Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: The World Turned White
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The world was dyed white.
The ground seemed like the sky, and the sky like the ground.
“Ugh...”
My entire body had lost all control and gone limp.
How much time had passed?
It was around the time that Myoran, slowly coming to her senses, began to push herself up with her adorable bunny feet.
“Village Chief!”
A nearby rabbitfolk urgently supported Myoran.
At that voice, Myoran belatedly recalled what she had been doing up until then.
“Right! The fight? How did the fight go?”
She had thrown the magic condenser that Judak gave her into the midst of the sandworm horde.
After that, all her memories cut off.
They might still be fighting.
The moment she anxiously asked, having no time for this, the expression of the rabbitfolk supporting her turned awkward.
“Well...”
Instead of explaining, they pointed somewhere.
It was when she followed that gesture and turned her gaze beyond the log fence.
“...!”
Myoran ended up gasping in shock.
Countless sandworms were swarming.
No, they had definitely been swarming.
But now, that scene was frozen in place.
They hadn't even had a chance to collapse to the ground.
“H-How...”
Sandworms go into rigor mortis the instant they die, stiffening up.
So it was possible to roughly guess how they had died.
The location where the flashbang had detonated.
The sandworms had all been annihilated while blankly staring in that direction.
*
“No, um...”
The flashbang's effect had certainly worked.
The eye parasites, sensitive to light, died the moment they saw the flashbang's light.
As a result, the sandworms they had been parasitizing were wiped out just like that.
The problem was that it had been too effective.
- Kraaaak! Kraaaak!!!
- Why? Why? Why? Why?
- (Elf con clutching both eyes)
- Uwaaaak! You fucking bastard Judak!!!!!
“Eep.”
Myoran had been doing a live upload to the Gallery to share the situation with me at the time.
The problem was that it was the middle of the night.
All the gallery dwellers who weren't sleeping and messing around in the Gallery at 3 AM ended up getting hit with the flashbang unintentionally.
“Should I apologize?”
I hadn't announced it in the Gallery.
I'd only warned Myoran and the rabbitfolk.
Judak had trolled.
For a moment, I considered posting an apology, but instead, I decided to brazen it out.
[Title: It's Me]
Author: Judak*
Yeah, I trolled, guilty as charged.
(Smirking frog meme)
But what are you gonna do about it?
You lot upload thousands of tactical nukes every day anyway.
Can't I troll a little too? lol
[Upvotes 5232] [Downvotes 5002]
Trolling's just another day in the Gallery.
If I begged for forgiveness in the Gallery?
= Oh, so this guy's okay to curse at.
But if I acted shameless instead?
- Crazy bastard lololol
- (Meme with troll + Judak mark composited)
- This is Judak's turf...
- Fact) If Judak seriously starts throwing hate images, all gallery dwellers get moderately wounded
It could be brushed off as a hilarious mountain of fun.
But there was one thing I definitely realized from this incident.
Flashbangs require caution when used.
“Not something to use every time intruders come.”
Especially since the rabbitfolk were sensitive to sound.
Flashbangs didn't just emit light.
They came with an ear-shattering boom too.
We'd gotten past it somehow this time, but it wasn't a weapon to give the rabbitfolk.
-Judak*) How's the village status?
ㄴ Myoran) The fields got wrecked, but it's recoverable, so we're good.
ㄴ Myoran) Injuries are minor and healing fast. Truly thankful, myo.
Fortunately, no casualties.
We'd repelled this raid without major damage, so overall, it was a success.
“Still, we got past the immediate crisis.”
And soon enough, posts of all sorts started flooding the Gallery as if it were the most natural thing.
- So, new magic this time?
ㄴ Seems like light-element magic, any lore nerds know it?
ㄴ Structurally similar pattern, but forms are all over the place.
ㄴ Ugh, these damn wizard bugs again.
ㄴ Daughter-ham it up, please stop opening debate threads ffs;
From the wizards who always pop up whenever modern weapons appear, and so on.
[New Barter Notification has arrived.]
- Only Lord Judak can see this///
- So boredㅠㅠ When are you coming to play again?
- ><...
- Big bro Judak, my heart hasn't settled since then. What should I do...
Even a barrage of messages from the now-quiet rabbitfolk.
I turned off the barter notifications—which had long lost their original function and become a yaoi bomb—and sank into thought.
“Flashbang, good. It's good, but...”
It didn't suit the rabbitfolk.
We'd solved the immediate problem, but sandworms still remained.
[Title: Phewㅠㅠ Too scared to go to the fields.]
(Throwing a stone at the field meme)
(Ghost-like sandworm bursting out meme)
They come from everywhere, what do I do? ㅠㅠ
I'm hungry...
- If it's okay, come to my place.
- Sis, I'll sleep in the yard.
- (Heh heh knight con)
[Title: Stuck at home again today... ᴗ_ᴗ̩̩]
(Droopy, ears grabbed and looking up meme)
No money either...
Can't work...
Side hurts too...
No passing Judak around?
Sigh! So sad.
[Upvotes 9999+] [Downvotes 0]
- Hello, human knight here~ wa~
- Wtf, what the hell's with these upvotes? lol
ㄴ Fucking hell, upvote count you'd only see on Judak praise posts lololol
- Heh heh, my body's getting hot again...
ㄴ Line
ㄴ 2222
ㄴ Author) Piss off ㅗㅗㅗ
ㄴ Judak*) Kavhi
ㄴ lololol this guy
ㄴ Author) Heuk heuk heuk kheuk! Lord Judak, when are you coming to play in our village again!!!
The sandworms weren't all dead.
They could charge in again at any time.
Especially underground—dangerous since they could burst from the floor and ceiling too, not just the sides.
And before long, a new post went up.
[Title: Lord Judak! Found a rift!]
(Crack found underground meme)
^^...
But how do we destroy it...
The problem was that it was found underground.
“No, rifts appear underground too?”
Thinking about it, there was nothing strange.
Rifts form in water too, so of course they could underground.
Those rifts had clearly been spawning the sandworms all this time.
The issue was how to deal with them.
- Just wait and see, right?
Sure, on the surface, there was a way.
Gather troops in front of the rift.
Rifts couldn't spit out hordes all at once.
Plus, monsters emerge defenseless, so kill them the moment they pop out.
ㄴ How?
ㄴ I said wait and see.
ㄴ So how do you wait? ＼- /
ㄴ Oh
ㄴ lololol idiot
The problem was this was underground.
First off, the distance was too far.
The village was safe behind the log fence, but the rift was way out in the fields.
“At that range, even a gun won't hit?”
Even a top Republic of Korea Army marksman would struggle.
And we couldn't station troops around either.
At best, dozens to hundreds.
Even that was tough, and with remaining sandworms who-knows-where ready to raid, no.
“Monster lantern might work.”
The monster lantern, stronger than car headlights.
But I soon shook my head.
Not enough.
We needed bigger light, more intense illumination!
I quickly scoured the shop and found the answer.
[Searchlight] - 450p
“Hm? This...”
Searchlight, aka spotlight.
A reflector for projecting powerful beams in a specific direction... blah blah.
“Batman?”
In simple terms, yeah, that Bat-Signal they shine in the sky to call Batman.
Huge, bigger than a person.
A ridiculous lighting device that could speedrun blindness just by looking at it.
A searchlight that proved lights could be used in war caught my eye.
The moment I spotted it, there was only one thing to do.
“I shall bestow light upon you.”
Sandworms, time to die, right?
- Myoran) Lord Judak, what is this...?
ㄴ Judak*) Just a light. A pretty strong one?
ㄴ Myoran) ?
ㄴ Judak*) Faster to try it than explain.
I immediately bought it and shipped it to Myoran.
“Well, more the better, right?”
And it was cheap too.
I considered sending one, but went for certainty and sent several.
[Shipped 10 'Searchlights' to Myoran!]
A good bunch.
*
“Village Chief, Village Chief, what did Judak say?”
“Doesn't Lord Judak miss us?”
“What's that thing called?”
Judak, Judak.
Judak even while eating carrots.
Judak even while tending fields.
Myoran was starting to think her ears had grown calluses.
“Enough already, myo.”
Rabbitfolk trait: weak to kindness.
But this kindness comes with conditions.
Don't expect repayment.
It must be pure kindness without strings.
‘Nothing like that exists in this world, myo.’
But no creature exists that doesn't seek material reward or purpose.
Myoran had lived long among her kind.
She even knew the many desires directed at rabbitfolk.
So she saw stringless kindness as mere childish fantasy.
Until Judak appeared.
“Village Chief, answer quick!”
“Talking to you alone is upsetting!!!”
“Jealous jealous jealous jealous jealous.”
It was the first such existence.
Hair dark as ink.
Eyes always seeming drowsy.
He was an admin who could do anything, yet wanted nothing from the rabbitfolk.
‘No, not nothing at all.’
Exactly one thing.
If forced to pick: that they survive unharmed thanks to his gifts and dive into Gallery antics.
That alone.
Like a saint of rabbits.
With his unstained pure wish and kindness, the rabbitfolk were instantly captivated.
‘I did tell him to come play again next time, but...’
Looking at the rabbitfolk's state, maybe it was better if he didn't—for his sake.
Myoran let out a small sigh and answered.
“It's called a searchlight, myo.”
“What do you want from us?”
“Nothing...”
Before the words even finished.
“Ahh.”
“Hauh.”
Some clutched their hearts.
Others broke into cold sweats, fiddling with their ears frantically.
‘Truly frightening, myo.’
Pure kindness without expectation of reward.
Witnessing its power, Myoran was starting to get scared.
How immense its influence on rabbitfolk?
It was the first time an entire race had gone this madly devoted.
Then.
-Thud!
A heavy rumble traveled through the ground.
As Myoran and the surrounding rabbitfolk perked their ears and turned.
-Kieeeek!
There, far off, sandworms were crawling out through the rift.
“Time to start, myo...”
Myoran stood, coldly composed, planting her bunny feet on the ground.
In response, the rabbitfolk—with oddly excited faces—rushed to the searchlights.
Strange steel tools as big as a person.
“Lord Judak said absolutely do not look directly at the front, myo.”
And he had warned them.
This was no meme.
Absolutely do not look or get curious.
“...How powerful must it be.”
Shivering at those words, Myoran faced the pouring sandworms and shouted.
“Begin! Myo.”
The moment Myoran's adorable bunny foot stomped the ground.
They activated the searchlights all at once.
And the searchlights Judak sent were military-grade ones for wartime use.
-Fwaaaah!
They'd thought at best a bright light would flash briefly.
Before the eyes of the rabbitfolk.
“...Good heavens.”
In the dark underground world.
A blaze of light rose.