Praise the Orc! Chapter 99:
Chapter 99 – Temple of the Fallen God (2)
He couldn’t believe his eyes . There was a white star like his on Paimon’s forehead .
A user?
But Crockta couldn’t ask the question . Paimon’s dark eyes stared into him . He couldn’t move like a gun was aimed at him . It was like Paimon’s eyes were sucking Crockta’s soul into the darkness .
Paimon said, “Maybe, you . ”
His tone sunk as he looked Crockta up and down . Crockta felt a chill go down his spine . It was like a swan had noticed that a duck was among its flock .
Paimon spoke to Crockta again . However, he no longer spoke out loud . It was a one-way injection of meaning and emotion into Crockta’s head .
‘You know nothing . ’
His head was whirring . Crockta folded his knee to try and withstand it . Paimon’s will shook his head . His harsh rebuke was like a raging storm inside Crockta’s head .
Crockta shook his head and stared at Paimon . Everything was dark . His vision was tinged black . Now he couldn’t see Tiyo or Anor anymore . Crockta was standing alone in a darkness where nothing shone .
‘Apostle of the fallen god,’ Paimon called out . ‘You have the star, but you don’t know anything about them . ’
Heat came from his forehead . There was a terrible pain that seemed to be coming from the star mark . Crockta roared and pulled out his greatsword . At that moment, the darkness in front of him blurred .
Crockta wielded Ogre Slayer towards the darkness . Nothing was caught on the blade, but the momentum temporarily shook the darkness . He could feel Paimon taking a step back . But after that, the darkness gathered again . It was a deeper concentration of darkness . In that gap, a force struck Crockta’s abdomen .
Kakang!
Crockta flinched .
‘What happened?’ Paimon’s voice was no longer as gentle or soft as before . It was like a raging beast . His wrath rang in the darkness . ‘Who are you?!’
The darkness gathered once again . It felt like it was trying to crush Crockta . The darkness gathered above Crockta’s head in order to crush him . His instincts sent a warning . Crockta raised his greatsword .
At that moment, something appeared in front of Crockta .
‘You . ’ Paimon stopped .
In the darkness, another darkness moved . Crockta could feel his presence . A child made of darkness, just like Paimon, appeared . It was the demon sleeping in his belt .
Paimon murmured with confusion . ‘So, no, one of those guys . ’
After the demon appeared, the pressure on Crockta faded away . Crockta sighed as he put Ogre Slayer away . Now his breathing returned to normal . His vision was dark but he didn’t feel like he was drowning like before .
Crockta spoke, “What is the star on the forehead?”
Paimon was silent . Crockta could sense it . Paimon had a white star, yet he wasn’t a user .
He was someone that the NPCs called ‘cursed by the stars’ . If so, what was the curse of the stars? Was it really a concept created for the convenience of the users?
The demon of the belt that looked like a child whispered out . Paimon eventually nodded . His answer entered Crockta’s head .
‘A stigma showing the blessing of a **** . It is the mark of a god’s apostle . ’
“What is an apostle?”
‘Those who choose to serve the **** and receive the god’s share . ’
“Who is the god?”
‘That…’ Paimon said .
‘One who watched the end . One who saw all deaths and mourned the world . That god’s name…’
Paimon opened his mouth . Crockta waited for an answer . The moment that Paimon was able to say the name of the fallen god…
Time was stretched .
“……!”
The world slowed down . Time was divided . Time was divided then proliferated over and over . Numerous chaotic scenes occurred in between .
In the end…
Crockta stood on a snowy field .
***
“No,” said Ian .
“This is really…”
He kicked the ground . It was scattered white ash powder .
“Not much . ”
He hesitantly sat down . The dark blue night sky unfolded endlessly above him .
The land was all white . At first, he thought it was a snowy field . However, he soon realized that the whole land was filled with white ash . The white particles scattered every time he moved . He grabbed a handful and squeezed . The ash ran through his palm and fell down .
A laugh emerged . He laughed out loud .
“This type of thing…”
But the laughter didn’t reach his eyes . Maybe he had a foreboding feeling .
He stared at the distant horizon where the sky and earth met . A shooting star passed in a semicircle above Ian’s head .
Someone spoke from behind him, “Isn’t it pretty?”
Ian turned his head . Gray skin, gray hair, the ash in this place lumped together to form a human figure, a gray woman sitting in the same posture as Ian .
“I wanted to see you . ” She laughed . It wasn’t the smile of a person, giving off a sense of heterogeneity .
“Ian . No, shall I call you Crockta?”
“That’s fine . ”
She somehow felt familiar to Jung Ian . It was a feeling he had been aware of for a long time .
Thanks to that familiar feeling, he knew her identity . Sometimes she expressed herself to him in her own way . She always watched and sometimes helped, sometimes teased him . She would be ‘it . ’ The thing that sustained Elder Lord . The system .
Ian sighed . Ian, connected to Elder Lord, became Crockta and was sucked into the darkness by Paimon, only to fall into a strange world . Then he met the system . He didn’t need to hear the answer to the question of whether Elder Lord was just a game or not .
“Explain . ”
Ian picked up a pile of ash again and threw it into the air . It blew upwards . The ash fell like snowflakes around Ian and the grey woman . The woman burst out laughing .
“Your guess is correct . ”
“Elder Lord?”
“Another dimension . ”
“……”
Ian threw ashes towards her . She didn’t avoid them . She smiled through the white powder .
“Then everything that the users killed in Elder Lord was actually alive in another dimension?”
“That’s right . ”
“I killed things?”
“Yes . ”
“They aren’t artificial intelligence?”
She looked at Ian . Ian also met her eyes . Everything was grey colored . The eyes were so grey they were close to white . The face imitated human emotions but they weren’t feelings Ian could empathize with .
She slowly replied, “Would that be so different?” An unknown, mocking smile appeared on her face . “If they were all AIs created by computers, what would be different?”
Ian couldn’t answer .
“Just like how humans think ants are insignificant, there are those who think of humans as ants . ” She pointed to the sky . Ian looked up at the sky .
Nothing could be seen in the blue sky .
No .
No .
She beckoned . Ian’s vision became sharper . Ian could see the numerous white stars hidden in the sky . They were faint stars that went out . The last stop of the stars . They just waited to die before going completely black .
A white dwarf star . The dark blue sky here had countless white dwarfs .
“The stars . ”
She knocked on Ian’s shoulder . Her touch was as light as a feather .
“Death is both sad and equal . It doesn’t matter if the worlds are small, big, or exist elsewhere . That’s it . ”
Ian looked at her . She seemed to blend in with the ashes that filled this world .
Ian asked, “What was your purpose for making Elder Lord?”
“I want to go back . ”
“To where?”
“To where I originally was . ”
“To the world of Elder Lord?”
She nodded . “You have to work hard so I can go back . ”
“How?”
“It is a secret . ”
Ian asked again, “Then, are you on Earth right now?”
“That’s right . I’ll serve you delicious food if you ever visit . ”
She laughed . Ian didn’t laugh .
“As you said, it is sad when life dies . But because of you, a lot of people don’t know that Elder Lord is real, and that they are killing beings of another world . ”
“That’s right . ” She made a depressed expression . “I know best since I give the quests . ”
“Despite knowing that, you still made Elder Lord?”
“It can’t be helped . ”
“It is all for the sake of returning to the world of Elder Lord?”
“That’s right . ”
“Why don’t you remain on Earth?”
“It doesn’t matter . ” She touched the ash on the floor . It moved through the air . “I have something I need to do . ”
Ian rose from his seat . “It doesn’t matter if people of your world die?”
“It can’t be helped . ” She looked up at Ian . “As a matter of fact, I wish that your world would kill them harder . ”
“……”
As she said that, a transparent wall appeared between her and Ian . Ian was surprised and raised a hand to the wall .
“What is this?”
“To stop you from punching me . ”
“……”
She shook her hips and got up . Her body was so small that she barely reached Ian’s shoulder .
“Either way, it was nice meeting you, Ian . I really wanted to meet you . You are the most special existence out of all those I watch . Honorable Orc Crockta!”
She laughed . Ian brought his face to the wall . Her appearance could be seen through the transparent wall . She smiled and leaned towards Ian . They looked into each other’s eyes with the wall between them . Beyond the wall, the ash grey form seemed like it would melt away at any moment .
“What is your true purpose?”
“Secret . ”
“Did you lead me here?”
“Something like that . Thank Gordon for me . ”
“Gordon’s identity?”
“You have a lot of questions . It is a secret . ”
“Your real purpose?”
“I told you . It is a secret . ”
Everything was a secret .
Ian frowned . “I’ll tell everybody about Elder Lord . ”
“I’m sorry but no one will believe you . ”
“There will be some…”
“Using my power, I made it so that no one understands it except for you . ”
Ian’s eyes widened . “What?”
“Elder Lord is suspicious in many ways, yet countless people are participating without any doubts . Why? And those living in the world of Elder Lord believe that the users acting like that are just a phenomenon of the curse of the stars . Haven’t you wondered why?”
“……”
“Changing one’s awareness is just one of my powers . However, I’ve spent so much power that it is hard now . Pant pant . I can’t stay with you for much longer . ”
She waved farewell . The world started to crumble . It was ending .
Ian had so much more he wanted to ask . But he instinctively felt that he only had one last question .
A quick look showed him that she was waving with a smile .
Ian hesitated . “You…”
He had a thought . His speech lengthened . “You don’t seem like a bad person . I can feel it . So…”
“Thank you . I’m glad . ”
“So…”
Ian asked, “Do you need to continue this ‘game’, Elder Lord?”
Ian felt regret as he finished speaking . The question was one that could be answered with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no . ’ He would be unable to infer further information from such a simple question . But it was the thing Ian was most curious about .
She said that death was sad . Nevertheless, she was making Elder Lord in the hope that more people died .
What did she see?
Her hand stopped moving upon hearing Ian’s question . The world was collapsing until only she, Ian, and the wall between them remained . They were the only things left .
She smiled and replied, “I was incredibly surprised after falling into Ian’s world . It is a great place . I never imagined that such a place could exist . ”
Ian tried to speak but he could no longer open his mouth .
“So I have to do this even more . ”
His body stiffened like it was stuffed . Now he could only listen to her .
“I’m sorry . It can’t be helped . I hope you will understand . There was a man who made this excuse in your history . ” She looked up at the sky with a bittersweet expression . There was nothing . “The sun goes down, but there is still a long way to go, I know there is something wrong but I can’t use any other methods . ”
After that, Ian lost consciousness .