Chapter 180 Shattered Peace

Life questions were something that a human mind couldn't get off to.

Questions that naturally flowed inside one's mind; from when they were feeling delightful; from when they were sorrowful: from when they were feeling a sense of gratification; from when they were feeling a sense of greed; from when they were contented with their lives, and when they were on the verge of both mental and emotional breakdown.

But there was a specific question that a human would never miss to ask himself in his lifetime — "What would you do if you know when you are going to die?"

This question, however, sounded cringe and serious at the same time, and was something that only contained one answer in general — that was to live a human's inner desire.

Whether it was to do good, evil, or things that aligned with this world's neutrality, it was all-encompassed under human desire.

But the above-mentioned question, although occasionally asked, was never taken seriously. And if there's a time when it was being taken seriously, the person in question must have either reached the nadir of his sufferings or probably on his imaginary death's door.

In other words, human life, although a fleeting one, was more than precious enough to even waste time answering such a question.

That's why... in a moment of an unexpected catastrophe, the individuals' answers would never be documented even by themselves.

Boom-!

***

A ginormous magic circle carved with intricate and incomprehensible runes appeared in the sky, overlapping with the largest artifact museum of Alastor's capital, Articor.

After that, a quick, something that could not be seen by the naked eye, by players that were not in the realm of at least A Rank, landed on the entire museum. It was a modified technology crafted by a player with a Unique Profession, Dungeon Artisan.

The woman, who previously infiltrated the museum, was the one to set off the trigger, which would let the gigantic technology, in the form of a human-made miniature yet destructive missile, warp from its initial place to its endpoint.

With the deafening explosion, the lively afternoon of player civilians, regardless of their social status, suddenly turned into hell. The scream of agony reverberated throughout the center of the capital, where the wide and extravagant artifact museum was lofty standing, which was now turned into crumbled pieces of metals and rocks.

The lifeless bloody bodies of those who were caught in the explosion, as the ground and surrounding crumbled walls dyed crimson, were scattered around.

The explosion did not spare those who were in the area; there were elderly, who were either delightfully bonding with their grandsons or granddaughters, with bodies split into parts; there were children, who were only in the process of dreaming the career of player life, and had yet to received the System, but now they were lifeless on the ground in a gruesome appearance, and there were those any player civilians who just wanted to do their stable job to support themselves or families, but that simple everyday life was quickly shattered.

The expressions of the dead people, especially those who instantly died through the explosion, were just a mix of unreal, terror, and incredulity.

Some still had a smile painted on their innocent lips.

Some still had a proud look on their delightful faces, and while some still had a loved expression, it was instantly taken away by the reality of humanity's side.

The peace was instantly shattered.

If even Russell Moon did not know anything regarding the terrorist attack, then it would only be the higher beings specialized in knowledge who would be aware of it.

And if he did not exist in this world, then there would be no other intelligent being other than some gods and goddesses, as well as Constellations, who could foresee it.

But, Russell was heavily burdened. Although he knew that the possibility of the event occurring, regardless of how some things deviated from what he thought, was high, he was someone who wouldn't be able to do anything.

He was not weak compared to someone his age. In fact, he could be considered a pampered genius, but the current circumstances were not just for him and his Chaos Companions, but rather it was...

It was for the main character of the unpublished novel he had written.

***

Han Jiho, who was at least three hundred meters away from the epicenter of the explosion, had his afternoon meal to be stopped by the intense shockwave, which was scorching, but bearable.

The people, including them, seemed to be washed away by the shockwave as it shattered thick mirrors. Almost all of them had flown for at least three to four meters.

"W-What happened...?"

Anya Amasawa, who was with him, asked with a terrified expression. She almost instantly knew, because of the screams of agony and weeping, that the situation was dire and it was something that was not made by a strayed Monster Beasts since it was impossible for such things to access the Alastor's capital.

"It's an attack-!"

"T-terror attack-!"

The other people, who were running away farther from the explosion site, inadvertently answered Anya's question.

Without glancing to her side, Anya felt an extremely coke atmosphere. It was exuded by Jiho's current demeanor.

If there was something that Jiho hated the most, it was similar to what happened to his discreet home, Sanctus Solaris, which was an attack of any kind. Although this time, it was the humans who did such a horrible act.

Standing from the ground, Jiho calmed down for a moment before he spoke to Anya, who also stood up just fine.

"...Let's go. Some people might still be alive and in need of emergency aid."

Without waiting for Anya's response, he quickly ran towards the explosion site, which spanned at least eighty meters in diameter, almost leveling the ground. Anya, who was looking at Jiho's back, followed suit, and her expression returned to something she did not want to wear.

***

Since the Articor was considered the capital of a country, it would only mean that there were numerous guilds stationed on it, which was the reason for a quick response, enabling them to treat those who were either mildly or critically wounded.

"Guild Master, it is entirely possible that this attack is done by the Black Sky Disorder.

"Although we don't know for certain the reasons behind their actions, this act was similar to the one a few months ago when they claimed responsibility by plundering quite a handful of artifacts in the Crescent Weaponry Company."

Standing beside the Guild Master of the Starlight Guild, or the President of this country, the Chief Secretary politely suggested.

"Dismiss your thought about whoever is responsible for now, but give the widespread order to fully mobilize first the other affiliated guilds to help those who are still alive yet heavily injured.

"Additionally, I want you to find out exactly the mechanism behind the attack and capture any perpetrator that might still be in the vicinity, lurking around."

The Guild Master firmly ordered the Chief Secretary, which she nodded in response before she disappeared from the Guild Master's office, which was located at least two kilometers away from the focus of the blast.

After a few seconds, the Guild Master opened the laptop placed on his table, and after browsing for a moment, he easily found a live broadcast, which was now trending all over the Orion Continent in that short amount of time.

He then scrutinized the live feed and saw something...

What he saw was something familiar.

It was the after-effects of the explosion, which was only the precursor of something more terrible.

Realizing that his eyes weren't deceiving his perception, being left alone inside his office, all of a sudden, there were uncontrollable tears that left the Guild Master's eyes before he muttered something in the air.

It was a muttering full of guilt.

"...Artorious... This is the payback for our atrocities."

***

"...Where are you...? F*ck! You can't die yet!"

Czerina von Elydine cursed as she muttered. She was running and searching every nook and cranny of a three-hundred-meter diameter from the center of the explosion. Specifically, she was searching for Russell as she desired answers to certain questions that would not let her sleep soundly.

She also already confirmed the safety of her two siblings, Erina von Elydine and Celiya von Elydine, though she only checked them from afar because it was irrelevant for her to make contact with them.

Unfortunately, some students instantly died from the terror attack, which ended their dreams for either themselves or their respective families. It was the reality of a terrorist attack — ending one's life in the blink of an eye, marking a change in humanity's history.

After a few minutes of stealthily running around, Czerina, who was now a hundred meters away from the previous lively, but now seemingly turned wasteland area, felt chills all over her body.

At that moment, with her profound sight being a special type of Assassin, Czerina saw from afar a single, gigantic grey portal that formed through space. It was the coalesced smoke from the high-tech modified missile.

Then, after a few more moments, variously known humanoid, bipedal monsters walked out of it. These monsters, although familiar to her, and probably some others, were wielding different artifacts.

If the artifact custodian of the Crescent Weaponry Company was to see this situation, he would recognize them right away.

Because these were the stolen artifacts that the company mentioned above previously possessed.

***

"I'm quite envious of his Unique Skill, really."

The woman wearing a hoodie, still watching the turmoil and hearing the unrest of people, muttered while still standing atop the spire of a towering infrastructure.

The one who made the technology was a Dungeon Artisan, which could let him create a dungeon without requiring the heart of a normal Strayed Dungeon, or the Dungeon Core. Then, wherever the Dungeon Artisan desired, he could send the dungeon through any viable means — this time, it was through a missile that was designed and made also by him.

This personally created dungeon had a few necessities to work. To begin with, the monsters that would inhabit it would need to be manually placed inside.

It would mean that the Dungeon Artisan needed to raid either a Strayed Dungeon or Dungeon Tower with the help of his companions to capture the desired monsters, which were currently ranging from A Rank to S+ Rank monsters, which could level a country if left unchecked since it was entirely different when it came to battling high-rank monsters from inside a dungeon to the outside of it.

Moreover, the other necessity for this dungeon to properly function was that these monsters needed to be supplied with artifacts.

These artifacts would serve as the life of this dungeon.

In other words, this would serve as the Dungeon Core, which needed to be destroyed for the dungeon to cease to exist, or else, the artificial dungeon would exist there forever and keep the cycle of giving birth to its inhabitants.

Furthermore, the monsters that were technically kidnapped to forcefully live in another dungeon would gain intelligence through time, but unlike Lunaria, the controversial Boss Monster, these monsters would not bubble a word regarding the existence of the System itself.

It was also the reason how these monsters could wield the artifacts that were handed to them.

"... Artorious... Artorious... you can not blame us for what we are doing.

"You brought this upon yourself."

The woman muttered to herself while crouching atop a certain building.

***

The raging roar of the humanoid monsters seemed to reverberate throughout Articor.

Apart from the previous screams of agony due to the explosion, right now, the screams came from being torn apart by the artifact-wielding monsters.

"...Is it time?"

The woman, who warped the missile, casually muttered.

Fiddling and browsing through her smartwatch, she checked the list of names of the specific number of students...

Students she was tasked to assassinate.