NOVEL NEXT Chapter 649
<649 – The Possibility of Crisis (11)>
The Director of the Wahyhiemhai Foundation had three powerful agents known as the Direct Three.
Secretary Office Head.
Butler of Foundation.
Maid Jang.
Among them, the Secretary Office Head stayed by the Director’s side, taking on the role of Supreme Commander, responsible for overseeing and managing his tasks.
Maid Jang resided at the Foundation Headquarters, protecting both the Headquarters and the Director from attacks by external powerful beings.
The Butler naturally became the representative of force projected outward.
“The temperature of the continent is rising far too quickly. It seems the ‘Principal’ has started a new game. This time, the destination will be the Fire Spirit Realm.”
“Just leave it to me.”
As always, the Butler didn’t voice any difficulties.
Whatever orders were given, he would fulfill them by any means necessary.
He always tried not to disappoint the Director and had actually achieved many results.
“Gwaaaah!”
“Save meeeee!”
The Spirit Realm was akin to Hell.
It’s the same for any dimension where humans are not the masters, but the races that had been exploited as ‘resources’ by humans also treated humans as resources in their own dimensions.
Faced with the sight of humans, who had become bodies unable to die despite feeling the burning pain bestowed by fire, hanging on the pyres and screaming, the Butlers’ faces hardened.
“Sir Butler, if we free them, our power could increase.”
“Leave them be. The moment their screams cease, the spirits will take notice. As soon as those who have submitted to pain sell our information, infiltration missions become a nightmare.”
Even receiving the disapproving stares of his fellow Butlers, the Butler remained unfazed.
A sacrifice of common animals for the greater good.
A slogan one becomes accustomed to when stepping into darkness.
While the revolutionary army’s purpose is to save the continent’s poor commoners from the cruel Seonhwang, the Butler’s purpose was different.
It was to stand against all threats to humanity, for humanity.
To remove risks that could harm a thousand, one must be able to turn a blind eye to the deaths of a hundred.
“The pyres of pain. An aesthetically grotesque mana-collecting device. They deserve to be annihilated.”
The flame spirits drew energy from the screams and cries of humans and other beings of the Middle Realm, using their anger, pain, and despair to feed the growth of their respective Magic Cores.
Thus, lowly fire spirits were impatient, agitated, and lacked a broad perspective.
Beyond the execution grounds of the low-ranking spirits, the Butler Organization held their breath as they discovered spirits beginning to take on shapes resembling beasts or humans.
“So boring. No matter how many screams we collect, they just turn into those monsters. Do they really want to evolve into such beastly forms?”
“Right? If they’re going to evolve, shouldn’t it be into beautiful forms? Those low-ranking spirits that believe pain must stem from eternal torment just can’t get it.”
Intermediate fire spirits had forms of large or muscular beasts or beautiful, graceful bodies.
The former was the result of low-ranking spirits accumulating energy over time, as the force’s total filled up their vessels and expanded into new forms due to the torture of the pyres.
The latter was the product of having listened for a new way to siphon power, tired of long torment and screams.
“Hey, Posi. Would you still sacrifice anything for ‘beauty’?”
“No… I did… it wrong… gurgle, cough… please forgive me…!”
“Nope~. You were the one who asked to scorch the faces of the flame maidens who seduced the man you liked. You were the one who said you’d be fine with your soul burning in the afterlife, right?”
A contract with fire spirits, hardly different from a deal with a demon.
As a result of fulfilling a momentary whimsical desire, the woman Posi was forced to follow the fire spirit, bound by the fire ring of the spirit, with a face ravaged and burned to a grotesque state.
Ironically, the spirit’s face resembled Posi’s.
It was the result of snatching away only her face from her soul’s form.
The spirits had anywhere from one fire ring connected by a collar to as many as five or six collars.
Women and men, humans and half-breeds, children and adults.
No matter the gender, race, or age.
All beings possessing the ‘beauty’ that fire spirits coveted became a sacrifice for their soul-bonding contracts where they paid with their souls to cover the mana needed.
The result of them being stripped of their bodies or talents made the spirits flourish, and the eternal jealousy and despair of those stripped of their own fed them energy.
“No hell like this exists.”
“I want to incinerate those guys.”
“Denied. Our goal lies deeper still.”
Mind Link.
The Butler Commanded all the Butlers under him using a magical thread that exchanged ideas without voice.
The Spirit Realm was dotted with continuous greed and cruel exploitation.
Just as the pyres of low-ranking spirits were the case, the realms of intermediate spirits were also simply traps that summoned stronger beings.
“Ugh~ so boring. Aren’t there any humans who want to have a war?”
“Come on. We aren’t even intermediate spirits, and even if we were to backtrack our strength with collateral, those strong and tempting heroes wouldn’t easily take on soul-backed loans.”
“Do you think if we gather the prisoners and burn them, we could repay?”
“Do you think those humans, nearing their due dates, haven’t already messed things up with fire before even completing their quotas? Ha! Not likely.”
“Why? There have been plenty of wars happening nowadays.”
“The fact there are many strong humans means it’s not likely a soul of theirs, even with mana backing, would satisfy us enough to devour.”
The fire structures.
Within the vast burning facility, those with the most beautiful appearances or the most exceptional talents rolled around restlessly, unable to endure their boredom.
Collecting numerous “collars,” they imprisoned them within the facility’s farm and conspired to contract with better contractees in their perfected states by luring them in with their looks or talents.
They primarily contracted with strong beings, making it rare to gather new “collars” like in their intermediate spirit days.
Instead, they sought contractees who could sufficiently supply them with mana, going down to the Middle Realm to enjoy life or directly seducing the contractees.
“Seems like Momento could be turned soon if I seduce just a little bit more?”
“Wow, I’m jealous. I should have transformed into a woman. Men are so easily tricked!”
“Cough Snicker Well, as long as male forms look good, it’s the same for women too.”
“That’s true.”
“This time, I should ask for a territory to be burnt as the price for a feast. While delicacies are nice, sometimes it’s good to fill up on sheep when you’re hungry.”
“I’m so envious. My contractee is busy doing some lame research on spirit cores; I’m thinking of letting my undergrad handle it and telling him to burn his master.”
Even the chilling tales of the high-ranking spirits made the Butler endure.
However, some Butlers couldn’t suppress their emotions and were discovered by the spirits.
“Hehe~? An uninvited guest?”
“Walking into the Fire Spirit Realm without a contract? You’re no different than a walking T-bone steak!”
“Heheh Hahaha!”
“Those crazy spirits! I’ll no longer forgive you!!”
Recognizing they had been exposed, the Butlers cut the Mind Link and dashed away.
Other Butlers were agitated, but the Butler remained coldly resolute, turning his steps away.
“Ignore it. Unless you intend to fight against the endless hordes of spirits and a battle that is already decided as a loss.”
Many spirits popped like popcorn
under the Butlers’ hands, but the likelihood of that ending in the Butlers’ deaths was immense to the point of being meaningless to measure.The Butler continued toward the territory castle located at the center of the Fire Territory, targeting the Fire Lord, the supreme spirit ruling a region of the Spirit Realm.
Though regrets lingered for the losses among the Butlers, thanks to their sacrifices, a gap opened in the surveillance of upper-ranking spirits exiting the fortress.
“Remember this. Our goal is to diminish the power of the Fire Spirit Realm. The moment we defeat the Lord, we will open the path and escape while the spirits of the territory are thrown into chaos.”
Collect, isolate, and eliminate all threats to humanity.
Following the Foundation’s motto, the Butler finally drew the assassination knife sharpened from his long-sustained anger.
“Starting now. Allow not a single spirit to escape from this stronghold.”
The Butlers’ anger-laden assassination knife viciously violated the spirits’ bodies and destroyed their Magic Cores.
*
“Gasp…!”
“My, you seem to have had quite the nightmare. Would you like a glass of water?”
Waking from a nightmare, the Butler glared at the skeleton handing over a glass of water without a care in the world.
“A shapeshifter. Did you think I’d look so foolish, not recognizing you’re transforming poison into water?”
“Haha. Gotcha? That’s too bad.”
“You wouldn’t understand what the Butler Organization saw in the Fire Spirit Realm, what we are fighting against to protect this Middle Realm…”
“Thank you for your moving dedication, but I would have preferred to hear that while not being kidnapped in the first place.”
“…We are lacking in power. Every invasion from other dimensions incurs immense losses, and the number of Butlers willing to dedicate themselves for humanity, the Foundation, and the Director is insufficient.”
The Butler glared at the Skeleton Director.
“Thus, you must become our ‘bait.’ A subject to draw in new Butler Candidates into the Foundation’s Butler Division. Don’t do anything foolish. If you fulfill the role of the bait, you too can return to a branch.”
Had those words not been for the sake of memory incineration magic, he might have accepted them willingly.
Overseeing the scholarship students dispatched to the Gift Academy, the Director Pasible Yep dressed in a skeleton suit laughed with his characteristic joint sounds.
“I understand you have your own circumstances. But the memories I hold are precious puzzles for me to exist as I am. I cannot forgive those who dare to touch them.”
In a moment of mental protection, Pasible Yep retained his memories even during the Foundation Butler’s assault.
However, in front of his loyal aide Kkamang, he showed the appearance of a cold-hearted Director who had lost his memories.
“You likely intended to draw in Oknodie’s forces, but Kkamang has provided results beyond expectations as her loyalty to her master deepens.”
Some memories may not be his, but even if viewed with the eyes of someone gazing at photographs, they are cherished.
Memories. Friendship. Love.
The more beautiful those memories are, the more they are treasured.
Pasible Yep felt that the mundane life he shared with Kkamang, Jukeongmusae, and Silheongmusae was even more valuable than the dedication of the Butlers for humanity or the cruel behavior of the spirits, or the threats of the Middle Realm.
“I eagerly anticipate how much of a powerful ally an angry Kkamang will bring.”
Pasible Yep’s expectations were soon realized.
A Butler sensed someone stepping at the cave entrance and went out to greet them.
Reinforcements had finally arrived.
“Could it be Oknodie themselves? Or perhaps a professor from the Academy?”
The question didn’t linger long.
Crash! Boom boom boom!
Caught in the mad assault of a golem that was collapsing pillars leading to the barrier and within the mountain, he was swept away.
“Those crazy bastards! What do they think they’re doing, swinging their fists as if to kill the hostages too…”
From inside the collapsed cave came a man’s voice that was more shocked than surprised.
“…I see. It’s not a Guard Golem but a Battle Golem, so from the start, it cared nothing for hostages.”
Surviving thanks to Alchemy’s columns propping up the falling debris, Pasible Yep mused whether it was really true.
“That cunning trick must be the doing of that Professor Sadako’s disciple Oknodie.”
A reasonable deduction.