6 – The Invasion of the Other World

“The Kingdom of Plunderers has fallen!”

“In just one day?”

“What on earth is going on?”

Throughout the world of Transvia, people were gossiping about the kingdom that had vanished overnight.

They had heard rumors that those born as plunderers were invading other worlds, but other nations and races dismissed it as nonsense.

And now, those plunderers had disappeared along with their kingdom in a single day!

All sorts of factions would now rise again to seize the vacant territory.

“The empty land is ours.”

“Serves those plunderers right.”

“Now it’s our turn to plunder!”

“We’ll take all the land before those disgusting Holy Nation guys arrive.”

One kingdom had completely disappeared, but Transvia was home to countless countries and cities. They would all rush in to claim the kingdom of plunderers, whose very name had vanished overnight.

Like flies swarming a corpse.

This could very well plunge the world of Transvia into the fires of war once more.

Peace was often nothing more than an empty echo, easily shattered by a single event. No matter how painstakingly peace treaties were crafted, the loss of one kingdom was more than enough to render them worthless.

A Succubus’s Vitality was so tenacious and strong that it could materialize.

It was the culmination of all the ego, potential, emotions, and entropy of a sentient being during its lifetime, so it was no surprise that it possessed a more resilient nature than Mana.

Naturally, the Vitality that had fallen into the grasp of Jaehee, the Succubus Empress, was even more grotesque and terrifying in its desire to remain in reality.

Normally, a Succubus would never separate Vitality from her body.

Why would she throw away something she should consume entirely?

Even if that weren’t the case, Vitality and Essence were the very source of a Succubus’s existence, the fuel for her power, and the nourishment that sustained her life. There was rarely a reason to carelessly release or discard it.

However, Jaehee had released all the immense Vitality of the Aein she had obtained in Transvia.

The reason was mere whim.

She simply felt like it.

The desperate struggle of the nameless old king had certainly not moved Jaehee’s heart.

It was simply time for her to return.

Officer Dan was waiting, and that was the only reason she stopped.

The dense Vitality, Essence, and energy, now without a destination, would ride the wind and water, disappearing somewhere and gradually fading away.

If they were lucky, some beast or monster might consume that life force and gain immense power or undergo a mutation.

Perhaps… the Vitality imbued with the nature of a Succubus might gather and give birth to a new life.

With hundreds or thousands of lives gathered, anything was possible.

Of course, that was an astronomically small probability, so there was virtually no chance of it happening.

Along with the immense Vitality that Jaehee released, the king’s corpse crumbled into dust and scattered into the air.

That ash and Vitality swirled with the flames engulfing the royal palace, rising into the sky before being carried away by the wind.

But from the very moment Jaehee left, an enormous rain began to fall as if a hole had been torn in the sky.

Transvia rarely experienced heavy rain, but as if the heavens were mourning the fallen kingdom, an unprecedented downpour began.

Thanks to this, the advance of other plunderers seeking to seize the destroyed kingdom was slightly delayed, and those whose bodies and minds had been taken by the Succubus Empress were able to regain their senses, however belatedly, thanks to the raindrops flowing down their cheeks.

Those who could escape fled. Some salvaged the ruins of the royal palace, and others helped those in similar situations.

As the heavy rain fell, the bodies of those who had become Jaehee’s slaves, as well as those who had died as slaves, crumbled and melted away.

Unrecognizable remains mixed with the rainwater and began to flow into the valleys, and the crumbled flesh and dust included the old king’s corpse.

The dust fell from the sky and flowed down to the earth, scattering here and there, soaking the ground like raindrops.

As if the world itself was welcoming that dust and Vitality, a series of coincidences began to occur.

The wind carried the king’s ashes to the riverbank, and the Vitality mixed with the dust touched the surface of the river and began to be swept away by the current.

The flowing Vitality and dust danced together in the river, and the river embraced them deeply, gradually creating a whirlpool.

Reaching the swirling waters, the dust and Vitality momentarily gathered and stopped.

The water rippled gently, as if waiting for something, and as sunlight shone upon it, a warm energy spread out.

At that moment, a small fish that happened to be passing by was caught in the whirlpool.

Startled by the sudden change, the fish struggled, eventually absorbing the Vitality and taking its last breath.

The dying fish’s body slowly broke apart and mixed with the king’s dust, and the fragments began to gather again in the water.

As if an invisible force was pulling all the fragments together, all the particles in the water began to stick to each other.

Then, small pebbles nearby leaped up from the bottom and combined with the dust, and the stream flowing along the riverbank began to flow warmly, as if it had been waiting for that moment.

As the water enveloped the king’s dust and Vitality permeated it, the conditions for the birth of a new life were gradually met.

Suddenly, the clouds in the sky parted, and sunlight shone upon the river. The warmth of the sunlight gradually raised the temperature of the river, creating a temperature suitable for the birth of life.

There, another coincidence occurred.

A sudden downpour began, but instead of scattering the Vitality, the raindrops actually helped to bind the water and dust together more firmly.

The water began to flow more vigorously with that force, and within the whirlpool, the king’s dust and Vitality became increasingly condensed.

Something echoed in the water as if a heartbeat was pounding.

Of course, life wouldn’t be born just from such a series of coincidences.

But as it happened, it was Vitality that had received the grace and baptism of the Succubus Empress.

The Vitality of countless Aein had received the Empress’s grace. Such things swirled together, absorbing everything they could, like a Succubus, and gradually nurturing the energy of life.

The shattered Vitality regained its light, and the soul and spirit of the old king, who had maintained his reason until the very end without being captivated by Jaehee, remained as the subject.

With all the surrounding luck and coincidences overlapping, the king’s dust gradually began to take on a concrete form on the water.

“…Cough!”

Awakening in the water, the king instinctively spat out the water entering his mouth and swam towards the shore.

As it was a mass of immense Vitality imbued with the grace of the Succubus Empress, there was no problem moving his body as soon as he regained his reason.

However, his hands and feet trembled.

Even though the heavy rain had stopped and the warm sun had arrived, the king trembled as if he had been born from his mother’s womb.

He felt cold and unfamiliar.

What was this situation?

Why had he been resurrected?

“…Was I… not dead?”

The king, who had reached the shore, opened his eyes.

The sunlight was dazzling.

It felt like only a moment ago that heavy rain had been pouring down, but the sunlight shining through the dark clouds was quite brilliant.

“My voice…?”

His voice was strange.

Thin and weak.

Not the voice of an old man, but a frail voice like that of a young girl.

The king felt a sudden chill and looked down at his hands.

Delicate and fair skin.

The rugged muscles had completely disappeared, and as he shifted his gaze a little further, he noticed soft lumps of fat on his chest.

“…What on earth…?”

The king steadied his trembling body and searched for a puddle.

Fortunately, he found a puddle that reflected his image like a mirror just a few steps away.

His reflection in the water was very different from the old king’s appearance in life.

The Aein’s tail and black pupils remained the same.

His skin was too pale and delicate, like that of a stereotypical scholar, and… where the symbol of a male should have been, only the symbol of a woman capable of bearing children remained.

But that wasn’t the important thing.

“Have I… come back to life?”

How could this be?

He had clearly…

Closed his eyes in that burning royal palace…?

Had that demon intended this?

Had she thrown him a bit of mercy as a joke?

He didn’t know which it was.

He knew that it wasn’t normal for someone who had died to be resurrected with his memories intact.

-Krrr!

“…!”

At that moment, a black beast appeared from across the forest where the heavy rain had stopped.

It was a creature with the head of a wolf and the legs of a spider, and it devoured all beings that set foot in its territory.

It freely climbed trees with its spider legs, and it pounced on its prey at high speed with its eight legs.

Even Aein who had completed their coming-of-age ceremony would choose to flee if they encountered it alone.

In this young girl’s body, it was certainly a dangerous situation.

“Ha, haha…”

But even so, the corners of the king’s mouth turned up.

He remembered the time when he had hunted it alone.

Back then, his whole body had been covered in wounds, and he had barely managed to catch it after struggling for half a day.

“Hahahahaha…!”

-Krrrrrrr!

The beast recognized the king as prey.

Whatever was inside, a young girl would be an easy snack to hunt without much effort.

With that, it quickly approached the king.

-Swish!

The king lightly leaped up and grabbed a vine that was above the beast’s head.

His body was light.

His speed was much faster.

His joints didn’t hurt.

Was this how good youth was?

In his slender hand was a stone he had picked up from the ground. Only then did a look of bewilderment begin to appear in the beast’s eyes.

But it had no chance.

The only weakness of this beast was the area where the roof of its mouth was located.

That was its breathing hole, and all its nerves were concentrated there. If struck properly, it would writhe in pain and paralyze itself, retracting its spider legs.

Without hesitation, the king pulled the vine, hooking it into the beast’s mouth, and struck the roof of its mouth with the stone in his hand.

-Kieeeeek!

“…!”

It had been a long time.

Since he had hunted alone like this.

And to take down a beast that had been a nightmare in his childhood so quickly…!

Of course, it was still dangerous.

This slender girl’s body was weak. The moment he was hit by a spider leg that the beast swung around carelessly, the bones in his entire body would shatter.

He relied solely on his memories and experience.

Only his instincts as a king… no, as a warrior, were the driving force behind the current girl’s actions.

-Thwack!

-Kieeeeng!

-Thwack! Thwack!

He struck the stone down again and again.

He shoved it into the beast’s palate, not caring that his slender arm was scratched by the beast’s teeth and bleeding.

-Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

The beast fell silent.

“Haa, haa, haa, haa…”

The king sat down on the fallen beast and finally caught his breath.

He had come back to life.

He had.

He had never been afraid of dying.

Or rather, he had been prepared for it.

It was natural to die when one grew old, and the fate of a plunderer was to have their life taken by someone while plundering someday.

Since he had aimed his spear at an existence he couldn’t handle, the Succubus Empress, death was a natural and inevitable consequence.

However, this was a new opportunity.

That he had become a woman?

That he had become a young girl?

It didn’t matter.

The world had saved him and given him a new opportunity!

“I can, I can do it again.”

A new opportunity given to a plunderer who had fallen in love with the world and wanted to take the world itself.

He had returned to the time when he ran through the meadows and forests, not the royal palace decorated with jewels and chandeliers.

“From the beginning…”

Yes, he could start over from the beginning.

He had regained his youth.

He had gained flexibility, elasticity, and agility that he had never had before.

He could retrain his body.

He had the knowledge and memories to do so.

Everything as a king, as a plunderer, as a warrior, was contained within his mind.

“I can run through the meadows again…!”

There was much to do.

He would tear off the skin of this beast and make it into clothes, and he would make weapons from its teeth.

He would gather the surviving residents of the kingdom again, and he would run through the meadows again.

And again, again…!

“I will once again plunder and take this world, the world I have fallen in love with!”

★

★

★

At the same time as the heavy rain was falling on the burning kingdom, Dan Ah-yeon crossed the Rift in Transvia with several soldiers and fully armed Hunters.

It had originally been a closed Rift, but because Jaehee had entered it, Dan Ah-yeon had focused her mind to the point of her head exploding and read the Rift’s Magical Power patterns. Fortunately, she was able to fully open the Rift that Jaehee had headed towards and follow her.

“Jaehee! Are you alright!?”

“Hehe, praise me~”

Jaehee, shrugging her shoulders with an “ahem,” looked like an elementary school student begging her parents for praise after getting good grades.

But behind her was a scorched landscape full of towns, forests, cities, royal palaces, and ominous and grotesque scenery filled with what seemed to be dust and melted things that might or might not have been corpses.

“…Um, Jaehee? Are there any survivors or prisoners…?”

“Huh? Why would we need those?”

Dan Ah-yeon’s eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.

Heavy rain.

Cities, towns, and royal palaces that had been brutally destroyed.

The scent of death was countless, and it was impossible to grasp how many Aein had died.

Well, there probably weren’t many survivors…

Even if there were, it would be difficult to find them…

“…Jaehee.”

“Yes?”

“Do you remember what the purpose of this invasion was?”

“Huh? Oh, right…”

Only then did Jaehee remember why the South Korean government had prepared for the invasion.

It was to acquire the resources and land of the world of Transvia, right?

But with everything so devastated, it had become difficult to achieve the initial goal.

“…Let’s move on from that. You’ve worked hard, Jaehee. You’ve worked so hard…”

But now there was no one to guide them through the area?

And the extent of the destruction… was too severe.

There had to be something left.

How were they supposed to find the mines and the deposits like this?

There were many other countries in the world of Transvia besides this Aein kingdom.

The South Korean government hadn’t even properly completed its investigation of this world yet to deal with other countries simultaneously, and at the very least, they needed to create an excavation site for the Missilite deposits…

‘What am I supposed to report like this…?’

In fact, the Missilite deposits themselves could be found if they spent enough time investigating…

‘If the kingdom has fallen… the other countries won’t just stand by…’

Naturally, rare strategic resources like Missilite would be coveted by the intelligent beings of the world of Transvia as well.

Dan Ah-yeon decided to think more deeply about the tactical Jaehee deployment in the future and forced a smile at Jaehee, who had worked hard.

Yes, Jaehee had worked hard.

She had ignored the military, Hunter, strategic, legal, and contractual systems and ran off on her own, creating about 12 pages of apologies and reports that she would have to write in the future, but anyway, Jaehee seemed happy, so it was okay.

Yes, it was okay.

It was okay…

“Hehe, and I had an interesting encounter~”

“W-w-what kind of encounter?”

“Do you know the old king of the Aein?”

“The old king…?”

Dan Ah-yeon knew about him.

He was the leader of the Aein who had declared an invasion of Earth, an invasion and plunder of South Korea, so she knew about him as information.

She had heard that he was extremely violent and the very epitome of a plunderer who killed men and raped women…?

“Hehe, I had a very enjoyable time with him?”

“…Yes?”

Enjoyable time.

It wasn’t just anyone, it was the Succubus Empress who had the words “enjoyable time” on her lips, and Dan Ah-yeon’s face turned pale.

“W-w-what do you mean…?”

“Hehehe…”

With those words, Jaehee stroked her torn suit on her shoulder.

With a soft and seductive touch.

“…Ah.”

A torn suit.

The old plunderer king.

An enjoyable time.

Dan Ah-yeon’s eyes began to shake violently as she took in the series of words and Jaehee’s flushed face.

“Hehehehe, and on top of that, instead of submitting to me, she tried to conquer me.”

“………”

“Hehe, when she tried to stab me with that long thing (Spiral Spear), it was truly dizzying, you know?”

“……”

-Thump!

Dan Ah-yeon fell backward, her eyes rolled back in her head.

It was presumed to be a faint or collapse due to mental shock.

“Oh my, Officer Dan?”