“You’re s-saying I won’t die.”
The hulking old man.
His pupils trembled at an incredible speed.
“W-What are you planning to do...... no, what do you intend to do.......”
“I told you not to worry. It won’t be bad news for you either.”
The thing the clones brought out.
I took it from them and said,
“When you were cornered earlier, you were spewing the foulest curses.”
“S-Sorry.......”
“And yet, the way you still acted all dignified as usual, and the way you held back that monster’s power when dealing with me...... makes you seem like the type who cares about appearances.”
“.......”
“Am I right?”
“I am......!”
I smiled.
“So don’t worry.”
“......?”
“You’ll remain a great figure of this Association, just like you are now.”
The thing in my hand.
I brought those dishes up to his lips.
“I noticed something, too—people in Gyeonggi Province rely on you quite a lot.”
“Mmngh......!?”
“And if word got out that you were actually a traitor, and that I killed you...... well, setting aside whether people believe me or not, there’ll be plenty who’ll grieve.”
In the first place.
That was exactly why I hadn’t been able to tell the others that this man was a traitor.
Gulp......
“W-What is it. What did you just feed me......!”
“Food.”
As I crammed the food into him,
the Chair chewed once and swallowed.
“It definitely tastes......?”
He looked briefly startled by the taste, and then—
“What...... what is this.”
Soon,
he spoke in a voice filled with fear.
“W-What is this feeling...... what the hell is it.......”
“So yeah. You’re not going to die.”
“Just what...... did you feed me......!”
“Rather than the great figure you’ve been until now...... no. You’ll become an even greater one.”
As my food began to seep into his body,
the old man cried out through tears.
“What...... what are you trying to turn me into......!”
“Well, who knows. How should I put it.”
At the old man’s question,
I let out a short laugh and opened my mouth.
“A great fighter who threw everything away for the survival of the Association’s people.”
I kept stuffing the food into his mouth.
And as I did, I thought,
‘It’s a situation where we’re desperate to survive day by day...... but we have to prepare for what comes after, too.’
I don’t even know if we’ll survive this battle right now.
Even so.
I had to think about what comes after we survive.
‘The human forces in Gyeonggi Province are far too unstable.’
The Association was originally a group that gathered around the Chair.
So when he disappeared,
it started to shake violently.
‘It was like that until just recently.’
Even while knowing how dangerous this source area is,
they couldn’t unite at all, simply because they were separate groups.
Their members’ abilities and numbers were clearly not lacking.
But the stability of the organization itself had sunk to nearly the worst possible state.
‘Right now, they’re uniting around me, but.’
Someday, I’ll return to Gangwon Province.
Because I’m the [Legion Commander], not the [Chair].
And once I leave my post someday,
Gyeonggi Province will start revolving around each branch leader again,
and even if they’re in a cooperative relationship with one another—
‘Without someone who can serve as the center, they can get torn to pieces over something trivial.’
The closest thing to a leader would be General Jo Beomseok.
But General Jo has lost his authority.
Right now, he’s leaning on my authority.
The moment I disappear, the authority he has as a commander will disappear as well.
‘And even that General Jo...... he’s outstanding as a commander, but there are plenty of ambiguous points when it comes to being the head of an organization.’
This can’t stand.
For humanity to survive.
For those who will become one major pillar of humanity’s forces.
This Association has to unite, no matter what.
‘Because a unified Association is definitely strong.’
......If so.
There’s only one thing that’s needed.
“You’ll be the one to bring the people of Gyeonggi Province together in one place.”
“Mmph...... mmmmmmph!!!”
Even if someone lacking in authority takes the leader’s role,
something that can still bind them together......
was a shared sentiment.
“A hero who united all the people of Gyeonggi Province. A symbol of humanity’s cohesion.”
“P-Please.......”
“In the end, you lost everything through that process...... but even so,
a human who once stood above all their heads.
A human the people of Gyeonggi Province are all mentally dependent on, that human.
“A great Chair who devoted everything for humanity!”
Even now, after a long time has passed since you went missing,
you haven’t lost that authority,
and in every crisis, countless people kept calling for your name.
That shared sentiment—using you—
CRUNCH, CRUNCH.
I kept on
jamming the dishes the Vimanar handed me into his mouth.
“If you want, I’ll even put up a statue. And if there’s anything else you want, tell me anything at all.”
“S-Stop.......”
“But...... there’s one thing I can’t do for you, though.”
Unable to properly resist,
the old man kept forcibly chewing and swallowing the food I shoved in.
“Just kill me!”
As Gangsan felt that unfamiliar ‘emotion’ swelling inside him—something that wasn’t his—
he sobbed, snot and tears running, and screamed in a miserable voice.
“Just, kill me......!”
“I can’t do that, kid.”
A man who tortured my family and put them in danger.
I’m not such a good guy that I’d let someone like that die easily.
*****
And so.
After I packed even the Chair away inside the [Shadow Veil],
and the wound at my waist had recovered to some extent,
and it was about time I could start moving—
[The duration of Rampage has ended.]
A message
floated up before my eyes.
“......Ah.”
The moment I saw that message, I couldn’t help but flinch.
Because—
[The ‘Rampage’ Penalty is activated.]
The fact that the food’s effect had ended meant
it was time for the aftereffects to come.
[Severe Aftereffects]
“Guh...... hhk......!”
The body I’d thought was finally able to move
rolled across the ground again.
“AAAAARGH!!!”
A pain beyond description swept across my whole body,
and my mind turned white.
‘It hurts......!’
I knew the aftereffects of [Rampage] were severe.
But this.......
‘It’s worse than before......!’
It was even more severe
than the Rampage I’d experienced before.
I could guess the reason.
‘Because I used Rampage again before the aftereffects ended.......’
The aftereffects of [Rampage] last even longer than stacking the food four times.
But since we didn’t have much time to begin with,
I couldn’t even take the rest time I needed after stacking the food four times,
and I had no choice but to use Rampage with a body that still had the aftereffects intact.
‘So this is the result......!’
Pain is pain, but
it also felt like my body wouldn’t respond properly to my control.
Probably,
my physical capabilities would be severely reduced for a while.
And that wasn’t all.
[Vital Energy Loss]
I felt something inside my body rapidly draining away.
......Unlike aftereffects that might recover with time,
it was something that would probably be gone forever.
“Ghk.”
My body grew heavy, as if someone had hung weights from all four limbs.
Even taking a single step,
even lightly lifting my hand, felt incredibly difficult.
And what was even worse than that
was the others.
“Master.......”
“......?”
“Penalty...... acti...... vated.”
The ones who’d been buffed at a similar timing to me.
The Vimanar opened their mouths as if to report something, and then—
THUD!
“.......”
Their bodies exploded,
and a silvery-gray liquid splashed over my face.
FZZZZZZZZ.......
Every last trace of the gray liquid that had made up their flesh and soul vanished,
and what remained in the middle of it was—
the core of the [Legion’s Droplet].
“You okay......?”
-Aftereffects...... more...... severe...... than expected.......
At least it’s a relief that only the cores remained, but still.
The one who could at least talk when we crossed the Wall of Fire,
was now in a state where it couldn’t even speak properly.
‘Even I’m like this with only Rampage applied. These guys stacked other dishes on top of that.’
They endured only because they’re living creatures that function around that core.
If I’d done something like that,
I would’ve died on the spot.
“Good work.”
Dragging my heavy body, I gathered the cores and swept them into the shadows.
Then I turned my head and looked over the battlefield.
‘The Expedition Force is still fighting well.’
They looked like they were still pushing forward against the swarming monsters.
It seemed like they still had some of the food’s buff time left over on that side.
If they hadn’t held out, other monsters might have attacked me while I was fighting the Chair.
Thanks to them, it was no different from saying I’d been able to seize victory against the Chair.
But......
‘Once their buff ends, it’s over.’
Our average combat power is probably higher.
That’s why we can press them like this while we have the buff.
But.
‘The absolute difference in numbers is just too big.’
Those monsters still covered this city.
I came here through [Environmental Assimilation],
and Yunseong managed to find this Chair through the effect of the [Blade of Silence], but—
‘There’s no way the Expedition Force can break through the monsters and reach here.’
Yeah.
In the first place, I didn’t come here to catch the Chair.
‘While they hold out...... I have to create a foothold for a reversal.’
I turned my body,
and moved my heavy feet toward my destination.
Where the Chair had been standing.
Behind it, an unidentified black energy was rippling.
‘The Chair was nothing more than the gatekeeper.’
The purpose that brought me here,
and the mastermind who drove the humans of Gyeonggi Province to extinction.
[You have discovered the Gate.]
A shard of a ruined world
was there.
*****
[You have discovered the Gate - Shard of a Ruined World.]
[Frost-Laid Royal Castle]
The Chair was someone who had been here to block this Gate.
He seemed to have deliberately allowed Yunseong to approach,
but he would’ve tried to stop an intruder like me with everything he had.
‘Even from their perspective, the Chair must’ve been a powerful fighting force.’
The fact that they made him serve as the gatekeeper for the Gate.
meant they judged the Chair as someone fully capable of that role.
But now.
That Chair was buried in my shadow.
A massive wall of shadow.
Standing before it, I sank into thought.
‘The Chair said he decided to betray after seeing the power those monsters had.’
Even just the monster horde the Expedition Force is fighting right now is powerful.
But that horde was something the Association’s power might’ve been able to overcome somehow.
With my strength added in now, they’re fighting ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) nearly evenly.
If the Chair hadn’t betrayed us, and the Central Branch and the entire Association had worked together, we might’ve been able to push them back.
Even so, the fact that the Chair chose betrayal means
the power he saw wasn’t those monsters—
‘It’s the power inside here.......’
That’s why
I tried to preserve the Vimanar as much as possible.
We have no idea what kind of beings might be lying in wait inside that Gate.
As a card to play only when things reached the final stage,
I hadn’t been mobilizing the Vimanar’s full strength, but—
‘The losses are heavy.’
To deal with the Chair, who could even display immortality,
I ended up mobilizing my strength sooner than expected.
“......Hoo.”
My condition is at its worst.
It’ll take weeks for the cards I was saving to recover.
And in that state,
I have to charge into the enemy’s main base.
“Whatever, damn it.”
If I stall here, the Expedition Force will collapse because they won’t be able to hold out.
Whether I die then, or die a little sooner, it’s the same either way.
‘I already realized this at the beginning of the apocalypse.’
To not die,
you have to be ready to die.
“This really...... is a damn world.”
Wrapped in tension,
I threw myself into the Black Curtain.
*****
[Frost-Laid Imperial City - Ariant]
[A ruined world where an eternal winter arrived, and all life vanished.]
[It is the Frost-Laid Imperial City, the base of the evil spirits that destroyed that world.]
[The world that once held a beautiful form was destroyed one day by the evil spirits that appeared.]
[Ariant’s chief god looked upon that world, frozen through and through, and vanished in disappointment, and that ruin continued for a long time.]
[But every world has a lifespan.]
[Even after its ruin, the world that existed for a long time reached the end of its lifespan and, destroyed, began drifting through the gaps between worlds.]
The messages that blocked my view.
But.
I didn’t have the leisure to read them.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!!!
The instant I entered the Gate,
my vision filled completely with—
[Combat Power Gauge]
“......!”
A thick palette, as if it had been painted over countless times.
And those lights of magic power, endlessly mighty—
“Ah...... damn it.”
Standing there, brimming with that magic power.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands......
Maybe even as many as hundreds of thousands.
“At this point, I can see why you’d betray.”
Towering monstrosities
were looking down at me.
