Zich watched his disciples leave. They still looked stunned by the sudden news, but Zich thought their stomps carried enough weight and power to pioneer a new future going forward.
‘I’m sure they will do well.’ Zich thought. After all, they were the disciples of himself and Lyla. Hans and Snoc were the guys he had raised and built from the very foundation by bringing them around to places for a long time. Combined with their natural talent and his merciless training, the two had grown so well that they wouldn’t lose to most strong fighters. Elena and Lara hadn’t traveled with him for as long, but there was no need to worry about them either.
Lara was already half-established when she joined the party. Despite Glen’s coercion and thanks to Hans’ advice, she hadn’t let go of the sword that brought her talents out to the fullest. Furthermore, she had built her skills through systematic training since she was young and possessed outstanding talent, as shown by how fast she had grown with only a little guidance here and there from Zich. It was the same for Elena. Although she couldn’t use any magic when they first met, her fundamentals were also solid. The magic she studied under Walwiss’ disapproving gazes acted as a sturdy foundation for her growth and brought about tremendous progress combined with her natural talent and Lyla’s mentorship.
‘From now on, individual research and contemplation are more important than education.’ It was what Lyla had told him when the topic of Elena came up in their conversation some time ago. From the way she spoke, it seemed like Lyla was contemplating Elena’s independence.
‘If that’s not the case, then we can just get Elena to come back,’ Zich thought. Although Lyla might criticize him, and his disciples might look at him with astonishment, Zich wasn’t the type of person to be affected by such things. Furthermore, Zich could also claim to be Elena’s master since he had been in charge of her practical education.
After organizing his thoughts, Zich turned around and walked toward his room. The information Lyla sent him kept floating around in his head, and he needed to organize it.
‘This guy is starting to make his move too.’ Zich chuckled as he recalled Ultel’s scrunched-up face.
* * *
Ultel was making plans with his closest aides. After racking their brains as much as possible and pushing everything else off the table, Ultel was able to make his decision.
“We will use all our forces to launch a large-scale invasion.” All his subordinates stared at Ultel.
“Are you planning to target Zich Moore, sir?”
“To be exact, I am also targeting Zich Moore.”
“Please give us a detailed explanation, sir.”
“It’s certain that Zich Moore regressed. It’s also clear that he’s connected to the regression ability being rendered inoperable. To fix the system, we first have to capture that guy. But can we guarantee that we would be able to fix the system by simply capturing him?”
His subordinates couldn’t answer. This was a system so complex that even Ultel couldn’t fully comprehend; naturally, his subordinates knew even less.
“If we can’t fix the system and recover the regression ability, then we have to complete our goal in this timeline.”
“But we aren’t ready yet, sir. We don’t have much information either.”
Ultel played with his thoughts when his subordinates brought up the topic of how much information they had. It pained him tremendously that the Core had escaped. He had let the situation worsen up to this point, thinking that the Core would return to her original position if time regressed again. It was the same for the other preparations he had made for his goal. If he had gathered enough information to his satisfaction, Ultel would’ve personally regressed and drawn up his forces so that it would be easier to meet his goal. Yet, all of his forces were currently organized in disruptive ways for the purpose of supporting that idiot Glen Zenard’s ‘perfect life.’
“It can’t be helped. Even if we have to adjust our goal, we have to move now.” Ultel looked at the table in front of him. There was a map with detailed drawings of their headquarters and the neighboring countries.
“We will gather all our forces and attack the Cronon Kingdom.” Ultel pointed at the Cronon Kingdom that was a short distance away from the lake on the map.
“What will you do if Zich Moore is not there, sir? According to that buffoon, Zich Moore only returned to the Steelwall Estate recently and he usually wanders around the world. He could move again.”
“We have to chase after him as much as possible. However, I’m not going to place my troops on him meaninglessly whenever he’s spotted.” Ultel raised a pen and drew a line around the small countries between the Cronon Kingdom and the other kingdoms around their headquarters.
“If we miss Zich Moore, we will first collect information about him and secure this area.” Ultel drew another line that encompassed an even larger territory than before. “After we stabilize the occupied territory, our army will march to this area. Considering our current forces, we can occupy this much land.”
Although the organization had a giant hole in its information network after Lyla’s escape, it wasn’t like they had lost all information from past regressions. Before Glen regressed, Ultel still possessed the information he gained while regressing in his head and he still had a lot of information he took from Lyla at the beginning of his research about regressions. There was also information Glen gave him while thinking that he was the only one who knew information about regressions.
Ultel’s subordinates gulped while looking at the territories Ultel circled. “As you say master, it really is a sizable territory that can only be invaded by mobilizing all our troops.”
“Yes, it’s as I said.”
“If we use so many of our troops, the defenses around this island will decrease significantly. Would that be all right, sir?”
Ultel knew there was no way that would be fine. Although he didn’t say it aloud, that was what worried him the most.
‘There’s no way Zich Moore also knows about this island,’ Ultel thought. After the issues about losing the system’s core and losing the regression ability, Ultel’s most pressing questions were how many times Zich regressed and how much information he knew. Although Ultel had thoroughly hidden all information about the island, he couldn’t deny the possibility that Zich was also aware of the island’s location. What had allowed them to control the world at their will was acting as their greatest weakness now.
However, there was not much Ultel could do regarding this matter. Ultel continued, “There are defensive mechanisms for the island and the main base, so I’ll have to trust that they will do a sufficient job. Even if those defenses didn’t exist, it’s better to try and at least do something than waste our time shivering in fear inside the main base. Rather than hiding and rotting away, I’d rather get pierced by an arrow and die.”
“I understand, sir.” His master was determined and full of resolve; any further mention of concerns would be meddling and overstepping his boundaries.
“Zich Moore said he was living a kind life with his own mouth, right? If that’s true, there’s a good chance that he’ll come directly to the battlefield in the event of a massive invasion like this.”
After their future direction was set, Ultel and his aides began to talk about the details of their invasion. They talked about how to successfully invade in a short amount of time with the least amount of damage to them as possible. Like this, the conspiracy between Ultel and his subordinates deepened.
* * *
‘These guys are planning an extremely bold move.’ As soon as Ultel found out that the regression system had been cut off and their information was leaked, they planned to launch a massive invasion with all of their forces. As expected, the real mastermind was on a completely different level than that fake mastermind or hero idiot.
‘Let me see. What troops can they mobilize?’ Zich began to list them off one by one. ‘First of all, since Ultel is the Bellid pope, they can mobilize the Bellids.’ Just this alone was a considerable force, but from the information that Lyla sent him, Zich knew that the Bellids were only a fraction of the forces that Ultel was capable of mobilizing.
‘And the robed figures.’ Even though they turned into an organization that only worked to accomplish conspiracies and manipulated the situation to satisfy Glen Zenard’s wishes, they were not a force to be taken lightly.
‘Will they be able to mobilize the demon people?’ It was much too early for the world to enter the era of the demon people, in which various demon people wreaked havoc all over the world. Thus, in other words, whether they successfully created a demon person or not, the existence of a demon person was most likely extremely rare. Moreover, since demon people existed only as sacrifices to increase Glen’s reputation, the robed figures had neither the intentions to control demon people, nor the ability to do so. Therefore, it was extremely unlikely that demon people would be part of their invasion plan. However, this didn’t completely erase their threat.
‘They could create demon people faster than planned and send them out.’ Ultel and his subordinates could use those demon people to cause internal chaos in the countries they were planning to invade. Moreover, all the special items that created demon people were part of Clowon’s ruins; Ultel could give his subordinates the items instead and make them demon people instead as well.
‘No, he’ll definitely do that.’ True to his thoughts, Ultel and his subordinates were talking about this exact topic in their current meeting.
Zich continued thinking. ‘They can mobilize monsters as well.’
The Pyramid of Vengeful Souls and the power that allowed Serpina and the experiment to control monsters all belonged to the Clowon Empire. From now on, Ultel and his subordinates would begin gathering a huge army of monsters.
‘Above all, they have the World Tree’s mana.’ Compared to the World Tree’s mana, the previous forces that Zich just listed were of little concern. Of course, Ultel did not immediately pull out the World Tree’s mana and use it for himself. It was all because he hadn’t given up hope that he could restore the regression ability. However, if he was pushed into a corner, he would definitely use the World Tree’s mana.
‘Looking at it like this, it’s really an enormous force.’ It was a force that could easily trample one or two countries. ‘However, this is only the case if they successfully gather all their forces without any accidents.’
Zich planned to do his absolute best to hinder all of Ultel’s plans.
‘I can’t attack their main base right now, so I should first cut off their arms and legs that are spread outside.’ Zich finished deciding what action he should take; it was now time for him to begin moving.
Soon after, Zich passed Violsa’s main gate. The sky was clear, and it felt as if it was blessing Zich’s future. He had already said his goodbyes to the others, and every single one of them was sad to separate, especially his disciples who were beginning to pioneer their own paths. As he was walking on the road, Zich suddenly looked to his side. The only thing he could see was a wide field; there were no longer any of the faces that he had grown so used to seeing.
‘How long has it been since I traveled alone?’ After his regression, there had been times when he completed missions or tasks alone, but it was his first time traveling alone.
‘I definitely feel like something is missing. I must have grown really used to them.’ However, this wasn’t a bad feeling. ‘If I saw myself before I regressed, I would have spit on myself or swung a sword to come back to my senses.’
Zich chuckled. However, there wasn’t time for him to walk leisurely like this since there were a great number of fools waiting to be killed by his sword.
‘I got all the information I need. Now, depending on how much of their forces I knock out, I’ll have less trouble defeating them in the future.’ He needed to move diligently with that in mind. Zich gathered mana in his legs. Thanks to the Key That Distorts Destiny, mana gathered inside his legs at a rapid speed.
Bam! A loud noise followed, and dust blew everywhere. When the dust finally settled, Zich’s figure was no longer visible on the road.
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