Chapter 116 – Kudak

Sati’s ability, [Divine Power]…

It felt somewhat abstract.

Fortunately, I had gathered a certain amount of information from a few people who had managed to escape India in the previous timeline and join other humans.

• She loves fire the most. It seemed like she enjoyed burning everything living alive.

• She also healed the Monsters. She even brought dead Monsters back to life.

• I think she… did some kind of Summoning?

Flame, healing, resurrection, summoning. Perhaps her ability was highly versatile. Every time I asked, I received a different answer.

However, one thing remained constant.

Every single one of them trembled whenever they thought of her.

• It’s a relief that Sati doesn’t leave India. Truly.

• She probably doesn’t want to cross the sea. In our Hinduism, crossing the sea is fundamentally considered an act that brings impurity.

Furthermore, I had once asked about the name she called herself, ‘Sati.’

• To claim to be the wife of Shiva, who seeks to destroy the world and return everything to nothingness… she’s insane.

• The name Sati… is also used to describe the act of a widow throwing herself into the fire following her dead husband. It’s an unfortunate custom where, embarrassingly, it often happens by force.

Meanwhile, when it came to Hinduism, there happened to be one more person I could ask. Since most people in Nepal, besides India, were also Hindus.

When I explained what I had found out about the target to Rai, he replied with a serious expression.

“Sati… she is a very heavy person.”

“Not heavy, but scary?”

“Yes, yes. Scawy.”

“Is there anything that might be helpful?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. I believe in Vishwakarma.”

“What kind of god is that?”

“Vishwakarma. An engineer. Engineer. Machines are the best.”

As Rai extended his thumb with a serious face—

“Yeah, machines are the best. I’m a follower of Vishwakarma starting today too.”

Seongjae chimed in from the side.

Seongjae, an engineering student who loved machines, and Rai, who had worked as a blacksmith and in factories, had been close friends who called each other ‘brother’ in the previous timeline, and it seemed they were destined to be similar this time as well.

But regardless of that, there was no nutritious information.

‘Do I have to figure everything out from scratch…?’

It didn’t matter anyway.

“Seoyeon, look for materials related to Sati as well.”

Additionally, I began to diligently deploy the Observation Ships.

In terms of intelligence, I held a several-fold advantage.

* * *

Despite the vastness of the Indian subcontinent, it didn’t take long to find traces of Sati. Mountains of corpses and signs of violent destruction were scattered commonly across the entire continent.

Of course, that didn’t mean everything could be specified as Sati’s work. Marauders and Monsters would have been plenty active in India as well.

So, I kept a close eye on those traces and cross-referenced them with the information I had obtained in the previous timeline.

The most striking point among the traces where she was thought to have passed was the charred corpses. It seemed that, true to her name, she frequently enjoyed holding cremation ceremonies.

Another striking point was that the places presumed to be attacked by her were distinctly different from the invasions of Monsters or Marauders.

This seemed to be a difference in ‘purpose’ from the start.

For example, Monsters only target humans.

Furthermore, Marauders target humans and resources.

But she was different.

She sought pure destruction.

As a result, the cities she swept through were completely destroyed, as if they had faced a massive natural disaster.

Not even a single telephone pole was left standing!

“Truly… impressive.”

However, this was also the clue that specified her among the numerous traces of violence. Therefore, I only had to send the Observation Ships following those traces of excessively perfect destruction.

After a few days passed…

“Found her.”

I was able to find her.

* * *

The Observation Ships, positioned as if surrounding Sati’s vicinity, monitored her while being careful not to reveal their location.

I analyzed the situation through that information—

“She really is peculiar.”

She was a quite different kind of enemy than those I had faced until now.

For instance, she didn’t use Monsters much, and instead seemed to employ minions she had summoned herself.

Rai, looking at the screen shared on the Bridge, began to explain to me cautiously.

Generally, he mentioned who seemed to be which god, or that he wasn’t sure. They were details without much significance, but the most impressive part was—

“That one with the elephant head. That’s Ganesha.”

“Who is Ganesha?”

“Ganesha! Sati’s son.”

The fellow with the elephant head was an avatar of Ganesha, the god of wisdom and luck. In the original mythology, he apparently played the role of her son.

Of course, this wasn’t actually a god, but merely a sort of ‘degraded replica’ created by her ability.

Sati, who believed without a doubt that she was the reincarnation of a god, seemed to treat him sincerely as her son.

Meanwhile, Deokchan, who had stopped by the Bridge for a moment to deliver something to Sua, clicked his tongue in disapproval upon hearing the conversation.

“Tsk, a woman who’s lived long enough is playing house…”

It was true. Perhaps because Hinduism has as many as 300 to 400 million gods, the number of her minions was not small.

But this was absolutely no ordinary game of house.

The avatars she summoned were all diligently assisting in her atrocities. This was likely the reason why she didn’t use Monsters often.

To her, who considered herself a divine being, Monsters probably felt like nothing more than something inferior.

“What an arrogant thought.”

I grinned, thinking of the number of Monsters under my command.

The number of Observers she possessed was a mere four. It was a level I could eliminate in an instant if I set my mind to it.

“I’ll show her why invisible units are scary.”

Swoosh—

In the desolate night, the sound of rustling grass began to be heard.

* * *

The next morning.

“Ahaaaam.”

Sati, who had been enjoying a late sleep atop a mountain of half-burnt corpses, stood up with a long yawn.

With a drowsy expression, she looked around.

Then, her brows furrowed. Normally, the avatars of the gods she summoned should have been attending to her, but…

“What? Where did everyone go?”

It was because they were nowhere to be seen.

Not a single one of them.

She tilted her head and muttered.

“Did the summons expire during the night?”

Occasionally, if she pushed her Mana usage too hard, the summons of those she had painstakingly called forth would be released.

However, Sati’s Mana, as she tilted her head, was nearly at its peak. Rather, because the avatars had disappeared, the usual maintenance cost had decreased, and the recovery speed had actually increased.

“Then why on earth…?”

It was a situation she couldn’t understand at all.

Just as she began to check her Observers to see if all the avatars had been released, she realized something.

“Where did these guys go too?”

But… even those Observers were gone.

The Observers were among the few Monsters she kept close; she probably wouldn’t have used them if not for their convenience.

‘They all look like they’d bring impurity…’

Despite having undergone Mutantification herself, she tended to find Monsters repulsive. It was as if she were looking at untouchables. If humans discriminated among themselves, there was no law saying she couldn’t discriminate within the Monsters.

But even those creatures were nowhere to be seen.

“…?”

It was then, while she was frowning deeply. Ganesha, the summon she regarded as her son, began to run toward her, shouting in an urgent voice.

“M-Mother!”

“My son!”

Sati welcomed Ganesha with a glad expression.

But something was wrong.

It was because Ganesha’s expression was stained with fear. Though she had committed destruction and killed countless people, this was an expression she was seeing for the first time from her own summon.

Just as she began to question Ganesha—

“What on earth hap—”

Stab!

In an instant, a transparent blade pierced Ganesha, staining him with blood.

“S-Save… cough.”

“Ah… huh?”

Sati’s expression was clouded with bewilderment.

Sliiiide—

And so, even Ganesha was released from his summoning.

She was now alone.

* * *

I watched that scene through the Observation Ship and grinned.

“Is that the last of the small fry?”

During the previous night, I had eliminated the Observers simultaneously through the concentrated firepower of Interceptors that had deployed quietly. Then, I spent the entire night cycling Invisible Gladiators to release her avatars.

‘It was such an easy task.’

It was a ridiculously simple assassination operation.

Unlike my machines, which are summoned based on materials, the minions summoned from her had no physical substance to begin with, so they didn’t even leave corpses.

The only points to be careful about were ensuring they couldn’t make a loud noise and making sure they didn’t linger around Sati.

As long as I paid attention to those two things, there were no major problems.

As the long night passed, the avatars were released one by one. Those who noticed the strange situation tried several times to wake Sati, but each time, they were thwarted by me.

In particular, Ganesha, whom Sati cherished, was the one I had been eyeing. Perhaps because he was the god of wisdom and luck, he had to play an unintended game of hide-and-seek.

Of course, this was the result.

“Uh… son? What in the…?”

Her voice, flowing in through the translation of Apoin, was tinged with emotions such as fear and sadness.

“How funny.”

It was a truly ironic sight, seeing her—who had killed so many people and forced such emotions upon others—display them herself.

Regardless, I had no reason to be kind to her.

“Let’s wrap this up.”

When I nodded to Minju—

Swoosh— Flash!

She immediately used Spatial Teleportation to retrieve the Invisible Gladiators.

“…It was you!”

Sati shouted in rage after catching a glimpse of Minju, but—

Swoosh— Flash!

Minju had already disappeared.

Meanwhile, I hadn’t removed the Observers and her avatar minions for nothing. Now that her limbs and even her eyes had been removed…

She didn’t even notice that my Photon Destroyer was slowly approaching. It was already within artillery barrage range.

“Finish it.”

As I gave the order—

KABOOOOM!

A powerful explosion engulfed Sati.

* * *

And a moment later.

A scene of overwhelming firepower where everything nearby had evaporated.

Sati was coughing up blood in the center of it.

“Cough, cough… what on earth is…?”

She was confused.

I shook my head while watching her.

“Her vitality is annoyingly stubborn…”

I already knew her Mana Quantity through the Mana Lens. Especially as a Summoning Ability User, she possessed a considerable amount of Mana thanks to her steady use of her abilities, which was why I had intentionally brought the Photon Destroyer as close as possible to maximize the firepower.

But this persistent survival instinct…

“Well, I’ll just fire one more shot.”

For her, it would be like hell.

KABOOOOM!

The firing speed of the Photon Destroyer was 7 rounds per minute.

In other words, it could fire once approximately every 8.5 seconds.

“I’ll just keep firing until she dies.”

I grinned.