Chapter 80: Killing His Way into Summit Refuge City

According to the Radiant Path, the omniscient and omnipotent Holy Radiance would descend upon the earth in one month and twenty-six days.

Finn took out his titanium-alloy smartphone. A translucent three-dimensional map sprang into view, and he began considering his next move.

His ultimate goal was, without question, to find the World Nucleus. His secondary objective was to kill the Holy Radiance. Of course, if that proved impossible, his secondary objective would be to grab the World Nucleus and flee with his maid.

According to the intelligence they had gathered, the Radiant Path controlled seven or eight Refuge Cities, along with several smaller refugee settlements. In the wasteland, it stood unchallenged.

These Refuge Cities were scattered from north to south, reflecting the Radiant Path’s origins in the north.

The largest of them sat among the mountains. It was also the heart of the Radiant Path’s territory, known as the Holy City.

The Radiant Path remained a powerful force. They would undoubtedly deploy a large number of troops to the Alderon Sea, creating needless trouble for Finn.

To draw those forces away, Finn decided to cause some trouble in the Radiant Path’s various Refuge Cities—mainly by launching nuclear rockets at them—while gathering intelligence along the way.

In the end, intelligence was what mattered most. If a thin sheet of paper contained accurate, up-to-date information, it was worth more than its weight in gold.

Finn counted the bottles of Veritaserum in his storage space. There were still 1,769 of the pale blue vials left.

He had bought far too many during a clearance sale...

Finn sighed inwardly. This particular brand of Veritaserum had nasty side effects. Beings from nonmagical worlds had an unfortunate tendency to drop dead after drinking it.

Most subjects died before he could squeeze two or three truthful sentences out of them. Calling it Veritaserum was generous. “Last Words Potion” would have been more accurate.

But Finn wasn’t worried. If a truth took five sentences to explain, and each person under the potion’s effects only had time to speak one sentence before dying, then he simply had to capture five people who knew the truth and force Veritaserum down their throats one by one.

Now he could use it without restraint, clear out his inventory, and free up some storage space in the process.

...

After driving across the desolate wilderness for a day and a night, Finn and Olivia arrived at one of the cities controlled by the Radiant Path—Summit Refuge City.

Summit Refuge City had supposedly once been independent. Then a Martyr of the Radiant Path detonated a dirty bomb there, displacing its residents and eventually allowing the Radiant Path to seize control.

Finn had two reasons for entering the city. One was to replenish supplies. The other was that he had learned the Radiant Path had installed a high-powered radio transmitter here to broadcast its message.

Since it was a Radiant Path channel, most of its listeners were naturally followers of the faith.

Olivia had pleaded with Finn to help her capture the station and expose the Radiant Path’s dark side to the entire wasteland.

Finn, however, clearly had more in mind than simply taking over a radio station.

At dusk, after navigating a winding mountain road, they finally reached the desolate city on the mountaintop.

The streets within the Refuge City rose and fell over the uneven terrain, one steep slope following another. Ancient overpasses stretched across the cracked concrete roads.

Even from a distance, they could see a tall antenna tower standing on a hill like the skeleton of a lonely giant.

That was the Radiant Path’s high-powered radio station.

Finn and Olivia jumped out of the off-road vehicle and walked toward the station side by side. This was Radiant Path territory, after all, and they could already see many of its red-robed followers.

The two conspicuous outsiders soon drew their attention.

A middle-aged believer stared at Finn. His face suddenly went pale.

“It’s him! Number one on the most-wanted list!"

“I’m that famous?” Finn raised his gun and blew the man’s head apart with a single shot.

He hadn’t expected to rank first...

Finn was utterly exasperated. On the Myriad Realms Network, a group of bored busybodies had once compiled a ranking of the most notorious villains across the Endless Worlds.

One of Finn’s enemies had apparently added his name. When Finn checked the list, he discovered that he was ranked 594,527,842,230,248,758th.

He had been deeply disappointed.

To climb the rankings, you had to do enough bad things—and more importantly, people had to know about them.

Finn had heard that some people, desperate for fame, even hired online shills to game the leaderboard. They attributed every crime imaginable to a single person, making that person’s rank shoot through the roof.

The arrival of such an honored guest sent panic spreading among the Radiant Path followers like a plague.

Some screamed in terror and fled in every direction. Others scrambled for cover, preparing to make a stand.

Several followers pulled assault rifles, rocket launchers, and detonators from beneath their red robes, preparing to attack Finn.

In an instant, he was surrounded by dark gun barrels, olive-green rocket launchers, and Radiant Path soldiers watching him like hungry wolves.

“Olivia, clear out the small fry,” Finn said, raising a Profound Energy shield.

“As you command, Master.”

Olivia took the light machine gun from her back, braced it against her hip, and opened fire.

The Radiant Path followers returned fire. The deafening roar of gunfire and artillery filled the streets as explosions erupted on every side.

Amid a metallic storm of bullets and rolling clouds of smoke, Finn and Olivia strolled forward as if they were taking a leisurely walk.

Finn even took an ice-cold bottle of Nuka-Cola from his storage space, flicked the cap off with his thumb, and drank amid the hail of bullets.

Olivia, of course, wasn’t idle. She gripped the black light machine gun in both hands and activated her X-ray vision, locating every Radiant Path follower hiding behind cover.

She fired with steady precision, reaping lives.

Every so often, a few mutants tough enough to withstand bullets would charge them. Finn hurled his empty Nuka-Cola bottle away, smashing it to pieces, then swept out with his sword and cleaved the attackers in half.

Blood sprayed through the air.

The Refuge City’s defenses weren’t particularly strong. Red-robed soldiers of the Holy Army of Deliverance rushed in like flocks of crimson crows, only to vanish beneath the torrent of Olivia’s bullets.

Gradually, the gunfire began to fade.

Those afraid of dying had already fled.

Those who weren’t afraid were already dead.

Finn and Olivia continued their stroll through the Refuge City, eliminating several more groups of Radiant Path soldiers who attempted to ambush them along the way.

At last, the city fell silent. The roar of gunfire died away, and not another shot could be heard.

Olivia’s marksmanship was exceptionally precise. Although the streets were slick with blood and littered with dismembered corpses, everyone Olivia shot was dead.

There weren’t even any groans of pain.

It was very quiet.

Such peace and quiet was perfect for studying or sleeping.

Finn and Olivia arrived beneath the radio tower. Finn kicked the rusted door off its hinges, and the two walked casually inside.

Fortunately, the station was still operating. It was broadcasting the day’s Radiant Path news program, though the gunfire had disrupted the broadcast.

The staff had all hidden beneath metal desks and were trembling with fear.

Since none of them could put up any resistance, Finn told them to get lost and stop getting in the way of the broadcast.

A female broadcaster wearing headphones shakily rose from beneath the control desk.

“Don’t kill me! I’m innocent! The Radiant Path forced me to do this!”

Finn pressed his gun against her head.

“Is this station broadcasting right now?”

“Yes! Yes!” The woman nodded frantically. “We’re in the middle of the evening news.”

Olivia snatched the script from her and found the scheduled segments written in pencil:

“How Black Mountain Destroyed Itself Through Its Lack of Faith and Reckless Use of Nuclear Power”

“Darius Smith: A Tragic Idealist”

The second piece had even been written by the renowned Holy Pontiff himself—Alistair Rupert.

Fury surged through Olivia. She tore the script to shreds. “Get the hell out!”

The broadcaster flinched, then bolted from the studio.

Finn walked around the control desk and pulled the square microphone closer to his mouth.

His voice was low and steady as he spoke.

“This is Finn, an ordinary traveler.

“I am here to address the Radiant Path.”