Chapter 91 - Episode 13. Catastrophe (5)
Chapter 91: Episode 13. Catastrophe (5)
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Around that time, outside the Strange Factory, the consciousness of a being who had long been asleep returned.
A deep man’s voice came from somewhere.
“...Have you awakened?”
Her eyes stung from having been closed for too long.
A young woman slowly opened her eyes. It was Sirwen Armelt.
“Ugh, what is...?”
Sirwen let out a groan and unsteadily pushed herself up. The man who had spoken quickly moved to support her.
Her vision was still spinning, and she had the illusion that something was flowing past her on all sides. Clutching her head, Sirwen slowly looked around.
To the north stretched a vast forest, to the east an endless desert, and to the west a boundless plain. To the south stood a gigantic factory, so enormous its size was impossible to judge.
For a moment, Sirwen thought she had lost her mind.
Where is this?
Had she fallen into 《Uncanny》 again?
“You were asleep for far too long.”
Only then did Sirwen realize the voice supporting her belonged to Yulhen.
“This is...?”
“In front of the Strange Factory. You were asleep for exactly two weeks, Sirwen.”
Only after hearing that did Sirwen begin to calm down little by little. This was not 《Uncanny》. She had safely completed the Squeeze.
Ah, I see. So this is in front of the Strange Factory.
Only then did this bizarre landscape begin to make sense.
This was the center of 《Chaos》, the place where all the landscapes of 《Chaos》, divided by the four directions, came together.
No, wait. The Strange Factory?
Her mind snapped awake as if cold water had been poured over her.
Yulhen was saying something beside her, explaining the situation, but none of it registered. The thoughts she had been holding onto before losing consciousness came crashing back into her mind like a storm.
If they had come all the way to the front of the Strange Factory, that meant the 《Abyss》 was right ahead of them. And if that was true, then...
“Where is that bastard?”
“Ah, the Fortress Lord is...”
Once Sirwen heard the full story, the color drained from her face. Jaehwan had already entered the Strange Factory two hours ago.
“We have to get to him right now! We have to stop him!”
“Why are you suddenly...?”
Yulhen could not understand why Sirwen was so agitated and was just starting to ask when one of the expedition scouts came running from the distance with a frantic look on their face.
“Chief Administrator! Something terrible has happened!”
The voice was tight with desperation.
Everyone had already grown weary of waiting, so the scout’s cry rang out louder than usual. Some expedition members stood up to see what was going on, while the Hall Masters stretched with bored expressions.
But not one of them looked worried.
That was only natural. The people gathered here were all among the strongest in 《Chaos》. Whatever happened, there was nothing to fear.
As if the timing could not have been better, Kang Hwang, Hall Master of Fire King Hall, sprang to his feet and scratched at his ear as he asked,
“What’s got you making such a racket?”
Then, in the next moment, the scout running toward them froze in place.
Swooooosh.
With a wind blowing in from somewhere, the expedition member’s body turned to silver dust and vanished on the spot. Everyone who saw it jolted to their feet in shock. No one had seen how the scout had died.
“...!”
A moment later, a figure emerged through the dust of the desert.
No, not one figure.
Two, three, four...
An endless procession of shadows.
Someone among the expedition members let out a groan that was almost a lament.
“My God.”
A suffocating Spiritual Pressure rolled in from beyond the sandstorm. They knew that Spiritual Pressure well. Far too well. It was the very Spiritual Pressure they all hated, and feared, above all else.
But there was not just one.
There were a full hundred tyrannical presences.
And the five Spiritual Pressures at the front were at such an exalted level that they could not even begin to imagine it.
“No. That can’t be...”
Sirwen’s gaze wavered when she saw the face of the first person to emerge from the clearing dust. She had seen that face once before, in Darkness’s fortress.
The most terrifying General in the Ninth Zone. In the Darkness Zone, the one you had to fear most after Darkness.
“G-get Jaehwan. Hurry.”
But no one could hear her voice.
Expedition members were swept away without even a scream at the wave of a hand. The slaughter had begun.
* * *
An hour had already passed since Jaehwan and ENIAC opened the sealed gate and departed for the 《Palace of the Dead》.
Back in the 「Strange Factory」, Cheongheo and Karlton had been passing the time by watching the Horned Beasts when they both sensed something at the same time.
Rumble.
A massive quake, strong enough to shake the entire Strange Factory.
[What is going on?]
The Factory Masters were all wearing grim expressions as well.
[What now, you humans? Couldn’t you keep from making a scene for even this long?]
[...This does not feel like a mere disturbance caused by humans.]
Another thunderous boom rang out.
If vibrations had reached even the interior of the Strange Factory, despite its strong outer walls, then an enormous explosion must have gone off outside.
EDSAC turned to JOHNIAC and asked,
[JOHNIAC. Connect to the outside.]
The childlike JOHNIAC, who handled communications, closed their eyes. A small antenna rose from JOHNIAC’s head, and waves of energy reminiscent of sonar shot out through the entire factory. It was JOHNIAC’s unique technique, one that allowed communication with Horned Beasts.
A moment later, static crackled. Bzzzt, bzzzt...
Whatever JOHNIAC had seen, the little one’s shoulders twitched sharply.
[Scary. Big brothers. Subordinates.]
The words that followed carried an endlessly ominous feeling.
[All. Scary...]
That was as far as JOHNIAC got before the little one winced in pain. It seemed the horned beast JOHNIAC had been in contact with had died. JOHNIAC looked as though they were trying to continue, but no more words came.
Cheongheo and Karlton looked at each other.
[Wait, you two!]
Before IAS could even finish shouting, Cheongheo and Karlton’s figures shot toward the entrance of the Strange Factory like the wind.
It was them.
There was no need for any further communication. There were only so many beings who could possess Spiritual Pressure of this magnitude to begin with. Just sensing it was enough to make every hair on their bodies stand on end. Nowhere in all of 《Chaos》 could you find power like this.
There was only one kind of being in the 《Great Realm》 capable of carrying such Spiritual Pressure.
“Divine Doctor, could this be...?”
“Damn it. That brat was right.”
Just before they had arrived at the Strange Factory, Jaehwan had predicted this situation in advance. Before they went to the 《Abyss》, the expedition would inevitably face the Lords.
The expedition members, Cheongheo included, had thought it was needless worry.
Jaehwan had certainly provoked the 《Great Realm》, but the odds of the Lords immediately gathering troops and invading were low. The 「Narrow Gate」, the only route into 《Chaos》, had already been destroyed. No matter how furious they were, would those prideful Lords really throw away their own lives and come into Chaos just to catch a single Awakened One?
Cheongheo had been certain.
Even if the Lords crossed into 《Chaos》, it would not be until after the 「Narrow Gate」 had been restored.
Or rather, that was what he had believed until just moments ago.
“Divine Doctor, could there have been another 「Narrow Gate」?”
“That’s impossible. Even if there were multiple transmission terminals for the 「Narrow Gate」, the only receiving terminal in 《Chaos》 was destroyed. The 「Narrow Gate」 cannot be used for the time being.”
“Then there is only one answer.”
“I can hardly believe it, but that seems to be the case.”
The Lords had died and come here.
There was no other explanation.
It was baffling.
Had they really died and come all the way here just to capture Jaehwan alone?
...Wait. What if Jaehwan was not their only target?
Now, 《Chaos》 had become a place valuable enough to tempt the Lords. With the 「Fruit」 alone, it had become a place where Lieutenant General-level powerhouses appeared, a place worth committing the military strength of the 《Great Realm》 to seize.
It was all thanks to the Tower of Awakening Jaehwan had created.
As time passed, Chaos would grow into an independent force. Someday, it might even become powerful enough to contend with the zones of the 《Great Realm》. Perhaps the Lords had realized that as well.
That was why they had come personally.
To crush the sprout before it could grow, and to plunder it.
That was what they excelled at.
This won’t be easy for you bastards.
《Chaos》 was no longer what it had once been. Above all, Jaehwan was here. That thought brought relief to Cheongheo’s heart.
“How many do you think came?”
“Hard to say. But they are Lords. If they died to come here, there shouldn’t be more than fifty.”
In truth, even fifty was a high estimate. Fifty Lords was effectively the maximum force a single zone could deploy for a localized operation.
But the closer they drew to the entrance, the more a bad feeling spread through Cheongheo’s mind. At first, their spiritual power had been bunched together, making it hard to count them properly, but the nearer he got, the more wrong it felt.
...Just how many of them came?
The moment the factory gates swung wide open, that question was answered in the most horrifying way possible.
Souls of Chaos lay strewn everywhere. Expedition members let out wretched screams, some with their necks cut and others with their torsos torn open, howling in agony.
At the center of that sea of silver carnage, Cheongheo staggered as a certain scene rose in his mind.
It was as if he were seeing that day nine hundred years ago all over again.
“Divine Doctor, please save us.”
“Please, please!”
“I don’t want to die yet. We didn’t come all this way just to die like this.”
“Divine Doctor.”
That day had been like this too.
“You must not come this way.”
That was why he had wanted to forget.
“Divine Doctor, please take this.”
That was why...
“Go, Divine Doctor. Remember. Tell them.”
“Tell them of our humiliation, our disgrace, this resentment and rage.”
“Tell them we did not lose. Tell them we truly brought back the Fruit. So...”
He could never forget.
“The Abyss Expedition did not fail.”
A tremor he had hidden deep within himself spread through his body.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
Again. It was the Lords again.
And this time, before the expedition had even set out.
“Divine Doctor, don’t!”
Ignoring Karlton’s shout from behind him, Cheongheo bellowed and swung his sword like lightning at one of the Lieutenant Generals before him.
At Cheongheo’s draw, backed by a clear third-stage Awakening, the Lieutenant General took a mortal wound and staggered back with a groan. Cheongheo did not miss the opening and cut across the Lieutenant General’s waist and chest in rapid succession. Soon, the Lieutenant General’s strength failed, and the figure dissolved into silver.
He was no longer the Divine Doctor of Despair he had once been.
Without holding back the power overflowing from his entire body, Cheongheo swept his gaze across the battlefield.
He had to find the command group.
“Yulhen! Shin Mugeuk! Where is everyone?!”
But there was already nothing left that could be called a command group. Hall Masters on the verge of soul extinction were on their knees, coughing up wretched silver light. Even the Awakened Ones, their greatest fighting force, had already met soul extinction and turned to dust.
And then...
“Cayman!”
Cayman hung limply, caught by the collar in a Lord’s hand.
Despair was casting its shadow over Chaos.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion