Chapter 814: Advance (1)
“You have come.”
“Yes.”
After giving instructions for the cleanup after the battle.
𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
I went to find Mirinae and the beastkin.
‘If I had to determine who suffered the most in the previous battle, it would probably be them.’
They drove Avaritia, who had been interfering with my mind, away even if only for a moment, and fought against Avaritia, who had already attained the rank of a divinity, buying time until my cooking was completed.
Even after that, they continued fighting together within the Legion’s formation.
“Are your injuries all right?”
“Fortunately, the Legion’s medical techniques are not too bad.”
Naturally, the beastkin had suffered serious injuries and were receiving treatment.
And.
After coming to see Mirinae, I thought for a moment before lowering my head.
“I am sorry.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“For making a deal with them.”
“Ah, I was wondering what you were talking about. Why are you apologizing to me over something like that?”
“Because.”
Mirinae and the beastkin were refugees whose homeland had been destroyed.
They were people who had been invaded by another world and brutally destroyed.
And...... the enemies who had invaded that world.
The true identity of those countless stars was probably.
‘Demons.’
I had not heard them personally say that they were the culprits, but even so, I could be certain.
The Demon Realm invaded other worlds and used them as fuel.
Mirinae’s world must have been one of the representative worlds destroyed by that very invasion.
Although, at the final moment, Mirinae’s resistance caused most of the divinities that carried out the invasion to be devoured instead.
Even so, that did not erase the fact that their homeland had been destroyed because of it.
‘Avaritia also seemed to know Mirinae’s martial arts.’
Even if Avaritia himself had not participated in that invasion.
He also seemed to know about that invasion.
I had made a deal with such beings.
I wondered whether Mirinae and the beastkin might have complicated feelings about it.
“We are fine, so do not worry.”
But.
“I already devoured every one of those who invaded us. They are merely the same in that they are demons, and my revenge against the culprits was completed long ago.”
“Even so.......”
“It would be different if you had done it without any reason. Was it not a choice you made for our future survival? If so, there is no problem. If we were going to refuse something that would help our future survival because we remained bound to the past...... we would never have left that Mount Cheonsan in the first place.”
There was no falsehood in the taste I sensed from those words.
“Besides.”
“......?”
“I know your personality. Just because you are receiving their support for now does not mean you have completely forgiven what they did.”
However...... there was still a slightly complicated taste remaining within her.
“Someday, the day will come when that matter is properly brought to an end...... until then, enduring it is not difficult.”
“.......”
That new conclusion as well would ultimately only be possible if my challenge succeeded.
Mirinae was saying that because she believed I would succeed.
I could only nod gratefully.
“......And, I have one more question.”
“You ask a lot of questions of a patient. What is it this time?”
“I want to know why Mirinae did not step forward during this incident.”
“......Hm? What do you mean by that as well? It is awkward to say it with my own mouth, but I believe I did everything possible with this inadequate body.”
That was true.
Mirinae’s current body, even if evaluated generously, was not even at the level of a level 30 awakened.
She had displayed an absurd level of activity with such a body, so there was probably no one who had stepped forward as earnestly as she had.
Naturally.
“I am not talking about the Mirinae here.”
What I was talking about as well.
Was not that Mirinae.
“......Ah, I see.”
Mirinae also nodded as though she understood what I meant.
Although the Mirinae here was also called Mirinae.
When considering her essence, this woman was not the real Mirinae.
‘The master of Cheonsan Martial Hall.’
Mirinae’s root, and one of the many stars within her.
But the real Mirinae was not merely that single master, but a dragon that had grown enormous by devouring many stars...... in other words, demons.
And.
‘Mirinae said that someday, she would use the brief moment when she escaped this world for us.’
But in this battle, Mirinae had not stepped forward.
There had been more than one or two crises that seemed as though they could only be resolved if she acted.
When Avaritia first appeared with a completed divinity, when I tried to cook the [Stat-Increasing Potion], and even afterward when I made a deal with them.
Things had somehow worked out well, but honestly, if there had been even a single mistake, we would have lost.
Even Avaritia, that great divinity, had believed without the slightest doubt that he would win.
That meant even the divinities who glimpsed fate had been unable to feel certain about the outcome of this battle.
Conversely.
‘Avaritia on this side had his rank lowered because of the limitations of his body...... but Mirinae did not.’
Mirinae, who should still be inside the gate within this world, clearly possessed her true body.
That Mirinae’s power was so immense that it could not be grouped together with the other divinities as being of a similar rank.
Because this world could not withstand Mirinae’s true body, the amount of time she could interfere using that power would be no more than an instant.......
Even so, if that Mirinae had helped, this battle would clearly have proceeded in our favor.
“Even so, Mirinae did not step forward. I want to know the reason why.”
“......As you also know, I am a body that broke away from the mass that devoured many stars. I am not connected to it, and I do not know exactly what it is thinking right now.”
“Even so, was it not the Mirinae here who seized control over the Mirinae over there? Your way of thinking itself should be similar, so I thought you might at least be able to guess what she is thinking.”
“Hmm...... well, if I had to name the only thing that comes to mind.”
“Only one?”
“Well, is it not simple?”
She spoke while lightly shrugging her shoulders.
“From the perspective of the me over there, the optimal moment for her to step forward has not yet arrived.”
“.......”
There had been so many dangers, yet this had not been the moment for her to step forward.
I could not help but frown slightly.
“So you think the same after all.”
“Those words mean.”
I let out a sigh and nodded.
Because.
“I also thought that might be the case. I merely wanted to confirm it.”
I also could not think of any other reason.
If there was a problem.
‘Even this incident was not enough for Mirinae to step forward.’
That meant.
‘Mirinae believes that something greater or more important than this incident will happen.’
......Because it meant Mirinae expected something even greater than the invasion of a divinity to occur.
***
After overcoming Avaritia’s invasion.
The Legion’s next objective was simple.
We had somehow managed to stop the invasion once.
But that invasion...... Avaritia’s objective had been to invite me into an alliance, or eliminate me if that failed.
In other words.
‘It was an existence separate from the destruction we had originally been experiencing.’
There would still be threats remaining all across the world.
If the monsters that might be inside places such as [Gates] were included, there was no telling how many threats still remained.
The one fortunate point was that the dish I had made not long ago, the [Stat-Increasing Potion], my [Ingredient Management (Degraded)], and Mirinae’s martial arts had spread to every awakened.
And.
‘The demons’ blessing.’
The blessing the demons had bestowed upon this land because of their contract with me.
That blessing was protecting the awakened.
Originally, it would be normal for it to be bestowed upon a single apostle, allowing that apostle to display tremendous power.
Just like Jang Youngwoong in Seoul had covered all of Seoul with a false world and repeated time within it.
But the blessing they had bestowed this time was somewhat different.
A blessing shared by every awakened on this land.
Because the number of awakened was enormous, its power had also been divided considerably...... but even so, it was powerful enough that even I could feel it.
If it had been concentrated upon a single person, it would probably have created a truly unimaginable superhuman, but the reason they had bestowed their blessing upon this land rather than a single individual...... was easy to guess.
‘They must have thought that would help with my challenge.’
From the beginning, those bastards had regarded this land as something like my territory.
The strengthening of the world I belonged to, and of my people.
They understood that every person on this land needed to become stronger in order to achieve the final objective.
‘Thanks to that, the survivors who remain will not be swept away immediately.’
But even that was only for a short time.
Even at this very moment, there were probably many people fiercely continuing their struggle for survival.
There was no telling when their numbers might decrease, so we needed to join them as quickly as possible.
‘From the beginning, our original objective after completing the Conquest War for the Republic of Korea was to go find them.’
Somehow, we had ended up fighting the zombies of North Korea.
We had even taken a long detour and defeated a divinity like Avaritia.......
But that had not been our original objective.
‘Open a land route through the north, and advance onto the continent.’
The circumstances at the time had not been suitable for advancing into the world by sea.
Therefore, we had no choice but to open a path over land...... a route for marching north.
And now.
‘The north that had been blocked has finally opened.’
Therefore.
“Then...... with this.”
Now.
I stood in a place where a large force of armed troops had gathered.
“This concludes the Legion’s deployment ceremony!”
I stood at the place where that departure ceremony had come to an end.
***
“Then, according to the operation.”
After the deployment ceremony had ended.
The soldiers preparing to depart approached me and spoke.
“We will cross North Korea and enter China, and from there begin relief operations throughout the continent.”
The northward advance by land.
The one placed in charge of that army was Corporal Jeon Gwangil.
“Mm, there will be no problems with the preparations, right?”
“Yes. We packed as many supplies as possible...... and we plan to obtain some of them locally.”
He had once been an ordinary soldier who only acted according to my orders.
But he had begun commanding others starting with the Conquest War in Gangwon Province.
The conquest of the Republic of Korea had even been carried out without me, so he already seemed to have become fairly skilled at commanding a large army.
The unit also included command-type awakened.
“For now, after advancing north with the help of the Chinese awakened, we plan to divide the unit into three groups and move from there.”
“West, south, and north.”
They would enter the continent by land.
Together with Karhin’s forces, which were already active in China, they would spread out in every direction.
And...... that was not all.
“We will cross the sea aboard Bimana.”
An operation we had originally abandoned.
The breakthrough by sea using Bimana was also being carried out at the same time.
“Even so, I was worried whether Bimana would be able to cross overseas.......”
“The engineers said it this time. Thanks to repairing it using that gold, its performance has actually improved, so even fairly long-distance flights should not be a problem.”
Bimana had been half-destroyed and left in a miserable state.
But through Avaritia’s gold, Bimana had regenerated in an instant.
That gold was not an actual mineral, but something no different from the power to shake laws itself.
Therefore, there was no need to laboriously cut or polish it, and it merely had to be handled through that ‘sensation of manipulating laws’, so Bimana’s repairs were completed at a far more tremendous speed than expected.
Perhaps because it had originally been power itself, after being used to repair Bimana, it was no longer golden but had taken on the same color as Bimana’s original material.
“Unlike the land route, it will be difficult to receive additional supplies on this side...... so we need to bring as much as possible.”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok spoke while shrugging his shoulders.
Movement using Bimana had originally also been under consideration.
But after the barrier in the north opened, that plan had been discarded.
The reason was simple.
‘Because Bimana’s mana was needed to maintain the barrier created to stop the northern zombies’ invasion.’
The barrier that the Legion’s shamans, including Sergeant Lee Minjae, had created by using all their strength.
We had been using that barrier to stop the zombies descending from the north.
And...... the mana used for it came from the [Underground Mine] located within Bimana.
The moment we began moving Bimana, the barrier would shut down, and we would have had no choice but to wage an all-out war against the zombies.
“The surviving members of our kind have come under the influence of me and my compatriots.”
“There is no longer any need to worry about our kind in the north.”
That was no longer the case.