Sung-Woon said to Hongo, “Don’t worry.”
Sung-Woon had become a little uncomfortable when dealing with his creations ever since this whole thing started. In the game version of The Lost World, Sung-Woon wasn’t really the type to have conversations with the creations. At the end of the day, they were nothing but AIs.
The Lost World made it possible for the players to talk with their creations, but they only responded with pre-set phrases. Things were different in this world, and there was another reason why Sung-Woon felt uncomfortable talking to them. 𝑖𝘦.𝑐𝘰𝘮
-What do you mean?
Sung-Woon thought for a moment.
‘They talk too much in the real world version of the game.’
It was as if they had souls of their own. Sung-Woon was not upset about it per se, but it did make it difficult for him to deal with them. Sung-Woon used to use his creations as if they were simply another limb, in other words, he used them like a macro, but now the macro was talking to him.
‘It probably won’t matter if I completely ignore them. Speaking from a system’s perspective, all my creations are completely obedient and follow my commands unconditionally.’
But the idea of ignoring them also made Sung-Woon uncomfortable. And it would not do him any harm to answer their simple questions and show them kindness.
“I knew this would happen.”
-You knew this would happen?
“Yes.”
Even if the locust swarm ate all the grain, that could not completely stop the players from developing. Sung-Woon had also reduced the range, effectiveness, and frequency of the swarm so that it would not seem like a player’s actions. Moreover, it was difficult for the locusts to stay active in the agriculture areas at high altitudes.
‘At first they’ll probably think it’s simply a natural phenomenon or an event, but at this stage, it’s inevitable that they’d have gotten much more in tune with the game. And as the players of the continent began to check the other players they’d likely meet in the future, they would eventually discover that there was a player using Small Area: Insects.’
Something that was bound to happen someday had just occurred.
“It’s not difficult to maintain a locust swarm anyways. So it’s nothing to worry about.”
-That’s good to hear.
“If there’s anything to worry about, it should be you. Are you okay?”
-Yes. I have lost many locusts because of another player’s Miracle, but I don’t think they have discovered me yet.
Unlike Sratis, Sung-Woon’s creation, Hongo, was a small individual. There was no reason to spend a lot of resources on making a creature that would never see battles but simply control locusts. Hongo could be described as a brown locust that was bipedal. While its head was that of a locust, however, its body had the silhouette of a Human, only it consisted of an insect’s membrane and shells. If it had a straw hat over its head, it would look like a man with a strong build. And vagrants were common in the current era, so its chance of getting caught was low.
“…But I would be at a loss if I lost you too.”
Unlike the locust swarm, creating a creature not only consumed Faith points, but also the Essence of Fiends or Abominations. And because Hongo was a creature that steadily raised its level by controlling the locust swarm, its XP would fall quite a bit even if its level did not go down.
Sung-Woon commanded Hongo, “The mission is done. Until the next time I assign you another one, use the remaining locust swarm for disturbance and go into hiding while ensuring your survival to the best of your ability. Leave the region if necessary.”
-…Understood.
After Sung-Woon cut off his contact with Hongo, he began to scout. Numerous windows which showed the views of insects and birds appeared in front of Sung-Woon. On the side, there was a mini map indicating which perspective was looking where, and whenever Sung-Woon touched the screen, the hearing of the corresponding insects or birds would be shared with him. This was an official add-on from The Lost World.
‘Of course, it’s Satyr and Renard, isn’t it?’
Currently, there were five players at conflict at the center of the continent, and they were divided into three factions. Sung-Woon classified them according to the players’ representative species, and out of them, Satyrs and Renards were the ones right across the border from Sung-Woon.
Satyrs were a species of half-man and half-beast, and they had the lower body of goats. They had fierce temperaments, but they liked music, singing, dancing, and drinking. To make a comparison to another species, they were similar to Humans ability-wise. However, they had the attribute of fanatics, so their faith never wavered once it was decided. Individuals with a strong fanatic attribute had stronger tendencies to make sacrifices for faith. It would seem like an advantage, but it could be a disadvantage in certain situations.
On the other hand, Renards were a species of bipedal foxes. They were smaller than normal foxes but bigger than children, and even though they had lower strength, their intelligence was high, which was their advantage. There were other characteristics as well. They were inferior in battles at the beginning of the game, but once firearms were developed, they gained an advantage with their small but agile build.
‘As of now, only these two species are making moves.’
The attack of the locust swarm evenly caused damage among the five species. Even though the five players had split into three hostile factions, the chance that they had been sharing information about Sung-Woon in their chats was high. No, Sung-Woon believed that must have happened because he had experienced that kind of situation before.
‘However, in order for the other three tribes to attack me, they would have to pass through either the Satyrs’ or the Renards’ land. And that’s simply not doable in a situation where they’re hostile towards each other.’
And if the Satyrs and Renards moved their armies to attack Sung-Woon, the others could just attack their empty land without trouble. There was no way the two players ruling over the Satyrs and Renars would allow that.
‘The three species probably requested the other two species for a temporary ceasefire so that they could attack me, whose territory sits opposite of theirs. And to have the Satyrs’ and Renards’ forces launch an attack against me, they probably offered various kinds of material support. At the end of the day, I’m their common enemy.’
It was unfortunate that Sung-Woon had to face five players altogether, be it directly or indirectly. But fortunately, Sung-Woon had anticipated a scenario like this. And in his opinion, it was an advantage that the five players had not unified under the same banner.
‘Okay, so now…’
Sung-Woon made his move.
***
The capital of the Satyrs, Deimerit.
Two kings were having a conversation somewhere in the valley between the mountains.
.
Hati, the Renard king whose fur had gone gray because of age, said, “Should we trust them?”
Hati was talking about the leaders of the other three species from the central continent.
“Even though they’ve never kept their promises until now?”
Pav, the Satyr king with a fully-grown beard despite his young age, replied, “But we can’t just sit back and watch the Lizardmen do as they wish. Aren’t all the gods saying that they’re behind the terrible locust swarm? Those Lizardmen have begged their evil Blue Insect God to make us starve while they have become full.”
“Hmm…”
Since their territories bordered that of Black Scale, both the Satyrs and the Renards agreed that Black Scale was becoming too strong for their comfort. While they had printed the Pyeon that was used in their markets, Automation’s casting technology was so excellent that the Pyeon made anywhere else did not have the same value as those made there.
Merchants were clearly making profit by going beyond Automation, but Black Scale was making much more profit than they were. If things continued like this, the land of the Satyrs and the Renards could also fall into Lakrak’s hands, just like Automation.
Pav the Satyre king then said, “Even if we might suffer some losses, we don’t have any other choice. We’re closer to Black Scale’s border…and we can’t let the armies of the other three species pass through our land. Don’t you think we have to be the one to make a move?”
“But…”
“I have the same concerns as you do, Hati. But I think this is something that all five gods have agreed on. There’s also a prophecy, isn’t there?”
The prophecy said that the Satyrs and Renards would burn Black Scale’s capital, Orazen, before the end of the year. Not only was the prophecy known among the Satyrs and Renards, but word had also spread among the other three species. This was because the players had used the Prophecy skill to come to an agreement. It was pretty much a contract stating that the players overseeing the Satyrs and Renards would occupy Orazen as soon as possible and defeat the Lizardmen or exhaust them, and that the other three other species would help them do so. It was an agreement between the players, but as the prophecy spread, the five species knew it as the will of the gods.
Then the Renard king, Hati, said, “Do you also think that the Blue Insect God the Lizardmen of Black Scale believe in is a different being than our five gods?”
“I think so. Even though it’s a rumor, Lizardmen are said to have no honor and fight sneakily. And it’s also said that Lizardmen put rotten meat on the altar as tribute to the Blue Insect God, and they leave it there for bugs.”
“That’s dirty and messy.”
Such was the problem of Small Area: Insects. For those who believed in other gods, this act of worship could seem disgusting.
Hati shook his head and said, “Then what attack route should we take?”
“Hm…”
Pav looked down at a map. The eastern part of the continent was not properly drawn. And there was only one proper route. The path led to Automation. Beyond Automation, they knew the names of the different places, but not their exact locations.
After giving it some thought, Pav said, “It would be good if we could go along the coastline, but…”
“That is a cursed area filled with insects… Wait, insects? Maybe that place…”
“And there’s no road there.”
“The only path that could be called a road is the path to Automation. But Automation has been attacked several times, and it has never been conquered.”
“Except for the Lizardmen.”
The story of how Automation had been conquered was widely known in the central area of the continent. As the evil Lizardmen could not get over the rampart, they cowardly intervened in the successor fight, nominated the successor they wanted, and made her lord.
Merchants said that the conquest had to do with the big hardship the Gnolls created ten years ago, but people preferred simple stories.
Then Pav said, “Some have also thought that Automation needed to be saved from Lakrak’s possession. This might be a chance to do so.”
“Saved only by the Satyrs?”
“Yes.”
‘Ha, so you want to get your hands on Automation?’?Hati thought. ‘As expected, Satyrs are greedy. But I won’t stop you if you want to take advantage of them instead of going into a proper fight. After all, Orazen is the capital of Black Scale.’
Then Hati said, “Then I’ll have to take my soldiers through the wilderness even if it takes a while.”
“Okay, good. Let’s come up with a concrete strategy now.”
***
It took less than a month for Pav and Hati to gather an army. There were 800 Satyrs and 1100 Renards, which made the largest expeditionary force in the third continent.
The two kings led the charge. And from above, two gods were watching over them.
One of the gods looked exactly like how people envisioned the devil. He wore a black suit, but his skin was red, and his eyes glowed in yellow and looked like those of a goat. There were six curled horns growing from the top, side, and bottom of his head, and whenever he opened his mouth, red flames came out. The god of the Satyrs, player Crampus, nervously looked at the army from the air.
“Come to think of it, what’s your plan for supplies?”
“Supplies?”
The one who replied looked like an ordinary Human woman. She had long hair and wore a white short dress which showed the shoulders. If she was not floating in the air, she would not have seemed like a god. She was the god of the Renards, player Lunda.
“They’ll receive supplies until they reach the inner parts of the wilderness, and then they’ll go around the northern coast.”
“You’re going to loot while advancing?”
“Yes. Renards are small, so they require less supplies than normal species. And along the path through the northern coast, there are oasis villages here and there.”
“Alright.”
Crampus nodded in understanding after that.
The plan was for the Renards to depart first, and when they encountered their first enemy force, the Satyr army would attack Automation. If it were a normal battle, dividing the army into two would not have been the best idea because there was the danger of both units being defeated by their enemies.
However, in The Lost World, dividing the army would be a good choice if they could create two separate battlefields in Sung-Woon’s territory. As long as the battles went as both kings planned, Sung-Woon would have to divide his forces and use his Divinity and Faith points on both fronts, and he would have to fight by frantically going back and forth between two areas.
Crampus glanced at Lunda a few times, and Lunda sensed and met his gaze.
“What? Is there something you want to say?”
“N…no. Oh, right. You can’t reach Nebula yet, can you?”
“I can’t. The line is still blocked. What about you?”
Crumpus checked his system window. He tried to request a Whisper Conversation, but the request did not go through to Nebula, namely Sung-Woon.
“Yes, the same for me.”
Crampus would’ve let things slide if he could contact Nebula, and Nebula agreed to compensate him for the losses he had suffered. The compensation would have to be substantial, of course, but from certain perspectives, it could be considered trivial compared to the act of harassing an unspecified number of players.
However, Nebula instead focused on military training and increased the number of scouts, as if he was preparing for the players’ attacks. How could the five players not be mad?
“I should now observe the unit internally. Shall we part ways for today?”
“Oh, um… There’s something I want to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“You made your avatar’s appearance yourself, right? Is it what you really look like?” Crumpus asked.
Crumpus had been feeling strange since the start of the game. And after meeting Lunda, he realized it was loneliness. Regardless of the gods not being aware of the passage of time, Crumpus still felt human emotions. Especially after forming a loose alliance with Lunda out of necessity, he could not help but become interested in her. That was also when he noticed Lunda’s mole. Lunda had a mole under her left eye, and Crumpus thought it was an unnecessary detail to add.
‘Unless she wanted to recreate what she really looks like.’
Lunda smiled and said, “What do you think?”
Crampus could not answer right away, and when he tried to, Lunda had already shifted her attention to the system window.
Lunda’s expression turned surprised.
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
“It’s a request for a Whisper Conversation.”
“From Nebula?”
“No.”
Lunda shook her head.
“It’s… Eldar?”
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