Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 547

Chapter 547

The rebellion of the giant golem left a deep wound in the West District.

Countless buildings and people had been destroyed or injured.

If Kim Hyunsu and the leadership had at least remained intact, they could have settled the situation easily, but unfortunately all of them had taken heavy damage and could not step forward to the front lines.

Sitting in his chair, Kim Hyunsu’s complexion was pale.

Forcibly disassembled into parts by Tridgion, Kim Hyunsu had been found by his subordinates in a bug-like state.

Only after they fitted him with old-model parts was he barely able to move.

All the parts of his close aides who had been controlled by Tridgion were also replaced with old models. The latest parts could not be trusted.

The old parts developed two generations ago were far more awkward in movement and far weaker in power compared to the latest ones. But Kim Hyunsu and his aides had no choice.

That was how great the trauma Tridgion had left them was.

The fear that their mechanical bodies might be taken over again at any moment made them reluctant to use the latest parts.

The return to old parts greatly weakened the West District’s power.

But the greatest loss was that Triox Five no longer existed.

Triox Five had been the alpha and omega of the West District.

Once Triox Five disappeared, countless problems immediately exploded.

From water facilities to power supply, manpower management, raiding force logistics, to the defects in parts.

So many problems erupted at once that they didn’t even know where to start fixing things.

Because of that, Kim Hyunsu hadn’t slept properly for days.

In front of him sat a stylish middle-aged man.

The gentleman with a neatly groomed beard and hair combed perfectly into place was none other than Jin Geumho, the ruler of Neo Seoul.

Beside Jin Geumho stood Sung Hoyun and Grain.

Just the fact that the Numbers’ highest combat power was with him created tremendous pressure.

The Kim Hyunsu of the past would have brushed off this pressure without care, but now he couldn’t.

Jin Geumho, whom he had thought was wandering on the edge of life and death, was perfectly fine, while the West District’s power had been cut down by more than half.

If Jin Geumho harbored bad intentions, swallowing up the West District would take only an instant.

‘Damn it!’

Kim Hyunsu, who usually revealed almost no emotion like a machine, now had all his unease plainly written on his face.

Jin Geumho looked at him as if he found it amusing.

“So you were human too.”

“There has never been a single time when I wasn’t human.”

“Is that so? I thought you’d been completely eroded by machines and couldn’t feel emotions. Seeing that face, I feel a bit relieved. You look human.”

“Are you mocking me?”

“Does it look like I am?”

“Then you’re not?”

“If I were, I would’ve brought a bigger audience. Let me say it again—I came to help you.”

“Help me how?”

“I’ll help with the reconstruction of the West District.”

“It won’t be for free, will it?”

“Where in the world is anything free? Everything has its price.”

Jin Geumho smiled playfully.

His smile made Kim Hyunsu flustered.

When it came to having no expression, he and Jin Geumho weren’t that different.

To the people living in Neo Seoul now, Jin Geumho was seen only as a cold and rational ruler, but to those who had pioneered Neo Seoul together with him from the very beginning, he was more terrifying than any demonic beast.

Jin Geumho was not a martial-type Awakened.

Naturally, his physical abilities were abysmal. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

But it was also ambiguous to call him a magic-type Awakened.

His main skill, Heavenly Eye, had no direct offensive effect at all.

And yet, Kim Hyunsu and the rulers of each district feared Jin Geumho because of the countless miracles he had achieved with that Heavenly Eye.

He didn’t just see through the flow of the world and fate—he rode those waves and charged like a storm.

At that time, Jin Geumho had been like a massive tempest.

Even Dyoden, a extremely strong individual, and the rulers of each district had been swept along by the storm he commanded, tossed this way and that.

Then, when they came to their senses, they saw Neo Seoul had developed astonishingly.

He had used Dyoden to control the district rulers, and after Dyoden left, he used the Numbers to maintain balance.

He hadn’t forced either Dyoden or the Numbers.

They had followed him of their own will, captivated by his leadership.

For some reason, Dyoden later left Neo Seoul, but even until then, his relationship with Jin Geumho hadn’t been bad.

The Jin Geumho of that time had had no blood and no tears.

So much so that even Kim Hyunsu and the other district rulers had feared him.

That image of Jin Geumho was still burned into Kim Hyunsu’s mind. That was why Jin Geumho’s current smile felt so awkward.

It was too different from the past image he remembered.

Kim Hyunsu forced himself to keep a calm expression and asked,

“So what is it you want from me?”

“I need the technology that created Triox Five.”

“What? Knowing how Triox Five turned out, you still say that?”

Kim Hyunsu snapped angrily.

The reason he was in this state now was because of Triox Five’s rebellion.

The rebellion of the supercomputer he had trusted and relied on his entire life had destroyed all the foundations he had built.

More than anything, Triox Five’s rebellion had left a deep wound in his heart. And now Jin Geumho was asking for the technology that created Triox Five—of course his anger surged.

But Jin Geumho remained calm in the face of Kim Hyunsu’s rage.

“Wasn’t the real problem the wraith called Tridgion, not Triox Five?”

“That’s the same thing.”

“If you fortify things so no wraith can take it over, that’s enough. And what I want isn’t a being with an ego as powerful as Triox Five’s. I just need a brain capable of faithfully carrying out my orders.”

The magitech that City Hall had accumulated was so great that other districts couldn’t even dare to approach it. But in one thing alone, they couldn’t match the West District: a supercomputer fused with magic.

The vast amount of data accumulated after creating Triox Five was so enormous that even City Hall clicked its tongue in amazement.

For City Hall to obtain that kind of data would take decades.

Kim Hyunsu glared at Jin Geumho for a moment, then opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.

“What for?”

“What?”

“For what reason are you trying to build a supercomputer like Triox Five?”

“To more perfectly rule Neo Seoul.”

“Tch! You expect me to believe that?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“You’ve had countless chances to do that. When Neo Seoul was rebuilt, when the district rulers including me were still greenhorns, you had many chances to remove us. But you didn’t. Instead, you secretly supported us and created a foothold for us to grow.”

“How did you know that? I thought I’d kept it secret.”

“At first, I didn’t know. But as I led the West District, I naturally came to realize it. How much you had looked out for us.”

Jin Geumho had respected the autonomy of each district.

It might not sound like much, but thanks to that, each district had been able to grow with its own character.

“Isn’t it about time you told me? Why you looked out for us.”

“To survive.”

“What does that mean?”

Kim Hyunsu looked at Jin Geumho with an expression of confusion.

Neo Seoul was a fortress.

An iron-blooded fortress no demonic beast could dare approach.

He couldn’t understand why survival was being worried about here.

“How long do you think we can keep living like this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll ask again. On this patch of land no bigger than a palm, how long do you think more than twenty million people can live?”

“That’s…”

“Everything has its limits. Neo Seoul has already reached its limit. With the development of sand hardener, humanity will grow far more explosively. Any lifeform that has its shelter solved focuses on reproduction. Humans are no different.”

“Then?”

“The population will explode. With the current Neo Seoul, we can’t handle that many humans.”

“And what does that have to do with needing a supercomputer?”

“Humanity needs more land. And for that, we have to clean up from up there.”

Jin Geumho raised his hand and pointed to the sky above their heads.

Kim Hyunsu followed his hand and looked up at the sky.

Ordinary people would see nothing, but with his Awakened eyes, he could see flying demonic beasts circling high above.

Though they didn’t approach because of Neo Seoul’s anti-magic power.

“They’re in places human hands can’t reach. How do you propose to clear them out?”

“Divine Punishment.”

“Divine Punishment?”

“Yes! We will bring down divine punishment on them.”

“How?”

“We’ll launch a gigantic artificial satellite.”

“Crazy! That’s nonsense. Do you think those things will just leave a strange object entering their territory alone? It’ll be torn to shreds and crash before it even goes up a few hundred meters.”

Kim Hyunsu said excitedly, spitting with his words.

This was the first time he had ever shown emotions this intense.

He didn’t think he had even been this agitated when he learned Tridgion had taken over Triox Five.

That was how unrealistic Jin Geumho’s words felt to him.

Once, Kim Hyunsu had believed that humans could fly.

With the West District’s technology, building an airplane would be easy. And indeed, they had built several.

With old data remaining and magitech applied, making airplanes was no big deal.

The problem was when they actually launched them.

Somehow, flying demonic beasts came and tore them to pieces.

They made them bigger, reinforced them with thick armor. They added weapons, even put Awakened with strong combat power onboard.

But without exception, they were shot down by flying demonic beasts and crashed.

Even so, Kim Hyunsu kept trying, and eventually succeeded in sending one plane high into the sky, breaking through the demonic beasts’ attacks. But even that one crashed for some reason.

When Kim Hyunsu learned the reason, he gave up on making airplanes.

He said,

“In the empty high sky up there, a massive force field is spread like a net. It rejects everything humans make. That’s why my aircraft crashed.”

“I know. Humans are… no different from fish trapped in a fishbowl called Earth.”

“You really knew?”

“Yes. I knew before you did.”

Jin Geumho gently closed his eyes.

While Kim Hyunsu had been making airplanes, Jin Geumho hadn’t been sitting around idle either.

He too had conducted countless experiments and attempts, and tasted just as many failures. That was how he came to know.

One of the great secrets surrounding Earth.

Across the entire sky above Earth, a massive force field existed.

The whole unimaginably high sky that humans couldn’t reach was covered by an invisible barrier.

Demonic beasts weren’t affected, but machines made by humans broke down without exception when they touched that field. That was why Kim Hyunsu’s planes couldn’t go beyond a certain altitude.

Whether it was a side effect of terraforming, no one knew.

But one thing was certain: that enormous power that had shaped Earth like this still remained in the sky, rejecting humanity.

“Unless we break through that force field, humanity has no future. The sky will remain the domain of demonic beasts, and humans will never be able to set foot there.”

In ancient times, humanity had flourished because it endlessly expanded its territory through the skies and the seas.

By ruling the oceans and mastering the skies, humans had risen as the dominant species on Earth.

“They’ll shoot it down before it even reaches the force field. You’re dreaming in vain. And above all, the force field rejects anything artificial.”

“That’s why I made the power source from the heart of the beast Moby Dick and the cores of other S-rank beasts. I reinforced the main body with the wings of the Queen Ghost Dragonfly to secure buoyancy, and made optical weapons from the retinas of the Solar Peacock. Countless byproducts of demonic beasts were used as well. To pass through that damn force field, I used demonic beast corpses from head to toe.”

It had been years of endurance.

A harsh road humanity had never once experienced before.

Everyone thought it was impossible, but Jin Geumho never gave up and silently walked this arduous path to reach this point.

Hearing Jin Geumho’s story, Kim Hyunsu’s eyes wavered.

‘He’s been running toward this single goal for decades…’

He felt as if goosebumps were rising over his mechanical parts. They weren’t really, but that was how much he was trembling.

Faced with Jin Geumho’s obsession and perseverance in living for the single purpose of reclaiming Earth from demonic beasts, he couldn’t find the right words to say.

“When Divine Punishment is completed, humanity will regain its eyes. We’ll be able to monitor demonic beast movement from that high sky, and easily find places where survivor groups exist. Dangerous demonic beasts can be eliminated with optical weapons. Humanity will once again become the master of Earth. Not just this small patch of land called Neo Seoul—the entire Earth will return to human hands.”

“Mm!”

Kim Hyunsu felt his heart pound.

Jin Geumho’s grand dream made what little blood he had left burn hot.

Jin Geumho held out his hand to him.

“To control Divine Punishment, I need a computer like Triox Five. One that can be perfectly controlled… Will you help me?”

Kim Hyunsu couldn’t bring himself to turn away from Jin Geumho’s hand.

Clench!

The two men firmly grasped each other’s hands.