Ch.228A Very Old Plan (1)

# Chapter 228: A Very Old Plan (1)

The Forerunner, Ethernia Holy Empire.

Known to have existed for at least several hundred thousand years, this ancient civilization had two peculiar characteristics.

First, despite always claiming they “don’t interfere with inferior races” according to their religious doctrines…

They frequently meddled naturally, clearly showing behavior that amounted to interference in other nations’ internal affairs.

And the second peculiarity…

“Ethernia? Oh, I know about it.”

“Where is it? Even I don’t know that.”

“Well… countless adventurers have journeyed over the past tens of thousands of years to find Ethernia’s territory, but none of them have ever reached Ethernia’s domain.”

Nobody knew exactly why.

Despite existing for such a long time, no one knew ‘precisely’ where the territory of the Ethernia Holy Empire was located.

If it were like the Ten-Ron Guardians where people simply ‘couldn’t enter,’ other races and nations might accept it as mere exclusivity.

But in Ethernia Holy Empire’s case…

“It seems like it should be somewhere around here.”

“But when you actually go there, it’s not?”

This was the extent of what people could say—they simply couldn’t perceive their existence.

Like a mirage that exists but cannot be approached.

Some suggested that the Ethernia Holy Empire was merely a single planet or even smaller, comprising an extremely limited area.

They argued that the reason their domain couldn’t be discovered was simply because it was too small…

But when an ancient civilization that made such claims openly provoked Ethernia, they were thoroughly crushed and annihilated by Ethernia Holy Empire’s ‘fleets.’

This demonstrated to the entire galaxy that Ethernia was certainly not undiscoverable due to its small size.

After that incident, no one dared to utter such disrespectful words toward Ethernia again.

Anyway, after that incident, instead of trying to ‘directly’ find Ethernia, other nations attempted to at least make approximate measurements through the territories of other countries.

The result:

“The location of the Ethernia Holy Empire is somewhere roughly between the Kerzin Federation, Zeltech Conglomerate, and the Syr Citizens’ Alliance.”

“…So where exactly is this ‘somewhere’?”

“Don’t know.”

They only had a vague and ambiguous understanding.

Even now, no nation in the galaxy knew exactly where Ethernia was located.

————————————————

“But that ends today.”

The Ancient Emperor, having brought Prosnack’s grand fleet to Ethernia’s ‘border,’ was deep in thought as he gazed at Ethernia Holy Empire’s annihilation fleets beyond the ‘psionic veil’ that had humiliated countless exploration teams and fleets until now.

‘How long did you think you could rely solely on that precious psionic veil, Ethernians?’

The Ancient Emperor knew why other races and nations couldn’t find Ethernia’s domain.

After all, Ethernia wasn’t called a Forerunner for nothing.

Just like the completely self-contained Ten-Ron, Ethernia’s domain was also protected by a warp defense shield created with incomprehensible technology.

To be precise, unlike the Ten-Ron’s approach which prevented ‘physical’ access—

Meaning regular navigation, warp travel, and all kinds of transmissions couldn’t penetrate their territory…

In Ethernia’s case…

Through contracts with ‘outer gods’ said to exist in the far reaches of outer space, they created a special defensive network called the ‘psionic veil’ that caused cognitive interference preventing others from knowing their location.

This veil blocked all warp travel and every kind of transmission.

Because of this, unless one possessed psionic abilities powerful enough to penetrate the psionic veil—

Someone like the Ancient Emperor himself—

It was impossible to even conceive of waging ‘war’ against Ethernia.

After all, you need to see your enemy before you can decide whether to fight them or not.

Knowing this, Ethernia typically avoided direct ‘confrontation,’ instead appearing here and there with overwhelming mobility in situations where their opponents couldn’t even detect them.

In many ways, they had been fighting battles that were only advantageous to themselves.

But as the Ancient Emperor said, that ended today.

‘The Kerzin Federation, which they cultivated to help them, has long been destroyed.’

Moreover, perhaps because Prosnack’s fleet was currently stationed in a strange place that wasn’t even a frontline…

“Are those Prosnack bastards just trying to intimidate us?”

“If so, now is the time to teach Fuchsviet a lesson!”

Other nations—

Specifically, ISTO and the Fuchsviet Federation—were busy keeping each other in check, solely because Prosnack’s fleet wasn’t directly on the frontline.

He was confident they wouldn’t respond to any potential requests for ‘reinforcements’ from Ethernia.

And as the Ancient Emperor had just confirmed…

Perhaps because the Prosnack fleet he had brought was able to find them despite the effects of the ‘psionic veil’…

From what he could see, Ethernia’s fleets were continuously gathering at the border area.

Seeing this, the Ancient Emperor was internally certain of victory.

‘Khuhuhu… they still haven’t noticed my plan.’

Of course, even the Ancient Emperor, filled with madness as he was, hadn’t considered winning through a simple fleet battle.

His real plan was none other than this:

During his decades of thousands of years on the run…

Shortly after Baltium’s destruction…

He would once again execute the operation plan he had devised to take revenge on Ethernia, who had destroyed his civilization.

And the most important key to executing that plan… had already been created.

————————————-

In the past, shortly after Baltium’s destruction…

When the Ancient Emperor still had his ‘followers’…

“Destroying Ethernia, who destroyed Baltium—that was my only thought from the beginning.”

“We will follow your will.”

Although the Ancient Emperor had been chased by pursuit teams from the Forerunners, including Ethernia, for a long time…

Even during such times, there were occasional ‘rest periods.’

He didn’t miss this opportunity and gathered his remaining followers to initiate a plan to open a massive subspace portal directly above Ethernia’s capital city.

It was a splendid plan to draw cosmic monsters from across the universe through the portal and create a layer of monsters beneath their capital.

But before long, the Ancient Emperor realized a fundamental problem with the plan:

“What on earth is that?”

“It is presumed to be the psionic veil that Ethernia boasts of, O Great One.”

The problem was that no matter how well they created the subspace portal, unless they could punch a hole in the psionic veil covering Ethernia’s entire domain…

No matter how many monsters poured out of the portal, Ethernia would suffer no damage.

And at that time, not only had he depleted much of his power during the Baltium genocide war, but the Ancient Emperor also lacked the ability to penetrate the psionic veil.

So he had to abandon the plan with a heavy heart.

Moreover, the fact that this plan was discovered by Ethernia, intensifying their pursuit and completely wiping out his remaining followers…

This remained a somewhat painful memory for the Ancient Emperor.

Although in the process, he learned that Ethernia’s psionic veil was not ‘perfect’ either.

That is, the veil generation equipment installed on planets and satellites couldn’t provide complete defense.

Additionally, he gained minor information such as how each fleet took turns on guard duty to reinforce the psionic veil.

———————————————

And now.

The Ancient Emperor was nodding as he looked at Ethernia’s continuously gathering fleet on the opposite side of the psionic veil visible to his ‘sight.’

‘Judging by the numbers beyond the veil, they seem to have mobilized most of their available fleet.’

And that meant that other parts of their territory, excluding this place where he had brought his fleet…

Especially the psionic veil around the capital city where he had tried to create a subspace portal for terrorism hundreds of thousands of years ago, would be weakened—this was clear without even looking.

The moment the Ancient Emperor saw Ethernia’s fleets fully gathered and preparing for bombardment…

“Now is the time to put into practice the grand plan that has been in the making for hundreds of thousands of years!!”

While issuing attack orders to all Prosnack fleets, he himself warped from that position…

Directly above the now defenseless capital region of Ethernia…

Moving in front of the subspace portal created hundreds of thousands of years ago, he prepared to pronounce judgment on the Ethernia Holy Empire.

“This is for my grudge, for the Empress’s grudge, and for the fallen comrades of Baltium!”

“You Ethernians, today shall be your final day!”

After pronouncing this judgment, the Ancient Emperor transformed his form into that of a bizarre and hideous giant cosmic monster…

“I am your end!”

Using the power and authority he had accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years, he literally ‘tore apart’ Ethernia’s weakened psionic veil.

“Come, malevolent beings of outer space!”

Using his remaining power, he activated the subspace portal created hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Through it, he began pouring an incalculable number of cosmic monsters toward Ethernia’s domain.