A Legion Grows From My Smartphone

"What do you mean by ‘'master-’? You-’re one of the top hunters in the country."

I feigned ignorance and asked calmly. If he was referring to a master, it would naturally be a player or a unit.

What bothered me more was that he seemed unaware of my true identity. I couldn’t be sure if he genuinely didn’t know or if he was pretending.

"Of course, it might seem odd for a hunter who fights with his own abilities to have a master, but it’s true. We’ve established a new organization. I rushed over as soon as it was set up.’’

"A new organization, you say?’’

"An organization that can help ordinary people, who can’t keep up with the drastic changes, to resist and adapt to the new world.’’

His expression seemed sincere. I judged that, at least, he didn’t seem to be deceiving me.

"If you’re interested, please contact us. We’d love to have you.’’

He stopped speaking there.

I subtly made room for him. He stood quietly in front of his cousin’s corpse.

Apparently, Yoon Soo Ah had deceived those around her and secretly gathered resources to come here.

It wasn’t easy to judge. Whether his words were sincere or what kind of picture he was painting.

Even if we’re tied to the game, in the end, we have to kill each other, don’t we?

"Have you made up your mind already?’’

He spoke without turning to look at me as I approached.

"I’d like to hear more about it. And I want to become stronger.’’

"You’re currently affiliated with Evolution. May I ask how you got in there? Cha Ji Yeon, she’s not an ordinary hunter. She’s as irrational as I am.’’

He turned to me and brought up Cha Ji Yeon.

I obviously knew she was a unit.

So I intended to listen to what he had to say. The words of a man who calls himself irrational.

"It’s not a short story.’’

Ji Chang Hyun began to explain to me about the app, the game, players, and units right there.

What I, who already knew all of this, paid attention to was his attitude. *

[He’s a bit busy right now. I sent a notification, but it’s not a situation where he can monitor in real time.]

"I don’t really care.’’

The legion, which had only stuck its physical head out from the ground, pulled out its hidden body.

Meanwhile, Kang Do Yeon, with a furrowed brow, analyzed the information currently being collected by the legion.

The legion had finally succeeded in digesting the entire megacolony and secured a passage upwards.

[Two paths have now appeared.]

Naturally, reconnaissance activities continued.

Information from those activities was currently coming in.

[The first path is another labyrinth that we broke through the wall to reach. The upper part of this other labyrinth, filled with destructive bacteria, is blocked by a special spell to prevent the bacteria from coming up. The spell was similar to the one the Moonlight Elves used to seal their passage on the 36th floor.

"Another survivor? You mentioned countless cities.’’

The legion hypothesized that the Moonlight Elves, believed to be extinct, might still be alive in another labyrinth connected from an unknown upper region.

[The remaining path is blocked by a megacolony of mutated destructive bacteria. Our scouts found a clue as to why the megacolony decided it couldn’t evolve further.]

"What’s that?’’

Kang Do Yeon, sharing the scout’s perspective with her eyes closed, murmured. The legion’s attention shifted to the stem floor of the 47th floor, which the scouts were investigating. This place, seemingly ordinary from the outside, appeared to be a normal ecosystem devoid of destructive bacteria. Yet, it was home to more than a dozen ‘entities’.

They appeared as giants made of large rocks, the smallest towering over 3m in height. A peculiar feature was a shining ore embedded in what seemed to be their chests. The legion recognized that this ore functioned much like the Moonlight Elves’ divine stone or their own power engine.

"Using a weapon body and operating with the flow of formative force...’’

"It’s a golem!’’

Kang Do Yeon succinctly identified the beings the legion was discussing.

"I think I understand now. Why the destructive bacteria gave up the fight.’’

[They are moving weapons. If those moving by the power of spells didn’t lose in strength and numbers, there would be no chance for the destructive bacteria to win.]

The destructive bacteria fought through infection, and the mutants also had the ability to replicate the power of their opponents through that infection. However, all that power was only possible if the opponent was a living creature like them. If the opponent’s entire body was just a rock, the destructive bacteria, unfamiliar with the concept of formative force, would have been crushed without resistance.

"But those things definitely didn’t occur naturally.’’

Yet, the legion, uninterested in the story of the defeated, focused elsewhere. They pondered who the player, the creator, the god of those golems was.

[The answer is obviously higher up.]

"You’re right. Legion Commander. Get ready now.’’

The entire nest stirred. The legion, which had been storing energy and improving its soldiers, resumed its activities. They were a wall, a non-living body that the destructive bacteria couldn’t overcome.

"We’re going to eat those rocks this time.’’

But the legion, having already learned the concept of formative force under the influence of its player, had a way to break that wall testing the limits of life. Kang Do Yeon, who let out a small sigh, picked up her weapon.

A longsword, entirely made of dark red ore. After several improvements, it was concluded that crafting it in one piece was more explosive and powerful than mixing or combining materials.

This was the 47th floor.

After the destructive bacteria were eradicated and expelled, a long era of tranquility ensued. The organisms ate, reproduced, and died, fulfilling their inherent drives. The golems, tasked with protecting this territory, had ceased their operations once the bacteria disappeared, conducting tests only intermittently.

However, they eventually detected a faint, unfamiliar tremor. One by one, the golems began to rise from their positions, their energy being restored. Unbeknownst to them, their adversary had already carried out a comprehensive investigation.

-Large group of lifeforms detected-

From the lower floors, they unveiled their presence. A horde of pitch-black creatures surged in. The golems, who had existed as ordinary stones, instantly sparked their hostility as programmed. They were indifferent to whether the enemy was destructive bacteria or not.

-Execute extermination order, annihilate all group lifeforms-

The command system’s limitations prevented the golems from selectively killing only the bacteria. Any creature that acted in groups became a target for the golems. With a thumping vibration, the golems instantly assembled.

They weren’t lifeforms. They were simply entities that moved as commanded.

-Exterminate-

The assembled golems charged recklessly, relying on their mass and size. No lifeform, not even the most destructive bacteria, could match their aggression and indifference.

"Knock them down!’’

Their opponents were equally aggressive and ruthless.

With a thunderous explosion, the ground erupted. Mining-type legion soldiers, modeled after the giant underworld terrain dog, had been lying in wait. They sprang up all at once, detonating the ground where the golems had been standing. The strange vibration the golems had detected was due to this.

-Searching for countermeasures-

The golems, having fallen and rolled on the ground, quickly rose. But this time, they were met with a dark red strike launched by Kang Do Yeon. The explosive energy emitted by the resonance of the power engine implanted in her body and her sword was of the same category as the energy that the golems’ master had implanted in them.

-Counter...-

The bodies of the golems, impervious to ordinary teeth and claws, were sliced and exploded like tofu.

‘Crush them.’

The legion trampled the golems with a new tactic. The mining-type legion soldiers and the assault-type legion soldiers, modeled after the cave python, were all large species of soldiers, larger and heavier than the golems.

All had undergone the legion’s modification, their size and strength were at a level that could never be achieved by the cave creatures. They suppressed the golems, who had been fighting with their mass, by overpowering them.

[Simply suppressing them won’t end it. They don’t feel pain or fatigue.]

"So, we need to get this.’’

Kang Do Yeon, her eyes glowing red, stood on the chest of a subdued golem, aimed her sword, and drove it straight down. She retrieved the power engine that had been ejected from the golem.

It was the size of her head.

The other high-ranking legion soldiers, who also had power engines implanted in their hearts, used their formative force in their own ways to break the golems’ resistance, destroy the power engines, and extract them.

‘It’s a bit different from the legion’s method, more similar to the Moonlight Elves’ method.’

The complex spells drawn and engraved on the power engine were similar to the magic of the Moonlight Elves they had met in the past. In other words, it took only a few seconds to reverse-engineer and analyze it.

‘It will be easier to use.’

"Ugh."

Right then, the legion modified the bodies of the high-ranking legion soldiers, including Kang Do Yeon. From her outstretched hand, something resembling a fine root grew and burrowed into the core of the golem she was holding.