Chapter 104
“Hieeek, w-what is this?!”
The earth shook, and debris flew in every direction.
Eliana, lying face-down with her head clutched in her hands, screamed in Gallery-speak.
There hadn't been any sign that something was about to explode?
When she finally raised her head in confusion, Eliana clearly witnessed it.
- Grrrurgh!!!
The frog-like mutant magical beast's tongue had been sliced cleanly in two.
“Wow...”
The barrier she had thought absolutely impenetrable.
And even the mutant magical beast's skin, as hard as steel.
Yet everything was useless before the explosion.
- Whirrr
And then the drone appeared again.
Once, twice, and then endlessly, one after another, centered around Eliana.
“...Again?”
At first, she thought she was imagining it.
But every time a drone exploded, more were generated endlessly and flew toward the mutant magical beast.
Even more numbers to overwhelm their numbers.
-Kaboom!
“What in the world is happening?!”
Eliana couldn't get a grip on reality.
What was especially spine-chilling was the method.
“S-suicide attacks?”
If it was a living creature—even a magical beast—it had fear. The drones did not.
They simply kept flying in and blowing themselves up.
-Grrrurgh...!
The mutant magical beast had no choice.
What if it attacked to keep the drones from approaching?
Then, as if they had been waiting for that, the drones exploded, spewing scorching heat and fireballs.
But if it didn't attack, so they couldn't self-destruct...
-Kaboom!
The drone plunged straight down and detonated head-on, leaving no way to evade it.
It was an insane method of attack even to the emotionless, aggressive magical beast.
Sacrificing themselves to blow themselves up.
-Croak
-Grrrurgh
Fear and terror began to etch themselves into the eyes of the frog magical beasts.
Just then, the drone that appeared for perhaps the tenth-something time quickly reached the front of the mutant magical beast.
But there were no longer any magical beasts to stop it.
-Grrrurgh!!
The frog-like mutant magical beast opened its mouth in one last desperate struggle, spewing fear and screams.
And the drone casually flew right into its mouth.
-Grrrurgh?
It had never even imagined that one would enter its mouth.
- Kaaaaboom!!!
The mutant magical beast soon scattered into charred fragments, its original form no longer recognizable.
*
- What the hell is this, Head Mod? Say something.
- Fuck, that is one vicious way to attack;
- Why am I getting goosebumps all over in broad daylight?
- Iron Fairy ← Upvote if your whole body tingled when it exploded lol
ㄴ Armion) Upvoted! Hit it!!
ㄴ ???
ㄴ Your Majesty, please don't do this here...
ㄴ Head Mod can't resist whenever he sees grand magic...
I dealt with the wave and logged into the Gallery.
And posts regenerating nonstop were there to greet me.
“Ah, so you saw it all.”
Apparently, everything had been recorded in the videos the elves had left running.
As I surveyed the mood in the Gallery, Penny looked up at me from beside me with sparkling eyes.
“It was totally, totally, totally amazing!”
“You had fun.”
“Yeah. Are you not going to do more?”
Penny pointed at the drones piled up like a mountain in the corner.
I hadn't even used a quarter of the amount I'd ordered...
But unfortunately, there would be no need to use those drones.
“That ended much more anticlimactically than I expected.”
Penny learned quickly.
After I taught her a few times, she soon began helping me attack with drones.
“Aww...”
When I handed the disappointed Penny a snack, she immediately accepted it with sparkling eyes.
Penny understood that drones were mere objects, not living beings.
I didn't know much about their electrical circuits or how they worked either, so I couldn't explain that, but I knew they weren't magic.
“That makes it even more amazing!”
“Huh?”
Science wasn't something you could learn like magic and use to create things right away.
Modern science had been perfected only after data accumulated over hundreds—or even more than a thousand—years.
But that seemed to make it all the more amazing to Penny.
“A field of study that's better than magic, even though it isn't magic. And only Malfait can use it, right?”
“Uh... well, you're not wrong?”
No matter how much I distributed it on the Gallery, it was impossible for anyone to even make a similar version.
I was its sole user—and would remain its sole user in the future.
I felt awkward, since I'd never really thought of it that way.
‘It's not like I made it in the first place.’
Just then, a new featured post appeared on the Gallery.
[Title: We Won't Forget You]
Author: ElvesAreCuteAndGoodAtEverything
(A GIF capturing the moment the drone exploded)
(A GIF of the drone flying through the sky)
(A GIF of the drone dropping off a can of cola)
Head Mod's iron fairy
The friend who became our eyes
We won't forget you, who even sacrificed your life for the elves...
(A GIF of an elf with its lips tightly pressed together, covered in tears and snot)
I w-won't ever... forget you...!
I won't cry...!
I'll remember you@!!!!
[Upvotes 3121] [Downvotes 0]
- Waaaaah
- Waaaaahㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
- Damn it, Head Mod, you're awful! H-how could you make it use a suicide attack...!
ㄴ This has gone fucking insane
ㄴ Upvote if you want to flick the forehead of that elf who's trying not to cry lol
ㄴ Upvote lol
ㄴ Starting with me lol
[Title: Elves... Don't Cry...]
(A GIF of an elf sticking its face right up to fill the screen)
(A GIF blurred out of focus by spreading tears)
Because... snif... sob... I promised the fairy...
[Upvotes 102] [Downvotes 302]
- Iron Fairy: “Stay well.”
ㄴ Author) “What does that mean?”
ㄴ Iron Fairy: “Stay well.”
ㄴ Author) “How do you do that?”
- Ugh, fucking pointy-eared bastards.
- Seriously, I want to line them up and yank their ears, ahaha.
- For fuck's sake, enough with part one, part two, and taking it too far.
- Ugh, the Gallery's getting flooded with sentimental posts, fuck;
- (Knight emote gripping an elf's ears tightly)
ㄴ (Elf sobbing emote: It hurts!!)
“Oh, right.”
They don't know drones are machines, do they?
Thanks to that, all kinds of memorial posts and melodramatic elf sobbing posts began running rampant.
Almost all of them were posts with selfies of elves holding back tears, or posts cursing me.
But it was another two hours before I finally posted a clarification—or something like one.
“It's fun, isn't it?”
Seeing the elves bawling their eyes out while dwarves and humans were genuinely disgusted...
There was no better source of dopamine, no better bait.
I had actually planned to leave it up for another day.
- Heeead Mooood!!! Whyyyy!!!
- Hieeeek, save the fairyyyyy!!!
ㄴ Ugh, these fucking idiots, seriously
ㄴ Pointy-ears, please shut up. It's the middle of the night.
ㄴ No, for fuck's sake, stop it already
ㄴ (Waaaah! Elf emote)
ㄴ (Front-facing picture of a religious executioner)
I thought someone was really going to die at this rate.
Before the situation became even more dramatic, I put my lingering regret aside and wrote an announcement.
[Title: Iron Fairy? Whether it dies or not, what's it to me? lol]
Author: Head Mod*
All right, all right, I'm kidding, calm down, calm down.
(A GIF of drones piled up like a mountain)
These aren't living creatures.
They're called drones—basically weapons I control to attack, or machines for reconnaissance.
So please don't brand me as some heartless, crazy bastard.
(Elf waaaah GIF 1)
(Elf sobbing after drinking soju GIF 2)
Still, it was fun, lol.
[Upvotes 7123] [Downvotes 3621]
- Kyaaah lol
- I knew it lol
- He deliberately posted the announcement late lol
- He collected a shitload of crying-elf GIFs lololol
- Downvotes reveal your identity, fuck lol
- ???? Why didn't you say so earlier??
ㄴ Head Mod*) (Waaaah elf GIF) lol
ㄴ Kyaaah!
Of course, I couldn't resist teasing them until the very end.
Fortunately, there were no more sentimental memorial posts.
Instead, the mages naturally turned the Gallery into a forum for discussion.
In particular, the Crimson Magic Tower, which had become Kelliarton's only and mainstream tower, showed the greatest curiosity.
That made sense, since their goal was to imbue tools with life by infusing them with mana.
- Supreme Storm Mage) This is the third time I've asked you to become the Tower Master.
ㄴ lol, now you're taking it seriously.
ㄴ Ah lol, you still haven't given up?
- Wait, wasn't magitech just delusional fiction? Fuck.
ㄴ Looking at this, it's actually fucking convenient.
ㄴ No-risk, high-return? How does that make sense?
Until now, nature-related magic had been recognized as the mainstream.
Amid all that, a forum for discussing practical magic—especially the minor field of magitech—had opened.
And naturally, even people who knew nothing about magic flocked to the topic and showed interest.
And of course, I was there too...
- Is magitech actually possible?
- Come on, Head Mod, say something, anything.
- Head Mod, fuck, where'd you go?
I wasn't.
“How would I know?”
Mages swarmed around me demanding an explanation, but I ignored them.
No, I really didn't know, so I couldn't explain it.
Even if a burglar showed up right now, held a knife to me, and said, “Explain what magitech is!” I couldn't.
More importantly, I had no time to spare for it.
[Shop/Category/Nuke]
[Caution* Viewing this category may affect a specific target.]
[Do you still wish to view it?]
“Uh, what is this?”
Because the newly updated items in the shop were a bigger problem right now.
Nukes? Was this the nuclear weapon I knew?
The shop had never sold nuclear weapons before.
And now that same shop had begun selling them on a whim.
Naturally, it drew more attention than the Gallery's latest bait.
“Why did it appear all of a sudden?”
Of course, I had no intention of buying one.
I couldn't even handle chemical weapons, and nuclear weapons were on an entirely different scale.
In particular, the warning that had been flashing chaotically before my eyes was making me hesitate to open it.
[Caution* Viewing this category may affect a specific target.]
“What does it mean that it may affect something?”
I didn't know exactly, but it sounded like there would be a problem even from merely looking.
A nuclear category that had appeared out of nowhere.
A system warning telling me never to view it.
And the ominous sense of unease creeping over my entire body.
“I absolutely have to click this, right?”
There was something I'd learned while serving as the Head Mod of this Otherworld Gallery.
That if something was not to be done, the system would never even reveal it.
If it were truly an item I wasn't allowed to view, it wouldn't have added it to the shop.
Unable to resist my curiosity, I pressed the happy button.
[A specific target has been affected.]
[You can now view Shop/Category/Nuke.]
And then more warnings naturally appeared.
But even as time passed, nothing happened.
“What? Nothing's happening.”
I was just about to browse the nuclear category, assuming I'd overreacted.
DragonDragonWillDie: (Stop! Dragon emote)
DragonDragonWillDie: No! Stop!!!
“Gasp.”
An extremely urgent chat message flew in from Felicia, who had been quiet.