Chapter 214: WARNING (2)

[00:56]

[00:55]

There were two kinds of reactions, either disconnect or ignore the message.

And most chose the latter.

"They want us to disconnect out of nowhere? Are they crazy?"

"Pfft, if they want us off the game, they can kick us out themselves. ElSa Co. has lost it."

"Could they have been hacked? It's just so out of the blue."

[00:48]

[00:47]

[00:46]

Those in the Apalanchia user market all scoffed.

Although Elder Lord was a virtual reality game functioning through the human brain, there had never been any incidents inside the game. This indicated the perfection of the game's maintenance technology and core system 'Albino.'

The users all believed there would be no issue.

At most, they believed they might be forcefully disconnected.

[00:33]

[00:32]

[00:31]

So, with about 30 seconds left, people started speculating about what would happen when the timer reached '0'.

"Hey, maybe there’s a twist! You think they might give us an event reward when the timer hits 0?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, something like [This was actually a test. We tested your bravery. As a special reward for those who stayed until the end, here's an exclusive skill.] It could be something like that."

"Hah, you’re hilarious."

"It sounds plausible enough, no?"

The users showed no signs of concern.

[00:25]

[00:24]

[00:23]

* * *

Crockta was watching this as well.

His heart was thumping out of his chest.

Something was happening.

The orcs cheering for him, and the sight of the War God admitting defeat and stepping back, all became distant.

The thoughts of the orc warrior Crockta and the cafe owner Jung Yi-An collided.

It was the Ashen God.

She was about to do something.

Looking into Crockta's wavering eyes, the War God asked,

"Is there something wrong? You have won, Crockta."

"War God, let me ask you a question."

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

As he watched the numbers on the timer decrease, Crockta asked,

"Does the Ashen God truly intend to destroy this world?"

"That’s right."

"But why?"

"That... I cannot tell you."

"War God."

Crockta glared at him.

"I have met the Ashen God and her apostles—the demons that followed her—and heard from them the truth about this world."

"...!"

"They told me that the stars in the night sky are all fakes created by you gods and that they died a long time ago, along with the Star God. The Sun God is asleep, and the Ashen God wants to erase this world. I wish to stop her, but I do not know the truth."

The War God's face hardened. Crockta clenched his teeth and continued,

"Tell me the truth, War God."

The timer was plummeting toward '0'.

Beyond that window, he could see the face of the War God, and beyond him, the war-ravaged expedition force, the other gods, and the orcs throwing their accolades at him.

They were all becoming blurry.

"What exactly is she trying to do?"

"She wants..."

The War God flickered with flames and then said,

"...to restart the world."

"[00:20]"

"[00:19]"

"Restart the world?"

"The powers that have been sustaining the world have all been exhausted. What remains is only doom. Slow and gentle, but certainly inevitable. The sun we have is literally the last Sun in the universe. And so, she intends..."

The War God clenched his fist.

"... to erase the world, everything in this universe, and return the universe to its primordial state."

Crockta understood.

He turned around to look back.

His heart raced.

He saw Tiyo jumping around and shouting at him in joy. Anor was there, smiling. Hoyt was raising his hammer to celebrate the victory. Tashaquil with a gentle smile, and the orc warriors who had shared life and death with him were there too.

He also saw the expedition force, who was relieved that the terrible war had ended.

[00:12]

[00:11]

[00:10]

The logout window flickered before his eyes.

Beyond it, the War God stated.

"We are going to stop her."

* * *

One group was spectating Crockta's victory.

"They really won."

"That's amazing."

It was a group of users who had hidden in a distant spot to watch the orcs' battle.

Though they hadn't been playing Elder Lord for long, they were thoroughly enjoying the world of Elder Lord through teamwork. They had come from afar to watch the war between the expedition and the orcs, which was the biggest talk of the town.

"Maybe I’ll join Praise the Orc."

"Heck, I’m even considering starting all over as an orc."

"Eh, that doesn't suit you, bro."

"I like the macho style, you know?"

"Just be happy as a wizard, man."

As they were noisily chatting, suddenly, everyone stopped talking.

A message window had popped up. The users all stared into the void, deep in thought.

At first, they frowned, not understanding the message completely, but then their expressions gradually changed.

Eventually, they looked at each other with dumbfounded faces.

"What does this mean? Are they telling us to log off right now?"

"Seems like it. There’s even a timer...”

"What is this bullshit all of a sudden? They're ending the game service? Does this even make sense? What a joke."

"It seems like a system error to me."

"Let's just wait. If there's a problem, they’ll kick us out automatically."

"Right?"

They were plunged into confusion.

The timer was steadily decreasing.

Suddenly, they felt a presence.

"......?"

"Huh?"

They weren’t able to notice the person until now, but not too far from them, a man in a robe was sitting. Their gaze fixed on the man.

The man looked into the thin air, dusted off his butt and stood up.

Then he walked toward them.

“Eh...?”

In the man's hand was a knife.

Their bodies flinched, and they stepped back startled. The man was just walking, but the distance closed in an instant. The users reflexively grabbed their weapons.

"Aaaaaah!"

One of the users in front swung his weapon.

But the man easily dodged it and plunged the knife into the user's throat. The user spat out a mouthful of blood bubbles and slumped to the ground in disbelief.

Soon, the ground turned into a sea of blood.

The accompanying user screamed in horror.

"Aaaaaah! What are you doing! Who the hell are you!"

The man glanced at him with a weary look, twirling the knife and taking another step forward.

His attempt to resist with his weapon was futile.

The man slashed him several times. The user spewed blood, collapsing to the ground.

The sight of the two users, now corpses from the knife wounds, was utterly gruesome.

The remaining users who were behind tried to run away, but the man quickly caught up to them and stabbed them in the back. One by one, the users died, and soon, the group of users who had gathered to watch the war were all brutally executed, spewing blood and collapsing to the ground.

The man looked at the scene with emotionless eyes.

Slowly, the bodies of the users turned into white ash and began to scatter.

It was a beautiful scene, just like snowflakes fluttering in the wind.

The man watched the aftermath of his actions, then closed his eyes.

[00:08]

[00:07]

[00:06]

He murmured.

"So this is how it goes..."

And then he spread his arms.

[00:03]

[00:02]

[00:01]

[00:00]

* * *

"Come on, get into your positions, guys!"

"Captain! The timer’s gone, what should we do? Don’t you think we should log off now before it’s too late?"

"We’re in the middle of a fight, what do you want us to do? Just fight! Nothing’s happened yet! If there's a problem, it'll resolve itself somehow!"

"Got it!"

The users were engaged in a fierce battle with a horde of goblins.

They were a small clan on a quest to subdue the goblins. They were having a rough time due to being outnumbered, but they were still managing to effectively deal with their enemies.

Warriors wielding shields charged at the goblins, blocking their attacks before stabbing and slicing with spears and swords. Wizards provided support from behind.

"Good! Keep going... cough!"

However, the goblins were not easy opponents.

There was a shaman among the goblin horde. A fireball flew toward the warriors fighting in formation, and they were caught in the explosion.

The goblins rushed in, striking down with their weapons.

The warriors bled and died.

"You goblin bastards...!"

Enraged, the clan leader charged in with the elite members, causing the frightened goblins to start retreating.

They showed no mercy to the goblins.

Spells and arrows struck the retreating goblins in the back. They screamed and collapsed. The warriors pursued them to the end, ensuring they were dead.

The quest was a success.

"Phew... It's over..."

"Great work, everyone. We'll distribute the loot once the dead ones log back in."

The clan gathered together.

They checked on each other’s injuries. Although there were deaths due to the goblin shaman, most were safe.

"Great job, everyone. Since there was that weird message earlier, let's disband for now to avoid any problems. I’ll send you guys a chat later and regroup then."

"Yes!"

"Understood."

"Great work, everyone!"

"Good job."

They all exchanged farewells and were about to log out of Elder Lord.

But.

"...Huh?"

"Eh?"

"What is this?"

Everyone was perplexed.

They couldn't log out.

Confusion set in as they looked at each other and chuckled nervously, attempting to log out several times to no avail.

Logging out of Elder Lord was supposed to be simple. As soon as one thought about bringing up a status screen, a prompt asking, 'Would you like to log out?' was supposed to appear in the air. Simply thinking 'yes' would slowly fade the screen to white, returning them to the real world.

But not a single prompt was appearing.

The faces of everyone gradually hardened.

They were unable to end their session in the world of Elder Lord.

Something was wrong.

Was this related to that earlier system message?

"Um... captain bro."

"Yeah?"

"C-can you... look at that...?"

"Look at what?"

The clan leader frowned and turned his head.

One of the clan members, face pale, was pointing at something.

Following his gaze, they saw the bodies of their clan members who had died earlier.

"What am I looking at?"

"Bro, they're dead."

"Yes, they are. So what... wait... huh?"

The others also grasped what he was indicating and froze momentarily.

When users die, they would turn into white ash and disappear. They were forced to logout but they would be allowed to log back in after a short delay. Though they suffered from a "death cooldown" status for a while, it was hardly considered a significant penalty.

However, their bodies remained in this world, not disappearing.

As if they had truly died.

"...H-hey, come on."

The clan leader tried to speak up, forcing a louder voice.

"You saw them die earlier, right? It could be a glitch. Seems like there's a bit of an issue with the server."

He forced a laugh.

"Those ElSa Co. guys aren't doing their jobs properly, are they? Haha, who knew something like this would happen in this game.”

"Right. Haha..."

"Yeah, really."

The clan leaders and his members attempted to laugh it off, but the sight of the bodies, coupled with the inability to log out, felt ominously unsettling.

The goblin corpses sprawled out were no different.

It felt as if they were looking at the real dead bodies, not just images in a game.

"...Hey, looking at them like this is getting kinda creepy. Let's clean this up for now."

The clan leader turned away, speaking.

The clan members picked up the lifeless bodies and threw them behind some bushes so they wouldn’t have to look at them any longer.

The four users who had died fighting the goblins for a quest after the timer had run out and disappeared, they were the first victims.

* * *

Kim Chul-Min, who ran an Elder Lord capsule cafe, was looking at the capsule management window when he sensed something wrong.

Elder Lord capsules were the culmination of modern science, designed to immediately halt operation if the user's biometric signals show any health issues, ensuring their safety. And from the capsule management system in the capsule room, he could monitor the situations inside every one of his capsules.

His eyes widened.

Two of his customers had just...

Died.

It was clearly indicated that they were dead.

"Hey! Call 911 quickly! Shit!"

He jumped up from his seat, yelling at a part-time worker.

* * *

There he was.

Crockta was standing there.