If you burst it, you’ll get the answer

If you burst it, you’ll get the answer

It was more fitting to call it a human garbage dump than an underground sewer, with countless corpses scattered around like roadside pebbles.

Roughly estimating, the number easily exceeded several hundred, and I chuckled while deep in thought.

‘With so many corpses piled up, did the Public Security Department not notice?’

No… there’s no way they couldn’t have noticed.

No matter how corrupt they are.

It’s not just dozens, but hundreds of people dying. There’s no way they wouldn’t know about this.

‘Yet the reason they don’t even investigate or confirm…’

It would be correct to assume that a significant number of them have already been recruited by the Heaven God Cult and are turning a blind eye.

Thinking I had learned a new fact, I shot the zombies here and there.

‘Now I need to start identifying the core area…’

The problem was that due to the nature of the underground waterways, they were twisted like a maze, making it difficult to figure out.

‘I could figure it out if I tried hard enough.’

But it felt like it would be an excessive waste of time.

While I was contemplating a way to deal with this, I came up with an interesting idea.

‘Come to think of it, do I really need to go looking for them?’

Instead, I could make those bastards come looking for me.

I told the escort knight behind me to stand in a position without water, then I manifested my mana.

‘Luckily, most places in the underground waterways have water.’

Using this, I could pull off something quite interesting.

I converted the accumulated mana into lightning attribute, then slammed it directly into the stagnant water.

– Kwang!

Suddenly, an explosion sound was heard, and blue lightning spread in all directions.

As I watched the lightning spread at a speed too fast for my eyes to follow, waiting for a bite.

Screams and groans mixed with various sounds began to spread from all directions.

‘Among these, the loudest sound is coming from…’

Directly to the east.

Having figured this out, I immediately loosened my shoulder holding the mace and spoke to the guard knight.

“Just take care of those who ambush from behind.”

“… Young master, surely you’re not planning to go further in? I think it’s best if we turn back now…”

Well, as a guard knight, he can’t help but say such things.

There was no point in answering as he would just spout all sorts of proper arguments, so I deliberately ignored him and slowly moved forward.

*

“Young master… you’ve caused quite a spectacular scene.”

The guard knight speaks to me in shock, looking at the monsters that have been charred black by my lightning magic.

As I listen to his words, I’m slowly looking around the surroundings.

I could feel a strange mana wave flowing from far away.

‘Is that the place?’

Fortunately, it wasn’t as far as I had expected.

I was thinking that this was going quite well, raising the corners of my mouth.

The guard knight sighs and says.

“Since it doesn’t seem like you’ll turn back now, I’ll open the door.”

It seems he’s most vulnerable when opening the door.

He seems to be volunteering for the most dangerous role.

While I appreciated the consideration, to be honest, it was unnecessary, so I briefly shook my head and said.

“Not needed.”

“What?”

I left the bewildered escort knight behind.

I began to push mana into the mace and compress it as much as possible.

‘An ordinary piece of metal wouldn’t be able to withstand this level of mana compression.’

Since none of the weapons in the Lercier Family are ordinary,

They should be able to withstand this kind of mana infusion just fine.

I watched the mace gradually glow brilliantly.

When I judged it was enough, I used spatial compression magic to reduce the distance between the door and the mace while swinging it.

– Crack!

With a distorting sound, the door burst open at once.

Looking at the massive door that was not just broken but completely pulverized beyond recognition, I spoke in a calm voice.

“Come out.”

At those words, I could see people in white priest robes coming out, each holding their own weapons.

Looking at what I estimated to be about 100 people, I spoke as if amused.

“You were hiding like cockroaches in quite large numbers.”

At those words, a man in particularly elaborate attire stepped out from the group of priests and spoke to me.

“Cockroaches? That’s quite an interesting thing to say. Well, it’s fine… As you are an esteemed guest, we’ll overlook such rudeness.”

I don’t like how he’s coming out with such a relaxed attitude as if he’s in a superior position.

So while I was briefly considering how to deal with him,

He clapped his hands lightly and spoke to me.

“Since you’re here, I’ll show you a rare work of art. It’s a piece called ‘The End of Trash That Couldn’t Choose Either Way.’ It’s one of the masterpieces I created earlier.”

With those words, he proudly shows me a man hanging on a metal skewer.

I let out a hollow laugh at the incredibly cruel scene before calmly speaking.

“That would be good.”

As I suddenly give a somewhat unrelated answer.

He looks at me with a puzzled expression, as if he doesn’t understand.

“What do you mean?”

To that, I replied nonchalantly.

“I’ve been pondering. What would be the most ideal way to provoke the Heaven God Cult.”

Ordinary provocation wouldn’t faze them at all. I needed a method that was quite stimulating and dramatic.

I was able to come up with that method through the artwork shown by the person in front of me.

‘It would be nice to send a gift to those Heaven God Cult guys in that kind of style.’

Like the saying, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Thinking about how excited I am to see their reaction when we return exactly what they’ve been doing.

In the middle of speaking, I drew up a lot of mana and shot a powerful lightning bolt at him.

Perhaps he didn’t expect an attack while I was talking, he showed signs of panic as he tried to block my magic.

But the hastily used barrier couldn’t block my magic.

My spell easily shattered the barrier and struck him hard.

“Keuph!”

The pain was too intense for him to even scream, he just made a sound as if holding his breath while his body trembled.

I looked at him and thought that it was time to begin, relaxing my shoulders.

‘Now, how should I mess him up?’

Thinking it was a good opportunity to relieve the stress that had been building up due to recent research, I slowly moved my feet.

As I gradually approached, he suddenly trembled and looked at me in terror.

He shouted at me in a desperate voice.

“If you touch me, the Heaven God Cult won’t stand idly by…!”

Why do these bastards all have the same repertoire?

At this point, I’m sure the cult must have taught them something like ‘When in danger, sell out the Heaven God Cult.’

As I thought this, I brought the mace down on his shoulder and said.

“… And what if they don’t stand idly by?”

“Arghhhh!”

Hearing his scream, I continued to strike with the mace while speaking.

“What can you do besides insulting the Lercier Family? Express deep regret?”

“Ple-please… stop!”

Where did that composed demeanor he showed at first go?

I couldn’t tell if what he was showing now was his true nature or if he was acting to survive, as I continued to strike with the mace.

Watching this, the guard knight turned his head away as if disgusted and said to me.

“Young master… it seems you have a talent for making mincemeat.”

Deciding to take this as a compliment, I continued striking.

Suddenly, I noticed something strange and stopped my hand.

‘Come to think of it, this guy didn’t seem to have any guards.’

It’s strange that there wasn’t a single proper guard in a place where such large-scale human experiments were being conducted.

Realizing I was missing something, I slowly looked around.

‘Now that I think about it, those cult members standing over there are strange too. Normally, they would either run away at such a sight or attack to save this priest.’

Seeing them standing there blankly like dolls, a somewhat suspicious feeling spreads.

The moment I saw this, I realized something was wrong and stood still.

The tteokgalbi I had made speaks to me mockingly in its mushy state.

“I didn’t expect you to notice so soon. You’re quite perceptive. I thought it would take at least an hour more.”

The moment I heard those words, I realized that this tteokgalbi was a fake.

I chuckled at his words and slowly continued speaking.

“To implement such realistic puppet magic, the caster is often nearby.”

In the case of puppet magic, a massive amount of mana is needed to create more realistic puppets.

The farther the distance, the more mana is required.

In cases where such realistic puppets are implemented, the probability is high that the puppeteer is controlling them nearby to manage mana consumption.

‘In other words.’

If I blow up everything around, I should be able to find that caster.

Thinking it was somehow too easy, I magically pulled the guard knight behind me.

Then, I poured mana around me and used a point-blank explosion.