The Nest Falls, the Serpent Smiles

Day nine of the dungeon expedition.

Cheolhyeoldan had cut down the dungeon's monsters one after another, and at last they stood before the chamber where the boss would appear.

They had prepared everything before attempting the dungeon, but nine days of relentless fighting had left them worn ragged.

In front of the boss room, Kugan, leader of Cheolhyeoldan, launched into a speech.

He meant to rally the party's morale before the battle with the boss. Those who had made it this far answered his words with roars of their own, fanning their fighting spirit back into flame.

And then they entered the boss room.

The boss was on an entirely different level from anything they had faced. One wrong move, and the medicine wouldn't even get its chance to save them. They must have felt fear too.

Even so, Cheolhyeoldan advanced.

Ryu Hwi watched them file into the boss room, then smothered his presence and slipped in after them.

The moment he stepped inside, he saw it — a monster that looked like an antlion magnified several thousand times over.

Among Predator Abagedon's attack patterns was a special one that spawned antlion pits across the field.

Anyone who fell into a pit transferred the HP they lost straight to Abagedon as healing — and if those pits spread to cover the entire field, the raid was as good as failed.

"Hit Abagedon with everything you've got before it can dig its pits!"

Kugan had grasped the boss's nature as well.

The problem was that landing a hit on Abagedon was easier said than done.

"Kgh! It burrowed underground again!"

"Don't stop moving! Not even for a second! The moment you freeze, you're dead!"

"Damn it, where the hell is it hiding?!"

Abagedon kept shattering the ground as it went, spreading its pits wider and wider.

If it had been Ryu Hwi, he would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠simply have used Intuition to pinpoint where the Predator was burrowed and where it would erupt next, then struck accordingly.

Even without Intuition, a war of attrition — analyzing the enemy's movement patterns until the opening came — would eventually net it.

But Cheolhyeoldan couldn't track Abagedon as it traveled beneath the earth.

"Kugan!"

"Radar, activate!"

Kugan drove Cheolhyeoldan's banner into the ground. The instant it landed, a wave of energy rippled outward from the flag.

Just as YggON said, Kugan pinpointed Abagedon's location with perfect accuracy.

The moment Abagedon burst up from the ground, Cheolhyeoldan — moving under Kugan's command — unleashed a coordinated barrage.

Struck by the black spears, Abagedon let out a shriek of rage.

"There was a tool like that in World of Phantasm?"

If something like that had existed, Predator Abagedon would have been famous as a boss anyone could fell with ease.

Black spears, black medicine, and a banner that detected enemy positions.

New items kept appearing out of nowhere.

Abagedon wasn't just lying down and taking it, though. It hurled the surrounding stones like bullets.

Shields couldn't absorb the force; members of Cheolhyeoldan went flying like scraps of paper.

The moment anyone went down wounded, the others dosed them with the black medicine and desperately held the line.

"This thing's on a whole different tier from the other monsters!"

"We drilled the strategy until we could do it blind — and it's still this bad?!"

"Watch out! Kgh!"

It was a ferocious, bloody battle.

Their iron will to clear this dungeon no matter what came through in every clash.

Perhaps it was Abagedon's first time facing so many enemies at once, because it kept leaving openings. And Cheolhyeoldan, little by little, steadily drove it back.

Their fight felt like the scream of every soul living in this world.

"Hold the line, you overgrown ant bastard!!"

Fail to use the black medicine in time, and you died.

One careless mistake could mean instant death.

Cheolhyeoldan crushed down its fear and threw itself at Abagedon all the same.

"We can fight too!"

Yes, they were exploiting a 'bug' — but that was only a means to an end.

Their true strength was their rage.

Rage at the gamers, rage at this world — that was what gave them the power to stand against their enemy.

Ryu Hwi found himself stroking his weapon without thinking.

Not that he had any intention of helping them. He sympathized with their anger, to a degree.

But it wasn't his anger.

Their rage belonged to them alone.

The battle dragged on.

"Now! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It's weakening! Everyone, attack!"

After a struggle that stretched across nearly half a day —

Predator Abagedon, master of the labyrinth, fell.

"We did it! We did it! We actually did it!"

Kugan, leader of Cheolhyeoldan, beat his fists against Abagedon's corpse and wept.

The residents of a game labyrinth had cleared a dungeon. They had accomplished a feat that overturned every piece of gamer common sense.

And without losing a single life.

The Cheolhyeoldan members who'd taken part in the raid let out a thunderous cheer. They had every right to. This victory was worth more to them than any treasure.

When word spread that they had cleared the dungeon, the gamers would be shaken to their core.

What would happen next? Ryu Hwi found it genuinely fascinating.

That was when it happened.

Ryu Hwi's Intuition sensed something.

The empty air itself trembled. The next instant, something that hadn't existed a heartbeat ago was standing there.

A man, his face hidden beneath a wide bamboo hat, a blue cape draped over his shoulders.

"John Doe!"

Kugan called him by name.

How on earth did he appear in here?

A dungeon was a sealed space.

Ryu Hwi himself had only gotten into the same dungeon as Cheolhyeoldan by tricking the system.

Bugs, bugs, and more bugs.

They just kept popping up one after another. Which was, in itself, proof of how flimsy World of Phantasm's system really was.

Finding ways to exploit those bugs was their skill, sure.

Is that guy part of GA-ES too?

"John Doe, how did you even get in here?"

Kugan regarded him warily.

He didn't look at the man the way one looks at an ally.

"That's a bit cold, isn't it? I did everything in my power to help you clear this dungeon..."

John Doe sized up Cheolhyeoldan with an airy, offhand manner.

"We're grateful for that. But we can't trust you. You were planning to use us to pull something, weren't you?"

"Well, I mean, yeah."

John Doe didn't bother hiding his true intentions. He hadn't even planned to.

"You said you wanted to clear this dungeon no matter the cost, so I'm simply holding up my end of the bargain. I gave you every warning up front and lent you my strength anyway — that makes me practically a saint. And this is the thanks I get."

Letting out a long sigh, John Doe turned to look over the Cheolhyeoldan members. Every single one who met his eyes flinched and shrank back.

"Well, whatever. First off, congratulations on the clear. I genuinely never thought you'd manage it. You've pulled off a historic feat. Maybe this will finally give the residents of the game labyrinths some pride. Things are definitely going to change."

This raid was only the beginning.

Kugan intended to lead Cheolhyeoldan to the forefront of the residents' rebellion.

He knew they couldn't beat the gamers with 'strength' alone — but depending on the method, the impossible could be overturned as many times as it took.

"Sadly, though, you won't be around to see that change."

John Doe shook his head with what looked like genuine regret.

"What kind of nonsense is that... I don't know what you're scheming, but Cheolhyeoldan's real fight starts now."

Kugan shot back, but John Doe only clicked his tongue.

"You used the 'black medicine,' didn't you? Then it's over."

"What's wrong with it? We did our own research on that stuff."

It was terrifyingly potent, certainly, but the ingredients themselves should have posed no danger whatsoever.

"Of course it looks harmless. That's exactly how it was disguised."

"What?!"

"Unfortunately for you, it happens to be an extremely dangerous drug."

John Doe gave his fingers a light snap.

As if answering that snap, the abnormality began. The Cheolhyeoldan members, perfectly fine until that moment, suddenly began to scream.

Kugan was no exception.

"Ggaaaaagh! Kgh! Uaaaaaagh!"

Wracked by pain as if their bodies were being twisted apart from the inside, Kugan and Cheolhyeoldan writhed and howled.

John Doe watched the scene and shrugged.

"We at GA-ES run all sorts of tests. The spears and the medicine, in particular — we wanted a wide range of usage data, so we handed them out to you."

His voice would never have reached Kugan and the others as they thrashed in agony.

But John Doe didn't care. He kept talking.

"The banner was to test the performance of a transmission device. And as you can see, that one seems to have been a success."

Ryu Hwi eavesdropped on every word.

"Tell me about it."

Whether he'd let his guard down or simply felt like running his mouth, the man's whole bearing was so flippant that Ryu Hwi's brow furrowed.

"Honestly, the spear and the banner were just bonuses. The real product is the medicine."

John Doe picked up a vial of black medicine someone had dropped.

"This drug can bring you back even from the brink of death. But it doesn't 'restore' you — it only 'heals.' There's a difference."

John Doe crouched down and seized Kugan by the hair, lifting his head.

"It replaces the broken parts of your body with 'bugs.' In other words, the more you use it, the more you become a creature made of bugs."

"...!"

"The reason we cooperated with you was to see how residents injected with bugs would change. Fifty subjects — perfect for an experiment."

Kugan's face twisted into something beyond description.

Agony. Despair. Grief. Fury.

Every emotion in the world was written across it.

"You... you people..."

Kugan forced his mouth open.

"What do you... think we... are?"

And to that question, John Doe answered without a moment's hesitation.

"NPCs, aren't you?"

An answer that denied the very foundation of what the residents of this world were.

Kugan laughed, hollow and empty.

"Go to hell, you outside bastards."

With those final words, he lost consciousness.

Even hearing a curse steeped in pure hatred, John Doe didn't so much as raise an eyebrow.

He laid the residents out in a row like an art collector arranging pieces, and calmly observed.

In a single moment, everything Cheolhyeoldan had fought so hard to achieve had been trampled into the dirt.

Ryu Hwi felt the impulse surge through him — to close the distance right now and take John Doe's head.

"I'll watch. Just a little longer."

He smothered the impulse and kept tracking John Doe's every move.

If John Doe was telling the truth, there was no saving Cheolhyeoldan now, no matter what he tried.

At the very least, he had to find out what John Doe intended to do with these bugs.

"Oh, the changes are starting? Let's see. Number 32, Number 41."

Some of the Cheolhyeoldan members had begun to change. John Doe watched them in silence.

Wriggle. Wriggle.

Small movements at first, growing wilder by the second. Before long they were shrieking and thrashing like madmen.

Then, moments later, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bodies of the afflicted members disassembled and melted into the dungeon itself.

"Number 32, Number 41 — failures. Ah, Number 21 failed too."

John Doe recorded the results with utter indifference.

"Number 7, Number 11, Number 14, Number 25 — all failures. So it doesn't work that easily after all?"

One, then another, melted away without a trace.

"Wow... almost a total wipeout. That leaves Number 1, Number 9, and Number 52, doesn't it?"

Only three remained.

Soon two of them melted down as well, and only Kugan was left.

"Oh...?"

Kugan was showing a different reaction.

Where the others had collapsed because their insides couldn't endure the change, Kugan's body itself was transforming.

Black. Blacker still.

"Ohh, ohhhh. A success? Is it a success?"

John Doe practically leapt at Kugan's mutation.

Determined not to miss a single instant, he never took his eyes off the transformation.

Stained pitch-black, Kugan rose from where he lay.

Rose wasn't quite the right word — lifted would be more accurate.

Sounds no human throat should make spilled from his mouth as his neck rotated round and round.

Then Kugan's entire body began stretching outward — toward the dungeon's ceiling, its walls, its floor.

The grotesque transformation nearly wrung a sound out of Ryu Hwi before he could stop himself.

"Whoa, is it corroding the dungeon? Now that's a pattern I've never seen before. Logging it."

Just as John Doe said, every part of the dungeon Kugan's body touched began turning black.

This was no longer something he could stand by and watch.

Ryu Hwi drew the Gunsword and closed the distance ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to John Doe in a single burst.

"?!"

John Doe didn't even have time to react before Ryu Hwi's hand clamped around his throat.

"What the—? You... how the hell are you in here...?"

"Don't turn around."

The moment John Doe tried to look behind him, Ryu Hwi tightened his grip. It clearly hurt — John Doe let out a strangled yelp.

"What is GA-ES planning?"

"GA-ES? I have no idea what you're talking ab—"

"You're the one who bragged about GA-ES out loud just now, weren't you?"

"..."

John Doe shut his mouth. He was visibly rattled by Ryu Hwi's sudden appearance.

"How is an outsider even in here?"

"Talk. What is GA-ES planning? What is this bug?"

"There's no reason I should tell y— Ggk?!"

Ryu Hwi squeezed the hand around his throat.

"Why does it hurt so much?! Kgh — f-fine, damn it! I'll talk! Jeez, it's not like I owe GA-ES any loyalty. This bug is my own personal work."

John Doe started babbling as if someone had yanked the stopper out of his mouth.

"It started as research into whether there was any way to interfere with Yggdrasil's data — and this is what I found. It took quite a while to make it practical, but..."

He sounded like a researcher dying to show off his life's work.

"Unfortunately, I don't think you'll have time to hear the full explanation."

At that moment, the shadow beneath Ryu Hwi's feet moved.