Free Web NovelChapter 26: Arrogant Envoy and the Penthouse Judgment
The spatial vacuum of the Abyssal Domain snapped shut as Min-jae, Seo-yoon, and Ha-eun materialized back onto the 100th-floor obsidian command deck of the Iron Citadel. Behind them, the Sovereign Battle Map was still pulsing with intense silver data lines, but the global interface was completely frozen on a single, flashing broadcast.
[Global Faction Ranking Initialized!]
[Rank 1: Team ’Monarch’ (Leader: Kang Min-jae). Power Metric: Indefinable / Infinite.]
"The entire global channel has gone dead silent," Major General Shin Ye-rin reported, her steel-gray eyes fixed on the communication terminal. Her short, asymmetrical black bob fluttered as she adjusted her uniform. "The international superpowers— the Euro-Alliance, the US Liberty Aegis, and the Pan-Asian Syndicate—were expecting a military remnant or a mega-guild to take the top spot. Seeing a single teenager listed with an ’Indefinable’ power metric has triggered an absolute panic."
Min-jae didn’t respond immediately. He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling celestial glass, casually sliding his hands into his cargo pockets. Down below, the twelve Void-Ember Dread-Mechs were patrolling the perimeter of the Lotte World Tower, their matte-black void-iron hulls casting long shadows over the pristine, monster-free streets of the central district.
Before Ye-rin could refresh the satellite feed, the private executive elevator doors at the back of the penthouse lounge emitted a sharp, high-frequency security ping. The Sovereign Command Core didn’t lock them down; it automatically flagged the incoming entities as a diplomatic party under global system truce protocols.
The doors slid open with a vacuum hiss.
Walking out of the elevator were three individuals dressed in pristine, enchanted navy-blue combat trench coats emblazoned with the silver eagle crest of the United States Liberty Aegis— the strongest surviving faction in the Western hemisphere.
The man leading the group was around thirty, possessing the sharp, calculated look of a high-ranking politician combined with the dense mana field of an S-Rank Awakened. His name was Ambassador Vance (Level 24), and his talent, Sovereign’s Ledger, allowed him to forcefully suppress the skill casting of anyone with lower level attributes. Behind him stood two towering Level 20 elite bodyguards armed with heavy, glowing mana-repulsion shields.
Vance stepped onto the black alloy floorboards, his gaze scanning the ultra-luxury penthouse with a condescending, aristocratic smirk. He looked past Yoo Ji-a’s humming spear and Han Seo-yoon’s starlight bow, his eyes settling entirely on Min-jae’s casual, back-turned figure.
"So... you are the anomaly known as Kang Min-jae," Ambassador Vance spoke, his voice carrying the deep, manufactured authority of a global superpower. "I must admit, your un-breachable tower and your automated machines are impressive for a local regional sector. But the global system rules are larger than one city, kid. A power metric listed as ’Indefinable’ is a threat to the global balance."
Min-jae didn’t turn around. He didn’t even shift his footing. "You have exactly sixty seconds to state your business before I have my mechs throw you off the balcony."
Vance’s smirk twitched, a dangerous flicker of irritation passing through his gray eyes. No one had ever spoken to an official representative of the Liberty Aegis with such casual mockery.
"We are here to offer you a preservation contract," Vance said, tapping a silver system scroll in his hand, causing a holographic document to expand in the air. "The Global Coalition Board has decided that the Lotte World Tower and the ’Monarch’ faction must be integrated under Western military jurisdiction. You will hand over the SSS-Rank Sovereign Core blueprint, dismantle your autonomous mechs, and submit your team to a standardized loyalty audit. In return, the Liberty Aegis will grant you honorary citizenship and a seat on the global security council."
He took a step closer, his S-Rank talent Sovereign’s Ledger pulsing slightly, trying to project a suffocating aura of authority across the room. "If you refuse, the international alliance will declare Team ’Monarch’ a rogue cataclysm entity. We have three nuclear-grade system artifacts locked onto this coordinate from the Pacific fleet. Do not mistake our diplomatic politeness for weakness, boy."
Yoo Ji-a let out a sharp, guttural laugh, her Void-Valkyrie’s Crescent Fang crackling with a violent, light-devouring obsidian static. Her violet eyes flashed with absolute, bloodthirsty amusement. "Min-jae, can I please slice this arrogant suit into ribbons? His voice is giving me a headache."
"Wait," Min-jae said smoothly, finally turning around to face the envoy. His bottomless obsidian eyes were entirely deadpan, devoid of a single ounce of fear or hesitation. He walked slowly toward the holographic contract, stopping exactly three feet away from Vance.
"A standardized loyalty audit?" Min-jae murmured, a cold, mocking smile touching his lips. "You cross an entire ocean into my territory, stand in my palace, and threaten me with your useless toys?"
"It is a logical calculation, Min-jae," Vance stated firmly, his posture straightening as his bodyguards raised their heavy mana-repulsion shields. "You cannot fight the combined resources of the remaining international superpowers. Sign the contract, or—"
Before he could finish the sentence, Vance’s S-Rank instinct suddenly screamed in pure, unadulterated terror. He tried to activate his suppression skill, but the sheer atmospheric weight radiating from Min-jae’s calm frame locked his mana veins in place.
Min-jae didn’t draw a blade. He simply reached out his right hand, grabbed the silver holographic system scroll from Vance’s grip, and crushed it into raw, glowing blue pixels with a single, effortless squeeze of his fingers.
Crack.!
The two elite bodyguards panicked, instantly thrusting their heavy mana-repulsion shields forward to crush Min-jae’s chest with a high-voltage physical impact.
"Lethal response authorized!" the left guard roared.
[Ding! Received 4,800 points of High-Density Mana-Repulsion Physical Damage.]
[SSS-Rank Faction Grid Active: ’Eternal Vajra Deity Body’ triggered!]
[Total Damage Negated: 4,800 / 4,800. Health Pool: 100/100.]
[Vajra Retribution Active: Reflecting 150% True Damage to the targets!]
[Reflecting 7,200 points of True Damage to both bodyguards!]
Booom.!
A horrific, invisible counter-shockwave erupted from Min-jae’s chest plate. The 7,200 points of True Damage completely ignored their high-tier alloy shields and defensive armor parameters, traveling instantly straight into their bone marrow and internal organs. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
The two giant bodyguards didn’t even get to scream.
With a sickening crunch of fracturing steel and caving rib cages, their entire physical structures violently exploded inward from the inside out. Their heavy mana shields shattered into a million flying shards, and their bodies flew forty feet backward, crashing into the elevator doors as pure, dissolving system ash.
"W-What..." Ambassador Vance stumbled backward, his face turning an asymmetric shade of ghostly white. He fell onto his rear, his tailored trench coat smudged with the ash of his own elite guards. His razor-sharp political mind completely short-circuited. He hadn’t even seen Min-jae move a finger, yet his prime enforcers had been completely erased from existence just by touching him.
Min-jae walked up to the groveling ambassador, standing over him like an absolute monarch looking down at a pathetic, whimpering street dog. He casually slid his hands back into his pockets.
"Go back to your Pacific fleet," Min-jae commanded, his voice low, vibrating with an icy calm that raised the hairs on Vance’s neck. "Tell your global board that if a single international ship enters my sector’s territorial waters, I won’t just reflect their strikes. I will use my mechs to erase their nations from the map."
He turned his back on the trembling diplomat, his bottomless obsidian eyes locking onto the Sovereign Battle Map as it began to flash with a new, dark crimson notification from the depths of the ocean. "Ye-rin, prepare the intercontinental satellite tracking. The international superpowers want a world war. Let’s show them what an invincible empire looks like."
