Chapter 688: Reinforcements

“......O System.”

Creeeeak......

Those who arrived while opening the tightly shut temple doors.

“That statement we just heard...... what exactly.......”

“What do you mean by that?”

The believers of the System stared toward the Order as they spoke with trembling voices.

—.......

Dissatisfaction emanated from the Order as it watched them.

The core of the emotion I tasted on my tongue was simple.

'Why are they here?'

That question.

Naturally so.

Originally, they should have been outside fighting to stop the Legion soldiers by now.

And yet those believers had suddenly appeared not at the front lines, but at the deepest part of the sanctuary.

Inside this temple!

And.

As I tasted the flavor of that confusion, I thought:

'There was one thing that worried me a little.'

That bastard had been impersonating the System through the name “Order.”

Not merely impersonating it.

It had actually been interfering with the System itself.

'I already knew interference itself wasn’t impossible.'

I had already witnessed outside beings intervening in the System before.

That fact alone was not particularly shocking.

The origin of the System was fragments of an ancient being that scattered itself throughout the world.

And since this bastard had attached itself to one of those fragments—

it likely possessed exactly that much ownership over the System.

'The question was how much ownership.'

That was the real problem.

'Just how deeply can that thing interfere with the System?'

If all it could do was display System messages, that was fine.

But if—

it could interfere with another person’s System and inspect its contents as well, then the situation became serious.

Because if that were possible, it would practically mean it could view all our System logs and abilities.

Fortunately.

The hint needed to determine that limit had already been provided.

[Saintess of the Order]

The woman I first met in Seoul.

Lee Haein’s class.

The word “Order” written there.

The awakened members of this cult worshiped that Order.

And as a result,

they had specialized in relying upon the Order’s power.

'Just like Jeong Sua awakened into a class capable of using my divine power.'

Just as Jeong Sua borrowed my divine power,

Lee Haein’s abilities as an awakened individual borrowed the Order’s power!

And.

[Stigmata of the Order - Eye]

[You may inspect a portion of a target’s information.]

She possessed the ability to inspect the information of others.

That power clearly originated from the Order.

Meaning the Order definitely possessed the ability to view the information of others.

However.

[Currently Permitted Information - Name, Species, Level]

'Lee Haein only knew my name and level.'

She did not even know what my class was.

Nor did she know anything about my skills or traits, which was why she made the mistake of trying to place the [Crown] on me without knowing about my mental resistance abilities.

Honestly speaking, even back then, I had found it somewhat strange.

'A skill possessed by an awakened individual over Level 30.'

Until now, I had seen several appraisal-type abilities possessed by awakened individuals.

My own [Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)] was one of them.

And those appraisal abilities all shared one common trait.

'At the very least within their specialty, they provided extremely detailed information.'

My Ingredient Appraisal did.

The engineers’ material appraisal did as well.

And Lee Sanga’s tailoring-material appraisal too.

The targets that could be appraised varied depending on the specialty.

The reason I could view other awakened individuals’ abilities at all was because I regarded awakened individuals themselves as ingredients.

Someone like Howard only recognized it as an ability limited to ingredients.

'But while the targets that could be viewed were restricted...... the contents themselves had no limitations.'

If the target was something the ability could appraise, then even a Level 1 ability could obtain nearly all information regarding the target.

That was the common trait shared by appraisal abilities granted by the System.

'But...... it could inspect information, yet the contents themselves were limited?'

That differed from the way the System had behaved until now.

From that alone, I became certain.

That was not a limitation of the System.

'That limitation was the limit of what the Order itself could see!'

It could manipulate only part of the System.

The areas where interference was possible were extremely limited.

The contents it could view from another person’s status window were only their name, species, and level.

It did not know what other awakened individuals’ abilities were.

Nor could it see awakened individuals’ System logs.

It merely acted divine, but in truth it was not that different from other awakened individuals.

And if that was the case—

[Wizard of Electromagnetic Waves]

then that bastard.

Would not know what abilities our mage possessed either.

“......To think I’d receive such an insane order the moment I returned to the unit.”

Sergeant Lee Minjae muttered with a pale face.

Attached to his chest was a small camera.

“All visual and audio information from this place.”

A camera was a device that converted visual and audio information into electrical signals and stored them as data.

And.

Sergeant Lee Minjae had once interfered with another person’s body and manipulated those electrical signals.

'And the target had been me, of all people.'

If he could affect me, then ordinary awakened individuals would obviously not be limited to merely introducing noise.

“I transmitted all of it to the awakened individuals in this area.”

The digitized scenery and sound.

He converted them into radio waves and spread them everywhere.

So that every awakened individual in this area could hear these sounds and witness this scene!

Of course.

Ordinarily, not even Sergeant Lee Minjae could have performed magic on this scale.

But the reason something like this became possible—

wasn’t it obvious?

[Mocha Bun Crafted with a Hero-Class Chef’s Utmost Devotion]

[A dish created to suit the tastes of Awakened Individual - Sergeant Lee Minjae.]

The dish I had created with everything I had—

had entered his mouth.

And.

[Awakened Individual - Lee Minjae]

[Stats]

[Divine Power : 1]

Unlike before.

His status window now possessed one additional stat.

And.

The result was exactly this.

“......W-What in the world.”

The tightly shut temple doors opened.

And beyond them stood the believers staring inward.

***

'They arrived faster than expected.'

These were likely people who had retreated while fighting the Legion soldiers.

Or perhaps those who had been waiting somewhere inside the temple to stop the Legion.

“A strange scene and voice suddenly appeared inside our heads.......”

“It was so absurd that we came to verify it ourselves. But.......”

People who originally should have been carrying out other duties.

But after witnessing those unbelievable scenes appearing inside their minds, they had rushed here to deny them as false.

“B-But...... this.”

Yet the scene before them matched exactly what had appeared inside their minds.

The believers recoiled in confusion.

Because if this scene was real—

—Should I concern myself with each individual insect?

then the conversation the Order and we had shared earlier.

Was also likely true.

—Indeed. Are these truly the allies you claimed would fight beside you?

The Order looked at those believers and spoke.

—You intended to reveal my true form to them and make them oppose me so they would fight at your side?

However.

The emotional flavor leaking from its voice was not confusion or fear.

—You planned to fight me using my own believers......? Was that truly the extent of your thoughts?

It was filled with ridicule.

And disappointment.

—How unfortunate. To think my first child amounts to no more than this.

“.......”

—No matter how powerful awakened individuals become, to me they are nothing more than ants.

No matter how strong the believers were.

They were nowhere near capable of fighting the Order.

That bastard’s power shared roots with the [System] itself.

Against awakened individuals, it was practically a natural predator.

—No matter how many ants gather together, they remain merely a swarm of ants. And these ones are not even numerous enough to be called a swarm.

Besides.

Not all the believers had gathered here.

Most of them were likely injured and collapsed from the war against the Legion.

And finally.

—Do you truly think those ants possess the courage to challenge me?

Even though it was comparing them to mere insects.

Even though they now understood that everything they had witnessed was truth, not illusion—

“......Ah, ah.”

“O System. How could you say such things.......”

The believers.

Showed no will to resist the Order.

'......Tch.'

These were people who had worshiped the Order for countless years.

As that bastard itself had said.

People who survived in this world while relying upon the illusion it created.

Even if they realized that its true identity was not a benevolent god, but an extraterrestrial monster.

Even if they realized it had deceived them rather than loved them.

“Please...... tell us this is a lie......!”

The pain of having their faith betrayed.

Was only making them twist their bodies while weeping.

Not one of them even considered pointing a weapon at it.

“......I already knew that much.”

And.

I knew that would happen too.

—......What?

That’s right.

I already knew from the beginning that the believers were unlikely to fight that bastard.

Certainly, many things would have changed had they joined us.

But.

'I never expected that much in the first place.'

Choosing to rebel against the being one had worshiped was never easy.

It required the tremendous courage to destroy one’s own faith with one’s own hands.

And people possessing that kind of courage were rare.

Kuuuuuuuuuuung.......

I had considered a direct rebellion by the believers impossible from the start.

Even so.

The reason I showed them that scene was because of two things.

Blankly, I raised my head and looked toward the sky.

Imagining the surface far above us.

'The war between the Legion and the Church.'

Its outcome had likely already been decided long ago.

But there was one problem.

'The cultists are still human.'

According to the Legion’s principles.

Humans—already a rare resource—were not easily killed.

Even if victory had already been secured, capturing enemies alive took far longer than simply killing them.

Especially when the enemies were fanatical zealots who refused to surrender.

However.

'If doubt is planted within that faith.'

If those mad zealots who refused to surrender.

Could be made to abandon battle because of the scenes and voices suddenly appearing before them.

Kuuuuuuuuuuung.......

If they abandoned their defensive positions and turned their backs.

Rushing toward the inner sanctuary to verify whether what they had seen was real.

If the Church’s defenses completely collapsed!

KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!

The enormous cavern.

Its ceiling collapsed.

The inner sanctuary that had not collapsed even amid the fierce battle.

Something smashed through its layers without hesitation as it descended underground.

“Master!”

The vampire queen accompanied by a gigantic shadow.

“And Commander!”

“Benefactor......!”

Bound within those shadows as they descended together.

Countless figures.

“You heard me, right?”

Naturally.

My position was Legion Commander.

And when it came to the first reinforcements I would call—

“By my command to the entire Legion!”

wasn’t the answer obvious?

“Eliminate that disgusting leech!”

***

At my shout.

Every Legion soldier roared in response.

“Loyalty!”

They had likely witnessed Sergeant Lee Minjae’s broadcast as well.

They knew the enemy was a monster possessing overwhelming power.

They knew it was practically the natural enemy of awakened individuals.

They knew even the Legion Commander they trusted and the five squad leaders together had failed to defeat it.

And yet.

“Eliminate that disgusting leech!!!”

The repeated shout relaying the Legion Commander’s orders through allied ranks.

Contained not the slightest hesitation.

“Victory or death!”

That’s right.

Those were the people I had truly led.

No...... the people who had allowed me to survive.

“For the victory of the Legion!!!”

The true war of the [Steel Legion].

Had only now begun.