Chapter 4
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Karma System (3)
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"Looks like you have nowhere to run, even if you wanted to."
"Hnng..."
Yutenia bit her lip and looked up at the man before her.
Now, there was no one left to support her, and no one for her to protect.
It was a strangely unjust world.
Her father had dedicated his life to helping the weak, yet he was now locked away in a prison.
But the bandit before her, who murdered people without mercy, was still roaming free.
"Now, you'll have to decide. Will you die here, or be sold off as a slave?"
"..."
"Wouldn't it be better to live, even if it means suffering a bit as a slave?"
Heh heh. A foul laugh escaped the bandit's lips.
She didn't want to hear that disgusting voice any longer.
To think she had to listen to that leering tone instead of her father's kind voice.
Indeed, the world is an unfair place, was the only thought that came to mind.
And at the moment she realized that, a single wish formed in Yutenia's heart.
That a world like this would be better off destroyed.
"If it's too hard to decide, I'll choose for you."
Having said his piece, the bandit stepped toward Yutenia.
Thump, thump.
The sound of footsteps parting the bushes reached her ears.
There was nowhere left to run.
She had no choice but to accept her fate.
Giving up on everything, Yutenia squeezed her eyes shut.
Just as the bandit drew close and reached for her.
CRACK!
A peal of thunder rang out as a bolt of lightning struck.
"Kraaaaaagh...!"
"Ah...?"
The deafening thunder made her ears ring as Yutenia lifted her head to see what had happened.
Before her eyes, which just moments ago had been denying reality, an astonishing sight unfolded.
The bandit, struck directly by the sharp bolt of lightning, was writhing on the ground.
The damage from the strike must have been immense; the bandit's eyes had rolled back, and he was foaming at the mouth.
Yutenia's shock at the sudden lightning strike was brief.
Two more bolts of lightning came crashing down.
"Krrgh..."
CRACK! CRACKLE!
In the blink of an eye, the world flashed with light.
The bandit, struck by lightning, lay limp on the ground, no longer moving.
The violent bolts of lightning had snuffed out his life.
Seeing this, a horrified Yutenia looked up at the sky from which the lightning had fallen.
In the sky that had just thundered, there wasn't even a single small dark cloud.
The lightning she had witnessed was no ordinary bolt.
"B-Boss? Is he... dead?"
"There aren't any clouds in the sky. How in the world..."
Seeing their dead leader, the other bandits also began to tremble in fear.
Lightning from a clear sky had killed their boss.
Though they had been bandits for years, they had never seen such a strange phenomenon.
One of the bandits seemed to have quickly grasped the situation, pointing at the boss's body as it turned to ash and shouting.
"Magic! It has to be magic!"
"Magic... you think it was magic?"
"Then does that mean she's a mage?"
The bandits' gazes all turned to Yutenia at once.
A mage. To those who knew nothing of magic, they were objects of fear and awe.
There was hardly anyone who hadn't heard the old tale of a village wiped out by a wicked witch.
The bandits' eyes were filled with terror as they looked at Yutenia.
But Yutenia, the recipient of their fearful stares, was just as clueless.
'Someone definitely used magic. But... who could it have been?'
Yutenia turned her head and slowly scanned her surroundings.
A sheer cliff. A dense forest.
No matter where she looked, there was no sign of a human figure.
There was no one nearby who she could suspect of being a mage.
Meanwhile, the fear in the bandits' hearts swelled, and soon, some began to throw down their weapons and flee.
"A-A mage! Run!"
"Why is there a mage in a backwater place like this...!"
The bandits turned their backs on Yutenia, screaming as they scrambled down the mountain.
But the lightning from the sky was not satisfied with a single victim.
CRACK! CRACKLE!
Lightning struck again, swallowing the fleeing bandits.
The bolts that fell with a roar mercilessly judged the terrified bandits.
"Gah...!"
"Aargh! H-Help me..."
With each flash from the sky, a new scream erupted from the bandits.
The continuous lightning strikes killed the bandits one by one.
A few lucky ones managed to dodge a bolt, but it was futile against the relentless barrage.
With the exception of two, all the bandits met their end by lightning.
And the last two remaining bandits, instead of being struck by lightning, died writhing in agony on the ground, their bodies covered in bruises.
They had met a crueler end than the ones who died before them.
Yutenia stood up, a dazed expression on her face as she watched the bandits being dispatched in an instant.
"What in the world..."
Her opponents had been skilled bandits.
They must have been at this for quite some time, as they had slaughtered the villagers with ease.
Yet even they were powerless against the successive lightning strikes.
Yutenia's gaze fell upon the bandits who were turning to ash and scattering.
Every single bandit killed by the mysterious attack was turning into ash and drifting away.
The same was true for the ones who had collapsed, covered in bruises.
"They're disappearing."
The blackened remains of the bandits vanished like an illusion.
Not a trace of the bandits could be found anymore.
In this place where the commotion had swept through, only Yutenia remained.
Seeing the bandits vanish completely, Yutenia thought of a certain being.
"A god."
No matter how powerful the magic, it should have left corpses behind.
But this unknown magic had taken even the remains of the enemies.
As if it had reclaimed all life, returning it to where it was meant to be.
In her mind, only one kind of being was capable of such a feat.
An omnipotent being, watching over her from the distant heavens.
In short, those who were called gods.
"I... I wasn't alone."
Thump.
As Yutenia looked up at the sky, she felt a stinging sensation on her head.
It felt similar to when her father used to flick her on the head as a child.
The spot hurt. A tear welled up in her eye.
Even so, a faint smile graced Yutenia's lips.
Because she now realized she wasn't alone.
"Thank you."
Yutenia folded her hands neatly and offered her thanks to the sky.
The sky was clear, without a single dark cloud.
A second flick did not find its way to her from up there.
"Ah, just one left."
Stifling a morning yawn, I stared at my smartphone screen.
At the bottom of the game screen, several messages were displayed.
These were new messages that had appeared while I was attacking the group of bandits.
Of course, most of them were notifications about using magic and gaining Karma from defeating characters.
- Lightning has been used.
- Lightning has been used.
- Karma has increased by 1.
- Lightning has been used.
- Karma has increased by 1.
- Karma has increased by 1.
I used the Lightning spell to quickly take down the clustered bandit characters.
Lightning is a powerful skill that deals 15 damage with a single use.
Defeating a small band of bandits didn't take very long.
However, even a powerful skill couldn't avoid the corresponding mana cost.
In the end, I ran out of mana and had to defeat the bandits by moving my fingers frantically.
My finger, which had been tapping rapidly, ached from moving nearly a hundred times.
Thanks to that, I gained a whole 5 Karma, so it wasn't a completely pointless effort.
"Still, if I just get rid of this one, I'll be done."
I shifted my gaze to the last remaining character.
In the middle of the screen, I could see the character getting up and looking around.
This was the character who, until just a moment ago, had been sitting on the ground with a crying emoticon.
Was it because I'd defeated all the nearby bandits?
She was now standing up and crying.
I don't know what happened between her and the bandits.
But since I sent the bandits chasing her to the afterlife, she should be able to meet her end in peace now.
"You can go join them."
The moment I touched the last remaining character's head.
The speech bubble floating above the character's head changed strangely.
I watched the flashing speech bubble above her head intently.
A variety of emoticons were cycling through.
- (Sadness)
- (Joy)
- (Gratitude)
- (Sadness)
- (Joy)
She cried, then laughed, then showed gratitude, then went back to crying and laughing.
I couldn't help but be bewildered by this emoticon pattern I'd never seen before.
The patterns shown by the characters I'd clicked on so far had been fairly consistent.
They'd either suddenly display a question mark above their heads.
Or immediately show a crying emoticon.
But this character was showing a peculiar mix of crying and laughing.
"Is there a problem with the AI?"
My finger, poised to tap the character again, hesitated for some reason.
A character that expresses gratitude after being attacked.
She was the strangest one I'd encountered so far.
It would be nice to get rid of her and earn the Karma, but who knows when I'd meet another character like this.
After a moment of thought, I pulled back the finger I was moving toward the character.
"Well, I guess it's fine to let one live."
Besides, my finger was starting to hurt from all the tapping.
It might be interesting to watch this character for a while.
I can always use Lightning on her later if I change my mind.
As I pulled my finger back and watched the screen, the character with the speech bubble began to move.
And just as she started moving, a new message appeared at the bottom of the screen.
- Yutenia Hi-Lost has acquired the Fanatic trait.
- Karma has increased by 1.
I stared at the screen with a puzzled expression at the new message.
This time, my Karma had increased by 1 even though I hadn't killed the character.
Along with that, the message log showed that she had acquired the Fanatic trait.
Yutenia Hi-Lost.
I don't know whose name that is.
But there was one character I could guess it belonged to.
"Yutenia Hi-Lost... Don't tell me that's her name?"
My eyes fell on the character left all alone on the screen.
The gray-haired female character who had started to slowly climb the mountain.
It seemed her name was Yutenia.
It seemed I had gained additional Karma because this character acquired the Fanatic trait.
So you can gain Karma without defeating a character.
This was the first time I'd learned that, thanks to Yutenia.
"Still, hunting is probably faster."
Of course, it's only 1 Karma.
I can't just keep doing this when I have no idea which characters will acquire the Fanatic trait.
No matter how I look at it, hunting characters is the most efficient way.
And so, I immediately started moving the screen to find my next prey.