143. Guardian Sage Lunaris

Sage Lunaris gazed at the guardian's corpse laid out on the lab table, forming two hypotheses. The humans here might have stumbled upon the body of a guardian whose lifespan had naturally ended and were dissecting it. Or they might have killed a living guardian and were in the midst of dissecting it. She leaned toward the latter.

There was a faint but palpable flow of high-level spiritual energy lingering around the corpse, laced with deep resentment and lingering grudge.

'...It hasn't been dead long. It was alive just a few months ago.'

Even frail humans could have done it. The fact that guardians could create powerful dimensional barriers didn't guarantee superior combat prowess.

'This proves the humans killed the guardian. Whether intentionally or by accident during vivisection after kidnapping it, I can't say.'

Sage judged that guardians specialized solely in generating and maintaining dimensional barriers. Moreover, sustaining the barrier over countless years must have depleted most of its power, leaving its defenses and combat abilities severely weakened—extremely vulnerable to external attacks. That explained why it couldn't resist these humans.

'In such a state, it should have hidden somewhere humans couldn't reach... Did they coincidentally discover the guardian sleeping deep underground?'

It was entirely plausible. Earthlings had recklessly developed the environment and destroyed nature without restraint. Constant exploration and exploitation had exposed once-inaccessible areas, steadily reducing untouched zones.

A guardian in hiding since ancient times being found in the modern era was almost inevitable.

As Sage lost herself in thought, the researchers and guards aimed their guns at her, shouting in Chinese ever since she appeared.

In other words: Answer! Who are you? How did you get in? Speak quickly! This is a no-civilians zone! We'll fire if you don't respond!

But their voices didn't reach Sage. Her attention was fully fixed on the guardian.

'First, I need to retrieve the body. There might be a way to revive it.'

Her efforts to repair the barrier had become meaningless. With the guardian dead, Earth's dimensional barrier's collapse was only a matter of time. It was barely holding now thanks to the spirit lingering around the corpse, but once the spirit fully departed, the barrier would vanish too.

Sage finished her thoughts and slowly stepped toward the lab table.

At that instant, flames erupted from the countless gun barrels aimed at her. Bullets rained down, slamming into her body—but not one pierced her skin. They all ricocheted harmlessly away.

The humans unleashed another barrage without giving up. Sage furrowed her brow and paused in place.

“You... no, you all probably have no idea what grave mistake you've made. You still don't grasp how your actions could bring catastrophe to this world.”

She took in each face one by one.

“Maybe you were just following orders from above.”

Sage raised her right hand.

“That doesn't make you blameless. You've endangered billions of lives—ignorance doesn't excuse that. So take responsibility for your actions.”

Her eyes were cold and resolute.

“With your lives.”

Without hesitation, she clenched her raised fist. Using spatial magic, she simultaneously crushed the hearts of every human in the room.

Horrific crunches echoed from every chest. Eyes bulged, mouths spewed blood and screams. In an instant, it was over.

Guns clattered to the floor; their owners collapsed lifelessly. The lab fell into dead silence, filled only by Sage's quiet breathing.

“I showed mercy and let you go painlessly. My heart's too soft—I prefer killing without suffering, no matter how grave the sins.”

Murmuring to herself as she passed the bodies, Sage reached the table and carefully lifted the guardian's corpse with both hands. Her once-icy expression melted into one brimming with pity, grieving the fate of the being slain by those she had guarded for eons.

Sage had uncovered why Earth's dimensional barrier was failing. The culprits? Us humans. Apparently, in some lab in China, they kidnapped the guardian protecting Earth, killed it during vivisection.

“...Fucking lunatics.”

We decided to discuss solutions for a while. We couldn't just sit idle with Earth's potential doom on the line.

Support the guardian's corpse, puppet it, then dispatch puppets regularly to Earth to maintain the barrier.

'...That kinda sucks.'

Puppets couldn't be dispatched, but sending Necro would work since it could summon puppets from anywhere. Whether from other worlds was unknown.

Fee restrictions prevented corpse dispatch. No big loss—I never planned to anyway.

Simple reason: Puppets have ego but no souls.

Allies overlooked that. Sage said the barrier holds because the guardian's soul lingers by the corpse. Meaning the core power is the soul itself. A soulless puppet couldn't maintain a proper barrier.

That's why no thought of dispatching Necro to puppet it on-site.

“Can't you just erect a new barrier, Sage?”

The chat veered off-topic briefly. Anyway, Sage erecting a new barrier seemed unlikely too. If she's not confident, no choice.

“...Huh? Resurrection?”

Reading Pruru's message sparked a memory fragment: Art Pega Unicorn's mother's explorer log. A monster presumed to be Medical Mushroom's evolution, capable of reviving the dead.

To confirm, I opened the log.

Memory confirmed. A monster that revives even dead beings existed—not necromancy, so high chance of soul preservation. Lucky the soul lingers.

'Not sure if it's Medical Mushroom's evolution... but worth a shot.'

I turned to Medical Mushroom-004.

[Pii?]

Couldn't wait for Melody Fox's evolution buff. Meant using an Evolution Ticket now.

Of course, I had none on hand.

'Not enough coins for Glimmering Evolution Ticket yet... but prioritizing fast evolution means use Vending Machine Tracker now, no saving it. Can get more by repatriating drifters later.'

Tracker would solve part of it. Then pray the found machine sells Evolution Tickets.