NOVEL NEXT Chapter 19
Chapter 19 – The Beginning of Progress (9)
“What is that!?”
“Mon, monster! It’s a monster!!”
The residents, living their lives in sync with the sun, were thrown into a panic early in the morning due to something they discovered.
In the grassland far away, a colossal monster was writhing, larger than the tent houses they had built. Its overall shape resembled a black-shelled beetle, but it was horrifyingly protruded with parasitic tentacles from its head, abdomen, and carapace.
“Father!”
“Stay back. It doesn’t seem to have any intention of attacking us yet.”
Balun stopped Riena, who had rushed in without armor. Just as he said, the enormous monster showed no interest in the residents.
It merely flailed its tentacles in the air as if desiring something else, creating a scene that made the oblivious residents think it might escape like that.
“…No. We have to stop it.”
“Riena!”
In that moment, Riena instinctively sensed it. If they didn’t eliminate that monster now, there would be dire consequences. They had already been attacked twice by similar monsters.
Gritch and Bug were not just simple beasts or enemies. Unlike others who hunted from hunger or pillaged because they wanted to, they acted mechanically, as if compelled to do so.
Feeling a sense of dissonance there, she became convinced that letting those things go unchecked was unacceptable.
“Damn it! Everyone, arm yourselves and get on your horses!”
Seeing his daughter rush out with just a sword in hand shocked Balun, and he hurried to grab a weapon and mount his horse.
The armed residents quickly followed suit. Each grabbed the stashed metal weapons like bows, spears, and swords, and they all galloped across the grassland towards the Bug.
“It’s attacking!”
At this point, the Bug could no longer ignore them. With a loud clattering of its massive, sturdy jaw, the Bug turned its head and revealed its hostility towards the dozens of residents encircling it on horseback.
The first tentacle to strike out came toward Riena, rushing with superhuman energy.
She dodged the tentacle thicker than her own arm by kicking off the ground.
‘Why isn’t it helping now?’
Riena grimaced as she glanced at the shockwave of the tentacle crashing into the ground. The unknown power that would usually warn them of danger was absent now.
Based on that, she speculated that the monster, performing incomprehensible actions in the air, was somehow affected by that very power.
So, this battle was not just for her sake. She believed that this time, she had to aid that unknown power as well.
[Smash]
She naturally activated a skill she had acquired by rolling on the demon lord-infested ground, close to the gargantuan Bug.
With a golden glow, the skill exploded, and the Bug’s thick, column-like legs and tentacles burst one after another. The Bug let out a strange scream, indicating it had taken considerable damage as it snarled at her, revealing its massive jaw.
Its size was sufficient to snap her slender waist in an instant.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
But at that moment, Balun roared in anger, and the traits embedded within him finally began to manifest their power.
It was the trait he had acquired by killing a goblin shaman in the game. That trait combined with mana transformed into a force that moved reality.
A pillar of earth sprung up from the ground, took the brunt of the Bug’s attack, and devoured it instead, granting Riena another chance to attack.
“Fire! Avoid the tentacles!”
“It seems the parts where the tentacles emerge are its weak points. Attack there!”
It wasn’t just Riena and Balun fighting. The residents on horseback utilized their mounts to dodge the tentacles, swerving around the Bug as they shot arrows at it.
Though the strikes lacked any special power, they weren’t ineffective. Arrows and spears sunk into areas not covered by its carapace and tough hide, causing the Bug to shriek in pain.
Though the residents, including Riena, had never fought such fierce and strong monsters before, they had battled fiercely on the rough terrain their whole lives and bravely thrust their weapons forward.
“Yikes!?”
During the process, the damage accumulated. A whip-like tentacle attack knocked a few off their horses, injuring them, and another tentacle lunged towards them.
“No!”
At that moment, someone charged forward to block their comrades.
Taking a hit with bare hands would shatter their bodies. However, he held a small cube-like object in his hand, and as he swung it toward the ground in front of him, a pillar of stone quickly formed, absorbing the tentacle’s assault and shattering into pieces.
“I-I did it.”
Though he had quickly stacked heavy stone blocks, the effort cost the transporter Morin much of his stamina, causing him to collapse.
With their strength combined with the mysterious power they had gained since settling in this unknown grassland, the residents slowly overwhelmed the monster.
“Finish it off. Quickly!”
However, the longer they delayed, the greater the damage would be.
In a dire situation, Balun, who had just grasped the essence of the trait he had awakened, shouted to Riena while the other residents distracted the Bug, bleeding black blood everywhere.
‘This will end it.’
Before her appeared the earth pillar Balun had summoned. Summoning all her strength, she stomped on the ground and leaped higher, soaring into the air above the Bug’s head.
The Bug’s pitch-black eyes widened, sensing its doom as it spotted her. A tentacle protruding from its right side lunged at her, but she activated her skill and slashed down with her sword.
The feeling was familiar. The sensation of cutting through something solid, the thrill of her sword ending the enemy’s life.
With her strike, she cleaved the Bug’s head in half, splattering its bodily fluids everywhere, and Riena fell to the ground, convulsing.
As pain engulfed her body, she smiled faintly at the sight of Balun running toward her, celebrating their victory.
*
“W-What on earth…”
I coughed and struggled to rise in the room that had become a chaotic mess after the surprise attack.
The monster that had jumped out of the monitor to seize me and kill me had suddenly let me go for some reason and then vanished back into the monitor.
Any ordinary person would scream and rush out to report it, but in my confused state, I hesitantly turned on the monitor with trembling hands.
[Bug Killed]
[Firewall Program Recommended]
[Bug Firewall Program: 60000P]
“This crazy bastard is teasing me!”
As soon as I turned on the monitor, the Master Program window appeared. It shamelessly recommended a program given the circumstances.
Not to mention, it was a substantial amount of points, a sum I’d never laid my hands on before.
“—!”
“–, —!!”
However, there was more than just the Master Program displayed on the screen.
I saw images of the residents joyfully celebrating, weapons in hand. Riena’s disheveled figure rejoiced alongside them.
And there was the corpse of the gigantic monster among them. The dark tentacles sprouting from that monster’s body were undoubtedly the ones that had attacked me.
Those monstrous tentacles that were so terrifying were now cut to bits or torn apart, now powerless and hanging limp.
“…Did they catch that monster so I could survive?”
Muttering in disbelief, I dropped into a chair that had miraculously survived the chaos and tore at my hair, forcing out a hollow laugh.
If the head on my neck wasn’t just for decoration, I could make a rough guess at what had transpired. The unidentified monster called Gritch that had occasionally appeared on my desktop. And the Bug, which said to grow from that Gritch.
Thanks to the townspeople’s successful efforts to take down that monster once again, I had been saved from the beast trying to claw its way into reality.
‘What the hell is this? Why am I facing this situation?’
At this point, I couldn’t help but have deep-seated doubts and aversions.
The anomalies that had occurred until now were just funny events that happened within the desktop. That’s why I could let it go and rather enjoy it.
Those mysterious guests who visited my desktop, growing alongside them through the game and fighting against enemies… surely the rarest and most joyful experience of my life.
But if what transpired inside began to impact me in reality, the story would be different. Especially if this influence was not good but a calamity threatening my life.
I was not a mere game character that could die without concern. Unlike the superhuman Riena, I was just an ordinary person with a lack of exercise.
‘I have no choice but to get rid of it.’
Finally, I steeled my resolve.
If it wouldn’t turn off on its own, the only option left was to throw the entire computer away. I couldn’t afford to toss out my house, which had over two years left on the contract, so discarding the computer was the right choice. If it came to that, I could clear out everything in the room.
[Initial State of Bug: 1000P]
[Bug Elimination Reward Selection Available]
[User Manual Recommended]
[User Manual: 0P]
“What the…?”
The Master Program popped up successive windows as if it were aware of my feelings.
Rewards and achievement points didn’t even register in my eyes.
What caught my interest, more than anything, was the program called the user manual. Surely, it was a basic program buried somewhere among the many files installed on the computer. But wouldn’t such a thing be the first thing to suggest?
‘This really is the last straw.’
Despite nearly reaching for the computer to throw it out, I managed to restrain my anger and move the mouse, clicking on the manual for another reason.
It was because Riena and the others, fighting desperately and celebrating their victory, kept invading my mind.
At the very least, I wanted to understand why and what was going on. I, too, wanted to know what they had done wrong to become embroiled in such an event.
The people I had watched were simply ordinary individuals struggling to survive.
[Report on “World Erosion” Bug Control System]
[Overview]
[Purpose]
[Current Status]
[Community (Locked)]
Soon, a window opened, revealing something with a scale far beyond what I had anticipated.
[Overview]
I nervously clicked on the overview at the top. I needed to grasp roughly what was happening.