Chapter 399: Secrets |
The forces of Deorant sent to each timeline are as follows:
300 Hosts to collect bioenergy.
11 Seeds to harvest those Hosts.
And in addition...
-Can everyone hear me?
A Seed acting as the leader.
Azrakan believed it was his duty as leader to inform the other Seeds.
About the anomalous phenomenon that was occurring.
-There’s no need to respond. My goal is to notify you all as the leader.
Azrakan responded to someone who had answered.
-Sorry for the late introduction. My name is Azrakan. I was appointed leader by Deorant.
-Oh.
-So you’re the leader I’ve heard about.
-Nice to meet you, Azrakan. I’m Irezumi.
-My name is Rafael.
-I am...
Several Seeds interrupted with their introductions, reacting to the leader’s telepathy.
But not everyone did. Some simply listened to Azrakan in silence.
Although it didn’t matter.
-The reason I’m sending this multi-telepathy is to notify you of something.
-Notify us?
-There’s an anomalous phenomenon occurring worldwide. Are you aware of it?
-An anomalous phenomenon? What...?
-The disappearance of Hosts.
-Disappearance? Hosts disappearing?
-What are you saying? What are you talking about?
-You mean the number of Hosts has decreased?
-Haven’t you noticed?
-I haven’t.
-Me neither.
The Hosts are the resources that the Seeds must harvest.
Therefore, they can identify their location, but only nearby Hosts.
Only someone with the authority of a leader like Azrakan could track the global situation of all Hosts.
-It’s evident that you didn’t know. As I said, the Hosts are disappearing little by little. Of the 300 Hosts, only 285 remain.
-What? 15 have disappeared?
-What happened? What’s the cause?
Although Azrakan mentioned disappearance, he had an idea of the real reason.
-They’ve been eliminated. By an external force.
-What? Eliminated? By whom?
-Is there anyone on Earth capable of eliminating a Host?
-Weren’t there supposed to be no Players here?
-Even if there were Players, they wouldn’t have the ability to eliminate a Host.
-So what? Did the Hosts self-destruct?
-Or maybe they encountered each other and collided?
Though there were many speculations, Azrakan couldn’t accept any of them.
According to his perception, the Hosts disappeared without contact with other Hosts.
-The Hosts didn’t self-destruct. They were killed by someone.
-How can that be? There’s no one else who can kill Hosts except us.
-I don’t know the exact reason. When I went to the place where the Hosts died, I didn’t even find their bodies.
-No bodies?
-Does that mean someone took them?
-Who could it have been?
Someone killed the Hosts and took the bodies.
There was only one entity with the strength and ability to do that.
-Could it be one of us...?
-No, that’s impossible!
No Seed would harvest a Host prematurely.
It made no sense to harvest before collecting enough bioenergy, unless someone wanted to sabotage the harvest.
-There’s no way a Seed would do that! No rational being among us would do such a thing.
-I agree. There can’t be an idiot like that among us.
While he couldn’t agree with everything they said, this time Azrakan had to nod.
He also wanted to believe it wasn’t one of his own.
However...
-Idiots.
Bad intuitions are often correct.
-It’s ridiculous that you have no idea who it is. Hahaha.
A voice suddenly emerged.
It was clearly the voice of a Seed, as only they could respond telepathically.
Everyone was puzzled upon hearing it.
-Who spoke?
-Did someone insult us?
-It was me, idiots.
-What?
-Who are you?
-Who dares to insult us at a first meeting?
The voice, which had captured everyone’s attention, continued in a mocking tone.
-You want to know why the Hosts have disappeared? I killed and absorbed them all, idiots. While you were just standing there doing nothing, haha. Fools.
-Who are you? Who the hell are you?
-My name is Rapolai. I’m the one who will take over all the Hosts in this world and become stronger.
With bold ambition, he continued with a mocking laugh.
-While you were just standing there like idiots, I’ve already absorbed 15 Hosts. I’ll absorb all the others, grow stronger, and take the leader’s position.
-This Seed is crazy?
-What the hell?
-Absorbing Hosts to grow stronger? Are you insane?
-This will only delay our work!
Even as they criticized him, Rapolai laughed as if he didn’t care.
-I don’t care! No matter how I do it, only the result matters. Deorant only cares about results. I can’t wait to see how much they’ll appreciate me when they see I’m the Seed who’s gathered the most bioenergy. Hahaha.
-That damn bastard!
———————-
-So that’s why you did this...?
While everyone was outraged, Rapolai left one last word before departing.
-I’m going to take over all the Hosts in the world and become the leader!
With those words, Rapolai’s frequency disappeared.
Although the Seeds could capture the frequency due to the telepathic interference, they couldn’t determine his location.
If he hides his frequency signal, it’s impossible to locate a Seed unless it’s the leader Azrakan.
-Hmm, I tried contacting Rapolai, but he’s not responding.
-This is... who would have thought the culprit behind the Host massacre would be among us...?
-We need to act immediately. We can’t just sit idle!
-Exactly! We must act before he eliminates more Hosts!
-Hmm...
Azrakan agreed as well.
He had no intention of letting a traitor like Rapolai run free.
How could he allow a bastard to ruin the harvest out of sheer greed?
However, there was a problem.
-As the leader, I can track the location of the other Seeds. I have a rough idea of where Rapolai is.
-That’s perfect! Let’s catch him immediately!
-It’s not that simple. Didn’t he say himself that he’s absorbed 15 Hosts and gotten stronger?
-Oh...
Absorbing Hosts and growing stronger.
That meant he had surpassed the basic capabilities of a Seed.
-He’s become more powerful. We could beat him if we all attacked together, but we’re scattered around the world, and it will take time to gather. And in that time, Rapolai will keep absorbing Hosts and getting even stronger.
It was true.
Gathering the Seeds scattered around the world would take time, only giving Rapolai more chances to grow stronger.
-So what do you propose we do, leader?
-Is there no solution?
-Hmm...
Deep in thought, Azrakan finally spoke.
-There is a solution.
-What solution?
-We need to interrupt his plans.
-How?
-We also need to hunt the Hosts.
-What?
-What?
-Hunt the Hosts...?
-Oh!
At first, they were surprised, but quickly the surprise turned into admiration.
-That’s right! That’s a great idea!
-Yes, we must get ahead and hunt the Hosts before he can absorb them and grow.
Consensus formed.
Without realizing it, they were following a human’s plan.
—————–
-S, I followed your instructions. How do you think I did?
-You did very well. Your performance was very convincing.
-Thank you. Phew...
Rapolai let out a sigh of relief.
After all, he had a death scythe pointed at his back.
If his performance had been lacking, he could have lost his head at any moment.
-It seems the other Seeds completely believed it.
The corners of Ryu Min’s lips curled up in satisfaction.
Everything had gone according to plan.
-Now, even without my intervention, the Seeds will hunt the Hosts for me.
Ryu Min had calculated that he couldn’t handle all the Hosts scattered around the world, so he devised a brilliant plan.
Use Rapolai to provoke the other Seeds, triggering their sense of urgency and competition to make them take care of eliminating the Hosts themselves.
-They’re probably desperate to hunt the Hosts.
They were eager to eliminate the Hosts to thwart Rapolai’s supposed evil plan.
-It will be faster to eliminate the Hosts now.
Ryu Min’s prediction was accurate.
What he expected to take two days was completed in just half a day.
——————–
Rapolai, who led the group, was bewildered.
-Oh, there are no more...
-What’s happening?
-I don’t sense any more Host signals. No matter how much I search, there aren’t any.
-There really aren’t any more Hosts around?
-Yes. I’ve been searching everywhere, but found nothing.
Less than half a day later.
Ryu Min sensed that all the Hosts had been eliminated.
-They’ve eliminated the 300 Hosts faster than I thought.
All thanks to the competition between the Seeds.
Their stupidity had worked in his favor.
-The Hosts were eliminated to stop Rapolai’s growth, but it was a lie.
With the Hosts eliminated, it was now time to deal with the 12 Seeds.
-How should I deal with the Seeds?
Ryu Min’s gaze fell on Rapolai.
Suddenly, an idea came to him for gathering the Seeds.
-...That should work.
Seeing Ryu Min’s smile, Rapolai felt uneasy.
-Now that the Hosts are gone... you haven’t forgotten your promise, right?
-The promise to set you free?
Rapolai nodded eagerly.
Ryu Min responded as if it were obvious.
-Of course I’ll free you. But first, I need you to do one last thing.
***
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