Chapter 251 - Knight

"When doing one thing, you should focus only on that one thing."

"Good. Now let's start the final check in earnest."

That's why I decided to temporarily pause my preparations for the Moonlight Church incident and focus on dealing with the immediate matter at hand.

Specifically, the one I need to defeat in collaboration with Stardust.

Because we need to kill the Knight of the God sleeping somewhere underground in the Republic of Korea.

Knight of the God. An ancient weapon of destruction that will later be called Miles Dei by Celeste in the latter part of the original work.

Especially after the Moonlight Church disaster, this excellent fellow wakes up suddenly in an already chaotic world and faithfully attends until the final battle in the original work.

In short, that means we need to destroy it now.

"....."

And as I've repeatedly said, that's something only Stardust can do.

With these thoughts, I headed to a section of the mansion where books were collected. Too grand to call a library... more like a warehouse filled with old books.

They say books are food for the mind, but of course that's not why I collected them. The books here are mainly related to magic and theology. They're all in their original languages, but with advanced translation technology—that is, a magical device created by Eun-wol—I can read them all.

Of course, through the original work, I already knew the secrets of this world that even Celeste, the world's highest-ranking villain, didn't know, but verification was still necessary just in case.

After completing my additional verification, my conclusion was singular.

Indeed, this is something only Stardust can do.

"...It won't be easy."

I muttered to myself.

The reason Stardust was the protagonist in the original work.

She was much weaker than other S-class heroes, and her uniquely strong and good will seemed to be her only differentiating factor.

In the end, the reason she alone managed to survive until the very end in the final battle where all the world's ability users were swept away.

While part of it was because Stardust, unlike other ability users, had a basic value that could grow endlessly.

The most important thing was that the origin of her power was different from others.

The Moonlight Church, and in the final battle too.

In the end, only she could stop all of those things.

"The power of stars..."

I muttered to myself.

The three gods who created this world.

And among them, the power blessed by the god who loved humans the most.

...But none of that matters. The biggest characteristic of Stardust's ability is that it has good compatibility with other ability users. That's all you need to remember. Just look at our Deus Ex Machina who can turn back time—that's already a cheat ability.

That's why the original Stardust kept rolling and rolling without dying, and eventually managed to face other villains even if it took years.

"So..."

That's why only she can defeat this 'Knight of the God.'

Of course, if we deal with it after the Moonlight Church incident, its power will have accumulated and strengthened, which is why we need to handle it now.

But thinking this far, a question arises.

Since I also derive my power from the same god as Stardust, why can't I deal with this guy directly?

...This is also a simple story.

Just because vampires are weak to silver doesn't mean poking them with a silver toothpick will kill them. You need to shoot them with a gun loaded with silver bullets.

In other words, I'm completely inadequate for this task.

"Cough... oh my."

As I was browsing through these old books, I coughed due to the dust that came out while turning the pages.

Sigh, I should set aside a day to organize this place too.

Make it feel like a proper library. Hmm.

"Alright... that should be enough."

I muttered as I closed the book.

Now it's time to formulate a proper plan for how to defeat this guy.

With that thought, I left the library.

To call Seo-eun and Eun-wol, and head to the conference room.

***

Knight of the God (Miles Dei).

An elite weapon planted by the Sun God in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances.

It's been around since the creation of the world so it's quite weakened now, but later after the Moonlight Church disaster, it accumulates power by connecting to the second dimension... something like that was the setting.

But that's not what's important.

What's important is that because this guy is a weapon, its attacks have certain patterns, like a game boss.

Therefore, although it's strong, theoretically if you know its patterns, you can avoid attacks without getting hit even once.

But there are hundreds of patterns, so how do I remember them all?

Damn... because the original author had a breakdown with this episode.

It took several volumes to describe how Stardust memorized the patterns and successfully defeated this guy. Do you know the agony of readers who had to see the same content month after month?

...Of course, there's a sad story that by that point in the late series, readers with broken minds were tearfully buying all the volumes. So when Stardust finally defeated the guy, everyone shed tears of emotion.

Anyway, my conclusion was simple.

Contact Stardust, and I'll observe all the patterns on the spot and command her to dodge right, hit left, and so on to defeat the guy.

While I might not be confident in direct combat, I've always been confident in commanding.

Of course, doing this with ordinary technology would be impossible, so I created several new technologies.

Starting with the communication device I gave to Stardust, which is not just an ordinary communication device.

"Seo-eun, is the connection working?"

"Yes. I think it will work well."

In the basement of Ego-Base, filled with monitors,

I was formulating a proper plan with Seo-eun and Eun-wol.

"Hmm... although this is essentially my first attempt so I'm nervous, it seems to be working well."

Seo-eun muttered, looking at the communication device.

This communication device is probably the first product of magic and science created through collaboration between Seo-eun and Eun-wol since that material conversion device? The one that turned mint chocolate cake into tiramisu.

In other words, when she wears that communication device, her vision will be shared.

With that thought, I sat down in the seat I had prepared in advance.

A massive monitor in front of me.

The control seat exclusively for Stardust. Here, I'll share Stardust's vision and control her.

On the sub-monitors next to it, there are blueprints of the underground temple where the Knight of the God is sleeping and all settings prepared for any contingency.

After confirming once more that everything was well-prepared up to this point, I spoke to Eun-wol standing beside me.

"Eun-wol, you know what to do if something happens, right?"

"Yes. Teleport immediately from the standby location to save Stardust first. I understand."

Eun-wol nodded and said that.

As I was satisfied with her response, Seo-eun smiled and spoke.

"Still... this operation is much better than before."

"What is?"

When I asked that, Seo-eun looked into my eyes, smiled broadly, and said.

"At least you're sitting here, so there's no risk of you getting hurt? I was worried because you kept going into dangerous places despite your weak body. If working with that Stardust woman means this, then I welcome it."

...She seemed surprisingly satisfied with this plan.

Well, I guess that's better than her disliking it...?

After that, we did a final check of the plan and then I sent everyone away to get some early rest for tomorrow.

And now.

It's time to make contact.

With that thought, I took out the communication device.

...Somehow, I feel like if I don't contact her now, something bad will happen.

***

"Haah...."

Night, at Shin Ha-ru's house.

After showering, she was drying her hair with a towel, walking out wearing just a T-shirt.

...It had been almost a week since she met Egostic.

For about two days, she was bedridden with leg pain, and after that, she resumed her activities.

As expected, due to the endless emergence of villains, she had already flown around to put three of them in prison, and in doing so, she realized something.

'...My speed has clearly increased.'

More precisely, she could feel it. The time it took to arrive at terrorist scenes had significantly decreased.

Therefore, she was now thinking... maybe.

'Perhaps... Egostic really planned this from the beginning with the terrorist attack?'

"....."

...Is this too self-conscious?

Shaking her head at that thought, she sighed and sat on the bed.

And as expected, next to her, in a conspicuous place.

The mysterious communication device and earphones that Egostic had given her.

She was waiting for contact to find out what the villain was planning to do next, what plans he was hatching behind the scenes.

With no other thoughts, she was carrying the communication device purely with a hero's spirit to deal with the evil villain.

...By the way, it's a secret that she tried on those earphone-like things once out of curiosity while waiting.

"...When is he going to contact me."

As she sat on the bed muttering that, with her hand on the sheet, swinging her legs and looking at the ceiling lost in thought.

Weeeeeeeeeeeing.

"Eek! Ugh... you startled me..."

Suddenly startled by something ringing at an enormous volume, she bit her tongue, and with teary eyes, her hand to her mouth, she looked for the source of the noise and her eyes widened.

It was that communication device that hadn't rung for a while, finally lighting up red and ringing.

Startled without realizing it, she touched her lips for a moment to compose herself, then suppressed a smile, cleared her throat, and answered.

"...Hello?"

[What kind of hello is this between us? Hello, Ms. Stardust. This is Egostic.]

As always, a cheerful voice came through the communication device.

As she suddenly realized that she was sitting on her bed in her room talking to Egostic, her heart started pounding slightly.

His next words came clearly through the receiver.

[Are you free tomorrow?]

...And at his direct question.

Suddenly reminded of a line from a drama she had seen before, where the male protagonist asked his lover for a date, she forgot the response she had prepared. Without realizing it, she opened her mouth and said just one word.

"Yes..."

[Great! Then let's go tomorrow.]

And so.

Her next destination was decided.