The vast underground cavern beneath Redmilk was home to what could only be described as a deranged cult.
Technically, Hiaka granted freedom of religion, so you couldn’t legally label them a cult.
But the atmosphere was undeniably that of one.
Hundreds—perhaps over a thousand—hooded figures were chanting hymns like, “Humanity shall be ruled♪♬.”
The real problem was the object of their worship.
“The Domination Star❆...?”
Hung behind the preacher’s podium was a massive snowflake-shaped emblem.
“...That’s me, isn’t it?”
I was genuinely taken aback.
I’d written off Kaiser’s “let’s play pretend” thing as just their little in-group amusement.
Apparently, I was wrong.
“Repeat after me. My savior, my light, the sole order guiding my life—Domination Star❆. By your grace and blessing, save me, my family, and this nation from this filthy world.”
“You shall see truth amidst all falsehood.”
The service was conducted with utter seriousness, and several people in the congregation were openly weeping as they listened to the sermon.
It was absurd.
“We will now begin the offering ritual.”
And then it got even stranger.
A young boy walked up to the stage and began giving his testimony.
“Since I was a child...”
His story was simple: his abusive father had turned out to be a hornless demon, which he’d discovered thanks to the Pink Drug; he had reported him to the guards, and in doing so had saved his remaining family.
“Let the Domination Society hear me!!”
The boy suddenly shouted.
The congregation roared back.
“WE HEAR YOU!”
“WE HEAR YOU!”
“WE HEAR YOU!!”
“I will offer up my life! Though I have nothing, I will present this pure body to my god, the Domination Star❆!!”
Gasps and cries of
“Huh—!”
“No...!”
rose from different corners, but the boy’s expression was resolute.
No—more than that. His eyes brimmed with raw madness.
“OFFER IT!”
“OFFER IT!”
“OFFER IT!!”
I was even more taken aback.
'Offer what?'
Stop him, you lunatics.
The boy pulled a dagger from his belt.
The chant of “OFFER IT!!” grew even louder.
The frenzy reached its peak—
“Adnet.”
A word I didn’t understand.
The boy drew the blade from its sheath.
“ADNET!!”
I had no choice but to move.
⋮
『World Forgery: Phenomenon Forgery [Blackout]』
⋮
I unleashed an upper-high-grade [Blackout].
Being a logistics city, Redmilk’s lighting ran on high-quality [Stigma] illumination—which was instantly smothered in darkness.
“What—?! What the hell?!”
“The lights are out! I can’t see!”
This wasn’t dimness.
It was the complete removal of light itself.
In the confusion, I moved.
With 『Levitation』, I shot upward and planted both feet against the ceiling.
Then, using the 「Giant Soldier’s Sword○」, I extended a massive phantom hand.
I plucked the boy away.
Fwoop—
When the light returned—
“HUHHHH?!”
“He’s gone! The boy’s gone!”
“Where is he?! Where?!”
Leaving the commotion behind, I set the boy down outside and took the dagger from him.
“...?”
He stared up at me, startled.
If I just sent him back, he’d probably try that insane stunt again.
So I pulled back his hood.
“......”
“......”
Our eyes met.
His widened.
“A... ah... ah—ahhhhhhhh—o-ohhh...”
He recognized me and dropped to his knees like he’d been struck by lightning.
Honestly, it was embarrassing.
I could have told him to get a grip.
But for someone who needed a god, a god who supported him was far more valuable than an adult who told him the truth.
I knew that well enough.
After all, I’d once lain in a hospital bed, searching for a god of my own.
“A living sacrifice isn’t needed. Your faith has already reached me.”
【Script】 windows began popping up like explosions.
I didn’t check them.
My only thought was to make sure he wouldn’t try anything foolish.
“As much as you love me...”
I placed my hand on his head.
“...love yourself.”
I tried to make myself look as godlike as possible.
“I... I-I...”
“Adnet.”
While he hesitated, I added that strange, meaningless word everyone else had been shouting.
“...Adnet.”
He replied with the dazed look of someone lost in a dream.
That brief encounter ended there.
I turned away.
But I wasn’t leaving this gathering yet.
Their numbers were too great.
By the time the service ended, there were easily over three thousand people gathered in the plaza.
They could be useful in Redmilk’s current crisis.
After the sermon, I sought out the Domination Society’s leaders.
“Ah!! A—Adnet!”
“Adnet! Adnet!!”
When I showed myself, they practically jumped and bowed low.
As it turned out, the reason such a massive three-thousand-strong service was being held was because word had spread that I was already in Redmilk.
“Redmilk City is under threat. I need six hundred soldiers.”
“We will prepare them at once!”
It went smoothly.
They gathered six hundred fighters—security forces from various companies, mercenaries, all capable in battle.
I officially brought them to City Hall and had the remaining city guards assembled.
“Any contact with the outside?”
“Sorry. The comms tower is outside the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} quarantine wall.”
“...I see.”
It was clear we’d have to handle this ourselves.
I began strategizing with the guard officers.
The next dawn, a massive mass of purplish-black slime began crawling from the sea onto land.
At last, the battle with Trappycche had begun.
***
Jinksythe required constant attention depending on what kind of curse it released.
Bomiteka demanded a shift in tactics based on what it devoured and how it grew.
But not all one-horned demons were such walking bundles of variables. Trappycche was a creature that could be countered so long as you knew the strategy and had enough numbers to match it.
< Squad Three. Block its advance. >
If I had to compare it, Trappycche was like an enormous slime. Wherever its body surged forward like a wave, we stopped it with the many devices we had prepared in advance.
< Blocked! >
That meant raising barriers to halt its entry.
< Size five approaching on Street 37! >
If it came at us in a larger wave, we detonated explosives.
< Professor! It’s seeping into the ground! >
< Mage Squad Five, 『Earth Pulse』 volley. >
When it turned its body to liquid and seeped underground, elemental mages shook the earth. Normally this was a spell used for tilling farmland or breaking up dead soil—but against Trappycche, it was lethal. A method only I knew in this era.
< It worked! Street 37 secured! >
< Clocktower area held as well! >
At that moment, I was floating in the air with 『Levitation』, Rebecca beside me.
“I see it. Street 15.”
“Confirmed.”
Rebecca could read mana more quickly than I could, spotting Trappycche’s movements a beat ahead of me.
If one side was blocked, Trappycche would target another, and I responded like clockwork.
'No mistakes allowed.'
One person’s error could mean dozens dead. I kept that weight in mind as I continued directing the defense.
Unable to seize new ground, Trappycche couldn’t set traps, and we refused to enter territory it had already taken. There were some poisoned by splashes of its toxins, but we had already gathered every antidote in the city and distributed the response manual. No matter how potent its poison, it could be contained.
< Professor, its push is getting stronger! >
< Fall back to Defense Line Three. >
< Understood!! >
When it seemed like it was raging because it couldn’t break through, we ceded a small space. In a way, we were playing tug-of-war. But I had taken down Trappycche fifty times before—even if only from behind a monitor.
No matter how fierce the beast, it would eventually hit a wall against a seasoned hunter. Even the tigers that terrorized the populace in Joseon times were brought down again and again by the royal tiger-hunting corps. This was the same. I was the practiced predator here.
We had full control of the area.
Six hours passed.
< Trappycche has stopped. >
< Tentacles retracting! >
Its advance repeatedly thwarted, the creature’s strength waned until it halted entirely.
Explosions that had echoed throughout Redmilk went silent, and the battlefield entered a lull.
'What kind of pattern is this...?'
Even among the dim-witted one-horned demons, Trappycche was one of the most instinct-driven. In all the patterns I knew, it had never simply stopped. That made me more wary.
One thing was certain: when your opponent is cornered, you stay calm.
We all knew how a single punch from a groggy boxer could turn a fight around. Demon or human, desperation breeds ingenuity.
< Glory. >
< Yes. >
Glory was perched atop the clocktower with Eve. Since Eve couldn’t receive detailed comms, I’d put them together.
< Get ready. >
Far off, the two of them rose to their feet, each gripping a sword—one holy, one cursed.
At last, Trappycche began to move.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—!!
It had realized spreading itself thin was useless. Drawing back all its flesh from across the city, it condensed into a single slime and raised its head.
At its center emerged a black metallic structure resembling a human brain, a single horn protruding from it.
< Glory. >
The order given, Glory and Eve sprang into action.
Only two people in a continent of five hundred million bore the title of Hero. Both now leapt from the clocktower, swords drawn.
On one side descended a blinding light; on the other, a surge of ominous darkness.
These had been my hidden claws all along. Trappycche hadn’t known they existed.
KWA-A-A-A-ANG—!!!
Light and darkness, the 「Peacebringer†」 and the 「Warbringer♠」, struck as one—slamming into that brainlike core.
The explosion engulfed the air, light and shadow radiating outward, spherical shockwaves blooming in the sky.
“Ugh!”
Rebecca staggered beside me in midair.
< Got it! >
< Hit confirmed! Brain destroyed! >
The guard officers’ triumphant shouts rang in my ears, but I felt uneasy.
'What is this...?'
The brain was shattered, the horn broken—but the core didn’t disperse.
< Should we advance? >
< We’ve got it! Just need the final strike and... >
Even as I heard the comms surge ahead, my eyes went wide.
Ah.
< Fall back! Fall back!! Glory, get out of there now! >
At the same time, Rebecca screamed like it was a reflex.
“Get back! Now!!”
She had seen it too—what was hiding behind Trappycche.
“That’s not just one!!”
A chill ran down my spine.
Slime-type Trappycche had a two percent chance of appearing as two entities pretending to be one.
The one before me now...
“There are seven!!!”
Rebecca’s scream overlapped with the sight of seven times the mass rising like a titanic wave from beyond the shore.
Every single Trappycche that should have been spread across seven nations was gathered here. That told me exactly what this Corruption’s goal was.
If the previous Bomiteka Corruption had been to gauge humanity’s strength and response capacity...
This one had only a single purpose.
'Me.'
The one who had created the Pink Drug.
The one who had driven demons into corners.
The one uniting humanity’s forces.
Me.
Every Trappycche in Hiaka was here for the sole purpose of killing me.
“Uwaaaaah!”
“Run!!”
One was half-destroyed but still alive.
Seven massive bodies surged together into a single tsunami, sweeping down on Redmilk.
The true disaster had begun.