episode_0146

About a week has passed since I arrived in China.

During that week, I traveled all over the place to find and organize the branches of the Four Gods Church.

It wasn’t difficult to find.

The branch of the Church of the Four Gods was well-concealed.

The location was a gray area with terrible magic waves, and the branch facility itself had a high level of concealment.

A normal sensing type superhuman would have had a hard time searching.

Of course, even then, it was definitely not enough to avoid the power of observation.

Even if you didn’t have to observe in the first place, you could figure out the location by looking for traces of magical power.

They wander throughout China to find branches and raid them.

We destroy those who reside there and rescue those who were brought in to be used as sacrifices.

I spent the past week roughly like that.

More than 50 branches organized in one week.

Considering that there were hundreds of branches of the Church of the Four Gods in the original work, it could be said that it was quite painful.

– Phew…

A sigh filled with fatigue came out.

My body was quite tired. I haven’t slept once in a week. There was little rest.

He continued to run around in all directions, expanding his scope of observation.

Then, when they found a branch, they measured its facilities and power and attacked it.

In the process, I received several injuries, but the wounds healed quickly through natural recovery without the need for potions.

As soon as the branch was organized and post-processing was completed, I ran to find another branch.

It is a schedule that could be called a forced march.

I felt tired both physically and mentally.

But it wasn’t a schedule that I couldn’t handle.

Even though I was tired, my power did not drop.

Even though I couldn’t keep this schedule, I was able to maintain it for another month.

“ugh…”

It was around that time when I was sighing deeply.

My body was shaking up and down for a moment.

A painful sigh could also be heard from below.

I patted the thing I was sitting on.

A large man with limbs bent in strange directions and his entire body covered in scars.

This is the guy I beat up earlier.

There were quite a few people lying around in a similar state.

The number is approximately twenty.

‘This was a fairly large branch.’

The power of each branch varies.

Weak places could be cleared without much effort, like the first branch attacked, but large places had to be attacked with increased tension.

This place was quite large.

I shook my butt off, stood up, and kicked the guy who was lying down, turning him over.

Quack! There was a necklace hanging around the neck of the guy who was flipping over while making frog-like noises.

It is an honorary necklace awarded by the association to high-level heroes.

‘A retired high-level hero…’

Looking at the age, I found that the necklace was given at least 20 years ago.

Senior hero.

This is not the place to be criticized.

He must have been a hero who could be proud of his skills when he was on active duty.

Of course, now he was just a gangster with weak skills and body.

‘Tskcha…’

My body, which had been heated up by the battle, cooled down a bit.

First, we cleared the surrounding area and released those trapped underground.

Likewise, it is a form of confinement in an iron cage.

First of all, perhaps because it was the same religious group, the facilities where the sacrificial rituals were performed were generally similar.

“Thank you…! Thank you so much…!”

Among branches, it was quite large in scale. There were many civilians who were captured to be used as sacrifices.

When most of them were taken out of the iron cage, they cried and cried out of relief that their lives had been saved, and expressed their gratitude.

Their appearance was truly sinister.

The clothes were like straw, and the skin and bones were so dry that their outlines were visible.

Although those living outside were not in good circumstances, those who were held here suffered greatly.

‘……’

Feeling mixed feelings about this, I took out some soup from my subspace pouch, warmed it up, and distributed it to them.

There was a lot of emergency food such as bread, beef jerky, and energy bars, but it was not food they could easily pass on right away.

Those who had been kidnapped and had just been released swallowed their saliva even while the soup was heating up, and as soon as they received it, they swallowed it hungrily.

I knew it would be like that, so I deliberately warmed it up a bit.

At first, I warmed it up so that the steam rose, but when I saw that it was burning my mouth and swallowing it, I was shocked and changed the temperature.

After filling my stomach just enough to prevent me from starving to death right away.

We plan to send back those who have a place to go, take appropriate measures for those who have nowhere to go, and then leave again to find a branch of the Four Gods Church.

‘…It’s just self-satisfaction, but…’

I was distraught for no reason.

I sighed deeply and shook my head.

In the process of dealing with the Four Gods Religion, we are also constantly rescuing people.

In fact, these are issues that cannot help but be intertwined.

The Four Gods Church itself is meeting its resources through human sacrifice.

It was natural to rescue humans who were about to be sacrificed while suppressing the Four Gods.

‘It will be quite a hindrance.’

The Four Gods Church failed to actively secure sacrifices.

To be precise, it cannot actively appear on the surface and kidnap people and offer them as sacrifices.

If you act openly, the association will not tolerate it and will lead a punitive force, saying it is not worth directly intervening in.

If that happens, the plan will completely collapse, so they are proceeding like this by hiding underground and collecting sacrifices from time to time.

In the meantime, a loach like me invades and, somehow knowing its location, is destroying the branch at lightning speed.

The leader must have been so furious that his head would spin several times by now.

‘The timing was good too.’

In the original, it’s best to come in right now, have a bit of a fuss, and then leave.

Although it is far from possible for the player to stick to the leader and win, it is the perfect time to disrupt the plan.

If we make a fuss and destroy the branch now, the Four Gods Church’s plans will be pushed back at least a year.

By then, all you have to do is come to China officially through activities outside the city’s yoram and kill the leader.

Of course, there were episodes that did not go as planned.

This is a case where the leader, whose head is spinning in anger due to a mistake in boarding, comes directly to the player.

‘hmm…’

I briefly recalled my memory and assessed the power of the leader of the Church of the Four Gods.

The unique ability of the leader of the Church of the Four Gods is the spirit class.

Since he has already secured his own army, he is a difficult enemy to deal with.

The military force is also quite burdensome for the player at this point.

The leader himself is quite powerful to somehow overcome the military and attack the leader directly.

At this point, the 11th Diamond Warrior is the only one that has comfortably captured the head of the Four Gods Church.

‘Can I compete with the person I am now?’

Right now, I am hiding my power to hide my identity.

It mainly uses its legs to hide its one-armedness, and due to the small number of users, elemental arts that are easy to identify are sealed.

Magic is used appropriately, and the color of the power is deliberately changed to blood red.

What if you meet the leader directly?

It will not necessarily be an unfavorable battlefield.

The fact that the leader came to visit me in person means that he abandoned the advantage he had at his home base and came to visit me.

Of course, if you bring along necromancers from the Church of the Four Gods, things will be different…

‘…I won’t be crushed.’

Still, I won’t die without being able to resist.

Since the two-headed poisonous dragon has not been resurrected yet, there is no reason for it to be killed.

If you are cornered, you can use other means to fight, and if you really feel like you are going to die, you can escape by emergency escape.

Whether the leader comes to visit or not.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter to me.

All I have to do is mess around and distort their plans, and gain plenty of practical experience as a bonus. Although it wasn’t very pleasant, I also gained experience in necromancy.

All you have to do is get the magical power pumped once from the magical lake, obtain the proof of protection, and return.

‘Plus, the Taesan family is also having a hard time.’

Although it is called a gray area, it is ultimately a neighborhood where people live.

As such, there is some information being circulated.

Among them, there was news that members of the Taishan family were wandering around China and raiding forces, including cults.

Taesan’s successor, Lee Ji-yoon, has come in and is leading it himself.

This is something that never happened in the original.

I don’t know why, but among the forces that the Taesan family was fighting against, there was a group of four gods.

On one side, an unknown loach is running around breaking up branches, and on the other side, a huge force called Taesan is invading their area.

For the Four Gods Church, this must be really crazy and jumping around.

– Ugh…

“?”

It was then.

A child approached me with long strides and tugged on the hem of my robe.

Green eyes and scattered dark brown hair.

Even though he was wearing clothes that looked like straw, his distinct features stood out.

The child was about the age of an elementary school student and had just about been used as a sacrifice.

I really saved it by a narrow margin.

If I had been a few minutes late, I would have been out of this world.

When I saw the child pulling the robe, I turned my head in that direction, and the child held out an empty plate.

It was clearly a bowl containing soup, but it was now clean and spotless.

“…Can I get a little more?”

Growling…

A belly clock that beeps as soon as you finish speaking.

Even though I emptied the bowl in one go, I still felt hungry.

‘It’s worth it.’

Not only was he at an age where he could eat a lot, but he must have been held in a place like that for I don’t know how many days.

-Nod

I nodded silently and served the soup in a bowl.

.

.

.

the next day.

The appearance on one side of the observation range was quite unique.

The dungeon barrier is complexly twisted and tangled at the entrance of the cave.

And the dreamy fog that clings to the space as if to hide the barrier.

I finally discovered the magic lake.

* * *

“This is team 1. Confirmed good reception, no problems. Each team wants to see it.“

Jiyeon Lee tapped her smartwatch. Her voice was transmitted to each team through smartwatches.

[Team 2, confirmation of good reception, no abnormalities]

[Team 3, confirmation of good reception, no abnormalities]

“…Report and confirm. If anything unusual occurs, please report it immediately.”

A clear reply came back without delay.

Jiyeon Lee’s complexion became clouded.

There are no casualties.

It was very fortunate, but it also had no results.

I tried to see if it would work, but I didn’t get the reply I wanted.

“Ha…”

After finishing the report, the microphone cut off.

Jiyeon Lee sighed as if the ground was falling.

As I naturally tilted my head back in despair, the gloomy sky filled my field of vision.

The dark clouds were thick and the sunlight did not shine through.

This area is already in poor condition.

But with the weather like this, it really reminded me of ruins.

Anyway, it was like that even though it was a place where people lived.

I sighed again at the looks of caution and fear directed at her, a foreigner.

‘Where on earth are they…’

Approximately ten and four days ago, a child from the Taesan family went missing.

He is the child of a family of high prestige among collaterals, and his last location was in this vicinity.

For some reason, rescue personnel were dispatched on the same day that he went missing.

Among the rescued people, Lee Ji-yeon, the family’s successor, was also included.

He has the status of a successor.

So, it has been more than ten days since I took on the role of leading the first search team and wandered around this miserable land of China.

In the process, I searched everywhere without stopping, but I couldn’t find anything that could be called a trace.

‘It’s too wide…’

More than ten days have passed like that.

If the cause is a malicious kidnapping by someone or a specific force… it is time for the chances of survival to become very slim.

However, that doesn’t mean we can’t stop the search after investing only 10 days.

Above all, if a life had already been lost, it was necessary to find out who was behind it and put an end to it.

‘What’s happening right after vacation…’

“Break over, search resumes.”

After a short break, Jiyeon Lee announced the resumption of the search and snapped her fingers.

– Perfect!

A cheerful sound rang out in all directions.

As the aftereffects of the sound disappeared, Lee Ji-yeon’s magical power surged and expanded in size, and dozens of pieces fell off from the surface.

– Wow…

A sound like a sad ghost crying rang out from dozens of pieces of magic power.

Soon, like a sponge filled with water, the piece of magic expanded in size and became the size of a human head.

It looks like a ghost made of dark shadows.

It was the most basic command manipulated by Taesan’s unique ability.

“Start search.”

With her words, dozens of spirits spread out in all directions.