Chapter 195
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: Preparing for the End, All-Out War - 3
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The next morning, Lee Hyun-wook headed to Ganghwa Island.
It was for a preliminary inspection of the so-called ‘Divine Tree Transplant Plan’.
Ganghwa Island had been designated a ‘Special Management Zone’, with all its residents relocated inland and the area now under the direct control of the South Korean government.
Accordingly, watchtowers lined the entire coastline, four military satellites circled overhead, monitoring the area, while hundreds of magic drones meticulously filmed every region in real-time.
The reason for such stringent security was that the Divine Tree, ‘Shindansu,’ located here, was currently South Korea's most crucial strategic and industrial asset.
Lee Hyun-wook rode Prydwen to the ‘Ganghwa Temporary Airstrip’ set up in the center of the island, where he met with Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun.
“Team Leader Lee, it’s been a while. Have you been well?”
“Haha… Between creating the arboretum here on Ganghwa Island and the civil engineering project in Gangwon Province, you left us with so many large-scale tasks that there was never a moment to be bored. Come, this way.”
As Director Woo Seong-mun’s right-hand man, he was in charge of all domestic affairs related to Lee Hyun-wook, and it seemed he had been so swamped with work that his face had grown gaunt.
“We’ve laid a direct road from here to Shindansu. We’ll take you that way. As you already know, the area around Shindansu is filled with automated turrets that detect and shoot down any flying objects without divine power, so it’s inaccessible by helicopter or airship.”
Lee Hyun-wook boarded a bulletproof vehicle equipped with a magic barrier and set off for Shindansu, accompanied by dozens of escort vehicles.
“…Codename Dangun 1, or Shindansu, has grown about twice as large since its first appearance, reaching around 11 meters. Its divine power has strengthened by at least four to five times.”
Just as Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun said, even from a considerable distance, the dense divine power emanating from Shindansu was palpable.
‘And the ecosystem has completely changed.’
Lee Hyun-wook gazed out the window.
Where there should have been rice paddies and low-lying mountains typical of the Korean countryside, there were now mystical plants that didn’t exist on Earth, the kind one might find in a fantasy world. Occasionally, butterflies and birds of peculiar colors would fly by.
A so-called ‘mana ecosystem’ had been born, specifically one where flora and fauna thrived on divine and life energy.
On the slope of an unnamed mountain, a pair of white deer with antlers was sprinting. Watching them, Lee Hyun-wook thought that those antlers would surely be excellent materials.
In this way, incredibly rare material items were sprouting up like mushrooms after rain.
‘Good. This will be a great help in the future.’
For a long time now, they had been importing large quantities of special products daily from Yggdrasil in the Republic of Chad, but due to the nature of sea transport, rapid supply was impossible.
In that respect, having a divine tree growing so close would be a significant long-term advantage.
A moment later, Lee Hyun-wook looked up at the giant white tree—Shindansu—which was emitting a brilliant light.
It was said to be about 11 meters tall with a circumference of 782 centimeters.
- The Divine Tree ‘Shindansu’ is growing. (Stage 2)
* The currently available ‘Master Authorities’ are as follows.
1) Deploy Divine Barrier (Radius 3km)
2) Enhance Blessing of Life (80 minutes)
3) Create Fruit of Life (1 minute)
‘Hmm… a few things seem to have changed since I last saw it, but I can’t remember exactly.’
Lee Hyun-wook first selected option 2, ‘Enhance Blessing of Life’.
- You have used Shindansu’s Master Authority ‘Enhance Blessing of Life’.
* This effect will last for 80 minutes. (Cooldown: 240 hours)
At that, Shindansu’s leaves began to glow, and the light spread out in all directions.
Wooooo—
And it seeped into the bodies of all the plants and animals in the area.
The birds in the sky chirped cheerfully, then spread their now larger wings and soared across the sky even faster.
And the flowers blooming nearby grew so quickly it was visible to the naked eye.
“Oh, what is this?”
Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun exclaimed in awe from behind him.
“It’s an authority I can use.”
He then picked one of the white fruits growing on Shindansu.
[Item Information]
- Name: Fruit of Life from Shindansu (Special)
- Effect: Upon consumption, all physical abilities increase by 50% for 30 minutes, and recovery rate skyrockets.
Dozens of such fruits were growing all over Shindansu.
Of course, it was still no match for Yggdrasil.
“Hmm, is this what you were talking about…?”
Just then, a dark elf male approached Lee Hyun-wook’s side.
He was Clypeus Griseo, the second prince of the Dark Elf kingdom, and he had arrived several hours earlier.
“Thank you for coming, especially when you must be busy rebuilding your kingdom.”
“You are our savior. This is nothing. My father asked me to tell you that we will do our best to be of help in the coming war.”
And, as per Lee Hyun-wook's request, he had brought the most skilled ‘Forest Spiritists’ from the Dark Elf kingdom.
As far as Lee Hyun-wook knew, they were the race most proficient in controlling plants. They would be in charge of the divine tree transplant operation.
The second prince gazed at the divine tree and spoke.
“As you said, our Forest Spiritists have examined it… but to move this, we can’t do it alone.”
Lee Hyun-wook looked at the second prince with a sour expression.
“…So it can’t be done?”
The second prince continued.
“That divine tree isn’t a single entity but the core responsible for this ecosystem. If this island were a single body… this would be its brain.”
That meant the operation required the precision and care of a brain transplant.
“In other words, if we carelessly expose the roots, both the divine tree and this ecosystem will die. So, to prevent that from happening, we’ll need a large number of priests to sustain the divine power that will dissipate during the transplant… The Saintess, was it? I think that human might be able to do it…”
“So, you’re saying it needs something like a blood transfusion during surgery?”
“…It can’t be compared so simply.”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded.
“Regardless, you’re saying it’s worth a try, right?”
“…It’s risky, but if it must be done, we will do our best.”
Lee Hyun-wook didn’t hesitate. The benefits this Shindansu ecosystem would bring in the future were immense… but that was a story for after the Demon King’s invasion was thwarted.
‘The Divine Mothership… I have to create it to counter the Flower of Death.’
In his past life, the Flower of Death, which had reached its complete form about two months before his death, was a truly horrifying entity.
As long as it floated in the sky, any location would be forcibly transformed into a domain of death, the optimal environment for a Necromancer.
Thus, after its appearance, even Inferno, which had repelled the army of death several times, was defeated, and the fortified city of Busan fell.
‘As far as I know, there’s no existing method to stop it. That means I have to create something entirely new… The Divine Mothership is the most suitable method.’
Lee Hyun-wook believed it was all possible.
Because if this were a game, there would have to be a way to beat it.
Just then, Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun, who had been standing a short distance away, approached.
“…I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have some bad news.”
“Is it news about the Demon King again?”
But Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun shook his head as if to say he wasn’t sure.
“Since dawn yesterday, two ships carrying supplies from Yggdrasil have gone missing in succession. There were no distress calls. We urgently dispatched additional escorts to the ships at sea… and this was captured.”
Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun held out his smartphone and played a video.
“Here, take a look at this.”
On the vast, nameless ocean, a ship could be seen floating on the distant horizon. It was too far to make out clearly, and just as Lee Hyun-wook activated ‘Clairvoyance’ to get a better look…
Kwa-aaang—!
In that instant, a beam of light shot up from beneath the water’s surface, launching the ship into the air before splitting it in half.
Then the sea surface churned and swallowed everything.
The warship escorting the vessel was also sunk by successive attacks that erupted from below the waves.
With just two attacks, both ships had vanished from the screen.
“…This is the third sinking. It seems someone is deliberately trying to disrupt our supply chain.”
“Hmm… It seems so.”
Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun continued.
“Director Woo ordered the immediate dispatch of security forces, but… whatever that thing is, if it can destroy a large ship in a single blow… damn it. At this rate, our supply line will be severely affected.”
Yes, it was obvious that some monstrous creature was lurking in that sea.
“Things are hectic enough as it is. If we have to deal with something like that… our schedule is going to get very complicated. As long as this threat exists, we can’t send out any ships.”
Even though the world had changed like a game, filled with all sorts of strange magic and items, maritime shipping remained the core of logistics. If the seas were blockaded, they would wither and die.
‘By the way, the only ones who would do this are the Villains or the Demon King. And one more thing, that beam attack just now was probably…’
Lee Hyun-wook knew exactly what it was.
‘…Leviathan.’
That unidentified being was ‘Leviathan,’ a sea monster originating from Ugaritic mythology and appearing in the Christian Bible.
‘Originally, it’s a field boss monster that shouldn’t be well-known at this point in time.’
Like the sea monster tales that spread among sailors during the Age of Discovery, only a few eyewitness accounts should be circulating right now.
And those who pursued it would trigger a ‘hidden quest,’ leading them to find a maritime city and obtain a legendary-grade item.
Lee Hyun-wook knew about it too, and had planned to go after it depending on the situation, but there had been no need for it until now.
But now, it seemed even that ‘field boss monster’ for a hidden event had been subjugated by the Demon King.
‘He’s certainly moving diligently, isn’t he?’
Having come from eight years in the future, they were using their knowledge to seize every hidden advantage.
This was similar to the path Lee Hyun-wook had taken, but they possessed overwhelming power from the very beginning, allowing them to encroach upon the world at a much faster pace.
In short, an existence with both information and power—that was the Demon King.
‘But they don’t know that I’m a regressor.’
So, they have no idea that the clever schemes they’re pulling off using their future knowledge are, in fact, all within Lee Hyun-wook’s plans.
‘That alone gives me a significant advantage.’
Lee Hyun-wook took out his mana messenger and contacted someone.
“This is Lee Hyun-wook. I have a favor to ask.”
- Yes, go ahead.
The voice belonged to none other than the gravity mage, Lee Seong-yoon.
He and the Guardian members had believed Lee Hyun-wook and were currently monitoring and tracking Gordon Price.
“This might be a bit of a rude question, but… how large of an anti-gravity field can you deploy?”
Lee Seong-yoon, as a controller of gravity, could reverse gravity over a considerable area.
However, it had little practical use and consumed a lot of mana, so he rarely used it.
- …If I use all my mana, I can reverse the gravity in a space of up to 1 cubic kilometer from a designated center… but why do you need this?
To that question, Lee Hyun-wook said something rather strange.
“Hmm… Do you happen to enjoy sea fishing?”
- Excuse me?
The field boss monster, Leviathan, ruler of the deep sea, was a super-massive monster as powerful as a dragon.
In other words, catching it would yield benefits as immense as hunting another dragon.
It also meant one more material for Kang Hee-seol’s insane modifications.
‘And there’s one difference from a dragon. That monster is the sacrificial lamb for a certain hidden quest, and it has a clear weakness. If you fight it head-on, it’s as difficult to catch as a dragon… but if you exploit that weakness, you can easily reel in a big one.’
Lee Hyun-wook saw right through the cards the Demon King was playing.
‘…I’m one step ahead.’
***
At that same time, several cargo planes were landing at Incheon International Airport.
While most cargo was transported by ship, some important goods were being flown in by plane.
And from one of those cargo planes, Alain Giam disembarked. He was searching for news articles on his phone.
- Alain Giam: “I will use every method at my disposal to support Steelain.”
- European Big Shot ‘Alain Giam’ Wields Heroic Influence Alongside Steelain… Yesterday’s Rivals Become a Team
“Yes, good. Things are going according to my plan.”
He wore a satisfied smile as he inspected the items being unloaded from the cargo plane. They were all things Lee Hyun-wook had asked him to procure.
Among them was an object that looked like a metal flagpole.
[Item Information]
- Name: Flag of Valhalla (Legendary)
- Effect: Unknown (Special conditions are required to handle this item.)
“That bastard especially wanted this, but he probably never thought I’d actually get it for him. Hehehe—”
He was pleased with his own influence, which allowed him to acquire such an item, and at the same time, he gave a sinister smile as he imagined how much more Lee Hyun-wook would trust him after receiving it.
‘He has no idea this will become the knife that stabs him in the neck.’
The feeling of slowly closing in on the target’s nape… was quite thrilling.
It felt like becoming the protagonist from the Jet Li movie <Hero> that he had watched as a child, slowly approaching Qin Shi Huang to assassinate him while telling him a story.
He got into a black SUV with the items for Lee Hyun-wook, and his car joined a convoy of trucks heading for the <Taebaek Armory>.
Just then, a telepathic message flowed into his mind.
- Monsieur Giam, you’ve arrived. I am nearby as well.
The voice belonged to the man in the purple mask who had led him down the path of a Villain. His identity was unknown, but he called himself the ‘Mouth of the Villain Leader’.
- However… about the bait you’re throwing to Steelain this time, the items. There are more of them, and better ones, mixed in than I was aware of.
The voice held a mix of dissatisfaction and concern. In response, Alain Giam clicked his tongue, ts-ts, and spoke as if teaching a lesson.
“Look, when you want to win someone over, you give them more than they asked for. That’s the art of handling people. You think I got to where I am for no reason?”
To completely win Lee Hyun-wook’s heart, he had prepared gifts that went beyond the list of items Lee Hyun-wook had requested.
- Well, I am aware that you are playing your part well.
“So what’s so important that you’d contact me telepathically in the middle of enemy territory?”
- Yes, I am here to deliver the Chairman’s orders.
“Hmm, go on.”
- Yesterday, the Chairman made contact with the Demon King. And he confirmed that he is a Villain from another dimension.
“…Another dimension, you say? So such things really do exist.”
- Yes. In any case, the Chairman and the Demon King have determined that the Steelain assassination plan is still valid, and they have selected the assassin.
In other words, the assassin had been chosen.
- There is still a faction in China that is intact.
The so-called Dark Star (暗星), a private organization within the Ministry of Public Security, was a Villain organization in its entirety.
Among the Villain factions that had lost considerable personnel and resources in clashes with Lee Hyun-wook, they could be considered relatively unscathed.
“I see…”
Alain Giam stroked his chin and looked out the window.
In his mind, various plans on how to perfectly execute the Steelain assassination operation were forming.
‘There have been constant failures until now. No matter how much I’ve earned his trust, I can’t make a rash attempt.’
To do that, a few more groundwork pieces were needed.
“…First, tell those Chinese guys to prepare a few items.”
- Yes? Items…
“You know very well what I’ve done to win Steelain’s favor, don’t you? And what was the result? The bastard called me this morning just to thank me. Does the world know that cynical bastard can grovel so professionally?”
He was certain that Lee Hyun-wook trusted him.
Because Lee Hyun-wook had invited him to have dinner at Laputa when he entered Korea this time.
‘What more definite proof could there be?’
That place was the heart of Steelain’s faction, a place where no outsider was ever known to have set foot.
“So, tell them… yes, things like the Ruyi Jingu Bang, or other legendary-grade items they have that haven’t been revealed to the public yet. Tell them to prepare things like that.”
- …
“Tsk—Hey, don’t worry so much. I’ve seen him up close. That bastard is human, after all. And right now, he’s scraping together every resource he can for the war against the Demon King. That means he can’t help but go crazy for legendary-grade items, which will allow us to lure him to a place of our choosing.”
He continued, laughing leisurely.
“Haha—You guys have to trust me. Steelain trusts me a great deal right now. So let’s give it all to him. It’s not like we can’t get it all back later, right?”