109. Memories of the 6th Temple (3)

The group paused in their tracks at the sight of the corpse.

However, the present of the Empire they all lived in was also an era of great chaos. The heroines weren’t shocked just by seeing a corpse.

“This is a one-sided massacre.”

I nodded at Chloe’s words.

Perhaps not all of the old humanity had awakened to Mana. Even in Islende, where the use of Mana is very common, Mana affinity varies from person to person.

“These corpses seem to be people who couldn’t awaken to Mana.”

Guns were scattered around the corpse. It seemed that the old humanity who could use Mana had massacred the rest of the old humanity.

And as if a beast had devoured the corpse, it was a complete mess.

“D, die!! You monster that’s not even human!!”

And a scream was heard from afar. It was a phrase never used in Islende, but I understood the words they were shouting, probably in English.

I and the group hid behind the broken concrete debris around us and watched their battle.

“Attacks through those magic tools don’t work at all on the Mahonins, -nim.”

Chloe whispered quietly. The magic tools Chloe mentioned were firearms used on Earth. A group of what appeared to be soldiers were firing rifles and weapons that looked like anti-tank guns non-stop.

But those attacks were useless against the Mahonins who were fighting them. Or rather, against the old humanity who could use Mana.

‘The shield made of Mana is blocking all those attacks.’

Mana is an energy that doesn’t adhere to the laws of physics on Earth. So, old-fashioned thermal weapons couldn’t inflict any damage on the Mahonins.

“N, no! If this continues, they’ll reach the Allied Headquarters! We have to stop them, even if we have to throw away our lives!”

Soon, the Mahonins were within striking distance of the soldiers. The Mahonins didn’t even use weapons.

Sseuseuseuseuk-

They simply created blades with their palms and swung them in front of their necks.

“The radiance of Mana…”

As Princess Lilia said, the blue light of Mana sparkled. The Mana blade severed the soldier’s neck cleanly.

Amidst the one-sided massacre, the Mahonins finally spotted the group.

“A, a woman! A, and there are several of them! Kyahahahat!!”

“O, all of them are beautiful! Good! Let’s capture them all and ravage them!”

Dozens of Mahonins rushed towards the group all at once. A terrible lust could be felt in their bloodshot eyes.

The heroines might not understand English, but they seemed to have grasped their intentions just from their eyes.

“Ugh. That’s disgusting.”

Chloe looked at the Mahonins with a very contemptuous expression. But having seen the massacre a moment ago, everyone quickly prepared for battle.

“There’s a man too! He seems to be holding a sword?”

“Kill the man! It doesn’t matter if we use Mana anyway!”

“Keuheuk. Well, if guns can’t kill us, what can a measly blade do… But why are they dressed like that? Did they come from some kind of play?”

As they got closer, their conversations continued to be heard. I inadvertently thought of Roia’s trial.

‘Come to think of it, in Roia’s trial, some interaction with the people appearing in the trial was possible.’

So, those guys aren’t just simple memories or backgrounds. At that moment, one Mahonin shouted.

“W, wait a minute? The man is handsome too! No, he’s as pretty as the other women!”

At those words, a muscular white man with a shaved head shouted.

“Don’t touch that guy! My taste is more for men than women. They’re more delicious. After tasting his hole, I’ll cut off his limbs and that tender flesh…”

The white man pointed his finger specifically at me. It was that moment.

“Huh?”

The man had a puzzled expression for a moment. And then, the man’s head fell to the ground. The surrounding Mahonins shouted.

“A, an ambush? What’s going on?”

“Those guys haven’t moved yet! Is it a long-range ambush?!”

The guys didn’t seem to notice what had just happened. But I saw it with my own eyes. Lucia had cut off the neck of the man who had pointed at me and spewed disgusting words.

‘Lucia wouldn’t understand those guys’ words either. Did she grasp the atmosphere?’

In an instant, the group’s gazes turned to Lucia. Since Lucia was holding a sword, they realized that she had done it.

Lucia said in a cold voice.

“They’re nothing special. But since they insulted Yulian-nim, I’ll kill them all.”

I watched the pink afterimage move as it was.

---

The group continued to move.

Lucia was guiding the way. Each time, we encountered old humanity who had turned into Mahonins, but Lucia easily dealt with them all.

“There are Mahonins and those who have turned into magical beasts, but they don’t feel as dangerous as I thought. Of course, it’s also because Lucia-nim is an incredibly skilled swordswoman…”

“I feel the same way. At this rate, even mid-level magical beasts…”

I agreed with Princess Lilia’s words. Chloe, who had come closer to me than Princess Lilia, joined the conversation.

“Yulian-nim is right! Mahonins or magical beasts of this level wouldn’t even be a match for a 5-hyung! Even if Lucia-youngae wasn’t here, I could handle them all by myself!”

As she said that, Chloe also subtly checked Lucia. But what she said wasn’t wrong.

‘In reality, the current old humanity only feels like 5-hyung magical beasts.’

So, with Chloe’s combat skills and alchemy, she could handle them alone. I thought about the meaning of that.

‘They don’t seem to be using Mana as skillfully as the current Islendians.’

The hierarchy of Mana Hearts. And various magic formula theories and Mana cultivation methods, etc. Islende’s Mana science is as developed as the old humanity’s science and technology.

Compared to that, the old humanity who use Mana. I’ve been calling them Mahonins for now, but they were hardly comparable to the Mahonins or magical beasts of Islende.

‘It seems like they can’t even properly unleash the power of Mahonryeok.’

But soon, the group frowned. In the distance, a large number of Mahonins were seen attacking soldiers, or rather, humanity who might use Mana.

“Ugh. It’s a really disgusting sight.”

Chloe, who always had a bright expression, covered her face with a fan at the sight. The Mahonins were eating the slaughtered humans on the spot as if they were delicious food.

“They’re no different from magical beasts.”

Even Princess Lilia, who always had a bright expression, frowned. Rosette, seeing that, said.

“Perhaps those Mahonins are… absorbing living things, especially humans, to increase their Mana. That’s a habit similar to magical beasts.”

As Rosette said, magical beasts devour humans to increase their Mahonryeok.

As Princess Lilia said, those Mahonins seemed to be the original form of magical beasts.

The soldiers who were being attacked desperately shouted.

“W, we have to protect it! We can’t let the headquarters fall to those monsters!”

“Monsters? Keukeukeuk. You inferior guys who might use Mana. We are the new humanity! The new humanity that has newly evolved on this Earth!”

The heroines wouldn’t understand that conversation.

But the current me is the new humanity who was reborn after the old humanity was destroyed by Jedin and Yunir. So, it felt ridiculous that those who had become magical beasts were calling themselves the new humanity.

‘Well, more than that.’

Right now, it was a priority to hurry towards the memory guiding this 6th Shrine.

In the meantime, Lucia and the other group members moved to deal with those Mahonins as well. But the soldiers’ disadvantage seemed clear.

The place Lucia guided us to. When we reached near a building, it was already surrounded by a large number of Mahonins.

‘It’s like being surrounded by zombies.’

A huge building like a skyscraper on Earth was in front of us. But there were so many Mahonins surrounding it that even the building looked small.

“We should head inside that building, right?”

Lucia nodded at Princess Lilia’s words. At that moment, Rosette made a disgusted expression.

“It wouldn’t be difficult to deal with them… but still, to defeat that many Mahonins would take time…”

Rather than being difficult, it was probably something that didn’t sit well with her. But Lucia replied without a change in expression.

“We don’t have to directly confront those Mahonins. If I guide the way…”

And Lucia moved her feet again without hesitation.

---

Lucia guided us inside the building. As she said, we didn’t encounter any Mahonins on the way here.

We moved through a hidden secret entrance. And after looking around the inside of the building, I could guess the identity of this building.

‘Are Jedin and Yunir here?’

To be exact, the machines called ‘Z.E.D.I.N.’ and ‘U.N.I.R.E.’ that I had seen a few hours ago.

I was convinced that the huge machine called quantum computing artificial intelligence existed here.

“I can feel the energy of Mana strongly in this building. There was hardly any Mana felt outside, which was strange…”

Princess Lilia was right.

The outside was completely different from Islende. The reason why magicians and swordsmen in Islende can use Mana or accumulate it in their Mana Hearts is because there is enough Mana in the atmosphere.

But outside the building, the Mana felt in the atmosphere was extremely thin.

At least when we entered the inside of the building, the concentration of Mana became a little thicker. Still, it felt like it wasn’t even half, no, not even half of half of Islende.

‘In the first place, Mana wouldn’t have existed on Earth. So, it’s not strange.’

Still, the group members here are all Mana awakeners. So, since they had a sufficient amount of Mana in their Mana Hearts, they didn’t feel much anxiety.

More than that, if there was some existence or machine here with the same name as the two main gods. Meeting that machine would surely be the beginning of approaching the truth of the 6th Shrine.

“Wait. Everyone, stop!”

Lucia shouted quietly. And I realized the reason why. I could feel the presence of people not far away.

“Rosette. Can you cast an invisibility spell on everyone?”

At my words, she quickly waved the Black Magic Wand. Immediately after, several people passed by the group, but they didn’t recognize the group.

“Let’s follow them.”

And Lucia followed those people. Carefully, the group moved with them. Soon, after entering a huge space.

We finally faced the huge obelisk that we had seen in the memory a few hours ago.

‘Is that Jedin and Yunir?’

It was definitely true since I had confirmed the letters ‘Z.E.D.I.N.’ and ‘U.N.I.R.E.’ engraved on the obelisk. But unlike the memory, the surrounding background had changed.

Princess Lilia, who had confirmed the machine, inadvertently made the sign of the cross. The other heroines did the same.

‘It’s not a laboratory.’

The soldiers outside had clearly said it was the Allied Headquarters.

Perhaps this was the headquarters of the groups opposing the Mahonins. As if to confirm my thoughts.

Around the machine like an obelisk. People were shouting as if they were having an urgent meeting.

“All the cities have been captured! Now the only place left is this Allied Headquarters…”

“Then is this the moment when humanity truly perishes…? That… that can’t be…”

“No. It won’t be complete annihilation. It’s just that those who recklessly use Mana that humanity can’t digest and become monsters… will live on this Earth anew.”

“That can’t be! Those monsters will even devour themselves! Those things are no longer human!”

The group watched them carefully, hiding themselves.

I was the only one who could understand their words. But instead, there were large screens everywhere in this place like a large conference hall.

On those dozens of screens, the 모습을 of various cities were being displayed in real time. Like the outside of this building. All the cities that appeared on the screen were being occupied by Mahonins.

‘Like those people said. Is it the end of the old humanity?’

To be exact, it was the end of humanity who couldn’t use Mana. And like in that conversation. If the old humanity, who were the food of the Mahonins, disappeared. In the end, all that would be left for the old humanity would be annihilation.

One of them came out to the center of the conference hall and stood. And as if he had decided everything. He said to the people in the conference hall with a firm expression.

“There’s no need for further discussion. We’ve already talked about it countless times. Our annihilation is a fact that can no longer be prevented. So, there’s only one option.”

The conference hall buzzed. But in the end, everyone made a resigned expression. And gathered their opinions together.

“Now, we will entrust the fate of all surviving humanity to Jedin and Yunir!”

And the surroundings went dark. But soon the surroundings lit up again.

“The people… have all disappeared.”

At Princess Lilia’s words, Rosette released the invisibility. The group members were all puzzled. But I silently looked at the large screen in this conference hall.

‘100 years have passed.’

A moment ago. On the screen that was showing the annihilation of humanity, the time was being displayed in the corner at the same time.

The time on the screen in front of me now. It had been 100 years since that time. It was that moment.

The large screen turned blue. And letters began to sparkle from there.

[Z.E.D.I.N]

[U.N.I.R.E]

The letters went dark in order. When all the letters of Jedin and Yunir had passed. One new word remained on the screen.

[The Genesis]

I instantly thought of the meaning of that word in my head.

Genesis. The word containing the meaning of creation.