Chapter 798 – First Sortie
“It’s strange… I can’t feel any psionic waves to say I used superpowers… What on earth happened? Did a dimensional overlap occur…? Or ‘those guys’?”
In fact, the problem occurred due to the overwhelming information hiding power of Seong-il’s ability ‘sensitivity’, but since Noh Soo-il does not know anything about Seong-il, he simply attributed the situation to a spatial collision phenomenon caused by dimensional overlap, or to an ancient phenomenon where the abominable guardians of reason were sleeping. They mistakenly believe that they have woken up the technology and made modifications.
“Let’s break through first.”
“Yes!? You mean the same subway route!?”
The government agent is shocked by Noh Soo-il’s words and asks him if he really wants to restore the subway. At his words, the manager glares at him as if he is pitiful and then begins to explain again.
“Who told you to restore the underpass? It meant digging a vertical tunnel so that we could investigate the densely populated areas of the dungeon.”
“Ah… I understand.”
That was when the administrator of the Transcendental Church was investigating an abnormal phenomenon he had never seen before. Seongil had completed reconnaissance in northern Seoul and was preparing to launch another sortie.
“Everyone remembers the details of the operation, right? With today’s surprise attack, we will eliminate all dungeons under Seoul and rescue the refugees.”
『Yes!!!』
After recently receiving the Dimensional Pineapple House from the game master, Seong-il prepared for an extra month in the Inner Plane than originally scheduled in order to ‘properly’ spoil the Transcendental Church. While the students were training in the Inner Plane, he used the Evergreen Bracelet to travel around underground Seoul and spread dimensional pineapple houses.
‘I like it, it’s just a spare time… Every time the Sangnok Bracelet’s cooldown expires, I briefly return to reality and just install it for about a minute.’
Since Seong-il was concerned about the flow of time in reality, even one minute and one second, he would use the Evergreen Bracelet to install the Pineapple House, then immediately return to the Inner Plane, stop time, and put the cooldown on for a day.
‘… Actually, I can install the branches of Withgrasil myself, but I can’t do that forever.’
The reason Seong-il went out of his way to install 3D Pineapple Houses all over Seoul underground was simple. He wanted to test out an idea he’d had a while ago: using scouts in the dimensional Pineapple House.
Although he was able to install the branches of Withgrasil alone, he had delegated the task of installing branches of Withgrasil to a scout hunter who had handed over authority to the Pineapple House to test his plan.
『Entering the dungeon A team.』
『Rescue Team A has arrived at a small settlement. Contact us. If persuasion fails, we will engage in combat. Please wait for the emergency team.』
As soon as Seongil gives the start command, messages are posted at an incredible speed. Still, Seong-il feels proud to see the Eden Hunter, who has a somewhat pro-like appearance after going on a sortie once.
‘Are you sure you’ll get caught today?’
As of today, explosive dungeon disappearances will occur simultaneously throughout Seoul and all districts, so Seong-il is confident that there will definitely be a response from the Transcendental Church sooner or later.
‘The good news is that in terms of real time, only about half a day has passed since the first sortie that took place not long ago. There is a high possibility that the Transcendental Church members have just barely figured out the abnormal phenomenon.’
However, since Seong-il’s Transcendence Church’s technological prowess is beyond imagination, he believes it is certain that they will quickly identify the abnormal state of the dungeon sooner or later. However, fortunately, the time Seong-il tried to operate with the Eden Hunters in real life was literally close to an instant, so he is confident that the Transcendental Church will not be able to properly counterattack until at least this episode and will be helpless.
‘Well… They will react and respond in earnest in about 1–2 weeks in real time…’
However, if we look at the timeline of reality, not even a day has passed since Eden made the move. Therefore, Seong-il is optimistic about the situation and moves towards the largest underground city that he had identified in advance.
“Who… Wow!!”
Seong-il, without showing any of the composure as before, with a serious expression on his face, raids the guard post installed at the entrance to an underground city where over a thousand people live and immediately overpowers the guard standing guard.
‘There was no problem playing around in a small community, but a city of this size is a different story.’
Since it is a fairly large city, the skills and scale of the vigilante group organized by the refugees are likely to be considerable, so Seong-il senses that if he continues to ‘play around’ like before, an accident may occur.
‘With this scale, of course there will be multiple escape routes… So, let’s not let down our guard and move quickly.’
Thinking like that, Seong-il decides to use all his trump cards to sweep away his enemies like a tsunami. He summons such as clones or cursed knights, then takes out all the Ethereal Stones that he had left in Eden for a while and rushes towards the guards at a crazy speed.
“That… Enemy… Sigh…!!”
Since he had no intention of mocking his opponent and fighting like before, Seongil spreads powerful psionic energy throughout the area and uses his telekinesis to crush the guards within the range.
“Oh my gosh…!!”
Ordinary people faint in an instant under the pressure of a powerful superpower. In the meantime, Seong-il uses an atmospheric ethereal stone to control the flow of air within the psychic field, showing meticulousness in suppressing noise.
“Messenger. Spray darkness. Block vision.”
『Grung…!!』
When Seong-il’s command is given, the giant wolf hiding in his shadow howls lightly, then inflates its body to a gigantic size and begins to spread darkness around the area. As the fierce power of darkness completely dominates the surroundings, the light that illuminated the underground cavity fades and the interior begins to become extremely dark.
Originally, thanks to the messenger’s powerful power, the people with cognitive abilities in charge of the guard would have discovered something and would have had to issue a guard order to the city. However, the reactions mixed within Seongil’s telekinetic field completely hide the waves, destroying the cognitive ability’s supersensing abilities.
“… What is it? Is the psi generator broken?”
As the lights start to go out one by one in the distance, and it starts to get dark, the guard captain of the underground city frowns at the sudden commotion. Like a seasoned leader, he immediately uses a communication device to send a message and try to understand the situation.
『What’s going on?』
『Damn it… What kind of crazy bastard set off a psionic discharge bomb!! Bastards… It’s not even an attack, why…? Did you get into a fight? Why is the power going out?』
『Shall I apply?』
The guard captain had no idea that the voice coming from the radio could be that of a colleague who had been brainwashed by the Ethereal Stone of the mind, so he asked a question to his colleague across the radio.
『First of all, I don’t think it’s a serious problem… But please send it in moderation. It seems that the marauders may be using deceptive tactics to tamper with our base.』
『Hmm… That’s definitely true. Anyway, are you saying it’s okay without full support?』
“Yes. First, I was looking inside with a night vision scope, but there were no signs of an attack. Just a power outage…』
“Okay. For now, just send the technician.』
In the end, the guard captain is fooled by Seong-il’s clever deception and makes the fatal mistake of sending only a few troops. Originally, as it was a large city, there were many secret escape routes, so there was a possibility of escape if done well. However, the guard captain made the fatal mistake of missing the golden time due to his carelessness.
“Damn… Why does it keep getting dark?”
The underground cavity continues to darken even though a support team has been sent. The guard captain, uneasy about the scene, sends the wireless signal again.
“Hey! What happened?』
『Well… Hey!! You can take the radio for me.』
The guard who was brainwashed by Seong-il begins to act in a calm tone, handing the radio to the volunteer soldier who was also brainwashed by Seong-il. The guard captain, with such a convincing performance, had no idea that they had been brainwashed and asked them about the situation in his usual tone.
『What on earth, is it? Why does it keep getting dark?』
『It’s not at the level of a discharge bomb. I think they must have sprayed a psionic EMP for some reason. The short circuit is getting worse. Please wait a moment.』
『… Is it really because of that?』
The interior continues to darken. And the frighteningly quiet scene across the darkness. Therefore, the guard captain instinctively senses something unusual and asks a question to the technician in a slightly trembling voice.
『He’s not a five-year-old kid… Captain. It’s really just power saving. What are you drawing…』
『Speak kindly. Boy.』
『Yes~ Yes. I understand. Please tell the people in the city not to be so scared. I’ll have to work hard for about an hour or two… So please don’t get scared and get into trouble!』
