Chapter 9: Saviour of the Demihumans – 3
This Chapter is sponsored by terror. Thanks to him, here is an extra release.
The world of Rudera was in chaos due to the influx of players trying to climb the Tower of Labyrinth.
Suddenly, a system message echoed through the air.
Ding
[The second floor of the Tower of Labyrinth, the Spriggans Desert, has been cleared by the player ‘Brigand’ and 0 others.]
[Ownership of the Spriggans Desert is granted to the main quest’s top contributor, player ‘Brigand.’]
“That Brigand… he went alone and managed to clear it.”
“As expected of the Demihuman King who built a nation single-handedly. What an unbelievable speed.”
Other players, still wandering in the desert, stopped in their tracks when they saw the system message before their eyes.
Ding
[Due to player ‘Brigand’s choice, all maps except for the Duamutef Pyramid region are now open to players.]
“…Open?”
“Is that what ownership means? …Then we must mobilize all the republic’s resources to advance into the Tower of Labyrinth!”
The monumental news of ‘Clearing the second floor of the Tower of Labyrinth’ spread widely due to the world message.
Moreover, the fact conveyed by the system message was that the player who contributed the most to the main quest could gain ownership of the world.
‘If you climb the Tower of Labyrinth, you can have your own world!’
With the proven fact that classes or items existing in Rudera could have a significant impact in reality, the resources within Rudera became as important as those in the real world.
In such a situation, ownership guaranteed by the GM’s system, allowing control over other players’ passage at will, was an unimaginable treasure!
Furthermore, with players who had entered the second floor revealing that the size of the Spriggans Desert was comparable to the entire empire, the entire continent’s attention focused on the enormous territory within the labyrinth.
“If I succeed just once, I can become an emperor too!”
“Does it matter if you’re born into royalty or not? I’ll become a king too!”
As a result, a massive number of players with ambitions to conquer the labyrinth flocked to it.
The assurance of ownership by the system meant there was no need to worry about someone else taking it away.
It was a treasure even the most powerful would desire.
Thus, countless players driven by their desires began to ascend the tower.
Meanwhile, Demihuman King, Brigand, having ordered his right hand to spread the word about the destruction of Apophis, the history of the Demihumans, the forgotten god Duamutef, and the grace of the GM to all Demihumans, stood before a grand throne at the centre of the great pyramid.
“This vast territory’s ownership is entirely granted to me… no, to all Demihumans. Our rightful land.”
Although it was his fist that had struck down Apophis, it was not something he could claim to have done alone.
If he had been alone, he would have been defeated in a single strike without even being able to launch an attack.
The GM had temporarily imbued him with the powers of Duamutef, the vanished god, making it possible.
In essence, it was the GM who had destroyed Apophis.
“Not only do you give us the opportunity to eliminate our ancient enemy with our own hands, but you also leave us our heritage. Ah, our saviour. How can we repay this grace?”
The grand throne inside the pyramid was prepared for Brigand, the new owner of the desert, but he did not sit on it; instead, he bowed his head before it.
For he was not the true owner of that throne.
He did not dare to sit in that place.
“We will serve you forever. As one who has been newly restored by your grace, I will be your servant. Eternal be our saviour, the GM.”
Although it was the GM who had granted him Duamutef’s powers and transferred the ownership of the great desert, it was all part of the content preset by Albus in the Tower of Labyrinth.
Apophis, Duamutef, and the ruined ancient empire were all fictional creations of Albus.
But from Brigand’s perspective, who was unfamiliar with the concept of fictional beings, he could only believe it all to be true.
“Therefore, as a chosen race entrusted with the mission of guarding the middle world by the gods, we must faithfully…”
***
‘I’m bored to death.’
The once-in-a-decade Continental Dragon Conference.
In the midst of it, the Red Dragon Carthesia propped her chin and listened to the Dragon Lord’s lecture.
‘My precious Albus prepared special content just for me, but here I am, wasting time without being able to enjoy it.’
While all other players were joyfully engaging with the newly added Tower of Labyrinth, Carthesia could do nothing but sit idly in this place.
As an ancient dragon, she usually would ignore other dragons’ calls and enjoy Rudera, but since this was a continental dragon conference personally overseen by the Lord, even she could not refuse to attend.
‘I hope this ends quickly today.’
Of course, she knew better than anyone that such a thing was impossible.
As a guardian of Middle-earth, dragons were a race endowed with special powers by the gods.
This blessing granted them a lifespan of ten thousand years, along with intelligence and memory far superior to any other race.
While this was a blessing envied and revered by all other races, the fact that dragons experienced no forgetfulness and lived for nearly eternity brought them an unbearable level of boredom.
As guardians of Middle-earth, they couldn’t roam freely or cause havoc.
Thus, the method dragons chose to alleviate their boredom was diversion.
They would hide their true identity and polymorph into other sentient beings to live different lives.
This diversion somewhat succeeded in alleviating their boredom.
However, even this had its limits; no matter how many new lives they experienced through diversion, living as an ancient dragon for such a long time would eventually lead them to tire of all diversions.
Among them, Carthesia, who particularly couldn’t stand the boredom, had recently found it increasingly difficult to bear.
She was continuing her diversion by transforming into a wizard of the magic tower, but she felt that if time went on a little longer, she might fall and become a dark dragon.
It was then that she stumbled upon a virtual world by chance.
She encountered Rudera, a world created by Albus with the help of the magic tower.
A new world…
Although Albus had attempted to create a fantasy world, based on his memories of his previous life, it was a world completely different from the continent where Carthesia lived.
Thanks to this, Carthesia could enjoy a genuinely ‘new’ diversion that felt completely unfamiliar.
Of course, since it was created by Albus, who had just learned magic, the magic was crude, and it was still lacking to be called a proper world.
Because of this, she kidnapped Albus.
After all, he was merely a human.
Even the emperor of the empire could not easily deal with a dragon.
Kidnapping Albus was nothing at all.
It was like kidnapping a kind dwarf to make a toy for herself.
In the early encounters, Albus was no different from a dwarf to her.
She taught Albus countless spells and gave him various artifacts and elixirs.
These were resources she had in abundance after living for thousands of years.
What mattered more than such trivial things was the diversion that even she found novel.
As a result of a dragon lord among the dragons, teaching magic and raising his level, Albus surpassed the limits of humanity in illusion magic.
Rudera gradually became more sophisticated, reaching a level where even Carthesia, who could see through magic, could hardly distinguish Rudera from reality.
This was, of course, the situation she had longed for. Carthesia felt utmost happiness and enjoyed Rudera to her heart’s content.
During this process, she helped Albus solve problems and sometimes urged him to add new content.
As a result, Albus, who had once been a mere inferior human, had become something more to her.
“For the last time, I repeat…”
‘I wonder how he’s doing.’
While listening to the seemingly endless sermon of the Dragon Lord, Carthesia thought of Albus.
She thought he wouldn’t be able to add new content to Rudera for a while, as he had entered the academy under the empire’s jurisdiction.
Yet just before that, he had updated Rudera with a colossal bomb, the first large-scale content in Rudera: the Tower of Labyrinth.
A gigantic tower composed of numerous worlds.
It wouldn’t have been easy to create, yet he made it just for her.
Even the first emperor of the empire, who had been his disciple during his amusement, could not present him with such a gift.
A mere human, who had nothing, presented such a gift.
How could he not be adorable?
‘But why am I not enjoying this!’
She wanted to turn on the community and check the current situation in Rudera, but there was no way she could use magic in a situation with so many dragons gathered.
‘Ugh!’
Carthesia swallowed her anger inside.
***
Imperial capital, Imperial Palace.
“Oh great ancestor.”
The secret space in the deepest part of the empire, where no one except the emperor is allowed to enter.
Inside, the absolute power, the emperor, was kneeling in front of the fluctuating dimensional gate, welcoming someone.
“Hmm, yeah, yeah. Have you been well?”
The man, who appeared to be a young, took off his helmet and casually greeted the emperor.
“You’ve aged a lot while I was away. You have more wrinkles. The last time I saw you, you were quite taut. Nothing much happened during my absence, right?”
The first emperor of the empire, Ahenobarbus , who achieved an incredible feat that is hard to believe a human alone could accomplish, looked down at the current emperor and asked.
“For the past 20 years while you were away from the continent, the empire has gone on an expedition to the northern tribes and newly conquered 36 veins of minerals…”
The emperor opened his mouth to report the results of the empire’s governance that he had managed.
“Oh, stop, stop.”
The first emperor waved his hand.
“You don’t need to tell me such boring stories. I’m not really interested.”
It was known that the first emperor had died, but the reality was different.
Having transcended human limitations, he was no longer bound by lifespan and had reached a semi-divine status.
However, the most important reason he founded the empire, the one he had guided since his childhood, had disappeared.
To find her, he entrusted the imperial throne to a suitable subordinate and wandered through different dimensions to search for her.
To him, the empire was a place filled with memories with her.
As long as it remained intact, he didn’t care much about other aspects.
“So, there were no peculiarities?”
He left every time to search for her, but he couldn’t find any trace of her in the vast dimensions.
He thought she might have returned to this continent to find him, but it didn’t seem to be the case.
‘If Master had come to the continent, there would have been some news. Since this current emperor doesn’t know, it must not be the case.’
Should he leave again to search for Master?
While the first emperor was contemplating which dimension to go to next,
“Well, there is…”
The current emperor opened his mouth as if he had remembered something.
“Hmm? What? A god’s resurrection? That’s impossible.”
After hearing the story about the world sweeping news across the continent called Rudera, he found it hard to believe.
“Once a being gains divinity, they can’t return to the cycle of reincarnation. Once a god perishes, they can never come back.”
Having travelled through countless dimensions over hundreds of years, he knew.
It was impossible for a perished god to resurrect, even for a moment.
“Isn’t it a misunderstanding?”
“However, because of that incident, the entire continent’s Demihumans…”
“What? The Demihumans gained religion?”
A story unimaginable when he was on the continent.
But that made him more intrigued.
“It’s an event that can’t be explained by the usual principles.”
An irregular that significantly distorts the fundamental laws of the universe.
It might be a clue to finding Master again.
“Alright. How do I get to that world called Rudera?”
He couldn’t even imagine.
That the human loved by his Master was the ruler of that Rudera.
And that he would meet an NPC with the same appearance as his Master there.