Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
It was the same voice that had started the Otadolon stage. It had been ten years, but it did not seem unfamiliar at all.
-But I jumped into the Sea of Reset eleven years after the start of the Otadolon Stage. This is pretty much starting a year earlier, isn’t it?-
The endgame was definitely starting a year earlier than it had in the past, but I wasn’t sure if that was because of me.
“So it’s begun.”
“I wonder what awaits us now…” The guild masters and officers of each Empire faction were gathered at my home. None of knew what was about to happen.
—
-I believe you’ve been given enough time now. The time has come to prove if you’ve put that time to good use with your lives on the line. Show me on the Judge’s Continent if you’ve got what it takes to survive.-
A message appeared before us after the voice stopped talking.
==[Those that have used their token of knowledge will be moved to the Judge’s Continent. Those that have not used their token of knowledge will be left alone on their world while all Stores, dungeons, monsters and Don Gates will be removed from their world. However, those left behind on their world will be given penalties. This is for the following reasons:
For not trying hard enough while others who have used their token of knowledge struggled through life and death to get stronger.
Those that have used their token of knowledge will be fighting for the fate of their world.
The following penalties will be given to those who have not used their token of knowledge.
Using their token of knowledge in the future will grant the title ‘Tardy Deva’ and will start off with 1 points to each Stat, instead of the normal 20.
Using their token of knowledge in the future will grant the title ‘Tardy Deva’ and will only receive 5 Stat points upon leveling up, instead of the normal 10.
Conversely, those that have already used their token of knowledge and will be moved to the Judge’s Continent will be granted the following bonuses.
1,000 bonus Stat points each.
Additional bonuses according to individual achievements.]==
It was a pretty long message, but it was easy to understand what it meant. Mortals were going to receive a heavy penalty for not using their tokens on time… but it wouldn’t really matter if we lost in the coming battle.
“There’s a chance mortals may actually wish for us to lose now.”
“…” It truly was a huge penalty. There would no doubt be countless mortals who felt shorted by this. They all wanted to become devas like the rest of us, but couldn’t. Finding limited Don Gates was hard enough when they were being monopolized by the rich and powerful. Only special people like me were able to be lucky enough to find a Don Gate and use it. But the system was blaming them as if they purposely didn’t become devas. I’d be furious too, if I was still a mortal.
Thankfully, I had managed to make everyone in my clan a deva, including my mother. It took some work trying to convince her, but she did it, even though she was still a beginner under level 100. Either way, it was good that she wasn’t going to receive the Tardy Deva title, since we were going to win the battle, no matter what!
Just then, another message appeared.
==[You will now be moved to the Judge’s Continent.]==
==[10, 9, 8,…]==
“This quickly?”
“Shit!”
“They’re doing whatever they want to the end!” a few of the officers cried out anxiously.
“The Otadolon stage started without warning. It’s only natural they do it like this… isn’t it?”
“…” The officers fell silent and seemed to calm down a bit thanks to my words. There was no need to panic when this was only the beginning.
==[4, 3, 2, 1, 0]==
I felt a warm light start to exude from my body, and noticed that it wasn’t just me. “I’ll see you all on the Continent.” We were only told that we were going to be moved to the Continent; we weren’t told how or where exactly we would be moved to. So, I and the officers agreed that we would meet on the southernmost end of the Continent once we arrived. There was a possibility that we could do better if we acted separately, but we had to prepare for the worst.
“Understood. We’ll show them what Earth has to offer.”
“I hope to see everyone over there.”
“Same here.”
We each said our farewells as we were being forcibly teleported away. It was clear that all of us were nervous and afraid. We were quite literally about to face certain death, death we could no longer resurrect from. There was a chance we were never going to see our family and friends again on that Continent.
I at least had Call to rely on in case things went south. I made my mother a deva solely because of Call. I could use it to bring my mother and grandfather to me and protect them until we linked up with the rest of the Empire. I had even deleted Cantana and Jose Alejandro and filled Call with more of my comrades. I did still have the Slayer registered, however, since I was going to need his help.
-So I guess this means this is the real game, doesn’t it?-
It was like we had just finished a really vicious and fierce tutorial part of the game, and were just about to enter the main questline. Well, that didn’t matter. I had completed that tutorial perfectly, and was much more prepared for the main game than anyone else.
The light that was now flooding my surroundings soon disappeared, revealing a structure in front of me. It was a Don Gate, but this one was much bigger than the ones back on Earth, at least a hundred times bigger. I heard a voice coming from inside the Don Gate.
==[The Otadolon stage of World 1455 has come to an end.
You will be rewarded based upon your accomplishments
Lee Jiwon’s level, total Stat points, skills, and items will be calculated into points and compared to all devas and deities of World 1455. (Items obtained to sell will not be counted.)
Calculating Lee Jiwon’s points…]==
All devas and deities were going to be rewarded, as the first message stated. I paid more attention to this part, while everyone else was concerned about the penalty. I was confident I could get first place.
“Why is it taking so long though?” It took a while for another message to appear.
==[Lee Jiwon has earned a total of 387,758,874 points.
Congratulations. You have earned the most points of World 1455.]==
I knew I would get first place, but I wasn’t sure by how much, as I had nothing else to compare those points to. That is, until another message appeared.
==[You are the fourth deva of all Otadolon-completed Worlds to surpass 100,000,000 points. You have reached the pinnacle form. You will now receive your rewards.
Rank 10 Random Item Chest.
5,000 Stat points.
5 skill points.
5,000,000,000 golden rings.]==
Those were all no doubt tremendous rewards, but they seemed to be the same rewards for 100,000,000 points, while I was well over 300 million. I wished I could get more rewards, since I was 200 million over that requirement, but it wasn’t the case, and there was one else around to listen to my complaints.
“Hello? Is anyone out there?” …
There was no answer from the Don Gate.
==[You will be moved to the Judge’s Continent.]==
The message finally appeared, telling me that there was nothing more to expect when the ground below me opened up, and I fell through. “Fuck! Can’t you send me over peacefully!?”
—
Section 35 of the Judge’s Continent…
“You still can’t contact him?” Song Daechul asked his subordinate for the umpteenth time.
“No sir. I can’t connect to him at all which means…”
“He hasn’t arrived at the Continent yet.”
“Yes sir. It would seem so.”
“Hmm…it’s been a month and only Jiwon has yet to arrive…”
The Empire had managed to avoid the worst and almost everyone had gathered to the same place. They panicked at first, but thankfully, their Comm Links worked on the Continent. They were able to contact each other and rendezvous at the southernmost part of the Continent while also learning more about this land.
The Continent was divided into 150 sections. Sections 1 to 75 were Earth’s sections, holding 1,375,529,331 Earthling devas. Sections 76 to 150 held 2,138,444,408 enemy devas. It quickly became obvious what they had to do here when a leaderboard was revealed about two weeks ago.
==[World 1455
Devas/Deities: 1,375,528,344
Controlled sections: 75]==
==[World 1512
Devas/Deities: 2,138,442,231
Controlled sections: 75]==
“Hmm…we’ve lost more today.”
“Yes sir. An hour ago, we lost 107 and the enemy lost 188.”
“700 million…” Song Daechul whispered to himself. Earth was heavily outnumbered. He knew that numbers weren’t everything, but not when the enemy had 700 million more people. “This is quite cruel, indeed.”
They were supposed to prove if they were worthy enough to live on, but they weren’t told how to do that. Were they supposed to defeat the enemy when they were outnumbered almost 2:1 or did they just need to take over as many sections as possible?
“Father, the Karaviki Mercenary Corps has just arrived at Section 35,” Song Myungsoo said.
“Is that so? Let’s go meet them.”
The Sunbin, Ravi, and Messenger Guilds, and Lee Jiwon’s clan, had all made it to Section 35. The rest of the Empire had ended up at different sections. They had decided to make Section 35 the base for the Empire as most of the factions were already there and the other factions were slowly making their way over.
The biggest problem they faced was that even though Lee Jiwon’s grandfather and mother had landed in Section 35, Lee Jiwon had yet to arrive. No, he wasn’t even on the Continent yet.
-It’s not because his points are still being calculated, is it?-
Song Daechul had also experienced the giant Don Gate and had his points calculated as well. He had earned 34,000,000 points and received 850 Stat points and 19,000,000 golden rings as a reward.
-I doubt I can even compare to Lee Jiwon.- Song Daechul thought as he headed to meet with the Mercenary Corps. At that moment, Earth’s player count had increased by 1, but quickly dropped down again by 1. An Earthling had arrived on the Continent the same time another had died, so no one realized that Lee Jiwon was finally falling his way down to the Continent.
