Chapter 44: Struggle to Survive (4)
The Legion took their time interrogating the prisoners and learned quite a bit about them: their language, history, traits, culture, religion, etc.
“…Is that really important right now?”
They had annihilated the new units. There would be a reward.
“What’s your intention? Why have you kept this hidden until now only to show it to me?”
The letters that buzzed around were hard to make out.
As soon as I got up, I checked my phone and reviewed the videos with trembling hands.
It was something that had occurred while I wasn’t able to check, due to Chae Yeon’s intuition.
“I can’t actively move, so I’m just using the abilities I have to the fullest.”
The text lacked emotion.
I barely gathered my thoughts.
The videos sent like bombs contained records of everything the Legion had done.
From creating their own bodies to hiding that from me, and recently putting a mask on Kang Do-yeon.
“I-I can’t understand. Why now?! You should have told me from the beginning!”
“Think for yourself and find the answer. Consider why I’m playing the double agent here to tell you the truth.”
The one who always rambled was finally holding back words. There seemed to be constraints.
I groaned and held my head.
“A wild pony can’t fully realize its potential if the reins are pulled tight.”
“…Potential?”
The last word became a hint.
A tired sigh escaped my lips as I grasped the meaning.
“The Legion needs this kind of radical growth to continue. Therefore, not telling me from the start was to prevent me from interfering with that. But since I need to know the truth, I’m telling you like this.”
“You’re remarkably shameless. You’ve been like that since our first meeting.”
My mind was complicated.
If they couldn’t trust me, then they should have kept everything hidden until the end.
Was it even meaningful for me to learn all this?
“You need to know what your child is doing.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“Still, through training with Chae Yeon, learn how to discipline emotions. The strongest influence on the Legion is the strings connected to you; therefore, the developing Legion is already thinking of everything in relation to you. That’s one of the few ways to intervene.”
“…Crazy.”
It felt like my emotions were being monitored in real-time.
But right now, there was no way for me to escape from this.
“How can I trust this? Are you lying now? How can I know if you’re trying to manipulate me with hidden truths and deceit? You’ve already lost my trust. How can I be sure you won’t do this again in the future?”
“Did you forget something from the frantic dash up to now? Remember that the essence of this game is to fight and survive in this ecosystem; ultimately, it’s just a game.”
“…Right. This is a game that’s forced upon me regardless of my will.”
I plopped down on the bed.
Whether it’s a player or a unit, whether they gained something or grew stronger, the fact remains that they must keep fighting and waging war.
“What’s the real purpose? The purpose of this game. To create the strongest units in each world that we can call servers, what are you trying to accomplish?”
I hoped it wasn’t some nonsense about server integration.
“It’s correct to foster the strongest survivors. Those who can transcend their limits.”
“…What do you plan to do by creating such groups in every server, in every world?”
“The final war. As the ultimate survivor, you’ll come to understand. But one thing is certain: the true enemy lies elsewhere.”
That was the end of it.
A hollow laugh escaped me. Regardless of how I thought about it, the fact that I got involved in the first place was a mistake.
“We exist solely for that.”
The word “we” stood out to me.
It was interpreted differently than the usual meaning we spoke of.
“In the end, to you… whether as a player or a unit, we are merely pawns for that purpose, right? The restrictions placed were merely for the competition among observers?”
“Is that a problem? Nothing changes. I am merely a spectator and a guide, and the important decisions rest entirely with you. I cannot hide information or refuse to tell you the truth, nor can I send you falsehoods. Using me wisely is your ability.”
It was a shameless admission, but I was left speechless.
Even if I could escape this game,
this world had already sucked me in long ago.
The images of the people who had been attacked and killed were still vivid in my mind.
Including the horrific sight of my brother lying there, a grotesque heap of flesh.
My survival thus far and the ability to save my brother in whatever way was in my power was all a price for joining this game.
“Tell me what the reward is. What do we get?”
I changed the subject.
I craved a cigarette I had long quit from the army.
“300G… Is this all there is?”
“A defeated and destroyed race deserves no bounty. Not to mention these ones, who have barely developed and are at the level of mere settlements.”
The value gained from killing the unit, the Moonlight Fairy survivors, wasn’t even worth the Execution Authority.
Just like before, but now that it had come to this, I couldn’t help but feel a bitter taste.
“This is a game with outrageous unfairness. The levels of units and players are completely inconsistent, and aside from some odd restrictions, there has been no balance patch.”
The Moonlight Fairies clearly had potential.
If they had started from a proper village rather than as a destroyed refugee, what might have been?
“There’s no such thing as complete fairness in the world.”
Of course, expressing my grievances was of no use.
Regardless of the outcome, the weak would die. That was simply the law of this game.
“This is a reward for annihilating one kind of unit.”
“Unit Summon Ticket x1.”
Instead, there was another reward.
This one definitely seemed like something unusual.
“Is it what I think it is?”
“It’s a good item that allows you to summon your own unit for a certain period.”
I suddenly felt a chill.
Could using this allow the Legion to establish a foothold here as well?
“But over time, they will be recalled. Everything the Legion possesses is a part of itself. Even if it leaves something behind, it will all be taken back.”
Unfortunately, that idea was quickly quelled.
Still, it was a sufficiently good item.
Even for a short time, it could be put to good use.
“This is the end of the systematic rewards. But what we gained isn’t just this. Show me.”
“The Legion has already learned much.”
The dark screen gradually brightened, illuminating the interior of the cavern.
The Devouring Fungus infections had been driven out, and the Legion’s nest was now writhing and expanding around the area.
“…You don’t know that I can see this right now?”
“That’s correct. You mentioned that you were asleep.”
In one corner of the nest, Legionnaires in a dormant state were replenishing nutrients.
Kang Do-yeon was the same.
And beside her, there it was, a being with the same body shape as my brother, wearing a mask.
“Tell me to wake up and turn on my phone.”
“I’ll convey that directly.”
I tested whether my words would be communicated.
Whether it was transmitted or not, my brother, who had been dozing off, suddenly opened his eyes wide.
“…”
In the blink of an eye, the Legion beside her quickly hid the human-shaped body it had created within the wall.
The grand chair it had been sitting on disappeared as well.
This…seeing it like this makes it feel a bit more real.
Hearing that the reason it wasn’t showing my brother’s true form was that it wasn’t perfect made it feel all the more chilling.
“Brother! Can you hear me?!”
At that moment, my brother looked up at the sky and shouted.
“I saw the video. The way you fight.”
“Uh?! E-eh…I really don’t feel anything. It’s true. It’s what I chose.”
The lie was obvious. They probably instructed him to say that.
Yet the Legion that forced him to say that seemed to be unable to think that far ahead.
It must be due to inexperience.
“Right.”
I didn’t pry further.
I knew what the Legion had done to my brother.
Even if the act was rough, its intention and result were to preserve my brother’s sanity, so I bore with it.
“Don’t worry. They’re units; eventually, one side had to die.”
“I think so too. If they hadn’t killed them, we…would’ve been dead.”
As I tried to console him, he forced a smile.
I also tried to maintain my composure.
If my emotions were disturbed, the Legion would quickly pick up on it.
I had just confirmed that from the recent events.
No matter how smart, scary, or aggressive the Legion was, it was still a naive child, inexperienced, trapped in a maze.
“The player based on information gleaned from the prisoner is one of the fairy tribe nurturing the World Tree, Garcil in the world of Eden.”
“That isn’t crucial information at the moment. Next.”
“They are the descendants of survivors barely living off the remnants of a destroyed civilization from about 200 years ago.”
I calmly listened to the information received.
Had it been destroyed 200 years ago? Had it been that long?
“I don’t know where the Devouring Fungus started, but one thing is clear: it began from above. The Moonlight Fairies, as we suspected, had no choice but to be chased from the surface into this maze, and they were developing in their own way. However, their greatest mistake was not being able to unite before the attack of the Devouring Fungus.”
“In the end, do we have to go back up to know anything?”
The information gained was plentiful, yet inadequate.
I would bet that the war with the Devouring Fungus-infected beings was far from over.
“But we have become stronger. We discovered something through the prisoner. The blue ore of the golden scepter that we had been using rather adequately. The ore they call divine stone holds energy that can be used for Formancy.”
Some of the Legionnaires began searching the nearby caverns, including the survivors’ hideouts.
Weapons and ornaments adorned with similar ores began to pour in.
“Why didn’t they use this?”
“The most likely possibility is the loss of the technology to use it. Of course, the Legion had methods they didn’t know about.”
The collected ores started to gather in one spot.
I had seen their might clearly.
Just as I intended, the Legion, having learned Celestial Soul in an instant, obtained new power in their own way.
