Episode 141 Recruiting Talent (1)
"Oh, so they finally brought down Rohan? I thought they were all talk, but it seems like I was wrong."
The scorching sun, the scorching desert, the boiling air.
A man in a robe, standing on top of a rocky mountain in the southern desert, where no one dared to tread because of the extreme environment, muttered softly as he looked at the horizon.
"Yes, this is more like it. I was almost disappointed because they were so incompetent."
Those standing behind him, also wearing robes, bowed deeply at his words.
Of course, no one dared to answer, because their heads might explode if they spoke without permission.
"Then we can move on to the next stage. The continent's attention will be focused on the north for a while, so we'll be able to proceed more comfortably."
He finally turned away from the horizon.
And as he was walking towards a cave on one side of the rocky mountain, a sudden gust of wind swirled around him.
Flap, flap—
His robe billowed wildly.
And the gap between the hood of the large man at the front momentarily widened, revealing…
A magnificent flame-patterned tattoo that extended to his neck.
"Tsk, what a shitty environment."
He clicked his tongue, roughly adjusted his robe, and disappeared into the cave as if nothing had happened.
Into the cave where the 'Seed of Madness', the decisive factor in turning this continent into chaos, was hidden.
____________________
The situation in the Rohan Duchy worsened as time passed.
They were barely holding onto the area around the capital, and the country had practically lost its function.
The only fortunate thing was that the Azeria Empire was gathering troops to march north.
Troops started to gather rapidly at the northern border, which had been relatively undefended because they were focusing their forces elsewhere while the duchy was holding out.
It was a very difficult deployment for them, considering that the madness incident was also happening throughout the Empire's vast mainland…
But it was an unavoidable decision because it would be even more troublesome if they let the Rohan Duchy completely collapse.
'They say the Church's elites led by the Cardinal have already departed. They'll gather as many refugees as possible in the capital and hold out until reinforcements arrive.'
The Empire was also trying to hurry as much as possible, but it inevitably took a lot of time for an army to move.
Naturally, the casualties would increase during that time.
The Main God Church, which was trying to minimize the number of victims, thought that was the best method.
'Heinrich… won't be able to intervene for now. They're already busy with the continental allied force and the hero party, and the hero, the Immortal King's only opponent, can't leave his post.'
If it was just a small number of powerful individuals who invaded, it would be a different story, but it would take a long time to reclaim a territory overrun by monsters.
Even if he intervened, it would probably be after the gate at the Rohan temple was repaired and transportation became smoother.
And as the continent was caught in chaos and upheaval,
Finally,
[Hmm— I didn't expect things to turn out like this. Those guys are experts at popping up from somewhere and causing trouble, no matter how many I catch.]
Immortal King Hans reappeared in the Auterica Dimension.
'Something always seems to happen whenever I leave.'
Of course, it must be his imagination, but he couldn't help but be concerned that he couldn't immediately respond to such major incidents, like the Ufersh Clan's invasion and the current situation.
'I should avoid summoning the avatars to Earth for now. "Individual Projection" can now be maintained for an hour.'
He didn't know what might happen or how it might happen in this chaotic situation.
Especially since those cockroach-like Oath of Heaven's Defiance bastards seemed to have started moving in earnest, he had to be prepared for the smooth progression of 'Home Theater'.
'…No, wait, this pisses me off. Why do I have to worry about those bastards?'
He just wanted to peacefully direct 'the Demon King who seeks to conquer the continent and the hero who opposes him', but those guys kept making things bigger.
He had been able to manage it somehow so far, but the very existence of a variable that didn't follow his control was unsettling.
'Once I'm done with this, I'll have to deal with them more seriously. Hans will have to personally intervene this time.'
He hadn't suffered any major damage, and in fact, he only had memories of crushing them like bugs…
But that wasn't important.
The important thing was that they were interfering with his plans.
'Whew… But for now, let's start by building a base in the Northern Mountains.'
Just as Hans was about to summon his executives and give them orders,
Banshee Queen Olivia, who had been continuously working on other tasks and wasn't even summoned during the cathedral raid, brought information that piqued his interest.
[I've cross-referenced the information you gave me before… with the information obtained from the executive we recently captured… and investigated the most likely locations…]
The elite unit that tried to infiltrate Talaria under the orders of the one who manipulated the Ufersh Clan and Old Man, the Tulk Kingdom branch manager of Oath of Heaven's Defiance.
And the results of their ongoing investigation.
She had gathered all the information she could, including newly obtained information and existing information, and succeeded in narrowing down the possible range.
What followed was, as always, a thorough investigation using ghosts.
[And during that process… I discovered that… there's someone related… among those I've been watching…]
What followed was a swift process.
[Azeria Empire, Tobea City near the capital…]
It was one of the imperial territories surrounding Jeron, the capital of the Empire located in the center of the continent.
It was a major city, almost the size of a metropolis, as it was a transportation hub.
[The high-ranking executive of Oath of Heaven's Defiance… who manipulated the Ufersh Clan… is there…]
Her obsessive persistence, bordering on obsession, finally caught the suspects in her sights.
[Oh— Good work, Olivia. So they were hiding in the Empire?]
[That is correct… Your Majesty…]
He had been annoyed by them, so it wouldn't be bad to stop by there before going to the Northern Mountains.
Since the Empire and the duchy were close, there was a high probability that they were connected to the ones who caused this incident.
…Or they might even be the ones involved.
[How dare they hide behind the scenes and pull the strings. This time, I'll personally drag them out.]
And so, Immortal King Hans, who had been waiting for this moment,
Started to move.
____________________
"Something's strange. Definitely strange."
A young man with dirty blonde hair muttered to himself as he paced back and forth inside a luxurious room.
He ruffled his hair in frustration, then collapsed onto an armchair and took a deep breath.
"Whew— No, I must be overreacting."
Andrew Weber, an awakened one from Earth who belonged to the evil organization 'Oath of Heaven's Defiance' that dreamed of overturning the world, sank deep into the chair and closed his eyes tightly.
He was tasked with monitoring the movements of various places under the orders of Siana, a high-ranking executive, but his nerves were on edge because of the various ominous signs detected by his unique skill, "Trajectory Observation".
'What the hell is going on?'
First, the Ufersh Clan, which started to act strangely after heading to Talaria.
He couldn't directly see the battle between them and the Brokoslack Clan because observing Sacred Bloods was beyond his abilities.
'But something definitely happened.'
After all, the reinforcements Siana sent disappeared without a trace.
And he couldn't even find out the reason because they seemed to have gotten involved with a high-level being he couldn't observe.
'Their tracks were suddenly cut off while they were on their way to Talaria. …Could it be that Brokoslack's Sacred Blood was there?'
He couldn't grasp anything for sure, as if a black curtain had fallen before his eyes, so everything was a mystery.
How the battle between the two clans ended, who was currently blocking his vision in Talaria, what happened to the people Siana sent.
He didn't know anything.
'…It's been a while since I felt this helpless. No, this is even worse than before.'
He hadn't felt this frustrated even when his unique skill was at a lower level.
Back then, he didn't have many chances to get involved with beings of that level, and even if there was something he couldn't see, he would just accept his limitations and give up.
But now that he had significantly enhanced his skill by investing a massive amount of Karma and was full of confidence and ambition, he was faced with this situation…
"This is… annoying."
And that wasn't the only thing he couldn't understand.
The unidentified barbarian who was currently active at the Iron Fortress in the north of the Tulk Kingdom.
When he first learned about the party that returned from the Northern Mountains, he had suspected that they had received a secret mission and brought back a powerful individual who was hiding in the mountains.
Whether the target was the Dwarf, who was the superficial goal, or someone else entirely, that would explain the anomaly detected by "Trajectory Observation".
'But that wasn't it. They really did receive a Dwarf rescue request and went to the mountains. The strange one is that barbarian.'
He was too different when he entered and left the mountains to be explained by going through trials and growing.
It was to the point where he wondered if they were even the same person.
His level was still blurring his vision, making it impossible to see him clearly.
'He briefly disappeared from the Iron Fortress… perhaps because he moved somewhere through the temple.'
But he could only assume that he had moved somewhere through the temple, he couldn't track his exact movements.
'That barbarian, he's definitely something. The energy clash detected in the Northern Mountains is most likely that of the Immortal King and a dragon. But someone who just went to the mountains suddenly became that strong? And he's even using dragon's power?'
It was difficult to directly observe 'Harley', the barbarian, but he was steadily gathering information through the rumors spreading around him.
And he was even able to find out that he was a 'Dragonborn', a very rare race…
'No, something smells fishy. The difference between when he entered the mountains and when he left, the gap in between. What's the cause?'
It was an illogical thought, lacking evidence and reasoning, but his highly developed intuition kept reminding him of the dissonance.
But any assumption was meaningless without information to support it.
After all… who would imagine that the barbarian had joined forces with the Immortal King, the continent's calamity, to hunt down and devour a Mad Dragon?
He would be lucky if he wasn't called crazy.
"Ugh, let's just ignore this for now. It's not an urgent issue."
He was keeping an eye on it because it was related to the order he received from the organization, but he didn't have to delve into it because it wasn't directly related to him.
He felt uneasy ignoring it, but there was a more important issue.
"I'm sure of it. These guys, it's not a coincidence. They're tracking Oath of Heaven's Defiance… us."
The immortal army's organized movements were proof of that.
Andrew had reported it to Siana after sensing the anomaly a while ago.
And since it was directly related to him, he had been keeping a close eye on them…
'They're moving from the west to the center.'
His intuition, which he prided himself on being sharp, was constantly ringing alarm bells, and he felt a chill down his spine from the mounting anxiety.
But Andrew tried to objectively analyze the situation.
'They're approaching the central region, but they're still coming from the outskirts. I'm in the heart of the Empire, so it'll take them a considerable amount of time to get here.'
He sensed an ominous sign, but it wasn't something he had to act on immediately.
And the place he was at wasn't a hidden organization like the other branches, it was a proper noble's mansion in the Empire.
'…But I can't just stay here. I should tell Sister Siana and come up with a plan.'
His instincts were constantly warning him of an unknown danger, but he prioritized rational thinking and calmly considered his future course of action.
Dismissing the feeling he was currently experiencing as just an overreaction.
'Tsk, I should lay low for a while. It'll be boring for a while.'
Andrew, who had convinced himself, opened a bottle of whiskey on the table and poured it down his throat.
Only after the strong alcohol, which burned his esophagus, went down did he finally feel at ease, and his sense of crisis gradually subsided.
Unaware that it was already too late to be careful,
Ghosts were gathering around the mansion where he was hiding.