About a week had passed since I arrived on Chinese soil.
During that week, I was running around like a headless chicken trying to locate and clean up the branches of the Death Cult.
Finding them wasn’t that hard.
The branches of the Death Cult were reasonably well-hidden.
They were located in an area with a mana wave that was a complete disaster and the facilities themselves had quite a high level of concealment.
Any typical detection-type superhuman would have had a tough time searching.
Of course, that didn’t mean they could completely avoid the powers of observation.
Frankly, even without needing to bring up observation, following the traces of mana could allow one to identify the general location.
Roaming around various places in China, I ambushed and took out the branches.
I took care of the bastards residing there, and if there were any who were dragged along as offerings, I rescued them.
That’s how I spent roughly the last week.
In that time, I had organized over 50 branches.
Considering that there were hundreds of branches of the Death Cult in the original story, I could say I’d made quite a dent.
– Hoo…
A sigh filled with fatigue escaped me.
My body was pretty exhausted. I hadn’t slept even once during the week. I had almost no time to rest.
I kept expanding my observational range while running up and down.
When I found a branch, I measured the facilities and power before barging in.
I got injured a few times in the process, but they were wounds that healed quickly thanks to my natural recovery ability without needing to consume potions.
Immediately after cleaning up the branch and finishing the aftercare, I dashed off to find another branch.
It was a schedule that could be described as a forced march.
Both my body and mind felt the fatigue.
But it wasn’t an impossible schedule.
Even though I was tired, my overall power wasn’t diminished.
I could maintain a schedule like this for at least another month.
“Ugh…”
Just as I was heaving deep sighs.
My body suddenly swayed up and down.
A pained groan also came from below.
I tapped the thing sitting on the ground.
A massive man with limbs twisted in strange angles and covered in wounds.
It was the guy I knocked out earlier.
There were several more around in a similar state.
About twenty or so.
‘This branch was quite a large one.’
The power of each branch varied.
Weak ones could be taken care of easily, like the first branch I attacked, but larger ones required intense caution for a successful ambush.
This place was relatively significant.
I stood up after dusting off my backside and kicked over the fallen guy.
“Quack!” He made a sound like a frog as he flipped over, and a necklace hung around his neck.
It was an honor necklace awarded by the association to high-ranking heroes.
‘A retired high-ranking hero, huh…’
Checking the date, it was a necklace awarded at least 20 years ago.
High-ranking hero.
Not something you just get by playing around.
He must have been a hero prideful of his skills when he was active.
Of course, now he was just a shambling thug with a frail body.
‘Let’s see…’
My body that had been fired up from the battle began to cool down appropriately.
First, I cleaned the area and freed those trapped underground.
They were also in iron cages, after all.
Since they were also from the same sect, the ritual facilities for offerings were mostly similar.
“Th-thank you…! Really, thank you…!”
This was quite a sizable branch. Naturally, there were many civilians captured to be used as sacrifices.
Once most of them were released from the iron cages, they wept and expressed their gratitude, relieved to have escaped with their lives.
Their appearance was truly pitiful.
Their clothes resembled rags, and their bodies were so gaunt their bones were visible.
Those outside were barely scraping by, but those captured here had gone through severe hardships.
‘……’
Feeling complex emotions about that, I took out some soup from my spatial pouch and heated it up to share with them.
I had plenty of emergency rations like bread, jerky, and energy bars, but those weren’t things they could enjoy right away.
The ones who had just been freed from being kidnapped gulped as they watched the soup heating, and as soon as they got their hands on it, they devoured it ravenously.
I had purposely warmed it up just enough to eat comfortably.
At first, I warmed it so that steam was rising, but seeing them burn their mouths in their eagerness made me switch to a cooler temperature.
After filling their stomachs enough so they wouldn’t die from hunger.
I intended to send those with a place to return to back home, and take proper measures for those with nowhere to go, and then set off to find another branch of the Death Cult.
‘… A fulfillment of self-satisfaction, at most…’
I felt a bit conflicted.
Letting out a deep sigh, I shook my head.
While dealing with the Death Cult, I was consistently undertaking rescue operations.
In truth, these were issues I couldn’t avoid.
The Death Cult itself was fulfilling its resources using humans as sacrifices.
It was only natural that rescuing humans who were to be offered while exterminating the Death Cult was a part of the process.
‘This should be quite a hindrance for them.’
The Death Cult was unable to actively secure sacrifices.
More precisely, they couldn’t openly appear to kidnap people for offerings on the surface.
If they acted boldly, the association would intervene and lead an extermination squad without hesitation.
If that happened, their plans would be entirely ruined, so they proceeded by hiding underground and gathering sacrifices little by little.
In the midst of all this, a slippery fish like me barges in and wrecks the branches at breakneck speed.
The leader must be so furious by now that he’s spun a few times from rage.
‘The timing is perfect too.’
In the original story, right around now was the best time to come in, stir the pot, and slip away.
The chances of a player confronting and defeating the leader were slim, but it was the perfect moment to disrupt their plans.
By wreaking some havoc now and adequately smashing up a few branches, the Death Cult’s plans would at least be delayed by a year.
By then, I could come in officially through external operations from Shio-ram and take out the leader.
Of course, there were times when things didn’t go according to plan.
Like when someone miscalculated and the infuriated leader directly came looking for the player.
‘Hmm…’
I briefly recalled the fighting power of the Death Cult’s leader.
The leader’s unique ability was necromancy.
And since he already secured some level of troops, he’s quite a tricky foe to deal with.
The forces would definitely be quite a handful for me at this point.
Even managing to bypass the troops to confront the leader directly would be a tough challenge since the leader himself is quite a powerful individual.
Only the 11th generation Diamond Warrior has been able to leisurely handle the Death Cult’s leader so far.
‘Can I take him on now?’
Currently, I was concealing my power to keep my identity hidden.
I was mainly using my legs to hide my single arm, and I had sealed my elemental magic to prevent others from easily identifying me.
Using magic moderately and deliberately altering the color of my aura to a blood-red hue.
If I were to directly confront the leader?
It wouldn’t necessarily be an unfavorable battlefield.
The fact that the leader came to search for me meant that he had given up his advantages at his base to come looking.
Of course, if he brought along his necromancers from the Cult, things would be different…
‘… I won’t be annihilated.’
I wouldn’t die without being able to fight back at the very least.
At this stage, I had no reason to get killed, given that the two-headed dragon had yet to be resurrected.
If I found myself in a dire situation, I could use other means to fight, and if I truly thought I was going to die, I could escape with an emergency teleport.
Whether the leader came looking for me or not.
In any case, it wasn’t my concern.
I could just smash things up and warp their plans, gaining enough practical combat experience in the process. While it’s not particularly pleasant, I’d also gain experience with necromancy.
Then I would pump some mana at the Lake of Mana, obtain the proof of guardianship, and head back.
‘Besides, the Taesan Clan is also stirring things up.’
Even though it’s called a gray area, it’s still a place where people live.
As such, some information circulates.
Among that, there were rumors that members of the Taesan Clan were rummaging through the land, including heretic cults and other forces.
What’s more, the heir of Taesan, Choi Ji-yeon, was reportedly directly involved in leading.
This was something that had never happened before in the original story.
For reasons unknown, the Taesan Clan was among the forces they were stirring.
On one side, a mysterious slippery fish is blowing up branches, and on the other side, a massive force called Taesan is rampaging through the area.
It must be utterly maddening for the Death Cult.
– Squeak…
“?”
Just then, a child approached and tugged at the hem of my robe.
With green eyes and tangled brown hair.
Even though they were wearing ragged clothes, their distinct features stood out.
They looked to be about elementary school age, and they were one of the children who had almost been sacrificed.
I had saved them by the skin of my teeth.
If I had been just a few minutes late, they would have been no longer of this world.
As they pulled at my robe, wondering what they wanted, the child held up an empty plate.
It was clearly the bowl that held soup, now spotless and washed clean.
“… Can I have a little more?”
Grumble…
As soon as the sentence ended, a belly growl echoed.
Even having emptied the bowl in an instant, it seemed their hunger wasn’t satisfied yet.
‘That makes sense.’
They were at an age where they eat a lot, and having been trapped in that place for an unknown number of days, it was only natural.
– Nodding
I nodded silently and filled the bowl with more soup.
.
.
.
The next day.
The appearance of one side of my observational range was quite unique.
The entrance of a cave with complicated, twisted dungeon walls.
And as if trying to hide those walls, there was a dreamy mist clinging to the space.
I had finally discovered the Lake of Mana.
*
“This is Team 1. Reception is good, no issues. All teams, please report.”
Choi Ji-yeon tapped her smartwatch. Her voice was transmitted through the smartwatch to each team.
[Team 2, reception is good, no issues.]
[Team 3, reception is good, no issues.]
“… Confirmed. Report immediately if there are any unusual occurrences.”
The clear replies came back without delay.
Choi Ji-yeon’s expression darkened.
There were no casualties.
That was very fortunate, but there were also no results.
She checked again out of curiosity, but didn’t receive the desired responses.
“Hah…”
After finishing the report, the microphone fell silent.
Choi Ji-yeon sighed heavily.
As her head tipped back in frustration, the gloomy sky filled her vision.
Dark clouds were piled up, shrouding the sunlight.
The area was already in poor condition.
With the weather being like this, it truly looked like a wasteland.
Despite being a place where people lived, it felt utterly desolate.
Once again, she let out a sigh as she felt the mixed gazes of vigilance and fear directed at her as an outsider.
‘Where on earth could they be…’
About ten days ago, a child from the Taesan Clan went missing.
It was a child from a fairly influential branch, and the last known location had been around here.
Following that, rescue teams were dispatched on the same day they went missing.
Among those rescue members was heir Choi Ji-yeon herself.
Being the heir, she was naturally responsible for leading Search Team 1 as they roamed this godforsaken land for over ten days.
Throughout that time, she had searched high and low but hadn’t found a single clue.
‘It’s just too vast…’
More than ten days had passed like this.
If it was the malice of someone or a specific force behind the kidnapping… the chances of survival were growing slimmer by the hour.
But that didn’t mean she could simply stop searching after just ten days.
Most importantly, if they had already lost their life, she needed to unearth the perpetrators and take them down.
‘What a way to ruin my vacation…’
“Break time is over, we’re resuming the search.”
Choi Ji-yeon declared the resumption of the search with a snap of her fingers after a brief break.
– Clap!
The lively sound echoed everywhere.
As the sound waves dissipated, Ji-yeon’s mana surged forth, growing in size, and dozens of shards were severed from the surface.
– Woooo…
From dozens of mana shards came a sound that echoed like a sorrowful ghost crying.
Soon, the mana shards swelled up, almost as if they were soaked in water, becoming the size of a human head.
They resembled shadowy wisps of light woven from dark threads.
Her unique ability, a basic form of necromancy, was manipulated through her heritage.
“Begin the search.”
With her command, dozens of spirits spread out in all directions.
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