Chapter 75 – Empire of Twilight (3)

Sun-woo’s party interrogated the unconscious ability users by waking them one by one.

Though some endured to the end, Michael and Daniel’s peak-level persuasion and coaxing made the unit members open their mouths. Or perhaps they didn’t have much loyalty to the Empire.

However, the interrogation wasn’t very helpful. They didn’t know very much.

They had been issued time bombs a while ago and learned how to use them from an outside instructor. And they had only installed bombs at the locations marked on the map.

“This is a proper map.”

Clara seemed quite surprised looking at the map. Though it was a partial map, it contained quite accurate structure.

“They don’t know anything more. It seems they kept where each unit was going secret among unit members. We only found out that there’s a place where they’re installing so much explosives that carts are needed.”

Daniel spoke while wiping his hands on his pants. Red marks covered his pants.

When the interrogation ended, Nan-seol and Sun-woo put all the unit members to sleep by pressing their pressure points, then roughly tied them with rope.

When everyone fell asleep, Hayden, who had been avoiding them worried about being identified, joined the party, and the party hurriedly began moving toward where the observer was.

Carts loaded full of explosives. Not only this sewer but even the buildings above ground might not be safe.

The party nearly ran through the sewers and shortly after could meet the ability user called the observer.

The observer was a woman with a pale face, white hair, and a dull impression.

“You worked hard. You really did well.”

When she met the party, she first told Clara she had worked hard.

“Nice to meet you all too.”

“A face I’ve seen before.”

At the observer’s greeting, Sun-woo recognized her. He remembered seeing her and her colleagues fighting in the sewers before.

“So you saw. There’s much to talk about, but let’s solve this matter first.”

She walked ahead while continuing to speak.

“I received contact from several colleagues that they discovered surface people. Originally I planned to pick off the discovered surface people one by one, but after receiving Clara’s contact, I changed the direction of the search.”

“Clara’s contact?”

It wasn’t like she and Clara had cell phones or anything, so he couldn’t understand how they contacted.

But Sun-woo’s curiosity was immediately resolved.

[We contact like this. Telepathy. I’m a psychic ability user.]

Her voice flowed into Sun-woo’s head.

Only then could Sun-woo understand why Clara could go straight to her, and why she could get information from other observers in real time.

Sun-woo shook his head. This world seemed to have truly diverse skills.

“And just a moment ago, I heard from a colleague who discovered people carrying lots of cargo on a cart. The place we’re going now is where he discovered the cart.”

While walking briefly, Sun-woo asked again the question he had asked Clara earlier. Why they weren’t solving it themselves.

“Because we can’t know how they’ll attack. There’s only one path connecting where we are and this sewer. If we all go out to search the sewers and lose the path between where we live and the sewers, we’ll have difficulty living. We must guard that place.”

After explaining at length, she added one final thing.

“And we trust the prophet’s words.”

Sun-woo sighed. Thanks to her last addition, he couldn’t tell which was the reason.

Shortly before arriving at the area where the ability users dragged the cart, the telepathic ability user suddenly almost collapsed staggering. She quickly righted herself, but her face looked much paler.

Shortly after, the party could arrive at the place she mentioned. But no cart was visible there, and they saw a bloodied corpse.

“Contact with my colleague was cut off a moment ago. It seems he was discovered.”

The reason she almost fell earlier was because the connected party had died. She felt the shock of death together.

She sat beside the corpse and closed the corpse’s eyes.

“It seems this is as far as my colleagues and I go. There’s no colleague nearby, so it seems difficult to find anymore.”

Her voice sounded extremely tired.

“Is this the end? What happens if we let them go like this?”

“Well, if explosives are that scary, there’ll be a big hole in the middle of the city.”

At Michael’s words, Hayden threw in a jab for the first time in a while.

“Ugh, did I draw the wrong hand this time? This is, life doesn’t fluctuate and the hand is ambiguous.”

Even while Michael joked half-relaxed, Nan-seol kept watching Sun-woo squatting on the floor.

“Can you track them?”

“It seems possible… Well, have to try.”

“Huh? It wasn’t over yet?”

Leaving the awkward-faced Michael behind, Sun-woo stood in the center of the sewer and drew up sorcery.

“Now, reveal your form.”

Along with Sun-woo’s whisper, the dust thinly accumulated in the sewer began moving little by little.

Surrounding dust gathered on the firmly packed dust, and soon two lines of cart wheel tracks and many footprints began appearing on the floor.

The wheel tracks extended far into the sewer’s darkness along with the footprints.

“Let’s go. It’s not far.”

Sun-woo ran ahead first, and behind him the party ran following Sun-woo.

The white-haired woman quietly watched that scene.

Sun-woo’s party could discover the cart before long. The cart was leaning against the humid wall, and several people were installing here and there.

Instead, the number of guards was much greater. Over ten ability users were monitoring all directions.

Unlike before, the party rushed in without hiding. Time seemed insufficient. It was time for the sun to rise.

“It’s not just explosives? It’s full of C4!”

Michael was horrified seeing the explosives piled full on the cart.

“Who goes there! Stop!”

One of the soldiers guarding the cart saw the party and yelled, but there was no reason to stop.

The other side’s stop was just words. Along with the words, numerous ice spikes shot toward the party.

Surprised Sun-woo tried to lift the floor, but Clara was faster. Her two hands blazed red.

“W-wait!”

Remembering her flames that had burned even allies before, Sun-woo urgently stopped her, but Clara didn’t stop.

Flames spewed from her two hands. The flames melted all the ice spikes filling the front.

“Why?”

To Clara asking back with a refreshed expression, Sun-woo couldn’t give any reply. He didn’t know how she did it, but her problem seemed fixed. Moreover, while Sun-woo hesitated trying to stop Clara, Nan-seol jumped into the middle of enemies and Michael’s gun was spewing fire.

“Oh no, too late.”

Sun-woo also jumped among enemies and began swinging his sword.

***

Same time.

Summoner teams were carefully walking through the slum where the morning sun shone.

The dawn fog melted in the morning sunlight and was now barely visible, and the slum’s true appearance was being nakedly revealed.

“This mission will end easily, right?”

One summoner subtly brought up conversation to the summoner beside him.

As he said, they had already entered deep inside, but there wasn’t much resistance visible.

Occasionally guys who seemed drunk on drugs or alcohol rushed in, but they showed no organized appearance and their abilities weren’t remarkable either.

“But it won’t end like this. Still, it’s a mission with three teams deployed.”

“Tsk, the team that left earlier must be completely idle. Feels like getting it for free.”

“Well, the compensation will differ somewhat. Ah, it’s about time to fight.”

In the distance, a man stood on a building yelling.

“What bastards! This is my territory! Even the Empire recognized it!”

At his words, the summoners couldn’t help but chuckle. He was the most foolish opponent of all missions so far.

Soon after, people holding various weapons poured out from alleys and houses, but the summoners’ smiles didn’t disappear.

Hardly any proper superpower users were visible. With truly thug-like appearances, they let down even their last remaining tension.

But they couldn’t help but feel slightly uneasy while laughing.

Too easy.

***

In the distance outside the window, smoke rose with flames. It was smoke rising from the slum.

“The summoners are working hard.”

Count Zeid, the Empire’s Intelligence Bureau director, raised his glass toward the smoke visible outside the window.

The capital’s appearance seen through red wine looked as if submerged in blood.

“Nine cities, 30 teams, 140 people total. Not a bad number.”

After counting the number of summoners summoned to each city, he made a satisfied face.

If 140 summoners from other dimensions and all Empire summoners disappeared, it would definitely be a fatal blow to the Summoners.

“Called contamination spreading agents? Anyway, drugs, contaminated zones, Blood Cult, dragons even, really went through much.”

Having been brainwashed early and planned most operations, he felt somewhat relaxed as the end of the plan’s first act approached.

“Those guys underground were concerning, but I happened to obtain explosives in large quantities, so luck may have followed.”

The Count briefly checked the clock hanging on the wall. The clock driven by amplification stones pointed to seven o’clock.

Ding.

The clock rang, and the color of light entering from outside the window changed.

Wine-like red light flowed in from outside the window.

Far beyond the city, the horizon burned red. The sun had already disappeared beyond the horizon, but the scene visible outside the window, as well as every direction north, south, east and west, all showed only horizons dyed red.

And the phenomenon of the world’s sky turning red wasn’t happening only in this capital.

The 2nd City Stuttgart where Sun-woo’s party was, the 3rd City, the 4th City, and far away in frontier farming villages, fishing villages, and even islands and other continents, the world looked red.

The world that had changed red for several tens of seconds soon returned to its usual appearance as if nothing had happened.

People were bewildered at the brief change, but summoners were different. They looked around and couldn’t help but be terrified.

The world had become murky. The streets, horizon, sky, the entire world had become murky.

And the connections of summoners and Summoners scattered throughout the Empire, no, the entire planet, had all been severed.

Dimension Gamma where the Empire existed had the entire planet contaminated.

The Count raised his glass once again.

“To the Empire’s twilight.”

Crash!

The wine glass shattered, and the Count’s eyes began bloodshot red.