A Legion Grows From My Smartphone

Chapter 61

"What's this about a Master? You're one of the country's top Hunters."

I asked nonchalantly, pretending not to know. If he had a Master, they were likely a Player or a Unit.

What bothered me more was the possibility that he still didn't know my identity. I couldn't tell if he was genuinely unaware or just putting on an act.

"Of course, it might seem unusual for a Hunter who fights with their own special abilities to have a Master, but it's true. We've recently established a New Institution. I came here as soon as it was finalized."

"A... New Institution?"

"...An organization that helps ordinary people, those who cannot keep up with the upheavals and changes, gain the power to resist and adapt to this new world."

His expression looked somewhat detached. At the very least, it didn't seem like deception.

"If you're interested, please contact me. I'd really like to have you on board."

He stopped speaking there and closed his mouth.

I stepped aside slightly, giving him space. He stood silently in front of his cousin's corpse.

I heard that Yoon Sua had secretly volunteered, deceiving those around her.

I couldn't judge easily. Whether what he said came from the heart or what kind of picture he was trying to paint.

In the end, if we were bound by the Game, wouldn't we just end up killing each other?

"Have you already made up your mind?"

He spoke without looking back when I approached.

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

"You're currently affiliated with Evolution, right? May I ask how you got in? Cha Jiyeon—she's by no means an ordinary Hunter. She's as irrational as I am."

He turned to me and brought up Cha Jiyeon.

I, of course, knew she was a Unit.

So I decided to listen to what he had to say. Someone who called themselves irrational.

"It's not a short story."

Ji Changhyun began explaining the App, the Game, the Players, and the Units to me right there.

As someone who already knew all of it, what caught my attention was his attitude.

*

"…"

[He's a bit busy right now. I sent a notification, but he can't check it in real time.]

"Doesn't matter."

The Legion, with only its head emerging from the ground, pulled out its concealed body once again.

Meanwhile, Kang Do-Yeon frowned as she analyzed the information being gathered by the Legion.

The Legion had finally succeeded in fully absorbing the Great Colony and secured a passage leading upwards.

[Two paths have now appeared.]

Naturally, reconnaissance activities continued.

Information from those reconnaissance missions was incoming.

[The first path leads to Another Labyrinth, which we broke through a wall to enter. The upper layers of this labyrinth, filled with Destruction Fungus, are blocked by a special incantation to prevent the Fungus from rising. It resembles the spell the Moonlight Fairies used to seal the passage in the 36th Layer.]

"Another group of survivors? You did say countless cities exist."

The Legion proposed one hypothesis.

That the Moonlight Fairies, thought to be annihilated, might still be alive in the Upper Layer of Another Labyrinth.

[The other path is the passage blocked by the Mutant Destruction Fungus Great Colony's body. Scouts sent through this path found hints as to why the Great Colony deemed its own evolution impossible.]

"What is that?"

Kang Do-Yeon mumbled as she shared the scouts' vision with her eyes closed.

The Legion's focus shifted.

The scouts were exploring the Trunk Layer of the 47th Layer.

At first glance, it appeared to be a normal ecosystem devoid of Destruction Fungus.

However, there were dozens of 'those things' present.

Their appearance resembled giant figures made of large stones fused together. Even the smallest among them was over three meters tall.

What stood out was the glowing ore embedded in what seemed to be their chest area. The Legion realized that this ore functioned similarly to the Moonlight Fairy’s Sacred Stone or the Legion's Power Core.

"A form of lifeless entity powered by the flow of Formative Power..."

"Golems!"

Kang Do-Yeon summarized the Legion's murmured identification of the creatures in a single word.

"Now I understand why the Destruction Fungus gave up fighting."

[They are lifeless entities. If beings like that, driven by incantations, were neither outmatched in strength nor numbers, the Destruction Fungus would stand no chance of winning.]

The Destruction Fungus's method of combat relied on infection. The Mutants had the added ability to assimilate and replicate their opponent's power through this infection.

However, all of these abilities required the opponent to be a living organism.

If the opponent's entire body was simply stone, the Destruction Fungus, which didn't understand the concept of Formative Power, would be powerless and crushed.

"But there's no way those things formed naturally."

Yet the Legion, uninterested in the tales of the defeated, focused elsewhere.

On the identity of the Players, Creators, or Gods behind those Golems.

[The answer must be further above.]

"You're right. Commander of the Legion. Prepare immediately."

The entire Nest trembled.

The Legion, which had conserved energy and upgraded its Legion Soldiers, resumed its activities.

The wall formed by the lifeless entity Legion, which the Destruction Fungus could not overcome.

"This time, we will devour even those stones."

But influenced by its Player, the Legion, now equipped with the concept of Formative Power, had a way to shatter the barrier testing the limits of life.

Kang Do-Yeon exhaled lightly and grabbed her weapon.

A longsword made entirely of crimson Red Ore.

After several enhancements, it was decided that combining or mixing materials was unnecessary; a single solid piece was more explosive and powerful.

"…"

This was the 47th Layer.

After the Destruction Fungus had been eradicated and driven out, a long period of peace had followed.

The vegetation consumed, reproduced, and died, following their instincts. The Golems, tasked with guarding the area, had ceased operations and only occasionally performed test runs after the Destruction Fungus disappeared.

"...?"

But now, at last.

Detecting faint and unfamiliar vibrations, the Golems began to rise one by one, reactivating as their magical energy was supplied.

However, they were unaware that their opponent had already thoroughly analyzed them.

-A large-scale group of living organisms detected-

One of them detected the intruders coming from the Lower Stratum.

A massive wave of black surged toward them as a group.

The Golems, once dormant stones, instantly ignited hostility as programmed.

Whether the intruders were Destruction Fungus or not was irrelevant.

-Execute the Extermination Order. Eliminate all group living organisms.-

Due to limitations in their Command System, the Golems could not selectively kill only the Destruction Fungus.

All group-living organisms were targets for extermination.

With thunderous vibrations, the Golems began to gather.

They were not living beings. They were mere entities that moved as commanded.

-Annihilate-

The Golems, confident in their mass and size, charged recklessly.

Even the most ferocious of creatures, even the Mutant Destruction Fungus, could not control them as they evolved into Variants, so mindless and aggressive were they.

"Bring them down!"

But their opponents were just as aggressive and unrelenting.

"!"

With a loud boom, the ground exploded.

Mining-Type Legion Soldiers, modeled after the giant subterranean Demonic Mole Cricket, which had been lying in wait, suddenly emerged and blew apart the ground beneath the Golems.

The strange vibrations the Golems had detected were caused by this.

-Searching for countermeasures-

The Golems, who had stumbled and fallen, quickly regained their footing.

But this time, what struck them was a crimson Slash Attack from Kang Do-Yeon's sword.

The resonance between the Core Engine implanted in her body and her sword unleashed explosive energy of the same kind as the power bestowed by the Golems' creator.

-Countermeasures...-

The bodies of the Golems, impervious to ordinary claws and fangs, were sliced and shattered as if they were made of tofu.

"Crush them."

The Legion trampled the Golems with a new tactic, unlike their usual strategies.

The Mining-Type Legion Soldiers, as well as the Assault-Type Legion Soldiers based on the Cave Ox, were all Large Species, surpassing the Golems in both size and weight.

Each one had been enhanced by the Legion, their size and strength reaching levels impossible for natural cave-dwelling creatures.

They overpowered the Golems, who had previously relied on their mass to dominate, turning the tables against them.

[Simply overpowering them won't be enough. They neither feel pain nor exhaustion.]

"So that's why we need to obtain this."

Kang Do-Yeon, her eyes glowing with a Red Glow, climbed onto the chest of a struggling Golem that had been subdued. She aimed her sword and drove it downward without hesitation.

She extracted the Core Engine from the Golem.

It was the size of her head.

Other Elite Legion Soldiers, who had Core Engines implanted into their own hearts, used their unique methods to manipulate Formative Power, breaking the Golems' resistance, destroying the Core Engines, and retrieving them.

'It's slightly different from the Legion's method—something more akin to the Moonlight Fairies' Method.'

The intricate incantations drawn and engraved on the Core Engines bore a striking resemblance to the curses once used by the Moonlight Fairies.

In other words, reverse-analysis would take only seconds.

'This will make it far easier to utilize.'

"Ugh."

Right then, the Legion began enhancing the bodies of Kang Do-Yeon and the Elite Legion Soldiers on the spot.

From Kang Do-Yeon's hands, her eyes widening in surprise, grew fine root-like structures that burrowed into the Core Engine she was holding.