Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 294
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 294
62. Crossing the Line (4)
-Screech!
The bus driver, having noticed something abnormal, unconsciously slammed hard on the brakes.
As a result, Major Lee Geunseok and the party members who were on the bus lost their balance.
Since everyone had excellent physical abilities, no one tumbled disgracefully onto the floor, but they all poured out of the bus as if propelled outward.
"Wh-what should we do about that…."
At most, 10 seconds until the Heaven-Piercing Fortress collides with the ground.
Though they had come outside, there was nothing Major Lee Geunseok's party could do.
This was partly because the Heaven-Piercing Fortress had an immense mass, but also because the crash point was too far away.
If the distance had been a bit closer, they could have at least tried swinging their magic sword and magic spear….
But that was when.
-Kwaaang!
"Wh-what is it?"
One wall of the Heaven-Piercing Fortress burst out loudly, and the crash trajectory changed.
Major Lee Geunseok was bewildered by the situation, but the Mage from the Duchy of Lawrence belonging to the party spoke calmly.
"Fortunately, it seems the captain is a proper person."
"What do you mean?"
"The mana explosion just now originated from the inside. It means it was an explosion intentionally caused to alter the crash trajectory."
"That means?"
"It means they're also making an effort over there to minimize damage on the surface."
The captains of Heaven-Piercing Fortresses are mostly nobles.
Perhaps because of that, quite a few among them valued the Heaven-Piercing Fortress more than human lives.
The fortunate part was that, as the Mage said, the captain of that particular Heaven-Piercing Fortress was a person with proper judgment.
As evidence of that, the falling Heaven-Piercing Fortress was gradually moving away from populated areas.
And then.
-Kwaaaang!
The Heaven-Piercing Fortress, completely engulfed in flames, plunged down like a Meteor, narrowly passing Seoul National University and crashing into Gwanaksan.
Dust and flames soaring high into the sky.
Shortly after, a powerful explosion was accompanied by an earthquake.
"Whew…. That's a relief."
Gwanaksan, being a popular hiking course, would have suffered no small number of casualties.
However, thanks to the appropriate response of the Heaven-Piercing Fortress crew, the worst catastrophe was prevented.
Major Lee Geunseok offered his condolences to the potential victims while feeling relief in one corner of his heart.
But upon seeing Major Lee Geunseok like that, the party members from Rondel said.
"You must not let your guard down."
"Huh?"
"The Heaven-Piercing Fortress was attacked by something and fell. It may be a sign of an even greater calamity."
"Ah…."
Though the exact cause of the crash was unknown, one thing could be certain.
That Heaven-Piercing Fortress fell due to an attack.
A Heaven-Piercing Fortress under the ego's control cannot have maintenance failures or accidents.
This meant.
Someone deliberately provoked Adrian, who had deployed the Heaven-Piercing Fortress.
"His Highness the King of Lawrence shows no mercy to enemies. You can see it just from the current situation where he has raised an army to catch terrorists."
As was argued earlier, a greater calamity could occur because of this.
So they could not feel more relief and let their guard down.
"To think such an incident would occur in Korea of all places."
"Is this the work of Ea?"
"Just what on earth is happening."
Once the culprit was identified, the problem would be resolved, but during the time the Heaven-Piercing Fortress fell from the sky and crashed into Gwanaksan, no being that could be called an attacker was visible.
Therefore, a high-intensity investigation centered on Korea was certain to be conducted.
Moreover, there was no guarantee that another provocation toward Adrian would not occur in Korea again, so the faces of the Koreans in the party, including Major Lee Geunseok, could not help but be filled with worry.
* * *
[The Heaven-Piercing Fortress belonging to the World Peace Organization stationed in Korea was shot down by an external attack.]
[Footage of the Heaven-Piercing Fortress crash spreads like wildfire. 21 crew members and 39 Seoul citizens confirmed dead.]
[Thanks to the crew's efforts, damage from the crash was minimized. The victims' sacrifice is regrettable, but the responsible actions of the crew members deserve praise.]
[Earth's weapons, excluding nuclear ones, cannot shoot down a Heaven-Piercing Fortress in a single blow. The culprit is highly likely to be affiliated with Rondel, or a being from Earth's mythology.]
[The prime suspect is the Sumerian god Ea.]
[Grand Duke Adrian El Lawrence is still silent. However, judging from his track record, a great disaster is certain to occur.]
The media is pouring out all sorts of speculation, but I, the person at the center of it, sat with a deeply hardened expression and kept my mouth shut.
The reason is simple.
We hadn't been able to ascertain a single thing not the nature of the attack, nor its method, nor its route.
Bringing down a Heaven-Piercing Fortress in a single Strike is difficult even for an 8th Circle Mage or a Grandmaster.
We're only speculating that it must have been at least a 9th-circle or Lordmaster-class attack.
For now, the prime suspect is the Sumerian god Ea, who may harbor ill feelings toward me, but my intuition tells me this incident shouldn't be concluded so easily.
"Our race has been completely reduced to subordinates."
While I was organizing my thoughts alone like that, Brangish who had been sipping a carbonated drink from Earth in a corner of the office pouted his lips and voiced his complaint.
The reason for his reaction is simple.
It's because I judged that a situation like this was highly likely to occur again, so I stationed dragons across various parts of Earth.
The dragons mobilized numbered only eighteen, half of the total, but having lived as lofty Coordinators, their pride was high, so the situation itself seems to feel humiliating to them.
But what could be done?
Once you've submitted to power, you do as you're told.
"It can't be helped. It seems some new threat has emerged. Since dragons are also members of this world, you must lend your strength for peace."
"Originally, our role was to quietly observe…."
"That's over now. What today's world wants is Coordinators, not bystanders."
In the end, Brangish, having lost the argument, let out a sigh.
And he shook his head.
"There are too many transcendents in the world."
"I agree."
A transcendent refers to a being of 9th-circle or Lordmaster level or above.
Previously, beings called transcendents appeared in history barely once per century, and neighboring nations were on edge at the mere movements of an 8th Circle Grand Mage or a Grandmaster.
But what about now?
Dragons have appeared on the stage of history, demon kings and Heavenly Kings called the Four Heavenly Kings move under my orders, and figures from mythology are making their presence felt all across Earth.
On top of that, there's me and Arcia, who surpass even these transcendents it's enough to call it complete power inflation, a return of the Mythic Era.
"Still haven't found Ea?"
"I've laid the bait, so he should take the hook soon enough."
We need to catch Ea first.
With one incident overlapping another, dealing with multiple enemies was not the best course of action.
The best outcome would be if the Heaven-Piercing Fortress crash was also Ea's doing, and the situation ends with him falling into a trap and being captured.
"Hoo, I do hope this ends in a single verse."
Those were Brangish's words, echoing my own wish.
However….
As if to remind us that worldly affairs don't go according to plan, an unexpected situation arose.
[Investigation using the Scales of Justice reveals: America has been connected to Ea?]
[America comes under inspection by the World Peace Organization.]
Ea did not take the bait despite America's urgent movements.
As if he knew it was a trap I had set.
Neither the search for Ea nor the investigation into the Heaven-Piercing Fortress crash went smoothly.
"Ah, haha. So it's 'don't use cheap tricks,' is it?"
When I let out a hollow laugh, my companions quietly edged away.
I paid them no mind and rose from my office chair.
"It's been a while since I've been this angry."
I could no longer just sit still and leave everything to my subordinates.
It seems the time has come to move personally.
* * *
The goddess Sepia declared that she would no longer directly intervene in the world, concluding with the preparation of a few arrangements.
But the declaration was only known to Adrian and Arcia.
Yet the two of them did not take it seriously.
The reason being that the goddess had said she would visit anytime to enjoy refreshments together, promising a next time.
However, if this content were made public, Rondel where the Sepia Order is the sole religion would inevitably fall into chaos, and since it's easy to predict how Earth, with its entirely different religious culture, would react, it was not disclosed.
After all, nothing would change just because this fact wasn't known.
"This can't be…."
"Ahh, goddess! How could you bring such a calamity upon us!"
However, there are beings who can sense such news even without being told.
They are none other than the Heavenly Kings of the heavenly realm and the demon kings of the demonic realm.
Those two, the primordial races, are the closest to truth and the ones who understand the laws of the world.
The Heavenly Kings and demon kings are known to possess power that cannot be grasped by human standards.
They sensed on their own the change that was soon to come, even though the goddess had not informed them.
Thanks to this, the heavenly realm and the demonic realm fell into great chaos.
Even though the goddess had declared that she would unify the two worlds and no longer intervene in the world, the path to the human world called the middle realm was still blocked.
"Are you telling us to live isolated here for the rest of our lives?"
"It seems the goddess regards us as nothing more than monkeys in a zoo."
This situation inevitably yielded different meanings depending on interpretation, but ironically, the Heavenly Kings and demon kings reached the same interpretation.
That the goddess had abandoned them.
To the beings on the surface, she had granted advancement into space and removed the constraints on development, yet for the Heavenly Tribe and demon race, she would have them live confined in a limited space.
Not only the demon race, who had always regarded the goddess with displeasure, but also the Heavenly Tribe, who had lived as the goddess's loyal dogs, were enraged.
It was the first time the two races had shown the same thought and the same reaction.
The sense of crisis they felt led to a result no one could have predicted.
"Now is not the time for us to be hostile to each other."
"Agreed."
It was through the joint response of the two forces.
The cooperation of two forces that could not easily contact each other, physically or mentally, was something no one could have predicted.
Even Adrian himself.
"As you know, Rondel's Grand Duke Lawrence and his queen are threatening beings. Those two possess power that transcends us."
"And they even have three demon kings including Arc Scarlet and a Heavenly King from Earth as subordinates, don't they?"
"And Rondel's dragon also follows him."
"Certainly a fearsome fighting force. If we face them head-on, victory will be difficult."
It was not a situation where they could simply descend upon Rondel or Earth.
The two forces pondered a method.
"Come to think of it, new beings have appeared on Earth."
"Ah, you mean the old gods of folk beliefs? Their ability levels are nothing special at best, only slightly above a dragon."
"But right now, even that is something we sorely lack."
"That's true."
"It's worth attempting to approach them. If they help, the descent will become easier."
Now that the direction was set, all that remained was execution.
* * *
Things couldn't go on like this, Ea thought.
Everything was going according to the plan of that man called Grand Duke Lawrence.
If time continued to pass like this, he would eventually be captured.
Was Ea not the god of wisdom before being the god of water?
So he had to devise a method.
"Among Rondel's transcendents, excluding Grand Duke Lawrence and his wife, the strongest are the Heavenly Kings and demon kings, correct?"
"I believe I heard something like that somewhere."
Albert, the billionaire from Iraq who currently shared his fate with Ea, nodded at Ea's question.
The moment he recalled the existence of the Heavenly Tribe and demon race, he felt a spark go off in his mind.
"No matter how great America thinks it is, it cannot escape the influence of the World Peace Organization. They are people who might betray at any moment."
"So you're going to try approaching the Heavenly Kings and demon kings?"
"Wouldn't that be the best option? They would be able to keep Grand Duke Lawrence in check. Moreover, I hear their technology is remarkable. The synergy effect would be great."
If they joined hands with them, nothing more could be desired.
"I heard that Rondel's Heavenly Tribe and demon race are exiled on another planet. They are in a position where they cannot leave the planet at will."
But this was the biggest problem.
Since the Heavenly Tribe and demon race hold a very special position even within Rondel, it is not easy for them to interfere with the world.
At that, Ea shrugged nonchalantly.
"We just need to devise a method."
"Wouldn't they have been devising methods for thousands, tens of thousands of years?"
"Isn't the situation different now from then?"
"What?"
"Because I will help them from the surface."
Albert scratched his cheek.
It was a matter he could not judge at his level, after all.
So after much deliberation, he soon bowed his head to Ea.
It meant to do as he wished, since there was no sharp solution to break through the current situation.