Chapter 29: What He Truly Desires (5)
The soul string created by the app was very important to both the player and the unit.
It made those beyond the dimensional wall into a shared consciousness, allowing them to exert a strong influence on one another.
Although in the case of units, their connection was weak as they had to share a single string with other units, players were different.
There were actually players who actively utilized that connection through their abilities.
“This is…”
[This is a medium that will assist the player’s magic. Use it in the moment of battle. It is an item that can help you forget your fear and explode the potential inscribed in your soul.]
Chae Yeon received a special gift.
At first glance, it appeared to be an ordinary transparent potion.
“Looks like they want to turn us into drug addicts.”
The robust white male next to her snorted.
He, too, was a unit like her.
He was also holding a potion.
[The goal is to annihilate their base within a short period.]
The date had already been set.
They planned to attack the base of the demons who had been relentlessly raiding Earth through the gate in cooperation with a coalition of various countries that had recently become wary of the situation.
“It’s literally a war. Ha… I never thought I’d end up waging war against demons.”
“You need to get used to it, Kris. We don’t know how many times this will repeat.”
“Do you think getting used to war is easy? It’s not just a simple defense.”
He scoffed.
There was nothing wrong with his words.
Chae Yeon herself was merely forcing herself to steady her heart.
[Being connected by a soul is incredible. That fear, that hesitation. If you realize what being connected means through the potion, you can overcome everything.]
The voice echoed in her head as if it sensed her anxiety.
‘Connection.’
She found that wording quite displeasing.
Even though she was sharing that string with more than a hundred colleagues, it felt as if even her most private parts were being exposed.
[Do you feel it?]
In such a circumstance, the feelings shared between unique beings connected by a single string were even more powerful.
[What he truly desires. You should now be able to understand it clearly.]
The legion, having understood what a soul was, struggled to comprehend the torrent of information.
The greatest information pouring through the string, or the connection of souls, was the emotions of the opposition.
Because it was a single string without division, the feelings became even stronger.
[He is anxious, afraid. He is afraid of losing something precious and still blames his weak self. He is so very weak…both in body and mind.]
The entire legion shuddered.
They understood his feelings and inferred the situation he was in.
[Regardless, he is a very important being for us. Without him, we cannot become stronger. He is our parent.]
[So we must help him.]
[The way to do that is, first of all, to become stronger.]
As they developed, they were able to find more meaning in his actions.
Finally, as they realized that he had provided them food and samples ‘for themselves,’ the legion redefined their view of him.
[He has given us so much. In return, what can we ‘give’ him?]
After persistent thought, the legion’s thinking reached this point.
And, as if it had been waiting for that thought, a function was activated.
[Your will has been confirmed. I will activate the offering feature.]
A glowing pattern appeared in the dark nest.
What should they give?
The legion hesitated, and at first, they slowly offered their tentacles.
A small tentacle hesitantly climbed onto the pattern.
[Find out more. Living things cannot be transmitted through the offering feature.]
Feeling awkward that nothing seemed to change, the tentacle was cautiously withdrawn.
After the tentacle’s failure, the legion began to try something more.
Various legionnaires, pieces of nests, eggs, and so on.
And finally, they succeeded in transmitting something.
Light flashed, and the pattern where the item was placed vanished entirely.
“Ugh.”
Morning. I twisted my body roughly and stretched as I got up from my spot.
Half-asleep, I sat on the bed.
I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to wash my face.
Perhaps due to recent fatigue, my body felt heavy, but I grabbed the handle next to the bed and groaned as I stood up.
“…Handle?”
Suddenly startled, I groped at what I was holding.
Something smooth like a stone was beside my bed.
There was never anything like this before.
“Ahhhhh!”
Upon confirming what it was, I gasped and fell on my rear.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Of course, it was something I had only seen on a screen until now, but here it was right in front of me.
“What the hell is this?!”
[The legion is expressing their gratitude for your favor.]
I activated the app and shouted.
I suddenly felt dizzy at the response that appeared.
“This is, gratitude?”
I pulled out what had been embedded in the floor of this rented house.
It was a sword.
An item forged by the legion from the strongest shell in the most solid manner.
[It is a sacrifice dedicated to you.]
Shining like obsidian, I swallowed dryly without realizing it.
“What the hell happened?”
[…That means the legion has grown to that extent.]
“Is that really all? What was that moth?”
[The moth was a kind of clue. By disassembling and absorbing it, the legion was able to understand and grow more. For instance, the attack emitted in the form of a flash had the power to disrupt our governing system. We concluded that it was a power related to interfering with our soul.]
“How much did you grow to send me this?”
I forced a laugh as I examined the sword.
This solid piece, which was like a shell, felt heavy yet sharp.
“Even so, receiving this makes me want to give something back, but right now I don’t have much to offer.”
[That is enough. Already…the legion is receiving a lot.]
“Receiving a lot?”
Today, its words felt particularly significant.
For now, I hid the sword in a corner.
Kang Do-yeon might not notice, but it wouldn’t be good for my mother to see it.
“I wonder how long this daily life will last.”
I left the room.
I was starting my day like this again, but now that I had experienced an attack firsthand, I still felt uneasy.
[The analysis of the prototypes of the guardian spirits revealed that the legion detected a singularity.]
“A singularity?”
[I believe we may understand why they demonstrated unusual behavior until now. They possess artificially imprinted genes.]
It was a fresh shock.
If the guardian spirits were artificially created beings…
What on earth is this labyrinth?
“Is that, is that all?”
[The only thing we can confirm at the moment is that there has been tampering with the genes. However, the details of that tampering can be inferred from the absurd behaviors they have shown so far.]
“What kind of beings?”
[The answer probably lies above.]
Right. It must lie above.
The screen scrolled upwards.
It led to a passage heading toward the next segment.
My heart suddenly began to race.
Why am I feeling this way? Perhaps it’s because I’m getting closer to the secrets of the labyrinth.
[The legion has begun to regroup. One of our advantages is that we do not need rest.]
The legion deliberately left many plants in the newly occupied level.
They were behaving differently now compared to the past, where they devoured everything without hesitation.
It could be that they were reserving food, or perhaps they felt that even digesting it would be a waste of time.
[There are no guardian spirits. It seems they all perished in the last battle.]
It was an anticlimactic ending considering the tension.
Only ordinary vegetation spread out before me.
The legion’s scouts hurriedly spread out, searching through various tunnels and passages.
[Ah, what is this?]
But at that moment,
The leading scout seemed to have discovered something.
“This is definitely not natural. Then what could it be? In this labyrinth, what unnatural beings could there be other than us?”
[It must obviously be the work of the guardian spirits. It seems quite a bit of time has passed.]
It was a collection of remnants, classified as ‘branches,’ gathered in one section of the large segment.
Most had long been decomposed and decayed by scavengers.
The size was only about the size of a human palm…it was a vertebrate of some kind.
[The level of damage is such that the type of genes cannot be determined. The legion deduced reasonable suspicion based on this information.]
“…Units, huh?”
Even I could tell that much.
I had found another trace after the rat-like creatures I encountered last time.
However, perhaps due to bad luck, it seemed these had not developed much and were exterminated.
“By the way, I wonder if the rats that escaped last time are still alive.”
[The fact that they are not present in the areas we have occupied so far means they probably started anew from a higher level. They may very well have failed their leap to the next stage.]
“Right.”
The guardian spirits, of course, and the levels of the increasingly diverse and gigantic flora and fauna could not be compared to the lower levels.
We had grown to a degree that could not be compared to that time, and if those rats had fallen to this place at their level, they wouldn’t have survived.
[We must go higher.]
Doubts only increased.
So the legion, having roughly assessed the situation, immediately sent the scouts up to the next level.
It was from there that faint changes began to be observed.
