Mysterious Game (4)

"Your avatar used its forelegs and tentacle attack to eliminate the juvenile goblins in an instant."

I was so dumbfounded I lost my voice. I hadn’t expected it to attack by shooting tentacles out of its back. It had won easily, just as expected, but I still stared at the writhing avatar as it skewered the goblins, my eyes unsteady.

"Now, then. It’s time to make another choice."

Still, I couldn’t just stand there forever. As Agares had said, the options appeared again.

"You can activate the two skills your avatar possesses. Which one would you like to use?"

This time, the option that appeared, true to the tutorial, was urging me to try using a skill.

What I saw when I checked the skills wasn’t simple at all. The description about devouring and turning things into nourishment was understandable enough, but the part about infusing essence to raise minions needed a moment to sink in.

Sure enough, Agares had mentioned factions while creating the avatar. The avatar’s stat Dominion was also related to that.

"There are countless ways to form a faction. There’s no single correct answer, you see. Your avatar’s abilities are one such method."

Agares’s voice drifted to me as if he had read my mind.

"You’d do well to use them as effectively as possible. After all, the ultimate goal is for your faction to triumph in every contest and bring order to this chaotic age."

"...Then I’ll start with Devour."

I chose Devour for now. I understood what it meant to infuse essence and create minions, but I didn’t see any urgent reason to turn those goblins into servants right this second.

Instead, my avatar quickly devoured their corpses, stockpiling essence and recovering health.

"You’ve cleared the tutorial."

"It’s over already?"

"At this point, I believe you’ve grasped the basics. Let me repeat myself: in this game, what matters isn’t control or strategy guides, but the choices you make."

And that was the end of the tutorial. Still absentmindedly listening to Agares’s voice, I touched the blue vial that appeared on the screen. It was then neatly added to the pile in the lower corner of the display, where it built up into the number 100.

It clearly said Mythic Essence.

"What matters is collecting that Mythic Essence through achievements. It’s a precious currency, after all. You can buy not just things in the game, but things you need in real life as well."

You can buy things I need in real life too. At Agares’s casual remark, my body jerked. My wrist, no longer hurt, held the phone firmly in place.

"Still, to think you’d end the tutorial so abruptly."

"If I may offer a hint, it would be wise to find as many exclamation marks as possible first—the starting points of each story."

By then it was already dawn, but I had forgotten even to sleep and kept playing. Following Agares’s advice, with him still lingering at my side to help me, I began moving my avatar aimlessly through the forest after the tutorial ended.

The first thing I headed toward was the spoils left behind by the goblins I’d just watched get eaten. And in this moment, investing in Insight proved its worth. As I examined the details my avatar uncovered, more and more information spilled out in a stream.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Using the information given to determine your course of action and make a choice... that is your fundamental task."

The information that surfaced didn’t tell me where the next quest was or what I should do. It simply listed facts.

Frowning at the implication that I had to make the judgment myself, I calmly worked my brain.

"So they must be stolen goods."

And that was as far as my conclusion went. Those goblins—ferocious enough to bare their hostility openly toward my avatar, one they’d never seen ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before—had clearly stolen those iron swords from somewhere. If that was true, then the where and how had to come next.

...The direction they came from.

Deciding I had to move anyway, I sent the avatar onward. North, in the direction the goblins had descended from. I hoped the people they’d robbed might still be there.

"I can see it up ahead."

"As I thought."

While the avatar was moving, I shrank the field of view as much as possible and checked the map. Sure enough, a single exclamation mark was glowing in the direction I was heading.

My avatar, clearing a forest path silently as it shoved aside shrubs and undergrowth with a body the size of a midsize car, approached the exclamation mark and examined it. Once again, Insight activated and fed me information.

"Were they attacked by those goblins earlier?"

Somewhat flustered, I kept alternating between reading the information and looking at the screen. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around how a party that had weapons and still got reduced to such a gruesome mess—so badly torn apart their innards were scattered everywhere—could have been done in by only five goblins, ones who’d likely been unarmed. And why was the woman lying in the center the only one who’d been bound?

Still, that wasn’t all the Insight revealed. When I scrolled down, there was another line beneath it.

"So there’s someone else who truly wiped them out? The goblins only stole things."

Finally, Insight picked up even the faint traces left on the ground. Tiny footprints. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠They were stamped down roughly, as if someone had run away. Those footprints had strayed off the path and led deeper into the forest.

And there, another choice appeared. I didn’t know what determined the options, but it was clear they showed up at important moments.

[Pursue it]

I chose the first option there. This time, rather than acting on any clear evidence or certainty, I could only follow my instincts.

"Your avatar is moving quickly in the chosen direction. At the same time, the fresh greenery of the forest ends, and you enter a place where the thick, towering old trees—so massive and long they seem to pierce the sky—cast a gloomy shadow. Deeper in this dark, damp forest, where no one can say what lies ahead... I hear something."

Agares, who was speaking only through his voice, murmured as if he found this entertaining. Ignoring him, I searched for the exclamation mark on the screen, now reduced as much as possible.

"There it is."

Before long, another exclamation mark appeared in front of me. In my impatience, I tapped repeatedly, and the avatar’s speed increased a little more.

"I sense hostility ahead."

"I know that."

I bit my lip at Agares’s explanation. What I could hear through the earphones was unmistakably screaming. It was only a game, yes, but this was a little different. I couldn’t keep myself from becoming fully immersed, and I urged the avatar to move faster.

Soon, the enemy came into view. It was a giant fox, still snarling at a crack in the rocks when it spotted my avatar charging toward it like a mad beast, and for a moment it seemed startled.

"A sacred beast corrupted by the magi seeping into the earth and the air has lost its reason and now recognizes your avatar as an enemy."

After that, there was no time for calculation. The fox bared its teeth at me, and at the same time, the game shifted into the battle phase.

"A sacred ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beast that has lost its reason and gone berserk will not give you its back. It charges at your avatar as an enemy."

The fox was roughly the same size as my avatar. Its thick fur made it look even larger. Confident in its own bulk, it opened its mouth wide and hurled itself forward without hesitation.

"...!!"

But my avatar was no ordinary spider. Using its forelegs like blades or spears, my avatar raised a hard, armored limb and blocked the fox’s bite.

"The sacred beast’s teeth pierced the carapace and began to drive in, but it was only one leg."

Unlike me, who was tense, Agares snorted in amusement. At once, four black tentacles erupted from the armor on the avatar’s back and seized the startled fox, boring into its body.

The fox released the bitten leg and screamed horribly as it thrashed to break free, but the tentacles already wrapped around it would not loosen.

"The avatar advances toward the foolish prey now restrained."

The avatar began to press ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the tentacled, struggling fox down with steady force. The fox finally collapsed onto the ground, still fighting, and the avatar pinned its neck and waist with its forelegs, fully subduing it.

"Its body is too large to kill outright by force. The avatar’s third skill is activated."

The avatar bared pitch-black fangs thicker and larger than most human arms. Then it drove them deep into the fox’s pinned, motionless body.