Chapter 174
Chapter 174
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: This World Must Perish, Loss of Humanity (1)
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0.
“You know the name of this land we’re on is the Ideaya Peninsula, right?”
According to the game lore, this place was originally the fairies’ territory.
“Why’s it phrased in the past tense?”
“Because the descendants of the Fourth Sun—that is, modern humanity—have occupied Ideaya’s west and central-north... including the Holy City.”
Fairies.
The chosen race blessed by the Holy Gods, the [Exalted Ones].
“They’re so full of pride that they see humanity as a lowly race.”
“Why?”
“No one knows the details. Stories from the Mythic Age are mostly hidden... Anyway, what I’m trying to say is this.”
There were three kinds of fairy tribes on the Ideaya Peninsula.
Blue Fairies.
Black Fairies.
White Fairies.
Originally, these three had split off for religious reasons. Humanity had survived thanks to that internal conflict.
“But now the landscape has changed. The Fairy King Valdemar... this NPC ascended to the throne and unified all the fairies.”
“...!”
“Humanity doesn’t stand a chance. They can barely defend their own territory on their own.”
The current state of Ideaya was a nightmare.
In northern Ideaya.
The forces of Richard the Later, who styled himself [King of Winter], were committing all sorts of atrocities.
“And in central Ideaya... there are the forces of an elite sorcerer who calls himself [Emperor].”
I exchanged glances with Park Hyun-su.
For some reason, my eyes felt hot.
Jeong Cheol. For some reason, I couldn’t utter that name aloud.
I had once been Jeong Cheol’s Striker.
Park Hyun-su had been Jeong Cheol’s companion in the early-to-mid Battle Royale.
“They’re turning both fairy and human lands into wastelands...”
“...So what’re you saying?”
“We need to make humans and fairies cooperate. Transcending religion and race alike.”
“............!”
“So we have to go to the capital of the unified fairy kingdom, <Tarkiritten>.”
That was the only way to deal with those two elite players.
“Iron Brother would’ve made the same call if he were here.”
Iron Brother—not Elite Sorcerer Edel Weiss—but Jeong Cheol.
“...”
“...”
Park Hyun-su just stared down at the map of the Ideaya Peninsula. After a long moment, I let out a sigh.
“But it won’t be easy. To get to eastern Ideaya... we have to cross this border zone occupied by the elite sorcerer.”
“But we have no choice. It’s worth the shot.”
Park Hyun-su suddenly looked up.
He flashed a deliberately bright, hearty smile.
“To save the Ideaya Peninsula... and bring Jeong Cheol back to his senses, right?”
Park Hyun-su added, “He’s always been like that.”
A sign of respect for the other person.
No matter if they were older, younger, weaker, or stronger.
“Yeah, right.”
That human side of him... I really liked it.
“Alright. At the emergency council starting now... I’ll push hard for the idea you told me about.”
Park Hyun-su gave me a thumbs-up, draped his cape over both shoulders, and dashed out the door.
“Come back safe. Watch out for speed cameras.”
I followed right after and saw him off as he mounted the divine steed Bloodwind.
“This place... every time I look around, my eyes sting.”
A desolate city where dust blew wildly.
The sky was blue, and most of the buildings were sandy-colored.
This was the Holy City of Castle Beia.
The sacred city built with the blood price of the Fourth Sun and Fifth Moon.
And.
A city that existed not in the game, but for real—somewhere far in outer space from Earth.
1.
Ideaya Western Map
………[Barrier City: Antioch]
…………┃
…………?
[Western Sea]… ╋ … [Castle Beia]
…………?
[Port City: Tripoli]
2.
“This world is not a game.”
Four weeks ago, that day.
That’s when I heard that explanation.
It was the second turning point in my Battle Royale playthrough.
It was in <Eadelros>.
The homeland of the Ain tribe’s three-tailed foxes, an underwater city created by the [Exalted Ones].
An absolutely breathtaking sight.
In the plaza of that mystical city.
Ten survivors, including me, were forced to kneel.
“Why did the Manager describe this as just a game?”
Park Hyun-su’s companions were bizarre.
Bizarre was the perfect word to describe them.
“So you all could easily turn a blind eye.”
First, the beauty gently coaxing us with her kind tone.
Chris Myers.
Former elite hunter.
She’d had her elite class stripped for some reason... Why was she here?
“What are you talking about?”
“The voice of your conscience.”
“The voice of conscience...? What the hell does that even mean?”
Chris gave us a warm, soothing smile.
“It’s not nonsense. Did any of you feel even a twinge of guilt when you killed the residents here?”
In that instant, all the survivors, me included, fell silent.
“‘They’re just NPCs, so it’s fine. It’s just a game, so it’s fine’—didn’t you think that?”
I finally stammered out a response.
“Everyone... they’re real people? Not a game?”
Deep down, I’d suspected as much.
I’d seen the signs often enough. But... hearing it straight out left me confused.
“Let’s cut to the chase and make it clear.”
Then, a man standing with his arms crossed against a pillar spoke up, sounding annoyed.
“This world is not a game.”
Park Hyun-su’s second companion.
An NPC named Valerin.
“It’s just... reduced to a plaything for the outer universe. The entire world.”
Silver hair, shaggy.
His whole body wrapped in bandages, so his face was hidden.
“And your world will suffer the same fate as mine soon enough.”
One thing was certain.
He was clearly an unfamiliar NPC.
Yet he had an aura like a final boss.
Look at the mana rising from his body like blue flames.
Even top-tier grand sage class players rarely reached that level.
Mana manifestation...
Not even a genius like me had ever achieved it, let alone an NPC.
“Why our Earth...?”
“Because of the evils you’ve committed—and the evils you will commit.”
Valerin pointed at each of us one by one as he spoke.
“And the Goddess of Sin and Judgment, Shallyuan, will open that path.”
We froze at his words, glancing at each other and murmuring.
“Shallyuan...?”
“That silver-haired girl with the umbrella, right?”
“The one from the first day of Battle Royale? The one saying suspect, cooperate, kill?”
That raised a massive question.
Valerin was an NPC—how did he know her name?
“The Abyss Absolute God Yotiatos bestowed upon Shallyuan the authority of judgment and granted her the divine name [Goddess of Sin and Judgment].”
Yotiatos?
Authority of judgment? Goddess of sin?
What the hell was he talking about? None of it made sense.
“Sin and judgment were originally the powers of the primordial god Geldharia, who governed [Justice].”
Chris Myers picked up the explanation.
“Yotiatos betrayed and killed him, then stole those powers.”
This woman was spouting hard-to-follow nonsense too... Bell, her face slick with cold sweat, asked.
“Uh... so what does that mean?”
“You don’t know? It’s a very important matter.”
“...?”
“When the conditions for judgment are met, it becomes possible to connect one world to the outer universe.”
“............?”
“In other words, your world will fall into the outer universe’s plaything, just like mine.”
A heavy silence descended in that moment.
While it lasted, my exceptionally sharp mind kept churning through the info.
1. This world is real.
2. For some reason, it’s connected to the outer universe and become toys for beings like Shallyuan.
3. And Earth could end up the same way.
But how...?
How the hell... could something this absurd happen...?
“This game...”
That’s why I was the first to break the silence.
“...No, did the people of this world do this same thing to another world?”
“Yes.”
Valerin let out a deep sigh as he answered.
“Because of the sins they committed to fulfill their own wishes... this world became like this.”
“We hope you never suffer the same tragedy as us.”
I was stunned when I saw the long red-haired woman approaching, shaking her three fox tails.
The Flame Witch... Amber?
How could this be...?
She was the boss right before the final boss Ice Dragon Skesari in [For the Princess]!
“The desires of a mere three to four thousand people—see what seeds of destruction they planted in one world.”
Among humanoid bosses, she was infamous even among veteran players for her vicious pattern difficulty.
“Is the reason you bound us... to recruit us as allies?”
When I asked that, Amber shook her head and snapped her fingers.
Roooaaar────!
In an instant, the ropes binding our limbs burned to ash.
I didn’t even feel the heat...
Truly astonishing mana control.
Was this really Amber?
But unlike the madwoman in the game, there wasn’t a shred of insanity here?
“The choice is entirely yours.”
“...?”
“The reason we bound you was simply to reveal the truth, as wished by the one chosen by the [Exalted Ones].”
Amber nodded toward the distance. Toward the hulking man, Park Hyun-su, leaning against a pillar.
“If there’s someone willing to fight alongside us, please stay here.”
Park Hyun-su smiled in a way that showed no hostility, pointing over there.
“I won’t coerce you. I won’t beg. If you don’t want to, just go out that door.”
“...!”
“Of course, this place’s location can’t be revealed, so Valerin will erase your memories.”
It was weird.
Something was really off.
I shouted at Park Hyun-su.
“Mister, you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
“Don’t you have a wish? Didn’t you come here for something desperate?!”
Then the other players, including Bell, chimed in.
“Y-Yeah! There’s gotta be something!”
“How can you give that up on the word of some NPC you just met?”
Park Hyun-su gave a bitter smile and stood up.
“I’m the same as you all. I have a 15-year-old little sister.”
“...!”
“Her name’s Park Hye-rim. She’s such a spunky, cute kid.”
Park Hyun-su smiled like a parent bragging about their pride and joy.
“But during the Unification War, North Korean forces dropped a biochemical weapon on Seoul... and she got an incurable disease from it.”
Park Hyun-su bit his lip, then flashed a utterly wretched smile.
“Her flesh is rotting away, and her bones are crumbling from the inside out.”
“...”
“Without life support for even a second, she dies. Even with anesthesia, the pain’s so bad that the nurses say she cries nonstop when awake.”
“...”
“But whenever I visit, she never cries. She just pretends she’s fine, acts tough.”
I’d been terribly mistaken.
I’d assumed that Park Hyun-su, making this absurd choice... must have some trivial wish.
“Why...?”
That’s why I had to ask.
I couldn’t bear not to.
“Why... why choose this world over your sister...?”
Valerin and Amber’s words. Shallyuan’s promise.
For any person.
If they had a desperate wish.
The choice was obvious.
People believe what they want to believe, not the truth.
“Hye-rim is precious. She’s the last treasure I have left... I can’t even imagine the pain if she were gone too.”
“...”
“And that’s exactly why I know that pain.”
“............?”
“Sacrificing billions of people to the agony worse than what one Hye-rim is suffering—is that really right?”
A wave of silence crashed over us.
Those words made two selves clash inside me.
Why not?
They’re not friends or family.
The selves of instinct and reason.
Taeyeop. Humans, you see.
Are happiest when they help each other.
“The Battle Royale rules seem utterly bizarre, no matter how you look at it.”
That’s when Chris Myers spoke up.
“If you want to fulfill your wish, you have to destroy this world.”
“...”
“Kill all players and destroy the world itself—that’s how the game ends, right?”
“............”
“Doesn’t it feel like it’s designed to turn humans into... machines? No, monsters?”
“...............!”
“What’s the reason for that?”
Humans... into monsters...?
I gaped blankly. No player could answer that question.
“The [Exalted Ones] once gave us fairies a proverb.”
The one who could answer was, predictably, Valerin.
“There is a single blade in the human heart.”
“A blade...?”
“When you commit a sin that pricks your conscience, that blade pierces the heart.”
Valerin drew the dagger from his waist and said.
“But a blade is just a blade. If it happens repeatedly, blood hardens, fat clumps, and the edge dulls.”
“............!”
“Eventually, no evil deed can make it hurt anymore.”
The sound of Valerin sheathing the dagger echoed eerily.
“This is exactly what the outer universe wants. Loss of humanity.”