Colonial Empire

Yuseong focused on gathering information while walking around wherever his feet took him.

Clothing, shopping districts, advertisements, transportation, music, atmosphere.

Anything would do.

Though it seemed similar to Earth’s civilization, this was clearly a different world.

What was considered common sense on Earth could be taboo in the demon realm, and even small mannerisms or behaviors could raise suspicion.

After wandering the city for about half a day, Yuseong was able to get a rough sense of the demon realm.

‘A world where supernatural abilities and science coexist.’

At first glance it looked like a futuristic world with advanced scientific civilization, but looking just a bit closer, supernatural abilities were easily found.

There were humans, no, demons levitating luggage with magic, and demons leaping over buildings using movement techniques.

He thought Earth might develop into a civilization like this by 2077 if it successfully defended against the monster invasion.

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Yuseong, who had been staring intently at various hologram advertisements, narrowed his eyes.

Earth was also mass producing ability users through ability awakening potions and academies, but it took at least two months to produce ability users with minimal competence.

Though objectively speaking, two months was quite fast, it was nothing compared to these demons.

‘A chip that can turn a normal person into a mage with just a brief surgery? Should I investigate this? If done well, it could greatly increase the number of ability users….’

He contemplated briefly but the answer was already set.

“Not a chance.”

Though it was certainly an attractive item, it would clearly have an astronomical price tag to match.

Moreover, to properly utilize the chip, he would need the chip’s blueprints or facilities that could produce chips rather than just the chip itself, and the difficulty of acquisition and price were unimaginable.

What was the reason Sophia couldn’t properly utilize technology centuries ahead of Earth’s despite having it?

Because the price of facilities needed to utilize that technology was that expensive.

If the price of an artificial brain used in making combat androids is 1, the price of facilities to produce that artificial brain would be around 1,000.

Mass production was obviously impossible.

The fact that many users had come to this world before also bothered him.

Other users weren’t fools either.

Surely some users would have gathered information about the demon realm and learned these facts.

Yet the fact that similar items or related knowledge hadn’t spread to Earth meant there was clearly some problem.

“Should I start moving now?”

He had roughly grasped the demons’ behavioral patterns.

Now it was time to gather proper information.

Yuseong got up from the bench and walked toward the city outskirts.

The further from downtown, the more dilapidated the buildings became, and the frequency of androids and drones decreased.

“This just came out. I’ll give it to you for free, so try it.”

“Open the door while I’m asking nicely! If you borrowed money you should pay it back!”

“Are you crazy? A half-blood clan member daring to do business in our territory? Is this a declaration of war?”

“Guh! P-please spare me!”

The place Yuseong finally arrived at was a slum ruled by lawlessness and chaos rather than law and order.

The slum residents closely watched the neat suit-wearing man who appeared in their territory.

Though he felt their intense gazes, Yuseong casually walked the streets pretending not to notice anything.

And when passing through a deserted alley, he was able to meet the person he wanted.

Swoosh.

“Quietly come with me.”

A cold sensation at his nape.

Yuseong didn’t resist and followed as the presence behind him led.

After going deep into intricately winding alleys for quite a while, a dead end appeared.

A remote spot with no surveillance cameras that were everywhere in the city, nor even the drones occasionally seen in the slums.

A murky voice reached Yuseong’s ears as he faintly smiled.

“Hand over everything you have if you don’t want to die.”

“And if I refuse?”

“Hey, can’t you read the situation? This is a place with nothing. A place where no one would know even if something happened.”

“Seems that way.”

An impossibly calm voice for someone with a blade aimed at their vitals.

People who show this kind of reaction fall into one of two categories.

One is a madman incapable of proper thought.

The other is someone strong confident in their abilities.

The former would be fortunate but the latter would be dangerous.

The demon was about to put strength into the hand holding the dagger, but Yuseong’s movement was even faster.

Clang!

“Arghhhh!”

With a light wave of his hand, the dagger shattered and fragments embedded in the demon’s face.

The demon who had screamed at the burning pain in his face soon collapsed to the ground as strength left him from the intense pain rising from his shin.

Through tear-blurred vision, he saw his knee bent in an unnatural direction.

“Keep your mouth shut if you don’t want to die.”

The demon frantically nodded his head at the pressure felt on his chest.

No matter how desperately he struggled and pushed, the foot on his chest didn’t budge an inch.

He had a feeling that foot would crush his ribs and burst his heart at even the slightest sound.

Yuseong began searching through the trembling demon’s possessions.

A worn wallet containing smelly coins and crumpled bills.

A bracelet-type terminal.

A case containing several IDs.

After collecting everything worth taking, Yuseong looked at the pale-faced demon and released the pressure from his leg.

“Cough! Haa, haa…”

“I’m going to ask you questions now. No questions back. Understood?”

“Y-yes, I understand.”

“How do you use this device?”

“Huh?”

“…”

“I-I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything!”

The demon began rapidly explaining how to use the terminal.

After learning all information about the terminal from how to turn it on to installed programs, passwords, etc., Yuseong immediately asked his next question.

“What’s this city’s name?”

“T-Tigros.”

“What’s the city’s population?”

“Around a million from what I know.”

“What’s the city’s military power?”

“Where’s the nearest city?”

“Tell me about the military’s organization, weapons, and equipment.”

“Explain about the demon realm.”

“Do you know what happened to the invaders who invaded the demon realm decades ago?”

He had no idea why these questions were being asked.

Strange questions whose intent couldn’t be guessed.

But now wasn’t the time to have doubts.

The demon shoved all questions to a corner of his mind and focused only on answering this monster’s questions.

Yuseong asked and the demon answered for quite a while.

When the dome ceiling darkened to match the outside time and hologram moon and stars rose, Yuseong finally asked his last question.

“Do you know of any ways to go to other worlds?”

The strangest question among all questions heard so far.

No, strange wasn’t enough to describe it.

It was bizarre.

How could an adult demon not know about ways to go to other worlds?

Squeeze.

“O-of course I know. So you see…”

* * *

“A gate?”

“Yes. They said there are gates connected to other worlds in a city called Black Citadel.”

“Black Citadel!”

“You know the city?”

“How could I not know! An ultra-megacity housing over a hundred million demons! Why! Why did it have to be there of all places where even the Vimana didn’t dare attack in its time!”

“P-princess! Please calm down!”

‘A hundred million?!’

Watching Teresa’s group fall into shock, Yuseong accessed the demon realm’s network by operating the bracelet-type terminal.

Though the interface was quite foreign, as a modern person familiar with the internet he could easily adapt and find information about Black Citadel.

[The Demon Realm’s Only Hope]

He gave a hollow laugh at the grandiose title but as he checked the contents, Yuseong’s expression grew increasingly rigid.

The expression “demon realm’s only hope” wasn’t an exaggeration.

Black Citadel was the demon realm’s only resource base supplying resources needed to sustain civilization.

The demon realm had exhausted all resources a very long time ago.

When they say ‘all resources’, they mean not just resources on the planet demon realm but resources on all contactable nearby planets.

There were no more resources to mine, and exploring further into space wasn’t efficient.

After much deliberation, the demons found a new method.

‘How about plundering other dimensions?’

Though ridiculous, it was a more realistic method than relocating billions of demons approaching the trillions to other planets, or killing all but a small population that could be sustained with the remaining minimal resources.

After long research, the demons created gates that could travel between dimensions and succeeded in plundering resources from other worlds.

The number of gates gradually increased and accordingly the number of colonial dimensions also gradually increased.

A dimension-scale colonial empire.

That was the true identity of the demon realm.

‘No wonder the Civilization Grade exceeds 2.’

He had thought it was an advanced world but not advanced enough for the Civilization Grade to exceed 2.

But that thought was wrong.

The total number of gates shown on the hologram window was 1,012.

A world that plundered and exerted influence over a thousand dimensions deserved this level of Civilization Grade.

“…What do we do now?”

Teresa muttered in a dazed voice.

They had found a way to escape.

But that method was more dangerous than sticking one’s head in a dragon’s mouth.

An ultra-megacity housing over a hundred million demons.

Moreover, considering the importance of the gates, there would clearly be strict security.

They couldn’t possibly break through with just four people a place that the suicide squad couldn’t dare approach even at full strength.

Add to that finding the suicide squad who could be anywhere, and there really was no answer.

“Mr. Yuseong?”

Yuseong didn’t answer Teresa’s call and began examining other sites by operating the terminal.

Walter and Nathan tried to call Yuseong but Teresa stopped them, sensing an unusual atmosphere.

And after quite some time passed, Yuseong’s mouth opened.

“I think there might be a way.”

“R-really? What is it?!”

Yuseong explained his method in a calm voice.

Teresa’s expression was initially expectant but grew increasingly rigid as the explanation continued.

And when Yuseong’s explanation finished, not just Teresa but Walter and Nathan too all wore strange expressions beyond words.

Though they seemed to have much to say, Yuseong silenced them with one sentence.

“Do you have another way?”

“…”

“If not, we’ll go with my plan.”

From that day on, a guerrilla unit composed of humans began attacking demons.