The Fate of Battle

"No other way. Special card, activate!"

To bring down the fortress, the man reluctantly pulled out his event card, cursing his luck under his breath.

Using a special card before reaching the final destination might have been a waste, but—

If the wall doesn't come down, the advance is impossible, so this was the best move they could make.

Swoooosh—

Damn it. Of course it had to be a seriously powerful card.

If even one of the three resources were destroyed by Poseidon's Flood, the fortress walls would collapse. On top of that, my own stamina would take damage too—not just the resources.

Ruuuumble—

A tsunami on an entirely different level from before came surging in. The seawater wedged itself between the stones, spraying jets of water, and then—

KRA-KOOM—!!

"Aaagh!!"

The fortress wall I had raised crumbled pitifully ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠under the tsunami's assault. That wasn't all. The water that smashed through the wall and swept back around crashed over me as well.

It felt as if the ocean itself had become a weapon, hammering my body and cracking my bones—a pain beyond description.

Sizzle—

Ugh!

For a moment I was seized by the fear that I might drown right there, but mercifully the seawater rushed past before that could happen, and the ground reappeared almost immediately.

I collapsed face-down on the floor and vomited up the water I'd swallowed. The flood had carried my body all the way to the foot of the royal palace.

Well, at least the wall took the brunt of the attack. That's the only reason my ink only faded by one block.

"The fortress wall has been destroyed. Advance!"

At Poseidon's command, the man began to move with a grim, determined expression on his face.

This was the final battle, where the dice-and-move mechanic no longer applied, so the man advanced freely at will. Every time he moved, the wheels of the Trojan Horse turned on their own, carrying it along behind him.

"Hyaat-chaa!!"

Why would he climb up there, of all places?

The man ascended a hill right beside the royal palace.

Of course. The artificial shape of it—that was the hint all along. It was meant to be used in battle.

The man must have understood that same intention, because he led the Trojan Horse all the way to the top of the hill.

"Lord Poseidon. If lightning strikes, can it become fire?"

"If the thing is meant to burn in lightning's flame, then yes."

His impatience must have gotten the better of him—the man had sprinted halfway up the hill and stood there, panting, as he asked Poseidon the question.

Lightning and fire, out of nowhere. And he's asking it standing right next to a wooden Trojan Horse, no less.

Something about his strange question made the middle-aged woman's blood run cold, and she shrieked at him.

"Mister. What exactly are you planning to burn?!"

"Nothing! I was just asking!"

No. That was not just asking.

He had asked in front of all of us because this was his final confirmation—something he'd had no choice but to verify with Poseidon himself.

If it's important enough that he'd ask out loud, right in front of us…

Yes.

I had a rough grasp of what he was intending, and I clenched my fist.

"Siwoon."

Now was the time to put my plan into motion. When I lowered my voice and called her name, Jang Siwoon looked down at me with wide, curious eyes.

"Please trust me."

"What?"

"From this point on, if I explain the plan, they'll be able to hear our conversation. I'm sorry to be so one-sided, but I'd be grateful if you'd just have faith in my method."

"……"

Jang Siwoon had every right to resent me for being so high-handed. But in a situation where detailed communication was impossible, there was simply no other choice.

"You're certain it'll work?"

"As always, I can't say for certain. But as far as I can tell, it's the only way."

"Then I'll trust you."

Jang Siwoon accepted my decision far more readily than I'd expected. Her own fate was on the line here, and yet she was looking at me with a surprisingly calm expression.

"You've always led us to victory, Jisan. So I'll believe it can happen this time, too."

Her eyes, filled with trust in me, shone with startling clarity.

For my own survival, and for Jang Siwoon who believed in me—for the sake of dragging this battle to an unqualified victory, I would do whatever it took.

"Thank you, Siwoon."

Just as I offered her my final word of thanks—

The middle-aged man at the top of the hill raised one hand high into the air. And then—

"Haah, ugh—Perk. 'Water Droplet Chime,' activate!"

Wiping the sweat streaming down his face, the middle-aged man activated his perk.

A water droplet chime? I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of ability that might be.

Tink-a-link—

Data fragments materialized in midair, clumping together into a strange, wondrous instrument. A long handle meant to be gripped, and a cluster of droplets hanging from it.

Tink-a-link— tink-a-link—

The man leapt and hopped about, shaking the droplets like a madman.

"He comes! Zeus is coming!"

No way.

My jaw hung open at a sight I'd only ever seen through a screen.

A shaman?!

First a game streamer, then an opera singer, and now a shaman. Just how many different kinds of people were climbing this tower?

Swoooosh—

Stopping his dancing for a moment, the man lifted his head straight up toward the heavens and called out to Zeus.

"Lord Zeus! Send down your lightning!"

"The lightning of Zeus approaches!"

BOOM—!

So the mysterious power could even invoke the abilities of a Western god. Dark clouds rolled in, and the sky darkened rapidly.

Then thunder and lightning crashed down violently upon the board.

"Wh-what are you doing?! The horse is on fire! Stop that perk, hurry!!"

Zeus's lightning struck the Trojan Horse dead-on. The woman shrieked in horror, begging the man to call off the god's attack at once.

But the man only watched the Trojan Horse burn with a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

"This is the Lightning-Struck Jujube Wood Effect, hahaha!!"

Bulbo-k wood. A jujube tree struck by lightning.

No wonder. I'd been wondering why the wood of the Trojan Horse wasn't burning down to ash even as the flames spread across it.

It was said that a tree struck by lightning—the bulbo-k—gained an added measure of yang energy. And if an effect like that had manifested on the Trojan Horse…

Ha. Fire again.

Watching the fire that refused to burn anything spread across the Trojan Horse, I squeezed my eyes shut.

The Trojan Horse stood at the top of the hill, and I stood directly below it, so the flames were seared vividly into my vision.

And yet my body still wouldn't move—my feet stayed planted right in front of the royal palace.

"Jisan! What's suddenly gotten into you?!"

When I stood there frozen, Jang Siwoon hurried over to check on me, worry plain on her face.

I was fine. For now.

It's time.

"Lord Habaek. Please use your basic power to swell the river."

"Is that truly your choice?"

"Yes."

Habaek frowned, apparently puzzled by my request as well. But even so, without another word, he granted my choice.

The moment Habaek swept his hand as if fanning the air, a river surged up from the ground.

RUUUMBLE—!

"Jisan!!"

The river, swollen in an instant, crashed over me.

It didn't batter my body the way the seawater had, but the water level rose slowly, steadily, choking the breath out of me.

"Wh-what is he doing?! Is that suicide?!"

The man standing on the hilltop stammered in bewilderment at my choice. Even hearing that, I didn't ask Habaek to stop—I simply accepted the rising river.

Ugh—

At last the water closed over my head. I could still hold out for the moment, but soon enough I'd be unable to breathe at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all.

Unlike Poseidon's tsunami, which had first struck the wall and then come for me, Habaek's river hit me directly—and the damage was far worse.

Sizzle—

Already this bad. Still, before the Dongmyeong Wangja tale quest, I had practiced swimming in the ocean, testing how long I could hold my breath.

Even so, my heart, starved of air, felt as if it were shriveling up inside my chest.

"Kghaah—!!"

In the end I couldn't hold out any longer. I opened my mouth and swallowed the water in full.

My body must have reached its limit—beneath the surface, the sound of tearing paper echoed ominously.

Sizzle—

Sizzle—

Sizzle—

Ah. My vision is going dark.

But there was no helping it—that condition had to be met.

Please. Before any more time slips away…

"The river of Habaek."

"The tree born of the earth."

"The air of the heavens."

"The fire of lightning."

Just as my body was losing its strength, a voice rang out—Jade Emperor's, layered with another, graver old voice.

"!!"

My body floated upward—fwaaash—and settled inside the entrance of the royal palace.

This ground had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠deliberately kept beyond the reach of Habaek's river; it felt as if a wall had simply sunk down around me. A boundary of water had formed, refusing to touch me, like the glass of an aquarium.

"The heavens open!"

Habaek looked up at the sky and laughed with pure joy.

Brilliant light poured down from the now-cloudless sky, and there, robed in gossamer silk, the Jade Emperor revealed himself.

"Th-the Jade Emperor?!"

The man gaped at the unexpected god, pointing up at him. Everyone already knew of the Jade Emperor's existence—we had all seen him at the council of the gods.

"Hhk, kghaah…!!"

"Stubborn mortal. Foolish and wondrous in equal measure is the one who tests his own limits."

As I lay sprawled on the ground, retching up water, the Jade Emperor floating above the heavens bestowed upon me a benevolent gaze.

"Then I shall grant your perk the power of attack!"

Just as I'd deduced—my perk had gained offensive power. The Docent could never be a weapon, so now I had to summon that man, exactly as planned.

"Soul Rental, activate. Ludwig van Beethoven."

My voice came out thick and waterlogged as I invoked the perk.

Now comes the moment the soundwave assault sweeps in.

Swoooosh—

……

The Leaflet floated up, and the owner of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this body sank beneath the surface of my consciousness.

I ran my gaze over this pathetic human from head to toe and clicked my tongue.

"The Eastern god speaks true. What a foolish little body."

First he used a painter's madness as an excuse to cut off the perfectly good ear I had wanted so dearly. And now he dunks his own body into the water.

For a man so frail of body, his moves are nothing if not audacious.

"But I am Ludwig van Beethoven, and I can lend strength to your precarious fate. I shall reap the enemy's lives with a beautiful symphony!"

The Eastern god extended his hand, and light streamed from his palm—the radiant glow taking shape, in moments, into a piano and a chair.

It is not my piano, so I am far from satisfied with it. But there is no chance I shall fail to perform.

Am I not Beethoven?

~~~

"The Symphony of Fate?"

The woman who walked the same fate as this body's owner in this war murmured the title of the piece I had begun to play.

It is the Fifth Symphony, to be precise—but it is no wrong answer, so I shall let it pass.

"I thought your head was stuffed solid with rocks, yet you do have ears after all, young lady."

"Wow, what a jerk…"

The woman spat out some word I could not make sense of. I don't understand it, but I understand the insolence well enough.

But now is the time to help the owner of this body.

So long as my soul resides here, this performance will not be wasted music.

"My thunderous music shall become power made manifest!"

~~~

"Th-the river's rising!!"

Every time I struck the keys with force, the river surged violently forward. Watching the battlefield, the woman seemed to realize something was terribly wrong, and she screamed.

"How is the water climbing that high?!"

To the rhythm of my furious music, the water danced as it swept over the hill. It climbed the very wheels of the Trojan Horse, and the man's feet were soaked along with it.

The middle-aged man clung to the horse, his face drained chalk-white.

"This is no longer a river. It is a tidal current of soundwaves!!"

The only thing that could stop my music was a god. But if that god were on my side as well—then this music would become the ringing of angels.

"Poseidon! Special ability, activate!"

The man hurriedly shouted out a new attack. It wouldn't matter.

Swoooosh—

"An evasion skill?! Move the Trojan Horse with me too, Lord Poseidon!"

"Only the Visitor may be moved."

"F—in' hell!! Then at least get me outside the fortress walls!!"

"Your wish is granted."

The god of the sea relocated the Greek man to the starting point.

He had put a great distance between us, trying to escape the tidal wave of my music. But—

"Mister, do something, anything!!"

"Fools. No one can stop my music!"

CRACK—

In the end, the raging river smashed the Trojan Horse apart.

I played through the climax, hurling the final wall of water at the horse.

It's done. This much should be everything I can give.

I had repaid, in some small measure, the owner of this body—the one who had praised my music so warmly as he climbed the floors.

It's time for me to go, then.

You mortal who carried my music in your fingers—survive to the very end.

"Hahk!"

My consciousness snapped back into my body and my head.

Beethoven's soul had been consumed entirely; it could never possess me again.

I staggered backward, staring at the onrushing river. If that invisible boundary hadn't been there, I would have been swept away just like the horse.

"N-no way!!"

The man on the board and the woman clutching her dice screamed with terror-stricken faces. But Visitors defeated in battle cannot escape dissolution.

The man's and the woman's bodies shattered into data fragments. By the time their screams cut off, their forms had vanished entirely.

"The third war has ended."

"The final victor is the army of Troy!"