Chapter 441
Chapter 441
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 441
Chapter Title: Black Dragon Society (3)
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Heinz fixed the old man with a cold, sunken gaze.
Just that alone unleashed an overwhelming pressure, as if the entire world had turned against him, all focused on that single point.
Yet even amid that crushing force that would have stopped most people dead in their tracks, the old man merely stroked his chin beard with a face still lit by an amused smile.
'He was the former branch chief of the Reverse Heaven Society?'
Heinz's eyebrow twitched.
It was certainly astonishing.
Even he, who had considered various possibilities, hadn't anticipated this at all.
But the biggest question right now wasn't the revelation itself.
'Why tell me this?'
It was a fact he hadn't heard even after wringing every last bit of information out of Black Shadow.
As the man himself had said, it was probably a secret known only to him, hidden from everyone else.
For him to casually spill it to Heinz—a total stranger... no, an intruder who had stormed into the organization he had nurtured—was utterly incomprehensible.
"What the hell are you thinking?"
Heinz didn't hide his suspicion.
The current flow was overwhelmingly in his favor anyway.
There was no need to play coy just to probe the man's inner thoughts.
Worst case, he could always force it out with sheer power.
"No particular meaning. I just thought it might be nice for comrades with the same goal to open up to each other."
"The same goal..."
"Destroying the Reverse Heaven Society. Isn't that what you wanted?"
The Black Dragon Lord gazed at Heinz with deep, profound eyes.
A pitch-black energy rippled within his dark pupils.
"—At the Masquerade, no less."
"Hmph."
Heinz tilted his head.
He wasn't surprised that the man knew the name.
Masquerade had only recently begun operating in earnest, but with multiple witnesses, word was bound to leak out somehow.
He had no intention of hiding it from the start.
"Hard to believe."
The real issue lay elsewhere.
"You strike first, and now you claim we're comrades with the same goal...? No matter how I look at it, it just seems like desperate excuses to weasel out of this."
It was a matter of trust.
No matter how peacefully they chatted now, this wasn't a friendly gathering.
This was the place to punish an invader who had barged into his own home and wreaked havoc at will.
"Mm, sorry about that. But we had our reasons too."
"Reasons?"
"How much do you know about the Reverse Heaven Society's Oracle?"
"Oracle? You mean their prophet?"
"...Hmph, I suspected as much, but it's true. To think you can utter her name and still evade her gaze."
Heinz furrowed his brow.
He had braced for some excuse, but what was this nonsense?
"Her prophecies aren't just glimpses of future fragments. They're closer to reading the flow piercing through past, present, and future, along with the stray thoughts humans unconsciously emit, to foretell destiny."
Sensing the chill in the air, the Black Dragon Lord hurriedly elaborated.
"Her influence spans the entire Earth. And the moment someone clearly names her, they're immediately caught in her sight and marked as a target. Of course, with all the abilities out there, there are ways to circumvent it..."
He trailed off, suggesting it was best to leave no trace at all for safety, then gave Heinz—and whatever enveloped him—a strange look.
"But I've never seen a reaction this nonexistent before. It's not just blocking tracking; it's like she never even registers you from the start."
He shook his head lightly and continued where he left off.
Explaining why he, and the Black Dragon Society, had no choice but to resort to such convoluted methods.
"Unfortunately, our Black Dragon Society lacks abilities like yours. Her vigilance was already at its peak after what you did in Southeast Asia. If we tried approaching with any hint of allying with Blood Alliance in this situation..."
That alone would greatly heighten the risk of detection.
So they hadn't even mentioned him to Black Shadow from the outset.
In the end, all that commotion was just a ploy to contact him while bypassing the surveillance.
'The Oracle's that formidable?'
Heinz arched one eyebrow at the man's excessive caution.
Truth be told, he didn't know much about the Oracle himself.
Just that she had future sight and was a key commander directing the Reverse Heaven Society's moves.
"She's non-combat, but she reached the Mythic Realm—naturally. She paid for leaking heavenly secrets by forfeiting most of her power, but that lifted most earthly restrictions, so she's far from negligible. ...Though it seems she's your natural counter."
The Black Dragon Lord, however, reacted as if it were obvious.
He kept scanning Heinz's surroundings, clearly fascinated by how thoroughly the man evaded the Oracle's power.
"Fine, I get that. We'll talk details later... Now for the real issue."
Heinz narrowed his eyes at him.
At the same time, the still air around them began to stir once more during their conversation.
Ready to tear the man apart at the slightest suspicious move.
"Tell me, former East Asia branch chief of the Reverse Heaven Society. Reverse Heavenly One."
A thick mist of blood spread through the air around them.
"Your true purpose. Why you betrayed them and now oppose them."
A stern gaze that brooked no lies pierced straight into the old man's soul.
"And why I should trust you."
With each word, the pressure mounted relentlessly, and even the Black Dragon Lord could no longer maintain his composure.
He seemed to forcibly restrain his body from shifting into combat stance, twitching several times before letting out a deep sigh.
"Hah, of course."
His face hardened as he continued.
"If their plan succeeds, at least half of Earth's humans won't survive."
It was a more humanitarian reason than expected.
And on a global scale far beyond what he'd imagined.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 'Masquerade... a cabal of adversaries.'
The Reverse Heaven Society leader slowly raised his head.
In his gaze reflected the colossal laws enveloping the entire world.
'Is this your will, Akasha?'
The hyperdimensional fragment of the system that only he could fully observe.
The source of the power that bestowed awakening upon humanity—Earth's sole intelligent life—and allowed them to witness the miracle of mystery.
'And the key to the world's destruction.'
Ziiing—
-I will never give up... I will become... no matter what...
Whoooong—
-By any means... no matter the sacrifice...!
A now-familiar headache struck, accompanied by tinnitus ringing in his ears.
A voice that sounded like his own yet felt strangely alien buzzed and shook his mind.
But he stared unflinchingly at the world's laws.
It was nothing new at this point.
A glimpse of a future now lost to the past flashed across his eyes.
The sight of a world that, like a nation crumbling under foreign invasion despite isolationist policies, ultimately failed to endure and perished.
'I expected interference.'
It was always like this.
No preemptive measures based on accumulated knowledge ever worked.
Like inescapable fate, it struck in unforeseen ways at unexpected moments, always derailing his plans.
'But I'm steadily advancing.'
He could affirm it.
His responses, built on vast experience, were effective.
Raising market share this much despite all constraints was his best yet.
The sole problem?
The system's countermeasures had grown to an undeniable level, matching his progress.
His greater achievements meant adversaries of unprecedented threat.
'Hwayeotal and Phantom, otherworld saints and apostles, and...'
Not just one enemy who could traverse dimensions at will like him, but many.
And he still hadn't fully grasped their identities—a major issue.
He needed to identify foes before devising countermeasures...
"Ah! Leader! There you are!"
Lost in deep thought, he was interrupted by a boisterous voice.
"Perfect timing—I have something to report!"
Doctor, a middle-aged man with tousled brown hair, strode toward him briskly.
His eyes glowed fluorescent yellow, flickering like headlights—whatever mad experiments he'd done to himself.
"Ah! So even you noticed, Leader? Cool, right? These eyes? I based them on factors extracted from that 'Watcher of Rodeka Dimension' guy and added a bunch of tweaks..."
As always, he veered off into tangents, bragging about his body.
A fusion of materials from various races, artificially tuned spirit circuits, and cybernetic enhancements from countless civilizations.
Pulling them out one by one like trophies.
"Homunculus flesh is so much more versatile for this stuff, you know? Should've swapped bodies sooner. Pure human stock is just too rigid!"
The mad scientist grumbled, unconcerned that his experiments diminished his own accumulated power or turned his body into guinea pig fodder.
Though he'd survived by pre-splitting and culturing backup bodies in the past.
"The full evolution organism project would've been even better... Oh, speaking of— that 'Apostle Mask' guy in Masquerade? I think he's an old acquaintance. Something clicked while hearing the description..."
"Doctor. Get to the point."
The leader, who had patiently listened so far, spoke softly.
That alone was ample courtesy for his position.
He had some leeway after devouring a dimension—no self-sealing needed if he didn't overexert—but he wouldn't indulge endless chatter.
"Eek! Got too excited and forgot!"
Doctor slapped his forehead and grinned at the leader.
Then continued eagerly.
"I scanned the logs from while I was dormant, and found something juicy! Someone tried hacking my locked system?"
"Hacking?"
"Not some amateur! Reaching that far means quantum computers from top-tier sci-fi civs at minimum."
The operator's skill was no joke either.
Without his Deus ex Machina, it might've actually breached.
"Tried tracing back, but their security was tight—couldn't pinpoint location! Heh heh~ Embarrassing!"
But he hadn't come away empty-handed.
Couldn't find the origin, but he'd traced the hacker's residual signature.
"...Massive hack across all of Southeast Asia."
The trigger for their emergency summit.
Proof the mystery hacker was deeply involved in the branch's downfall.
"Masquerade."
"Bingo! Holding a hacker that good means they're not just brute force! Whew~ Wanna clash directly, but they've gone quiet lately. Shame."
Ignoring Doctor's genuine regret, the leader closed his eyes.
Masquerade—the group of adversaries thwarting his plans.
Having an info-warfare expert Doctor admired was bad news.
'But I'll overcome it. No matter the interference. Even if it costs more lives.'
All for this world.
To save Earth from annihilation.
His mission as a regressor, one he couldn't share with anyone.