Approximately a week had passed since I arrived in China.
During this time, I tirelessly roamed every corner, locating and dismantling the branches of the Death God's Cult. Finding them wasn't difficult.
The branches were concealed well enough. Positioned in chaotic gray zones with erratic mana waves, each facility had high-level concealment. For most detection-based superhumans, finding these locations would be exhausting and arduous.
But they certainly couldn’t escape my Observation Power.
I could locate them just by following traces of mana without even needing to fully engage my powers.
So, I wandered around China, finding and attacking each branch. I took down the guards, saved anyone captured as a sacrifice, and moved on.
This week, I had dismantled over fifty branches.
Given that the original work mentioned hundreds of these cult branches, I had managed to make a serious dent in their operations.
A sigh of exhaustion escaped my lips.
My body felt fatigued. I hadn’t slept once over the past week and had taken barely any rest. I kept extending my Observation Power to its limits as I moved through various regions.
Each time I located a branch, I analyzed their facilities and personnel, then attacked. Along the way, I sustained a few injuries, though nothing serious—just bruises that healed quickly on their own.
It had been a grueling schedule, one that strained both body and mind.
But it was still manageable.
Despite the exhaustion, my power hadn’t diminished. I could keep up this pace for at least another month.
Just as I exhaled another deep breath, my body dipped slightly, and a groan sounded from below.
I tapped the surface I was sitting on—a large man whose limbs were twisted at strange angles, covered in wounds.
He was one of the ones I had just beaten down.
Around him, more bodies lay sprawled in similar conditions. About twenty or so in total.
This was a fairly large branch, I thought.
Some branches were easy to take down, like the first one I attacked. But with the larger ones, I had to stay sharp.
This was one of the bigger ones.
I stood up, dusting myself off, and nudged the man lying face-down until he rolled over with a pitiful croak.
Around his neck was an old honorary medal from the Association, awarded only to high-ranking heroes.
An ex-high-ranking hero?
Judging by the condition of the medal, it must have been awarded at least twenty years ago.
High-ranking heroes don’t earn their rank lightly. He likely took pride in his skills back in his prime.
But now, he was just a fallen thug, his abilities and body withered by age.
“Alright...”
With my combat-readied body starting to cool down, I surveyed the area and freed the prisoners from their iron cages.
As usual, they were locked up in metallic cages. The sacrificial facilities all followed a similar setup.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
The people I freed were ordinary civilians, abducted to be used as sacrifices. Most broke down, weeping with relief and gratitude.
Their appearance was pitiful—their clothes tattered, their bodies gaunt to the point where their bones were visible beneath their skin.
The people outside may not have been much better off, but these poor souls had endured severe suffering.
I handed them cups of soup from my dimensional storage, heating it just enough. Although I had plenty of emergency rations like bread, jerky, and energy bars, I figured soup would be easier for them to consume right away.
Even while waiting for the soup to heat, they gulped down their saliva eagerly and devoured it as soon as it was ready.
As they filled their bellies just enough to stave off starvation, I prepared to send those with homes back, providing guidance for those without anywhere to go, before setting off once more to locate the next branch of the Death God's Cult.
...This is nothing more than personal satisfaction, I thought.
I sighed deeply, feeling conflicted.
In the process of dismantling the Death God’s Cult, I had been continually rescuing people. The cult sustained itself by abducting humans to use as sacrifices, so saving these people was inevitable.
I’ve put a serious dent in their operations.
The cult hadn’t been able to gather sacrifices openly. Had they done so, the Association might have intervened, leading an assault force to obliterate them.
So they worked discreetly, capturing sacrifices in small amounts to avoid detection.
Now, here I was, disrupting their carefully hidden branches at lightning speed. The cult leader must be seething by now, probably losing his mind over my interference.
The timing was ideal.
In the original work, this was the perfect time to strike, to cause chaos and then withdraw.
While the player couldn’t yet defeat the cult leader, this interference would significantly hinder his plans.
If I continued causing enough destruction now, their plans would be delayed by at least a year.
By then, I could officially return with reinforcements and take down the cult leader once and for all.
Of course, there were timelines where things didn’t go as planned.
In some cases, I miscalculated, enraging the cult leader enough for him to seek me out personally.
Let’s see...
Recalling the power of the cult leader, I calculated his capabilities.
His unique skill was a necromantic one, which, along with the forces he’d amassed, made him a formidable enemy. Even getting through his undead army was a challenge.
To reach him directly, I’d have to get past his forces, and even then, he was powerful.
So far, only the Iron Warrior from the eleventh timeline had managed to defeat him at this point.
Can I face him as I am now?
I had been hiding my strength to avoid detection. Using mostly my legs in combat to mask my missing arm, I had also refrained from spirit magic, which was easily identifiable. I was using only basic magic, even altering the hue of my aura to a dark red.
If the cult leader came to me directly?
This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
It wouldn’t be an entirely unfavorable battleground. If he left his stronghold, he would lose his environmental advantage.
Of course, if he brought his necromancers along, the situation would change drastically...
I won’t go down easily.
At least, I wouldn’t die without a fight.
And even if it came to that, I had emergency measures to escape.
Whether he came to me or not didn’t matter.
All I needed to do was disrupt their plans, gain practical experience, and learn about necromancy. Then, I would visit the Lake of Mana, boost my mana, obtain the Proof of Protection, and return.
And with the Taesan family also causing trouble, it’s perfect.
Although it was a gray zone, people still lived here, and information circulated.
Rumor had it that members of the Taesan family were scouring China, dismantling various cults, including the Death God’s Cult, under the leadership of Taesan’s heir, Lee Ji-yoon.
This wasn’t something from the original story.
I didn’t know why, but it seemed Taesan was targeting the Death God’s Cult.
From the cult’s perspective, a faceless intruder was decimating their branches on one front, while the formidable Taesan family ravaged their domain on another.
They must be absolutely desperate by now.
Just then, I felt a tug at the hem of my robe.
A young child stood there, staring up at me with large green eyes, his messy brown hair disheveled. Despite his ragged clothes, his features were striking.
He looked to be around elementary school age, one of the kids I had saved from becoming a sacrifice.
If I’d arrived just minutes later, he would no longer be in this world.
I turned as he held out an empty plate, the bowl I had served soup in, now spotless.
“Could I have a bit more?” he asked.
Grrrk.
Even after devouring a whole bowl, he was still hungry. Understandable—he was young, and who knew how long he had been trapped in that hellhole.
I nodded and ladled another serving of soup.
The next day, an unusual sight caught my attention.
The entrance of a cave twisted into a complex barrier—dense mist obscured it, almost as if deliberately hiding its presence.
At last, I had found the Lake of Mana.
"This is Team 1. Reception confirmed. All clear. All teams, report status."
Lee Ji-yeon tapped her smartwatch, her voice relaying to each team.
[Team 2: Reception confirmed. All clear.]
[Team 3: Reception confirmed. All clear.]
“Confirmed. Report any abnormalities immediately.”
With the clear responses, Lee Ji-yeon’s face darkened slightly.
No casualties, thankfully, but also no results.
She had hoped for something, but the answers remained elusive.
"Haah..." She sighed heavily, glancing up at the dismal sky.
Thick clouds blocked the sun, casting a murky gray over the rundown area.
Despite it being a residential zone, the place looked utterly desolate.
The wary, fearful stares from the locals only added to her frustration.
Where on earth are you...?
Roughly fourteen days ago, a member of the Taesan family had gone missing, last tracked in this region.
It was a child from a notable branch family, and the Taesan heir, Lee Ji-yeon, was part of the rescue mission dispatched immediately.
Her role was to lead Team 1, and over these ten days, she had combed through every possible location, finding no trace.
It’s too vast...
Time was running out.
If this was a case of abduction by an unknown or hostile group, the survival chances were dwindling.
Yet, she couldn’t abandon the search after only ten days.
If the child had indeed perished, the culprits would have to be hunted down.
“What a mess...”
“Break’s over. Resume search,” Lee Ji-yeon declared, snapping her fingers.
Snap!
As the sound faded, her mana expanded, splintering into dozens of pieces that detached and hovered around her.
Woo-ooh...
Each piece grew to the size of a human head, like ghostly blue flames of pure shadow.
This was her unique ability, Taesan.
“Begin the search.”
At her command, the shadows dispersed, spreading out in all directions.