A Veteran in a Dead Game - Chapter 203



Only Krnovel

203. Civil War (4)

Things changed quickly.

“Damn it, food warehouses 4, 7, and 11 have been attacked! The blood is burning! We need to respond immediately!”

“Restaurant number 12 was also involved!”

The Ark’s food storage is not simply a place to store grains and meat. It is a place where items that can produce food on their own are stored, so for the Regeneration Society that dreams of the Ark’s eternity, there is no facility more important than this.

“Poisonous clouds and putrid fumes were observed toward the evacuated residents.”

“It’s not toxic enough to kill a person. But if we don’t take immediate action, it could be critical. We need to set aside additional personnel to care for the patient.”

“A move to keep our hands busy. They’ve controlled the toxicity incredibly well. Damn it. We knew it, but we had no choice but to take it.”

The inhabitants of the ark are also precious beings. This is not about the dignity of life.

In order to sustain humanity in the ark permanently, a certain number of people are absolutely necessary.

From the perspective of the Regeneration Conference, the residents of the Ark City, who had been managed and educated so that they were completely ignorant of the outside world, were a resource that absolutely had to be preserved.

It would be unacceptable to accept outsiders now. If even a rumor about the outside world were to spread, there is no way to know what effect it would have on the descendants who would be born in the ark.

“The countermeasure golem has also stopped. The Tsukumogami has also stopped working. It’s not broken, though…”

“You used a pair of innocent scissors. The unmanned device will not function properly for a while.”

In this way, the entire Ark City was thrown into chaos at once. What was worse was that all of the sabotage was so serious that it could only be countered somehow.

Saladan’s intentions were transparently obvious. He wanted to somehow keep the members busy and disperse them in all directions.

But this was also a trick that I knew I had to endure.

“How about just sending it off cleanly? It’s frustrating, but I think keeping the ark intact is more important.”

“No matter what, it doesn’t make sense to just let them go. The Saladan faction will continue to be a serious threat in the future.”

In the midst of all this, opinions were divided. Saladan must have taken this situation into account when carrying out his actions.

“If we clash with the Saladan faction and suffer significant damage, we may not be able to properly respond to the Plaguebearers.”

“I think it would be right to attack the Saladan faction even if we have to give up. Since we have some spare supplies thanks to the production method that our external advisor taught us, I think we can handle it.”

There was no time for long debate. The situation was changing by the minute. With small skirmishes and chases already taking place throughout the ark, a quick gathering of opinions was needed.

What was needed at times like this was a leader.

“We must prioritize dealing with Saladan.”

And Peña did his part.

“They’re even throwing away their colleagues who have been with them for nearly 100 years, so who knows what they’ll do to try to win over the favor of the disaster guys. Just deploy enough personnel so that the ark doesn’t get into a serious state.”

The members agreed without a word.

“It might be a good idea to leave the situation management to the locals. We’ve already trained them in the areas of admiralty work and treatment.”

“I guess we can leave that to Bartod.”

“Then we will maintain the status quo by opening up the warehouse area.”

“It might be a good idea to just seal it.”

Rather than simply accepting Peña’s words, they each offered their own opinions and took immediate action.

Once a policy has been set, it is better to gather strength to support it. The members of the Regeneration Association knew very well that it would not work if opinions were divided.

“Next, they’ll start from there.”

“huh.”

And Kyle and Sarah also did what they had to do. They continued to use dream eating to figure out where the enemy was.

“Don’t move.”

Unlike the first time, Kyle and Sarah had to activate Dream Eater while moving continuously.

In order to cover the entire city with dream eating, Mael’s wide-area skill and Aron’s sacred item are needed. However, Mael and Aron have already left to do other things.

This was also a necessary measure.

Since Dream Eating is applied without identifying the Pia separately, if Dream Eating continues to be activated throughout the city, wouldn’t it cause damage to the friendly forces that are actively responding to the terrorism committed by the Saladan faction?

It might have been different earlier when the enemy was quietly hiding and continuing to raid the dungeon, but now there was no reason to take such a risk.

“Okay. I’ve informed you of the location, so activate it.”

A colorless wave spread out from Kyle. If there was anyone else nearby, there was a good chance they would react, even if it was just a little.

“…….”

Of course, Sarah was also a target of dream eating. Judging by the way her pupils tilted towards the sky, it was clear that she was seeing some kind of phantom created by a dream.

But it wasn’t a big problem. Sera was able to hold out well against the real disaster, the dream-eating earthquake, so Kyle’s dream-eating wouldn’t be a big problem. That’s why Sera was left to assist Kyle.

“It’s quiet.”

“I guess someone is there. Or maybe they’re just getting used to the dream. Or maybe the information was shared among the traitors.”

Perhaps there is some kind of spy who is leaking information. No, given Saladan’s personality, I would assume there is.

Since the location where Dream Eating will be activated is being broadcast to allies, it means that there is a high possibility that such information has leaked out.

“I guess I’ll have to end my dream eating here. I don’t think I’ll be able to achieve any meaningful results any further.”

Sarah gave Kyle a sidelong glance.

“Huh. That skill is called dream eating.”

“…Your gaze is not kind.”

“It can’t be helped! Isn’t that the power that the dream-eating earthquake used?!”

Kyle nodded.

“I’ll explain later.”

“really?”

“It depends.”

Up until now, Kyle has kept a lot of things a secret. But now, there is less need to keep those secrets.

It would be better to let people know what needs to be known.

“Ugh.”

Sarah pursed her lips. It seemed as if she had something more to say, but would hold back for now.

“Okay. I’ll go towards the dungeon entrance now. What about you?”

“We will finalize our preparations for the plague rider.”

“Our paths overlap. Let’s go.”

Kyle and Sarah jumped up immediately. There was no need to run on the ground. They could reach the wall of the floating building with a single jump. Then they could kick off the wall and head towards another building, traversing the ark city in a three-dimensional manner.

“Hey, I see Batod over there.”

Meanwhile, Sarah pointed down there with her finger.

Batod was galloping down the road on a wheeled golem. On the golem’s back was a space like the cargo bed of a truck, and several villagers were riding in it.

It seems that Batod lacks the skills to engage in direct combat, so he takes on a different role.

“That guy is terrible at fighting, but he’s surprisingly talented in other areas.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. First of all, he’s really good at controlling golems and dolls. Also, he teaches the villagers well.”

Surprisingly, Bartod seemed to have talent as a driver and educator.

“You can’t tell a person by just looking at their appearance-”

The moment Sarah said that.

“!”

Kyle suddenly extended the chain towards Sarah and tripped her leg.

“Huh!”

An unexpected blow knocked Sarah off balance. Sarah flew in the wrong direction as fast as she had been moving.

Wow!

Sarah, who had broken through the window, rolled around on the floor. Tables and chairs inside the room were thrown around haphazardly.

Sarah, who had been rolling on the ground like that, regained her balance by pushing off the ground with both hands. At the same time, Sarah could see that a purple stream of fire had penetrated the place where she had been just a moment ago.

“……!”

Sarah intuitively understood that Kyle had no choice but to provide protection in a somewhat extreme way in order to save her from that attack.

“Hoo!”

Instead of controlling the speed at which she was rolling, Sarah accelerated even further by accelerating. At that speed, leaving the sound behind, Sarah swung the sword she was holding in her hand and cut through the floor, falling to the lower floor.

Boooow!

Sarah continued her slash. The blade of the moon sword tilted in the wrong direction, repeatedly cutting into empty spaces.

But there was no way she was really just fiddling around for no reason.

The moment when Sarah quickly lowered her stance once again and swung the sword horizontally in a large motion.

“Ugh!”

Finally, a response came. A man revealed what he had been hiding.

‘Sneed.’

Kyle also knew this man. Sneed was a promising young named user even back in the old days.

By this time, 100 years later, Snead would have been one of the most seasoned users, enough to become a member of the Regeneration Society.

But now he is nothing more than a traitor.

“The response is good.”

Sneed grumbled as he stepped back using his flash skill.

“Ugh!”

Sarah immediately rushed at Sneed as if it wasn’t worth responding.

Crispy-

Behind Sneed’s back, a blue light seemed to flash, and the terrain around Sarah began to sink in enough to bury several people.

For a translucent projectile the size of a fingernail, it had a ferocious destructive power.

Matan, collapse, crushing, blurring.

It was the result of Sneed combining and firing off multiple skills as if he was breathing.

Pufufufu!

Since Matan is a skill that can pour out multiple projectiles, no matter how strong Sera is, she cannot dodge or block them all.

The skin that had been hit split open and gushed out drops of blood. The injury was so serious that it damaged muscles, but Sera only frowned slightly and didn’t flinch at all, just straightening up her sword.

Kikkigik!

With a loud crash, the building tilted five stories up and down.

“Ugh!”

The attack broke through Sneed’s defenses and he flew out of the building, crashing through the wall. Sarah immediately chased after him and jumped out.

Kwakwakwang!

In the meantime, of course, Kyle wasn’t just watching. There was another reason why he couldn’t help Sarah and hit Sneed right away.

“You bastard!”

That’s why another member appeared.

‘Mars.’

This is someone Kyle knows a little better.

Since Mars already appeared as a completed user at the start of the game, it is unlikely that the power he uses has changed much since then.

‘So then, Mars’s first number is-‘

Fall off-

A flash of yellow static appeared above Kyle’s head, crackling madly. Soon, the electricity poured down like rain.

Level 4 skill, Thunderstorm.

The sight of dozens and hundreds of lightning bolts pouring down. Each bolt was less than a meter long, but it had enough destructive power to easily burn a person.

Kyle used the Sandals of Hermes to get out of the thunderstorm before the lightning started pouring down in earnest.

Dismissal-

Then, he faced Mars head-on, who had anticipated Kyle’s evasion point. But when he looked at Mars’ hand, he saw something that was very familiar to Kyle.

3rd level skill, lightning stake.

Lightning Stake is a skill that Kyle has already used a lot, so he knows its power well enough to be tired of it.

Immediately afterwards, Mars’ body became blurry.

He had a skill or an item that caused him to accelerate rapidly. It was such a steep acceleration that even Kyle’s body vision had difficulty detecting it.

Kkwarrurrung!

The moment Mars’ lightning stake touched Kyle, a pillar of lightning shot up in reverse, but no one was hurt.

Because Mars’ lightning stake was blocked by Kyle’s lightning stake.

When skills of the same type collide in the system, they cancel each other out. This was the case this time as well.

The moment Kyle and Mars’ lightning stakes touched each other, waves resembling static electricity spread out in all directions. It was a blinding but practically destructive lightning strike.

Inside, Kyle pulled out his spear and swung it down. The blade of the spear caught Mars’ shoulder, sending a blast of energy down.

3rd level skill, hexagonal shield.

A hexagonal shield that blocks incoming attacks. Mars used it to block the Holy Spear while stepping back to gain some distance.

“My body feels heavy. Is this a sinking skill?”

This is a new debuff skill that Kyle acquired a while ago. Since it is a skill that can apply a debuff just by pointing at it with a finger, Mars couldn’t avoid it.

For a normal person, it would be a serious debuff that would make it impossible to crawl, let alone walk. Mars simply frowned as if in displeasure and raised his hand.

Hwaruruk-

A sticky stream of purple flame flowed from Mars’ palm.

3rd level skill, Abyssal Flames.

It is a skill with considerable destructive power by default, but Mars’ Abyssal Flames were even strengthened once.

The flames raged, engulfing everything in all directions. Everything that came into contact with the heavy, swaying flames began to melt and stick.

At the same time, Kyle’s appearance increased to four.

2nd level skill, fractal.

A powerful skill gained by consuming Amrita.

To put it in a grand way, it is the power to realize possibilities. To put it simply, it is the skill that creates the illusion of swinging the skill you have.

The second-grade skill that Kyle first acquired met its first real-life use.

One of the three illusions charged straight at Mars, another climbed the wall, and the last one kicked off the ceiling in a three-dimensional maneuver.

“……!”

Mars doesn’t know what role the illusion Kyle just created plays.

He couldn’t figure out if it was just an illusion, a cloak of real physical powers, or had some other function.

That’s why Mars couldn’t respond delicately to fractal illusions.

instead.

Hwaaaaak!

Mars spread the abyssal flames widely to restrain all of his clones at the same time.

The flames spread quickly up and down, engulfing several floors in an instant. The building could not withstand the heat.

Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki!

The building began to tilt to the side, spewing out thick, molten metal along with purple flames from its sides.

However, the illusions Kyle created with his fractal skills were completely unharmed in the midst of such flames.

Well, it’s an illusion. How can you burn something that has no substance?

“It was just a trick of the eye!”

Realizing that fact, Mars moved the abyssal flame again. The flames that had spread widely began to surge toward Kyle. The very next moment, the abyssal flames would rush toward Kyle all at once.

But before that.

The illusion that Mars had judged to be an illusion of the eye had arrived right before Mars’ nose.