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Chapter 269

[Suspected "Cores" have been planted throughout the Holy Kingdom. Only you can distinguish the real one.]

If we don’t destroy the core, this will never end.

What is this, some kind of double XP event?

If I don’t go in and join immediately, countless innocent lives will be lost.

But the one behind this incident knows I can sense the Red Moon.

They likely didn’t cause this mess for no reason.

As proof, a thin, ominously red veil had spread around the capital of the Holy Kingdom, including the Holy Crown Office.

Tsst, tsst...

As I reached the veil and touched it, it absorbed me smoothly without resistance.

As if saying, "I won’t stop you from coming in."

But neither Luna nor I believed we were being let in without any strings attached.

“The Twisted Flame Mirage. One of Cthugha’s authorities. Once we enter, a massive illusion will likely consume us.”

If Luna's prediction is correct, this could take a lot of time.

And in that time, who knows how many more will die?

“What I can’t understand is why Cthugha himself isn't showing up.”

“He's not here?”

“Unlike Nyala, Cthugha is extremely aggressive. His minions, his authority, they've all manifested... yet he himself isn’t here. Why?”

It could be that Cthugha’s ideology has changed.

But Luna dismissed that possibility.

“Let’s go in. We can’t just smash our way through, right?”

“The Twisted Flame Mirage, Cthugha’s authority, isn’t just a normal illusion. If we’re not careful, we could be trapped inside forever.”

“There’s a surprisingly simple way to counter intense illusion fields.”

I reached into the void and pulled out a massive hammer.

“Utopia.”

Without hesitation, I slammed the Spirit Weapon Utopia against the veil.

“Open.”

At my command, Utopia’s powerful illusion abilities clashed with Cthugha’s authority, creating sparks.

From that clash, a distortion was born, and it soon tore open a large rift.

“Let’s go.”

Luna followed me without a word.

But the Librarian presented a different view.

[Authority detected. Recommend proceeding with extreme caution.]

The Librarian was right—letting my guard down would be a mistake.

Those cult bastards were supposed to have information about outer gods, but apparently, they’ve been useless.

That thought crossed my mind.

As soon as we stepped into the rift, the scenery around us completely changed.

Blazing sunlight.

Endless stretches of sand.

A hellish, scorching desert.

“So this is why they call it a mirage?”

“Not exactly, but if the word ‘mirage’ made you think of a desert, Leon, then yes—this is the right manifestation.”

So it changed into this because I imagined a desert?

“Do you know how to get out of this?”

“We’ll need to use overwhelming force to break the illusion space entirely. Otherwise… we have to find the core of this illusion.”

The longer we wander in this illusion, the more people will die outside.

Just because it's an illusion doesn’t mean time inside is distorted.

Scouring this vast desert in search of a core would be no different than being a fool.

Rumble…

Fssshhh... BOOOOM!

And then, as if on cue, sand burst upward in the distance, unleashing massive monsters.

At a glance, they resembled sandworms, but their forms were grotesquely twisted and engulfed in flames of annihilation.

“I’ll handle those. Leon, you focus on clearing a path.”

I infused my hammer with spirit energy.

From the beginning, I had planned to follow this course of action upon entering the illusion.

Fighting off every single one of those monsters would be a waste of time.

Even now, Utopia continued to consume my spirit energy as it struggled for dominance over the illusion space.

The clash between Utopia’s illusion power and Cthugha’s authority caused the entire desert to ripple like a giant wave of static, collapsing and reforming in cycles.

But the illusion wasn’t collapsing as easily as I had hoped.

It seemed that even with Utopia’s initial activation, its power wasn’t enough to cancel out something on the level of divine authority.

I tried using illusion against illusion—meeting fire with fire—but it wasn’t very effective.

Though Utopia’s illusion field was by no means weak, there’s a reason this “mirage” is considered a true Authority.

At most, Utopia was still in its first release—its growth phase.

It couldn’t handle this level of power.

There wasn’t a special case like the Falling Blossom that had once healed the World Tree either—Utopia was nearing its limit.

That’s when it started to happen.

Utopia began to tremble violently, resonating with power.

Give me strength. Pass all your power to me!

Unlike Falling Blossom, who was rather wild, Utopia had always been fairly quiet.

But now, I could feel its intense will.

Even if I poured in my spiritual energy, there would clearly be a limit in this current state.

Still, I began injecting my energy as Utopia wished, vast and without restraint.

As I did, Utopia began to absorb my energy like a sponge soaking up water—

—and started to change on its own.

“Uh… Uhhhh?”

This little guy?

It shouldn't evolve without permission.

Since spirit weapons grow, their growth must also have direction.

If it evolves the wrong way, it could be far more troublesome than you'd expect.

I learned that well during my time in the Labyrinthos.

It could go beyond disobedience—there could even come a time when I’d have to destroy the spirit weapon myself.

So, I forcefully circulated my energy through it, suppressing it with my power.

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The unstable glow that had been fluctuating as if Utopia were about to fall into dark evolution instantly calmed down.

And then—

Utopia began to change shape, becoming a massive two-handed hammer.

It had achieved release on its own, without my consent.

I already knew it was prideful, but this exceeded my expectations.

As the transformation completed, the hammerhead of Utopia began to shimmer like an illusion.

Instinctively, I grabbed it and swung it through the air.

“Alright. Let’s go!!”

CRACK!!!

The blow from Utopia, swung in an instant, unleashed an energy of overwhelming density that far exceeded what it had shown during its initial release.

In a flash, it spewed out dark shadows, devouring everything around it.

Even if it was a divine power, without a body—and after being weakened twice when crossing over to this land—the illusion realm had no chance of resisting Utopia’s power and lost control.

Tear… Riiip!!

In an instant, the red barrier that had covered the entire capital of the Holy Kingdom was distorted, devoured by the black shadow, and began to melt away.

Soon it lost all form and vanished completely.

“Th-the red barrier is gone!!!”

A holy knight, drenched in blood, pointed to the sky and shouted.

“Reinforcements can come now!! Everyone, hold your ground!”

“Hurry and guide the refugees!!”

As the illusionary space shattered, the real capital of the Holy Kingdom was revealed—a scene of utter hell.

Monsters wreathed in destructive fire rained down from the sky.

Crimson fissures kept pouring out monsters.

A creepy red eye hovered in the sky.

Screams and cries echoed from every direction.

In the middle of that chaos, I took a deep breath, withdrew Utopia, and summoned every undead I had at my disposal.

A massive swarm of Forest Wendigos and Wyverns scattered in every direction, and the named wraith-undeads, Muyeong and Baril, began to reveal their overwhelming presence.

And I didn’t stop there.

“Grivy.”

At my call, the ground bulged and out popped Grivy, covered in dirt like he’d been making mud pies, looking up at me with a dazed face.

“Did you call, Father?”

“Grivy. Let’s play tag. Catch all those monsters wreathed in fire and bury them underground.”

“Okay.”

Grivy began to merge into the land, as if resonating with the very earth.

Soon, massive hands of dirt burst out from all over the capital, grabbing the monsters and pulling them deep underground.

There were an enormous number of enemies, but the tide of battle began to turn almost instantly.

“Leon. I’m going to look for Remiel.”

Luna immediately took off and vanished into the sky.

Despite all the fighting, and even though I told her things were fine now, she clearly couldn’t shake off her concern for Remiel.

It was foolish—and also heartbreaking.

The devastated Holy Cathedral was now filled more with sorrow and screams than sacredness.

Even though I had unleashed the undead, to the refugees running for their lives, could they really tell the difference between wraiths and fiery monsters?

But as they were picked up and swiftly moved to safety by the undead, they seemed to start realizing that these undead were actually allies.

The assault continued.

From higher ground, I looked down on the city.

Holy knights and soldiers were barely holding back the monsters wreathed in destructive fire, while the refugees quickly made their way to the safe zones behind them.

However, the monsters pressing hard on the Kingdom’s forces suddenly found themselves ambushed in the rear and flanks by swarms of Forest Wendigos and Wyverns.

The battle lines began to collapse.

“Uh… Undead?!”

“They seem to be allies! Advance slowly and drive them back!!”

Some undead were even seen picking up unrescued citizens and carrying them quickly to the rear.

That should take care of the defenses.

I headed straight to the highest point of the Holy Kingdom and placed my hand on the ground, spreading out the Heart of the Machine God.

Its scale was massive—so much so that taking it all in at once would create dangerous backlash.

So I filtered out the unnecessary information and focused only on what I was looking for.

And at the end of that stream—I found the target.

Identical structures scattered across the Holy Kingdom.

Jewels in various colors.

Among them, only one served as a medium strongly resonating with extradimensional power.

[Something’s wrong.]

For once, the Librarian said something like that?

“What is it?”

[Doesn’t it feel like things are going too smoothly?]

Now that you mention it.

I had already found the core projecting the Holy Kingdom’s red moon.

At the center of the Holy Cathedral stood a large statue of God.

The moment I saw it, I summoned a lightning spear into one hand and hurled it like a javelin.

With a sound of something breaking, the red sky began to slowly vanish.

Could it really be over just like this?

It couldn't possibly be this reckless.

And to confirm my suspicion—I saw Luna hurriedly flying through the sky in the distance, searching frantically.

Ah.

So it was a diversion.

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