◈ Episode 298. It’s a Living Hell……! (2)
Spirits are, by nature, full of mischief.
One need only look at the sayings that drift about the Arcana Continent to know that.──────The voices of spirits do not reach most humans, so spirits often play pranks in place of words. Traveler, do not be angry if your hat is blown away by the wind. The spirit of wind merely wishes to speak with you…….──────Hiel had once been a spirit of the forest, but now she had been reborn as a {Unique Spirit}.
Just as a position makes a person, so too does it make a spirit. Thus, in the recent Hiel, one could find nobility, but not mischief.
And on top of that, there was Hoyeol’s influence as well.
Hiel swallowed her words inwardly.‘What should I do, my lord?’If she were being honest, she wanted to toy with those five adventurers.
Unification Under Heaven.
When she recalled how they had tried to slander her lord at every opportunity, her honest feelings were……. to the point that she wanted to bind their limbs with plants. However, Hiel had not forgotten.
“……
My apologies, my lord.”
The propriety Hoyeol had emphasized.
Hiel did not forget her own position.
She kept in mind that her actions could directly tarnish her lord’s lofty honor. This time as well, she looked at them from Hoyeol’s perspective. Then the answer came to her.
“What ought we do about this…….”
Chainwalker was at a loss.
Dwarves were, by nature, indifferent to others.
The fact that the dwarves were currently helping the Empire was purely due to the influence of Akshan and Hoyeol.
Chainwalker looked at Hiel once more.
“Are you not more knowledgeable about adventurers than we are?”
Who had she taken after?
Even with his extremely courteous tone and treatment, Hiel proudly nodded.
And, just like someone else, she opened her mouth in a firm voice.
“Do you know, Chainwalker?”
“What do you mean?”
“About my lord’s homeland, the world of adventurers.”
“Mm, well.”
Chainwalker stroked his beard.
Now that he thought about it, he truly did not know much in particular about the adventurers’ world. He was already busy enough paying attention to the Arcana Continent. Besides, it was none other than Hoyeol’s homeland.
Chainwalker scratched his head.
“I do not know what kind of place it is, but would it not be better than the Arcana Continent as it is now? Sir Hoyeol is staying in that world, after all.”
Hiel shook her head.
“The demons who crossed over from the Arcana Continent to the adventurers’ world have one thing in common. They find the adventurers’ world more satisfactory than the Arcana Continent. Even though my lord exists there.”
“Is that true?”
Chainwalker flinched at the words he had not expected.
Then he looked once more at the adventurers on the ground.
Chainwalker’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“……
Could it be because of the adventurers?”
Chainwalker had not forgotten.
This was a Holy War.
They had Akshan at their backs. And so he made up his mind. If adventurers were beings who helped demons, then perhaps they would have to show them a coldhearted attitude.
“It is a more fundamental problem than that.”
“When you say a fundamental problem……?”
“Because negative emotions never cease in that land.”
A chill ran down Chainwalker’s spine.‘Does such a world truly exist?’The Arcana Continent alone was horrifying beyond measure.
At times, even its desolate scenery sent chills down his spine.
Chainwalker could not help but admire Hoyeol once more.‘To think Sir Hoyeol remains so upright even in such a world.’Of course, that feeling did not last long.
And so.
Chainwalker confirmed once more.
“What should we do with those adventurers?”
“Do you know what the opposite of mercy is, Chainwalker?”
“Well……. Punishment?”
“No.”
Hiel’s gaze sank coldly.
“It is indifference and turning away.”
Dawn.
The red banner, Unification Under Heaven.
They were her lord’s enemies.
Naturally, there was no reason for her lord’s warmth to shine upon them.
She had not even wanted to spare them a glance.
Yet Hiel took one step further in her thoughts for Hoyeol’s sake.‘There must be a reason.’The reason they set foot on the Arcana Continent.
Ignoring the rules her lord had established.
Hiel intended to report their every move to Hoyeol without missing a single detail. The nature that existed on the Arcana Continent, and the spirits who governed it.[Blessing of the First World Tree]
Hiel, reborn as a {Unique Spirit}.
Hiel had the authority to command them.
In other words.
There was no reason for her to watch them with her own two eyes.
Hiel’s gaze withdrew from the Five Stars of Unification Under Heaven.
“Let us move according to my lord’s arrangement, Chainwalker.”
“I understand your intent.”
Tudududu─!
Soon, the giant airship cut through the skies and advanced.
That sight was more than enough to deliver despair to the Five Stars.
To the five players.
“N-no way.”
“If they’re NPCs, they’re supposed to welcome players!!”
“You bastards, can’t you come back?!”
However.
What answered their cries was not the Iron Castle.
Writhle─It was a demon-type monster wandering the Arcana Continent.
A system message appeared before the Five Stars’ eyes.[Demon Realm Cleaner Centipede: Lv.700]
Demons, by nature, were a race that did not know their place.
There were far more demons incapable of reading the mood than demons who could at least do that much.
However, even if it was a pathetic demon.
It was an astonishing level 700.
Even if they had prepared thoroughly.Could players around level 450 handle such a monster?
They knew the answer better than anyone.
“N-no! This is suicide!!”
The bravado they had shown in front of the connector was nowhere to be found.
A mad dash.
Everyone shouted at once, as if none of them wanted to be last.
“Log out!!”……
But nothing happened.
Hadn’t he said it?
Hoyeol had warned them from the very beginning.
-“You cannot return to reality through the connector.”
They had simply not believed his words.
-“I trust you have not forgotten your objective either. We must accurately convey to our lord what is happening on the Arcana Continent.”
Only then did the Five Stars realize.
“……
No way?”
The reason our lord allowed us to use the connector was…….
Simply to ascertain the true meaning of those words?
Someone screamed in despair.
“Aaaaargh! I can’t forgive you, Ryu O Junchun!!”...
What kind of being is a monarch?
A monarch must think ahead of his retainers.
If a retainer can fathom the monarch’s will.
Then that means he is unqualified as a monarch.
Swoosh─Ryu O Junchun’s cold gaze turned toward the connector.
Everyone had vanished to the Arcana Continent.
With this, it was the twentieth person.
“I will not forget your sacrifice for my sake.”
The guild members who had fallen into the Arcana Continent.
Whether they resented him or not.
Such a thing did not matter.[Monarch-Vassal Relationship]
was that kind of thing.
A message appeared in Ryu O Junchun’s vision.[Skill, ‘Monarch-Vassal Relationship,’ activates.][Acquiring accumulated experience from vassal.][Acquiring accumulated experience from vassal.][Acquiring accumulated experience from vassal.]…….
A cruel voice rang out.
“So die proudly.”
Ryu O Junchun’s quest window flickered.[Class Quest: Path of the Tyrant]*AAU.
“What do they mean, dream job? Seriously.”
Before the Cataclysm, back in the Cosmo days.
And even now, after the Cataclysm, when Cosmo had become AAU. Among his friends, Seong Hyeonjun had been known as a blessed bastard. If he were speaking honestly, it was true that he had been enjoying an easy ride for quite some time.
Until now.
Slurp─Seong Hyeonjun, with hollow eyes, extended his life with an Americano. It had been days since he had gotten proper sleep. It was all because the chief of the Yusra Branch, Hoyeol, had dropped a bombshell.
“A Great Evil wasn’t enough, but a simultaneous attack on the Hundred Thousand Caves, a legendary-grade item, and even Excalibur? Just thinking about coming up with answers for the press is giving me a splitting headache, sunbae.”
Yun Sugyeom’s situation was not much different.
The reason was simple.
Clutch.
He grabbed at his hair.
“Excalibur, that shouldn’t have come out there……?”
Excalibur.
Just as players and the media had guessed, it was a highest-tier item that existed in the Arcana system. Though it was not an item that should have appeared back when Arcana was merely a game, its location and coordinates had clearly been set.
Yun Sugyeom muttered with a complicated expression.
“Of course, I’m glad the chief acquired it, but……. Why was that in the Hundred Thousand Caves of the Zero Mountains? Damn it. Just how much of a mess has the Arcana Continent become……!”
“Sunbae, why aren’t you answering me?”
“Surely its original location hasn’t been buried underground, right?”
“……
What, can he seriously not hear my voice?”
Flinch.
Seong Hyeonjun hurriedly pinched his own cheek. There was pain, he could touch his body, and his hand did not pass through the desk. It did not seem like he had collapsed from overwork and was having an out-of-body experience…….
The two men made a fuss at the same time.
“Is the fact that the goddess is there actually foreshadowing?”
“S-surely. Did sunbae die?!”
“Damn it, goddamn Arcana!”
“Sunbae, look at my face!”
It was, quite literally, total chaos.
Three days since they had last gone home.
Perhaps it would be stranger if they managed to stay sane.
However, the real pandemonium began now.
“Emergency!!”
Tadadada─Hurried footsteps.
Who else could shout at the top of his lungs in AAU’s Korea Branch? Only the branch manager, Park Minjae. With a pale face, Park Minjae searched for the two of them.
“Yun Sugyeom, Seong Hyeonjun. It’s an emergency, an emergency!”
An emergency?
Wasn’t the real emergency when you were spacing out during work hours.
And your superior came running in breathlessly?
Their runaway minds returned in an instant.
“What’s going on, Branch Manager?”
But Park Minjae had not been overreacting.
Because an even greater emergency existed.
Words slipped out from between trembling lips.
“The chief of the Yusra Branch is coming to visit.”
“……
R-right now?! Here?!”
“Yes!”
Excalibur, the goddess, a Great Evil, and now a visit!
How was it that the chief did not even give them a moment to catch their breath? Before they could ask the reason, they first checked the state of their clothes. They asked one another.
“What should I do, should I go wash my face even now?”
“No, fix that tie first.”
“How about me, does my face look all right?”……
Though Park Minjae’s face did not seem like it would improve no matter how much he checked it.
For now, they nodded.
The three immediately hastened their steps to the branch manager’s office.
The appointed time was drawing near.
“By the way, why is he visiting?”
“He says there is a setting he wishes to confirm.”
“……
A setting?”
It was strange.
It could not be helped.
Starting with magic, then demons, and recently even his ties with Akshan, whom they had thought had been deleted without a trace. Wasn’t the chief someone who possessed more extensive knowledge about Arcana than they did?
Park Minjae clicked his tongue.
“Do you understand now why I called it an emergency?”
It was not just the three of them.
AAU’s Korea Branch.
No, every branch knew full well of Hoyeol’s efforts all this time.
So they had been waiting for a chance to repay him.‘Back then, it didn’t feel too bad.’After all, Park Minjae had gladly acted as a bridge to the president at Hoyeol’s request.
But this time, he had no confidence.
Arcana’s ceaseless erosion.
And in the midst of it, wasn’t AAU an organization that had already let go once?
Seong Hyeonjun spoke in a gloomy voice.
“That’s true……. If anything, we’re the ones with mountains of questions we want to ask. Will AAU be able to answer the chief’s questions?”
As everyone knew, the AAU database was not omnipotent.
If it was not a confirmed setting from the days when Arcana had merely been a game, then it meant they could not even make a simple prediction as to how it had been realized.
Park Minjae shrugged.
“Still, for now, we’ll have to do our best.”
“Then we’ll be cheering you on from outside.”
“Huh? Outside? You’re coming in with me.”
“……
Pardon?”
Despite his efforts.
He still had not shed his old-fashioned superior vibe.
Park Minjae spoke playfully.
“Why, shouldn’t you be next to me making green tea and all that?”
The joking lasted only for a moment.
Gooooooo─“……!!!”
When the appointed time arrived, a portal opened in the branch manager’s office.
Hoyeol appeared without the slightest delay and soon took a seat.
After moistening his throat with the green tea Seong Hyeonjun had personally prepared, he opened his mouth.
At that, color returned to Park Minjae’s face.
“If it is the setting of the Magic Tower……!”
Because it seemed they might be able to meet Hoyeol’s expectations after all.
“Please leave it to me!”
At last, the time had come to earn his keep.