Clearing the Game at the End of the World

Pshhhh—

“H—h–hey, Aldrich! That thing’s disappearing!”

“Time is up. It was already a shattered, unstable soul that was forced back together, but it was acting incredibly emotional on top of that. The power that had been left in his soul was completely used up. It must have been considerably angry that the mutes escaped their grasps.”

“I see… darn it. It looked like he had a lot more things he knew, too. Can you not summon him back again?”

“It’s impossible. His star has disappeared. It means that he disappeared completely instead of returning to the spirit world.”

Welp, that’s a shame.

Professor clicked his tongue in regret. He was a tasty one, filled with information for a guy they just happened to pass by on their way, but that was sadly all they could get out of him.

“The mutes have broken out of the dark mages’ control. It’s only near the end of Year 124, but the influence of the dark mages has already shrunk this much…..”

Professor thought over the information that came out of the soul’s mouth, then rummaged through his bag to take out a few parchment papers, a pen, and some charcoal.

Scribble, scribble

“What are you doing?”

“I’m writing a report. It wasn’t intentional, but we just did what the ‘Warriors of the Light’s Order’ should be doing. We have to receive compensation for the work we did. And deliver some additional information while I’m at it.”

“Mmm. Loyal to your duty I see. Do you happen to know how to draw?”

“Not anything fancy, just this much.”

Professor replied while drawing a rough sketch of their region that he was going to send with the report.

At the western frontline was the battle between Rodrick and the Hebrahim Alliance against the main mute wave. In the north, was an internal conflict between the mutes and the dark mages. And our group needed to pass through between the two while facing the mutes and paying attention to the Light’s Order.

There were major events happening around the entire continent, and they needed to pass through each of them as if they were on some kind of shaky suspension bridge. Even just a small mistake may lead to a major accident, so he decided it was the better move to stop and organize the situation the moment everything got even relatively complicated. Writing everything neatly down was completely different from just thinking about it mentally.

‘Above anything else, if I organize the information like this, the people in the chatroom will use their collective intelligence and possibly think of a solution.’

======

[Warrior Squad Progress Report]

Operation Region: Northeastern Tobrune, Danglter

Reporter: Warrior Professor

Objective: Infiltration, Annihilation, Assassination

Important signs of Progress:

1. Confirmed the objective from the Light’s Order in the Tobrune area and obtained the Relic ‘Light of Nelphia.’ Joined the mission squad to prepare and set out for the next day.

2. Confirmed signs of heretics while passing through a village on the infiltration route (Attachment 1: Professor’s Mission Squad Plan Map) and entered alone in consideration of the situation at the western frontlines.

3. Confirmed contamination by black magic throughout the Danglter region. Encounter and battle with a mass wave of undead and a dark mage.

4. High-ranking dark mage ‘Woolman Phon Lastea’ was killed, the source of corruption was removed, and the summoned demon was defeated (Attachment 2: Rough sketch of the demon and the source of corruption).

5. Collected information through the interrogation of ‘Woolman Phon Lastea’s soul’ after execution.

1. A total of three Queen’s children, ‘talking mutes’ confirmed, each being The White Death Edeorna, Falcatus of the Morning Star, and unknown.

2. Mutation blood was created by the dark mages, but due to the rebellion led by the third child, ‘Falcatus of the Morning Star’, the mutes are completely independent individuals from the dark mages. According to the soul, aside from the high-ranking dark mages, most of the dark mages have been forcefully infected with the mute’s infective agent and are being forced to cooperate with fighting humanity under the threat that the dark mages will also be annihilated with the mutes if they are not cooperative.

3. There is a possibility that there has been an ‘internal conflict between the mutes and dark mages’ due to the fact that a high-ranking mage who can summon a demon is growing their forces in a location distant from the battlefield and from the soul’s allegation.

4. Hypothesizing from the information above, the third child, the ‘Falcatus of the Morning Star,’ is highly intelligent and also has an understanding of ‘war and politics.’ Creates the possibility of a planted spy.

Conclusion:

• The two forces have been divided as a result of an internal conflict, and it is assumed that most of the magic forces are not participating in the western battlefield due to distrust of allies. It is predicted that increasing the proportion of magic-based warfare will provide an advantage.

• Due to the absence of a priest-type occupation within the squad, the complete purification of the occupied area is incomplete. Request for a purification team from the Dangleter region.

• Judged that a partial number of the mages are unable to continue with the mission due to the mental corruption from dark magic, it is suggested they are removed from the operation. Replacements needed.

In wishes for light for the future of humanity.

Latura, Ro Haram.

======

Scribble, scribble, clack!

“Ahhh, this is a masterpiece! Hey Borka! What do you think? The Light’s Order can’t deny our progress after looking at this, can they?”

Even looking at Professor complimenting himself, Borka couldn’t deny it. Even for him, who doesn’t know the first thing about human cultures, it was clear that the report in Professor’s hands was well-written.

“…Captain, do warriors learn things this way these days? Even for me, it doesn’t look like this is your first time…”

“I didn’t learn it from the church. I just had some experience with it back in the military.”

Professor scanned the completed report again with a satisfied expression. Ah, this reminds me of the good ol’ days. Back in the 14 Special Ops Squad, he needed to write reports like these in dozens of different styles to please give them some food. Because those damned bastards kept on skipping our supplies.

- Soygaybar: Look at that neat report. I can just smell the experience. Do you really not want to join the Dome?

- Udnam_undam: Aren’t those drawings a little too good for someone that said they can’t draw?

- professor: I’m surprised too.

It must be the effect of the artistic trait because the drawings turned out pretty nice as well.

His group, which had gathered around him at some point, opened their mouths with excited expressions.

“Teacher, isn’t this incredibly important information? We didn’t know at first, but this could change the entire situation. If we deliver this, then the reputation of our academy will…”

“Mmm, you are right. The enemy fighting amongst themselves is more than just good news for us. It seems that the heavens are truly on our side.”

“I… don’t know about that. We’ll need to wait a little more to be sure.”

Professor just sighed at this complicated situation. You never know whether it’s good or bad until you face it.

For now, it’s definitely a good thing, since it means that during the battle where Rodrick is pouring in all of their forces, the enemy is divided and can’t use their full power. But looking at it from a long-term perspective, it was quite a pain in the butt.

Because the Queen’s weaknesses that Professor knew about were mostly branched from the restrictions the dark mages put on her, but because they were hauled over, those parts were now gone.

‘They forcefully increased the Queen’s body size in order to increase the production of her children. That didn’t change her production speed, but it prevents her from leaving her nest now. And because of the forceful telepathy with dark magic, the Queen’s growth of intelligence completely came to a stop, and above anything else, the Queen’s heart—although it’s more like a core—the source of her life was separated from the body for such a long time that it weakened significantly. But if what Woolman said was true and the dark mages completely lost control of the Queen, then most of these weaknesses are probably gone.’

Technically, this wasn’t an internal strife. It’s just a small disagreement resulting from the merging of two factions within the enemy forces.

‘If we don’t use this short moment of advantage, then the mission will get even harder.’

Now he really couldn’t predict the future. As the Queen herself can move now, they can move to where there are more resources, such as weaker countries with high populations, to create a new nest and aim for mass production instead of small squads like right now. Or she may just pursue her personal growth. The more time passes, the more possibilities are created.

[Hm, so in short, you gotta do good.]

‘Yeah. S—.’

So the conclusion was that while the enemy was temporarily weakened while they increased their forces, they needed to apply some kind of damage somehow. And in that perspective, throwing a squad into the enemy’s base while it was half-empty was an incredible move. He was thinking of just swinging around his arms for a little bit with his half-assed team and going back, but their position suddenly became too important to waste like that.

Professor imagined in his mind that if they actually somehow managed to succeed in arriving at the permafrost lands with his group, they would need to attack the Queen’s nest.

‘I don’t need to calculate the mutes under Rank 7. As long as the opponent are mutes, I can deal with them. Mutes above Rank 6, if the ones with skilled combat abilities charge in together at once, then the rate I lose blood might surpass the rate I absorb it, but those guys were all sent to the western front. And Edeorna is probably on the front lines too. He was burning with revenge against Charlotte after the battle in Touran. I don’t know who the second is, but if they were created using the information from Charlotte’s genes, then they’ll have a thing with large-scale battles too, so definitely the western frontlines. The third, this ‘Falcatus of the Morning Star,’ is the key here….’

“A name based on my data, you say…. Hm… Status window.”

Ding—!

+ Name : Professor

+ Race : [Human/Mute]

+ Gender : [Male]

+ Age : [Youth(20)]

+ Appearance : [Giant/Muscular/Ugly/Tough/Infected Human]

+ Start Area : [World 3/Northern Rodrick]

+ Title : [Son of a Fallen Knight Family]

+ Occupation : [Warrior – Light’s Order]

- Trait :

1. [Curiosity]

- You are greatly interested in this new world. Skill-developing speed is increased.

- You are curious about the ‘Secret of this World’.

2. [Magical Aptitude]

- You can feel an unknown aura. Positive effect on magic-related development.

- Has the Awakening of ‘Acceptance’ for Level 1 Water Magic.

3. [Sparkling Eyes]

- The world looks a little more beautiful in your eyes. Bonus effect on art-related activities.

- Objects created by the Player gain an additional artistic bonus.

4. [Extreme Regeneration] (Glass Body + Blood Regeneration Enhancement - Mutation Blood Epidermis Enhancement)

- Durability fixed to 120 / Maximizes Natural Regeneration / In emergency, can activate ‘Mutation Bloodlust’ consuming blood / Results in death if blood consumed by excessive regeneration is not replenished.

- You have succeeded in merging with the infective agents that are rooted deep within your body. They still continue to attempt to take over your body, but it is not difficult to control them anymore. It will be difficult to kill you.

5. [Honorary Soul]

- You have inherited your father’s nature. Your choices are automatically set to ‘Honor’ in certain scenarios. / Has a positive effect on relationships with ‘Knight’ related units. / ★ Unique ‘Knight’s Honor’ being created according to the Player’s actions. Current keywords (Loyal, Brave, By any means necessary, Crafty, Clever, Vile) – Knight.

6. [Overcomed Weak Mentality]

- You faced your trauma and succeeded in accepting it. See the world through eyes that once feared and your isolated mind that strongly resists outside intrusion./ Provides the effects of ‘Sensitive Observation’ and ‘Steel Will.’

7. [Hyde]

- Out of data/Out of data/Hyde is with you./ [Exuviation]: You are now with Hyde.

8. [Enchantment: Spell of the Ancient Silk Spider – An ancient enchantment from the far part said to have created the night sky using black silk. The pure love promised by each other is still passed through the tales of bards to this day, and this imprint has been created based on that tale.]

+ Realistic Mode ON

“Cough.”

A lot of things have changed since I last checked it. There’s new information regarding the traits, and, uh… there are some troublesome additions too.

First, the Knight’s Honor. I forgot about that. Even right now, there’s a rigidly formal knight sitting in my head that’s judging my every move.

‘Brave, loyal, crafty, vile… This might turn me into something s—ty like a medieval knight if I’m not lucky.’

But this is the overall rating of my actions, so I can’t really deny it. I just need to pray that the penalty from the completed Knight’s Order won’t be too bad.

Aside from that, there were slight changes to several of the traits, like the ‘???’ he saw last time is now ‘Hyde’, probably because he revealed his name. And for [Curiousity]… it should have changed because of my thought processes. The secret of the world? Is it because I’m trying to go for an All Clear? I’m not sure about that one. The water magic he already knows…

“What’s this?”

[Enchantment : Spell of the Ancient Silk Spider]

He now had another trait that he’d never seen.

“I couldn’t have missed the notification sound when a trait pops up. So why didn’t I know about this? Hyde, did I ever become unconscious while I was with Anaya?”

[Anaya? Uh… yeah?]

‘Huh? When?’

[Yknow. Right before you two parted ways, when Anaya grabbed your face and went all kissy kis—]

‘Ah.’

He understood right away. No wonder he didn’t know. Both Hyde and I were completely shut down back then.

It was most likely a trait created when she planted the imprint on his chest. It looked like there wasn’t any effect from it at the moment, but the story with this will unravel over time too.

Anyway, it was an interesting feeling looking at this status page. The body that was excited about becoming a trapper to use branches stronger than his own body now had the description ‘unable to die easily.’ There couldn’t be a bigger achievement than that.

[But what’s with all of this nostalgia all of a sudden?]

‘Huh? Ahh, right, you can’t see the status page. It’s nothing much. I’m just trying to see how bad the entire situation is since that Falcatus guy is supposedly built off of my genes.’

He did get a little sidetracked since it’s been such a while, but that status page was created with my blood, sweat, and tears. When Edeorna had taken my blood, all I had was Glass Body, Weak Mentality with a little mixture of irrelevant traits. Falcatus was a child created from those traits.

Just because he was built off of my traits doesn’t mean that he also gained my intelligence. And since a mute has no way of knowing the mechanisms of muscle, they wouldn’t have become chads like me.

It could somehow compensate for the weak body with its regeneration, but Weak Mentality is almost impossible to overcome. Even I barely overcame it somehow with unbelievable luck, so there’s no way a mute that was only recently born can have overcome that on his own.

‘Then that thing, while having a trait that gives you a severe migraine and stops all thinking, fought against the dark mages while planning a war while also calculating the political movements of the nations?’

He knew from experience, but that was impossible with Weak Mentality in the picture. The only possibility is…

“This looks like an all-in-one character.”

It meant that the Queen did something to compensate for its weakness.

Although they did have the traits, the combinations depended on the Queen. Falcatus was probably created by minimizing all physical stats and using the remaining resources to invest somewhere else.

‘I’m not sure how she minimized the physical stats anymore from there…. but looking at the situation, that’s the only plausible option.’

Anyway, my guess is that the creature is not that useful in a battle.

Then most of their troops are currently at the western frontline, and the 1^st and 2^nd children of the Queen, who are known for their combat ability, are also absent, and it’s predicted that the 3^rd child has a combat ability close to 0…

“Their base is actually empty.”

If they somehow managed to get to the Queen’s nest, then they might be able to easily take the Queen’s head.

- Soygaybar: Hold up. This isn’t just a chance, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

- Speedwagon: Aside from the fact that the situation, timing, and teammates are a little off, it can’t get much better than this.

- Jokasss: It’s here. It’s really here, damn it!

- takealook: No! What’s going to happen with Anaya, Charlotte! You can’t clear it just yet! It can’t end here!

“Hey, wait up… This isn’t a joke. I might actually be able to clear this…! This playthrough, which has just been a series of unfortunate events, is finally going somewhere!”

As the joking comments that he might actually be able to clear the game started to become realistic, the chatroom began to stir.

And like the chatroom, Gyosu’s heart was also stirring.