Chaotic Times (8)
"You've scored a major victory, and now it's back to a lull. Are you planning to rest as well?"
"Where would I find the time to rest, in my current situation?"
What came after intense activity was a period of rest; that was true both before growth and after it. I checked on the Great Lord and Karin, who were inside their cocoons undergoing evolution, then shut the game down. But I wasn't resting. If anything, the real work was only beginning.
"If you've invested that much, you should start seeing results you can actually notice now."
"...Right."
Agares tossed that in after I used the Mythic Essence I'd obtained this time to buy items. And I didn't deny it.
This miracle that raised my stats in reality was undeniably real. I'd felt it in my own body, so I knew that better than anyone.
Even so, it still wasn't enough. I hadn't even truly begun yet. My desire to "succeed" as a player still burned on, desperate to be satisfied, impossible to extinguish.
So I wasn't going to hesitate anymore. I wasn't going to calculate and weigh every little thing, not anymore, now that I'd seen people die and get hurt.
"It's been a while, Director Kim."
"Oh... Has it? To be honest, I'm a little surprised."
That was when Director Kim Seokju, who worked as a scout for the first team, called me.
"The condition was to stay in the top ten of the rankings for a week, if I remember correctly. But I never expected you'd... hit first place."
"Not anymore, though."
As I answered the call, I snorted when I saw my ranking had dropped by two spots. I'd ridden a long winning streak all the way to first place, but in the brief time I'd paused the game, second place had snatched it back.
"If you get back into the game, I'm sure you'll rise again. You've been in such good form lately. That's why I called ahead like this, but should we just meet and talk? I think you've already done more than enough."
"I have no reason to refuse."
Director Kim suggested we meet in person. I'd exceeded the week-long top-ten condition he'd set for me.
"I've been keeping an eye on you. I don't know how you suddenly improved so much, but..."
Right before hanging up, he clicked his tongue and remarked that my skill had risen drastically compared to the past. I found that answer strangely satisfying. It felt like I was being rewarded for everything I'd done.
"Congratulations. You've achieved another feat in the real world."
"There's plenty more to come."
After arranging the exact time and place to meet Director Kim tomorrow, I hung up, launched Pandemonium, and Agares appeared, applauding me.
This time as well, just like before, I could use what I'd achieved in reality as a reward inside Pandemonium.
"Which means I need more Mythic Essence. I won, sure, but even in the game I honestly didn't overpower my opponent all that often."
"Of course. Your units need more experience, too. And what they need for that is simple: energetic, efficient gameplay."
Once Pandemonium started again, the familiar screen appeared. The stretch of land woven with spider silk and other threads—the place that had now become our fully formed nest.
Inside the nest, I could see my allied soldiers, frozen like statues as they rested.
"Your second, Karin, has grown again by using the experience she built up herself over the past few days, along with the experience you granted her, and has finally succeeded in evolving."
Karin, who had led the raid on the city and become one of our own. Retaining her sense of self, she had reached the warrior stage, then used her own growth potential along with my investment to evolve one step further, just like Lena had done before her.
In my eyes, I could see Karin tearing out of her cocoon. I chose Priestess for her, one of the higher tiers among Knight, Priestess, Shaman, Host, and Artillery, after she had evolved one step up from Warrior and become qualified to receive it.
From what I'd gathered, a Priestess was a high-ranking unit with special abilities suited to supporting allies. Lately, large-scale battles had been breaking out again and again, so I had been feeling the need for support specialized in that kind of warfare.
"She's showing herself."
Before long, she'd completely torn through the cocoon and emerged into view, drenched and slick with moisture. Her face was flushed red as before, but her outward appearance had changed a little.
Black carapace no longer covered her body. In its place, she wore something light and flowing, almost like a dress.
She staggered to her feet, ground her teeth, and then forcefully unfurled something draped across her back like a cape.
"Wings..."
It was a pair of wings larger than her own body. Unlike Lena's wings, these weren't transparent, and they were far bigger. They were the wings of a black butterfly, patterned with markings like crimson eyes.
"Your army, which was once merely a pack of beasts, has grown stronger through victory and devouring, gradually taking on proper shape."
Hearing Agares's voice layered over the sight of Karin breathing hard with her brilliant wings spread wide made my heart thump for no good reason.
I could be certain now that this wasn't some illusion.
We were all linked together through the Great Lord, and because of that, we could feel one another's hearts. So the exhilaration and sense of fullness I felt now, she was surely feeling it too.
"But you don't have time to stand around dazed. As the one at the center of all this, you should continue making your choices."
[1. Retaliate against the Brant Barony]
[2. Move through the forest and attack another territory]
[3. Consolidate strength inside the forest]
Choice prompts appeared one after another.
I'd already seen what kind of end units met when the player made the wrong decision, so I needed to choose far more carefully.
***
"Looking at your face, I suppose I don't need to say anything, do I?"
"No, you don't. This is more than enough."
Deep inside the nest, where cocoons for growth filled the place, Karin had steadied herself and was looking at Lena as she approached, smiling faintly as she nodded.
Lena had also fully recovered from all her injuries. They didn't need to say how impressive it was, or how happy they felt; they knew one another better than anyone else did.
Tch.
Only Lena, arms folded as she watched with a sullen tilt to her expression, didn't seem especially pleased. She thought it was a fair decision, but seeing the experience invested into Karin had sparked a prick of jealousy.
It was good for the strength of the group as a whole to grow, of course, but from Lena's point of view, it was irritating to see the attention she wanted all to herself get split apart like this.
"What are you so worried about? If you keep leading the charge and earning glory in future battles, then of course he'll favor you most."
"I wasn't worried."
But when Karin saw right through her, Lena flinched and quickly shook her head. Karin only smiled at that, as if she found it all too obvious.
"You know it too, Lena. He's given us another command."
"Yeah."
"The Brant Barony is a tiny territory tucked away in the borderlands. Its knights and soldiers aren't exactly exceptional, to the point where they were willing to let a mere mercenary company form the core of the punitive force."
Karin changed the subject. She was talking about the "choice" that had just been handed down to them. Of course, they wouldn't be charging out immediately.
They would move only after the Great Lord and all their forces had finished growing and recovering. But even that would be fast. The humans, after suffering another defeat, hadn't even properly regrouped yet.
"He said not to attack Rhoden, which we've already destroyed, but somewhere else. Why is that?"
"Well, I suppose Rhoden's already worthless... maybe that's part of it."
Lena frowned and asked plainly whenever she didn't know something. The Great Lord's order was to attack the Brant Barony, but not the small city of Rhoden, which they'd already taken once before; instead, they were to hit another city farther away.
Still, Karin's essence was that of an ordinary country woman at heart. She was better than Lena had been when she was still an immature girl, but she still lacked the experience to draw strategic conclusions from limited information.
"It's probably true that Rhoden has no value left, but the city we're attacking is also a key route straight to the lord's castle."
It was he who stepped in and answered them.
A burly man who had torn his way out of a cocoon. His entire body was wrapped in thick armor, and from within the black helmet of a warrior that covered his head, a rough but intelligible human voice emerged.
"The lord's castle?"
Karin, who had smiled at Lena as though she were a little sister, hardened her expression and sneered when she looked at him.
Robinson, a mercenary who had fallen for her seduction, surrendered of his own accord, and become an Ascalas warrior. But unlike Lena or Karin, he hadn't possessed the suitability to fully retain a human-like appearance.
"The situation on the continent is getting ugly. War, conflict, occupation, rebellion... that's just what I've picked up so far. Even before this, things were already unstable. I used to wonder why the world had suddenly become such a chaotic mess, but now I know the reason. It's because of beings like us."
Whatever Lena and Karin thought of him, Robinson's red eyes glittered from within his beetle-like helmet as black saliva dripped from his mouth while he spoke his mind.
"I can guarantee that even if the Brant Barony falls entirely into our hands, there won't be any real trouble. The neighboring powers will naturally keep an eye on us, sure, but the powers that don't border us will probably laugh and call it an opportunity instead."
"Why?"
"Because they think we'll eliminate their rivals for them!"
He laughed through rough breaths at Lena's tilt of the head.
"He's truly wise. When those arrogant fools look down on us and leave us to rot, thinking of us as nothing more than tools to clear out their competitors, we gladly devour the prey placed before us and grow even stronger. Without limit!"
With fiery eyes, he looked down at his own hands. It didn't matter that he had completely lost his human form. All he wanted was strength. That was all.