Rust - Chapter 1007



Only Krnovel

Rust [RUST]-1007

Even though Maru killed the monster elephant, the mind-tainted guards did not return. The same goes for the flock of birds flocking to the front line.

The fleet flew higher to avoid the flock of birds, which had gathered in such numbers that the floor was left with no choice but to clear out the garden of death.

The birds were out of their minds, just as the guards in the front row, exposed to the light continuously, never came to their senses.

[It feels like my brain has been physically transformed.]

“The brain?”

Na Ju-yeon continued her explanation. It was something she had talked about before. The brain of a person who had been severely shocked by a mental illness changes structurally.

There is talk that the frontal lobe may become inactive to withstand strong shocks, or that the brain’s hormonal system may collapse due to strong shocks, causing abnormalities.

People who cannot endure things like an affair by a spouse they trusted, a fraud by a close friend they trusted, or being abandoned by a country they were loyal to, may suffer brain damage.

[Internal organs such as the intestines and heart are also affected by mental shock, causing illness or, in severe cases, death after suffering for a long time···.]

The elephant, strengthened by eating faith, was literally a monster, causing such a transformation with a flash of light.

[I don’t know if I can return to normal even if I give it a long time, but returning to normal doesn’t mean my memories or personality will return.]

“then?”

[To the extent that it becomes possible to live without causing any major problems.]

“You’re saying that small problems can cause big problems if you don’t take care of them.”

Na Ju-yeon silently agrees with Maru’s words.

[······.]

“······.”

The ability to become stronger by eating faith was not a simple ability, but was closer to power. Just like Maru’s death.

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He killed the monster elephant that ate his faith and became a god, but the aftermath was significant.

The Thai military, including the Royal Guard and the Constabulary, lost their fighting power as their spiritual foundation collapsed. The people living near the palace suffered from mental confusion due to the destruction of the king, the royal family, and the divine beast.

The death of someone they believed in made people anxious. People filled with anxiety began to act excessively.

Overaction, overreaction. In other words, it was a story of a breakdown in public order. The Holy Kingdom troops stationed in Taiwan came to Thailand to secure public order, but no country looked favorably on it.

The Southeast Asian countries began to play the abacus. The main army of the Holy Kingdom could not remain in Thailand for long.

‘Let’s divide and conquer Thailand.’

‘While divided into the North and the South and in a state of civil war, greed.’

‘Should I catch some rebels and tell them?’

‘We will recover the land lost to Thailand.’

When Vietnam suggested that they should divide and occupy Thailand, the Myanmar military junta sarcastically responded. Laos responded to Myanmar by saying, “Are you the one who should be talking about others?” Even Cambodia, which is trying to reclaim the land that was lost to Thailand in the past, regardless.

Thailand, which lost its gods and king who grew stronger by eating faith, and even a sinkhole, has fallen prey to neighboring countries.

“You said that?”

[yes.]

Maru was shocked by the report from artificial intelligence Diana.

“That’s ridiculous. Are you out of your mind? Who can do what he wants?”

[The situation in North America is not good either.]

The year had changed, and it was already late February. The Empire’s Siege of Philadelphia was still not over. Despite using dozens of tactical nuclear weapons, they had failed to push back the spiders that had created underground cities in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas.

Ants could be neutralized by catching the queen and princess. This was because they were originally social creatures. However, spiders were originally independent creatures. Spiders hunt alone and build their nests alone.

Since they were originally a group of independent creatures, they couldn’t be decapitated like ants. The spider army also had a leadership, but if the leadership was removed, they would quickly re-form. Just like a human army.

If a spider and a fully armed person fight 1:1 without any intervention, the spider wins, and the spider is even trained by humans… That means that spiders can learn and use human strategies and tactics.

[The Empire has confirmed that there are people with the ability to control spiders.]

“Of course. We’ve been through it too.”

There were spider-manipulators from the Confederacy, and even high-ranking cannibals and vampires could control spiders. Even under such adverse conditions, the command of the Emperor Leon Bonnard shone.

[Despite the fierce fighting, the number of casualties was significantly lower than the number of wounded.]

“It’s definitely great.”

Emperor Leon Bonnard attempted to use the Battle of Philadelphia to awaken the Imperial forces, but was only half successful.

Even if the probability of awakening increases through the process of experiencing and overcoming a life-threatening crisis, the probability is still a probability. That means that not all soldiers can awaken.

The number of men who took part in the battle to recapture Philadelphia was 4 million, including rotating main and state guard units.

This means that the number of troops who experienced street fighting with spiders exceeded 4 million. And the number of those who survived and awakened from the hell experienced by 4 million was less than expected.

“I thought you had a lot of awakenings at first? So, didn’t the Emperor of the Empire try to force you to awaken them?”

The reason I endured such a huge war of attrition was also because of awakening. But it was less than expected? They said it was not cost-effective.

[According to confirmed information, the awakening probability initially exceeded 30%, but decreased over time, and the total number of awakened people has been confirmed to be less than 300,000 as of now.]

“Why did that happen?”

[Not sure. Hypothesis that it varies depending on the total amount of experience. Hypothesis that the probability of awakening varies depending on innate characteristics. Hypothesis that genetic mutations vary depending on mutant virus infection. It is realistically difficult to confirm and verify all of these hypotheses.]

“You have three quantum computers, but you can’t analyze it?”

When moving to the floating city, they were using as many as three quantum computers. If you combined the supercomputer connected to the quantum computer and the bunch of grapes, it would have enough computational power to move the entire Earth into a virtual reality. And yet, they couldn’t analyze the reason.

[There are too many variables and not enough data and samples to use for calculations.]

Artificial intelligence Diana spoke cautiously. Even though quantum computers have started to operate in nuclear fusion power plants, there were many places that needed to use that much computing power, so there was nothing they could do.

[First of all, the things we are currently analyzing are in areas that cannot be analyzed using existing science, so computational power is insufficient.]

The Garden of Death that Maru unfolds is like that, the dominance of cannibals, the psychic wave, and even the vampires who use blood to do things that are practically magic.

The same goes for tracking the continued mutations of mutant viruses and determining the purpose of their spread.

It infects humans and produces mutants.

Create a new species of human using mutant genes.

Manipulate human DNA to make it easier to control.

Control reproduction by mutating genes.

Extracting faith by using humans.

Even just the bare minimum of information related to the mutant virus was this much. In addition, information was obtained by closing the sinkhole in Thailand.

Through the giant sinkhole in Tokyo, Japan and the container ship incident off the coast of Busan, we learned that the immortal monster is not simply a monster that does not die. It is a monster that is already dead.

The sinkhole monster was a completely different entity from the cannibals, vampires, and power users that were created by the mutated virus. The body that makes up the structure is based on that of Earth, but through the process of infection and erosion, it has changed into something that has completely different laws from Earth’s life forms.

[As I reported last time, this is not a simple mutation. It has been confirmed that something from another dimension has affected the mutant virus.]

“It was like that. So?”

[It has been confirmed that the elements that make up the immortal monster are of Earth’s origin, but their mode of action is not of Earth’s origin.]

The melted skin oozed pus. The messy wound was covered with volcanic ash and dust, turning it into a crustacean, even as strong as armor.

The heart wasn’t beating properly, and the breathing and pulse were erratic. It was practically a dead being moving, so it couldn’t be understood with conventional biology.

Artificial intelligence Diana’s report continued.

[As a result of analyzing and studying the sinkhole in Thailand, a hypothesis was created that the sinkhole is turning into a passageway connecting to another dimension.]

It became a monster that could not be understood by the laws of the Earth. So where did the laws of the monster come from? That’s where the hypothesis started.

If it wasn’t the laws of Earth, then it was contaminated by the laws of another dimension. That is, a dimension where immortal monsters roam. A dimension where something exists that erodes living things.

“First, convey this message to each country in Southeast Asia. We will close the sinkhole, so please cooperate.”

[All right.]

Maru, who had fought the monster elephant and the Thai king, was determined to ignore what the Southeast Asian countries said. What if a monster like a white elephant becomes stronger?

What if you could feed your faith through human sacrifice and become stronger? What if you could control sinkholes and use them as weapons? Could you stop that?

Maru didn’t want to imagine what was happening in the split India and the seven Chinas. That’s why he couldn’t just let Southeast Asia fall into chaos.

‘It’s already a mess, but you’re saying this is on a different level?’

I could understand that they were using sinkholes as strategic assets and that they were going to blow them up if necessary to say, “You die and I die.”

But the result was problematic. What if it was a passage to another dimension as hypothesized? What if the laws of another dimension were eroding the Earth?

What would happen if a sinkhole burst and an immortal monster swept through? If it were just Southeast Asia that was in chaos, then even the Holy Kingdom would be in danger.

The infection and erosion of immortal monsters. What if they spread, instantly eroding all living things? Can you stop them all?

There were also many deaths when cleaning up the guys on the Busan container ship. This was because they were already dead and could not be brought back to life.

It was the same when Kim Yang and his guards were reconnoitering in Japan. It was okay because the guys who came out of the sinkhole went back into the sinkhole on their own. If they had not returned and spread out in all directions, there would have been no answer.

“If you don’t cooperate with closing the sinkhole, I’ll come. I’ll close it by force. If you can stop it, do it. If you can survive, try to survive.”

[All right.]

It wasn’t a situation where I could be lenient.

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The countries of Southeast Asia were furious. Not only had they destroyed the perfectly good Thailand, but as if that wasn’t enough, the King of the Holy Kingdom himself announced that he would cause trouble himself.

‘King Vladimir Kalin’s powers are dangerous.’

‘How much faith must one have to have to have this?’

‘They probably want to close all the sinkholes and monopolize them.’

‘It could be a passage connecting to another dimension. Then we should protect it more.’

‘An undead being. Isn’t that itself a power?’

‘You brought Thailand to that point. Why don’t you stop it if you want? Isn’t that a threat?’

‘Let’s say we don’t use the Holy Kingdom currency.’

‘I warn you that we may have to stop trading with the Holy Kingdom.’

Southeast Asian countries tried to stop using the Holy Kingdom currency, which they used as a reserve currency, and replaced it with an imperial currency, but it was no use to Maruhan.

“You’re not going to use it as a reserve currency and you’re not going to trade with it? That’s okay.”

Southeast Asian countries began refusing to export raw materials and regulating the import of goods from the Holy Kingdom, but the Holy Kingdom was not Korea or an empire.

It was a shame that there were no Southeast Asian raw materials, but if we mined them, that would be the end of it.

The same goes for product exports. In fact, since the factory was being run by an automated process using AI robots, it was possible to simply stop the line or sell it to an empire struggling with a huge war of attrition. This was possible because the domestic demand of the Holy Kingdom was returning to the hunter economy.

And Maru drew his sword towards those Southeast Asian countries. Not metaphorically. Physically-

‘It’s a violation of sovereignty.’

‘Are you thinking of going to war?’

‘The king of a country is assassinated!’

There was no further warning, either way.

Maru began harvesting the heads of government officials from each Southeast Asian country.

There were also those who sought negotiations.

There were also people who asked to be saved.

Some agreed to close the sinkhole, but that was it. A fair death saw them off.

And Korea and the Empire contacted each other via an emergency line.