Chapter 237: I Have Conquered
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 237: I Have Conquered
Bren, a level 1 citizen who made a living moving cargo at the Central Terminal, had a secret he could never tell anyone.
He was a member of the Resistance.
The Military State was harsh to failures… or rather, it had no interest in them at all. Left to fend for themselves after citizen registration, their entire lives consisted of endless labor until death. Bren lacked the intelligence to even attend secondary school, but even he could see his future with painful clarity.
He was given the life of a cog in a machine. And just like a cog, Bren turned without question or doubt.
But humans have free will. A considerable free will that even allows them to believe that it is, in fact, an illusion.
Tomorrow would be the same as yesterday. This hypothesis had been inductively proven by the days Bren had lived so far. Yesterday had been dull, with little to be happy about, so tomorrow would surely be the same. Bren lived each day feeling a listlessness that went beyond despair.
But then, his life changed. The catalyst was a strange visitor.
The young man arrived with a bottle of beer and sat with him, sharing stories. He was cheerful, and because of him, Bren’s mood gradually lifted. When the tipsy youth began to childishly curse the Military State, Bren just chuckled and played along.
From that day on, Bren became a member of the Resistance.
He found his reason retroactively. After joining the Resistance, his life became exciting. Just imagining what noble directive might be handed down and how coolly he would carry it out was thrilling. Even the appropriate amount of tension from worrying about Public Safety showing up gave Bren a sense of purpose.
At the very least, tomorrow was no longer the same as yesterday.
Becoming a member of the Resistance changed his life. Every day was fulfilling. Fulfilling.
He wasn't an incredibly meticulous or cautious person, but in all his time with the Resistance, he had never once been caught in the Military State's surveillance net.
The reason was simple: he had yet to receive a single order. In fact, in his effort to avoid suspicion, he had worked so hard that his supervisor's evaluation of him had improved… not that it changed anything.
Still, he never doubted that when the moment for a great decision came, he would stand with the Resistance. He had lived his whole life for that one day.
It was on one such day, as he was working energetically as usual, that a young laborer approached him from the other side. The young man, his face slightly grim, placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered.
“Mr. Bren. We have our orders.”
The day had come. Bren nodded gravely.
The briefing was short, concise, and rushed.
The objective: strike the Command Center. The operation would commence immediately upon arrival at the Central Terminal. The Regressor gathered everyone and explained calmly.
“The road to the Command Center is lined with garrison troops and checkpoints. The inspections are thorough. From here on, sneaking in is impossible.”
A frontal assault. The method the Regressor proposed was indeed simple and straightforward.
“Publicly, we’ll frame this as a Resistance attack. At the Central Terminal, I’ll take down the superintendent and the other high-ranking officials. The rest of you, head for the Command Center. I’ll clean up here and follow you shortly.”
The Central Terminal was the largest terminal on the entire Meta Conveyor Belt, connecting directly to the Command Center. It was a top-priority facility guarded by a resident general officer, with elite troops from three nearby bases ready to be dispatched in an emergency. The Regressor’s claim to subdue such a place in an instant felt utterly unrealistic.
But… the Regressor’s power was nigh-omnipotent. Though she hadn't reached the pinnacle of her arts, her diverse methods and her ability to wield them with extreme proficiency were second to none.
“Can you do it?”
“Leave it to me.”
The result of the determined Regressor’s actions was… beyond imagination.
“Emergency! Emergency! We’re under attack!”
“Everyone, ruuuuuun!”
The moment they opened a container, a cloud of pure white smoke erupted from within. It was a cloud created by the Regressor.
Cycle of Water: wind, cloud, rain, and dew. Frost, snow, thunder, and lightning.
The essence of Chun-aeng was a compressed space, capable of holding the clouds and winds that exist only in the sky. The Regressor had emptied a container and spent hours accumulating power within it. Then, she released it all at once.
A localized cumulonimbus cloud descended upon the Central Terminal. The only difference from a normal one was that it was stacked like a tower from the ground up. In the fog where one couldn't see an inch ahead, only the Regressor, her Seven Colored Eyes activated, strode forward.
The chain of command was instantly paralyzed.
“Waaaaaaah! It’s the Resistance! The Resistance is attacking!”
“Everyone, run! We’re all going to die!”
“It’s dangerous! They’ll suck your blood and turn you into a vampire!”
Panicked laborers, Resistance members inciting chaos among them, and soldiers and supervisors trying to respond urgently all mixed together, creating unprecedented pandemonium. It might have been different if they could hear properly, but this was a terminal. Huge cranes and countless laborers each produced their own noise. Sound was swallowed by the clouds before it could travel even ten steps.
“This is hopeless! Get the superintendent!”
The most diligent and capable soldiers quickly sought out their superior to quell the chaos. The superintendent of the Central Terminal was a general officer. They believed a general could bring order to this mess and lead them all.
The condition for being recognized as a general officer in the Military State was combat endurance. A general, who must stand above all, could not die easily. They had to survive until the very end to lead their soldiers.
Therefore, all generals were masters of the Gam Qi Art, capable of strengthening their entire bodies. They maintained a constant state by establishing a single-minded focus within themselves. They were, in a word, war machines.
The soldiers rushed to the superintendent, intending to ask him to take command of the chaos.
“Sir! We need your orders—!”
But when the dutiful soldiers reached the superintendent’s office, he was already unconscious, pinned beneath the Regressor’s foot.
The Regressor, catching her breath after a fierce battle, waved at the unexpected guests.
“Hello.”
“Who… who are you—! Ack!”
Now. Hiding behind the door, I swung a club and struck the back of his head. First Sergeant Keteren, the senior supply officer, collapsed without putting up a decent fight.
Trembling, I set down the blood-soaked club.
“Ugh. I’m a non-combatant, so why the hell am I working here….”
“You fight pretty well for a non-combatant.”
“That’s because I only pick on the small fry and take them down from behind! Anyway, why did you single me out for this? There are plenty of people more used to fighting!”
The Regressor spoke as if it were obvious.
“It’s still daytime, so it’s better to conserve Tyrkanzyaka’s power. The Dog King and Cat King don’t really do what I say. So, that makes you the next best choice, doesn’t it?”
“Next best?! This is way too dangerous for an ordinary petty criminal like me!”
“…I don’t know what you’re still hiding, but fine. I’ll call you ordinary. See anything unusual?”
“Oh, right. I saw a safe on the way here. We probably don’t have time to crack it, right?”
“Lead the way. I’ll just put the whole thing in my Pocket.”
Even in the middle of all this, the Regressor was meticulously farming. The safe, made of Level 5 alchemic steel, was sucked whole into the Regressor’s spatial storage, the Pocket.
That Pocket thing is a total cheat item. It might be even more broken than Chun-aeng or Jizan.
‘…He’s used to fighting. He’s never shown any incredible power, but fighting alongside him is strangely comfortable. He’s not a hindrance, and he’s thorough. He has a knack for pinpointing the enemy’s weaknesses. I should use him more often in the future.’
Don’t use me! I need to be protected! Think of me as a delicate sunfish that dies if you poke it!
After a rough cleanup, the Regressor and I stepped outside the terminal office. The chaos outside was still raging, but amidst it, there was a slightly more organized movement. It was a group of Resistance members, using the confusion to escape.
Among them, one young man stood out. He had the ragged appearance of a laborer, yet the composed demeanor of an officer as he calmly surveyed his surroundings.
I realized who he was.
Chento, the one who was good at reading the wind. A survivor of Hamelin. One of the few among all those children who had the will to survive, who had clawed his way out of the riverbed.
So this is what he was doing—acting as a recruiter for the Resistance. He had been entrusted with the crucial role of an infiltration unit, creating numerous direct and indirect collaborators. A man who once dreamed of being an officer was now a Resistance missionary. Should I call this a promotion, or a fall from grace?
He was leading the non-combatant Resistance members, joining up with collaborators he had scouted in the terminal, and climbing onto the belt. The north would soon be engulfed in the flames of war. For the Resistance, who had to abandon their base, the only way to escape quickly was the Meta Conveyor Belt.
They would escape, but the Military State wouldn't be able to pursue them. They wouldn't have the luxury to care.
Just then, the Regressor sensed another presence and spoke.
“They’re here. Troops from the nearby bases.”
“Great. Let’s pull back now! If we head south toward the Command Center, they’ll follow us!”
“Just pull back? That’s a bit of a shame.”
The Regressor held Chun-aeng and Jizan in a cross. Pressing the two blades together at a single point, she slid Chun-aeng’s edge along Jizan’s body as if sharpening a dull blade. A peculiar friction occurred where the two swords met.
Normally, when you grind two blades together, the metal flakes off and creates sparks. So what happens when the sword of the sky and the sword of the earth are rubbed together?
I had no idea. It was my first time seeing a sword of the sky and a sword of the earth.
But I knew from my studies what happens when the sky and the earth clash.
The Roar of the Sky God. Lightning.
Bzzzzzzzzzt.
A tremendous amount of lightning poured from the tips of the two treasured swords. Even from this distance, I could feel a tingling sensation all over my body. A bright yellow crack appeared in the air, and lightning flowed from it as if from a turned-on faucet.
The seeping lightning permeated the clouds that filled the area. The cloud the Regressor had summoned on the ground gradually darkened and let out an ominous burp. Lightning can strike from a clear sky, but it only becomes complete when there is ground.
Clutching the writhing lightning in her hand, the Regressor, drunk on the feeling of omnipotence, muttered.
“Aerith Blade Supreme. Thunderous Sweep.”
“You’re saying your ultimate move’s name out loud. If you explain everything from its element to its attack pattern, won’t they just dodge it?”
“Sh-shut up! Its power is weak and its movements are large, so it doesn’t work well on skilled opponents with good instincts!”
“Ah, so it’s a move that’s only good against weaklings.”
“It’s a wide-area attack!”
Cool factor aside, the Regressor’s swordsmanship was a form of spellblading, using her treasured swords as a medium to amplify her own magic.
As the Regressor forcefully pulled Jizan back, dozens of lightning tendrils, like a giant claw, raked across the ground as she swung.
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
“Guheoooook….”
The ground was completely overturned, and the soldiers in the area collapsed, their bodies trembling violently. The Military State would now have to deal with the wounded while simultaneously fighting an enemy.
The overturned earth, the clouds flashing with lightning, and the people lying electrocuted within. I took in the scene of devastation, far too immense to have been caused by a single person.
“…I’m getting cognitive dissonance trying to figure out if you’re amazing, Shei-ssi, or if this terminal is just full of nobodies. I hope the Command Center is this easy.”
“Just watch out for the Six Generals and the other general officers. A good number of them are away right now, so it shouldn’t be too different.”
“Well, you’re the one doing the fighting, Shei-ssi. As long as you use that weakling-killer move of yours, you should be able to take down anyone weaker than you! Good luck!”
“I told you, it’s a wide-area attack! And you need to start fighting seriously! How long are you going to keep slacking off?!”
I’m already fighting with everything I’ve got. You need to work on your judgment of people!
A quick look around revealed that only soldiers and twitching casualties remained in the terminal. Most of the laborers had fled, and the Resistance seemed to have escaped on the belt.
Just as it became difficult to even find an enemy, a corps that had come to support the terminal appeared in the distance. It was a fully equipped combat unit.
“Alright, let’s really get out of here now. It’d be a disaster if I got too excited and wasted all my energy.”
“So you’re aware you got excited, and you’re aware it was a waste. Knowing that and doing it anyway already sounds like a disaster, doesn’t it?”
“Yatter, yatter, you’re so noisy! Just grab my hand! It’ll be a pain if the Magic Corps intercepts us, so I’m going to fly at full speed before they can!”
“Wait a minute. Why do I have to hold your hand if we’re flying? Surely, you don’t mean… I’m not going to be dangling from Shei-ssi’s haaaaaand—!”
And with one hand, of all things! I don’t even hang from a pull-up bar with one hand!
Dangling from the Regressor’s hand, I swung back and forth, setting a new personal record for a one-handed hang.