Chapter 124: Web Of Plans
Couple more days passed.
The capital had stopped pretending to be okay.
Smoke rose from scattered points across the city — not a single front, but a dozen fractures where authority had already collapsed.
Checkpoints still existed, but they no longer formed a line. Just isolated soldiers holding intersections they couldn't reinforce. Everything was converging here now.
Not just the refugees, but also the remaining military forces, Defense Force units, and other organizations converged here to make a final stand.
They were all wary of the monster tide heading their way, expected to reach them in three days.
But things didn't go according to plan.
Most were stuck at the outer wall because of the fear of infection that had already destroyed multiple cities. The government had announced it was a type of pathogen originating from an unknown beast.
This led to even more fear. Because what was scarier than monsters? Parasites that could control humans and turn them into zombies.
"Are you okay, young man?" a woman in her sixties asked. With unsteady legs, she offered a bottle of water to a man in rugged clothes and a blindfold. She assumed he had been injured and had lost his sight.
"Thank you," Francis replied. "But I think you need it more than I do."
"Oh, don't mind me, young man. I'm already old. To be honest, I'm only here because my daughters brought me. I would rather die in my own home, you know."
"Where are you from?" he asked.
She answered honestly. He realized it was one of the cities he had destroyed.
Although he was responsible for it, he felt no guilt. Given how things were unfolding, humanity would likely be wiped out anyway. Turning them into fuel seemed far better than letting them all die without purpose.
In addition, his ability killed them without them even feeling pain. It was like a switch had been flipped—they simply ceased to breath. It was far better than watching hundreds of thousands of monsters tearing through humans.
After speaking with the old woman, he moved on, listening to the crowd.
Near a broken concrete barrier, a group marked as Special Categories stood slightly apart. Their attention wasn't on the crowd but on each other, as if confirming the story by repeating it in fragments.
"The Dark Plague," one of them said, then stopped, searching for the right way to continue.
Another answered without looking up. "People just… change. One moment they're normal. Next, they're not."
A third rubbed his forearm as he spoke. "And those tendrils..."
No one interrupted him. Even the passing refugees slowed for a second before moving on.
"I think only humans can be infected by it," one of them whispered.
The others nodded in agreement. It was the only explanation they could reach.
Special Categories already had stronger immune systems to begin with. They rarely fell sick.
"But isn't this dangerous?" one of them asked. "Look, they're not allowing us inside the city walls, and they've got us packed together with ordinary people who could already be sick."
"You're right. It won't be easy for us to slip in either. The whole place is on high alert."
They continued their conversation in hushed voices, unaware that the one responsible for it all was already within walking distance.
Fortunately for them, Francis had no intention of infecting anyone here—not yet. His attention was fixed on something else entirely.
As soon as he found a gap in the city's defenses, he used his speed to slip through unnoticed and headed straight to his destination.
The city's inner districts were quieter than the outer walls, but the tension remained.
Francis moved through the streets without difficulty. Military vehicles sat at intersections while exhausted soldiers rested nearby. Nobody rushed anymore. They were simply waiting.
He already knew where he was going. He had smelled it from miles away.
As the streets descended, the buildings began to thin. A military perimeter surrounded the area ahead. Temporary fencing and a few guards marked the boundary.
Beyond it lay Rynik's corpse. Up close, it was even larger than. He couldn't help but be struck by its sheer scale, and by the human technology that had managed to kill such a creature—four of them in fact.
But he hadn't come here to sightsee or be amazed. He had come because the system had given him a mission: to retrieve the livers of all the Kings.
He didn't know why the system suddenly gave him such a quest, and he didn't care. Right now, it was the only thing that could bring his daughters back, so he was willing to follow it through.
Francis slipped through a gap in the fence.
The soldiers never noticed. He moved so fast that he was nothing more than a blur.
The corpse stretched across several city blocks. Buildings leaned against it. Roads curved around it. Parts of the city had been rebuilt with the corpse as part of the landscape because nobody had been able to remove it.
Even after all this time, it remained intact, showing no sign of decay.
Francis could immediately sense why.
The energy inside hadn't dispersed after death. It had gathered deep within the corpse, concentrated into something dense and powerful.
He began circling the outer edge until he found an opening along the lower torso.
Warning signs and barrier tape surrounded the entrance, but no guards were posted nearby—likely because they believed their forces were better used elsewhere than guarding a corpse.
Francis stepped over the tape and entered.
The deeper he went, the stronger the energy became. He was probably the only being capable of perceiving it at this level.
The tunnels twisted through chambers large enough to fit entire buildings. Strange currents flowed through the corpse, all moving toward a single destination.
Francis followed the flow of energy. In his view, it looked like veins suspended in the air, and just being here rejuvenated his cells.
If Aris came here, there was a chance she would become much stronger just by breathing the air.
After several minutes, the passage opened into a massive chamber.
He stopped.
The liver was directly ahead.
It barely resembled an organ anymore.
The structure had grown to the size of several buildings, its surface folded into countless layers. Every current inside the corpse converged here.
This was the source.
Francis got closer.
He looked at it for a long moment.
Then he stepped forward, and placed his hand flat against the surface.
Something immediately pulled at his senses. He tried to resist at first, but instinctively knew it wasn't hostile, so he let go.
His senses shut down for a second. When his vision returned, he found himself in an open white empty space.
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
Lightning crossed the emptiness in branching lines,
Francis stood in the middle of it and looked upward.
"So you're finally here."
The shape gathering above him was enormous, assembling itself until a bird's head appeared.
"You're still alive?" Francis asked.
"Kings cannot be killed in a true sense. After a hundred years, I will just reincarnate through a being that shares my bloodline."
He didn't sense any falsehood in the words, nor did he particularly care. He could leave this space whenever he wanted, so there was no need to rush.
What interested him more was speaking with Rynik—or whatever stood before him. From its words, it seemed to know Francis' origin, or at least have some clue about it.
"You said finally. You knew I was coming."
"I knew something like you would come. We Kings have existed in this world for a long time. We can feel when an anomaly like you enters our world."
Francis assumed it was referring to the moment he transmigrated.
"So you also felt me back in that city?"
It nodded.
"Yes. Did you like my gift? I made sure to hit more cities along the way to make your life easier."
"So you intentionally caused that damage because you knew I need humans to grow stronger?"
"That is right. Well, to be exact, my siblings and I formed a plan to help you grow stronger faster. Our attacks was simply a distraction, to keep the humans eyes from you."
Francis paused, caught off guard. If what it said was true, then the deaths of the Kings weren't due to chance or carelessness, but part of a larger plan meant to benefit him.
But why? There had to be something they gained from it.
As he thought it through, he remembered the prophecy Aris had told him.
"Is this about that prophecy? Of the new king?"
It took a couple of seconds to reply, but when it did, Francis could tell it was quite excited.
"Oh, so you already know of it. That makes this easier. The prophecy is indeed real."
"Don't tell me you're the one who made it?"
It shook its head. "Unfortunately, I'm not powerful enough to do that. But I know who is responsible for summoning you into our world."