001. damn power
The world started to run at full speed, like a heavy truck with broken brakes, toward destruction.
Meteorologically inexplicable thick clouds formed and covered the sky, and the sun disappeared from the world, and soon strange giant plants began to grow all over the world.
A colony of giant plants that create demon realms.
It was the appearance of ‘Demon World’.
This giant plant called Makaihwa, which grows while eating humans with its powerful tentacles, was a very terrible thing that raised people called ‘Evils’ from its fruits and released them to the world.
The Makaihwa colony, which swallowed up the continent in an instant, ate a huge number of people, and then poured out the demons made from their food without a break, as if pulling out rice cakes.
Devil.
These demons, with typical appearances of purple skin, eyes burning red, and wings resembling bats, were monsters that ordinary humans could not possibly deal with.
These demons were filthy strong. He was so strong that he survived being hit by a machine gun, and was immune to lethal poisons such as VX.
In addition, the attack power of the demons was truly terrifying. They showed a horrific feat of reprocessing humans into chunks of meat in one blow.
These guys are starting to eat the world.
Of course, there was a hand of salvation for mankind.
[The demonic invasion has begun.]
[The administrator of Earth grants the system to all mankind.]
[Please protect the world from the invasion of demons.]
People were able to see the message of the unknown manager that appeared in front of their eyes, and at the same time, numerous ‘players’ who were endowed with ‘authority’ were born.
Players with amazing fighting powers, capable of tearing down mountains and splitting seas with a single gesture, gritted their teeth and fought against the demons in order to somehow prevent the destruction of the world.
I lasted 3 years like that.
However, it was not enough.
* * *
“… … There are so many crazy, devil bastards.”
Seeing the demons endlessly flocking to fill the horizon, curse words came out. No matter how many players were given ‘authority’ by the manager, there was no sharp means to overcome this situation.
Behind me was a huge concrete fortress that had managed to hold out for three years, but I wouldn’t be able to defend it any longer.
“Han Ji-woo.”
As I stared blankly at the purple waves filling the distant horizon, a colleague with a cold, emotionless voice called me from behind.
I turned to him and replied bluntly.
“why? Kang Jin-hyeok.”
A tall, thin body with a sharp face with scars on his cheeks, a man nicknamed the hero of mankind and the last weapon was glaring at me.
“Can you stop them?”
Hearing Kang Jin-hyuk’s words, I laughed bitterly.
This fort, made by carving out a mountain and pouring concrete, was very strong, but it didn’t mean much in a situation where we had to deal with hundreds of thousands of demon legions flocking from all sides.
The Demon Cubs were basically winged Cubs, and the only battle-related players who could defend this fortress were me and my colleagues.
There were quite a few survivors gathered in the underground bunker, but the survivors who were not given combat-related powers couldn’t catch them even if they tried with rifles.
“There are only four of us left.”
How can you stop hundreds of thousands of demons with four people?
It’s probably the last thing to just give you a few more seconds to stay alive.
The fishy smell of blood from the wind blowing towards the fortress was getting stronger. The manager kindly told me where this smell of blood came from.
[All nearby player forts have been wiped out.]
This is bad news.
Now, this fortress I am standing in is the last player fortress in our country.
“I can’t stop.”
4 players and 1 fortress to stop that demon corps? No matter how much I thought about it, this wasn’t a situation where I could come up with an answer.
When I shook my head and answered firmly, Kang Jin-hyeok glared at me fiercely with eyes full of anger.
“… … It’s a baby. You must be well aware that even if you get angry with me, there is no solution, right?”
He didn’t respond to my words and immediately drew his sword.
Sreureung-!
Kang Jin-hyeok’s ‘Holy Sword’, which had been decapitated countless times, was right in front of my neck.
I felt the tip of the sword slightly cut my skin.
“… … 개새끼야, 좋은 말로 할 때 칼 치워라.”
“Block it.”
Kang Jin-hyeok was glaring at me with burning eyes, but I still couldn’t feel the emotion in his voice.
Of course, having been slightly cut by the blade of the sword, I felt very dirty.
“… … Put away this knife before you get hit.”
“You are our shield. I will not tolerate a broken shield.”
“… … What can’t you accept? Ha, have you seen this crazy guy?”
A sigh comes out of my mouth.
The guy I’ve been through for three years, Kang Jin-hyeok, was a typical hero-style human suffering from a terrible sense of mission to protect the world at all costs.
In a word, it is the sound of a guy who can’t even eat.
All players want to prevent destruction and protect the world. However, after this guy became famous to a certain extent, he acts as if he was carrying everything by himself, but his popularity was only possible because of the support of our team members.
So I’m not on good terms with this guy.
I’m not compatible with this kind of heroic type of person at all.
“Stop it. It must be stopped.”
“… … Don’t order me, you son of a bitch. Does anyone know how good this situation is?”
“You are our group’s defense officer. Stop saying such weak words.”
Above all, the most decisive reason why I hate this guy is that Kang Jin-hyeok was not the leader of our group.
This guy was the one who made unreasonable demands to his other colleagues, like making impossible requests to me to defend against the Demon Legion alone, even though he wasn’t even a leader.
“… … What the hell is going on in your head? Now, it makes sense to think about running away with as many lives as possible, doesn’t it? Are you ignorant and blocking it all by yourself? Would you like to try it?”
“We must block it unconditionally and save everyone.”
“… … You crazy bastard.”
So we were always like this.
“Both of you, stop.”
As the atmosphere got rough, a woman stepped between the two of us.
I turned to her.
“Are you two still out of your mind?”
This woman’s name is Garam Lee.
This woman with a short stature and youthful appearance was also a colleague with us through life and death, the only person who could control that dog-like Kang Jin-hyeok, and at the same time an excellent leader who led our group to this point.
“Do it in moderation. Who will apologize first?”
“… … .”
“… … .”
The reason Lee Ga-ram, not Kang Jin-hyuk, took over as leader was simple.
People in the world don’t know, but that woman is a typical ‘hero with hidden power’ style who can beat the hero of mankind so that he can’t even rebel.
If it weren’t for her, I’m sure either I or Kang Jin-hyeok would have died fighting each other a long time ago. But at this point, if we start an armed conflict with each other, Kang Jin-hyeok and I will be slapped by that woman and leave this world amicably.
A world facing destruction is a world where strength is the best.
“… … sorry.”
I deliberately apologized to the target, and Kang Jin-hyeok glared at me, then withdrew his sword and disappeared somewhere.
“Hey, you guys, fight a little bit and try again. How do you fight in this situation? Even after you die, you will continue to fight on your way to the underworld.”
The last member of our group, ‘Choi Kang-han’, approached with a smile on his face.
This guy, who had a handsome appearance, possessed skills that were superior to his appearance, and even had a strong name, was a very peculiar guy even with his personality.
This guy was still laughing at what was good.
“Jinhyuk and Jiwoo, even after you die, will you go to the afterlife in the same boat? Maybe the boatman in the underworld is sweating to stop you guys?”
“… … That’s terrible. I would like to decline that.”
“No, you guys are definitely destined to be on the same boat. I’ll take a different boat with Garam and take a look.”
“… … You crazy bastard.”
If you put this in a good way, you’re an optimistic and pleasant guy, and if you put it a little badly, you’re a crazy guy. Of course, by my standards, that guy was definitely a madman.
In a situation where the world is on the verge of destruction, only Choi Kang-han can calmly joke about missing screws and laugh.
“After this battle, I will go fishing in the East Sea for the first time in a while. Do you want to come with me too? I heard that there is a monster that resembles a carp. Why don’t you catch it and evolve it nicely? good! Jiwoo Han! I decided on you!”
“… … .”
Yeah, there’s no way a guy who laughs and laughs at bullshit like this can’t be sane, right?
“… … You crazy bastard. Put a little death flag on it.”
While I was having a conversation with Choi Kang-han that had no nutritional value at all, Kang Jin-hyeok’s cold and low voice resonated throughout the fortress.
“come. Get ready.”
The demon cubs were approaching right in front of us.
* * *
The defense of the fort failed.
Choi Kang-han burned the tentacle monster with powerful range magic, and Kang Jin-hyeok’s sword cut down countless demons, but that was all. Garam Lee and I tried our best, but it was not enough.
A veteran player like our group, who received excellent powers, could face hundreds of demons alone, but the number of enemies that had just arrived was unanswerable in the first place.
We had to make a decision after taking shelter in an underground bunker deep inside the fort.
There were about 500 survivors with non-combat powers, and they were all looking at us with desperate eyes.
I tried to avoid looking into their eyes.
“I can’t help it. We have to leave the survivors behind.”
“Shut up, Han Ji-woo. We can’t just pull ourselves out.”
“… … Kang Jin-hyeok, you fucking bastard. Can’t you understand the situation right now?”
“You can never abandon a survivor. I will definitely save them all.”
“how? What are you going to do? Any good way?”
And, it was like this again.
This damn guy doesn’t know what compromise is.
Pew-!
Tired of the fierce battle, we were now in a situation where we had escaped and descended to the underground bunker, but the sound of demons ignorantly smashing the fortress with their fists was coming closer and closer.
I had to make a decision in a hurry.
Soon, the demons would come in through the underground bunker, and if all exits were blocked, we might not have time to get out.
In a situation where all other fortresses have collapsed, it is already too late to plan the aftermath even if it bounces, but anyway, my opinion now is virtually the only answer.
“While the survivors struggle, the only way for us right now is to quickly slip away and look for another chance.”
“Shut up. You don’t deserve to be a hero. Think of saving everyone.”
This kid and I were really like water and oil.
Damn, even if we put our heads together and try to come up with numbers, it won’t be enough.
Ah, I desperately want to drink cider.
“Who said he wanted to be a hero? I value my life more. When it comes to playing as a hero, Kang Jin-hyuk, do your best. Strongest, what do you think?”
Another pup has a lot of screws missing.
“I abstain.”
It’s catastrophic.
“… … .”
Leader Garam Lee looked at the floor and was deep in thought.
Drenched in sweat and the blood of demons from the fierce battle, she has yet to express any opinion.
In this case, the leader’s opinion is needed.
No matter how stubborn Kang Jin-hyeok and I are, I always follow her opinion because I don’t want to die.
“Garam.”
When I called the leader, she slowly raised her head.
“… … ?!”
When I met Lee Garam’s eyes, I felt my heart freeze for a moment. It felt like her eyes were going through all my memories.
It was a gaze that felt like he knew every single one of his secrets.
It seems I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Choi Kang-han and Kang Jin-hyeok, who met Lee Ga-ram’s eyes, were making the same expression as me.
Looking back at us who had become so hardened, the leader of the group quietly opened his mouth.
“I know.”
gulp-!
My mouth was dry from the rough battle, and when I forced myself to swallow the dry saliva, a strong pain felt as if my esophagus was being ripped apart.
I felt nervous as if I had been told a secret that should never be revealed to others.
“All of you have the ability to return.”
A heavy silence fell for a moment.
And I couldn’t hide my embarrassment.
… … Other than me, those bastards can also regress?
No, wait, wasn’t regression something only I could do?
Feeling the back of my head tingling cold, I glanced back at the serious hero game junkie and the missing screw.
Of course, these guys have the same expression as me.
This was not the end of the leader’s explosive remarks.
“And I can regress. Every time you regress, your behavior patterns noticeably change? That’s why I gathered you guys. It’s easier to work with veterans if you want to work together.”
… … So, he knew everything from the start.
Garam Lee, our fearsome leader, finally made a decision after looking back at the party who were frozen solid by the sudden bombshell remarks.
“Listen, everyone. Now the situation is out of our hands. I can’t help it. Everyone rejoins the group after returning to the point before the Pandemonium invasion. This is the leader’s order.”
At her words, the heroic player and the missing screw nodded with a slightly puzzled expression.
After listening to a rough explanation, they received the power of [Infinite Regression] directly from the manager who, unlike me, highly rated their achievements in the past.
The manager just sprayed the power of regression to the veteran players, saying, ‘If it doesn’t work, go in until you can save the world.’
Of course, the administrator didn’t say that he gave this power to other players as a motivation.
“… … fuck.”
But I have a big problem, so I can’t press the return button as quickly as these guys do.
“Garam, when you return, are you always born as a human? Is there no limit to the number of times?”
“… … Jiwoo? what do you mean by that?”
The authority I had was not the [Infinite Recurrence] they had.
“… … Shit, the authority the manager gave me is different from yours.”
“… … What?!”
[Life is ‘three times (三―番)’.]
―You are given 3 chances to return. (1/3 remaining uses)
―You can regress to any point in time you want.
―(Important!) There is no fixed race for your play when returning.
… … It’s a power that’s so absurd that I can see it.
This is a power that I received as a reward for winning all three rounds of rock-paper-scissors with the manager who appeared in my dream. It is a rare power that neither I nor others know what race will take when I press the return button, and even the manager who created it does not know.
“There is absolutely nothing decided which race to return to. I was lucky enough to be born again in this episode… … .”
… … Damn, my 2nd playthrough was really horrible.
“… … The last round was born with cow’s milk, making it an excellent source of protein. Some of the milk you guys enjoyed might have been made by me. Oh, I probably ate it unconditionally. I was the last surviving super cow in the world.”
Wow-!!!
It looks like they ate my milk in the last episode. After hearing my explanation, the group couldn’t stand the psychological shock and vomited violently with the momentum of pouring out their stomachs for a long time.
“If this is bad luck, you have no idea what kind of race will come out. Besides, I can only use it three times, but now I have one left.”
“… … .”
I should have seen the match in this round no matter what. However, it has already been devastated beyond repair.
Rather, the situation was much worse than the first round, and I was genuinely curious about what the other regressors were doing.
“Fuck, it’s my last chance, what if I get caught in a cow or something like that again?”
I said this, but to be honest, I didn’t have a choice right now.
If these friends move on to the next episode first and I am left in the world, there is no way to deal with this situation alone.
The world has virtually perished.
“Jiu, good luck.”
“… … Garam, you are so heartless.”
“… … When you are born as a human, you will definitely join us again.”
In the end, I have no choice but to press the button.
“… … Are you really pressing the return button now?”
“Jiwoo, even if you can’t eat, you have to shout out. How about an electric mouse in the next life?”
“… … Bastard, are you having fun?”
At the end of this conversation, the leader who hid his power, the guy who was obsessed with playing heroes, and the crazy guy who lost his screws disappeared from the world using their powers.
I am left alone.
[Life is ‘three times’. Do you want to use the Authority?]
I pressed the button with trembling hands and begged again and again.
Being born again as a human would be the best result, but if I was born as a beast, I would like to be reborn as a strong race that can easily chew and eat demons.
If a cow comes out again, it will be ruined and I will commit suicide right away.
* * *
[The last human being has died.]
[The manager calls all the return power holders together.]
[The manager uses the godhead power [Time Axis Reverse]. The memories and powers of the selected player are inherited.]
.
.
.
[(!) An unknown error has occurred.]
[(!) You are not from the Earth dimension.]
[(!) Administrator’s powers cannot be used.]
[Player system linkage will be released. Thank you for your hard work. Please have a good rest.]
“… … ?!”
What do you rest on?
When I opened my eyes again, things were taking a very strange turn.
Aside from the fact that the system was disconnected once,
No matter how you look at it, this lava-infested planet with three moons is definitely not Earth.
All around me was a swarm of very large, ugly bugs,
Above all, I was now trapped in a very large building.
A building made of giant brains.
A mucous membrane covering the floor.
Buildings made of bone and flesh.
‘… … It’s a bit different from something I’ve known, but it’s quite similar, right?’
And a mysterious voice in my head.
【Wake up, my child. I am the eternal will of the Legion, and you were created to continue my purpose. Now, I will give you all the essence I have gathered. Defeat the enemy and raise an army on behalf of me who lost my body. Eat those who stand in your way and become stronger. Rule the entire universe on my behalf.]
The moment this voice ended, an overwhelming amount of information began to pour into my head.
At the same time, the intense presence of the billions of legions that covered this planet overtook me.
【My child, you are the Legion’s ‘Hive Mind’.】
… … This was such a fucking power.
I pressed the return button while praying to be born as a human or a transcendent race, and I was reborn as the head of an alien corps I had never heard of before.
‘… … This is so much fun.’
Well, there’s nothing you can do about it.
‘Demon King, you are now behind me.’