"A very strange material, a very unique existence. Even though it's just a corpse, I can feel how special it is. A creation of the gods? How interesting!"
On the screen of the dimensional trading system, Yuri was playing with an arm, almost obsessively, as if he were some kind of maniac. That arm belonged to none other than Druig, who had just died.
As soon as the mechanical army returned, Josh immediately stored Druig's body, along with all the people he had controlled—except for Carter—into the system's storage space. Then, he contacted both Daenerys and Yuri.
He first handed over those thousands of people to Daenerys. Since they had been cut off from the real world for centuries, living a medieval lifestyle, suddenly introducing them to modern society would be a big problem—especially in such large numbers. Sending them to Daenerys' world was a better choice, as the environment there closely resembled what they were used to, making it easier for them to adapt.
As for contacting Yuri, it was naturally to discuss the matter of the Eternals.
Cough, cough. "You can study this part of the body first. I'll give you the rest after I'm done with it. As for the living one, let's focus on figuring out a way to restrain that speedster." Josh felt a little uncomfortable watching Yuri's fascination, even though he understood it was purely due to the Eternals' unique physiology.
The part he gave Yuri for research was Druig's body, but he kept the head for now. He needed it to set a trap for Makkari.
Even though speedsters in the Marvel universe weren't as overpowered as those in DC, who could break the speed of light, Makkari was still terrifying—covering tens of thousands of kilometers in mere minutes. In the movies, even Ikaris, the so-called Superman, was completely overwhelmed by Makkari.
From what happened earlier—when the opponent snatched the Broken Steel Sword from his hand—it was clear that neither Josh nor his subordinates could even touch Makkari in a direct confrontation. The only way to deal with her was through a trap.
But ordinary traps wouldn't work.
Druig was different. He had a special relationship with Makkari, making him the perfect bait.
But bait alone wasn't enough. The key part of the trap depended on whether Yuri had the right technology.
"A speedster, huh... I need to think about that," Yuri muttered, rubbing his shiny bald head as he fell into deep thought.
After all, speedsters weren't something he had ever encountered in the Red Alert world.
"The only ways I can think of are to use gravity, space manipulation, or time-based methods to limit their speed. I can create devices for each of these approaches," Yuri finally said after thinking for a while. "But there's a big problem—these devices need to be manually activated and consume an enormous amount of energy. Normally they can't stay active all the time. If we wait until she arrives to turn them on, we might not even notice when she comes and goes. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand. That is indeed a serious problem," Josh nodded.
The biggest issue with speedsters wasn't how to kill them—it was how to restrain them. The ideal trap would be one that activates automatically, but using technology alone, this was extremely difficult. The delay in activating a device might be too slow, giving Makkari enough time to run back and forth several times. The margin for error was simply too small.
"Regardless, make one of each device anyway. Even if we don't use them for the speedster, they might come in handy in the future," Josh finally decided.
"Give me a few days. I'll let you know when they're ready," Yuri nodded without hesitation.
After ending the call with Yuri, Josh scanned his system's trade contacts. His gaze eventually landed on two avatars—Cailin from The Mummy Universe and Little Abbendis from Azeroth.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to contact Cailin first.
The call was quickly connected, and Cailin's figure appeared on the screen. However, the sight of her current location caught Josh's attention—she was in the middle of a vast desert, standing in front of a massive excavation site where countless laborers were hard at work digging.
"Where are you?" Josh asked curiously.
"Egypt, Hamunaptra!" Cailin replied with a small smile.
"You're digging up Imhotep?" Josh was momentarily stunned and asked in surprise.
"Yes. Thanks to our emperor, the Han Empire now controls all of Central Asia, including Egypt. So I came to meet my unfortunate predecessor. However, as our army expanded into Europe and America, we encountered some trouble," Cailin said, flipping her hair.
"Oh? What kind of trouble?" Josh was curious. With the Dragon Emperor's undead army, now equipped with modern weapons, could Europe and America really resist?
"It's not the mortal armies or governments—it's the supernatural beings. They even have ways to completely destroy the undead army. Although they are few in number and their methods are difficult to execute, they've still caused us a lot of trouble. This makes us suspect that they may have divine backing. You should understand, Lord Kahn, that in our world, gods may rarely appear, but they do exist!" Cailin's expression turned serious as she spoke of gods.
Even though they had entered the realm of the extraordinary, except for the Dragon Emperor, the others were barely at the entry level. The mention of gods was not something they could take lightly.
"I see. So your excavation of Hamunaptra isn't just about Imhotep, is it?" Josh asked after a moment of thought.
"That is correct. Ever since His Majesty was resurrected, he has been searching for traces of the celestial immortals across the Han Empire's mountains, but so far, he's found nothing. The only clue about gods, apart from the possible existence of Western gods, is the Egyptian pantheon you told me about. So my real purpose in excavating Hamunaptra is to see if we can find any evidence of the celestial immortals through the Egyptian gods," Cailin explained.
Why did the Egyptian gods, despite their existence, rarely appear in the world? Why did they allow the civilizations that worshipped them to be destroyed and replaced? Although Egyptian mythology remained popular in the 21st century because of its mysterious nature, its original belief system had long since collapsed, overtaken by the three major religions of the Middle East.
Was it because the Egyptian gods were unable to manifest due to some restriction? Or did they simply not care about the survival of their faith?
These were questions to which both the Dragon Emperor and Cailin wanted answers.
Josh was also interested—especially in the Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun-Ra. He wondered if the spells inside could be used in his own world.
However, since the excavation had just begun, neither Cailin nor Josh had the patience to stand around and watch the digging. Instead, Josh briefly mentioned the problem he was facing.
Cailin promised to relay it to the Dragon Emperor, and after that, Josh ended the call and looked at the last contact—Little Abbendis.
After a moment's hesitation, he decided to call him.
Even though a five-year-old kid probably wouldn't be much help, who knew?
The call went through, and the screen showed Abbendis in an exquisite leather hunting outfit, holding a long sword and sweating profusely as he practiced his swordsmanship.
Of course, while the sword looked thick and heavy, it was undoubtedly a lightweight wooden training sword.
Even though Azeroth's medieval setting meant that humans were stronger and matured faster than those on Earth, it wasn't to the point where a five-year-old would be training with a real heavy sword.
"Are you practicing your swordsmanship? Can you talk?" Josh asked as he watched.
"It's okay. I'm already done with today's training. I'm just doing some extra practice on my own," Abbendis replied, taking a deep breath.
"Be careful not to overdo it. At your age, excessive training isn't good for you," Josh frowned slightly.
"Haha, don't worry! My mentor is a retired high-ranking knight of the Arathi tribe. He has trained many students, and they all started at my age!" Abbendis patted his chest proudly, sounding like a small adult.
"...A knight, huh? Abbendis, have you ever thought of learning magic?" Josh asked instead of continuing to discourage him!
--
Join Patreon.com/AHumanMadeMOFO to read ahead