The United States Still Has a Long Way to Go
"Catch them all!! Hey!!! Are you trying to get them killed and make me take the blame!!! Catch them!!! Just catch them, that's all!!! No, why can't you understand a simple command!!! Come on!!!"
Jojun, who had been watching the parasitic humans go berserk at the sight of fresh blood, barked at them in frustration. Because Jojun's word was absolute, the parasitic humans immediately placed the human they were about to tear apart gently on the ground, their chests heaving with heavy, ragged breaths.
"Hoo... their intelligence is so low... it's exhausting to even give orders."
Jojun’s throat was raw. If the Americans managed to escape the Abyss quickly and alert the outside world, things would get significantly complicated. He had to capture every single one of them right here.
"Oppa, please, drink some water at least."
"Here, have some candy. You get sensitive when your blood sugar drops."
"Yeah... right, thanks..."
Eunji and Hwajon were stuck to Jojun's side like glue, assisting him. They followed him around like leeches, checking his condition and efficiently handling the menial tasks he assigned. The reason they were so attentive was that Jojun’s condition had deteriorated rapidly from consuming too much medicine. And the identity of that medicine was none other than a communication potion.
Since Jojun couldn't speak a lick of English, he had downed over six bottles of the communication potion Hellers had concocted to ensure smooth interaction with the Americans. As a result, he was showing slight signs of drug intoxication. After the brain modification he received from the Evil Gods at the start of the apocalypse, his pain tolerance had become abnormally high and his mental fortitude had reached a superhuman level, but his liver wasn't quite as resilient. He was only holding up thanks to the various elixirs he’d consumed and the Nagaraja essence that had fundamentally altered his constitution; otherwise, he would have collapsed from drug poisoning long ago.
It was all because he had overdosed, far exceeding the limit Hellers had warned him about. Hellers had clearly cautioned that consuming more than a few bottles would cause heart palpitations and pupil constriction, and that he should stop taking it once those symptoms appeared. But because Jojun’s body was so robust, he hadn't felt any significant side effects until he was nearly at his breaking point. He had just assumed he was healthy and kept drinking, leading to this mess. It was a disaster caused by his own excessive pain tolerance.
Of course, if he had the Saintess's recovery skill, he might have easily returned to his original state, but Jojun, whose trust in her was near zero, kept her tightly bound and under the surveillance of his slaves. In the end, Jojun had to drag his exhausted body around to capture the Americans and turn them into slaves. Moreover, the fact that they had even managed to enter the Abyss meant they were all fairly talented Awakened, which made him all the more eager to capture them alive.
"Hoo..."
"Oppa, lean on me a little."
"Yeah. Take it easy. Merhere is in charge of the command. Let's trust her and leave it to her."
"Should I... haa... I keep breaking out in cold sweats..."
Even the owner of a steel stomach who had never once had an upset stomach was helpless in the face of a drug overdose. Eventually, Jojun sat down against a wall to catch his breath until the situation was roughly under control. Eunji and Hwajon kept a constant watch on their surroundings, worried that the monsters trapped in the nest might approach him.
That was when Jojun ordered them to bring him a few of the Americans.
"No!! Don't kill me please!!!"
"Haa... I'm not killing you, you bastard. A guy as big as you, screaming like a child... eat this."
Jojun forced the communication potion down the throat of the Latin man he had dragged over. Then, he pressed his thumb onto the man's forehead, branding him with a Soul Stigma.
"Can you understand me now?"
"Uh... yes..."
"From now on, answer my questions without lying. That is an order."
Jojun asked him who had been leading the Abyss raid. The man pointed a finger at a man bound by the parasitic trees.
"That Black guy was the leader?"
"Yes... he's a guy named Erickson. To be precise, he acted as the manager while Michael was away. He isn't exactly popular. He was even ostracized by the other Black people..."
"Is that so? Hmm. I see. But he probably knows more than you, right?"
"Ah, no... I know more than— ugh..."
The man writhed in agony due to the order not to tell a lie. He couldn't bring himself to say he was better than Erickson. He was painfully aware that he was inferior to him. That was why the command not to lie was causing him such torment.
"I told you not to lie."
"Ugh... I, I'm sorry...!! Please... spare my life..."
"Hoo... Class is Knight... a knight. Are you good at fighting?"
"Yes...! I'm confident with a sword...!!"
"I guess that wasn't a lie?"
"I, I will never tell a lie again..."
"Hoo. Fine. Don't try to be clever."
Jojun flicked the Latin man on the forehead and walked toward Erickson, waving off Eunji and Hwajon as they tried to support him.
"Kiaaa!!!!"
"Uwaaa!!! Run!!!!"
"Pusssss...!!"
"Kyaaa!!!! Where are we supposed to run to!!"
The chaotic scene, reminiscent of New York in the early days of the disaster, had completely shattered Erickson's will to fight. It wasn't a battle anymore. By the time they managed to take down one mushroom monster, five people would be lying on the ground, caught in a swarm of bugs.
'We lost. We... lost.'
Erickson's legs gave out, and he slumped to the floor. The parasitic tree hosts lumbered toward him. As they reached out, vines extended and naturally bound Erickson's hands and feet. The vines dug into his skin, causing him intense pain, but Erickson didn't resist. He had seen what happened to those who tried to fight back—their limbs were simply hacked off. Dozens were already lying on the ground, having met their end.
As Erickson watched the collapse of his group in despair, Jojun approached him. He shoved a potion into Erickson's mouth without a word.
"Keck..! Keck... cough, cough... shit..."
Erickson, who had been coughing violently as some of the potion went down his windpipe, finally looked up at Jojun. Jojun stared down at him and asked,
"Hey. Are you the manager here?"
Erickson nodded at Jojun's question and asked in return,
"You... you're a Cultist. The human who trapped Nicholas... and made the Good Gods tremble..."
"That's right. You know a lot, don't you? But does everyone know that kind of information?"
"Haha... yes... our people have loose lips. Even the fact that Nick became a woman or lost his memory was supposed to be top secret, but everyone was talking about it within a few days. I'm sure they've all heard the information gathered about you by now, too."
"Is that so? Hmm."
At Erickson's self-deprecating words, Jojun realized he would have to strictly gag his slaves.
"Hey... but are Michael and Nick... dead? They must be dead, right...?"
"Of course they're dead. They're right there."
"Yes?"
Erickson looked in the direction Jojun pointed. There, the corpses of Nick and Michael, resurrected by Son Haeun while keeping their forms almost perfectly intact, were wandering about. They were rolling their whitened eyes, mouths agape, emitting an unsettling, mournful cry.
"They say if you resurrect them as ghouls, they don't rot easily."
"Is resurrecting them... and desecrating them like that... to make us surrender more easily?"
"No. That's not it. Well, that could be a reason, too."
Jojun leaned in and whispered in a voice only Erickson could hear.
"It's so I can... defile them if they ever happen to resurrect."
"Re, resurrect...?"
"My, my... you seem surprised by the word resurrection, which means you don't know anything either, do you?"
"Uh... that is..."
Jojun pressed his thumb firmly onto the forehead of Erickson, who was about to say something.
Soul Stigma applied.
"Ssssss!!! Ugh... this is..."
"It's a Slave Brand. Now, let's have a serious Q&A session without any lies."
To Jojun, information spilled by someone who wasn't a slave had no value. Information obtained after completely blocking the possibility of lying was the only kind that was truly precious. Soon, information about the US Eastern Camp began to pour out of Erickson's mouth.
Approximately 4,200 people. Among them, between 800 and 900 Awakened.
'It's impossible to capture them all at once.'
Fierce resistance was expected. And in the middle of that fight, some would inevitably run away. There were fewer than 300 Americans who had entered the Abyss. At most, between 100 and 200. He had captured them with minimal casualties, but if asked if he could capture the ones outside without unnecessary deaths, he had to calculate that it would be difficult.
First of all, the number of survivors at the US Eastern Camp was too high. The number of larvae spawned by the Pitch-Black Wheel was staggering, but unlike the Abyss, which was enclosed on all sides, it was nearly impossible to capture all the survivors in an open area.
'And even if they are Normal Class... trying to capture 800 Awakened by ourselves... is an insane act.'
The numbers were overwhelming. Even if he brought out all the Awakened slaves from Hyoseon Girls' High School, the enemy force was three or four times larger. Just as they had crushed Michael's party with sheer numbers, there was a high possibility that they would crush him with numbers as well.
"You said you communicate with the outside once a day?"
"Yes... that is correct. From the perspective of those outside, they make contact once every 24 minutes."
The flow of time in the Abyss and outside the Abyss was vastly different. One hour here was one minute outside. So, while it was once a day for those in the Abyss, it was once every 24 minutes for the latecomers waiting outside. Therefore, if something happened inside, they would have to wait a while to respond, but by then, a whole day would have already passed inside the Abyss.
That was why, if they went outside to deliver the internal situation verbally, too much time would have already passed in the Abyss; instead, they would write the message on paper, throw it outside, and come back in.
'The time for the regular report is coming... I can just put Erickson forward, say there are no problems, and buy some time.'
The time difference worked in his favor. From their perspective, only 24 minutes had passed, so it would be hard for them to be on alert, but here, a whole day would have passed. It was a good way to buy time.
'If so... rather than touching their main base right away, it would be more beneficial to lure them into the Abyss one by one and slowly turn all the Awakened into slaves.'
Since all the Americans who had established a foothold in the Abyss were now in his hands, he would have to adopt a strategy of slowly turning the rest into his slaves. He would pull off a miracle where, before they knew it, all the Awakened at their camp had been transformed into his slaves.
'If I order them not to show any signs, they will lure their comrades into the Abyss without any way to stop it, and if I turn all the Awakened of the US Eastern Camp into slaves after dumping them into the mire of the Abyss... then the normal survivors without combat power will also naturally be likely to submit to me to survive.'
'In the first place, my Magi is around 800 now... so even if I go out and try to beat them all up, it's impossible to turn everyone into slaves in one day... So, since there will be uncontrolled personnel, it's effective to turn the Awakened into slaves first and use them to control the normal people outside.'
If you try to eat too much at once, you get sick. Just like he had gotten sick from overdosing on the communication potion... So, he would have to swallow them in manageable portions.
"Merhere! And Henry. Get ready."
First, he was going to the center of the Yellow Spot. He couldn't just leave the helpers alone.