Chapter 16 - The Monster of the Deep Forest (6)
This is a game. I’m simply solving the tasks I’m given in order to earn rewards. And the thing I can gain from those rewards is exactly what I’ve wanted and longed for all along.
For an instant, a few scenes flashed through my mind.
Effort, passion, joy. And limits, reality, despair.
I’d only been out in the world as an adult for less than ten years, but what I’d experienced in that time was more than enough to teach me one thing.
The world is brutally cruel. It never cares about anyone’s personal circumstances. It simply leaves you to die, to fall behind, to be discarded. Because there is no protagonist in this world.
Everyone thinks they’re the main character of the world, but they’re not.
I’d been the same when I quit school and chose the path of a pro player. I thought this was my road. Unlike those who failed and gave up, I believed I’d stand side by side with the people walking out ahead of me.
But the reality was completely different. The difference in talent—the wall I couldn’t cross—meant that no matter how desperately I struggled, I could never catch up to them. In the end, all I could do was flail to avoid falling behind.
Then doubt crept in, whispering that maybe this wasn’t my path at all, and fear began to eat away at my body. If I couldn’t even do this, then what in the world could I do?
"No matter how frightened I was, no matter how hard I struggled, nothing ever helped me."
"Pandemonium is different. It gives you rewards you can depend on, you who live in an unstable world where you can’t see even a step ahead. Isn’t a game that grants rewards according to your achievements far more fair than the world itself?"
At the clear voice that rang in my dazed ears, Agares’s voice followed in crisp, perfect clarity.
And he wasn’t wrong. Compared with this irrational world, Pandemonium was fair. If I used it well, I could finally be rewarded for the effort I’d poured in all this time.
I’d just confirmed that for myself a moment ago.
"However, as certain as the reward is, a price is always required. Look. Your units are marching to pay that price now, all in order to delight you."
I looked at the screen as Agares said. My units, moving faithfully according to my choice. They would grow stronger because of this decision. And if they grew stronger, so would I.
We were one. We walked the same fate.
My heart began to pound for no reason. It was almost as if I were marching alongside them too.
[Lena is pleased.]
"Pleased? Why?"
A smile icon floated above Lena’s head as she rode atop the Grand Lord. I hadn’t picked any special choice, and this had happened suddenly while we were moving, so I was a little taken aback.
"Think carefully. What does Lena like, and under what circumstances does she become happy?"
I tried to consider Agares’s words, but it wasn’t easy to tell. The first thing that came to mind was, naturally, the sight of her happily drinking in essence from the Grand Lord.
"Look. We’ve almost reached the village."
And in the meantime, the villages I’d set as our target were already visible in the compressed field of view.
Honestly, I didn’t think we’d lose. It was bigger than Lena’s village, sure, but even so, it was still just an isolated settlement. We were leading a full hundred minions. There was no way they could hold out.
We would kill, and they would die. Not for vengeance, not for judgment, but for nothing more than a simple hunt.
I bit my lip. This is just a game.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"E-e-merg... e-emer-gency! E-emergennncy!!"
The countryside village had been peaceful as usual.
But before the morning sun had even climbed to the middle of the sky, the village was thrown into chaos. People who had been out beyond the walls chopping wood or hunting came screaming back with bloodless faces.
"E-emergency... Monsters! Monsters! Cough..."
"Calm down and speak properly. What on earth did you see?"
The village chief, who had rushed over in a panic after abandoning his farm work, grabbed the shivering hunter and said this while retching in disgust. But the hunter only managed to spit out a few broken words, trembling like a leaf and unable to speak coherently.
"Monsters, you say. Have mana beasts appeared?!"
"Mana beasts? Mana beasts?"
"Mana beasts have appeared!"
The chief’s startled cry spread through the villagers who had gathered. At the word mana beasts, they all flinched and sprang into action.
Those who could fight grabbed weapons and prepared themselves, while those who had been outside hurried into the village, behind the sturdy palisade and earth wall.
It was all a very familiar response. For people in a frontier village, it was practically second nature.
"Chief. We heard that mana beasts are approaching."
"That’s right. Good timing, actually. I’ll post a request to deal with them. Will you take it?"
"Of course."
There were even mercenaries staying in the village to hunt mana beasts. The chief posted the request to them instead, and turned them into a reassuring line of defense.
"There are dozens of armed men who can fight, plus a solid palisade and earth wall. An ordinary mana beast shouldn’t be a problem."
The man in charge of the mercenary band drew his spear with a confident expression. It wasn’t empty confidence either. Objectively and by common sense, this level of force really should be enough to stop most mana beasts.
"No... They’re not ordinary mana beasts!"
"Calm down, Revolt. The others have testified too. Even if there are a number of them, we can still win easily enough."
That was when the hunter, trembling violently, shook his head. The chief clicked his tongue and, before everyone’s morale could sink any further, began trying to soothe the hunter himself.
"I saw them with my own eyes! While I was hunting a weasel!"
"What on earth did you see?"
"A, a spider... A gigantic spider!"
Hunter Revolt’s eyes shook wildly. Unlike the others, who had only seen some of the enemies spreading out and approaching, he had seen the very center of the enemy formation.
The scene was still burned sharply into his retina.
The march of monsters cutting across the primeval forest path where ancient, towering trees had grown, without making the slightest sound. And at the center of it all was a massive spider so hideous it could awaken a genuine, primal terror at a glance.
"There are even more of them? A giant spider?"
"Hah! Don’t worry too much, Chief! At the end of the day, they’re just beasts!"
The chief was flustered, but the mercenary captain remained self-assured. Besides, it was already too late to run. In the end, they had only one choice left.
Fight and win, or die. That had always been the way.
"Th-they’re coming!"
At last, the enemies emerged from the forest. As though they knew from the beginning that, whether discovered or not, the village was the only place they could run to, they came at a steady pace from the start, advancing with nothing but the village in their eyes.
Not even the bright morning sun could purify the gloomy, uncanny movement of these things.
"We can win... no, wait—what is that..."
"Why are there so many..."
The villagers, who had been steeling themselves and raising their morale, faltered in an instant, thrown into confusion.
For one thing, there were far more enemies than they had imagined. And although they were clearly mana beasts or monsters, the enemies whose bodies were twisted in all sorts of ways looked nothing like ordinary beasts.
Even the mercenary captain, who had been talking so much just moments ago, shut his mouth and winced.
"A spider..."
And then the chief, his eyes wide, saw it in the middle of the enemy formation.
A giant spider that dwarfed the others in sheer size, impossible to compare with the rest. Clad head to toe in what looked like a hard carapace, it bared enormous fangs and moved all eight of its legs straight toward the village.
"W-we can win, right?! Captain!"
"W-we... We’ve got to fight! What are you all waiting for? Shoot the arrows!"
The chief turned his pale face toward the mercenary captain, but the captain was just as terrified.
He forced the others to hurry and shoot their arrows, but anyone could see this was less a battle than desperation.
"They’re resisting as hard as they can. But... it’s meaningless."
The arrows flying in high arcs from their maximum range carried the desperate, pathetic plea that the things simply not come any closer.
Laughing as she rose from her seat, Lena placed a hand over her chest and murmured as she watched them.
I can feel it. His heart.
Lena could feel his heart.
It was because of the Ascalas trait, which linked them together as one. Through her avatar, the Grand Lord, she was resonating with the emotions he was feeling right now.
No matter what he felt before this battle, Lena was simply glad to be connected to him, to feel his emotions, and to be able to fulfill what he wanted with her own hands.
Lena is happy.
"Happy? Why?"
A little exclamation icon appeared above Lena’s head as she rode atop the Grand Lord. I wasn’t particularly choosing any option, and this had happened out of nowhere while we were moving, so I was slightly confused.
"Think about it. What does Lena like, and what kind of situation makes her happy?"
I tried to think about Agares’s words, but it wasn’t easy to figure out. The very first thing that came to mind was the sight of her happily taking in essence from the Grand Lord, which only made it more difficult.
"Look. We’re almost at the village."
By then, the village I’d targeted was already in sight in the narrowed field of vision.
Honestly, I didn’t think we’d lose. It was bigger than Lena’s village, sure, but even so, it was still an out-of-the-way rural settlement. We were bringing a full hundred minions with us. There was no way they could hold out.
We would kill, and they would die. Not for revenge, not for judgment, but for a hunt, nothing more.
I bit my lip. This is just a game.
[Lena attacks.]
The minions, who had been advancing without the slightest hesitation even as arrows sank into their bodies, suddenly flared with red light in their eyes and exploded with all the suppressed momentum they’d been holding back until now, charging forward in unison.
"A-aah!"
"Stop them! Stop them!"
The villagers, who had been trying to fight with nothing but their morale, shuddered as fear and terror washed over them.
At the head of the charge was Lena, having leaped down from the Grand Lord and now racing alongside the wolf minions, whose bodies were swollen and warped in various places. Her black hair streaming behind her, she knocked aside arrows with a grin, then used the tentacles bursting from her back to propel herself upward, vaulting into the high air in a single bound.
This is just the beginning.
Everyone’s will had fused into one.
The one giving the order to fight and the ones doing the fighting all wanted to evolve through this. That was the only thought left in their minds.
"W-what is this... Guhk."
With a black spear thrown from midair, Lena skewered a villager through the body and killed him in an instant. Landing lightly atop the spear embedded in the corpse, she looked around at the villagers panicking and scrambling all around her.