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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Shackles of Fate (1)
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"I don't know what kind of nonsense you're spouting. I'm calling the police."
"Sorry, but you can't do that."
Oh Yoon-ah smirked.
Kang Do-yeon, who had turned to flee, froze in place with a horrified expression.
The bizarre sensation of being fully conscious, yet unable to move her body as she willed.
"You must obey my command. It's only natural for a knight to listen to their master, isn't it?"
"...What in the world did you do?"
"This isn't just a game. It's a secret of this world."
Oh Yoon-ah forced her onto the bench.
Bewildered, she had no choice but to look at the screen Oh Yoon-ah showed her.
"Is... is that a movie?"
"Of course not. Great Chieftain, we've succeeded."
Pleased by the trembling voice, Oh Yoon-ah draped an arm over her shoulder, grinned, and spoke to her phone.
At what happened next, Kang Do-yeon's eyes widened in shock.
On the screen, in what looked like a scene from a movie, an old man with a long white beard bowed his head deeply.
"What is all this...?"
"These people are my units, my subjects. I met them for the first time recently, and we've been working together for each other's sake. What happened today was part of that."
Oh Yoon-ah slowly explained the situation on her phone.
Naturally, it was an unbelievable story.
Except for the fact that her own body wouldn't move an inch at a single command.
As the shocking stories continued to pour in, Kang Do-yeon broke into a cold sweat just trying to keep her wits about her.
*
"Why are you home so late? Mom was about to..."
"Kang Do-yeon!"
Oops. I just slipped away to the side.
Even with the door closed, I could still hear the sounds of a tremendous scolding.
Before long, I heard the door to the room across the hall close.
Was it finally over? Thank goodness.
[Watch not only your own body, but your surroundings as well. This round is already moving past its initial stages. Most Players and their Units will have adapted to the app and will begin to wield their newfound power.]
"Just like Cha Ji-yeon. But aren't we too slow?"
[Infinite potential must naturally come with a penalty.]
We essentially started from nothing.
From a single small cell, slowly devouring bigger and bigger things.
However, because of that, our progress was slower compared to Players connected to those who already had some sort of foundation.
[But the Legion's growth rate is undeniably explosive. And the more it grows, the faster that rate becomes. There is no need to worry too much.]
"I know that much."
But in return, we have an equally powerful advantage.
I checked the screen.
The Legion was still preparing for war.
In the midst of it all, an experimental creature tore its way out of an egg.
A hunched posture, intricate forelimbs.
It was covered in a carapace, but its body shape was clearly based on the rat it had recently devoured.
"Just a simple experiment?"
[Correct. It is certainly an interesting and appealing form, but the Legion has judged it more efficient to maintain its existing methods.]
There would be no mass production of soldiers based on that rat.
Even to me, it seemed right for the Legion to head in a direction that better utilized its strengths.
And though I didn't know exactly what those strengths were, I knew it wasn't that.
[They have become aware of our existence and are on guard.]
After shattering the 12th Stratum, where the enemy had been arbitrarily building their forward fortress.
A scout in the form of a small bee immediately pursued the routed soldiers up to the 13th Stratum.
Their fortress was there as well.
War preparations were already in full swing.
[Although their nature is different from ours, it seemed there was much to learn from them. The only problem was... we could not learn it.]
The Legion wasted no more time.
It moved its forces before the enemy could establish a more solid defense.
[Still, the Legion's gluttony does not cease. Unable to learn through consumption? Then it will simply learn by watching. The Legion's mass is its brain. The learning and computational abilities of the Legion, having grown this much, are already transcendent.]
The defensive lizards at the forefront raised their sturdy armor.
Behind them, the main force advanced in sequence.
The catapults they fired were useless.
The flaming mushroom fragments were meaningless.
[From behind the sturdy shields, the artillery units began to fire back, shooting poison thorns that tore through their own skin.]
The enemy fell one after another.
Their countermeasures against ranged attacks were pathetic.
Only then did I realize.
They must not be accustomed to this kind of warfare.
[But we are not. From our very beginning, we have been at war for survival, and we will continue to evolve for war. The Legion began its charge. New legionnaires revealed themselves.]
As soon as the initial skirmish was over, the situation began to unfold rapidly.
[It is clearly a fortress siege, just like before. But unlike them, we grow. This siege will surely be different from the last.]
The furiously charging Legion began to split apart.
A single creature, combining the leg strength of a toad and a flea.
But its appearance was somehow grotesque.
Having invested all its abilities into leg strength, it waddled its greatly swollen body toward the fortress.
"Whoa."
And the moment it was in range.
It unleashed that leg strength in a single burst.
The force was enough to create a shockwave and gouge the earth, so powerful it shattered its own legs.
But that didn't matter.
This deformed body, so misshapen it couldn't fly even with wings, contained no other organs—only a single, massive sac.
A sac capable of spraying a concentrated, powerful acid solution.
As the sac burst along with its body, spraying the solution everywhere, the soft flesh of the mammals couldn't withstand the potent acid and melted away.
[Unable to respond properly, the enemy fortress began to be decimated. Thanks to that, their momentum was broken. The aerial units that had been on standby began to assault the inside of the fortress.]
"...It's over, isn't it?"
It was essentially a rematch.
Victory, of course, went to us, who had developed and employed new tactics and strategies.
The next battle would likely end the same way.
If they couldn't adapt to our ever-changing tactics, they could not win.
"I should give them a reward."
I smirked and looked away from my phone.
Then, I took out what I'd placed on my desk.
Protein powder, glucose candies, and so on.
I'd felt bad for always feeding them nothing but wood, so I'd prepared these things.
Though, given my financial situation, I couldn't do something as ridiculous as providing the full 40kg.
"Come to think of it, what kind of restrictions do other Players have? There must be limits on how Units can affect Players, right?"
[Of course. The level-based restrictions are there to limit progress and maintain fairness. Each has their own set of conditions.]
"...How do you know if that's fair?"
[Even if you think it's unfair, what can you do about it?]
I was at a loss for words. Then again, I was always the one in the weaker position.
"Hmph."
I just took a picture of the protein powder and glucose candies I'd prepared and sent it.
I was sure some of my friends or classmates had protein powder stashed away somewhere that they'd bought after vowing to work out.
"Man, I really need to get a part-time job."
I let out a hollow laugh as I looked at my bank account, which was slowly bottoming out.
To think that I, caught up in a life-or-death affair that was shaking the entire world, had to work because I was broke.
Studying seemed to be off the table anyway, so I figured I should find a decent job quickly.
"...What is this money?"
But my search for a part-time job was brought to a halt that evening by Kang Do-yeon's cryptic behavior.
"Prize money."
"What? What prize money?"
"Just take it, okay! Think of it as me paying you back for all the allowance you've given me!"
She tossed an envelope of money at me and disappeared into her room.
Dumbfounded, I opened the envelope.
Ten golden-yellow bills.
How could a minor, a high schooler who didn't even have a part-time job, have gotten this much money?
"Hey. I know you're lying, so just be straight with me. Where did you get this?"
I spoke quietly in front of her firmly closed door.
I wanted her to know I was being serious.
"It's really... nothing..."
"Aren't you going to open the door?"
Her barely squeezed-out reply was thick with restrained tears, making me anxious.
Especially since she'd never acted like this before.
"It's really nothing."
Instead of a reply, a message arrived on my messenger.
My face hardened.
But I didn't press her any further.
She was old enough now.
She wouldn't talk just because I yelled and intimidated her.
If I told Mom... it would all be over that very day.
"Is it a crime? Just tell me that."
"It's not like that. I'm just... doing something with a friend."
"Don't tell me it's crypto?"
With my limited imagination, nothing else came to mind.
It was frustrating, but I had no other answers.
"If anyone lays a hand on you, there will be serious trouble, so just be careful of that."
"...Okay."
In the end, I returned to my room with an answer that was no answer at all.
Doing something with a friend, huh. Unlike me, that kid had so many friends I couldn't even begin to guess who it might be.
I could probably name more than ten of her friends, both guys and girls, off the top of my head.
[Do you believe in fate?]
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting now?"
[The fate that has befallen your family... You too will learn of it soon enough.]
"Seriously, what is with you now?"
Annoyed, I tossed my phone onto the bed.