Chapter 494: The Twist Of The Twist Of The Twist (2) |
‘Shit…’
I frowned at the unexpected situation.
‘Shit, shit, shit…!’
I had to remain calm, so I kept on nodding, but I was inwardly frustrated. I couldn’t quite understand what was going on, but one thing was for sure—Jung Ha-Yan had just cast an unprecedented spell, which dealt an effective blow against us.
It was difficult to describe with words, but the spell’s effect made me laugh uncontrollably.
‘Teleportation?’
I had many different spells here, but I had never seen anything like that. In the first place, the idea of opening a rift into space and opening another rift in another location to appear in that particular location didn’t make sense.
Even the modern world still hadn’t succeeded in doing something like that, so this continent shouldn’t have been any different. In other words, Jung Ha-Yan had succeeded in doing something that existed only in dreams until now.
I had a mage-related job, but I couldn’t do anything other than remain silent because comprehending the theory behind it would be like constructing the Sage’s Stone in my case.
She was on a different level.
The bearish market sentiment for Jung Ha-Yan Coin was about to become bullish.
‘It’s a good thing I toughed it out…’
Of course, I was sure that there was some kind of danger involved in casting that spell. I wasn’t exactly aware of the danger, but right now, I wouldn’t consider it a perfect spell.
In other words, Jung Ha-Yan had cast that spell, knowing that there would only be two outcomes for them.
The first outcome was overestimating the cast range of the spell.
‘There has to be a limit to its cast range...’
I had discovered the second outcome because the expressions of the members of the detachment were disturbing. They had looked like they were about to put their lives on the line.
‘Perhaps there’s a chance that they’ll get lost in the rift of dimensions, or they’ll get ripped apart if the transportation fails. It’s possible in theory, but she had decided on using it without any tests…’
Jung Ha-Yan could have died if things had gone wrong. I was sure that Kim Hyun-Sung knew Jung Ha-Yan to the extent that he might have known that she was capable of casting that spell.
However, the remaining members of the detachment were nothing more than lab rats.
Anyway, the more pressing issue here was that Jung Ha-Yan had probably never tested the spell first before using it in action because of its massive mana consumption. I was captured, so she had probably tried her best to gather as much mana as she could to cast it even once, so in other words…
‘I’m sure she doesn’t have enough mana to cast that again.’
At last, I could finally see the overall situation. Aside from the detachment that decided to invade Rimoura’s nest, some of the detachments were bait, while the other detachments were…
‘They’re definitely securing an escape route.’
Aside from the 41st, 42nd, and 43rd base, which was currently under Donovan’s siege, the remaining bases would be their escape route. It became clear after seeing the other detachments attack those bases.
It also made sense because they would have to fight Donovan’s troops while they were retreating. It seemed like they were attacking haphazardly without much thought, but their strategy was actually as elaborate as a spider’s web, which amazed me.
It looked bold and extreme, but they were moving in a way that covered all bases, which made me realize that this was…
‘This was definitely Ji-Hye noona’s work...’
Of course, if Lee Ji-Hye were the only one in charge of the strategy creation, then she would have come up with a safer method. However, there was a high chance that Cha Hee-Ra had influenced her.
Unfortunately, I was more scared than surprised when I recalled how talented and powerful the members of Kim Hyun-Sung’s detachment were. Of course, I was thankful that they cared a lot about me, but considering the current situation, I felt frustrated.
The situation room became quiet. The confused demons staring at me bothered me to the extent that I was forced to speak.
- This is…
“It’s not perfect, but it’s part of my calculation,” I said.
- Really?
“Everyone, agitation will cloud your judgment. This is a variable within my calculations, although the possibility of it happening was low. We can definitely handle this turn of events, and there are many different methods to do so as well,” I replied.
- I see. As expected from the external advisor. Humans really surprise us every time. I thought you were special since you were able to summon Belial here, but Teleportation… I heard there are a few humans in other dimensions who are capable of using that, but I could have never imagined that I would one day see it in action with my own eyes.
- They’re amazing, but you’re amazing as well. Is this really a part of your calculations?
‘I haven’t calculated anything, you bastards...’
I was sure that not even the genius or the strategist of the century would expect something like this. After all, expectations could only be formed if there were signs, and things were normal until now, so there was no way that I could have predicted all this.
I never thought that Kim Hyun-Sung would decisively abandon the Federation and charge into Amera like this.
I was even more stupefied when Jung Ha-Yan had not only successfully cast Teleport, but she had cast it with precision. I thought that perhaps Jung Ha-Yan’s calculations would end up being off, which would make them appear somewhere else.
However, they landed perfectly in front of Rimoura’s nest.
I couldn’t help but regret spilling clues.
- What should we do?
‘Don’t ask me, man. I don’t know either.’
- I’m sure he has a miraculous method. He’s the external advisor, after all. Haha.
‘I don’t have anything like that. I don’t, man...’
I could only think of basic countermeasures.
“I think we should call the troops and delay their march as much as possible. Since it’ll take some time until Miss Rimoura receives the message, please contact the troops nearest to us. And the closest one to us is…”
‘Ballitos…’
“Let’s send a message to Mr. Ballitos as well. Tell him to come to the Nest. Please tell him that we’ll use the food storage another time,” I instructed.
- Yes, sir.
“A-and can we increase the number of high priest demons?” I asked.
- I’m sure it’s possible.
“I’ll leave it up to you,” I said.
- Okay.
The expedition team had just figured out what was going on after following the standard procedure of sending rangers to scout the surroundings while the others prepared their equipment and composed themselves.
Everyone looked determined, and they were even biting their lips to show it.
However, their pallid expressions caught my attention.
I also saw a few people vomiting their guts out.
I knew that Jung Ha-Yan’s Teleport wasn’t perfect, so they had to be experiencing its side effects right now.
Of course, Jung Ha-Yan’s condition attracted most of my attention. Her hair was white again, and she couldn’t walk properly.
‘Geez…’
My heart cracked when I saw her walking as if she were a hunchback, and she almost collapsed when Park Deok-Gu patted her shoulder lightly.
In response, Jung Ha-Yan nodded at Park Deok-Gu with clenched fists; she seemed happy that she had succeeded.
However, the sight made me feel sad.
Everyone approached and comforted her for a moment aside from Sun Hee-Young, which bothered me.
At last, the expedition team was about to enter the Rimoura’s nest.
‘I’m not even surprised anymore.’
- We’ll go in.
- Right now?
- Yes. We have arrived, but we don’t have the luxury to establish camp and take a break. I’m sure the demons have already found out that we’re here. We’re going to leave this place as soon as we rescue Sub Guild Master Lee Ki-Young from the demons that are currently maintaining their presence here.
- Is it impossible to figure out his exact location? Actually, is Mr. Lee Ki-Young really here…
- Of course, we can’t confirm it with the information that the rangers have gathered so far, but—whew. I’m sure the owner of this nest knows more than us. I think Rimoura will be in the back—where the stronger demons are located, but it’s also possible that she’s in a totally different place. That is why we should also create a search party with some of the troops and investigate the surroundings. Meanwhile, the expedition team will enter the nest. Anyway, we just have to move according to the plan.
- Okay.
- Just follow the plan.
- All right.
Their conversation ended, and the troops charged into the Nest.
‘Shit. I think I need to do something. Can Rimoura hold out? Can she do it?’
I honestly couldn’t make a decision the expedition team was exhausted as well, and Rimoura wasn’t the only one at her Nest. Objectively, the demons in the Nest were more powerful than the expedition team.
‘Since Ha-Yan is currently out of commission.’
It made sense that the demons in the Nest were more powerful without Jung Ha-Yan’s participation in the expedition team. The turn of events was far from my original plan, and there wasn’t really anything I could do to fix all this.
The Battle at Rimoura’s Nest was supposed to end in humanity’s victory after a desperate struggle. The Continental Union was supposed to arrive here after growing amidst the hardships.
My original plan involved the Continental Union barely winning against the demons in the Nest, and if things didn’t end according to my original plan…
‘Then, it will be no different from a complete failure.’
It was no different from investing an astronomical amount of money into a movie, but only five hundred thousand people watched, which would make them earn less money than the expected ten million dollars.
In other words, the Continental Union would only feel half of the despair and fear of the demons.
Right now, the best-case scenario was the expedition team failing in their plans and retreating. I could easily deal with the other trivial variables later down the road.
‘We can’t let things end here.’
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Donovan was filling those five hundred thousand seats. If this project were to fail, the worst-case scenario involved the hard-liners of the 27th Legion gaining tremendous power and Belial holding Lee Ki-Young responsible.
For the continent, there couldn’t be a worse scenario than that.
‘I’ll have to trust them for now.’
I finally organized my thoughts somehow. The expedition had definitely cornered me, but it wasn’t like I was out of cards. While I was imagining happy scenarios to cope, Rimoura finally arrived at the Nest after receiving the message.
I stroked my chin while watching, but…
- Shit! Shit. How dare you! Hurt me! He had complimented me for my hair…!
- Where are you?
- Aaaaahhh! Die!!! Dieeeeeeee!!!
As if First Blood, Double Kill, Pentakill, and Dominating weren’t enough, the awakened Kim Hyun-Sung was making Rimoura experience his true power and potential. The one-sided beatdown made me run out of the situation room.
‘Did you guys take drugs or something? If she dies, I’ll die as well, you bastards…!’
I couldn’t just stand by and watch.
I had to do something because the situation was becoming worse.
‘Shit. What should I do? Damn it…’
I was frustrated, but I continued thinking of ways to resolve the issue. However, the only solution I could think of was forcing the expedition team to retreat. I didn’t think that I would be able to make a difference even if I went there. In addition, Rimoura should be capable enough of holding out until Ballitos and his troops arrived.
‘Should I act like a hostage? Will that be enough?’
All of a sudden, a pretty decent idea appeared in my mind.
“Huh?”
The idea was so good that I came to a halt.
“Hahaha...”
It would be kind of forcing it, but the foundation had already been laid out.
“Why didn’t I think of this earlier? I should have done it from the beginning,” I mumbled.
I couldn’t understand why I only thought about being the victim. I was worried because it seemed really cliche, but it was still a decent idea. I had to fix a lot of things in the script, but it was an extremely effective cliche often seen in Shonen[1] films.
‘This is it…!’
It was sudden, but the protagonist’s rival or friends…
“...they tend to become corrupt or tainted,” I muttered.
1. Boy’s comics ☜
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