Episode 93 – Predation and Evolution (3)
[Achievement Accomplished: True Corruption (1)]
[Reward selection possible]
The boss of Chapter 3 is dead. The guy who tried to kill us using a bug ended up getting eaten by the bug and struggled, falling into our hands.
I chuckled as I saw the reward notifications floating around and approached Riena, who was catching her breath. Her growth never stops. There’s no such thing as a level like a game character, but obviously.
“—?”
She looked at me with a pale face and opened her mouth. Looking at his expression, it seemed like he was asking me how I was doing. It’s a worry worth worrying about, but it’s meaningless. The person she sees is not the real me.
A character is just a character. It moves according to my will, but that’s all. Even if I get attacked, my character’s HP will only drop. However, people who do not know this fact may misunderstand that I am sacrificing myself for them every time.
‘I’m more worried about you.’
After taking her out of the game and taking her back to the village, I watched her let go of the sword she was holding until it bled.
Until now, her talent and rapid growth have enabled her to win against enemies that stand in her way, but those enemies are becoming stronger in their own way by combining with bugs and becoming mutated.
It was difficult to predict how they would change, like Chapter 3’s boss Baros, who was combined with parasite-like bugs.
“hehehe, I’ll think about it later.”
Of course, there is no limit to worrying like this. I shook my head to shake off my thoughts and the moment Riena returned home to rest. I turned my attention to the other side.
A reward obtained for defeating the boss. This reward was a little different from other rewards that give points.
If you had beaten an ordinary boss, you would have just been given points as usual and would not have received a separate reward. This was close to a special reward received for defeating a bug-infected boss.
[Frost Attitude] [Evil Dragon Legsword]
Two lights appear above the boss’ corpse. These are items given as rewards.
If it were a normal game, the only rare item you could obtain in this chapter would be the boss’s weapon, the Frost Attitude, a greatsword imbued with cold. But now, two of them, including one above the corpse of the skeleton dragon the boss was riding, were floating.
‘One is mine.’
At this point, you can feel it intuitively. One of those two weapons is mine. When I clicked [Select Reward], I was actually able to choose one of two items.
You can bring one of two weapons into reality, just like when you acquired the Hermit’s Cloak and brought it into reality.
‘I hope I don’t have to use it.’
I sighed softly and after much deliberation, I chose [Frost Attitude]. It wasn’t for me, it was purely for Riena’s sake.
According to the description in the tooltip, the Frost Attitude gives you the power to use the bitter cold, but this is because it overlaps with the Light of Judgment, which is the divine light that Riena possesses.
[Selection completed]
“Ugh.”
When I chose the frost attitude, the monitor flickered, emitting strong light and deep blue cold air. At the same time, something jumped out in front of my startled face and began to slowly approach.
A large long sword with a jet-black blade, which was only seen as an item in a game, became a real object, protruding from its handle.
“Ugh, this is crazy.”
With a frown on my face, I grabbed the handle of this cold sword and pulled it away. As befits its name, Attitude, its length was longer than my height, and its blade was wider than my palm.
The cold handle was so cold that I thought I might get frostbite and have to cut my hand off, and I didn’t even think about leaving it.
Is this a sword imbued with the power of the devil?
‘There will be no side effects from this.’
It even came out from inside the black monitor, soon turning into thick smoke and seeping into my right hand as if it were being sucked in.
You can take it out again if you want. It may be that they thought about practicality because it would be inconvenient to carry a large weapon all the time, but in fact, of course, I wanted to never have to use this weapon in this reality.
-Are you looking at the internet right now?
However, if that really wasn’t going to happen, there’s no way the master program would have made arrangements to take out the items in the game.
The moment I calmed my pounding heart and sat down at my desk to manage the residents again.
An urgent chat came from Soyeon Lee. It was a chat where I felt something uneasy intuitively.
-Even if you try to hide it these days, you can’t. Everyone carries their own camera.
“I was hoping for a third user from Korea to follow Lee So-yeon, but it looks like that person… was killed before I even opened the manual. “If you had opened the manual, we could have helped you.”
The internet I opened after hearing her words was very buzzing, especially on social media and communities.
The cause was a video that someone had filmed and uploaded. The site administrator seems to be trying hard to delete it, but the video that is spreading widely is a terrible video of a black bug-like monster breaking through a door in a residential area, jumping out, and eating people.
What we were worried about finally happened.
-I looked into it separately right now. Well, I used my family connections. It seems like the top line has also turned upside down. It seems like foreign governments are trying to hide it, but it’s probably impossible. Soon there will be a big change in the world…
“That doesn’t matter. “Anyway, we’re the only ones who really know who they are.”
From Noble mtl dot com
Can the police or special forces win the fight against bugs? It didn’t seem like the guys who were killed by arrows could withstand live bullets. But I bit my lip, knowing that they were not just beasts.
I initially accepted this job for me. For my own safety. That was my resolution. Therefore, going to fight on my own meant denying that resolve.
However, as I watched the residents fighting on the screen and sometimes moved the characters to fight together, my mind changed a little.
***
“A monster that looks like a parasite? “There are all kinds of really special people out there.”
“I will tell you to be careful because I have the ability to control corpses.”
He acquired a special weapon for successfully defeating bugs with Riena, and while he was seriously concerned about the appearance of bugs that had finally infiltrated his surroundings.
Some people came to regard fighting bugs as a daily routine. A temporary garrison in the north commanded by Rakum. This place, which stands in place with defense towers, was being built as a base to block bugs coming from the north and attack the hive.
“Is scouting further afield still impossible?”
“That’s right. Unless you increase the size of your scouting party, it doesn’t seem easy to break through their sentries. It seems they know this too. “No matter how many sentries we defeat, we are sending more troops.”
The warrior who was reporting to Rakum shook his head in disgust.
After targeting one of the enemy’s hives, what they put the most effort into was understanding the surrounding terrain and enemies. Those actions reveal a new screen, and he, watching from outside the screen, used his reconnaissance activities to figure out what kind of enemies there were around the residents.
However, that reconnaissance activity also became impossible at some point due to enemy interference.
“According to the testimony of the dwarf family we rescued last time, it is said that many more dwarves would have survived and taken refuge… but I am also concerned that no one has found them yet.”
“The Chief ordered that we must save them. “If that is the will of the guardian spirit, then I should be willing to follow it.”
Rakum fell silent at his subordinate’s words. The purpose of the reconnaissance was to find dwarves other than the Kherson family.
‘Should I go out myself when the sun rises tomorrow?’
After hearing the entire report, Rakum walked out of the barracks as the moon rose.
Although it was not as high as the high walls built in the village, it was reliably guarded by defense towers that automatically detected and attacked enemies, so it was a place that could be said to be safe even in this land full of enemies.
“What’s going on?”
“No, it’s nothing. More than that, why aren’t you sleeping? “You have to rest when you rest so you can fight again.”
Then someone came up to him and spoke to him. Racoum turned around and smiled at the face of his younger brother Larsen.
“Shura said he had something to practice, so I helped him with it…”
“That kid is really amazing.”
When Larsen mentioned Shura, Rakum was slightly impressed. Shura, who was chosen before Rakum and became a warrior using skills, was gradually increasing his skills.
Fighting without fear of battle and with the single intention of cutting down the enemy was also an element that Lakum considered great.
“Your power can be maximized if you have someone to fight in front of you. Fight well with her. Tomorrow, I will try to clear the northern path with another scouting party.”
“Ji, directly?”
“There must be a reason why they are increasing the number of guards and never being pushed back. “I plan to find out everything I can before conducting another large-scale subjugation war.”
Larsen was surprised to learn that Racoum was going on a scouting expedition with a small force tomorrow. But Rakum had already made his decision.
If a large number of soldiers were mobilized without being fully prepared and something went wrong, it would be a catastrophe. They have suffered a crushing defeat and cannot afford to recover.
“You have also grown a lot compared to before. Even more so since I became a wizard with the power he gave me. So, in the future, don’t be afraid of fighting like you are now. A warrior is someone who fights, achieves, and protects.”
Being afraid of fighting means you lack confidence in yourself. Rakum, who already knew this fact, gave his younger brother advice, hoping that he would come to this realization.
“You know because you’ve already been through it. No matter what state I am in, the world is cruel and does not care about your situation. Are you going to die helpless and unable to do anything? “It is right to at least struggle.”
“…yes.”
Larsen took his brother’s advice to heart. At the same time, Rakum’s advice did not only apply to his younger brother. It’s definitely something that can be applied to anyone who hesitates in a fight and has no confidence in themselves.
[Larsen, whose faith and heart were shaken after repeated wars and battles, received advice from his older brother, which helped him solve his problems.]
By peeking into Larsen’s concerns, who were having the same concerns as his own, he also received help from Racoum, a senior warrior.
‘Have confidence in yourself.’
He smiled bitterly, raised his right hand that was holding the mouse, and summoned the huge sword he had acquired today into it.
In a room with the lights off, with only the computer on, the cold radiance from the sword shimmered in his eyes.