Chapter 123
The Eastern Continent was designed to feel like DLC for the original game, 'Jupeobae'.
Its purpose was to let players experience an Eastern aesthetic they could not find in conventional Western fantasy.
But simply lining up characters one after another without any events would not be entertaining.
So the Eastern Continent DLC incorporated a yokai setting centered around the Kingdom of Taewon.
Yokai had originally lived on the Eastern Continent, and some of them were evil.
The story was that the Kingdom of Taewon served as a suppressing stone that kept those evil yokai from escaping.
This designated Taewon as a necessary evil, preventing the surrounding nations from treating it rashly.
At the same time, from the player's perspective, not dealing with Taewon immediately but requiring multiple procedures secured additional playtime.
That was why Mirne wanted to approach the Eastern Continent cautiously.
She might have found bringing Taewon itself down easy, but dealing with the aftermath would be difficult.
So she had planned to first build a relationship with Prince Ryujin of the Kingdom of Cheongryu, then defeat Taewon with help from the surrounding countries.
Afterward, she would deal with the evil yokai that emerged while earning an enormous debt of gratitude from the Eastern Continent.
[ The royal family of the Eastern Continent's Kingdom of Taewon has all been rendered blank. ]
[ As a result, the wicked things hidden beneath Taewon reveal themselves. ]
"What?"
At the sudden message that the yokai beneath Taewon had awakened, Mirne panicked.
No, what kind of creatures were they for them to be coming out already?
She knew the Empire was connected to Taewon, but it had brought things to an end absurdly quickly.
"N-no... The wicked yokai... The yokai held down by Taewon can't be completely eradicated with ordinary firepower!"
There were several procedures that had to be prepared for this.
Even she, despite possessing numerous special bonuses, had not dared seriously meddle with the Eastern Continent yet.
And the Crown Prince of the Empire had recklessly opened that lid.
"...The Eastern Continent is going to be destroyed—and in the worst way possible."
The one fortunate thing was that the Empire would inevitably be caught up in the aftermath as well.
It would have been best if the Crown Prince himself were caught up in it.
Unfortunately, that would not happen, so Mirne decided to settle for the Empire's military strength being reduced to some degree.
"Damage is inevitable."
Still, one regrettable point was that she would not be able to obtain the by-products of Taewon's wicked things.
Starting with the inner cores they produced, as well as their hides and horns.
Not a single one of those things was anything less than precious.
Since they had been added as DLC, their value was absurd, to put it mildly.
To put it more clearly, they were materials that could be used to make top-tier equipment, handed out immediately.
'Still, the Empire is already powerful, so maybe it wouldn't hurt if they got them? The Empire will suffer damage to its forces because of these yokai anyway....'
Mirne ran the numbers in her head.
She thought the Empire would suffer considerable damage while subduing the yokai.
And she concluded that obtaining the by-products in exchange would not be a bad deal.
Of course.
[ The wicked things reveal themselves. ]
[ All the yokai sleeping beneath Taewon have disappeared. ]
[ Because the yokai were not exorcised through the proper procedures, the wicked things revive. ]
[ All the yokai sleeping beneath Taewon have disappeared. ]
[ Because the yokai were not exorcised through the proper procedures, the wicked things revive. ]
"...?"
The situation unfolded in the exact opposite of what Mirne had expected.
+++++
The moment I read the message that the first wicked thing had appeared.
I immediately deployed the Dragon Legion.
"Now that we've confirmed there are no civilians, let's begin right away."
"Yes, sir!"
The Dragon Legion's breath was enough to cleanly erase the entire royal palace.
Its power annihilated everything without leaving even a single blade of grass on the ground.
'But if they were going to disappear from something this weak, the system wouldn't have reacted immediately.'
So, right after the Dragon Legion fired its breath.
I kept receiving a real-time view through the fairies' eyes so I could continue monitoring the situation.
And I caught signs that the things referred to as wicked things were trying to come back to life.
If so.
"It seems they have the trait of continually reviving. For now, use just enough power to kill them, and keep having the dragons use their breath attacks."
"Yes, Your Highness! We will!"
First, we needed to keep pouring on the firepower so they would not have time to revive and start moving.
The problem was that the dragons could not keep breathing fire forever.
"O-ohhh... Those yokai... Every time we kill them, they leave corpses behind. So... when they revive, they leave their corpses behind and are reborn in a new form."
At Gilbat's words, which suddenly came out of nowhere, I opened my eyes wide.
"So they leave behind by-products every time they die, but are born again with new bodies?"
"Precisely. If we make good use of this... we may end up with a factory that produces by-products infinitely."
"We'll need thorough management. I hear the dragons are killing them for now, but it will be difficult to maintain firepower at that level all the time."
If we could use them properly, they would certainly become one of the Empire's infinite resources.
They looked precious even at a glance.
'It doesn't matter if they aren't truly infinite. But if this was arranged for Mirne, we should assume the supply will continue for the next several years.'
The problem was firepower.
Keeping the dragons working indefinitely until the supply ran out was out of the question.
Just as I was briefly wondering whether there was a suitable method.
"...What about the flames that burn the gods forever? How about that level of firepower?"
"You mean the corpses of the gods we haven't burned yet because we're still building the furnace?"
"That's right. First, we could burn the gods' corpses as firewood, then toss them where the yokai are emerging... Wouldn't the flames infused with divinity consume them on their own?"
At Gilbat's suggestion, I opened my eyes wide.
It was well worth trying, and even failure carried no risk.
Besides.
'If we can leave things in this state without completely solving the problem of the yokai continually reviving... it will definitely be profitable in the long run.'
A way to completely eliminate the yokai? If we asked Taewon's royal family right now, they would tell us everything from beginning to end.
It was not something worth agonizing over.
Even if Taewon did not know, we could simply order every kingdom on the Eastern Continent to find the answer.
The key was whether we could continue obtaining corpses while the yokai kept reviving.
If the flames burning with the gods' corpses worked properly, those creatures would no longer be wicked things but a factory producing by-products.
"We should try it right away."
Normally, these were the corpses of artificial gods installed through a mod, but because a proper furnace had not yet been built, we had not been using them as firewood.
I gathered them up and immediately moved to where the Taewon royal palace had stood.
I threw the artificial gods' corpses directly onto the ground where the wicked things were emerging.
Thud, thud.
'If this works—if it actually works—the Empire's military strength could rise another level.'
As I spoke, I let my eyes rest on the yokai's inner cores scattered across the ground.
The yokai inner cores radiated an ominous aura at a glance.
Yet if they could only be purified, I could not imagine a better elixir.
'I don't know how many inner cores will come out... but normally, inner cores often lose their effect after being consumed several times.'
Inner cores were single-use elixirs; taking them repeatedly produced no further effects.
That was why more people could use them.
'Please let this work.'
A mass-production elixir factory that would make the Empire even stronger.
Hoping desperately that this would succeed, I drove Sol Bellos into the gods' corpses at maximum output.
At that very moment.
[ The Dwarven Pact was the return of the 'Ever-burning Flame'. ]
[ At this very moment, the Ever-burning Flame has manifested perfectly. ]
[ This is a flame infused not only with the power of the gods' corpses used as firewood, but also with the power of the wicked things. ]
[ A new attribute has been added to Sol Bellos's power. ]
[ All pacts have been fulfilled. ]
[ The Empire will no longer be destroyed by the pacts. ]
[ You have fulfilled five pacts. ]
[ The title 'Pact Fulfilled' has been awarded. ]
[ The executioners in the Empire will no longer be subject to any external interference. ]
[ As a reward, 10 Empire tech tree points are awarded. ]
[ As a reward, 5 additional points are invested in 'One United Empire'. ]
The messages continued pouring out, as if they had been waiting for this moment.
Before I could even properly read what was what, my field of vision kept flashing from one change to the next.
And the final flourish was—
- Were the pacts and demonification separate?
- I wondered why demonification was progressing so forcibly, and now I see why.
- I never knew there was power that could change the world at will.
- If possible, we must erase that power first. Otherwise, they won't be able to manipulate the world.
- If I have to cut something down first... it's definitely that.
They were the Crown Prince's memories.
Even after resolving every pact, the Crown Prince had been forced to watch the Empire perish.
Even as the Empire was being destroyed, the Crown Prince thought:
- Now that the pacts have been resolved, is demonification the next thing I need to stop?
- The Empire has grown too powerful... Once it turns into a demon realm, it will be difficult to stop.
- I need to find a way to deal with this as well.
He continued thinking about how he should act in the next regression, smiling brightly.
- The day I save the Empire is not far away.
The fact that he had resolved all five pacts clearly meant this was the latter part of the regression.
Even so, it was astonishing that he could still smile like that.
[ With all five pacts resolved, you have taken another step toward the 'Great Empire'. ]
[ As a reward, the tech tree for 'Magitech Armor' has been unlocked. ]
[ Magitech Armor is the essence of magitech. It is not ordinary armor, but a state-of-the-art combat suit with various functions. ]
And the system messages continued.
But as soon as I read the system message that appeared near the end, I could not help but see a question mark floating above my head.
'...Magitech Armor? What's that?'
So the knights of the Great Empire era wore something called Magitech Armor and flew around the battlefield?
'What on earth was the Great Empire?'