Chapter 912 – Ruler of the Game
That’s when the game master explains it. Intense waves begin to flow from across the dimension. In response to that life-threatening energy wave, the game master hurriedly closes the dimension, disconnects the terminal, and replies to Seong-il in his characteristic playful tone.
『Game Master: He will pay the price now. Don’t be stressed by this trash. Concentrate on what you have to do.』
“… Okay.”
I was still feeling the heat, but there was nothing wrong with what the game master said. Also, seeing the Archbishop being mercilessly tortured in an unknown space, Seong-il, somewhat relieved of his anger, decides to focus on destroying the Antarctic barrier instead of wasting any more time with anger. Br〉
“Luhop. Break the barrier.”
『…』
Perhaps Luhop was enraged by Seong-il’s command, and started glaring at Seong-il with his numerous tentacles. And the terrifying malice and madness that flows from there. It was so terrible that Seongil, who was suffering from quite a few internal injuries, had to flinch at the look in his eyes.
『Insolent…』
However, contrary to his angry and hateful tone, Luhop obediently moves his tentacles to the Antarctic barrier and begins to attack the barrier.
『You… And what is that being?』
When the Bishop of the Transcendental Church escapes after receiving a fatal blow from a powerful cosmic being whose identity is unknown, Illax and his colleagues take a breather and deploy a hologram made of psionics in the ark to communicate with Seong-il.
“… A being temporarily summoned using a cosmic holy relic I have. That’s all.”
『That’s all?』
Selaumaini, one of the leaders of the Ark, asks Seong-il’s answer, looking dumbfounded. Because the evil being carrying out indiscriminate bombing in the sky right now was by no means an ordinary being.
“Then what else can I do? Are you dissatisfied?”
Seong-il was extremely stressed because his life was already nearly lost due to a rebellion that occurred within the Guardian of Reason. Because of this, he spits harsh words at Selaumaini in a murderous voice.
『… You want to fight now?』
“If you want to get a proper answer from me, why don’t you do things the right way? You guys acted according to your plan, but the infighting in your organization almost cost me my life. Now, how dare you show off in front of me?”
『…』
As for the part that Seong-il pointed out, from the point of view of the guardian of reason, even ten mouths had nothing to say, so the leaders of the Ark, including Selaumaini, remained silent at Seong-il’s harsh words.
“What the hell happened? Why didn’t it go as planned?”
『Taris-Nozullan, one of the main leaders of our Guardians of Reason, has betrayed us.』
“… Betrayal?”
Seongil had a general idea of the situation, as he had heard Illax shout out a moment ago when he appeared and set the ark on fire. However, getting a proper answer from the person involved is a completely different story, so Seong-il asks him about it.
『Taris-Nozulan leaked our plans again. He attempted to secure a safe route for his compatriots to escape by handing over the numerous human beings and some of the guardians of reason residing in the Ark to the Transcendence Church.』
“… What kind of bullshit is that about passing over humanity?”
Seong-il’s face begins to crumple as if he were a murderer, as he suddenly hears Illax’s words about using people as trading targets.
『… In case this operation is successfully carried out, we tried to escape to the outside first the ordinary humans without combat ability and the non-combat lineages.』
It is said that in order to conduct efficient operations and quickly escape the dimension, Illax temporarily placed non-combat personnel in the largest ark owned by the Guardians of Reason and then tried to escape them first.
“… Why did you make that choice? It wouldn’t have mattered if we had just brought people on the ark like before.”
『It was Taris-Nozulan’s suggestion. Since this operation is the last gamble we can carry out, we proposed that the Ark itself be thrown into battle, rather than just combat personnel being sent into the dimension as before, so that you can successfully carry out the operation.』
“Damn… No way?”
“Exactly. It seems that the traitor deceived us from the beginning and communicated with the Transcendence Church in order to handle the matter like this.』
“You believed it and…?”
『… From the beginning, he was one of the early core members who created Guardians of Reason with me. How could I have known that he would betray me?』
Illax answers Seong-il with a bitter expression. He even said that he did not notice this betrayal, especially since the traitor was the most hardline against the Transcendental Church within the organization.
“That’s troubling… So, how many people are living on that ark?”
『About 100 million.』
“…”
Seong-il feels dizzy as the number of people is beyond his imagination. He asks how the ark he once inhabited could have been so populated, when at most there were only a few hundred thousand people.
『… I guess you didn’t know much about the Ark?』
When Seong-il seems to know less about the most important of the Ark’s core systems than he thought, Illax asks in a tone of confusion and doubt.
“… That’s it. Just give me an answer. It’s hard right now.”
『… One of the most core technologies of the Ark is dimension division. Through that power, we can expand space not only tens of times, but up to hundreds of times.』
Like Seongil’s Inner Plane, the Ark also has limitations, but it appears to have the power of dimensional division. Not only was Seongil unable to cross over to other areas, but the ark seemed to be inhabited by far more people than appeared on the outside.
‘Well… Most of the places I lived were hunters and their families. I thought the composition was too extreme. I heard that in addition to regular hunters, they also bring in a lot of engineers and scholars…’
『The Ark I was in charge of was focused on combat and reconnaissance functions, so the maximum number of people it could accommodate was only a few million at most. However, the Ark operated by Taris-Nodullan was different. Even if his ark was operated leisurely, it was capable of accommodating a population of at least tens of millions.』
Illax explains that the ark operated by the traitor was a typical civilian transport and residence ark, so it had almost no combat capabilities, but it was an ark that had the advantage of being able to accommodate many people.
『In a situation where we have that ability, if we ‘temporarily’ bring in people, we can temporarily accommodate a population of 100 million. It would be impossible to continuously support that population…』
“Damn…”
『That’s why I couldn’t doubt his words even more. Because his ark was not a combat ark to begin with! Of course, he was even less suspicious because he said he would leave his adjutant on the ark and move to the scene.』
Seong-il listens to Illax’s explanation and realizes that he and his guardian of reason were played into the hands of the Transcendental Church from the beginning.
“… Then what about the North Pole?”
『The defense base in the North Pole was equipped with all kinds of suicide weapons. Thanks to this, we had no choice but to get caught up in countless suicide attacks as soon as we moved to the next dimension. In fact, half of our arks have been destroyed or seriously damaged. Maybe that was their goal in the first place.』
“… If the base collapses, the barrier will collapse, right?”
『This probably means that they are really ready. Unlike the white meteorites of Antarctica, the black meteorites are sacred objects that the Transcendence Church can control, albeit temporarily. I think they believed that even if the core component of the barrier was destroyed, they would be able to maintain the barrier for a while.』
“Ha…”
『Perhaps they were trying to eliminate hostile military forces that might become a nuisance before moving to another dimension. If we could use this opportunity to wipe out many of the combatants, they would have been able to easily break down the barriers they had built on Earth and escape.』
The more you hear about it, the worse the situation becomes. Seong-il was barely able to control the pounding in his head and was about to ask Illax what to do next.
『You damn bastard! The barrier has been destroyed! I will now return to my world!』
Luhop roars at Seong-il in a hateful tone. Although it was short, there was still time left for the summoning, but Ruhob showed no hesitation in leaving reality after completing Seongil’s orders.
‘Oh, once the command is completed, the character will leave regardless of the summoning time…? Then, should I structure the commands more broadly from the beginning…?’
When Seongil saw the first summoned beast, he took a moment to figure out the pattern and try to correct his blind spots. The game master’s advice is displayed in augmented reality.
『Game Master: Not recommended. The more complex and ambiguous the command, the more severe the causality is. Consider that too and use your abilities.』
‘Ah, I guess there’s something like that. But weren’t you reluctant to reveal your identity in front of the guardian of the opposite sex?’
Seong-il is puzzled when the Game Master, who had previously advised Seong-il to hide his identity by hiding himself before facing Illax, casually advises him.
『Game Master: Is the back then the same as I am now? Well… It’s all thanks to you.』
Seongil laughs bitterly at the game master’s words. That too for a while. He looks at the three surviving Ark leaders in front of him and asks what they will do next.
“So… Your strength has been cut in half by the Transcendence Church and traitors. What do you plan to do next?”
『… Originally, I was planning on self-destructing along with the barrier. Thanks to you, I was able to live for a while longer.』
Illax looks like the concept of victory or ‘escape’ has completely disappeared from his mind. Not only did they suffer a huge blow during this battle, but many of their fellow countrymen who were supposed to lead them were kidnapped by the Transcendence Church, so their will to fight seemed to have been greatly broken.
“… Do you have any plans to get them back?”
