Chapter 120 – Star Fall (3)

He could understand why Andre Gedroits created this setting. He was especially enthusiastic about details, after all. The man most likely wanted to create a new world, not just a game. The NPCs were created based on the behavior and mindset of real people, to the point where their practices could be considered taboo in terms of ethics and religion. And the world was created so that each and every one of them had a right to the world, with the ability to alter and improve it based on their individual capacities.

From the perspective of a player who was playing this game, it was definitely easier to become immersed in such a lively, breathing world. It was honestly past the level of immersion, rather to the point that it made the player wonder whether this was actually just a game or not.

[You don’t even have to go that far. Aren’t I living proof of that?]

‘You’ve been pretty quiet. Sleeping?’

[Similar. Maybe it’s because I actually have something to call my body now, but it’s getting harder to stay in this mode. Yawwnn. You don’t need me, right?]

‘Not yet?’

[Then imma go to sleep. I don’t want to be too tired to come out when my stupid vessel’s about to die again.]

With the sound of a loud yawn, the alienating feeling in his left arm disappeared. He was wondering why Hyde had been quiet recently. So that was the reason.

‘Just looking at Hyde, it’s certain that there is a sort of connection to reality. It’s not just a game. It has a purpose. For a game that was made before the world was destroyed, it’s still up and running just fine when everything else isn’t.’

My question is, if there is a purpose, why did they give so much freedom? Why? Exactly why did they give this much control over the game to the player and NPCs? If there’s a purpose, it’s natural for them to guide the game in that direction, but this… looked more like negligence no matter how you looked at it. Just spectating what the player and NPCs do to change the world however they want to. How could he find a purpose in a place like that?

‘If my assumption is right… then aura is a crazy skill that’s close to the ability to erase data. Of course, since the NPC’s individual capacity of ‘will’, or control over the game, is like a speck of dust compared to the world’s size, separating a boulder or metal is probably the best they could do. But if you think of it in another way, if a hero is born into the world and is actually able to push their will to the limit, wouldn’t it be possible to separate GG itself? Literally just cut the entire world in half?’

It wasn’t just a possibility. It looks like they made a large supernatural mass of will like the dragon to maintain order, but from what I know, there’s a hero even just in World 3 that could cut up a dragon if they really wanted to.

‘Was it from Emperor Qianliu’s World Clear video? Argalian Sword and Edeorna in its final form, when it swallowed up a whole dragon, duked it out and ended with both of them dying. The aura of a Dragon Slayer could basically be considered a system eraser. Not to mention that aura is a concept of power that extracts one’s own will and makes it a separate system from the game. Thinking about it that way, that must be why high-ranking knights have high magic defense and are able to refuse lower-level commands when their capacity in the system gets larger. They’re technically an entity that’s not included in the system. How’s it a game if you can’t move the NPCs the way you want to?’

I don’t know why that old man made a game like this. The more I move in the direction to clear the game, the more I find suspicious things about this game, but it only gets more confusing the more I learn about it.

“…I’ll need to look into it when I go to the Dome to help with their research. Those guys have been studying GG ever since their organization was formed. They should know at least something from pouring billions of Shillings into rankers in order to have exclusive rights to important information.”

Professor cut off his train of thought there. He only had a limited amount of information at the moment, so whatever more he thought of right now would only be assumptions at most. He only needed to remember two things. Aura is a skill that contains more than it shows, and he can apply those principles to magic as well. He can just shove that into the corner of the ‘Suspiciously Detailed GG’ category.

“Mmm… You must have realized something. Ask me if you need to. I can show it to you one more time.”

“It’s alright. You already look like you’ve used up a lot of energy. I’m sorry that I asked for too much when we’re in enemy territory.”

After the fourth Water Shield, Ottman looked noticeably fatigued. He wasn’t joking when he said it was inefficient.

“Hahahah! I am fine. It is actually better for a water mage to constantly use magic. Since water rots when stagnant. And according to what you said… we will be free from battle for the time being, no? Since those strange mutes are all around the city.”

“That’s true. I would have tried to go through if it looked possible… Is it possible for you to use your far-sight magic one more time?”

“My my… you really are pushing me. This one is not that difficult to learn, so practice it and try it yourself next time. [Numa Aselai’s Blue Iris]”

Ploop!

With the spell, two balls of water that looked like eyes appeared on top of Ottman’s hands. Ottman handed one of the two to Professor, and sent the other up into the air.

======

– takealook : That grandpa can do everything. Water Wall, Sinkhole, Water Shield, and even far-sight magic. Isn’t he a little too useful for a Level 5 mage?

– Jokass : He doesn’t have any attack spells.

– Noru_is_druig : Ye can’t attack with water without the ‘pressure’ attribute

– Speedwagon : You can consider him a specialized troop. He’s an all-rounder, but can’t fight as a main in battle.

======

Professor also agreed with what the people in the chatroom said. Ottman was definitely great up until now, but it was a shame that he didn’t have a large-area attack spell when they were about to go into a large-scale battle like this.

‘Everything about water magic is fine, but it definitely lacks power. Even if Ottman did have the ‘pressure’ awakening, he would have been done after making a few huge Water Walls with pressure added to them. They might be better for crowd control or utility, but their DPS is worse than a tank.’

Compared to that, fire magic was overwhelmingly better for attack magic.

They didn’t even have to be Level 5. Just being Level 4 would be enough to burn down an entire city by using a few agile allies and activating [Blaze Step] on them, then making them run around the city. And the more their Levels went up, they were able to add all sorts of effects to the basic Fireball, or with the right catalyst, they would be able to cast a Fire Rain, a shower of fireballs. Fire magic is what you would ideally want when thinking of a mage on the battlefield.

“Well, I can’t do anything about it. A straight-forward method isn’t going to work in this situation.”

“Hm? Who are you talking to?”

“Ah, I’m talking to myself.”

Muttering to himself, Professor brought the water eye Ottman gave him up to his eye. Inside the spherical blue fluid, he could see a video that seemed to be filming from high up in the sky.

The massive castle walls that Pelas boasted of were collapsed in places, and the inner city was in ruins as well.

‘I’ve expected this much. This city was captured by Rank 8 and 7 mutes… before any proper named mutes were created. There’s no way lower-ranked mutes would have thought of leaving the buildings unharmed in order to use them for defense. Even if we restore this place, it’s going to be difficult to expect the same level of defense as before. Although it would still be much better than building a base on bare land.’

But the problem was the unexpected number of high-ranking mutes that filled the streets.

Most were Rank 6 mutes, like large monsters such as ogres or trolls that were infected, but he also saw quite a few Rank 4 and 5 mutes, which had a mixture of traits from when they were born in the Nest in the north.

======

– Jokass : Isn’t that almost their main force? It’s different for Rank 6 and under, but there’s a production speed limit for Rank 5 and up.

– Undam_undam : Not to mention that they chose the small elite group strat, so the number of artificial wombs aren’t even a fourth of other seeds. That white caterpillar looking guy, it’s that, right? Tunnel Worm? I think they’re trying to get through by digging under with those.

– Speedwagon : Not really. NPCs aren’t that stupid. They were helpless back in Turan because it was their first time seeing the Tunnel Worms, but they have information now. They don’t even need to prepare beforehand, all they need is one earth mage and they can tell it’s coming from ten miles away.

– Undam_undam : But the mutes don’t know that. Can’t they just charge in like that?

– Mukaba : Savior’s Order, Insomnia Crab. They probably have all sort of channels they can get info from. The mutes in this seed invested a lot in that field. Can’t beat an info warfare in this one. They probably knew earlier than you did that the earth mages can sense the worms.

– Guns_n_Blood : Strategy wise, the opponent has an overwhelming advantage in every way except quantity. Speaking of espionage, most of the dark mage group is probably in their hands too. They’re shoving bugs that brainwash their host into enemy officials, and there’s no reason for them not to do the same to rebellious allies.

======

“Damn it, they’re playing dirty.”

Professor’s group wasn’t staying in a forest a day’s walk away from Pelas practicing magic and resting because they had time. Their ultimate objective was to assassinate the Queen. And if that was difficult, he was planning on at least opening up the road to the empty Pelas so that their allies had a bridgehead to advance north so he could be safe from Ro Haram’s church wrath, but Pelas, which had been his realistic objective, was in that state.

’…Do we really have to go around Pelas and shoot for the Queen? But we’ll get our heads chopped off if there’s even a single properly named combat-type mute. Wait, if there are this many in Pelas, then that means the Queen has the ability to produce all of them. Of course, she has enough forces to protect the nest. If we had to take a gamble, then Pelas would have a slightly higher chance. Is there anywhere we could sneak int…huh?’

Just when Professor was thinking about how he could at least stall the enemy’s reinforcements, something strange caught his eye.

“Thornbushes?”

He rubbed his eyes in case it was just a hallucination, but it was definitely thornbushes. He didn’t hear any rumors about the Pelas Lord having a hobby of raising plant-type monsters, so it must have been a change after the place was taken over by the mutes.

At the center of the city full of mutes, the Lord’s castle, on the highest tower, was a thornbush with a green, oil-looking substance dripping from it.

Shifting his gaze towards the roots of the plant, Professor felt a shiver run through his entire body at the afterimage that just disappeared from his vision.

“O-Ottman sir. Move the camera!”

“C…amera?”

“The eye! A little closer! Towards the Lord’s castle’s spire!”

“We are already at the limit! Any closer and a mute with a sharp eye or mana detection will…”

“We have to check that! It’s okay if we need to retreat, so move it a little closer!”

“Mmm… I warned you! If we don’t cancel the spell quickly, they’ll spot our location!”

Clck, clackr!

With the familiar sounds from hand motions, the screen he could see through the eye became clearer.

’…I see it!’

It was a moment, but he definitely saw it. The spire was wrapped with thick thorns, and in the room on the highest floor was a figure similar to a female human. The woman who wore the thorns like a ball gown was definitely…

Spt!

Just before the owner of the silhouette revealed themselves, the transparent eye in front of Professor disappeared.

“Curses! Someone broke the far-sight magic’s medium. That means they sensed our side. What will we do? They only know our rough direction, so they will most likely send scouts out first. Actually, it may be easier to hunt them little by little like this…”

“No, we retreat. At least a day’s distance at full speed.”

If what I saw was right, then they won’t just send patrols. The moment those mutes realized an enemy was nearby, they’ll charge here like angry bulls and flatten this entire area.

======

– Jokass : You have to kill that.

– Undam_undam : Gotta kill that even if your entire party dies.

– Speedwagon : Completely agreed. The exchange ratio is 10 : 1, no, 20 : 1. Of course, our side, with a half-developed Hero Unit and 3 sub-Hero level NPCs being the 1.

– takealook : Isn’t there something wrong here? There’s no reason for that to be out here.

======

The chatroom, which was looking at the same screen, was also in chaos. That was only natural. Even if the Queen in this seed was concentrated on creating high-ranked units, this shouldn’t be here.

“What exactly did you see that is making you this nervous? Retreat over a day’s worth of distance? Is the enemy that strong?”

“No. They’re probably the weakest mute out of all of the guys there.”

“Then why?”

“Because they’re important enough for the mutes to be protecting them even during a frontline battle.”

That explained why Pelas was crawling with high-ranking mutes. That… was the second-most important target to protect after the Queen.

Rank 1 mutes were as dangerous as named mutes, but it was because they were mass-producible that they were separated from the named mutes. There were only three known Rank 1 mute species. From them, this one was one that needed to be killed immediately, by any means possible, and could turn the tables immediately by killing just one.

“Ottman. The mages we sent back should have arrived in Tobrune, right?”

“They should have. They were about a four-day’s distance from Tobrune, so even with the procedure, the news should have reached the church.”

Then we wait. Until Senadis sent them a priest. Mages needed a special awakening in order to use communication magic, but priests were able to deliver news at any distance using a god as a medium.

‘We can’t raise their guard by attacking rashly. Nor can we let them escape. We need to kill that at all costs, even if it means bringing the reinforcements for the western frontline!’

The rest of the group that had been resting nearby hurriedly packed up at Professor’s urgent tone and rushed back the way they came.

Pap, pat!

“Captain, I heard you saw something important. What did you see that’s making your fur rise like this?”

“Chamber Maid.”

“A… maid?”

“Yeah. The Queen’s Maid.”

“Are they really that scary? They sound weak just from their name…”

“Incredibly scary. To the point where we can say we lost the war if we don’t kill it.”

“I mean, what does it exactly do…?”

Professor thought back to the silhouette he saw in the spire.

‘Rank 1 mute. Chamber Maid.’

It had no combat ability, but anyone who’s ever played World 3 or saw a video of it would select it as the second highest priority to kill after the Queen.

“That thing… makes mutes. Endlessly. Constantly.”

Rank 1 mute. The Chamber Maid was the Queen’s artificial womb that was born in the form of a mute. The Queen’s clone, which moves around freely, roots down in one spot, then sucks the life force out of her surroundings and produces a countless number of mutes.

But what he couldn’t understand was that this species’ purpose was the complete opposite of the elite group tactic that the mutes had been using until now.

‘No matter how great the Chamber Maids are, they’re still a lot less efficient compared to the nest where the Queen produces mutes herself. Those usually appear on seeds where the mutes choose quantity over quality and only come out when there are enough resources that the Queen in the north is struggling to use them all. But why are they coming out right now?’

The Chamber Maid was a mute that was considered closer to a production base than an entity. As a mute that the Queen has to give birth to and that uses up as much resources as a named mute and uses up even more resources to be seen as useful, it was a completely useless unit to the dirt poor Queen of this seed.

They chose small elite units because they were so poor. They used all sorts of strategies using specialized units.

And then they created the final stage unit for the swarm tactic, the Chamber Maid.

No matter how he thought about it, the cause and effect didn’t match up. But it was a fact that there was a Chamber Maid in front of them, and because they checked the troops protecting it, he couldn’t deny the truth.

In the current situation, the appearance of the Chamber Maid was the start of the worst-case scenario for humanity.

“I don’t know which bastard did it… but they managed to create matter.”

It meant the mutes were in a situation where they could use the swarm tactic now. That the named and specialized mutes will now be supported by countless mass-producible mutes.

‘They’re always ahead of us. They’re controlling the situation just one step ahead of us.’

It felt like Professor could hear the laughter of the mastermind that had been controlling the chain of events since Turan and Tobrune.

‘For now, we retreat and wait for the priest. There’s no way they didn’t send us one. Since we caught a Level 5 dark mage, they’ll need to send one to at least check on our status. We’ll first listen to what they have to say, then decide after figuring out the situation! We can’t even breathe in their direction until then!’

The only thought that went through his mind as they retreated was the hope that the priest would come as soon as possible so he could communicate with the church. He didn’t have any information. The western frontline’s status, the enemy’s movement, the Savior’s Order, or the important figures like Isaac that were being controlled by the mutes, and more! He had too many things he needed to know about.

Until he figured out the big picture, he wouldn’t be anything more than a chess piece on the gameboard of the mute’s tactician. In order to turn the tables, he first needed to look down at the board from the same perspective as his opponent.

TL’s note : Law of Conservation of Mass : matter cannot be created or destroyed, only rearranged.