Chapter 142 – The Reincarnated (1)

Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Colorado, USA.

In the deeply buried command center, a world map displaying satellite trajectories was projected on the main screen.

The screen, which usually showed the paths of important satellites orbiting the Earth, now displayed trajectories that were deviating from their normal courses.

“The number of satellites leaving their orbits is increasing! Over 100 large satellites have already deviated, and more than 30 of the satellites we are tracking have gone off course!”

The soldiers, who were usually busy working at their monitors beneath the large screens, were now frantically typing and shouting.

“Most of the satellites will likely burn up due to atmospheric friction before reaching the ground, but some seem to be on a trajectory to crash.”

The chaos grew as the once orderly lines on the screen began to deviate.

“We need to issue a nationwide warning immediately!”

At the operator’s words, the three-star general in charge of the base bit his lip and spoke.

“What are we supposed to say? That satellites are falling from the sky, so everyone should evacuate?”

However, the staff officer behind him didn’t back down despite the general’s frustration.

“We have to do something. Most will burn up, but if any reach the ground, the damage could be significant.”

The general covered his face with his hand and gave the order.

“Damn it, get the word out.”

“Yes, sir.”

At the general’s command, the operators began sending out alerts.

To every place they could reach.

“Damn it, what the hell is going on?”

The general bit his lip in frustration, but his ordeal didn’t end there.

Amid the noise of the command center, an operator’s scream-like shout broke through.

“This… this is strange. Satellites that should have burned up due to atmospheric friction are still showing up on radar!”

The startled general looked up at the main screen.

Satellites that should have burned up in the atmosphere due to their steep entry angles were still moving, unscathed.

Moreover, their falling trajectories were abnormal.

“This can’t be… the satellites’ trajectories are being adjusted mid-flight.”

The satellites’ paths continued to shift until they began to point toward specific locations.

“Damn it, where are they headed?!”

At the general’s shout, a frightened operator replied.

“New York, Paris, London, LA, Hawaii, Washington. Oh my God, they’re all major cities or strategic military bases!”

The lines indicating the satellites’ trajectories were now pointing toward major cities and military installations across the globe, just as the operator had said.

The general turned pale.

“Contact the White House immediately! Issue evacuation orders nationwide!”

At the general’s frantic shout, the operators began making calls like mad, but the next report made everyone turn their attention back to the screen.

“And… one communications satellite is heading toward Colorado. Toward us.”

The general, startled, looked up at the screen.

One of the satellite trajectory lines was pointing directly at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

“It’s fine. We’re buried hundreds of meters underground. This place can withstand a nuclear blast.”

The general bit his lip but shouted to reassure everyone.

As he said, this underground base had been built to withstand nuclear war.

There was no way it could be destroyed by a falling satellite.

However, the next report from the operator rendered his reassurances meaningless.

“But… the satellite is falling too fast. If it reaches the ground at this speed without burning up in the atmosphere, the shockwave could reach us.”

At the operator’s report, the noisy control room fell silent.

The operators holding phones, the soldiers typing on calculators, and those monitoring the screens all turned their attention to the large screen on the wall.

One by one, the lines disappeared.

The satellites had fallen.

And the line leading to Colorado grew closer as the satellite approached.

The satellite reached the end of the line.

At that moment, the screen went dark, and a deafening explosion shook the ground above.

Kwaaaaang!

With a sound like the world collapsing, the ceiling of the control room caved in.

Amid the screams of the people, the lights went out, and the Cheyenne Mountain Complex was buried underground.

No one survived.

* * *

At the same time, satellites crashed into various cities and military bases.

The satellites, accelerated to incredible speeds, slammed into the ground like chunks of metal.

Under normal circumstances, these satellites would have burned up in the atmosphere, but the mana surrounding them, the Demon King’s magic, protected them from the heat of reentry.

The satellites, unharmed, crashed into the ground with their full mass intact.

The “Rod of God,”

a satellite-based weapon the U.S. military had once planned, was now unleashed by the Demon King under the name “Meteor.”

Unlike the original “Rod of God,” which had been abandoned due to its limited effectiveness, the Demon King’s Meteor demonstrated the full destructive power of a mass weapon.

Mass weapons ranging from hundreds of kilograms to several tons, crashing into the ground with their full mass.

While the destructive power of a single satellite was far less than that of a nuclear weapon, the number of satellites orbiting the Earth was not insignificant.

The Demon King had used the nuclear attack on Pyongyang to cast the Meteor spell on all the satellites, causing nearly every satellite in orbit to crash to the ground.

And not just randomly—they were directed at major cities, military bases, and fleets that were still intact.

The falling satellites destroyed what remained of modern civilization.

Though people didn’t realize it yet, on this day, modern humanity’s military power—no, modern civilization itself—suffered a fatal blow.

In the future, some would call this day, not the day the undead appeared across the globe, but the day the satellites rained down, the day of the Apocalypse.

We also learned that the U.S. military’s attack had failed.

After the nuclear missiles were launched toward Pyongyang, the expected mushroom clouds didn’t appear, so it was clear something had gone wrong.

Then we saw the satellites falling from the sky,

and through helicopters from the fleet, we heard the news that the U.S. and other countries had been attacked by satellites.

“Communication with the mainland has been cut off, and the fleet has been attacked, losing multiple aircraft carriers and destroyers.”

Hearing this news, everyone could only look on in disbelief.

“Could the Demon King really have used magic to bring down the satellites?”

At the U.S. soldiers’ question, the expedition mages shook their heads with grave expressions.

“Meteor is not an easy spell. It involves finding an asteroid and bringing it down to a desired location.

Even for a grand mage, it takes an enormous amount of time and mana to bring down a single asteroid, let alone dozens or hundreds.

Forget the calculations—there’s not enough mana. This is something even the Demon King shouldn’t be able to do.”

It was an unbelievable feat, but the Demon King in North Korea had actually done it.

The shocked mages bombarded the U.S. soldiers with questions, and they eventually figured out how the Demon King had accomplished it.

The Demon King had converted the energy from the nuclear explosion in Pyongyang into mana to cast a large-scale Meteor spell.

Of course, converting the energy of a nuclear explosion into mana and then using it to cast a large-scale Meteor spell required a significant amount of time and knowledge about nuclear weapons.

But the Demon King had both.

North Korea had been turned into a nation of the undead long ago, and it also possessed nuclear weapons.

The Demon King had used North Korea’s nuclear weapons to gain knowledge about nuclear energy and had built facilities in Pyongyang to convert nuclear energy into mana.

In the end, this was all part of the Demon King’s trap.

Escaping to this world to avoid the previous hero’s party,

luring the previous hero’s party to eliminate them,

and drawing the new hero’s party to Pyongyang.

It was all part of the Demon King’s grand trap, set in motion when he created the gate to this world.

And now, that plan had reached its completion.

* * *

The mood among the expedition forces on Yeouido was at its worst.

The U.S. soldiers, whose fleet and homeland had been attacked by the satellite Meteors, were half out of their minds, and the allied forces, having fallen into the Demon King’s trap once again and lost the hero’s party, wore dark expressions.

Some among the U.S. soldiers argued that they should return to the fleet and head back to the mainland immediately,

while some in the expedition forces insisted they should return to Ea and prepare to stop the Demon King.

Meanwhile, the priest Benedict, who had been traveling with us, bowed his head to me after hearing that the hero’s party had fallen into the trap and lost contact.

“All of you, especially Knight Eger and Saintess Yerim, must return to the Grand Temple in the capital immediately.”

So this was why the priest had been following us—to take us back.

But his words were a bit strange. Not just Yerim, but me too?

Everyone looked at him in confusion, and Hoffman spoke up on behalf of the group.

“Saintess Yerim is a candidate, but why does the knight need to go?”

“Because Knight Eger is a hero candidate.”

At the priest’s words, everyone’s jaws dropped as they turned to look at me.

I was just as baffled.

A “hero candidate”?

What the hell was that supposed to mean now!

Benedict kindly explained our confusion.

According to him, after a hero candidate received the divine baptism at the Grand Temple and became a hero, another divine revelation had been given.

This revelation was a divine message indicating another hero candidate.

“And that hero candidate is me?”

“Yes. According to the revelation, you were originally the new hero candidate.”

“Me? But why?”

“We believe it’s because you were in this world. Since the gods of this world are absent, it must have been difficult for the gods to see into this world.”

Even I knew that it was difficult for gods to observe other dimensions.

But for the hero candidate to change because of that…

It was a haphazard decision that left me speechless.

I voiced my dissatisfaction to Priest Benedict.

“But there’s no reason for me to be a hero candidate. I’m just an ordinary free knight.”

Priest Benedict’s response hit the nail on the head.

“That’s not true. You must know why you became a hero candidate. All the heroes who came before you had something special that set them apart from others.”

At his words, the party members all turned to look at me.

I could only look back at the priest with a stunned expression.

He was right—I was different from others.

I was a “reincarnated,” someone who remembered a past life in another world.