Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Sealed Deities
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Ogre Tribal Chief Kazon was wise.
His Intelligence was 43.
This number wasn't just high for an ogre—it was higher than most other races and even other tribal chiefs.
That's why he immediately understood what his endlessly overlooking god meant when the god told him not to advance on the enemies but to wait.
The lizardmen were always eyeing the northern coast. They had already attacked the elves and sown discord between Kazon and the centaurs, sparking a fight.
But the lizardmen, weak to the cold, didn't have a long window to target the northern coast.
Once that period passed and the weather turned cold again, he could deal with the weakened lizardmen as they plundered the elf villages.
Of course, things didn't go that smoothly.
Because Kazon was wise, even when he realized he'd been tricked by the lizardmen, he knew how to vent his anger properly.
Instead of beating his elite ogre warriors, he lashed out at the numerous goblins—ones that multiplied quickly even if killed.
Kazon knew the empty plains and completely burned elf villages were the enemies' handiwork, but he had no good countermeasures.
He could only believe that this war of attrition was hurting the lizardmen too and would drag on.
His endlessly overlooking god had only told him to wait.
Even when that hint of "wait" was driving them toward death, Kazon's wisdom let him realize the god had no other options either.
This was a trial.
Kazon knew that glory would return once they overcame it, so he never abandoned his faith in the god.
But the less wise ogres were different.
Quite a few ogres thought the gods had forsaken them.
They were actually starving.
They had even lost control over their goblin slaves.
At first, Kazon tried persuading them with words.
But as their numbers grew over time, he had to swing his club, and in the end, he could only watch as groups fled south.
Word came from the few scouts that the ogres who went south were found as corpses or killed by goblins. Sometimes, there was no news at all.
By the time spring arrived, even Kazon had to make a choice.
Hold out longer, or head south before the group grew even weaker.
Im Chunsik faced the same choice.
Im Chunsik whispered to Solongos, whom he hadn't contacted in a while.
"Solongos."
"What's up, hyungnim?"
The two hadn't spoken since their priests, Tamalidu and Kazon, had clashed.
In truth, there was nothing to talk about.
Solongos had been busy driving the centaurs into flight using lizardmen passing through his territory.
Solongos had no spare forces to help Im Chunsik.
"How many troops do you have?"
"I lost all my warriors to you, hyungnim. None left."
"Even after a year?"
"Yes."
"There must be some usable ones."
"They all died while we were being chased."
"...Tch."
At the current civilization stage, warriors were ultimately the able-bodied young folks full of vigor.
So even if warriors died, the warrior class wouldn't suddenly vanish completely.
But when warriors died, untrained kids or elders too old to perform like before had to fill the roles.
They were weaker against external threats, and repeating this collapse wouldn't take long.
"...And centaurs are a sturdy race, aren't they?"
"...Yeah."
A weak race might hold their group together longer.
Individuals couldn't survive alone, so the group endured.
But sturdy races—specifically those with Strength stats above a certain threshold—had high independence, able to live in family units or even solo.
They could eke out survival that way.
Stray individuals would pair up and form groups, becoming tribes again.
But faith didn't work that way.
Solongos spoke up.
"I was actually planning to contact you first, hyungnim."
"Why?"
"I got a proposal."
"What? From Nebula?"
"Yes. No, actually, it was Eldar."
"What'd he propose?"
"If I joined under Nebula like him and cooperated to block you, Im Chunsik hyungnim, he'd spare my life."
Im Chunsik swallowed hard.
"And?"
"And what? Look at Eldar. What's the point of just staying alive? Sure, things went south and we ended up fighting, but didn't we trust and rely on each other before? I rejected it outright."
It was a lie.
Solongos had pondered it for quite a while.
If Eldar hadn't mocked him, Solongos might have sided with Nebula—with Seong-un.
But now that he'd crossed the river, Solongos had no need to be overly honest with Im Chunsik.
Thanks to the lie, Im Chunsik was moved.
"You bastard..."
"I said no troops, but if I scrape together the best, I can find about ten who can shoot bows or wield spears."
"Faith?"
"Enough for one battle."
"Really?"
"That's why you contacted me, right?"
"Yeah. Exactly."
Im Chunsik felt relieved.
'Ever since I learned Nebula approached the centaurs... No. From when I heard Eldar fell... No. I should have done this from when the lizardmen started loitering under the plains.'
Im Chunsik decided to wage the final battle.
He and Solongos had already lost their faith base of tribesmen, causing their Divinity levels to drop.
'But it's not too late yet.'
Im Chunsik believed battles in Lost World ultimately hinged on how much the gods intervened.
'Not a defensive battle like against Solongos—if we fight in open plains, it's a gods' duel. I don't know his level, but I can definitely outmatch him.'
Peering at the plain with Bird's Eye view, Im Chunsik judged Eldar unnecessary in his calculations.
'Just smash their main force, and we can recover the rest. Rebuild everything. Reuse goblin slaves, reopen trade routes...'
Im Chunsik ordered Kazon to lead the remaining group south.
The implication was clear.
'War!'
Kazon happily chose to follow his god's will, which had made the choice for him.
Kazon took every ogre able to fight south, as per the god's will.
Twenty in total.
Too-young or too-old centaurs joined them.
Both ogres and centaurs knew it was the gods' will.
To Kazon, they looked unfit for battle—perhaps provisions—but before he could eat the youngest centaur alive, they encountered the Black Scale Tribe lizardmen in the middle of the plain.
Not scouts.
The enemy numbered fifty, all cavalry mounted on cockatoos—the hybrid offspring of cockatrices and chickens.
The leader rode something huge and unusual: a pure cockatrice.
The leader was Rakrak.
The god immediately possessed Kazon's body.
Thirty warriors seemed few at a glance, but it was a combination of centaurs and ogres—not other races.
Im Chunsik=Kazon judged they could win this fight.
No—at minimum, killing Rakrak would suffice.
'And if luck's on our side and Nebula's possessed too...'
Im Chunsik=Kazon said to Solongos, who had possessed an old centaur.
"Let's go, Solongos."
"Yes, hyungnim!"
The ogres and centaurs charged with roars.
In Seong-un's view, the battle wasn't particularly fierce.
'Did they think they'd win by possessing and charging in?'
The two players' Divinity levels were 6 and 5 respectively.
Combined, just 11—on par with Seong-un.
Since two were possessing and charging, Seong-un had to possess as well, but he didn't need to summon creations or use other miracles.
Moreover, because the enemies charged while possessed, there was an unexpected bonus harvest.
Seong-un checked his status window.
Players lose experience in many cases during battle: defeat, losing believers, creations dying, altars destroyed, prophecy failures, and more.
'And the biggest loss is when possessed.'
Possession had delays both when activating the skill and deactivating it. Sometimes, they died unexpectedly before releasing it.
In those cases, level down was inevitable.
Losing experience triggered level down, and dropping to level 1 or below resulted in being 'sealed'.
In Lost World, being sealed was effectively elimination. Players just called it 'dead'.
In the game Lost World, elimination bounced you to the lobby in a unable-to-play state.
If the seal lifted, you could return...
'But that rarely happens. Probably no lobby here anyway.'
Seong-un checked his inventory.
Two newly created items were there.
The top contributor—the one causing the most experience loss—received the sealed trophy.
Being early game, neither god had encountered other players, so Seong-un's contribution was overwhelmingly high.
'94 percent and 78 percent.'
Seong-un pulled out the sealed trophies to check, but they were small stone statues, and touching them felt gross. Especially Im Chunsik's.
'Go through certain processes here to fully destroy and exclude from the game. Other processes to unseal.'
Typically, unsealing—or reviving a dead god—was done by allies.
Destruction prevented threats from allied sealed players reviving or blackmailing.
Seong-un had no intention of unsealing them, so he shoved the two trophies into a corner of his inventory, lest they enter his view.
'Next, rewards.'
There was a level gap, but both had dropped levels fighting him.
Considering the battle's difficulty, the experience gain was huge, jumping Seong-un's Divinity level to 12.
It wasn't just his experience.
Rakrak, with his multi-class of Warrior, Tribal Chief, and Priest, had surpassed a total level of 21.
At the current civilization stage, that qualified as 'hero' level.
'Experience gains slow from here, so basically max level.'
There were rewards beyond experience too.
'Lost World doesn't let you seize enemy assets directly like Dark Acon's mind control at the system level. Gotta rack up gains here.'
Killing a god let you claim their 'domains'.
'Random, huh.'
Seong-un felt a bit regretful about that, but he knew Im Chunsik's would lead to an advantage when revealed.
Seong-un checked Im Chunsik's first.
Seong-un selected 'Yes,' and several face-down cards appeared.
He picked one up and checked it.
'Lucky.'