Chapter 309: Episode 309

Kerrrk!

Kieeeeeek!

Monsters rained down from the Rifts tearing open the sky above Manama.

I hovered in place under the ironclad protection of the Golems. Messages of pure, unfiltered horror scrolled up the chat window so fast they were an unreadable blur.

“Everyone, GOT didn’t eliminate the Rifts,” I said, turning my piercing gaze to the camera. “They stockpiled them.”

Boom! Thud!

In an instant, an ocean of monsters overran the city’s buildings, streets, parks, and alleyways.

“I can’t say exactly what ability the demonkins used, but calculating the amount of operational mana in the atmosphere and the hourly mana consumption, this exact phenomenon you are witnessing was scheduled to manifest in Manama about six months from now.”

And six months from now was exactly when that event would occur.

“Nemesis. The demonkins of GOT intended to stab humanity in the back the moment Nemesis manifested. This goes for Bahrain, of course, but also for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, and every other GOT-affiliated nation.”

The reaction in the chat was unfathomably explosive.

“GOT is not a beacon of hope—it is a curse. Demonkins will never, under any circumstances, act in a way that benefits humanity. And one more thing.”

There was a specific detail the public was currently panicking over. I had dispelled the demonkins’ abilities with Cancellation and shown the accumulated Rifts manifesting all at once. Proving my theory was fine, but people were rapidly pointing out that even in a demonkin stronghold, opening Rifts would endanger the innocent civilians living there.

To crush that controversy before it could breathe, I had the drone cameras sweep every corner of the city.

Rift monsters typically engaged in murderous rampages the exact moment they dropped. They would hunt down humans, tearing through the streets and causing absolute chaos.

Yet, every single monster that had fallen from the Rifts… stood frozen in place, as quiet as the dead.

It was utterly silent. They weren’t even breathing. They didn’t even roll their eyes. They just remained entirely still. Despite such a massive Rift outbreak, absolutely none of the tragedies that usually accompanied one were taking place.

“As you all know, a Rift monster’s primary instinct is the extermination of humans. But look. The monsters that fell from the Rifts are just standing there blankly.”

I curled up the corners of my mouth.

“What do you think that signifies?”

If monsters fresh out of a Rift could not sense a single human within their detection range, they would freeze up completely, like statues. This instinctual behavior was called ’Freezing.’

The monsters were currently exhibiting a textbook symptom of Freezing. In other words.

“The truth is, not a single human was living here in Manama.”

The real-time comments exploded.

“They are either dead, infected, turned into monsters or demonkins, or transported elsewhere for brutal experiments. The only humans in this city are demonkins—this is the true reality of GOT.”

-Tower Master, it is complete.

When I raised my head, an artillery battery of dozens of layered buff magic circles that Ea had painstakingly crafted was laid out before me.

I roused my mana and sent my feathers flying toward them. Draped in every power-enhancing effect available, the feathers ascended endlessly into the sky.

“Therefore, based on the justified rules of engagement, the World Guild’s Magic Tower will now destroy this monster den.”

A moment later, glowing red dots began to reveal themselves one by one in the clear sky. If one were watching from afar, it might have been a beautiful sight, like shooting stars falling at noon, but the reality was far more apocalyptic.

<Armageddon>

An overwhelming, god-like violence, surpassing anything else in the world, descended upon the city.

And then, impact.

Tinnitus rang sharply in my ears. The ground was instantly blanketed in roaring flames and flashing, pure-white bursts of light. Tall buildings collapsed like dominoes, and the sight of massive trucks and boats being violently thrown through the sky was utterly surreal.

Monsters were vaporized into ash and scattered in the wind. The very foundation of the island crumbled, causing the entire city to sink.

Faced with a feast of violence so staggering it bordered on the avant-garde, the flood of comments in the chat window momentarily came to a dead halt.

This should be enough.

I had carefully adjusted the output. I could have sunk the entirety of Bahrain into the ocean, but I restrained the blast radius just in case there were actual civilians surviving in the outskirts beyond the city limits.

“This is only the beginning.” Staring at the smoke and flames blanketing the ruined capital, I spoke. “The Magic Tower will begin an all-out war with GOT. Demonkins are unacceptable under any circumstances. If we do not completely eliminate them before Nemesis, it will return to humanity as an even greater catastrophe.”

My gaze shifted back to the drone cameras.

“The GOT-affiliated nations have only two options. You can either help the demonkins and fight us, or you can join us and escape their clutches. Not only the Magic Tower, but the Coalition and the entire World Guild are ready to assist you. Please make the wise choice. That is all.”

I ended the transmission and let out a heavy sigh.

-You did well, Tower Master.

“Ahhh! You’re the absolute best, Yusin!” Eunsol cheered.

I wiped the dripping sweat from my forehead with my sleeve. Just as I thought. I was definitely not cut out for live broadcasting.

*

The world was turned completely upside down once the truth, that GOT was actively planning to stab humanity in the back, was revealed.

The first nation to react was Saudi Arabia. Having already possessed the greatest hunter system in West Asia, Saudi Arabia declared its withdrawal from GOT on the very day of my broadcast. Within hours, they executed every single GOT official and demonkin residing within their borders.

They had only aligned with GOT out of political necessity to begin with, so they easily demonstrated the underlying military strength required to declare independence.

Furthermore, on the day of the broadcast, the upper echelons of Yemen, Kuwait, and Iraq contacted the Magic Tower and the Coalition. Their messages were desperate requests for military assistance, boldly stating they wished to break free of GOT’s control.

Having obtained definitive justification to intervene, Secretary General Phil moved with ruthless efficiency. He dispatched the Coalition’s most elite special forces to protect high-ranking political figures and strike the demonkins’ key facilities.

As the global mood shifted, the M10 and the powerful European nations, who had always looked at GOT unfavorably, also rushed to step up.

It was a stark departure from the previous political climate, where they had loudly preached “My Country First” and kept their hunters confined to their own borders. Now, they immediately deployed troops to the Middle East and carried out large-scale demonkin eradication operations.

The European nations, particularly the UK and Germany, reacted very aggressively to this matter. According to Jeong Seojin’s commentary, it was because they were terrified of the nuclear weapons held in the Middle East. The European countries had been nervous wrecks, paranoid that the demonkins might drop nukes on the European mainland in tandem with Nemesis, so they jumped in, seeing this as their golden opportunity to neutralize the threat.

They eagerly stationed troops in the Middle East free of charge. The politicians might have hated the logistical nightmare, but the general public openly welcomed it, as it meant keeping the threat of monsters far from their own doorsteps.

“…Getting dragged out here all of a sudden, what kind of mess is this?” Han Yoonjeong sighed heavily.

Beside her, I chuckled. “Quit your whining and get to work, Pharaoh.”

“This is all your fault!” she yelled in a fit of rage. “Anyway, when you cause a scene, you go absolutely crazy with it! What kind of madman decides to blow away Bahrain without consulting the Coalition at all?”

“Do you know how frustrating it was for me to step up like that? Everyone was just walking on eggshells and spewing diplomatic nonsense like stern warnings, so I had to bite the bullet. Besides, if the Middle East had been fully taken over by GOT, wouldn’t Egypt have been in the most danger when Nemesis hits?”

“Ah, yeees! Understood! Thanks so much for your help, really!”

She was simply feeling sensitive from pulling all-nighters for two days straight, but she didn’t actually refute my logic. Even though she grumbled, she undoubtedly felt the brutal necessity of this task as well.

“…Hey,” she spoke up after spreading her sand in silence for a while.

“What?”

“Did you actually know things would turn out like this when you did it?”

“Of course.”

“It’s a relief that things worked out well. What would you have done if it all got tangled up and triggered World War III or something?”

I shrugged. “I made my move after thoroughly considering the interests of each country. Besides, the world might literally end in six months, so do I really have the luxury to worry about political fallout right now?”

“Hmph, that level of decisiveness is certainly impressive. Where did you even get the intel that Manama was a demonkin city?”

I smirked. “From the Rank 1 danger-level bigshot among the demonkins—Alexandro.”

“Ah, I heard that bastard went to Korea and got caught.”

“I managed to extract a lot of highly classified intelligence from the electronics and personal data he had on him.”

Currently, Hong Yeon had personally traveled to Spain and was thoroughly tearing apart Alexandro’s residence. She had promised to share all the intelligence gathered from the raid, admitting I had a massive stake in the Alexandro operation as well. I was expecting a goldmine of information to come out of it.

“It’s all set.” Having primed her ability, Han Yoonjeong gave me the okay sign.

“Then, I’ll begin Cancellation.”

I invoked the Cancellation spell exactly as I had in Bahrain. A moment later, countless holes tore through the fabric of the sky, and monsters began plunging to the ground in droves. It was the exact same apocalyptic sight I had witnessed back in Manama.

“I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Before long, the surroundings were swarming with an enormous number of monsters. The creatures that crashed onto the ground were either struck with Freezing, or they spotted us and lunged with feral shrieks.

She waited perfectly until the timing was right, then invoked her power.

The entire ground began to undulate, rising and falling like violently crashing waves. Soon, the earth rolled up into a massive ball, effectively trapping thousands of monsters inside it.

The power of the Pharaoh really is incredible.

I had descended early on and was simply observing the spectacle. In the blink of an eye, an indescribably colossal ball of sand had materialized high above my head.

Beneath our feet lay the sprawling sight of Kuwait’s capital, Kuwait City. That’s right. We were currently 3,280 feet in the air.

“With this, Kuwait is done too!”

As she extended her arm, the massive sphere of sand shifted. Carrying it smoothly past the city limits and out over the ocean, she deactivated her ability.

The titanic sand ball plunged straight into the sea. Boom! A mountain-sized column of water erupted into the sky.

“Did that get all of them?” I asked.

“Of course. By the time it sinks to the bottom of the ocean, their flesh will be ground to a pulp and mixed in with the sand.”

Down in the city below, the demonkin sweep operation was in full swing. Meanwhile, Han Yoonjeong and my role was simply to dispel the magical force holding back the Rifts using Cancellation, and then obliterate every last one of the pouring monsters.

Since it was basically like doing their overdue homework for them, the Middle Eastern governments didn’t voice a single objection.

“But you know,” Han Yoonjeong spoke up as we descended toward the ground.

“What?”

“What’s really going to happen when Nemesis hits?”

“The world will probably end.”

When I answered so casually, her expression stiffened.

“Though it might not end, of course,” I added.

“Ah, damn it! You idiot. I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“That’s exactly why I’m breaking my back trying to stop it from ending.”

There was still a long road ahead, but didn’t they say well begun is half done? I figured I’d gotten off to a pretty damn good start.

A large-scale sweep operation in the Middle East, which had become a veritable paradise for demonkins. While it might not completely dry up their seeds, it heavily slashed their combat power. On top of that, this joint global eradication operation would positively impact the formation of future suppression squads.

Right then, my ringtone echoed from my pocket. It was a call from Hong Yeon.

“Yeah, Yeon. What’s going on?”

Han Yoonjeong’s eyebrows twitched at the familiar name.

—”Yusin. I have something I need to tell you in person.”

“What is it?”

—”It’s the intel I uncovered from Alexandro. And this… is something deeply related to the Magic Tower.”

It was finally here.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep