Chapter 701

"Mphh!!! Hmphh!!!"

A strange man struggled fiercely against the tie that kept his mouth shut. With so much hair covering his body, this man looked utterly bizarre. While it was said that the right amount of hair on one's body could be a point of attraction, the hair that the man had all over his body was simply too thick and too much, to the point that it was difficult to see him as human. In fact, a glance at him could make anyone wonder if they were looking at an ape.

"Hmphhhh!!! Mmphh!!!"

Davey thought that the man was overreacting after seeing how he was struggling and resisting desperately. But Davey ended up nodding his head in understanding upon a closer look at the man's position.

-Grrrrr...

"Hmphhhh!!! Mmphh!!!"

The man tried to somehow take hold of Davey's legs in an effort to save himself from the hands that were attempting to pull him down. This was a high-tiered spell under the curse system of dark magic, Ghoul Ritual.

Even though the original purpose of dark magic was to aid research and study of the human body, it also led to a great deal of terrible and incredibly violent spells being created. One of them was a spell that could turn humans into ghouls.

Of course, the black hands that appeared out of what seemed to be a swamp were nothing but an illusion. But even though it was only an illusion, it was true that the legs of this man, Yoon Tae-Gang, had already died and were rotting away.

"What? Is there something that you want to say?"

Hearing Davey's question, Yoon Tae-Gang looked up and tried to shout something. It was clear that he was completely terrified.

With a light clap of Davey's hands, the tape that kept Yoon Tae-Gang's mouth shut turned into light before disappearing into thin air.

"S-spare me! Please spare me!!!"

"Can't you see how many people almost died because of what you did?" Davey said as he turned on the display device. He then showed Yoon Tae-Gang the scene that he had saved before coming here.

[Damn! We're done for! What the hell did you do?!]

[What the hell! Why is there a nuclear missile too?!]

Then a voice that clearly belonged to a man was heard over the clamoring voices.

[Currently, the citizens are left confused by the remarks left by the Saint of Tionis during the subjugation of the Malicious Spirit. The Awakened Citizens Coalition demands answers from the government to explain why these remarks were made.]

On the screen, the figure of Malicious Spirit Meses, which Davey had left tied up and trapped, appeared. Although Meses was not one of the high-ranking Malicious Spirits, he could still get stronger if he devoured more shadows. It was quite funny to see such a monster rendered helpless and unable to do anything with just one wave of Davey's hands.

[As of now, Malicious Spirit Meses, who is holding the lives of countless people in his hands, is left unable to attack or be attacked because of what the Saint of Tionis had done. In response, Yoo Sang-Hyun, the attack commander, said that they should make full use of this opportunity, which they had earned with great difficulty...]

"Isn't it interesting?" Davey asked.

"Monster," Yoon Tae-Gang murmured in disbelief.

Of course, Davey had now tarnished the prestige of the name "Malicious Spirit." But one thing remained unchanged: out of all the monsters that had run loose on Earth, the most powerful one was still the Malicious Spirits.

[In another news, foreign media strongly demands the release of information about the Saint of Tionis, who had appeared this time...]

What kind of existence was a Malicious Spirit? The Malicious Spirits, with only twelve in existence, were by far the strongest monsters in Alf Online. They were virtually the final bosses in the game. Even though Meses was not one of the top-ranked Malicious Spirits, he remained to be an extremely high hurdle that the people on Earth could not overcome.

After all, they could not even beat Goumda back when they were still players.

"You will stay here and watch whatever it is that you guys have planned."

Because what these guys did made it easier for Davey to dig deeper about this organization.

Yoon Tae-Gang continued to ask for leniency by repeatedly saying, "Spare... Spare me..."

The rot that was gnawing his legs was already about to reach his knees. But even though the process was not really that painful, staying sane would be extremely difficult, especially since he was witnessing his body rotting and falling apart.

But no matter how he shouted and pleaded, no human would come to his rescue. It would be impossible. Why? Because they were in a territory that was completely out of humans' reach.

Of course, they were still able to send plenty of artificial satellites to space despite Earth's backwater technology. But it was not that difficult for Davey to evade those satellites.

"Save me... Spare..."

"I'm sparing you, you know? You can't die yet. As part of the Illuminati, you should be someone who is willing to do anything for your organization, right?"

Yoon Tae-Gang was a member of the Illuminati. However, he was quite different from the others. He expressed his desire to survive by begging Davey to spare his life, making him different from suicide bombers, who would willingly sacrifice their lives.

Of course, there was no way Davey would spare an extremely insane member of the organization. Besides, Davey had already extracted a lot of information from him about the Illuminati, even before starting to turn him into a ghoul.

But Davey had many doubts about the authenticity of Yoon Tae-Gang's memories, since there were no restrictions placed on his mind. It was also highly likely that most of his memories had already been wiped off.

In fact, the information that he had gathered after filtering through Tae-Gang's disorganized memories was far too insufficient for his liking. Even though he wasn't at the bottom tier in the organization, he also wasn't high enough that he could spit out reliable information.

Just then, Kain showed up on his own volition, seemingly frustrated with Davey for taking it easy and not doing anything except watch over Yoon Tae-Gang. He then asked, "What are you doing?"

"You don't have the time to be doing something like this right now. Even if the Malicious Spirits failed to appear together in this place, those guys would still keep an eye on you through the cracks in the dimension. You have to consume those bastards' powers, even for a bit, the moment you get a chance..."

"Who said that I won't be killing them?"

Kain blinked blankly when he heard Davey's question. "Huh?"

"I'll deal with them. But not right now."

"What on earth are you trying to do?"

"You know a lot about Earth, don't you?"

What would happen when human beings became connected through mass media?

"I'm watching. Damn it. The signal is very unstable because I just hijacked it," Davey said as he hit the display device without any hesitation.

The display device, which had suddenly turned off, turned back on again the moment his fists struck it.

"As expected, beating and banging are common techniques when it comes to repairing items."

Grandfather Style, 78.23 Degree Beating Repair Method.

Davey returned to his seat and went back to watching the unfolding situation in Korea in real-time.

Thousands of Koreans had their days numbered after their shadows were taken away, and as long as Meses was alive, these people would only have one ending—death. All of them knew this fact, and so they were doing everything they could to survive.

[What did he mean by nuclear missiles? South Korea is not a nuclear country. Come out and explain this to us.]

[What the hell did you do?]

[But wasn't the Saint of Tionis the one who destroyed Alf Online?]

[Does that even matter? If we don't kill that monster, then we will all die. Didn't you see how all the tanks on the attack team fell helplessly with just a single blow from Meses? We won't be able to win.]

[That's right. If the tanks can't stand his basic attack, then they would not be able to withstand Meses' special skills. We're no match for a mob like that.]

[Save us. Please. Saint of Tionis, anyone? I don't care who. Please save us. I don't want to die yet.]

Korea found itself in a rather interesting predicament. The people whose days were numbered were extremely angry. After all, they were suffering and were left to bear the damage because of a truth that had been hidden from them.

In their anger, the people went out to the streets to protest. And it was not just one or two people; countless citizens flooded the streets and clamored for the government and its officials to give them an explanation.

As for the Awakened, there was a bit of reluctance. But that did not mean that they were absent from the streets. They knew that they would be killed if things continued at this rate, so some of them joined the protests and demanded an explanation.

The government obviously did not stay silent. They addressed the nation and announced that the entire country would be under martial law. They also appointed a representative who would neutralize the volatile situation.

The representative was a four-star general, Commander Seo Ho-Jin. With countless award badges, medals, and ribbons hanging on his military uniform, he stepped forward and addressed the nation in a press conference.

[Do not be deceived! The news about the release of nuclear missiles is nothing but unfounded rumors! Everyone, you only need to think back a bit to find out the answer. Davey O'Rowane, the monstrous human from Tionis, has taken the lives of the people as a bargaining chip to negotiate with us.]

It was obvious that this man, Seo Ho-Jin, was the one behind the military that had been pressuring the president. He was also the man who decided to send those nuclear missiles.

[My fellow citizens, we have all stood in a united front for a very long time. Just as we have joined forces to resist the invasion of foreign nations in the past, we will stand together, drive out our enemies, and overcome the situation. Citizens, now is the time. When should we unite, if not now? Who is Davey, the man from Tionis?]

Seo Ho-Jin continued to address the nation through the press conference.

[He is the one who destroyed Alf Online! And that's not all! He is a product of an uncivilized past, a member of the royal family that rules through absolute monarchy! He sees the lives of ordinary people as nothing but livestock!

He is obsessed with the idea that ordinary people are nothing but tools to help fill the stomachs of the monarchy. In his eyes, we are nothing but toys, whose life and death do not matter! That is who he is! We should not fool around and interact with such a barbaric and uncivilized member of an alien civilization!]

"That means he will use everything that is at his disposal."

Under an absolute monarchy, the idea that the members of the royal family were the elite and chosen ones was not wrong, to say the least. That was what Second Prince Carlus thought too.

On the other hand, there were also kings who worked harder to bring prosperity to their nation. Why? It was mainly because it was their own country. It belonged to them. If one looked at the historical records, they would see that this was true. In fact, there was even a king who caught and ate locusts because they had damaged their crops and caused a bad harvest[1].

Davey chuckled as he watched the press conference.

When Kain saw Davey's reaction, he tilted his head and said, "Will you be fine with that? From what I can see, they have already controlled the media. And since they have declared martial law, it means that they will stand by their decision even to their deaths. In the end, nothing will change."

"I guess so. The general's words have already incited a few humans."

[My fellow citizens, we are a democratic nation. The people are the masters of this land. We are the kind of nation that definitely values the worth of each and every single individual! We are not slaves. We think for ourselves and judge for ourselves. We will never give foreign powers the opportunity...]

Davey ignored Seo Ho-Jin's long-winded speech and changed the channels, where some discussed public opinion and criticized Davey.

[Ah... From an expert's point of view, I can say that this is similar to attention-seeking, which is something you often see on the internet. People with this type of disease would often talk about having jobs that do not exist, so they could demand attention and praise from the public. In other words...]

[It seems like he's more ruthless and unprincipled than I thought. The fact that he has taken not only one or two but countless lives as hostages means that he's nothing but a terrorist.]

"The public's opinion is not good," Kain murmured.

But Davey just smiled and said, "That's right. The power is in the hands of the military."

In fact, it was difficult to treat Korea as a democratic country, given its current situation. With the declaration of martial law, they were now in a situation where it was most befitting to say that they were under the military regime.

The biggest proof of this was the president's absence. He had remained silent and had not even made an appearance since the incident with the barrier device, even though the people had been demanding him to explain.

Although the people had criticized him as an incompetent leader of the nation, Davey believed that the president was actually doing a good job in trying to keep his life and not making the situation any worse.

"But if it's like this, then..."

"I asked Hyun-Ah for a bit of a favor. Sooner or later, it would explode and make things more lively."

Until then, they would have to wait for a few more days... No, for just a day more. There wasn't much time left before Meses would be unsealed.

With a relaxed and leisurely look on his face, Davey activated the magic circle that Kain made in front of him.

***

From Seo Ho-Jin's point of view, he should never back down. He might even think that he had done his best to protect his country. Although they were driven to this point and the results were bad by his standards, what he did was still not wrong. He might just be thinking of it as nothing but bad luck.

But the way the world worked was quite ironic. Whether his intentions were good or bad, as a public figure, the choices that he once made could easily turn him into a grave sinner.

Of course, that did not mean that Seo Ho-Jin was completely blameless. After all, he had willingly turned a blind eye to the corruption, stole huge amounts of money under the guise of overseas capital, and accepted bribes to remove the names of the Awakened, who were children of the rich and powerful, from their conscription list.

There were just so many problems, and right now, South Korea might be considered to be among the world's most dangerous nations. The amusing part was that Asian countries were tearing each other down, as if their mindset was that if one would die, then the others should too. Perhaps it was because they had already lost their minds and had gone crazy. After all, they had never seen such a terrible disaster in their lives before.

Seo Ho-Jin continued to weave glamorous lies to incite the people. Meanwhile, the ruling party, or the party that held power and authority over the country, sided with Seo Ho-Jin and clashed against the civilian forces that opposed them.

Did they forget that they only had a few days left to live? If things continued at this rate, there was a possibility that it would turn into nothing but armchair arguments.

Of course, this was not the outcome that Davey wanted. So, he played a little trick. He helped the Awakened to recover.

[This is a recording presented by the Sacred Group at the hearing around four o'clock in the morning.]

[How many people are there? Are those people bastards?!]

[They are murderers!!!]

The scenes captured in the video were very interesting. It showed how South Korea's president shouted at Seo Ho-Jin, who has seized not only the command of the military but also of the entire nation.

Sacred Group shared with the world a video of a bizarre situation where the president did not have any of his authority as president. It would certainly not be strange for someone who did something like this to be immediately arrested for the crime of overthrowing the government. But the people's anger was much faster.

With no more time left, the people, who looked like they no longer cared about whatever relationship they would have after the war ended, took to the streets with clubs in their hands. They staged violent protests and immediately attacked the provisional government. And standing at the forefront was someone who had built his credibility as the captain—the leader of the attack team that had fought Meses.

Although this was not the first time, the government took an irrational stance. They began to shoot at the civilians, which resulted in a huge number of casualties.

Declaring that the people were spies sent to overthrow the nation, they instantly judged and gave the final verdict—immediate death. But even though their words were plausible, what they were doing was just akin to throwing fire into a powder keg.

"I don't think I have to step forward, though. It seems like they'll take care of everything on their own," Davey mumbled with a cold smile on his face.

Was this the correct choice? At least that was what Davey thought. After all, they still continued to fight for power and take sovereignty, even though they were already driven to a corner. It was also good to help them stand and fight on their own. Of course, none of them would know about this until the very end.

Not long after, Davey took out the remains of the wrecked Corona Destroyer from his pocket plane. Then he placed it on his anvil and raised the hammer in his hands.

"Well... Now that the troublesome political problems are already dealt with, it's time for me to get ready to hunt that shadow."

1. The story is about Emperor Taizong of Tang. ☜