Chapter 131: Chaptr 131
I recalled the quest I had received from Dominic in S2P.
The system window had been broken back then, too.
I remembered the contents vividly.
Eve-vent Que-que-quest: Serve a plate of delicious food to That Person.
Reward: Reward: Reward: Resolving the cu-cu-curiosity of the young. young. you-young roasted chestnut!
The broken system window had repeated the same characters multiple times.
Dominic’s words upon seeing it were also vivid.
"Hmm, the craftsmanship is a bit lacking. I shall bring you a better-looking one next time."
This quest window was indeed a ’better-looking’ version, with the text outputting normally compared to last time.
Feeling a chill, I groped my shoulder with my hand.
There was no soft sensation.
Dominic was gone.
When did he disappear?
I hurriedly searched my memories.
He was definitely there until the octopus leg came to find me using a subordinate.
I vaguely remembered wondering why Dominic was hiding himself from the octopus leg.
But at some point, he had vanished from my side, leaving only the quest window behind.
I forced my mind to move, despite the fear freezing my thoughts.
He probably hadn’t regained his memories.
If he had, there was no way he would have given me a quest like this.
What does Dominic want?
Does he want me to succeed in the quest without his help?
Unable to overcome my anxiety, I bit my lip.
Time was too tight.
Only 30 minutes.
If I couldn’t resolve this within 30 minutes, all my subordinates would turn into dregs.
’First, the quest.’
I set my priorities and called out to Je Hyeon-oh.
"Lieutenant Colonel Je."
However, despite knowing the urgency of the situation, I couldn’t get straight to the point.
The moment I saw him completely drenched in neon green liquid, I couldn’t even mention the operation; other words came out first.
"I’m sorry. Things didn’t go according to plan...."
Everyone had trusted me and moved according to my words, but it had all fallen apart.
Worse, they were now in a situation where they might all be infected by Neo and turn into dregs.
The moment I thought that I had ruined everything because of me, my tongue froze.
I couldn’t bring myself to look Je Hyeon-oh in the eye and instead stared only at the undulating.
I felt like diving deep into the ocean and never coming back.
The one who should have been injured to the point of losing consciousness should have been me, not Kwak Han-mook.
If that were the case, the situation would have been much better.
I muttered again.
"I’m sorry..."
I felt Je Hyeon-oh’s gaze fixed on me.
It felt as if he would criticize me or pour out curses at any moment. This time, I might actually get hit.
’I’d be lucky if it just ended with a hit.!’
I needed to somehow persuade Je Hyeon-oh to continue the strategy to prevent the dreg-ification, but as I realized I might not even get a chance to persuade him, a sense of bleak hopelessness washed over me.
Then, there was a clicking sound.
Je Hyeon-oh pushed his goggles up to reveal his eyes and called me.
"Goyo."
Unable to meet his eyes, I answered cautiously.
"Yes...."
"Are you the team leader?"
"No, I’m not."
Je Hyeon-oh narrowed his eyes and asked.
"Then why are you acting like this?"
"That is."
"Do you want to stage another mutiny?"
"Absolutely not."
He slowly opened his metallic hand. Showing the hand from which neon green liquid was streaming down, he spoke.
"Tell me if there’s a next operation. If not, I’ll handle it my way."
’There’s still a chance.’
I felt a great sense of relief, and at the same time, a strange feeling.
The idea of having a chance felt unfamiliar.
Because in the past, usually... there was no "next time" after this.
Regardless, I cannot fail this time.
I have to do well.
No, I must succeed, no matter what.
I desperately stretched my thoughts and spoke.
"We have to catch the god of this place. The god that approached you, Lieutenant Colonel Je."
Je Hyeon-oh immediately frowned.
"However, everyone is currently overexposed to Neo, so if we don’t deal with the god within 30 minutes, everyone will become dregs."
After midnight, dregs are generated in the underground maze and rise to the surface.
If all the pits formed at random locations in the maze were removed, the dregs could be blocked at the source.
Je Hyeon-oh had roamed the underground maze dealing with dregs to remove all the pits, and therefore, he knew very well what kind of existence they were.
If everyone became dregs, it would essentially be a total wipeout.
Je Hyeon-oh seemed to gauge the situation for a moment before asking briefly.
"Is it possible with just the two of us?"
Je Hyeon-oh was undeniably strong.
But rushing to catch a god with only two people was a suicidal act.
"I think it would be impossible."
"What if we add CEO Cha and Lieutenant Won?"
"Then it’s worth a try. If you could also find the creatures..."
"Wait."
Je Hyeon-oh kicked off from the neon green liquid. With his metallic wings spread, he vanished from my sight in an instant.
I found another piece of floating debris and climbed onto it.
Then, I thought over and over until my head throbbed.
I had asked Je Hyeon-oh to find the others, but I hadn’t yet come up with a solution for the current situation.
When I met the octopus leg, I was brainwashed.
However, my mind had been shaken far more violently than by a systemically applied brainwashing.
It seemed to be because the god had exerted its influence directly right in front of me.
Now, the brainwashing was completely broken.
I had an intuition that was practically a certainty that I had escaped the system’s judgment.
A crude puppet play would no longer work on me.
But if I were to meet the octopus leg again.
And if I were to see the god directly, rather than in a form dwelling within a subordinate, there was no guarantee I wouldn’t experience a similar problem.
I wasn’t the only problem.
Kwak Han-mook had taken a massive hit upon encountering the god.
It was an existence that humans were not meant to see.
I looked at Kwak Han-mook silently.
With the medic items I possessed, there was no way to treat Kwak Han-mook.
I had to clear this quickly and get him outside for treatment.
If others suffered similar damage upon encountering the god like Kwak Han-mook did, combat itself would be impossible from the start.
’Wait. How is Lieutenant Colonel Je perfectly fine?’
He had encountered the octopus leg before, yet he hadn’t taken any damage.
Had he already encountered many gods?
Even so, it wasn’t the kind of thing one could get used to.
While pondering various possibilities and methods, I suddenly noticed something strange about my thinking.
Right now, I was only thinking about how to fight.
I wasn’t considering the possibility of defeat at all.
Amidst a quiet, simmering sense of exhilaration, I became certain.
I would be able to win.
My eyes gradually grew hot.
Right now, I could just....
[You strive not to be swept away by the heat.]
[The blazing flames will make the young god grow quickly, but everything comes with a price.]
[The young god does not wish to lose what is important to it.]
The system window popped up repeatedly with a ding.
[You resolve to protect yourself.]
I stared blankly at the urgently appearing notifications and asked.
’How do I catch the god?’
I asked, thinking the system window might provide some clue.
In response, only vague words came back.
Small and young is different from weak.
’No, tell me the method. Specifically.’
[You realize that you have already learned here.]
’What did I learn here?’
The system window remained silent.
Knowing that further questioning was useless, I chewed over the words the system window had left.
In this place, The Cell X, there was only one place where the word "learning" could be applied.
The New Guard Training Center.
However, all I had learned there was basic knowledge about Neo and how to subdue creatures.
There was no way I could use that against a god.
"...!"
While I was deep in thought, someone suddenly yanked my body.
Even though nothing was visible around me, my body was pulled automatically.
I immediately realized the cause.
"CEO Cha!"
I realized what CEO Cha was trying to do and shouted.
"Killing all the NPCs right now won’t clear it!"
But CEO Cha did not stop.
Thinking about how the situation could get messed up when every second counted, I suddenly felt a surge of anger.
Unable to hold back, I screamed.
"You crazy bastard, you can’t get the ending like this!!"
CEO Cha stopped moving. Then, he lowered his perception reduction and revealed himself. glared at the white mask, panting heavily.
Then, feeling the gaze staring intently at me, I belatedly came back to my senses.
The crazy bastard was me....
I had acted exactly as I did toward the CEO Cha in the game.
As I prepared myself to be sliced by the Great Solar Buddha, a short response came back from CEO Cha.
"Why."
Surprisingly, it was a calm question. I thought I’d be chopped into pieces for being arrogant.
As if I had never shouted slang or curses, I quickly switched back to formal speech and explained.
"The god of this place, the trial boss, has caused an anomaly. and the trial system itself has collapsed. Even if you kill all the creatures, there is no possibility of seeing a normal ending."
"We have to fight the boss in coordination with the creatures."
CEO Cha suddenly brought up something else.
"Were you infected here?"
"Pardon?"
"I’m asking if your eyes will go back to normal if the boss dies."
It seemed he judged that my golden eyes were due to infection.
If one didn’t know about the god’s existence, this was practically the most logical reaction.
Since he had made a very appropriate misunderstanding, I naturally played along.
"Yes. I was infected in The Cell X."
And I pushed him again.
"I absolutely need your strength, CEO Cha, to get out of here. Please cooperate."
I looked up at him with desperate eyes.
Although CEO Cha was a problematic individual in terms of personality, no one could disparage his abilities.
The same is true now.
In the sea surrounded by Neo, CEO Cha alone was fine.
He had come to find me without being stained by a single drop of neon green liquid.
I had firmly believed that CEO Cha would be safe, but seeing him not just safe, but not even wet with a single drop of Neo...
I felt a familiar sense of relief.
Recalling old memories, I called out to him again as he remained silent.
"CEO Cha..."
Then, CEO Cha slowly opened his mouth and answered.
"You called me a crazy bastard?"
"I’m sorry about that. Anyway, you’ll cooperate, right?"
"Depending on how you behave."
It was a response laced with a bit of temper, but he seemed likely to cooperate regardless.
If he hadn’t liked my proposal, he would have dropped me into the Neo sea long ago.
"Thank you."
l offered my thanks arbitrarily.
’How much time is left?’
Just as I was thinking that I must respond immediately once Je Hyeon-oh returns with Won Tae-beom and the creatures.
Suddenly, everything went dark.
It was a darkness that seemed to swallow even the light of the neon green liquid.
I looked up at the sky.
There.
Was an eye.
A giant eye looked down upon the underground sea.
I didn’t know if calling that an "eye" was appropriate.
Because its form defied general concepts.
Inside the large eye, countless eyes of various sizes were packed.
The eyeballs moved independently, searching the surroundings thoroughly like searchlights scanning a prison, looking for something.
It was a shape that evoked an instinctive loathing beyond mere creepiness.
As hundreds of pupils scanned every direction, my gaze met with one of them.
The moment it discovered me.
All gazes converged on me at once.
Under the gaze pouring down like a rain of arrows, I....
Slowly smiled....
A sudden surge of heat enveloped me.
The thought of burning all those eyeballs to ashes was infinitely joyful.
I reached my hand out toward them.
As if shaking a delicious bait in front of their eyes.
Come here.
I whispered and whispered for them to come closer....
Then, everything was dyed in a pure white light.
As the white light cast down like the sun, the darkness lifted, and it became as bright as midday.
I looked at the man who had created the light.
He shouted something to me, but I couldn’t hear it properly.
A streak of black darkness flew through the white light and snatched me.
It was my subordinate.
I burst into a joyful laugh and spoke to my own.
Let’s kill them together.
I wanted to share things that were joyful and fun.