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

it wouldn't hurt to come up with a

brow, I spoke up

be for now. I'll figure something out while

"...Okay."

"Good."

double-checked the values to make

'Everything looks correct.'

the values seemed out of

goes the

made sure that there were no errors, I pressed onto the final

Di. Ding-

"Haa…. Done."

the keyboard and initiated the deactivation of the second beacon, leaning back on my chair, I

Just how much damage will the

deactivation weakened

second beacon would have a similar effect, if

eyes, I then proceeded to tap on the

video images appeared in front of me and I took a

***

the same time, in Henolur's

second beacon

panicked scream echoed the hymn of despair in the

faded, one of the lights in the sky started to fade

who were standing below and witnessed the scene firsthand had horrified looks on their faces as they vividly watched the barrier once again lose

"It's the second beacon!"

what in the world is

Crack! Crack! Crack-

just as it looked like things couldn't get any worse, enormous cracks started to appear on the surface of

cracks slowly started expanding all

BANG-! BANG-!

the demons attacked with greater ferocity. As they attacked, they had bloodthirsty, savage

BANG-！

standing behind the barrier, it looked as though the attacks were working as the earth shook and the blasts were no

"Over here."

edge of the barrier, Hein glanced behind him and pointed towards a small crack

crack forming over here!

"Got it."

solemnly replied and took out a

Ryan taking care of the logistics, they had asked her and the others to report to them whenever they saw a crack form on the

was taking out her communication device, turning her head right, towards Newton, she ordered, "Newton, go check if there are any more small cracks

*Twiit*

its wings and

a couple of seconds, it was already high up in the air, searching for any possible

"Good boy."

quickly sent a message to Smallsnake and told him of her

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

Click-

she reported everything, turning off the communication device, Ava looked at

this site. Let's go

"Okay."

the

***

damage with just the

to weaken that much, just from two of its

plan had to

weakening from the fourth beacon's deactivation, not

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

I now needed to

"This is fucking annoying."

of course annoyed by the development.

"What happened?"

asked from the

to glance at her, I scratched the back of my

have less

you mean

narrowing

exasperated tone, "I mean that we are

you say

but

said, the plan was originally going to span a month's period, just the right time to set everything up,

out a small communication device, I sat back on my chair and

the dampener removed, I could now freely