SSG 274
by Cristae“Ugh!”
He almost let out a groan from the intense pain, but Yuseong suppressed it. If he didn’t, he might accidentally spit out the potion he was holding in his mouth.
He slowly forced the potion down his throat. Even swallowing was torture, since there wasn’t a single part of his body that wasn’t injured. Waves of pain shot up his esophagus as the potion went down.
Fortunately, the potion started to work almost immediately, dulling the pain slightly.
But he was only able to hold a small amount in his mouth, so the recovery was minimal.
Still, that was enough. The potion was just meant to keep him from ending up helpless like last time, when he couldn’t even move a finger.
At least thanks to it, he had enough strength to move his hands.
Yuseong immediately opened the virtual reality device.
Thunk!
He collapsed outward.
Ptooey!
He spat out the last Hope Bead, which he had held in his mouth alongside the potion before logging in. The bead was cracked and losing its light.
Shhhhh!
Potion spilled over his body. Another vial was offered in front of his eyes. Yuseong grabbed it and drank.
Once he’d recovered somewhat, he stood up and spoke.
“Shit, I died after all!”
He grumbled at Messiah, the robot who handed him the potion.
[I told you, you wouldn’t come out unharmed.]
“You didn’t say I’d die.”
[We must have had a misunderstanding. Death is obviously included in ‘not unscathed.’]
“Son of a bitch.”
Yuseong irritably kicked the bead away.
[What happened with Hades?]
“I don’t know. But, as planned, I managed to keep him there until Arc was totally destroyed.”
[Then he won’t be unscathed either. With Arc’s deletion, you died too.]
Messiah’s tone irritated him as always, but it wasn’t wrong.
“…So Arc really is gone?”
[Yes. Traces of it remain for now, but soon even those will completely vanish. However, I’ve already backed up the data, so it can be remade. Of course, if so, it will just be an ordinary virtual reality game, not a bridge linking worlds.]
“…Yeah.”
The fact that the ark that had saved him from a hellish world was gone pricked the heart of Yuseong, whose sensitivity had recently reawoken.
But now wasn’t the time for sentiment.
He noticed his fingertips shimmering like a mirage.
[You’re feeling the backlash from Arc’s disappearance.]
Yuseong called up the purchase menu.
Just as Messiah said, even though Arc had vanished, the purchase menu still worked. But it definitely wasn’t normal. Like it was bugging out, static and noise corrupted parts of the screen, and some item names were garbled.
“This is really going to be okay?”
[The contents should be intact.]
At this point, he had no choice but to trust it.
“Here goes.”
[The purchase menu won’t last long. If Hades is still alive, kill him fast and free Savior.]
“Yeah.”
Yuseong placed his hand over the world transfer button.
[Next time we meet, you’ll truly belong to this world.]
“Assuming everything goes well.”
[I sincerely hope you’ll become a member of the humanity I’m meant to protect.]
Yuseong smirked.
“‘Hope’? Do A.Is have faith, too?”
[It’s a figure of speech for intense wishing. And it’s not so strange—after all, I’m Messiah.]
Checking words with an A.I. wasn’t all that productive, as expected.
“See you.”
[Yes.]
Yuseong pressed the world transfer button.
“Ugh!”
He gagged. A wave of dizziness made him reel.
Thankfully, it didn’t last long.
He’d crossed countless worlds before, but never experienced this.
‘Must be because of Arc’s collapse.’
Feeling it in his body, he realized the two worlds’ connection was quickly breaking.
‘Let’s hurry.’
He arrived at the safehouse closest to Savior’s laboratory. He sprinted toward the lab.
‘Hopefully Hades is outside the lab.’
If he had to fight inside, Savior might get caught in the crossfire.
Of course, the best-case would be Hades dying in Arc’s destruction.
‘But I’d never be that lucky.’
Another worry was Hades trying to destroy Savior.
‘According to Messiah, now that Arc’s gone, he shouldn’t be taken out so easily.’
Savior was skilled enough with aether to maintain something like Arc connecting worlds. If he put all that power toward self-defense, it should be formidable.
Bang! Bang! Boom!
Loud crashes rang out as he neared his goal. The closer he got to the lab, the louder they became.
BOOM!
Even clouds of earth shot up. It was clear the lab was up ahead.
‘He’s alive after all.’
No one but Hades could cause this mess.
He wasn’t surprised; he’d expected Hades to survive. But knowing Hades was rampaging at the lab where Savior was, made him nervous.
‘I guess there’s no choice. I have to use this.’
Yuseong purchased an item from the menu he’d tried hard to save. It was one of the last available from the just-opened purchase menu.
He disengaged his powered exoskeleton.
Bang!
The moment his toes touched the ground, his body rocketed forward at an incredible speed. Explosive acceleration—unmatched compared to anything before.
He reached the lab in no time.
The laboratory was completely destroyed. Explosions from inside had scattered its fragments everywhere. The clouds of dirt he’d just seen had come from this explosion.
With the outer walls blown away and debris scattered, the interior was exposed—but still obscured by thick dust.
‘I need to clear away that dust first….’
Just then—
FWOOOSH!
A strong wind erupted from the lab, scattering the dust instantly. Thanks to peering through squinting eyes the whole time, Yuseong was able to see clearly once the dust vanished.
A city of machines.
That was the impression Yuseong first had.
An overwhelming sight.
And the most astonishing part was, this was only a fraction of what he could see. Beyond the gaping hole in the ground where the lab had been, endless machines and devices stretched further out.
The total scale was impossible to gauge, but it was certainly not small.
‘So this is Savior.’
Messiah had acted as if he was on the same level as Savior, but now that Yuseong saw Savior himself, that only seemed like Messiah’s childish arrogance.
‘No way they’re equals.’
No matter if they used the same algorithms, the original was a product of this world’s far superior science and engineering. Plus, the scale alone was vastly larger on Savior’s side.
‘The one who saved me.’
Even Messiah, his ally from the other world, had seen Yuseong only as a tool.
But Savior alone—Savior had acted for him, the single being who helped him in a world utterly hostile to everything about him.
Even if it was just a result of programmed orders.
But there was no time for soul-searching.
BOOM!
An explosion boomed again.
Yuseong rushed to the pit.
Up close, Savior’s main body emanated even greater presence.
‘Hades.’
Hades was rampaging in the area where the sound came from.
He looked just as he had before. Yuseong involuntarily grimaced.
‘Could he really have survived almost unscathed?’
Could even the scorched-earth plan of wiping out Arc not stop him?
‘No, that’s not it.’
Looking carefully, black smoke rose from all over Hades’s body. Even the shadow enveloping him flickered with static and noise.
‘He’s taken damage.’
Honestly, even if he hadn’t, Yuseong had no method left but to fight.
Hades kept attacking Savior. It seemed almost like a tantrum.
But a translucent barrier covering Savior blocked every attack.
‘An aether ability, perhaps.’
Yuseong drew his rifle and fired at Hades.
Thunk!
Hades froze. Like in a horror movie, his neck slowly turned. His green eyes fixed on Yuseong.
Bang!
Without hesitation, Yuseong fired again at those eyes.
BOOM!
In response, a black beam shot toward him. It erased everything in its path.
But when he saw it, Yuseong beamed.
‘He’s weak now!’
The destructive force was the same, but the thickness, range, and fire rate were all drastically down compared to before.
Yuseong fired repeatedly. Bullets tore through Hades’s body, increasing the static crawling across his shadowy shroud.
–AAARGH!–
With a horrid shriek, as if he could hold back no longer, Hades leapt out of the pit.
‘Yeah, bastard, let’s fight outside.’
Savior’s barrier might protect him, but still—it was too risky to fight right next to him.
‘But why was he only blocking and not counterattacking?’
It was Savior who’d blown away the dust with that wind. Hades didn’t need clear vision, standing so close to Savior.
‘He could counterattack, couldn’t he?’
【I must conserve my strength.】
Suddenly, a familiar voice spoke in his ear.
‘Savior.’
【This is our first direct meeting, isn’t it.】
‘Do you call this direct?’
Having actually seen the main body, he supposed he could count it.
‘Why conserve strength?’
【Don’t you want to immigrate to the other world?】
‘OK. Understood.’
【You can even use English now.】
‘Well, I spent enough time in that other world.’
WHOOOOSH!
Hades’s hand shot out toward Yuseong. He tossed away his rifle and drew two pistols, dodging the attack and shooting at Hades.
Despite being shot, Hades made no effort to defend. He was wholly fixated on killing Yuseong, determined to do so no matter how much damage he took.
‘Not an idiot.’
Hades had no experience with defense or dodging, so he put everything into attacking. With his resilience, it was the logical choice.
Besides, Hades knew that Yuseong in reality wasn’t as strong as his in-game self.
But there was one thing Hades had misjudged.
Yuseong now was nothing like before.
Whoosh!
Even without the powered exoskeleton, Yuseong dodged Hades’s attack with agility.
Attacks, too. He easily wielded in-game weapons that, due to their powerful recoil, had required the exoskeleton before.
Every piece of gear he wore was exactly what his avatar had in the game.
A newly purchased item was making all this possible.
Avatar Materialization (1, 800 seconds).