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.

or even a minor miscalculation, the whole plan could crumble at any time. And that,

had a plan B, it wouldn't hurt

of my brow, I spoke up after a

be for now. I'll figure something out while I'm at

"...Okay."

"Good."

panel, I double-checked the values to make

'Everything looks correct.'

of the values

goes the

made sure that there were

Di. Ding-

"Haa…. Done."

of the second beacon, leaning back on my chair, I closed my eyes for a

much damage will the

first beacon's deactivation weakened the

second beacon would have a similar effect, if

eyes, I then proceeded to tap

in front of me and I took a look

***

same time, in

second beacon is

scream echoed the hymn of despair in the

in the sky started to fade away before

scene firsthand had horrified looks on their faces as they vividly watched the barrier once again

"It's the second beacon!"

the world

Crack! Crack! Crack-

couldn't get any worse, enormous cracks

cracks slowly started expanding all over the barrier's

BANG-! BANG-!

on the other side of the barrier, the demons attacked with greater ferocity. As they attacked, they had bloodthirsty, savage

BANG-！

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

"Over here."

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

forming over here! Quickly report this

"Got it."

took out a

and the others to report to them whenever they saw a

device, turning her head right, towards Newton, she

*Twiit*

its wings and flew

seconds, it was already high up in the air, searching for any possible cracks on

"Good boy."

off her shoulder, Ava quickly sent a

I'm currently in. So far, the crack looks small. but it appears as though it is increasing in size, although very slowly. I've sent you the coordinates already. Check

Click-

off the communication

this site. Let's

"Okay."

left the area

***

damage with just the

that much, just from two of its beacons not working, it

had to be

I had expected this type of weakening from the fourth beacon's

two beacons, something had gone terribly wrong with my plans and they needed to

much, but I now needed

"This is fucking annoying."

was of course annoyed by the development. I couldn't help but curse

"What happened?"

from the

at her, I scratched the back of

we have less time than I had

do you

narrowing her

exasperated tone, "I mean that

say that

right, but things have

a month's period, just the

I sat back on my chair and texted Waylan and

the dampener removed, I could now freely text