Episode 113 – Fierce Battle (3)
‘We will fight back.’
Nearly half of the expeditionary force soldiers captured by Varun were those who had followed Warchief Garhan until he was defeated by Luke and were naturally absorbed under his command.
They are ambiguous people who are not loyal enough to reject Luke and take refuge in us, but are not loyal to Luke either.
It was their culture to obey and absorb the opponent in case of defeat, but it was difficult to see that they were serving Luke with all their heart.
Rather, it was highly likely that they were forcibly mobilized for the sake of their families and property that were being held captive by Luke.
So, if you can persuade them well, you can turn the tables on them by incorporating them into your allies under the pretext of helping them get their families and property back.
“—!, –!!”
There is no way Varun would not have thought of this, having dug a sizable tunnel leading to the enemy’s territory in order to flexibly respond to an opponent’s attack and immediately counterattack.
After ending the difficult battle with victory, Varun united the residents once again by offering a memorial service to me and began to persuade the prisoners to join us.
Varun’s persuasion, which had captured their souls with the destructive battle and magnificent sacrifice he had shown just before, worked as expected, and the captured people began to turn to their allies’ side one by one to take care of both practicality and honor.
‘Is it effective?’
To my eyes, it looked visually stark. Those who were neutral or hostile are quickly turning into allies with a green border after hearing Varun’s persuasion.
This means that those recognized by the master program were truly influenced and became allies, so those marked as allies did not have to worry about the possibility of betrayal.
That number is at least twice ours. If you add them all together, an army of over 5,000 people will be completed.
Five thousand cavalrymen pouring out of the rear area, galloping through pre-dug tunnels. In my opinion, its destructive power is considerable.
It was expected that they, who had failed in their expedition with 10,000 troops, would not have the strength to prevent a counterattack by their allies.
“I don’t think I will compete today or tomorrow.”
After taking a quick look at those scenes, I relaxed the tension I had been maintaining for a while and stood up.
Since you must be fully prepared when launching a counterattack, you will need more than a day of preparation.
This means that they will spend the next day or two conserving their strength and preparing for a counterattack. The time has come for the residents to rest and reorganize, and for me to take some time to relax.
But I couldn’t relax. Now that things on the desktop are over, it’s time to worry about things in real life.
“Let’s pick up the items and pick them up early tomorrow morning.”
-Are you okay? I said no, but honestly, I’m sure he’s keeping an eye on me.
“Didn’t they recently put out an ad asking us to work together? “You can just say that I unilaterally went to see that.”
I was planning to sell the items and potions I had brought to Lee So-yeon as I had previously planned. Then she will resell it to anyone who wants to buy it.
Items taken out of the game are useful not only on screen but also in real life.
‘Don’t be afraid, come and let’s overcome the crisis together. It’s KUM.’
After taking my cape and bag, I chuckled at the advertisement I saw on my phone.
The company that Lee So-yeon negotiated with the country and created using her family’s wealth was a company created for users, including us. The intention was to act as an intermediary or administrator to help users who wish to do so.
Now, users in this land no longer need to worry about why they are who they are, what on earth they should do, or what to do at work.
If you run to the company and authenticate yourself as a user, Soyeon Lee will help them using the manual she created with me and solve practical problems.
Our first step has already been taken. According to her, several new users have already come to the company.
‘We should continue to do well in the future.’
Wearing a cloak, I crossed the company’s main gate without anyone seeing and headed to her office.
The old commercial building she had secured in the past had been remodeled in a short period of time and had become a decent office.
“Oh sir…”
There she was, sitting in front of the computer, clutching her head and groaning. It looks the same as before.
“You’re having a hard time.”
“Oh, what a surprise!”
When I spoke to her, she jumped up and hit her leg on the desk with a thud. But there was no sign of any pain.
Because she, like me, grows up with the residents.
“It’s an HP potion. As you know, they are miracle drugs that heal wounds quickly.”
“No need to worry. “I’ve put up a shield now.”
When I spoke in a somewhat stiff tone, she gently touched the wand she had next to her and performed a magic spell. A blue shield that immediately surrounds us. I chuckled after confirming that even the radio waves were blocked.
“After finishing one big task, I have some free time.”
“We’re about to explode right now.”
She laughed too, so we naturally talked about the residents on the desktop. It was similar to other people talking about their children.
From what I heard, her village was also about to go to war. It is said that a neighboring fiefdom started a fight, demanding to fight over fiefdom.
“I feel extremely resentful. Even if we all work together to fight the bug, it won’t be enough.”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Bugs, surrounding forces, even this life. “At least I am satisfied because this company can solve my current problem.”
I smiled bitterly at her words that seemed difficult and nodded. Honestly, the burden placed on us by the system was too great.
We are the only ones who can take care of the residents on screen. However, those who crawled out into reality could not be ignored.
Right now, if a bug appears, the military can be dispatched to deal with it, but I had a feeling that this was just the beginning.
“Actually, our country is doing a pretty good job of preventing it. The problem is, if a bug that escaped from another country creates a nest, wouldn’t the large-scale attack that was happening on screen actually happen?”
“Yes. Bugs also grow over time. “The numbers that used to appear once in a while are increasing in number as they build multiple nests.”
The number of bugs appearing on Earth is increasing rather than decreasing. This is because it is not something that can be solved just by preventing it. If a bug originating in another country opens a crack or builds a nest, the bugs that proliferate there may eventually find their way to us.
‘Is it possible to completely prevent it?’
No matter how much you think about it, it is not easy to prevent bugs by nurturing residents step by step from the beginning. This is because there are too many variables.
If that happens, bugs will inevitably start multiplying on Earth, and it didn’t seem to make sense for busy users to block cracks and nests one by one, which even the military couldn’t do anything about.
Moreover, increasing the number of users was not necessarily a good thing. As the number of users increases, the number of people who fail also increases.
“There may be arrangements for this as well, so let’s wait and see.”
I didn’t think the Master Program would have such a sloppy system. I suggested to Soyeon Lee that we should wait a little while taking care of our own business first. Because we can still stop it with the military.
“…I beg your pardon?”
-Special people showed up. Those who claim that they are the chosen people.
But it didn’t take that long. Late at night on the day I met her. As I was checking the screen after showering and going to bed, an urgent message from her using the community function arrived.
“…”
Soon, a link arrived through the international messenger app she uses together. It was a foreign news article that had just been posted.
‘An invisible force took them to a mysterious space and made them fight monsters, and when they killed the monsters, they gained superhuman abilities. This was God’s will. It is our duty to kill those monsters named bugs.’
A person who appears to be of Islamic descent gave a speech to the media and showed off the supernatural powers he had acquired. Burning flames spewed out from his bare hands.
Me and Lee So-yeon can do similar things, but that’s because they run residents on the desktop and receive compensation.
“This can’t be right.”
A ridiculous thought crossed my mind. There are two beings that can fight against bugs. Users and residents managed by users.
However, there is no law that prevents the people of this world I live with from becoming its inhabitants.
It didn’t seem impossible for a user who didn’t know what world he might be in to manage some of the Earth’s people as his residents.
-Then who on earth is the user? By that logic, are there people like us on the screens we control?
“You don’t know that. Considering that the local residents were completely unaware of the existence of the bug, it seems that there are no other users in the area…”
My head was spinning and I shook my head. If you think about it calmly, this isn’t really a big deal. Rather, when we thought about it with common sense, we could see it as a benefit because people who could ease our burden appeared.
Society will become more confused, but to me, who is already at the center of the chaos, it is a meaningless story.
“I have no choice but to handle the task at hand well.”
I put down my phone and chatting and looked around the quiet village late at night. A fierce battle was taking place right under our noses, but now there is only silence.
The night deepened while those who were awake watched all around with stern eyes.
‘The North is still okay. If we get through this war well, an expedition will be possible.’
I shifted my gaze to the second monitor. Even in this war, the soldiers who gritted their teeth and did not participate stood firmly in place with several defense turrets to prevent the bugs who occupied the northern lands from daring to move south.
If something had happened in the North during the war, my head would have exploded, but fortunately it didn’t happen.
I just hope he continues to be calm so that he can even counterattack.
If the counterattack is successful according to Varun’s plan and absorbs most of the forces led by Garhan, the size of the friendly army will be multiplied several times in an instant.
We have the skills and ability to feed them all. It may be busy and crowded, but I needed their strength.
It is also possible to lead over 10,000 soldiers to protect a wall or attack a nest of bugs. If we develop all the talented people among those many people, the power of the group becomes many times stronger.
I was confident because I had already seen the entire process.
“This is the end… right?”
I wasn’t sure, so I muttered for no reason. Through Varun’s worries, he learned why Lihar, a wizard from the southern kingdom, was attached to Luke.
The purpose was to create a new power in this area to keep the power called the Empire in check. He even said that if he didn’t do that, he wouldn’t be able to survive.
When I heard that, I couldn’t help but feel anxious. We had to fight against the bugs, but it seemed like they wouldn’t leave us alone in this area forever.