Ch. 309 Heroine – Chapter 309
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 309
“In short, you’re saying you want to exterminate the rats hiding in the house.”
Johan shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.
Whenever the God of War summoned him separately, a troublesome issue always awaited.
This time, he thought it would be nothing much since it was a light request to train his disciples, but as expected, a significant problem was waiting. In fact, this was the main point. The training of the disciples was just a secondary request. Johan frowned and mulled over the God of War’s words.
The Devil Gods.
The rulers of the monsters from the otherworld.
Currently, four Devil Gods are lying dormant in the United Nations, plotting schemes in the shadows.
The Noble Prince, Agares.
The Creator, Belial.
The Singularity, Murmur.
The Executor, Astaroth.
All of them were monsters that transcended the captain level.
It took three captain-level individuals to face one Devil God.
Moreover, Agares, the leader of the four Devil Gods, was on a completely different level from the other Devil Gods.
“If we fought, who would win? I would win… but I can’t say for sure. If it were my prime, maybe, but based on ‘the current me’, the odds are fifty-fifty.”
The strongest man in humanity, the God of War Mars himself, declared him an existence of ‘equal status’, an extraordinary monster.
Even that Agares was not the ‘strongest Devil God’, which showed how overwhelming the Devil Gods’ power was.
Fortunately, the Devil Gods were divided into moderate and radical factions, so their opinions were not unified, otherwise, humanity might have already been destroyed.
It was a truly bleak story. When Johan first heard it, he doubted his ears. It was none other than the God of War. The pinnacle of humanity and its guardian deity. It was hard to believe that the God of War could not guarantee victory, and that there were existences superior to him.
“I can’t tell these things to the other captains. It would break their morale. Those guys idolize me too much. It’s annoying.”
Indeed, it would.
Within the Celestial Corps, the God of War’s status was absolute.
An unyielding pillar that everyone believed in and relied on.
If that pillar were to crack, it would inevitably cause turmoil.
Anxiety and fear would spread like fire burning dry grass.
“As you can see from Belial swallowing the Family, those guys are plotting something.”
As part of that, Astaroth had planted minions in various places in society.
The girl with the Red Fox Mask.
The first Devil God to reveal herself.
The transcendent who first showed the power of a Devil God.
Her influence had already spread to various places in the United Nations.
“It should be called surveillance, not extermination.”
The God of War frowned as he spoke.
An enemy from within was more frightening than an enemy from without.
There was nothing more troublesome than an invisible enemy disguised as an ally.
“Those guys haven’t been seduced by the Devil Gods. They’ve been brainwashed against their will.”
Anyone who wears the mask becomes a minion of Astaroth.
Unless their will was exceptionally strong or they were supernaturals who had reached a high level, there were no exceptions.
In other words, it meant that she could create new slaves at any time.
“Even if we find and free the minions, creating new minions would just bring us back to square one.”
The God of War glanced at the documents and said.
It was information that Lucia had given based on Lucille’s memories.
It was a list of humans suspected of being Astaroth’s slaves.
Among them, there were those who were truly slaves and those who were ‘candidates’ for slaves.
Even if they freed all the people on the list, Astaroth would create new slaves without batting an eye. In the end, as long as the root cause of everything was still intact, the situation would not be resolved. It would only get worse. If Astaroth decided to brainwash people indiscriminately, the aftermath would be unmanageable.
“Political circles, business circles, broadcasting, culture… Ha, there’s no place she hasn’t reached.”
Johan muttered with a disgusted expression. Astaroth’s influence really reached everywhere. Even the Celestial Corps and the Knights had Astaroth’s slaves planted in them. Clicking his tongue, Johan quickly read through the documents and looked at the God of War with a sudden question.
“By the way, how did you get this information?”
“…It’s classified.”
To tell him that, he would have to explain the relationship between Lucille and Lucia. Revealing the truth was up to Lucia. It was not something he should interfere with on his own.
“Those lists are just strong candidates. They are uncertain until you do direct cross-verification.”
“I’ll do the verification. I can’t fight because of my leg, but I’m a professional when it comes to this kind of thing.”
Long black hair that reached her waist and a gown as white as a blank sheet of paper.
She had a listless expression as if everything in the world was a bother, but her voice was full of spirit.
The academy’s nurse, Theresa, put her hand on the God of War’s shoulder and made a mischievous expression.
“To call even retired people to take on work. You’re really a terrible boss~”
“Who was it who said to call them anytime they needed help?”
“That’s just a polite thing to say. It’s just lip service for a fulfilling social life and smooth external relations.”
“I-Is that so… That’s what it was…”
“…Don’t tell me you actually believed it?”
Oh dear. What should she do with this fool? Theresa sighed and patted his shoulder.
“With my ‘detection’, I can distinguish brainwashed people. I’ll find them, and have the Knights monitor the brainwashed people.”
“I see. If we only grasp their movements, then spies are no longer a source of fear. I understand. I’ll use my power. But as you know, the Knights are a small force. Even if only half of the list turns out to be true, we’ll run short of available personnel.”
“Don’t worry. We won’t leave it all to the Knights. The 2nd Division will move with them. The current vice captain’s supernatural ability is similar to mine. Was it aura detection? That child can also determine whether someone has been brainwashed like me.”
The 2nd Division’s vice captain, Ariene’s supernatural ability was ‘Aura Detection.’
The principle was different from ‘Detection’, but the effect was similar.
The mask’s brainwashing was so subtle that ordinary detectors could not distinguish it.
But Ariene, who had reached the status of ‘one close to God’, could distinguish it sufficiently.
“But, you perpetual old man. This is just a temporary fix to maintain the status quo.”
“I know.”
“Do you have a plan or something?”
“Yes, I have a simple solution.”
Finding the mask’s slaves was just preliminary work.
Once they determined that they had sufficiently covered their eyes and ears.
That’s when they would draw the prepared sword.
“Subjugate Astaroth.”
The troublesome thing about the Devil Gods was that they had become devils.
They hid their presence in human bodies.
Not only that, but they further muffled their presence by wearing ‘masks’.
Thanks to that, it was a distant task for the God of War to find the devils’ whereabouts.
There was no way to find them unless they directly revealed themselves.
That was originally the case.
“I’ve grasped their location to some extent. All that’s left is to catch and kill them before they run away.”
Lucille’s hundreds of millions of regressions.
The experience of those regressions produced statistics.
They narrowed down Astaroth’s hideout candidates to a few, and even identified a likely place with the ability of the Oracle, which was composed of seers.
The Devil Gods could not be foreseen by the Oracle. They could not be seen. They used that point in reverse. The place that the Oracle could not foresee was where the Demon God was.
“What? If you know, why don’t you just go and subjugate her?”
“If she’s in a desperate crisis, she’ll obviously take the brainwashed people hostage.”
Considering her actions so far and the information he had heard from Lucia, it was not difficult to infer.
Finding the mask’s slaves was to prevent the leakage of secrets, but that was not all.
There was also a considerable purpose to protect them.
“I’m not an idealist. I’m not going to shout about saving everyone.”
So the grace period was 3 days.
After 3 days, he would no longer look for the mask’s slaves.
He had no intention of saving them even if Astaroth took them hostage.
He would save those he could save. If he couldn’t save them, he would abandon them without hesitation.
Considering the aftermath of missing Astaroth, he would accept the sacrifice.
The Hero Yoo-seong could not do it, but the God of War Mars could do it.
The innocent boy who shouted about saving everyone had been buried in the passage of time and was dead.
Here was the God of War Mars.
“…”
Theresa looked at the God of War with subtle eyes.
Due to the influence of her supernatural ability, she was sensitive to people’s emotions and could easily see through their inner selves.
That was why she could grasp the God of War’s true nature, and that was still the case now.
She could see as if it were in her hands how much he had agonized to reach that conclusion.
“We don’t have time, so we have to move right away.”
“I’ll also send word to the Knights. Master, please give my regards to those children.”
Time was running out. To check all the people on the list within 3 days, they had to hurry. The 2nd Division was also moving, so they would be able to check everything just barely. Theresa let out a bitter smile. She spoke coldly and tried to act calmly, but it seemed she couldn’t do that to her innermost feelings.
“…”
The God of War was silent as he gazed at the two people who were hurrying away. The problem of the mask had now left his hands. The rest was up to them. 3 days. He could only hope that they would distinguish as many victims as possible during that time. Because he was serious about abandoning them if he couldn’t save them.
The God of War moved his feet to the training room where the children would be. There was still time to spare. Before today’s training time was over, he was going to check the children’s achievements again.
Eugene, Alice, and Lucia were all growing steadily. In particular, Alice’s growth was the most remarkable. She had broken through the wall and transcended her limits, so now he was going to start Alice’s direct training as well.
Of course, it wouldn’t be as gruesome or violent as Eugene’s.
That child didn’t have super regeneration, so it was a natural course of action.
It’s definitely not because he’s discriminating because she looks like Iris.
Really.
Author Note
A/N (Author’s note):
A ‘meteor’ that uses the cheat key known as ‘Lucille’s memory library’.
Translator Note
T/N (Translator’s note):
NTR man will strike soon.
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