TRPM 439

The organization currently on Mars is broadly split into two factions.

One is the moderates, who take the stance of watching events unfold until humanity on Earth naturally perishes.

The other is the hardliners, who want to use any means necessary to kill the Oracle and then, for the organization’s original purpose, wipe out everyone on Earth.

“(Out in the Gyeonggi outskirts… did they set up a hideout in a place like this?)”

The head of the hardliners muttered as he reviewed the data from Earth.

Originally, the moderates and the hardliners were about equal in strength, but that was no longer the case.

Ever since the Oracle left the organization, it had been failing again and again, and Richard, president of the World Awakened Association, declared that organization the common enemy of the world.

Naturally, some of those who had been hardliners began to think they should play it safe and moved to the moderates, and the hardliners’ standing inevitably shrank.

So the hardliners’ leader devised a plan to change the situation.

A plan to capture the Oracle alive by any means necessary.

“(They were discovered later than I expected. If it had been somewhere far from the metropolitan area, maybe I’d understand, but this—someone should have found them earlier.)”

“(Maybe the Oracle made his hideout underground, or took some precautions fearing he’d be found, but the measures couldn’t be maintained for long and that’s why they were caught this time.)”

Right now the hardliners weren’t considering at all that this might be a trap set by the Oracle.

That meant they were gathered in large numbers — and that if they were still foolish enough to remain hardliners, they were the sort who couldn’t make that kind of judgment.

They thought themselves wise, of course.

“(Should we send all our forces under my command?)”

“(We should. If we bring the Oracle back by any means and force him to look into the future, our organization can thrive again.)”

Above all, because the organization had successfully completed many things relying on the Oracle’s ability, they completely ignored the possibility that they could fail.

“(…tsk. Stupid bastards.)”

The moderate leader, who had overheard the hardliners’ leader and officers through the crack of the door, shook his head and left.

If silence would bring about their downfall on its own, there was no need to stop them.

He regretted the organization members who would be sacrificed by those stupid plans, but it was still better than internal strife in which members killed each other.

“(Hey.)”

“(Yes.)”

“(Keep a close watch on the hardliners. People who have nothing left to lose will do anything.)”

After giving that order to his confidant, the moderate leader headed to his own room.

Seeing the leader’s back, the confidant silently moved to a good position for monitoring the hardliners.

But inside he had another thought.

‘(The return shuttle to Earth could be intercepted before it even leaves Mars orbit, so first we should disable the base’s automatic firing system…)’

The moderate leader’s confidant was planning to leave the base.

He wasn’t the only one thinking that.

Although the organization had become a public enemy, not all members’ identities were known; those who could reach Earth and somehow hide their identities could later survive when Earth’s forces purged the Mars organization.

Quite a few members thought that way.

Especially those who didn’t have the confidence to escape alone were quietly gathering near the shuttle area, planning to sneak on board when someone else made a break for it.

It wasn’t only the hardliners—the moderates were rotting from within too.

“(Contact from the Moon.)”

‘(Hm?)’

As the moderate leader’s confidant planned his departure and watched the hardliners, a strange conversation began to leak from the hardliners’ side.

“(What is it?)”

“(Uh… they say we can’t develop weapons any longer.)”

“(Why…?)”

“(The researchers are on strike… We tried to make sure the information from Earth didn’t reach the Moon, but because some elites didn’t return to the Moon, the researchers noticed something odd. They managed to intercept some transmissions from Earth and heard the news. They even heard that the organization has been declared a public enemy.)”

“(……)”

“(Some even went to Earth using shuttles or assault dropships. Unauthorized shuttles were shot down right after takeoff, and the dropships were downed by the ground anti-air defenses, so it seems none made it back to Earth successfully.)”

So there were people trying to escape from the Moon outpost too.

If you were going to flee Mars, you needed a well-thought-out plan and proper preparation.

The moderate leader’s confidant thought that while listening to what the hardliners were saying.

“(That’ll end once the elites currently on duty return to the Moon. When they go back, they’ll think it’s no big deal even if the organization’s been declared a public enemy; people won’t make such foolish attempts then.)”

“(Then who will capture the Oracle…?)”

“(Those idiots who claim to be searching other areas for the Oracle but are really lounging in the organization’s hideouts. Send them all to Korea.)”

The White Lotus Sect’s leader returned.

The White Lotus leader who had come back from Korea arrived alone.

The reason was simple.

The two people who had accompanied her to Korea weren’t from the White Lotus Sect — they belonged to the Myeong Sect.

Even if both were ‘evil cults’ they were distinct organizations, so the two went to the Myeong Sect rather than the White Lotus.

“(You’re back, Sect Leader.)”

“(Was anything of note done while I was gone?)”

“(Nothing major, aside from rooting out a spy and sending him to the Ilwol Sun Sect to study jiangshi.)”

“(Master Cheonma and the Grand Shaman, and the Oracle—what of them?)”

“(Master Cheonma is undergoing training against a doppelgänger created by a necromancer. The Grand Shaman and the Oracle are working on a prototype of the Sangong Poison.)”

Hearing that, the White Lotus leader nodded lightly and immediately headed toward the training hall where Cheonma was.

“(Haha! You can dodge this?!)”

Not long after the White Lotus leader arrived at the training hall, she saw the doppelgänger dodging Cheonma’s kick.

Of course, that was possible because Cheonma wasn’t using aura, but even so—considering the doppelgänger fighting him wasn’t even a peak specimen made with the necromancer’s full effort…

‘(An outrageous monster.)’

If a doppelgänger that could evade some of Cheonma’s techniques was given powerful physical strength and aura abilities, and if they could be mass-produced… then you could literally create the worst kind of army.

‘(Sorry to say it about the Ilwol Sun Sect’s leader, but the jiangshi he creates are child’s play compared to that doppelgänger.)’

Of course, the doppelgänger’s cost-performance wasn’t great.

Even the Mars organization that mined lunar resources and sold them to countries around the world couldn’t produce many powerful doppelgängers. A cult with fewer funds would be strained by creating even one perfect doppelgänger.

SPLAT!

“(Oh my.)”

“(Enough for now. How was it?)”

“(Evading or slipping past visible attacks was fine. But aren’t we too vulnerable to attacks like that one—those that can’t be seen?)”

“(That issue can’t be solved immediately. This one learns by watching the opponent’s movements; it can’t learn what’s invisible.)”

When Cheonma spoke, the necromancer shook his head.

“(I wish you could fix that somehow.)”

“(That’s an unreasonable request. I’ll try for now.)”

The necromancer said that, then picked up the doppelgänger whose torso had been sliced open.

He gave a light bow to the White Lotus leader standing at the entrance, then left the training hall.

“(Oh, you’re back?)”

“(Yes. I finished what the Grand Shaman ordered and the task the Oracle requested.)”

The White Lotus leader referred to the Grand Shaman with respect while she spoke down to the Oracle, and Cheonma smiled bitterly as he remembered the favor the Oracle had asked of the White Lotus leader.

The Oracle had asked her to use a special iron stained with his blood to deceive the organization’s hardliners.

“(If the Oracle’s blood is on the special iron the Grand Shaman prepared, you said it would exude a mental energy similar to the Oracle’s, right?)”

“(Yes. Judging by the machine that reacted in the car they were riding in, it seems to have worked properly.)”

“(I always thought shamanic arts were downright versatile.)”

After saying that, Cheonma looked at the White Lotus leader.

“(What about the other thing? The Oracle’s request seemed almost like an extra favor, didn’t it?)”

“(Yes, here…)”

The White Lotus leader produced a test tube from her bosom.

Inside it was a liquid preservative—and in that liquid a small insect writhed.

“(This creature must have absorbed the Artist’s energy.)”

Seeing that little worm, Cheonma recalled what the Grand Shaman had said earlier.

‘(If the insect is dead, it means it failed to absorb the Artist’s energy; if it’s alive, it succeeded.)’

So that worm had absorbed the inner energy of the Artist, Han Geon-woo, meaning…

“(Now, if we insert the poison the Grand Shaman prepared into this test tube, the experiment will be complete.)”

It would be easy to verify whether the Grand Shaman’s Sangong Poison was effective.

“(Then don’t delay—go straight to the Grand Shaman, that old man.)”

“(Understood.)”

Cheonma and the White Lotus leader headed to the Grand Shaman’s laboratory.

“(…tsk tsk…)”

When they reached the lab, the Grand Shaman was pouring a strange liquid into a roughly made ceramic cup, as if a prototype of the Sangong Poison had been completed.

“(You’re back; so the worm is alive?)”

“(Yes, it is.)”

Hearing the White Lotus leader, the Grand Shaman turned and reached to take the test tube from her.

“(Hmm…? Ahem…?)”

Then the Grand Shaman gave a strange reaction as he looked at the White Lotus leader…

“(Tsk tsk… Of course the Artist wouldn’t have let you go without some insurance.)”

Saying that, he plucked a strand of his own hair and tossed it to the White Lotus leader.

“(Ugh…!)”

The Grand Shaman’s hair flew like a needle and pierced the White Lotus leader’s body…

Ssshhh…!

It melted away.

“(Did that just break the spell on this creature?)”

“(Tsk tsk… Yes. You know your stuff.)”

“(I’ve seen your sorcery before, so it’s not my first time.)”

“(Tsk tsk… indeed. So…)”

They hadn’t used the phrase Sangong Poison on the way here, had they?

“(Yes. I used only the word ‘poison’ instead of Sangong Poison, as instructed beforehand.)”

“(That’s enough. With that, the Artist will think the poison I prepared is just a normal toxin, not Sangong Poison.)”

“…Poison.”

The information obtained through the spell on the White Lotus leader.

The reason she had gone all the way to Korea was to test whether the Grand Shaman’s special toxin worked on me.

“…Most poisons probably won’t affect me, though…?”

My body already has a certain immunity to poison, and my inner energy constantly circulates, expelling toxins from my body.

Still, the Grand Shaman’s poison was something else…

‘Maybe I should deliberately take some poison to build tolerance, just in case?’