Clearing the Game at the End of the World

Chapter 121: Star Fall (4)

Someone once said that you can find light even within the deepest despair.

As Professor looked at the mutes literally bulldozing through the area they had been in just a day ago from a hilltop far away from Pelas, he was in deep distress. That is, until he saw a crowd of people on horses galloping towards them.

Just a day and a half after they retreated after confirming the Chamber Maids existence, the priest that Professor was dearly waiting for had arrived.

Hey, hey! Borka! That Thats a priest, right? Im not just seeing things, right?

From what I can smell upwind, they have a slight herbal scent unique to the church. I think they are a priest. The ones next to them Im not certain, but they look like theyre from Rodricks official army.

Yessssssss!!

After hearing Borkas confirmation, Professor jumped up from his seat and punched his fists through the air.

Thats damn right! Yeah! It doesnt make sense that it would be this unbalanced! I thought we would need to wait at least several more days, but theyre already here!

They confirmed the Chamber Maids location after traveling about 5 days from the village where they defeated the dark mage, then retreated all day, so they were currently about 4 days away from the village.

The mages that parted ways at the village traveled back about a days worth of distance, so even if the mages skipped the procedures and sent the priest right away, it should have taken them at least five days, but the priests group arrived in just a day and a half.

That would have been an impossible speed if they were dispatched after hearing from the mages, but its a different story if they were sent in advance! The battle on the western frontlines ended early! They have enough troops to send reinforcements!

Honestly, I was only preparing for the worst because of what Ive experienced in this game up to this point. A sudden surge of resources out of nowhere? That isnt realistically possible. Above anything else, the Gedroits Game has a pervertedly strict cause-and-effect system, so miracles like that are impossible.

I excluded this option because I thought it would be too ideal but it would make sense that those troops are coming if the mutes retreated from the western frontlines. Yeah! Theyre not just any knights, but the official army plus the High Knights from Rodrick, whos called the [Kingdom of Knights]! Not to mention, Rodrick has the Castle Knights, the capital defense knights that are one of the crazy bastards called the Three Pains. Thinking about it, they arent just a bunch of lackeys that a small group of mute special units can beat!

Once one thing started to make sense, he put together all of the other puzzle pieces. After playing all sorts of sneaky tricks, the Queen initiated a power game she thought she could win but lost miserably! Realizing that even with several named mutes, the traditional method wouldnt work, she decided to begin the swarm tactic before it was too late! Which was why the Chamber Maid was there, and those werent newly created mutes, but the main force that retreated from the west holed up in Pelas in order to protect their last hope!

Ahhh. I can see it! Charlotte and the High Knights returning triumphantly! The mutes fleeing! The Queen eating dried-up roots and mud and creating low-rank mutes as her last struggle!

Ahh, right. This is how a game is supposed to be. Sometimes things dont work out as planned, but sometimes they turn out even better than planned. The priests that are coming right now are here to announce our victory. The army thatll clean up the rest of the mutes might already be on its way. Im still a warrior who killed a demon, so maybe theyll give me some troops to command? If I can just get some troops, then I can do what I did back in Turan and get a title, beat up some more mutes while Im at it, then go look for dragons or elves to separate Hyde from me, or maybe the spells they use in the eastern deserts could do something, so Ill go look into their ancient gods too, and go meet Rakshasha Ahh, adventure. Not a brain-racking fight for survival, but a genuinely enjoyable game with heart-racing adventures is waiting for me!

Heh Heheheheh

Captain. Youre drooling.

Hm? Ahh, mhm.

Schlurp!

I tried to regain my composure as I wiped away the drool from my mouth, but it wasnt easy. Of course, there is a great quote that says to always prepare for the worst and prepare to your best ability. But the worst that I imaginedan overwhelming number of named mutes and resourcesis the worst of the worst cases that will leave them at rock bottom. Even if my luck is that s*y, things cant be that bad. I went through a lot outside. Theres supposed to be a rise after a fall. Dont think negatively, and enjoy the fortune thats about to come!

After fixing up his dumb expression and rubbing away the drool coming down to his chin and brushing off the dust on his clothes, Professor looked around to see if he had a nice weapon, but then realized that he fought bare handedly, so instead he hung the relic back on his neck so it was in plain view.

The ones that were coming right now had a priest from the Lights Order. Our groups reputation was already low because of our impression as a suicide squad, so he couldnt look dumb in front of them. He needed to look as credible as possible in order to receive even a little more authority as a commander. He should look like a brave warrior who was opening up the way towards the enemy at the frontmost lines!

D-du-duk, d-du-duk, d-du-duk, d-du-duk!

And so, while Professor was trying to drag his head from happy land back down to reality, the priests that had been galloping their way here, looking almost desperate, arrived in front of Professors group.

Skiiiid!

Hah, hah! Priest Dimanus, hah, a servant of the Lights Order! Are you

Latura Ro Haram. May the light always lead your way, brother. Yes. I am Warrior Professor, currently lighting the path towards the enemys heart with the relic Light of Nelphia under Ro Harams command.

It was hard to believe that this serious man was the one who had been drooling with a dumb smile on his face just a moment ago. The churchs greeting of raising one hand to the chest and the way he picked up the relic as he lowered it back all looked incredibly natural.

Dang, that was smooth! This is why a person should be optimistic! Everything works out when youre happy!

As he pretended to be a faithful knight in front of the priest, Professor was impressed by his own acting skills, which were improving by the day. His seemingly trustworthy image must have worked on not only the priest but the soldiers behind him as well, because a soldier with slightly more decorated armor than the others walked forward with watery eyes.

Ooh, Warrior, sir Schnrf, wuahh!

Thud!

Hm, it might have worked a little too well. Are they that touched?

Professor stretched his arms out to the kneeling soldier in front of him with a graceful smile and wrapped his arms around them.

Hahah, raise your head, sir. Im not a person important enough to kneel in front

Sirrrrrrrr!! Please save Rodrick!!!!!

Pardon?

And froze on the spot.

Thats weird. Im getting a really bad feeling about this. These arent tears of joy, no matter how you look at it. The way his eyes are bloodshot, it looks like hes about to cry out blood.

As Professors mind thats been frolicking in a field of flowers slowly started to come back down to reality, the information his Sensitive Observation was pointing out started to be acknowledged one by one.

- Soldier sobbing in front of him. Looks like a captain.

- Horses panting heavily and drooling. Had no time to rest.

- Expressions of priest and other soldiers look as grim as the soldier kneeling.

- Save Rodrick. Word save is usually used when describing someone in danger. Rodrick is in danger?

No. No way! Hah, hahahahahah, theres no way that could happen. Dont they know just how many people are there? They should far outnumber the mutes!

While Professors mind was struggling to deny the truth that was slowly starting to reveal itself, the soldier continued talking while starting to bang his head against the ground.

The western frontline, the western frontlineeeeeee!!!

No, dont say it. Please!

Theyve fallen!!! The enemy is heading towards Kingsland, sirrrrr!!!!

.

.

.

.

.

Thud.

Through the deep silence, only the sound of Professor collapsing on the ground rang out.

They lost. Those fing useless idiots dragged together all of the troops across Rodrick and managed to lose!

Hyde Can we just live together forever? Just go somewhere quiet, dont get hurt, and wait until the Dome comes up with some cure that fixes my body

Hahhahahahah

W-Warrior, sir?

Warrior? Warrior???

Snap!

Phling!

Uh, uhhhhhh!

W-Warrior, sir! The relic!

What are they calling a relic? The Lights Orders main church is in Kingsland, and why does a warrior matter when the entire organizations about to be wiped out?!

The relic that Professor threw down bounced back up into the sky with a large shockwave.

I quit. To hell with this warrior roleplay! What am I supposed to do when you useless idiots screw up things that bad? You fing Darwin Award nominee wannabe motherferssssss!!!!

On top of a quiet hill near Pelas, the cries of an unfortunate gamer whod lost all hope rang out into the world.

Someone once said that you can find light even within the deepest despair.

But someone else also said that when you think youve hit rock bottom, theres always a basement.

His mind, which crashed down from the heavens, drilled through the ground of reality and started to fall into the dark depths of despair.

Clatter.

Found it.

Mmmmm How dare you treat a precious relic imbued with Ro Harams blessing with such? How disrespectful

Seeing the priest wipe the Light of Nelphia with a clean handkerchief and some holy water with a displeased expression, all Professor could do was hang his head.

After he let out a long chain of curses, he was told that they needed the relic in order to contact the church, in which case he and Borka ran all the way to the boulder far away over there and retrieved the relic, but it was too late to take back what he said. The eyes of the priest as they looked at Professor were already ice cold.

Light always leads you on a straight path, dear brother. Even if you are facing difficulties, how dare you say such disrespectful things in front of Ro Harams blessing?

Light bends, too, in water

Ahem!

Yep, sorry.

Damn it. The gap between happy land and reality was pretty darn shockingly big because the stress thats been building up since the events outside blew up and made me completely lose it. Look at that glare in his eye. Not even writing Heretic on my forehead would make him look at me like that.

He could already see the priest going back to the church and ranting on for hours about Warrior Professors disrespectful actions.

But that was a problem to think about if the church still existed. Although the atmosphere already felt like they were about to hold their own funeral, now that they could communicate with the church, he could learn what was happening.

Once the priest finished cleaning the Light of Nelphia into its previous shiny, clean glory, he carefully placed it in his hands and started to imbue it with holy power.

As the great Ro Haram says, shall thou watch over us from the highest place, and when thus arrives at his side, shall thou see the world from the same height.

Slightly different from a magic spell, the holy magic used what seemed like part of a prayer. With the priests chant, the lights that had been floating nearby floated into the Light of Nelphia and made it glow even brighter.

Vwoom

In the middle of that light appeared a familiar woman in robes.

Latura, Ro Haram. It is a relief to see that youre doing well, dear warrior.

Latura, Ro Haram. I dont know if you include my mental health, I wouldnt say Im in tippy-top condition, so cant really agree with you there, Bishop Senadis.

Senadis, who appeared from the lights as a sort of hologram, responded to Professors answer with a bitter smile.

Yes, we have met a little earlier than expected. Have you heard the news?

News, you say

Tch.

A cigarette would have been nice.

Feeling another wave of fury rise up in him as he listened to Senadis, Professor habitually scratched his palm with his left finger to suppress the emotion. He needed to turn his attention away from the irritation somehow.

Ive heard you lost. At the western front, where all of Rodricks troops were. What exactly happened? And you guys arent just a bunch of weak ding-dongs, but a massive army, including elite knights and mages, so dont say that it was a surprise attack. That is literally impossible.

There was no surprise attack. The Holy Knights from our church and Mercys church, skilled knights from all over Rodrick, and the capitals Castle Knights, royal army, and the High Knights. Both sides poured everything they had into this battle.

That makes even less sense. There should be at least several times the difference between the sizes of the armies

It was at least eight times the size. The number of mutes, compared to our allied side.

Thunk!

Whats this sound? Ah, its the sound of my heart dropping. Ahaha, if it keeps on falling like this, Ill really consider nailing it in with a stake and just off myself!!!

Eight times the size. That was just the minimum estimate they counted in the midst of the chaotic battlefield. Even if it was sudden, it was eight times the size of the army of an entire nation called Rodrick. That meant that not only did they recover from their lack of resources, but they were overflowing with them to the point that they had leftovers.

Senadis opened her mouth as if about to say something that displayed her understanding for Professors shock, but closed it back and patiently waited for Professor.

Wait, t-then theres no hope, is there? I dont know how they managed to do that, but

The Priestess of Mercy. Do you remember her? The reason why this battle began.

Uh yes. Edeorna invaded the Hebrahim Church and stole the Priestess of Mercy. But How is that related at all to this situation? They cant steal spirituality after all.

Of course, losing the Priestess of Mercy, Irene Agricola, was a critical loss for humanitys side. But her biggest ability was her spirituality towards the Goddess of Mercy, Erinyes, and her blessing. Her holy magic was just a result. Even if the Mute Queen can steal the opponents traits through their body fluids or body parts, it cant steal their spirituality. Since spirituality isnt something that can be physically taken or given.

If they kidnapped a great mage, then they could have been able to steal traits like [Magic Affinity (Advanced)], but the most a priestess would have are useless traits like [Pure] or [Loved by All] at most. Just kidnapping them wouldnt be enough to completely turn the tables like this.

That is also what we thought, but it seems the mutes were a much more genetically evolved being than we expected.

Dont tell me the mutes managed to obtain Erinyess holy power?

With a deep sigh, Senadis shook her head.

Its a much worse situation than that. Through the priestess they kidnapped, it looks like they succeeded in learning the relationship between a god and their followers. Two days ago, all religions in the world received an oracle from their gods simultaneously. The contents were that an evil god was born into the world, and we must stop it. It was the clearest oracle thats ever been received in history, so there was no room for misinterpretation.

His mind went blank. What did I just hear? Did I hear that right? What was born? A god? An evil god?

Above anything else, Professor took pride in his ability to predict and prepare for any situation that could ever come his way.

And right now, that pride is breaking down like a wet cookie.

The worst scenario he thought of when he heard the western frontline was defeated. But the situation was even worse than that scenario. He thought of dozens, no, hundreds, of absurd situations of what could have happened, but what just came out of Senadis mouth was something that he wasnt able to imagine for even a moment.

They learned the mechanism of spirituality? Instead of eating the person to make a mute with a hybrid of traits?

He felt a shiver run down his spine. That reminded him that the mutes in this seed made a pseudo-religion called the Saviors Order to plant spies among the people. It meant that they knew the concept of religion. And in order to learn more, they captured a priestess and learned in detail how religiousness exactly affected power.

They used their worship of their mother to create a religion.

Yes. Since all mutes have an instinctual affection for their Queen. It wasnt hard to change that into worship.

Thats unbelievable Then, doesnt that mean that every new mute will count as a worshiper? Then the Queens holy power will increase as much as that number, and she can create more mutes as a result of that power! And become more powerful!

To create matter.

It was just a figure of speech he used because he thought the unbelievable had happened, but it actually happened. The only way to cause a miracle in GG was through an entitys belief and the portion of control that they have made out of their will.

In response to Professors realization, Senadiss illusion made a grim expression.

Yes, thats correct. Time is no longer on our side now. If you do not remove the Queen as soon as possible, her power will expand beyond our control and swallow the whole world. We are currently creating an army of warriors from churches and kingdoms all over the world. Warrior Professor, in the name of the church, we summon you. Come to Kingsland. Before the situation worsens, we will combine the power of the entirety of humanity and remove the evil god, the Mutation Blood Queen. May the light lead your way.

Ending with Senadiss quiet prayer, the relics light disappeared and the connection was cut off.

Once the light disappeared, a silence even louder than when they heard the news of defeat enveloped them.

Looking at how the soldiers expressions were all drawn with shock aside from the priest, it looked like most of the Rodrick soldiers were also unaware of the appearance of an evil god.

Among them, Professor, who had been sighing a crater into the ground, got up from his seat.

Lets go.

Hurry up already! I said lets go! Theyre saying that an evil gods army is coming, and you all want to sit here and have a picnic?

Watching the stunned soldiers get up one by one, Professor gritted his teeth.

Alright, f it. Lets see where this goes! Im giving up on controlling the game board now! You won, you megamind-mute bastard! Ditch the tactics! Ill shove my fist down your throats!

Even his last hopes were crushed mercilessly, but thanks to the opponents strong hand, a new path opened up.

After the King of Undead, World 2s main scenario, was killed, there wasnt a being in this world that could be called an evil god. I dont know for the other cases, but if theyre fighting under the name of a god, then humanity is going to throw religion, kingdom, politics, and everything else aside to fight together! God? F off! We have at least eight guys whove been calling themselves gods and playing Monopoly with the world! Well beat you up 8 to 1!

After giving up on the plan to play this game with peace and joy, there was malice brewing in Professors eyes. Unlike on the outside, here, Professor was pretty useful as not only a chess player but also as a chess piece.

He completely lost the battle of wits. But right now, Professor is plenty useful as a chess piece as well. Since he lost the first fight outside of the board, he was going to play round 2 on it.