Chapter 208: Reinvasion (5)
Chapter 208: Reinvasion (5)
“Han Shin-nim!”
It had been a long time since Han Shin had heard Sitri’s voice.
The results of her experimental weapon swings were, in a word, a massive success.
Sitri was incredibly satisfied with the whip sword she had crafted and wanted to inform Han Shin as soon as possible.
Before doing so, she realized she was a mess, so she quickly washed up, changed her clothes, and returned home with Laysia’s help.
As soon as she arrived, she sought out Han Shin. For his part, Han Shin was most glad to see her face after so long, and seeing her reaction, he was happy to realize she had succeeded.
“Did you finish what you were working on?”
“Yes! I finished it and just got back from testing it.”
“That’s great. Oh, is this it?”
Seeing Han Shin speak with a smile, Sitri quickly pulled the whip sword she had just made out of her subspace to show him.
Han Shin saw a silver longsword with a broad blade in her hand.
Sitri answered with confidence.
“Yes!”
Sitri felt she could boast that this was the best weapon she had ever created.
“It looks like an ordinary longsword on the outside. How strange.”
To Han Shin, it was simply fascinating.
The longsword in Sitri’s hand had no visible grooves or seams; it didn't look like something that would split apart at all. It appeared to be a perfectly solid longsword.
“Shall I show you?”
With a beaming, excited face, Sitri prepared to demonstrate how to handle the weapon herself.
She had spent a long time toiling away to create this weapon, and now that Han Shin recognized her effort and showed interest, she felt a strong urge to show off and brag.
Since Sitri didn't usually act this way, Han Shin found her behavior refreshing. It was also his first time seeing a whip sword in person, so he nodded.
“Yeah. I’d like to see it.”
However, Han Shin couldn't see it right then.
Kang Yujin approached Han Shin urgently and spoke.
“Shin-a! They say suspicious movement has been detected in Morocco!”
Kang Yujin’s words were pressing; this was no time to be leisurely watching a weapon demonstration.
Sitri immediately put her sword back into her subspace and followed behind Kang Yujin along with Han Shin.
Grace and Laysia, who had been handling the housework in Sitri’s stead while she spent so much time crafting the weapon, also gathered immediately upon being summoned by Kang Yujin.
Kang Yujin immediately showed them several photos she had received from the USA.
Taken by a reconnaissance drone, the photos showed a dark, shadowed structure in the middle of the desert.
It was a structure shaped like a very tall tower.
“It’s a Black Spire.”
Though the image was blurry, its shape left no room for doubt.
“When did they build this…?”
“It couldn't have been long ago. Ahem… When I came to Earth… the other demons didn't really have a specific plan.”
Sitri spoke with a slight groan, feeling a bit embarrassed to talk about the situation back when she was a demon invading Earth.
“Then someone must have crossed over recently… or the Demonic Humans built it.”
“Yes. That’s likely it.”
“Noona, did they contact us immediately for help?”
“Yeah. The US discovered this, and they reached out asking us to investigate it together. They said they’d send a private jet right away.”
“Hmm… To move faster, wouldn't it be better to go to the UK villa first and then head out?”
“That’s what we decided. So I think we should get ready to leave now and move to the UK villa.”
Since the physical distance from the UK to Morocco was much shorter, and they needed to reach the site quickly, they had already arranged to meet in the UK.
Han Shin nodded, seeing that Kang Yujin had handled the arrangements well.
As expected of Noona.
“Good job, Noona.”
At Han Shin’s praise, Kang Yujin brought both hands to her cheeks and giggled, looking incredibly happy. The sense of gratification she felt when being praised by Han Shin was substantial.
It was a situation that would almost certainly lead to combat, and it could even escalate into a major battle.
They prepared with extreme speed and gathered in the living room again, thanks to the preparations they had already made to move quickly whenever such an event occurred.
The Moon Shadow Party moved to the UK immediately through the Sanctuary.
They donned their combat armor and made contact with the US.
Both the UK and the US were bewildered, having no idea when Han Shin’s group had moved to the UK.
The UK hadn't even heard that the Moon Shadow Party was coming… and there was no record of them entering the country.
Yet, they suddenly appeared at the villa the UK had given them, which came as a shock.
Before being given to the Moon Shadow Party, it had been one of the royal villas, a place where access for commoners was strictly forbidden.
Even while the Moon Shadow Party was away, the military had been deployed to maintain ironclad security, fearing that thieves or gossip-seeking reporters might sneak in.
And then they heard that the Moon Shadow Party would be meeting the US in the UK to move to Morocco.
At first, the authorities wondered if they were meeting the US after flying from Korea to the UK. They thought, Why go through such a hassle?
That was, until they revealed themselves so suddenly…
The UK and US governments speculated that the Moon Shadow Party possessed an artifact that allowed them to move instantly to any region they had visited once.
It was a natural assumption, as they wouldn't have needed to travel with the US if they had an artifact that could take them anywhere.
The US Branch of the Awakener Association was, of course, as powerful as the nation itself.
Backed by a massive number of Awakeners and capital, the US was very favorable toward and preferred creating heroes.
Awakeners were, in a sense, superheroes who had stepped out of comic books.
The US actively scouted for heroic acts by Awakeners, publicizing their good deeds on a grand scale and using them for marketing.
This had a very positive effect; because of this, the number of people turning into Demonic Humans was remarkably low compared to the total number of Awakeners in the US, and they were able to detect and handle them early without suffering major damage.
Of course, such cases weren't non-existent, and the US wasn't free of Awakener criminals, but considering the circumstances, it was at a very respectable level.
From the perspective of such a country, the Moon Shadow Party was incredibly attractive.
They were allies from another world, no less.
Furthermore, their actions—directly defeating demons and mercilessly executing the Demonic Humans who became their minions—earned them immense popularity, even if they weren't their own country's Awakeners.
The US had always been active in scouting and recruiting high-ability Awakeners from other countries with excellent treatment.
They had long taken note of Moon Shadow, Kang Yujin, as the world's only S-Rank Psychokinetic and had tried to scout her by offering a fortune.
However, Kang Yujin had refused because she didn't want to reveal her identity and didn't want Han Shin to find out she was an Awakener.
She had avoided contact altogether and told them bluntly not to bother her, making her the "forbidden fruit" all this time.
But now, because of the party she had formed with allies from the Other World and the achievements they had made, the US grew even more covetous. They considered it a stroke of luck that Sitri had requested help from another country, finally creating a connection.
Previously, the Korean Branch of the Awakener Association would have reacted sensitively, but that no longer mattered.
To stay in the Moon Shadow Party's good graces, the US guided them to Morocco via a prepared private jet immediately, without asking any special questions.
The US was the one to discover the Black Spire being built in Morocco because they were well-positioned and had agreements with many African nations. With many Awakeners active there, they judged there was a high possibility that Demonic Humans who had fled Europe might appear.
Thus, they had scoured every corner of the African continent using everything from satellites to reconnaissance planes.
In that process, they discovered the Black Spire erected in the middle of the Moroccan desert…
They immediately informed the Moon Shadow Party while conducting their own investigation into what else might be in Morocco.
The US Association officials meeting with Moon Shadow as representatives immediately shared what they had learned from scouting and investigating the area around the Black Spire.
"We've discovered that vehicles are frequently moving in and out of the area around the Black Spire. We suspect they are outlaws."
"Has there been any word from the Moroccan government or their Association?"
"We are currently observing them, keeping the worst-case scenario in mind. We cannot ignore the possibility that they have been taken over by Demonic Humans."
"Hmm… Then they don't know we're coming either?"
"No. We are moving in secret."
"You did well."
"Thank you."
The reason the US was approaching so cautiously was that despite the Black Spire being built, Morocco was acting surprisingly normal, as if nothing was wrong.
Even when asked routinely if there were any issues since many Demonic Humans seemed to have fled toward Morocco, the only response was that everything was fine.
Therefore, the US was currently open to the possibility that Morocco might have been completely taken over by Demonic Humans at some point.
It was possible they were simply too incompetent to know, but the possibility that they knew and were feigning ignorance could not be ignored. If they were in league with the enemy, the element of surprise would be lost, so for now, they were not informing the Moroccan side.