CHAPTER 256: SEE THIS?

“Hmm.”

The next day.

Ethan woke up early in the morning and went around Watopia, checking the sealed cracks.

He saw the poisonous energy flowing from the sealed gaps in the cracks.

Cracks filled with dark red poisonous energy.

He noticed that some places that were sealed until yesterday had reopened, and new cracks had formed where there were none before.

Countermeasures had to be devised. At this rate, Watopia would be overrun by monsters and collapse.

‘They really opened a lot.’

How did the Pope manage to seal so many cracks? It was surprising even to see it directly.

‘I wonder how he had the energy to treat me when he must have spent all day closing cracks as soon as he arrived in Watopia.’

The merfolk greeted Ethan whenever he passed by, as if they had heard the story.

Although their expressions weren’t good, there was still a glimmer of hope on their faces.

The most heartbreaking among them were the young merfolk.

“Dad said he would take me to play in the whirlpool today. Where’s Dad?”

Although the damage was minimized, quite a few merfolk had died.

“…He went far away. He won’t be back for a while. So come here. Let’s play with Mom today.”

“But I want to play with Dad…”

Ethan headed towards the cave of Archelon, the guardian deity of Watopia, leaving them behind.

Of course, Archelon couldn’t be found in the cave.

Archelon was currently completely consumed by the poisonous energy and was displaying their ferocity outside of Watopia.

‘If they had gone on a rampage within Watopia, they would have had to be subdued roughly, no matter how much of a guardian deity they were.’

That was one fortunate thing.

Ethan examined Archelon’s cave closely. In the process, he discovered something.

It was a trace of dark red poisonous energy.

‘It’s exactly the same as the poisonous energy I saw in the cracks. No, this one is much more intense.’

The more intense it was, the more clearly Ethan’s eyes could remember it.

“To avoid suspicion as much as possible. There’s a high chance they came alone.”

The 5th Apostle is alone in Watopia.

The problem is that even alone, he can devastate this Watopia.

‘Then the 5th Apostle must be prepared as well.’

Watopia is not an easy place. Even if it’s the 5th Apostle, if he engage in a frontal confrontation, he would have to give up without getting everything he wanted.

‘Now, next…’

It was time to go check the things he had been thinking about.

***

“I dealt with the monsters near the entrance of Watopia and cleared the sea route connecting to Watopia. In the process, I also found bodies that seemed to be reinforcements. They were probably killed by monsters.”

In the royal palace’s grand conference room.

The meeting that used to be held in the reception room was now taking place in the grand conference room.

The King of Watopia and the Pope seemed to have been going around since early morning, dealing with cracks and monsters.

“Three more cracks opened overnight, and the Pope has been working hard since morning.”

“It was nothing. More importantly, have you found anything?”

“I’m convinced that the culprit behind this incident is inside, so I keep searching, but there’s no trace. I couldn’t find even the slightest clue.”

“Doesn’t that mean they’re not inside?”

Hearing Sigma’s words, the King of Watopia fell into thought.

Following the Pope’s opinion that the culprit would be inside Watopia, they had been searching only the interior, but the King wasn’t feeling particularly good about seemingly suspecting his own people.

The situation was already difficult with the constantly appearing cracks.

It was natural for the King of Watopia to feel unpleasant about monitoring every move of his tired people.

At this rate, it was like digging into his own incompetence with his own hands.

“The enemy is certainly inside. They can’t cause such powerful cracks from the outside.”

“But there’s not even a trace inside, Pope Frederick?”

“That means the enemy is hiding well.”

“Then how long are we going to keep searching? Shouldn’t we focus on sealing the cracks first?”

At that moment, Sigma stepped forward and asked Ethan.

“Isn’t that what you think too, young man?”

Ethan pretended to ponder for a moment while closely observing Sigma’s eyes.

He had clearly remembered the intense poisonous energy left in Archelon’s cave earlier. If even a tiny trace of it remained, Ethan’s eyes would be able to catch it.

But no matter how much he looked, he couldn’t see that trace in Sigma’s eyes. Instead, he only felt the unique heat that dwarves possessed.

‘He looks perfectly normal.’

There were no signs of magic use either. In fact, knowing Sigma Roadhammer well, his characteristic features were even more apparent.

‘But according to the scenario, there’s no better scenario than impersonating Sigma right now.’

If there’s a target that the 5th Apostle would impersonate within Watopia, it would only be Sigma Roadhammer.

‘Of course, there’s a possibility they’re impersonating someone else.’

But that possibility was slim.

This was the optimal scenario that Ethan, who knew the Apostles’ way of thinking all too well, had come up with from their perspective.

Unless the 5th Apostle was a fool, he wouldn’t fail to follow it.

‘That’s the kind of beings he is.’

Ethan decided to believe in his wickedness.

“To be honest, I’m not sure yet. I just arrived yesterday. But as His Holiness the Pope said, it’s certain that they’re inside. They would need to be close to open the cracks, and we can’t rule out the possibility that they’re hiding inside to cause a major conflict.”

Ethan said. He intended to shake things up a bit.

“There might be reasons other than just opening cracks in the first place.”

“Other reasons?”

The King of Watopia asked Ethan with an expression of interest.

“They might be trying to gain something through the chaos caused by this conflict.”

“…Gaining something through chaos?”

“There might be something to gain through the chaos caused by the cracks. Even now, the chaos is intensifying due to the cracks. If this chaos grows bigger.”

Ethan said with conviction.

“More people will die.”

‘Bullet time.’

At the same time, Ethan used bullet time to observe Sigma Roadhammer.

‘!’

And he saw it.

A blue light.

Sigma Roadhammer’s eyes were originally amber-colored. Nevertheless, a blue light was momentarily caught in his eyes.

Extreme concentration.

Ethan raised his senses to the maximum and stared at Sigma’s pupils.

Then he could clearly see the passing blue light.

And inside those pupils.

‘Poisonous energy!’

He saw dark red poisonous energy. But that poisonous energy disappeared quickly even within the bullet time.

He had focused so intensely that the bullet time, which should have lasted quite a while, was automatically released.

It was just a fleeting moment, but it was enough time to confirm.

Even the 5th Apostle probably hadn’t anticipated this situation.

‘I feel like I’m about to lose consciousness.’

The backlash from using bullet time to its limit came.

If it were the Ethan from not too long ago, he would have lost consciousness right there.

But Ethan clenched his fist and held onto his blurring consciousness.

“Ethan?”

“I’m sorry… It seems the fatigue from the journey has caught up with me.”

“That’s understandable. The journey here couldn’t have been easy.”

The King of Watopia had a clear understanding of the current situation outside Watopia.

Moreover, having gone out this morning to confirm with his own eyes, he could fully understand Ethan’s words.

“Don’t worry. We won’t ask you to do anything unreasonable. You just need to do what you can do. You came to help us out of goodwill, after all.”

‘Now I know for sure.’

The Sigma Roadhammer before him is a fake.

***

After the meeting.

Ethan didn’t tell what he had discovered to either the Pope or the King of Watopia.

‘The 5th Apostle is impersonating Sigma Roadhammer, but he could become anyone else at any time.’

In the current situation, it’s better not to trust anyone, as the Pope had said.

‘There’s no need for me to tell anyone what I’ve discovered. It would only increase the risks.’

There were several risks, but the biggest risk was suspicion.

Thanks to the Pope’s guarantee and reputation, he was able to participate in the general meeting. But basically, he had less say than the King and the Pope.

‘In such a situation, I discovered something that the King and the Pope missed?’

The King and the Pope might acknowledge Ethan. But their subordinates would never accept it.

‘It doesn’t matter if they don’t accept it. It’s a problem that can be solved by showing them. The problem is that I can’t show it right away.’

The Sigma Roadhammer currently here is a fake.

His true identity is the 5th Apostle of the Followers of the Moon, currently impersonating Sigma Roadhammer.

‘Even if I claim that, I can’t prove it. I’d have to completely unmask the impersonation. But I don’t have the power to unmask it right away.’

Ethan saw dark red poisonous energy and blue light in his eyes. Clear evidence that he’s not Sigma but the 5th Apostle. Then that impersonation wasn’t magic.

‘It’s not magic, but a superhuman ability.’

If it’s a perfect mimicry by superhuman ability, Ethan can’t unmask the impersonation no matter how versed he is in magic.

‘This puts the 5th Apostle at a much greater advantage. They can just deny it outright. Right now, he’s not the 5th Apostle, but the dwarf king Sigma Roadhammer.’

Then there’s only one answer left.

‘There’s no way they killed the real Sigma Roadhammer. They probably have him hidden somewhere.’

And they’ll use him as a sacrifice when they start the war between Watopia and Tartaros.

Since fake corpses are bound to be discovered, they’ll use the real Sigma’s corpse when the time comes.

‘First, we need to secure the real Sigma.’

Ethan made this decision and headed to his room.

Towards the end of the meeting, Sigma had given Ethan a strange look.

‘I managed my expression properly. But…’

Ethan is already exposed to the Dawn Council. The apostle he had killed just before also knew Ethan well.

They just hadn’t prepared much.

‘They might take an interest in me.’

That’s why he didn’t intend to speak openly.

“Ethan.”

A familiar voice stopped Ethan as he was moving busily.

Ethan turned his head and paid his respects to him.

“Your Holiness.”

“Did you figure something out? You seemed to be thinking deeply during the general meeting we just had.”

“I was thinking for a moment. The cracks keep appearing, and we can’t find the culprit. The situation isn’t good, so I was wondering if there was anything else I could do to help.”

Ethan said with a gloomy expression.

“I’ll try to move for now.”

Then he quickly left the place.

The Pope watched Ethan’s retreating figure and slowly raised the corners of his mouth when the figure disappeared.

“He seems to have noticed something for sure.”

Then he grinned.

“See this?”

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