In the past, Pegmont had been a person without goals or ideals.
This state of affairs roughly began that year when he took the fusion test. The moment he stepped onto the testing grounds... the testing apparatus sizzled twice and blew up on the spot. Yet the entire Mitli Front broke into wild, ecstatic celebration.
They told him: You, Pegmont, are very likely the greatest genius in the entire history of the source energy world.
Source energy fusion degree: Super S-Grade. Source energy sensitivity: Super S-Grade... Dual Super-S. The hidden ceiling detectable by Azure's equipment was precisely Dual Super-S.
After that, it was a smooth, effortless sweep all the way.
It wasn't until he reached the half-step super tier that, out of sheer boredom, Pegmont began provoking supers, and even the top experts on the Dome Leaderboard.
No one could understand why he was never beaten to death. Pegmont didn't understand either. Regardless, he was hooked.
"Later on, I got an ideal. It started around three years ago, after they wouldn't let me participate in the Xilang Peak Flag War."
Before them stood a snow-covered icy slope roughly three to four hundred meters high. Pegmont raised his head to look up at the heights and gritted his teeth.
"My ideal is to drag that bastard The King right off his fucking throne as the rookie generation's king."
For Pegmont, this was genuinely a miserable experience in his otherwise genius life.
First came the battle at Xilang Peak, which catapulted Han Qingyu straight to the top of the Cloud Piercer Leaderboard. Then, when Pegmont finally kicked Han Qingyu off the number one spot on the Cloud Piercer Leaderboard, Han Qingyu became a super. And when Pegmont finally reached super tier as well, Han Qingyu was already on the Dome Leaderboard...
The polar wind and snow howled. Pegmont turned his head to look at Makarov. "Fuck you, Mak. I'm pouring my heart out here, what the fuck are you doing?"
Not far beside him, Makarov lay prone in the snow, letting it cover both him and his firearm until he resembled a snowdrift, crawling slowly up the slope.
"It's right on the other side," Makarov pointed cautiously toward the pass.
That strange Great Spike—or rather, that spacecraft—was in the valley just over this slope.
"I know. I can roughly sense it, but so what?" Pegmont reached out and hoisted Makarov out of the snow. "Don't forget, we're here to hack it to death. Do you really think you can disguise yourself as a snowdrift and snipe it dead with one shot? Come on, trust me, let's charge!"
Makarov: "...Fine." He compromised, even though he had no idea why he, a Grade B sniper, was supposed to be charging the front line.
In truth, in all his life, Makarov had never seen anyone more resilient and tough than Pegmont. Note: tough, not powerful. At this stage, there were still quite a few people more powerful than him, but none of them was likely tougher.
For instance, not long ago, they had killed a Red Shoulder together. Though it was supposedly a team effort, the main force was undoubtedly Pegmont.
From the sub-super tier to super tier, Pegmont had gone to fight that Red Shoulder six times in total. The first five times, without exception, he came back grievously wounded and on the verge of death. On the sixth attempt, having advanced to super tier less than three months prior, he coordinated with a single bullet from Makarov to successfully slay the Red Shoulder.
This ought to have been an utterly absurd accomplishment.
However, three years ago, Han Qingyu had already severed a Red Shoulder's arm, clashing head-on with it in midair atop Xilang Peak. A month ago, he had fought Butcher Ivan one-on-one at Xiongzhanli. A week ago, Han Qingyu had hacked Alphonse to death.
...The two stood side by side in the wind and snow, gazing at the pass.
"If it's as strong as the Alliance speculated, after we hack it to death, we'll brag our hearts out when we get back. If it turns out to be weak, after we hack it to death... we'll still say it was super strong when we get back," Pegmont said.
"Isn't that a bit shameless? I mean the second scenario," Makarov said.
"Is it?"
"Yeah."
"Whatever, let's hack it to death first." Pegmont brushed the ice and snow out of his hair with a hand. *Whoosh!* "Charge!"
...
"Christine, Christine..."
Behind the snow slope lay a valley. Concealed within the ice at opposite ends of the valley were the two greatest combat forces Azure could field at present, aside from Chen Buer.
Third on the Dome Leaderboard, America's God of War, Bochen. Fourth on the Dome Leaderboard, Star of the Mediterranean, the world's strongest woman, Christine.
"I'm here," Christine replied, her tone not particularly warm upon hearing Bochen's call.
"Look at the southern pass... That bastard is here. I mean that red-haired bastard, he's standing right on the southern pass..."
Over the communicator, Bochen's voice sounded somewhat helpless and gloomy.
As a senior fellow countryman from America, Bochen actually appreciated and valued Pegmont greatly, but unless strictly necessary, he tried his best to avoid meeting him.
Comparatively speaking, Bochen would rather travel long distances to mentor that barefoot child on the African savanna.
"I see him," Christine said, glancing toward that tuft of red hair in the wind... Her attention subconsciously drifted to her own backside. *Is it really not pert enough?*
"What do we do now? Stop him, or let him fool around?" On the other end of the communicator, Bochen asked like a gentleman.
While he asked, Pegmont was already fooling around. Standing on the pass, he was shouting and hollering toward the Great Spike aircraft down in the icy valley. Finding that useless, he began hurling blocks of ice at it.
"I don't know. If I go out there, I might just take the Great Spike's side," Christine muttered in irritation, then added, "Let's watch for a moment. It's already come to this, and the craft still hasn't moved... I don't think waiting forever is the solution either."
"All right then. Let's watch first." Bochen ended the transmission and prepared for battle.
...
"Still no reaction. Should we charge down?" Pegmont asked.
Makarov grabbed him. "Wait and see."
"Wait my ass, it's just a cowardly turtle hiding in its shell." Saying that, Pegmont swung his arm and hurled another block of ice weighing over two hundred jin.
The block of ice tore through the air and smashed against the Great Spike craft below.
The spacecraft was roughly the size of four heavy-duty semi-trucks stacked two by two, its surface pitch-black dead iron.
The ice shattered against it. The craft didn't budge; there was zero reaction.
"What are you doing?"
"I need to piss, and I'll humiliate it while I'm at it." The trousers of the combat uniform were a hassle. Pegmont unfastened them as he spoke.
"It'll freeze off."
"Fuck off, I'm a super! I'm Pegmont!" Pegmont said, his red hair fluttering in the air.
"Wait..." Makarov suddenly grew serious. He looked left and right, then said, "Don't you sense the airflow fluctuating slightly to the east and west? Mont, I bet General Bochen and Miss Christine might be here. Rumor has it they both came to Antarctica..."
"Oh? That auntie with the flat ass is here? You know, she beat the living daylights out of me in the past. General Bochen is a kind uncle, but unfortunately he's too short and talks too much. It always disappoints the people who admire him."
Even as he spoke, Pegmont's hands didn't stop.
Just like that, standing on the high ridge with source energy surging, he took a piss down toward the spacecraft.
"He's pissing on the Great Spike spacecraft, with his source energy apparatus activated..." Bochen said.
"Shut up, General Bochen!"
Helpless, Christine bowed her head and closed her eyes...
*Creak... crack!*
At that exact moment, a sound echoed.
Christine instantly tightened her grip on her combat saber.
"It opened! Slid open from left to right—no, east to west, from your side toward mine... It opened on the south side," Bochen reported over the communicator.
"No shit, I can see it!" Christine wished she could strangle the connection.
Down in the icy valley, the entire southern metal wall of the Great Spike craft slid sideways... A towering back, its head almost touching the roof, appeared in Pegmont's sight.
"Looks like it feels pretty strong," Pegmont stared unblinkingly, speaking with rising excitement.
"Yeah," Makarov nodded dully.
Compared to the rounded and bulging contours of the Black Armors, blue-sheened Great Spikes, and Red Shoulders, the back of this Great Spike was sharp-edged and packed with explosive power—it had straight, broad shoulders, a tapered waist, and legs like square pillars.
If those below Red Shoulder made people wonder whether the dead iron was part of their physical structure, then this Great Spike was enough to prove that it truly was just an outer shell—or rather, armor.
"Mak, look at what's strapped to its back." Pegmont's eyes shone.
"What?"
"A blue starlight column sword. That bastard The King has one; coincidentally, I've been wanting to get one too."
A blue starlight column sword was not something every Red Shoulder carried. For instance, the one Chen Buer hacked to death back then didn't have one, nor did the three that had died on the Antarctic battlefield over the past two-plus years. Based on the current deduction, it seemed only the leadership team of a large-scale Great Spike offensive was equipped with one.
*Boom!* A majestic burst of source energy suddenly erupted, shaking and cracking the surrounding glaciers. Pegmont yelled excitedly, "I'm going in!"
At the same time, *buzz!*
Below, inside the craft, the Great Spike's body hummed. Still standing with its back turned, beneath the dead iron shell at its flanks, light that was predominantly blue infused with molten-lava red swelled and contracted continuously up and down.
"Super cool!" Pegmont shouted in praise. Gripping his saber—over two meters long—with both hands, he took a stride forward, about to leap.
*Sss... clang!* Below, that Great Spike pivoted around with a heavy, swinging step, halted firmly, and raised its head. "Human?"
The Great Spike spoke.
It was a scene powerful enough to drive people mad with shock. For example, Christine and Bochen were stunned...
"Fuck you, speak English," Pegmont shouted.
"Mankind?" The Great Spike's voice was low and raspy. It truly switched to English. "The species known as mankind... you are among the strangest I have seen."
"Fuck you, it actually can!"
In a situation like this, practically anyone would normally calm down first or hurry to engage in conversation, gathering crucial intelligence to report back to superiors.
Pegmont did not. Looking down into the spacecraft at the dozen-plus corpses of Azure soldiers suddenly hurled out... he raised his saber and leaped forth.
"Yes, I can. We have just deciphered your language... I am Daie." The Great Spike looked at him, articulating with unpolished pronunciation yet precise expression.
Daie—the inferred designation for a Great Spike advanced warrior. Since its appearance differed from a Red Shoulder, it must be above Red Shoulder, proving that Red Shoulders were merely Tuokouna... This proved that it was formidable.
"Right, then go die!"
Pegmont roared midair, bringing his blade crashing down with both hands.
Daie raised a hand, extending one arm forward. *Buzz!* A wall of source energy visible to the naked eye materialized out of thin air; ice and snow spraying through the air instantly froze in place.
*Boom!* The two-meter-long saber struck the energy wall with an explosive crash.
The energy wall did not break.
Yet it seemed to be purely defensive in nature.
Thus, Pegmont didn't retreat either.
"Looking down on me?!" Kicking off the air wall with a loud bang, Pegmont swung his saber with both hands, spinning swiftly toward the back-right, and slashed another blade wind forward.
*Chhh... clang!*
Having seemingly lost patience at last, Daie drew its sword and said in a deep voice:
"I come. Conquer. Commencing now."
At that exact instant, from the east and west sides of the icy valley, two silhouettes streaked across more than two hundred meters of space, blades swinging as they charged in to strike!
Chapter 596