Even after that—
The new pope wandered throughout the Order’s territory, performing countless miracles.
‘Good heavens.’
Feats no one could possibly believe a single human being was capable of accomplishing.
“Y-You’ve regained your senses?”
“Yes....... Though for some reason, there’s still a delicious taste in my mouth....”
“...?”
There were admittedly some rather strange aspects to it.
Still.
As most of the problems scattered throughout the Order were resolved within a short period of time—
Many believers openly praised their new pope without restraint.
“...His Holiness.”
Meanwhile.
One of those assisting the new pope—
“He seems to be focusing primarily on troops and supplies.”
The cardinal muttered as though he had realized something.
“Well, naturally.”
At the pope’s response—
The cardinal spoke with a peculiar expression.
“You are preparing for war.”
“For the time being.”
The pope was resolving many of the Order’s problems.
However, a large portion of those efforts focused on reinforcing the Order’s military strength.
Despite the Order already possessing enough power to survive in this world without immediate difficulty, they were still preparing for large-scale warfare.
And there was only one reason for that.
“The Legion....”
The group that even now had expeditionary forces stationed outside the Order’s territory.
It was obviously because they were wary of them.
***
The cardinal looked toward the pope with a troubled expression.
“Your Holiness. If it is not too presumptuous... may I ask how you intend to resolve the matter concerning the Legion?”
Now Shin Youngjun had become the Emperor of the Order.
But before that, he had been a sergeant of the Legion.
And during the process of turning him into the Emperor of the Order, conflict with the Legion had inevitably arisen.
They were not moving openly for the moment, but eventually they would certainly retaliate.
No—even if they did not move first, it would still be the same.
“The Legion is ultimately a force that must also be brought beneath the Order.”
The cardinal carefully spoke.
The being they worshipped.
The “System” had currently lost most of its strength.
And the method of restoring that power was simple.
“The task bestowed upon us by our Lord.”
The System was the object of the Order’s worship.
And awakened individuals were essentially agents empowered by the System itself.
That sentence every awakened person had seen at the moment of awakening—
“We must carry out occupation wars and faction wars.”
Carry out occupation wars and faction wars.
To them, that sentence was equivalent to a divine mandate issued by their god.
And in reality—
The more occupation wars they carried out, the stronger the System became.
The Order believed their god would gradually recover as they continued fulfilling that task.
And now—
One-third of the Korean Peninsula belonged to the Order.
The remaining two-thirds were occupied by the Legion and its allied factions.
Meaning the Legion too was ultimately a target that had to be subjugated.
The problem was—
‘The crown does not rewrite a person’s sense of self.’
Their pope likely still retained all the memories of his days as a Legion member.
And in this situation, where war with the Legion seemed inevitable—
Depending on what choice their pope made, the fate of the Order itself could drastically change.
The cardinal lowered his head while carefully studying the pope’s expression.
Then, after a moment—
“We won’t be the ones invading the Legion first.”
The pope, who had been lost in thought, quietly spoke.
“B-But, Your Holiness...!”
The cardinal hurriedly protested with a flustered expression.
This was precisely the situation he had feared most.
Because he still retained his memories of the Legion, he could not bring himself to treat them harshly.
If the pope had lacked ability, that would have been one thing.
But the miraculous capabilities he had demonstrated in such a short period already proved he was worthy of the position of pope.
Thanks to those achievements, his standing within the Order had become ironclad. It would no longer be easy to pressure him into changing his views alongside the other believers.
Naturally, the cardinal could not help feeling unsettled.
However—
“Calm yourself. It’s not for the reasons you’re imagining.”
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—
“The Legion is a force specialized in defensive warfare.”
The pope shrugged as he spoke.
“Is that so...?”
Though only for a short time—
Those who had fought alongside the Legion found the assessment rather strange.
The Legion army they had witnessed was an extremely aggressive force that repeatedly carried out occupation wars without pause.
To those who had seen the overwhelming offensives unleashed by that army, hearing that they specialized in defense was difficult to accept.
But Shin Youngjun, who had once commanded the Legion, knew the truth.
‘The core of the Legion’s strength... lies in the production professions they cultivated since the early days of the apocalypse.’
It was not that their combat troops were weak.
Rather, it was a difference in class characteristics.
Combat classes could display their power with relatively few restrictions at any time.
Production classes, meanwhile, could only fully demonstrate their abilities when sufficient resources and facilities were available.
But that did not mean they possessed only disadvantages.
When given sufficient time, resources, and infrastructure—
The efficiency displayed by production professions overwhelmingly surpassed combat professions.
“Those expeditionary forces have already been camped outside the Order’s territory for quite some time now.”
Especially—
“By now... the engineers’ work should be nearing completion.”
The Legion possessed engineers—
Production professions specialized in siege warfare—
In abnormally large numbers.
Though they were called siege specialists, the range of supplies and equipment required for siege warfare was absurdly broad.
Not only could they handle nearly all of that work, they also specialized in manufacturing weapons of war.
The Legion’s engineers had spent the entire early apocalypse obsessively honing that field alone.
‘The defensive facilities built by the engineers... cannot even be compared to the Order’s defenses.’
And in reality—
Despite operating with relatively small elite forces, the Legion currently occupied two-thirds of the Korean Peninsula.
Ordinarily, such a vast territory would be impossible for a small force to maintain.
Yet although they may have struggled while conquering foreign territory—
Not once had they ever lost territory they had already captured.
“Even so.”
“You mean Your Holiness has given up on attacking them...?”
The pope’s abilities seemed inhuman to those who had witnessed them.
And yet even he was abandoning the idea of an attack?
It was difficult to believe.
But—
“They aren’t in a position where they can commit their full strength either. If we fought, we could still win.”
“In that case...!”
“However.”
The reason the pope refused to attack—
Was not because he feared defeat.
“That approach would result in far too many brothers and sisters dying.”
“Ah....”
“Only humans can act as agents of the System’s power. Every human life is ultimately manpower necessary to carry out our Lord’s will. There’s no reason to wastefully reduce our numbers through pointless conflict among humans here.”
He simply—
Did not want the enormous casualties that would result.
“So... there’s no need to rush.”
“...?”
If the Legion’s military strength truly was that overwhelming—
Then the Order should rightfully feel tension.
And yet the pope merely smiled calmly and said:
“They’ll come first anyway.”
“...?”
“We simply defend against the initial assault, then fight after their strength has been worn down. That’s exactly why we’re preparing things this way.”
A voice filled with certainty.
At those words, Lee Haein spoke with a somewhat puzzled expression.
“If the Legion truly excels at defense, wouldn’t they instead try to surround us and slowly starve us out?”
At the very least, that was what she would do.
The side with more occupied territory was the Legion.
And if they were truly that confident in defense, then since the Legion had no goal related to restoring the System, fortifying themselves would be more advantageous.
“Why are you so certain they’ll invade first, Your Holiness...?”
“Well.”
At that—
The pope answered as though the question were absurdly obvious.
“Because it’s my Legion.”
“.......”
The man spoke with absolute certainty.
“If it’s them, they’ll definitely come to save me.”
At those confident words—
The believers stared at him with strange expressions.
‘How....’
‘Can he trust them that completely?’
They had heard that he once led the Legion.
But the members of the Order considered Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok to be the Legion Commander.
In other words, Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok was already successfully fulfilling the role of commander.
A guild was ultimately a collective of individuals.
Its commander was not the owner of a personal private army, but rather a representative chosen by the group itself.
And depending on the judgment of that collective, abandoning their representative was always an option.
Had not even the Order itself accepted someone other than the cardinal as its new leader?
The Legion does not abandon its comrades.
But their pope thought differently.
Absolute certainty that they would never abandon him.
‘...I’m a little jealous.’
The believers found that certainty strange—
Yet at the same time.
They envied the existence of trust strong enough to believe that completely.
“They’ll definitely invade. We simply need to repel their attack from advantageous ground.”
“...Understood.”
“I’m sure all of you have plenty to prepare as well. Make your preparations.”
His gaze swept across the believers.
“This will be the first battle fought under my command... so my expectations for all of you are quite high.”
“...!”
At those words—
The believers nodded inwardly.
‘Right... there’s no need to envy them.’
‘That man is no longer their sergeant. He’s our pope now.’
That trust was strange and enviable.
But ultimately, he now stood with them.
From this point onward, it would be their side—not the Legion’s—that would have time to build trust with him.
“Understood!”
And with that—
The believers dispersed to fulfill their respective duties.
Many monsters had been added to their forces.
They had acquired foods with powerful effects.
Their critically injured core personnel had fully recovered, and new allies who had once lost their minds had now been healed as well.
The Order that served the System.
Its future appeared overwhelmingly bright.
...And meanwhile.
‘[System], huh.’
Shin Youngjun silently gazed upon the scenery of the Order.
‘Well... it doesn’t really matter much to me right now.’
Then—
With a bitter smile, he turned his head away.
***
“All units. Situation report.”
“Yes, sir.”
And then.
How many days had passed since then?
“1st, 3rd, 7th, 8th, and 11th Combat Battalions. Combat readiness complete. Ammunition and combat ration supply stable.”
A location some distance away from the Order’s territory.
There stood a single man—
And dozens of soldiers reporting to him.
“2nd, 3rd, and 7th Armored Battalions. Sixty tanks prepared for deployment.”
“We’ve received confirmation that the 9th Battalion, which hesitated until the very end, has accepted the support request and is now moving out. They should join us shortly.”
The former 423rd Battalion, which had become a true Legion-level force after the battle in Seoul.
Its combat structure had changed drastically compared to its old battalion-scale organization.
No—
To be more precise—
“Artillery Battalion, all batteries prepared for fire missions. Awaiting firing orders....”
“Report from the reconnaissance company. They believe we can proceed as planned....”
“The Engineer Battalion has also completed preparations for establishing forward bases. Ground demolition work is entering its final stage....”
It had become—
A structure far more specialized for warfare.
One closer to the armies of humanity’s past.
“Then....”
And then.
The man receiving those reports—
Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok looked toward enemy territory and spoke.
“Deploy the entire force.”
“Deploy the entire force!!!”
A small voice spoken by one man.
The nearby soldiers repeated it.
And even the distant soldiers echoed the shouted command in turn.
“For the victory of the Legion!!!”
Just as the Emperor of the Order had predicted—
The Legion’s invasion had begun.
