Chapter 141
Chapter 141
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: Talent Recruitment (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Hoh, so you’ve finally brought down Rohan? I thought you were just a loud empty cart, but it seems that wasn’t the case.”
Under the blazing intense sun, in the scorching desert, amid the boiling air.
On a rocky outcrop in the southern desert where human footsteps had long ceased due to that extreme environment, a large man draped in a robe muttered lowly while gazing at the horizon.
“Yes, you had to do at least this much. I was on the verge of being disappointed by all those utterly incompetent fools.”
Those standing behind him, also cloaked in robes, bowed deeply in response to his soliloquy.
Of course, no one dared reply, as speaking without permission could result in their heads exploding.
“Then it’s about time to move to the next phase. With the continent’s attention focused north for a while, we can proceed much more comfortably.”
He finally turned from the horizon.
As he headed toward a cave on one side of the rocky outcrop, a sudden gust of wind swirled around him.
Flutter, flutter—
The rough flapping of his robe hems.
And for a moment, the gap in the hood of the hulking figure at the lead parted, revealing then hiding a ornate flame tattoo that climbed up to his neck.
“Tch, what a damn annoying environment.”
Tsking lightly, he casually adjusted his robe and disappeared into the cave without a care.
Into that cave where the ‘Seed of Madness,’ which had provided the decisive cause for turning this continent into chaos, was hidden.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ As time passed, the situation in the Rohan Principality steadily worsened.
Now, it could barely defend only around the capital, having long lost any function as a nation.
The one silver lining was that the Azerion Empire was gathering troops for the northward advance.
Until now, with the principality holding out, they had focused their forces elsewhere, but now troops began rapidly assembling at the relatively lax northern border.
Even in the vast empire’s homeland, incidents of madness continued unabated, making this a quite burdensome deployment for them as well…
But letting the Rohan Principality vanish completely would only make things more troublesome, leaving them no choice.
‘The elites of the Church of the Main God, led by the cardinal, have already departed. They plan to gather as many refugees as possible in the capital and hold out until reinforcements arrive.’
Even the empire was hurrying as much as possible, but mobilizing an army inevitably took time.
Naturally, that meant sacrifices would mount with every passing moment.
For the Church of the Main God, intent on minimizing those sacrifices, it was the best course.
‘Heinrich… won’t be able to step forward for a while. Amid all this with the continental allied forces and hero party, he can’t afford to leave his post as the hero—the Immortal King’s sole worthy adversary.’
Unless it was a few powerful intruders, reclaiming a land overrun by hordes of monsters was a task that would take ages.
Even if he did intervene, it would likely only be feasible after securing the gate at the Rohan Temple and restoring smooth movement.
And so, while the continent was engulfed in chaos and upheaval.
Finally.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Hmmm— I hadn’t expected things to turn out like this. Those fools have a real talent for popping up no matter how many we catch, just to be a nuisance.] The Immortal King Hans reappeared in the Auterica dimension.
‘But lately, every time I step away, something seems to blow up.’
Of course, it was probably just his imagination, but with the Uphershy Clan invasion and now this massive incident, he couldn’t help feeling uneasy about not being able to respond immediately.
‘For the time being, I should avoid recalling the avatars to Earth as much as possible. Now that Entity Projection can be maintained for an hour anyway.’
With the continent in such turmoil, no one knew what might erupt or how.
Especially now that those cockroach-like Oath of Reverse Heaven bastards seemed to be making their move in earnest, maintaining smooth ‘home theater’ viewing required constant readiness.
‘…No, thinking about it, it pisses me off. Why should I have to wrack my brains like this because of those guys?’
He just wanted to peacefully stage a ‘demon king scheming continental conquest versus the hero opposing him,’ but they kept escalating incidents.
He’d managed to weave things together so far, but the very existence of variables outside his control was irritating.
‘Once this is over, I’ll have to deal with them more directly. This time, even Hans will step up personally.’
He hadn’t suffered any major direct losses—in fact, he’d only caught them like rats—but…
That wasn’t the point.
What mattered was that right now, as he was about to make his move, they were in the way.
‘Hoo… For now, let’s start by establishing a base in the northern mountains.’
The moment Hans, having steeled himself, summoned his executives to issue related orders.
Banshee Queen Olivia, who hadn’t been called even during the Great Temple raid and had continued her duties, brought intriguing information that pricked his ears.
[Your Majesty, comparing those you previously handed over… with information from the recently captured executive… we investigated primarily the most likely locations…] The elite unit that had tried infiltrating Talaria under orders from the one who mobilized the Uphershy Clan, and the Old man, head of the Oath of Reverse Heaven’s Tulk Kingdom branch.
Plus the ongoing investigations into them.
She had gathered every scrap of info she could—new and old—successfully narrowing the suspects.
From there, as always, a thorough ghost survey followed.
[During that… among those this girl was already watching… we discovered a connection…] After that, things proceeded swiftly.
[Azerion Empire, Tobea City near the capital…] It was one of the imperial direct territories surrounding the empire’s central capital, Jelon—a key transportation hub boasting a size near that of a major city.
[There hides a high-ranking Oath of Reverse Heaven executive… who mobilized the Uphershy Clan…] Through her near-obsessive persistence day and night, the suspects finally entered her sights.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Hoh— well done, Olivia. Perfect timing—they’re hiding in the empire?] [Yes, Your Majesty…] He’d already been itching for action, and stopping by there before heading to the northern mountains didn’t seem like a bad idea.
The empire and principality were right next door, so those behind this incident were likely connected.
…Possibly even the culprits themselves.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [How dare they hide in the shadows, just twitching their fingers. This time, I’ll drag them out myself.] Thus, the long-seething Immortal King Hans.
Began moving personally.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ “Something’s off. Definitely off.”
A young man with dull blonde hair paced restlessly inside a lavish room, muttering to himself.
As if frustrated that things weren’t going smoothly, he ruffled his hair every which way before collapsing into an armchair with a deep breath.
“Hoo— no, I’m probably just overreacting.”
The malevolent organization dreaming of world upheaval, ‘Oath of Reverse Heaven.’
Andrew Weaver, an Earth-born Awakener affiliated with it, sank deep into the chair and closed his eyes tightly.
He was tasked with monitoring various regions’ movements under high executive Siana’s orders, but lately, his nerves were frayed by ominous signs detected by his unique skill, Trajectory Observation.
‘What the hell happened?’
First, the Uphershy Clan that suddenly showed strange movements right after heading to Talaria.
Observing Holy Bloods exceeded his abilities, so he hadn’t witnessed their clash with the Brocoslak Clan directly.
‘But something clearly went wrong.’
And how could it not, when the support force Siana sent vanished without a trace.
They’d apparently tangled with someone beyond his observation range, leaving even the reason unknown.
‘Their tracks cut off suddenly en route to Talaria. …Could a Brocoslak Sacred Blood have been there?’
Like a black curtain over his vision, nothing was clear, leaving everything from one to ten shrouded in mystery.
How the clan clash ended, who was still blocking his view in Talaria, what happened to Siana’s group.
He knew absolutely nothing.
‘…It’s been ages since I felt this powerless. No, this is worse than before.’
Even back when his unique skill was weaker, he hadn’t felt this blocked.
He rarely dealt with such high-caliber beings then, and even if he couldn’t see something, he’d quickly admit his limits and move on.
But now, after pouring massive karma to greatly strengthen the skill, at the peak of his confidence and ambition, hitting this wall…
“This is… extremely irritating.”
And it wasn’t the only thing he couldn’t comprehend.
The identity-unknown barbarian rampaging in the Steel Fortress in northern Tulk Kingdom.
When he first learned of the party that visited the northern mountains, he suspected they’d brought back a hidden powerhouse on some secret mission.
Whether their surface target—the dwarves—or someone else, it would explain the anomaly detected by Trajectory Observation.
‘But that wasn’t it. They did go to the mountains on a dwarf rescue request. The odd one is that barbarian.’
Growth through trials didn’t explain the vast difference between going in and coming out.
To the point of doubting if it was the same person.
And even now, that one’s presence obscured his view, remaining blurry.
‘He did vanish briefly midway and was absent from the Steel Fortress at times, but…’
He could only speculate he’d teleported somewhere via temple, unable to track precisely.
‘That barbarian’s definitely something. The mana clash observed in the northern mountains was likely the Immortal King and a dragon. And someone who visited the mountains then suddenly grows that strong? Using dragon power, no less?’
Directly observing that ‘Harley’ barbarian was tough, but he’d steadily gathered info from circulating rumors.
Even learning he was a rare ‘draconian’ species…
‘No, something smells off. The gap between entering and exiting the mountains, that interval. What’s the cause?’
It was speculative without basis or logic, but his hyper-developed intuition kept flagging the incongruity.
But without info to back any hypothesis, it remained meaningless conjecture.
Who could predict that barbarian had teamed up with the continental calamity, the Immortal King, hunted a Mad Dragon, and devoured it?
Not getting called insane would be lucky.
“Ugh, let’s set this aside for now. It’s not urgent.”
It nagged him since it tied into organizational orders, but with no direct link, no need to dig deeper.
Unsettling as it was, the real priority was elsewhere.
“It’s certain. These guys aren’t coincidence. They’re tracking the Oath of Reverse Heaven… us precisely.”
The undead army’s disciplined movements were proof.
Andrew had reported the anomaly to Siana earlier.
And since it concerned him directly, he’d kept close watch afterward…
‘They’re moving from the west toward the center.’
His usually sharp instincts rang alarms nonstop, chills running down his spine from mounting dread.
But Andrew calmly analyzed objectively.
‘They’re approaching the central region, but coming from the outskirts. I’m in the empire’s heart; it’ll take them considerable time to reach here.’
Ominous signs were real, but not warranting immediate panic.
Besides, unlike branches in underground networks, his location was a proper imperial noble mansion.
‘…Still, can’t stay idle. Should tell Sister Siana and prepare countermeasures.’
Though instinct warned of nameless peril, he prioritized reason, calmly pondering responses.
Dismissing the feeling as mere overreaction.
‘Tch, better lay low and avoid going out for a while. Gonna be boring.’
Forcing himself to calm, Andrew grabbed the whiskey on the table and downed it straight.
Only as the throat-burning liquor hit did his mind ease, anxiety slowly fading.
Unaware it was far too late for caution.
Around the mansion where he hid.
Ghosts were gathering one by one.