Kanon Empire (2)
Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu, having dealt with all the Indian mana users, began moving north again.
Naturally, their destination was the Empire’s fortress located at the northern edge of the Dark Forest.
Along the way, they steadily hunted monsters, but since their primary objective was exploration, they soon arrived in front of the fortress.
As they approached the vicinity, Cheon Li Yu calmly scanned the surroundings before slowly speaking.
“It’s already here.”
Her gaze lingered on the massive fortress faintly visible in the distance.
Seon Yul also stopped walking as he looked toward it.
Since the two of them had once fled from this place before, they did not recklessly enter the fortress this time. Instead, they carefully observed the interior from the outskirts.
“They’re moving more seriously than I expected.”
Through the shared vision from Li Yu, Seon Yul saw numerous mana users.
In particular, mana users who appeared to belong to BRICS were freely roaming the Imperial fortress with brands engraved on the backs of their hands.
Seeing that, Seon Yul once again realized that the Kanon Empire had joined hands with BRICS.
“Hmm… they restored that place too?”
Seon Yul frowned.
While examining the inside of the fortress, he discovered that the underground headquarters of the Kanon Empire, which he had devastated while escaping in the past, had been rebuilt.
“Well, quite some time has passed, and we didn’t destroy everything back then.”
Cheon Li Yu replied while looking at the underground headquarters.
“But over there… don’t they look like people from Earth–104?”
Seon Yul pointed toward a large plaza-like area located deep within the underground headquarters.
“Chinese… Russians… Indians… This can’t be…”
Cheon Li Yu muttered as she stared at the same place.
“Yeah. BRICS. They look like mana users from BRICS.”
“But why are they there?”
It wasn’t just one or two… nearly a hundred BRICS-affiliated mana users were gathered there. It clearly wasn’t normal, so Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu observed more closely.
And they soon found out exactly why those people were there.
One by one, they were having something engraved onto their bodies.
They were being branded.
“What the… they’re stamping brands like they’re mass-producing machines… something feels off.”
“I don’t think they’re normal mana users.”
Cheon Li Yu used Divine Eye—Weakness Detection to closely compare the BRICS mana users before and after being branded.
As a result, she discovered something shocking.
Having realized it, Cheon Li Yu whispered immediately to Seon Yul.
“‘Mana Prohibition’ created in China… you remember telling me about it? From what I see, it looks like they’re using that to create a large number of artificial mana ability users, then branding them to turn them into permanent mana users.”
Hearing that, Seon Yul slowly nodded as if everything finally made sense.
“No wonder… I was wondering why BRICS suddenly had so many mana users… so they used an artificial mana system? But then what exactly is that brand, to turn artificial mana users into permanent ones?”
“Yeah…”
Cheon Li Yu tilted her head, looking puzzled as well.
“This won’t do. I’ll go in and take a look myself.”
Seon Yul steadied his breathing and made up his mind. He decided to move directly, thinking a proper investigation was necessary.
“Will you be okay?”
“If it gets dangerous, I’ll open Absolute Space and escape immediately. I won’t push myself, so you stay here, observe my surroundings with Divine Eye, and keep relaying the situation through telepathy.”
“Got it.”
After finishing the conversation, Seon Yul used Real Painting—The Door to secretly infiltrate the underground headquarters.
Additionally, he used Real Painting—Camouflage to achieve perfect concealment as he entered the lowest level of the underground base.
The lowest level resembled a massive factory.
Artificial mana users from BRICS were continuously being branded and discharged like combat machines.
Seon Yul narrowed his eyes and carefully observed his surroundings.
‘That guy… let’s target him.’
Spotting a magic engineer who appeared to be of high rank, Seon Yul designated him as his target and quietly waited for him to move.
After some time…
For some reason, the magic engineer briefly left the factory-like underground plaza and headed somewhere else.
Seon Yul quickly assessed his surroundings and followed him.
Real Painting—Camouflage perfectly concealed him, and he had already opened the entrance to Absolute Space ahead in the corridor, making it the perfect situation to abduct him.
‘No one nearby!’
Since Li Yu was also checking the surroundings through Divine Eye and relaying the situation in real time, Seon Yul judged that now was the right time.
‘Now!’
Shrrrk, crunch.
“Ghk!”
Using the Arachne thread, Seon Yul wrapped around the magic engineer’s neck, then immediately opened the entrance to Absolute Space beside them and shoved him inside.
He then jumped into Absolute Space himself and instantly closed the entrance, completing a perfect and clean abduction.
Having abducted the engineer more easily than expected, Seon Yul hung him upside down inside Absolute Space as usual and spread plastic on the floor.
This wasn’t his first time conducting such interrogations; everything was done skillfully.
Naturally, the magic engineer resisted at first.
But as always, once Seon Yul took out the Spear of Death forged from curses and stabbed him a few times, he lost his composure and began confessing everything.
After experiencing “death” briefly through that spear, everyone became obedient.
If they simply died, everything would end there, and there would be no pain—but this was different. They didn’t die, yet experienced fear nearly identical to death before returning to normal.
After repeating that several times, anyone would end up begging, “Please just kill me.”
And in that state, their attitude inevitably became submissive.
“They are indeed Irregulars from Earth–104. And it’s also true that their awakened state is very unstable. I didn’t ask further since I didn’t need to know, but it seems they were turned into temporary Irregulars through some artificial method.”
The magic engineer began speaking fluently.
“But that brand you’re engraving… what exactly is it that turns unstable, temporary Irregulars into proper ones? Wasn’t it just… a simple brainwashing mark?”
“Th-that is…”
The previously submissive engineer hesitated at this part.
Seon Yul lightly brought the spear close to his body again.
“I-I understand. I’ll talk… please move the spear.”
Even the slight sensation of the spear made him panic.
“The brand… is a part of the ‘Authority’ possessed by the Emperor of the Empire.”
“Authority?”
Seon Yul narrowed his eyes at the unexpected answer.
“Authority? What do you mean?”
“The Emperor possesses tremendous power. That power manifests in various forms of Authority… and magic engineers like us are beings entrusted with a tiny fragment of that Authority.”
“And?”
Seon Yul nodded, signaling him to continue.
“Every time we apply a brand, it draws a minute amount of power from the Emperor’s Authority, enhancing awakening abilities. This Authority is particularly effective at resolving ‘imperfection,’ which is why it can turn incomplete Irregulars into complete ones. To be honest, even we only discovered this recently.”
The engineer explained everything he knew.
Hearing this, Seon Yul clearly grasped the severity of the situation.
‘The Kanon Empire is essentially turning artificial mana users into permanent slaves. And since countries affiliated with BRICS can rapidly increase their mana-user forces through this process… they’ve continued this absurd operation.’
All the scattered puzzle pieces in Seon Yul’s mind fit together perfectly.
This was a result of the interests of the Kanon Empire and BRICS aligning perfectly.
On Earth–001, they become slaves of the Kanon Empire. On Earth–104, they become soldiers of BRICS.
In short, only the artificial mana users were being sacrificed like machine parts, yet those being sacrificed were focused only on becoming “real” mana users.
‘At this rate, something big will happen on both sides sooner or later…’
Whether the Kanon Empire’s power increased…
Or BRICS’s power increased…
Both were problematic.
Because both sides were too greedy.
Seon Yul asked a few more questions, but the engineer had nothing more to say.
In the end, Seon Yul finished the interrogation.
And finishing the interrogation meant… granting the magic engineer peaceful rest.
After cleanly taking care of everything, Seon Yul began discussing the situation with Cheon Li Yu.
The plan currently in his mind was very simple.
But simple didn’t mean bad.
“For now… we should destroy this underground facility, right?”
At his words, Cheon Li Yu nodded.
“That does seem right… But how are you going to do it? Another concentrated bombardment?”
Seon Yul planned to destroy the facility first, then think about the next step. It wouldn’t fundamentally stop the production of mana users, but it would at least slow them down.
“Simple is best! Let’s go with God’s Hammer.”
His choice was God’s Hammer.
It was indeed the simplest and most certain method in this situation.
“The method is fine… but won’t handling the aftermath be difficult?”
Cheon Li Yu was worried about the Kanon Empire’s reaction.
The Empire was already treated like a bully in this world… if their fortress, which had already been attacked once, suffered an even stronger attack, there was no telling what kind of chaos they would unleash.
“You can’t stop making soybean paste stew just because you’re afraid of maggots. Let’s blow it up first… then think.”
Seon Yul believed a clash with the Kanon Empire was inevitable anyway. Whatever chaos they caused could be dealt with later.
“Got it. You’re firing right away?”
“Yeah. Let’s erase it immediately.”
Having made his decision, Seon Yul had no intention of hesitating.
First, he entered Absolute Space to prepare.
In a large area inside Absolute Space, he purchased a 5,000-ton steel sphere from the All-Purpose Shop and placed it on the ground before exiting.
Tssssss
With Li Yu’s help, he slowly opened the entrance to Absolute Space about 10 km above the ground using Overrun.
A massive hole formed in the sky above the northern fortress.
As soon as the entrance was complete, Seon Yul slowly dropped the 5,000-ton steel sphere through it.
Grrrrrrrrrr
“Li Yu! Target designation!”
At the same time, Seon Yul asked Cheon Li Yu to designate the target.
Cheon Li Yu immediately designated both the projectile and the target, completing God’s Hammer.
And thus, “God’s Hammer Ver. 2” was swung powerfully toward the Empire’s northern fortress… more precisely, toward the underground base beneath it.
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