Mysterious Game (8)
'Tch.'
Lena, who had hoped this blessing would belong to her alone, was less than pleased to see the villagers being infused with essence.
But her feelings were not worth considering. The Grand Lord turned the energy he had filled to bursting with Devour into essence and continued infusing it into the villagers.
"N-no... ghhhk?!"
"Aaaagh! Aaaah!!"
And the transformation was dramatic. Every villager who had been forcibly infused with essence twisted in grotesque agony and underwent a horrifying metamorphosis, each one releasing a shriek that seemed to tear the sky apart.
Their bodies warped and swelled in different directions, and their eyes rolled back until only the whites showed. The saliva frothing at their mouths turned black, and some even had black tendrils squirming out as their bodies tore open from within.
"W-why..."
Lena was genuinely startled by the sight and flinched back.
After being infused with essence, those people were screaming as if the world itself were ending, black tears of blood streaming down their faces from the sheer torment of it all. Their reaction was nothing like the change she had undergone after drinking that sweet, honey-like liquid.
[Ascalas • Minion(D)]
[Ascalas • Minion(D)]
Before long, more minions like Lena were created. Yet even though they were the same kind of minion, the difference between them was enormous.
They were monsters grotesquely twisted and contorted by essence. Unlike Lena, who had become the embodiment of resentment and rage, they had completely lost their former selves and were now nothing more than expendable tools that existed solely for the sake of the species.
[Move]
With that, the Grand Lord promptly issued a movement command to his forces. What remained behind were only corpses that had been devoured, along with the traces of a village ruined and smashed to pieces here and there.
Once Lena climbed back onto the Grand Lord again, he led the dozen-odd minions and headed for a nearby forest where they could hide themselves and rest.
The order had been carried out. It was time to rest.
***
"What on earth is the difference?"
After telling my boss I was quitting my part-time job as soon as possible, I got home and immediately turned on my phone to check everything that had happened while I was away.
The avatar had faithfully carried out the choices I’d entered in advance. It was currently hidden in a cave that looked to be near the village, and I frowned as I checked the status of the minions that had been created through essence infusion.
They were different from Lena, who had been the first to receive essence.
"There is a significant difference, is there not? Surely you can see it. Please, check for yourself."
Agares urged me to verify it directly. The method was simple. If I selected the faction, one of the UIs, I could see exactly who was under my command.
[Ascalas Minion(D) 18]
The total number of minions greatly increased this time through essence infusion was seventeen. Including Lena, that made eighteen.
But not a single one of those seventeen had retained a normal appearance or their sanity like Lena. All of them had twisted into something horrid.
"Compatibility."
I immediately understood that this was a matter of compatibility. Lena had exceeded 70 percent, while the newly created minions had not even reached 50 percent.
Ascalas Compatibility: A measure of how effectively and efficiently essence can be accepted
The compatibility explanation had clearly said that only those with high compatibility could properly accept and fuse with the power of essence.
In other words, those horrific forms were a kind of side effect caused when low-compatibility sacrifices could not endure the essence of Ascalas that had been infused into them. That was how I understood it.
"I suppose you’ve finally realized it. If you infuse essence into just anyone, all you end up doing is breeding twisted mutants. Does expanding the ranks of poor beasts with neither reason nor desire actually help you in the end?"
"Then maybe you could’ve told me that sooner."
I clicked my tongue at Agares’ words. It wasn’t as if I had a strategy guide, so stumbling through trial and error was inevitable, but it still stung to realize I’d made such an inefficient mistake.
"Of course, what’s already happened can’t be undone. As always, you must keep moving forward with the limited resources in your hand. Now that the avatar has recovered all its fatigue, let us move again. What you do and how you do it—all of that lies in your hands."
"Fine."
I adjusted my posture for a proper game session and tidied up around me. Since I’d quit my part-time job anyway, I was going to focus on nothing but this game.
Agares had advised me to live in the real world, but if I wanted a life in the real world, I first had to achieve results in this game. Only then could I get back on a team and play as a pro again.
"The goal of the game is to grow stronger and win through competition."
I reminded myself of the purpose of this game, Pandemonium. In the midst of chaotic disorder, users had to form factions centered on their avatars and win every kind of competition. That was clearly the point.
"That is correct. The purpose of this game is a death game played by seventy-two players who, like you, desire miracles. To those who triumph in competition, rewards shall come. To those who fail, the reality of being cast aside awaits."
Agares agreed with me as well.
Win the competition? That was surprisingly ordinary, painfully obvious, and something I had already lived through.
That was true not only of other games, but of reality itself. Right now I was already living the fate of someone who had to compete against other players, fighting other athletes in yet another contest of victory.
And I wasn’t the only one. Everyone living in this age was, in the end, competing against one another—to survive, and not to be discarded.
"For now, I just need to keep moving."
Back in the game, I made my decision after thinking it through. In this game, I had to find every event and quest on my own. So I couldn’t just sit still.
"Maybe something will turn up if I keep traveling."
⊳ [Through the testimony of the local Lena, you have learned what lies around here and what kind of place this is.]
Through Lena’s testimony as a local, I’d learned roughly what was around this area and what kind of place it was. It was the very edge of the edge, but that didn’t mean it was truly empty.
I moved the avatar into the surrounding forest first. My avatar—no, the Ascalas species—devours everything it can devour.
[A wandering wolf pack]
What I came across was a hungry pack of wolves. Even those ordinary wolves had an exclamation mark floating above them.
[1. Hunt]
[2. Ignore]
The choices attached to the exclamation mark were simple. Would I attack the wolf pack, which hadn’t yet noticed my avatar and minions approaching, or would I ignore it?
And my choice was, naturally, option 1: Hunt. That was the whole point—to search for prey and gain sustenance.
More importantly, even the fox spirit—supposedly a supernatural being—had low compatibility, and humans had also had low compatibility, so this was a chance to see whether compatibility varied by race or intelligence.
"Your avatar and minions have begun chasing the wolves. The wolves initially try to stand their ground, but soon instinctively feel the difference in power and flee."
In the quickly changing screen, my avatar approached as cautiously as possible, exactly as Agares described, and the moment it was spotted, it charged at full speed toward the wolves.
The wolves panicked and fled across the forest path.
But my avatar was relatively large, and in a forest full of obstacles it was hard to build up speed. Contrary to my growing anxiety, the distance kept widening.
[Hunt Failed]
"Damn it..."
Then the word failed appeared. My hand trembled in disbelief. If I’d fought them, I would’ve won easily, but I never imagined I’d fail simply because I couldn’t catch them.
"What happens now? How does a monster even run away?"
"You’ve failed. Well, it happens. You can’t succeed at every choice in life. But there is a price to pay. Stored nutrients decrease, and command decreases. When the ruler of fear fails to inspire fear, naturally, dominion weakens."
I muttered in disbelief, but once water has been spilled, it can’t be gathered back up. I’d have to think of another way.
[1. Think of a way to catch the wolves. Restore command]
[2. Give up and leave. Command decreases further]
"..."
Then the choices appeared again, and I fell silent at the sight of them. In the end, it was another decision. At least I ought to be grateful for being given a choice at all. There wasn’t even that in reality.
In the end, I chose option 1. Giving up here and losing more command would hurt too much.
[1-1. Set a trap and wait]
[1-2. Keep chasing until they tire out]
[1-3. Send out bait to lure them in]
This time, several options appeared. I hesitated again. There was no right answer. Any of them could be right, and any of them could be wrong.
But I would have to bear the responsibility.
[1-1. Set a trap and wait]
There, I chose the first thing that came to mind. Chasing them had already failed, so it was time to change the method.
"Even a lion gives its all when hunting a rabbit. After all, no matter how weak something looks, it’s never easy to just take it for free."
"You’re not even a lion."
As I watched my avatar start moving after drinking the coffee I’d prepared in advance, Agares muttered the remark like a jab. I grumbled in annoyance, but there was no way he’d even pretend to hear me.
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