Chapter 26: Catastrophe

There are three things that need to be completed in this underground base.

First.

A weapon that can effectively cut off the giant’s body.

Second.

A long-range recovery device to retrieve the fallen body.

And last.

‘Soldiers who will do all of this.’

It won’t be easy, but if you use all the equipment in the underground base to deal with the hundreds of giants themselves, you might be able to do it somehow.

However, if you change your goal to collecting rocks that haven’t been recovered from the hundreds of giants, it’s a different story.

If you carefully dig them up one by one, you won’t know how long it will take to collect all the rocks to fill the dimensional transfer gate, and your efficiency in dealing with the giants will also decrease.

‘I can’t do it alone.’

After finally coming to that conclusion, Yooseong decided that the last thing he needed to prepare were hunters who would specialize in hunting the giants.

‘Unmanned people with excellent stamina.

High-circle magicians.

Or strong people with other powers.’

The image of a strong person flashed through his mind.

“I don’t need them all.

However, they weren’t suitable.

It’s not that I’m ignoring the combat power of the combat professions, but for the soldiers that Yooseong was thinking of right now, their own combat power wasn’t particularly important.

And because the image he had was of future soldiers wearing suits that enhanced their physical abilities, carrying heavy weapons, running around, and cooperating with each other to effectively subdue giants.”

“Since they use a lot of equipment, they need to be able to deal with immediate breakdowns.

More than any other ability, they need people who understand how to handle equipment and can repair it immediately when it breaks down.

If that’s the case, only one profession is suitable for becoming a giant hunter.

People in the transmuter profession, like Yooseong, who can instantly re-transmute broken parts.

Of course, due to the nature of transmuters, they can’t strengthen their bodies or use magic even if they have magical power, and their combat sense is inferior to that of combat professions.

Anyway, the lack of physical abilities and combat sense was all taken care of by the mass-produced Titan armor and artificial intelligence, so it didn’t really matter.”

“Even if there are many, it will only cause confusion, so I think about 50 people would be enough.

The problem is that it is hard to find a transmuter..”

Even though they are treated as a trash profession, there were very few people with the profession of transmuter, so they were rare.

On top of that, if they were warriors, they were warriors, if they were magicians, they were magicians, and even farmers were farmers.

Unlike ordinary people who made a living with their given profession, those who were born with the profession of transmuter were not even supported by the country, and there were aspects that were not very good for making a living with transmutation.

There were almost no people who made a living as transmuters, and most of them were ordinary people with other professions, such as merchants or ordinary farmers.

In other words, they were hiding all over the continent without showing off their status as transmuters.

I could be said that finding 50 transmuters was much harder than finding 50 magicians or warriors.

“Should I ask SeYeon to put up a recruitment notice for transmuters..?”

Yooseong muttered as he looked around for a moment.

[The equipment in question is It can move at a speed of 500 km and even on rough terrain..]

“Wow-!

Amazing!”

Soon, he found the rare combination of a steel skeleton and a tiger skeleton kid wearing a bear hat who sparkled his eyes and clapped his hands in front of him.

While he was planning on the workbench for a moment, he was wondering if there was anything he could do for Hoyeon as an educational reward…..

and he thought it might be helpful if he explained the equipment and weapons in this base.

He ordered the metal skeletons, which were artificial intelligence androids, to show Hoyeon around the base.

To be honest, he told the metal skeletons to explain the equipment, but his intention was not to have them actually learn the equipment, but rather to have them literally tour the base.

Unlike the Automatics, which were strong artificial intelligence that could think for themselves and make decisions similar to humans, the metal skeletons created by Yooseong had weak artificial intelligence and could only make basic decisions and provide inputted explanations.

In other words, it was impossible to give explanations at a level suitable for a child.

“Then what happens in this case?”

[About that…]

However, judging from the fact that Hoyeon occasionally asked questions, he seemed to understand and listen to the explanations that were similar to the endlessly complicated operating instructions given by the metal skeletons to some extent.

It seemed like a scary talent in terms of understanding machines.

“Hoyeon will be the first training model!”

Yooseong thought while looking at Hoyeon.

The first of the group of shamanist units to deal with the giants was his disciple Hoyeon.

Of course, Hoyeon’s shamanist talent was outstanding compared to Yooseong and himself, but there was the problem that his physique was still that of a child.

I said he was 10 years old!

Hoyeon was 10 years old.

However, this was not a big disadvantage.

‘If he were a human 10 years old, I would have only taught him theory, but it’s different for a mermaid 10 years old.’

Amermaid can only live for half of a human’s lifespan.

For that reason, their growth is very fast at each age point that ends at 10 years old.

Even though he looks like a child now, if you consider the growth rate of a typical mermaid, he will have the growth of a high school or middle school student in a year.

‘On top of that, his physical abilities are superior to humans, so there is no problem at all in keeping up with the training.’

After finishing his thoughts on Hoyeon and nodding, Yooseong turned his head back to the workbench and began to make a plan using the hologram.

The hologram contained the training plan for the giant force consisting of Hoyeon and 50 psychics.

Jerk…

Jerk…

The outskirts of Hayden, a city in the southern region of Makinia.

Figures wearing shabby robes cross the mountain range and climb up the hill, looking down at the foggy city of Hayden.

“Are we sure we’ve come to the right place?

It seems more like a ghost town than a city of wizards?”

“We’ve come to the right place..

But Your Majesty, it seems you lack faith in us priests of the Goddess Church?

You keep asking questions whenever we do something.”

When the one wearing relatively clean robes asked, the one wearing black robes next to him grumbled in response.

“I just wanted to be sure, right?”

“We’ve already sent the selected personnel to these coordinates several times.

This is Hayden, a city in the southern part of Makinia.

Your Majesty.”

“I heard that Makinia is a magical city full of beauty and pleasure, where the sun always rises?”

“That refers to the northern region, Your Majesty.

The southern region does not see the sun all year round.”

That’s right.

Makinia was basically known to the people as a wealthy and beautiful city.

That’s because the field of magic, which is a discipline known for its wealthy class that requires a lot of money, such as magic stones and magic materials.

The leaders of the Magic Kingdom were made up of pure-blooded, high elves who were synonymous with beauty and mystery.

When people on the continent think of the Magic Kingdom, they usually think of beautiful elves and a mysterious magical nation.

And that image of the Magic Kingdom was half true.

However, the other half was not true.

The Magic Kingdom of Makinia had a dark side.

The northern and southern regions had very different environments, with the center of Makinia, where the world tree raised by the elves called “Yggdrasil”, was located as the boundary.

In the northern region, which was managed by pure-blooded elves, the magicians of the families with a solid foundation used their wealth to beautify the city and enjoy pleasure and luxury.

In the southern region of Makinia, those without families or those who practiced the non-mainstream black magic and necromancy were being driven out and unfairly discriminated against.

This discrimination could be seen from the rising and setting of the sun.

The world tree “Yggdrasil”, which was raised by pure-blooded elves, always allowed the northern region to be exposed to sunlight and maintain a fertile climate.

On the other hand, it used magic power and scattered the remaining remnants to the southern region, which worsened the climate of the southern region.

The sun never rose in the southern region, and most of the citizens living in the southern region suffered from chronic respiratory diseases or skin diseases due to the moisture and negative mana that spread throughout the land.

If these people had not been black magicians or necromancers who handled negative mana and had no particular complaints about living in dark places, a rebellion would have broken out long ago.

“I can understand a little why the warlocks and necromancers of the southern region are attached to the former saintess.”

Thinking from the perspective of the people of the southern region…

SeYeon nodded and said.

“Your Majesty…

It’s time to go down.

Since there are those who support the fallen saintess, it’s quite difficult for the opposing forces to contact us, so we need to coordinate the timing.”

“I told you earlier…

Let’s go right away.

Okay.”

SeYeon and Claire,

A party of inquisitors quickly descended the hill and approached the city of Hayden.

Their goal was to contact the anti-saint forces in the southern region of Makinia and obtain the former saint LeaForte by any means possible.

The methods included kidnapping and subduing.

No matter how much they thought about it, they concluded that it was impossible to get LeaForte to cooperate directly through peaceful means.

“There’s a group of knights standing guard over there?”

Even in a magical kingdom made up of magicians, there was a wall on the border.

And now that they looked, it seemed that knights were also present.

In front of a narrow door that could barely fit a carriage, people wearing black armor were standing guard.

“The knights of the eastern wall told us that the leader of the group trying to contact us had already recruited them.

Since this is the eastern wall, there must have already been a conversation.”

SeYeon and her party nodded to the words of the heretic inquisitor’s chief, Orha, and immediately hid in the shadows and quietly moved toward the wall.

“Wait?

That’s not a person…?

And as they gradually got closer to the knights in black armor.

They’re undead!”

SeYeon realized through her magical power that her opponent was not a living person, but a deceased person… a Death Knight made of a corpse.

The southern region was a region inhabited by black magicians and necromancers.

As expected, even the knights standing guard were not real people, but undead!

Sigh.

As a warrior with the magical power of light, she felt a strong sense of rejection when she saw the undead that held the spirit of death.

When she unconsciously put her hand on the handle of her sword,

“No, warrior.

Undead have an unconditional aggressive tendency toward those who oppose them.”

Claire stopped SeYeon with a look that said, “If you make a fuss, it will be difficult.”

“Huh…

Hold on.

Calm down, Jin SeYeon.”

SeYeon, who barely managed to suppress the magical power in her body that was vibrating through mind control, followed behind with Orha.

Clang-!

As SeYeon and her group got closer, the Death Knights raised their heads and approached.

Judging by the strong magic of death felt from each of them, they were knights of at least Expert level.

“I have come to meet Heidegger.”

Orha handed a silver coin to the Death Knight who was staring at him with an ominous atmosphere.

Clink…

The Death Knight reached out and accepted the silver coin that Orha had handed him.

“.”

Immediately after that, tension spread among SeYeon’s group at the sight of the Death Knight stopping for a moment and staring intently at the silver coin.

If those who were trying to make contact tried to hit the back of SeYeon’s group’s head, the situation could become dangerous.

Clink…

However, the Death Knight, who read the familiar magic of the owner from the silver coin with a skull pattern, nodded and approached the door with the other Death Knights.

Squeak

He opened the closed gate.

“I think we can go in.

Your Majesty.”

“Oh my.

I’ve even tried going into doors that the undead opened.”

SeYeon, who let out a joke to ease the tense atmosphere, passed the Death Knights and entered the gate, followed by Claire and the Inquisitors.

Meow-

“It seems like it’s telling us to follow it.”

As soon as they entered the gate, a cat came up to them and meowed as if shouting for them to follow.

SeYeon and her party shook their heads in confusion but began to follow the cat that was walking lightly.

The cat gradually entered a quiet and narrow alley.

“I feel like I’m possessed by a ghost…”

Although they felt something was off, SeYeon and her party had no choice but to stand in a line and follow it since there was no other guide besides the cat.

“Is this the right place?

It doesn’t seem right.”

“Actually, we’ve never met in a place like this before.”

“No, then shouldn’t we not follow them?”

SeYeon muttered in a dumbfounded voice at Orha’s words.

Meow-!

Hearing the cat’s meow again, he looked ahead and found a wooden door at the end of the alley.

“That’s right, you have to go into the tiger’s den to catch the tiger.”

SeYeon muttered a proverb from her hometown and took the lead, grabbing the handle of the door the cat had entered.

Squeak…

let’s open that door and go in.

Inside, there were two chairs and a round table covered with a purple tablecloth used by astrologers.

Meow-!

The cat climbed up onto one of the chairs and took a seat.

Swoosh..

“Hehe.”

It transformed into the shape of a person…

to be exact, a mature woman wearing a purple mermaid dress.

“Welcome.

Your Majesty the King of Gryphon.”

The woman bowed her head, wrapping one arm around her waist and under her chest as if to highlight her ample chest.

“I am the necromancer Lissandra Heidegger, the leader of the Makinia Necromancers.”

A sexy voice and seductive appearance.

And the pungent smell of perfume wafting out to hide the stench of the rotting corpse.

She was a woman who naturally fit the word ‘witch’.

“It won’t be easy.

The woman’s mysterious yet dreamy appearance was definitely something that stimulated the male’s lust.

SeYeon, who had learned from watching her sly subjects while serving as king, had an extremely developed sense of raccoon-like behavior, and as soon as she saw the woman, it felt like an alarm sounded from deep within her heart.

“Nice to meet you.

I am Jin SeYeon, the Griffin King.”

SeYeon shook the hand that Lisandra extended and concentrated on controlling her expression.

For a moment, she almost squinted at the hard and cold feel of the hand.

‘Is this a human hand?

It looks completely like a corpse’s hand?

Even a necromancer would only handle corpses, so how could this be?

The thought crossed her mind.

SeYeon and Claire each took two seats, and Lisandra took the seat opposite them.

“Where are our seats?

Heidegger.”

Orha asked in an aggressive tone, as if shouting “heresy’ from the beginning.

“Oh my-This is a conversation between the heads of groups…

Shouldn’t the ones below be left out?”

Lissandra answered with a sarcastic voice and a smile, not at all intimidated by the glares of the sturdy Inquisitors.

“This good…

How dare this witch!”

When Orha got so excited that she looked like she was going to overturn the table, SeYeon was about to open her mouth to stop her.

“Stay out.

Human.”

“Yea!”

At Claire’s sharp words, Orha immediately tucked his tail between his legs and stood behind him like a folding screen.

“Huh?”

Lissandra Heidegger showed interest as she watched Claire subdue the fanatic in one go.

Claire was currently wearing the hood of her robe, so her appearance was not revealed.

“Who is this person?

Making the vice-captain of the Inquisitors listen to him in one go…

Even the leader of Eclipse who is currently being held captive wouldn’t have shown this kind of attitude-?”

Once again, Lisandra mentioned the leader of the Eclipse, Orca, to provoke Orha.

“”

Orha, who only followed Claire, their ‘apostle’, did not budge even with his eyes cursing.

“A high-ranking official of the Goddess Church.”

“Is that so-?

Hmm-

That’s strange..

I don’t feel any divine power.

No, rather, he seems like one of our people.”

That’s right.

Claire only had the power of the Goddess and the dark magic given to her as the Demon King, and not a single bit of divine power.

When Lisandra said that she was one of our people, she must have indirectly felt Claire’s dark magic.

“Ahem.

We don’t have much time, but can we get to the point?”

SeYeon brought up the subject first, fearing that Lisandra might notice Claire’s true identity.

“Oh my!

You’re in a hurry-Of course, I like that side of a young man, but…

Hehe!

Even though the night is not over, when there are many eyes and ears listening, it’s difficult for Your Majesty and me, right?”

SeYeon, who was a young man no matter how you looked at it, felt embarrassed at the attitude of a flirtatious bar girl trying to seduce her.

Instead, SeYeon glared at Lisandra.

It might not have been different for other men, but as long as she had the magic of light, no matter how pretty she was on the outside, Lisandra seemed like rotten fruit to SeYeon.

“Is there a way to subdue the saint…

or even a way to contact her?”

In order not to be swayed by the other person’s pace, she asked directly.

“I’m going to explain it now.

Oh!

This is a specialty of our Hayden city…

If you get bored listening, try one.”

As she said that, Lisandra tapped the plate containing chocolate cookies.

SeYeon glanced at her and of course didn’t touch them…

crunch…crunch…

“These are delicious, warrior”

Claire, who was next to her, picked up the cookies and ate them without hesitation.

====

The few days that King Jin SeYeon was away from the palace to capture the saintess.

“I will decide on the matter when His Majesty returns.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Elena was taking charge of the state affairs of the Griffin Kingdom.

Usually, when a king was away from the country, a prime minister or a trusted vassal would assist the prince, the successor, and rule as regent.

This was the basic method on this continent.

However, SeYeon and Elena did not have any children, and since no successor had been decided, Elena, as the queen, took charge of the state affairs for a while.

There was no great discontent among the subjects, as Elena would have become queen as the legitimate heir to the Griffin royal family if she had not married SeYeon.

“Huh…

Your Majesty has always been doing this.

I knew it was hard for you because you would say you were so tired every night.”

“That’s right.

The job of a king governing a country is not easy.

Your Majesty is truly amazing.

I have served the Griffin royal family for two generations, but I swear I have never seen anyone as sincere and caring for the people as Your Majesty.”

“That is true.”

Elena smiled faintly at the prime minister’s words, patted his shoulder with her small fist, and sat up straight on the throne to regain her strength.

Right now, the situation in the kingdom, starting with the capital of Lionheart, was not all that good, but Elena felt a sense of responsibility to get things done without any problems until her husband, SeYeon, returned.

“If I get a lot done, Your Majesty will have a little more free time..

Thinking so, Elena tried to ask the prime minister about her next task, but.

Knock-!!

“Your Majesty.

Queen!”

At that moment, the sight of the Royal Knight Commander suddenly rushing into the central hall and shouting left her speechless.

“Knight Commander!

What kind of nonsense is this!

Normally, you have to apply for entry in advance to come to the throne!”

The prime minister who saw that shouted at the knight commander who was not following the royal etiquette.

“Wait a minute.

If you’re rushing in like this…

You must have some urgent matter, right?”

Elena stopped the prime minister and calmly asked the knight commander who was cowering.

Chuck

“Yes!

Your Majesty!”

The knight commander, whose complexion was not good, hurriedly knelt on one knee and took out a rolled-up scroll from his bosom.

Again…

Again…

Elena saw that and got up from the throne, went down to the platform herself, unwrapped the scroll in the knight’s hand, and checked its contents.

“…”

Elena’s eyes widened in an instant and her face turned pale.

“Bring…

the box”

“Your Majesty, it looks like…”

“Quick!”

Despite the knight’s words of dissuasion, Elena shouted desperately.

Then the knight got up from his seat again and ran out of the central hall again, and soon he and other knights came carrying a large box.

Thump…

He carefully put the box down.

Elena approached the box…

Creak.

She opened the box and checked inside.

“Ah…

Ah…!”

There was a severed arm holding the warrior’s sword on white silk.

Thud!

“Your Majesty!”

“Help the queen!”

The knights next to her caught Elena, who was about to fall over because her legs gave out.

Swish….

On the parchment that fell from Elena’s hand.

You checked the gift sent in the box, right?

If you want to save warrior Jin SeYeon, send Han Yooseong, who was a supporter of the warrior party, to Hayden City in southern Makinia.

If you don’t come, your only close friend Jin SeYeon will die.]

Blood-red letters were written on it.