no different from beasts or the Warrior-class that only faithfully executed orders.
Even so, it was only to the extent of performing what it received from the thought waves emitted by the Leviathan-class, but anyway, it had the ability to recognize the surrounding situation and comprehensively judge the enemy’s power.
That was what Yu Ji-ha was worried about.
“That guy is deliberately not coming out.”
“That’s right. The concentration of Psyfield shows that it’s time to open the cocoon.”
But not coming out means that it is watching the surroundings.
It understands its situation of falling on a strange planet and is wondering how to act to inflict as much damage as possible.
This is an evolution from the Plague’s unique ability to detect and analyze the environment with Psyfield.
Humans could imitate it with gravity radar, but it was impossible to follow it perfectly.
That’s what they say except for Yu Ji-ha.
He looked at the cocoon that was lifted by a barge and dragged to land and asked.
“Where are you going to drag that thing?”
“According to eavesdropping, they seem to move it near Le Havre port. Exactly here.”
A wide sea was displayed on the screen she pointed at.
“It’s a killer view. Are you planning to gather people there and execute monsters?”
“It’s perfect for protecting the pride of the French.”
It would be so if Hafnium2 warheads worked properly.
Unfortunately, the Knight-class was so tough that no weapon system of the French army could kill it.
They tried to warn them by using various channels, but they didn’t even pretend to listen at Elysee Palace.
The bureaucrats wouldn’t all be stupid, and it was plausible that Marie Le Pen ignored them.
France was a country with a lot of presidential power, not as much as the United Human Federation.
Yu Ji-ha bit his tongue.
“Do you have to kill all the citizens of Le Havre to come to your senses…”
“Should we intervene? But we’ll have to reveal Settler…”
To steal away the cocoon, Aether field wouldn’t work and they needed a gravity crane that applied it.
“Not yet.”
It was premature for Yu Ji-ha, who showed all kinds of strange things, to reveal Settler.
It was a completely different story from having the ability to fight in space and having a spaceship.
Of course Settlerho was not a battleship, but anyone would think so when they saw a 700-meter-long spaceship.
They might be able to secure the cocoon by repelling the interference of the French army, but then they might have to fight an unnecessary war.
The probability of France declaring war in anger was high.
He wasn’t afraid of that, but he didn’t need to fight a useless war.
“Contact the secretariat and prepare a press conference. The president will ignore it, but bureaucrats and soldiers will be different.”
And there must be many French people who are not crazy with hatred for Yu Ji-ha.
A little later, when the cocoon landed on land, the whole world saw Yu Ji-ha’s press conference.
“The cocoon secured by France is very dangerous. A more powerful creature than before is sleeping inside. There is a high probability that you won’t be able to kill it with Hafnium2 warheads.”
“No one should go near that cocoon. It is watching the surrounding situation right now. The best way is to ask America to use nuclear weapons in the sea.”
He didn’t warn them coercively, but appealed softly, but it was uncertain how much it would work.
It was because the French people flocked to hear the news that the cocoon landed on land.
The number reached hundreds of thousands, and the small port city of Le Havre was sick.
There were also voices of concern from within France, but they were buried by the enthusiastic cheers sent to the French fleet towing the cocoon.
—The monster from space dies in our hands!
—Long live great France!
Hundreds of thousands of French flags decorated the Normandy beach.
Yu Ji-ha gave up all hope when he saw that.
He knew that the French people’s pride was high, but he didn’t know it was that much.
“I hope they’ll come to their senses and take a big hit this time.”
“But it doesn’t seem like France’s attitude will change.”
“The government may not, but the people won’t, maybe.”
Maybe a revolution will happen.
It had to be done to prevent further damage.
***
At this point, few people knew what the French leadership was thinking.
The people gathered at Elysee Palace were cornered.
In reality, where the economy was falling without knowing the bottom, they were disgraced worldwide by being exposed to having done too much.
Especially, it was fatal that President Marie Le Pen lied.
She emphasized that her country’s psychers were living a happy and truthful life, but the reality was different.
It was clearly revealed that they were receiving terrible treatment such as imprisonment, abuse, and violence.
In the process, testimonies of direct abuse came out, and her position in France was the worst.
Moreover, since the psychers who received such unfair treatment fled en masse, the black metal and ether industries collapsed immediately.
To solve this, it was difficult even with the president’s resignation, and a dramatic change of perception was needed.
It would be perfect if it was the execution of a monster from space.
When she heard the report that he fell near England, President Marie Le Pen cheered.
“This is an opportunity! Do whatever you can to bring that thing to our port!”
Advisors and military insiders repeatedly warned that it was dangerous, but she didn’t even pretend to listen.
Isn’t it a guy who got smashed by Hafnium2 warheads in one shot?
Although America and Britain intervened, it was a guy who could handle it alone in France.
She had a plan to break through with the death of that monster.
But there was a problem.
President Yu Ji-ha of the United Human Federation warned that it was dangerous and stepped forward.
“That egg, the monster inside the cocoon is incomparable to before. Although it is similar in size, it is very tough and will have little damage from Hafnium2 warheads. So please hand it over to the US military.”
She didn’t listen to him half-crazy, even though he advised her to hand it over to the US military rather than the United Human Federation to avoid scratching her pride.
The aides repeatedly warned that they shouldn’t do this and stepped forward, but she repeated the same words like a toy whose battery had run out.
“There is only one thing we have to do now. Bring that monster to France by any means necessary. We must execute it with our own hands.”
They had made many concessions to Britain to salvage the cocoon, but it was a trivial matter as long as they could kill the monster.
President Marie Le Pen had originally wanted to bring it to land, but the field staff had deemed it impossible because it was too heavy.
“It’s almost 20,000 tons, too much for any ordinary barge.”
“What’s so heavy about that monster… Just get it to Le Havre somehow.”
That was how the salvage operation began, resembling a military campaign.
The barge was escorted by an aircraft carrier group, and E-2C early warning aircraft and nuclear submarines were mobilized.
Those who knew the situation criticized it as a show, but most of the French people saw it as a splendid scene.
The leading media outlets of France made this scene their front page, attracting considerable popularity.
―Great France, secures the egg of the monster.
―The monster from space has been subdued by France. You can rest assured now.
It was unclear if that was true, but it seemed certain that people’s perception of France had improved slightly.
The French navy had also done extensive research for this operation.
Based on the analysis of the fragments, similar to the US, they had concluded that the cocoon would not crack yet.
If the creature woke up during the salvage, they had prepared to bombard it with hafnium-2 warheads, operating the barge unmanned.
President Marie Le Pen had demanded that the distance between the ships be narrowed because she was not satisfied with the composition, but that had ruined all the plans.
Anyway, the French navy had succeeded in salvaging the cocoon to Le Havre port, ignoring the US navy fleet lurking nearby.
The French people on the beach sang La Marseillaise and cheered enthusiastically.
―Fall, tyrants and traitors, you are the shame of all parties!
Singing the fourth verse was meant for someone far away in East Asia to hear.
The cocoon salvage operation was safely completed and now they were about to start bombing with hafnium-2 warheads.
The Rafale fighter jets, symbolizing France, crossed the sky above Le Havre port and the citizens waved their flags and sent their generous cheers.
In that festive atmosphere, cracks appeared on the cocoon.
As soon as there was a change in the psychokinesis field, Yu Ji-ha noticed it first and Settlerho was second.
「Cracks on the cocoon, identified as Beta One at this time. Plague Knight level.」
“Did the US finish their work?”
「Yes. The aircraft carrier group has B61 warheads ready. The yield is up to 350 kilotons.」
“I told them we needed megaton-level ones.”
「A B-2 bomber is flying from Norfolk Naval Base with them loaded. It will be escorted by F-18 fighters along the way.」
“I hope we don’t need them…”
Unfortunately, Beta One was visually inspecting its surroundings at this moment.
It must have been materializing what it felt with its psychokinesis field.
As a commander entity, it showed a cautious attitude, but it would turn ferocious if it judged that the enemy was nothing.
Since it was in charge of close combat, it would cling to the city and that would be the end of it.
And not long after, the cocoon shattered all at once.
The shockwave sank the barge and shook the nearby ships.
Beta One transformed in an instant and dived into the sea.
The astonished French navy fired torpedoes at it, but it emerged at the pier without a scratch.
A large yacht was split in half by its swinging foreleg.
「Aether blade confirmed.」
It used ether particles like a blade, which had been reproduced by the United Human Federation, but it was not very useful.
It was crazy to engage in close combat with Plague in the first place.
Plague did not even roar and went straight to destroying the facilities on the pier.
People screamed and ran away from its huge mole-like appearance.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the scene of destruction with a troubled face.
“At least one or two cities will be smashed.”
The cannon fire started but it did not even make a scratch on it.
The late-arriving Rafale fighters dropped hafnium-2 warheads.
Boom!
The huge explosion flipped over the river mouth.
But even though it was at ground zero, it did not suffer much damage.
“What? Why is that thing alive?”
“I-I don’t know!”
“It’s moving! It’s entering Seine River along with estuary!”
President Marie Le Pen’s face turned pale.
If it went up Seine River, it would reach Rouen and then Paris.
The population of the Paris metropolitan area was over ten million.
“Stop it! Don’t let it get to Rouen!”
But how could they stop it?
The cannon fire was useless and the hafnium-2 warheads did not work either.
The only thing left was the nuclear weapons that the US navy had anchored nearby.
The aides suggested that, but President Marie Le Pen shivered and got angry.
“Use American nuclear weapons on French soil? Never!”
“There is no other way, Madam President!”
The aide bowed his head and she closed her mouth.
Meanwhile, Beta One was flipping Seine River as it headed east.
***
An evacuation order was issued throughout the Upper Normandy region.
The roads were crowded with vehicles fleeing, and especially Rouen, the target of the monster, was a chaos of people screaming and running away.
The French army tried to stop Beta One, which was moving along Seine River, with all their efforts.
But all means were futile and eventually three more hafnium-2 warheads were dropped.
Octo, the pride of France, turned into a crater, but its advance did not stop.
Instead, it fired its unique laser at the sky and several Rafale fighters fell like flies.
At this point, President Marie Le Pen was on the verge of fainting.
She was the one who brought that monster to France in the first place.
She only realized that her presidency was in jeopardy rather than the damage France would suffer.
It seemed difficult to preserve this position no matter how this ended.
She naturally resented someone in the United Human Federation.
‘Why didn’t they warn me more strongly!’
Yu Ji-ha had warned her several times.
He had contacted the US because he had no direct channel and later even announced the danger through a press conference.
She had ignored all those warnings.
‘What do I do? How do I…’
Her thoughts were obsessed with preventing a disaster.
She could not stop the monster with hafnium-2 warheads.
The only thing left was her country’s nuclear warheads and the megaton-level nuclear warheads that the US had.
But the former was suspicious in power and the latter would expose her to assassination threats rather than a problem of presidency.
As President Marie Le Pen hesitated, Beta One moved quickly.
After breaking through the troops prepared in Le Havre, the rest was the plains of northern France.
The creature trampled on the fields and destroyed the grain storages with its body.
It was not as fast as on the sea, but it was fast enough to overtake any ordinary vehicle.
Dozens of cars were crushed and the creature ran swiftly, crossing the Seine and the land freely.
The French Air Force tried to stop it, but it seemed to realize that it was not very hurt and did not even avoid it.
The only thing that momentarily halted the creature’s advance was the bombing of hafnium-2 warheads.
But that was barely enough to buy some time for the citizens of Rouen to evacuate.
As a result, huge craters were created all over the northern plains.
No one could guess how many people died in the explosions.
The aides took a hard line.
“Mr. President, we have less than 20 minutes left.”
“We have to launch a nuclear attack on Rouen now.”
“It’s not about the presidency. Do you intend to kill all the citizens?”
Despite the strong tone, President Marine Le Pen could not make a decision easily.
She knew that if she wasted time like this, the damage would get worse.
She wanted to blame someone and run away.
‘It’s all his fault.’
She was deluded that if it weren’t for Yu Ji-ha, the monster wouldn’t have appeared.
Looking back now, the world was peaceful until 2025.
There was no one who used black metal and no one knew what ether was.
It was Yu Ji-ha who broke the peace.
He made France like this.
“If only he wasn’t there…”
“Yes?”
“Mr. President, what are you saying…”
The aides were dumbfounded by her mumbling.
It seemed that she was referring to Yu Ji-ha, the president of the United Human Federation, but they didn’t know why she said that at this point.
They understood that she wanted to shift all the blame to him, but he was originally the leader of another country and he had warned them several times.
He had nothing to do with this disaster.
The chief aide, who judged that she was not normal, decided to contact the parliament.
“Prime Minister, I think we need to contact the United States.”
“That’s the president’s decision, not mine.”
“Mr. Prime Minister, Rouen will be in the blast zone in 10 minutes.”
Most of the citizens of Rouen had evacuated, but thousands were still estimated to be there.
If the nuclear prepared by the United States fell, they would all die.
As the chief aide explained earnestly, the prime minister paused and said.
“…Please switch me to Marine.”
A short conversation took place in a separate room.
They couldn’t tell what was said, but the defense minister confirmed that the prime minister had received authority.
Marine Le Pen was taken to the hospital and the prime minister contacted the White House.
President Baldwin asked several times.
“Can’t you use your own warheads?”
“We decided that they were not powerful enough. Please finish it in one shot.”
He seemed to follow Yu Ji-ha’s words belatedly.
But because President, the Marine hesitated too much, Beta One had almost reached Rouen.
The French army mobilized and poured fire on it, but it evaporated with one laser attack from the creature.
The Knight-class specialized in close combat, but it was not bad at long-range attacks either.
When Beta One entered the western area of Rouen, a B-2 bomber and an F-18 squadron that had refueled in mid-air spotted it.
They kept their altitude high to avoid being attacked, but they could see its dark shape very well.
“Geez… What kind of monster is that?”
“The Pentagon gave us final approval. Prepare to drop warheads.”
The mission commander operated the instrument panel to open the armament rack.
Suddenly, a thick beam of light rose from the ground.
It was an ether laser that both officers were very familiar with.
“The monster fired a laser!”
“It’s not targeting us. Turn your rudder!”
The B-2 bomber was flying under escort by F-18 fighters.
Since it had a higher altitude than fighters, it wouldn’t look big from the monster’s perspective, and that would reduce its threat level.
But the monster’s ether laser persistently aimed at only B-2.
Could it be that it knew this side was important?
Yu Ji-ha’s words rang clearly in the mission commander’s mind.
“That monster has intelligence. It can distinguish between threats around it, so don’t rush in or you’ll be annihilated.”
But he didn’t expect it to be smart enough to do something like decoy shooting.
Another laser pierced through B-2’s wing as it performed an evasive maneuver.
It lured it with a weak attack and then launched a real attack.
The laser cannon that melted even black metal vaporized B-2’s weak lower armor.
As the wing fell off, B-2 started to spin in the air.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday!”
“Missouri down! Hit by a laser!”
As the pilots reported urgently, Beta One succeeded in entering Rouen.
There were dozens of Leclerc tanks in front of it.
The citizens of Rouen who hid in the buildings and watched the standoff groaned.
“It’s the day of doom…”
The tanks’ turrets soared into the air as a huge explosion occurred.
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