The moment I heard the system message, the surrounding landscape started to change.
The Mythical Battlefield. The feature of this Mythical Battlefield was to virtually borrow the stage of a giant story.
[You have entered the Armageddon battlefield. The game will start after three minutes.]
On one side of the sky, a stairway of heaven opened while the other side was a door of h.e.l.l. If this was real, the archangels of Eden would"ve flocked to the staircase while the demon kings of the Demon World would"ve come out of the gate of h.e.l.l.
Fortunately, there was no such thing. This was a "hypothetical stage."
The constellation "Guardian of Youths and Travel" is frowning at the familiar stage.]
[The Demon King of l.u.s.t and Fury is showing hostility to "Guardian of Youths and Travel."]
[Many constellations and demon kings are confronting each other.]
...I really hoped it wouldn"t be a big deal.
"It is eerie..."
Jang Hayoung held his shoulders while looking up at the sky. I heard an eerie sound in the background. I looked at the huge s.h.i.+eld that surrounded us. The s.h.i.+eld would protect us until the game started.
"Stay alert. Please check your selected position."
The party members regained their composure at my words.
"Who"s the tanker?"
[I am.]
The tanker was Samyeongdang, the close range damage dealers were me and the Breaking the Sky Master and the long range damage dealers were Jang Hayoung and Osu. Han Myungoh was the supporter. Finally, the all-rounder was...
"Yoo Jonghyuk?"
"He might"ve fallen somewhere else."
The Mythical Battlefield depended on where you were summoned from.
[The helper "Yoo Jonghyuk" has responded to the summons.]
This message appeared so Yoo Jonghyuk should be somewhere on the battlefield.
Jang Hayoung asked, "Is this game on a battlefield of time and s.p.a.ce? I"ve seen it. If the enemy"s stronghold is destroyed..."
"That"s right. Still, it is a bit different."
Usually, an AOS game ended when you captured the enemy"s main base. This game was different.
"We have to capture the "sentence", not the base."
"Sentence?"
I pointed to the object that was in Han Myungoh"s hand. It was a small monument s.h.i.+ning with brilliant colours.
"W-What is this?"
"We have to protect that."
The monument literally contained a small sentence.
『 Messengers of Heaven, Gatekeeper of h.e.l.l. 』
Han Myungoh was terrified and tried to hand over the monument to me. I pushed it with the palm of my hand and stated, "Department Head-nim should hold it. It is important to guard it well."
"I-It is because it is important that Dokjssi should...!"
"Department Head-nim should hold it because it is important. The sentence is usually held by the main partic.i.p.ant. The enemies are expecting that."
"I-I won"t do it! I have never played such a game!"
Han Myungoh was dull in games despite being the department head of a game company. Come to think of it, Yoo Sangah played games well. Yoo Sangah carried her team alone and reached the finals of the in-house game compet.i.tion.
...However, the person present now was Han Myungoh, not Yoo Sangah.
"In any case, there are two ways to win this game. One is to steal the enemy team"s sentence. The other is to kill all of the enemy team"s partic.i.p.ants."
"It will be easier to steal the sentence."
"Yes, that is usually the case."
"Good! Leave it to me!" Jang Hayoung cried out in a highly motivated manner.
However, this wasn"t a solo game. "I know you are motivated but stop your personal play. From now on, we will make a plan..."
Bark bark!
Woof woof!
...I had forgotten two of my companions. The Dog Who Threw Himself into the Flames was sniffing around the periphery while the Breaking the Sky Master was lying down like she wasn"t interested. I turned my head toward my last hope.
"Samyeongdang."
He seemed to be listening to advice from other constellations so he was the only one I could expect anything from.
[I don"t understand because you are using difficult words. Uhhh... game... what is this?]
Samyeongdang had an incredibly annoyed expression.
[Some of the constellations of the Korean Peninsula are frustrated with the Bald General of Justice.]
I never considered that he was an elder. Samyeongdang didn"t know the modern game terminology.
[In any case, I just have to kill all of them?]
"Yes, it is similar..."
[If that"s the case, we"ll be the winner! I am your helper!]
Samyeongdang started to run while wielding his bamboo stick.
[The game has started!]
Then the stage"s s.h.i.+eld was finally lifted.
[The stats of the players will be automatically adjusted based on the difficulty of the game.]
[In the first round, all partic.i.p.ants can only use 10% of their original stats.]
[This penalty will be reduced as the number of rounds increases.]
Then in our "stairway to heaven" side, small angels resembling fairies started to fly.
[The team"s support group is created!]
[The low-grade angels are helping you!]
The surprised Osu barked at the angels.
"Hey! Don"t bite them. They"re on our side. Samyeongdang, wait! Let"s go together!"
It was a rollercoaster from the start. Samyeongdang was in the front line and the Breaking the Sky Master and Osu started sprinting after him. Jang Hayoung and I chased them while Han Myungoh was timid at the back of the party.
"Department Head-nim, stay in the back as much as possible. Don"t come forward."
"...I will do my best!"
Han Myungoh was excellent at running away and would find a way no matter what.
"Ah, the map changed?"
We left our main area and a vast plains area unfolded in front of us. Both sides of the plains had a valley and forest respectively. If I remembered correctly, there was the Apocalypse Imoogi on the valley side and the Fallen Seraphim on the forest side. In addition, there were quite a number of monsters that gave a buff effect if they were caught early in the map...
"Wait a minute! Samyeongdang! Don"t go too fast!"
[Believe in me! I"m strong in a war!]
Samyeongdang let out a brilliant true voice and reached into the air.
[Fallen spirits of the Korean Peninsula! Give me the power to win!]
Who would give strength to Samyeongdang? Surprisingly, messages were heard.
[The constellation "Lady of the Brocade Sleep" is supporting the constellation "Bald General of Justice"!]
[The constellation "Last Hero of Hw.a.n.gsanbeol" is cheering on the constellation "Bald General of Justice"!]
[The constellation "King Heungmu the Great" has sponsored 100 coins to the constellation "Bald General of Justice"!]
It was literally a simple cheer.
[Ohhhhhh!]
Soon after, the enemy appeared in front of him. Every constellation in an incarnation body was holding a weapon.
[General of Vanara.]
[Poked Out His Eyes.]
[Thunder Eating Bird.]
There was a monstrous monkey dressed in armour with golden feathers. In addition, King Oedipus whom I once met... the constellations were encountered seemed to be from the Melledon Industrial Complex.
It was a party where narrative-grade constellations were mixed. However, there was still a chance of winning because they had less insight into the game.
[Come on, you barbarians!]
Samyeongdang discovered the enemies and made a sudden attack. His voice was so loud that I felt some expectations for a moment.
Yes, I didn"t know until I saw him fight. On the battlefield where only 10% of stats could be used, I didn"t know the strength of Samyeongdang. I couldn"t belittle a great-grade constellation. There were strong people like Cheok Jungyeong among them.
[This Guardian G.o.d of Victory will break down this battle formation!]
Samyeongdang swept the bamboo stick. The confused constellations screamed and an explosion swept through the battlefield. Flesh scattered everywhere. A weapon was broken. Blood scattered from a wound.
[The first death has occurred!]
Samyeongdang fought well. I looked around at the party members and cried out, "Everyone, run away!"
[The helper "Bald General of Justice" was defeated by the helper "General of Vanara.]
[The industrial complex "Melledon" team has earned one point.]
***
"s.h.i.+t, what was with that monk? Believe in him?"
Han Myungoh was the fastest when it came to running away. I thought it would be like this but Samyeongdang wasn"t just trolling.
[Samyeongdang"s soul is roaming the battlefield.]
[Ohhhhh!]
The dead soul of Samyeongdang wandered around the battlefield and attacked the constellations coming after us. It was thanks to this that we found a chance to run away. However, the enemy"s pursuit was fast.
The first one chasing us was a huge bird covering the sky. It was the Thunder Eating Bird. If I remembered correctly, the bird"s real name was Garuda. He was the mount of Vishnu, one of the three lords of Vedas. His beak changed trajectory in the air and turned towards me.
[The constellation "Dog Who Threw Himself into the Flames" is throwing his body to protect you!]
At this moment, Osu ran forward. He struck Garuda"s big body from the side.
Grrrr!
Fortunately, Osu clung onto the feathers of Garuda. Flames rose as Osu barked at us to run away.
Bark bark! Bark! Yiiiip!
It was a situation where Osu was clinging to a constellation. It was too late to save him.
[The helper "Dog Who Threw Himself into the Flames" has died!]
...Dammit. The situation was getting worse. The Breaking the Sky Master was nowhere to be seen. The people left were Jang Hayoung, Han Myungoh and I.
"I-I"m sorry!"
Then Han Myungoh suddenly committed an abrupt act. Han Myungoh cut off one of his legs.
[The character "Han Myungoh" has activated "One-Legged Swift Runner Lv. 10".]
...Oh, Han Myungoh had that d.a.m.n stigma. Han Myungoh started running like an ostrich. Yes, it was all over if Han Myungoh so it was better for him to run away. By the way, that skill had already reached level 10.
"Kim Dokja. Now what...?"
I blocked Jang Hayoung and immediately jumped into the surrounding gra.s.s.
[You have concealed yourself in the nearby terrain.]
[The effect of the "bush" means the enemies can"t detect you.]
Grrrrrrr...
I looked up at Garuda and whispered to Jang Hayoung.
-We can"t fight against them with our current power. We have to aim to win by default due to the other players dropping out. It was important to buy time.
-...Do you plan to consume time?
-For now.
There was something I believed in. It was strange since I thought I was going to win with just this member. Somehow, I had to drag out the time a bit more. At least, until he came.
[The Demon King of Salvation! Where are you?]
The true voice echoed in front of the bush.
[It has been a while since our ill-fated relations.h.i.+p. Fleeing fate and living in a place like this... the blind prophet couldn"t read it.]
The humble but arrogant way of speaking made me instantly aware of his ident.i.ty. After a while, the presence of King Oedipus, the blind and shrewd king appeared in the forest. I knew he had partic.i.p.ated in this selection. However, I didn"t expect to encounter him so quickly.
[You know that hiding is useless. This blind prophet already knows where you are.]
The moment Jang Hayoung"s shoulders flinched, I placed a finger to his mouth.
-Don"t worry. He can"t read my future with his ability.
Thus, it was a clear trap. The moment we revealed ourselves, all the nearby constellations would run.
[It isn"t too late now. Olympus is still open to you.]
[The constellation "Demon King of Salvation" says to go away and not speak bulls.h.i.+t.]
[...How funny.]
King Oedipus laughed but his expression was completely stiff.
[I"ll see if you can keep staying still.]
The surrounding constellations started to sweep through the bushes. Their attacks were devastating as they used all types of explosions, acid and fire to damage the nearby bushes. The acidic liquid melted my feet and burned my neck and wrists. However, I held Jang Hayoung"s wrists tightly and didn"t move.
A little bit more. Just a bit more.
The bombardment swept through the area. Fortunately, they didn"t seem to have found us. They started gradually moving away from us.
...Just a bit more. I listened to the sound and estimated their distance. 10 steps, 20 steps, 30 steps... Suddenly, all the explosions disappeared.
"Run."
Jang Hayoung and I ran out of the bush. We didn"t see any constellations. At this moment, a scream was heard out of nowhere. It was a long and terrible scream. In the distant sky, a bird was falling down with a giant sword through its neck.
[The helper "Thunder Eating Bird" has been killed!]
...He came.
TL: Rainbow Turtle