Chapter 138 – The Tip of the Iceberg (6)
“Ugh…”
‘Don’t pretend to be strong. You’re afraid. Of dying, of pain.’
“You…are…”
‘Insignificant.’
With everyone who was meant to die gone and only a handful of people managing to escape, the Sai Seker spaceship was now quiet, left only with corpses and blood.
There, Eve was grinning as she looked down at Aiden’s body, from which one arm had been severed by her attack. She had succeeded in her revenge.
Still, Aiden was oblivious. The mask that Eve wore had no expression.
However, he could instinctively sense the energy radiating from her.
He understood that this creature with a female body was looking down on him as he lay dying, bleeding.
“Get away… filthy, bug-woman…”
Grinding his teeth with bloodshot eyes, he clutched Eve’s ankle and groaned. But there was no way he could shake off that powerful monster’s foot.
‘How dare you.’
“Ugh, argh!”
Instead, Eve grabbed Aiden’s head with her hand and lifted him up.
His skull began to gradually crumble under her grip as he screamed. Yet, Eve did not stop.
She was determined to kill him thoroughly and horrifically.
‘Let’s finish this quickly, Eve. We need to go elsewhere. There’s not much time left on Earth.’
At that moment, Shin Woo grabbed Eve by the shoulder and stopped her.
Eve stood there dazed for a moment before letting go. Aiden wriggled on the floor, groaning before finally losing his breath.
‘He’s right. First, we have to move this ship completely and then deal with the rest.’
Eve quickly lost interest in Aiden.
She then began to walk out.
Now that the rebel alliance’s fleet had already fled into the cosmos, only the remnants of destruction remained.
The wreckage of the fallen ships had turned the ground into a mess, and the ships still floating in the air had long been dominated by legionnaires.
“There’s nothing to it. The space fleet too.”
Eve, having removed her mask, smiled as she looked up at the sky. A chase was still going on there.
Reina and Kang Do-yeon were tirelessly leading the ships in pursuit of the enemies.
However, they probably wouldn’t be able to chase them to the end.
Due to the characteristics of biological ships, their energy efficiency wasn’t as good as machines. Moreover, there were limits to how big they could grow.
To compete against the massive ships that humans boasted about, they ultimately had to evolve in a different direction.
They were not designed for long voyages in the first place, so they had no intention of continuing this game of tag.
“And now we have air superiority. We can just deal with the remaining ones slowly.”
‘It’s obvious they’ll call for support.’
“Even if they call for support, we can prevent them from coming. For now, shall we just watch? To see how and how disgracefully they flee.”
Eve smiled leisurely as if she had anticipated this.
Now, there was no one in the blue sky above, on this land, who could stop her from returning.
[…]
However, Eve was not the only one watching them.
*
“…”
At that moment, while the massacre was taking place on the ground and the chase in space, he was observing something else. Two beings were on the external deck of the occupied Sai Seker.
Both were individuals he always had to keep an eye on. In this dim room, it was only him and the screen illuminating them.
“You have it easy.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The unit does everything by itself. From player care to self-growth.”
“That’s a bad joke. What does that even mean?”
“…Ha, that’s true.”
The man who had approached him, sitting down heavily on the sofa at his cold response, scoffed.
The face of the approaching man was hidden behind a plain mask.
And so was his own. Only the red eyes shining through the mask looked at those he had to watch over without a moment’s lapse.
“Still, isn’t it better than dealing with strong egos on both sides making it hard to take the initiative?”
The man, who had been cautiously probing, spoke up. He chose not to respond.
“Actually…”
“I know how much you are wary of me and them.”
But as the man continued to speak, he finally interjected, silencing the man’s mouth.
“Ah, no, at least not me…”
“I certainly do not wish for a result that ends in destruction. Of course, I do not want this game to reset again. We must finally see the end now.”
He answered firmly, without giving the other a chance to reply with a counter.
The man behind him, looking at the back of his head in disbelief, clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Even at this moment, he did not turn away.
“Everyone feels a sense of disillusionment. Nothing has changed. A useless player, lacking any ability, merely flailing about. In contrast, the units are explosively revealing their potential. Eventually, the units get the upper hand. The chance to apply the brake, poorly designed as it is, comes only once. And the unit that used that brake will become an unstoppable runaway train, a variable that will once again overturn this game.”
“The future is still unknown.”
“…I feel like I’ll know if it continues like this.”
“I trust him.”
“Right. ‘You’ will trust ‘him.’ Who else would believe if not you?”
The man sighed and stood up, leaving the room. Nevertheless, he remained completely still, staring at the screen.
What the man had just said was not entirely incorrect.
Since the unit had awakened, his influence had drastically diminished.
The unit was capable of virtually perfectly replacing all roles that could only be performed by an observer.
Moreover, with the unprecedented incident of the player and unit merging, it had become more pronounced.
The frequency of his communication with both sides was decreasing, and he had become increasingly more faithful to the role of an observer.
Unlike others who were not afraid to use unconventional methods to intervene actively, his situation was fundamentally different.
‘Incompetent. Powerless. Nothing.’
He gazed at the player he was supposed to watch over.
Once just a mass of cells in the lowest layer of an underground maze, the current player was nothing.
Just one among the countless common humans.
The fact that the unit he was entwined with happened to be a race known for its extraordinary potential was also a problem.
This enormous imbalance was likely to lead to a downfall after unprecedented growth.
‘The collapsed balance, twisted intervention, a flawed meeting that was wrong from the start. Nevertheless, there is only one conclusion.’
However, he could not abandon the player. In the end, despite the worries and concerns of everyone, he could only place his bets on the player, who was struggling yet again.
When he bet on the unit, the outcome was always the same: destruction. The unit devoured everything and finally consumed this game as well.
But when he bet on the player, it at least showed slightly different results each time. The end was the same for everyone’s destruction, but that faint variable was the only hope.
At least that was what he believed. It was fated to be this way from the beginning. So this time, he guided the player, who was no longer cared about by anyone, to increase their influence over the unit.
[The fleet of those fleeing is getting farther away.]
“I know. Then… for now, it’s best to return.”
As he transmitted his voice, the unit grumbled.
The unit, temporarily expelled from the designated world, would soon return to become the victor of this world and gain new authority as the representative unit.
“There is no reason to delay. I will devour this land again immediately.”
Finally, they succeeded in driving away the bothersome enemies. And Eve succeeded in returning to this land on her own feet.
Yet, this world, which had once been her very goal, was now merely an interim base.
She planned to use this as a second stronghold to expand further.
‘What are you going to do to prevent them from sending support?’
“We already revealed our true nature now that we’ve stopped hiding. Our news will have reached them. The best defense is a good offense, so we will attack their planet first.”
‘…What’s the plan?’
“I am interested in warp technology.”
Eve licked her lips.
The currently acquired gate-related technology had clear limitations. It required knowing the destination coordinates, and maintaining its size and quantity took a tremendous amount of power.
Warp technology, while not perfect, could potentially maximize its power when harmoniously integrated with gates.
‘Then, how do we obtain that warp technology?’
“Of course, examining the captured ships might reveal their coordinates, but those are just the coordinates used for warping… Fortunately, we have an excellent informant.”
After quickly calculating to Shin Woo’s question, Eve immediately provided her answer.
Warp-related technology was among the most confidential and complex technologies within the Alliance.
It was unlikely that anyone knowledgeable about it resided in a mere outer command of the rebel alliance. They were merely using what had been manufactured.
So, even if Eve examined the ships, she could not reproduce it.
However, in fact, the Legion had an informant who could deeply engage with the Alliance.
‘If I move Pyles too much, the probability of raising suspicion will increase.’
“I don’t care. I can just switch to someone with higher authority.”
Eve once again issued orders to the researcher, Pyles.
