Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan

Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan – 199

Attack, Defense, and Development (3)

Grooooowl…!

Woooooosh…!

Crackle-crackle-crackle―

The world’s attributes change on either side of the boundary.

On one side of the battlefield, golden and azure hues, sometimes even pure white magical waves burst forth, while on the other side, pitch-black darkness and ominous red negative energy waves writhe.

A bizarre phenomenon where two types of energy waves, their colors clearly declaring their allegiance, collide on a massive scale.

“Come at us!”

“You come at us!”

The battlefield remained peaceful, with pointed pleasantries being exchanged as a bonus.

Soldiers who only growled at each other but never actually fought. Perhaps they were secretly breathing sighs of relief.

Although they had thrown away the romance of war, life still went on.

Isaac, watching the scene where demons and angels only glared at each other, belatedly let out a sigh of relief.

‘With this, we should be able to get through the day.’

This luxury was only possible because the opposing side hadn’t chosen to ‘attack’.

If they had chosen an attack policy but were doing this to lull us into a false sense of security while conducting reconnaissance, even Isaac’s brain, which had shown cold-blooded rationality when it came to survival, would have to concede defeat cleanly.

If the monster faction’s control over their troops was that perfect, this fight would be lost before it even began.

“Your Majesty, we knew nothing. We’ll watch our words from now on.”

The Sword Emperor, who had been deeply immersed in the visual spectacle that seemed like a fantasy blockbuster war film with a dash of comedy, suddenly adopted the manners of a courtier.

From his way of speaking, Isaac thought that perhaps the constraints of the Yellow Springs had a direct influence on the self-awareness of living beings.

Role-playing for fun wasn’t a one-time thing. The Hero Sword Emperor himself seemed to feel a bit of pride in his rank of [Squad Leader], which was quite an achievement for an Earthling.

With such warm reactions from those around him, Isaac was cautiously accepting the old saying that the position makes the man. In other words, he too had become somewhat absorbed in his role as temporary king.

―From what I can tell, it’s definitely not an attack, and it doesn’t seem to be defense either.

―O King of our forces. It seems the king of the opposing side has chosen the same development policy as us.

―Please keep the communication lines open at all times.

The attitude of the immortals and angels who had descended from the heavenly realm had also become markedly more subdued than before.

They seemed to have given quite high marks for taking a relative advantage in the crucial game of rock-paper-scissors.

Squeeze.

‘Is the real match starting now?’

Isaac, who had been the policy selector, was just as tense from the dizzying gambit.

Isaac’s liver, which had shrunk to the size of a bean, had now returned to its normal size.

“No. Continue as you were. Your opinions have been helpful.”

“We will follow your words.”

The Sword Emperor, in the position of Chief State Councillor, bowed again.

In reality, the voice of the public had provided significant data for Isaac’s clever mind to select counter-policies.

Isaac knew Satanael’s tendencies and identity, but Satanael had no idea that the king on this side was a transmigrator with extensive background knowledge.

The development policy was an ideal choice derived from knowing both the enemy and oneself.

“We will keep it in mind.”

“Your Majesty’s words, we will engrave them in our hearts.”

The elderly gentlemen who bowed their heads along with the Sword Emperor were the former President of the Korean Hero Association, God Hand, who had only received a new body this morning, and the current World Hero Association Crisis Management Bureau Chief, Robert Stormwell.

If the Sword Emperor was the Chief State Councillor, these two were the Left and Right State Councillors. It seemed that after some private deliberation among themselves, these three had been selected as representatives to have an audience with the king.

‘Somehow, even the structure has become quite plausible.’

The seating installed in the lower part of the bridge, close to the World Stone, had a total of 4 tiers. The executives of the World Hero Association and S-class heroes, who had somehow ended up participating in the space war from the Ark of Trials, packed the seats from the 1st to 3rd floors in order of the ranks bestowed by the Yellow Springs system.

This meant that the captain’s seat, which seemed simple yet exuded dignity, and the slightly less impressive seats to its left and right were occupied by Isaac and the trio represented by these three ministers.

“How’s your new body, my friend?”

“It’s still a bit awkward. But hey, it’s better than being dead. Haha.”

As God Hand and the Sword Emperor, who had received new bodies of magic cavalry identical to their living appearances, occasionally caught up on unfinished business, Robert Stormwell frequently shot burdensome glances.

Grin.

“Hehe. Do you have anything else to say?”

The pure ambition to firmly grasp and climb that sturdy golden rope was abundantly sprinkled in his fresh green eyes.

If one were to measure the level of that ambition, Isaac’s analysis was that it would far exceed the lethal dose.

However, the heavens did not allow the heir to the throne the luxury of smirking.

Screech―

Thud.

“……!?”

“Cock-a-doodle-doo.”

A chicken descended.

The origin of this creature was the empty void. As space-time split open, a smartphone-sized LCD screen was attached to the neck of the chicken that had been bestowed from there.

「Notification Chicken」

▶ Classification: Pet

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Effect: Provides important information.

‘Is this some kind of reward for making it through the day?’

While angels and demons who had descended to earth were just growling at each other, what significance could this mere chicken have?

How could one not be flustered when faced with such a chicken head?

As Isaac and the three ministers stared intently at the notification chicken, the LCD screen hanging from the chicken’s neck emitted a bright light.

[The all-out war will end at 8 PM.]

[From 10 PM, you may be assassinated.]

“…What’s this?”

From the throne of the ancient ship that had become a virtually flawless royal court, Isaac had to quickly absorb the new information.

The North-South War, hosted by Satanael and sponsored by the Tetragrammaton, was not just about all-out warfare.

‘The fact that they gave me this chicken. Does this mean I can’t even receive messages from heaven directly anymore?’

Presumably, this was also a means of conserving resources.

With the added ‘condition’ of having to receive messages through the chicken, the resource consumption of heaven would decrease, as the Tetragrammaton’s proxy had said.

It probably meant that if this chicken was lost, he would no longer be able to hear heaven’s voice announcing details about the king game.

“Why a chicken of all things?”

“Cluck cluck?”

The intelligence of the notification chicken seemed to be truly bird-brained.

They had simply thrown him a chicken with an LCD screen around its neck.

This must reflect the nature of Satanael, who deployed the underworld, or the Tetragrammaton, who intervened in the underworld… It’s probably the latter’s doing.

‘But why is this coming out first?’

Before the tutorial on utilizing ‘resources’ with a 50% increased income from the development policy, what popped up was the provocative keyword ‘assassination’.

When Isaac came to his senses, the chicken-brain continued with the rest of the explanation.

[The assassination squad consists of 10 members.]

[Assassination activities are carried out for 2 hours every night from 10 PM.]

“Two hours? Can this even be called assassination?”

Assassination activities from 10 PM to midnight. It’s called assassination, but can it really be called that when it’s so predictable?

“Assassination?!”

“Something else has been added again.”

The left and right state ministers who faced the chicken’s message together were flustered. Isaac was also internally perplexed.

The notification chicken continued to update its message.

[You can likewise form an assassination squad and send them on assassination missions.]

An assassination squad of 10 people capable of killing each other’s king. It was impossible for either side to have a means to instantly reach the opponent’s throne, bypassing millions of troops and cosmic defense measures.

Perhaps what this message implied was that the assassination squad would be definitively sent to the king’s immediate vicinity.

It meant that numerous obstacles could be ignored by the rules of the underworld.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo. Cluck cluck.”

[You can select royal guards to fight against the assassins.]

[The royal guard consists of 10 members.]

10 royal guards. 10 assassins.

Including the king, this meant that a small-scale battle of 10:11 for the fate of the universe would unfold every night.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

[Protect the king of your faction and defeat the king of the enemy faction.]

The victory condition of the king game was not a great victory in battle, but the death of the enemy leader. Therefore, this assassination battle was the key point of survival.

“This has become troublesome. New information has appeared.”

Isaac, who still used honorifics when addressing the public, conveyed the simple and clear system of the assassination battle to the audience before him and the deities beyond the screen.

It was only natural that the attention of the immortals and angels who were pretending to fight shifted here. Once again, a high-intensity interference in internal affairs was attempted.

—The assassination squad and royal guards must be filled with our heavenly deities without exception.

—We will prepare the list. You just wait for a moment.

The faces of the avatar bodies, which increased one by one with each utterance, multiplied rapidly until the screen was split into dozens. It was to the point where one had to zoom in to recognize who was who.

While Isaac’s mouth still tasted bitter from the low authority of the king, he strongly agreed with the opinion of the heavenly deities that the assassination squad and royal guards should be selected as elite members.

‘The highest-ranking evil gods and archangels will come over. They’ll be confident.’

With the avatars of the King of Hell and the Celestial Demon Emperor appearing right in front of them, they couldn’t use Korea’s S-class heroes as shields. That would be nothing short of a dog’s death, and how could they protect the king when they would fall with just a wave of a hand?

“Ahem, ahem.”

“Hmm…”

As expected, the heroes avoided Isaac’s gaze. Even some of the executives who had implicitly shown hostility towards heaven kept their mouths shut.

“Uh… I wonder what material this is made of.”

Even the Sword Emperor, who seemed like he would pledge his life in loyalty, was making excuses, so there was no room for disagreement.

If there was one thing that bothered him…

“We’re not going to be chosen, right?”

“Haha. Jin-soo. Let’s not try to squeeze in. This doesn’t seem like our place to step in.”

“Ugh.”

The members of the Harmony Clan, whose presence had diminished due to the rapid acceleration of power inflation, rivaling the crazy inflation of Zimbabwe.

It was true that their combat power showed a remarkable upward graph, but their opponents were the evil gods of the netherworld and the lords of legions.

Including these four in the final lineup of 10 out of old friendship would mean more than just a simple controversy over unfair employment.

Even Isaac’s rational mind was trying to kill off the fond emotions, saying this wasn’t right.

As the king of the Ethereal Kingdom, he had to make a cold judgment after all.

“You guys…”

[Achievement ‘Lone Wolf’ unlocked!]

“…wait for now.”

This message was delivered not through the notification chicken, but through the system message in the front of his field of vision.

Achievement. One of the possession privileges that were used to receive combat skill drawing rights in Clan of Heroes’ world.

‘Suddenly an achievement?’

Unlike before, even the reason for acquiring the achievement wasn’t mentioned. It was just a message saying he had achieved the ‘Lone Wolf’ achievement. Isaac’s brain deduced that it was probably a reward for choosing the [Development Policy] without being swayed by others’ opinions.

Although it was unclear why the timing of the achievement acquisition wasn’t right after the policy selection, considering that the subject of the system was the Tetragrammaton, this might be some kind of hint.

It was an indirect way of communicating, telling him not to be swayed and to do as he wished.

「Lone Wolf」

▶ Category: Achievement

▶ Grade: Heroic

▶ Effect: Permanently receive the ‘Standing Alone’ effect.

“What did you say?”

This was the result of lightly touching [Lone Wolf] in the achievement window.

「Standing Alone」

▶ Category: Blessing

▶ Grade: Heroic

▶ Effect: When fighting alone, mental power consumption rate is reduced by 30%.

And this was the information window that appeared when he further expanded the tooltip for ‘Standing Alone’.

‘The condition of fighting alone probably doesn’t mean much given the nature of the king game.’

The achievement reward, which used to give low-grade combat skill drawing rights, now emitted a dazzling spec-up function in itself.

In response to the sudden power inflation, it seems that the size of the possession benefits has also been updated accordingly.

‘If that’s the case.’

The context derived by his genius brain was to force an eccentric action that others would be shocked by. As with the achievement [Lone Wolf], only by continuing some unique action would it be completed as an achievement. And with a drastic effect attached to it.

Isaac’s smart brain, which had analyzed the war situation, quickly changed strategy.

“I’m thinking of including these children in the list of royal guards.”