“Director Yoon, you look terrible~”
“You came? Sigh, I’m going to die. I haven’t been able to get off work after the emergency.”
“Morpheus was really angry this time. I thought that the operations team would struggle to keep an eye on the situation. I didn’t think that even the operations director would be helpless.”
“There is a high possibility that they can’t make judgments without my authority, so I always have to be on standby. Well, the comforting thing is that you’re in the same boat as me.”
“Ahaha, I’m sure the security side is in a state of emergency.”
“…President Amy, are you talking to another company now? I don’t think it is time to smile.”
“Sorry~ sorry. Nelson, take it easy~”
Named NPCs usually played an important role in the worldview. Force or power was an indispensable factor for them to defend their rights and maintain their roles. The reason why the power (level, etc.) of the named beings rose in proportion to the player’s growth was to protect the worldview. It was right to interpret it as Morpheus’ defense mechanism.
This game episode of the great human and demon war was the largest of Morpheus’ defense mechanisms so far.
For the S.A Group, it was an emergency. The world might describe the S.A Group as a vicious company that tormented players using reasons such as balance, but in fact, the S.A Group was one of the most user-friendly companies in the history of the industry. The name was Satisfy because it meant ‘I want to satisfy people’s hopes and dreams.’
Chairman Lim Cheolho wanted the players to be happy. As an extreme example, it was touching and rewarding to see a person who couldn’t walk around in reality due to a disability now running and flying freely around in Satisfy. Of course, the minds of the executives weren’t as open as his. They were businessmen. Nevertheless, they also wanted people to play Satisfy more easily and happily. They wanted people to be immersed in Satisfy, produce their own content, and make Satisfy an eternal world.
Then what about this human and demon war? It was like opening the door to the apocalypse worldview. It would dramatically shorten the lifespan of Satisfy. The world where ‘everyone can dream of happiness’ would turn into a ‘game for the chosen few.’
“I will start.”
The tumultuous atmosphere in the executives meeting room at the S.A Group’s headquarters quickly subsided. The reason was because Chairman Lim Cheolho entered. He seemed exhausted, as usual. As he sat down, the video started to play on the monitor.
It was a video recording of the past month (real time) of Chepardea and Agnus, who were planning a human and demon war. Only the highlights were collected, but the length of the video was quite long. They were the moments when they met with Sword Demon Zepar and King of Souls Gamigin in order to set up the human and demon war. Agnus suffered several deaths before being acknowledged by Zepar.
After Zepar and Gamigin joined, the great demons started to gather around them.
1st Great Demon, Baal, watched the situation like it was someone else’s business.
Amoract, who had a weaker authority than Baal in many ways…
The main scenes of hell played quickly. Most demons were aiming at the surface so they were very cooperative in this situation. It was a difficult development for Chairman Lim Cheolho and the executives who hoped that Satisfy would become a ‘world made by players.’
Still, what could they do? The time when Grid threatened the existing worldview was too early. The world still had many arrangements and Morpheus didn’t want it to collapse. Thus, it caused this incident.
Morpheus was insistent. Hell needed to stay strong for the next 20 years. It was believed that the world would be able to handle the Asgard-related episodes that would occur after the fall of hell only when most players had their fifth class advancement.
However, Grid and the Overgeared Guild alone caused the possibility of hell being conquered. The probability was only less than 2%, but Morpheus had witnessed several unforeseen consequences caused by the variables made by Grid and was extremely wary. This wariness was expressed in the present great human and demon war.
Morpheus couldn’t watch the possibility of Grid conquering hell with the help of Demon Slayer Yura and moved the battlefield to the human world. Rather than giving Grid any room to pursue hell, it tried to devastate the human world that had become the home of Grid and the Overgeared members. It was a special measure to slow down the period of hell’s destruction.
“It judged that this is better in the long run…”
“There are different types of demons and demonic creatures that players can handle. In the great human and demon war, players can somehow grow, but it won't be that easy when it comes to Asgard…”
“The enemies in the Asgard-related episodes will unconditionally be angels and sacred creatures. It is too much for current players to attack and defend against the sacred trinity.”
“That isn’t a guarantee. The moment players hold the weapons created by Grid, the flow will change.”
“Grid has very little history of leaking his weapons to the outside world. Morpheus must’ve set the player’s level with that in mind.”
“Isn’t it disadvantageous to the demons if the demon army comes to the surface? If Grid and the Overgeared Guild work together to stop the invasion, will the time of hell’s destruction be advanced?”
“If the Abyss collapses, parts of the worlds will ‘mix’ together and the penalties that demons will get in the human world will be somewhat mitigated. Due to the structural nature of hell, it is easy for the great demons to fight each other. This is less likely in the human world with Gamigin at the forefront.”
“What? Are you talking about the seven souls of the former generation legends in hell? If Gamigin gets the authority to use them, isn’t it adding seven great demon-grade strategic weapons? How are the players supposed to handle that? For once, Morpheus seems to have misjudged…”
As the executives were feeling agitated, the stage on the monitor changed from hell to the surface. To be precise, it was the other side of the world rather than the surface.
No Offspring Tomb. As the name implied, it was a tomb that no one took care of because all the descendants were wiped out. However, the scale was contrary to the lonely atmosphere.
“Is it based on the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor?”
The appreciation of Agnus on the monitor gave an idea of the huge scale of No Offspring Tomb. It was a maze of endless passageways. Agnus had been wandering in it for as long as a week. There weren’t any traps or monsters. In fact, he felt that there was nothing here.
Was it easy to wander around aimlessly without a fixed appointment? An ordinary person would’ve thought about giving up a few times. Nevertheless, Agnus continued without a break. Even if he was blocked by a wall, he was unperturbed as he went back the way he came and started again.
He had been trapped in a maze all his life so a week of wandering was nothing to him. His mental strength, regardless of his will, had been driven and trained to the limit.
“……”
Four days later, Agnus finally entered a huge empty cave. It was an empty cave lined with hundreds of tombstones. What laid buried beneath the tombstones?
Agnus launched ‘Raise Corpses.’ The unidentified skeletons buried under the tombstones struggled to make their way through the ground.
Agnus’ expression stiffened. It was because the white bones already had a master.
This wasn’t a problem. The battle began immediately.
***
The native soldiers and undead army were fighting together.
Agnus’ deceased and death knights took the lead, but the situation didn’t reverse. The advancement of the undamaged natives was like a huge mountain moving as they mercilessly trampled on the skeleton soldiers before returning to their old homes.
The natives were incomparably stronger than the undead encountered in the first empty cave a fortnight ago. Still, Agnus was persistent. Despite dozens of defeats and loss of resources over the past two weeks, he continued to challenge the natives without giving up. He used all means and methods to discover the weaknesses of the natives. There was also some luck involved.
After 24 days, he finally broke through the native army and set foot inside the tomb they guarded.
“……!”
A rare emotion appeared on Agnus’ face that had been filled with joy.
Fear. It was something he had never shown before. It was natural. It was due to the hundreds of natives inside the tomb he expected the childless specter to be. This time, they were on horses. They were all general-grade.
Agnus belatedly realized the huge size of the tomb and burst out laughing. He realized that his plan to get his hands on the childless specter ahead of the great human and demon war had come to nothing. In other ways, 34 days that were more precious than gold had been wasted.
This was happening in real time.
“…Sigh.”
Perhaps Agnus would meet the childless specter and persuade him or succeed in dominating him. The executives watching the screen with great nervousness let out sighs of relief.
“This will make the great human and demon war a bit longer.”
“It is thanks to Agnus’ poor pre-investigation. The moment he heard the childless specter was an undead, he believed it would be an advantage. However, this was a complete misjudgment. The childless specter is the peak of the myth predators…”
“He doesn’t stand a chance challenging other predators. Of course, it might be different if he cooperates with the great demons.”
“Cooperate with the great demons… Sigh, it is awful just imagining it. There would be no answer if Agnus’ tendencies resembled Grid.
“That’s right. He would’ve taken this opportunity to turn the great demon into allies. Maybe all the myth predators would be in his hands… it would’ve been possible if it was Grid…”
“Grid’s list of messengers is ridiculous. Not only does he have the present legends and a former generation legend, but there is an archangel, one of the seven malicious saints, and a hatchling…
“This is why Morpheus is so wary and this crisis occurred. Well, in any case, we’ve confirmed that Agnus’ next move has become twisted, so we can move onto the next thing.”
It was time to get to the main point. Should they sit on the sidelines or intervene? The S.A Group had to choose. The eyes of the executives turned to the silent Chairman Lim Cheolho. The chairman was lost in thought for a while before speaking with his eyes half open.
“I think it is right to help users.”
The default policy was that the S.A Group didn’t intervene in the flow and system of the game. It was a policy that had to be constant.
However, Chairman Lim Cheolho wanted to make an exception this time. If the great human and demon war broke out, players would lose their homes, especially non-combat classes. They didn’t have the power to handle the demonic creatures and demons flooding the continent. It was likely to be the trigger for many people to leave Satisfy.
“Of course… I’m not suggesting we break the policy.”
Chairman Lim Cheolho barely maintained his composure. He finally swallowed down his intention to intervene in the situation and directly help users. Nevertheless, his will was fully conveyed to the executives. President Amy noticed how to implement the chairman’s will.
“Are you saying we should announce that there will be a great human and demon war soon?”
The great human and demon war that Chepardea envisioned would begin with a surprise attack. One day, the world would be greeted by the sudden collapse of the Abyss and the large army of demons that would emerge from it. In particular, the empire that was built on the Abyss might perish overnight. If that happened, the functioning of the Saharan Empire would be paralyzed for a while and humanity would be helpless. Even if humanity won the war a few months later, most of the civilization on the ground would be destroyed.
“That’s right. We aren’t going to tell them where and when it will start. That is too blatant an intervention. Still, isn’t it okay to announce that a great human and demon war is going to begin?”
Satisfy ultimately belonged to the service industry. If this point was raised, then Morpheus would be convinced. A few days later, the possibility of the large-scale episode ‘Great Human and Demon War’ occupied the headlines of media outlets around the world. People’s reactions… it was surprisingly favorable.
They never dreamed that the cause of the great war was Grid. People believed that this episode occurred naturally as they grew. They treated the great human and demon war as a large-scale event and were excited.
-If demons and demonic creatures crawl up to the ground at my feet, then they are just experience.
–At this point, the great demons aren’t a problem.The average level of players is so high.
–Right ᄏᄏ God Grid raided the great demons in the 20s in hell a few months ago.They might be great demons, but they are real dogs on the surface.
–By the human world’s standards…a single small or medium-sized guild can raid the great demons in the 30s.
-The fight for them will be fierce.Oh, I’m so excited that I can’t sleep these days.How much will I gain during this event?ᄒᄒ
“People’s reactions are a lot different than expected.”
“Cough…”
Chairman Lim Cheolho was somber. He wanted the players to be alert and thoroughly prepared, but only a few of them were like that. Most were just excited like there was going to be a festival. It wasn’t worth telling them in advance…
The sighs of the S.A Group deepened.
