The Ruined World Was Mistaken for a Game-Chapter 26.2: Toward the Main Story (3)
Translator: Dreamscribe
As the number of goblins noticeably dwindled, all players were certain of victory.
That was when it happened.
Sssmirk!
The Hero Slayer, who had been watching from afar, let out a mocking grin. That grin was clearly visible to the players.
In that instant, the battlefield changed.
From the black pillar behind the Hero Slayer, countless tentacles erupted.
The tentacles latched onto the ground and
Sssshhhk!
Goblins began springing out.
"I-Insane!"
"D-Did they respawn?"
That wasn’t all.
When the Hero Slayer raised his massive mace, the tentacles flowing out from the black pillar merged with it.
KWAaa!
The Hero Slayer slammed his mace into the ground.
A massive tremor followed as black flames surged up and swept across the surroundings. Flames of despair bloomed on the battlefield of darkness.
“This is...”
“Ah...”
All the players sensed it instinctively.
- Phase 2 OMG
- Holy...
Phase 2 had begun.
The Hero Slayer finally started to move.
As if everything so far had merely been a game, he began commanding the newly spawned goblins and advanced toward the players.
The Hero Slayer gripped his mace with both hands and swung it at the tankers who had formed a defensive line.
KWAGAGAGA!
A storm of black flames erupted and incinerated dozens of tankers and surrounding players alike.
[Surviving Heroes: 669]
Just the Hero Slayer’s arrival shattered the players’ formation, plunging the battlefield into chaos. Each time he swung his mace, multiple players were dismembered and erased.
Jinwoo gritted his teeth as he stared at the Hero Slayer.
“I’ll take him!”
A radiant light burst powerfully from his sword.
Leaving a trail, he dashed forward and drove his sword into the Hero Slayer’s chest.
CRACK!
A crack of light appeared in the Hero Slayer’s body. The moment Jinwoo twisted his sword, the light surged like an explosion.
KWAaaa!
With a flash, the Hero Slayer’s body exploded, blasting away the surrounding goblins as well.
Thududud!
Fragments of the Hero Slayer rained down like a storm.
With only traces of his brutal demise left behind, the players clenched their fists.
“Khuh!”
Jinwoo staggered and fell to one knee.
Anyone could see that the overuse of a powerful technique had overloaded him.
“L-Leon nim!”
"In front...!"
Black tentacles pierced the Hero Slayer’s fragments and restored him to his original form.
KWAaaaANG!
The resurrected Hero Slayer immediately swung his mace.
Jinwoo barely managed to raise his sword to block, but his body was violently hurled backward, rolling uncontrollably across the ground. Only after slamming his sword into the earth was he able to come to a stop.
And it wasn’t just the Hero Slayer who had revived. The goblins who had died rose once more.
Caught off guard by the surprise attack of the resurrected goblins, the players’ formation was pushed far back.
[Surviving Heroes: 487]
“L-Leon nim! Are you alright?”
“You’re hurt...!”
The players surrounded Jinwoo as if to protect him. Blood streamed down his arm, staining his sword. A few remaining healers clung to him, but the wound wouldn’t close. It was because of the black flames that had tainted the injury.
Jinwoo stared straight ahead.
“That black pillar is continuously summoning the army of Erosion from outside the Magic Barrier.”
“How do we stop it?”
“If my guess is correct... there’s probably a core at the center.”
Responding to the player’s question, Jinwoo raised his sword again.
“I’ll try to break through as far as I can. Heroes, please…”
“We’ll destroy the core!”
"We'll do it!"
The surviving players, including Haebyul, reaffirmed their resolve.
Jinwoo nodded, then looked forward and channeled powerful energy into his sword.
KWAGAGA!
He swung with all his might, and the light burst forth, clearing a path toward the black pillar.
“Run!”
“Uaaaaaaaah!”
-Run!!
-They're swarming in!
The players sprinted at full speed toward the cleared path. The goblins charged at them like mad.
It was like watching a pack of piranhas scenting blood.
[Surviving Heroes: 386]
The Hero Slayer chased after the players and quickly closed the distance.
“Kieeeee!”
As he let out a monstrous shriek and raised his mace to strike the players, Jinwoo appeared and blocked the blow with his own body.
KWAaaa!
Black flames burst out from Jinwoo’s body.
“L-Leon nim!”
“Leon nim!”
Covered in blood, Jinwoo had stabbed his sword into the Hero Slayer’s chest. He looked at the players, who momentarily froze.
‘Go.’
The moment they saw that in Jinwoo’s eyes, the players clenched their teeth and sprinted like mad.
“Fuck! We’ll block them with our bodies!”
“Just look forward and run!”
The players physically shielded the others, letting the rest break through toward the black pillar.
[Surviving Heroes: 286]
The Northern Grand Duke ran with clenched teeth.
“Noona! Go ahead first!”
“Protect noona!”
“Kaha! Valhalla!”
The northern warriors threw themselves at the continuously respawning goblins.
"Fuck! Whatever! Magic Explosion!"
“Uaaaaah!”
KWAANG!
The following mages forced out the last of their mana and self-destructed.
By forcefully failing their spells, they caused their own bodies to explode.
The archers drew their daggers, plunged them into the goblins, and clung on tight.
[Surviving Heroes: 42]
The black pillar drew near.
Goblins were being summoned right in front of it, blocking the players’ path. Life Hunter and the other hunters rushed forward to clear a way for the Northern Grand Duke.
“Uaaaah!”
-Uaaaaah!
-Haebyul, this isn't going to work.
-She’s going to die!
Haebyul, surrounded by goblins from all directions, drew her bowstring.
“Warrior! Run now!”
A Spirit Arrow filled with all her power pierced through the goblins ahead.
Haebyul collapsed to the ground, drained.
Ssshhk!
Goblins quietly approached and surrounded her, looming above.
“He... hehehe....”
Haebyul tightly closed her eyes with a feeble smile.
Though the pitiful sound of her laughter reached Northern Grand Duke’s ear, she didn’t stop running.
Ssshhk!
Life Hunter crouched down and formed a foothold with both hands.
Northern Grand Duke stepped onto Life Hunter’s hands and jumped, leaping straight into the black pillar.
“Haaaaah!”
From midair, she raised her dual axes high above her head and brought them down with all her strength and weight toward the core at the center.
CRACK! KWAaaA!
The core shattered!
At the moment the core was destroyed, the Hero Slayer and all the goblins came to a halt.
The black pillar began to fade.
Breathing heavily, Northern Grand Duke looked around. The remaining players were the same.
-They actually survivedㅋㅋㅋ
-Lucky
A goblin’s weapon was frozen just inches from Haebyul’s face.
“...Did... we do it?”
As the player in front of Haebyul spoke, everyone, including Haebyul and Northern Grand Duke, turned to look at him.
-That crazy bastard! How could he say that.
-C’mon, no way..., phase 3? Really...?
KUUUUNG!
The ground rumbled.
The black pillar, which had begun to fade, condensed into a sphere and once again darkened the surroundings.
CRACK!
A skeleton emerged from the black sphere. The black smoke wrapped around its body and transformed into a robe.
[Darkness is complete.]
A lich had appeared.
[Die, you repulsive remnants of light.]
With a wave of the lich’s hand, the sky rippled.
Black storm clouds gathered, and meteorites made of skeletons, engulfed in flames, began to fall.
The Northern Grand Duke and the surviving players stared up at the sky, blank-faced with despair.
-Phase 3...
-Is this even beatable?
-This is terrifying. Feels like the end of the world, holy...
FWOOOSH!
A magic circle appeared beneath the players’ feet and teleported them backward. Jinwoo had teleported them behind him. As he urgently reached toward the sky, a barrier formed.
KWAGAGAGAGA!
The skeletal meteorites crashed into the land, falling toward Jinwoo and the players. Each time they struck Jinwoo’s barrier, blood spurted violently from his body.
[Surviving Heroes: 12]
Barely surviving the barrage of meteorites, Jinwoo collapsed to his knees.
[Despair. Fear. The erosion born of darkness will devour you all!]
As the lich raised its hand, the still goblins' bodies twisted grotesquely and were sucked toward the Hero Slayer.
GU-GUGUGUK!
The Hero Slayer’s body swelled and distorted into a mass of twisted flesh.
That grotesque shape grew and grew, eventually transforming into a giant troll. With a mere flick of the lich’s finger, the troll began slowly advancing toward the players.
[Give up. You have failed.]
The lich whispered.
Ssshhk!
Jinwoo slowly stood, gripping his blood-stained sword.
“I... absolutely cannot give up. Right?”
Jinwoo strengthened his resolve as he barely lifted his sword.
The frozen players gritted their teeth and raised their weapons at the sight.
They hadn’t given up yet.
As long as they didn’t give up...
* * *
A viewer watching the broadcast on his monitor gulped and clenched his fist. He had been watching since the subjugation team had departed through Arsilan Worlds.
The number of viewers watching through Arsilan Worlds had reached 6.42 million. If not for the server limitations, that number would have gone even higher.
“No! L-Leon nim...! Are they really going to kill everyone?!”
As the enormous troll arrogantly walked toward the wounded Leon and the players, he screamed.
He wasn’t thinking about the game’s quests, story, or direction anymore. He only wished for them to survive.
“Huh?”
A window suddenly appeared on his monitor.
It was a notification from Arsilan Worlds.
[Goddess Ella seeks aid from the Heroes of the Future. Will you lend your strength?]
He stared in confusion, then immediately reached for his mouse.
‘I-Is this an event?’
The answer was obvious.
[Yes <- No]
The moment he selected it, the window vanished and transformed into a small light that embedded itself into the video feed.
And it didn’t just appear for him.
-FS Games has lost their mind! They actually prepared something like this!
-Clicked immediatelyㅋㅋㅋ
-Kyah! This is it!
-Spirit Bomb time! Everyone click!
That same window appeared on every viewer’s screen watching through Arsilan Worlds.
[Thank you, Hero of the Future. Your warm heart will bring light to Arsilan.]
The small light.
FWAAA!
Transformed into millions of lights and rained down upon Leon and the players.
In this moment, even the viewers became Heroes.
*****
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Chapter 26.2: Toward the Main Story (3)
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