Episode 21-Ordeal (1)
‘It’s already happened and there’s nothing we can do because we don’t know what will happen in the future.’
As Assistant Manager Kim Gyu-seok said, I ended up going home early even though I was busy with work. As soon as I left the company, I had to reconsider a problem I had put aside.
My feelings as I ride the shaking and shaking bus and look at the familiar streetscape of the city center as the sun sets are quite different from a few days ago. I’m not dazed because I’m tired or tired, and I’m not excited to go home and rest and play.
Still, in exchange for those things, I succeeded in making a decision. Let’s just watch a little more, just one more time. No one, including those around me, will know that I was prepared to risk my life.
But I can’t throw away my computer without any regrets. It was true that the people there were being overlooked, and it was also true that they were afraid of warnings that were not warnings that were read in the manual.
I would have to go home and play the game from now on, but honestly, right now it felt like a real fight rather than a game.
‘Has Riena always fought with this mindset?’
She might slap me in the face if I say it’s exactly the same, but I think I can get some idea of what Riena’s heart was like as she always risked her life fighting against enemies who were just monsters in the game to me.
“under.”
And in front of the villa I arrived with such a heavy heart. My house is still quiet. All you can hear is the slight noise made by the computer that won’t turn off.
What you see inside the turned on monitor is, of course, the desktop, plus several people hanging out there.
As usual, I zoomed in on the screen and looked at them. In the self-running sandbox game, residents, including Varun, were working hard today to farm resources to provide food, clothing, and shelter for themselves.
Other residents are also doing their own thing, such as expanding the village, repairing houses, and taking care of livestock… Riena is sitting quietly waiting for something. It’s waiting for me.
‘I have to check.’
I couldn’t tell how long it had been like that, so I laughed out loud, but I didn’t turn on the game right away.
This morning, before reading the manual, right after defeating the bug. I definitely saw a phrase that said something other than points was given as a reward.
“This is it.”
After turning on the master program and looking around, I succeeded in calling it up again.
[Bug kill rewards can be selected]
This means that compensation selection is possible. I clicked on it without thinking. Probably because they are giving something to the residents.
[Give attribute selection]
“Oh, no way.”
Then, what came to mind was the phrase that one could select and grant one of the characteristics that residents had acquired, such as martial arts, miners, farmers, and magic.
I was delighted and thought it was a pretty good reward and immediately chose one. Martial arts is a characteristic that Riena possesses.
I don’t know if it’s because she is a very good user, but I really like the special power that allows her to fight against ridiculous monsters with a single sword.
[Characterization successful]
“uh?!”
But at that moment, I clearly saw with my own eyes a ray of light coming out of the monitor and striking my body.
I was already traumatized by something popping out of the monitor, and I, who had planned to lock the door and sleep outside starting tonight, struggled and fell backwards with my chair in a panic.
If you fall like this, your head will fall on the floor, causing a disaster.
“Keuok.”
In the end, after struggling with my slippered feet in the air, I hit the back of my head with a loud bang and my neck was broken. Immediately, an exhilarating pain went down my spine and made my body tremble.
“Ugh…”
He wriggled for a moment and then straightened up on the floor. It hurts, but that’s it. My body was fine, with no headaches or broken necks.
‘no way.’
A strange energy felt throughout the body. It’s ridiculous, but it can’t make as much sense as what’s happening on my monitor screen right now.
A gripper just happened to be on the desk. A guy who doesn’t exercise can use a cotton pad that he bought at a general store as a final act of conscience, or a toy he plays with when he’s bored.
I held it once. The spring is pressed and touches softly. The same was true even when set to the strongest level. My arms, which had been shaking every time I did it, no longer shook.
‘Isn’t there a complete lack of insurance?’
The manual that said it wasn’t a big problem with a monster popping out of the monitor wasn’t wrong. If only I could become stronger as I continue this strange relationship.
[Resident Placement]
I raised the chair, sat down again, and started the game.
I gained unexpected strength, but that doesn’t mean I want to fight monsters. We had to make it so that no matter what happened, it could be resolved from the desktop as much as possible.
‘Can it still be passed down like this?’
Before bringing Riena, who was waiting, into the running game.
I placed the cursor over her head and briefly repeated the left click. It means thank you for killing the enemy who was attacking me along with the others and saving my life.
“—!”
It seems like something was conveyed. With her eyes wide open, she jumped up smiling and shouted something at the sky.
And that smile was the same even after we met in the game.
Feeling a little more at ease, I used my habit of rolling forward to shorten the travel time and approached her. Riena seemed to have gotten used to my eccentricities by now, so she wasn’t too surprised.
***
“Honestly, the entire first chapter feels like a tutorial, so there are few gimmicks and the level of difficulty is not difficult. “It is a stage that instills familiarity in those who enjoy it for the first time… This is a bit boring for those who play it multiple times.”
The internet broadcaster who filmed the strategy I am referring to commented that Dark Blood Chapter 1, which Riena and I are currently playing, is a section for beginners and a boring section for experts.
The difficulty level itself is not difficult, but it is because the battle is repeated using only basic operations without skills or complicated patterns.
That might be true, but it didn’t apply to us.
‘It’s right to do boss battles in full condition. We must enter the castle today and go until the boss battle.’
After confirming that Riena’s condition was not bad using the capture app, I decided that my goal today would be to get through just before the boss battle.
Naturally, monsters without any reason rushed in to hinder us.
Activate one of the three devices, which are like large levers, but I don’t know how they open the gate, and head out through the underground passage to the northern part of the town.
We each swung our weapons at the screaming ghost soldiers.
As expected, Riena fought well, but now I feel like I’m slowly getting used to controlling my character against people who move without any patterns.
‘After the battle here, farm potions in the highest house.’
Just before the battle ended, the next plan was made in advance. Based on the strategy, this is a route that moves forward quickly while supplying items as efficiently as possible.
“huh?”
But my steps stopped. This is because Riena, who was expected to follow, stopped and was looking somewhere.
“Skip all the subquests. They don’t give me good items. “I’m actually trying to see the story.”
The person who was attacking skipped this part. The sub-quest you can complete here is about a nameless spirit.
I slowly approached Riena’s side. When I turned my perspective in the direction she was looking, I saw a ghost whose entire body was blurred.
It doesn’t matter because I’m in the game, but isn’t Riena scary? He is looking at a ghost in the shape of a boy, as if he has lost his soul.
‘I’d better go.’
I used the expression I usually use to tell Riena to move forward. However, even as she barely managed to turn her body, she continued to look there as if she was concerned.
“Should I?”
After a quick search, I found out that it wasn’t a very difficult quest. That ghost boy just wants to collect his mother’s body.
Finally I decided to give this a try. The game activated through the master program was clearly different from the game I knew, so there was a possibility that something would change.
“—!”
As we approached, the ghost turned and started heading somewhere. It is to guide us. As it was, the boy’s mother would have been crushed to death by the debris of a collapsed building while holding the boy, and an undead ghoul who eats human flesh would be wandering around her side.
‘Well, as expected, there’s a ghoul here.’
“!!!”
In fact, when we arrived, there was a collapsed house and a ghoul snarling in front of it, pacing around to eat the corpse.
Of course, the bastard exposed his teeth when he saw us, and Riena, who found out about the situation, bit her lip as if she was angry and then lunged at the ghoul first with her sword.
‘What are you looking at? ‘You’re completing the quest.’
Without any time left, I subdue the ghoul by inflicting sword wounds on its body. Thanks to that, I was quietly watching her, and when I saw the ghost boy’s gaze looking at me rather than at Riena, who was fighting, I flinched while holding the mouse and keyboard.
I shrugged my shoulders, expressing my emotions as if to say, “What should I do?” Then the boy just slowly turned his head.
‘what?’
Riena, dodging the ghoul’s claws, slashed his face diagonally with a single slash. She gasped and the ghoul’s dead body collapsed in an instant, but contrary to what I knew, the quest was not over.
‘Elite Monster Soul Devourer!’
Beneath the dark clouds that refuse to clear, a gloomy energy that is even darker than the dark clouds gathers. What appeared underneath was a skull wearing a black robe.
It is an elite monster that can only be seen by entering the castle.
What the ghost boy asked to save was not his mother’s body. He was asking to save his and his mother’s souls from being captured by the bastard.
“Is this how it goes?”
As I was looking through the screen, I muttered absentmindedly.
According to the setting, the boss of Chapter 1 is an enemy who uses necromancy to manipulate human souls. That’s why he raided this territory to harvest souls, and uses his minions to absorb the souls of his victims and use them for his own power and as a bizarre monster.
It is a ‘story’ that is only mentioned and not implemented in the game. But that story becomes reality here and now.
“—, –!”
The Soul Eater reached out and sucked out the souls of the ghost boy and his mother. Riena, who was surprised to see that, looked at me and shouted something.
The will to fight right away was conveyed well beyond words that did not make sense.