Chapter 90
Fortunately, the line moved faster than I expected.
The items people bought from the vending machine were mostly similar.
They were usually random skill boxes, random food boxes, or something called a dungeon compass.
"What's that compass for?"
"Ah..."
When I casually asked the person in front of me what the compass was for, they said it was an item like a navigation device that showed the location of the safest, lowest-difficulty dungeon within a certain radius.
It was useful for Awakened who wanted to farm safely, but I had no need for it.
'I can just buy a random skill box.'
I was waiting for my turn with a light heart when it happened.
"Hey, hey! Why is this taking so long? If you're not going to draw anything, move!"
A sharp, irritated voice burst out from near the front of the line.
I craned my neck to look and saw a gaunt man standing in front of the vending machine, staring blankly at its screen while ignoring the complaints pouring in from behind him.
"People are taking too long. Should I just do it myself...? Come to think of it, why did I tell them to line up...?"
The man's lips moved as he muttered to himself.
Just as the people around him were starting to glare viciously, the man rummaged around in his pocket and pulled something out.
It was an unfamiliar dagger with a red button on its handle.
Why would a dagger have a button on it?
And—
'Why is he taking out a dagger now?'
Before I could even raise my eyebrows, the man violently plunged the knife he was holding into the vending machine's coin slot with a thunk—
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he pressed the button on the handle.
Beep—!
It was a chilling sound. I instinctively ducked.
"...Urgh!"
KWAANG—!
Along with an explosion that seemed to tear apart my eardrums, searing red flames erupted from the vending machine.
"Aaaaargh!"
"That crazy bastard...! It's a bomb, get away!!"
The orderly line instantly turned into chaos.
Shrapnel and flames from the explosion, along with thick smoke that burst from inside the vending machine, covered the area in every direction.
Screaming, people began running in all directions to escape the smoke.
Where the dozens of people who had been staring only at the vending machine moments ago had stood,
the only things left amid the thick smoke blanketing the center of the ruins were me and—
"..."
Rather than run away, I stood there blankly and looked straight ahead.
The windbreaker covering my chest flickered faintly after blocking the fragments that had flown at me moments earlier.
Through the dispersing black smoke, I quietly met the gaze of the man coughing as he inspected the destroyed vending machine.
"Hey."
The man flinched at my cold voice and turned his head.
Despite being closest to the explosion, the man looked perfectly fine.
He might have had a skill of that sort.
"What are you going to do if you destroy the vending machine?"
I casually lifted my windbreaker and drew my spear.
The rumor had said they were some kind of group, but he was alone.
The man looked at my windbreaker and spear, then let out a little laugh as though he had realized who I was.
"I think you'd understand our cause."
He spoke leisurely as he brushed the remnants of the bomb off himself.
"With great power comes great responsibility. Only those who know how to bear responsibility should control power. We are in the process of establishing order in this ruined world."
"Do you really think you'll establish that order by going around smashing a few vending machines?"
At my sarcastic retort, the man lightly shrugged.
"A journey of a thousand li begins with a single step. And there is a vending machine—in our safe zone. If you just pay a small toll—"
"Well, isn't that something..."
Ah, this was the kind of person who was completely impossible to reason with.
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I turned my gaze toward the destroyed vending machine.
What surprised me, however, was that despite taking the full brunt of that tremendous explosion, the vending machine remained almost completely intact, with only its exterior slightly blackened.
I would have to check whether it still actually worked, though.
As expected, its durability was on an entirely different level from an ordinary vending machine's.
When the man saw that the vending machine was in better shape than expected, he clicked his tongue in displeasure without bothering to hide it.
Soon after, he pulled another button dagger from his pocket and turned toward the vending machine again.
"Where do you think you're going?"
But I was faster.
Before he could take even one step, I closed the distance in an instant with a leap, grabbed him by his clothes, and hurled him roughly backward.
"Ghk!"
It was just as the man flying through the air was about to slam into the concrete floor.
Thump.
"Hup."
Someone suddenly sprang out from the deep shadows of the ruins and caught the flying man securely.
It wasn't just one person.
As the thick smoke from the explosion cleared, five or six armed Awakened drew their weapons and blocked my path.
They were the people the man had muttered were taking too long—in other words, his companions.
"How dare you interfere with our Constellation!"
A woman with cold eyes who was clearly their leader pointed a red-tinged longsword at me and spat out coldly,
"I am the incarnation who serves the will of our great Constellation. Move aside at once."
"She says something like that so calmly..."
Our great Constellation?
There was no way someone who said things like that could be sane.
On top of that, she called herself an incarnation.
I stared intently at the woman.
If that was really true, then incarnations didn't look all that different on the outside.
The woman meeting my gaze suddenly widened her eyes.
"You, Conductor—you are an incarnation."
There it was again, that incarnation nonsense.
When I didn't bother to explain, the female leader's eyes gleamed with conviction.
"The Constellation behind us told us. You are a dangerous incarnation! We will deal with you here."
"..."
She was another person who was impossible to reason with.
She was talking about disposing of a person.
With her resounding cry, her sword grew even redder.
I had heard that incarnations became entangled in the Constellations' factional struggles, but I never expected to become entangled myself after being mistaken for one.
But if people who went around destroying vending machines were the ones to draw their swords first...
From this point on, it was self-defense.
"Surround him and attack at the same time."
No sooner had the woman's command fallen than the Awakened, including the man I had sent flying earlier, began closing in on me in a disciplined formation.
I let out a deep sigh and raised my spear.
I briefly surveyed the people surrounding me, then sent my gaze past them.
The woman with the red sword stood in the back, wearing only a mocking smile and showing no sign of attacking personally.
Was it confidence, or did she underestimate me?
Or was she planning to wait until I had been weakened before making her move?
I didn't know the reason, but with this many people, I could deal with them.
Most importantly, I wasn't alone.
"Golem, drones. Subdue them."
Whirrrrr—! Click!
The drones and golem descended from the air and took up positions around me.
Rat-a-tat-tat—!
The drones opened fire as soon as they received my command, aiming for their thighs and arms.
But.
'Huh?'
My eyes narrowed.
The reaction they showed the moment the gunfire rang out was anything but ordinary.
They swung their weapons or twisted their bodies, blocking the drones' bullets or at least avoiding fatal wounds.
Even I wasn't sure whether I could react to sudden drone fire, but their reaction speed was far beyond the level of ordinary Awakened.
'Is this the power of an incarnation? Or—'
Of course, they couldn't evade everything, and a few of them were injured in the legs and staggered, but they weren't subdued to the point of being unable to fight.
Even so, I thought we would have the situation under control.
Until now, most Awakened who faced guns directly tended to lose their will to fight after being frightened by the force of gunfire.
But something was strange. I couldn't sense any fear from them at all.
"...Ghk...!"
"My eyes...?"
Looking at the faces of those closing the encirclement, I saw that their eyes were glowing an eerie red.
They let out pained groans through their mouths, but their eyes were filled with hostility.
It was as though their reason had been paralyzed.
Even while blood streamed from their legs, they staggered toward me without changing their expressions, surging forward like zombies.
"This is strange..."
The moment the encirclement closed, they raised their weapons and charged simultaneously.
"Golem!"
At my signal, the golem planted its cannon barrel firmly into the ground.
And—
KWAANG—!
With a tremendous shockwave, dust exploded outward and violently sent their bodies flying into the air.
The ground shattered, scattering fragments in every direction.
My windbreaker and the golem protected me, but the others had to take the debris head-on.
It was unquestionably enough damage to render them incapable of fighting.
"Hnnngh...!"
"Haaagh!"
But beyond the smoke, they got back to their feet with groans.
Their entire bodies were covered in dust, and it was obvious that they could barely control their movements, yet the red-eyed Awakened groaned in pain and turned toward me again like zombies.
Seeing this, the female leader in the back clicked her tongue.
"As expected, Awakened without combat skills are like this even after receiving a direct blessing."
When she slowly lowered the red sword in her hand, the red glow vanished from their eyes as if by magic.
"...What?"
"No way, after making a promise, again...!"
"Hup... my, my leg...!"
At the same time, they seemed about to gape in horror at the pitiful state of their bodies, but they could no longer withstand the pain and all collapsed backward onto the ground unconscious.
It seemed her sword had been the medium through which she controlled them.
There was no doubt that she had used that sword to strengthen and control them.
"The Constellation says that if you surrender now and join our side with those machines, you'll be spared. What do you say?"
"In this situation?"
"Well, that's true, isn't it?"
Anyone could see that I had the advantage in this situation.
There was no reason for me to accept the Constellation's offer.
The woman then raised her red sword again and smiled at me.
Grrrr...!
Skitter-skitter—!
Dozens of monsters began crawling out from the shadows throughout the ruins.
Most of them were orcs wielding stone axes.
Every one of them had eyes glowing red, just like the Awakened.
The ordinary Awakened had been strengthened that much, so how much stronger had the orcs become?
"How about now?"
When the tip of her sword pointed at me, the orcs slowly began approaching from all around me.