Proposal
Proposal
At a small pier prepared on the artificial island.
Kohaku Mei, a Fiend executive, stood on one side of the pier overlooking the sea, gazing aimlessly at the vast ocean.
Mei, who had been staring at the sea, unable to hide her anxious heart, asked the subordinate standing behind her in a trembling voice.
"H-How, how close did they say?"
"They said they're almost here now."
"A-Almost here... then w-why can't I see them..."
"Please calm down and wait just a little longer."
"H-How am I supposed to calm down in this s-situation!"
The attack incident reported just today.
When she heard that the mastermind behind it was their own side—no, that it was a terrorist act committed by humans they had brainwashed and were using—she was utterly bewildered.
Thanks to that, Mei, who for the first time since becoming a Fiend experienced what it was like to faint, threw herself into damage control as soon as she woke up.
While Mei was unconscious, the other Fiends had investigated, and the results showed that the reason this terrorist act occurred lay entirely with her and the other Fiends.
The excessive number of brainwashings carried out hastily and without proper groundwork in the belief that for gathering information, quantity was better than quality, and the excessive loyalty resulting from it.
Finally, the careless command issued from the judgment that some of the lower-ranked Awakened and ordinary people they had recently brainwashed would have no reason to attack Nidhogg.
The convergence of all these situations led to the rash action that was the cause of the terrorist act.
The only consolation was that since all the other Fiends had withdrawn from South Korea, if not for Kohaku Mei's report, the fact of the terrorist act wouldn't be reported to the Prophet for some time.
But that was only for a while, literally.
It was only a matter of time before the fact of the terrorist act reached the Prophet's ears.
That's why Kohaku Mei had called in all the targets brainwashed by her subordinates, especially those among them who might act arbitrarily due to excessive loyalty.
Kohaku Mei stood on the pier, stomping her feet impatiently, waiting for the ship for quite a while.
Finally, a ship appeared in the distance.
A cruise ship, cutting through the waves, docked at the pier where Mei was standing, and the brainwashed people disembarked from it.
"H-Hurry! Hurry and bring them inside!"
"Yes! Shall we move them to the ritual chamber?"
"D-Don't state the obvious! Quickly!"
The Fiends, who disliked the idea of becoming mindless puppets by offending Kohaku Mei's mood, swiftly moved into action.
The brainwashed people were hurriedly moved to the ritual chamber built deep underground, following the Fiends' orders.
And the moment she confirmed that all the people were gathered inside the ritual chamber filled with the black magic power the Fiends used, Kohaku Mei immediately began the ritual.
Wearing shrine maiden attire that seemed fitting for a Japanese shrine, and with her reversed pupils opened, she used the power akin to authority granted by the Prophet, causing the black magic power to move and envelop the people.
The moment the magic power gradually enveloping their bodies from their feet completely swallowed their heads.
The focus in everyone's eyes dissolved, and they became mindless.
Confirming that everyone had entered a trance state under brainwashing, Mei immediately got to work.
Lowering the excessive loyalty appropriately, suppressing rash actions like terrorist acts, and stopping the task of gathering information on Nidhogg for a while until the next instruction.
Focusing her mind and finishing the work quickly, Mei wiped the beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
Re-brainwashing a large number of people was a task that required considerable concentration and magic power even for her.
Nevertheless, the reason she personally undertook this task was that if she handled it by killing the people she had gone to the trouble of brainwashing, it would attract Nidhogg's attention and be even more troublesome.
"Phew... I-It's, it's done."
"We'll send them all back before anyone notices."
"Y-Yes. I'll leave it to you."
After the subordinate left with the people who had regained their senses, Mei, left alone, leaned against the altar on one side of the room and sat down, calmly recovering her magic power.
While she closed her eyes and rested, the subordinate who had taken the people out returned.
"Y-You're back?"
"Yes. The humans have all been put on the ship and sent back."
"I-Is that so? Th-There was nothing strange, right?"
"You performed the work personally, Mei-nim. There couldn't possibly be anything strange."
"H-Hehe. R-Right. If I did it, what problem could there be."
With the thought that she had put out the urgent fire, her attitude returned to normal.
With the work also finished, she thought that until Nidhogg left, she could enjoy a vacation and lie low for a while, so she got up to return to her room.
"I-I'm going to rest a bit, so you handle things unless it's important."
"Understood."
"G-Good work."
Just as she finished giving work instructions and was opening the ritual chamber door to leave.
Something appeared at the very edge of her detection range—she possessed the strongest magic power and widest detection range among them.
"Huh?"
A massive cluster of magic power.
It was an incredibly vast and cold magic power that she sensed.
Goosebumps rose on Mei, whose body stiffened at the overwhelming magic power incomparable to her own, and she looked up at the sky where the magic power was felt.
Proportionate to its overwhelming size, the speed at which the magic power was approaching was so fast that she didn't even have time to open a Gate when she thought it was dangerous.
The moment the magic power that arrived in an instant collided with the artificial island.
Creeeak—
Her consciousness froze.
'These bastards really have a hand in everything. I should order Odin later to find their main base and blow it up or something.'
While handling the current situation and thinking about what would come next, I looked at the scene before me.
Arriving at the artificial island, which I thought of as more of a Fiends' stronghold than a main base given their small numbers, and seeing them taking people away, I first thought about attacking immediately.
But that plan was foiled by Baek Yeon even before it began.
For the reason that 'there must be a reason they brought those people here.'
When the Fiends' characteristic black magic power enveloped the people, I truly debated whether to attack right then, but upon closer look, it didn't seem to be a direct physical threat, so I let it be. And as a worthwhile reward for giving up the attack, the Fiends promptly sent the people back as soon as some kind of work was finished.
No, rather than promptly, there was a definite sense of rushing before anyone saw.
The people, having boarded the ship as when they arrived, hastily left the island, leaving only the Fiends inside.
There was no longer any need to hold back.
I confirmed that the ship carrying the people and three Fiends had moved sufficiently far away to not be caught in an attack.
Looking at Baek Yeon, she was operating her smartphone and sending a message.
"I've sent the information about the port we departed from and the ship's appearance to the Busan Branch."
"Can the Busan Branch be trusted?"
We've confirmed the brainwashed people who came here, but we can't be sure that's all of them.
There are definitely brainwashed personnel in the Busan Branch too, like the city council members and the Gaon Guild, so they might interfere with the arrest operation.
"Unless they're complete idiots, they won't miss it. Besides, we haven't even been in Busan for a full day, and we found and sent them the enemy's stronghold and even spies, right? Out of pride alone, they'll capture and thoroughly interrogate them, won't they?"
"I made sure the information goes to Park Gwang we saw this morning. Then he'll use force to suppress and subdue any significant interference."
"Good. Then let's start our part."
"Starting is one thing, but Nidhogg-nim will handle everything anyway."
"That's true."
I flew up into the air above the artificial island with everyone.
From now on, I needed to concentrate, so I separately used magic to float everyone in mid-air, and took a deep breath.
My chest filled with immense magic power along with the air.
If I fired a Breath like this, my usual Breath mixed with poison and ice would come out, I suppose.
So I deliberately excluded the poison.
Only ice.
Filling it purely with the power of Niflheim, I fired it straight down toward below.
The freezing Breath, spreading wide in a fan shape through my mouth.
The gradually widening Breath grew massive enough to cover the island.
Everything that collided with the Breath instantly froze pure white and disappeared into the glacier.
Thinking this much should be enough, I reduced the emission of magic power, and the frost-colored Breath spewing from my mouth slowly stopped.
"This much should do, right?"
"More than enough."
"Wow. The island has become a glacier?"
At the sight of the two admiring my Breath, I shrugged my shoulders smugly for no reason.
This much is basic.
I expanded my vision and checked the Fiends trapped in the glacier, unable to escape the island.
Thanks to catching them off guard, no one managed to escape and they all became ice statues.
"Good. Now let's go down."
We descended to the island that had turned into a pure white glacier.
Whether it was because the island that had turned into a block of ice in an instant was fascinating, Haeryeong, who had been asleep and woke up, placed her hand on the glacier.
"Ah, cold!"
"Be careful. It's not ordinary ice."
As Haeryeong removed her hand from the glacier, the characteristically cold and gloomy magic power of Niflheim clung to her fingertips.
I grabbed her hand and drew back the magic power that was already trying to erode her flesh.
Anyway, it's my homeland, but it's a hellish place.
Baek Yeon, having received my power, would be fine, but for the other two it was dangerous, so I separately cast a spell to block the erosion of magic power and moved my steps inside the island.
Even with the spell cast, perhaps still uneasy, Haeryeong stuck to my back; having no choice, I carried her on my back as I walked.
The passageway the Fiends had taken the people through.
Arriving before it, the entrance, frozen and preserved within the ice, came into view.
"What are you going to do now?"
"What else? Like this."
Drawing back the magic power from the ice blocking the entrance, only that part crumbled and disappeared.
And Baek Yeon swung her spear toward the revealed entrance.
In an instant, the spear swung twice cleaved the entrance in an X shape.
With the shattered door gone, we entered inside.
The interior was also filled with Niflheim's magic power and frozen, so I only drew back the magic power along the path we walked.
As a path opened, we followed it down, and further down.
All obstacles like doors that appeared along the way were handled entirely by Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon.
Thus arriving at the lowest level.
The ritual chamber where the people seemed to have been brainwashed.
When we arrived at that place filled with black magic power.
I detected something strange.
"They pushed back Niflheim's magic power?"
From a place that should have been filled with Niflheim's magic power and frozen over, like all the places we passed through until now, that magic power was not felt.
On the contrary, the characteristic black, viscous magic power of the Fiends was felt.
Had I been too careless, thinking everything was frozen?
I raised my guard again.
If it was merely a matter of pushing back the magic power, one could think it was that important a place and there was a lot of black magic power. But according to what I confirmed before entering the building, this place too was definitely filled with Niflheim's magic power.
But now that I've actually arrived, Niflheim's magic power is nowhere to be seen. On the contrary, black magic power of a different level from anything seen so far lies thickly spread.
It's on a different scale from the Fiend bastards I've seen until now.
Perhaps to the extent that I might need to draw upon my main body's power.
I stopped Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon, who were about to break down the door with their weapons as before, not knowing this fact.
Before the two could express their doubts at the sudden halt.
A man's voice was heard from inside the door.
[Please come in. I've been waiting.]
Raising my guard another level at the voice that held no sense of hostility or tension, I carefully opened the door.