The Unnatural Storm
As soon as Yogur-tosoth entered, it was all over.
The enemy world had been a culture-based world from the start. After years of relentless torment, it was so utterly devastated that its people had no strength left to resist.
Unlike previous players, they could not even make a final stand. They could only despair, sob helplessly, or drive knives and arrowheads into their own throats.
The people’s faces and physical condition were already poor. They had been broken in body and mind. The once-splendid buildings, the carvings and paintings on rock and wood, the many dolmens raised at great cost, the ornaments woven from bone and stone—every trace of their civilization’s precious cultural heritage was ruthlessly obliterated.
No one could defy the storm Yogur-tosoth summoned. The megaliths they had stacked, the artworks they had labored over, the records they had passed down by word and writing—all of it was simply ground to dust beneath overwhelming power.
It could not be called a natural sight. Abnormal creatures, abnormal methods, an all-too unnatural spectacle.
Am I enjoying the sight of the iguana race—who are not even human—and whatever unknown species they had alongside them being swept into that unnatural storm, collapsing and dying?
Or am I merely thinking that what should happen is happening?
Or am I feeling pity?
……Pity?
What difference is there between the game’s NPCs and the “people” who built that civilization down there?
If I call them more precious, then I am the son of a bitch who slaughters precious beings. If I say they are no different from NPCs, then I am the son of a bitch who views game data and living people as the same. Either attitude is no different from that of a Demon King.
It is not so much that I have grown sentimental. There is simply nothing else for this clone to do.
The remaining consciousnesses are restoring my ecosystem that has fallen below ten thousand points. My role is to observe the enemy ecosystem while monitoring Yogur-tosoth’s battle. The time flow this particular clone experiences is set to real-time, so I have plenty of leisure.
It is the clone in charge of humanity. The one I could not erase. One of the seven I currently possess. Someday it will be one among dozens, and before long it will vanish completely.
Is this an important issue for the organizers?
“Strategy?”
“Now that you mention it, you never really try to stop or criticize my actions. You sneer a little, but it never sounds like mockery.”
The angel gave a strange, subtle smile.
Well. That would be a bit much. After all, I prefer it when she jokes, plays along, and makes a fuss.
……Is this bastard actually analyzing my personality and deliberately performing the exact attitude I find most tolerable? Now that I think about it, that excessively likable appearance is starting to bother me.
The angel continued speaking as if none of it mattered.
“I suppose so.”
“Yes. That is correct. After all, this game ends after thirty rounds. Points can be earned, of course. The organizers have already simulated and created the best possible world. Even if a player somehow scores more than a billion times that amount, they can pay the points without batting an eye. You may be completely at ease on that front.”
If they declare it so confidently, I have no choice but to believe. The stage where I would have refused to believe had already been passed. Had I not believed, I would not have participated.
The organizers possess power so vast it defies imagination, and to them the rewards offered in this game are truly insignificant.
That being the case, the most important thing right now is this:
I believe Yogur-tosoth’s massacre and destruction are necessary.
Because I must win. That is enough.
The legendary symbol that single-handedly devastated half my ecosystem. The iguana human Sikadoz stares up at the sky with a hollow face.
His seemingly infinite Charm has been completely exhausted. His splendid garments and everyone who once revered him are gone. All that remains is a shabby, empty shell with no magic power left to resist.
Yogur-tosoth answers by unleashing the most powerful storm at his command and grinding the being into nothing.
[Yogur-tosoth] has passed the Hero’s Trial.
[Yogur-tosoth] has passed the Battle Mage’s Trial.
You have won the world collision against player ‘Elguano’ and three other players.
The player’s world expands.
With that, the destruction was complete. The enemy world had been annihilated beyond any hope of rebuilding civilization, and the Dessert Legion had driven out nearly all native life.
One of my personality clones began evolving the surviving native creatures to fit the newly added ecosystem. Another clone worked on modifying the god fragments from the conquered land and integrating them into my own world.
It is a strange thing to watch. I know I am the one doing it—technically all of “me” are—but seeing the other versions of myself repair the world from entirely different perspectives feels oddly fascinating.
Still, as the clone responsible for humanity, community relations, and diplomacy, I had work to do.
"It is an honor, my creator."
“You passed the promotion test. However, I will postpone the actual promotion. We do not yet know what the next disaster will be.”
"As my creator wishes."
Although I could promote him immediately after passing the test, the maintenance cost would be enormous. Experience would continue to accumulate, so it was better to wait. Whether promotion would force him into hibernation or require some ritual was unknown, but since the process only required my choice, there was no problem.
Yogur-tosoth returned to the Nectar Well as ordered by my clone, both to spread nectar across the world and to replenish himself.
Moving at all has become rather cumbersome now that the world has grown larger. Yogur-tosoth can fly at roughly sixty to seventy kilometers per hour, which is not truly slow, yet not fast enough to traverse the entire world at will.
The Nectar Well itself is difficult to expand further due to its terrain, and the nectar does not flow easily. Setting that concern aside, I reviewed my tasks as the central personality.
First, management of the heavily damaged Nectar Oasis and Gummy Coral Reef. Abhojuth is performing well, but the oasis genuinely needs to be larger.
Second, management of the freshwater lake and river ecosystems. This is critical. From what I can see, ninety percent of the life there was wiped out—perhaps even driven to extinction—by Sikadoz’s beams. Since entering the Nectar Oasis would have meant facing a swarm of Bisyakheet, he focused obsessively on the lakes and has brought them to the brink of total collapse.
Third, management of the existing cactus forest and valley. This too is disastrous. I never imagined the desert forest would be ruined so thoroughly… At least restoration is proceeding smoothly.
Fourth, editing the terrain and ecosystem of the newly acquired land. There is a mountain there as well, so I must decide whether to merge it with the existing one or leave it separate. Naturally, the ruined ecosystem must be restored.
Fifth, management, repair, study, and consultation with Sesaisa regarding the Spiritual Realm and the newly discovered territory.
Sixth, as compensation, consulting on Sesaisa’s world, which has no doubt been thrown into chaos.
Seventh, overall improvement of weaknesses in preparation for disaster.
After the fifth collision, once the protection period ends, the game does not move to a sixth collision. It enters the “disaster phase.” An event that occurs every multiple of five, in other words.
The timing of disasters can be predicted, but their nature cannot. Failure to overcome a disaster results in an unavoidable penalty trait—something horrific like Eternal Famine, Eternal Night, or Eternal Madness.
I must prepare my ecosystem to endure it alone. And after that, I must also win the sixth collision that follows.
Assigning each of these seven tasks to a different clone solves the immediate problem. There is, however, one remaining issue.
Sesaisa. Is that bastard still alive?
The moment the thought crossed my mind, a message arrived.
What is he so shocked about? It’s not like he didn’t meddle with my world first, yet he’s throwing a fit…
Anyway, I crossed over to Sesaisa’s world.
And for a moment I watched what those damn elephants were doing…
I suppressed the boiling rage in my chest and began tending to Sesaisa’s ecosystem. At the same time, Sesaisa started tearing apart and reconstructing my own magnificent ecosystem with terrifying efficiency.
Yes. I have to win, so I must endure it. Now… where should I start?