Chapter 116 – Kudak

Chapter 116 – Kudak

Sati’s ability, [Divine Power], was…

I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit abstract.

Fortunately, I had gathered some information from the few people who had escaped India in the previous round and joined other Humanities.

– That woman likes fire manipulation the most. She seemed to enjoy burning everything alive.

– She also healed monsters. She even brought dead monsters back to life.

– She was doing some kind of… summoning?

Flame, healing, resurrection, summoning. That woman’s abilities were quite versatile. I received different answers every time I asked a question.

However, one thing was always the same.

All the men trembled whenever they thought of that woman.

– It’s a good thing Sati isn’t leaving India. Really.

– She probably doesn’t want to cross the sea. In our Hinduism, crossing the sea is considered impure in principle.

I had also asked about the name ‘Sati’ that the woman claimed for herself.

– To claim to be Shiva’s wife, who destroys the world and returns everything to nothing… That woman is insane.

– The name Sati is also used to refer to the act of a widow throwing herself into the flames to follow her dead husband. It’s an unfortunate custom, though shameful, where it often happens by force.

Meanwhile, when it came to Hinduism, there was one more person I could ask. Besides India, most people in Nepal were also Hindus.

When I explained what I had gathered about the opponent to Rai, he replied with a serious expression.

“Sati… She is truly a heavy person.

“Not heavy, but scary?”

“Yes, yes. Scary.”

“Is there anything that might help?”

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

“What kind of god is Vishwakarma?”

“Vishwakarma. He’s an engineer. An engineer. Machines are the best.”

As Rai gave a serious thumbs-up-

“Yeah, machines are the best. From today, I’m a follower of Vishwakarma 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 in the previous round, calling each other ‘older brother’ and ‘younger brother.’ It seemed they would be similar this time too.

But apart from Vishwakarma, there was no valuable information.

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

It wouldn’t be a problem anyway.

“Seoyeon. Find me information related to Sati as well.”

Also, the Observation Ship began to diligently search.

When it came to intelligence, I had a significant advantage.

***

Even on the large Indian subcontinent, it didn’t take long to find traces of Sati. Mountains of corpses and signs of violent destruction were commonly spread across the entire continent.

Of course, not everything could be specifically identified as Sati. Marauders and monsters must have been active in India as well.

So I paid close attention to those traces and compared them with the information I had obtained in the previous round.

Among the traces believed to be left by her, the most noticeable were the bodies burned by fire manipulation. It seemed she, true to her name, often enjoyed fire rituals.

Another noticeable point was that all the places presumed to have been attacked by her were distinctly different from invasions by monsters or looters.

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

For instance, monsters only target humans.

Furthermore, the Marauder targets humans and Water users.

But the Woman was different.

The Woman pursued pure destruction.

The city that the Woman swept through was utterly destroyed, as if it had faced a great natural disaster.

Not even a single utility pole remained intact!

“That’s… incredible.”

However, this was also a clue that specifically identified the Woman among the many traces of violence. So, I just had to send an Observation Ship, following only the traces of destruction that were too perfect.

After a few days like that…

“Found her.”

I was able to find the Woman.

* * *

The Observation Ships, which were practically besieging Sati, carefully observed Sati, being cautious not to reveal their position.

I analyzed the situation using that information-.

“She really is unique.”

The Woman was a considerably different type of enemy than before.

For example, the Woman didn’t really favor Monsters, and seemed to be commanding minions she had personally Summoned.

Rai, who was watching the screen shared on the Bridge, cautiously began to explain to me.

Mostly, things like who seemed to be which god, or that she didn’t know. These were not very significant details, but the most impressive among them was-.

“That elephant head. That’s Ganesha.”

“Who is Ganesha?”

“Ganesha! Sati’s son.”

The one with the elephant head was an incarnation of Ganesha, the god of wisdom and fortune. In the original myth, he was said to be her son.

Of course, this was not truly a god, but merely a kind of ‘degraded replica’ created by her abilities.

Sati, who truly believed herself to be a loyal reincarnation, seemed to genuinely treat him as her son.

Meanwhile, Deokchan, who had briefly stopped by the Bridge to deliver something to Sua, clicked his tongue in displeasure after hearing the story.

“What, an old lady playing house…”

It was true. What’s more, perhaps because it was Hinduism, with its unnecessarily high loyalty count of 300 to 400 million, the number of its subordinates was not small.

But it was definitely not an ordinary game of playing house.

All the avatars the woman summoned were diligently helping her with her evil deeds. This seemed to be the reason why she didn’t use monsters much.

To the woman, who considered herself a divine being, monsters must have felt like inferior beings, excessively associated with fire manipulation.

“That’s such an arrogant thought.”

I grinned, thinking about the number of monsters under the woman’s command.

The woman only had four observers. I could eliminate them in an instant if I wanted to.

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

Shwaaaa-

On a chilling night, the sound of rustling bushes began to be heard.

* * *

The next morning.

“Ahaaaam.”

Sati, who had been enjoying a late sleep on a pile of half-burnt corpses, yawned lazily and got up.

The woman looked around with a weary expression.

Then, her eyebrows furrowed. Normally, the loyal avatars she summoned should have been assisting her, but…

“What? Where did they all go?”

Because they were nowhere to be seen.

Not a single one was left.

The woman tilted her head and mumbled.

“Were they unsummoned overnight?”

Sometimes, if mana was overused, the summoned beings would be unsummoned.

However, Sati’s mana, despite her bewilderment, was nearly at its peak. In fact, the disappearance of the avatars had reduced her usual upkeep, causing her mana recovery rate to increase.

“But why on earth…?”

The situation made no sense at all.

It was the moment she began checking her Observers, wondering if all her avatars had been unsummoned, to survey her surroundings.

“Where did these guys go now?”

But… even the Observers were gone.

The Observers were some of the few monsters she kept close, creatures she probably wouldn’t have even used if it weren’t for her convenience in the Castle.

‘They all look like they’d bring bad luck…’

Despite having mutated them, she often found monsters unsettling. It was as if she viewed them as untouchables. If humans discriminated among themselves, there was no law saying there couldn’t be discrimination within monsters.

But even those monsters were nowhere to be seen.

“……?”

Just as she was frowning deeply, Ganesha, a summoned being she regarded as her son, came running towards her, shouting in an urgent voice.

“M-Mother!”

“My son!”

Sati greeted Ganesha with a happy expression.

But something was wrong.

Ganesha’s face was filled with fear. She had killed countless people and wrought destruction, but this was a look she had never seen from her loyal summoned being.

Then, just as she began to question Ganesha,

“What in the world is—”

Thwack!

In an instant, an invisible blade stabbed Ganesha, staining him with blood.

“S-Save… cough.”

“A… Ah?”

Sati’s expression was filled with bewilderment.

Whoosh-

Just like that, even Ganesha was unsummoned.

The witch was left all alone.

***

I watched her through the Observation Ship and smirked.

“Is this the last of the small fry?”

Overnight, I quietly dispatched Interceptors to concentrate firepower and eliminate the Observers simultaneously. Then, I spent the entire night using the Invisible Gladiator to unsummon the avatars.

‘It was quite easy.’

It was an incredibly simple assassination mission.

The minions summoned by the witch, unlike my machines which are summoned based on materials, were originally incorporeal, so they didn’t even leave behind corpses.

The only things to be careful of were to prevent them from making loud noises and to keep them from loitering around Sati.

If I only paid attention to those two things, there wouldn’t be any major problems.

As the long night passed, the avatars were unsummoned one by one. The ones who noticed the strange situation tried to wake Sati several times, but each time, I stopped them.

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

Of course, this was the result.

“Uh… Son? What on earth…?”

Her voice, translated through Apoin, was tinged with emotions like fear and sorrow.

“It’s ridiculous.”

It was quite ironic to see the witch, who had killed so many people and forced such emotions on others, display them herself.

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

“Let’s end this soon.”

When I nodded to Minju-

Swish- Pop!

She immediately used Spatial Teleportation to retrieve the Invisible Gladiator.

…It’s you!

Sati, after seeing Minju for a moment, cried out in anger, but-.

Whoosh-Flash!

Minju had already vanished.

Meanwhile, I didn’t just remove the Observer and the Woman’s Incarnation Minions for nothing. The Woman’s limbs are made of water, and now her eyes are gone too.

The Woman didn’t even notice my Photon Destroyer slowly approaching. Within range of an Artillery Barrage, that is.

Finish her.

As I gave the command-.

Boom!

A powerful explosion enveloped Sati.

***

And a moment later.

Immense firepower, everything in the vicinity evaporated from the scene.

Sati was coughing up blood in the middle of it all.

Cough, cough… what in the world…?

The Woman was confused.

I saw her and shook my head.

Her life force is just too stubborn…

I had already confirmed the Woman’s Mana Quantity with a Mana Lens. Especially as a Summoning Ability user, thanks to her consistent use of abilities, the Woman had a considerable amount of mana, so I had intentionally brought the Photon Destroyer as close as possible to maximize firepower.

But this tenacious survival…

Well, I’ll just have to shoot her one more time.

It would be hell for the Woman.

Boom!

The Photon Destroyer’s Artillery Barrage rate is 7 rounds per minute.

In other words, he could unleash an Artillery Barrage approximately every 8.5 seconds.

“I’ll just keep shooting until he dies, what else?”

I smirked.