Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: Wish Village, Idea Peninsula (1)
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0.
"A wish."
I still remember it clearly.
"If you want to make your wish come true, you must destroy this world."
One month after my father took his own life.
A Brainphone notification suddenly popped up before my eyes. It said:
[Do you want to save your father?]
- YES or NO
A whisper from outer space, promising to return my lost treasure.
"It's not hard at all. Virtual reality battle royale! It's just like the games you've all been playing!"
I still don't really know.
If I should have pressed No that day.
"But if it's exactly the same, it might be a bit boring, right? So there are two special rules added."
No...
If I could have even pressed No that day.
"One is selecting players who've cleared this game five times or more! [Elite Players]!"
When I came to my senses.
I was standing dazed in a place like an ancient colosseum, with 2,998 other people.
"The other one is... if you die here, you die in reality too!"
One person had already been beaten to death.
In the center of the colosseum.
By that eerie silver-haired beauty who'd been chattering nonstop.
The administrator, Shalluan, was it?
Dressed in dark blue pinstripe.
Leaning on a long umbrella like a kid who'd snuck into her mom's clothes.
"Do I need to explain the game so you understand it? Not at~ all."
Her personality wasn't that of a kid, though. So we had to hold our breaths and listen.
"You've all played it before, so it's just like most virtual reality games. Only the difficulty is a real bitch."
Virtual reality MMORPG.
A game blending magic, medieval, and sci-fi in a perfect mix.
[For the Princess].
A battle royale briefing through that game.
"Isn't it simple?"
Suspiciously straightforward rules.
"If you die here, you really die. But."
The team that clears the game.
The team that destroys the world.
Only they achieve their individual wishes.
"Then, repeat after me. Doubt. Cooperate. Kill."
But.
The path to victory.
Was no game at all...
It was a blood-soaked war.
"Doubt. Cooperate. Kill! The slogan for this 6th Round Battle Royale. Pretty good, huh?"
To fulfill your wish.
You had to kill over 3,000 lives.
A war where doubt, cooperation, and eventual killing were inevitable.
"This 6th Round Battle Royale is su~per special! Because there's an Elite Class player selected!"
A deathmatch where you doubted, cooperated, and ultimately killed to make your wish come true.
"Now, assigning Elite Classes and starting the game."
Back then.
I was optimistic.
I resolved to do it. This murder game.
"These are the top users who've cleared [For the Princess] five times or more!"
I had confidence.
I'd cleared this insanely difficult game twice before.
"Mitsurugi Gensou, Elite Assassin!"
"Richard Fu, Elite Knight!"
"Paul Reed, Elite Archer!"
"Jeong Cheol, Elite Sorcerer!"
"Chris Myers, Elite Hunter!"
And.
Because I was once the striker of the famed [Jeong Cheol Raid Party].
No...
That's not it...
Back then, I just desperately wanted it.
"Well then...! Please complete an entertaining scenario with your lives, hehehehehehe."
My father.
The treasure I'd lost.
The one I couldn't forget even if I tried...
[Bio-Code 00ST37701B.]
- Access granted.
- Appearance customization disabled.
Dad.
Don't kill yourself.
Please... stay with me until the end.
[Player UI activated.]
The day I could say that.
【Tutorial begins】.
That's why I only realized later.
You, me, we,
And this world I thought was a virtual reality game.
It was all real.
1.
"This is just... too much."
The mage player, Tang Yan, pinched his nose and scowled deeply.
"Why did we have to do something like this...?"
Tang Yan was originally Chinese.
But his in-game race was elf, so his ears were pointed and his features sharp.
"Well... that's what I want to know."
At that moment, I swallowed my rising nausea and replied.
"No missing people, so it's not some Abyss ritual..."
This place was once a large village.
But now... a murder scene? No... slaughterhouse fits better.
"What the hell does this even mean...?"
Torn-apart corpses.
Spread out massively in the village center.
???
Drawing alien spirals.
The unrealistic, bizarre aura in those spirals made my body tremble involuntarily.
One month since the battle royale began.
Every village, town, and fortress we'd encountered in the northern Idea Peninsula was in this state.
"It's so weird... Why aren't there even crows, vultures, or bugs swarming it?"
For some reason, getting close.
You could see pale ash-like powder scattering, colder than ice.
"What is this chill... It's not winter, but it feels colder than winter because of this."
"Not an Elder Sign, is it?"
A familiar voice made me turn my head.
Saint Knight player, Jeanne.
A woman with excellent eloquence and gentle features. Currently the focal point for human players.
"No. It's not an Elder Sign. I've played a ton, but I've never seen an Elder Sign like this..."
Elder Sign.
Simply put, sacred runes created by the good gods [Exalted Ones] to repel the evil gods [Forgotten Kings].
"Even if they exist, who would activate an Elder Sign like this? Using people as sacrifices."
It means something.
But what that meaning is...? No way to know.
"Hmm... Tricky. Guess we have no choice but to catch the culprit and ask."
Jeanne furrowed her brow as she spoke. I answered.
"Richard Fu."
"Yeah. That Elite Knight... I wondered how crazy you had to be to clear this shit game five times, but he's truly insane."
The five Elite Players.
One of those overwhelmingly renowned players, Richard Fu.
He was now the terror of this Idea Peninsula.
Hearing about his gruesome killing methods sent shivers down spines, player or NPC alike.
"Kind of bittersweet. I'd grown attached to those NPCs."
I reacted to Tang Yan, who was examining the corpses with his staff.
"Your starting point was here?"
"Yeah. Luckily... we started here, a place I'd played through in the game before... but something was off."
"......?"
"The NPCs didn't feel like NPCs. They felt like real people."
Real people?
Jeanne and I exchanged odd glances.
"NPCs can't break their programming limits. They just repeat patterns habitually."
"R-Really...?"
"When I played, I preferred hanging out with NPCs or people in places like this over leveling... So I could tell for sure."
Tang Yan let out a gloomy sigh and clasped his hands as if praying for the dead.
"That they felt more human than players."
Human-like NPCs?
Hard to comprehend. Jeanne voiced the same doubt.
"If they had such advanced AI... why not release it as is?"
I chimed in right away.
"Yeah. If they had, this game would've been a massive hit."
But why not?
Why only now, after throwing 3,000 into this battle royale?
I don't know.
Why does this game keep getting more complicated?
"I'm really... not confident."
"Why now?"
"If I, a newbie like me, can really lead against a guy like Richard Fu..."
I gave a hollow smile.
Jeanne chuckled and patted my back.
"Who else but you for leader? You're a genius who can freely cast 7th-circle magic."
"Yeah! In this perverted game, magic doesn't just come out because you want it to."
Indeed.
This game was extremely perverse.
To cast magic, players had to mentally calculate the spell formula.
That's why mages have funny nicknames. [Sorry, I'm bad at math] or [Class for science geniuses].
"But still..."
I closed my eyes briefly.
To calculate the complex, intricate formula in my head. And the moment I opened them.
The power to alter reality, magic.
That miracle spun in a magic circle above my palm. The instant I gripped it.
────Fwooooosh!
Flames crashed like lightning from the ashen sky, granting rest to the pitiful corpses.
"Really... tastes sticky on the tongue."
"Huh...?"
"An older bro told me. A guy who'd been in real war."
Real war?
Jeanne and Tang Yan asked almost in unison.
"War? Korean Unification War?"
"Yeah. He said when you get close to a 'person' burned to death... the combusted fat mixes with the air, and if you stick out your tongue, you taste that sticky flavor."
Jeanne and Tang Yan realized what I meant and gaped blankly.
"No way."
A bitter dry laugh escaped me anew.
"Whether they perfectly simulated even this... or if not..."
I shook my head to cut off the words and shifted to the main topic.
"How many people in the player alliance now?"
"About 90? They're gathering faster."
Player alliance.
The so-called anti-Richard alliance.
"Because he's flaunting this madness everywhere."
"90... Is that enough?"
"Of course. Even if he's Elite, can he take on a hundred alone?"
Maybe.
I didn't voice the suspicion.
Reading my subtle expression, Tang Yan asked cautiously.
"Got some other plan in mind...?"
"There's a Korean saying: In Korea, connections are everything."
I smiled half-worried, half-proud.
"I'll call that [older bro] I mentioned earlier."
2.
If I had to call the first turning point in my battle royale play...
...
Yeah.
It had to be that.
The player selected as Elite Sorcerer, Jeong Cheol.
My reunion with that man.
"Huh...?"
At that moment.
I felt a strange foreboding and set down my glass.
"What is it?"
Players murmuring outside the tavern, then someone kicked the door open roughly.
I let out an exclamation.
There, before the player alliance resting in this big-city outskirts tavern, stood Jeong Cheol.
"Whoa... insane."
"Check his level."
"Wrapped head to toe in legendaries?"
Tall and lean yet imposing build.
A legendary greatsword as long as a full-grown man's height, [Holy Sword: Sharilion].
Legendary black armor writhing with primordial flames, [Dragon Scale Armor].
Jeong Cheol.
"This rotten old-timer."
I muttered hollowly.
Just 35 days in, and he'd become such a monster?
I waved cheerfully.
"Ooh! Iron Brother!"
Iron Brother.
My affectionate nickname for 'Cheol hyung'.
The tavern went silent instantly.
All eyes on Jeong Cheol.
"...Elite Sorcerer?"
"...Sorcerer? Leader said he's the strongest among Elites?"
"...What? Has the leader seen the other Elites?"
"...Idiot. Leader fought the Elite Knight once, so he has a rough gauge."
Jeong Cheol's gaze locked onto me.
What...? Why did chills just crawl over my whole body?
"Shin Tae-yeop."
I don't know why.
It was the same chill as when I saw Richard's murder site.
"Whoa! Dragon Scale Armor you only get late-game!
Clank, clank, clank, clank.
As Jeong Cheol approached with intimidating metallic sounds.
"Everyone, take a good look at that gear! Insane! Crazy! Brother! Didn't overdo it from the start?"
I kept talking to flaunt our friendship(?).
"What! Up close... that on your back, [Holy Sword: Sharilion]? Looks a bit different?"
"......"
"Modified Sharilion or something? Is that even possible?"
"........."
"And the one who came with you..."
I leaned toward Jeong Cheol, whispering low with a lecherous grin.
"That Russian top-tier silver-haired beauty, like something out of a [Sis, I'm dying] meme... who's she?"
Jeong Cheol just stood silently right in front of me. His presence was overwhelming.
"What's up? Not saying anything? Surprise visit? Nah... what era is this for sentimentality?"
Clank.
Jeong Cheol removed his ornate helmet, revealing refined features under shaggy black hair.
".................."
A handsome man who could stun anyone, regardless of gender or nationality.
Yeah, that's Jeong Cheol.
SKY university scholarship Elite.
Elite who'd served as frontline field officer in the Korean Unification War.
"Livione."
And.
Cleared [For the Princess] a whopping 8 times.
"Her name's Livione? Whoa... damn! Brother, you're the real deal! In this mess, snagging a beauty like──"
In short.
The rotten old-timer among rotten old-timer Elite Players.
──"Lend me your sword for a bit."
"My honor."
I had connections with a being like that... Huh? What did he just say?