1003——————==

Soul of the Evil God

Wiiiiiiing

I wanted to hear more detailed stories from Edmund, but it seemed like an alarm was going off in the base at that moment. Seeing Edmund smirking made me think he was somehow behind the alarm. Soon, a multitude of enemy soldiers would come charging to attack me.

‘He’s got guts, doesn’t he?’

Impressive.

I could easily kill Edmund for his insolence, but I found his bravery somewhat appealing. Instead of pressing him further, I decided to ask a simple question and leave.

“What’s the relationship between the Great Bear Empire and your country, the United States?”

“This isn’t exactly the time for chit-chat. This base is protected by four divisions and elite soldiers.”

“I don’t care about that. Just answer me, and I’ll leave without harming you.”

“…..”

Seeming to sense something in my cold demeanor, Edmund slumped back in his chair and spoke.

“Seventy years ago, the United States and the Great Bear Empire fought against the German Third Reich’s world domination. After globalization, we entered a Cold War with the Empire, but even that has mellowed lately. Even if we appear as allies on the surface, we are potentially rivals.”

“Germany? Oh, that place.”

“Funny. Stop messing with me, you spy!”

Clunk

Before I knew it, Edmund had pulled out a small gun from his drawer, pointing it at me. It was a type of compact handgun I’d never seen before.

Bang!

He fired without hesitation. Of course, I easily dodged just in time, leaving an afterimage behind, making it look like the bullet passed right through me. Edmund furrowed his brow and fired five more shots, but I evaded them all just the same. The bullet speed was faster than I was used to, but this was still easy to dodge.

Having spent all his bullets, Edmund trembled and pulled out a thick, round stick, putting it in his mouth. He glared at me and said,

“You monstrous bastard. Kill me.”

“Why would I do that?”

“They say that special agents of the Great Bear Empire can dodge bullets barehanded. Stop toying with me and kill me!”

“……”

So, the special agents of the Great Bear Empire can dodge bullets barehanded…

‘That means they’ve mastered martial arts to at least the peak level.’

As I was lost in thought, the door behind me suddenly swung open. It must have been an automatic door, and through it came a dozen soldiers brandishing guns.

Tatatata!!

They fired at me, but once again, I didn’t even look back, leaving an afterimage as I dodged. I didn’t even need to turn around. I was more concerned about the bullets ricocheting and hitting Edmund, so I caught a few in mid-air. Once they were done shooting, I swiftly knocked out the soldiers with a light chop.

Thud thud

Edmund sat there, mouth agape, stunned by the quick turn of events. I gazed at him with emotionless eyes and asked,

“How do I get to the Great Bear Empire?”

“……”

“If you don’t answer, I’ll annihilate everyone in this base. Answer me, and I’ll leave quietly.”

Of course, I had no intention of doing that, but my light threat seemed to make Edmund think I might actually do it, as he hurriedly replied.

“Th-this is the Air Force base in Denver. If you head east and take a civilian flight to Kansas City, you should be able to get to the Great Bear Empire…”

“Do you have a map?”

“Here…”

“Thanks. Then,”

Paat

As I finished speaking, I gracefully activated the Soul Removal Technique to exit the base. Naturally, I had no need to expose my aura, so I used the Stealth Technique as well, allowing me to slip through without being detected, even though the soldiers were on high alert. Once I looked at the map Edmund gave me, I realized roughly where I was.

‘This is… the New Continent.’

I’ve been here before.

[The words of Marco Polo grew intense… Adventurers were heading towards the Eastern Continent, only to accidentally discover a new continent… Vast and… currently undergoing colonization… the land of great curiosity and adventure…]

[Just head to the Spanish Portobelo… The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, regularly recruits adventurers… sending them to the New Continent… currently at war with the British Empire… You’ll just have to follow the adventurers…]

[The Alchemist Guild… under the leadership of the Druid Elder Merlin… exists in another realm… you must pass through Mundus and… it doesn’t exist in this world… If you cannot use magic or sorcery, you will never reach it… You must definitely contact the Sorcery Circle… Also, the most advanced printing technology in the West is… in the British Empire… as far as I know, among the great inventors who crossed over to the New Continent, one of them created the double-sided rotary printing press… That’s probably the cutting edge…]

In the past, I had tried to pull the Celestial Sage to our side by obtaining the West’s most advanced printing technology, and I had sought the real Saint Germain. At that time, Saint Germain had told me that the best inventor heading to the New Continent possessed a printing press, and I had hurried off to find that person.

And upon arriving at the New Continent, I found many [Old Rulers] roaming about, and I witnessed the massacre of thousands of Western adventurers and soldiers. At that time, I barely discovered the soul of Richard Ho, the inventor of the double-sided rotary printing press, and received the blueprint and the press from him.

‘There was a map of the eastern coast of the New Continent created by an exploration team near the blueprint, and it almost matches the map I’m looking at now.’

No doubt about it. In terms of technological advancement –

I’ve come to the future.

Not just 50 years but much further into the future!

‘Right now… I’m in the future, compared to the era I lived in. And this is the New Continent of the future, where a new nation of Westerners called the United States has been established. Just how far into the future am I?’

They said it’s the 20th century. What unit of time is that?

How many hundreds of years have passed?

Why am I here in the future world instead of reincarnating after death?

‘Vayu, at the end, I wished for you to help me avoid the curse of the Evil God. Could it be that Vayu…’

I could vaguely sense that it was Vayu’s power from the Four Great Spirit Deities. And when I recalled the mental realm, I realized that the other three deities were intact, but Vayu was shattered. As Vayu said, by using a loophole to activate the Four Great Spirits, its backlash likely caused that.

“……”

I don’t understand. I can’t fully grasp this situation, but one thing is certain.

“I need to go to the Great Bear Empire.”

The Great Bear Empire is my established empire. If I go there, my companions might still be there. I have to start by reuniting with them!

I headed east from Denver toward Kansas City, following the map. Along the way, I saw massive metal wheeled things zooming by, moving with a technique akin to the peak expert level. People were riding inside them.

‘What’s that?’

Moving rapidly along the road, there’s no doubt it’s a means of human transport. I stood by the desolate roadway, watching those metal monstrosities roll by for a while before I realized.

‘Aha. They burn something and use that energy to power the machine. Is that what they call an internal combustion engine? Some sort of scientific technology?’

I’ve seen something similar in the British Empire before. Back then, it was a steam engine, but now, it seems we’ve entered a time where steam is no longer needed. I don’t know what fuel they’re using, but the technology must be unique.

‘Well, I don’t need to know the details. They probably call it an “automobile.”‘

Nodding, I entered Kansas City.

What greeted me was an extraordinarily tall building and a flashy cityscape I had never seen before. I noticed Westerners dressed in unfamiliar clothing, manipulating strange machines in their hands.

‘Are they talking into that machine…? Ah, a communication device. It must run on electricity. Judging by the way they press the machine with their fingers, does it recognize fingerprints?’

Fingerprint recognition?

‘Hmm… that seems similar to the facility at Shaolin Temple.’

Because the [Ark] at the Shaolin Temple also had a fingerprint recognition system, it didn’t take long to decipher the principle of this communication device, but it felt odd. After several hundred years, could an identical scientific technology develop again?

I climbed to the top of a building and asked the spirit of the Heavenly Secret Technique I’d brought along for translation.

“Hey, what was your name again?”

[Ulysses.]

“What did you do on this land when you were alive?”

[As a general of the United States, I fought in wars. I perished in battle… ]

“When you compare your time with now, how many years do you think have passed?”

[I’m not sure, but I think at least a hundred years or so have gone by. The world has developed enormously in that time.]

“Did the Great Bear Empire exist in your time?”

[I’ve heard rumors… They unified the Eastern Continent and were an unprecedented superpower that subdued the Indian Empire. I’ve heard they fought in endless battles against the evil apparitions of the Third Reich that emerged in Europe. I never encountered them during my lifetime.]

“Do you know anything about the [Old Ruler] or my internal power and martial arts?”

[……?]

Ulysses tilted his head in confusion, but once I explained each concept, he looked surprised.

[That’s something I’ve never heard of before. The notion that such a terrible monster exists in this American continent… ah, maybe I heard something like a legend from my grandmother when I was little? But I’ve never seen it. And I know nothing of internal power or martial arts like that.]

“I see…”

I had a gut feeling that what Ulysses said carried some significance. It seems Ulysses doesn’t know anything particularly extraordinary, but somehow I had a hunch that his words would play an important role later. After committing his words to memory, I sought out what they called a civilian airport.

[They call it an airplane. What I saw earlier was a combat aircraft.]

Wiiiiing –

And so I intended to sneak onto a flight heading to the Great Bear Empire’s [Shanghai] using the Stealth Technique.

‘Shanghai. Surely, in my era, it was just an empty fishing village…’

It really had nothing back then. I remembered seeing villagers fishing to make ends meet in the days of the escort system. The village was so sparsely populated that some parts were quite backward. Yet now, one of the most bustling commercial cities in the world?

Anyway, boarding the airplane should be a piece of cake. I thought I’d stop by a nearby bookstore to learn about the culture and history of this world.

At that moment.

“Target spotted. Stop right there!”

With a loud shout, people in black clothes rushed toward me. For some reason, they pinpointed me right away and radiated hostility. Just as they were drawing guns from their pockets to aim at me, I swiftly activated the Soul Removal Technique, knocking out all of the dozen or so enemies within the time it takes to take two breaths.

‘What a hassle!’

Killing them would be quicker, but I hesitated to carelessly take lives, so I could only make them faint, which turned out to be annoying!

Puff, puff

“Ugh, ugh!”

“This is unbelievable…”

Sixty or so men in black lay unconscious.

‘Sorry, but just take a nap. You’re done for.’

As I aimed to knock out the last guy with a chopping strike, the moment I did, he raised his hand to counter my attack. Seeing that split-second reaction, I was momentarily stunned by surprise, causing my strike to miss entirely.

Bang

‘Hua-kyung!’

He perfectly read the speed and direction of my attack and deflected it, clearly showcasing an orthodox Hua-kyung technique. Moreover, he had solid lower body strength and sufficient internal power, which suggested he had been training for a considerable amount of time.

The person who dodged my attack wore black clothes like the rest, but the difference was his hair was black. He appeared to be Asian and had a face as lovely as a woman’s, but judging by his physique, he was clearly a young man in his twenties.

Whir!

Na Han Iron Dragon

Golden Wall One Kill!

The black-haired youth countered with chains wrapped around his wrist, fiercely launching a retaliatory strike at me. This was also a remarkable martial technique, indicating he had cultivated it for quite some time. I quickly gauged his martial arts level and chose to dodge his follow-up techniques.

The chain abruptly transformed in mid-air into a dagger, and then the dagger swiftly struck at my openings with transformation techniques blending in. It was a strike so refined that even a typical expert would struggle to evade; I couldn’t help but admire him.

‘Hmm. Not bad for his age.’

That guy must be one of those geniuses.

He continued to throw dozens of attacks in rapid succession, but having never grazed me once, the black-haired youth drew the chains back into his palm, sweating as he looked at me cautiously.

“… I can’t believe I’d get to see a master class during my vacation in the United States. This is insane.”

“Who are you? State your sect and name.”

“Of course… I pay my respects to the great master.”

The black-haired youth bowed respectfully and said,

“I am the second-ranked Tactical Forces Agent of the Great Bear Empire, the successor of the White Lotus Sect’s Thunder God Lineage, and the inheritor of Shaolin Temple’s seventy-two abilities, Mu Cheon-ryong Zhu Xian. I earnestly request you reveal your identity as a junior.”

I raised an eyebrow at Zhu Xian’s self-introduction.

“The Thunder God Lineage? Is that for real?”

“Indeed…”

“But then why is there no Thunder Spirit? How come you don’t possess it?”

That guy’s level was at the peak threshold. At that level, he should have already achieved the Thunder Spirit. Especially in cases where they look younger than their actual age, it should be a given. Yet his internal power was pure and powerful, almost nothing felt off; the absence of the Thunder Spirit was puzzling.

“……”

Zhu Xian frowned as if he had been poked in a sensitive spot and replied,

“You seem to know the circumstances of our Four Great Families well. There’s a reason for that.”

“I see.”

I soon discerned the ‘circumstances’ and frowned.

Being able to perceive the flow of internal power so quickly meant it was easy for me to piece things together.

“You haven’t learned the internal energy cultivation techniques of the Thunder God Lineage, have you?”

“`

 

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