Chapter 146

“That's the artillery battery. They're old anti-aircraft guns, but they're still fairly useful.”

“Ah, over there are the trenches...”

“And that's the guard post.”

The Lumbini Front that Myo Seol-rin personally guided them through was nothing particularly special.

No...

It was far more modest than he had expected, both in scale and armament.

That was only natural.

After all, this place existed to fend off the Creatures' minor raids.

And even then, they were nothing more than beast-like packs no stronger than Pawns.

Along a front stretching nearly five kilometers, only about five hundred troops—the equivalent of a single battalion—were permanently stationed.

They could somehow hold back unnamed Mutants.

But it was obvious that even a single Knight would break through this front.

In the end, carrying that sense of frustration, he toured the other fronts while only half-listening to Myo Seol-rin's explanations.

Yet the situation was not much different.

“Hoo.”

By the time evening arrived and he reached the hotel that served as his lodging, he stepped out of the vehicle looking visibly exhausted.

However, only two Military Police officers accompanied him.

The reason was simple.

Toward the end of the front-line inspection, Obia Timist had become friendly with Lang Wei and run off midway, insisting they go drinking together.

Even now, it felt as though the conversation between those two brats...

No, those two overgrown children...

Still echoed in his ears.

Emergency escape! Run away, Lang Lang!

Haha, I told you, it's Lang Wei. Are you doing this on purpose?

They had only just met, yet they got along absurdly well.

It was dangerous for companions to split up in unfamiliar territory.

But they weren't the type to listen if he tried to stop them.

His head was already full enough as it was.

He had no desire to create another headache.

Because of that, after passing through the lobby and entering his room, he casually tossed his coat onto the sofa, unbuttoned the white shirt he wore over his harness, and lit a cigarette.

Hiss...

He drew in a slow breath.

As smoke drifted lazily from the cigarette clenched between his lips, he silently organized his thoughts.

The vulnerability of the front lines. It can't be helped, but...

It probably wasn't just Ju Planet.

The other Colony Planets where Creatures had established themselves were likely in similar condition.

Why had the Colony Planets, which had known of the Creatures' existence for the past ten years, become so complacent?

No...

That was merely a difference in perspective.

To them, before the Aurum Shock, Creatures were nothing more than slightly aggressive alien beasts that had fallen from space onto their planet.

This isn't necessarily bad.

Suppressing his frustration, he calmly assessed the situation.

He was not some absolutely righteous hero.

As long as he accomplished the goals of the front-line inspection and obtained the OOPArt, that was enough.

“After inspecting the remaining fronts, I'll return to the Academy.”

Crushing the cigarette that had burned down to the filter into the ashtray, he quietly murmured those words as though making a promise to himself before walking toward the bed.

I just hope nothing troublesome happens.

With that thought in mind.

《Dawn Church》

Once the heart of the theocracy and the very foundation of the planet itself, they had believed their reign would last forever.

The sun always rose.

And it always set.

Likewise, dawn might come earlier or later depending on the season...

But it never truly disappeared.

However, that confidence was utterly shattered when the massive and destructive warships of the Human Composite State appeared across the radiant sky.

We are the Human Composite State. We wish to establish relations with your planet. Will you permit it?

They approached warmly, as though they had merely come to make friends.

But those who wished to protect their vested interests instinctively understood.

Behind those smiling faces...

There slumbered a greed that reeked of a foul stench.

Declare a Holy War!

Perhaps that was why.

The eighty Immortal-class High Priests leading the Dawn Church unanimously declared a Holy War.

Most fought with the desire to preserve their privileged positions.

A very small number genuinely believed they were fighting for justice.

Together, they resolved to wage war against the Human Composite State's colonial fleet.

I sincerely regret that matters have come to this. But we are soldiers as well. I ask for your understanding.

Negotiations collapsed.

They prepared for a long war.

The Dawn Church was not blind.

Seeing the technological gap between themselves and their enemies, they devised their own strategy of dragging out the conflict to force a war of attrition.

But that strategy collapsed pitifully before overwhelming violence.

KWA-GWAGWAGWAGWAGWANG!

KWAAAAAAANG!

One day after the war began.

A brief flash erupted from the fleet that had ascended above the clouds.

Then countless missiles rained down upon the surface.

Their bombardment carefully avoided civilian districts.

Instead, it relentlessly targeted the Dawn Church's temples and sacred symbols.

Ah... O Dawn...

No matter how powerful a High Priest's Bright Force might have been...

They could not shoot down a fleet descending from the heavens.

Thus, they could only watch helplessly as their planet was ravaged beneath overwhelming violence.

The day after that bombardment.

This is your final warning. Surrender.

The Human Composite State demanded unconditional surrender.

Furthermore...

They made it clear there would be no further offers.

The moderates, already exhausted by both overwhelming force and the corruption within the Dawn Church...

Surrendered.

At the same time, the many clans that had long suffered persecution or lived as little more than second-class citizens also joined them.

Dawn... Dawn shall never disappear!

Meanwhile, a considerable number of hardliners cursed them as shameless whores with no pride and fortified the defenses of the capital, Pure Land, vowing to fight to the bitter end.

But even that desperate resistance was thoroughly crushed by the remaining moderates within their own ranks.

Thus, the Human Composite State succeeded in turning Ju Planet into a Colony Planet.

And countless clans, whether willingly or not, came to live while cooperating with the Governor-General's Office.

《Area-39》

All while smiling happily with livestock tags hanging from their necks, waiting for the day they would be slaughtered.

“......You failed?”

“My deepest apologies.”

Inside the temple of the underground city carved into a vast cavern, a white-haired man with slit pupils shining eerily let out a sigh as he looked toward the bear beastman wearing white robes and a mask.

“......Very well. Every believer involved in this operation will begin a hundred-day prayer of repentance without food starting today.”

“Thank you for your mercy.”

A hundred days of prayer without food.

To anyone else, it was plainly a death sentence.

Yet the bear beastman instead clasped his hands together with heartfelt gratitude before walking out of the temple.

Only then did the white-haired young man frown and head toward his own quarters.

The peculiar thing...

Was that, aside from his trousers, he wore absolutely nothing.

“Pathetic fools. Vermin.”

As those words slipped from his lips, his tongue extended like that of a snake, while the slit pupils within his distorted eyes gleamed ominously.

However, controlling one's emotions was also the duty of a clergyman.

Suppressing his anger as though long accustomed to doing so, he entered a room marked with the character Immortal (仙) and spoke.

“We failed, Ean Yung.”

Seeing the man waiting inside, he casually lay down upon the stone bed and began chewing a white powder wrapped inside leaves.

Though he spoke politely...

His attitude was utterly insolent.

Ean Yung, however, merely looked down upon him with complete contempt, as though staring at one of Michelangelo's statues, before speaking through the black iron mask covering his face.

“Shh-. The traitor?”

“One of our believers who infiltrated the Security Division took care of him. Since it was a Blessing-class High Priest, even the Governor-General's Office shouldn't uncover anything beyond concluding it was suicide. Heh.”

The white-haired man continued chewing the powder wrapped in leaves.

Gradually his eyes lost focus.

Licking his unnaturally long tongue, he continued,

“I ask for your understanding. So many of our people have died that this is the limit of what we can accomplish. Hehe.”

“Shh-. If your people hadn't wasted their time fighting those pathetic internal power struggles, your situation would be far better than it is now.”

“Hehe... You certainly know how to hit where it hurts. Khk.”

His eyes grew increasingly vacant.

His body writhed.

It was the unmistakable symptom of addiction.

Pleasure for pleasure's sake.

Without any purpose whatsoever.

Although Ean Yung's lower face remained hidden beneath the mask...

The contempt in his eyes alone laid bare how much he despised the man before him.

No...

It wasn't only this man.

The other officers of the Red Hand might have thought differently.

But to Ean Yung, the Dawn Church was every bit as loathsome as the entrenched elites he hated so much—if not even worse.

Even so, there was only one reason he cooperated with them.

To repay the debt he owed the Red Hand.

And to sever an old, lingering grudge.

“Khk... Krrk. As for that instructor... One of our followers made contact with him.”

Those words reached Ean Yung's ears.

He looked at the man and silently gestured for him to continue.

“He's apparently around Quad Gear. Heh.”

“Quad Gear...”

Quietly contemplating those words, Ean Yung cast one final glance at the man who had nearly lost his mind before taking a document from inside his coat and placing it upon the table.

“This contains the operation schedule and the goods to be exchanged, as delivered by headquarters. Read it yourself and destroy it afterward, you vermin.”

“Hehe... Excellent! Wonderful! Ahhh! O Dawn! Embrace me... embrace me!”

The man had already surrendered himself to whatever Dawn he so desperately longed for.

Drool dripped from his lips as he writhed across the stone bed.

Rustle.

Drawing a deep breath inside his mask, Ean Yung briefly considered executing the vermin on the spot.

Then he decided the bullets were worth more.

Thinking of simple economic efficiency, he left the room.

Soon afterward, as he walked through the corridors of the underground temple, he encountered the deputy platoon leader of Setter Platoon waiting in the lobby.

“Loyalty.”

Though she clearly wore the rank insignia of a Sergeant...

She saluted him—a mere Staff Sergeant—without the slightest hesitation.

To an outsider, the chain of command would have seemed completely absurd.

But to Ean Yung...

Any rank other than Staff Sergeant held no meaning.

Knowing that better than anyone, she deliberately ignored all thoughts regarding military rank before asking the man whose unkempt red hair framed strangely gleaming eyes.

“What happened?”

“Min.”

“Yes, Staff Sergeant.”

“I think...”

At that moment, Ean Yung lightly tousled his distinctive red hair.

For the first time in a very long while...

A smile broad enough to be visible even through his mask spread across his face.

“I think I can kill him. If he's only...”

His voice carried the innocent delight of a child receiving the gift he had always wanted.

“If he's only Quad Gear.”

At the same time.

Area-39, Platform 9.

“So this is Ju Planet?”

“Wow... Look at that. A beastman.”

“That's species discrimination. You'll get stabbed saying things like that.”

Amid the numerous tourists, a man dressed in black techwear and a black cap hurried forward with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

Stepping out of the platform, he blinked beneath the gray hair concealed under his cap before pulling out a cigarette from inside his coat and placing it between his lips.

Hiss...

He took a slow drag.

A breeze passed through the drifting smoke.

As though trying to snatch a brief moment of rest from his exhausting schedule, he quietly smoked in silence.

Just then...

The voices of several passing soldiers reached his ears.

“Hey, did you hear the news?”

“What, about the Dawn Church attacking the platform?”

“That too, but apparently some Academy instructor got caught up in it.”

At that instant, Baek Hwi-young threw away the cigarette in his mouth without hesitation, approached the two soldiers, and asked,

“......Could you tell me more about that?”