Chapter 152: The Chinese martial world getting its skull cracked.

“Young Girl, please take care of the map-making.”

“Hmm. As expected of China—the scale is massive.”

That’s what I was going to say. Seriously, how can a gate be that huge?

“Hmm. But we can’t communicate—will that be okay?”

“I’ve got something prepared for situations like this. I was going to use it earlier, but the Heavenly Horse took care of it, so I didn’t get the chance.”

“Oh! A true android of the 24th century. What is it?”

These days, Ttaengchili reminds me of that cat-type robot said to be from the 22nd century.

But Ttaengchili comes from a world 200 years more advanced than that—a truly amazing piece of cutting-edge scrap metal. I’ve got high hopes for Ttaengchili lately.

After all, for the globalization of the Kanora religion and the darkening of China, agitation and the pride of Korea are important, but even more crucial are Ttaengchili’s latest technologies.

“It was originally a program installed in the latest androids to distinguish between living humans, but it turned out humans could use it too.”

“What is it?”

I’m already curious.

“It’s called NW Translation World—the full name is the New World Program. Translation is just one part of the New World Program.”

“What exactly is it?”

“It’s a satellite-based system that affects people and androids. Anyone within coordinates marked by the satellite can understand each other regardless of the language they use.”

So basically, forget all the satellite explanations—if Ttaengchili marks the coordinates, anyone within that area, whether human or android, can communicate in any language.

That’s insanely overpowered.

At that level, living as a tin can wouldn’t be so bad.

I’ve ended up cracking heads because I couldn’t speak the language.

“That’s some broken-level crap. Why is punching the only thing I can do?”

“Mr. Orc, for a monster, that’s more than enough, don’t you think?”

“Ah… is that so?”

“Exactly.”

“Did you just casually treat me like a monster?”

Monster treatment?

Honestly, in today’s world, you’re either a monster or a human.

Still, the Orc is going to be quite useful this time.

“It’s because of NW Translation World.”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

“Just your imagination—no need to make a fuss.”

“Anyway, what’s the plan? What if the monsters here are weak, and the hunters easily capture them?”

Right.

That’s a possibility.

So, we’ve got something prepared for that too.

That’s where the Orc becomes useful.

This is all part of a staged event—the first step in getting the world to accept the Kanora religion.

Even if it doesn’t work due to interference from other countries…

“It’s simple. One of us pretends to be a monster.”

“Hmm. So you’re suggesting a staged performance.”

“Exactly. Something like that.”

I stare directly at the Orc.

The returnee party following me also stares at the Orc.

“The hell? Why’s everyone looking at me? I’m not a monster!”

“Did anyone say you were? But if we send you out as you are, even idiots will figure out later that it was a setup.”

As a monster stand-in, the Orc is perfect.

Everyone else has such unique powers or personalities that even if they fake it well, people would eventually catch on.

So I rummage through my belongings to find something the Orc can use.

There are various monster-made clothing materials.

The small ones won’t do.

There’s something used by a giant lich.

I hold it up high.

“Giant lace! Clothes!”

“Oh! If I wear this, will I look like lace?”

It’s a ragged piece of clothing, but definitely useful.

It should be more than enough to put on the Orc.

The moment he wears it, the Orc will look like a lich.

Of course, one that can’t use magic and is purely physical.

“Yes. But not yet. We need to wait for a moment when things really seem dire.”

Time to test it out.

We’ve entered the dungeon, so I followed some faint presence.

Before long, I spotted people in qipaos with traditional Qing dynasty hairstyles fighting.

They’re so attractive that even Maria, our Khitan wizard, would want them as companions.

“What are they saying?”

“I’ve set the coordinates. It’ll be fine.”

Hmm, I can hear voices.

The twisted Chinese language sounds like Korean now.

“This is super easy.”

“No one can stop us on our path!”

“Martial artists from Korea are no match for us!”

Are they returnee hunters too?

They even mentioned Korea—maybe they have some connection to Korean martial arts.

Anyway, I can clearly hear them.

Their voices sound exactly like Korean in my ears.

“Oh! I can hear them—it works! But wow, this is nuts. It works even inside the gate?”

“Coordinates are one thing, but I’m the catalyst, and I’m here.”

“We could use this for the Kanora religion too.”

For now, I just watched those Qing dynasty folks in silence.

They’re pretty good at fighting.

They dodge and strike skillfully, using martial arts to crush or capture the monsters.

The problem is—they don’t sense us at all.

They’re not even making any plans to draw us out.

In short, their level is low.

That’s not always a bad thing, but if they’re that unaware, then yes—we’ll need to stage something.

Should I poke them a little?

Yes, time to stage the act.

“Let’s go, Mr. Orc. You can do it.”

“I have to pretend to be a monster, right?”

“Yes. But you’re a wraith now—not an orc.”

“Ugh… well, fine.”

The Orc threw on the lich’s cloak.

From the outside, he doesn’t really look like a lich—more like a reclusive martial artist wearing tattered robes.

You know what I mean, right?

Among the martial arts masters, there are those with ragged clothes draped over their bodies.

And so, our Orc charged at those Chinese people.

Fiercely, as if to destroy everything.

“What the hell is that? A lich? Wait, why is that lich so huge?”

“No, it is a lich… Is it really? Looks more like some martial arts master.”

Yeah, that lich sure doesn’t look like a typical lich.

“Everyone, don’t let your guard down! That thing’s wearing lich skin! It’s a lich, I’m telling you!”

“That’s some strange behavior for a lich, though.”

“Could it be some Cheonma-type lich or something?”

“Whatever it is, it’s a powerful foe!”

BOOOOOM! KRAAAASH!

The Orc’s air-splitting attack seemed to deeply shock the Chinese crew.

All of them were overwhelmed by the sheer force and trembled in fear.

“What is this? Magic? No, it’s not… Even for a lich, how can it be like this?”

“GRAAAAAHHHH!”

“This… this is like an Orc! If an Orc were absurdly powerful, it’d be just like this.”

“RAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

CRAAACK! SNAP! SMASH!

The Orc was clearly pissed.

“Damn it! It’s insanely strong!”

“There’s no way to get close! It’s like some kind of martial technique!”

“Shit. At this point, we’ve got no choice but to—run!”

There was no time to run.

Angered by being called an Orc, the overweight Orc uncle stomped all over those Chinese returnees in a flash.

His fists and feet crushed the Chinese fighters.

CRACK! CRUUUNCH!

They seemed surprisingly weak.

Or is it just my imagination?

As expected, Korean returnees are the strongest.

Well, if other countries had more and stronger returnees, Korea wouldn’t be called the powerhouse of returnees, right?

Anyway, our dear Orc is amazing. Even with lots of monsters surrounding us, they were all flocking behind the Orc, almost as if they wanted to follow him.

Monsters know their own kind, after all.

“Hmph. You’re strong, but there’s no way you can beat us warriors of China!”

They looked like real Chinese actors as they charged at the Orc.

Just like in those Chinese martial arts movies, they charged in full of fighting spirit—

But…

“GYAAAAHH!”

They were flung away by the Orc’s swinging fists.

Our Orc was merciless. He just kept hitting and hitting and hitting again.

“KYAAAAAH!”

“GUAAAAARGH!”

“How can this be…? How could there be such a powerful foe? We’ve never faced anything like this before!”

Compared to the Orc, they were nothing.

If that’s all they’ve got, we could’ve just ambushed them and knocked them out to brainwash them.

Hmm… but now that we’ve come this far, we can’t go full cult-mode.

Let’s go in softer, more subtly.

We’re not a cult.

We’re the children of Kanora, worshippers of the goddess Kanora.

“Should I step in now?”

“Hm. Let’s just help them a little. Not as a religion—just enough to make contact.”

“Will that be okay?”

“Seeing as the people guarding the border are only this strong, we can’t just force religion on them from the start.”

They probably have some vague idea about Kanora.

For now, the important thing is to establish contact slowly.

Judging from their behavior, they don’t seem like bad people.

And based on their skills, it looks like they know a thing or two.

Strong people always gather others around them—unless they’re total lone-wolf jerks.

I approached one of them.

“Are you okay?”

“Wh-Who are you people…? Ngh… Did you come to help?”

A man bleeding from the corner of his mouth asked weakly.

His teammates were in a similar state.

They looked pretty beaten up after boldly charging at the Orc.

“Yes. We’ll help you. Humans can’t lose to monsters, right?”

“We’ve got no choice then. Help us out! That thing isn’t a normal lich!”

Of course, it’s not. It’s an Orc.

But I have no obligation to tell them that.

They’ll all be persuaded eventually anyway.

The overweight Orc-posing-as-a-lich picked up a staff he’d crudely made on the spot and pretended to cast some magic—

Then swung it at me.

“RAAAAAAAHHHH!”

Screaming, I grabbed the staff and flung it aside.

Then I pulled out a mace and faced off against our Orc.

Whispering so no one else could hear, just between the two of us:

“What now?”

“I’m going to beat on you a little. Just pretend to get knocked down, okay?”

“Shit. Take it easy, alright? You hit like a damn truck. Remember, I need to use these monsters later too, so don’t wreck everything.”

“Okay, okay. Just have the monsters charge at us all at once later.”

As we staged our little fight and started retreating,

At the same time the Orc backed off, the monsters all charged in at once.

There were a lot of them.

They had been intimidated by the Orc, but now that a window opened, they pounced at the humans like mad dogs.

“Monsters are coming from all sides!”

At one Chinese man’s shout, Cheonma unleashed her Energy pulse technique on the monsters.

In an instant, the ground was littered with what looked like a rain of arrows—stick-thin Energy pulse pepero edition—and all the monsters were wiped out.

“Whoa! What kind of martial art is that?!”

“If I may say so myself, I am the Che—”

“She’s like a berserker! Swinging that sword mercilessly and wiping out enemies—she’s the spitting image of a berserker!”

One Chinese guy shouted in excitement.

I quickly ran the numbers in my head.

Maybe it’s better to go with the berserker image rather than calling her Cheonma?