Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 256
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 256
56. The Beginning of Change (4)
I know that Adrian and his companions are special beings even in Rondel.
Most Rondelians are ordinary people no different from Earthlings, and a bullet lodged in the brain kills them just the same.
Nevertheless, seeing the handful of exceptional beings defeat armies armed with modern weapons as easily as swatting insects inevitably made one think deeply.
Of course, they were grateful that these beings defeated the enemy, but the shock brought on by overwhelming force was closer to a sense of futility.
Thanks to this, President Kim Min-guk let out a hollow laugh and said.
"Even the shock I felt when I first saw the Heaven-Piercing Fortress and the Vanguard of Reiers County wasn't this much...."
"I know what you mean."
The personal firearms used by ordinary soldiers in Rondel are revolutionary compared to the guns used by Earth's militaries, but compared to the Vanguard and the Heaven-Piercing Fortress, they're at the level of toys.
However, even these Vanguards and Heaven-Piercing Fortresses are ultimately the crystallization of science created by that world's technology.
In other words, they are weapons.
The power of weapons, however amazing, can somehow be understood as a difference in technological capability, but their martial power is the strength of a body made of flesh and blood, is it not?
Because of this, one could not help but feel a sense of futility alongside awe.
"Even if we combined Gifts with synergy and our Earth's technology, it'd be hard to produce that level of power, wouldn't it?"
A Gift is a supernatural ability obtained from a temple that rises in the poisoned lands.
Synergy refers to the enhancement effect that occurs when people with such Gifts combine their powers.
Recently, nations on Earth, including Korea, have been conducting research to integrate science and technology with these Gifts.
For example, making portable railguns that electricity-type ability users can operate, or manufacturing optical weapons for ability users who generate light.
This will certainly bring about a great transformation in Earth's military power, but even so, reaching Adrian's level seems absolutely impossible.
It's enough to make one wonder whether the heroes and gods in myths passed down like legends could display such majesty.
"There's no need to despair. Grand Duke Lawrence, Your Highness the King, and his companions are people who have reached the realm of Transcendence, surpassing human limits even in Rondel."
And then.
As if to summarize these people's sentiments, a person entered the command and control room and said that.
"Ambassador Andro, you've come?"
He was the diplomatic ambassador dispatched for diplomacy between Reiers County and South Korea.
Ambassador Andro bowed to President Kim Min-guk in the Korean style and greeted him.
"Among the countless humans of Rondel, the strongest being is that person."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, even when compared to other competitors, the difference in class is considerable. The only beings in Rondel that could be considered his competitors would be dragons like Brangish, who accompanies him as a companion."
At the word dragon, the President let out a low exclamation.
Dragons exist it was indeed a setting befitting a fantasy world.
Moreover, at Ambassador Andro's words, the President and the Chief Secretary were finally able to feel at least a small measure of relief.
For he had told them that there was no need to rate Rondel too highly based solely on Adrian.
This meant that rather than thinking of Adrian as special among Rondelians, thinking of him as the only one of his kind among Rondelians was less off-putting.
"I am well aware of what you are all worried about. Simply telling you not to worry won't resonate much, I know."
"That's right."
Currently, South Korea is in Reiers County.
No, South Korea is in a state of being dragged around by Adrian, the true ruler of Reiers County.
No matter how much they are bound by an alliance, merely holding onto a foreigner's hand could hardly be reassuring.
"That is why Grand Duke Lawrence, Your Highness the King, has instructed me to inform you of the information we possess."
To provide information in order to dilute their worries the President could not help but find it puzzling.
"I will inform you about the anomalous phenomena currently occurring in Rondel and on Earth, and the upheaval that will soon come. This is a disclosure of information for the safety of you, our allies in South Korea a story we originally intended not to reveal in order to prevent chaos on Earth."
But at this grandiose preamble, the key figures of the government, including President Kim Min-guk, had to swallow dryly.
And Ambassador Andro told them of the plan of Sepia, the goddess of Rondel.
"Integration of the two worlds?"
The president, having heard the entire story, was beyond bewildered he was horrified.
Asking what on earth that was supposed to mean.
Moreover, upon hearing that all the catastrophes and anomalous phenomena occurring on Earth were intentionally caused by a transcendent being called God, rage bloomed within him rather than shock.
"Is there no way to stop God's plan?"
"The Celestial Race and Demon Race belonging to Earth's Netherworld, along with His Highness the Archduke Lawrence, are attempting to join forces and respond. However, it will not be easy, so His Highness the Archduke has judged that preparations must be made just in case."
The response of the Netherworld belonging to Earth a place the people of Earth themselves did not even know about.
While it was a relief that that place and Adrian were joining forces to stop the Goddess's plan, these words meant that they themselves could do nothing.
"The future His Highness the Archduke Lawrence envisions is not one of strife and chaos. Currently, he is responding to this situation as the head of an international organization encompassing all the nations of Rondel. And South Korea is scheduled to be included within it as well."
"You mean to say we should consider ourselves fortunate to have joined hands with him?"
At the president's sentiment, Deputy Andro smiled.
"Mr. President! A group believed to be Japan's Gift Brigade has been confirmed in Guro!"
With talk of the integration of Earth and Rondel, of great catastrophes hearing all this suddenly, it was only natural to be at a loss.
In place of the president, who could not respond to his subordinate's report due to being lost in thought, Deputy Andro spoke.
"I will personally deliver the report on that Gift Brigade to His Highness the Archduke."
Integration was integration, but suppressing the war took priority before that.
* * *
Since obtaining the power called Gift, the way I looked at the world had changed.
How should I put it it felt like I had become the protagonist?
I could feel on my skin that I myself was a special existence.
"Ordinary humans now feel like insects."
"Captain Tetsuo, have you come down with eighth-grade syndrome again?"
"It's not eighth-grade syndrome, it's the truth."
"Haha."
Yoshida Tetsuo.
By obtaining the powerful Gift of explosion ability, his rank had skyrocketed from Second-Class Private (Sergeant) to Third-Class Officer (Major), and he was now the captain leading Japan's elite Gift Brigade.
Normally a man of unremarkable personality and unremarkable appearance, he had been someone who particularly stood out in no way but from the moment he obtained his Gift, everything was turned upside down.
Wherever he went, he drew attention, and everyone showed him goodwill.
It was only natural that he felt as though he had become the protagonist.
"Captain! Reinforcements at 3 o'clock! Huh? Looks like a mechanized unit with tanks included?"
"Got it, I'll handle it.
Because of this, he began to gradually fall into delusion.
The delusion that no one could kill him.
-Kwaaang!
"As expected of the Captain!"
"Wow, even a tank goes down in one shot."
"Since he generates the explosion from inside, there's no way to detect and avoid it. Truly the best ability."
"Huh? Captain! There's a female soldier over there! She's pretty cute?"
"Oh?"
"Should we bring her back?"
"Sure, it's a war with no bonuses there should at least be that much reward, don't you think?"
"Hahaha! See, we understand each other!"
Of course, his ability was that powerful.
But that was only when the comparison was against ordinary humans.
"Let go, let go! You Japs!"
"What is this Joseon woman saying?"
"Did she just say Jap?"
"Has this bitch lost her mind?"
-Pit!
Before a true superhuman, their power was nothing more than a child's antics at midday.
"Huh?"
The moment Matsumoto the mood maker of Tetsuo's Gift Brigade, but famous for his eyes going dark when he lost his temper raised his hand toward the Korean female soldier, his wrist separated and fell off as if a toy part had come loose.
The situation was so surreal yet so natural that everyone could only stare blankly, unable to react, until blood spurted from his wrist like a fountain.
"Kkuaaak!"
"Enemy attack!?"
Tetsuo, belatedly realizing the attack, shouted that and flattened himself against the ground, calling the name of a subordinate with detection ability.
"Sato!"
At that, the squad member named Sato closed both eyes, and soon delivered an unbelievable report.
"Two people approaching at high speed from distance 2000! Altitude 100, speed 800!"
From 2 km away, maintaining an altitude of 100 m, approaching at 800 km/h?
It was a report that could only be considered a non-human flying object.
"What the hell?"
Naturally, Tetsuo retorted with a dumbfounded expression, but what followed was even more absurd.
"Huh? Distance zero, altitude zero?"
Simultaneously with the report that the enemy, who had been moving at high speed, now overlapped with their own position...
"Are you Japan's Gift unit?"
A strange voice came from among them as they were maintaining concealment and cover.
At that, the terrified Tetsuo and his squad members sprang up like startled cats and retreated backward.
"W-what?"
And what entered their view was a devastatingly handsome man with dazzling silver hair and blue eyes, and a peerless beauty with calm brown hair and green eyes.
They wore unusual outfits of robes and armor and were mixed in among them, and their appearance was so splendid that, were this not a battlefield, one might suspect cosplay.
"Now that I see, it seems they were beasts in human form."
The gazes of the two newcomers, Adrian and Arcia, turned toward the bound female soldier, and soon they took in Tetsuo's squad members with cold eyes.
-Pit!
"Th-thank you."
The female soldier was lightly freed from her Binding by Arcia's blade, and soon disappeared somewhere at Adrian's gesture.
"What are you?"
Had he ever felt such a sense of crisis in his life?
Tetsuo swallowed dryly at the warning bell that seemed to ring and spread through his mind.
People whose appearance made them look like protagonists to anyone's eyes.
He thought it was certain they were people who used powers like Gift, though he could not know for sure.
"Are you the captain?"
But with what followed, Tetsuo came to feel that his assessment had been wrong.
-KWAJIK!
Because in that instant, every squad member except Tetsuo himself swelled up like balloons and burst, scattering their entrails across the ground.
Next, the corpses that had soiled the surrounding floor turned to ash-like powder and scattered.
This is not something like Gift.
It is a power that cannot be compared.
Tetsuo intuitively felt he was no match, like a level 1 hero standing before a level 1000 demon king.
Then Adrian raised a finger toward him.
"P-please spare me! I have committed a crime worthy of death!"
Tetsuo flattened himself on instinct and knocked his head against the ground.
Looking down at him, Adrian let out a low laugh and said.
"Even a beast cub seems to want to live?"
"If you spare me, I will do anything!"
Did that answer please him?
Adrian lowered his hand and said.
"If you are the captain of the Gift unit, you should know well about the military deployment?"
"..."
There was no need for complicated thought.
His words meant betraying his homeland and selling information in order to live.
Because of that, Tetsuo lost his words for a moment.
"Keuk!"
But when he suddenly could not breathe, as if the air around him had vanished, homeland and all ceased to matter.
"I-I know. I will tell you."
Adrian nodded in satisfaction, and now able to breathe again, Tetsuo gasped roughly and looked up at the two with a fearful expression.
Tetsuo, who until moments ago had thought himself the protagonist.
But before Adrian, he was no more than an insect.
* * *
"What? A-annihilated?"
Lieutenant General Mikado, Japan's interim Prime Minister and someone who could be called the icon of the revolution, showed disbelief upon hearing that the Japanese Army that had invaded Korea had been annihilated.
"It is said they were helplessly defeated by a force that may be a special unit possessed by Reiers County, or possibly Korea's Gift unit."
"When we combined the communication signals we briefly picked up, there was also a response saying ghosts were attacking...."
"What kind of bullshit is that!"
Lieutenant General Mikado raged at his subordinates' report, but that changed nothing.
Japan attacked Korea and lost.
That was an unchanging fact, and now they were in a situation where they had to worry about a counterattack.
Because of that, the major Japanese generals occupying seats in the conference room with him had to raise voices of criticism.
"Didn't I say it was too much!"
"We were too arrogant."
But what could be done about what had already happened?
What had to be done now was not assigning blame, but deciding how to respond afterward.
"Inoue, Lieutenant Colonel. What are your thoughts?"
Lieutenant General Mikado turned his gaze to the woman who had hastily taken the lowest seat in the conference room.
She was the Chief Secretary he had newly brought in, and also the head of the intelligence department of his military unit, the Ground Component Command.
"No, if you are going to ask someone, ask the right person."
At Lieutenant General Mikado's response, the other generals reacted as if wondering why he would ask someone still so young.
Inoue, Lieutenant Colonel, was known to possess a Gift, but the other generals thought of her as little more than a pretty-faced mood maker.
But when Inoue, Lieutenant Colonel, cast a bewitching smile at the generals, they felt an inexplicable sense of pressure and closed their mouths.
Inoue, Lieutenant Colonel.
She was Lord Skrim, the Demon King of Earth, whom Lieutenant General Mikado had confronted once before.