Chapter 230
Chapter 230
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 229
Chapter Title: Dark Star Cleared
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[Game Name: Dark Star.]
[ID: Merlin.]
It was the sound of the balance we've maintained until now crumbling away.
[What is this...?]
[N-No...]
Dark Messiah vanished with a dazed expression on his face.
"Log out."
I returned to Earth.
Sizzle!
As blood poured onto the floor, a acrid smoke rose, revealing the nature of the attack I'd suffered. The blood in my body had instantly turned acidic!
It was a vicious spell that no ordinary human—no, not even most monsters—could have withstood. But the veins of my Extreme Will Body were tough enough to circulate even acidic blood without issue.
The wound from the qi reinforcement was the real problem.
★☆Job Change Complete☆★
Sword God (Mythic) => Immortal King (Mythic)
"Oof..."
I switched my job to tank, activated self-healing traits, and lay down on the sofa. If the Five Dragons had been here, their incredible healing magic would have fixed me up in an instant, but without them, I had to recover on my own.
"Game clear, huh..."
I sank into the sofa and sorted through the situation. Frankly, it didn't make sense. Dark Star was an online game, and like most online games, it didn't have a "clear" concept at all.
'In other words, it wasn't the Dark Star system itself.'
The "game clear" message I'd seen wasn't from Dark Star's own system—it was something more overarching.
It wasn't hard to guess what had happened.
"I achieved the final goal. In Revenge terms, it's like taking the cheonwon and claiming all the branch stores."
Dark Star had a concept called Lords.
Unlike Revenge's regional bosses, they were bosses for each chapter.
Dark Messiah was the boss of the final chapter. By lore, the [true] final boss was the Dark Star itself, the planet of darkness. But it hadn't been updated yet, and even if it had, implementing that in reality would be impossible.
"But how could it clear when the final boss came to the Temple of Death?"
Surprisingly, while I had Dark Messiah—the boss of Dark Star—pinned down, Merlin cleared the game.
It was a loophole, and the fact that it worked was oddly impressive.
"Could the clear conditions have changed?"
But there was something even more baffling.
"More than that, what about the timeline?"
It didn't add up. Merlin, Gold囊, and I each had our own timelines in our games, right?
With a world contained in my [space], even an instant in the outside world felt like eternity. How could our worlds "interact" like this?
'Weird. It defies logic.'
It was like the cognitive dissonance physicists felt when they discovered the wave-particle duality.
The difference was that I had some inkling, even so.
'As long as there's no [subjective observer].'
"Jaeyeon! I'm back!"
At that moment, Ruby crossed through space and appeared.
Not just her—the splendidly dressed Five Dragons landed around me.
"What happened to these injuries...? Jaeyeon! We told you to wait for us."
"Ah, sorry. Things progressed suddenly."
I'd already healed the mostly closed wounds and brushed off the lingering curse energy.
And I thought.
'Right... there has been progress.'
Dark Messiah disappearing wasn't just a matter of twelve monsters becoming eleven.
He was the user of Imminent Battle No Retreat that had blocked my escape.
"Progress? Does that mean we're doing the 14-night, 15-day trip!?"
Ruby's excited face made me chuckle despite myself.
"Haha! Yeah, we're going. Help me out, okay? Success or failure, we're doing it."
"Yeah! Sounds good! First, let's get your condition up... Huh?"
"Huh?"
The Five Dragons froze in unison. I asked curiously.
"What's up?"
"It's just a feeling... I don't know exactly what's going on."
"But it's big enough to make the news, right?"
I tilted my head at their cryptic exchange.
"What are you all talking about?"
"It's hard to explain. Something major changed."
"Snow. Do you know what it is?"
"It's not bad, but... we should check. Tower. Activate emergency broadcasts."
At Snow's words, dozens of screens popped up on the wide wall.
[The government on the Steel Realm-led Space Peace Force establishment...]
[In response to the Draconians' 14 ships requesting residency...]
[An ogre-type golem mistaken for a monster and destroyed is trending. Priests of the Truth God for accurate judgment...]
Various news stories played. Flower reached out.
"That's it."
Pop.
The dozens of screens vanished, leaving one.
It was a Leonhardt Empire broadcast.
[The Dark Star-type Labyrinth Lord Toggle, who was raiding residential areas, vanished with a scream! A miracle, but what could have happened?]
[Dark Star-type monsters are vanishing en masse. Checking emergency footage.]
The anchors disappeared, replaced by a massive monster wielding a pickaxe.
Labyrinth Lord Toggle.
One of Dark Star's 15 Lords, the earth-attribute boss. From my perspective, equivalent to a mythic-grade landworm.
A mythic-grade monster, but not the final boss.
He'd been rampaging on a planet the Leonhardt Empire hadn't prioritized—specifically, one without induction devices or barriers.
In the end, budgets ruled the world.
Even if tech to block monsters was developed, not every civilization could be protected. Poor factions, civilizations, planets—vulnerable spots were everywhere.
Boom!
Crash!
[Aaah! Help!]
[The army! Where's the damn army!?]
[You bastards! Taking our taxes like that!!!]
The city crumbled as the stone walls forming the labyrinth began to rise. No transcendent powerhouse would be in what looked like a slum to stop a transcendent monster, so Toggle herded over a hundred thousand humans into his labyrinth without interference.
Then, at some point.
[What!? W-Why...?]
Toggle, who had been gleeful, let out a bewildered groan and vanished.
He wasn't alone.
Not just Dark Star bosses—even minion monsters from the game dissolved into thin air.
People under attack stared around in bewilderment.
"Did something happen to the monster invasions?"
"No idea. Only top gods know the outside world properly..."
"At least it's good. The elders were worried about roaming Noblesse getting hit."
Listening to the Five Dragons murmur, I thought.
'Monsters from a cleared game... vanish?'
Frankly, tackling the Temple of Death alone was utterly irresponsible and dangerous. The longer I stayed, the more monsters spawned.
It was like forcing damage on the entire universe just for my [personal desire] to conquer the cheonwon.
Even so, I'd done it but failed to clear it properly. Worse, I'd contributed to more transcendent monsters in the greater universe by getting pinned down.
My actions were utterly selfish—that's why I couldn't openly ask for help. Lying or scamming might work elsewhere, but this was the 34th Earth, with the Truth God and Justice God.
"Those guys crying over protecting their civilizations must be relieved."
"It's just one out of over ten games gone, though."
"Good news, but no clue on the cause."
As the Five Dragons chatted, I kept thinking.
'Monsters from cleared games vanish in reality...'
"Jaeyeon?"
Flower stroked my face with a worried look as I sat silently.
I took her hand, smiled, and said.
"Yeah. Buying 25% is impossible anyway. Even if possible, it'd be far in the future."
"...Huh?"
I smiled again at Flower's confused face.
'Right. Damn 120 trillion is no rice wine.'
It wouldn't happen quickly. Getting all master classes didn't instantly make emperor class.
'At best, snag one transcendent weapon.'
Not small, but not urgent.
"Jaeyeon?"
"Jaeyeon?"
"Why the serious face?"
"Something happen?"
The Five Dragons crowded around.
I answered.
"It's not exactly a sacrifice, but... I'm folding for now."
I'd planned to flee the Temple of Death originally. With Dark Messiah gone, it wouldn't be hard if I tried.
But now, I'd changed my mind.
"Hm?"
"What do you mean?"
Ignoring their confusion, I tapped Cheda to open the stock app.
After finishing, I made a call.
"Hello."
[Oh. Even the icon of the era picks up my call.]
"No, thank you for taking this out-of-the-blue one."
I spoke politely to the person on Cheda.
"President Cheon Jong-myeong."
* * *
Monsters drop items.
That's the saving grace for the massive damage they cause in space. Without items, far fewer would hunt them.
'Few can boost drop rates as shamelessly as me, but related powers and magic exist.'
Drop rate adjustment magic or powers were rare but real. I'd gotten a luck-boosting ring from Hye-young, after all.
Plus, the 34th Earth had Game God priests.
They had [Drop Rate UP] skills, which explained why mercenaries didn't blink when items poured from my kills.
"Plus, the 34th Earth is one of the top importers of monster drop items."
[The monster crisis wrecked our already shaky trade balance. Limits on what we can get from damaged civilizations... so we filled with those. Makes the 34th the most active in monster item research.]
President Cheon Jong-myeong explained kindly.
"So, lots of items?"
[Among single factions, only Dragonia compares. Theirs are rarities swept up—ours are junk.]
Some items had far greater value in reality than in-game. Like the Pioneer Mask that auto-revives on seeing a Shimgoong—no ultimate magic or power matched that.
Elixirs healing all diseases and ailments. Appearance change tickets altering even gender.
Once dropped, their value was unimaginable. Buying would cost a fortune.
Conversely, useless items existed.
'Not just some—most are trash. Even heroic or legend-grade.'
Take Miracle Sword: heroic item. Weapon damage, accuracy, crit, magic silence effect. [3% chance on hit to silence for 5 sec.]
In reality?
'Honestly, worse than a gun.'
Obvious. Most options didn't apply or were meaningless—iron sword value at best.
"I need those useless items. High grade regardless of utility."
[...Why? Even top researchers can't find proper uses yet.]
I answered the president's natural question boldly.
"To reinforce the Game Master's relic."
[Ah...]
An unbeatable answer needing no more explanation. It was true, too.
In the 34th Earth, it was a free pass from all suspicion.
Sure enough, President Cheon laughed.
[Hahaha! Got it. Was tricky with Steel Realm ties, but for that purpose, no issue. You could get them yourself, so calling means you need a lot?]
"Yes. More the better."
[Don't worry. We have the most stock universe-wide, as I said. All at cost.]
The confident president laughed.
Just in case, I asked.
"Reinforcing the Game Master's relic... could I just ask for them free?"
Laughter came through Cheda.
[Hahaha!]
Cheerful.
'Maybe?'
[Haha! Shameless indeed. Of course not.]
'Tch.'
No dice. As expected from Korea's president—world's strongest. No pushover.
"Fair enough. I'll buy."
[How much? Skip underlings—tell me direct.]
"Well..."
Bzzz.
Cheda vibrated. Vibration mode during call. Fur bristled, forming letters.
[Spike App Alert!]
Stock Trade
Nemesis 66,713 shares sold successfully / 20,030,210 won per share
"So, roughly."
Go big or go home.
"About 1.3 trillion won's worth."
[...]