Chapter 104 – Tiger

Chapter 104 – Tiger

After several days of advancing day and night, by the time Shanghai appeared on the horizon, the sun had already set, and it was a dark night.

Most nearby cities had lost their light, but Shanghai and the castles above it were brightly illuminating their surroundings.

However, they weren’t as bright as my cities.

Many buildings couldn’t turn on their lights due to a lack of electricity, and just as many were half-destroyed or neglected and messy.

I smirked, looking at the city.

“Finally arrived.”

In the meantime, I’ve dealt with all the military they sent and all the monsters. They were now practically in my grasp.

I looked down at the large city from the observation ship I had instructed to hover above Shanghai last time, analyzing the situation.

‘If I go in like this, I’ll have to fight street battles with the remnants… ‘

After repeated defeats in battles with me, the enemy’s regular army had disintegrated and was now mixed with civilians. It seemed they intended to fight their final castle defense in the city.

‘I don’t really want to do that… ‘

I pondered for a moment.

While I didn’t care much for those who were closer to looters, I wanted to save as many civilians as possible who were pushed to their limits. They had merely been incited.

‘Then, it’s best to eliminate the head first, right?’

Eliminating the villain above Wang Wei. At the same time, Wang Wei had to be kept alive and kidnapped, which was a somewhat tricky operation.

‘Well… it’s not impossible.’

That was entirely possible for me. Looking at the city through the mana lens, a specific mana reaction caught my eye.

It was the villain.

“Found him.”

It was the moment his life entered its final countdown.

* * *

Jihao asked Wang Wei with an anxious face.

“What do you think of the enemy legion?”

“They’ve stopped outside the city. It seems they’re planning to camp.”

“Camp… camp?”

Jihao’s expression soured.

“They’ve advanced thousands of kilometers without stopping once. And now they’re camping?”

“…But it looks like that…”

“You idiot! Look closer!”

“Yes, yes!”

Jihao, who had just dismissed Wang Wei, immediately began to observe the situation using the Observer.

‘I can’t trust these guys…’

It wasn’t long before he noticed something strange.

“Huh?”

An elite scout team patrolling the vicinity had disappeared.

‘What? Where did they go…?’

At first, he thought he had seen wrong.

He figured they were somewhere and he had just missed them. Since there were no bodies, it was natural to think that way.

He looked at the other teams with a confused expression.

“Hmm, Team B is here…”

And then, after scanning the surroundings, with an uncertain look, he shifted the Observer’s gaze back to Team B.

“Gasp?!”

Even Team B, who had been there just moments ago, had vanished.

“What kind of phenomenon is this?!”

No matter how much he searched the surroundings, Team B was nowhere to be seen.

“S-something is strange.”

He did his best to search the area near where Team B had been. But no matter how he looked…

There was just one man walking.

‘This guy… he’s suspicious.’

Jihao narrowed his eyes.

“Wang Wei. Go to the area assigned to Team B, there will be a man nearby. Instruct him to bring him to me!”

I invited a tiger… into my house.

* * *

Recently, after obtaining Forgotten Knowledge, the added Shadow Essence Research had… quite a few good things.

I was testing out The Man upgrades.

‘This is pretty good……’

First, there was the ability to hide various Water-related items in the shadows of my Legion machines, and its biggest use was, of course, collecting Mana Stones and storing them immediately.

Of course, it was an ability that could only be activated when I was nearby, and its conditions were quite complex, but… it could be useful depending on the situation. Like a kind of inventory.

I was using that ability to temporarily handle the situation by storing the bodies of the eliminated enemy reconnaissance team in the shadows.

Besides that, it was also possible to hide a machine in my shadow for a certain period. Using this ability, I hid the Invisible Gladiator that always followed me…….

It was that guy, of course, who eliminated the reconnaissance team.

So, I had nothing to fear, no matter who the opponent was. It was then that I was slowly trying to infiltrate the City.

Observation Ship showed uniformed soldiers surrounding me. I decided to listen to their conversation via Observation Ship and Apoin to understand their intentions.

“Wang Wei himself has commanded. We must not let him escape!”

‘What? They’re taking me to Wang Wei?’

My eyes curved into crescent moons.

‘…I’m totally down for that!’

I decided to play along.

* * *

The soldiers were speaking in Chinese. I deliberately allowed myself to be captured by them and was transported before Wang Wei.

Wang Wei flinched when he saw my face, then made a fuss and led me to someone. A young man was standing with a meaningful expression, and when I looked with Observation Ship… indeed, he was a Villain.

He shouted something at me in Chinese… and the earphone in my ear translated the entire conversation through Apoin.

“Hahahahaha! You fool!”

He pointed a finger at me and shouted.

“To leave your Legion and come alone in a weak human body, are you out of your mind? No, perhaps it’s just the limits of a mere human? Hahahaha! How pathetic!”

This guy seemed to be gravely mistaken about something.

I grinned at The Man.

“I think you’re mistaken about something…”

My words flowed through Apoin.

“First, I am not alone.”

The moment I spoke-.

Screeeech-

The Invisible Gladiator eliminated all the Escort soldiers nearby.

“The Man… and second, I am strong enough on my own.”

It was the moment my words ended.

My Legion stopped for 0.1 seconds, and at the same time-.

KWAANG!

My fist pierced his torso.

“Huh, huh-uh-uh-uh!”

His flustered expression.

Crunch-

I destroyed the core before he could regenerate.

“Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!”

It was at the same time Wang Wei made a sound like a pig being slaughtered.

I grabbed him with my Invisible Gladiator… and smiled.

“Oh, right, you were here.”

Wang Wei.

He was the guy who would be the frontman for my frontman.

***

After The Man, everything proceeded smoothly.

First, the Essence of Jihao I obtained was [Allurement].

It seemed Wang Wei had pulled off a massive propaganda campaign by mixing her Loyalty ability with Jihao’s abilities.

Now that Jihao was dead, the citizens, freed from the Allurement, would likely act a little more rationally.

To these citizens, Fake Wang Wei, following my orders, brought the situation to an end and stabilized public sentiment.

She followed my orders without complaint, seemingly having a very timid personality.

This was also Chen’s suggestion. I airlifted her with an Armored Transport Plane and bound her with Seongmin’s Contract Ability.

Of course, I trusted her, but since I was going to entrust her with the significant role of overseeing China under my command, I thought a minimum level of insurance was necessary.

China was currently divided into several large factions. What I had secured was only a portion of them, and some were also involved in Fire Manipulation. I planned to support Chen in unifying these factions into one and placing them under my influence.

However, I had no intention of personally overseeing all of this.

‘I don’t need to spend too much time on China.’

After all, my goal wasn’t world domination.

It was merely to survive against the Monsters.

“Won’t you end up conquering it in the process?”

Chen had made such a joke after hearing my thoughts.

I had already set my next target through the Assistant AI. Specifically, where I could find the next Essence to restore the Forgotten Knowledge.

‘Where is the next Essence located?’

When I asked that question, the location revealed in my mind was…

A woman, snoring atop a mountain of corpses, on a ruined city. As the location zoomed out, I was able to pinpoint her exact position.

“Next is… India.”

She seemed to be a Villain.

* * *

Returning to the Main Base after flying over the West Sea in an Armored Transport Plane, I immediately put the Allurement Essence into the Research Facility and began researching it.

And I also shared my next goal-.

“You’re going all the way to India?”

“Yes, I think so.”

My worries piled up.

Shanghai was just a short hop over the West Sea, and a train line was connected when we cleared the Siberian Nest.

India, however, was a considerably greater distance away.

‘How am I supposed to get to India…?’

Moreover, if I were to go by land, I might have to cross the Himalayan Mountains. Even if that weren’t the case, I would undoubtedly have to pass through China, which isn’t even under my faction’s control yet, and possibly several Southeast Asian or Central Asian countries depending on the travel method.

And that’s with all the monsters in those places. If I were to go by sea, the monsters dominating the ocean would be an even bigger problem.

I had only one option left.

The sky.

‘It’s about time I seriously considered a flagship… ‘

I needed a flagship that could lead my troops on an expedition, not just an Aerial Mothership that could only carry interceptors, nor a small armored transport plane.

I looked through my list of aircraft.

‘I wonder if this would be good…?’

The first thing that caught my eye was the Ark.

It was a Leviathan-Class aircraft, surpassing Behemoth-Class, and above all, its size was overwhelmingly large.

It had an enormous amount of space inside for people to move around, roughly capable of carrying five thousand to ten thousand people.

In other words, it was larger than a super-large cruise ship.

‘That means there would be many places for facilities to be installed… ‘

However, I soon shook my head.

‘I’ve only just started producing Behemoth-Class aircraft.’

My first Behemoth-Class aircraft, the Facility Construction Machine, was already forming an Engineer Corps and traveling throughout Gyeonggi Province, installing mana facilities and defensive facilities here and there.

While mana production was increasing significantly, it also demanded an overwhelming mana upkeep, as if it weren’t a Behemoth-Class after all.

‘I’m not yet at a level to deploy a Leviathan-Class.’

I lowered my sights and decided to look at the Behemoth-Class.

Then, an aircraft caught my eye.

‘Hmm… what’s this?’

Assault Landing Ship

It wasn’t as big as the Ark, but…

It was enormous, big enough to hold at least 300 people. It also had hangars where people and machines could be separately maintained and stored.

And it had a small but decent amount of armament.

‘The firepower is a bit lacking, though…’

Of course, the firepower could be handled by the Aerial Mothership that would escort it. But he was starting to feel that wasn’t enough.

‘The Aerial Mothership is, after all, an air-to-air aircraft… ‘

He was starting to want a dedicated ship with air-to-ground capabilities.

“Oh, this should do!”

Just then, there was a good one.

The Behemoth-Class, Photon Destroyer. Judging by its enormous main gun, it was clearly designed to lay waste to the ground.

“This will do.”

He grinned.

He was confident he wouldn’t surrender even a single inch of the sky.