Chapter 388:

Chapter 388:

Everyone was tense as they watched Kang Hye-rim.

The light that flowed from her body, where the letters had seeped in, gradually faded. Kang Hye-rim’s energy became more peaceful than before.

She opened her eyes that had been closed. Her calm eyes scanned the surroundings lightly.

“Miss Hyerim, are you conscious?”

Yu-hyun asked, checking on Kang Hye-rim’s condition.

Kang Hye-rim looked back at Yu-hyun with a clearer gaze. Her eyes captured Yu-hyun’s face.

She didn’t say anything.

“Miss Hyerim?”

Pshh.

Kang Hye-rim smiled faintly at Yu-hyun.

She still didn’t answer. But there was definitely a change.

She had acted like a child until now, but she had changed a bit after receiving the story.

It was certain.

She seemed a bit more mature. Her attitude was somewhat more composed than usual.

That proved it.

Yu-hyun asked a few more questions, but Kang Hye-rim only smiled brightly at him and didn’t give any answer.

Kwon Jia, who had been watching nervously from the side, cautiously opened her mouth.

“She’s fine... right?”

“Probably. She still can’t speak, but her mood has changed a lot.”

Kang Hye-rim, who had received the story from someone else, began to regain her old self as Yu-hyun expected.

The reason she couldn’t speak properly was because she hadn’t collected all the stories yet.

Now, all he had to do was meet Yoo Young-min and Seo Sumin and get Kang Hye-rim’s story from their books.

The problem was that he didn’t know what Yoo Young-min and Seo Sumin were doing or where they were.

‘No. Let’s focus on the internal affairs of the Lord Alliance first.’

As soon as the sun rose tomorrow, the leaders of the other factions would gather. Most of them were Lord-level powerhouses, and among them, there would be Executors for sure.

They had a common enemy called the Salio Empire, but they couldn’t trust each other completely either.

Besides, when Lord-level powerhouses who were treated well wherever they went gathered in one place, there could be minor friction.

If that happened, it would only benefit the Salio Empire.

“By the way, Miss Seryeon, who are the powerhouses from Earth?”

“Oh. You wouldn’t know, Mr. Yu-hyun. There are several Lords from Earth among the people who are gathering this time. The representative among them would be Mr. Wi Muhyuk.”

“Mr. Wi Muhyuk?”

How could he not know Wi Muhyuk? Before Earth became like this, he was the only genuine collector in Korea.

He had heard that he had retired after most of his power was reduced by the shredder following the Gwanghwamun incident, but he never expected him to rise again as a Lord-level powerhouse.

“Collector Lim Gunwoo is also one of the Lords now.”

“Huh, he too.”

“And if you ask me to name one more Lord-level person that you would know, maybe it would be Black Iron Knight.”

“Miss Huang Se-eun?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Baek Seo-ryeon told him that Huang Se-eun was his subordinate and brought Bang Sang-shi and Yoo Seong-ah with him.

He also added that they would come to Old Town tomorrow morning.

He was curious about what they were doing since they didn’t move with Choi Do-yoon, but they became Lords in their own right.

And he realized that there were many Lord-level people among the people he knew.

Of course, there were also some famous collectors and rankers from America or overseas who were now called Lords.

There were more than 50 Lords in the Lord Alliance.

Among them, only about 8 were from Earth.

The strongest one was obviously Choi Do-yoon, who was the only one among the Earth-borns who had the Executor title, but below him were Wi Muhyuk, Lim Gunwoo, Huang Se-eun and four other Lords.

And there were also subordinates of the Lords who had at least transcendent power, so if you look at it broadly, Earth wasn’t holding one of the pillars of the alliance for nothing.

“It may seem that Earth’s faction is not weak, but so are the others.”

The Salio Empire had more than half of the 50 Lords in their possession.

They lost one of their three Executors out of five in the whole alliance due to this terrorist incident, but they still had two Executors left.

And it was confirmed that the Salio Empire joined hands with Olympus and Asgard because of this incident, so they were definitely at a disadvantage in terms of power.

“Unfortunately, Old Town is the closest to the area controlled by the Salio Empire, so if this goes on, the city itself will be in danger.”

“Yes?”

“The one who killed Piren.”

“Yes, yes.”

In fact, Patrick didn’t know much.

He left after Piren said she would take care of it, and the news he heard later was her death.

He couldn’t say anything even if he did because it would be a lie anyway since he didn’t witness it himself.

‘But who else could kill her besides him?’

Patrick had no idea that Magni, the Divine Spirit of Asgard, had intervened in this fight.

He thought that Piren was killed by Yu-hyun, and he believed that and reported it to the emperor.

The emperor gazed down at Patrick, lost in his thoughts.

He had a hunch about why Piren had died.

‘An abnormal voltage was detected far away from Old Town. If there was a Divine Spirit who could handle that kind of lightning, it could only be the Great Army. Asgard or Olympus, one of them must have secretly interfered.’

They had agreed to cooperate with each other, but they were already working on their own agendas.

The emperor thought there was no need to protest their behavior, even though it was normal to do so.

After all, they would act like fools if he confronted them, and they would eventually have to cross swords with each other anyway.

As a price for their cooperation, he had made a treaty with them that he would cede some territories to Salio if he gained the hegemony of the alliance. But he had no intention of keeping that promise.

‘Once we take over the alliance completely, our next target will be you bastards.’

To do that, he had to crush the rest of the alliance’s forces first.

If they fought with each other, bleeding themselves dry, the Great Army would soon reach out with their greedy hands.

He had to choose a way to smash their heads with a small elite force to prevent that.

Fortunately, the situation had turned in his favor thanks to Piren’s death.

They were in a hurry and asked for a meeting right away, but whatever they said, the outcome would not change.

“Patrick.”

“Yes, father... No, no. Your Majesty.”

“I will give you one last chance.”

“Is that really true?”

“I will entrust you with the command of the Alpha team of the Magic Corps.”

The Magic Corps consisted of 24 teams.

Among them, the Alpha team was undoubtedly the best of the best in the Magic Corps, where only the most skilled ones gathered.

Patrick was grateful for the emperor’s grace, who gave him a chance instead of punishing him.

“That’s not all.”

“What do you mean...?”

“The production of the new type of magic device that we started developing a long time ago has finally finished. I will give you all 25 special weapons that contain the essence of our Salio Empire’s magic engineering.”

In addition to the Alpha team of the Magic Corps, he also received support from the newly developed magic device.

As the situation progressed to this point, Patrick did not rejoice but rather stiffened his face and swallowed his saliva.

“That means... this matter is very important.”

“You’re not just playing dumb. Yes. What you have to do is very important.”

“What do I have to do?”

“They will eventually split into those who will fight and those who will not. Your job is to ambush and eliminate those who can be called leaders among them from behind.”

It was a mission that could be called assassination by surprise... but it was also a task of attacking the enemy’s rear when the fight broke out.

It was easy if it was easy, and dangerous if it was dangerous.

Even if all of their forces were gone, there was no way that those who remained would not defend themselves.

However, Patrick decided that this was definitely worth trying.

He received support from the Alpha team of the Magic Corps, which could be called the elite of the empire, not just mediocre soldiers. And he also received all of the new magic devices.

This was the last chance that he gave him as an emperor and as a father.

Patrick nodded his head with a heavy face.

“I will succeed for sure.”

“Trust me.”

Patrick left the hall with a determined face.

The emperor, who was left alone, still looked coldly at where Patrick had disappeared and clenched and unclenched his dry right hand.

A dazzling golden fragment appeared on his right hand.