Chapter 273
Before long, the Frank Guild discovered that Commander Bale and his crew, who had headed for Revolucion (12), were dead. In addition, the entire Courage Corps had gone down. Furthermore, the Cat Food Warehouse had captured more than half of the Pierrette Corps, which had joined as support troops. Their frontline stretched from Revolucion in the north to Cat Food Warehouse in the east, and their current situation was serious.
A person reported, “We couldn’t enter as a huge curtain was blocking the way. When the curtain disappeared… it was empty as if nothing had happened.”
This world had always been weird, but this scenario was especially strange.
The report continued, “The city was named ‘Death Upon Unauthorized Occupation.’”
The Frank Guild executives couldn’t break the stifling silence. Although no one expected that Bale would die in vain, it was understandable. However, nothing could logically explain how Cat Food Warehouse had captured nearly ten thousand guild members in a few hours. According to the person who had returned from there, there was no sign of engagement and not a drop of blood had been spilled.
The first person to speak up was Jeanne, the commander of the Pierrette Corps.
“It’s not me.”
She said to those who paid attention to her.
“What do you mean it’s not you?”
No one knew what had happened in the gigantic membrane. However, the fact that there were no traces of combat made it obvious that a betrayal had occurred.
“Think about it, I just lost half of my corps. You guys are doubting the wrong person,” she hurriedly said to Indra, who was clearly doing some dangerous thinking for her.
She continued to plead, “Great Indra, it’s not me. Please trust me. I know nothing about how this all happened. All I did was follow the guild’s instructions and sent the elite guild members as reinforcements.”
Indra didn't reply. Her rivals began to attack her, smelling blood.
One person sneered. “Most of the people above you are now missing. Do you not know what that means?”
Another opined, “They were determined to betray us from the beginning, so what’s their bottom line? Not much would have changed even if you were there.”
The emergency meeting was coming to an end, and the group had concluded that Pierrette had betrayed Indra. With one betrayal, the power structure of the first and second lines was reversed. They didn’t know what the Cat Food Warehouse had promised in return for that, but…
On a serene sea, everyone was a great captain. In fact, the commanders of the Frank Guild led each city well and had completed Act Two, Stage One with the highest accomplishments. However, a typhoon was now raging in the night sea, so they realized that arguing pointlessly was doing them no good.
The executives of the guild looked at Indra. Then, he got up. After a while, he returned fully armed. He usually kept quiet, but he now suddenly said, “We cannot maintain the central area.”
Clear confusion and alarm appeared on everyone’s faces. Indra had made a bold decision. The Frank Guild was to move to the northern region, the starting territory of the weakest camp Revolucion, after destroying all defensive structures in the central area.
***
There was still a lot of time left before Act Two began, so Indra planned to merge Revolucion into his guild and then crouch in the north. Once the Cat Food Warehouse entered the central area and began to have conflicts with the World Awakened Association and New Triad in the process of exerting authority as the most powerful force, that would be his opportunity to hit them.
Indra looked calm. He was expressionless, but the muscles twitching under his eyes hinted at how uncomfortable he was.
[City: Death Upon Unauthorized Occupation
Defense Level: 1
Jurisdiction: Revolucion (12)
Residents: 0 Awakened
Mayor: Kwon Seong-Il]
It was an abandoned city, but it was this same city that had taken away one of his most trusted subordinates. Indra approached Bale’s body, which had been recovered. His subordinate’s head had been sliced off his neck, and his entire body had traces that showed that he had been brutally beaten. Bugs were crawling over Bale’s corpse and gouging into the wounds. It seemed like he had been hit by a powerful force on his face, and there were handprints clearly embedded on his tattered ankles. It looked like someone had swung him by grabbing his ankles.
Unlike the appalling appearance of the rest of the body, the cut in Bale’s neck was impeccably neat. The street still held traces of violent fighting that had occurred then. That meant there was a person in Revolucion who could defeat Bale and his offensive team alone, who was likely to be the head of the guild.
Did he choose a skill for the challenger box? Did he secure resources to increase the Proficiency Level of his skill like I did?
It didn’t matter to him as he believed nothing could be more powerful than Indra’s Blade, which specialized in targeting a single victim. It honed onto the target immediately and didn’t stop until the target was completely torn into pieces. Never! Although it had a lightning attribute, it was stronger than any death-related skill.
Indra had a strong conviction that no matter what skill Revolucion’s guild leader had obtained from the challenger box, the proficiency level of his own skill was superior to anyone else’s. Moreover, he thought that making comparisons were meaningless as he believed that the Revolucion’s guild leader level would be substantially lower than his. Indra was planning to merge Revolucion into his guild in a classic way through a duel. That would avoid senseless casualties on both sides. Of course, he was confident that he’d win the battle.
Soon after, a Revolucion guild member was dragged in front of Indra. He had been caught in the safe zone in a neighboring city. However, another peculiar thing had occurred. Instead of being scared after being captured by the enemy, this guy was more concerned by the fact he had been forced to enter Death Upon Unauthorized Occupation.
Indra’s subordinate reported, “He is begging us to send him out of this city, and he only repeats that this city is off limits.”
Even from Indra’s perspective, the guy was so desperate that it was impossible to have a conversation. Then, Indra soon noticed that there was a particular word that came out of the guy’s mouth that likely meant the owner of the city although no one had translated it. Odin. Odin. Odin. It could have been another name for Kwon Seong-Il, who was designated as a mayor, like the way he himself had started to use the name ‘Indra.’
“Kwon Seong-Il is Odin’s henchman, and this is Odin’s residential city. They consider Odin a savior,” the subordinate explained.
As the interrogation continued, Indra got a better idea of what Revolucion was.
Was that why?
Revolucion had to have been a religion, and that was why duplicate numbers were given, like the World Awakened Association. Although it wasn't a famous emerging religion like Scientology, their congregation must have spread around the outside world enough to become a group in the Stage of Advent.
People wandered in search of an absolute savior regardless of the times and environment. The claims that religions were derived from gods, matters, and natural phenomena had a thread of connection. People who followed these religions all believed that their mind and body would be healed if they followed the doctrine and that a savior would appear and lead the believers when the world came to an end.
In other words, the real center of Revolucion was Odin, not the guild leader. The guild leader was just like a chief priest.
“Odin must have seemed like a savior of their doctrine in their eyes.”
Jeanne stared at the Revolucion guy with contempt. From her perspective, he was a horrible fanatic as he was looking for ways to reinforce his faith in this hellhole. Revolucion’s religious guides were expanding the denomination even in the Stage of Advent. Jeanne shuddered as she imagined the day when these fanatics would return to the outside society. Since then, she led the interrogation with an interpreter. Every time the guy’s eyes turned white, she ordered a healer to make him come to his senses.
Their eschatology originated from the evil god ‘Doom Kaos’ who commanded the six demons under him. The alien civilizations that invaded the earth were under Doom Kaos and the six kings’ control, and it was not much different from the apocalyptic scenario displayed in Revelation to John in the Catholic Bible. There was nothing particular to note in their doctrine. The story of the advent of disasters that would destroy the world and the arrival of a savior was not remarkable at all.
The rumors that the savior had saved the System and that the savior was dealing with Doom Kaos alone only exaggerated fake divinity. Everyone knew that the System had naturally fixed itself, but these fanatics didn’t believe that. This group was more terrible than the cases where criminal organizations had taken control of guilds.
Jeanne thought that merging with them was a huge problem. The fanatics were good at spreading false information, and she decided that they would never be able to assimilate into the Frank Guild since they were persistent with their beliefs.
Guild officials’ faces became more gloomy as the interrogation reached the end. If they knew that Revolucion was such a religious zealot group, they would have done their best to convince the Great Indra to change his decision no matter how urgent the situation was.
***
They decided to stay in the city for a day before advancing to Revolucion’s general denomination, the City of Savior. While Indra’s army rested between the destroyed buildings on the nasty streets, Jeanne entered the city hall building.
Since the name of the city was only used to warn people, taking ownership of the city was easy as there were zero defensive troops there. There was nothing in the office. Since there was no furniture, the signs embedded on the empty floor were noticeable.
Jeanne thought the city definitely seemed like they had barely completed Act Two, Stage One. She stepped on the large sign consisting of geometric shapes like an insignia on the floor.
[Until the occupation: 9 minutes 59 seconds]
[Until the occupation: 9 minutes 58 seconds]
The timer on the window began to count down.
[Until the occupation: 9 minutes 57 seconds]
Exactly three seconds after she stepped on the pattern, a colorful group of lights that started as a single ray grew and pierced her eyes. She blinked suddenly. This wasn’t a bunch of lights that were created during the occupation process.
“Keuk!”
An abrupt shock made her collapse, and something was pressing down on her body. An irresistible pressure was suffocating her. When the light disappeared, Jeanne was lying on the floor. The notification messages stating that her protective barrier had vanished and that her items were destroyed popped up on her window.
However, she couldn’t read anything. She couldn’t breathe and her vision became blurry. The only things she could see clearly were the two eyes that were looking down at her. She didn’t know what was going on, but had a strong intuition that the original owner of the city had returned! The guy that the cult madly worshiped!