Ch.126126. AI, Ghosts, and the Royal Family

CRASH!

Stained glass fragments falling like snow.

Beyond them, the familiar assassins of the Sword Circle.

In the slowly unfolding scene, Amon quickly analyzed the battle situation.

‘They’re throwing swords.’

The probability that the Sword Circle members had observed the duel between their leader and Amon and mastered his swordsmanship?

Not zero.

But impossible to accomplish in just a week.

There was only one possibility.

‘Chumon must have been hacked.’

It seemed unlikely that the Chumon Group would have been so easily dominated like the Sword Circle.

If that had happened, the Crown Prince would have contacted them.

Instead, it seemed that the techniques Amon had recorded were leaked without his knowledge, and those techniques were downloaded to the Sword Circle members.

‘Good thing I only recorded the basics.’

Thanks to that, they only showed basic ranged techniques like sword throwing, without any notable skills.

Examples would be techniques like using the sword to divert attention for surprise attacks, or feints where one catches a thrown sword mid-air to swing it.

Instead, they were throwing swords in between their original sword techniques, but honestly, it didn’t suit them well.

‘Looks like they’ve forcibly incorporated everything that seemed good.’

This was a common mistake made by novice gamers.

Armed with all sorts of legendary items, essences, and attributes, proudly calling it their end-game spec.

Yet each element fails to work together.

‘That’s no different from having just one good item.’

In the end, what mattered was synergy, not the rarity of equipment and essences.

‘If rarity was so important, why wouldn’t they upgrade Sky Step to legendary status?’

After 10,000 hours of gameplay, he had learned that excessive greed was the fastest way to ruin.

The Super AI who couldn’t give up anything suddenly seemed cute to Amon.

‘Do they lack combat experience? Or is their understanding of humans low?’

Either way, it didn’t matter.

Thanks to that, it was much easier to deal with them.

“Sonia. We’re going with Plan A. Just watch out for thrown swords.”

Amon, having finished his analysis, spoke to Sonia.

Sonia nodded and pulled the trigger toward the cathedral window.

CRASH!

“Father, follow me!”

She grabbed the Squinting Priest’s wrist and threw him through the broken window, then followed after him to escape the cathedral.

“Ugh!”

A sorrowful middle-aged man’s scream could be heard from outside the window, but no one paid any attention.

Some of the Sword Circle warriors ran toward her and the Squinting Priest who had escaped.

But Kathy wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

THWANG!

The spear Kathy kicked flew and lodged right in front of the running warriors.

One warrior who couldn’t react in time hit his forehead on the spear shaft and fell backward comically.

Kathy pulled the spear back to her hand.

The AI tried to hack her spear in that moment, but,

“I’m used to this now, you know?”

She turned off the spear’s power and kicked it again.

The spear shot like an arrow and pierced a Sword Circle member’s shoulder.

Seeing this, Kathy called out to Amon.

“That won’t kill them, right?”

“The Sword Circle has tough bodies, so don’t hold back.”

While saying this, Amon slashed below a warrior’s knees.

Both the warrior who lost his legs and the one with a pierced shoulder had sparks flying from their wounds instead of blood.

As Amon and Kathy ran toward the exposed backs of the two warriors,

they recalled a conversation they had with the hacker sister Levy.

***

A few days ago.

The Netwalker siblings who were tracking the AI’s traces with Amon’s group.

That day, Levy, the sister in charge of hacking among the three siblings, suddenly declared she was giving up.

“I can find this, but I can’t catch it.”

“Could you explain in detail?”

According to her, the network was like the sea to the AI, just as it is for fish.

“Remember when you eliminated that Laplace’s Demon guy last time, Amon? We had no way to catch him until Sister Kathy used a paradox attack.”

“Uh… paradox attack?”

“It’s an algorithm attack that makes the AI deny its own reason for existence, causing it to fall into self-contradiction.”

“Ah. I understand.”

She had explained it simply for Amon’s sake, but in reality, he only understood a little.

However, if he asked for further explanation, the conversation wouldn’t progress, so Amon pretended to understand and moved on.

“Anyway, AIs can just move their bodies around. Think of algorithm attacks as procedures to isolate them in a specific body or computer to catch them.”

“So what should we do? If Kathy’s power can’t…”

The gazes of the Netwalker siblings and Kathy at the location all turned to Amon.

‘Ah, this person didn’t understand at all.’

Kathy’s ability had worked because the opponent was an AI that predicted the future.

But this AI had nothing to do with prediction, so her red threads might confuse it but wouldn’t cause an identity crisis.

In other words, Amon’s statement was as good as confessing that he hadn’t understood anything.

Warm gazes tinged with slight pity were directed at Amon all at once.

Amon corrected his statement in a strange embarrassment.

“So what do I need to do?”

Levy explained the plan as if she had been waiting for this question.

“First, I’ll locate the AI and deliberately expose my position to provoke it.”

First, like putting a bell on a cat, they would attach something called a “tag” to the AI so they could track it wherever it went.

Once they confirmed the location of the main body, they needed to guide the AI to where they wanted it to go.

“You said you neutralized the Sword Circle with a bat last time, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“This time, don’t do that. Instead, use this chip to deploy a virus.”

According to her analogy, if the AI was a vast forest, the Sword Circle members controlled by it were the trees at the edge.

“If you set fire to the edges, it will have to flee to the center to escape the flames.”

They would surround the forest with fire, isolating what’s inside.

“And as you infect them one by one, it might get isolated in the flames alone, or at least be isolated in the center.”

The virus was prepared for this purpose.

Containing the paradox attack that the AI so feared.

Looking at the virus she had prepared, Amon tilted his head.

“How did you prepare this? Do you know what kind of AI we’re dealing with?”

“No. I just included all information that could cause paradoxes for AIs.”

“I see.”

Like saying, “I didn’t know what you’d like, so I prepared everything.”

Amon nodded and took the virus to set fire to the forest of information.

*

Afterward, they began to formulate a plan based on this conversation.

First, when Levy discovered the AI’s location, she would deliberately expose her position.

Until then, the AI would underestimate Levy.

“Even if I try hard to hide my IP, they’ll probably track my location in reverse.”

Then the AI would send the Sword Circle, its most convenient pawns, to the cathedral.

“My brothers and the Crown Prince will head straight to the palace. Meanwhile, Amon, you infect them with the virus.”

As Amon continued to upload the virus, by the time Levy’s group reached the palace, the AI would be isolated.

Then Levy would find the opponent using the “tag” she had placed and present it as evidence of the Crown Prince assassination attempt—a simple operation.

“What do you think? Easy, right?”

Levy smiled brightly.

The Crown Prince unconsciously clutched his chest at her smiling face, and the expressions of her two brothers soured in real-time.

But in this cheerful(?) atmosphere, Amon alone raised his hand with a concerned look.

“I don’t think it will be that easy.”

“What?”

“I just realized you might not know.”

Amon told Levy something she didn’t know.

When he was escaping with the Crown Prince from the forest, an unusually large number of ghosts had swarmed them.

“Whether it’s their doing or the Crown Prince’s nature, I’m not sure, but it won’t just be people chasing you on your way to the palace.”

“Huh? But I haven’t felt anything like that in the past few days?”

“This is a cathedral. And the priest has been blocking them all.”

When Amon pointed to the Squinting Priest, the priest puffed out his chest with a proud expression, just as Sonia often did.

Moreover, ghosts weren’t the only problem.

“The demons haven’t shown themselves at all, and the Saljugye? They’re still around too.”

He didn’t think there would be no demons in Joseon.

After all, it was demons who had smuggled the AI out of the Vatican, so they must be here.

The same went for the Saljugye.

It was unlikely they would give up after just one failure.

This was an attempted assassination of the Crown Prince.

No matter how incompetent a terrorist group might be, they wouldn’t be satisfied with just one sacrifice.

When he mentioned the existence of these two organizations that had yet to reveal themselves, Levy’s complexion turned pale.

It wasn’t that she was scared,

“Ugh… I need sugar… I need sugar…”

It was because her fuel had been depleted from unfamiliar mental labor.

“I’m a hacker, not a strategist…”

She immediately declared forfeit as things got complicated with the addition of two factions.

Seeing his chance, Crown Prince Lee Hyun gave her chocolate.

But unfortunately for him, what rose was not her romantic interest, but her trust in him as a friend.

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

But seeing her bright smile, the prince turned around and clenched his fists in misunderstanding.

For third parties watching, it was an exasperating sight.

Amon turned his attention away from the young friends’ subtle romance front and began to redesign the operation.

“Still, we won’t change much from Levy’s overall framework. First, the method of isolating the AI remains the same. The problem is the demons, the Saljugye, and the ghosts…”

Amon passed the command baton to Kathy.

Though he knew how to set up a plan, he was no match for Kathy in this regard.

Kathy immediately came up with a strategy.

“We’ll prepare up to Plan C. And it will change in real-time depending on what enemies come to the church, so you need to understand it well.”

***

Back to the present.

Amon and Kathy uploaded the virus to some of the fallen Sword Circle members according to the plan.

While doing so, a message arrived from Sonia.

[I’ve reached the operation point.]

“How’s Levy’s side?”

[As expected, ghosts are chasing them.]

Sonia spoke as she set up a sniping position on the rooftop of a building away from the cathedral.

Amon checked the warriors in the cathedral once more and shared information.

“Only Sword Circle members here.”

[Then we’ll proceed with Plan A.]

“Roger. Cutting radio now and transferring command to Sonia.”

Amon ended the transmission and exchanged glances with Kathy.

Kathy nodded and ran to the cathedral basement.

Amon stood at the entrance, guarding the basement where she had gone, facing off against the Sword Circle members.

While the AI controlling the Sword Circle members was wary of the two’s intentions, the ground shook once heavily.

“?”

A controlled Sword Circle member hesitated, reflecting the AI’s state of mind.

Immediately after, a massive electromagnetic pulse was emitted from the cathedral basement.

The EMP swept over all the Sword Circle members waiting around the cathedral, and the AI realized what it was.

‘I’ve been tricked!’

The AI’s algorithm began rapidly creating protocols for scenarios it hadn’t predicted.

Of course, Pips, being made with biological tissue, aren’t disabled by EMPs.

But in battles between masters, an EMP was like a self-destruct device.

This is because implants are practically standard for anyone above a certain skill level.

In other words, Amon and Kathy, who hadn’t received implant procedures, could significantly reduce the power of masters without suffering any losses themselves.

As the Sword Circle members’ movements stopped, reflecting the AI’s dismay, Amon spoke toward the AI that must be beyond them.

“Did you think we would fight fair and square?”

*

While Amon and Kathy were engaged in a one-sided battle against the EMP-soaked Sword Circle members,

The field command had passed to Sonia as Amon’s radio was damaged by the EMP.

On the rooftop of a royal-owned skyscraper in Hanyang.

With her eyes on a black van and a pair of motorcycles racing through Hanyang with ghosts on their tail, she spoke.

“I’ll cover you with sniper fire, so keep going straight.”

She ordered the car over the radio while aiming the machine gun at the vehicle.

She pulled the trigger while aiming with just mechanical sights, without a scope.

BANG!

The bullet pierced the head of a ghost just before it reached Sunhwa’s bike.

[Fides, Signum, Exilium]

The large-caliber bullet engraved with these three words cleanly exorcised the ghost on the spot.

Before she could feel a sense of achievement for her successful long-range shot, she immediately fired the next bullet.

RAT-TAT-TAT!

Sonia ejected shell casings from the rooftop as she sniped the ghosts.

The Squinting Priest beside her, consecrating the ammunition belt in real-time, was a bonus.

Although it was a machine gun, and the rate of fire was a bit too fast to be called sniping, she called it sniping because each shot boasted precision no less accurate than a sniper’s.

[Nice shot. That was excellent sniping.]

Sunhwa praised Sonia over the radio.

“Isn’t sniping about shooting secretly regardless of distance…”

The Squinting Priest muttered beside her, but it was drowned out by the machine gun noise.

Sonia continued to cover the vehicle afterward.

She kept up her sniping, firing the machine gun without recoil and occasionally replacing it when it overheated.

As she was wondering about the unusually persistent ghosts chasing the prince, the Squinting Priest called to her.

“Sonia. It seems we have guests.”

She stopped sniping and looked behind her.

Humans in black suits were coming up to the rooftop one by one.

Each of them had non-human features like horns on their heads.

She immediately spoke into the radio.

“Plan A terminated. Moving to Plan B. Levy will take command.”

She ended the transmission and detached the machine gun from its mount.

The suited group began transforming, shedding their human appearance to become more animal-like.

Watching this, the Squinting Priest cautiously tapped Sonia’s shoulder.

“Um… Sonia? Where am I supposed to be?”

“Kathy told you, didn’t she? If a fight breaks out on the rooftop, Father should go down immediately.”

“But the Goetia guys are blocking the way down?”

“That’s why Kathy prepared this for you too.”

She kicked the parachute bag the Squinting Priest was carrying.

The Squinting Priest checked the height of the skyscraper he was on, turned pale, and said:

“I didn’t receive any instructions about this!”

“Then why are you wearing it?”

“I was told this was an ammunition bag!”

“Oh dear, that’s not right. This is a parachute bag for you, Father.”

“I’ve never been trained for this???”

“What era do you think we’re living in? It’s a self-deploying bag, so don’t worry.”

“My daugh…”

“Don’t worry about getting hurt. Kathy said there’s no future where Dad gets hurt.”

“That’s not comforting at all??”

“Stop talking and jump! Unless you want to get shot here!”

Sonia threw the Squinting Priest off the rooftop, just as she had done at the cathedral.

The Squinting Priest was thrown off without being able to put up any meaningful resistance.

– AAAHHH!!!

The sorrowful middle-aged man’s scream disappeared, buried in the winter wind of Hanyang.