Mercenary Black Mamba

The oxygen disintegrated by high-temperature plasma reacted with carbon dioxide, and the produced dicarbon dioxide transiently caused the hydrogenic explosion. The space was warped and a super-high-temperature gas storm raged. The mechanism was similar to the sunspot explosion. The Bachilkile valley turned into hell at once.

The hell soon turned into a storm whose speed was hundreds of meters per second. Car-sized rocks were flung away like small stones. Gravel and sand covered the entire area. A level five hurricane was nothing but a breeze compared to this. The eons-old cliffs started to crumble.

The atmosphere, heated to 30,000 degrees, rose. The hyper-fast rising air current brought in dark cumulus, making the area blackened. A strong magnetic field attracted negatively charged ions. Thus, thousands of lightning tore through the inky-black sky and began to strike the ground.

Garuda leisurely absorbed the high-voltage electricity and radiation, but Mu Ssang was quite awestruck at the scene.

"It's so cool!"

Mu Ssang's mouth was agape in awe. Compared to this, Hollywood films featuring natural disasters were nothing. He expected it to be powerful but not to this extent. Three plasma photon beams were on par with a megaton-grade atomic bomb. The beams were only the beginning.

It was too early to be surprised. Something extraordinary was happening underground. There existed a big magma chamber that was 20 kilometers under the valley. The crust of the chamber, struck by the plasma beams, cracked. Massive energy pressurized for hundreds of millions of years stirred. The ground shook.

"Twenty kilometers below the surface. Energy as big as ten trillion TMF is moving."

"What is that?"

His heart skipped a beat. He was already sufficiently overwhelmed by what happened so far.

"You and I will be like fried chicken."

Artificial intelligence cracked an unwitting joke.

"Fried chicken?"

He reminisced about the volcanic explosion in the underground world below the Kaparuza valley.

"A volcanic explosion?"

"If by volcanic explosion you mean the phenomenon in which the magma locked up underground erupts explosively, you are right. A volcanic explosion is a useful natural phenomenon that makes the planet healthy."

Garuda was not in a hurry at all.

"Soar right now!" Mu Ssang yelled.

He didn't care about the planet's health if it meant he was going to be fried chicken. A volcano in Colombia, Nevado Del Ruiz, erupted in 1985 and resulted in 50,000 death, shooting up its debris 9000 meters in the atmosphere. Garuda activated the anti-gravity engine and rose to eight thousand meters above the ground.

Tremendously pressured magma pushed open the weakened crust and roared. Massive flames and dark ashes soared. The light of the scene illuminated the whole plateau. Tremendous numbers of volcanic bombs and debris followed. Volcanic ashes rode the soaring current of air and soared to the sky at sonic speed. A heat wave hit them.

"Higher!"

Garuda soared through the troposphere and soared to the 13,000-meter altitude. The troposphere was engulfed in demonic chaos. A thunderstorm raged and thunder rumbled. Blue lightning struck countless times. It was really like being in a Hollywood blockbuster disaster film.

"Huh. How?"

Mu Ssang looked down at the ground with awestruck eyes. Flames and flashes of light, high-temperature vapor, and thick clouds filled his field of view. When nature roared, neither Dimensional Sight nor Eyesight worked. The Bachilkile valley must be long gone.

"It is indeed quite some monster!" thought Mu Ssang.

Mu Ssang shuddered. Garuda had just finished the third awakening. The first one took place when it hatched from its egg and merged with Hata. The second one happened when it absorbed tritium from the Hamaoka nuclear power plant. The third awakening happened when it absorbed two dysfunctional Hatas. According to Kkamdung, Garuda had two more awakenings yet to happen. He couldn't imagine how it would transform from now on.

"Shall it be sealed?" said Mu Ssang to himself.

With one strike of the photon beam, it could disintegrate the Blue House or the White House into ashes, or rather vapor. If it hit the San Andreas or Tohoku faults, it could trigger a planetary disaster. If it finished the fourth and fifth awakenings, it could halve the planet easily. Mu Ssang's concern deepened.

* * *

Orangniki Valley, Rwenzori.

"It's Baphomet, Nialatep."

Lamartin woke from his meditation.

"It's in the west!"

The old man enjoying coffee in a 17th-century horsehair chair gave a brief answer.

"It is on par with a medium-sized earthquake."

"It could be a real earthquake."

"It could be. Matilda!"

"Grandmaster, I am checking with the USGS."

Matilda held the satellite phone and smiled. The United States Geological Survey, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, monitored earthquakes and volcanoes around the world in real time.

"There have been three earthquakes within the last 24 hours whose magnitude was higher than Lichter 6. Nine hours ago, Bihar, Nepal: 6.1. Seven hours ago, Bogota, Colombia: 6. Six hours ago; Fukuoka, Japan: 6.2. Eight minutes ago, Ennedi, Chad: 7.3. There was also a big explosion in Ennedi."

"Deducing from vivid waves and direction, I suspect Ennedi."

"A volcanic eruption? The area isn't where a volcano is supposed to erupt. Did someone carry out an experiment with a hydrogen bomb there?"

Nialatep looked back at Lamartin. When the Soviet Union experimented with a 50-megaton atomic bomb nicknamed "Tsar Bomba," a Lichter-7 earthquake occurred. What Nialatep said wasn't mere speculation.

"Nothing is certain. We shall confirm it."

"We can't go to the place. Damn betrayer!"

Nialatep lamented. There seemed to be a lot of story behind it.

"Matilda, select some Haunters and check the Ennedi Plateau."

Lamartin waved. A different space overlapped over their room.

"Yes, sir. I will go right now."

Matilda entered the black hole made in the space.

******

At Yoa Palace, Novatopia, from the Garden of Water following a trail called King's Walk, it only took 30 minutes until the eastern shore of Lake Yoa. Mu Ssang, who returned after causing a catastrophe, was staring at the lake for an hour without moving at all.

Garuda was slumbering 200 meters below the surface where gentle waves sloshed about. Garuda was not a pesticide sprayer. It was a cosmic weapon. Startled, he made it sleep for now.

He was feeling sullen. He might be a catastrophic being dulled by killings, but this time, close to 50,000 souls disappeared at once. The magma gushing out from under the Bachilkile valley covered 40 kilometers around. The valley turned into a volcano. Thousands of indigenous people living near the valley were also buried in lava.

Clairvoyance showed him how people on the ground were carbonized by photon beams, torn into pieces by wind, and melted by lava. Clairaudience let him hear the dying screams in vivid stereo. He intended to eradicate the fanatics and terrorists; however, the indigenous people didn't do anything to deserve such a fate.

An ordinary person suffers from great trauma even if they kill someone in self-defense. But a pilot of a bomber or a captain of a nuclear submarine firing Tomahawk missiles wouldn't suffer so. This was the difference between seeing and knowing.

Perhaps due to his karmic debt as an asura, unexpected catastrophes followed wherever he went. This time, the event prevented him from bedding Edel. He didn't feel like doing such a thing after causing thousands of deaths.

"Sigh. Is Mu Ssang here for a picnic or meditation?"

Edel sighed and placed the crisply fried cassava pancakes onto plates and took out bowls and airtight containers from a bamboo basket. She lit a solid fuel and placed a potful of spicy chowder on top of it. She was busying herself with the task when Dino nudged her with its snout.

"What?"

Dino pointed at Mu Ssang with its front paw and wondered. He didn't understand why his master kept staring at the lake surface when there was his female and delicious food there.

"Don't call him here!"

Edel shook her head. She didn't know the specifics but could guess what Mu Ssang felt from what she heard. He was a great creator and destroyer at the same time. He was a Harmattan but at the same time as vulnerable as a dewdrop on a blade of grass. He must be feeling sad. Otherwise, he wasn't whom she knew.

The satellite phone blinked red. Dino picked it up with its front paw and handed it to her.

"Thank you!"

Edel patted Dino's cheek and took the phone. Dino was a better servant than many people.

"I'm well. Are you doing the dishes? I'll get him."

Edel strode to Mu Ssang with the satellite phone in her hand.

"Mu Ssang, it's Ssamdi. If you are not going to be the Buddha, you'd better pick it up."

"If I become the Buddha, I cannot be your husband anymore."

"You are always so jesty."

"I jest so you feed me."

Mu Ssang grinned and took the phone. The grin vanished soon.

Mu Ssang, after finishing the call, threw the phone. Dino backflipped stylishly and took it.

"Now they are coming out. This is a disadvantage to us."

"Something troubles you?"

Edel frowned slightly.

"Not something serious. Some ESPers and chimeras are crawling out. With Mago, Ssamdi and the soldiers will be able to deal with them."

"Why don't you send Garuda?"

"No! Not that one."

Mu Ssang flinched. Garuda didn't have the faculty of reasoning like Kkamdung. He couldn't send a planet scourer just because of some vermin.

"Worry no further. Eat. You can only appreciate Lake Yoa's true beauty when your stomach is filled."

Edel pulled at Mu Ssang's clothes.

"When did you prepare all this?"

Mu Ssang pretended to be surprised.

"A capable husband and a capable wife. This is our main dish today. Voilà!"

Edel grinned and held out a spoonful of spicy chowder. Mu Ssang took it willingly. He could never turn down food fed by a woman like Edel. Otherwise, all his sons will be impotent for three generations.

"Aargh!"

The inside of his mouth burned. Even especially spicy strains of hot peppers with 7,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) could not match this spiciness. This was at least a million SHU. Edel was indeed a terrible cook.

"Great! How did you make it?"

Mu Ssang quenched the fire in his mouth with saliva and shot a question calmly. This was just spicy. It was better than poisoned food or bitter, non-edible food she used to make. Compared to those, this was a delicacy.

"From the chef. He said a spicy chowder needed to be spicy."

"Damn. Should I fire him?" Mu Ssang blamed Yijihana.

"What did you use to season it?"

"Habanero peppers with 300,000 SHU. Just a pinch. The chef said the Korean hot peppers have some depth in their flavor but aren't spicy enough."

"Habaneros are spicy. Great!" Mu Ssang exclaimed.

Habanero peppers were used by the Chilean dictator Pinochet to torture dissidents. The throat-scouring extreme spiciness almost made him faint, but he couldn't turn down the dish when Edel was looking up at him with beautiful eyes full of anticipation.

"You have to eat it all. The chef said that a spicy dish is good for when you are feeling down."

"Yijihana. You are determined to poison me! I shall feed you a bottle of capsaicin in return," said Mu Ssang deep inside.

Mu Ssang emptied the potful of chowder despite being himself. The dish was made with care. Edel must have gotten up early in the morning to busy herself, making the dish with her total lack of skill and taste. This chowder was cooked with her heart. The taste was irrelevant.

"You must be hungry too, Dino."

Mu Ssang took out a big piece of fish from the pot and held it out to Dino. Dino took it readily.

Dino jumped and bit its tongue and ran to the lake. Then it jumped into the water. Edel's dish was as strong as to startle even Dino.

"Why is he doing that?" Edel wondered.

"It must have been so delicious."

"It isn't that good," Edel wondered with a bit of suspicion in her voice.

"Haha!"

Dino's surprise and reaction made him laugh. The chef was right. A spicy dish was indeed good for when you were feeling down. He was already feeling better.

Humans and animals need to eat to live. The act of survival is solemn. Even at a funeral, the widow gorges herself on the caterer's chowder whilst mourning her dead husband.

The catastrophe caused by Garuda was indeed horrible. There were thousands of deaths and complete destruction. The landscape collapsed and magma overflowed.

The Habanero peppers caused a similar event in Mu Ssang's mouth. But he still needed to eat it. Food was food. Deaths took place but life continued.