23. Is This Really Possible? Does This Actually Work?
[You have passed the Lake Trial in a truly terrible way!
Adventurer, do you even have a conscience?]
Ahem! Well, in an RPG, you know that if you wander around where you shouldn’t, you’ll get hit by an arrow, right?!
Don’t walk around in front of a player holding a bow!
That’s what NPCs are supposed to understand!
Of course, I wasn’t even holding a bow.
[Because the Adventurer is not alone, you must exceptionally undergo a second trial.
Please move to the next location through the lake in the Mother’s Forest.
The results of the trials will be announced together after the second trial is completed.]
[Hayang: By “not alone,” do they mean me?]
“Seems like it.”
Modak was my summon, but Hayang was basically another me inside my body!
Still, Hayang and I were technically sharing the same body.
Wasn’t counting Hayang as another person a little too strict?
Either way, if two trials meant I could evolve twice, it was actually beneficial for me.
So I decided not to complain.
The burned bodies had apparently all been eaten by Modak, because only ashes remained throughout the Mother’s Forest.
I walked through the ashes until I reached the gloomy lake.
It probably hadn’t looked this depressing before.
After what happened today, the whole place had probably turned into this dying landscape.
Since this lake was located in what had been called the Mother’s Forest, it must have been extremely important to the elves who lived here.
Well, whatever.
This was more fun than playing the normal way.
I might receive a lot of resentment for this, but it wasn’t like I’d have to face those people in real life.
Feeling strange, prickling gazes from somewhere, I casually threw myself into the lake.
Let’s not take this situation too seriously when I didn’t even know whether it was real or fake.
Unlike the first time I fell into the lake, I didn’t feel like I was suffocating.
I slowly sank deeper and deeper.
[Hayang: Hmm? My power is coming back. Why?]
This really seemed to be Hayang’s trial.
Until a moment ago, Hayang couldn’t use any of her power.
But now she was happily saying that her strength had returned.
If that was the case, I should have been the one losing my power this time.
Yet strangely, I didn’t feel anything different.
…Could it be because I didn’t have any power worth losing in the first place?
Was my power so weak and meaningless that the trial didn’t even bother restricting it?!
[Humans, born from chaos and living within chaos, have learned how to survive within chaos through their emotions.]
Oh?
What’s this? This really feels like an RPG!
[Therefore, humans who lack emotions cannot maintain themselves within chaos and eventually collapse.
Some become demons, while others are swallowed by chaos and become monsters of chaos.]
So demons were what humans without emotions looked like?
Could I have ended up like that if things had gone wrong?
My mental power directly affected how I played the game, so I guess I had actually been in quite a dangerous situation.
But if demons were created by awakening mental power and becoming stronger through it, why was that considered a lack of emotion?
Wouldn’t it be the opposite?
Wouldn’t it be having too many emotions?
[Hayang: Most demons are swallowed by mental power, so they eventually stop feeling emotions about anything else.
From what I’ve seen, the heroes on the opposite side are also humans who lack emotions, but apparently the world doesn’t see them that way.]
I had never actually met a hero, so I shouldn’t judge them before seeing them.
But I had a similar opinion to Hayang.
Many stories showed the tragedy created by ideologies taken to extreme levels.
And mental power seemed like the perfect ability for creating such one-sided emotions.
Even I, someone merely playing this game instead of actually living in this world, was being influenced by mental power.
So how much worse would it be for the NPCs?
When I opened my eyes again, there was no battlefield like before.
However, strange-looking humans were lying scattered around everywhere.
Judging by their clothes, they didn’t seem to belong to a very civilized society.
They all looked as if they had lost their will to live.
Not a single one of them reacted.
Their lifeless eyes and helpless bodies gave me an ominous and uneasy feeling.
[Modak: Why are these guys so gloomy?]
“Yeah… Is this what humans without emotions look like?”
[Hayang: I see. That explains it.
I was wondering why they had a similar presence to me.]
Did every one of these people possess mental power?
Judging by their condition, it definitely wasn’t being used for anything good.
Even when I poked them, they didn’t react at all.
They were so lifeless that simply looking at them made me uncomfortable.
If I left them like this, wouldn’t they eventually become either demons or monsters of chaos?
And if that happened, I’d obviously fail the second trial.
“…No way!
Hayang! Let’s go all-out with Rampage!”
This was a new ability of Rampage that I had only recently discovered.
I could spread my madness to other people!
I had wondered why those wild badgers suddenly went crazy together with me.
Only after checking my skills again recently did I realize what had happened.
If a skill changes, shouldn’t the game tell me?!
As usual, this game was terribly unfriendly.
“I don’t know what emotions they’re feeling right now, but if I add just a little bit of my madness to them, at least they won’t be emotionless anymore!”
[Hayang: …I don’t think that’s a bad idea.
Let’s go!]
This was the first time I’d deliberately used Rampage since the One-Horned One.
Usually, Hayang activated Rampage automatically whenever she thought I was about to die.
The power of madness quickly wrapped around my body.
I felt my blood boiling.
Feeling strangely good, I shouted toward the sky with all my strength.
The people lying helplessly on the ground flinched at my scream and turned their eyes toward me.
I felt like I should say something.
But absolutely nothing came to mind.
I needed to say something that would provoke them…
Tsk.
I had no idea.
Thud!
I lightly smacked the back of the head of the closest person.
Then I simply started walking toward where the others were gathered.
I didn’t even know how to spread madness properly.
So what else could I do?
I’d just have to trust that somehow things would work out.
Step by step, I walked forward.
And then, as I passed them, the people with dead eyes began following me as if they had been hypnotized.
The person whose head I’d hit followed so closely that it was honestly a little frightening.
I made a mental note.
Never brush against that guy again.
[Hayang: It seems to have worked.
But are you just going to keep walking?]
“Hmm, you’re right.
If we only keep walking, it’s boring.
Let’s run!”
Boom!
I kicked off the ground with all my strength and started running.
I had definitely become stronger.
At first, the people following me couldn’t keep up.
Even when they desperately started running after me, the distance between us kept increasing.
“Huff…! Huff…!”
…At least, that was how it started.
But as time passed, they gradually became faster.
Then they started catching up!
What?!
How?!
Was I actually that slow?
And their lifeless eyes were gradually becoming more alive.
Even worse, they were smiling in a way that sent chills down my spine.
N-No!
I’m going to get eaten!
[Modak: Summon me! Hurry!]
“Mo-Modak!”
I hurriedly summoned Modak and climbed onto his back.
Then we started running again.
Fortunately, Modak was faster than me.
Otherwise, I would have been caught immediately.
“Seriously, my self-esteem has been dropping lately.
Why am I so weak?
And why is everything I encounter like this?!”
“You’re the one who provoked them and made things complicated!”
“Do you think I wanted this?!
Did I know this would happen?!”
Still, I had prevented them from turning into monsters of chaos or demons.
So hadn’t I passed the trial?
I’d struggled a little, but honestly, wasn’t this a pretty easy trial?
“Wait!
They’re catching up!”
“What?!”
Most of them had been left behind.
But a few particularly powerful ones were still chasing Modak.
And they were getting closer!
[Hayang: Maybe they’re angry because you disturbed them while they were resting?]
“Y-You think so?
Hey!!!
I’m sorry!!!
I thought something terrible was happening!”
“They’re running even faster!
Tell them not to come!”
“Don’t come!
Don’t come, I said!
You damn—
Chain of Unyielding!”
Clatter!
I desperately activated the skill.
Fortunately, the chains caught the feet of the people chasing us.
Their ridiculous strength and speed caused the ground to shake as they ran.
But somehow, I managed to stop them!
“Th-That’s crazy.
They’re not normal people, are they?”
[Hayang: Obviously not.
Haven’t they already become demons?]
The more I used the chains, the more my strength seemed to drain away.
I pulled out enough chains to wrap around their entire bodies and tied them down.
Then we tried to run again.
“W-Wait…
What’s that?”
Modak, who had been running at full speed, suddenly stopped.
Then he slowly backed away.
Behind us were the people who had gone crazy because of me.
“Hey!
What’s wrong—
…Oh, crap.”
Everywhere I looked, more people were appearing.
Just like the people I’d encountered earlier.
Just like the people I’d chained up.
People I had apparently driven mad were appearing one after another.
There was nowhere to escape.
We were completely surrounded!
What on earth was happening?
“…This isn’t going to work.
At this point, I guess I have no choice but to enjoy it…!”
“What kind of crazy talk is that?!
Enjoy what?!”
“Don’t you know the saying, ‘If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it’?
Now that I think about it, that’s actually a completely insane thing to say.”
If someone laughed and enjoyed themselves while facing something unavoidable and terrifying, that person would obviously be crazy.
And my position in this world was exactly that of a crazy person.
So maybe I could actually laugh and enjoy this situation!
A thought suddenly flashed through my overloaded brain.
I had Modak light a huge fire in the middle of the field where we had been running.
I made it look like a giant campfire.
This was just my personal opinion, but there weren’t many natural phenomena that could drive people crazy as easily as fire.
There’s a saying about watching a fire from across a river.
But nobody says anything about watching water from across a river.
Fire had to possess some kind of attraction that drew people in, right?
“What are you planning?”
“Wide open field.
Lots of people.
A blazing campfire…
This is the perfect time to activate the retreat-training-camp strategy!”
For people whose emotions were already abnormal, nothing could stir their feelings better than that classic training-camp atmosphere where someone simply handed you a candle and suddenly everyone started crying.
The people were going to follow me anyway.
So I had Modak bring things that could be used as firewood.
Then I quietly waited for everyone to approach.
“Everyone…
From now on, we’re going to play a game.”
Damn it.
Whenever I’m under extreme mental pressure, my brain freezes.
Come on!
