Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Return to Heaven Society (3)
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After the battle in the mental world ended, Hans once again rummaged through the Return to Heaven Society executive's brain to extract information.
The mental world had been left in ruins from the fight's aftermath, but the physical brain wasn't badly damaged, making it possible.
Of course, it had suffered some influence, resulting in significant data loss, but that much was to be expected.
'Hmm, still not as easy as I'd hoped.'
The clash in the mental world against the Return to Heaven Society's leadership.
He'd thought Mind Hub alone would make short work of them at first, but they had their own related unique skill, making them a tougher opponent than anticipated.
No wonder they could implant restrictions in others' mental worlds and wander freely.
The bastard's mental strength was formidable, but Hans—drawing on the full resources of his avatars—wasn't outmatched.
Still, every time he took one of the guy's attacks, Clear Mirror Still Water wavered, and the data load on Mind Hub spiked dramatically.
Hans was already running Mind Hub at full capacity nonstop to fend off the constant mental corruption seeping from the Fragment of the Immortal King.
With the enemy's assaults piling up in that state, blocked data began backflowing, pushing him to the brink of danger.
'So I just let it happen.'
Like a war where internal rebels erupt mid-battle and external foes press the assault.
No need to suffer caught in the middle.
He flung wide the invasion route for the enemy, luring them straight to the rebels, then concentrated his forces on the opposite flank to seal off the homeland completely.
The oblivious enemy charged in on momentum toward the rebels...
The result was a resounding rebel victory.
Even the Church called it "mental corruption no being could overcome."
No way the aggregate of evil known as the fragment would fall to the bastard's attacks.
The mental world turned into a battlefield and ended up a wasteland in tatters, but the guy was dying anyway—it had nothing to do with Hans.
Yes, the very land where the war broke out had been enemy territory from the start.
'This was a trick that only worked because it was someone else's mental world and I was in soul form.'
But a good outcome was a good outcome.
He leisurely spectated the fight...
Watched the green soul charge in a frenzy only to be torn apart by the fragment-possessed black mass, barely escaping, then casually reattached the leash to the now-idle fragment.
'Still a shame I let the guy slip away.'
With his soul that damaged, he couldn't possibly survive unscathed, but failing to finish him off for sure left a lingering regret.
On top of that, aside from the info gleaned from their chat, there were no real gains—only damage to the memories he could've pulled from the executive's brain.
But it was a bit early for such sentiments.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ The entity has seized another's karma and gained enlightenment. Skill Black Magic evolves into special skill Path of the Dark Arts. 'Huh? Out of nowhere?'
He'd sensed he was approaching some limit lately, but thought he still needed more time...
But he soon figured out why.
[Oh ho, so you absorbed the remnants of that soul scattered across the mental world. An unexpected windfall?]
In the process of reading the executive's memories with black mana, fragments of the green soul strewn about that mental world had hitched a ride inside.
Along with all the knowledge and enlightenment attached.
And "seizing karma" meant his growth had come at the direct cost of diminishing the opponent's level.
'I wondered if there might be a way to reuse this... but it's not a standard method.'
The opponent had taken damage in soul form, their mental world—now a barren ruin—had lost function like lifeless inorganic matter.
Plus, the undead's inherently deficient existence forcibly linked to the mental world via black magic.
All those factors combined.
Of course, it was another risky venture that could've triggered mental corruption, but as always, nothing to do with him.
'Setting aside the other conditions, you need someone who can invade others' minds in soul form as a sacrifice... Not exactly common.'
The guy who'd suffered this defeat would likely tuck tail and bolt the next time they crossed paths.
This was a special case.
Still, thanks to it, he'd broken through the wall—reason enough to celebrate.
With Path of the Dark Arts, he could now expand beyond black magic into other fields.
'Of course, first things first.'
Whoooong—
In an instant, black mana surged, enveloping Hans in darkness as he leaped through space.
His target: the location he'd just learned of.
The Return to Heaven Society's Seoul branch.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ While Heinz stayed at the villa managing the remnants, Hans kept busy.
The coordinates pulled from the executive were damaged, so he couldn't head straight there, but he searched the vicinity and located their base.
The magic growth from Path of the Dark Arts proved immensely helpful in the process—no need to belabor that point.
But their response was even faster.
'I read the memories and came right here, only delayed a bit searching around...'
By the time he arrived, they were already packing up the outpost, fully focused on fleeing.
"Urk... How already?!"
"N-No!"
Fortunately, not too late—he caught them mid-panic burning documents and extracted their memories.
[Withdrawal orders already issued...] He learned that higher-ups had already commanded a pullout, and the executives had gone into hiding immediately.
They'd dumped the document burning on the branch grunts and vanished.
With each covering their tracks individually, the remnants yielded no useful info.
'At least I nabbed one executive. Got some intel out of it.'
"Grah... Guh..."
Hans looked down at the middle-aged man writhing in his grip by the head.
The director of the Return to Heaven Society Seoul branch's technical research lab.
Unlike the others, his greed to salvage even one more research file had made him lag behind, landing him in Hans's clutches.
Thanks to that, most research materials were recovered intact—a boon worth appreciating.
Separate from granting him a peaceful death, of course.
[Guh... Heh... hehihihik...] Hans glanced at the now-undead director and inspected the remaining materials.
Critical items like the latest operation orders had been prioritized and handled separately—what remained were basic outlines of past ops.
He'd busted in just before they torched the rest wholesale, dismantling their spells to salvage them.
The director cared only for research and knew zilch about ops, so useless there.
'Looks like they've been active for a long time, just as rumored.'
Yearly file binders and attached tiny USB drives.
But from rifling their minds, detailed contents were reported up immediately and discarded.
What was stored here was literally just summaries.
Hans neatly packed up the base's leftovers and returned to the villa where Heinz waited.
Plenty of remnants there still ripe for intel extraction.
[Expected as much. Nothing better than that first guy.] But the Return to Heaven Society seemed structured in isolated cells—no one had intel surpassing that initial executive.
Still, their individual skills and knowledge proved useful in the meantime.
"Hmm, seems we've wrapped things up decently. Took out the Blood Alliance hardliners' leadership, and their Return to Heaven backers have pulled back."
[Kehhehe... From the executive's memories, Alpha was already half with Return to Heaven. Vanished completely after this.] Heinz smacked his lips in regret.
It stung not devouring the hardliners' boss, Alpha.
Considering how tight the trap had been, Alpha joining them there likely would've forced a retreat without victory.
In that light, they'd been lucky.
Got to gorge until their guts bloated.
Though if it were higher-grade blood, he'd have puked up the low-grade swill to cram it down regardless.
"With the hardliners smashed this badly, even he knows it's pointless returning now. No home left—he'll fully defect to them."
[Wish we could've tracked and finished him. Shame.] "Return to Heaven seems bigger than expected. From the info so far, not limited to Korea."
[Right, the docs from their base. Better double-check—no telling what tricks they hold.] Hans and Heinz traded words casually.
Essentially just thinking aloud to organize thoughts, but no one around to care.
No living souls here but Heinz anyway.
Hans unpacked every scrap from the Return to Heaven branch.
He'd stored entire cabinets and bookshelves in sub-space, so sorted files were easy to review.
Hans pored over research logs; Heinz parsed yearly op summaries.
Too much to check attached USBs right away, so skimming broad strokes—
"...Huh?"
Heinz froze upon spotting a document.
Hans halted like a powered-down robot mid-review.
Where Heinz's gaze fell.
<Operation Plan: 20XX August, Seoul Station>
A document bearing a date and place Han Seonghyeon could never forget.
It was there.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Ah! Mr. Heinz, you're here?"
At dawn, Heinz sought out Jin Soran.
To report last night's battle results, and...
"...Yes? What happened to the hardliners? You want to meet our leader again...? Wait, hold on. Could you repeat that? Just once more?"
"Last night, we eliminated most hardliner executives except Alpha. Missed a few Gammas dispatched provincially, but it won't sway the tide. I'd like to discuss that with your moderate leader."
Heinz recited the rote words calmly once more.
Reeling from the sudden bombshell, Jin Soran seemed dazed before cautiously gauging his expression.
"Um... Mr. Heinz. I'll report up, but we need time to verify facts... And it's so sudden..."
"Jin Soran."
Heinz's impassive voice cut her off.
Sudden silence descended.
Heinz stared down at her wordlessly.
"...!"
A dizzyingly thick blood scent filled the air.
Last night's feast of countless vampires had skyrocketed his vampiric factor, unleashing blood magic pressure in unison.
Jin Soran stiffened, gulping amid the heart-squeezing intimidation.
'I knew Mr. Heinz was strong, but this much...!'
Not mere overwhelming blood magic quantity.
Something fundamentally different.
A primal fear stirring deep instincts, like a predator's glare.
She realized she was gasping raggedly.
'At least level 7, maybe higher... Beyond my judgment.'
She assessed swiftly and shifted gears.
"I'll contact right now and schedule as soon as possible!"
The moderate leader was level 7.
She'd never felt this facing him, so Heinz surpassed that.
Rumors of hardliner Alpha hitting level 8 were unverified, never witnessed personally—besides the point.
"Good. Then we'll discuss bolstering Blood Alliance forces too. And handling hardliner remnants."
"Yes, sure... Yes?!"
Heinz now had reason to rapidly expand his faction.
Blood Alliance fit perfectly.
Hardliners decimated left them weakened, but long history meant solid foundations.
Stealth, intel, influence—top-tier among Korea's underworld groups.
Now he had the means to leash them too.
He'd milk it for all it was worth.
Likely a fine deal for the moderates.
Depending on reception, they could steer it mutually beneficial.