Chapter 158

After spouting his nonsense, Nephrites immediately fainted. Like someone who had let go of the strings of consciousness in relief. He was in no condition to be forcibly awakened and told the story.
“Your injuries are serious. Honestly, you look like you’re on the verge of not breathing….”
Kim clicked her tongue in frustration.
“Not while I’m on my toes. For now, it’s best to get him as far away from here as possible.”
“I’ll have to do that. Turkham, can you handle it?”
“I see.”
Turkam and Tatalia were two of only two reservists in the entire operation. They weren’t forced to join the team, but strongly wanted to.
“There’s a medic on the helicopter. First aid should do the trick.”
The professor was skeptical about my chances of survival. The only thing I can tell you right now is that even if you do survive, the after-effects will be severe.
You can’t expect a normal life.
“I want Tatalia to stay, just in case. I can’t do more than that.”
“Uh, yeah, you mean me?”
Turkam takes over Nephrite as Tatalia makes a surprise retirement move. As he carries her limp body on his back, Kim offers him some advice.
“If it gets dangerous, drop it. Think of your own life first.”
“That was the original plan.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You’ve got to do what you can.”
The label of reserve agent didn’t seem to fit Turkam very well. He’d rolled and rolled and rolled, and it had paid off.
“That should be fine.
We have some idea of the Godmother’s plan. She’s driven all of her forces underground in order to accumulate enough “deaths” to open the Sanctuary. Above ground, they are likely safe.
Turkam and Tatalia packed up Nephrite and left the ranks. I could only hope she could handle the heavy load. There was no time to stand idly by and watch their backs.
“We’re running late. Let’s hurry up.”
We navigated the dark underground by light.
There were two engagements of similar magnitude to the first.
During the battle, Kim had a strange feeling.
“It’s like a dungeon in a video game.
It was ironic.
The original battle with the Godmother takes place in the Shiran Empire. Howland also appears in the game, but by then the Godmother is dead. Markus and his cultists take center stage.
Even though it’s a completely different story from the game’s episodes.
I’m more “game” conscious than usual.
“…….”
Kim looked up at the ceiling.
By now, my eyes had adjusted to total darkness and I could see my surroundings clearly with only a small light. Thick pipes ran alongside the extinguished lights.
At the end of the pipe will be him.
By Markus Dresner, the Scarecrow Lord of the Legion.
But he can never be the “boss” of this stage.
“We have a reaction!”
Immediately after the Supporter Agent’s signal rings in the underground space.
Saaaaaaahhhhhh!
A black swamp began to spread from the other side.
The tension was palpable among the men who had fought in the Battle of Bastitera. Some of the weaker ones even choked on their breath. It’s an experience you don’t get used to after just one or two.
From the swamp, the Methunaf were born, hundreds of monstrous creatures that appeared in a matter of hours and roared. Even the sturdiest knights instinctively flinched at the demonic screams.
At her feet, there was a godmother.
A venomous glare was aimed at Kim.
Kim met his gaze in silence and spoke.
“Move over.”
The [Vibranium Composite Sword] forged in your hand is passed to Asterike.
Hook, hook, there was a burst of heat. In a flash, Asterike, wrapped in flame, stepped forward. Blood-red Chapter flowed like blood. Soot stained the ground.
The flames that spread out became a barrier.
The walls crumble around them. Yet there is no fear, no hesitation, no emotion from the Metunaf. They leap into the flames as if it were their only salvation.
A blazing Chapter flickered across his tongue.
───!
In the fire, the misshapen silhouettes lost their original shape.
“Boom!”
The immense heat of the rush made the knights bite their tongues. They didn’t dare to join in. They felt as if they would be cooked to death if they approached too lightly.
“How can …… be spelled like that?”
Anima muttered, half in admiration, half in disbelief. Like the rest of the world, he’d always considered spells to be a ‘job skill’. Something handy, sometimes a weapon, but not something to rely on.
Common sense was being crushed.
“Ast is definitely the way to go for page 1.
Kim was equally impressed.
There’s no better way to get through Phase 1 than to give away your alignment and have everyone else suck your fingers.
It also helped that the battle was not a mixed bag of enemies and allies as it had been at Bastitera. The Godmother sent her metunafs between the team and herself as if to create a barrier.
If that’s your intention, I can guess.
‘It’s obvious where the soldiers are placed.
The common soldiers she’d encountered so far. They hadn’t been worth her time. They weren’t even expected. They were merely tossed around to be utilized as ‘expendable’.
The underground is already filled with the remnants of death.
At the Godmother’s feet lay three bodies. Martyrs, sacrificed in the Sanctuary, just before the Ops team crashed into them. The words dripped from their naked bodies, along with their blood, adding to the swamp.
Summer.
A rapidly growing plant wrapped itself around Metunaf’s body. Red buds soaked up the nutrients and bloomed. The frenzied laughter of the Metunaf echoed through the reservoir.
Even the ceiling had been swallowed up by the swamp for some time. Metunaphs fell from above, chuckling as they floundered in the fire.
– प्रियतमा!
Metunaf popped out of the pillar as well.
Asterike swung her sword quickly, crushing Metunaf’s head. Even as the top of his neck burned, a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.
“Annoying…!”
The flames on the sword intensified. Metunaf and part of the entire pillar melted away. I had already killed more than triple digits, but there was no end in sight.
Asterique’s progress has slowed.
Just as I was starting to get out of breath.
The eerie laughter suddenly ceased.
The rampaging monsters froze in place.
“Opportunity.
Asterike’s hazel eyes caught sight of the Godmother through the metunaf. She dragged her stepping foot back, preparing to accelerate. Her body shot forward like an arrow about to be fired.
There was an ear-splitting cry.
“Asterike, get out!”
As soon as he heard Kim’s command, he turned around. Asterique had fallen back significantly. For a moment, I wondered if it was the right time to push.
“הסוף יבו.”
The godmother cursed as she spoke.
As a result, the swamp was transformed into a calm lake.
Winter. The replay of the apocalypse has begun.
“Holy……!”
The professor’s face turned white. The Godmother’s spell was of course on his mind. I’d simulated it over and over again, using the data I’d gathered from the last battle.
This time, however, things were different.
“Progress is too fast.
We had hours to spare in Bastitera, but less than three minutes into the encounter, we were already in the final stages. The pace of the spell’s unfolding was far from predictable.
‘The scale isn’t as big as it was then, but….’
The rapid deployment had limited its power, but it was no less threatening. The ground shook as if the spillway would collapse at any moment.
A whale’s head rises from the center of the lake.
The professor bit down hard on the inside of his cheek to stifle his instinctive fear. It was too early to despair. He tore his gaze away from the looming figure of death and looked in another direction.
“String.
Beforehand, Kim had said something to me.
-You’ve seen it before, the Godmother’s spell is absurd.
-Do what you can, but don’t panic if you fail.
-I’ll try to stop it somehow. That’s why I got this.
The holy object handed over to Vidia was suspicious. It was unverified, and there was no literature about it anywhere. It was hard to believe, but it wasn’t Kim.
“If it’s a string, you can count on it.
Trust built solely on track record.
Now, no one in the lab snorts at his assertions.
Kim takes out the Necronomicon. A bizarre book with a human face stuffed into the cover. He dropped it to the ground and formed a [Glitch Knife] in his right hand and held it in reverse.
He plunged the knife into the hideous face.
콰아아아─!
[Countless words flooded from the Necronomicon. The words poured out as if vomiting blood, imprinting themselves on the lake. Slowly, something resembling a whale disintegrated.
Kim smiles when she sees the results.
One of the two effects of [Necronomicon].
It skips the second phase of the godmother without causing any damage.
‘It looks like we’re on the right track after all.
The system makes Godmother’s Phase 2 almost impossible to deal with. In Bastitera, I used the Crippled Index Finger, but it’s not a strategy that works in the game.
Phase 1 alone is a challenge, with hundreds of MetaNaphs rushing in. After the agents are wiped out in Phase 2, you’ll need to deploy new ones immediately.
When you play it, you’ll hear the sound of a new game.
‘The key is to save as many agents as possible until Phase 3…….’
Make sacrifices to get through Phase 2 before tackling Phase 3. Phase 3 is not always easy. Watching the Godmother slice through the tanks is a rave.
Extreme difficulty.
Of course, it’s not like there aren’t users who have retried and cleared the “unplayable stages” featuring the Godmother. There was a time when it was trending like a challenge in the community. When you could get popular just by proving you’d cleared it.
The users who wrote those posts had something in common.
‘They’ve been pole bouncers all their lives.
Highly skilled, charging for more than one car. Heavy users who have pushed their Red Lung-level agents to the limit and outfitted them with equipment that can hear the sound of Red Lung.
Some people have been able to make up for their lack of billing with more skill. This was the case with a user named “mom and dad ’98”.
However, there were no unpaid users.
P2W, it’s no wonder that game companies were criticized for being a billing scam. However, it was unfair from the game company’s point of view.
“This isn’t a boss that’s out there for the taking.
Only after obtaining the [Necronomicon] will you be able to play normally. If Kim hadn’t already defeated Shadows with the Sticky Brush, he wouldn’t have thought to try it in Bastitera.
And now.
You have all the makings of a godmother.
“You, how could you…!”
The Godmother knew the current state of affairs with knowledge. An artifact of the foreign gods who ruled the Sanctuary. Her eyes widened as she felt the touch of her own people, whom she loathed.
The changes didn’t stop there.
All the letters were sucked into the godmother.
Wheeeeee!
In the windowless basement, the winds raged.
The agents who were being dragged by the fierce winds clung to the poles and resisted. Kim Yi Hyun stood his ground and kept his eyes on his godmother.
The godmother’s entire body was stained black.
Countless eyeballs sprouted from its skin. Hundreds of tiny eyeballs rolled around in their own way. Another mouth bit and tore at the hand that the mouth had vomited.
Evidence that you’ve entered Phase 3.
As soon as the wind died down, Kim grabbed the shield.
“This is it. Wake up.”