Chapter 65
[Let's fight together here! / Don't get in my way and stay the hell out of it!]
I didn't want to say something that harsh to Adella.
[‘AllSortsOfKirby’ donated 3,000 won!]
-Every time you pick the first choice, Adella's HP drops by 10% without fail!
It's a choice, so it can't be helped.
[▶Don't get in my way and stay the hell out of it!]
Now was the time to focus on clearing the game.
Too much time had already been spent at the materials warehouse.
While dealing with the guards pouring in nonstop, I didn't have the time to spare even a glance at the donation feed silently flooding in.
We continued our desperate fight at the Admissions Office, the last location remaining.
It was also the place that held the deepest meaning for Adella.
Yet she was always a hindrance.
[Now we have to join forces! / Didn't you hear me? I said stay away!]
[▶Didn't you hear me? I said stay away!]
The Admissions Office wasn't an event with a single mid-boss, but one where we had to defeat several elite NPCs.
They were probably instructors involved in selecting new students for the academy.
Calling them professor-level combatants with skills like that would be an insult.
[I'm at my limit! Help me, Adella! / You useless she-cat, you haven't helped at all.]
“...”
Since I kept putting off the choice until the very end, the system naturally selected the second option.
[You have exceeded the control time limit.]
[▶You useless she-cat, you haven't helped at all.]
...It was all for Adella.
Keeping Adella alive this long had been a miracle, too.
At the observatory and the materials warehouse, I had lost count of how many times we'd narrowly escaped death.
You said you had to repay Branch Manager Gestalt's kindness, too.
The guards began milling about.
It was evidence that the diversionary operation far to the east was succeeding.
“We'll slip into the northern forest and lie low, then go back in once things have settled down.”
Escape wasn't easy.
Since we hadn't even made it inside the academy headquarters yet, we were able to escape through the Holy City's countless alleys without encountering a single enemy.
Adella followed behind me, panting breathlessly.
At least if you're a cat, shouldn't you be nimble?
“Let's wait here.”
We found a suitable staircase, so we sat down to rest and conserve our stamina.
Adella trudged over and sat beside me.
“Alpherion and Cisciela will be able to find the laurel and bring it back, right...?”
“Thirty people went through the east gate alone. If they know the exact location, they'll figure out how to bring it back.”
“Right. They're all stronger than me.”
How long would we have to wait?
The quest window offered no particular information.
“Forest Keeper, you really are good at fighting. At the observatory, the materials warehouse, and the Admissions Office...”
Adella trailed off.
She seemed uncharacteristically gloomy. Perhaps the moonlit night had made her sentimental.
“By comparison, I... I wasn't any help at all. If this is all I was going to do, you could've gone alone, NoName.”
“If you hadn't gotten stuck in the ceiling at the materials warehouse, I might not have been able to beat the warehouse keeper.”
“No. You definitely would've beaten him alone.”
Adella's ears drooped. Even her tail, which had been swishing gently, had lost its energy.
“The people you fought at the Admissions Office—they were the instructors who oversaw my entrance exam two years ago. They were all incredibly strong, too.”
“They were strong.”
“Maybe I was never someone suited for the academy. Someone who only stole things in smelly alleys... In the end, I suppose everyone just returned to their rightful place. This is all I'm fit for.”
[‘eAAqAArqAAe’ donated 10,000 won!]
-Maybe you should've just stuck to being a nuisance.
“I was incapable from the start.”
Adella tossed a dagger straight into the air.
She tried to fit the tip of another dagger into the handle hole of the spinning dagger, but
her trick pitifully missed the blade and ended in failure.
“Hehe, I can't even do something like this... I'm really pathetic...”
[Go to the Academy's North Gate and join up with ‘Abyss’.]
“Come on, Adella.”
“...”
Once the quest started, her responses disappeared again.
As if nothing had happened, she abruptly got to her feet and followed behind me.
* * *
There is such a thing as ‘inevitability’ in this world.
Events that will happen no matter what you do.
Events whose cause and effect are so clear that it would be strange if they didn't happen.
For example, ice left at room temperature will melt on its own with time.
For example, a country that wages excessive wars of aggression and engages in tax extortion is bound to collapse from within.
This principle isn't limited to a single phenomenon; it applies to macroscopic realms as well.
In other words, it was, in a way, inevitable that traitors would spring up in a group whose credibility was so low that even its branch manager had foreseen it himself and tipped us off.
“Cisciela! Why are you alone? Where's Alpherion!”
Adella rushed over and supported the badly wounded Cisciela.
“Damn... The old man was completely right. Unfortunately, only half right...”
When Cisciela pulled the arrow from her thigh, a jet of blood spurted out.
“Now I understand why they sent only you two on such a dangerous mission.”
“What are you talking ab—”
“Every mercenary on our side betrayed us. Everyone from Abyss District 15 defected to the academy!”
She explained that when they were trying to steal the laurel and escape, their companions had suddenly turned on them and attacked Alpherion and Cisciela without hesitation.
What had happened?
I was certain that something had gone badly wrong while they were infiltrating, but their companions hadn't said a word.
Still, a skilled fighter was a skilled fighter.
“The laurel is here. I have to go help Alpherion again. Forest Keeper, please don't abandon Adella. Promise me.”
“Cisciela!”
“Take it and run! Hurry!”
“I can't...!”
“Forest Keeper, hurry! Take her and go—what are you waiting for!”
Suddenly, the world turned black and white.
The bear beastkin angrily telling me to run with Adella and Adella stubbornly refusing both stopped moving.
Not only them, but the fluttering leaves, ash, and embers were all frozen in space.
In the frozen world, I alone could move freely.
Two choices floated in the air before me.
[Good luck. Let's meet again alive. / I can't abandon my comrades and leave.]
None of the choices I'd encountered so far had stopped in-game time.
If I took too long to answer, the NPCs would urge me on and put pressure on me.
But now, as if kindly telling me to decide after giving it enough thought, the question even paused the playtime.
I instinctively sensed that this was the most important branching point in the game.
After a brief deliberation, I manipulated the interface floating in the air.
[▶Chat Window – ON]
It wasn't a matter of pride.
I was the one relatively short on information.
In the end, I chose to get the viewers' help.
“Please tell me. I don't care if you spoil it for me.”
Making a rash choice without any information was a shortcut that led to death.
Besides, I simply couldn't shake the feeling that the creator might have rigged some nasty trick into one side.
Like in a dating sim, you accept a junior girl's confession and then suddenly a truck hits you from behind—that kind of development could happen, couldn't it?
Letters made up of Hangul and Arabic numerals surged like waves.
-11111111111
-No matter what, 111111111111
-Choosing 2 is literally the bad ending. 1 1 1 1 1 1
-If you choose 2, you die too with 100% certainty.
-If you go help, all the academy students come swarming outㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Classic Waresoft! They hid a bleakness swerve inside a healing game!
-He still hasn't broken the habit he picked up in Dark Souls.
-Fact) The actual story writer is the same person.
-ㄴWhen I played on Normal difficulty, it was just pure healing...
-ㄴWhat are you talking about? I'm such a hopeless player I had a damn hard time even clearing Normal.
-ㄴThat's a bit much;;
-It's a fairly philosophical development. You chose Nightmare to ignore the story and retrieve the laurel in the shortest possible time, so perhaps it means you have to accept sacrifices like this?
-ㄴThat's shitty philosophy.
-When they reviewed the game, do you think the censors even saw the Nightmare story?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Unlike a computer game, where every line of dialogue is input individually, the setting and character personalities are written as scripts, so unless you're an expert in this field, you probably wouldn't know much.
-There's really no dream or hope here.
-Should I spoil it? Shouldn't I?
-The streamer said it's okay.
-Whatever you choose, Alpherion and Cisciela die here. GG.
-Aaaaaaagh!!!
An unavoidable, scripted mechanic where they couldn't be saved.
I asked again to make an accurate judgment.
“When we get there, can't we save Alpherion?”
-Yeah, it's guaranteed.
-An arrow's already lodged in his heart, so he should be a corpse by now, right?
-Cisciela was unlucky enough to get hit with a poisoned arrow, so she won't last long either.
-No, seriously?
-This is supposed to be a god-tier game...?
-It's not even rated 15; they should raise it to 19.
-How did this dodge an adults-only rating in Korea?
[▶Good luck. Let's meet again alive.]
“Good luck. Let's meet again alive.”
I didn't feel good about it.
There was nothing pleasant about sending a comrade off to certain death.
If Waresoft's strategy was to make people genuinely miserable, it had worked perfectly.
WoA's story mode wasn't for me.
Next time I streamed, I resolved to watch an entire speedrun guide and clear it in the shortest time possible.
I forcibly grabbed Adella by the arm and pulled her away from Cisciela.
Once we'd made our choice, a time attack had begun for us too.
“Adella, we weren't exactly close in Abyss. Still, you have to survive. When you come back, I'll form a party with you as often as you want.”
“No! NoName, let go of me! How can you leave Sister behind in that state and expect her to fight again!”
“We have to go. The enemy is gathering again.”
“Hic... sob...!”
I took Adella, who was out of her mind, and fought our way through the enemies.
My chain flail, embarrassing to even call a ritual implement, was gradually becoming duller.
For every ten I subdued, twenty more rushed in, and when I killed those twenty, thirty came charging.
-Fuck fuck fuck, so this is Nightmare. I can't breathe.
-No, even Nightmare isn't normally this bad. They didn't just raise the difficulty—the number of every enemy feels like they increased it tenfold.
-My mana ran dry ages ago. Can I survive this?
-Doesn't the streamer have scrolls left? Come to think of it, the boss has never used one.
-It feels like one hit would flatten and kill her. Even watching this has my hands shaking.
-Her stamina management and physical skills are insane.
A fight of one against many cannot be called a fight.
Since the majority always wins, ‘hunt’ is more fitting than ‘battle.’
The prey only needed to keep one thought in mind.
Get out at full speed.
Just a little farther and we'd reach the Academy's North Gate.
I checked one last time to make sure I still had the laurel and hadn't dropped it.
[Laurel of Life]
[Synchronization is impossible during combat.]
Did each laurel have its own name?
I checked the one Repi had given me.
[Laurel of Reincarnation]
Reincarnation?
Had the game given the return to the beginning after death a plausible explanation by attributing it to the Laurel of Reincarnation?
The game studio's attention to even minor details was impressive in this regard.
Once we crossed the academy's outer wall, it would be difficult for them to find us in the Holy City's maze of streets.
“...!”
A gigantic ice spike came hurtling down from the sky with tremendous force.
We couldn't melt it. Water's specific heat was extremely high, and my current fire magic wouldn't be nearly enough.
[Advanced Casting: Turbulence]
By manipulating the airflow, I barely altered its trajectory enough for it to skim past us. In that sense, Turbulence was the spell that could cover the widest area for the least mana.
“Can't even properly catch these little rat bastards. I can see what level the guards are.”
A middle-aged man descended from the sky in a gentleman's suit, his appearance perfectly neat without a single ruffle.
A monocle glinting in the moonlight and a pocket watch ticking with an unconcerned click were striking.
“Father...?”
At the one word Adella uttered next, I couldn't help but doubt my own ears.