Game Opportunity in Reality Episode 189
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Game Opportunity in Reality Episode 189
44. Center of the Incident (5)
'There's no need to overthink this. We don't have to personally deal with that dangerous woman after all.'
Once the demon worshipers' location is confirmed, we can request Support from the Holy Land.
Then whether it's a Saintess or a Holy Son, they'll come running.
Even if the relationship between the Holy Land and the Elysian Coalition becomes strained, from the Holy Land's perspective, hunting demon worshipers takes priority over diplomatic issues.
And if we gather evidence showing that the Holy Land's operations are for world peace rather than strengthening the church, then no matter how differently the Elysian Coalition interprets other religions, they won't be able to hold it against them.
After all, hunting demon worshipers was never an option to begin with.
Rather, they could end up being criticized for harboring demon worshipers.
Honestly, it's beyond mere suspicion I genuinely believe that.
"I see. Looks like you're planning to mobilize the Saintess and the Holy Son."
At Blake's words, which seemed to read my thoughts, I nodded obediently.
"That does seem like the surest course."
But then he said something unexpected.
"Instead of that, how about you and Arcia take the woman on?"
"What? Why risk danger like that?"
"Why? For the growth of you two."
Coming from someone who doesn't know how I raise my realm, it was a perfectly sound opinion.
But no matter how much it's for growth, there's no need to stick our necks into mortal danger.
I may grow by leveling up through the game, but reality isn't a game.
In reality, if you die, everything ends.
'Hm?'
But something about Blake urging me into combat felt off.
Could it be that he knows how to deal with her?
"If we were to fight that woman, how should we go about it?"
"How? Just go in head-on. Arcia defends, you attack. Isn't that your best combat method?"
"The problem is that even Arcia doesn't seem able to block all of that."
If it were Arcia alone, she might somehow hold out.
But if I focus on attacking, Arcia will have to look after me too.
And I'd be trusting in that while devoting myself to the offense.
But can we win against an enemy that can attack from front and back, left and right, above and below by fighting the way we always have?
No easy path to victory came to mind.
"You're a Mage whose specialty is evasion, aren't you? Can't you dodge that?"
Our party's defense isn't just Arcia's toughness it's boosted to a higher level by adding my evasion skills.
But I don't have eyes on my back or the soles of my feet, so there are limits.
"If the attacks are within prediction range, I could dodge them. The Sword Aura's speed is fast, but it doesn't seem impossible to evade."
"If you can't predict it, then analyze it."
"What?"
"No matter how much magical assistance she has, it's impossible for that woman to control each of those hundred swords simultaneously while also firing Sword Aura with pinpoint precision."
"So you're saying there's some rule to her attacks?"
He gave a vague smile.
I was momentarily tempted, but then I shook my head, saying it wouldn't be easy.
"If she realizes her attack pattern has been figured out, she'll definitely switch things up and attack unpredictably."
"But those improvised variations won't have the same destructive power as before."
"What if she's already patterned those improvised variations too?"
"Then we'd have to predict that as well and plan accordingly, wouldn't we?"
Easy for him to say.
As I scratched my head and looked troubled, he added one more remark.
"The more I look at you, the more you resemble Lucas. You seem bold, but if things don't go according to plan, you hesitate to even step in. Well, maybe that's a trait of Mages, but sometimes you gain things by charging straight ahead. Have you ever fought a life-or-death battle where your life hung in the balance?"
In the game, plenty.
I've experienced the pain of death dozens of times in the game, where the senses were shared with reality.
And that became the foundation of my combat ability, which far exceeds the average.
But even if you can experience the pain of death, it's hard to call that a real life-or-death crisis.
In the game, there's fundamentally the mindset that if you die, you'll be revived anyway.
'I did almost die when I first met Blake… but back then, combat itself wasn't even possible, so I suppose that's an exception.'
Other than that, I don't think I've ever been in a battle intense enough to truly feel my life was threatened.
Recently, I've even been hiding my level as a 7th-circle Archmage and holding back my power…
So I had no choice but to shake my head.
"The most is learned at the crossroads of life and death."
I wanted to say that I was already a confirmed 9th-circle anyway…
Unlike me, however, Arcia had to overcome her wall with her own strength, so I couldn't exactly dismiss it as irrelevant.
"If you're troubled, why not just try it?"
"..."
"If you really don't feel like it, you can always prepare contingencies."
That was true.
If I prepared thoroughly enough, even a life-or-death Duel would come with vastly improved chances of survival.
I asked Blake.
"Would you, Sir Blake, be willing to serve as my contingency…?"
"I said no."
Well, if he wouldn't, I could always keep a Saintess or Holy Son as a contingency instead.
In the end, it all comes down to whether I'm willing to take the risk or not.
"Hoo… Alright, I'll give it a try."
"Good. You'll gain a lot from it."
If he had given me this advice with ulterior motives, I wouldn't have followed it.
But the Myriad Mirror showed no change at all.
He wouldn't push us into mortal danger without reason, so I decided to follow along after all.
Blake looked satisfied to see me faithfully accepting his advice.
"I almost wonder if obtaining the Holy Sword was meant for this very day."
"Haha, indeed."
With my mind firmly made up, I stared intently at the red-eyed woman in the image.
* * *
There are no borders between the eight nations belonging to the Elysian Coalition.
The division between nations is merely a division of races, and since each race's residential zones are scattered across the Coalition according to preferred terrain, drawing borders was meaningless to begin with.
The reason this unusual system can sustain a nation is that all the different races of the Elysian Coalition share a sense of being one community.
At best, it means strong unity.
At worst, a single small fracture could plunge the entire nation into crisis.
"Good work on the mission. I heard a Saintess popped up?"
"Yeah, seems she was standing by as a precaution. They probably thought they were being thorough on their end… but well, a mission like this is nothing to me."
Venetian, the only surface city of the merfolk within the Elysian Coalition.
Famous as a city on water, it was built along the Styx River, the lifeline of the Coalition that connects to the sea.
Since the merfolk's primary domain was the sea and rivers, they didn't hold much interest in land above the surface.
That was why, despite being part of the Coalition, Venetian was the merfolk's only surface city.
At the heart of Venetian lay a deep underground palace that appeared to be a ruin from the Mythic Era, and inside that underground palace, a group of people sat gathered around a round table.
Five people in total.
Four of them were humans, and one was a merfolk.
"Anyway, that arrogance of hers…"
"Arrogance and a sharp tongue isn't that Selin's charm?"
Everyone seated at the round table had their eyes fixed on the red-haired woman.
In response, she placed a compass on the table, and everyone who saw the Orichalcum object brimming with Divine power furrowed their brows.
That was inevitable, given the black mana they possessed as demon worshipers.
A man with the merfolk's characteristic blue hair and large-pupiled black eyes reached for the Holy Relic.
Normally, black mana touching a Holy Relic would trigger a backlash, but the Holy Relic remained perfectly still in his hand.
In other words, he was an ordinary person, not a demon worshiper.
The merfolk tossed the Holy Relic back to the center of the table and spoke with a look of displeasure.
"You understand your position, don't you? This will only make the Holy See even more frantic to attack. With that, it becomes difficult for us to help you."
Even Grendel, the suited man who had told Celine about the sanctuary's probe information in the park, coldly replied to the mermaid's appearance, which even betrayed a hint of disgust.
"You're not exactly in a position to be picky, are you? When Rondel's situation suddenly changes according to the goddess's plan, the hardest hit will be you. The polluted seas of that world will be poison to the merfolk."
"I know. But us supporting you disgusting lot was only ever a possibility when there was a chance of success, no? If you all get wiped out by the Holy See before you even attempt anything, we have no choice but to pull out. Just because we don't like the goddess's will doesn't mean we intend to become enemies of the world."
"How foolish you'd abandon your race's future just to survive a little longer?"
"That's hardly a line I should be hearing from demon worshipers who revel in destruction and chaos."
It was a conversation that gave the impression of two sides united by circumstance rather than conviction merfolk and demon worshipers.
But even among the demon worshipers, it seemed there were those with differing ideologies.
Unlike the suited man who merely suppressed his anger at the merfolk's insolent attitude, a hulking dark-skinned man deliberately bared what looked like sharply filed fangs and sneered.
"Your Demon King is truly servile. Teaching his worshipers to endure in order to achieve his goals. Why not just get rid of that bastard and be done with it?"
At the dark-skinned man's words, Grandal let out a snort of laughter.
"You're too simple-minded. That's why every Demon King of this world struggles to descend and ends up defeated in the end."
"What did you say?"
As the dark-skinned man and Grandal snarled at each other, Selin slammed both feet onto the table with a thud.
Naturally, her robe slipped and revealed her pale calves.
Since she always wore baggy robes and never showed skin besides her face, her calves something easily seen on any woman in a skirt somehow looked suggestive.
She spoke to the merfolk, the dark-skinned man, and Grandal in a tone of annoyance.
"So did you get caught? You stole the detection device anyway, so there's no more risk of the base getting raided."
"Uh, well..."
"That's true."
Her words quickly settled the matter.
At that, an androgynous figure impossible to tell whether they were a blonde woman or man flushed and defended Selin.
"As expected of our Selin. Always so sharp."
"You, shut up."
And so they began discussing their plans from here on.
"Interfering with the goddess is impossible from the start. All we can do is prepare."
"But preparation takes time."
"The fortunate part is that the two worlds' time flows at roughly a 1:10 ratio. In other words, we have ten times the leeway here."
"Could we not increase the number of nations that share our cause?"
"Nonsense. No matter how right what you say is, you're still demon worshipers. No one will listen."
And so the meeting was heating up when
The androgynous figure, who had been fiddling with the stolen Holy Relic and pestering Selin, suddenly stiffened their expression and stared intently at the Holy Relic.
"Huh?"
And a moment later, they...
Shouted in a very urgent voice.
"Damn it, this is a fake!"
"What?"
-BOOOOM!
At the same time, a massive explosion rang out near the ceiling of the underground cavern they had taken shelter in.
"Damn it! It's a surprise attack!"
At that, the five at the round table leapt to their feet.
It was a situation anyone but a fool would understand.
They had fallen into a trap.