Sudden World Event (3)

If you boiled it down to first principles—

A GM constantly intervening in the game like this was, frankly, not a good look.

Especially in Se-rin's case. Publicly, her face as the Director was hardly well-known.

And yet she still had to put on this show.

Was Director Kim Se-rin's sense of self more important than Se-rin the goddess?

…Well, a little, maybe.

But not that much.

Her memories of life on Earth had long since been layered over by her years of activity as a goddess of the Galicia continent, and if you simply counted the years lived, her life as a goddess had already run longer.

Still, it was a little embarrassing, so she had originally planned to use a golem as a body double…

Boom!

It failed.

Two reasons.

First, a mere golem could not contain a body that carried the beauty of divinity.

Second, no matter how much she concentrated the captured shadows, they could not withstand that divinity either—and simply burst.

So at the very least—

The image of a goddess who had lost her power and fallen into decline.

And the phantom form corrupted by shadow.

Those, she had no choice but to perform herself.

Why perform them at all?

Because that was how the players immersed themselves in the game.

Ah! So that's what happens if my goddess falls!

We have to save her before she gets corrupted, right?

.

.

.

And now.

Before the rift that had opened in the sky above Pradera's front plaza…

Se-rin floated in midair and looked down at the heroes below.

A thought a Director should never entertain.

Look at them like livestock… look at them like livestock…

She even stuffed that thoroughly rotten thought into her head for the sake of RP immersion, and tried her hardest to wear the most arrogant expression she could manage.

"Whoa, look at those tits…!"

The moment that shout rose from below—

A little more genuine feeling entered Se-rin's gaze.

Whoosh!

Boom-boom!

Meanwhile, the heroes—who attacked first and asked questions later the second an enemy appeared—sent ranged fire streaking up near Se-rin. Of course, it did her no damage whatsoever.

The attacks could not land.

They were not allowed to land.

This "Fallen Goddess" form had never been designed, even in closed beta, with the assumption that it would be defeated.

What she needed to show right now was overwhelming spectacle.

The enemies the players had faced so far?

Mushroom rabbits, goblins, wild wolves…

And, for those who had pushed the content a little faster, maybe a glimpse of a boss wolf or a goblin leader.

Enough to feel this is what combat in VR is like—

But not yet enough to reach this is also possible in VR combat. Relatively early-game monsters.

Which was why—

"Behold—power that has crossed the boundary…!"

With a tiny grudge over the sexual harassment packed into a thoroughly solemn voice, Se-rin raised her hand the moment the line left her lips…

Rumble…!

The earth began to shake.

At the same time, countless shadow-like barrages started raining down from the sky.

"Uh—uhhh!"

"Dodge!"

"She's dumping shit on us!"

"There's a floor AoE under your feet!"

The heroes who had been mowing down the endless stream of monsters were, in a single instant, reduced to the ones being hunted.

But Se-rin would never actually harm the heroes.

"Kyah!"

"A d-debuff…!"

Getting hit did not kill you.

Just in case someone got clipped by a stray hit and actually got hurt, she had kindly baked in invincibility as well—leaving them fixed in place like stone statues.

And once Se-rin had finished dumping out a full barrage pattern…

Almost no heroes could still control their own bodies. They were low-level to begin with; their dodges and i-frames were pathetic.

She casually averted her eyes from the look Yoo Seol shot her that clearly said has this crazy bitch lost it?, and continued.

"No matter how you deny it… I shall seize life itself and complete every plan…!"

Se-rin delivered the next prepared line, and at the same time—

Ready, Elisha?

Yep!

She summoned a new character onto the WWE stage.

And then—

From the direction of Pradera, a single shaft of sacred light came crashing in.

"Leave our heroes alooone—! You fake—!"

Elisha's voice rang out like an echo…

KRAAAASH—!

A massive explosion erupted.

No, shit, that actually hurt?

Taking Elisha's attack—which had clearly failed its power regulation—Se-rin's face twisted into genuine panic.

A little gentler…

S-sorryyy!

They resynced the WWE choreography.

In the skies above the Frigarah Plains—

Shadow-wreathed, fallen Se-rin and light-clad, sacred Elisha faced each other.

And then—

At Se-rin's gesture, countless shadow-laden shells poured toward Elisha.

Elisha used her light frame to dodge in the most infuriatingly nimble way possible, weaving and slipping, batting the shells aside with her holy sword.

Thud-thud-thud!

Ratatatat!

Whoosh-whoosh!

"Is this fight for real? This is an actual clash between the strongest beings in the setting…"

"Go, Elisha!"

"My chest feels so grand…"

"NUOOOOONG!"

"Uuu… boopaah…!"

As the spectators' refined cheers—perfectly matched to the flashy WWE—spilled across the land, Se-rin realized this was still just a performance, and that dragging it out too long would only make it boring. She sent Elisha the signal.

Wink.

Wink.

Following the choreography they had already rehearsed…

Light deepened along the blade in Elisha's hand.

"Heroes, lend me your strength—!"

And then—

Radiance settled over the bodies of the heroes who, until a moment ago, had been pinned to the earth like nails, able only to flap their mouths.

"UOOOOOH!"

"Elisha Punch! Elisha Punch!"

"She's a goddess…!"

"Whoa! EXP boost!"

Anyone who checked the tooltip had no choice but to break into a huge grin. Under that ultra-premium buff, smiles overflowed across every hero's face.

Se-rin and Elisha both worked hard to keep their expressions under control.

Because the piety of the people who had gathered in that single moment had spiked so hard that the faith flowing into them had swollen dramatically.

But a stage still had to be finished properly.

"As prooomised! The sword of victoooory!"

The holy sword, thickly wound with the heroes' faith (the real kind), swept through the air, and a fierce light slammed into Se-rin's body.

And then…

"Boopa!"

"Uuu… boopa…!"

"Ohhh, ohhh…"

"Huuuuh…"

Looking at Se-rin, who had lost her power in an instant, the heroes could only cry out in awe.

And since Se-rin's SAN value was also steadily heading for the floor—

"I… shall return…!"

She delivered the final prepared line.

Then, with a visual effect like gear that had failed enhancement scattering into powder… Se-rin's form vanished.

Even if the heroes had not actually contributed to the fallen goddess's defeat just yet…

"Whoa! Free loot!"

"It's not free loot, it's a quest reward."

"Did something good drop…!"

"Hah…! I got Elisha's Holy Sword! It's a legendary weapon…!"

"Why not me? Why not me? Why not me?"

"Anyone get a costume…? Buying at a high price…"

Either way, the heroes were happy.

The total amount of happiness had always differed from person to person.

Regrettably, not everyone could live in a world that was kind and gentle.

In a forgotten corner of the Galicia continent—

There was a being whose total happiness had broken into the negatives and was now soaking in misery.

"I lost agaaain! This time I got completely smashed to pieeeeces!"

The Shadow Demon God who, until Se-rin had gotten a job, had been arguing with Elisha over how to split the world between them.

"A-and on top of that, th-that wicked tit-monster bitch even impersonated one of my servants…?!"

The Dragon of Destruction.

Asile exploded with rage.

"Muiii! Muiiii!"

She stamped her feet.

She kicked a boulder, bang bang.

This time she had poured out her shadows expecting to land at least some meaningful damage.

Instead of landing a hit, every last bit of that power had been sucked clean out by that tit-monster, stuffed into some weird doll that may or may not have been a monster, and then used however she pleased.

This was wrong.

Something was very, very wrong…!

Asile felt a sense of crisis.

But how on earth was she supposed to fix it?

Manifest her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠true body and settle it head-on…?

"That's scary, though…"

Honestly, it was a little scary.

That soft, squishy idiot Elisha was one thing, but the tit-monster who had suddenly appeared out of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nowhere was even scarier because she had no idea what the hell that bitch even was…!

"Muuuu…"

But with no clever plan available, what else could she do?

Just keep doing what she had always done—send only shadows, nibble and poke and chip away…

No. That would only repeat the same cycle.

She would never reach a true and glorious victory that way.

So…

"I have to go see for myself what the hell is going on…!"

That barrier of theirs was so vicious that even if she infiltrated all the way into the heart of the Galicia continent, she would not be able to use her power properly—

But a little peek, a little spying, should still be possible.

After all.

She was the great, noble, and perfect Dragon of Destruction, the Shadow Demon God, and the future sovereign who would rule this dimension—Asile herself…!

Stomp stomp.

Her magnificent footsteps turned toward the world.

"Hmm?"

"Hm? Se-rin, what is it?"

"Nothing. I just thought I smelled a sucker somewhere…"