Bab 414: 828
[Chapter 208]
[Devil of the Sea (3)]
The Demonpus subjugation operation began.
The subjugation team composed of Korea, China, and Japan thoroughly searched the seas around Jeju Island.
"This is like finding a needle in a desert, how are we supposed to find something in the sea..."
[Player Chae Seon-woo. Your sighing can be heard clearly over the radio. This is a subjugation with players from other countries, so please show behavior befitting a Twelve Seat.]
"Alright, yes, yes."
Twelve Seat <Wind Mage> Chae Seon-woo.
He spoke into the radio on his shoulder as he flew over the sea riding the wind.
He couldn't ignore the words of <Thunder God>, who had much more experience as a Twelve Seat than him.
Tsk, why is the communication so good today of all days?
Chae Seon-woo clicked his tongue inwardly.
He increased his altitude riding the wind.
The vast sea came into view.
He tried to release the wind to find any abnormal signs.
Then, a person standing on the water surface caught his eye.
It was a woman with blue hair lighter in color than <Snow Spear> Ryu Yeon-hwa's.
"Was it Undine? I heard she has a Gift called <Water Transformation>, can't that person find the monster quickly?"
<Undine> Kashiwagi Sena.
Ethereal bodies glowing with water light were floating around her.
That must be why she's called the <Water Fairy>.
Chae Seon-woo prayed that she would find Demonpus quickly.
Among the players assigned to the subjugation team, she was standing out in exploring underwater.
Meanwhile, China was also searching independently like Korea and Japan.
No, rather than searching, they were trying to lure Demonpus.
"Is it an attraction-type Gift? The ability seems quite strong. Seeing how monsters living in the sea keep appearing endlessly."
One of the Seven Star Generals led by Hou Yi, Hao Ran.
<Yang Guifei> Tang Xiaoxiao.
The woman wearing Han-style clothing from the Tang Dynasty era was barefoot.
From her toes, ripples imbued with mana were spreading widely.
Monsters were being drawn out by those ripples.
Because of this, Lao Chen, one of the Eight Generals, was leading players in battle against them.
It was a bold and barbaric battle.
"That person is like the Chinese version of <Yama>... Did he come just to fight? He was picking a fight with <Thunder God> earlier too, really the type I don't want to get close to."
Chae Seon-woo shuddered.
He was someone who didn't match with him.
He decided to just continue searching.
But everyone's playing individually.
Isn't the meaning of Korea, China, and Japan joining forces lost?
Well, I prefer playing individually.
While nominally cooperating, they were building up competitiveness against players from other countries.
<Thunder God> was the same.
While pretending not to, he was paying attention to players from other countries.
Of course, Chae Seon-woo didn't care.
It was then.
"It's appeared."
A massive presence was felt.
Something was rising from below the water surface.
It was Demonpus.
Chae Seon-woo whistled as he looked down at the black shadow.
Splash splash splash
The sound of water was rough.
It would be troublesome for people maintaining balance on the water surface.
On the other hand, the monster threatened the players while flaunting its huge body.
As debuff magic was applied to the area, the players' bodies became heavy.
Right then─
─Lightning
While players were gauging the enemy.
<Thunder God> attacked first.
Lightning pierced through the monster's head.
The lightning effectively affected the monster through impurities dissolved in the water.
The monster let out a harsh scream.
"Looks like even <Thunder God> has gotten fired up with competitiveness?"
The players attacked belatedly.
Chae Seon-woo looked down at Lee Do-jin and let out a dry laugh.
[Player Chae Seon-woo, I can hear everything. Please provide support from the air.]
"Yeah, yeah."
He was scolded by <Thunder God> again.
Chae Seon-woo shrugged his shoulders and decided to support the people.
☆
Seogwipo City, Jeju Island, Donghae Hotel.
The heads of state from the three countries were gathered in the conference room.
Meeting after several years, they exchanged greetings with friendly faces.
"Oh my, Fairy. I heard the news well. I hear you made a big decision for the citizens this time?"
"...I'm not sure what decision you're referring to."
"I heard you disbanded the military. When I heard that, I thought you were a person ahead of the times."
"I heard there was a riot in Miyazaki, Kaguya-sama. Did you come after resolving it well?"
"Ahaha, how did you know about that?"
"Ahaha, what about you?"
""Ahaha.""
Of course, they were only smiling on the surface while exchanging jabs.
Especially Kaguya, who spoke in Korean, flustered Im Ga-eul.
Im Ga-eul quickly composed herself and immediately counterattacked.
Eun-ha quietly sighed watching this scene.
What are they doing with the child watching?
Ha Baek-ryeon was sitting modestly next to Im Ga-eul.
She just blinked her eyes watching the two people checking each other after finishing greetings.
Eun-ha quietly observed the situation, sticking to the wall behind her.
There were no other party members.
They were on standby in the next room.
The situation was the same for other countries.
The leaders attended the meeting with only one bodyguard.
In Im Ga-eul's case, the Director of Special Affairs Lee Jung-hyun was standing behind her.
Then, Kaguya spoke to Ha Baek-ryeon with curiosity.
"So this child must be the person designated as the next Fairy. Finding a second <White Silver>, I'm really envious of Korea."
Kaguya was purely envious.
Im Ga-eul's nose went up.
"We were lucky. Now that we have such a smart child as a successor, I think I can rest assured."
"So that's why you disbanded the military."
"..."
"But I'm still envious. Hello, child? I'm Tsukiko. It seems we'll be seeing each other often in the future, so wouldn't it be good for us to form a good relationship? So you can just call me Tsukiko unnie comfortably."
"National affairs shouldn't be done through personal connections. Baek-ryeon, call her Kaguya-sama."
"...I'll call you Kaguya-sama."
"Tch, I wish I could find a successor quickly too."
Kaguya's intentions were obvious.
She was trying to build a friendship with Ha Baek-ryeon for future Korea-Japan relations, while also trying to handle her comfortably by emphasizing that friendship.
Im Ga-eul saw through her intentions and sternly instructed Ha Baek-ryeon.
Ha Baek-ryeon wasn't completely naive either.
She didn't fall for Kaguya's smile.
"Haha, you two are still bickering as usual. Fairy and Kaguya-sama are still as beautiful as ever."
"Thank you for your words, Premier Wang Bao."
"Me too. Thank you."
Meanwhile, there was one more person in the conference room who wasn't a national leader.
It was Premier Wang Bao.
Sitting with two Hou Yi on both sides, he smiled showing his gold teeth.
Im Ga-eul and Kaguya didn't even give him a glance.
Their gazes, after perfunctorily agreeing, were on the Hou Yi.
"By the way, did the food here suit Hou Yi's tastes? You two came a day earlier than us."
Im Ga-eul spoke first.
The interpreter translated into Chinese.
Then the Hou Yi, who had been blankly staring at the monitor in the center, raised their heads.
"It was more delicious than expected."
"But it was too spicy."
"Is that so? I'll pass that on to the hotel later."
About elementary school lower grades.
The two Hou Yi were short and had young-looking faces for their age.
The boy was Hao Ren and.
The girl was Hao Ran.
But it was hard to distinguish their gender because they had no hair.
It's not that their growth stopped due to abundant internal mana like <Index>, but their growth stopped due to human experiments when they were young.
The story of Hou Yi was famous.
Eun-ha knew it well too.
The twins who manifested <White Silver> from birth couldn't even drink their mother's milk and had to grow up separated from their parents.
During that time, the twins were subjected to all kinds of experiments by Chinese authorities.
Their parents were also used as test subjects.
Since Gifts aren't supposed to be inherited, it's understandable that they gave birth to twins with <White Silver>.
The Hou Yi's parents eventually died, right?
The authorities tried to research what forms the Gift of <White Silver>.
So they focused on the Hou Yi's parents.
Mother or father.
They thought someone must have the genes to give birth to <White Silver>, so they conducted inhumane experiments.
As a result, more than 10 children were born, and the authorities found that <White Silver> is never inherited.
Of course, there was fierce criticism from other countries.
But at that time, no country was in a position to impose disadvantages on China.
Moreover─
─Those experimental results made quite a contribution to mana studies. They were able to clearly prove that mana or Gifts are not inherited.
The International Mana Management Agency was also able to obtain information that couldn't be obtained humanely and store it in the library.
China's experimental results helped people struggling to survive in destruction.
So while other countries inwardly insulted China's actions, they couldn't openly insult them.
"Fairy, I'm envious. I want to rest too."
"Fairy, will you give us to her?"
"Unfortunately, that's impossible. I hope Hou Yi will find people with <White Silver> too."
"We can't just find one."
"That's right, we need to find two."
"Haha, Hou Yi are still young, so you don't need to worry about successors. The authorities are also doing their best to find people with <White Silver>."
Im Ga-eul couldn't treat the Hou Yi too harshly either.
She smoothed over their unreasonable requests without getting angry, showing a troubled expression.
The Hou Yi's mental state was younger than their age.
It was a side effect of human experimentation.
Of course, she was cold to the Premier who was using the two as tools.
"If Korea-China relations improve later, it would be nice if we could borrow the next Fairy a little. Of course, we would compensate..."
"Say something that makes sense."
"Hahaha, when you speak coldly with such a beautiful face, even that is thrilling."
With a nuance of not joking around.
Im Ga-eul warned with a cold face.
The Premier grinned and stepped back.
Then he turned the topic to the monitor installed in the center.
"By the way, with representative players from each country joining forces to catch the monster, subjugation should be a matter of time, right?"
The monitor was showing players in battle with Demonpus.
They were filming with artifacts so the leaders could watch.
As the Premier said, the players were overwhelming Demonpus.
"Was it <Thunder God>? He seems to have quite strong power. And the player called <Undine> is also providing support at appropriate timings to add strength."
The Premier said.
Lee Do-jin was appearing on the screen.
He activated magic to drive lightning into Demonpus.
At the same time, <Undine> was protecting people from the lightning with transparent water without impurities.
Then─
[─Heave-ho!!]
Lao Chen ran across the water surface.
He cut off the monster's legs with axes held in both hands.
Then the Premier laughed.
"But Lao Chen is doing his part too. Rather, it seems Lao Chen has a good matchup against Demonpus who has the ability to handle lightning. Hey, at this rate, could we end up resolving everything? Don't you think so?"
The Premier sought agreement.
His words were quickly interpreted into Korean and Japanese.
The Fairy and Kaguya snorted.
"I admit China is strong. But they're not the only ones strong. Korea's players are strong too."
"And China has four representative players. So of course you should contribute the most to the subjugation, right? If you can't even do that, you're just a country with a lot of people."
The people here were all types with high pride.
And they had to be that way to maintain the dignity of their country.
Humility was a virtue that was only valued in the world before destruction.
International relations after destruction could no longer be resolved with just humility.
They had to prove their own value and have pride in their country.
The Fairy and Kaguya showed the same opinion for the first time.
Of course the spoils from this subjugation, but to gain an advantage in Korea-China-Japan relations, they couldn't back down.
Eun-ha understood their thoughts.
Surely they were thinking about how to raise public sentiment in their countries through this Korea-China-Japan subjugation operation.
Therefore─
"─Then how about this? Instead of just dividing the spoils from Demonpus into three equal parts, we give them to the player who contributed the most."
Dividing the spoils equally among the three loses meaning.
China, with the most unstable public sentiment, didn't want such a situation.
At the Premier's smiling suggestion, the Fairy and Kaguya's faces hardened.
"That's only advantageous to China. You have the most people."
Kaguya sneered.
Im Ga-eul agreed with silence.
The Premier's proposal was relatively disadvantageous to Korea and Japan.
Then the Premier narrowed his eyes and chuckled.
"Then if the numbers match, you have no complaints about the game, right?"
""..."
"Yes, that's fine. Then let's contact them now and have our side pull people out. Of course, we'll match the number of representative players too."
"You were planning this from the start."
Im Ga-eul was dumbfounded.
She couldn't refuse.
Because Kaguya had pointed out once that China had more people than Korea and Japan.
That was the justification for not playing the game.
So she couldn't present another justification to China.
That would be an excuse.
It was directly related to her honor.
"You're shameless. How many people have suffered losses from this incident, yet you want to make a bet in the meantime?"
However, Im Ga-eul criticized the Premier's actions by presenting righteous arguments.
The Premier acted nonchalant.
"So are you going to back out?"
"Fine. Don't go back on your word later. Don't say anything else when we rightfully take the spoils."
It was a blatant provocation.
Nevertheless, Im Ga-eul accepted the Premier's provocation with a snort.
Im Ga-eul was confident that Korea's players like <Thunder God> and <Wind Mage> wouldn't fall behind.
Moreover─
─Why are you looking at me?
Im Ga-eul gently turned her head and gave Eun-ha a look.
She was smiling with her eyes.
Eun-ha made a blank face.
☆
In the previous life, China's Premier also stimulated the Fairy and Kaguya and proposed a game betting on the monster's spoils.
But the game was cancelled due to an unexpected variable.
How could they have thought Demonpus would suddenly transform into its second phase during battle?
In the previous life.
The players from Korea, China, and Japan overwhelmed Demonpus smoothly.
It was inevitable since each country brought players with outstanding skills to show off their country.
The problem was that Demonpus didn't just take it lying down, as if responding to their fighting spirit.
Eventually, it ate other monsters and used their power as nourishment to transform into its second phase.
"Its movements have stopped."
"Is it dead?"
"No, it's still alive."
"Then? Ah, it's evolving."
""""...."""
The same scene from the past was unfolding exactly the same way.
The people watching the monitor were captivated by the sight of Demonpus's body suddenly being enveloped in light.
While they were at a loss for words due to the unexpected situation, the quiet Hou Yi started mumbling.
Whoosh!!
The screen turned completely white.
The creature that had transformed into its second phase had used magic.
People frowned at the light filling the screen.
"Ah."
"This should be fine."
"...Thank you."
Eun-ha stepped forward tactfully.
Having experienced a similar phenomenon in his previous life, he covered Ha Baek-ryeon's eyes with his hand so she wouldn't be dazzled.
Soon the light diminished.
The monster that had been on the verge of collapse was now standing strong.
Even its severed legs had returned to normal, and it attacked people by moving its legs.
And that wasn't all.
Swoosh!!
It hid underwater.
It had concluded through several battles that it was difficult to face players on the water surface.
The monster, which had descended to a depth where the players' magic couldn't reach, extended its legs to grab players.
Unlike on the surface, underwater was completely its home ground.
Players who fell into the sea couldn't move properly and had no choice but to be killed by it.
This was because the creature that had transformed into its second phase didn't get caught in their detection net even though the players were on guard.
"To think you'd still talk about playing games in this situation."
"Kuk..."
"Korea will give up on the game. Let's quickly deploy the players we have on standby nearby."
"Japan will give up too."
"...China will gladly help as well. We have two Seven Star Generals in the rear, so it should be fine if they join in."
Im Ga-eul spoke in a chilly tone.
Kaguya also sent a reproachful gaze.
In the end, the Premier had no choice but to give up on the game and seriously commit to the subjugation operation.
It was understandable, as all the people who had just died falling into the sea were Chinese.
Even Xiao Lang, one of the Eight Generals, had almost died helplessly without being able to do anything.
I knew this would happen.
Eun-ha inwardly clicked his tongue.
Dealing with monsters at sea required special caution.
Yet China's Premier had engaged in dangerous behavior just to show how strong his country's players were.
Meanwhile, Eun-ha recalled the situation that occurred after this in his previous life.
Surely a large-scale distortion occurred and monsters appeared. Because there were so many, even the Fog Flower Party was asked for support.
The situation unfolded as he expected.
Just as the players had finished cleaning up, a new distortion occurred and monsters swarmed out.
Moreover, monsters were attacking from underwater as well.
Players fighting on the surface had no choice but to battle while paying attention to both above and below the water.
The situation didn't stop there─
[─4th rank monster Kraken appeared! Requesting reinforcements!]
""""...."""
"Oh, squid!"
"Ten legs."
A high-rank monster had appeared.
A monster whose rank was lowered by one in Korea a few years ago.
It was the 4th rank monster Kraken.
Of course, the interpreters notified China and Japan that a 3rd rank monster had appeared.
"...Korea is quite a dangerous country too. We have many dangerous monsters as well, but such incidents are rare. You must have a hard time too, Fairy."
Kaguya spoke, looking bewildered.
It was such an uncommon phenomenon that even she was surprised.
Eun-ha felt the same way.
It wasn't like this in the previous life...
What's going on?
Could a butterfly effect have occurred?
In his previous life, Kraken had appeared only once, when he was 6 years old.
Well, there's no reason it can't appear. The mana in the sea must have been stimulated by people being dragged underwater and dying just now.
Even so, it wasn't a situation that could be easily overlooked.
With Kraken added to Demonpus, the players would have to take considerable risks.
Moreover, the players had already lost some stamina from battling Demonpus.
Retreating from the sea would be difficult, so it comes down to one of two options.
Either fight those monsters while accepting that casualties will increase.
Or deploy reinforcements.
Even if 2 Seven Star Generals are deployed, a person like <Yang Guifei> is just a navigator.
She doesn't help in actual combat power.
So the most ideal thing would be─
"─We're really lucky. The Pandora Clan Lord happens to be here."
For him to lead a party and join them.
Im Ga-eul seemed to have the same thought.
She raised the corners of her mouth.
"With the Pandora Clan Lord adding his strength, there should be no difficulties. Ah, Premier, you don't know who the Pandora Clan Lord is, right? Kaguya-sama said she's acquainted with him."
""""...."""
"It's awkward to explain with my own mouth how amazing our country's player is, so I'll just show you his skills."
She's completely a child.
Eun-ha thought Im Ga-eul was childish for smiling as she grabbed an opportunity to boast.
Nevertheless, to maintain her face, he put on as solemn an expression as possible.
The conversation that followed was no different from a rigged game.
"Pandora Clan Lord."
"Yes, Fairy."
"With the Pandora Clan Lord's skills, you should be able to move to the battle site in a short time, right?"
"If the Fairy wishes."
"Good. As the Fairy, I command you. Form a party right now and join the subjugation battle."
"I will follow your orders."
They matched well with each other.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone