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The other stages extended in all directions from the central stage, which was where Frank Guild was located. Revolucion (12)’s territory was in the north. My renamed city, ‘Death Upon Unauthorized Occupation,’ was placed in the southernmost part of the Revolucion (12)’s territory, so it was the first city that the Frank Guild encountered as they advanced to their north.
This composition differed from the arrangement in Act One, Stage Two, so it made it possible for other stages to contact other forces without having to go through the central stage. The eight cities of the central group were located in the middle, but that didn’t mean people necessarily had to go through them to go to other places.
When the five stages were combined, the lands previously known as the source of the night raid opened up. That land allowed the northern forces to meet the southern forces without passing through the central group. Naturally, the eastern forces could also reach the ones on the west side. This all assumed that they weren’t discovered by a hostile patrol on the central stage.
We were purposely making a detour to the east, treading on the newly opened land, as we knew that the Frank Guild was located in the center. There was no business to take care of there. We were planning to start checking from the east force and turn clockwise. That was the priority.
***
There were three hundred thousand Korean Awakened in the beginning, and one hundred thousand formed one stage in Act One. Therefore, it was known that they were organized into three different groups, and I was in one of them. Woo Yeon-Hee must have been in another, and the other would have had a Tomorrow’s executive who was a Korean Awakened.
However, both would have been designated as the top stages. Tomorrow would have been swept away from Doom Kaos’ meddling, and the damage would have been serious even in Yeon-Hee’s group although they managed to survive.
I couldn’t tell the details to Seong-Il as he wanted to leave the city as soon as the other forces were combined. It was an obvious excuse that he wanted to get some fresh air. He wanted to check the whereabouts of his family, who could have been sucked into this world from the beginning. It was highly unlikely that Seong-Il’s only son and his ex-wife, who had a love-hate relationship with him, were Awakened. However, he couldn’t stop caring about them. He had become more concerned about the issue ever since Ji-Ae noona visited me and after we barely overcame the crisis.
I remarked, “You won’t be able to find any other Koreans beside us at this stage.”
Seong-Il stopped and looked back at me with an embarrassed look. Then, he spoke frankly as he couldn’t think of any other excuses, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I asked.
He scratched his head. “I left the city. How many people… would consider the warning seriously…”
That was why he had hung the bodies of Frank Guild at the city entrance before he had left. Nonetheless, he was still skeptical that their fellows who came to find them later wouldn’t occupy the city when it was empty.
“I said they won’t do that to me, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I’ll sort out everything when I get back.”
I shook my head. “Nah, I would have done the same if my family was involved. But don’t worry too much. The probability of becoming an Awakened is only 0.6 percent.”
“I have been unlucky my entire life until I met you, Odin.”
Seong-Il passed by after tapping me on the shoulder.
The place where we arrived after a few hours was in the midst of a fierce battle. By the time we got there, there was no military formation visible, and the ongoing battle was intense. Various races, gender and ages were randomly mixed, and a number of skills and weapons were cutting into each other’s limbs. It was because the firepower between the two camps was similar. More than half of the attack squads were gone by the time we arrived, but it seemed like there were twenty attack squads at first.
Seong-Il threw the guy who rushed at us, then looked at me. I moved to a spot where I wouldn’t get dragged into combat unnecessarily. Then, I leaned against a tree.
The moment the winner or loser became clearer was when the support unit arrived. When the battle was finally over, we moved on. Everyone knew that the winner had the right to do anything. Killing the surrendered was not considered brutal unless the leader controlled it with a strict code of conduct. There was no distinction between gender and age. Killing the losers was a way to vent their anger on the enemy, who had injured them and killed their colleagues. The winner usually took away the prisoners’ items and slaughtered them.
Seong-Il was as indifferent as I was. It rather seemed important for him to block anyone running at me in advance. In fact, when a guy ran into me with a murderous look in his eyes, Seong-Il grabbed the back of his neck and threw him away like trash.
“Who is in charge?”
I spoke in English as it was the common language that the support unit used. The one in charge was a tall woman.
“We are from Revolucion. What about you?” I revealed our affiliation first.
She responded, “Cat Food Warehouse.”
That was the name of my storage box. These people were members of the force that had been established by one of the mercenaries there. Since they were directly under me, I didn’t need to sharpen the edge.
The woman quickly looked me over and turned her attention to Seong-Il.
Keuk, keuk.
She smirked as if I wasn’t worth dealing with. I could tell that she didn’t hesitate one bit. However, she carefully looked at Seong-Il. She took more time checking his appearance from head to toe as if she was looking at the injury between his chest plate. Seong-Il was armed with the A-class trophies he had obtained in the city. I wondered what impression Seong-Il gave to her. Although he looked like a commander-in-chief of a force, he must have also resembled a defeated soldier as he didn’t have any weapons or any other companion except for me.
“Did you bump into them as well?” the woman asked Seong-Il, but Seong-Il only spoke to me in Korean.
“I shouldn’t have forced Ki-Cheol to study English harder. They are so annoying.”
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
The woman asked me, “What did he say?”
I responded, “We would like to see your guild leader.”
The woman was lost in thought without saying much as if I was interpreting Seong-Il’s words.
She soon asked, “What is your position in Revolucion?”
“Mayor.”
“Okay, come with us. But… are you guys Koreans? What are your names?”
***
The woman's group was on their way down southeast, quickly collecting trophies and taking prisoners. She seemed to be happy that she had led her group to victory in her first engagement against the Frank Guild and that she had made a connection with Revolucion. When she was chatting about this with her subordinates on the back of a medium-sized Graf, we were also riding some medium-sized Grafs provided by the woman. Dozens of legs were moving hastily and their antennae were swinging front and back.
“We won’t be able to kill them with a bug-killer spray, right?” Seong-Il joked.
I responded, “They are called Grafs.”
He remarked, “They don’t look stronger than the cow heads. I thought the Minotaurs were much more powerful than these.”
The results were clear when Baclans and Grafs in the same class were put together. Baclans would stamp each joint of the Grafs with their large axes, and their power would not only break their antenna but also the shell surrounding the Grafs’ brains. As Seong-Il often opined, they would be a piece of cake for the Baclans to deal with. The Graf Corps were inferior to the Baclans, and the four other guilds must have only dealt with the Grafs in Act Two.
When I didn’t answer, Seong-Il nodded as if he figured it out by himself.
“The cow heads were strong. What do these guys worship?”
“Doom Insectum,” I responded.
Doom Insectum was the sixth-ranked Demon King, but when you looked at the message that popped up for an Explorer reward…
[...The vitality of this land goes to Doom Kaos, the souls of the deceased go to Doom Arukuda, and the land that has lost its vitality is owned by Doom Entegasto, which is how it will be forever.]
Apparently only Doom Kaos, Doom Arukuda, and Doom Entegasto were sharing the spoils that had been obtained by invading one dimension. Those below Doom Entegasto, who was third in the hierarchy of Demon Kings, gave off the impression that they were being treated as a lower class even though they were also Demon Kings.
I saw the city from a distance. It used to be the blue zone in the past, but now, it was a safe zone. I didn’t know the types of grain, but the crops that grew vigorously on the land came into my view. Then, I saw the Awakened harvesting them. The civilization was intact and abundant, and warmth started to fill Seong-Il’s face. However, his smile got bitter at one point as he must have thought that Revolucion could have been like this.
Seong-Il didn’t know. I was also uncertain, but my assumption was that the real reason why Revolucion (12)’s territory was devastated was due to the light pillar. The vitality that had to be spread out to the nearby land seemed to have been aggregated there in the form of insignia. As such, the light pillar had a formidable impact on the territory.
The woman said after stopping at the entrance of the city, “Wait here.”
[City: Bravo
Defense Level: 32
Jurisdiction: Cat Food Warehouse
Residents: 8,129 Awakened
Mayor: Mason Brown]
At that moment, I raised my Sense. Their conversation began after the woman took a breath.
“I humbled them.”
“I’ll directly report to the guild leader. Good job.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m sorry to give you another order as soon as you’ve returned. I need you to take the lead. As expected, there was an order issued to contact the northern forces without fighting against them.”
“I found out that Revolucion is in the north.”
“Ah, those dumbasses are in the north? Have you already finished the interrogation?”
“No, sir. If we recruit them into our camp rather than trying to get other forces that we are not certain about, then we will surely bring victory to the guild leader.”
“Is there anything else that you haven’t reported yet?”
“I have some good news. I have brought in a mayor-level official from Revolucion. When the skirmishes were over, they approached us first.”
“Why?”
“They said they wanted to see the guild leader.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. It’s too early to be happy. There’s not much that weaklings like them can do to survive among the strong. Okay, how many did you bring?”
“Just two. The mayor is armed enough to hold such a position, but he has no obvious weapons on him. His subordinate was not armed at all. It seems like they had a battle with the Franks before they met us. That’s why I’m confident that it is good news.”
“Are you saying that a person in a mayor position is a bronze? That’s such an absurd combination. What are their nationalities?”
“They are Koreans.”
“Korean? They are Koreans?”
“So I treated them nicely like my significant other. I even smiled at them.”
“Name! What are their names?”
“Kwon Seong-Il.”
“...Bring them in.”
The woman came back and led us into the inner room of the city hall, so we all went in through the open door. Then, a man with a harsh countenance immediately stood up as if he was being bounced from his seat. Then, a name that I hadn’t heard for a while burst out of the man’s mouth.
“Ethan!”
He held his breath for a long time, then managed to spit out a word. Then, he urgently ran toward me.
He asked while groping his chest, “D…do… you remember… me?”
However, something urgent had occurred outside. Alarms were ringing and the defense facilities were also noisy.
Someone shouted, “Coming! The Franks are coming in!”