Chapter 381: Live Broadcast (2)

Kwaaaaaaang—!

Once again, a terrible roar erupted from beyond the rift, shaking the entire Heavenly City.

This live broadcast of a cosmic disaster was being watched not only by the Seven Lords and the refugees but also by other existences.

At the same time.

An absolute sanctuary far, far above Heavenly City District 1, where the gazes of mortals could never reach.

The main observation room of the system management office, composed entirely of pristine white marble and brilliant holy light.

In front of the massive hologram screen there, a small teddy bear was tearing its hair out and screaming in astonishment.

—Hi, hiiiiik! S-Seniorrrrr! Look at that! The sky is torn! That orc monster bastard is finally trying to break the Heavenly City's barrier!

It was Popo, the Re-evaluation Inspector in charge of the Proving Grounds.

The guy, trembling his cotton-stuffed body like an aspen tree, shrieked toward a woman sitting elegantly on a sofa in the back, sipping black tea.

—This is not the time to be leisurely drinking tea! It's an apostle of an Outer God! The system's barrier is shaking, shouldn't we quickly issue an emergency defense quest to those Seven Lords bastards in District 1?

Despite Popo's fuss, Jiphael, an intermediate angel with pure white wings draped down her back, merely set her teacup down leisurely.

"Don't make a fuss, our little bear. Didn't I tell you to be quiet when your big sister is working?"

Jiphael smiled sweetly and gestured with her chin toward the screen floating in the empty air. A man in a black coat crossing swords with the apostle Mutakta without taking a single step back in the middle of a blood-red canyon.

"Also, look at that man. Doesn't he look very familiar?"

—Yes? Familiar?

Popo's two eyes expanded as if they would pop out as he zoomed in on the screen.

—Heoeoeok! Th-that person! The one Senior handed a Diamond Sponsorship Certificate to…… No, Guild Leader Kim Minwoo, who also has a very solid business relationship with me! Why on earth is my reliable lifeline fighting an orc monster in a deadly land like that!

"Oh my. A lifeline. When did you piggyback on the blue-chip stock I discovered?"

Thick intrigue and joy swirled in Jiphael's pupils.

"Fufu…… As expected, my eye for talent wasn't wrong. He finally got his hands on the Death Lord's divinity and started breaking the system's rules, didn't he? He truly is an excellent stock worth investing in."

However, Popo trembled his cotton-stuffed body like an aspen tree and jumped up and down.

—N-no! That's not the problem! No matter how amazing Guild Leader Kim is, how can he catch an apostle of an Outer God alone! At this rate, my precious top-tier connection is going to get torn apart!

Popo screamed, banging on the screen tang-tang.

—Senior! Are those Seven Lords bastards renting in Heavenly City District 1 just for show? We gave them power and even put the hat of district managers on them as system proxies! Before our lifeline gets cut, we must immediately issue an order to the Seven Lords and make them clean up this mess!

The Heavenly City.

This place was originally a kind of 'ark' constructed by angels and the system to save refugees from destroyed dimensions.

And the Seven Lords were beings akin to the building representatives of a rental apartment, set up by the system picking the strongest seven refugees and granting them power and authority to facilitate the management of that ark.

Naturally, if a disaster like an apostle of an Outer God was right on their doorstep, utilizing the building representatives first was the correct measure as a system manager.

However, Jiphael firmly shook her head.

"No. I won't issue an emergency quest."

—Yes? Why on earth?!

"Issuing an order to forcibly deploy the Seven Lords into that battlefield is no different from the system officially declaring an all-out war against the Outer Gods."

—……An all-out war? Would it go that far?

"Who knows. Normally, even if all the Seven Lords were poured in, barely escaping with their lives would have been the best-case scenario, but……."

Jiphael's eyes grew calm.

Kim Minwoo, who wasn't easily pushed back even against an apostle of an Outer God.

If Seven Lords-class military power were added here…….

'Perhaps, they might really cut off the apostle's neck.'

However, just because they caught the apostle didn't mean they could just be happy about it.

From the system manager's perspective, that could rather become the fuse for the most terrible disaster.

"Popo. If the apostle dies, do you think the real master behind him will just sit still?"

—……The real master? C-could you mean the main body of the Outer God?!

"Yes. If the system's official military power intervenes and destroys their proxy, would that arrogant main body merely sit back and watch? It would be giving an enraged Outer God the justification to tear through the dimensional veil and descend personally. We are not yet ready to wage an all-out war with them."

Popo gaped as if finally realizing the terribleness of the situation. Jiphael stared at Kim Minwoo on the screen with chilling yet alluring eyes.

"As a system manager, I cannot rashly move the Seven Lords and drive the entire Heavenly City into a deadly land."

However, Popo still trembled his cotton-stuffed body as if anxious.

—N-no! Then are you saying you'll just let my only hope die in a deadly land like that?!

Jiphael's gaze was deeply fixed on Kim Minwoo, who was pouring out massive black flames and magic against the apostle on the screen.

"That's why that man is valuable."

—……!

"Unlike the other Seven Lords who are bound by the system's rules and responsibilities and cannot move recklessly, that guy is a perfect irregular who has already scraped together a transcendent's legacy, built up divinity on his own, and eventually even usurped the position of the Seven Lords."

Jiphael clasped her hands together as if enraptured.

"Even though he wears the same shell of the Seven Lords, his essence is different from the start. Look at those bizarre sword strikes forcibly twisting causality. They're rejecting even the system's calculations. He's the perfect joker card who can shake up this board against the Outer God's apostle without bearing the risk of the system's official intervention. Furthermore…… do you think it was entirely through his own strength that he reached that stage?"

—Yes? What does that…….

"Popo. Why do you think I readily gave that human a Diamond Sponsorship Certificate? No matter how much I enjoy entertainment, I don't bestow such a massive arrangement upon a mere moth drawn to a flame."

Jiphael's gaze moved past the hologram screen and toward the distantly high ceiling of the system management office.

With eyes revering the distant absolute being existing beyond it.

"A 99% discount in the achievement shop. And the out-of-standard armaments of a hero's party handed to that human's companions. Do you think that's a simple coincidence?"

—Heok……!

Popo's cotton-stuffed body stiffened rigidly.

Twisting the system's rules to manipulate the shop's prices, and handing Mythical-rank armaments to specific individuals at will?

That was a distant authority that a mere system inspector or intermediate angel could not dare to approach.

A realm possible only for the absolute managers who preside over the foundation of the system.

—C-could it be…… That person……?!

"Yes. The first seat existing beyond the veil. It means he is a joker card directly gripped and shaken by that person."

Jiphael twisted the corners of her mouth alluringly.

"I merely added a small arrangement to that great one's providence. Rather than touching the detonator of an all-out war and driving the Seven Lords to a deadly land…… observing how that out-of-standard variable brings down that arrogant apostle is a much more rational choice as a manager."

Popo got goosebumps at that blind and cold angel's smile and trembled his cotton-stuffed body.

The most cold-hearted and calculating observer in this noble sanctuary was undoubtedly this senior angel beside him.

"Now, prove it, Kim Minwoo. Just how far you, whom even that person beyond the veil pays attention to, can dare to reach against the Outer God's proxy."

Withdrawing her hand that had been reaching toward the screen, Jiphael added in a low voice.

"And…… there is one more reason why I'm leaving this live broadcast unblocked."

—Yes? Another reason, you say?

"Yes. The reason I'm intentionally standing by so that the entire Heavenly City can watch this cosmic life-or-death struggle beyond the dimensional rift."

Jiphael's gaze seemed to pass the screen and head toward the residents and the Seven Lords of the Heavenly City who had fallen into complacency.

A cold sneer flowed from between her red lips.

"The Heavenly City is an ark for the refugees of destroyed dimensions. However, that paltry safety became a terrible poison at some point. The guys in this city have hidden behind the absolute fence called the system and fallen into terrible laziness and negligence."

Popo held his breath and listened to her words.

"An abnormal and tedious balance that has continued for hundreds of years. Whether it's the Seven Lords who have become frogs in a well, steeped in arrogance, or the pathetic residents of the lower districts who have grown accustomed to despair and lethargy, repeating every day merely surviving like beasts, it's all the same. They have even forgotten the bone-deep grudge of losing their homelands and fleeing from the Outer Gods, becoming rotten greenhouse plants."

A chilling light flickered in Jiphael's pupils.

"That's why a stimulant is needed. Making the entire Heavenly City clearly witness with their two eyes the desperate struggle of that irregular, tearing apart the Outer God's apostle solely with his blood and will, without the protection of the system."

—Ah…… It's to shove competitive spirit and the desire to improve into their rotten brains!

"Correct. It's a kind of warning, asking what they are doing inside this safe ark when even an out-of-standard monster like that is struggling upward while vomiting blood."

Jiphael once again gazed at Kim Minwoo's ruinous sword strikes on the screen with enraptured eyes.

"Now, watch clearly. You foolish sheep of the Heavenly City. How that joker card directly thrown by that person beyond the veil shatters your rotten and lazy world to pieces."