Episode 16 – Choices (1)
“I need a more detailed explanation.”
Just the fact that there were other players in this game besides me—in a kind of multiplayer mode—was shocking.
But those players were definitely not ordinary ones.
If they were ordinary players, the player who just lost to me wouldn’t have sent such an urgent message.
[It’s true that numerous players across the universe are participating in this game.]
“Across the universe? Numerous?”
Thankfully, the system message began to answer my question, though I couldn’t comprehend it all at once.
What was a game made by an American company Beyond doing with space talk?
[It’s also true that participating comes at the cost of one’s life.]
“Damn, so if you lose, you really die? Just because of a game?”
The system message continued its explanation. Whether it was fair or not, the condition that all players would die upon game failure applied equally to everyone.
By this point, it was inevitable to be curious.
“Why does a game like this even exist?”
It was a fundamental question. I wondered if others were dragged into this like me, and if there were dark forces enjoying our misery.
[All players except you have voluntarily joined the game.]
But my prediction was wrong. I was baffled by the statement about voluntary participation and could only mumble one word.
“Why?”
Why would someone risk their life to participate in a game?
A multiplayer mode introduces countless variables, making victory impossible for even seasoned players every time.
[Players who win the game can claim everything they’ve achieved. Those who recognize the value of this and seek to claim it voluntarily participate in the game to compete.]
The system provided a rather simple answer. There was an enormous reward that justified taking such risks.
By the time I heard this, I was speechless.
While someone fights to survive, it was disheartening to hear that another throws their life away out of greed.
‘At least it’s fortunate.’
The one comforting fact was that my guilt over killing players for my survival was slightly lessened.
Since they knowingly participated, accepting all these conditions, they probably don’t feel cheated.
[Achievement: System’s Secret (1) accomplished. Reward: 1 Trait Point awarded.]
“Does this count as an achievement?”
After all the explanations, the system recognized this as an achievement and awarded a trait point.
I couldn’t help but chuckle. Since it was offered, there was no reason to refuse.
「Physical Enhancement 3」
I used all trait points I had obtained this time to upgrade Physical Enhancement to the 3rd stage, just like Consciousness and Reproduction.
「Mana Condensation」
As a result, I gained a new trait. Its name was Mana Condensation. This ability allowed me to condense and store mana that I had decomposed and digested.
‘Could I also create those overpowered soldiers?’
The image of a goblin warrior with awakened mana wielding a sword and cutting down much larger allied soldiers was still vivid in my mind.
If I play my cards right, I might be able to create soldiers like those.
[Please check the remaining spoils immediately.]
“What spoils am I supposed to check? I’ve already collected everything I could.”
At that moment, while observing the workers carrying spoils back to the nest, I frowned at the system message.
It felt like I had missed something.
‘Is this it?’
But when I possessed one of the combatants and looked around, I discovered a passage leading underground beneath the remains of the destroyed goblin village.
The passage was too narrow, so I forced the workers to widen it.
The sight that greeted us inside was shocking.
“So that’s why I couldn’t find these kinds of individuals in this sizeable settlement. Were they being managed underground?”
It was only natural to find this place considering the goblins’ method of producing special beings through mating with females of other races.
The scene was much more explicit and realistic than the texts in the game, and it wasn’t a pleasant sight, causing me to naturally frown.
‘About 14 of them? Their races range from merfolk to dark elves, quite diverse indeed.’
The 14 captured females in the goblins’ lair were all intoxicated by drugs, and most were not in their right minds.
Only three had yet to become pregnant, their bellies still flat. And even among these, almost none retained full sanity.
Of course, any intelligent female would find it impossible to endure life in these dark caves, kept alive by goblin-only pregnancy machines. One might even suspect the sanity of anyone who could endure this treatment and remain sane.
“Bring them here.”
Of course, I didn’t disregard them. This was an excellent opportunity to acquire genetic information of new species.
Thinking that their condition made them little more than lumps of flesh, I decided it was better to use them as our nutrients without causing them pain.
*
…
The night before, she had narrowly escaped being ravaged by goblins, but she was left tied up and abandoned.
Though the paralyzing poison and aphrodisiacs in her body prevented her from regaining her senses, her body, which had not been fully poisoned, began to gradually detoxify over time.
Her mind began to clear slightly, and the buzzing sounds and blurred vision slowly returned to normal.
‘What’s happening?’
When she regained the ability to think.
Still unable to properly control her body, she looked at the warm sunlight above, realizing that she was currently being carried somewhere.
Her wrists were still bound, and she was still completely naked, just as before.
However, one thing was certain—she no longer saw the disgusting goblins.
“Aa… uh…”
Instead of goblins, there were now hundreds of grotesque creatures surrounding her.
She realized that the hard, rough shell she was lying on was one of these creatures when she noticed herself lying alongside other females.
The spittle mixed with her screams could only weakly escape her still-numb mouth.
‘Will I be eaten like this?’
She realized that her new captors were carrying countless goblin corpses as war trophies. She understood what had happened the night she was drugged.
A war had occurred, and she, as the loser’s possession, had become the victor’s property.
She was convinced that she would inevitably be eaten.
How could communication be possible with these horrific creatures?
‘It might be better this way…’
She realized there was a bottom lower than the bottom.
Among the goblins’ barbaric acts, she had become just another female.
Having seen what happened to the women captured earlier and how they gradually went insane, she now, in her fully aware state, believed that death would be preferable.
‘Nest…’
As she was carried helplessly, she saw herself enter a dark cave. It felt like the end was near.
The nest was covered with countless tentacles, and countless eggs grew in empty spaces. It was a massive nest that far surpassed the scale of the crude burrows the goblins had made for their breeding grounds.
“Uh…”
Then her captor stopped. Two worker creatures carefully picked her out of the group of females lying next to her.
Finally, believing that the monsters were about to dismember and kill her, she had no strength to resist and was carried off like cargo, not understanding where she was being taken.
“Ah!”
Finally, the workers dropped her onto the floor somewhere.
Due to the workers’ lack of delicacy, she tumbled in a pool of unknown, wet slime, helplessly flailing.
‘…Brain?’
At that moment, she saw something.
A massive throne-like chair made from writhing walls of flesh and carapace, as though emerged from the ground.
Behind the chair, the sight of a massive ‘brain’ turning her mind to chaos.
And finally, her gaze slowly rose along one of the chair’s protruding legs to see a figure sitting cross-legged on the throne, looking down at her.
“Who are you?”
The queen, flashing her crimson eyes down at her, spoke the words the girl dared not utter.
‘Queen.’
It was a truly bizarre, otherworldly presence, but it was undeniably regal.
—
