The Knight King Who Returned with Gods: Chapter 70
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 70: The God of Cyber Warfare
There was a huge power on the nation. No, the nation
itself should be seen as a great power.
A great power that flaunted its ten-thousand-year
history, albeit with some exaggeration and bravado.
A sleeping lion that, though it had stumbled a few times,
was still a force to be reckoned with, and was expected to explode in size and
population.
However, the lion could not wake up and was slaughtered.
The cataclysm.
Mankind's worst catastrophe, which dawned the 21st
century, struck the countries equally.
Gates sprang up in every direction. At the time, there
were no well-organized Hunters to fight them.
Most countries were unable to cope with the gates, and
countless lands were contaminated with Maso, and cities were crushed by
monsters bursting out of dungeon breaks.
But enough of that.
They could still hold on somehow with their strength.
There were many people, and the land was vast.
What if some people died, what if some land was polluted?
The population, which boasted a billion people, dropped
to 500 million in a year, but there were hundreds of thousands of warriors.
The Chinese leadership at the time was not incompetent.
Surprisingly, they did the best they could in the face of
this natural disaster. But──
The country was too big, too wide, too huge.
Gates popped up in every corner, and it was dealt with
with the rigidity of a dictatorship. Add to that the sudden rise in power and
influence of the warriors, and the refusal of the local lords to mobilize
power.
As the ills and corruption of the great country over a
decade are exposed starkly, the population continued to decline, land was
polluted, and food was scarce.
Fall 2012.
Shanghai Gate.
The second Black Gate appeared, along with the Archdemon
Skazakari and the Epic Item Wandering Magic Sword.
Shanghai's 15 million inhabitants were vaporized in the
worst cataclysmic event in history.
The great nation began to crumble.
Beginning with the terrible damage suffered at this time,
regional lords from various regions staged a coup in protest against the
weakened central government.
As is typical in the history of large nations, ambitious
rulers declared themselves kings.
Fast forward, year 2,034.
The great nation had shattered into over 50 smaller
countries.
* * * * *
Here in the far north of East Asia.
There are two countries from the former great country
that had been torn into 53 pieces.
The Heilong People's Republic, an unfortunate land that borders
Russia and is home to the world's largest granary, but more than half of which
is tainted by Dungeon Breaks.
The Jilin Republic, a country that had received a flood
of orc immigrants as a result of the constant deaths of its soldiers and their
warriors, i.e. Hunters, from fending off monster waves.
Both countries were once a great power, but both are
young emerging countries that sprang from the local lord independence sparked
by the Shanghai Black Gate.
Compared to the fiery Shanghai Federation, the Akrich
Socialist Republic, and the Heavenly Cults of the Hundred Thousand Mountains,
they were merely insignificant land states among the 50 torn countries.
But that was until yesterday. The two countries have now
become the world's most 'hot' countries, being mentioned one after another in
overseas topics around the world.
"Hoahhh~m!"
Luo, an orc corporal in the Jilin Republic Army, is a
typical orc immigrant.
Technically, he belonged to the 16th generation of
immigrants, but since orcs reach adulthood and start reproducing at the age of
two, the generation distinction was meaningless.
"Boss, where are all the enemies?"
The orc soldiers approach corporal Liu, their bodies
itching to fight.
"Those bastards next door are boring! We come here
to fight, and they just run away with their tails between their legs!"
"Humans are weak, they don't even understand the
honor of warriors."
Though their neighbors, the Heilong People's Army, had
stood upon the southern border just a short time ago, the orcs cannot remember
that time.
What they do know was that Lin Xiang, the legendary orc
among orcs, had become the great chieftain of Jilin.
And they know that if they want to eat well, they must
kill the humans on the other side of the mountain.
The irony that the Jilin Republic, strained by constant
battles and gate raiding, would be destroyed by the very orc immigrants they
had welcomed was something lost on the orcs.
After overthrowing the Jilin Republic, the orcs marched
inexorably into the Heilong People's Republic.
Who would believe that all this was done simply because
there was more food in the neighboring region?
A civilized society would have negotiated and traded, but
instead, the orcs solved the problem in a very orcish way.
"Those bastards next door have plenty of food!"
"Let's kill them all and take their food!"
Why bother negotiating a deal when you can just kill and
steal? There was no point in discussing common sense with a race that had a
different mentality.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been able to make human
stew.”
"Can't wait for the humans to show up!"
The army of orcs marched unabated toward the Heilong
People's Republic, its soldiers and citizens long since fleeing in the face of
their formidable fighting power.
These orcs were about to enter a city, intending to
plunder it, even if it was empty, --when something fell from the sky.
-Guoooooooo… !
It was a ten-meter tungsten rod falling at Mach 25.
* * * * *
"Wand of God is hacked?!"
Minister Julius, the Minister of Defense of the United
States of America, doubted his ears.
It was natural.
He'd just heard that his country's secret weapon, the
satellite weapon 'Wand of God', had suddenly been hacked.
'Wand of God'.
It was a Cold War-era creation designed to cause nuclear
weapon-level destructive power by dropping a super-heavy warhead from a
satellite in space orbit.
Originally an abandoned plan, it was developed to snipe
at the "Archdemon" entities that have caused dark ages since the
Cataclysm.
Naturally, both the satellite and the warhead now are far
more advanced than the original plan, a hidden weapon created by 21st century
American big shots.
Suddenly, such a weapon was hacked.
"What the hell is going on, who authorized the G-1
satellite to be activated?!"
There were only three people in the United States who had
the 'secret key' to activate the Wand of God.
One is the President of the United States. Like the
nuclear suitcase, it was practically a symbol.
The other two are the Minister of Defense and the
Commander of the US Special Hunter Forces.
And one of them, Minister of Defense Julius, had never
authorized the operation. Neither did the President, and certainly not the
Commander of Hunter Forces.
"Are we... really hacked?"
Julius asked, and the officers at the headquarters raised
their hands,
"The encryption key changes every minute. There are
over 100 million combination patterns. Even if we bring the world’s best
supercomputer, it would take 13 years to crack it!”
So who the hell had hackd the Wand of God?!
"Damn it, we have to stop it somehow! Is there any
way to stop it at the operation phase?”
"I- it's impossible, the encryption pattern has been
strengthened! The estimated pattern alone is over 10 billion!"
"What kind of fantasy is that?!"
How on earth is that possible?!
Meanwhile, the Wand of God was preparing to start,
readying itself for the launch.
“G-1 target specific! Jilin Republic…? It’s Jilin
Republic?!”
"What?! Why would they target that place?!"
It was a region that had been causing the United States
headaches lately.
The war with the neighboring Heilong People's Republic
started suddenly after a coup d'état by orc soldiers.
Normally, the UN or US troops would have been dispatched
to put an end to the situation, but Russia suddenly intervened and prevented
this.
The argument was that the Heilong People's Republic had
attacked the Jilin Republic first.
It was bullshit, of course, and the accusation was
obvious.
If the orcs took over the Heilong People's Republic, they
would then claim to be the liberators of Heilong and claim Heilong's granaries.
The United States had no intention of stepping in to
protect the remnants of a great country that was already torn into pieces.
The United Nations had issued moderate criticism but had
no intention of actively stopping this war.
The northern part of the Korean peninsula was a dead meat
to begin with.
There was no reason to take the risk of attacking Jilin,
which was defended by Russia. But──
'Damn!
If Wand of God hits Jilin, the Russians will jump all over us!'
Russia's complaining was even an old issue. It was not like
the United States would attack another country with a nuclear weapon without
declaring war.
Minister Julius made a decision.
“Fire ballistic missiles at G-1.”
"......."
No one questioned the order to destroy their country's
$10 billion military asset.
Without a word, the soldiers in the control room directed
the launch order to the nearest ballistic missile launch base──
"Sir... the base is not responding."
"What do you mean?"
For some reason, there was no response from any of the missile
bases in various parts of the United States or the Navy fleet connected to the
Pentagon.
'Could
it be that communication was jammed?'
How?
Regardless of the questions, time passed.
“Tell the communication room to send orders at least in
Morse code! Use analog or whatever!”
“There’s no answer in the communications room! Phones and
internet are all down!”
"What nonsense!"
As if they'd been expecting it? No, the timing is too
perfect for that. Almost as if they heard the commands from the sidelines and
reacted in real time.
'It
can't be! That's impossible!'
It was not possible. Even if the world's hackers worked
in unison to hack the Pentagon, it wouldn't be possible. To Julius's
consternation, someone in the control room shouted,
“5M65 NATO code name Grizzly has been confirmed to be in
operation mode!”
"......Why?"
The codename the operator had just shouted was for a
satellite weapon, a magic stone-powered laser weapon that is only triggered by Russia's
Dungeon Break final activation protocol.
It was the crown jewel of Russian military technology
that defeated the Frost Queen's forces in the Siberian snowfields eighteen
years ago.
It took an astronomical amount of magic to just activate
it, and was only activated three times in 18 years, so why would it be
activated now?
“Grizzly lens moving! Coordinates specified… Jilin
Republic border area... What on earth is here——an Orc army advancing toward
Heilong?”
Only then did Minister Julius realize what the intention
behind the whole event had been.
Someone wants to attack the Jilin Republic, and the orcs
are the reason.
“The launch countdown begins! Preparing for simultaneous
launch with Grizzly!”
"Crazy......."
Who on earth?
How? For what?
“5! 4! 3! 2! 1──Fired!”
The Device of Doom launched.
As soon as it was mobilized, it fired directly at the orc
army in the Jilin Republic.
The Wand of God and the codename Grizzly then sniped at
every single orc group in the Jilin Republic. Surprisingly, they were only
targeted at the orcs, relentlessly and with an accuracy that seemed to have
been upgraded beyond the capabilities of the two satellite weapons.
They were so thorough that if there was even a single
civilian or non-orc humanoid in the vicinity, they would not attempt to fire at
all.
Near the end of it all, an emergency announcement from
the White House and Kremlin was released on the internet.
[We, the United States of America, do not condone the peace-breaking
actions of the Jilin Republic Army, and have fired twelve shots of the Wand of
God in defense of the Heilongjiang People's Republic.]
On one side was the face of the President of the United
States──
[Russia does not tolerate provocative acts by rogue
neighboring countries. We will spare no effort in cooperation for the sake of
peace. We will cooperate with the United States to identify coordinates and
only to confront the coup forces──]
On the other hand, the Russian President issued a statement.
And when communication was restored and Minister Julius
saw these videos, he shuddered with fear.
"Deepfake......."
The deepfake videos, which can only be called perfect,
was even blocked from being deleted.
Social media and media outlets were now filled with
reports of a coordinated strike against the coup forces of the Jilin Republic
and economic news announcing the return of food security.
It was a perfect set-up.
Minister Julius felt fearful of the rare hacker who could
manipulate the American and Russian intelligence networks in the 21st century.
And what else do you call an omnipotent cyber warfare
powerhouse in an age of networks and electronics not unlike a god?
"Deus......."
Deus Ex Machina.
It was worthy of the name of a god of machinery.
* * * * *
"Why... did this happen?"
Office of the President of Jilin Republic. Lin Xiang
Kazak, the Orcs chieftain who had taken the seat after decapitating the former
President, looked at the coup d'état army that had been wiped out in the blink
of an eye.
As a third-generation orc immigrant, a veteran combatant,
and the guy who had stormed the gates and established himself as the ruler of
the Jilin Republic, it was only natural that he would slay the weakling who
bossed him around.
With the seat of power now in his grasp, all that
remained was to begin a never-ending war as the great orc warlord.......
Communications were jammed, and the electronic systems
that relied on the weaklings to operate were all down.
Even the coded communications of each unit, which
transmitted news in analog, told only of the unit's demise.
"Boss, what do we do?"
"Are we screwed?"
His subordinate orc soldiers looked anxiously for an
answer, but Lin Xiang was not the kind of man who had a sharp edge.
"Let's round up the rest of the guys, grab the
money, and get out of here. Let’s go to the meadow, increase the number of
kids, and start again.”
Orcs are fiercely prolific. They could have babies
anywhere and everywhere.
Five years of 'breeding' and they'd be a force to be
reckoned with, and with that sort of strength, they'd be welcomed as gate
raiders everywhere.
The situation on the frontier was so dire that they could
even beg the orcs to help them.
But the Machine Knight, watching all this, would have
none of it.
-Quaang!
Something crashed through the wall of the office. The
orcs' eyes widened at the sight of the intruder.
“W, what, what is that!”
It was a suit of steel armor in the shape of a man.
It was a futuristic yet archaic design that seemed to
have been designed from the crude knight's armor of medieval times and modified
to look futuristic.
Unpainted adamantite exoskeleton armor that clearly
showed signs of having been hastily slapped together and soldered together at
some point.
<Specialized Exoskeleton Integrated Armament Platform
Mk.1>
It may look like an odd piece of knightly armor, but the
weaponry on its body was nothing short of vicious.
It made a mechanical noise as it looked at the orc
soldiers.
[Check target. Confirmation of non-human species - Orc
species.]
Deus Ex Machina.
The armored platform of the mechanical Grail Knight
descended from the sky, pointing its weapon at the cause of all this.
[Return my funds.]
***
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