episode_0155

“The time has come.”

The Collector, a strangely dressed old man, let out such a voice.

The only thing that comes to his lips as he speaks like that is laughter.

The laugh seemed to fit all the emotions of joy and sorrow, but at the same time, it was a laugh that did not match any of them, but was so heterogeneous and had such distinct characteristics that it was almost impossible for anyone who saw it to properly describe it.

“… I guess so.”

Conductor Impale quietly mocked himself as he watched the flow of difficult-to-read emotions that seemed to contain the innocence of a young boy full of expectations, or the ambition of a worn-out old man.

To the naked eye, it looks like he didn’t do anything, but the red emotions swirling inside him were making Impale feel bitter.

“Time to move.”

The Collector said to him with a smile.

“A guest has already arrived. May we treat you well as the key to our ultimate goal. You too can see the end of this grand ambition.”

Those words were the end of the command given to Impale.

As soon as the Collector’s instructions ended, Impale’s appearance emerged from the darkness.

“Look… .”

“─It doesn’t matter if you didn’t see it in the first place. Since your ability is only to read a section of a novel that has already been written, it would be natural for you to do so now that you are so twisted. The world you know is already on the verge of collapse. If you want your efforts to be appreciated in this difficult situation, wouldn’t now be the best situation?”

The Collector laughed.

“After going around a few places, you still look like an idiot. I’ve tried a few times to deviate from my plan, have other thoughts, and sabotage things, but that alone isn’t enough to feed me.”

Then he smiled and spoke in a whisper.

“It’s already too late to rebel. Haha, now that I think about it, you’ve been talking nonsense for a long time. You seem like a foolish friend who just keeps getting taken advantage of.”

Impale just frowned in response and made no response.

He just cleared his throat and left with a wrinkled face, which was the most he could do in defiance.

*

“We left later than expected.”

Sejun glanced at the magic sealed electronic watch on his wrist and scratched his head.

The concept of day and night may be meaningless since the entire situation was in total darkness anyway, but there is still an absolute time.

When I saw the dean slaughtering the enemy leader with such ease, I thought I would take a break and move right away to regain my momentum, but the break ended up being longer than I expected and I even had time to take a nap.

Emotions run out of effectiveness sooner than you think. When you’re angry and can’t control your emotions, or when your wallet is tight and a goddamn god comes to you, isn’t it said that the best way to overcome it is to just take a nap?

Even though it is a short period of time, the heat of emotion cools down quickly.

‘Just like now.’

The atmosphere created by Dean Northmund had calmed down after taking a deep breath, and it seemed like there was a sense of nervousness in the air. Actually, that’s true. If you’re jumping into the enemy’s camp and don’t feel nervous, would you be human?

In his opinion, even if he was a little tired, it would have been better to jump right into the situation. Why, in the Three Kingdoms, aren’t there many scenes like this where, even though you’re exhausted after running a long way, you’re in a situation where you’re determined to win?

[This is also true when learning history through games.]

[Oh, what a surprise, Yue! Don’t stick out the potato like that!]

[How long have we been together, have you gotten used to it yet, Sejun? It’s good that you’re worried about the morale of our juniors, but I think Sejun is too nervous.]

[Yes, Jun has a point, but maybe it wasn’t necessary? I also glanced at the professor while he was relaxing, but he seemed to be thinking deeply about something. He also had a long conversation with the so-called collaborator who reappeared in the middle.]

[Yes, you were probably making a plan, Sejun. Relax.]

The voices of his colleagues flowed into Sejun’s head through the telecom, and at the same time, he nodded.

In fact, rather than being particularly dissatisfied, he was just thinking nonsense to relieve tension.

“Still, isn’t it a bit strange?”

Sejun opened his mouth and expressed his opinion in a direct voice. To use Yue’s supernatural communication network, there was no need to open his mouth and express his intentions into the air. All you have to do is just think of the sentence you want to send.

But it’s not his mistake that he did that. Because I’m asking everyone around me for their opinions.

“… That’s definitely true,”

“What are they thinking? Is this right? Could it be that this castle is just a decoy or something?”

The inside of the castle was quiet. As if the exterior wasn’t just a copy of a medieval castle, there was a real village inside the castle. I couldn’t tell if these were just decorations or not.

If it’s not just decoration, it means that monsters are living here, and wouldn’t that be a scary situation? No, that’s not important.

“Why is there no one? It looks like the monsters are sticking out their noses.”

“The power felt from the central castle tower is so powerful that it is difficult to sense it. Don’t relax! But there is no way there is no one.”

Everyone felt that way. It would be natural to raise questions as not a single monster could be seen inside.

This is where Alexstras fled. It was the Demon King’s Castle that he had prepared, and the fact that he ran towards it must mean that he had a system in place to respond to intruders.

Even if the devil’s leader ran away and their morale was low, it was strange, not to mention unnatural, to see no one like this.

It was that moment.

Pop.

“Huh?”

Sejun frowned at the unpleasant touch. It might rain, he simply thought.

Drop, drop, drop of rain turns into two drops and cold rainwater falls on Sejun’s head.

“Ugh… .”

Sejun made a disgusted sound and started walking with one hand on his head. The other hand is tightly gripping his longsword that has been converted into a mana weapon.

Even though it was raining, they seemed to think there was no need to put anything on to stop the rain yet.

The only thing that was getting on his nerves right now was the raindrops falling on the longsword he was holding, lowering the efficiency of the light.

at that time.

dump.

dump.

dump.

A continuous sound as if something was falling was heard.

“Uh… ?”

Sejun, who was walking ahead, lighting up the darkness, pauses momentarily at the foreign sound, stops in place, and unknowingly lowers his raised hand to block the rain.

The rain, which had been falling for a few drops, is getting heavier. It seems like the weather has changed so much that you really need an umbrella.

“What is it? What’s going on?”

I could never have guessed that the sound I just heard was the sound of rain falling. Even if it is inside the fog, there is no way the rainwater would be that dull and heavy.

Sejun stops in his seat and looks back.

Many of his juniors who were following behind him had fallen and continued to fall.

“… !?”

“Aaagh!”

“Ah, I’m losing strength… .”

Sejun’s eyes become filled with doubt. An incomprehensible phenomenon is occurring.

Superhumans that ordinary people cannot even stand against and that can tear demons to pieces are lying on the ground, and they are falling to the ground one by one without any warning.

The rain gets stronger and stronger, to the point where it feels like it’s pouring from a bucket.

“What is this─”

“─Rain! It’s raining! Don’t get caught in the rain! Avoid everyone!”

“Rain?”

At that moment, Sejun jumped forward without even thinking about the question in his head. They grabbed whatever juniors they could get their hands on and threw them through the window of a private house.

There might be something inside, but it wasn’t the time to hide that in the first place. If this rain is the cause, the first thing to do is to avoid it.

It was thrown quite roughly, but if you are an awakened person, you will not be seriously injured by that much of an impact.

Meanwhile, a question was rising in Sejun’s mind.

First of all, it was highly likely that rain was the cause. People were falling down without any warning, and the only thing that changed was the presence or absence of rain, so it was very likely that that was the cause.

‘But it’s rain?’

However, rain is a very common natural phenomenon in tropical Africa.

The place they are currently in is an area where a country called Congo existed in the past. Since most of the country is a jungle, it was a natural phenomenon that would be disappointing if it didn’t rain even for a day. Haven’t they also gone through countless experiences and moved forward?

[Sejun, avoid him first too! If this continues, you’ll be in big trouble!]

[I’m fine! But what’s going on? This happens just because of the rain!]

[Are you okay? That’s just because you have a pig’s mana amount! Anyway, let’s avoid this rain for now!]

Perhaps she had made a face without realizing it, but Jang Ah-hyun’s voice as she spoke with excitement through Lee Neung Communication contained even a bit of self-deprecation.

Come to think of it, the sound quality of the communication was a bit poor. Jang Ah-hyeon’s voice also seemed to tremble a little.

When Sejun asked for an explanation for this phenomenon, Jang Ah-hyun smiled and continued communicating.

[This is not ordinary rain. Looking at it now, the rain itself is black.]

[Isn’t it because the rain fell through the dark fog? Maybe it’s because the fog is dense here because it’s the very center?]

[No, even if it is dark mana, it does not penetrate this deeply into raindrops. It can’t be this black. This is probably closer to the abyss. Yes, the thing that makes up the body of a dark-type monster. Yue.]

In the middle, Yue’s gasping noise was heard, so I heard Jang Ah-hyeon emphasizing her opinion once again.

“Damn it!”

After all, he is devilish. They are like despicable guys who harm humans and try to create their own world. Sejun thought so and swept his arms.

The liquid that bounced off his wet arm was so dark that it could not be considered rainwater.

Flutter, flutter.

As people continued to fall, the sharp sound of the heavy equipment they were carrying hitting the ground was also heard.

Feeling the urgency of the situation, most people took refuge in places that could avoid the rain, such as inside houses or under the eaves of stables, but because their bodies were already wet, they were continuously losing mana.

“Wipe your body! Get this liquid off your body!”

“Ah… Ah, I’m dizzy. Wow!”

“Su, does anyone have a towel? Hehehehehe”

“Ugh, hehehe… Kuok.”

There is no resistance, there is no noise, and there is no such thing as blood splattering.

The victims being made here and now leave behind only the sounds of them collapsing in the pitch-black darkness.

They are all people with superpowers trained to hunt monsters. Their weaponry, which had fallen carelessly, shone in the light of Sejun’s mana weapon.

[Ugh, ugh! What should I do! Now our juniors!]

Sejun also hears the situation surrounding Yue, who seems to have forgotten to turn off the communication in panic. There was no need to even react to it. Because the situation around Sejun was the same.

Wipe your body with as much cleanable material as possible, and take off any clothes that are soaked and throw them away. So most of them were naked, but no one had any strange feelings or similar thoughts about it. The only people who think of such things in life-threatening situations are probably brainless people.

“Despicable bastards!”

Even so, many people with special abilities had a hard time simply joining Dark Fog and working. There were many people who suffered a sad fate due to mana depletion due to their mana being continuously taken away.

In other words, it was a condition where it was quite difficult to simply use fog, but I never thought they would pour abyss water into such a situation.

“Andy, no, please open your eyes!”

“I’m done here… Look, I’m sorry. You must survive.”

“No, please, ugh!”

The surroundings were a mess. Even if the body was wiped, the lost mana did not return, and this time, the disaster caused by mana depletion was happening directly and very quickly in real time.

In the surrounding area, a sound like a meat bag exploding resounded in harmony.

“… Ah.”

A boy nearby melted, causing a small explosion of blood. Fresh blood lightly splattered around the body, as if a body full of decayed gases could not overcome the internal pressure and exploded naturally.

And nearby, a girl covered in blood sits down with dead eyes and looks at the traces.

“Ah. Ugh… .”

There is chaos everywhere.

But that doesn’t mean you should panic. I don’t know if he’s just saying it to be nice to people, but it’s true.

“Hey.”

Sejun got up from his seat and slowly approached her, who looked like she was about to faint, and quietly placed his hand on her shoulder.

I don’t know how much comfort this will bring. It may be counterproductive. However, that was only the limit for Sejun, who was not good at speaking.

Tup.

Just when I was about to say something comforting, I heard an unpleasant sound.

In this street where someone was falling down and someone was turning into a puddle of blood due to depletion of mana, a sound was heard as if someone’s weight was stepping on the water’s edge.

It must be someone’s steps. Because there are a lot of people here.

But if you listen again, that unpleasant sound was a sound that came from somewhere far away.

Is there anyone out there who hasn’t been sheltered from the rain yet? If not, would he be a suicidal person who wants to give up everything and choose death?

Sejun turned his head to follow the sound.

The sound of footsteps on the muddy mud continues to be heard.

Stepping on puddles, stepping on wet stone pavers, stepping on muddy paths, and only such small footsteps were heard regularly as if they were not at all bothered by the situation.

Sejun tightened his grip on the longsword he had been holding without realizing it.

Being able to walk around in the rain so calmly in a situation like this is clearly not an ally. Nor would he be the dean of Northmund. It’s unimaginable that a dean would walk around in the rain so calmly while his students were falling over.

And the footsteps gradually came closer, revealing the imprint of their owner.

“Hello.”

Everyone stopped moving and looked at the man who approached them.

Walking casually among these victims with a very serene face was an old man with a long silver beard.

Her slightly thin body was covered in a black monastic robe that felt even blacker against the background of the darkness, a thick leather belt around her waist, bell-bottom-like sleeves with flared sleeves that did not match the monastic attire, and on her head was a strange star-shaped ornament in the center. He is wearing a robe studded with .

The outfit looked like something out of a world history picture book, like a monk from the Middle Ages. It was such a grotesque outfit that it would be a bit unfair to say that.

The decorations were decorated with strange Christmas wreaths that were difficult to see with modern sensibilities, so it was difficult to make the outfit look normal just by changing one or two places.

When I say that it looks like a monk, it means that it has that feeling of putting together the overall appearance.

‘This guy… .”

Sejun has seen this guy once before. That’s probably… .

“Mmm. You all look in very bad condition.”

It was a metallic sound that felt like it was scratching my nerves. The annoying sound of metal rubbing against metal continued to be heard.

The metal decorations on the old man’s clothes seemed to be trying hard to make their presence known, and they were showing off their presence so much that it was impossible to ignore them.

It seemed like they were experimenting to see how much disgust they could bring out in people just by looking at it, so Sejun bit his lip.

“I’m sorry that this happened, everyone. Actually, I don’t have much grudge against you, but I feel sorry.”

The old man’s eerie smile escapes his irritated lips. The old man looked around for a moment and then turned to Sejun.

“Oh no, no matter how urgent it is, grown men and women are exposing their naked bodies in a small room like this. Umm, ah, is that Han Sejun? I guess you are one of the keys Alexstras was talking about.”

“You… who is this? What is it? Is it a circular bridge?”

“Yes, it’s called Conductor Impale. Hmm, since the religious order has already disappeared, I guess I should call myself a conductor.”

“Did you plan this? What made abyssal water fall from the sky? Why? Are you trying to take revenge on the church?”

“Oh, that’s not it. I really don’t have any feelings towards the religious group anymore.”

As he said that, the old man, who called himself Impale, slowly stroked the beard on his chin.

This guy will be the enemy. Thinking like that, Sejun gripped the hilt of the sword even harder. In this situation, a person who appeared calmly could never be an ally.

But you should check.

“I know that Dean Northmund has one of the circuit’s contactors as a collaborator. Are you also the Dean’s collaborator?”

“Oh, that’s what I mean. You could say so.”

“No.”

Sejun speaks to himself, but this author, Impale, does not give a definite answer and gives a vague answer.

With that alone, the entire situation is already understood. For some reason, he shows a reluctant attitude, but his spirit shows hostility toward them.

Sejun raised his red shining longsword towards the old man.

“That’s wise. I heard he was immature, but it seems Northmund gave him a good education. It’s the right attitude, boy.”

“Because in this situation, you have no choice but to be the enemy.”

“Yes. We’re talking about chess anyway. So let’s not worry about today’s outcome.”

“… Janggi?”

I wondered for a moment, but there was no answer. Sejun immediately kicked off the floor, jumped up, and swung his longsword at him.