Chapter 309
Chapter 309
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 309
Chapter Title: God's Atlantis
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Zone 20, the Silent Plains, lived up to its name as a quiet place. The zone itself was fairly expansive, but aside from grass and massive boulders, there was nothing else.
And no animals lived there.
'Digging into the soil might turn up worms and such bugs...'
There were no beasts or monsters. Nor were there any people. Merchants might pass through occasionally, but no one built homes or settled here as a base. The ruler of this place didn't want them to.
'The identity of Zone 20's ruler hasn't been revealed... but it's probably someone from Helten. The one who commissioned me to come here must be from Helten.'
I wandered aimlessly across the plains.
'Something will turn up if I keep walking.'
My hunch proved right. But what appeared was completely unexpected.
"Over here."
It was a raccoon.
A gray-furred raccoon about 10 meters to my right waved one of its short front paws at me.
I narrowed my eyes. Had the raccoon just spoken to me?
'No way. Even in a fantasy world, that's a bit much... Is someone else hiding nearby?'
I scanned the surroundings, but there wasn't a single human shadow in sight.
"Over here, you clown."
The raccoon's mouth moved as it spoke. The voice was thicker than expected. I had no choice but to accept that the raccoon was talking.
"......What are you? I've never heard of a talking raccoon."
"I'm a raccoon, you idiot."
Resisting the urge to kick it, I approached the raccoon.
'...A real talking raccoon? Or is someone controlling it with a special skill?'
There were too many possibilities to guess.
As I drew near, the raccoon backed away, keeping its distance. It seemed to be telling me to follow, so I trailed silently behind it.
"Raccoon. Where are we going?"
"Shut up and follow. You'll find out when you do. And I'm a raccoon."
"......Are you a Helten executive?"
"You already suspect as much."
No. That's why I'm asking.
The author of God's Atlantis didn't detail everything about Helten. Only some executives appeared in the story, so there were Helten executives whose identities I didn't know.
'Judging by this raccoon's arrogant attitude... it must hold some position within Helten.'
Lost in thought, we arrived in front of a boulder. A broad rock over 4 meters wide lay haphazardly on the plain.
"Why here?"
"You're an idiot. No eye for detail."
The urge to kick the raccoon surged, but I barely held back.
The raccoon reared up on its hind legs and swung a front paw at the boulder. The paw sank into the rock without impact.
I realized immediately. The boulder before me was camouflage. Some magic or skill disguised an entrance to another space as rock.
"This is..."
"Too annoying to explain. No traps, so follow right away. If we wanted you dead, we wouldn't bother with all this."
The raccoon slipped straight into the boulder. I followed, extending my foot toward the rock. Confirming it sank in, I stepped inside.
'A hidden zone... I didn't know about this place.'
The scenery hadn't changed much. Night sky, grass-covered plains, cool air in the breeze. Just like before entering.
Except now, a short distance away, there was a rocky area.
"Stop spacing out and follow!"
I followed the raccoon to the rocky area. The rocks resembled the famous Stonehenge from the modern world.
Five figures stood in the rocky zone. Each wore a different mask and cloak, making their identities hard to discern.
"Brought him!"
The raccoon said that, then approached a man leaning against a rock with his back to it and climbed into his lap. The man had his head bowed as if asleep, shrouded in a black cloak that hid his appearance.
"Good work, Raccoon."
It was a young man's voice. I turned toward the source. At what could be called the center of the area, a man sat astride a rock. Dressed in leather garb common among exiles, he wore an octagonal mask over his face.
A strange mask without eyes, nose, or mouth. It seemed impossible to see through, yet he stared straight at me.
"Nice to meet you, Cheonma. I'm the leader of Helten."
The system informed me. It was a feature of this zone. Discernment of truth and lies. It applied even to spoken words. Lies would be exposed immediately here.
Cold sweat trickled beneath my clown mask.
'...I never imagined I'd meet Helten's leader like this. I figured it'd be an executive at most...'
And it wasn't just him. The others were no ordinary folk either. These gathered here were likely Helten's executives.
"I'm Cheonma."
I said.
Too rude with informal speech? They didn't care about that.
The system popped up. It confirmed to them that my statement was genuine.
"I heard from Pesica. You want to join Helten? What's your goal?"
The alert confirmed it was truth again. But blindly trusting the system alerts would be rash. If the opponent was the zone's ruler, they could alter the zone's settings.
"I thought joining Helten would bring greater gains."
"What kind of gains? Money?"
"Power. My goal is to grow stronger using Helten."
It discerned truth and lies. But it couldn't detect intentionally omitted details. I could make good use of that if careful.
"Honest, huh. Well, our work is a bit illegal, but it's ideal for building power. But Helten's purpose isn't just gathering to grow strong together."
"I know. Even if I want power, I won't sell you out."
"Oh. You know our purpose, then. How?"
I felt their gazes sharpen toward me. Previously, only the leader had shown interest, but now that had changed. Excluding the leader, two executives were intrigued by me.
"Helten is Atlantis's most infamous crime syndicate. I got curious and looked into it."
Their idea of "investigation" differed from mine. I had met the author of God's Atlantis and looked into things. Plus, I already knew Helten's goal from the original work.
"Truth... You're more capable than I thought."
The man to the leader's left spoke.
He wore a mask embedded with dense jewels and merchant's attire of the wealthy.
"Until just now, your value was about 4 million peni. But that statement raised it to 80 million."
"20 times higher? Still stingy. Someone like me should be worth at least 1 billion peni."
"Maybe in the future. But right now, you're at 80 million peni. This zone's truth discernment has a fatal flaw: subjectivity. You might misunderstand our purpose as something trivial. So, on behalf of the boss, I'll ask again. What exactly is Helten's purpose?"
I pondered briefly.
'Should I say it? ...No. Water under the bridge. Not saying it would make them suspicious in another way. Better to...'
From their perspective, I was weak. Fighting any one of them, I'd last less than 10 seconds before dying. I needed to appeal my uniqueness.
"Your purpose is... to prevent the next Atlantis from opening. Right?"
"...Ooh."
The jeweled mask let out a small exclamation.
"How did you know? Even Pesica doesn't. Only we know; the grunts are clueless... Is there a traitor among us?"
"I figured it out myself. Can't reveal the exact method... but no one here or any other Helten executive told me."
"Impressive. No wonder the boss is interested. I'll raise your value to 1 billion. Know what that means? The level where we'd kill you ASAP."
"What a flattering assessment."
"Cheonma."
This time, the one to the leader's right called me in a neutral voice. A man wearing a cracked lion mask. He held a spear in his right hand.
"Will you betray us? Betray Helten?"
"No. As long as you don't obstruct me or treat me unfairly, I can cooperate. Even if it means killing divine seats."
The divine seats mocked rather than raged, as expected. From their view, a human killing them was beyond rude—it was comedy. Far more impossible than a human becoming a god.
"I like that..."
The lion-masked man said, then sprawled atop a nearby rock.
"Sparkles and Lion are interested in you now."
The leader said. Sparkles and Lion were nicknames, like code names. They hid identities with masks, so real names were out.
"So. Am I part of Helten now?"
"Yes. But not an executive. You're too weak, and you haven't done anything for Helten yet. Want to be one? Start from the bottom, build power, work for Helten. Reach a certain level, and we'll acknowledge you—including me."
I felt doubt.
That's why the leader met me personally. No need for that if just making me a grunt. Helten grunts were disposable pawns.
"You're wondering why we called you here ourselves. What do you think? Here's a hint: I'm the only one interested in something about you. The others came because I called you."
'......Another test?'
I thought for a moment.
What about me could interest the leader?
Successfully retrieving the Seven-Colored Tree Branch for Pesica? Acting in the clown mask to join Helten? Moving as Cheonma?
'Helten wouldn't care about that.'
Recalling, one thing stood out.
A reason the leader might be intrigued.
I'd definitely told Pesica before. And she'd reported to Helten.
"...The divine seat contracted to me. Ma-cheon's King."
"Correct."
"Ma-cheon's King is a peculiar one among top divine seats. He doesn't contract with just anyone."
Ma-cheon's King seemed puzzled, but the leader knowing about him wasn't odd.
He had a hunter ability revealing Atlantis rounds 1 through 7.
"Do you know Ma-cheon's King's true identity?"
"I do. Judging by your reaction, you don't."
"What's Ma-cheon's King's identity?"
"Can't tell you. Don't want to make him an enemy. Besides, you'll figure it out soon enough without me saying."
"......"
I furrowed my brow. I'd failed to learn Ma-cheon's King's identity. Tempted to push, I let it go.
"So, are we done here? What do I do now?"