Strike – sacrifice, ritual (3)
[ED – ‘Destroyed Hope’]
[12 – Achieved ‘View ‘True Ending’ with ‘Neutral’ tendency.]
I sighed as I watched the rising end credits.
“…Finally cleared.”
Clearly, the attack is more difficult than the Academy scenario.
No matter how many times the expedition was repeated, it was always encountered only up to the fourth event, and the story after that did not appear.
Because of that, the ending credits went up at the same time as graduating from the academy, and the ending only differed depending on the surviving colleagues and their tendencies.
Eventually, after more than ten retries, I realized the problem.
‘It was a mistake to attack only the outside because it was an outside scenario.’
Events that occur outside include ‘Suspicious Village’, ‘Corrupted Hero’, ‘Main Massacre’, and ‘Nether Runaway’.
However, in order to meet the final event that marks the end of the outside attack, quite complex conditions had to be met.
‘I’m sure we’ll have to do T.O.P’s scenario together…’
The conditions included possession of the ‘Holy Sword’, the survival of ‘Astiel Grand’, a friendly relationship with ‘Grand (Great Shrine)’, and clearing all external events.
The true ending of the outer scenario was to widen the Nether area and break down the darkness that had destroyed the tower’s protection.
The true identity of the black screen is ‘Eclipse’.
It was a hidden religion that believed in the despair of people living in the apocalyptic world.
Noah Park, who was chosen by the Holy Sword, continues to follow the black magic that creates demons, and learns of the existence of the religion, Eclipse.
He learns of Eclipse’s evil deeds and tries to destroy it with his colleagues, but in the process, he encounters not only demons but also civilian followers. They were already cultists, so there was no other way than to kill them.
Of course, his disposition was rapidly reduced, but he did not go below neutral because the event buff ‘Great cause’ was at stake. It is the sacrifice of a cow for a cause.
The final boss of the quest, ‘Eclipse’ is the Godhead.
In the script so far, other gods except for Gran have only been mentioned, but have not appeared indirectly. The gods born out of despair came first by sacrificing the lives of the believers and the headmaster.
If you defeat the gods with the holy sword, the ‘Eclipse’ event will be cleared and the attack will be completed. However, in the later story, the chaos outside grew even though the darkness had been defeated.
People who had lost their minds went wild and a new chaos was created.
It ends with Noah Park and her colleagues starting a new move to stop it.
“…it’s the worst.”
This was the feeling I had.
The ending of the academy was hopeful, but the ending that seemed to be open outside was only uncomfortable.
In the case of the academy, it felt like the apocalyptic worldview was only in the setting, but the outside made me feel that this game is an apocalyptic worldview. As much as that, the awkwardness given by the fanatics of ‘Eclipse’ was considerable.
‘Anyway, I’ve collected achievements with this.’
Now it’s time to see the ending of the tower.
Of course, I should take a break. I quit the game and stretched.
He turned his gaze and looked at the faces to see who was there.
As for the hero, there were no particularly named characters except for Leit and Beatrice. There were paladins behind Arthur Grand, but he was wearing a helmet, so he couldn’t see his face.
Anyway, it didn’t matter if the characters that mattered in the Great War were rare.
‘The holy sword is on the desk.’
Seeing that the thing she always wore around her waist was placed on the desk, it seemed that she was having a conversation with the Holy Sword. Besides, it’s a heavy atmosphere…
Looking closely, it looks like there’s something wrong with the holy sword. That alone gave me a rough idea of the situation.
I stood in front of Arthur Grand and said.
“Thanks for your understanding, Arthur Gran. I want to ask you a simple question. Do you know when the search for missing personnel will begin?
“Um, you’re an aspiring hero whose name is Serge, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Aspiring hero. I hope that you will not be surprised by the story I am telling you from now on.”
What kind of dog-like thing happened again?
I was nervous, so Arthur carefully opened his mouth.
“As I said before, this expedition was possible because my holy sword was able to pursue the divine power of Astiel Grand among the missing personnel. Do you know about this?”
Know. Because it was also mentioned before the expedition. As he nodded, Arthur continued his speech.
“But a big problem has arisen. They say that the Holy Sword will not be able to trace Astiel Gran’s divine power when it comes to the Nether.
“…and that’s how it was.”
That was one piece of information that could have caused confusion. I feel like I shouldn’t be able to share the situation.
Even if the 1st and 2nd graders were the same, it was obvious what the 3rd grade hero aspirants who applied this time would have when they heard the story.
Otherwise, they could have escaped from the expedition and went looking for the missing personnel. They were already like semi-heroes, so they had enough action power.
“Then do you intend to go back?”
At my question, Arthur looked back at the heroes standing in the tent and said with a calm expression.
“Even if the heroes of the Yoosung Academy don’t know, our Great War will not return. As long as we know that the next saint candidate is alive, we have a duty to get her back. Above all else…”
The tone of the following words was stiff, perhaps because of his mood.
“For us, we just hope that there will be no situation in which the Yoosung Academy is held accountable.”
This is similar to the case of ‘Necromancer’s Assault’.
Just as the relationship with the tower was caused by failing to protect the descendants of the tower, this time, the relationship with the temple may be out of line with the crime of losing the life of Astiel Grand, the next saint candidate.
‘That’s not a problem.’
Divine power is an absolute power that has no substitute for it. There is a limit to filling in that part even with a potion, so there should not be a gap between the temple and the temple. I don’t know if it’s any other tower, because the temple in the 103rd tower was the only temple of ‘Grand’.
Above all, the death of Astiel Gran is a situation that I do not want to go through even with personal emotions, except for the situation in the game.
That’s why I applied for this expedition.
“Is it okay now? Please understand why I didn’t tell you because of the situation.”
Jinsoo Kim, who was standing next to me, moved to let me go. Turns out, this person was in charge. Still, I had something to ask about the corpse of the beast.
I took a step closer to Jinsu Kim and asked.
“Your hero Kim Jinsu was in charge of the base until recently? I have a question for you.”
“Again? Yeah. Well, one last question.”
“While carrying out the vigilance mission, I realized that the corpses of the demonic beasts did not disappear.
“Well, that’s right. Is there any problem with that? I thought it was because it was the Nether area.”
Kim Jin-soo says insignificantly.
Ummm, did the corpse stay in the ‘Nether’ area for a long time as the difficulty level became really hardcore? However, it was a gamer’s sense, something that kept bothering me. I asked what came to mind to find meaning in it.
“Then how did you deal with the old corpses?”
“There is a risk of announcing the location to burn it, but to leave it unattended, the monsters are twisted and piled up on one side of the camp.”
What does this mean? It’s the first time I hear it. Did you collect the corpses?
“Didn’t I see anything like that?”
At my words, Jinsoo Kim muttered with a confused face.
“Uh-huh, that’s right. They disappeared together when the disappearance happened two weeks ago.”
Layt, who was watching the conversation, saw my expression and opened his mouth.
“Why? Do you have anything in mind?”
“No, … it’s a little strange.”
“Tell me anything that breaks even the smallest things. It might be a clue.”
After thinking for a while, I told them what I felt was strange.
It did not meet the conditions for the bodies to disappear together with the people. Even if the demons are alive, as long as they are dead, the corpse is treated as an ‘object’.
then.
“—Shouldn’t the campsite set up in this base also disappear?”
“I heard it and it is.”
The heroes also began to ponder whether they realized something strange in my question.
‘Even the holy sword can’t even come here to pursue the divine power. In my memory, there are factors that might interfere with that, … huh?’
Something ran through my head. I mumbled those words involuntarily.
“···sanctuary.”
“Wait. What did you say now?”
Arthur heard my murmur and jumped up, realizing something. At that time, the paladin rushed into the tent and shouted.
“Gee, something big has happened now…!”
. . . I had an ominous feeling.
All personnel at the base were urgently summoned. Because once again the problem has arisen.
“What is this….”
“What the hell happened?”
At some point, all the priests of the base disappeared. The same thing happened two weeks ago.
“Now what?”
Noah Park raised her hand and asked Arthur standing in front of him. Arthur closed his eyes and thought about something, then said as if he had made up his mind.
“For now, it’s a withdrawal. We’ll all return to the Yoosung Academy.”
“What do you mean all of a sudden?”
“Wait a minute. Arthur Grand. What are the priests going to do?”
“Then what about our friends?”
At Arthur’s words, the assembled personnel began to spit out one word at a time, whether aspiring hero, belonging to a temple, or being a hero.
Arthur quietly pulled out his holy sword and slammed it down vigorously on the floor. Everyone shut their mouths as if it was a lie that was noisy due to that movement. Arthur spoke in a calm tone in the silence that had barely arrived.
“Of course, I’m not talking about throwing it away. I’m angry with myself for saying this too. But I want you to know that we’re in the palm of the enemy’s hands. Stupidly, I didn’t realize it until now, but thanks to that aspiring hero, I found out.”
As Arthur pointed at me and spoke, his gaze focused for a moment.
Aiden, who was standing next to me, asked quietly.
“What the hell is going on?”
“…to put it simply, this is a sanctuary.”
“Yes? Sanctuary?”
The reason why the Holy Sword couldn’t find Astiel Gran’s divine power here. This is because this place was filled with the divine power of the Tashin (他神).
It is also the law of Sanctuary here that people are missing. I do not know the exact conditions, but I could guess that the phenomenon of the body remaining for a long time and the disappearance of people are related.
“Even at such a time, someone may disappear. Let’s hurry up and gather our things. We will explain the details after we return.”
“No! Are you going to throw our colleagues away now?”
“Aspiring hero.”
Arthur drew the holy sword from the floor and aimed it at his neck.
“This is an order. Prepare to return.”
“I refuse-.”
At that moment, without any warning, the aspiring hero who was in front of Arthur disappeared. As if it wasn’t originally there.
Arthur lowered his holy sword with a bewildered expression and murmured.
“…you’re late.”
And Arthur Grand disappeared.
The people who had gathered from that point hurriedly dispersed. But I stood there alone and watched the rising system.
[Maiden Curse = Origin of ‘Eclipse’]
[▶’Outside’ event – ‘Eclipse’ has been acquired.]
“·······This is true.”
I sighed. It’s already late.
As we slowly looked around, there was no one left at the base in the meantime.
Noah Park and Aiden who was next to me.
After all, it had disappeared somewhere.
Slowly, I felt something wrapped around me.
‘A space.’
I instinctively pulled out weapons from subspace. Feel the cold metal feel. Relying on it, he meekly accepted the darkening of his vision.
[Quest: ‘Eclipse’]
[Condition: Survival of ‘Noah Park’, ‘Eclipse’ completed]
