Chapter 81 – Tour Performance

Chapter 81 – Tour Performance

The number of Colossi continued to grow.

Swish-! Pop!

And every time Minju moved a Colossus to a new battlefield, the Colossus always became the new hope of the battlefield.

Whoosh-! Bang!

Every time it swept its hand across the ground, monsters were sent flying far away, and each time, everyone cheered loudly.

“Wow!”

“Let’s go!”

Each of the Colossi showed the same combat power as Yoon Sanghoon. Yet, the Colossi were not alone…

They were merely a part of the Legion.

Bang!

Even the areas with the highest concentrations of monsters were quickly cleared as four Colossi pushed the front line.

“Hahaha… At this rate, I might not even be needed, huh?”

Yoon Sanghoon, who had been confined to Jeju Island and was now witnessing the might of the Legion for the first time, gave a somewhat self-deprecating laugh at that. But it wasn’t entirely true.

For instance, a Colossus has a fixed set of abilities, but humans do not. Through consistent training, it was clear that one day, they could surpass the strength of a Colossus.

And even if not, healing abilities were always useful.

And the same was true for other ability users, even if they didn’t possess the same strength or usefulness as Yoon Sanghoon.

That was why, despite having a powerful Legion, they did not neglect the growth of other ability users.

Immediately, the Colossus was a Super-Large Class machine.

It required a vast amount of mana, and it was ‘I’ who consumed that mana, no one else.

It was best if other people could help with Humanity’s survival, even a little bit.

Of course, 12 more mana facilities were added in an instant, bringing the total number of facilities to 17. This meant more than three times the output compared to the original 5.

However, I couldn’t waste mana. That’s why I limited the number of Colossuses to 12.

‘This much is more than enough.’

It was true. Although there were only 12 Colossuses, they had no problem dispersing into the Capital Region to deal with the Monsters.

As a result, the situation was being resolved quickly.

The front lines, which had been retreating little by little, were advancing again. Even amidst this, people were busy acquiring Mana Stones and materials.

The sight of them huddled together here and there, digging for Mana Stones, was so peaceful that it looked as if tourists were digging for clams in the mudflats.

I instructed the Worker Bugs to definitely secure the Mana Stones from the Monsters I had caught, but to leave other people’s Mana Stones alone.

After all, Mana Stones could be easily obtained with Worker Bug Coins, so there was no reason to be hated by everyone and try to squeeze blood from a stone.

Meanwhile, the Super-Large Production Facility, which had completed the production of 12 Colossuses, was once again busily moving.

Although it was still a Super-Large Class, it was now beginning to build an Aerial Mothership, which had significant differences in production time and resource quantity.

This was to gradually start building a full-fledged Aerial Carrier Fleet.

‘Let’s go on a巡回 performance, shall we?’

I grinned.

***

With the Colossuses joining the battle, the battlefield was quickly cleared. By the next day, both Marauders and Monsters began to disappear.

Meanwhile… Apoin was in an uproar.

[Lord Seoul enters ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[★Seoul★☆★Seoul☆occupied★☆★occupied★]

[Long live Lord’s independence! Long live Lord’s independence! Long live Lord’s independence!]

[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Seoul is nothing special ㅋㅋ]

[Don’t mess with us! Don’t mess with us! Don’t mess with us! Don’t mess with us! Don’t mess with us!]

[★★☆★★Seo★☆★ul★★☆★★]

[Lord! Lord! Lord! Lord! Lord! Lord!]

[Yes, I ate Seoul lolololololol]

[□■□Seoul□■□occupied□■□Seoul□■□occupied□■□]

All the men had returned to their heyday, back to their days as professional gamers when everyone cheered for them. Seoyeon was even making a tearful face, saying it was too much with their overwhelming firepower.

“Oppa… why are these people like this?”

“Hmm… that’s how old internet culture was… a bit… like that.”

Even though Seoyeon loved the internet and used it a lot, it seemed she didn’t know about ‘the old days’ due to a slight generation gap.

Seeing Seoyeon busy deleting spam posts day and night made me feel sorry, but honestly, I was a little happy inside.

‘Ah… it brings back memories.’

I grinned.

Having never won first place in a competition until the end, if there was any lingering regret, it was that. What would the reaction have been if I had… won first place in a competition back then?

It was as I was giving that brief bitter smile and looking at the Seoul night view, which was gradually brightening as electricity came on.

Whoosh- Flash!

Minju, who had approached without me noticing, shook her smartphone at me and asked with a similarly bitter smile.

“Would it have felt like this if I had won first place in a competition back then?”

“Maybe so.”

I let out a small laugh.

It was a day when Minju’s presence felt incredibly grateful.

* * *

Meanwhile. One of the people who was spamming the most maliciously was…….

“Ms. Seoyeon…….”

It seemed to be none other than Seongjae.

“Can’t you… please lift my permanent ban?”

“Why are you really like that to me!”

Seoyeon narrowed her eyes as if she didn’t want to see him. It sounded like Seongjae had even created a macro to spam.

In the end, a few days later… Seongjae said he had reached a good agreement with Brain Water by giving him a box of rare Cola Jelly, which was especially hard to find these days.

***

Of course, he hadn’t taken over all of Seoul.

I still considered only the area south of the Han River as my Faction’s territory and wasn’t crossing north of the Han River.

This was simply for ease of defense…

Because the Han River was so wide, it was convenient to use it as a natural defensive barrier. Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t eyeing the north.

Since it was an empty city with no monsters or marauders, there were many cases where private contractors within my Faction would go up to retrieve resources or dismantle buildings…

But even that wasn’t very profitable.

Since looters are a group that only consumes and doesn’t produce, they were bound to get poorer and poorer over time. This was especially true when looters, like the Gangbuk Looters this time, lost their looting power.

Of course, they weren’t without accumulated resources, but compared to my Faction, where civilization itself had fully started to function, it wasn’t a significant amount.

Furthermore, there was considerable damage.

This wasn’t just a problem of resources or buildings.

The Blue House, in particular, suffered the most damage, probably because it was a prominent symbol of the Republic of Korea’s national power.

However, fortunately, cultural properties like Gyeongbokgung Palace were not severely damaged.

‘If I can protect it, I’d like to.’

What I was worried about was the so-called ‘Civilization Bulldozer.’ Now that Seoul was sorted out, it was time to focus on defense.

‘Once I give it time, it will grow even more.’

Just then, there was a new large machine that caught my eye.

‘I should try defending with this one this time.’

It wasn’t just a regular machine, but one that came with the explanation that it had been unlocked by the Mana Barrier Essence.

As it was the first machine I could build under such conditions, I had high expectations.

I set the Large Production Facility to repeat production and then.

Started other tasks.

Among them, what I liked the most was making another Small Production Facility specifically for Worker Bug Specialized Production.

This would greatly increase the production of Worker Bugs.

Especially as the Mana Stones and materials available to the general public increased, their prices dropped even further.

This gave the creators in the workshops the freedom to experiment with various things, bringing about miraculous developments in Artifact production, akin to Fire Manipulation.

And this was the beginning of a virtuous cycle.

Because the more the capabilities and number of Artifacts increased, the more Mana Stones and materials would also increase.

Naturally, the demand for Worker Bugs, which collected Mana Stones and materials for The Man, increased even further, like Water.

I also had another ulterior motive for helping the development of Artifact production in this way.

‘If Artifact crafting technology develops further… someday I might be able to turn all my machines into Special Entities.’

As for Artifacts…

I was confident that I could use them better than anyone else in the world.

***

Meanwhile, Apoin was not the only one in a festive mood.

“Mommy!”

“Oh, my Daughter! We finally meet like this!”

People from all over the country were flocking to Incheon.

Thanks to this unprecedented Defense Battle, an enormous void was created in the number of Monsters on the Korean Peninsula.

This led people, for whom this might be their first and last chance, to move to Incheon.

This was especially true for those with families in the Seoul Metropolitan Area.

And it wasn’t just separated families gathering.

“I can make anything out of wood for you!”

“Clairvoyance 10 times for 6 Coins!”

Ability Users were also gathering for better survival opportunities.

“A+ grade Korean beef, freshly slaughtered yesterday! This is not beef that comes every day!”

“Three flower crabs for 5 Coins!”

Rare and unusual food ingredients were also coming in.

And food ingredients that could spoil were not easy to transport. The fact that such ingredients were coming in also meant that the distribution system had been somewhat restored thanks to the roads becoming relatively safer.

In every aspect, it was returning to the scale of past civilizations.

Ironically, perhaps even more vibrant.

My influence was growing as rapidly as The Man’s. It was no wonder I thought this way.

‘After defending the north this time… I will reclaim South Korea.’

I steeled myself.

It was something the me of my Previous Life could never have imagined.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the same time, on the other side of the world.

The Pentagon.

“Mr. Stringer, please look at this photo.”

A man was showing a dark photo to his superior.

“Hmm… Isn’t this Incheon, Korea?”

“Yes… But The Man… This photo was just taken.”

“What, what did you say?!”

Stringer’s eyes widened.

He couldn’t help but be surprised.

The reason the photo was dark was because it was taken at night. And those who still had the capacity to operate numerous intelligence assets knew this:

Unlike the Earth’s nights of the past, which were brilliant with electric lights… the Earth now was generally pitch black.

Even if there were electric lights, they should normally be getting smaller or more limited. This was because it was very rare for a country to have the capacity to operate a generator in such a world.

However… Incheon’s electric lights were actually getting bigger. Now, they were gradually expanding to the Seoul area south of the Han River.

So when Stringer first saw this photo, he had assumed it was a photo from the early stages of the situation. It was common to see old photos of past crises as reference material, after all.

“Isn’t the light getting bigger and bigger…?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Is there any contact with the Blue House?”

“Still no news.”

“The Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Ground Operations Command?”

“The same. We haven’t been able to reach them since we lost contact last time. They must have been annihilated by The Man Villain who is currently circling the globe.”

Stringer shook his head in disbelief.

“The Man, does this mean it’s a civilian force?”

“Yes… that’s what we believe.”

“This won’t do. This information must go straight to the President. Prepare the materials immediately.”

“I will do that!”

The world was also moving.