The city hall building of New Prague was deserted.
With the capital’s summons, the personal guard units and supervisors had left for New London, and with no one overseeing them, the security guards were chatting idly without paying attention to their surroundings.
News of a massive battle breaking out in the capital was spreading, but here, it felt like a story from another world.
However, that was only until just a moment ago.
People were stealthily approaching behind the chatting security guards.
“Hands up!”
At Branch Leader Karel’s shout, the soldiers in the outpost, startled, aimed their guns at him, but soon, they raised their hands just as he ordered.
Dozens of spears and guns were aimed at them, and at the front stood a line of glowing shields.
They were C-Rank Awakened from Dimension D. The soldiers, who were barely F-Rank, had no chance against them. Even if they tried to resist with their guns, all their bullets would be blocked by those shields.
The Branch Leader pointed forward, and the Rebels stormed into the outpost. Some soldiers inside resisted, but they soon surrendered.
After subduing the surrounding outposts, the Rebels, for the first time in their decades-long history, charged into the city hall.
The Branch Leader followed them into the building.
A few gunshots rang out from inside the city hall afterward, but it soon fell silent.
The people of the fortress city, startled by the sudden gunfire from the direction of city hall, rushed inside their homes. The city, which had been uneasy for a while, seemed to have finally been caught up in the turmoil.
Those who fled into their homes stared out the windows with frightened expressions.
The cars on the roads had stopped, and Rebel trucks sped down the empty streets, scattering leaflets.
Soon after, a broadcast echoed throughout the entire city.
“We are members of the Resistance. We will now reveal the secrets the Imperial government has been hiding. The Imperial government, which is attacking other dimensions, is–“
The citizens, who had been staring fearfully out the windows, turned their ears to the sudden broadcast, and the soldiers at the wall, who had been panicking at the gunfire from city hall and lacked commanders, also stopped moving and listened.
The Rebel occupation of city halls and broadcasts were happening simultaneously in New Paris, New Berlin, and other major cities of the Empire.
In cities where the supervisors and high-level Awakened had disappeared, there was no one to stop the activities of the Rebels.
A few security officers tried to intervene, but without supervisors to issue systematic orders, their resistance was weak, and it seemed it would take a long time for forces outside the cities to regroup and retake the city halls.
News of the situation in each city reached New London as well, but the Imperial government could not respond. All their attention was focused on the Dimensional Larvae Queen’s Dimensional Movement and the defense of New London.
The capital was silent.
There were no cars or people on the streets, and the cityscape looked abandoned, just like the old city outside the fortress.
“If nukes were out of the question, it would have been nice if chemical weapons or poison gas had worked.”
Marcus clicked his tongue as he looked at the empty city on the screen.
The city appeared small on the screen, as the drone was stationed far from the capital. However, this was not the only monitor showing New London. Almost every monitor was displaying New London.
It seemed that all the drones had moved to surround New London.
“They’re Awakened who use monsters as food. There’s no way chemical weapons made for civilians would work on them.”
An operator watching the monitors responded to Marcus’s comment.
“Still, it seems that low-level Awakened without Dimensional Cores are somewhat affected.”
A woman sitting nearby disagreed with him.
During the month spent building the base on the island, many experiments had been conducted.
They had rechecked whether nuclear materials could be used and had tested chemical weapons as well. But all the experiments yielded negative results.
The use of nuclear weapons was impossible, and due to the abnormal regenerative abilities of humans in this world, chemical weapons were extremely ineffective.
“You want us to use dimensional movement to transport tons of chemical weapons just to give civilians a cold? We’d die before they do.”
Speaking with a look of disdain, Marcus glanced around the entire Control Room.
“From now on, I’ll be participating in the operation as well. The senior operation officer will take over control here.”
At his words, the people watching the monitors stood up and saluted Marcus, and he returned the salute before leaving the Control Room.
Outside the house, Awakened had already gathered in full combat gear. Some had brought their personal weapons, guns, grenades, machine guns, and grenade launchers.
And Yonghoon stood a little apart from them. There were containers brought from Earth in that area.
Yonghoon nodded to the Awakened standing by the container doors, and they began opening the lined-up containers.
As the doors opened, countless shells, hidden in darkness, started to reveal themselves.
From regular high-explosive shells to bunker busters, these were the shells Yonghoon had transported via dimensional movement.
Excluding the time spent bringing drones, Awakened, and infrastructure, these were the shells Yonghoon had brought from his original world.
If it were ordinary war supplies, missiles would have been preferable to shells, but here, they had Yonghoon.
Yonghoon approached the shells.
Wiiiing~
In the capital, where no civilians were visible and only high-level Awakened and soldiers were gleaming with anticipation, the sound of sirens began to echo.
It was the siren sound signaling spatial movement.
The soldiers and Awakened looked around to find the point of spatial movement.
“Oh my god.”
Soon, they could see bombs falling from the sky.
In the sky, where the sunset was unfolding and auroras were beginning to bloom, bombs appeared one after another, falling downward.
Kwakwakang!
Moments later, the bombs struck the ground, turning the city into a sea of fire.
Buildings collapsed, and the walls burst apart. Amid the fleeing soldiers, Defense-type Awakened raised their shields toward the sky.
Green light blossomed from the ground, and shield barriers began to form.
“Third perimeter outpost destroyed! Armory in Sector 2 heavily damaged!”
“Second western wall half-destroyed! It has lost its function as a wall.”
“Outer wall of the intelligence department building collapsed, many security personnel dead!”
“First and second Warp Zones successfully defended. Although there was damage to the outer walls, we succeeded in creating shield barriers in time!”
The Control Room was in chaos from the sudden bombardment.
They had expected an enemy attack to disrupt dimensional movement, but the incoming assault far exceeded their expectations.
Thud!
With a shock, a heavy sound echoed overhead, and the entire Control Room shook. Even though it was dozens of meters underground, it didn’t seem safe.
The operators looked fearfully at the ceiling but snapped back to their senses at the officers’ shouts.
“They always exceed expectations.”
In the VIP room on the second floor, the President muttered.
They had only anticipated an incursion by high-level Awakened, including spatial ability users, so this massive bombardment left them speechless.
It was reminiscent of the air raids London suffered during World War II decades ago.
“Could there have been an unknown armory?”
“Even if there were such an armory, how could they achieve such massive-scale spatial movement? No matter how strong a spatial ability user is, this is impossible.”
The President’s aides, administrative officials, and military generals were all shouting at once.
But it was all pointless chatter, and the President tuned them out.
“Still, it’s fortunate we evacuated here.”
The senior secretary murmured with a pale face.
She was right. Had they remained in the office at Buckingham Palace, they would likely have died in this attack.
The discovery of the spy and their hurried evacuation had saved their lives.
“Has the spatial ability user still not appeared?”
The President grabbed the microphone before him and asked the Control Room.
A general commanding the entire Control Room from downstairs looked up toward the VIP room as the President’s voice came through the speakers. The general shook his head.
“Not yet. Only bombs continue to teleport in.”
Just how many bombs did they have? The President was just as curious about where they had obtained them.
Grinding his teeth, the President crushed the still-burning cigarette in his hand.
They had been thoroughly outplayed.
But once the enemy appeared, he would repay them a hundredfold, a thousandfold.
Surprisingly, civilian casualties from the bombing were minimal. Almost all the bombs had appeared above major military facilities and government offices.
And several facilities had managed to block the bombardment with shield barriers built atop their buildings.
However, bombs continued to appear in the sky.
At the same time, a beam of light shot up from the ground into the sky. The beam moved across the sky, detonating bombs midair before they could reach the ground.
After that, fireballs and various anti-aircraft guns were fired upward into the sky.
The defense against the sudden bombardment had finally begun.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bombs that appeared at lower altitudes fell slower, and a considerable number were shot down midair.
However, the explosions looked a little strange.
Unlike the bombs that had fallen earlier, the ones exploding now spewed white smoke like a waterfall.
And white smoke also billowed from the bombs that collided with the ground and the shield barriers.
White smoke began to fill the city.
They were smoke grenades.
After a while, the sudden bombardment ceased.
The city, with white smoke rising everywhere, was engulfed in sudden silence.
Although the city was still filled with various fires, the sound of sirens, and people’s screams, once the bombing and explosions stopped, it felt as if the city had gone quiet.
But the silence was short-lived, and soon explosions and gunfire began to echo throughout the city.
A secret prison for political prisoners under New London’s intelligence department. Bombs also fell on this place, where torture and threats of confinement were carried out.
Fortunately, the bombs didn’t fall directly on the building, but one fell at an angle right next to it, collapsing the outer wall and killing many security guards.
The Rebels from New Prague, who had recently been captured and imprisoned in the underground cells here, were terrified by the sudden bombardment.
They called out to the guards from inside the prison, but no one answered their cries from underground. The guards who had been there earlier were nowhere to be seen.
Debris from the building continued to rain down from above, and fearing they might be buried alive, they kept shouting.
Fortunately, after some time, a voice responded to their cries.
“Is everyone okay? We’re here to rescue you!”
The Rebels widened their eyes at the voice they heard.
It was Elena’s voice.
Then, Elena and some people wearing unfamiliar camouflage uniforms appeared in the hallway lined with prison cells.
“These are Yonghoon’s comrades. They’ve come to rescue you.”
Elena quickly explained, worried that the Rebels might be wary of them.
“Please step away from the entrance.”
The Rebels, who were divided among several cells, stepped back at the Allied Forces’ words, and the swords of the Awakened cut through the iron doors while bullets pierced the locks.
The cells opened, and the Rebels rushed out, gathering around Elena.
“Let’s get out of here first. I’ll explain everything.”
Shouting to everyone, Elena began moving toward the outside. The imprisoned people started following her, helping those who had difficulty moving.
Kangchul, who was moving with Elena, put his hand to his ear and began reporting.
“Jaguar Team, Phase One operation complete. Resistance is weaker than expected. We will split up and proceed with Phase Two.”
After finishing his report, he assigned two Awakened to help the Rebels evacuate and then separated from them to begin searching the intelligence department building with other Awakened.
Awakened unfamiliar to the city began appearing everywhere. They were the Awakened that Yonghoon had spatially transported after the bombardment. With black, blue, and other vivid-colored eyes, they pierced through the white smoke and rushed toward military facilities, engaging the defending forces.
Battles involving gunfire and abilities broke out everywhere, including the half-destroyed Buckingham Palace, the A Dimension warp array, the spatial warp array, and the intelligence department building.
Finally, in front of the newly modified warp array for C Dimension, Yonghoon, Team Crazy, and the elite members of the Allied Forces appeared.
Along with Sunhee, who had appeared at some point, Yonghoon stared at the warp array before them. Enemy Awakened began pouring out from inside the warp array.