It was already dusk.
Shwoooosh!
The ghostly knights disappeared, leaving behind faint afterimages.
They merged into the darkness of Fukuoka.
Destruction had reached this place as well.
A collapsed city, capsized cruise ships, and asphalt that had cracked and broken apart.
All of it was a vivid testimony to destruction.
However, Japan, which had erased its destruction through ‘Reformation’, was illuminating Fukuoka’s harbor with an unknown source of light that had entered from another dimension.
Fukuoka Tower stood tall, as did the shell-like building beside it.
Whoosh!
The [Etherealization] skill glowed.
The knights infiltrated the buildings with no difficulty. They climbed the emergency stairs of Fukuoka Tower and the spiral staircase that wound around the inner wall of the shell-like structure, moving like shadows.
Guarding the place were Japanese merfolk and aquatic dragons from the Sharite Dimension.
Avoiding their gaze, the knights gradually slipped into the depths of the building.
And then…
“Found him.”
Hector discovered Fukuoka’s representative.
It wasn’t hard to recognize him.
Inside a command-and-control room that appeared to have been temporarily set up within Fukuoka Tower, a man was shouting furiously while receiving all kinds of radio transmissions.
“You fucking morons! Does it matter how many have died right now? This all ends if you just kill the Busan representative! Why do you keep whining?!”
The aftermath of their defeat at Busan Harbor was hitting him like a storm.
His flat, flounder-like mouth and gills twitched as he spat out rotten sand.
“……!”
But I quickly shifted my gaze away.
Mordred and Kay, who had headed toward another-dimensional structures, were delivering even more important information to me.
There was no visual.
The only sounds were those echoing from the walls, as if trying to maintain caution.
It was merely a conversation, yet its content was anything but ordinary.
“…I never imagined we would lose Fukuoka. Don’t worry. There will be no losses regarding the investment funds…”
A hoarse and eerie voice.
Yet, within it, there was an unmistakable air of submissiveness.
“Hey, Chairman. Who gave you the authority to lose Fukuoka?”
A sharp, thin voice responded.
“What? But the situation in Busan…”
“The victory has slipped away, yes. But that doesn’t necessarily mean defeat.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Think carefully. Did I ever write anything about being allowed to cross regional boundaries as a condition of the dispute?”
The man concluded.
“As long as the representative doesn’t die, that’s all that matters. Throw him into the main headquarters’ dungeon alive. There’s no place more secure in Japan right now.”
“Ah…! The branch director already had it all planned out!”
One thing was certain.
The ones conversing were higher-ups, above Fukuoka’s representative.
And I could roughly deduce that one of them was the head of the Chamber of Commerce’s Japan Branch, whom I had been desperately searching for.
They wrapped up their conversation with the following remarks:
“The trip to Korea will have to be postponed for now… For the time being, let’s secure the Gate Core and return to Osaka. Some losses are inevitable in defeat. We need to focus on minimizing them.”
“Understood, Branch Director. I’ll keep that in mind.”
The door swung open with a bang.
Whoosh.
The voices cut off abruptly as the knights vanished from sight.
After ordering the knights to return, I paused to think.
I wasn’t sure about the man’s exact rank, but I was confident I could capture him if I forced it.
But…
“…They said they’d taken over all of Japan, right?”
The Reformation Awakening Society.
Their power wasn’t limited to just Fukuoka.
They had unified the ‘Warring States Era’ tainted by other-dimensional invasions, into the merfolk’s world.
According to their conversations, their main base was said to be in Osaka.
“If I’m going to strike anyway.”
It would be better to stab at the heart of their forces.
And that wasn’t all.
The mention of returning to Osaka came directly from the head of the Chamber of Commerce’s Japan Branch.
It was highly likely that the Japan Branch of the Chamber of Commerce was also located there.
“Osaka, huh…”
Having set the destination, all that was left was to go there… though it would have been nice if someone could take me there.
Snap!
The four knights who had gone on reconnaissance returned.
I hid myself in a corner of the city, overlooking Fukuoka Tower.
Not long after,
Thud! Thud!
A few sturdy aquatic dragonkin entering Fukuoka Tower caught my eye.
It didn’t take long.
Soon, I saw Fukuoka’s representative, his entire body tightly bound, wriggling and flopping around like a live fish.
Crunch!
They wrapped Fukuoka’s representative in a large wooden crate, once again sealing it tightly, and then wound cables around it before leaving it behind.
In front of them was a Japanese military helicopter painted with a red rising sun insignia.
It was quite an impressive sight.
“…Is this some kind of seafood delivery service?”
Regardless of what it looked like, my next step was clear: to stick close to that wooden crate.
Thud! Thud!
I waited for the moment when their attention was fully focused on the helicopter.
The portal’s range was about 10 meters.
Remaining completely hidden, I set the portal’s coordinates on the wooden crate containing Fukuoka’s representative.
‘Item Retrieval.’
Swishhhh!
In an instant, I was sucked into the portal myself.
.
.
.
Crash!
I tumbled into the logistics center, rolling head over heels.
“Ugh…”
I held my throbbing shoulder.
Inside, my family and companions, who had been in the middle of a fierce battle, were now casually sipping on drinks.
Kim Sol, with a towel draped around her neck, looked at me and asked:
“…What are you doing?”
“…Japan trip.”
The battle in Busan was slowly coming to an end.
My eldest sister was busy transporting the injured to Gangnam’s Severance Hospital, while the remaining personnel were taking turns scouring the city to ensure no stragglers from the enemy remained.
Kim Sol asked again.
“Why did you come back? You said you were going to find Fukuoka’s representative.”
“I did find him. I found him, but…”
I quietly opened the portal.
Whoosh!
The view of the dark night sky.
The portal was still attached to the cargo hanging from the helicopter, flying high through the air.
“Since I’ve already gone this far, I might as well look around a bit more. For now…”
The helicopter was constantly on the move.
Watching the scenery rush by, I couldn’t help but feel a strange drowsiness creeping over me.
“I think I’ll take a nap.”
It was a beautiful night.
I wasn’t sure whether to call it Fukuoka’s or Busan’s, but…
The comfort of free riding was lulling me into a deep sleep.
***
The next morning.
Recalling the wooden crate that should have already arrived in Osaka by now, I opened a small portal, no bigger than a finger, to check the outside situation.
Rumble…
A dark and dimly lit space.
Occasionally, faint lights on the walls illuminated the dreary interior.
It was the portal I had marked on the surface of the wooden crate.
Judging by the disassembled wooden crate piles haphazardly stacked nearby, it seemed they had already unpacked the contents and cleaned up.
“…Let’s go take a look.”
There didn’t seem to be any guards around, so I enlarged the portal and stepped outside.
A dark and massive space.
Though clearly a man-made structure, the unique humidity and gloom gave the impression of being inside the chamber of a giant cave.
As expected, Fukuoka’s representative was here.
He was completely restrained on a hospital bed.
A gag was in his mouth, a blindfold tightly wrapped over his eyes.
An IV drip hung by his side, and hoses were connected to various parts of his body.
It was an image that conveyed the Reformation Awakening Society’s determination to keep him alive at all costs.
Then,
“……!”
I noticed something else.
The hospital bed wasn’t the only one in this massive space.
The situation was the same on the others.
Ringers and hoses dangling everywhere, a gag in his mouth, and a tightly wrapped blindfold.
But there was one significant difference.
‘…He’s not a merfolk?’
Could he be in his early twenties?
He was unmistakably human.
“……”
He was calm.
As if he had already let everything go.
Unlike Fukuoka’s representative, who was next to him struggling with all his might after sensing my presence.
Swoosh.
I removed the gag from his mouth.
Now that it was confirmed he was human, I had to verify what kind of human he was.
“…Uh?”
As the gag was slowly removed, he looked bewildered, as if something like this had never happened to him before.
Holding a mana stone, I asked him:
“Who are you? Why aren’t you a merfolk?”
“……”
His mouth, which had been gagged, must have been in quite a lot of pain.
He rubbed his jaw for a while before finally answering, after much delay.
“My name is Sato Daichi. Of course, I’m not a merfolk. I refused to cooperate.”
To my surprise, his response came in Korean.
It had nothing to do with the mana stone’s translation ability, it carried the distinct awkward accent of a foreigner speaking Korean.
“You speak Korean?”
“Yes. A little… I used to watch a lot before.”
“Watch what?”
“Winter Sonata…”
“…?”
Snap!
I turned my head sharply to look at him.
He didn’t look a day over his early twenties.
The shock of a 20-year-old Korean Wave phenomenon hit me squarely in the face.
‘…What is this guy’s deal?’
Whether he knew my thoughts or not, he just bowed his head with a reddened face.
‘It’s a bit strange but…’
No matter how I looked at him, he wasn’t an enemy.
He wasn’t a merfolk, and it was impossible for someone from the Reformation Awakening Society to kindly answer me in Korean.
Swish!
I pulled out an enhanced Holy Spear and released his restraints.
Then, putting away the now-useless mana stone, I asked another question.
“Why were you locked up here?”
Daichi looked down at his body for a moment.
“My awakened ability is <Seal>. I can only seal one thing at a time… and there are a few limitations, but…”
His body, covered in dense tattoos, didn’t match his innocent-looking face.
Sigh.
Daichi let out a deep breath and started explaining the details.
“I was completely tricked. After Osaka lost in the bidding competition, a 7th Order monster called a Horse-headed Demon appeared. The government begged me to seal it. I agreed because I wanted to protect people. But…”
He let out a bitter laugh.
“I found out too late. The government was already under the thumb of the Reformation Awakening Society… and thanks to me sealing that pesky Horse-headed Demon for them, they were able to take over Japan.”
“So the reason you ended up imprisoned here is…”
“They’re scared of the Horse-headed Demon sealed within me. That’s why they’ve restrained me and kept me alive like this.”
“…I see.”
After briefly calculating the situation, I asked him.
“Let me confirm something. Is this the main headquarters of the Reformation Awakening Society in Osaka?”
“Yes, it is. Didn’t you already know that when you came here?”
“Well… I wasn’t the one driving.”
“……?”
Daichi looked baffled.
Ignoring his expression, I asked him another question.
“That Horse-headed Demon… if you were to release it, would it be hard to seal it again?”
He shook his head.
He seemed to understand what I was thinking but indicated that it wasn’t possible.
“The act of sealing itself isn’t difficult. But if I were to release it in such a confined space, we’d both get caught in its attacks. Besides, how did you even get here? We need to get out of here…”
Daichi was starting to talk more and more.
I didn’t bother explaining everything to him in detail.
I simply opened a portal leading to subspace.
Zing.
Startled by the sudden appearance of the blue portal, Daichi asked in surprise,
“…What is this?”
“Just step inside for now.”
A portal that would serve as an invincible shield.
It would be faster for him to experience it firsthand.
***
Boom!
Fwoooosh!
The scene of destruction, collapse, and rising flames.
As soon as we unleashed the Horse-headed Demon, we returned to subspace.
And this was the result.
Crack!
The enemy’s headquarters was being obliterated, down to its roots.
Watching it all unfold on the surface of the subspace portal felt like watching a disaster movie.
Fwoooosh!
Whoosh!
“…Is this really okay?”
Daichi cautiously asked.
The Hollywood blockbuster-level sequence of destruction in front of him had clearly overwhelmed him.
Boom!
The Horse-headed Demon crushed buildings and burned the merfolk and aquatic dragonkin monsters to ashes.
Its rampage was so impressive that it was almost worthy of applause.
Of course, it too was a monster from another dimension.
If necessary, it could be sealed back into Daichi’s body, but it was clear that the demon would not submit to our control.
The relentless destruction.
At the end of it…
Buzz.
The bright sky appeared.
The Horse-headed Demon had completely wiped out the Reformation Awakening Society’s headquarters building.
Having accomplished its purpose, the demon began to slowly move toward another location.
“Let’s go.”
I grabbed Daichi by the arm and pulled him along.
It was time to seal the unleashed Horse-headed Demon back inside him.
Now what remained was my role.
Having reduced their headquarters to ashes…
‘I should go check. How the owners react.’
The leader of the Reformation Awakening Society.
And the Chamber of Commerce’s Japan Branch Director too.
Now it was time to take their heads.
****
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