Chapter 499

Chapter 499. The world is full of darkness. (1)

At the time when Humanity was trying to deal with the aftermath of being tricked by the ‘Rebel Army’s’ strategy of hitting their weak spot.

The individuals who spread the information to the ‘News Boy’ through internal spies.

Namely, Betelgeuse and the executives of the Loki Clan were snickering as they watched Humanity scrambling and faltering.

—————————————–

[Loki Clan Executive Chat Room]

[Notice: Anyone who gets caught while trying to backstab will be screwed.]

-[Clan Leader, check out those Humanity bastards shaking]

-[Kekeke]

-[LOLOLOL]

-[Humanity is best when it’s shaking]

-[True dat]

-[Totally nailed it, trolling needs to be on a grand scale] (Betelgeuse)

-[FR LOL]

—————————————–

Of course, if the Loki Clan’s attitude were to leak outside…

There were concerns that it might immediately trigger a full-scale invasion by Humanity…

—————————————–

[Loki Clan Executive Chat Room]

[Notice: Anyone who gets caught while trying to backstab will be screwed.]

-[But if we mess up and the spies get caught, won’t we get invaded by Humanity?]

-[FR]

-[Humanity’s scale has grown too big, while we’ve just expanded our territory a lot]

-[Can’t we manage with the help of the lower clans?]

-[With so many users fleeing to the Central Zone, even if Humanity invades at 50%, we’d have to use all our strength to stop it]

-[Not easy]

—————————————–

In response to such opinions, Betelgeuse and his closest executives said:

‘That’s why we’re messing with Humanity and using the Rebel Army to weaken their strength, right?’

With that kind of talk, the uneasy voices within the Loki Clan quickly began to disappear.

==========

Meanwhile, despite their subtly unstable appearance, there was a reason why the Loki Clan managed to screw over Humanity.

From the Loki Clan’s perspective, it was indeed burdensome if their neighbor (Humanity) became too strong.

Whether they liked it or not, they had planned to use the Rebel Army to mess with Humanity in small ways…

—————————————–

[Betelgeuse and the Secret Room]

[Notice: Yep]

-[Everyone got their rewards from the Pirate Alliance, right?] (Betelgeuse)

-[Yep]

-[Getting rewards while screwing them over, this is totally lucky]

-[LOLOLOL]

-[The timing is just right or something]

—————————————–

It was because the ‘Pirate Alliance’ had approached them at just the right time, offering ‘rewards’ if they weakened Humanity through quests.

And with the perfect mix of simple trolling and appropriate rewards…

Betelgeuse and the Loki Clan, after biting the carrot offered by the Pirate Alliance, decided to execute their trolling of Humanity’s internal affairs much more thoroughly than originally planned.

They mobilized internal spies to disrupt the internal information of the Humanity Clan.

They deployed a large number of superhumans who had ‘switched skins’ like the Pirate Alliance, making the Rebel Army’s scale much larger and more massive than expected.

They used every means at their disposal to thoroughly maintain their identity as a trolling group.

Moreover, while carrying out such trolling, they even received a support request quest from the Federal Rebel Army.

Suddenly, the Loki Clan, which had become deeply involved in Humanity’s rebellion, reacted with pure ‘LOL FUN!!’

On top of that, they received an additional quest (+reward) from the Pirate Alliance, leading Humanity and the Rebel Army to clash head-on.

Additionally, they organized all the superhumans who would normally be part of the fleet, fighting fiercely with Humanity’s users, into a ‘special unit.’

Through this, they destroyed the shipyard, the only place in Humanity’s territory where Jörmungandr-Class and Yggdrasil-Class ships could be built.

Successfully completing the Pirate Alliance’s quest, it was a win-win situation.

They were filled with joy, saying this was what it meant to kill two birds with one stone.

==========

Meanwhile, before the Loki Clan fully mobilized the Rebel Army from behind the scenes.

To be precise, just before ‘Icarus was invaded by the Xenobia Empire.’

Our Mari Mari, who had moved Betelgeuse and the Loki Clan to screw over Humanity…

Lian’s case was a bit complicated.

Even though Marian usually trained and harassed Betelgeuse and other Loki Clan executives bit by bit, moving the entire “Loki Clan” this time was no small feat.

The human, material resources, and time consumed for this were by no means insignificant.

At first, some admirals of the Pirate Alliance reacted to Marian’s actions, saying, “Is there really any benefit in going this far?”

However, despite that, Marian, as the Pirate Empress, pushed forward with her authority and dignity, and the operation proceeded as planned.

As expected, or rather, beyond expectations, the result was a huge success.

The newly emerged massive faction, Humanity, was unable to move recklessly for a while, and the troublesome remnants of the Earth Federation were almost completely wiped out in this incident.

Effectively having restrained two factions simultaneously, praises for the Pirate Empress once again echoed among the Alliance executives.

But for Marian, the reason behind this Humanity-Loki restraint operation wasn’t just about restraining factions or anything like that…

“Damn Leviathan Fleet, how dare they try to manipulate my oppa?”

That’s right.

While restraining Humanity was part of it, Marian’s real target was actually the rebels within Humanity.

No, her true goal was to restrain the “Leviathan Fleet,” which was acting as the backer of those rebels.

To be precise, from Marian’s perspective, the situation surrounding her “oppa,” Icarus, was not looking good.

“Empress, was there really a reason to thoroughly exhaust the Earth Federation’s rebels to that extent?”

“Of course, what if the rebels succeed?”

“Yes.”

“Then naturally, the Leviathan Fleet, the backer of the rebels, and that damn snake of a chairman would gain more power, right?”

“Hmm… that’s correct.”

Faced with Leonard and the Imperial Guard expressing doubts about her plan, Marian shrugged her shoulders and continued confidently.

“What would happen to my oppa then?”

“The Leviathan Fleet… or rather, the chairman of the Security Council behind them would manipulate him, right?”

“Exactly! I can’t let my oppa become a plaything for those Earthlings!”

To summarize Marian’s mental equation:

—————————————–

If the rebels succeed

= The Leviathan Fleet next to oppa gains more influence

= Oppa would have no choice but to be manipulated by the Leviathan Fleet, and then my oppa would become a plaything for those Earthlings!

= That’s messed up? No way!

—————————————–

Because of this miraculous equation, Marian had to, whether she liked it or not, crush the power of the Leviathan Fleet and that snake of a Security Council chairman to protect her oppa, husband, unofficial Pirate Alliance bio-dealer, and unofficial master.

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Of course, consuming a large amount of resources, manpower, and ships for the Loki Clan’s operation was unavoidable.

If consumed in such large quantities, there was also the risk of direct invasion from other factions.

Marian and her closest aides were constantly troubled by this issue… but just then.

“Empress, we have received a message from the Monster Princess.”

“Princess? Ah, you mean Luka. What does she want?”

“She says she found out through the neural network at Commander Icarus’s base…”

“Stop dragging it out and just say it.”

With Marian’s fist about to fly into the subordinate’s stomach for dragging out the conversation…

“Actually, the Xenobia Empire has sent a ‘Punishment Fleet’ towards Commander Icarus and the surrounding commanders’ territories.”

“…Huh?”

In the face of such shocking news, Marian’s spicy punch lost its target and swung into the air.