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#11 Chapter Science-like Magic VS Magic-like Science

Kim Yoon-sik. In “Beyond Elysion,” the young man using the ID of Dimo was just an ordinary gamer.

At least, that’s what he believed without a doubt.

Although those around him called him “loser,” “evil spirit,” and “get a life,” Dimo didn’t care.

He had a perfectly normal job and played games in his spare time, so what was the problem? He wasn’t bothering anyone.

His life was devoid of a romantic partner, and contact with old friends grew increasingly rare, but Dimo was happy recently.

It was all because the new game he started was incredibly fun.

[Graaaaaah!]

A monster that seemed like a mix between a pig and a person with green skin, the orc, charged at Dimo, wielding a massive club.

The sight of the nearly 2-meter-tall creature roaring and rushing in would make an ordinary person’s knees weak, but Dimo didn’t flinch and dodged the orc’s attack, swinging his sword.

The moment he slashed the faint red line barely visible on the orc’s body, a huge wound opened up, and blood sprayed everywhere.

The game did have a feature for users who disliked seeing gore, turning blood into light and depicting wounds in a deformed manner, but Dimo wanted a more realistic fight, so he had set the settings to adult mode.

The orc, enraged, swung its club again, but to Dimo, that movement felt slow, like it was in slow motion.

While his own body did move slower than usual, the overwhelming advantage of being able to leisurely analyze the enemy’s movements and decide his counteractions made that a trivial issue.

In what felt like a long stretch of time, but in reality was less than 5 minutes, Dimo took down the orc and trembled with satisfaction rising from the tips of his fingers to his core.

“Ah… hell yeah. This is it. Warrior was the right choice after all.”

A month had passed since the official opening.

On workdays, he played right after getting off work, and on holidays, he mostly stayed cooped up enjoying the game, but his level wasn’t particularly high.

He was the type of player who enjoyed analyzing and experimenting with various game components rather than rushing through the story and leveling up. He was experiencing the classes in “Beyond Elysion” to compare them hands-on.

Warrior, Mage, Priest, Paladin, Black Knight, Bard.

After comparing all six types of classes, Dimo chose Warrior.

First of all, the stats were stable without any particular weaknesses, and there were plenty of options, including the extreme damage tree using a weapon in each hand or a large weapon, the damage-tank tree with sword and shield, and even the dedicated physical archer tree specializing in bows and arrows.

It felt like they had bundled together all the physical classes that other games would have subdivided into assassins, martial artists, and more, under the warrior class.

Being purely proficient at dealing and tanking damage, the class had no magical abilities and was lacking in utility, but that meant there was less complexity to memorize, and it was reliably strong, ranking second in the overall class preference.

By the way, the first place was occupied by the Mage. In a game like “Beyond Elysion,” where it was incredibly hard to execute basic skills, it was one of the few classes that could somewhat do similar things, and many players were too lazy to actively defend against or evade monster attacks.

“Well, I also don’t particularly like exercising outside. Here, I enjoy moving vigorously without getting out of breath or sore muscles.”

Originally, there were rumors circulating in the community that the core developer had tried to implement these aspects but got verbally beaten by test players and changed it, but Dimo didn’t take it too seriously.

Could there really be a developer that reckless? Who would benefit from making things unnecessarily realistic?

[Grroooorrr!]

Thud.

After slaying seven more orcs, Dimo checked his health gauge, which had dropped to nearly 30%.

‘Looks like I can take down a couple more.’

Warriors had high base combat strength but typically lacked skills for self-recovery, meaning they often had to rely on items unless they were in a party.

The best value for recovery was the “Instant Rest Point” item, which restored 10% health for every minute spent resting in a non-combat situation.

Whether recovering at 10% health or 50% health, the rest point would disappear once recovery was finished, making it efficient to let his health drop close to zero before resting.

However, Dimo shook his head.

He vividly remembered the last time he tried to save items and fought until he was almost dead, only to misstep and die.

In “Beyond Elysion,” dying didn’t incur penalties like losing experience points or items, but the respawn cooldown was significantly long.

There were items available for purchase that reduced the respawn cooldown, but even when used, respawning wouldn’t be at his location; it would be at the last rest point registered, so dying meant he’d have to travel back to that hunting ground.

Rather than that, he might as well rest a bit sooner.

Hiding in a crevice of rocks where orcs wouldn’t find him, Dimo set up a rest point and opened the community window to kill some time.

[Is it just me or is logout not working right now in Beyond?]
└ Oh, damn, it really doesn’t? Me neither.
└ lol you idiots, how strict do you think the capsule safety checks are? Of course it wouldn’t work.
└ This person’s right. It’s not the game that’s stopping you from logging out; it’s the access device level that’s thoroughly secured against it.
└ Wait, are you really saying it’s not working?
└ Didn’t you use an illegal capsule? There are often cases with unverified products.
└ Damn, what bullshit. I bought a legit one from Kainix less than a year ago.

“Wait, really?”

Initially, Dimo thought it was just some misunderstanding or fuss, but as he tried to logout, he became flustered upon realizing it really wasn’t working.

He had enjoyed various virtual reality games until now, but it was the first time he encountered a problem with the logout function, making it even more disconcerting.

He had only vaguely heard that such incidents occurred in the early days when virtual reality games were just being released before he became a serious gamer.

Curious if there was an announcement regarding this, Dimo was about to check when suddenly a large translucent display appeared before his eyes.

《Hello, players. It’s a pleasure to meet you.》
‘…A mannequin?’

Seeing the entity that appeared on the display, that was the first impression Dimo formed.

The overall appearance was black and shiny, with a face that had no eyes or nose, only a massive mouth.

From its skin, something resembling black smoke emitted, creating a rather bizarre look, but Dimo wasn’t particularly surprised or scared.

If he saw something like that in reality at midnight, it might be different, but looking through a screen, he just thought, “Is this CGI?”

《I am Lunara. I will be the new GM responsible for the operation of this game.》

《I can only imagine you must be quite upset about not being able to log out right now, but rest assured, this is not a bug.》

《Currently, all systems of this game, “Beyond Elysion,” are under my control. From now on, you will not be able to log out until you clear the game, and death in the game means death in reality.》

《Ah, you might wonder how clearing is possible in an online RPG without an ending. Don’t worry. If you pass the 10 events I have prepared, that will be the clear condition.》

After spewing nonsense for a while, the black mannequin kept talking, but Dimo mostly tuned out the content.

His hands were busy checking another display rather than the one with the mannequin.

[What the hell is this? Are you kidding me?]
[Is this a big hidden camera?]
[This is crossing the line for a hidden camera. Kainix seems to be finished.]
[This seems like a real danger?????]
[LOL today I didn’t log in, so I’m the winner. Agree?]
[Wow, why are you guys having so much fun?]

“There’s nothing in the game announcements, and all the community has is random posts…”

To be honest, Dimo still felt torn about it.

Suddenly not being able to log out, dying in the game meaning death in real life—it all felt too unrealistic.

Was it all just a joke? Was this a mere event? What if it was a hidden camera?

What would happen to his body in reality? Couldn’t someone just take off the game device and let him out?

In such a chaotic situation, Dimo unknowingly forgot.

He was currently resting in the midst of a combat zone filled with dangerous monsters.

The instant rest point he used only sped up recovery; it didn’t prevent monster ambushes.

Bam!

A strong blow to the head. And a searing heat.

“You received a critical hit while unprotected.”
“You have been afflicted with the status effect ‘Stun.'”

Body destruction.

To put it simply, injuries like having an arm cut off or a broken leg that prevented proper movement only applied to monsters.

Even if players suffered wounds like losing an arm, their bodies would immediately recover to their state before the injury, and until their health gauge was completely depleted, they wouldn’t die even if their heart was pierced or their throat was cut. Taking a direct hit to a vital spot would deliver extra damage, making defense not completely pointless.

While Dimo’s head was momentarily crushed by the orc’s club, the damage had already been restored, and aside from a reduction in health and a temporary status effect, his body was intact.

The crevice where Dimo had hidden was a cramped spot that multiple orcs couldn’t enter, and in reality, only one orc had ambushed him.

However, entering combat mode from a non-combat state broke the rest point’s recovery effect, but Dimo’s health was significantly restored, leaving him with over 50% left even accounting for the ambush.

In a normal situation, Dimo would have easily handled an orc or two.

“Ugh! Ack! Ugh!”

The problem was that Dimo’s mental state was far from normal.

Suddenly bombarded with an influx of overwhelming information, thrown into chaos, and abruptly ambushed, he panicked in a void of thought.

Dimo flailed helplessly on the ground without a proper counterattack, while the orc mercilessly kicked and beat him with its club.

“Argh! AAAAAH!”

In such a situation where he really might die, he swung his weapon desperately to push the orc back, but his health was already down to 10%.

Despite being in a situation where staying calm would allow him to potentially win, it was far from possible to play properly when his life was on the line.

“Logout, logout, damn it! You bastards!!! I said logout!!”

His swings were erratic; his legs trembled unable to follow a proper stance.

He got hit by the enemy’s club.

In his impatience, he threw out a skill randomly, hitting nothing but air, and the orc attacked in that opening.

His health dropped further.

He slashed the orc’s belly, but panicked by the spurt of blood, he stumbled back.

His health decreased again.

Overcome by fear at the orc’s gaze, which he usually slaughtered without issue, he sank to the ground.

His health was nearly depleted, only one more hit would finish him off.

“Ah, ugh, AAAAAA.”

Missing several chances to survive, doomed to die in such a helpless manner would be an incredibly harsh fate for him.

It would be cruel to accuse him of not considering such possibilities while fighting with a sword.

Because, after all, this was a game.

He wasn’t a warrior living in a fantasy world fighting for his life; he was just a gamer enjoying a game in modern times.

The orc’s club swung down.

Many players were dying as mere toys and entertainment for the malevolent beings of this other world.

As the first sacrifice to be decorated, Dimo faced death.

“You have received an emergency command from the supreme commander.”
“Invulnerability status has been granted to all connected players.”
“All monsters in the field have been enforced into a state of suspension.”

He had to face it.

“…Huh?”

Seeing the orc suddenly freeze like a stone before him, Dimo blinked in confusion.

And then, a voice echoed through the air.

《We would like to inform the players. Currently, it appears that a criminal impersonating the GM is spouting nonsensical statements as though they have udon noodles in their brain, but this is merely a unilateral claim by a terrorist entirely unrelated to our staff.》

《For the safety of the players, we will now initiate a server shutdown and log out all players. Please refrain from attempting to reconnect until further notice, and we sincerely apologize for any concerns caused by this sudden situation.》

《That is all. I am Erin, the sub-GM.》

April 30, 20X4. 1:30 PM. The incident of the takeover of operation rights and logout restrictions in “Beyond Elysion” broke out.
April 30, 20X4. 1:35 PM. Emergency measures initiated by the sub-GM. All players successfully logged out. Number of fatalities: 0.