Chapter 136 – Silence

A middle-aged man carefully knocks on his daughter’s room door.

Knock, knock—

“What now—ugh.”

Only a sharp response returned from her room.

The middle-aged man asked his daughter cautiously.

“Honey, have you heard?”

“What?”

“I heard the Intelligence Department is hiring again?”

It was just as he spoke.

Crash! Bang!

A loud noise erupted from inside her room.

“Ouch…”

“Honey? Are you okay?”

Her father asked worriedly.

“Y-yes! I’m fine! Just a second, let me change my clothes!”

The answer came immediately after.

Then came the sound of rustling from inside the room. It seemed she intended to prepare herself properly.

“Dad! Do you know where the interviews are being held?”

“Probably at the castle again, wouldn’t you think?”

“The castle… when’s the fastest subway? Jeez, where did that application I wrote last time go?”

The middle-aged man stood in front of her room, continuing to talk to her while waiting for her to come out.

“Do you happen to know why they’re hiring this time?”

“Uh, huh? Oh, well—.”

Confused by her father’s sudden question, she hesitated. Seeing her, the father added anxiously.

“You saw the newspaper article last time. They’re producing Observation Ships in bulk. I think they might be short on management personnel—.”

“Ah, I know! Of course I know!”

“Really?”

“Y-yes!”

Clatter!

The door opened.

The daughter completely ignored her father waiting at the door and headed straight for the entrance. With the internet cut off and manpower being urgently filled day by day these days…

To pass an open recruitment, the most important thing above all else was to reach the location before others and be the first to be accepted.

The father’s expression darkened slightly at his daughter’s dismissive attitude, but she didn’t seem to notice.

And so, she rushed frantically to the entrance—.

“Dad! Where are my shoes?”

“Check the left drawer.”

“Ah—! I told you not to touch them—!”

After venting every bit of irritation she had, she put on her shoes at the entrance and, without even looking back at his face properly…

“Oh! Um, uh… Dad! Thanks!”

She added shyly, as if she had forgotten.

At that moment, a wide smile bloomed on the father’s face.

* * *

“It’s about time things are wrapping up.”

I felt satisfied as I watched the number of Monsters gradually decrease.

In the end, the partisan tactics were merely a final struggle. After the destruction of the Giant Nests, the number of Monsters in East Asia and North America was rapidly declining.

Of course, that didn’t mean sporadic Monsters stopped appearing. My Legion’s role had also been immense.

Meanwhile, Seongjae, who had been exercising on the Bridge, looked at the war map beside me and clicked his tongue.

“Wow, isn’t this basically controlling the hunting grounds?”

At those words, Seoyeon frowned.

“Seongjae Oppa… what kind of nonsense is that now?”

“Uh… well, you see…”

Feeling embarrassed, Seongjae began to explain his joke.

“Even if mobs respawn… in the end, we’re killing them faster than they can respawn right now. So, you know—.”

However, Seoyeon was a shut-in with deep knowledge of games.

“That’s not ‘controlling’ them.”

There was no way she wouldn’t understand what he meant.

“Ahaha… right. You’re right.”

Seongjae rubbed his head awkwardly. ‘Controlling’ usually referred to obstructing others so they couldn’t hunt.

‘Well… if there are no mobs to hunt, is that technically controlling?’

I thought so, but I decided not to dwell on it. If there were no Monsters, it was a good thing anyway.

Furthermore, aside from My Faction, there was no one with the luxury to hunt Monsters within my sphere of influence. If they weren’t part of my faction, they would be too busy dealing with the Monsters within their own territories.

Then, one more thing occurred to me.

‘And in the first place, there isn’t much left outside my faction.’

The survivors in Europe were nearly annihilated, and the situation in South America, Australia, and Africa was not much different.

It was regrettable that I couldn’t save more people, but it wasn’t something to despair over. I had already saved incomparably more people than in my previous life.

And in the first place, the preservation of the human species itself was largely thanks to me.

Meanwhile, this wasn’t the time to be intoxicated by my achievements. I immediately began setting the next goal.

“Now then… is only the Archmage Villain left in North America?”

I thought deeply.

The Archmage Villain.

Unknown even to the survivors, he was a figure who had caused considerable headaches in the previous timeline with his ever-changing abilities and equally impressive applications.

Ironically, however, he was the only one among the Villains possessing the Essence of Forgotten Knowledge that I had managed to catch in my previous life.

The reason, of course, was that his ability came with one fatal weakness. It was so simple that when Seongjae had pointed it out, everyone had shaken their heads, thinking, ‘No way.’

But that was a story from the previous timeline.

Now, I knew exactly what that weakness was.

‘This Artifact was an enormous help.’

With that thought…

I looked toward a corner of the Bridge for a moment.

Noticing my action, Minju looked at me curiously.

“Siwoo? Why are you staring into thin air? It’s creepy.”

“Well, there’s a reason.”

“A ghost?”

“Um… something like that.”

I grinned.

If it was a ghost, then yes.

Specifically, he was practically a ghost tailored for that Archmage bastard.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Mutants accompanying Yujin used the Observer to monitor the movements of the approaching fleet. However, they were currently invisible to the eyes of ordinary people.

This was because Yujin had used his ability to lead the Invisibility. The Mutants did not hold back their praise for Yujin as they looked at their invisible bodies.

“This is truly fascinating.”

“If it stays like this, capturing that fellow will be a piece of cake.”

“Indeed, Lord Yujin’s ability is truly peerless.”

“To think such an extraordinary ability emerged from such a low-level dimension. Truly, the harmony of the world is—.”

It was while they were chatting incessantly.

“Look over there.”

Yujin commanded their attention with a single sentence. The Magitech Civilization’s fleet was now overlapping with the path where they stood.

“They’ll be here soon.”

“But… doesn’t it look like they’re coming straight for us?”

“Hahaha, that’s impossible.”

“Haha, of course, but… somehow that looks… .”

It was the moment one of the Mutants raised a question.

Zzzzzzz—

From afar, the sound of a vibration began to be heard.

“W-wait!”

KABOOOOM!

A Pillar of Light flew in, instantly engulfing them.

“Aaaaagh!”

“Aaaahhh!”

The screams of the Mutants echoed.

* * *

A Pillar of Light that seemed capable of burning everything.

Despite the agony of feeling their bodies burn, the Mutants…

“Ha, haaaagh!”

“Ugh. Uh-ugh.”

…were somehow enduring it.

They were, after all, not high-ranking Mutants. Some of them were still just loudmouths who only knew how to talk.

“H-how on earth!”

“Yujin, how did this happen! You said we were invisible—.”

KABOOOOM!

They could not have imagined that the thick traces of Mana they emitted would be flashing like fluorescent lights from the Observation Ship floating high in the sky. It was then that they began to receive the powerful Artillery Barrage of the Photon Destroyer.

“Dammit!”

Yujin spat out a curse.

‘I should have attacked first!’

Securing the initiative of the attack was more important than anything. Using Invisibility had stemmed from that thought.

If they approached while the opponent was unable to determine their location, there would surely be an opportunity for an Ambush. However, he wasn’t so pathetic as to dwell excessively on what had already passed.

Fwoooosh—

“5th Circle. Wall of Shield.”

Clang!

He quickly drew up his Mana and deployed a Shield.

Zzzzz— KABOOOOM!

Its strength was such that it could withstand the Photon Destroyer’s artillery barrage several times over.

‘I’ll catch my breath with this for now.’

Hiding behind the Shield, he—

“The situation has changed slightly, but we proceed as planned!”

—began instructing the Mutants. At his words, the Mutants also realized the gravity of the situation and began to run.

“Tch, I have no choice but to follow for now!”

“I’m going first!”

The direction they ran was toward the fleet.

The strategy Yujin proposed was the method of doing a boss raid in a traditional RPG. While the Mutants stepped forward to distract and act as tanks taking most of the fleet’s firepower, Yujin would chant high-firepower magic to act as the dealer.

It was something like that. Fortunately or unfortunately, the fleet was indeed focusing on the approaching Mutants rather than Yujin.

Zzzzz— Boom! Kaboom!

The Mutants took those barrages with their entire bodies.

“Aaaaagh!”

“K-kh.”

Even while suffering, they watched with one eye as Yujin quietly chanted.

“D-dammit!”

“Just hold on a bit longer!”

“We just need the chant to finish! Just the chant!”

The magic he was trying to chant was a spell of the 9th Circle. It was a high-power spell he had never used before.

The Mutants didn’t fully understand that magic, but they had seen magic of the 8th Circle’s power. It was when they had eliminated the Aerial Motherships that had plagued them for a long time during the battle at the White House.

Since Yujin had said he was far stronger than that, it was a level of mastery beyond their imagination, but they trusted him, remembering the abilities Yujin had displayed so far.

“Dammit, if we just hold on one more time!”

“W-we can do it!”

Even as Mutants began to die in succession, unable to withstand the artillery. As if not wanting to betray their faith, a massive amount of Mana was swirling around Yujin.

Fwoooosh!

As if proving that firepower.

And at a certain moment.

Swoooosh—

The Mana swirling around Yujin…

Zzzing—

…began to condense in his hand. Looking at that high-concentration Mana humming low, he wiped away cold sweat and grinned.

Finally, he had succeeded.

“Wow, is it complete!”

“Hurry! What are you hesitating for!”

The moment the Mutants saw this and began to urge him, Yujin glanced at them as if telling them not to say another word. He pointed his hand, containing the condensed Mana, toward the fleet.

“9th Circle. The Bell of the World…”

‘…Word.’

However, he could not finish the chant. With a face full of terror, he watched the Mana begin to scatter.

‘W-what on earth happened?!’

But no words came out.

As if he had been silenced… his chant had been interrupted!

‘Who, how, how did they know my weakness!’

But inside, he already knew the answer. The fleet that his hand, now holding the scattering Mana, was pointing toward. There was no one else he could think of besides its owner.

“Ah.”

A short sigh escaped now that the silence had lifted.

But it was too late. Far too late.

* * *

Meanwhile, seeing the Archmage Villain fall into despair, I looked at the Invisible Gladiator hiding behind him and smiled.

“The Artifact is called the ‘Scream-Eating Helmet.’”

It was worth having acquired it in advance.