Chaos

Looking at the message window that appeared before his eyes, Yuseong wore a wry expression.

The Stat Increase Elixir has a lower chance of taking effect the higher one’s abilities are.

In the worst case, he had been prepared for the possibility that drinking all the mystic pills might not increase his abilities even by one point, but who would have thought it would succeed on the first try.

[Product List]

-Strength Increase(A) : 10,000,000

‘As expected, it increased tenfold. From this point on, growth using ability increase rights is practically impossible.’

Even if he poured in all his current karma, he could only increase by 100 points.

It was extremely inefficient.

Rather than spending ten million karma points to increase an ability by one point, it would be far more beneficial to purchase skills or items.

Though the reward obtained after breaking through the limit was no better than a chicken rib, Yuseong smiled instead.

If even he, who cleared most quests with SSS rank, was thinking this way, Bruce must not have purchased ability increase rights either even after breaking through his limit.

‘Bruce’s abilities weren’t that high except for internal energy. Since he didn’t seem to be wearing any special items besides his sword, he probably focused on purchasing skills.’

If Bruce’s strength had come from items or abilities, it would have been difficult to catch up in a short time.

But skills were a different story.

Though the situation was too urgent at the time to do more than steal the Flying Sword Formation, with enough time he could have stolen all the martial arts Bruce had mastered.

Although he wouldn’t be able to execute them as skillfully as Bruce, just knowing the characteristics and weaknesses of the martial arts would greatly narrow the gap with Bruce.

Add to that increasing his abilities using karma points obtained from users wearing mass-produced goggles…

“I can definitely win.”

The only problem was time.

Though ability increase rights consumed relatively fewer karma points compared to the Sun Moon Ritual, it still wasn’t an amount that could be gathered in just a day or two.

To raise abilities enough to make a meaningful difference, he would need to distribute the mass-produced goggles and gather karma for at least several days.

‘Whether through media play or whatever, I need to buy as much time as possible.’

“…But first, let me finish drinking all of these.”

There were about 250 ability increase mystic pills in total.

Fortunately, he was able to break through the strength limit on his first attempt, but there was no guarantee such luck would continue.

After organizing his thoughts, Yuseong picked up the second mystic pill with a grave expression.

One day later.

Yuseong emerged from his room clutching his bloated stomach.

“…Urgh.”

Though his stomach felt like it would burst, he had succeeded in breaking through the limits of all his abilities.

Now all that remained was to mass produce the goggles and buy time until karma accumulated.

However, the situation didn’t flow as smoothly as Yuseong had thought.

-As of this moment, the People’s Republic of China declares itself the Human Alliance. The current system cannot survive the crisis humanity now faces. Ability users, military, resources, technology, capital. The Human Alliance, which gathers all of humanity’s strength in one place, is the new order and only alternative for humanity’s survival against the ever-increasing monsters and intensifying attacks. For humanity’s sake, I implore you. Please forget personal greed and old grudges, and lend your strength to the Human Alliance.

A massive hall filled with various political and business figures, famous Contractors, and countless reporters.

Bruce, Ryuhei, and Isaac, three heroes, stood on the podium at the end, with Changwei at the very front giving the speech.

However, that wasn’t what was important.

Woong!

An angel floating in the air with golden halo and brilliant pure white wings spread wide.

Even the reporters, let alone ordinary people, were lost in a daze, staring blankly at the overwhelming visuals wrapped in sacred radiance that naturally inspired reverence.

-Some may dislike the Human Alliance system. But humanity’s survival must take precedence over all else. Neither rights nor freedom can come before humanity’s survival. We will consider any hostility or attacks against the Human Alliance as threats to humanity and respond resolutely. Even…

Changwei paused briefly before declaring forcefully.

-Even fellow humans will be no exception.

* * *

Changwei’s declaration of the Human Alliance’s founding caused major repercussions across the world, for better or worse.

At first, many people supported the Human Alliance due to the reassuring presence of no less than four heroes gathered together and the assertion that humanity’s survival was the top priority.

However, when it became known that the Human Alliance’s system was stricter than anyone could have imagined, the atmosphere immediately reversed.

First, the conditions for joining the Human Alliance became an issue.

While ability users could easily become members of the Human Alliance, the requirements for non-ability users were unimaginably strict.

They would accept the so-called useful humans like the wealthy, soldiers, and scientists, as well as healthy men and women, but wouldn’t accept ordinary citizens at all.

The next problem was the revived class system.

People belonging to the Human Alliance were divided into four classes.

First-class citizens consisting of the four heroes, second-class citizens made up of ability users and political and business figures, third-class citizens comprised of soldiers, scientists, and technicians.

And finally, fourth-class citizens made up of ordinary people.

The fourth-class citizens at the very bottom received treatment little better than slaves, while those higher up could enjoy more rights and freedoms.

“All humans are equal! Human Alliance, abolish the class system!”

“Are you saying ordinary people should just die! If the Human Alliance truly cares about humanity’s survival, they should accept ordinary citizens too!”

The movements opposing the Human Alliance that arose around the world were just the beginning.

As high-level personnel and funds and resources from around the world suddenly poured into the Human Alliance, the whole world fell into extreme chaos.

Like dominoes, when the barely maintained economy collapsed, social systems crumbled next and governments lost power.

As disorder spread, damage from monsters increased, anxious people struggled to enter the Human Alliance, and ordinary citizens who couldn’t meet the qualifications criticized this…

It was truly a vicious cycle.

“Under the pretext of serving humanity, the Human Alliance is trying to push countless humans into the pit of death! The Human Alliance must immediately repatriate our ability users who defected and retract all their statements so far!”

The most fatal blow was the outflow of ability users.

As ability users who were core to monster defense began defecting to the Human Alliance, damage to humanity increased dramatically.

Among them, Russia, which directly shared a border, showed such an extreme reaction as to mention war and nuclear weapons in official statements.

However, such reactions didn’t last long.

Boom!

A squadron of fighter jets flying at Mach speed explodes upon hitting a golden barrier that suddenly appeared in the air.

The following fighter jets sharply changed course and unleashed missiles, but not even a scratch appeared on the barrier.

And shortly after, all the fighter jets were shot down by Lucifer.

“Investigation shows that barrier covers all of China. It seems to react to beings with power above a certain level or things approaching above a certain speed, and it’s quite troublesome.”

“…A barrier covering all of China? Even for a transcendent being, is that possible?”

“Changwei must have done something. That guy is both an excellent sorcerer and physics. Can’t measure him by normal common sense.”

Staring at the barrier appearing on the monitor, Yuseong let out a sigh.

A barrier spanning from sky to underground, with strength that couldn’t be penetrated by conventional weapons.

With a user’s power they could force their way through, but then Lucifer and the users would immediately come running after sensing something strange.

‘So he had reason to be confident. I thought he was just acting reckless relying on Lucifer and Vimana, but I guess he’s not classified as Three Strong for nothing.’

It was unexpected, as he had unconsciously looked down on him since he hadn’t engaged in external activities for nearly a year.

“So what are you going to do now?”

Kang Changseok’s sharp voice reached Yuseong’s ears as he was lost in thought.

Hollow eyes and dark circles, dry lips and a complexion that looked like he could collapse at any moment.

Kang Changseok had suffered astronomical losses as the world economy went down the drain.

Of course, as they say the rich stay rich for three generations, he still had vast wealth remaining, but it was merely a drop in the bucket compared to his prime.

Yuseong shuddered slightly recalling the -99% figure that had appeared on Kang Changseok’s smartphone.

“…Are you alright?”

“Alright? What do you mean? As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. No problem. So hurry up and tell me how we’re going to teach that bastard Changwei a lesson.”

Seeing Kang Changseok exuding murderous intent, Yuseong quickly opened his mouth.

“Olga.”

“I’ve been waiting.”

Now that the barrier had appeared and entering China was impossible, the information Olga brought was worth its weight in gold.

When Olga pressed a button, the screen showing the barrier changed.

Cone-shaped structures covered in bizarre patterns were erected everywhere regardless of mountains, plains, rivers, or city centers.

“These structures are erected all over China. Just the ones I found number over 500.”

“Wait, there are at least 500 of these? Nothing showed up on satellite photos though?”

“They’re hidden by such powerful concealment techniques that only users can detect them. Even ability users passing right by can’t notice them, so that says it all. I just took photos since I didn’t know what they were, but Kasim. Can you guess what they might be?”

“Hmm, sorcery isn’t my field so I can’t say for certain. Energy transmission devices maybe? They look like pillars maintaining the barrier at least.”

“They’re priority targets for destruction then.”

The reason Changwei can act so forcefully now while ignoring other countries is because of the barrier.

Just removing the barrier that renders all conventional forces useless would stop him from endlessly taking high-level personnel and ability users from other countries.

“Next I’ll show you this. Be warned, it’s a bit brutal.”

Screech!

“Aaaaagh!”

A terrible scream that made them flinch.

Though the volume was quickly lowered, an even louder scream followed.

The screen showed people being tortured by others wearing beast masks.

Silence fell over the conference room at the sight of people screaming wretchedly as they were cut by blades, burned by fire, submerged in water, electrocuted, and had their nails pulled out.

Regardless, the video continued playing.

After walking for quite a while through a place reminiscent of hell, a completely opposite scene unfolded.

In a pure white space exuding holiness, countless people were gathered, kneeling in prayer and singing hymns.

The sight of hundreds or thousands of people moving as one while focused on prayer sent chills down their spines in a different way.

“I was curious why they were doing such horrible things, so I threatened someone involved, but they said even they didn’t know.”

“…I think I roughly know what this is.”

As everyone in the conference room watched, Kasim spoke in a cold voice.

“They’re gathering faith and magic power.”