Chapter 75
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Invasion and Erosion (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Answer me this."
[What is it?]
"Is there anything that can defend against an Execution Ticket?... And I hope you're not about to start playing word games with me, like 'Execution Reflection Ticket,' 'Reflection Bypass Ticket,' or 'Rainbow Reflection,' right?"
[Of course, nothing of the sort exists.]
Perhaps because my question was so absurd, it answered without protest.
Of course, it was still hard to understand. If there were no such system-based defenses, how could Ji Chang-hyun be so composed?
An Execution Ticket, a systemic power that didn't discriminate its target, was terrifying to Players, but wasn't it most dangerous for Units? It was a thing that could tear apart even a Wraith, a bodiless ghost.
A Player could simply focus on surviving, even if it meant hiding, but a Unit, by its very nature, had to be on the front lines.
[What that man said was not wrong. A game... is just a game.]
"Are you trying to say it's not absolute?"
I smiled bitterly. A game-like power embedded in the system, like the Execution Ticket, was certainly difficult to even imagine.
It connected worlds, forcibly linked groups and individuals, and possessed the power to take the life of any powerhouse, with no resistance possible.
But did that make this system absolute, the one and only truth?
[In this universe, there are many powers that transcend this system. An Execution Ticket merely brings a target to the point of death once. If so, then what exactly is death? Is it not typically defined as the cessation of bodily functions and the separation of the soul from the body?]
"So you're saying if you can overcome that state—in other words, return from death using some kind of loophole—then the Execution Ticket is nothing to be afraid of?"
A hollow laugh escaped me at the absurdity. However, I didn't think it was complete nonsense.
The Legion was also free from the Execution Ticket. The Legion was one and simultaneously many. If one of its individuals died, it was merely a part of itself breaking off; the moment the soul departed, the connection was severed, leaving the main body unharmed.
Contrary to my existing values, the delusion that death might be less significant than I thought flickered through my mind.
"That's unreasonable."
The words Ji Chang-hyun was so fond of saying slipped from my lips.
If one could even escape the power of the system, which I thought was at least absolute and could maintain balance, wasn't the outcome already decided from the start?
[Don't get too comfortable. The only reason it's possible to temporarily escape, even with a loophole, is because the process of an Execution Ticket is simple and clear, and even then, it's likely limited to Units. The souls of Players, mortgaged to the game, have no way to escape. And the world is inherently unreasonable; reality is not a game. If you cannot overcome the competition and fall behind... to simply die is the truth of the world.]
It retorted with another fundamental principle. It wasn't wrong. The purpose of this game was, after all, a competition for survival.
And a very unreasonable competition at that. In the battles of reality, which didn't consider things like balance patches, the loser was nothing more than experience points for the victor.
I didn't feel very comfortable. In this situation, where it was essentially confirmed that miraculous growth stories like those in fiction were impossible, my Unit was the very definition of the word 'growth'.
"...Open the screen."
Left with a lingering sense of unease, I stayed behind in the barracks during my free time, as always, and observed the Legion. Unaware that I was watching, the Legion was in the midst of its activities.
As I now watched the Legion kill humans with a stoic heart, my mind was filled with one question: what on earth should I name that child?
I needed to give it a name that was as meaningful and pretty as possible.
*
[He has successfully learned the Resonance Method—the technique you modified to train and manifest Form Power—and has been recognized for his achievements, leading to his growth.]
"Was he happy?"
[...Yes. Perhaps he will mention it in the next video.]
"In the next video."
The Legion, unaware that Shin-woo was watching, felt its mood lift slightly upon hearing about his day. The fact that he was being recognized by those around him wasn't important.
Did he like his gift, and was he happy with it? That was all that mattered.
"I am designing gifts to make him stronger. He will surely like them even more."
[That is a sound decision. You will only be safe if he becomes stronger.]
Since coming to the surface, the Legion had succeeded in acquiring a much wider and more diverse range of knowledge.
The data it directly consumed and analyzed became an asset far greater than what could be gained by simply seeing and hearing, and even for things it couldn't obtain through consumption, acquisition was not a problem.
"Aaargh!"
"I'll talk... I'll talk! First, draw a line to the northeast, and from there..."
This was the heart of the forest that the Legion had turned into its nest.
This area, once home to lush green mountains and rivers, was now sparsely dotted with pulsating, crimson flesh-walls and bizarre, dark-brown trees that soared high into the sky.
Beneath those giant, twisted trees that blocked out the sunlight, in the trunks where the eggs that mass-produced Legion units were located, screaming people were half-buried.
"Ugh... ghk..."
Experiencing extreme agony from the infection fungus that had infiltrated their bodies, they were spilling everything they knew, including their knowledge, just as the Legion intended. They were all individuals related to magic.
The Legion was currently extracting magical knowledge from them while also incidentally gathering information about this world from these members of the social elite.
"But so far, it's not much."
In this place, where not a single birdsong or chirp of an insect could be heard, only screams and shrieks, the Legion summoned a flickering ball of fire in its hand and then shook its head.
It had captured and interrogated prisoners, extracting what it needed to hear, but the results had yet to be satisfactory.
The low-level magic that anyone could learn was worthless from the start, and even the magic of fairly skilled mages was inefficient.
Having already witnessed the high-level magic cast by the deputy director, the Legion wanted magic of at least that caliber.
[In a single day, you have hunted one city, 23 villages, and nearly 20,000 humans. And the hunt continues. The humans have already become aware of our existence and will surely devise a countermeasure.]
"The forces I've sent out now are just a diversion. To keep the humans, who don't even know our true identity, from noticing our expansion."
The Legion turned its gaze far ahead. To a place quite distant from this nest, which was currently expanding by ceaselessly devouring all vegetation.
The tens of thousands of Legion units, which it had initially saved as much as possible before unleashing them all at once, were spreading out with unstoppable momentum, indiscriminately slaughtering in every direction.
The intent to draw attention was evident in their reckless, violent, and aggressive advance.
While the gazes of the panicked humans were turned to those areas, it planned to devour this entire region without interruption.
Then, it intended to cover this vast forest and land entirely with the Legion's cells.
"Once the nest is expanded and I have immense energy in my grasp, I'll be able to freely do the things I couldn't do underground due to efficiency issues."
An aerial map of the area, based on the human maps it had acquired, was spread out in the Legion's mind.
Within that aerial map, created instantly and accurately by releasing numerous flying species, the sight of a corner of the continent slowly being stained black was clearly visible.
According to its own calculations, just devouring this corner of land would allow it to produce millions of medium-sized Legion units every day.
Alternatively, it would also be possible to try various combinations it had never attempted before.
'Capture a mage from the academy who has mastered high-level magic at all costs. Kill all the others and use them as nutrients.'
The Legion once again issued an order to the Legion units currently on the front lines.
This diversionary tactic was absolutely necessary to achieve this minimum level of stability.
'The Mage Academy, and the Continental Council.'
It now had a detailed understanding of what powerful individuals existed in this land, and the structure of power and authority they wielded.
Having heard of their strength, the Legion would not let its guard down, aiming for a victory with minimal losses.
Its top priority was to throw them into as much confusion as possible in order to grow until it could crush them with overwhelming power.
[I understand capturing the mages or the powerful warriors who have mastered martial arts.]
"Please save me... save..."
"L-let go of me...!"
[Then what is the reason for capturing those people?]
Just then, a group of people began to be dragged into the center of the nest.
Forced to walk by having their bodies controlled with the infection fungus, they arrived at the nest letting out powerless screams.
Stained with terror and despair, selected and dragged here regardless of their status or origin, they were all local women.
Their commonality, having been brought from various parts of the region, was that they were all young, healthy people of childbearing age.
"For analysis, of course."
[...Analysis of what, exactly?]
The Legion's nest, which used to handle production, digestion, absorption, decomposition, and analysis all at once, had grown in size and had its roles specialized and divided.
The reason the Legion had brought them here, to this nest which accumulated data through decomposition, absorption, and analysis, rather than the nest on the battlefield that quickly digested organic matter to feed Legion units, was simple.
"Hiiik!"
"No!"
Tentacles wrapped around their ankles, and the nest's flesh-walls secreted a mucus that began to engulf them.
Unlike the others who were killed and thrown into the nest to be dissolved by digestive fluids, the faint glimmer of hope that they might survive was completely shattered in that moment.
"No... n..."
Buried alive, their bodies, covered in mucus, began to tremble convulsively.
Whether they were digested on the spot to become nutrients or decomposed and analyzed here, death was the same outcome, but the sheer desperation of it was on another level.
[Do you really think he would like this? If you were to build a beautiful body and face by accumulating and combining data in this manner?]
"Seeing the sky for the first time made me realize. It's natural for a living being to pursue beauty. Kang Do-yeon also said that he likes it when he sees a pretty woman."
The Legion, naturally, showed not a flicker of agitation.
"...Huh?"
But in that moment.
The Legion placed a hand on its own chest.
Although its heart had been replaced with a power source, it had learned this unconscious gesture from Kang Do-yeon, which she did when experiencing extreme emotional changes.
"Why?"
The Legion flinched in surprise. This was the first time it had been so startled that the entire Hive Mind had jolted.
"He's angry. Could he be under attack?!"
[No, he is watching this whole scene... or has just started. Will you hide?]
The Observer's voice, echoing in its head, was as calm as ever. Terrified, the Legion frantically scrambled to the trunk of a nearby Divine Tree and hid its body within it.