Absolute Dweller-Chapter 218

The presence of an uninvited guest was felt about a hundred kilometers east of Jeju Island, where the Namhae region was located.

Since my domain now covered all of Korea, the collisions with marine monsters had become frequent occurrences. To avoid constant notifications for minor disturbances, I had configured the system not to alert for most of these.

[An unauthorized entity is attempting to enter.]

The appearance of this notification meant that someone had either been persistently attempting to enter or had triggered a shock that surpassed the threshold.

Moreover.

[A being that meets the conditions to be accepted as a citizen has approached the outskirts of the territory.]

[Would you like to offer citizenship?]

This time, a citizenship proposal message appeared.

‘...In the middle of the sea?’

Curiosity arose.

Who could be arriving at this late hour?

‘The Eye of the Absolute.’

Immediately, I scanned the area, and what I saw was enough to surprise me.

‘...Something this large should have triggered an alert.’

A massive iron warship, 300 meters long, 80 meters wide, and 80 meters tall, resembling an aircraft carrier, was in the sea.

The deck, reminiscent of a vast road, was lined with dozens of fighter jets.

The uninvited guest turned out to be an aircraft carrier.

‘How did such a colossal ship end up here?’

Could it have drifted across the Pacific Ocean after the monster apocalypse?

It was a plausible possibility.

Aircraft carriers are designed for long journeys and would have enough supplies stored on board. Additionally, they use nuclear reactors to generate power, so no fuel would be required.

Upon further inspection, I found that the aircraft carrier was carrying approximately 1,700 people.

In fact, there were more survivors aboard the aircraft carrier than there were in Fukuoka, Japan, where survivors had been discovered.

‘Could it be that no monsters had appeared there?’

Since they had likely been drifting on the sea, it’s possible that they hadn’t encountered any monsters like goblins or orcs.

However, the sea wasn’t necessarily safe either.

‘Thinking back on all the monsters that came from the sea, it’s clear the ocean wasn’t a guaranteed safe zone.’

I didn’t know the exact number of people that could fit on the aircraft carrier, but I doubted it could accommodate more than 10,000.

Yet, 1,700 people had managed to survive.

‘After all, the aircraft carrier is a war machine.’

Most of the people aboard an aircraft carrier would be military personnel. And those aboard would likely be the top-tier soldiers selected from the powerful U.S. military.

They would have plenty of weapons and ammunition, making their survival rate unsurprisingly high.

‘This is an unexpected gain.’

Accepting them would mean that the aircraft carrier would become part of our forces, along with the 1,700 highly trained soldiers aboard.

Surprisingly, the average level of these soldiers was in the mid-20s, quite high.

There was no reason to refuse.

‘Offer citizenship.’

However.

‘...?’

Minutes passed, but no one had accepted the offer.

Since there was no notification of refusal, it meant that there was no reaction to the proposal for citizenship.

‘What’s going on?’

This was the first time this had happened, and I felt a bit confused.

‘Are they wary?’

I tried to imagine the situation from the perspective of the U.S. military.

An aircraft carrier, once cruising along smoothly, had now collided with an invisible barrier, causing an immense shock.

Naturally, they would be on high alert.

‘Should I go meet them in person and persuade them?’

Although I had scored well on my college entrance exams, attended a prestigious university, and took classes in English, I wasn’t fluent.

But there was no need to worry.

Kim Da-bin and the others seemed fluent in English, but it wouldn’t be necessary to bring an interpreter.

‘Besides, I’ve just acquired telepathy.’

I immediately called upon my avatar.

[Are you busy?]

“...You’re not asking because you don’t know, are you?”

Of course, I knew. He had been working with the rescue team, saving survivors, and his influence was enormous.

Teleportation, the World Tree’s vitality, x-ray vision, clairvoyance, and his mental strength, which knew no limits, all combined into a specialized set of abilities for rescuing survivors.

Since the avatar was working in a region covered by my domain, his mental link was still active.

So, I knew exactly how hard he was working to rescue survivors.

Whenever I needed help, I’d assist him in real-time.

And I knew that he had a rough understanding of my situation.

[You don’t need me to explain, right?]

“Of course not. The rescue operation in Gunsan is nearly complete. I’m done with the things I needed to do, so move me over right away. I’ll talk to the U.S. military myself.”

[Okay.]

I immediately opened a portal and jumped to the deck of the aircraft carrier.

As soon as I passed through the transparent barrier, the connection with the avatar weakened, and I needed to focus to share his senses.

By now, my meal with Nakamoto Hiroshi was finishing up, so I asked for his understanding.

“Well, I’ll excuse myself. Something’s come up.”

“Thank you so much today. You truly are my savior, my lord!”

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Nakamoto Hiroshi once again bowed deeply.

It was a bit overwhelming, but what could I do? He was doing it because he wanted to.

“…I’ll see you next time.”

Anyway, I had gained quite a bit from my meeting with Nakamoto Hiroshi.

‘First, the existence of a divine power that can turn awakeners into mutants.’

And.

‘It’s possible to purify them simply by granting them citizenship if the conditions are right.’

There might even be cases where survivors have returned from being mutants to humans.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

When the territory expands, citizenship is automatically granted, so it’s possible that some people could return to human form in the process.

‘Anyway, it’s not a threat to us.’

The fact that purification is possible with citizenship means that if they have citizenship, they won’t turn into mutants.

‘It’s still not certain, though, so I’ll need to experiment.’

Such experiments should ideally be conducted using the avatar.

As I thought about this, I focused to raise my concentration and share the avatar’s senses.

The moment I shared the connection with the avatar.

Bam, bam, bam—

The first thing I heard was gunfire.

And the next moment, I saw the avatar using telekinesis to block all the bullets, moving forward and knocking out the U.S. soldiers.

‘...What’s going on?’

I had said I would talk to them, but why were they fighting?

Fortunately, the avatar’s combat power was overwhelming, so neither side was taking damage.

[What’s going on? Why are you being attacked?]

“I don’t know! What am I supposed to do when they just attacked out of nowhere?”

The avatar methodically subdued the U.S. soldiers attacking him.

While continuing the battle, he sent telepathy to the soldiers.

[Stop! I’m not your enemy! I don’t want to fight!]

But it was no use.

As the avatar continued to incapacitate the U.S. soldiers, I noticed that some of them regained consciousness and resumed attacking.

Given that they were all averaging mid-20s in levels, it was exceptionally difficult to subdue them without killing them.

'Wait a second.'

I noticed something odd.

'...How do they all have mid-20s level?'

It didn’t make sense.

'The average level of a normal human is about 8.'

Considering they had undergone extreme training, I could understand that they might be a bit higher on average. But even then, a normal level would likely be around the low 10s.

Why?

'Because non-awakened humans can’t level up by hunting monsters.'

None of the 1,700 U.S. soldiers were awakened.

For ordinary people who hadn’t acquired citizenship, no matter how many monsters they hunted, their levels wouldn’t increase.

The only way for them to level up would be through physical training to build strength and endurance.

Yet, these soldiers were all at mid-20s levels.

'Something’s wrong.'

They seemed almost like people who had already acquired citizenship.

'Could it be that someone in the U.S. has powers similar to mine?'

It wasn’t unreasonable to think that I wasn’t the only one with such extraordinary abilities.

There could very well be others, somewhere in the world, who had gained powers like mine.

'After all, this power isn’t originally mine.'

It was borrowed temporarily from a transcendent force that sought to take my body.

I was gathering power imbued with divinity to resist it.

If such an entity existed, there would likely be a few others with powers of a similar scale to mine.

'So...'

If this hypothesis is true, then these people came here with clear hostile intent.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that they arrived from the U.S.

What they were after was clear—

'Me.'

Why were they targeting me? How had they discovered my existence?

There were many questions, but it wasn’t something I needed to dwell on.

'If they’re enemies, there’s no reason to hesitate.'

There was no reason to show mercy to those who had brought an aircraft carrier here to attack me and the citizens living here.

Fortunately, the attacking force was weak.

Considering that our lead hunting teams were approaching level 40, the soldiers in their 20s were pitifully weak by comparison.

The avatar alone could wipe them all out, and the same went for Lee Joon-hyuk or the other vassals.

If their overall level was this low, a few vassals could annihilate their main force.

'I don’t know who’s behind this, but I’ll make them regret attacking us.'

Just as I was about to tell the avatar to eliminate them all.

(Stop, stop! Please, stop!)

I could hear the U.S. soldiers’ thoughts.

'...What?'

The soldiers within the range of my telepathy, expressionless, were still firing their guns relentlessly.

Others were the same.

They were all pulling their triggers like puppets.

“...?”

The avatar also felt the oddness.

While continuing to block the bullets with his telekinetic field, he focused on the soldiers’ thoughts.

(Save me! I don’t want to die!)

(I’d rather be killed. Please release me from this hell.)

(Arrrrgh!)

It became clear.

The soldiers firing at the avatar weren’t doing so because they wanted to.

They were being controlled by someone.

'Who could it be?'

There were no awakened beings among them.

Then, it happened.

Whoosh—

Out of nowhere, a grenade flew through the air.

Boom!

It struck the avatar’s telekinetic field.

As expected, a mere grenade couldn’t penetrate the telekinetic barrier the avatar created, and instead, the nearby soldiers who were shooting at the avatar were wiped out.

Among them, one of the soldiers who had begged for death was instantly killed, his body taking all the shrapnel.

“...”

The avatar quietly activated clairvoyance.

Almost immediately, he found the person who had launched the grenade.

There, standing, was:

「M-203 (Lv. 39)」

A strangely humanoid robot holding a grenade launcher.