Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 262
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 262
57. Integration (3)
A deep blue crystal fragment.
The small, condensed fragment showed different colors inside depending on the angle.
So when I held the fragment up to the light, I could see internal patterns resembling a small galaxy, and along with it, I felt a powerful energy that sent a chill down the back of my neck.
A powerful energy I had never felt even from the Heavenly King, the Demon King of this place.
'Indeed, I wondered why they created a new race name called god race, and it seems it contains power a dimension above the Heavenly King and Demon King.'
It's not for nothing that it contains the Authority of a god.
Even though it was split into 25 pieces, at this level, I couldn't dare guess how strong the complete version would be, or just how much power the whole Creator possessed.
"We all consume it at the same time. If anyone hesitates and watches the situation, I'll consider that they have other ideas."
While everyone was holding their crystal fragments and lost in their own thoughts, Lord Exceed stepped forward as the representative and said that.
He was the youngest among all the Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings, but he was considered the person in charge of this plan due to having memories of his past life and being someone who had experienced Rondel.
Because of that, no one ignored his words.
Everyone held their pill-sized fragments between their index finger and thumb, raised them so others could see, and nodded toward Lord Exceed.
"Now, then, let's eat."
And at the signal that followed, Arcia and I briefly looked into each other's eyes before swallowing our fragments.
-Thump!
The energy of the fragment that passed down my esophagus instantly spread throughout my entire body.
And I felt an intense sense of wrongness.
"Keuk!"
To put the current situation simply, it feels like filling a balloon with water.
And not just any water it's like trying to force water with extremely high pressure into a balloon.
Thanks to that, my balloon-like body felt like it would burst at any moment, and this soon became pain, causing a suppressed groan to escape my lips.
"Kkeueuk!"
"Ack!"
However, it seemed I wasn't the only one in this situation.
I had thought after hearing Lord Exceed's words that absorption must not be that difficult, but the Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings also showed pain.
Some among them even screamed outright.
But what concerned me more than the reactions of the Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings was Arcia's groan coming from beside me.
I need to quickly stabilize my energy and help her.
The situation was far more serious than I thought.
-Sseusseu!
I moved my Mana to reinforce my body that felt like it would burst at any moment.
Thanks to that, it felt like a thin protective layer was added over the balloon that seemed dangerously close to bursting, and I embraced the energy that had begun rampaging on its own.
However, this alone was nowhere near enough.
I needed some kind of countermeasure.
-Jiiing!
But then.
Something unusual happened.
The energy that had been surging as if it would burst my body at any moment suddenly began to calm down.
'What?'
Soon the energy quickly regained stability, and I recovered my body to a level where there was no problem with activity.
The Creator's energy reinforced the 9 circles, making them thicker and firmer.
Not only that, it created a new ring in my heart like a 10th circle, and the Creator's energy was fully settled there.
"I'm alive."
The crisis had completely vanished.
Because of that, I had to express my doubts.
I couldn't understand why that ferocious energy had become so docile.
To say it was always like that, no one except me was able to move.
'Ah, this isn't the time.'
Now is not the time to be lost in thought.
I quickly approached Arcia, whose face had gone pale as she broke out in cold sweat.
I placed my hand on her back, which was contorted in pain, and helped her stabilize her energy.
And soon I examined her interior, and I could tell that the fetus's condition was very good it seemed she was protecting the child.
The fetus was actually absorbing the energy well, and only Arcia herself was struggling.
Still, she's doing quite well.
Even the Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings are in chaos, so for a Grandmaster who isn't even a Lordmaster, this is more than holding her own.
-Jiing!
Once I had suppressed the Creator's energy and provided help, Arcia's condition rapidly stabilized.
Her expression, which had been in pain, gradually regained calm, and I could feel her body being reconstructed along with light.
She had reached the level of Lordmaster, surpassing Grandmaster.
However, that wasn't the end.
"Are you okay?"
"Phew, I survived thanks to you."
Just like the upper dantian, middle dantian, and lower dantian in martial arts novels, her aura points had increased to three, and on top of that, her existing aura point had expanded greatly, allowing her to fully stabilize the Creator's energy.
If I had obtained the Creator's energy in the form of a Mage, then she had obtained the Creator's energy in the form of a Knight.
"Thankfully, the child is safe."
"You've been through a lot."
I had worried that the child might be affected as her body was being reconstructed, but amusingly, the child's body was reconstructed along with hers.
Compared to the energy Arcia had stabilized, it was faint, but the child had absorbed a portion of the Creator's energy and made it their own.
I'm not saying this because it's my child, but if this one grows up properly, they seemed more than sufficient to become a Lordmaster or 9th-circle in the future.
After all, they possessed the power of the Creator.
Thanks to that, I had to let out a hollow laugh, and Brangish and Blake, who had been surveying the situation, approached us and checked our condition.
"Congratulations on being reborn as a new species."
The two of them smiled with expressions full of envy.
Absorbing the Creator's energy didn't mean my combat power suddenly multiplied a hundred or a thousand times.
It's like having a high-capacity battery, but the output didn't feel like it had increased by that much, you could say?
However, I had reached a level where I could easily devour ordinary Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings.
Even without omnipotent god-like abilities, I had powered up with my growth potential left open.
If I had to put it into words, that's how it was.
It felt like I had gone beyond 9th-circle to the next stage, 10th-circle.
"However, I don't understand. Why can't they absorb the energy that you two absorbed?"
While I was happily checking my condition, I belatedly took in the surrounding situation at Blake's words.
"Krrgh!"
"Why is this happening!"
Something about the situation was strange.
Because aside from me and Arcia, who had received my help, no one showed any sign of stabilizing their energy.
"I-is it already over?"
Even Lord Exceed, who could be called the person in charge of this plan, was crawling on the ground, barely able to open one eye to look at us.
"That's strange."
I tilted my head and approached him.
I couldn't understand why I had absorbed the energy so much more easily than everyone else.
At least Lord Exceed was holding up well, but the other Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings were struggling immensely.
"Help me out a bit, will you."
Lord Exceed, who was in the best condition among them, asked me for help.
I had to ponder for a moment.
Because it seemed like I could kill all the Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings right now.
Wouldn't that mean there would be no beings left to restrain my actions?
That seemed like a not-bad method.
"If these ones go down, won't Earth go down too? Since they ate the World Tree's crystals that were sustaining the world."
But at Blake's remark, which hit the core of the matter, I had no choice but to set aside my impulsive thoughts.
I then approached Lord Exceed, and told Arcia to look after the nearby Heavenly Kings as long as it wasn't too much for her.
"Didn't you say it would be easy to absorb?"
"You absorbed it easily, so what's the problem..."
"Meanwhile, you look like you're about to die, though?"
"Haha."
I placed my hand on the back of the fallen Lord Exceed.
And I helped him absorb the energy.
Thanks to that, Lord Exceed quickly regained his normal condition, and I couldn't help but ask him.
"What exactly are you scheming?"
"What do you mean?"
"Isn't this whole situation planned out too?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
I thought about removing my hand from his back at his evasive attitude, but soon recalled the existence of Grand Duke Lucas, who could be called my benefactor, and cared for him to the end.
When Lord Exceed finished absorbing the energy like that.
"Kuaaaak!"
One of the Demon Kings' bodies swelled up and burst.
"Huh..."
Just what kind of existence is a Demon King?
They are beings above dragons, terrifying figures who can plunge the world into crisis just by their descent, are they not?
Such a Demon King failed to stabilize his energy and died in an utterly pathetic manner.
Thanks to that, I had to narrow my brows with a startled expression.
Because no matter how much they looked like they were about to die, the basic assumption was that Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings of the world wouldn't actually die.
-Kwaang!
-Boom!
-Boom!
But once one died, the Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings burst out one after another like a chain explosion.
"W-what in the world!"
"Is there a traitor among us!"
"Lord Exceed? You!?"
They screamed all sorts of things right before dying.
Rather than the utterly baffling situation, I swallowed a dry gulp as I looked at Lord Exceed, who was beside me, subtly curling up the corners of his mouth.
The dine-and-dash that was originally my plan.
But with Earth's Heavenly Kings and Demon Kings dying so helplessly, it was no time to be worrying about dine-and-dash or whatever.
"I thought surely not, surely not, but..."
"Did you notice?"
It seems Lord Exceed, that is, Grand Duke Lucas, really was the goddess's pawn after all.
That raises one question here.
Why am I unharmed?
-Slide.
I put distance between myself and the dangerous-looking Lord Exceed.
Perhaps I might have to strike him down.
"Don't misunderstand. I have no intention of doing anything to you. Everything is that person's will."
But Lord Exceed waved both hands excessively, calming me down.
-Kuuuung!
And then.
As if to signal that this was no time to fight, the world began to shake like mad.
This anomaly was not the end of it.
* * *
-Kkiiiiik!
It cracked.
There seemed to be no other way to describe what was happening.
Red lines were chaotically etched across the bare, empty sky, and a creaking sound, like stepping on old wooden floorboards, rang out across the world.
"W-what is this?"
At this moment, everyone living on Earth looked up at the sky without exception.
Abnormal phenomena, including strange weather patterns, had been ceaseless lately, but I could guarantee that this was the first anomaly that gave off such an ominous atmosphere.
"What's about to happen?"
Thanks to that, people tilted their heads in confusion but quickly hurried their steps in the midst of the ominous feeling.
Because somehow, they felt they should be with their families.
-Tutututuk.
Then, red hail fell from the sky as if fragments were dropping, and office workers and students were moved to shelters under the instructions of their superiors and teachers.
Though the reason was unknown, since governments around the world had recently been appealing to the possibility of a second Great Disaster occurring, they judged there was nothing to gain by hesitating.
So people moved busily while looking at the ominous sky, and soon intense natural disasters swept across the surface.
Earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons.
It was as if Earth itself had broken down.
And something even more unusual than these life-threatening disasters occurred...
-Clang!
The sky shattered noisily as if it were glass, and suddenly day and night switched.
But what followed was a situation even more baffling than the sudden darkness.
"W-what is that?"
It pushed aside the moon and an unfamiliar planet appeared in its place, filling the view.