The Author's POV

339 Setting the pieces in motion (3]

"...That took way too long."

I muttered wearily, taking my eyes away from the panel in front of me.

It has been about a week ever since I infiltrated the place, and so far, everything was progressing smoothly.

Well, sort of.

The deactivation of the second beacon took a lot longer than my initial expectations.

Compared to the first beacon, the process was a lot different.

The whole process was coded in a completely different manner compared to the first beacon, making it almost impossible for me to complete it quickly.

Any wrong step and I would end up locking the whole system.

Furthermore, the panel I was currently using was less advanced than the one I previously used when deactivating the first beacon.

With those factors added together, the whole process took a lot longer than originally anticipated.

Fortunately, using the excuse that Jomnuk's memories were too jumbled up and that I needed to reorganize them properly, I managed to placate some of the impatient elders.

It wasn't easy, but given my previous performance, they let it slide.

It had to be noted that they were all individuals whose minds were corrupted by demonic energy, so the fact that I managed to calm them down was a miracle in itself.

"Are you done?"

A cold voice reached my ears. It was Angelica.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much done."

Before I knew it, Angelica was standing next to me, looking at the panel in confusion.

Seeing the confusion on her face as she looked at the panel, I shook my head at her.

"Don't bother trying to understand it, even I don't know what I did. I won't be able to explain even if you asked."

I only did what the instructions told me to do.

I had no real idea of what I was doing.

Had I known what I was doing, then perhaps I would've completed it at a much faster pace.

"I see..."

Relaxing her brows, Angelica proceeded to move towards where Tomnuk was.

Standing next to him, she put her hand on the helmet and asked, "What should we do with him?"

"Him?… Good question."

Turning around and staring at Karl, I frowned.

"Also, don't touch that. I don't know what that thing does."

It was a fact that I couldn't kill him.

If he died, then everyone would know that I wasn't the real Karl. After all, the demon that he was contracted with would definitely report back.

That was part of why I didn't want Angelica to touch the helmet. If something happened to Karl, then everything would come crashing down.

"Okay."

Fortunately, Angelica understood that. She removed her hand from the helmet.

"Thanks."

Thanking Angelica, I turned my attention back towards Karl.

'Could I use him to my advantage?" I pondered.

So far, the plan that I set up was perfect. At least, that's how it seemed to me.

But I knew better than anyone else that no plan was ever perfect.

Even if there were no apparent flaws in a plan, anything could ruin it at any time. There were too many unknown variables to account for, especially in my situation.

to some external factor, or even a minor miscalculation, the whole plan could crumble at any time.

B, it wouldn't hurt to come

the middle of my brow, I

him be for now. I'll figure something out

"...Okay."

"Good."

double-checked the

'Everything looks correct.'

of the values seemed out

the

checked and made sure that there were no errors,

Di. Ding-

"Haa…. Done."

deactivation of the second beacon, leaning back on my chair, I closed

much damage will the second beacon's loss do to the city

first beacon's deactivation weakened

second beacon would have a similar effect, if

eyes, I then proceeded

images appeared in front of me and

***

time, in Henolur's

second beacon is

the hymn of despair in the hearts of

of the lights in the sky started to

firsthand had horrified looks on their

"It's the second beacon!"

almighty, what in the world is happening

Crack! Crack! Crack-

worse, enormous

long, the cracks slowly started expanding all over the barrier's

BANG-! BANG-!

formed continuously, on the other side of the barrier, the demons attacked with

BANG-！

working as the earth shook and the blasts were no longer getting dispersed like they used to before. Even the barrier seemed to shake

"Over here."

very bottom, right at the edge of the barrier, Hein glanced behind him and pointed towards a small

forming over here!

"Got it."

solemnly replied and took out a communication device

taking care of the logistics, they had asked her and the others to report

Newton, she ordered, "Newton, go

*Twiit*

flapped its wings and

in the air, searching

"Good boy."

a message

that I'm currently in. So far, the crack looks small. but it appears as though it is increasing

Click-

everything, turning off the communication device, Ava

done with this site. Let's go look

"Okay."

left the area with

***

damage with

just from two of its beacons not working, it seemed like my previous

plan had

weakening from the fourth beacon's deactivation, not the

two beacons, something had gone terribly wrong with

I now needed to operate at a faster

"This is fucking annoying."

the development. I couldn't help but

"What happened?"

asked from

at her, I scratched the back of

it looks like we have less time

do you mean by

asked, narrowing

tone, "I mean that we are

didn't you say

but things have

the plan was originally going to span a month's period, just the right time to set everything up, but it looked like I was too

small communication device, I sat back on my chair and texted Waylan

removed, I could now freely text whomever I