Episode 103.
A large screen in the conference hall showed a huge canyon and the undead monsters filling it. And the golden eyes, Seria’s golden aura…she looked quite different from now since she had managed to keep her mana calm. Looking at it like this, he thought it wasn’t normal. The chairman spoke calmly before him.
“This is the god of dungeon monsters, and this is the result of accepting their power.”
“What…!?”
“That was possible!?”
“Oh, look at that. The video is playing.”
The video revealed not only her but also the mutilation process of Seria’s guild members. The heterogeneity and fear of their words and actions, in which their bodies maintained a human form but couldn’t be called human beings, was fully conveyed beyond the screen.
“I can’t believe they caught that so close.”
“How did they get to that point…?”
“Some players treat [god’s blessing] as a great hidden power, But as you can see, god’s power is very dangerous. The moment you embrace god’s power, it slowly creeps on your body, and you turn into something that can’t be called a human being.”
“Wait, so how did she get back to normal? Is she still being influenced the god’s power? Who the hell got her in here?!”
With the entire conference room frozen, Seria slowly rose from her seat. Jung Si-woo and Lee Seo-hee did the same. Seria received a microphone from the chairman and opened her mouth in the center of the conference room.
“I was able to return to my original form thanks to Jung Si-woo, the underground player here.”
“Him again?”
“Isn’t this a chore?”
Disgruntled voices popped out from place to place. However, no one could say anything more after seeing Jung Si-woo, who neatly smashed the fragments of Setnak in the video, control and absorb that mana.
“He didn’t have any special abilities. He was able to help me because he was able to remove the bad-tempered mana by controlling it delicately. You may be able to do it if your mana control is at its peak, but…”
There was no one who could show such ability right now. In the video, the audience went silent when Jung Si-woo controlled Seria’s mana to artificially drive out and transform Louisos’s mana. This wasn’t the actual situation, so they couldn’t know exactly what he was doing, but they could see that he was manipulating another person’s mana. In other words, it was a clear warning that without the same ability as Jung Si-woo, one should not rush to touch god’s power.
“Since this happened, Jung Si-woo and I have been able to conclude that god’s power is a very dangerous force that interferes with a human’s free will. If you don’t stop the dangerous faith that is spreading among players and perhaps even civilians right now…human beings will be strangling themselves with their own hands.”
“Aren’t you lying to us so you can gain strength? Maybe you faked that video!”
They probably planned to ask that question. No matter how much evidence was prepared, it was useless. This was because human desires didn’t fade easily, and others may have the same desires as them.
“Yes, but human death cannot be disguised very easily.”
“That’s…”
“Is there any reason for me to pursue personal power, even as I kill all my elite guild members? I’d like you to explain it to me at the opportunity cost that you like.”
“…Hmph.”
If Seria hadn’t lost her Empire guild members, she might not have been able to answer their evil questions properly. However, it was clear that she had lost her guild members before the power of God and that her guild that had the greatest influence in the western United States had ended.
“We are here today to deny the power of God in the name of humanity. We need your strength. Without correcting the perception of the gods leading the monsters and driving them away, the earth will collapse from the inside.”
“I’m sure…I see.”
“I didn’t expect this reason to be hidden behind the end of the Emperors…”
No matter how great the power of God was, it wasn’t something to pursue. It could be compared even simply on a scale. Since they were humans with desires, they couldn’t help but accept the answer that desire has given to them.
“No, I still can’t believe it. After all, Emperor Guild secretly took the power of God. We have no idea what’s going on in there!”
Of course, that didn’t convince everyone. You can’t deny logic, so you deny the evidence used to build that logic. He assumed that the party would do the same. It was none other than Lee Seo-hee, another witness.
“There’s one more case. It happened in Otaru, Japan. Korean player Lee Seo-hee will speak.”
The baton passed to Lee Seo-hee. There was a reference again this time. It was a crude video prepared by Lee Seo-hee herself, but it was enough to convey the sense of reality. No, even more than that.
“Oh, my goodness.”
“Huh…”
She had captured the sight of humans turning into Lizardmen without Jung Si-woo knowing, and those around them now reacted sensitively to the more direct disaster.
“We haven’t been notified about that!”
“Because Mr. Jung Si-woo here completely destroyed it.”
“Jung Si-woo again!”
At this point, there would be no doubt even if Jung Si-woo was behind all of this. However, Jung Si-woo was confident. Finally, the mic came back to him.
“It’s not just where I’m going. I’m sure god’s power has already been revealed throughout the world…I think it’s just being concealed.”
“No, nothing has been announced about this! How can you prove that it’s not all lies?”
“No matter what I prove, you won’t believe someone that you don’t want to believe. At a time when you don’t believe in video footage and human testimony without signs of forgery, you won’t understand whatever information I bring. Isn’t that right?”
“Mr. Ardichone, please only speak when you are given the right to speak.”
“You bastards…you’re all in it together!”
The most difficult thing was that he wasn’t the only one who was venting his anger. He was a player with a very ordinary personality who coveted power. If he were a really bad guy, if he knew something about god’s power, he wouldn’t be so angry. They needed to change their perception in the future.
“Don’t want more proof than this. If we prove everything so everyone can trust us, even if we start with the simplest and most obvious, it won’t be over until we all die.”
“…”
“Some may know that we were attacked before we came here. It was an attack from the chimeras that had the power of an unidentified god.”
Jung Si-woo took out a body of Chimera that he had recovered himself. Even though it was already dead, the spirit of the high-level monster was quite fierce. However, it wasn’t just that the mana it possessed was great. If you felt the monster’s mana closely, you would notice a faint sense of alienation, a sign of god! Not everyone could recognize it, but the face of some players, who had a meticulous and sensitive sense of mana, stiffened immediately.
“We’ve seen monsters who serve different gods collide in the dungeon a few times. But what’s serious now is that they are temporarily cooperating to enter the earth. I’m sure you’ve felt that way over and over again. That’s maybe if you’ve ever thought about what the Sky Castle was trying to protect the earth from.”
“So it was true? I agree with him. I’m sure I have that memory. The monsters are divided, and I remember the men who repeatedly clashed in the dungeons cooperating with each other on the ground.”
“The same goes for me. I was very curious, but assuming that they have a common goal, the problem is solved quite simply.”
“Oh, my…”
All right, starting with high-profile players, there was a lot of advocacy! Rather than being tired of the hard-to-reach power of a god, it was effective to explain it in connection with the threat of monsters faced by many players right now.
“And if the joint goal is to bring the people of the earth under god’s command, even if they were in competition with other gods, they needed to make humans want the power of God.”
“I’ve encountered god’s traces in some dungeons. It was a great saying…unless you take into account the presence of monsters following god’s orders.”
It was successful. Jung Si-woo smiled. This was enough to make everyone suspicious of god’s power. That alone would make it harder for a similar disaster as before to occur.
“How can I assure you that all god’s goals are the same?”
However, it was an unexpected approach for Jung Si-woo.
“Everyone has to admit that many gods are fighting against each other. But.”
Many people assumed that there was a man blessed by the god of fire in the room, and he was currently the quietest man now.
“But we can’t deny all gods? In the presence of clear hostilities among the gods, is there any guarantee that they are hostile to all humans?”
With the words of Soaring Tempest Guild Master Kim Ha-ryong, once again, the conference hall began to hum.
“So far, all gods have…”
“But how many people are we talking about? Aren’t there too few examples? More than anything, you said it yourself. The gods are hostile to each other. Then there’s nothing strange about the fact that factions are divided into gods that want to invade the earth and gods that want to protect the earth. I mean, isn’t it normal to understand the situation this way?”
“Do you think all those monsters are equally hostile to humans? Did the monsters released on the ground cooperate with each other?
“Can you tell me one by one who the monsters are serving? Is there any guarantee that it is the work of some gods and not a cover-up to mask the existence of good gods on the side of humans?”
Although he thought it was ridiculous, Jung Si-woo couldn’t refute it. But it’s not like he could go to all the sites where monsters appeared and ask what kind of god they served.
“I am serving the god of fire. I got strength from him. But I’m still human.”
At the very moment when he was silent because he couldn’t find anything to reply to, flames soared from Kim Ha-ryong’s whole body. Many people exclaimed at the flame of god created by overwhelming mana. Looking at his eyes, which were dyed pure red, and maintained with clear sanity, Jung Si-woo couldn’t help but admit that he had taken a shot.
“I’m still working for human beings as I have been since the beginning because the Lord of Fire wants to protect humans! Jung Si-woo, you are wrong. Even if some gods want to destroy humans, it is by no means right to generalize them!”
Looking at Kim Ha-ryong proudly proclaiming as if he were representing a righteous human being, Jung Si-woo laughed.
‘I should’ve killed that bastard then.’
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