Chapter 96

“The first time I suspected his existence was earlier this year, after receiving a message from Esma Miller of the Blue Magic Tower.”

She turned back time.

The upper echelon of the Blue Magic Tower in Seoul shimmered briefly.

A small, two-foot-tall white stone dressed in a mage’s robe and hat looked up at the sky, then suddenly panicked and caused a commotion.

The assistant beside it, seemingly a graduate student, yawned.

Soon after, he got hit by it and had to stay awake for a whole week, observing the sky without rest.

“At the time, I just thought it was the usual fuss,” she explained. “No gate had been observed, and the reports over the wire were just nonsense—‘the heavens are collapsing,’ ‘a great catastrophe is coming’—all just empty words. But then there were other strange things.”

Next, she rewound time to a massive fire in Daegu.

It happened right after rescue teams were dispatched to save Special Unit Division 3, who had fallen into a trap set by the demons while repairing the Gyeongbu Line.

“The ninth manifestation of the Archduke of Flames in recorded history. It must be the Archduke of Flames I faced in the Sea of Decay,” she said.

It was an utterly unexpected disaster—something no one could have anticipated or prepared for.

According to Ha Yeri, everyone who had been there should have been burned alive.

“Yet, there wasn’t a single casualty, and the seeds of the disaster left no trace. Later, when the Commander-in-Chief investigated the site, she concluded that the Archduke of Flames no longer posed a threat to humanity.”

“I see.”

Had it been when No Yeon-hwa helped me find a studio apartment?

At the same time, Division 1 must have been investigating where Flauros had disappeared to.

Her sudden disappearance hardly seemed like the work of the demons.

It made far more sense to suspect someone else.

“And that’s not all. Hasn’t Hayan—or rather, you—felt something strange recently?”

“Me?”

“Yes, at the gate you entered with Baek-seon.”

She meant the Necropolis.

But what happened there was known only to Lruyeh, wasn’t it?

“I heard that the Temple of the Lich Archduke was already destroyed by someone. The difficulty level of the conquest was too easy compared to expectations.”

“Couldn’t it have been attacked by another demon?”

“The Lich Archduke is still one of the most influential archdukes in the Demon Realm. If another force had attacked, he would have done everything to restore the army resting in his tomb.”

In other words, the destruction of the Necropolis suggested the intervention of someone else.

Even the Eternal Tomb wouldn’t offer a guaranteed victory against such an opponent.

A being so powerful that even the demons themselves avoided showing their presence, unable to even set foot on the land he swept through.

“There are countless other strange signs too: the Void Cult officially declaring itself at Ground Zero, tendrils sprouting across city centers… but the one thing we can be certain of right now is this.”

On the map, the white stones and black stones clashed.

In the middle of battlefields where humans and demons fought, empty spaces occasionally appeared.

Those large voids, keeping all forces at bay, hinted at the existence of a third party.

“Right now, this land isn’t just home to humans and demons. There’s something else—at least a seventh-tier power, maybe even strong enough to challenge an archduke.”

Impressive deduction.

I had kept it hidden that I was Sae Hayan—and I had never actually moved about in secret as an apostle of an Outer God.

Yet, she had noticed my presence merely from footprints left along the waves crashing on the shore—a feat worthy of admiration.

I stared at Ha Yeri, who was intently scanning the map, and asked,

“What will you do if you find him?”

“Well… first, I’d casually drop about ten tactical nukes on his location. Then, if he’s still alive, I’d capture him for research. I want to dissect how he acquired such power.”

…A bit late, but from now on, I must hide thoroughly.

As I vowed never to act as an apostle again until Ha Yeri retired, she let out a quiet laugh.

“I’m joking.”

“Excuse me?”

“We’ll have to ask for cooperation. Otherwise, as you just saw, humanity would end up destroyed.”

Her laughter felt almost like a mirage, fleeting yet oddly reassuring.

Ha Yeri’s expression as she looked down at the map again was utterly serious.

Was there anything she was overlooking?

How should she maneuver her troops to minimize casualties?

Her fingertips, which had repeatedly placed stones on the map over and over, had long since cracked and turned bone-white.

“I don’t know what he wants, but I’ll give everything I have and beg. Please… help us.”

For humanity, she wouldn’t stop even if her body broke.

For humanity, she wouldn’t care if she had to pour oil into the waters off her homeland.

For humanity, she wouldn’t waver even if she had to kneel before an opponent who could be angel or demon.

That was the tiniest shred of justice she could uphold in this cruel world.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No… it’s just that… you can even joke.”

“Am I not allowed to joke?”

“I thought Commander Ha Yeri’s sense of humor had perished along with her height. Who are you? The tentacle wearing Ha Yeri’s shell?”

“Hayan!!”

Still, assaulting subordinates locked in a cell didn’t seem very… just.

A moment later, I found myself wearing a sign around my neck that read: I will never underestimate Commander Ha Yeri’s height again.

She watched me being punished and, her expression noticeably lighter, prepared to leave.

“Enough chatter. Being with you relaxes me too much—it’s dangerous,” she said.

“Where are you going?”

“To get a hamburger set. And just so you know, don’t post a math problem in the Special Unit Bamboo Forest claiming my height as the answer because all the toys are sold out.”

How did she know that?

I’d posted it completely anonymously.

“The only agent in the Special Unit with computational skills proud enough to create a problem even an elementary student could solve is you.”

“……”

“If you post it again, I’ll suspend your account.”

So she did check the Bamboo Forest every day, pretending she didn’t.

After she left, I remained alone in the cell, lost in deep thought.

My mind was a tangled mess.

Her words, spoken with that dark expression, lingered heavily in one corner of my heart.

I stared at the dark ceiling and rolled up my sleeve.

Then, as always, I asked Mala-nim who watched over me.

“What should I do?”

‘Fear not.’

“The new ’Black Goat and the Four Knights of the Seal’ toys can’t even be completed without at least one full set. If they’re sold out…”

‘Fear not!?’

Mala-nim seemed to bristle at the fact that I had been worrying about that instead.

Then what did she think I was worried about?

‘Fear not! Fear not!’

“Wasn’t now the perfect timing for the pure Hayan to awaken, overcome guilt, and reveal my identity as an Apostle of an Outer God in front of Commander Ha Yeri?”

Hmm, was it really that perfect?

To my pure self, it was hard to understand.

“Whether I reveal my identity or not, what I must do as your Apostle does not change.”

If Ha Yeri had known I was an Apostle, would she have allowed me to fight Flauros alone?

Yoo Se-byeol would have thrown herself into the flames without retreating the moment she escaped the trap.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my comrades—but this was a matter where emotion couldn’t come first.

It simply wasn’t the right time.

Judging that, I chose to relieve Ha Yeri’s heavy burden immediately by placing the sign on my own neck.

“Everyone needs to become stronger. At the very least, if you’re not at the level of an Immortal, you can’t safely survive next to an Apostle of an Outer God with just one body.”

‘…….’

“Besides, let’s try using this Destiny Board. I’ve been wanting to test something for a while now.”

Changing the subject, I reached toward the map and the stones beyond the iron bars.

According to Ha Yeri, this artifact produced different results depending on the user.

It wasn’t just about information—it could move the pieces differently.

As commander of Division 2 and a key member of the Ability Management Bureau, Ha Yeri could place almost all of the white stones on the map.

She gave orders to her subordinates, sought cooperation from the Towers and Guilds, and warned the demons.

Compared to her influence, the stones I could move were extremely limited.

“Just a few personnel from Division 3. I guess they only recognize me as the Special Unit agent… no, as the ‘Light Mage’ Hayan.”

Only a very small number of the demons could move freely as well.

Most likely, it was Norkel.

Since I had already made Ha Yeri wary during the Platel incident, that influence could reach even someone as cautious as her.

The Towers and Guilds weren’t moving either.

The odd thing was that while most white stones couldn’t be placed, a few larger ones could.

“Yoo Se-byeol, Commander Cheon So-baek, and Miss No Yeon-hwa, right? Seems they’re willing to lend their strength if I ask personally.”

‘Fear not.’

‘You little thief-cat,’ Mala-nim muttered and brushed the comment away.

My carefully arranged formation had been broken, but I wasn’t too disappointed.

Even after trying to roll time back a few times, the ending where humanity perished remained the same.

As Ha Yyeri said, the Destiny Board was only meant to give a broad overview and detect oversights, not predict the future.

“At a point where the birth rate is 0.03, can there even be a future? If humanity is to survive, we need to fix that first…”

Perhaps a policy-based approach would work.

Like one tentacle per person.

If every household had a tentacle, harmony would blossom at home, marital relations would improve, and the birth rate would skyrocket.

Defenses against foreign invasions could be left to the tentacles, and even famine could be solved with them.

To save humanity from the brink of extinction, there was only one thing needed.

Political advancement.

“It’s decided. There’s a method to solve all of Commander Ha Yeri’s worries. On the first day of my term, drop a massive number of tentacles across Seoul under the guise of the Gate opening…”

‘Fearfearfearfear.’

In the dark cell, the sound of footsteps coming down reached my ears.

Had Commander Ha Yeri already bought the hamburgers and returned?

It seemed a little early for that.

Listening carefully, the weight and cadence of the steps didn’t match hers.

A sturdy adult male.

His body was well-trained, but something strapped to his waist tilted his balance to one side.

The soles of his shoes, made of rubber containing magic stones, were designed not to slip even in intense combat.

“Have you been well?”

“You are….”

As I expected, it wasn’t Ha Yeri who appeared.

“Sent by Master Ji-geom,” he said.

The Chief of Staff of the 2nd Unit of the Old Gods’ Wound, Seol Si-heon.