Chapter 132: No Abandoning
‘I know that Lakrak is a God Killer.’
Concealed Text God, namely AR1026, used teleportation. It was skill with a high cost that allowed her to teleport hundreds of meters without leaving any trace, and there was no delay. However, AR1026 had to admit she wasn’t good at this kind of control.
‘...The hole is quite big.’
Hoping that Lakrak wouldn’t find her, AR1026 examined her wound. She did feel pain, but the pain a Hierophany body felt was only an indication of how powerful the opponent’s attack was, and it didn’t cause any other problems.
Where she had been pierced was a hole, and it was already closing. It pretty much happened on its own due to her skill, Black Thorn.
Absorption skills were usually used to collect Faith points, but they were also used for recovery.
‘Still…I can’t say that things are looking good.’
She had expected it to be a difficult fight. And because Lunda had betrayed them, and Jang-Wan had left, they no longer even had the numerical advantage.
However, she believed that she could make Lunda use Hierophany as well even if she couldn’t make Nebula do the same.
‘Lakrak was stronger than I thought.’
The fact that the player had to personally control a Hierophany body was both an advantage and a disadvantage.
‘Or I was weaker than I thought.’
Many aspects of The Lost World were automated. If a player wasn’t overly concerned with victory, they could start the game and choose their species, and the game would progress on its own without the player doing anything. AR1026 had heard about streamers letting the game play out like this, and sometimes people would bet on who the victor would be with real money.
AR1026 wasn’t a particularly dexterous player, so she favored the more automated approach in The Lost World. Of course having dexterous hands would allow for more multi-tasking, so theoretically it was better for a player to be able to perform actions faster. As evidenced by AR1026’s ranking, though, it was still possible to maintain a decent win rate through good decision making even when one wasn’t gifted in manual controls.
‘That would only be the ceiling of a player’s abilities.’
The problem was when Hierophany was activated. A player would have to directly control the Hierophany body, moving it like it was their own. Someone with slow hands was unlikely to be agile elsewhere, and the result was the wound Lakrak left on her.
‘I shouldn’t be so discouraged. Negative thoughts lead to negative outcomes.’
However, the situation was in no way good even when she tried to look at the bright side.
Although it had seemed like Golden Eye’s soldiers had run away, some of them came back after their god appeared. AR1026 hadn’t made a mistake in that regard since she needed sacrifices in order to maintain her Faith points, and Red Fruit’s soldiers alone weren’t enough. However, she did miss quite a bit of Red Fruit’s soldiers because she was focused on her battle against Lakrak.
Currently, in Golden Eye’s camp, there were soldiers from each side hiding after avoiding the black thorns. Creations of AR1026 and Crampus as well as Nebula and Lunda were fighting each other with no regards for the soldiers.
‘It would be better to change plans.’
AR decided to give up on Lakrak. It would be worth it to fight further if she was better at controlling the Hierophany body, but it was difficult at the moment. Even if she got the help of her creations, Nebula and Lunda also had creations. And in the long-term, Crampus, who had already deployed a considerable number of creations, and AR1026, who could only summon creations with low maintenance costs, wouldn’t be able to defeat the creations of Nebula and Lunda in terms of either quality or quantity.
‘I know this is shameless of me, but I’ll try to go back alive. However, I can’t do that without any harvest when I’ve almost used up my Faith points…’
AR1026 rose into the air and looked at Lunda from a distance. To be exact, she was looking at the Renard priest that Lunda had used Divine Control on.
Even though it would be difficult to defeat an apostle with her Hierophany body, she thought she could at least kill the Renard priest Lunda had taken over with Divine Control. When a player died when using Divine Control, their level would drop even though it wouldn’t be as serious as what dying in a Hierophany body would result in. If she killed Lunda, she would at least make up for quite a bit of the loss she had suffered today.
‘The fact that you appeared through Divine Control means that you thought you wouldn’t need to use Hierophany to face me, right? I’ll make you regret that.’
And killing Lunda would somewhat soothe her wounded heart.
***
Lakrak noticed the moment Concealed Text God disappeared.
‘Not good enough.’
After stabbing her in the waist, Lakrak was going to immediately strike her chest, but was stopped short when Concealed Text God disappeared.
Anakse, who had been thrown away, came running back to Lakrak while flapping its wings, which weren’t all that useful when running through the air. As Lakrak climbed onto Anakse, he looked around.
‘She isn’t attacking right away. Is she healing her wound?’
That was a good sign. Back when he faced the evil god, Lakrak had already come to the realization that gods were indeed different from mortal creatures or people. It wasn’t clear where they needed to be stabbed to die. But rather than Lakrak not knowing the vital parts of a divine manifestation, it would be more accurate to say that he didn’t think a god would have such a weakness.
‘That’s what a god is.’
However, Lakrak did know quite a bit about gods, so he felt like he could read Concealed Text God’s behavior.
‘Concealed Text God is angry with Bountiful Harvest’s betrayal. So as long as she isn’t attacking me, of course she would be going after the Renard priest that Bountiful Harvest has assumed control over.’
The Renard priest in question was on top of a tall tree looking around, as if they were also looking for Concealed Text God. Whether it was intended or not, it was a good idea.
‘The black thorns rise in a certain direction, starting from where Concealed Text God is and gradually reaching farther.’
This meant that when Concealed Text God targeted Bountiful Harvest, Concealed Text God would inevitably reveal where the attack was coming from; in other words, Bountiful Harvest was at a good location to be attacked.
‘Where would she be?’
Riding on Anakse, Lakrak tried to guess where he would attack from if he were Concealed Text God.
At that moment, Sung-Woon said from afar.
-Lakrak.
Lakrak replied.
-Night Sky, you called??
Sung-Woon replied in puzzlement.
-What? Why are you speaking like that?
-There’s nothing to be surprised about, is there?
-Did you learn that from Eldar…Dancing Shadow God?
Lakrak smirked in lieu of a response.
Eldar was an interesting god and a good conversation partner.
In Night Sky’s Afterlife, following the Prairie of Beginnings was the Forest of Origin. The Forest of Origin was where Elves who believed in Eldar as well as other species would go after their death, and Eldar could often be seen there. On the other hand, Sung-Woon rarely appeared. Lakrak thus talked to Eldar more frequently.
Lakrak asked.
-What is it?
-There’s no need to target Concealed Text God now.
-Then Bountiful Harvest would be in danger.
-Yeah, it doesn’t really matter what happens to Bountiful Harvest.
Lakrak squinted and looked at his god. Then Sung-Woon added even though it wasn’t necessary.
-I mean, it doesn’t matter in the overall situation.?
-So you’re going to abandon them??
-Not exactly. For Bountiful Harvest’s sake, there’s another target you have to go after.
Lakrka knew that his god had come up with a good idea, which he considered a good thing since his god had never let him down before.
-What should I do?
***
-Why are you only chasing after me!?
Lunda controlled her priest to jump over a tree. While using Divine Control, the priest wasn’t weak at all. In fact, her strength was phenomenal. She was able to cross a river with one leap and throw a rock the size of a house over her head. However, Hierophany’s powerful skills weren’t the only problems she faced.
A sharp thorn pierced through her shoulder. Lunda immediately broke it and yanked it out while tumbling onto the ground. She jumped to her feet without pause, moving so fast that it was hard to track her with one’s eyes, but she had a bad premonition.
‘It’s too late.’
AR1026 appeared in front of her.
‘Teleportation!’
AR1026 grabbed Lunda by the neck. Lunda then grabbed onto AR1026’s wrist with enough power to bend steel, but AR1026 didn’t budge. Even though Lunda was using Divine Control, AR1026’s Hierophany body was much stronger as she had more Domains.
Lunda struggled to speak.
-A…AR…
-What is it?
-Shall we…reconcile??
-You’re kidding, right?
Enraged, AR1026 threw Lunda onto the ground.
Thump!
The impact was so loud that it sounded like Lunda would explode then and there, but strengthened by Divine Control, the body managed to endure the impact—not without breaking a few bones, however, and her left wrist was left dangling.
AR1026 stomped on Lunda’s chest.
Crack!
Lunda screamed in pain. With her right eye cracked open, she asked AR1026.
-Isn’t it better to target Larkrak than me??
-I think he’s too much for me to handle.
AR1026 stepped even harder on Lunda’s chest. She didn’t find joy in tormenting others, but she did find catharsis in exerting revenge.
-AR…
-Don’t worry. I’ve taken into consideration the time it’d take for you to disengage Divine Control. I’ll finish things before then.
-I think you’ve made a mistake…
AR1026 picked Lunda up, dangling the Renard she had taken over with Divine Control so that their eyes could meet.
-What do you mean?
-Why do you think Lakrak isn’t intervening? Because I’m useless??
AR1026 replied.
-Because Crampus’s creations and mine are keeping the apostle busy…
-I don’t think so.
AR1026 turned around.
Light seemed to spread through the entire sky, and a pillar of light great enough to envelope the entire mountain peak devoured the creations.
***
The pocket of heat triggered a powerful gust. It was so violent that it broke AR1026’s thorns, hurled Golden Eye’s soldiers into the air, and even toppled trees.
.
In the midst of all that, Lakrak was panting like he had overtaxed himself. Beneath his feet were the creations of AR1026 and Crampus he had attacked. They had collapsed to the ground while radiating white steam. Blood gushed out of their eyes and breathing orifices, and the large wounds left by the lightning strikes were bursting and tearing apart, causing blood to gush out of their arteries.
Sung-Woon thought to himself.
‘A good teleportation skill doesn’t do much when you have so many beings with you.’
Divinity level was a necessity when using a skill. In order to maintain their Divinity level, a player must not lose what was theirs. Therefore, if too many cards were played, they wouldn’t so much be assets but weaknesses.
‘The creations you brought with you to help are such weaknesses.’
Sung-Woon estimated the abilities and levels of the creations and checked how much XP AR1026 would lose if those creatures died.
‘Her level would drop down to 6.’
AR1026 was currently level 18. Falling to level 6 would be a 13-level drop.
‘Then she wouldn’t be able to use Hierophany.’
Just because a player’s level went down didn’t mean their skills would automatically deactivate. However, the maximum amount of their Faith points would be reduced, and eventually, the skills the Hierophany body boasted of would become obsolete. They would retain the appearance of a god, but not the abilities.
Sung-Woon called out to his apostle.
-Lakrak!
Lakrak was already running.
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