The Master Bedroom of Castle Nokaar was finally clean. Well, cleaner. Malak's skeletons had scrubbed the blood off the floor, and Rax had found some moth-eaten curtains to cover the holes in the wall.
I sat on the bed, holding two things:
The dead Smartphone.
And the glowing blue Mana Battery I stole from Baron Gorn.
"Okay," I muttered. "Physics, don't fail me now."
I didn't have a charging cable. But I had [Gluttony].
I placed the crystal next to the phone.
"Authority: Siphon. Transfer mode."
I carefully extended a tiny tendril of shadow. I didn't want to eat the electricity; I wanted to move it. The shadow acted like a wire, connecting the pulsing mana of the crystal to the charging port of the phone.
Bzzt.
A spark flew. The crystal dimmed slightly.
The screen flickered.
A white battery icon appeared. 1%.
"Yes!" I cheered quietly. "Steve Jobs would be proud."
For a second, my heart raced. A smartphone? Here? Was there another transmigrator? Was I not alone in this world? The thought made my chest ache. I missed convenience stores. I missed the internet. I missed people who understood my references.
I waited ten minutes until it hit 5%. I couldn't wait any longer. I held the power button.
The screen lit up.
But the logo wasn't Apple or Samsung. It was a golden sun with a cross in the center.
[OS: Divine OS v4.0]
My smile faded.
"Not Earth," I whispered, feeling a heavy pit in my stomach. "It's from here."
I swiped up. No passcode.
The wallpaper was a photo of a group of men in white tactical gear holding magical rifles, standing over the corpse of a massive demon. They were smiling. The metadata on the photo said: Location: Classified (Gehenna Incursion Zone).
I felt a chill.
This wasn't a transmigrator's phone. It was a Human Spy's phone.
"How?" I muttered. "The Veil protects the Demon Realm. Humans can't just walk in."
I opened the Notes App. There was one unsent draft, dated three months ago.
[To: High Command]
[From: Infiltrator Unit 9]
Status: Critical. My team is dead. The monsters in the Nokaar Dungeon are stronger than predicted.
But we confirmed the theory. The Veil is thinning here. The 'Backdoor' is viable.
I am planting the Beacon on Floor 10.
If you receive this signal... begin the Crusade.
Glory to the Light.
I stared at the screen until it flickered and died.
"The Crusade," I whispered.
The blood drained from my face. Then, it was replaced by a surge of pure frustration. I gripped the phone so hard the screen cracked.
"This... this is bullshit," I hissed.
I stood up and began pacing the room, my mind racing.
"In the novel The Sword of Dawn, the Humans were the underdogs. They were a medieval society fighting a desperate defense against the 'Evil Demon King.' The Hero Arthur used a steel sword. The Church used simple prayers."
I gestured angrily at the dead phone.
"But this? Digital OS? Magical Rifles? Infiltration Units? This is Sci-Fi Fantasy!"
The inconsistencies were piling up, and I hated it.
The Tech: Humans are technologically superior, not medieval peasants.
The Plot: Humans are the aggressors invading us, not the other way around.
"My knowledge is becoming useless," I growled, kicking the bedpost. "I thought I had a walkthrough guide. I thought I knew where the items were, who the bosses were. But the author left out half the world building!"
"Or maybe," I whispered, a darker thought hitting me, "The novel was just propaganda. Maybe the book I read was the 'Human Version' of history, and the reality is completely different."
Either way, I was screwed. I couldn't rely on the plot armor of "Knowing the Future" anymore. The future had changed.
If that Beacon activates, it won't be monsters crawling out of my dungeon. It will be an army of Paladins with magic guns.
My current stats flashed in my mind. [Strength: 8] [Mana: Level 3]
"I'm dead meat," I admitted into the silence.
I had been arrogant. I thought I was playing a game on 'Easy Mode.' But I was sitting on top of a ticking time bomb. The Church wasn't waiting for the Demon King to attack; they were coming for us.
Fear didn't make me cower. It made me hungry.
I looked at my hands. The [Gluttony] Authority pulsed under my skin, waiting. It was an infinite void. It had no level cap. The only reason I was weak was because I hadn't eaten enough.
"I need to grind," I realized. "I need to eat until I'm so strong that when the Crusade comes, I can eat their army too."
But I couldn't do it alone. I needed minions to handle the small fries while I focused on the bosses. I needed a legion to guard the dungeon entrance while I fed.
"Boss?" Rax peeked his head through the door. "Dinner is ready. Malak found some... questionable mushrooms."
I stood up, pocketing the dead phone. My face wasn't relaxed anymore. The "easy-going" vibe was gone, replaced by something colder.
"Rax," I said. "Forget the mushrooms."
I walked to the window and looked out at the jagged silhouette of the mountains in the distance. Specifically, toward the smoke rising from Baron Gorn's Iron Mines.
"Rax, how many soldiers guard Gorn's mines?"
"Uh... maybe two hundred? And a few Overseers?" Rax stammered. "Why?"
"Two hundred," I licked my lips. "That sounds like a good appetizer."
I turned to the lizardman, my red eyes glowing in the dark room.
"Pack the weapons. We aren't building a castle anymore, Rax. We're building a Fortress."
"But first," I smiled grimly, "I need to go power-level."