Stratagem

Many groups identified the Church of Ruin as an existence that brought harm to the world, and people said humanity had decided on a new direction by slaughtering them.

Thousands of Church of Ruin believers died every day, but just as many people suffered harm at the hands of the Church of Ruin. In reality, when Red Gate and Yellow Gate incidents occurred because of their atrocities, countries barely managed to secure peace by carrying out large-scale subjugations at the national level, or, in the case of countries that lacked the strength to do so, by requesting aid from neighboring nations.

Then, at a time when another ordinary day should have begun, an incident occurred that dyed the middle of the city in blood.

“Kyaaaah!! S-Save me!!”

“Graaah!! A-A monster!!”

“The Break alarm did not even go off, so why?!”

The people who had fallen into chaos began running as if they were being herded in the opposite direction from where the bizarre lifeform slaughtering people had appeared, trying somehow to survive. The being, who leisurely watched them and persistently sought out only nearby people as it committed slaughter one after another, wore a fishy smile as it watched the people rushing toward one place.

“Do you think going there will let you die more cleanly than by my hand?”

The lizard-shaped Chimera human said that he was confident he could kill them more gently than the others. However, the man actually caught in his grip was breathing his last with his body torn horizontally in half.

The lizard human casually lifted it, examined it this way and that, then roughly threw it to the ground and began walking in search of another target. It was then.

Kwaaaang!! Along with a tremendous roar, dozens of people flew into the air.

But their condition was ragged, with bodies torn and broken in various places, and the lizard human clicked his tongue as he saw it.

“You kill them like swatting flies.”

Unlike him, who laughed happily while making a distinctive lizard-like “slurp” sound, the Chimera-turned Wang Sun, who appeared from the place where the explosion had occurred, looked around and examined the surroundings with a gaze full of particular emotion.

“It was my homeland. But now, it is merely a country that must be destroyed.”

“Are you not too excited?”

Bak Geun-sik, one of the Chimera humans standing behind Wang Sun, looked over the debris of the surrounding buildings, then pulled out a nearby utility pole and swung it at the building rubble.

The building collided with it with a roar and collapsed completely, and at that, Wang Sun spoke.

“Seeing you use a body synthesized with an Orc to that extent, you must have been quite a strong Awakener when you were alive.”

“It feels a little unpleasant to hear you say ‘when I was alive,’ but you are not wrong. I once fought a desperate battle on the same battlefield as you.”

“Oh, you are talking about quite a long time ago. The Korean Peninsula War was truly enjoyable.”

Even as he said that, Wang Sun casually grabbed and threw whatever he could lift nearby.

Cars, building debris, utility poles, and so on flew toward the surrounding buildings, destroying them in a way that ignored the laws of physics to an absurd degree.

The reason this was possible was simple.

He had the skill to infuse objects with “aura.”

And the other Chimeras, though inferior compared to Wang Sun, were also experts close to Master-level.

Such people had become test subjects. Already strong individuals had become even stronger through Chimera research, and with the power of the Calamity God added on top of that, they had been released into the world in an absurdly powerful state.

“If we are going to erase the city today, we will be busy. Scatter.”

More than fifty Chimera humans scattered in every direction, and the city rapidly became submerged in screams.

How long had it been since a large number of masters and experts, led by the black mage Masters, had been mobilized and focused on Chimera research?

At last, they completed the first result and began discussing it.

“Creating the Chimera itself was not difficult, but the problem is fluidity. To put this thing to sleep, the temperature has to be rapidly lowered below a certain point. The problem is that if we use that method, the Chimera may die.”

It meant that the research itself had succeeded, but coating a Magic Stone with it was the problem.

“That is difficult. Then does that mean we have to find another method?”

“Not necessarily. Through several experiments, we were able to work on it for now, and if several devices were added, we could secure stability as well. The problem was that as time passed, movement appeared, albeit very slowly, and the shaking of the magic circle due to the unique pulse of a living creature could not be ignored either.”

Then they began talking about several negative points, and while listening to it yet again, I grew frustrated and raised my hand.

“Excuse me, I am genuinely curious, but why are you trying to work on the slime while keeping it alive?”

“…Because… to maintain its shape at all times?”

“I see… Now that I think about it, there is no need to keep it alive. You could just kill the slime, harden it, and then shape it like clay.”

I looked at them, who were trapped in fixed ideas, and spoke.

“If magic is implemented while it is alive anyway, it will be difficult to constantly maintain a low temperature because of the heat naturally generated from the magic circle. And a slime is a creature that adapts as long as even the slightest opening appears, so it will eventually adapt to the cold as well, and in the end, the magic circle itself will collapse. In other words, what we needed was a way to mold magic metal without applying heat.”

“That is correct. And with a simple method, we could not increase the mana transmission rate of the magic metal. That is why we devised the slime.”

It was a slime that absorbed magic metal, recognized it like skin, and incorporated it into its body.

“Would it not be enough to simply kill it and then use its body?”

It would be correct to call it a liquid metal state.

They only needed to find a way to harden it.

Only then did the black mages set a new research direction and choose a method of turning it into an “undead” to mold the Magic Stone.

As I watched them cheer at the result, I thought it was nice to see them bright and innocent like children. It was then.

“Urgent report!!”

Everyone looked puzzled at the person who entered the laboratory with a desperate shout.

“What happened?”

“The ones presumed to be those escaped Chimeras have reportedly carried out a terror attack in Nanjing, China. Currently, two-thirds of Nanjing has been destroyed, and the estimated death toll alone is said to exceed hundreds of thousands.”

The news was so sudden that there was no choice but to be bewildered, but when the name “Wang Sun” came up among them, my expression twisted.

“The man who identified himself as Wang Sun said that they were acting under Korea’s instigation….”

“Hah, that crazy bastard…?”

As curses came out on their own, the Masters gathered nearby asked.

“Why are test subjects that should have been locked up in the National Magic Research Institute there?”

Baek Da-gyeong seemed to be a little late in hearing the news.

If not, perhaps she simply had no interest in this sort of thing.

It was a rumor that had spread like what people commonly called a secret known to everyone who needed to know.

So when I briefly explained it to her, Baek Da-gyeong sighed and asked.

“What did the government do?”

“More importantly, was Wang Sun the only one there?”

“Was there… someone else who should have been there?”

“Bak Hyeok. What about him?”

“…He was not there. About fifty Chimera humans carried out terror attacks, and although China’s Master-level personnel were all mobilized, they were apparently helpless against them.”

“The Master-level personnel were pushed back?”

They had expressions of disbelief.

Except for an extremely small number of people, the strength of those called “Masters” was the peak of humanity.

For such people to have been pushed back meant that China currently had no strength capable of stopping them.

‘The problem is that that damned bastard sold our country’s name of all things….’

It was an incident clearly enough involving the Church of Ruin. Therefore, this action could only be explained as the Church of Ruin attempting to sow discord.

However, it was not a problem that could be solved just because I stepped forward right away, and most countries should know that our country’s Chimera research facility had been thoroughly looted by the Church of Ruin, so it should not cause misunderstandings. But the truly serious issue was their objective.

I had a feeling that their objective would not be simple massacre.

But there was no way to find out immediately, and it was not even an area where we could get involved.

Because it was a problem China had to solve.

“It is true that the situation is serious, but it is not a matter for us to get involved in. So until the government announces some kind of position, do not even pay attention to it. Do you understand?”

After hearing my words, everyone nodded.

Afterward, China’s circumstances began flowing worse day by day.

Starting with Nanjing, major cities were frequently attacked by terror.

Because Wang Sun and the Chimeras went around destroying facilities, even refugee facilities, everyone at first wondered what on earth they were doing, but it did not take long to realize that this was an act of turning all of China’s land into a land of death.

Because ordinary people could not endure the harshness created by the destruction of infrastructure alone.

Many refugees died on the streets, and violent crimes, including looting, murder, and arson, began occurring everywhere.

It even led to cannibalism, so one could tell just how thoroughly they were destroying the framework of human life.

The important point was that global discussions began over how many countries could actually endure if such terrorist acts occurred in other nations as well, and petitions asking the Sea Sun Brigade to stop the terror attacks began flooding in from around the world.

Because no one knew who China’s next target would be.

In addition, because of their claim that “Korea was behind it,” the Korean government also could not remain silent.

“In May, there was an incident where the Chimera research facility was engulfed in flames due to looting. At the time, we were able to identify the Saintess of the Church of Ruin, ‘Jo Yun-hui,’ as being behind the incident, and Korea’s current circumstances are not good enough to restrain the Saintess of the Calamity God, who is clearly acting covertly within the country. This terror attack is also clearly an operation by the Church of Ruin to draw the world’s attention and interest, and to place our country in a difficult position. The leader among the Chimeras committing these terror attacks is also ‘Wang Sun,’ a Master-level physical Awakener who once represented China. In the past, he led the mine closure incident, was wanted as a malicious enemy who caused great damage to our country….”

The government’s briefing continued for a long time.

The main content ultimately ended with “We did not do it,” but people’s anxiety and dissatisfaction were reaching a level that could not be easily calmed.

The reason was simple.

It was the complaint and dissatisfaction that those with ability had not even managed to catch and beat down those things.

‘Kim Dae-san, politics must be really hard.’

I nearly laughed at the conclusion I reached after examining all the circumstances.