The Age of Chaos
Before the expedition to the holy war, Karon was summoned by Evolve.
Evolve stood Karon before him and, without preamble, held out a document.
"Take it."
"······."
Even though the paper was offered without so much as an explanation, Karon accepted it without question.
He had no choice.
To Karon, Evolve was both god and savior.
There could be no surprise, no suspicion, in response to his actions. To do so would be impossible, and worse, unforgivable.
Everything he said and did was truth, in any situation.
"I’ve written down the characteristics of the Grails you’ll need to find. It should be useful."
"I will gratefully accept this blessing bestowed by Lord Evolve."
"Yes. Study it well, and bring the Grails back safely."
"As you command!"
Carefully, as though he might miss even a single word, Karon read through the document.
The method of entering the place where the Grail was enshrined, the defensive measures deployed there, and even the variables that might arise.
From Karon’s perspective, who had assumed all Grails would be stored much like the one beside Evolve, the contents were shocking.
The place where the one who swallowed the Grail is enshrined?
Who on earth had swallowed a Grail, and how?
This recovery mission suddenly felt far more troublesome.
Was he supposed to retrieve the Grail as it was from the person who’d swallowed it? Or kidnap the person first and then...?
He cut off the thought before it could become any more complicated.
No matter what happened, all that mattered was fulfilling his purpose: offering the Grail to Lord Evolve.
Reading further, it seemed they did not need to bring back the one who had swallowed it in one piece after all.
"...Using a living person as a vessel."
Karon’s eyes gleamed as he reached the section on extracting the Grail.
The writing, as if penned directly by Lord Evolve himself, laid out a method that would allow the mission to be carried out perfectly.
"Ah... Lord Evolve. As you command."
After once again offering fervent gratitude and prayer to his god, Karon tucked the document away and rose.
All that remained was to fulfill the duty entrusted to him by heaven.
As he recalled a conversation he’d had with Evolve a few days earlier, Karon looked around.
They had safely entered the passage leading into the laboratory and were now moving through it.
At his side, the muttering of the auxiliary bishop Amia caught his ear.
"I’m going to kill her. When she wakes up, I’ll kill her. Even if she doesn’t wake up, I’ll kill her. Crunch, crunch. Poke, poke. Kihihi."
A user was being dragged along by the throat in the iron grip of Auxiliary Bishop Amia.
She was clearly one of the people who had been fighting the Infectors here.
They’d said they were searching while avoiding detection, but it seemed she had caught the eye of one of the users with sharper senses.
It had been that woman.
Curiosity only brings disaster.
And curiosity in the weak only bred ruin.
That woman was weak, and so she was destined to be used as a vessel and then discarded.
Still, Lord Evolve would surely bestow his blessing upon her once she had served her purpose.
We alone can save the woman who has been seduced by that treacherous Satan.
As Karon rekindled his devotion, he lifted a hand to his earpiece.
"Auxiliary Bishop Yukal. I will move quickly and clean this up."
-As you command. I will reduce the number of fools in advance.
Now that their presence had been discovered, users might come chasing after the missing woman.
Reinforcements had already been sent not only to the entrance of the laboratory, but also to the users engaged in battle with the Infectors.
He intended to sow chaos through a surprise attack.
After that, we extract the core and leave this place.
They had already confirmed through a body search that she was not carrying any tracking device.
He would not be traced because of this woman.
And even if they were, threatening them with her life would make escape no great difficulty.
Even if the auxiliaries and faithful had to be sacrificed in the process, Karon’s priority remained one thing alone.
I will offer the Grail to Lord Evolve.
The moment he finished thinking that, the surroundings turned red.
Vwoong! Vwoong!
It seemed the defensive installations still functioning by the power of the Grail had detected the intruders.
Karon looked at the muzzles springing out from every direction, and the corners of his mouth curled upward.
"Everyone, begin the holy war!"
"Kraaaaah!"
The faithful who had been walking ahead roared like beasts and charged toward the newly emerged barrels.
***
"Have you ever fought Evolve before?"
While they were advancing through the winding bottom of the canyon, Jack Kalt asked the question.
He had said they had clashed in a vague, roundabout way before, but he had never gone into detail.
The reason was simple.
Yoo Sung-jun still couldn’t fully accept Jack Kalt as an ally.
So he had planned to watch him a little longer before saying anything. But now things had turned out like this.
"They’re a weird bunch. The stronger ones even use the abilities of Infectors."
With the situation now aligned with Jack Kalt’s goals—saving Yoon Choi and eliminating the creature that had swallowed an Infector core—Yoo Sung-jun answered honestly.
"They use Infector abilities?"
"I only fought one of them, so my information’s thin, but it seemed like only the ones who’d reached a certain level of stabilization could use Infector abilities."
The infected that Yoo Sung-hwan and Choi Hyun-seok had eliminated had only just awakened, relying on their superior physical ability alone.
But the one Yoo Sung-jun had fought used both its native talent and Infector abilities.
That had been his conclusion.
"Only infected who’ve been contaminated by the improved D-Virus for a long time can use Infector abilities."
"Is there a standard for how long that is?"
"No. For now, it’s just a rough guess. So."
Yoo Sung-jun tapped his earpiece.
"Make sure you tell the others. They shouldn’t only be watching for innate talents."
"Hoo. If Evolve isn’t the only thing we need to account for, this is going to be a headache."
They also had to factor in Kalaqua’s Omae.
If even one Infector they failed to stop reached the sanctuary, all their preparations would go up in smoke.
They’ll assume the initiative’s already slipped away and go charging in.
That was why they had decided to receive reinforcements only from users who had already finished off their own Infectors.
He was still worried about failing to hold the entrance, but there was nothing to be done about it.
Evolve must have a reason for collecting Infector cores.
Stopping him was just as important as this operation itself.
If we let him keep growing stronger, he’ll start trying to absorb the other clans too.
As if there weren’t already enough irritating things to deal with, that would turn into a problem nearly impossible to stop.
As Yoo Sung-jun kept moving, he gauged the condition of his own body.
The power and nanomaterials I poured into that last Infector hunt were about fifty percent. The other half is still being drained as I move. My body condition... if I compare it to my original state, maybe seventy percent.
He had wanted to face Evolve at peak readiness, but it was a shame.
Then again, what could he do? Evolve wasn’t the sort of enemy who would politely wait for him to finish healing and become perfect.
Still, it’s a shame I couldn’t recover the brain from the middle-ranked one beforehand because Jack Kalt was there.
His experiments had shown that duplicating the same specimen didn’t lead to the discovery of a new application method.
A different type, level six or above, was what mattered.
That was why he had meant to extract and keep the brain when no one was watching.
Too bad. I’ll have to leave it for later.
Information was worth a fortune.
And if it was information that could accelerate his own growth, not even a few million points would buy it.
So Yoo Sung-jun hadn’t told Jack Kalt about the brain of the Infector.
He intended to reveal it only when it could serve as a better bargaining chip.
-Kraaaah! C-Clan Leader!
-A surprise attack! Users are attacking us! Everyone stop the purge and gather at the entrance!
Suddenly, screams stabbed through his earpiece.
The two men stopped in their tracks and hurried to make contact.
Jack Kalt contacted one of Quantum’s team leaders, while Yoo Sung-jun checked on his younger brother’s situation first.
"Did Evolve ambush you?"
-Huh? What are you talking about? More importantly, hyung, dozens of Evolve people are blocking the laboratory entrance. The door’s shut too. How are we supposed to open it again?
"That’s my problem. If you haven’t been spotted yet, then get some distance for now. Take Jeyca and go support the other users. Hurry!"
-You should be telling that to Jeyca noona, not me.
"What?"
-She already finished the Cora purge and went to you, hyung.
As if on cue, just as Yoo Sung-hwan finished speaking, a familiar golden blur popped out from around the corner.
She caught her breath, then approached with a bright smile.
"I came to help."
Jeyca stepped up beside Yoo Sung-jun.
She tried to meet his eyes, but he was watching how Jack Kalt handled the situation.
"Prioritize defending the entrance. We absolutely must not let the Infector escape the canyon! Maintain your defensive formation, and force a melee between the ambushers and the Infectors."
Jack Kalt let out a weary breath, then met Yoo Sung-jun’s gaze with a complicated expression.
He understood without needing to be told what Yoo Sung-jun wanted.
Yoo Sung-jun gave a firm nod.
"Everyone has their own priorities. Go on. I’ll hold them off as much as I can with my people."
"I’m here too."
A voice suddenly fell from the sky.
One by one, they landed and approached with smiles on their faces.
"Choi Hyun-seok and seven others. We’ve finished purging the Infectors and come to help."
Seeing the gleam of those Omega Suits, enough to make anyone feel secure just by looking at them, Yoo Sung-jun nodded.
"For now, the ten of us will suppress this cult, Evolve, and push into the laboratory."
As for the surprise attacks happening in several places, Jack Kalt, once he had secured one area, would clean them up in sequence.
Yoo Sung-jun had no doubt at all in the power of the world’s number seven ranked fighter.
Well, he probably won’t show that half-baked look he had when we took down the middle-ranked one.
That had been a creature only Yoo Sung-jun, with his extreme body-enhancement type, could have dealt with.
"I’ll give you one beast and one man to handle, so keep them locked down. I’ll break the creature myself."
Jack Kalt understood Yoo Sung-jun’s words at once.
Only then did he finally look relieved.
"We’ll only succeed if each of us does our best. So I’ll eliminate as many as I can too."
"Want to make a bet later on who took down more?"
Jack Kalt gave a thin smile.
"Sure."
It was only a short time, but reinforcements had arrived.
Leaving Jack Kalt to depart alone, Yoo Sung-jun took nine people with him and moved out.
He didn’t forget to make one more request of his younger brother.
-Ryong-i probably won’t be able to move properly in that cramped laboratory anyway. Got it. I’ll help from the outside.
Fortunately, his younger brother accepted the request without complaint.
They had completed all the preparations for this chaos of shifting tides.
The ship that had been tossed helplessly by the wind was gone now.
With his feet planted firmly, Yoo Sung-jun looked straight ahead from the point his brother had described.
A group was visible, standing guard against the wall.
"That white robe with the bird-footprint pattern. Yeah, that’s definitely Evolve."
He agreed with Choi Hyun-seok’s muttered remark beside him.
This was not the place to hesitate.
If he tried to find a spot to ambush them, wait for the right opening, and then strike, he’d run out of time.
He could always assume there was only that one door and wait for them there.
But if he did that, he might lose two things.
Yoon Choi and the Infector core.
Even the possibility that another exit existed meant they couldn’t afford to wait.
For reasons he didn’t know, they had dragged Yoon Choi away alive.
There was a lot of blood, but his younger brother had said someone could survive that much; a human who had already been physically reinforced, at least.
In other words, they had taken Yoon Choi for some reason. And kept her alive.
So they moved.
"Everyone stay here."
"Sung-jun oppa? What are you planning to do alone?"
"What else? I’m telling you to save your strength. Wait here. Trash like that—I can handle them by myself."
With a soft sching, he drew his greatsword, and the index and middle finger of his outstretched hand pointed precisely at the target.
Thoom!
He designated the shot. A burst particle round exploded one of the faithful, and a multicolored line arrived before another.
"Wha—!"
The man cried out in shock, but he never finished the word.
The black current gathered along the silver blade had already split him in two.
Fwoosh! Blood poured out in such a tremendous torrent that it hardly seemed possible it could come from a human body, spraying everywhere.