The Ruined World Was Mistaken for a Game

Chapter 245: Because I'm Used to Being the Villain (4)

Translator: Dreamscribe

Just how far did the prologue stretch?

The second part of the prologue ran all the way up to the Heroes arriving on Luzen and defeating Ignis after that intense first encounter.

Luzen would serve as a forward base for pushing into the Kalsus Dimensional Empire and other dimensions in crisis. From that point on, the main body of Episode 6, the "Dimensional War", would begin.

Jinwoo had erected a Magic Tower on Luzen, inputted a carefully arranged set of stage directions, and set all the prepared pieces into motion.

A massive fleet made up of dozens of ships flew through the skies above Luzen, and transport craft poured out of them, descending toward the land below.

The prison camps at the military bases were crammed with Luzenian captives, and mass executions were carried out on a regular schedule. And in places no one could ever reach, fresh Luzenians were being generated to replenish the numbers.

Cities and villages built in the Luzenian style were also up and running.

Luzenians were screaming as they evacuated, and units made up of tanks, armored vehicles, attack ships, and assorted heavy equipment began their slow advance.

Burning villages, ruined cities, and gruesome traces of carnage had all been tastefully arranged.

The major cities, where large numbers of Luzenians were gathered, had been given even more careful attention.

Luzenian warriors riding mounts and putting up a desperate last stand had also been generated. The Luzenians were originally a race of peace and harmony with no combat units to speak of, but this part had been added for dramatic effect. And in a location far from here, the Erosion and the forces of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire were being staged in the middle of a battle.

Everything he had prepared meshed together like the teeth of a gear, running with such precision that the sight of it was almost beautiful.

'Full-scale operations will begin....'

The moment the Heroes arrived on Luzen.

"The whole planet's a battlefield, huh."

"Fits the name 'Dimensional War'."

"Kind of reminds me of how Arsilan used to be...."

The Crew Members admired the staged set visible on their information windows. Their roles had also been assigned. As commanders leading their respective units, they would drive the Heroes into a corner.

"Gonna squeeze every last tear and snot bubble out of 'em."

"I'll go with a slightly by-the-book, discipline-obsessed vibe."

"I was going more for the vibe of, 'thought I was a staff officer type, but turned out to be a combat type all along'...."

"Me, I want to be the kind of three-dimensional villain the Heroes would actually want to redeem."

The Executioners had become a massive talking point on Arsilan Worlds.

Every time one of their own stories went up on Arsilan Worlds, the Crew Members would show off to one another. That had naturally led them to start reinforcing their individual concepts, each hoping to become even more famous.

"All right, good luck out there."

At Jinwoo's gesture, the Crew Members used spatial movement and scattered to their assigned regions.

Jinwoo pulled up multiple information windows aboard the Dimensional Transit Ship and kept an eye on the situation. When the Heroes passed through the Dimension Gate, they would be divided up and arrive at various staged sets.

Ella (NEET): Is it okay if I come over there?

Jinwoo (General Gord): This place has completely become Arsilan's territory, so it'll be fine.

Ella (NEET): On my way.

The Soul Gate had fully taken root in the Luzen dimension, and by Jinwoo's power, the dimension had been severed from all outside dimensions. Not just Ella but even Arsilanians coming here posed no safety issues.

"Ta-da!"

Ella popped up beside Jinwoo. Light spilled out from her, and Jinwoo immediately cast a concealment spell over her.

Helby (NEET 2): I have something to investigate for a moment.

Helby also appeared next to Jinwoo.

Neither of them had any role to play in Episode 6. All they had to do was show themselves to the newbies every once in a while, which made it pretty much an extended vacation.

"The air is fine. At this density of mana, it would not be strange if spirits were to be born here."

Helby gazed at Luzen with an interested expression.

When Jinwoo looked her way, she put on an awkward face and pretended to be analyzing Luzen. She already knew everything through the information fed into the Magic Tower, and yet she kept up the act.

The bustling city of Alusion had gone quiet, and with the entire Helby Fan Club relocated to Luzen, it seemed she had been bored.

"Want to come watch?"

"Hmm..., very well. I shall keep you company."

Helby's tail flicked back and forth.

She had been looking forward to this more than anyone.

He pulled out some beer and waited for the Heroes, and at last they arrived on Luzen via the Dimension Gate.

It was a force centered around LifeHunter and the Dark Hunters.

The lessons of the asteroid zone must have stuck, because the moment they arrived, they cloaked themselves and concealed all the equipment they had brought along.

Scouts moved quickly, sweeping the surrounding area.

A large number of Heroes were paying attention, and there were plenty of viewers as well.

Jinwoo nodded and kicked off the prepared event right away.

The scouting party immediately found a village.

[It's a village. Pretty decent size, too.]

[That's..., Kalsus Dimensional Empire forces.]

[There's a whole swarm of them incoming. Probably planning to wipe the village off the map, just like in the videos.]

[Absolute pieces of shit.]

[Doesn't look like there are any Executioners.]

- I can see Luzenian forces too.

- They trying to fight?

- They don't stand a chance....

The Kalsus Dimensional Empire force looked to be over a hundred thousand strong, with tank divisions and small ships packing serious firepower. Every soldier was heavily armed with guns and vicious-looking weapons lined with saw-teeth.

The Luzenians, on the other hand, were pitiful.

They wore armor that looked woven out of plants, and their weapons were nothing more than blades glowing faintly with light. They were mounted on horse-like animals, but in the face of guns and tanks, a cavalry unit was utterly useless. Every Hero who had arrived here was watching the scene through an information window.

'Their acting....'

Everyone participating in the Arsilan Saga main episode had acting skills at a professional level, but Jinwoo felt a little more reinforcement was in order. He converted various books on acting into information form so that they could be absorbed and learned.

And that acting ability also applied to the Bio-Golems under the control of the Magic Tower. If they reacted and behaved too realistically, the scenes fell flat. A touch of exaggerated gesture and emotion made for much better viewing.

The Luzenians watched the approaching force from a distance and quietly began to pray. As they knelt and raised their prayers toward the sky, particles of green light scattered upward in a beautiful plume.

They sang a song symbolizing harmony and peace.

The melody was beautiful, but laced with a deep sorrow.

Ella's and Helby's eyes wavered. Helby recognized the song.

"That is an old song of Arsilan."

"Recently restored and adapted for Luzen."

It was a song sung as a prayer for a bountiful harvest, one whose lineage had been cut off after Arsilan was lost.

The Luzenians set their expressions and painted their faces with red dye.

Weapons in hand, every one of them stared down the advancing forces of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire.

[Our enemies are strong! So strong that we cannot hope to prevail! Today, upon our own soil, we will surely die.]

A Luzenian clutching a spear cried out.

[It will be a meaningless last struggle. We will merely be slaughtered. But if we can carve even the faintest mark of resistance into those cruel enemies, that alone is enough! The mark of Luzen shall be etched into them, and follow them for all eternity!]

The figures of the Luzenians overlapped with the Arsilan of old.

[For Luzen!]

The Heroes watched the spectacle through their information windows.

Since they had acquired the Luzenian language, they could understand every word. The Luzenians' cries struck a powerful chord within them.

The Heroes clenched their fists.

LifeHunter, who was leading them, dropped his concealment and rose to his feet.

[The original plan was to scout first and then launch a covert ambush, but I'm changing the plan.]

At LifeHunter's words, every Hero broke into a grin and dispelled their concealment.

At a gesture from LifeHunter, the Death Knight Heroes nodded and boarded the Magic Armors buried beneath the ground.

[Magic Armor unit, report.]

[System all green. One hundred twenty Magic Armors of the Arsilan Liberation Army, ready for immediate launch.]

The mana engines of the Magic Armors roared to life, flames bursting from their exhausts.

The Dullahans mounted their horses made of darkness.

[What about the Dullahan cavalry? Ready to ride?]

[No problem! We can ride all the way to the depths of hell!]

[Necromancers, status of your summons?]

[One hundred thousand D-rank skeleton soldiers ready to summon.]

From Death Knights, Liches, and Dark Priests all the way to Heroes of the light side. LifeHunter received status reports from every unit in turn.

Having received every report, LifeHunter looked out over the battlefield.

[One defeat is enough. From this moment on, we spread the light and darkness of Arsilan across this world of Luzen. We will show the Kalsus Dimensional Empire exactly who we are.]

LifeHunter was dyed in darkness.

[Let's go, for Arsilan!]

As LifeHunter surged forward at high speed, every Hero began their charge.

[Save Luzen!]

[Kill every last one of them!]

[Don't let a single one escape!]

[Heheh! Look at all the loot!]

- It's filling up! Filling up!

- Ahhh! I gotta level up fast!

- Is it too late to show up now?

The Luzenians, resolved to die, charged straight at the Kalsus Dimensional Empire forces. And toward those Luzenians, tank shells began to fly.

They meant to sweep them away in a single devastating volley.

Just as the barrage of tank shells was about to slam into the Luzenians,

FWAP!

A black barrier appeared in front of the Luzenians, deflecting every single tank shell.

KABOOOOM!

The deflected shells detonated, scattering flames across the battlefield. The Heroes appearing on the hilltop stared down at the Kalsus Dimensional Empire forces.

THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!

The Magic Armors kicked off the ground, leaped, and landed right in the middle of the battlefield.

[Heheheh!]

[Wipe them out!]

- DAMN! What an entrance!

- Timing was absolutely perfect!

- This is war!

The war had begun!

Jinwoo watched the scene unfold with a satisfied smile.

Ella watched the Heroes and pumped her fist. Even Helby looked slightly excited.

Other events had kicked off in other locations as well.

Rescuing prisoners, commandeering ships, cutting off energy supplies, blowing up supply routes, and so on. There were plenty of fun missions to go around.

Haebyul's main assignment was to rescue Heroes and civilians in hiding. A large-scale unit had been organized, and a great deal of preparation had gone into it.

'Her zone overlaps with the Erosion's territory.'

The rescue unit would arrive and begin extracting survivors, and then the battle between the Erosion and the Kalsus Dimensional Empire would kick off. The crust would heave upward, mountains would collapse, and it would turn into utter chaos.

'Going smoothly.'

Everything was unfolding exactly as staged.

After watching for a while, he turned his gaze to Ella and Helby.

Those two seemed to have gotten seriously invested in Episode 6, and were now watching Haebyul's past broadcasts.

In no time, both of them were completely absorbed.

"Oh, oohhh..., oh? Huh? Oooh!"

"Hmm, hmhm, hmm? Hmm...."

The exact point where they let out these odd noises of awe was, of course, the scene where the Executioners made their entrance. Helby's eyes were sparkling, and she couldn't seem to collect herself.

Ella turned to Jinwoo with a face full of excitement.

"Hey, I'm also an employee of the Erosion Headquarters, right?"

"And?"

"I want to be a sexy executive with a bombshell figure. The kind that wields a whip steeped in darkness!"

It was an excessive demand.

Helby, meanwhile, couldn't tear her eyes away from the armor.

"Th-that..., ar-, armor looks quite fine."

"There are some leftovers in the warehouse..., but I was going to scrap them."

At Jinwoo's words, Helby teleported over and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Do you not require my assistance? Episode 6 is such a grand scale, it must surely demand many hands."

"Not particularly...."

SQUEEZE!

She gripped his shoulder tightly.

"I could, as a special favor, deign to participate."

"...I'll look for a role. Give me a minute."

Only then did Helby release her hand.

"The time has come to return to my Dragon form."

Jinwoo chuckled at Helby's muttering, and it was at that moment.

Something stirred from the Soul Gate.

A powerful energy was concentrating, and the entire Soul Gate was being dyed with it.

Jinwoo tilted his head and ran an analysis through the Magic Tower.

[The Evil God's notoriety is spreading throughout the dimensional realms.]

[A massive amount of Evil Karma Value has been acquired.]

[A massive amount of Evil Karma Value has been acquired.]

.

...

....

[The Dark Elves (formerly Luzenians) have attained Perfect Faith and have become synchronized with the Soul Gate.]

Jinwoo examined the Soul Gate.

The Soul Gate had taken on a horrifying form, much like the Dimensional Transit Ship, and was now writhing. Fortunately, only the Gate in this Luzen dimension had assumed such a shape.

'The Evil God's notoriety has spread across the dimensional realms? Because of the kidnapping incident?'

But the scale was far too wide for that.

Snake-like things began to wriggle within Jinwoo's shadow, and then his shadow stretched out in a long, thin trail.

"What's up with this?"

"Huh?"

Ella and Helby turned to look at Jinwoo.

Ella touched Jinwoo's shadow with her hand and then jerked back in shock, whipping her head toward him.

"Th-this is an absolutely absurd amount of faith!"

"Faith?"

"Yeah, Perfect Faith."

Ella was, after all, a senior who had become a god in the distant, distant past.

"Faith grants a god their symbols and authority. The faith directed at you right now is way too much. The quantity is just insane. Five million or so believers at the level of 'Saints, Saintesses', or 'Apostles of the God'..., no, and on top of that, this level of name recognition..., what in the world have you been doing?"

"Nothing, I haven't...."

...well, he couldn't exactly say he hadn't.

She was saying there were five million people whose faith was on the level of Saints or Saintesses, with Perfect Faith to match. And a good many more seemed to be aware of the Evil God besides.

Jinwoo thought of the Luzenians who had become Dark Elves.

'Guess I'd better go take a look.'

Jinwoo moved to the city.

Ella and Helby followed along.

The city had grown even darker in atmosphere.

The Dark Elves were hauling boulders in an attempt to expand the Grand Temple, and then,

FSHOOOOM!

Enormous tentacles erupted from one of their hands, hoisting a boulder in a single motion.

Ella was visibly shaken.

"H-h-hand, something came out of their hand, right?"

"Their hand morphed..., that is not magic."

Even Helby flinched.

Children who had been playing tripped and fell. One of them gashed their knee badly, but didn't cry. Black, thread-like worms squirmed out of the wound, and in the blink of an eye, the injury sealed shut.

A Dark Elf chopping wood morphed their hand into a blade and sliced through it effortlessly.

"..., It's a Sacred Spell. Sacred Power of such pure darkness...."

Ella realized that what they were using was, in fact, Sacred Power.

Sacred Power originating from Jinwoo himself.

They went to find Luna at the Grand Temple.

Luna had set up a scarecrow and was in the middle of training. When she opened both hands, tentacles shot out and seized the scarecrow.

CRUNCH!

She reduced it to powder with frightening ease.

"I can hardly wait for the day I offer sacrifices at the altar. Hoh, hohoh, a tower built from the corpses of heretics, and a song offered up to the Evil God...."

Luna laughed darkly.

Ella and Helby took a step backward.

"...That girl is scary. Her way of thinking seems a little different from ours."

"Agreed. She's completely out of her mind."

It was a polite way of saying "she's a crazy bitch".

Jinwoo analyzed the situation.

Evil Karma Value had accumulated to the point of staining the Soul Gate, and the Dark Elves had formed Perfect Faith, believing in Jinwoo one hundred percent. Those two results had combined to produce this phenomenon.

'They're immune to Erosion, too.'

Cloaked as they were in Jinwoo's Sacred Power, the Erosion wouldn't be able to touch them. And even if the Sacred Power were to vanish, they could no longer be corrupted by Erosion, because they had already been thoroughly corrupted.

"Evil God!"

"Uh, uh, h-how have you been?"

Luna broke into a bright smile, approached, and bowed to him with great reverence.

"With the blessing you bestowed, I have been crafting a holy sorcery."

"I-is that so?"

Jinwoo quietly checked Luna's status.

[Lv.50] Luna

Title: [S] Evil God's Great Priestess

Race: Dark Elf (formerly Luzenian)

Faith: Evil God Cult

[Skills Possessed]

[S] Evil God's Blessing

Completely corrupted, immune to all mental disorders, status ailments, and corruption. Sacred Power can be recovered through prayer, and through synchronization with the Soul Gate, Sacred Power can be received directly from the Evil God.

[S] Perfect Faith

A faith so complete that no flaw is permitted within it.

All Dark Elves possess this same faith.

[A] Rapid Growth

Under the Evil God's Blessing, allows for ultra-high-speed leveling.

[A] Evil God's Sorcery (Incomplete)

A wicked sorcery born from the union of Luzenian sorcery and the Evil God's Sacred Power. Can transform the body or corrupt an opponent. Additionally, even if the entire body is destroyed, it can be regenerated so long as Sacred Power remains.

Still in an incomplete state.

Back when Jinwoo had first arrived on Luzen, Luna hadn't even been at Level 5. And now she had become a Level 50 Great Priestess plastered with S-rank and A-rank skills.

Helby aside, wouldn't Ella, with her golden radiance, find Luna off-putting?

Luna looked at Ella and Helby.

"This presence..., could you possibly be the Evil God's consorts?"

Luna had just asked an absolutely absurd question.

To Ella, it might even count as blasphemy. Helby too would be dumbfounded.

Just as Jinwoo was about to properly introduce them,

"I like her. Should I bestow a blessing on her? She has a perfectly normal way of thinking."

"Now that I look closely, she is cute. Her eyes in particular are pretty."

For some reason, it seemed the two of them had taken a liking to Luna.

In any case, Jinwoo had ended up with five million Dark Elf apostles.

...his chest felt heavy.

* * *

"Hmm~."

Airi hummed a little tune as she walked into the Saintess's Chamber.

Life had been so incredibly enjoyable lately.

Holing up in the Saintess's Chamber, nibbling on snacks while playing games or reading manga!

What a blessed life this was!

"Long live Episode 6!"

Episode 6, which featured no appearance from the Saintess, was truly invincible!

"Hehe!"

She flung herself onto the bed and pulled out a manga.

The snacks were on a table a little ways off from the bed. If she stretched out her arm from the bed, she might just barely reach them. Too lazy to actually get up, she reached out toward the snacks.

SWOOSH!

"Huh?"

Before she knew it, the snacks were in her hand.

Something black seemed to have shot out of her hand and grabbed them.

Airi tilted her head and stared at her own hand. Up until now, she had tried to use Sacred Spells, but perhaps because she was a Succubus, she had never been able to pull off a proper one.

The moment she glared at her hand, something in it rippled.

TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP!

Clutching her hand, she dashed out of the church.

She spotted a small bird that had flown into a window and crashed to the ground. Its head was split open, and there was no way it was going to survive.

If she could use Sacred Spells, maybe she could heal it?

"Haa!"

Airi focused, picturing a healing Sacred Spell.

But nothing happened.

She'd just have to ask the priests for help!

With a sigh, she carefully picked the bird up to bring it inside the church, when,

SHROOOOOSH!

Black tentacles erupted from the palm of her hand and engulfed the bird. Then they shot up toward the sky, forming a colossal pillar of tentacles.

"Uh...."

THUD!

The pillar of tentacles collapsed to the ground, writhed violently, and then transformed into a bird composed of thousands of tentacles, spreading its wings wide.

KYAAAAAAARK!

A dreadful cry rang out.

"......"

Airi's eyes rolled back, and she toppled sideways, fainting on the spot.

She must be having a horrible nightmare.

Airi, who had lost consciousness, opened her eyes again.

KYAAAAARK!

The Tentacle Bird lovingly licked her face with a long tentacle oozing with sticky mucus.

"KYAAAAAAAAH!"

Airi fainted once more.