The Mysterious Game (7)

"Achievement brings reward. That's the basic rule of a game, isn't it? Tap to claim your reward."

"..."

At the end of the brutal slaughter, the quest was complete. And the reward window appeared: the prearranged Mythic Essence, along with experience points.

"Once experience builds up beyond a certain threshold, you can exchange it for stats. Do you understand what that means?"

"It means I should find quests and clear them however I can."

"You seek out quests, choose them, and then accomplish them."

As I muttered blankly, Agares supplied the answer for me. Of course, it wasn't any different from what I'd said.

"To grow stronger, you need experience; to get experience, you need quests; and to get quests, you need to move. This seems like a satisfactory trial version, don't you think? So please, continue enjoying the game like this. And imagine it—the desire you can obtain with Mythic Essence."

Mythic Essence. Agares emphasized it with particular relish. The blue liquid sitting in a glass vial was no more to me than holy water that would bring about miracles.

When I tapped the 150 I'd accumulated so far, another window opened. And the moment I saw it, my eyes shook violently.

It was some kind of shop. Not just any shop, either. It wasn't even a shop related to the game.

Character mastery, reflexes, vision—all of them were important in the game I played as a pro. There were even stats like appearance and composure, which ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠weren't just for the game but for pro life itself.

Could all this really be a lie? Even now, I glanced at my wrist, which didn't hurt at all. My heart, beating a little faster, was enough to cover over even the horrific scene I'd just witnessed.

This is... just a game.

"What is this? Fatigue?"

For no real reason, I started to feel rushed and decided to keep playing even though it was almost 3 a.m. But the instant I touched the screen to move the avatar, a message popped up.

"Ah, of course there has to be a system like that. Think about it. Time is a resource too. Which means there would be differences between ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠users. That would undermine the fairness of a game that exists solely to test the choices of fate."

Agares, chiming in on his own, explained what it meant. In other words, they weren't going to let me sit here clinging to the game twenty-four hours a day.

"As your rank rises, your resistance to fatigue will also increase, so don't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠worry too much. Consider it a kindness to your real life. You finally obtain a miracle that can change reality and fate with Mythic Essence, and yet you'd just stay shut in at home, glued to your phone?"

"Ha!"

His words caught me off guard, and I let out a dry laugh. What nonsense. A game worrying about a user's real life? Looking at the screen, I already felt certain this so-called "rest" was absolutely not for my sake.

"Are you worried that, while you recover from fatigue and live your real life, your avatar and faction will be left unattended? Don't worry. An avatar that falls into fatigue mode enters auto mode and automatically recovers its fatigue. And if an emergency comes up, you'll receive a notification like this."

With a ding, a notification arrived at the top of my smartphone. It was a notice that the avatar had entered fatigue recovery mode, and it would take a whopping six hours of real time to recover completely.

"While your avatar is recovering fatigue in auto mode, you can choose what it'll do in advance. Pick something, and now return to real life."

Before I shut the game off, several options flashed up all at once. After selecting them in advance, I finally turned my phone off completely.

In the darkened room, there was now no sound and no light.

This is reality.

With a strangely hollow feeling, I flopped back onto the bed. Agares's voice about living my real life seemed to keep buzzing in my ears even after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I pulled out the earphones.

But then I fell asleep just like that. The exhaustion of unfamiliar part-time work and of staying up until dawn with my phone had hit me hard too.

***

"There is no stopping. Naturally."

Agares's voice echoed out, impossible for anyone to hear now that the game had been turned off. It was clearly not a remark meant for anyone's ears.

And yet the giant spider standing in the middle of the village began to move, as though it had heard him. It was the spider that had slaughtered dozens of people. Even so, it had not changed in the slightest.

"Great Lord."

A girl approached the spider.

Her long, dark hair reached her waist, and she was no longer skin and bone, no longer plagued by chronic illness. With crimson eyes gleaming in her face, she drew near without hesitation to the spider that was in no way suited to such a beautiful girl.

"I did what you ordered. I blocked the roads and killed and subdued everyone trying to run."

She naturally knelt before the spider. Looking up at the creature looming over her, her eyes were full of devotion.

After all, this spider was the savior who had rescued her and the judge who had exacted her revenge. She had given up all hope for the world; there was no reason not to serve it.

"You said to bring everything back, alive or dead?"

She could communicate with the spider. Anyone who saw it would be horrified, would recoil in disbelief. But the girl, far from being afraid, was delighted and proud that she could understand the spider's intent.

"I brought it all back, Great Lord."

The girl and the spider began gathering the bodies of the slain villagers together. Since the spider used tentacles capable of crushing even a large cow in a single blow, it didn't take long.

The girl, Lena, was no different. She dragged not only the tentacles that had sprouted from her back but even grown men heavier and larger than herself all the way here.

"Uuugh... aaah..."

Among the people gathered here, without distinction of age or gender, there were some who had been injured but were still barely clinging to life.

Left where they lay, they were all but dying, able only to groan weakly.

"Hmm. Looks like Old Man Kal isn't here, and Aunt Bona and Yuta are missing too... I guess they escaped."

Using her memory, Lena realized that several villagers who should have been here were absent. Of course, it was impossible for just the two of them to wipe out a village of nearly a hundred people.

But the spider, the Great Lord, paid no attention to what had already passed. It merely moved as programmed, as instructed.

Using its tentacles to bring the corpses to its mouth, the spider drove its massive fangs in and drank every last drop of their fluids. In the same instant, that restored the Great Lord's strength and regenerated its injuries.

Recovery through Devour. That was one of the traits of the greedy Ascalas race.

"I-I'll..."

The Great Lord handed one of the corpses to Lena. She too was Ascalas now. Human food no longer meant anything to her.

Seeing the dead woman's body—a woman with her face smashed in—thrown before her, Lena's expression wavered. Killing and eating were different things. She had gone mad with anger and resentment and killed the villagers, yes, and she had consumed the essence of Ascalas and gone beyond humanity, yes, but the foundation of her being was still the human she had built over the last dozen-odd years.

"Hiiik!"

But the instant she hesitated, the Great Lord's presence, which had been reducing corpse after corpse to nothing but bone and hide, changed abruptly.

One tentacle slammed down beside her, and thick, murderous intent burst forth.

"I-I'll eat it! I'll eat it!"

With tears welling in her eyes, Lena felt her life threatened and, seized by terror, nodded furiously like a madwoman.

To the Great Lord, I'm nothing but a subordinate.

Lena felt the relationship between herself and the Great Lord to the bone. Regardless of how she thought of it as her savior and her judge, to that enormous spider with not the slightest trace of emotion, she was only a single minion.

If a minion showed an inefficient side by being swayed by feelings, it would be disposed of on the spot.

"Ngh."

In the end, she had to eat. Desperately turning her mind over, she thought up a method. Using one of Ascalas's shared traits—its tentacles—she transformed her hand into a tentacle, stabbed it into the corpse, injected another of the race's traits, poison, and began to absorb it.

"Ha, haha! I ate it all!"

At last, she finished her first meal. Her expression was strange, as though she were crying and laughing at the same time, and she trembled as the power filling her insides brought both exhilaration and nausea.

"Uu, aaah... aaaaaah!"

But that was not the end. Devouring the corpses ended there. Now, following its next command, the Great Lord dragged the wounded toward itself.

Infusing essence that could transform another living being into Ascalas was a power granted only to the Great Lord.

Following the preloaded instructions, the Great Lord forcibly poured essence into every villager who still had a pulse.