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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: The Game Board (2)
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"First, a Unit will unconditionally treat any Unit from a different affiliation it encounters as an enemy."
Kang Do-yeon began to calmly organize her thoughts.
My mouth sealed shut, I simply nodded.
"Likewise, Players are hostile to other Players. But that creates a contradiction, doesn't it? What if the opposing Player's Units are in a completely different world? A different 'server,' so to speak."
"Yeah, you're right."
Units from the same world are always enemies, but the same might not be true for Players.
In fact, they could even form alliances if the situation called for it.
For the purpose of taking down another Player from the same affiliation.
A sudden chill ran down my spine.
"And the Units causing a stir on Earth right now—they have nothing to do with us. But think about it differently. What if the master of those troublemakers on Earth is a Player in your world, Oppa?"
"They wouldn't just hunt the Units; they'd try to find and kill the Players themselves."
If you kill the Player, you don't even need to go through a war.
My head was starting to ache.
It was all tangled up in a way that was far too complex.
"But what does that have to do with using Oh Yoon-ah? You're the one in danger. You got hurt!"
"I won't forgive her either. But Yoon-ah doesn't know about you anyway."
With somewhat ragged breaths and trembling eyes, she slowly opened her mouth.
"She's prioritizing her own safety and wants to contact other Players. Players whose worlds don't overlap with hers. She said she won't just sit still; she's going to actively move to grow her power."
"You're going to stay by her side?"
"I'll keep feeding you information, so you can watch for a better opportunity."
There was an advantage to being able to move first.
To unilaterally gain information and use it to our advantage.
Rational. Yes, thinking efficiently and rationally, my sister was right.
But if I could do that, would I be human or a Legion?
"I'm worried about you."
"...Then just buy me some bread."
She gave a weak smile.
In the end, I left the room just like that.
"You're certain that girl isn't a 'Unit' right now, right?"
[That is correct. Units and Players are determined from the very beginning. Those who are additionally recruited, bound, or contracted are not affected by the rules.]
Returning to my room, I put to rest the last lingering possibility that had worried me.
*
[Do not blame yourself.]
"How could I not?"
[If anything, your objective has become clearer. Check. Your account level has risen to 3.]
Leveling up was damn slow.
Still, it was a relief that the number of available specimens and the amount of nutrients had increased.
"...This is an investment."
I shook the envelope containing one million won.
I hadn't spent a single penny of the money this young kid had earned risking her life, but now I had to.
I fiddled with my phone.
I remembered her words that the time wasn't right yet.
But someday.
When that time came.
I would photograph and feed anything.
Even if that something was a person.
[Will you view the Legion? As it has grown in size, its upkeep costs have also risen, but due to its species' traits, its growth and digestion have quickened proportionally.]
I checked the screen.
The Legion was indeed in the process of erasing all traces of the rats that had filled the grand stratum.
I could guarantee that, looking at the whole, there was probably no life form in this cave larger than us.
We had completely filled twenty strata, including two grand strata.
"They won't stop, will they?"
[Of course not. Victory is merely victory. There are still far too many places to devour.]
In my view, I could see the Legion collecting the rats' tools.
It seemed to be deep in thought.
[Tools. They were certainly an attractive concept, but should we truly use them exactly as those creatures did?]
"I don't know. There are limits for now."
[Correct. The Legion has judged it so as well.]
The Legion abandoned the tools.
To be precise, it abandoned tools acquired from external sources.
After all, steel was something we couldn't create.
[But that does not mean there is no alternative. Someday, we may be able to produce our own weapons, harder and sharper than steel.]
"...That's probably possible."
Storing the concept of tools, the Legion sent its scouts to new locations.
[This area has already been ravaged by the rats. However, we can digest not only their carcasses but also the mushroom houses and structures they built.]
The surroundings were already the rats' front yard.
I didn't know where they had fled using the Species Preservation Ticket, but if they had run far, I wondered if they could even survive.
"Still, since they paved the way, it won't take long to devour everything."
[Indeed. In fact, devouring their corpses will take longer... Look at this. A scout has discovered something else.]
"What kind of nuisance is this?"
I checked the screen.
What the scout had found was a path leading to the upper stratum, which the rats had already cleared.
And at the end of that path, which they had claimed as their territory, was something else.
"It's clearly another path, so why did they block it all off?"
A single passage, sealed tight with large stones, mushroom fragments, and dirt.
It was clearly the rats' doing.
Circumstantially, this was the only way up.
Which meant those creatures had sealed off the only path to expand their territory upward.
"Why would they do that? They came down just fine. No, if we hadn't reacted so quickly, would they have blocked the lower path too?"
[Unfortunately, the Legion does not possess the ability to analyze data from within a brain. But the Legion is aware. It knows the rats deliberately sealed that passage.]
"So what's the plan?"
[Is it not obvious?]
The Legion's soldiers began to move.
Using its strongest soldiers, it began to slowly break down the blockade.
[We do not stop. To stop is to die. Our bulk has grown too large to hesitate now.]
Even if some bizarre creatures lived beyond that point.
We had to fight and devour.
"Of course, I believe in you."
And now, I wanted that too.
The Legion had to become stronger.
It had to grow and strengthen, to become my power.
[It is almost cleared. Scouts are now entering through the faint gap that has been revealed.]
As soon as the gap appeared, a few small scouts slipped inside.
Simultaneously, their vision synced with mine.
At first, it was an ordinary cave.
An ordinary cave, but...
[This time, having experienced reaching a 'branch,' a grand stratum, for the first time, the Legion was less shocked. This place... can certainly be called a part of the 'stem.']
"It's both daunting and incredible."
It was definitely a cave.
But it was a cave only in appearance; I had never seen one so enormous.
The dense vegetation, including mushrooms as large as decent-sized trees, the towering ceiling dozens of meters above, and the glowing stones shining like stars from that ceiling.
The caves I had seen until now were child's play in comparison.
[Is that a problem?]
"Not a chance."
I let out a small laugh.
What kind of place this was didn't really matter.
The Legion would continue to devour it all the same.
[The most important thing is whether there are any rival Units. The next most important thing is whether there is any power or strong individual that would dare stand against us.]
The scouts moved ceaselessly, exploring the area.
Because the environment had changed so drastically, everything around them was new information.
"A Ground Dragon?"
Amidst it all, I saw something familiar.
A Red-Scale Tunneling Ground Dragon, a giant, fire-breathing lizard the size of a car.
The lizard that was once the ruler of the 10th stratum was crawling through the mushroom forest.
It was nice to see a familiar face.
"Huh?"
[Indeed, this is a higher stratum. A place where a creature that lived confidently below is easily hunted.]
I blinked, startled.
That massive Ground Dragon had been hunted in an instant.
"...Ha."
The monster that had hunted the Ground Dragon was a giant beetle.
It was as large as the dragon itself.
What I had thought was a nearby boulder was actually the beetle's dust-covered carapace.
A different world where common sense didn't apply.
That was this cave.
[We have not scouted every part yet, but there are no groups that could be called a power. This means there is nothing in this middle stratum to impede our progress.]
The cave that had been blocking the passage was completely destroyed.
As expected, the Legion immediately took action.
There was upkeep to consider. The sooner, the better.
[We do not charge in recklessly. We are a learning entity; the experiences we have accumulated are all recorded in our history.]
"You've already been through a proper war."
I had to admit it.
It had now moved beyond the concept of simple pack hunting.
It maximized its combat power by mixing various soldier types, a combination created not for hunting, but solely for war.
The Legion's soldiers, transformed from hunters seeking to devour into a sharp and cold-hearted army, began to swarm the beetle that was tearing into the Ground Dragon.
[Its carapace is quite hard. Far harder than the carapaces of the lower stratum creatures we possess. That makes it desirable.]
The beetle, trusting its shell, quickly burrowed into the ground and assumed a defensive stance.
Most predators would have probably given up on it at that point.
But not us.
The Legion persistently harassed the creature and eventually succeeded in flipping it over.
I frowned as I watched it being torn to pieces while still alive.
[It is nothing special, is it not? In the end, no matter how it evolves, it is merely a large beast, unworthy of comparison to us.]
"...That thing you just said, you're not speaking your opinion, but speaking from the Legion's perspective, right?"
[That is correct. Did you feel something?]
Feel something? I hesitated for a moment, watching the black tide that was gradually encroaching upon this cavern.
"What if it becomes arrogant?"
The Legion had clearly developed the seeds of emotion in the last battle.
I didn't want this creature, which was still like a child, to become arrogant and twisted.