Astra Yao's voice echoed through the concert venue, and all around, people were cheering excitedly, swept up by the rhythm.
But the joys and sorrows of people are not always shared.
At least for Thorne, all he felt was that the people around him were noisy.
In the audience, during the breaks between each song, excited fans gathered in small groups of two or three, discussing loudly around him.
Even before the concert began, they were already excitedly huddled together, showing off their collections of merchandise and then talking about how long they'd been an Astra die-hard.
Things like, 'Ten-year veteran fan, dropping in uninvited.'
Thorne looked at the crowd around him as if they were fools. Fortunately, his sunglasses hid his expression well, and no one noticed.
He had investigated this idol himself. She hadn't even been active for two months since her debut.
Even counting the album before she signed with DGA Entertainment, it had only been a little over half a year.
Where did these ten-year fans come from?
Had they traveled through time?
To pull off this job, my investigation of this idol was far, far more thorough than any of you fans!
Standing with you people is nothing short of a stain on my dream!
Yes, a dream!
I, Thorne, leader of the Vanishing Wolves, the number one anti-Pompeo figure, have always had a dream.
To defeat the current hegemon, Pompeo, and his 'Triumphant,' take over the entire Outer Ring, and become its absolute leader and chief.
Then, using the resources of the entire Outer Ring as my capital, I would join TOPS and become a truly big shot.
Finally, I would use that platform to become the most famous figure in all of New Eridu.
But, you can't realize a dream and become a big shot if you're starting from scratch.
After setting his goal, he took on any and every commission with his personal guard to accumulate his initial capital, using any means necessary to complete them.
At the same time, there was kidnapping, robbing trucks carrying precious goods, and even dealing addictive drugs.
Whatever made money fast, he did it. His clean work and his knack for finding a perfect scapegoat every time meant the other gangs in the Outer Ring had no idea what he was doing.
And even when they later noticed something was off, faced with the already powerful Vanishing Wolves, they chose not to be the ones to stick their necks out and tacitly pretended they saw nothing.
Not to mention he would occasionally share a slice of the pie with them.
Using these methods, the Vanishing Wolves grew at a rapid pace.
But he himself wasn't idle either.
He secretly used the promise of pushing Pompeo to become the new hegemon, with power shared equally among everyone, as bait. Thorne successfully won the support of many gangs, forming a considerable force.
He even recently established a connection with the military.
Although it was just a colonel, there was definitely someone higher up behind him; he was merely a frontman.
With his help, he had acquired equipment he never would have dared to dream of before.
And the biggest prize among them, a heavy autonomous tactical unit named Typhon, was smuggled out through him.
Oh, to be precise, he 'accidentally' found the wreckage of a Typhon, ninety percent destroyed, that the military had left behind in the Hollows, and then he fixed it himself.
Of course, he also 'lost' a considerable amount of money.
But that's just Hollow exploration for you. It's perfectly normal to have gains and losses; it can't be helped, right?
For Thorne, this single autonomous mech was enough to achieve a crushing victory in the Outer Ring, where even Logger mechs were considered treasures.
In his mind, no one could withstand its charge.
At least, not in the Outer Ring.
So when he accepted the commission from TOPS, and his younger brother volunteered to show what he could do, Thorne confidently let him go.
After all, it was just a newly signed idol.
And he had made every part of the plan as foolproof as possible.
From distracting Public Security to the plan's arrangement and the choice of location, he had done the absolute best he could.
The only unexpected element was that the manager had hired an extra bodyguard.
But that one bodyguard, whom he hadn't paid any mind to at the time, destroyed the most indispensable cornerstone of his dream—power—with absolute strength.
Wealth without the power to protect it is just a moneybag waiting to be plundered.
On the day of the mission, he was leisurely waiting at the base for his brother's good news, but only three minutes passed between the two mission confirmation calls.
When he called again to confirm, the previous report of 'everything going smoothly' was replaced by silence. There was no further contact.
A sense of unease spread through his heart.
Although he couldn't believe it, the unanswered calls made the experienced Thorne certain that his brother and his men had met with an accident.
As expected, Thorne got his confirmation from a live news broadcast.
As the news aired, his own brother appeared in a Public Security arrest report. As for his other loyal guards who had gone silent, their fate was obvious.
The crime scene photos released by the media shattered his last shred of hope.
The Typhon he thought was unstoppable was lying there like a crushed tin can. Anyone with a bit of combat experience could tell.
It hadn't been in a fight; it had been annihilated.
Thorne had already investigated the manager. Her strength was nowhere near that level, so the only possibility was the man they had initially ignored.
The man who just looked like he was wearing some kind of armor.
With the core members reduced to just himself, the gangs that had been lured by profit immediately changed their tune.
The Vanishing Wolves went from being leaders to outsiders. His dream of becoming a big shot was terminated at the step of taking out Pompeo to become the new hegemon.
Now.
In just one night, everything had turned to dust.
But after thinking so much, Thorne wasn't trying to make excuses for his failure.
To the victor go the spoils. He wasn't the type to deny what had already happened.
It was just that he couldn't help but feel a little resentful.
He silently reviewed the hastily gathered intel from start to finish, but almost all
the information was scant. The man's face was covered by a mask, and they couldn't even find a name.
The only thing confirmed was that the other party said they were invited through Knock-Knock.
But among the files, a photo sent by Hank to prove his claims once again caught his attention.
Without his previous preconceived notions, Thorne carefully examined the photo again and discovered the man's extraordinary nature.
Upon closer inspection, he found that the materials used to make the armor and weapon looked more and more like they had been stripped from the body of a living creature.
Looking at the wolf's face on the giant tower shield, which he hadn't paid attention to before, a terrifying thought suddenly appeared in his mind.
What if this wolf face wasn't a carving or a decorative addition, but the actual skull of a giant wolf?
That would explain everything.
Those enormous-looking claws and fangs, if placed together with that skull, would fit perfectly.
This armor was made from the materials of a giant monster!
The gear on his body wasn't just his armor; it was a testament to his victories over massive beasts that humans could hardly face!
It was just that the people of New Eridu, who had never seen such monsters, were too ignorant to recognize them!
Even Hank from DGA Entertainment had smugly said it was nothing special, and even he himself, lost in his pride over military equipment, had overlooked this possibility.
And after discovering the reason, he couldn't even muster the thought of seeking revenge.
When the gap between two people is vast, one might feel envy, respect, jealousy, or contempt, and think, 'I could take his place.'
But when a person faces an existence so powerful it exceeds their imagination, all of that vanishes.
And all that remains is fear.
But just as he was speeding up his packing to flee, intel came from the informant he had developed within New Eridu Public Security.
When Public Security was arresting Hank, he had used the concert's massive sound system to play the audio file he had given him at maximum volume.
At the very end, Hank had chosen to try and drag everyone down to hell with him.
Thorne, who was already preparing his escape, slowed down.
Before he had personally witnessed that monster burst forth from the ground, Thorne had always believed that so-called monsters were just fabricated rumors spread to get out of paying debts!
But after seeing its ferocious form and its scales, so tough that no weapon could even scratch them, Thorne was instantly convinced.
This was not an existence humanity could face.
Add to that its unrivaled strength, capable of sending a truck flying with a single slap, and its incredibly sharp horns.
And its speed when moving deep underground, like a fish in water, allowing it to attack targets directly from beneath their feet.
Forget about defeating it.
Thorne even doubted if any human could fight it at all.
And most importantly, it was an absolute monster that could live normally outside the Hollows.
In its presence, not even the world outside the Hollows was safe anymore.
After witnessing the process of that monster turning everything into ruins, Thorne felt it was like a devil crawling out from the depths of the earth.
And this devil was now about to clash with the man who had hunted other monsters.
Thus, two paths appeared before Thorne.
One was to ignore everything and continue his escape. Although cowardly, he would have a ninety percent chance of survival.
The other was to go to the concert of that idol, Astra Yao.
But going there meant his survival rate would plummet to ten percent, and getting arrested by Public Security would be almost unavoidable.
But the potential reward for such a risk...
He instantly tossed aside the luggage he had packed. Without hesitation, he picked up the phone and bought a concert ticket on Knock-Knock for ten times the price.
Under the charm of Dennies, the seller quickly delivered the ticket to a disguised Thorne.
Looking at the ticket in his hand, a crazed look appeared on Thorne's face as he muttered to himself:
'As long as... as long as I can see this battle of monsters, it'll be worth the price of admission, even if I die!'
At the same time.
This woman, who had indirectly brought his career and dreams to ruin, would also see her own dreams turn to nothing because of the approaching monster.
When that monster appears, her only choices will be to flee or stay and face it.
But if she chooses to flee, her idol career will be completely over.
After all, no one would like an idol who abandons her fans to danger while she saves her own skin.
As for the other path?
Thorne didn't believe a vase propped up by capital would have such a strong will.
Although it couldn't compare to a battle between two monsters, it should be pretty good as an added bit of entertainment.
Looking at the clueless fans around him, a feeling of being in complete control welled up from the bottom of Thorne's heart, making him hum smugly.
'Hmph, I hope you can all be as happy as you are now when the monster arrives.'
'Wearing such ridiculous, tasteless outfits. It's truly hard to understand.'
But no matter what he said, he maintained a deadpan expression, looking as if he were sitting in his seat watching the performance with a serious face.
But Thorne had completely forgotten.
In order to avoid attracting attention and slip past Public Security's guard, he was currently dressed just like the other extreme fanatics, wearing a merch-covered hat and shirt, complete with sunglasses and a mask.
To make the outfit less conspicuous, he even carried a merch-covered bag with two slogan flags attached to it.
One could say he looked more like a fanatic than the actual fanatics.
And to get closer to the most likely center of the battlefield, he had paid a hefty sum for a front-row ticket.
The other audience members around him saw his calm and composed demeanor during the concert; even when everyone else was screaming with excitement as Astra Yao took the stage, he only waved his glow stick a few times.
Someone couldn't resist recording a video and posting it on Knock-Knock with a caption:
'Astra Yao's fans are actually the most rational type! This big brother is a role model for all of us!'
Once posted, it gained tens of thousands of clicks and thousands of likes in just ten minutes.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before it became the hottest post on the Proxy Net.
Just when Thorne thought he was destined to be a nobody for the rest of his life.
He probably never dreamed that his dream had been successfully realized in a way he had never imagined.
Halfway, at least.
After waiting for a long time, the concert was more than halfway through with still no sign of anything, making Thorne start
to feel anxious.
Don't tell me the lure failed?
Then what was the point of him coming here?
To watch these idiots and wave a glow stick with them?
What a joke!
But just as he thought Hank's lure had failed, and the battle he was anticipating was about to fall through, and he was considering
how to escape, the sudden panic among the security personnel on the high platform and the unique vibration coming from under his feet made Thorne realize instantly:
'It's here! Now! Right here!'
Without a doubt, his long wait had not been in vain!
That monster had appeared once again!
____
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