Chapter 135 – Butterfly Effect

The messages arrived almost simultaneously.

[Lord, good morning. This is Jayden from the Western Alliance. I am contacting you because unusual movements have recently been reported at the front…….]

[This is Yuzuki. Strange rumors have been circulating among the soldiers lately, so I’m reaching out just in case…….]

[Are you well? This is Chen. As I mentioned before, the merger between the Divine Merit Party and Hong Kong is proceeding smoothly. However, embarrassingly, a small problem has arisen, and I would like to ask for your help……]

[It’s Choi Yongjin. Have you read the report the intelligence department just sent? It may be hard to believe, but what I personally experienced at the front yesterday…….]

[…Finally, though it is a minor matter, there has been a slight change in the situation at the front recently. It is as if they are mimicking our actions. The report is attached. We are always grateful and wish to maintain the close cooperative relationship we have had until now…….]

The last one was a text from Vietnam.

‘What is going on?’

Tilting my head in curiosity, I checked the reports they had sent. They were all quite long and detailed, and I thought it would take a considerable amount of time to read them all, but that wasn’t the case.

“The content is all pretty much the same.”

It was to the point where I wondered if they had all intentionally copied each other’s homework. But this wasn’t school… there was no way they would do something so foolish when their lives were on the line.

‘If they had, they would have died long ago.’

Therefore, there was only one conclusion.

“The behavioral patterns of the Monsters changed in an instant.”

And they did so globally, in the exact same way.

While they previously pursued full-scale war with massive numbers, they now seemed to be aiming for small-scale Guerrilla Tactics.

‘This is truly bizarre.’

I was a bit confused. In the previous timeline, they had never behaved this way.

And for good reason…….

‘Because Guerrilla Tactics are the tactics of the weak.’

Common sense dictates that if you can overwhelm your opponent, there is no need to do such tedious things. You simply push forward with a full-scale war and crush them.

This was especially true since it was Monsters versus humans.

In a war within humanity, the basic stance is to avoid harming civilians. And the standard for Guerrilla Tactics is to hide among civilians based on this premise.

That is why humanitarian aid is poured into occupied territories to prevent Guerrilla Tactics. That way, partisans find it difficult to hide among the civilian population.

But the Monsters were different.

To them, the very concept of a civilian did not exist. If units tried to hide among civilians, the Monsters would be more than happy to start attacking those civilians.

In other words, from humanity’s perspective, there were situations where a full-scale war was forced upon them.

If a full-scale war broke out, the situation was unilaterally advantageous for the Monsters—provided, of course, that the Monsters’ forces were far stronger.

Therefore, the fact that the Monsters turned to Guerrilla Tactics, unlike in the previous timeline, meant—

“They’re deciding to tuck their tails on their own, huh?”

It carried an even greater meaning.

It was the result of the efforts I had built up until now. In any case, it didn’t matter if they changed their strategy now; nothing would change.

“Well then, let’s play by your rules for a bit.”

I began to scroll through my list of machinery.

* * *

Meanwhile, the White House. The Oval Office.

The Mutants were laughing heartily.

“Hahaha, it is exactly as Lord Yujin said!”

“My, my… the fighting styles of those foolish lower-dimension dwellers can be helpful sometimes, haha.”

They, too, had a time when they were other species. But it seemed they had long forgotten that. To become high-ranking Mutants like themselves, they had to survive and fight among the Monsters for a long time.

Thanks to such Mutants, Yujin was the one who used the most cunning in the battle against humanity. For example, the Oval Office of the White House they currently occupied was a case in point.

Since it was the symbol of human power, his intention was to occupy that seat to break the people’s will to resist.

Suggesting Guerrilla Tactics was an extension of that line of thinking.

No matter how powerful the US Military was, it wasn’t as if they had never suffered defeat. For instance, the Vietnam War was like that, and so was the war in Afghanistan. He had borrowed the commonality of those conflicts: the utilization of Guerrilla Tactics.

He believed that no matter how strong the Magitech Legion was, they would not be able to endure persistent Guerrilla Tactics.

Of course, since there were no civilians for the Monsters to hide among, he adjusted the tactics slightly. For example, by hiding the Nests that produced troops in underground tunnels.

And fortunately for him, the first results were encouraging. Reports of victory, for the first time in a long while, began to arrive from all over the world.

‘Now I just need to hold out like this.’

That was certainly how it should have been.

However…….

“I hear the damage in Vietnam is… somewhat severe.”

“Huh?”

“Well, that can happen. If it’s just one place like Vietnam…….”

But it wasn’t just Vietnam.

“Now reports from China are coming in too…….”

“Japan is the same.”

News of defeat began to erupt in an instant. Naturally, the expressions of all the Mutants turned pale.

“W-what on earth is happening……?”

They couldn’t even imagine it.

* * *

Meanwhile, Incheon. The Magitech Legion’s Production Facility.

The citizens were chatting, looking puzzled as they watched the Production Facility operating much more busily than usual.

For instance, like these two young women currently stirring their coffee in disheveled attire at a cafe.

“Ah, aaaaah! I’m so tired.”

“You? That’s unusual.”

“Don’t even get me started. I barely slept last night.”

“What? Did something happen?”

“What else? Because of the Production Facility.”

“Right, you live near the Production Facility…….”

Her friend agreed.

That was because those Production Facilities were making noises so loud they could be heard even at the cafe.

Thump. Thump. Rumble! Crash!

Even though there was a considerable distance between the cafe and the Production Facility.

Of course, since everyone was well aware of the importance of the Production Facility, no one complained.

In the first place, living in a Fortified City was practically a declaration that one intended to live a life closely intertwined with machines.

Rather, the core of their conversation was what was being made at the Production Facility. In a world like this, information was helpful to anyone.

“So, what are they making so diligently?”

“Ah, about that…….”

The woman lowered her voice.

As if she wanted to hide something, she whispered softly, and the other woman reacted with a commotion.

“What?! All of those were Observation Ships?”

“Shh, lower your voice.”

“Ah, sorry!”

She worked as a newspaper reporter and was currently itching to publish a related article.

Of course, it was information that anyone who knew about Apoin would already know. Still, she thought it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.

“I’m telling you, that’s how it is!”

“Where on earth are they going to use all those Observation Ships?”

“Now that I think about it, some strange rumors have been circulating lately…….”

The two continued their conversation for a long time, oblivious to their coffee growing cold. In today’s world, the most interesting rumors were none other than the current state of the Magitech Legion.

* * *

On the other side of the planet.

I grinned as I looked at the Observation Ships piling up densely.

“At this point, it’s practically a map hack.”

I had felt a similar sensation when I first started deploying Observation Probes, but this was different.

Observation Ships possessed far superior performance than Observation Probes, and the areas falling under my sphere of influence had become much wider.

Those Observation Ships were diligently rotating their Mana Lenses from high altitudes, finding every single hidden base of the Monsters without exception.

Since the Mana Lens could detect even the flow of Mana, it was useless to hide underground or anywhere else.

“They sure hid a lot.”

I smirked as I looked at the red dots representing those underground Nests. The Nests whose locations were identified were simply obliterated by the relentless artillery barrage of the Magitech Artillery Unit or the Photon Destroyers.

Even if they hid underground, there was no significant difference before firepower that could remove the very ground they hid in.

Furthermore, my Legion was identifying and eliminating the locations of small-scale units appearing sporadically…….

“Isn’t this actually better?”

Unlike before, I was eliminating them much more easily thanks to the Monsters being dispersed in smaller scales.

Their operation was ironically helping me. I scoffed as I looked at the units and the Monsters.

“You can force a full-scale war because there are no civilians?”

That could be called a strength of the Monsters, but…….

“I can do that too.”

Now, I wouldn’t be pushed back in a contest of strength.

Meanwhile, this wasn’t just a story from afar.

Looking at a mountain where Monsters had comfortably built their Nests, observed from my vicinity, I quietly muttered.

“I don’t like that mountain.”

It was the day the Monsters took the train to hell.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the White House.

It didn’t take long for the Mutants to realize that their operation was going wrong.

That was because the destruction of their units and the plummeting numbers were visible to the naked eye.

The Mutants, as if they had never praised Yujin before—

“No, why on earth would you use such a low-level tactic!”

“Didn’t I tell you so from the beginning!”

They were raging with anger.

It seemed Yujin could no longer maintain his calm demeanor.

“Damn it, blast it!”

He, who had been quiet until now, was now spitting out curses.

“I thought we could hold out a bit longer. It makes no sense that they could respond this quickly…….”

The Mutants took this opportunity to start mocking him.

“In that case, we should have fought honorably. To think we’d look so pathetic, fighting while hiding underground…….”

“Your country, which struggled because of such a trivial operation, doesn’t seem that great either. Well, in the end, it’s just a matter of a world that had no Mana.”

“Therefore, the words of a lower-dimension dweller are—”

Whoosh—!

It was immediately after that Yujin silenced them by drawing up his Mana. Literally.

“6th Circle. Wide-Area Silence.”

Swoosh!

As silence fell, the Oval Office became as quiet as a grave.

This didn’t mean the flow of Mana was cut off or the activation of abilities was blocked. It simply blocked their mouths so they couldn’t chant spells. In a way, it looked like a setting error.

But this was perhaps natural. After all, his ability was derived from the Archmage of the online game he used to enjoy.

Right now, if Yujin’s own mouth were blocked and he couldn’t chant a spell, his ability would be sealed.

‘Of course, there’s no reason to share this information.’

This was something only Yujin knew. Having silenced everyone, he began to make a declaration.

“Since it’s come to this, it’s all or nothing.”

“Mmph!”

“Mmgh.”

He spoke to the Mutants who could not answer.

“We must step forward and eliminate that Lord bastard ourselves.”

“M-mmgh!”

“Mmph! Mmph!”

“If you have any objections, feel free to speak now.”

Yujin sneered at the muffled Mutants.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the midst of all that…….

[Rate of Fire Amplification Research in progress… 59%]

The research was proceeding steadily.