How to Survive as a Player Chapter 233

#233

[Every result requires an attempt. It’s as if we need your strategy to contact the goddess’ cognitive world again. However, our guides decided that the action was senseless. If things continue like this, the barrier will collapse within a few days. That is the duration of the barrier that Luzebuia can withstand.]

A few days at most. I felt like I had been sentenced to death. I already knew that this situation wasn’t just the guides’ fault. The goddess, who must have tried to hold on to the cracked barrier, had already been contaminated for a long time, and if not today, the tower would have shown signs of collapse sooner or later.

The date has just moved a little earlier. Sehyun tried to hide her nervousness and asked calmly.

“still… Isn’t there a way? “Isn’t that why you invited us?”

As always, there must be some way. The remaining floors are 7 floors. All the situations I had endured so far were too unfair to give up here. I couldn’t give up here, even for Agatha’s sake.

[…] there is. However, it is something that requires risking one’s life.]

Billwill answered a beat late. A lot of worry and hesitation could be seen in his expression. As expected, what he made was an absurd suggestion.

[You are directly entering Luzebuia’s cognitive world.]

I felt my shoulders stiffen here and there. There were also people who blinked their eyes. Jaeyoung Lee was like that.

“What even the guides couldn’t do… “Are you telling us to do this now?”

[We are Lusevia’s alter ego and ‘branches’ born from her power. Therefore, we cannot oppose the power of our Mother Goddess. It’s the same way that a branch can’t compete with a tree. However, those of you who can stand up to reason are different. As the subject of interference, you will be able to awaken Luzebuia’s polluted ego.]

“How can you be sure of that?”

[It’s the same way that our guides can’t interfere with the tower. If we could have intervened, generations of road players wouldn’t have been replaced like that. Among the many generations, there were those who clearly showed potential. However, there were very few planets that achieved true harmony. In that tightrope walk, just one failure cost them their lives.]

Ellix was a place where there was a lot to pay attention to in all directions. Keeping the enemy in check as well as conquering the tower. The production of vassals and the revival of the empire. Even diplomatic matters to keep up with it.

It was not easy to keep control and increase power in a place where hunting was rampant. For that reason, Agatha’s efforts to lay the foundation for uniting the empire deserved unprecedented praise.

Without Agatha, Earth would not have come this far. Even now, the conflict is so rampant.

“I will try to contact the consciousness of the goddess.”

It was then that someone walked out, breaking the silence. The person who came out with his clothes fluttering was Baek Do-hyeon. Baek Do-hyun passed the people one by one and stopped right next to Se-hyun, who was closest to Bill Will.

“If the goddess’s pollution is a problem caused by our help, I think I will definitely have a part in it. I, too, might not have been here if it weren’t for the goddess’s help. So I will help. “What should we do?”

At Baek Do-hyeon’s words, emotions rose like waves on the faces of the guides. They may have been waiting to say this.

[Please persuade Luzebuia. And please stop. Anymore… Tell them I want you to know that you don’t have to sacrifice yourself to fight alone. Our guides will be responsible for what happens after that. I will do my best to maintain the tower’s barrier, and I will do my best to guide you to your destination.]

Even though there was nothing, Sehyeon read bitter emotions in Billwill’s words. It wasn’t just Bill Will. Many guides suppressed her sorrow and wished for the well-being of their goddess. She felt sorry for the goddess’s sacrifice and hoped that the goddess would not suffer anymore.

[So, to the goddess… Please tell me that I would like you to stop sleeping now. Please tell me that now I ask you to use your remaining strength to purify yourself.]

Billwill spoke sadly with distorted eyes, as if he was finally letting out the emotions he had suppressed countless times. These were their stories hidden behind their calm faces.

[this… This is what our guides hope for you.]

With the same look and expression, the guides expressed the same meaning. Sehyeon looked at the guides, who seemed particularly small, and then gradually lowered his gaze.

It was a place where it was impossible to know what danger lurked. Even in the cognitive world, the other person was a goddess who was already polluted and had no clear sense of self. There might come a situation where she would have to risk her life.

“… Since I can’t send Baek Do-hyun alone anyway… “I guess I should go too.”

Still, someone had to go. It was better than dying without doing anything. This was especially true if you were in the position of contributing to the pollution. Baek Do-hyeon’s words were merely a starting point. For example, he began to express his opinions one by one.

“Hey, you guys think we can’t do that too?”

Jaeyoung Lee is grumbling for no reason.

“If this is the case, I guess I’ll go too.”

Fendo sighs as if there is nothing he can do.

“I will join you this time. “I was just starting to feel itchy, so it’s good.”

“Hmm, if you guys… “I have no choice but to go.”

Rijeong smiles and relaxes her shoulders, and Balukdo shows a reluctant attitude.

“I’m going too. “You can’t go out alone, right?”

“If Tyra goes, I will go too.”

“If given the opportunity to grow, it would be right to go.”

Tira, Theo, and Hume come forward willingly.

“It’s your first time competing. “With this, I will clearly show the power of the Seolho Empire.”

Ryoma also took Agasa’s place.

All road players agreed. It was the first time since everyone gathered in one place that everyone’s opinions were aligned.

Sehyun raised her gaze and looked at Bill Will again. Their eyes met, but Billwill said nothing. He just looked at Sehyun with eyes that felt like an infinite number of years had passed.

Billwill’s eyes soon closed heavily. The ripened emotions flowed out along with the grief. Their appearance inside the hard shell was like a baby bird looking for its mother.

Is the goddess a mother bird to them? That thought suddenly occurred to me. A sad emotion seemed to pass over the tip of her nose.

***

It was still raining in Ellix. While looking at the rain that was falling non-stop, Sehyeon shifted his gaze to the imperial clock tower visible in the distance. He could vaguely see the time well past midnight.

The complex and dark world once again reminded me of Bilwill in the daytime.

[The cognitive world is a world created by the goddess who was consumed by ‘Beusbrihel.’ We don’t know what kind of place it is.]

You don’t know what will come out, and you have to find and persuade the ‘self’ of the polluted goddess there to get out of the cognitive world. The purpose this time was to ‘seal’ the goddess.

[When we send you to the cognitive world through the power of our guides, the barrier can be maintained for approximately a week. In addition, we inform you in advance that vassals who cannot participate in the law will not be able to go to the cognitive world of Lusevia. This includes the archdukes. The only people who can go are road players, and at the moment, those who are in the top 10 are the only ones.]

Only ten people can go. And those were the only road players from the Empire ranked in the top 10. No one could take the vassal away. This issue had to be resolved solely through the players’ efforts.

The preparation period was short. Get everything ready before midnight tomorrow night and find Billwill. There was at most less than a day left. It was a moment that could not help but be confusing.

Sehyun let out a long sigh and turned away from the window. And he just left the room. The long hallway was filled with the sound of rain.

The place I arrived at after walking aimlessly was someone’s room. As Sehyun raised her hand to knock, the door burst open without warning. Standing between the doors was Euncheong, who had taken off her armor and looked simple.

Euncheong didn’t say anything. After a long silence, it was Sehyeon who spoke first.

“Can I come in?”

“… yes.”

Beyond the door, which opened with a clang of hinges, was a well-appointed room. Euncheong led Sehyeon to where the sofa was. Then he got down on one knee in front of him and lowered his body.

Their eyes met, but neither of them opened their mouths. There were a lot of words floating around, but that was it.

As soon as he returned to the empire after encountering Bilwil, Sehyun summoned Ruhak and other heroes and knights. Among them were Kwak Jeong-han, Awl, Kim Gap-jun, Yoon Je-ha, and Huey. And he relayed to them the truth, without leaving out a single word, of what Bilwill had said. In addition to the current situation, what Se-hyun must do and that it is something that his life depends on.

Of course, no one, including Ruhak, opened their mouths. I didn’t stop it, I didn’t stop it. This is because they inevitably realized that someone had to do this work. They also knew that today could be the last day.

“… road.”

“okay.”

“only once… “Can I hug you?”

These were the words Euncheong spoke after a long silence. Euncheong accepted what could be her last moment in her own way.

It was Sehyeon who reached out first. He grazed Euncheong’s shoulder and hugged her strong neck tightly. His intensely beating heart touched his chest, and a thick arm wrapped strongly behind his back. And he patted Sehyun’s back as if to comfort her.

He gave me a lot of consolation, as if he had had a hard time so far, or as if he could make it through.