Chapter 55
After Kim Ma-ri died, was Yor able to eliminate Amducias?
Unfortunately not.
Right after killing Kim Ma-ri, the demon gracefully galloped away across the sky.
"Hmph, this could have been such a wonderful day... but the ending spoiled it..."
Saying such nonsense as he left.
Yor and his companions could only watch blankly as he disappeared.
For one thing, it would be difficult to catch something flying through the sky.
And right now, Yor's mental strength was drained from the One-Horned Lord's "gift" and mental attacks.
While he probably could have pursued if ordered to, he didn't particularly want to.
He just wanted to go home and rest...
"... I suppose we'll have to return this later?"
In the end, the group had no choice but to return with the money pouch Ma-ri dropped when she died.
Of all things, it had to be a money pouch. Chae-rin said she would meet privately to return it later.
At least fortunately, no one here had suffered any losses.
No, they'd actually benefited.
Though they failed their original goal of taking the One-Horned Lord's head, everyone had received gifts.
On the ride back, Chae-rin and Ha-neul pondered:
'But he still hasn't done it after all...'
Well, they'd somewhat expected it from someone who always lived in the forest.
With the 'Demon's Blood' penalty, he probably couldn't find any suitable partners.
But they'd still wondered 'what if'.
After all, his appearance was quite striking. But now that the One-Horned Lord had certified it... they felt oddly pleased.
Though the certified party himself seemed quite embarrassed.
And so ended their encounter with the One-Horned Lord.
...... However, the topic was just getting started in the community.
Of course, since Kim Ma-ri's death had been caught on stream.
Naturally, the fact that Amducias could detect real-world chastity spread among users too.
The users were thrown into shock and horror.
It was creepy enough when game characters could tell what you ate yesterday.
But to even detect your real-world virginity status?
What kind of trick was this, was it just a lucky guess, should games even be allowed to dig into users' private lives, and so on.
Countless questions and complaints poured in.
Some even started spreading wild theories that this might actually be a parallel world.
But besides that, the reactions weren't very positive.
While the technology was impressive, it was still an invasion of users' privacy.
Though limited to the community, the flames were burning quite intensely.
Whether the game company found those flames concerning, or just wanted to show off their tech, they strangely issued a statement this time.
For a company famous for never communicating, releasing a statement was quite unusual.
According to GM Basin from the server team who posted the statement:
It was apparently a side effect of their high-performance AI.
When users create characters in [Demons Saga], their biometric data is automatically registered in the capsule.
This is necessary to create characters based on users' appearances.
But their advanced game NPC AI had inadvertently started reading users' biometric data too.
That's what caused this incident, they said.
GM Basin concluded by saying they would try to minimize such occurrences in the future.
Users' reactions to this were mixed.
+
[How tf does AI read biometric data??]
Does that even make any sense??
Even with alien tech that'd be hard you bastards
+
[fr lol]
[Just a technical error folks~]
[Saying it's a parallel world would make more sense lol]
Disbelief and.
+
[This is actually creepy when you think about it]
So these mfs could track how many times I jerked off yesterday if they wanted?
Like how many times the day before, and how many times today
And how many times I'm planning to today
They could voyeur in real-time?
Wow...
Brb gonna rub one more out
+
[?]
[How did you reach that conclusion wow]
Shock and.
+
[Yeah we read your data]
So what
What you gonna do about it lol
You gonna quit? Got any alternatives? lol
Just quietly keep playing
+
[Always be grateful]
[No this game can't die I haven't earned this month's rent yet]
[ㄴ Rice eating rice eating~ Happy rice eating~]
[It's ridiculous they're saying they'll minimize these incidents instead of stopping them completely lol are they joking? lol]
[ㄴ Hey Miss Kim stop grumbling and get to work, you gonna slack off today?]
[ㄴ No I'll work...]
Acceptance.
How advanced must the AI be to detect such things? And how detailed must the biometric data be to determine that?
While it was honestly a bit creepy, most seemed to accept it.
Because there was no alternative game with this level of technology.
There were already plenty of "dark gamers" making money in-game. [Demons Saga] was too deeply embedded in daily life to quit over something like this.
And as the company said, detecting real-world chastity didn't happen very often.
A few days later, news of Amducias's elimination spread.
*
After getting my mental state wrecked by that damn unicorn, I returned to my cave for some recovery.
I needed time to adjust to the gift I received from him.
Though I failed my original goal of eliminating the demon... well, elimination did happen in the end.
The Second Knights' Order Commander of the Empire cut off Amducias's head.
He wasn't going to last long anyway.
Being such a distinctive demon, his location was shared in real-time.
That information naturally reached military ears too.
Of course a raiding party would form after he killed so many non-virgins.
But how did they catch something that could fly through the sky?
The answer was simple. He charged at the Second Knights' Order Commander first.
With an absolutely furious expression...
-FILTHY!!! NON-VIRGIN!!!!!!
Roaring like that.
There were other knights nearby too, but he must have been incredibly angry...
Apparently this Second Knights' Order Commander was quite promiscuous.
But a Commander-level figure wouldn't lack for skill, so the demon perished gloriously. Leaving only that solid horn behind.
... Well, it was a fitting end for him. Honestly, I'd started to feel a bit attached to the guy.
Though he disappeared like that, the gift he left remained intact.
I'd adapted to it somewhat over time.
As he said, I could control it to some degree. If the hearing gets too intense, I can reduce it at will.
And the ability I gained was indeed quite useful.
"......"
I focus for a moment, concentrating on sounds outside the cave.
Countless noises from the forest flood into my ears.
Of course, being events far away, they weren't as loud as if heard up close.
But I could distinguish the many sounds within.
From simple wind rustling leaves, to mutated wild boars digging territory, even to the mating calls of distant goblins...
'... This is impressive.'
I nodded to myself after hearing that far.
He left quite a useful ability before departing. Having increased detection range in this forest was an absolutely massive advantage.
This place is already full of fierce beasts lying in wait.
Being able to detect danger even one second earlier meant survival chances increasing dozens of times over.
And that's not all.
If I do well, I might not lose in sensory battles with creatures from the Deep Layer either.
While my original detection abilities weren't bad, they still couldn't compete with beasts.
Though their combat power is also an issue... having something that can compete is a huge advantage.
At least I won't have to worry as much about getting ambushed by those monsters?
'I should try dipping my toes in sometime.'
Thanks to this, I briefly considered.
While the Deep Layer is incredibly dangerous, it also has many precious herbs.
Being nearly untouched by humans, many plants have grown there for ages.
Among those plants, there should be some like elixirs that increase mana.
It seemed worth trying to look around with this mindset.
As I was organizing these thoughts.
Step- Step-
Another sound reached my sensitized ears.
Someone's footsteps. But quite familiar ones.
There aren't many who walk so carefully, afraid of getting killed by monsters.
I went out first this time to greet them.
Sure enough, it was Yoo Chae-rin. Seeing me, she said with a startled face.
"Oh, what? How did you know to come out?"
"I heard you coming."
"... You heard me? From this distance?"
She looks at me with disbelief. Yeah, I find it pretty amazing too.
I asked her first.
"Anyway, why are you here again?"
She just brought news of Amducias's elimination a few days ago.
Though she's been visiting quite frequently lately, this interval seemed too short.
When I asked, she gave a meaningful smile.
"Hehe, I came to brag about something."
Then declared confidently:
"I hit level 100!"
I tilted my head at that.
"Already...?"