Episode 84 – Encroachers (4)
This unidentified knight, whose face is covered with a mask, is just a character in the game and cannot feel pain. Because of this, you can do anything. Because it’s just a character.
Even if realism was injected into the game world, in the end, to him who manipulated the character off-screen, his character was nothing more than a doll made of data.
Even though he was exposed to the cold wind that froze his bones and flesh, in reality he was just holding the keyboard with a fan on next to him.
“Oh, no..!”
But it was different for her. To Riena, who did not know the concept of a character in a game, his character was like his incarnation.
In the end, he was the one manipulating it, so it was hard to think that the character that directly or indirectly revealed his psychological state was a simple doll.
So Riena screamed in surprise when she saw him throwing himself to protect her. Although the game was different, he had already saved her in this way once in the past.
Even though he was quickly revived, Riena was still unfamiliar with the fact that someone would throw themselves to protect her.
‘You seem very anxious.’
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He, who was already watching his HP rapidly drop and receiving the boss’s attacks with his body, pressed the potion shortcut key repeatedly. At the same time, he smiled at the sight of Riena’s face on the screen, unable to hide her emotions.
He seemed to be too worried, so he tried to think of a way to reassure Riena and used the emotional expression function like he always did.
His character blocked the wind with his body and gave her a thumbs up. The action seemed really harmless.
“How dare you!!”
The problem is that that action would have seemed like an unimaginable insult to others.
The boss, who was grinning while using a skill that was sure to cause great damage if he couldn’t avoid it, rolled his eyes when he saw him acting as if nothing was wrong, not only did he block the attack with his bare body.
So, in order to deliver an additional blow that could never be matched, I rushed in with a hammer that was emitting cold air.
‘Now it’s time for me to repay the favor.’
Thanks to this, as soon as the cold storm disappeared, Riena kicked the ground and rushed forward.
It wasn’t his intention, but if his actions for her instilled anger in her enemies, it was because they gave her faith stronger than anything else.
There was no reason not to believe that someone had jumped and saved his life. My heart, which is beating so hard, is already burning with fighting spirit.
“Poetry, divine power…!”
And that firm belief is the source of her true strength in this dark blood world. In this game set against the backdrop of heaven and hell, she naturally learned how to exchange her faith for mana.
The boss, who was running towards her with a fuss, was astonished as if he couldn’t believe it as the brilliant light she gave off gradually became stronger as she ran towards her without backing down.
A bug infiltrated the game to kill them, and after recognizing the power of the bug, it was made into a weapon against divinity, but its power was strong and pure enough to crush even that.
The boss hurriedly raised the hammer, but when Riena, whose eyes were colored gold, swung the sword in her hand, the slash that spewed out split the cold hammer into two pieces and cut off the boss’s neck and part of his upper body.
“Ugh.”
A flash of light burst out bright enough to make him frown as he was watching this on the screen.
This sacred light was strong enough to instantly melt the surrounding land dominated by evil cold.
“Ugh, gross.”
But the enemy is not dead yet. As he looked at the monitor where the flash had disappeared, there was an enemy standing staggering with parts of his body, including his head, cut off. A reality that is more realistic than actual graphics.
There were two enemies from the beginning. The demon was purified by the divine light, but another enemy still remained. They are monsters that don’t even care about things like divinity.
‘It won’t be of any use. ‘Because they make you wonder if they are living creatures in the first place.’
There is no such thing as good or evil among them. There is no reason or will. They just act like a coded program for their own purposes. There is no way that the light of judgment would work on those guys.
“I’ll go!”
Riena gritted her teeth and ran forward once again to kill the wriggling parasite.
But this time, he was also there to move the character. Seeing them like that, the parasite controlling the boss’s body wriggled its pitch-black body, moved its body, and punched at them, as if it had been waiting.
‘If it were a real game, there wouldn’t be any elemental damage.’
When he saw that, he thought about it and used the skill. In the original game, various elemental magic was used, but there were no restrictions based on attributes.
Because using water or ice-type magic against a demon whose entire body was covered in fire did not cause additional damage.
However, as the game became a reality, there was a change in that aspect.
“Lightning..”
Riena was amazed to see the thunderbolt he fired hit the enemy.
The crackling electricity disrupted all actions driven by bioelectrical signals. The same goes for corpses controlled by bugs.
Thanks to this, Riena cut down the body of the enemy, who was in a kind of stunned state, in one go.
She resisted by emitting harsh cold air as if it was her last struggle, but her sword steadily cut the large body into pieces.
“Where?”
As she was driven to the edge of death, many black parasites that were controlling the boss’ corpse came out, extended their elongated bodies, and rained down on her, but Riena, who did not back down despite the disgusting appearance, held the sword in reverse and twisted her body. He swung at the same time and cut them all down.
As the parasites attacked, the pieces of corpses that were still standing in complete disrepair eventually fell to the floor. The fight is finally over.
‘What if these parasites appear in the village?’
When the parasite writhing on the floor tried to climb up her leg, she trampled it with a stern expression and crushed it to death.
It was also the moment when I realized that bugs are not just big guys who push around.
***
‘Now there’s a boss battle left, but is it too late today?’
As originally planned, Chapter 3, which focuses on action instead of story and quests, ends with a battle inside the fortress. The problem is that now that a bug has occurred, we cannot assume that everything will proceed according to the strategy video.
After looking at the time, I ended today’s activities here. Chapter 3 will end tomorrow anyway.
‘Parasite type bug. It simply becomes a parasite and amplifies the host’s power. The combat power of each individual doesn’t seem to be very good.’
I separately recorded the bugs I encountered today after taking Riena, who looked at me with brighter eyes than before, to the village. That habit or the way it was shown.
Not only was it to provide information to Lee So-yeon, a latecomer, but also because I had learned that they were infiltrating Real Magpies, so I believed that the facts I recorded would be helpful someday.
“—. –.”
“—?”
Varun was still trying to recruit Garhan’s envoy, Letai. In fact, I could guarantee that the inclusion was successful.
LeThai, which had changed from hostile to neutral, was now being completely displayed as an ally. This means that I can now treat LeThai as my villager, picking it up with the mouse, placing it in the game, and viewing its detailed status table.
‘If it works out diplomatically, there’s nothing bad.’
After thinking about it for myself, I supported Varun’s idea.
As bugs appear in games, things become more serious, but in reality, games are just games. I feel sorry for the residents in the game, but if I don’t place the residents in the game, that place will no longer have anything to do with us.
The most important thing is that wallpaper world. That’s where the residents have to live.
We were still facing an endless enemy, and if we had to go to war with local forces as well, it seemed like there would be more harm than good. Increasing the population could be solved without war if normal exchanges were possible.
If the existence of bugs harms not only us but also others, they cannot be quick to oppose us.
-Will this simple defense continue?
“Defense?”
-I understand that we need to train residents to stop the monsters called bugs, but I feel like we are suffering too much.
That night. In a chat with Soyeon Lee, she first mentioned that she was a little frustrated with the current situation after hearing about the parasite-type bug from me.
-According to the information collected so far, they are attacking us in various ways. We just have to stop them without any warning or knowledge.
Bugs appeared and attacked us as they pleased. Whether it was opening a crack or digging a nest, it was all up to them.
It was best for us to find it and go and stop it. It was impossible to punish them, and the best thing to do was to just stand ready and wait for them, who never knew when they would come.
‘It’s inefficient.’
I agreed with Soyeon Lee’s words. Right now, I was worried that a bug might appear and massacre the remaining residents while the main force went off to war.
If we can afford it, wouldn’t our troops be able to take the initiative and hunt them down?
[Guidance program recommendation]
[Wallpaper folder recommendation]
“uh?”
And it was clear that the master program had detected my conversation with her.
A program recommendation suddenly came to mind. I looked at them with blank eyes.
-Change the map app and wallpaper…? I didn’t think of it?
In fact, Soyeon Lee, who was talking with me, said that she had not received such a recommendation. It’s not like the apps aren’t installed on her computer.
“It’s worth it. The map app is asking for 10,000 P, and the wallpaper replacement is asking for 5,000 P. “I probably don’t recommend it unless it’s something that can be supplied right away.”
I laughed out loud when I saw the prices of the recommended programs.
These days, the number of active games has increased, the number of residents has increased, and various achievements are going well, so the supply of points has been good.
So, I was planning to save 60,000 P and activate the firewall.
-Do you want to try it?
“If I can use these to give those crazy monsters a shot first, there’s no reason not to do it.”
Our counterattack, where we were attacked first every time. It’s thrilling just to think about it. Of course, it was the residents who had to fight, but this was a matter that involved their lives anyway.