The World of Masks

After dinner, the group begins to prepare for bed. You start smoking the hair follicles, one by one, from the crowd around the campfire you set on fire. The warmest campfires were owned by merchants. I've heard snoring since I was tired of today's enforcers. Some of them were toothless. On one side, a representative of the merchants was discussing the next day's schedule with the leader of the mercenaries. A deep descend near the bowl, the Dark Circle was notifying that the merchant's body was in a state of tremendous fatigue, but the merchant was continuing the conversation with the leader willingly.

Outside the point where the merchants converge, the servants lie face down. They were fully extended to today's arduous schedule. Moreover, enough rest for them was not an option because tomorrow and their owners didn't know how hard and ridiculous the orders would be. In their sleep, they were embracing old, stained, and smelly furs as if they were lovers, revealing the weary humanity of their lives. However, they were better off. Slaves sleep next to a cart with their naked giant scavengers, also known as Mofos. If the guards don't notice the monsters approaching, they'll sleep in the first place they can be fed. Then only when the monster's teeth are dug into their body will they know where they stand and warn people by screaming. Human Emergency Bell. That was the role of the slaves. Moreover, they were the last line of defense for the merchants when the monsters broke through the mercenaries' defense lines. It's a fine line of defense, literally a meat shield station that buys you time to feed yourself instead of the merchants until the mercenaries return.

The mercenaries settle in between the servants and the slaves. To protect the merchants. It was the best place to deal with an ambush during the night. If the sentries send a warning signal, they can run straight to fight with the cart as a shield. Even if the sentries don't notice the raid, it's a place where slaves can prepare for battle while they're fed by monsters.

Sentries take over as the Class E and F mercenaries rotate. And among them, F grade was high. The mercenaries are the ones who jumped into the world. That was people's perception. Jack, who was badly guarded in the middle of the night, crawled into a warm blanket and looked up at the night sky. There is an expression that the stars are pouring out. Jack was able to feel that expression in the night sky of the game. The stars seemed to be embroidered on the ceiling as if they had been plunged into the sky. Jack unconsciously searched for the constellation he knew. Even though Jack knew all about the landmark and W-shaped Cassiopeia, the constellations that were able to go to the local MT in university did not stand out. Rather, what stood out was the Milky Way, which I had never seen in real life. A river of milk stars made of a vast number of stars. The problem was that the Milky Way was not a single river, but a ten-letter shape.

'That was a lot of work.'

He praises the creator of this game, looking at the two galaxies across the night sky and spreading their brilliant colors. Jack closes his eyes, impressed by the stars stuck in the sky. Touching is touching and relaxing is resting. I thought after logging out, I wanted to sleep in a plush bed, but that was impossible by contract. Since the beginning of the game, players had to swear not to log out during the quest period in order to become mercenaries, because of how much credit people who had worked as mercenaries had been discounted. It was not a contract that completely broke its free will as if it were jeweled by a contract, but it seemed that the difficulty of working as a mercenary later on was not a joke. In the beginning, I was happy to sign the consent form because it was not something I would disagree with as a fifty jack until the day for this quest.

Well, just think of it as an MT.

I thought a camp would be closer in the army than MT, but I tried to ignore the idea. Moreover, it was quite ominous in some ways. The mysterious star sky in the sky covers Mofo and camps in a completely alien environment where there is a vast wilderness that cannot be seen on earth. I could think of it as a wonderful trip. If he tries to brainwash himself in a good way, he slowly plunges into a dream world.

The next day.

Jack woke up early in the morning to take care of the rest. Next to the servants preparing breakfast, the work awaits to be put back in place for yesterday's equipment. I woke up on guard in the middle of the night and felt a little less tired, but I didn't have any trouble moving my body, whether it was because of the game or because of the stat that I put up. Jack was still dedicated to his work, making sure he was doing his part. Jack didn't have much of a problem with this kind of stuff. If you have a complaint · · · · · · · · · · · ·.

Exactly.

"Hey, kid. Make a quick move."

It was all those mercenaries who looked like that damn 20-year-old sergeant who was picking on me. He does only what he does, reminiscing about his inner self a few times. I really wanted to compliment myself.

And nothing special happened that day either.

The sunshine made me feel clear about the fried eggs cooked in a greased pan, and the dry wind only made me feel the need for moisture desperately. Only the cloudy dust that occurs to the place where the procession passes allowed me to feel the foreign body in this same landscape.

At first, the mercenaries who were walking around vigilantly felt relaxed. Those who still do not relax and look sharply around were classified as high rank mercenaries, so-called veterans. They start shouting at the mercenaries, keeping their guard up, and don't hesitate to look around.

Even after walking this far, the surrounding environment began to change, but the surrounding area was still a wasteland full of cloudy dust and rubble. It was the best environment for vigilance because of its wide field of view, but the dry landscape that continued to unfold was eating away at people's mental strength. And the peak landscape was the place where the sun came down at sunset.

The place stood out from afar. It sprang up beyond the horizon like a mirage. The closer you got to it, the more unique it was. At first, Jack was as curious as the man who discovered the unknown continent. As the shape of the place became clearer and clearer, his heart peaked. But that didn't last long either. The shape of the place became apparent, and the horror of the place began to sink deeply into Jack's mind.

It was a village. No, it was a sign of what was once a village. I had never been there, but this was what Pompei in Italy looked like when it was just excavated.

The town, half buried in the sand, was completely destroyed. None of the houses were standing properly. At most, only a part of the wall and a pillar stand. Bricks half buried in the sand seem to tell the history of the place.

"Let's rest here today!"

I hear the leader's voice in front of me. However, unlike yesterday, only silence flowed around. Looking around, people's expressions don't look so good.

'Is that the Demon King's mark?'

Naidan says it was destroyed 50 years ago. As Jack, I imagined a small village in the countryside. But...

'Quite a size.'

Surprisingly, the size of this fallen town was quite large. The cornerstones scattered along a wide road were telling the size of the village at the time. Jack walks to where there is a wall of traces of the village that is few left. Jack gently stroked the wall after 50 years of withering wind.

Are those fingernail marks? '

There were four sharp wounds left on the wall. It was like a beast's claw marks. The difference was that the mark had been dug up enough and was scarring as long as an adult's arm. Jack takes his eyes off the wall and looks around. There are scars everywhere that seem to have just been found in the remnants of the village. The fallen columns had traces that seemed to have been broken by a strong force, not by the weathering of time, and a fine shade remained around the walls.

Jack digs carefully. Digging down about 50 centimeters, we found several pieces of bone and a half-broken skull. The bite marks on the skull remained clear. Apparently, the owner of this skull has eaten the whole head off of something.

"Hey! There! I'm not working!"

Jack turns his head. There's a mercenary calling out to himself. Others are already preparing to make their camp in the surrounding terrain. Jack carefully lowers the skull he was holding and roughly covers the soil he dug up. In Jack's ear, returning to move his work, he hears the voices of others.

"Shit. Why do you keep staying here every time you come here? Damn it."

"I don't know. There's a wall around here that avoids the wind and makes defense easier."

"But I don't want to be here! The entire village was wiped out 50 years ago! I don't know how many bodies there are under this dirt!"

"That's what the commander said. Shut up and let's get to work. If you complain, raise your rank."

"Shit. Shit."

Listening to the lenient grumbling mercenaries, Jack unloads the package he was transporting to the designated location. Then I looked around, extending my waist.

Traces of destruction in front of Jack for over 50 years. The fear was still deeply engulfing the NPCs.

'Indeed. This is the Demon King's common goal.'

Looking at the NPCs stirring up the Demon King's trail with frightened eyes, Jack felt as if he had seen the Demon King's reality, which had reigned as a terrifying noun only a few, 50 years ago.