A Veteran in a Dead Game - Chapter 207



Only Krnovel

207. Civil War (8)

As he felt the thick liquid flowing down his throat, the scene that flashed through Saladan’s mind was strangely not at all in keeping with the moment.

The oldest memory Saladan could recall was from when he was still a child.

A battlefield littered with corpses.

Parents praying in a devout manner in the meantime.

And the young Saladan, who stood on the human intestines.

Born between two priests of destruction in a conflict zone where all kinds of wars are constant, death was more familiar to Saladan than life.

As a child, Saladan could not have imagined a life where he could eat and talk with his family, or meet and laugh with his friends.

It was natural since he had never seen it before. To him, ordinary daily life was an unknown territory.

Instead, he was all too familiar with the weapons the military used, the sound people made when they died, and how futilely life was tossed aside.

You could say it was a kind of maternal faith. The only problem was that this faith was directed towards the god of destruction.

Having had such a childhood, it was only natural that Saladan’s character and values ​​would be twisted from the root.

If just a little more time had passed, Saladan would have died on the battlefield without even knowing that his personality had been twisted.

Just like his parents.

But fortunately, Saladan was lucky. He was rescued by mercenaries who had joined the war because of his youth.

And Saladan was finally able to see the world beyond the battlefield.

The experience at that time came as a shock that shook Saladan’s brain.

On one side, people are being consumed like discarded rags, while on the other side, they are enjoying the abundance that civilization has given them.

Who knew there were such different worlds.

With such shock as a foundation, a desire sprouted in Saladan’s heart. To summarize that desire simply-

“So, do you feel a little freer now?”

“…….”

Saladan stared at Kyle as he lowered the empty glass bottle.

Kyle knew of Saladan’s desires. Saladan was unusually surprised. But he was not shaken.

“Well, I’m not sure yet.”

Saladan’s desire was to be free.

I didn’t want to end up like a mere soldier who died in vain on the battlefield at the sound of a single order. I didn’t want to end up like my parents, who spent their entire lives killing people for their faith without any questions.

Saladan thought that to be free, one needs power, wealth, and above all, strength.

Saladan worked tirelessly to achieve this. The problem was that these efforts were not directed in a particularly sound direction.

He did not hesitate to do all kinds of dirty work to gain power. He sacrificed others to gain power. His unfortunate childhood was stained with blood and malice to the point that it could not be an excuse.

And now.

Inhaling the liquid containing the by-products of the disaster was also, in a sense, an extension of such efforts.

“It doesn’t taste good. It doesn’t taste like anything special.”

“You managed to bring it into the dungeon.”

Saladan smiled.

“As expected, you know a lot.”

The byproducts of the disaster cannot invade the dungeon. Isn’t that why the Regeneration Society tried to use the dungeon as an ark?

It is possible to bring into the dungeon the byproducts of a disaster, but what Saladan had just swallowed was not such a trivial byproduct.

The core of the mechanized factory is the erosion iron. And isn’t it something made by mixing the heart of a high-ranking werewolf?

This is an item that can instantly turn an ordinary person into a byproduct of a disaster, so it is obviously not something that can be brought into a dungeon.

It is not systematically allowed to be brought into the dungeon, but Saladan managed to do it.

“Surely… a monster that is a fusion of two disasters can enter the dungeon?”

It’s not impossible. Since the monster that is the fusion of the two disasters is something that the system did not assume, wouldn’t it be possible to ignore the restriction of not being able to enter the dungeon?

If that’s the case, the Ark will lose its meaning. Especially from the perspective of the Regeneration Conference, this would be the worst possible situation.

“Unfortunately, that won’t work. If it were possible, there would be no need to betray me now.”

“…….”

“However, if you mutate inside the dungeon, you won’t be kicked out of the dungeon. That’s too bad. If you were kicked out right away, you could have just used this as an emergency escape.”

Saladan continued, putting down the empty glass bottle.

“It’s not something that can be easily made. It’s tailored solely to my body, so it can’t be applied to others. If someone other than me were to ingest this… they’d just turn into a monster.”

It looks like this experiment has already been completed.

“If you take my hand right now, I will make something special and prioritize it just for you. It will take at least a few years… but it will be worth the wait.”

Kyle answered, his gaze tilted askance.

“I refuse. I don’t want to leave my fate to chance.”

When you become a werewolf, there is a half chance that you will become a beast that has lost its reason. Conversely, if your brain is eroded by a mechanized factory, your original mind will die, leaving only memories.

Moreover, is it really true that combining the two would be risk-free?

The monster that was the fusion of the two disasters was clearly one step outside the system, but it was unclear whether it would be able to completely ignore the nature of the disaster.

That’s why Kyle said, ‘I’ll leave it to luck.’

However, Saladan did not specifically deny this.

“I understand. I was actually quite scared. I was lucky.”

Just a moment ago, why did Saladan recall his childhood? It was because he was afraid.

Perhaps this is where the human named Saladan ends… That was the fear.

‘Saladan isn’t exactly a psychopath.’

They can empathize with the emotions of others, and are not incapable of feeling emotions as a result of their interactions with others.

However, as mentioned earlier, it is just twisted.

But that’s why it was more vicious. Because he only used his sufficient understanding of the other person as a means to achieve his own goals.

“But I have a question. Why are you so obsessed with disaster when you’ve made this much progress in your research?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

Saladan spoke in a gentle tone, as if to say that it was indeed so.

“We tried to increase the success rate by improving the completeness of the research. Since we don’t know what side effects will occur in the future, continuous management will also be necessary.”

“…….”

“As a bonus, you might even gain more power and higher status.”

It was a truly primal desire. It was difficult to refute.

“Well, it ended up being a crisis that I brought upon myself. Anyway, for now, my priority is to survive against my former comrades who want to punish the traitor.”

As he said this, Saladan lifted his super-heavy sword.

A strange halo of light was dripping from the blade, a color that looked like starlight faintly reflecting on a dark river.

It was also evidence of the evil deeds committed by Saladan.

Destruction God’s 2nd rank faith skill, Destruction Sphere.

Even though he had long ago abandoned his faith in the God of Destruction, the God of Destruction gave Saladan the skill of faith. This was proof that Saladan had caused much more destruction than the average priest of Destruction.

“Do you know why I insist on dealing with you directly? It’s because I feel more uneasy without you around.”

“…….”

“That’s how much I’m wary of this guy named Kyle. No matter what I plan or anticipate… it’ll all end up meaningless. So I have to respond with bold improvisation.”

It was overrated. Kyle honestly thought so.

When did things ever go Kyle’s way? As far as Kyle was concerned, he simply did the best he could in each situation.

“It’s because of you that I made a different judgment than usual.”

When Kyle’s dream eating made it difficult to clear the dungeon, Saladan immediately gave up on clearing the dungeon, even though his chances of winning were still much higher.

And since it seemed like it would be difficult to take down Kyle, he immediately drank the liquid he had prepared. Even though there was a 50% chance that he would lose himself.

Rather than saying that the judgment was accurate, it would be more appropriate to say that it was bold or reckless.

‘I see.’

Kyle now realized that. So did Saladan. He was doing the best he could to deal with the unknown variable that was Kyle.

“Shouldn’t you hurry too? If I start to manipulate the power of disaster, it will be bad news for you. And you will have to deal with the Horseman of Pestilence as well.”

“You talk a lot. I guess you’re scared of me after all.”

Saladan wiggled his eyebrows.

“You’re more annoying than I thought. Don’t you have any manners?”

“Are you polite even to monsters?”

Saladan kept his mouth shut and lightly swung his super-heavy sword. However, the result of that gesture was anything but light.

The halo of light flowing around the blade quickly spread out like a ripple, and in an instant, it expanded in volume to form a round sphere.

There was no sound. Only destruction remained. Everything that touched the sphere evaporated.

Buildings and roads were torn apart in a circular manner, revealing clean cut sections. It was a power that could truly be called the faith skill of the God of Destruction.

And between those spheres, Kyle and Saladan’s gazes crossed.

Saladan was smiling.

It wasn’t the faint smile he had before, but a ferocious laugh, like a werewolf looking at its prey.

*

When Saladan fired the sphere of destruction at Kyle.

“ha.”

Sarah took a deep breath and raised her sword.

The battle was now unfolding throughout the Ark City. Since the firepower of both sides was so great, it was often not good to huddle together.

Sarah, who had to retreat for a while because she was under concentrated attack, went towards the city to join the battle a little later.

Soon after, we came face to face with a large monster.

It is a monster that resembles a werewolf, but has a visor instead of eyeballs, antennas instead of ears, and drills instead of claws.

It was a mechanized werewolf.

When Sarah first saw it, she was shocked. It wasn’t because the enemy was so strong, or because she was faced with the bizarre result of two disasters merging.

Isn’t this a dungeon? It’s a place that the disaster’s aftermath cannot invade.

But soon after, right after sparring with that mechanized werewolf, Sarah understood why this had happened.

The skills and fighting style used by that mechanized were something Sera knew all too well.

“Mr. Kind.”

One of the three users who accompanied Kyle during the Harmful Mixing Ritual event. He was an elderly user and a warrior among warriors who wished to die fighting.

After the Harmful Mixing Ritual event ended, Kind disappeared for some reason. Who would have thought that I would run into him in a place like this, and in this way?

“I never thought it would turn out like this…….”

However, immediately after finishing her words, Sarah realized that he could not have become like this willingly.

It is unlikely that he would willingly join Saladan’s plan, as he only views disaster as a monster that needs to be beaten.

“Uncle Saladan… no, it looks like he got beat up by that bastard Saladan.”

That was correct.

Saladan, along with his fellow traitors, subdued Kind and made him a test subject. This was to see what kind of results would come out when someone of Kind’s power was tested.

There was no need to worry about being caught. At that point, the members of the Regeneration Society had already noticed that someone was trying to raid the Ark Dungeon.

No, it didn’t matter if I got caught in the first place. I also intended to use it as a way to increase the confusion.

And now, Kind has been released to serve that purpose, finally standing in Sarah’s way.

“I had a lot of sparring sessions with Uncle Kind. I learned a lot. But I never thought it would end like this….”

“Krrrrrr.”

Sarah, understanding this context, decided not to commit the folly of paying homage to Kind to a monster.

She set up a moon.