Chapter 104: Catastrophe (5)
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After an hour passed after Jaehwan and Eniac left for the Dead Man Palace, Chunghuh and Karlton felt the presence at the same time – an earthquake powerful enough to shake the whole factory.
[What’s going on?]
The Overseers seemed to be surprised.
[Humans, are they bored?]
[…This is a bit much to be considered in that way.]
Another explosion was heard. Edsac turned to Johniac.
[Johniac, connect to the outside.]
Johniac closed his eyes, and energy rose from him and flew out. It was his skill. Johniac shook.
[Scary. Men. A Lot.]
He was afraid.
[They. Scary…]
Johniac then frowned in pain. It seemed the horned monster that he connected to had been killed. Chunghuh and Karlton looked at each other.
[Hey- stop!]
Ias shouted, but Chunghuh and Karlton quickly ran out toward the entrance.
‘It’s them!’
It was obvious.
“Doctor, this is..”
“Dammit. So the kid was right.”
Before they arrived at the factory, Jaehwan did warn them of this situation. Most of them thought he was too concerned with it. They didn’t think Generals would kill themselves to come all this way.
‘They want more than just Jaehwan.’
<Chaos> was now a valuable place. It was a place where powerful beings that were as powerful as Lesser Generals were being born, thanks to the tower created by Jaehwan and Meikal. If left alone, it was apparent that <Chaos> would grow strong enough to compete against the <Great Lands>.
That’s why they acted, to destroy and pillage as they always did.
‘It won’t be easy this time.’
<Chaos> was different now. They had Jaehwan. That fact made Chunghuh feel relieved.
“How many have come?”
“I don’t think they will have more than 50.”
But as they neared the entrance, they realized they were wrong. It was hard to count as the spirit energies were stacked against each other, but it didn’t feel good.
‘How many have come?’
As they opened the door, their question was answered in most horrible way possible.
The scene was horrible enough to resemble the disaster from 900 years ago.
Chunghuh glanced around. Leaders were almost on the verge of dying, with some Awakeners already dead. And…
“Cayman!”
Cayman was dangling as a Commander was holding him by the neck.
A hundred Generals. It was too large of a force to move to just capture a [Product]. Sameng Hoon smiled bitterly. The <Great Lands> would now face chaotic times.
‘…Jaehwan, was it? You do not know what you have done.’
The destruction of Place of Reincarnation was that severe. The current Prince of the Palace at the 9th region was out of luck. If it was any of the other Lords, things would have been much worse.
‘Well, we were almost out of [Fruits] too. I guess it was necessary.’
Sameng Hoon glanced around. There were a lot of Depth Expedition Team members lying around, barely alive. Sameng Hoon’s men tried not to kill them if possible.
‘They will be my offerrings. I can’t let them die here.’
Sameng Hoon smiled.
“Hey, how long are we doing this? Shouldn’t we enter now?”
Sameng Hoon frowned.
“I’m the one in charge this time. You should stay back.”
“…I know. But it’s too boring.”
The one spoke was the Commander from the Green family, the Commander who as at the 13th stage of adaptation. He was the 2nd Commander, Green Chundo.
‘Damn these green insects.’
Not all Generals that joined this time were from the 9th region. Out of the 100 Generals, there were 50 9th region Generals, and the other 50 were from other regions and families.
20 from the Sameng family, 20 from the Green family, and 10 from the 7th region.
They all had different reasons for joining. The members of the Sameng family were called by Sameng Hoon himself, but the Green family said that Jaehwan had killed one of their members.
‘The problem is those 7th region fools.’
There were ten Generals, with three of them at the Greater General level. Their leader was Greater General Nishimoto, the one who had power similar to Sameng Garam.
-We heard about the Palace. Shouldn’t we finish it before the other Lords find out? We wish to help.
That was the message sent by the 7th region, but it was more of a threat. If the news of the destruction of Palace spread, the one who would be responsible was the Lord of Darkness who was in charge of protecting the Palace at the time.
‘I can’t let the other Lords find out what happened yet.’
Sameng Hoon quickly decided and accepted their offer.
‘It will be our chance.’
Sameng Hoon realized that even if they had failed in invading <Chaos> through the Golden Sky Clan, the [Product] had now become much more than any of that.
‘I just need to capture him, and I will take the Tower of Awakeners from him.’
There was the Awakener who opened the [Creation], and the tower created from such an Awakener.
[Sameng Hoon, is it true that there are more [Fruits]?]
It was Sameng Yuha, the 4th Commander of the Sameng family, who sent the whisper to Sameng Hoon. She was one of the five Commanders Sameng Hoon had brought over, and the strongest. She was even stronger than Sameng Hoon himself.
[Yes, Sister.]
[I had to ‘die’ because of you. I don’t know how many [Fruits] there are, but you must give a portion to the Sameng family. Remember that you’re the Prince of Sameng before you are Commander of the 9th region.]
[I know, Sister.]
Sameng Hoon scoffed inside.
‘Fruits… hah.’
The reason why the other Generals had joined in this fight was because of the [Fruits] that Sameng Hoon had. Before he started this plan, he messaged the Generals that he had the leftover [Fruits] and all would be supplied to those who joined.
It was a lie.
He did not have such [Fruits]. But, he did not care.
‘I’ll get one if there aren’t any.’
From where? There was only one place that had [Fruits]: the end of the <Depth>.
‘But I don’t have to go to the ‘end’ to get it.’
Sameng Hoon and a few people knew that the beings that ruled the <Depth> were Gods. And there were some of them who had ways of getting those [Fruits]. The only problem was that they were really powerful and vicious.
So if the opponent was powerful, what did you need to do to acquire an item from them? A trade.
Until now, it was impossible to trade with those Gods. They were the Gods of the Depth after all. What would they need?
‘Until now. What if I offer them an ‘Awakener’?”
The one that the Gods of the Depth wanted the most was a powerful Awakener.
It was the reason why these Gods made deals with the [Cultivators] to get [Products]. A [Product] was a potential Vicegerent that they could take into their world. A [Product] was one who had talent and had not yet adapted to the System. An Awakener was the best candidate. However, Awakeners were rare and mysterious.
Until now.
‘I will create Awakeners and sell to them in exchange for [Fruits].’
And with the [Fruits], he could create a new Palace of Reincarnation solely for the 9th region. That was Sameng Hoon’s plan.
With that, only the 9th region would have Generals who did not fear death. And the dead Generals would have to surrender to the 9th region to be revived.
‘The <Great Lands> will soon be ruled by the 9th region.’