Chapter 140: Wait

‘Did he just suppress the power of order with determination alone?’

Redin BR Oser was bewildered, but he couldn’t do anything about something that had already happened.

‘We still succeeded in surrounding him.’

With that thought, Redin heard a voice coming from behind him.

-And it’s not like the power doesn’t work on him at all.?

It was Ool, a creature creation made by two gods. Ool had the appearance of a snake and transferred to Redin abilities that he might lack. For example, the miracle that Redin called the power of order was also transferred to him by Ool from the Binding God and the Overflowing God. More specifically, the aspect of power was from the Binding God, while the Faith points were from the Overflowing God.

‘Did the power work?’

-Yes. And it’s still causing ripples in his body. For now, he’s able to suppress the power with his strength, but once the power builds up, he won’t be able to do anything about it.

Redin saw a sliver of hope.

‘The phalanx is made, so Lakrak will have to suffer damage to get out.’

Lakrak certainly possessed the power to easily wipe out Redin and the knights, but in order to use that much power, he would need more preparation, or use a lot more power than necessary.

‘And the Binding God also said that this phalanx is specifically designed to kill apostles like Lakrak.’

Lakrak would have to continuously fight against the knights when he was inside this phalanx, and if he wanted to escape, he would need to create a big gap in the phalanx.

Redin thought to himself.

‘The fight was already won the moment the phalanx was formed. Die, apostle.’

***

Crampus teleported to where Wisdom and Jang-Wan were.

“The situation isn’t looking so good. How are things over there?”

Wisdom looked at Jang-Wan for a moment before looking back at Crampus.

“We thought it was okay, but it doesn’t seem to be. Tell us about your situation first.”

Crampus said, “Black Scale’s army and Asbestos’s army are fighting each other. Although Asbestos’s army got in place first, Black Scale’s army was so powerful that Asbestos couldn’t hold them out. The first defense line we placed has already been broken through.”

“What about the walls of the Asien Fortress?”

“Fortunately enough, it doesn’t seem that Black Scale’s army is attempting to attack the Asien Fortress again. They probably don’t think it’s necessary to purposefully start a siege battle when they have already destroyed the southern walls. They’re still moving west.”

“They must be looking for a place that will give them an edge in defense. Isn’t there a good spot along the second line of defense?”

Crampus opened his map. It was covered with marks and notes put down in preparation for this battle.

He then zoomed in on the southwest side of the map and nodded.

“Here. The direction Black Scale’s army is going in aligns with this location.”

“Can you stop them?”

Crampus bitterly smiled.

“...To be honest, I’m not sure if I can. Nebula is interfering too much. Apart from his creations, he keeps making miracles somehow, so right before the attack, our allied troops were swept away with a miracle, and the troops we placed elsewhere for our special operation were also discovered… That made me think he was focusing on the battle over there and the situation here should be better. Is that not the case?”

Wisdom replied, “It’s partially good.”

Wisdom pointed at where Lakrak was confronting Redin and the Holy Knights. The number of the Holy Knights was decreasing one by one, but the fight continued.

While preparing for the battle at the Asien Fortress, Crampus learned the fact that Jang-Wan had used her XP to help Wisdom make an apostle. He believed that the attempt was good, but whether it would be efficient and bring them the intended results were another story. From what Crampus could see right now, however, everything was looking good.

“Considering it was a rushed improvisation made to stop Lakrak, isn’t it quite good?”

“It’s more than good. We initially thought that it would be enough to just keep him at bay, but judging by how things are progressing, we might be able to deal with him too. That is, as long as my calculations are correct.”

“Really? Then why are you saying things are only partially good?”

Jang-Wan, who was next to Wisdom, then said, “It seems that we weren’t the only ones who thoroughly prepared for this battle.”

On the surface, the battle at the Asien Fortress seemed like a battle between only Crampus and Sung-Woon. At the beginning of this alliance war, Crampus had put up the front of a one-on-one confrontation to lure Sung-Woon into a fight with Wisdom and Jang-Wan as well. And as intended, Black Scale had arrived at the Asien Fortress without other allies.

But of course, different from what the three players had expected, Black Scale brought an outstanding gunpowder weapon, thus ruining the plan for New Danyum’s and Asbestos’s troops to pour out from the Asien Fortress to surround Black Scale’s army. As a result, the Asien Fortress had no choice but to helplessly withstand the bombardment for five days.

Wisdom thought that was still acceptable. Although Black Scale’s firepower was stronger than expected, with the fortress walls collapsing, an opportunity was made for Asbestos’s army to ambush Black Scale. Wisdom, Crampus, and Jang-Wan thus saw the battle at the Asien Fortress as a chance to turn the tables.

“Red Fruit’s army has appeared.”

“Red Fruit’s army? Did they just cross the border?”

“No. If they had only just crossed the border, we would’ve had enough time to deal with Black Scale’s army and face them later. However, they are already closeby in the northeast. You should be able to see them with your bare eyes soon.”

As the players rose in Divinity level, it became a more common occurrence for reconnaissance to fail because of access to the skill Divinity Block. Since the three allied players were so focused on Black Scale and carrying out their plans, they had failed to notice the movement of Red Fruit’s army.

“How many of them are there?”

“40,000.”

At the Asien Fortress, there were several priests of Overflowing God, but Mangul’s army wasn’t there. And New Danyum’s army had 5000 soldiers, while Asbestos’s army had 20,000.

Jang-Wan said, “Red Fruit’s army is heading toward the fortress wall Black Scale had put a hole into. They’re probably trying to take the fortress.”

Crampus then said, “We don’t have enough troops stationed in defense. We should get New Danyum’s army to go back to the fortress.”

“I don’t know if that’ll be easy.”

Wisdom pointed at the fortress wall with a hole in it. As Crampus wondered what was wrong, he saw Sung-Woon’s creation, Sratis, and Wisdom’s creation, Ostro, fighting fiercely. The blood gushing from their giant bodies formed a small stream and flowed down.

“Given the situation, sending more defense troops won’t be of any use. We need to find a way to block them from the outside.”

“...So this is the current situation,” Crampus continued to say. “Black Scale’s army is receiving Nebula’s help and moving toward a defense base while utilizing their firepower. In the meantime, Red Fruit’s army is heading toward the line of defense with an overwhelming number of soldiers. And two monsters and two apostles are fighting each other. There is no knowing how the fights will unfold.”

Crampus looked at the other two players.

“Is there something we can do?”

Wisdom made a gesture and was about to say something, but he hesitated.

And then Jang-Wan, who was next to him, said, “There is.”

“What can we do?”

Jang-Wan explained, “The only reason we can’t stop Black Scale’s army right now is because they have Nebula’s support. No matter how strong they are, they can’t just recklessly break through a line of defense established in advance. If we’re able to block Black Scale’s army with the least amount of soldiers needed, we should be able to use the remaining soldiers to block Red Fruit’s army. And after that, if even one of the monster or apostle on our side wins, the tide of the battle would be turned. We can then reclaim the fortress and seal the gap in the fortress wall for a defensive battle. We should be able to hold out until Mangul or Asbestos’s reinforcements come.”

Crampus nodded.

“It’s a good plan, except for the fact that Nebula won’t just sit back and watch.”

Wisdom said, “It might be possible to make him do that.”

“What do you mean?” asked Crampus.

“I should be able to do it.”

It was Jang-Wan who replied.

Crampus shook his head.

“No, I don’t think so.”

Apart from the fact that Wisdom and Jang-Wan had created an apostle, Crampus had recently learned another piece of information. It was the fact that Jang-Wan and Nebula were relatives in real life, and that they were cousins.

“Are you saying that Nebula would stop fighting just because of his cousin?”

“There’s no need to stop the fight itself. If we can get him to do nothing while I talk to him, that should be enough. That alone should allow us to lead the game to our advantage. And there’s something else I haven’t told you. It’s about me, Nebula, and Nebula’s younger sister.”

Crampus said, “Tell me.”

Jang-Wan replied, “It’s probably not that surprising, but Nebula was a pro gamer before he got into The Lost World. And he had a younger sister. But the problem was that his younger sister was very frail, suffering from a myriad of minor illnesses as well as a major one.”

“Sorry, but we don’t have time for a long story, Jang-Wan.”

Jang-Wan nodded.

“Don’t worry. The story ends here anyway… His sister died of a disease.”

Crampus remained silent in deep thoughts.

“Nebula couldn’t be with his sister at her last moments because he was away at an e-sport tournament, and it wasn’t even one he had to attend. He later heard that his sister had said that she wanted to see him one last time before she died. After that, Nebula retired from being a pro gamer.”

Crampus said, “...Indeed, that must have become a trauma for Nebula… But what does that have to do with you, Jang-Wan? It seems like a story between the siblings.”

At that moment, Jang-Wan, namely Choi Seo-Yoon, wanted to yell that that wasn't true. But she kept it to herself because it was something that these two people didn’t need to know.

.

“I knew Nebula’s sister very well. We were very…close. We looked similar, of course, and we even knew everything about each other’s way of speaking and preferences.”

“So?”

“So I’m going to do things this way.”

As they listened to Jang-Wan’s explanation, Crampus and Wisdom looked at each other for a moment.

And then they agreed to Jang-Wan’s plan.

***

Nebula, Sung-Woon, was controlling things inside the game when he suddenly sensed someone’s presence and turned around.

There was a small figure wearing a lion mask.

“...Jang-Wan?”

“Sorry, but my name isn’t Jang-Wan.”

Jang-Wan took off the lion mask. And when she did, there stood a girl who looked about two years younger than Sung-Woon, and she had similar eyes and ears as him.

“Oppa, it’s me. Your little sister, Ji-Woo.”

Sung-Woon looked back and forth between the system windows he had opened and the girl who introduced herself as Ji-Woo. And then he stared at her.

“...Ji-Woo? You’re Choi Ji-Woo? How can you be here…”

Jang-Wan, who identified herself as Ji-Woo, thought things were going as she planned. There was no need for a detailed explanation as she had made herself look like Ji-Woo in the past. And in the Lost World that had become reality, nothing was too strange to happen.

There was also no need to make significant changes to her avatar since she already looked similar to Ji-Woo as relatives. She just had to make her hair longer to reach below her shoulders, make herself a little taller, and touch up her nose and chin.

For Sung-Woon, it might have been more plausible for his dead sister to appear in this world than his cousin.

It was time for Jang-Wan to achieve her goal.

She said, “Oppa, can we talk for a bit?”

Sung-Woon hesitated and then looked down.

“Well, that is, Ji-Woo. Wait, can you wait just for a bit? I’m a little busy right now.”

As if he was trying to recover the flow of gameplay that had been interrupted by the short conversation they just had, he controlled his system windows a little faster than usual.

Jang-Wan wanted to scream.

‘What an asshole.’