Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Southern Archipelago
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Southern Archipelago.
The southern coastal cliffs of the southernmost island, farthest from the Black Forest.
These coastal cliffs rose dozens of meters steeply, and as a result of tidal erosion, a very deep horizontal sea cave had formed.
This erosional cave connected not only to the sea but also to the surface, and in the past, the Astacidian tribe had lived there.
However, as the Astacidian tribe grew, their civilization's ironware and crafts were vulnerable to seawater, so everyone left and no one remained. Above all, the fact that the Astacidiens had begun building houses was likely a major reason.
But now, deep within this cave where the seawater had receded, one person sat.
It was Seong-un.
As Seong-un lightly manipulated the interface, six video chat windows popped up.
In order: Krampus and Runda, Jangwan and AR1026, Wisdom, and Eldar.
Wisdom, with his star-shaped head, spoke first.
"Nebula, this is the first time you've initiated a conversation. And an 'emergency call' at that."
In Lost World, the concept of an emergency call generally held no meaning.
Interactions with other players—alliances or conspiracies—were sufficiently handled by the game's supported systems and interfaces for progressing the game. That was why Seong-un could maintain the number one ranking spot without conversing much with other players.
Conversations with other players were mostly for friendly chit-chat like asking about their playstyles, more complex diplomacy to probe their builds, or inquiring after their parents' well-being.
The idea of an emergency call had been proposed by Seong-un.
Playing centuries compressed into hours was no longer the case; with gods' bodies and real-time flow matching actual time, it could no longer be called a typical Lost World.
But above all, what Seong-un was wary of was the existence of the 'evil god.'
The entity dubbed 'Jeolubi' by the players of the Third Continent, '癤우삤瑜쇰씪,' was suspicious in many ways.
If not for Rakrak's exploits, it would have caused greater damage to the continent, and other players' technological progress might have been far more severely delayed.
'Black Forest suffered almost no direct damage, but if tech development lagged in other nations on the same continent, we'd feel the ripple effects.'
In any case, Jeolubi's appearance and death left the Third Continent's players with the impression that some degree of information sharing was necessary.
Seong-un had already contacted Hegemonia, who had moved to the Second Continent, to ask if similar incidents had occurred there. As a result, he learned that on the First Continent, midway through the game, a previously nonexistent race called 'werewolves' had appeared, along with a player whose name was garbled.
This werewolf race existed as a 'disease' similar to vampires.
Unlike vampires, this disease only spread to humanoid races—humans, elves, dwarves, nix, and the like—but aside from weakness to silver, they could hide their forms through transformation, take no sun damage, and possessed abilities superior to vampires.
Fortunately, since humanoid races weren't the majority on the First Continent at the time, they had successfully repelled them before major damage occurred.
Even so, the First Continent's players found the existence of a player with a 'broken nickname' who didn't communicate suspicious.
Moreover, the werewolves, like vampires, seemed tied to ancient evils from legends passed down through the races, originating from ancient ruins.
The Second Continent's players also took interest in the stories from both continents.
In the end, while hiding their own developmental progress, minimal information sharing took place among all players.
It concerned the number of players on each continent.
'Excluding those who quit at game start, there were definitely 27 players total.'
First Continent: 10.
Second Continent: 8.
And Third Continent:
Nebula
Hegemonia
Eldar
Solongos
Lim Chun-sik
Runda
Krampus
Wisdom
Jangwan
AR1026
癤우삤瑜쇰씪
11 in total.
Grand total: 29 players.
'The player count doesn't match.'
The extra two could only be seen as the First Continent's werewolves and the Third Continent's vampires.
Players had been 'added.'
But such an event couldn't make all competitive players halt the game and unite.
Second Continent players had suffered no damage from this variable, and First Continent players had minimal losses.
There were voices among First and Second Continent players insisting they must investigate 'what this is' for the competitive game, but they didn't become mainstream.
Above all, the Third Continent players refused.
Whatever the unknown variable was, they could handle it.
The central five players on the Third Continent had final contingency measures even without Seong-un's help.
Accepting aid from others would distance them from the game's demanded victory.
Moreover, with a vast ocean between them, their civilizations were still too primitive to assist each other effectively.
No one could rule out extreme science-tech builds among players, but none admitted to having one.
In the end, the proposal for all players to unite and uncover the truth fizzled out.
'...But on the same continent, that's a different story.'
In Seong-un's view, the First Continent's werewolves had just been lucky.
And timing-wise, they appeared and vanished earlier than the vampires; at a lower civilization stage, their spread might have been slower.
In that sense, the Third Continent's vampires had been lucky too.
'If Jeolubi had endured until modern civilization levels before emerging?'
Modern civilizations seemed capable of handling any threat, but high population density and numerous transport methods made them vulnerable to diseases.
With vampires' infection method, it could spread not just across the Third Continent but the entire world.
Above all, Seong-un was wary of not knowing the enemy's identity.
'No guarantee the next foe is on the level of werewolves or vampires. What if a stronger one appears without reason?'
The Third Continent players agreed, to varying degrees, that Seong-un's concerns weren't wrong.
His proposed emergency call was for all Third Continent players to keep chat open and convene if info related to the 'evil god' surfaced.
In over a century, this call had only been used once—Runda's mistake aside.
Seong-un nodded and spoke.
"I want Hegemonia here too."
The lion-masked Jangwan replied.
"Hegemonia might be late or not show. Seems to be fighting another Second Continent player right now."
"Did gunpowder emerge on the Second Continent?"
"Probably not?"
"Fighting again? Gunpowder's coming soon if they wait."
"You think she cares?"
Seong-un thought the same.
Hegemonia, confident in combat, sometimes picked fights figuring victory meant gain.
Good thing she didn't border Jangwan on the Third Continent, or it'd be constant war.
Seong-un conveyed the facts concisely.
"The Fourth Continent has been discovered."
Reactions varied.
Runda yelped "Uwak!", Wisdom leaned back in his chair. AR swung her fan in front of her veil, Jangwan blinked the lion mask's eyes.
Only Krampus stayed calm, stroking his chin beard.
"You had an inkling, didn't you, Krampus?"
"Yeah. Lately, the Yabun Pirates have been rising in the south. Their leader, Yabun, is from a southern continent, not east."
Seong-un would have assumed First Continent if Yabun came from the east.
But the Astacidian airships said the Yabun Pirates came from the south.
"Wasn't certain it was a continent, though. Got proof?"
"Not certain myself."
Seong-un continued.
"Heard the first reports and came to the Southern Archipelago. It's crayfish territory I hadn't paid much attention to, but recently the pirates took it over."
"Damage?"
"Not huge. Crayfish barely fought—outnumbered and scared off. Pirates say regular tribute keeps them safe."
Wisdom spoke.
"Nebula, Astacidiens exaggerate. From what I know, the southern hemisphere has big islands—not key bases, so overlooked. Maybe they mistook those for a continent?"
"Can't rule it out. But..."
Seong-un organized his thoughts.
"The Southern Archipelago islands aren't small. I left them alone because development conditions weren't ripe, no other players eyed them. Crayfish trusted me, no need to force integration into Black Forest system. But assembling a fleet to conquer the whole archipelago requires serious scale."
"Ah, I see."
"Get it? Island natives have population and tech limits. Rare genius-led progress possible, but unlikely in my view."
AR asked.
"So, Lady Nebula thinks the Yabun Pirates' leader is another player, like the others?"
"Yes."
"But Krampus spoke as if he'd encountered them a lot—why no word till now?"
"Ah, that's..."
Krampus said.
"My story, I'll explain. Met Yabun Pirates, but only subordinates. Most leaders Astacidian-looking, so seemed Southern Archipelago natives. Couldn't link to evil god. Pirate raids pop up occasionally anyway."
"Ah, so no emergency call then..."
AR, nodding, snapped her fan shut.
"Then Lady Nebula must have more evidence."
"Why think that?"
"Yabun Pirates suspected evil god puppets, took Southern Archipelago—your territory with Astacidiens. Yet you call us."
"Spot on."
"Plus, you wouldn't waste our time without certainty."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Krampus eyed suspiciously.
"Proof?"
"Yes."
Seong-un nodded.
"Met another race. Got a civilization clash message. Local player already emerged."
"What?"
Seong-un frowned.
"This player's name... how do you read it? Just sharing info."
Wisdom said.
"Letters after the question mark look Cyrillic. If memory serves, 'Sha' sound."
"Call it 'Shacha' then."
No objections.
Jangwan said.
"Shacha—definitely evil god vibes. What race did this one bring?"
"Showing now."
Seong-un turned slightly, calling a name.
Runda pointed at Seong-un with his index finger.
"Ack, Nebula! Behind, behind you! Look back quick!"
"Runda, if it's a giant white spider behind me, you can stop freaking out."
"...Yours?"
Seong-un gave Runda a pitiful look and turned.
A house-sized giant white spider approached, emitting faint light.
The white spider was Seong-un's creation.
Meant to guard the Southern Continent, but Astacidiens surrendered without fight, missing deployment.
In the spider's maw, a corpse dangled in webbing.
"Good work, Hilrob."
Seong-un leaned toward the corpse.
The other video chat players could also peer closely.
The corpse's head was unmistakably a fish.
"Not mermaid, but fishman...?"
Besides Froglins and Astacidiens who traversed water and land, Lost World had aquatic-only races.
Prime example: sirens.
Sirens matched the classic mermaid image—human upper body, fish tail—commonly called mermaids by players.
But this was clearly different.
Body humanoid with arms and legs, but head pure fish, tentacles dangling from the crown.
Runda asked.
"So, what's the race name?"
Seong-un answered.
"Comes up as 'Deep One.'"