The Ruined World Was Mistaken for a Game

Chapter 235: Open World (5)

Translator: Dreamscribe

Arsilan's goal was to establish a Dimensional Liberation Army that spread peace, light, and hope. That was why the subtitle for Episode 6 was going to be something like "Light and Hope."

Jinwoo wanted to instill in the exceptionally kind(?) Heroes a sense of pride in saving those unrelated to Arsilan and rescuing entire worlds.

Surely that sight would shine brilliantly and be beautiful.

The joy and hope delivered from Arsilan and Earth!

That was how it should have been.

"There are people gathered in the city. It looks like they're performing a ritual?"

"The, the singing is getting more and more intense?"

"This is kinda creepy."

But things went sideways from the very start.

He had no idea how to fix this, but fix it he must. The Invaders who had been attacking the city failed to retreat and collapsed unconscious.

At least the Invaders who had been farther away abandoned all their supplies and fled in terror. Their technology level seemed fairly impressive, but the appearance of the Dimensional Transit Ship had rendered everything useless.

[Cloaking complete.]

Once the Invaders withdrew, Jinwoo cast a cloaking spell on the Dimensional Transit Ship. When the ship vanished as if space itself were bending, the natives sang even more fervently.

"Report."

[The atmosphere is rich with natural energy. However, half the planet is tainted by Erosion and requires purification.]

Several black spheres that had been launched from the Dimensional Transit Ship surveyed the area. The black spheres were essentially drones equipped with various functions. The energy density was roughly twice that of Arsilan. Thanks to its similarity to Mana, it could be converted and used as Mana without much difficulty.

[Initiating information gathering via drones.]

The drones also turned transparent as cloaking spells were applied. They spread across the bases and cities the Invaders had left behind, collecting information. Books and objects were Informationized and input into the Miniature Magic Tower.

[Language] Luzenian

Luzen, the name given to this planet, is an ancient word meaning "clear blue star." Using this ability allows mastery of all languages used on Luzen.

[Language] Kalsussian

The official language of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire.

Using this ability allows mastery of the official language used by the Kalsus Dimensional Empire.

Thanks to the Informationization ability, language was no problem at all. Various knowledge steadily accumulated in the Miniature Magic Tower. Ignis, who had been reviewing the information displayed on his info window, looked at Jinwoo as if he had realized something.

"Captain, wouldn't it have been fine if we'd just learned the language and talked to them?"

"Maybe...."

Given that they had already intervened with the Dimensional Transit Ship, it probably wouldn't have mattered much.

Information about Luzen was steadily accumulating, but the same couldn't be said for the Kalsus side. There weren't enough books or objects to build up data from.

'That's why I brought them along.'

Jinwoo headed to the makeshift prison.

There, the Invaders, that is, the commander of the Kalsus dimension and several soldiers, were being held. Most of the soldiers had completely lost their minds, either screaming or smashing their heads against the floor.

They seemed to have been driven entirely insane, unable to escape the effects of the Dimensional Transit Ship.

"Hmm."

Jinwoo approached the commander.

The ornate armor the commander wore was caked with dirt. The commander at least appeared to still have his wits about him.

"Ugh, AAAAAGH! AAAH!"

He started screaming the moment he saw Jinwoo. It was the kind of scream someone would let out upon seeing a terrible monster. Jinwoo looked at Ignis, who had come with him.

"That kind of reaction is a bit hurtful, you know."

"Appearance-wise, we don't really look any different from the Luzenians, so that's a strange reaction."

Ignis's expression turned to one of keen interest.

And for good reason, these were beings from another dimension. In Earth terms, it was essentially a first contact with aliens. Erosion was technically an extraterrestrial entity too, but they had seen so much of it that the mystique was gone.

"Isn't that stuffy? Want to take it off?"

Ignis glanced at a soldier beside him, then grabbed the helmet. He was curious what kind of magnificent face could be hiding underneath to cause such terror.

"It won't come off easily."

"Maybe there's a button or something?"

"I don't think so. The surface is incredibly smooth. The ones we picked up earlier came apart easily, though...."

"Then force it off."

"Yes, sir."

CRRRK!

Ignis applied force and began prying the helmet off. The strength of a Red Dragon remained formidable even in human form. A crushing, crumpling sound came from the helmet, and then,

POP!

A crisp sound like a champagne cork popping rang out as the helmet came free.

"Huh?"

"Hm?"

They had intended to see what kind of handsome face was underneath, but that was impossible. There was nothing there. To be precise, there had been something like smoke, but the moment the helmet separated, it scattered and vanished. The armor shuddered, then collapsed and fell apart.

Ignis blinked, looking back and forth between the helmet in his hand and the armor crumpled on the floor.

Jinwoo took a step back from Ignis.

"...You pulled its head off. What are you doing?"

"What? No, no, you told me to take it off!"

"I said to remove the helmet, not rip its head off."

"W-well, that's true, but...."

Ignis felt deeply wronged.

Jinwoo examined the armor closely. The inside was completely hollow. There was no body.

'Is it something like a Living Armor?'

It certainly seemed that way.

How did they reproduce? Judging by their voices, they seemed to have genders....

The question suddenly crossed his mind.

CLATTER CLATTER CLATTER!

The sound of armor clanging rang out. He looked to the side and saw the commander trembling violently. Unable to believe what he had just witnessed, the commander was shaking in terror, practically convulsing.

Jinwoo studied the commander's helmet closely. Surprisingly, emotions were easy to read from the helmet. They were quite a fascinating species.

After learning Kalsussian, Jinwoo walked right up to the commander.

"I have some questions."

"Huh, hrkk!"

Jinwoo reached out and gripped the commander's helmet.

As he applied pressure, it began to slowly crumple inward. Whether the commander felt pain or not, he screamed and thrashed. Jinwoo was curious about the mechanism by which they experienced pain, but that was something to investigate later.

"We tried opening someone's head to check, but it didn't go so well."

Jinwoo said, pointing at Ignis.

Ignis was tilting his head while looking at the info window. The terrified commander nodded frantically. For Invaders, they were a surprisingly cooperative species.

"What the hell are you?"

When Jinwoo released the helmet and asked, the commander began telling everything he knew.

The Kalsus Dimensional Empire was enormously vast.

It controlled countless dimensions and was still actively conducting invasions even now.

The purpose of the invasions was dimensional unification.

By unifying all dimensions into one, they would become the sole dimension. Doing so would supposedly allow ascension to a higher dimension. They would possess a nearly infinite universe, unified as one.

The energy of all dimensions would converge into a single point, and countless stars would be born, creating a paradise overflowing with limitless resources.

'What a fascinating concept.'

It was an unfamiliar idea to Jinwoo.

Then why carry out such slaughter?

Those who did not submit to the Kalsus Dimensional Empire and become slaves had their dimensions completely incinerated, reduced to Bubble Dimensions and erased.

Jinwoo could now make sense of what he had seen on the dimensional map, small dimensions being absorbed into one enormous dimension. They were being swallowed by the Kalsus Dimensional Empire.

There was another reason they actively eliminated life.

'Erosion.'

It was to prevent Erosion from growing stronger by absorbing souls and life. For that reason, even in dimensions that submitted, if the inhabitants had no value as slaves, they were wiped clean.

Erosion was the only force that could rival the Kalsus Dimensional Empire. While the individual entities of Erosion were few in number, each one was catastrophically powerful, keeping the scales balanced.

"These guys are total pieces of shit."

As Ignis put it, these bastards were exactly that.

"So what's the point of killing everyone and becoming a higher dimension?"

"Y-you become an existence that cannot be shaken by anything, one with infinite potential to do anything you wish..., I, I don't know the exact details either! I swear!"

The commander answered Jinwoo's question in a trembling voice.

It didn't seem like there was much real basis for the claim. Perhaps it was nothing more than a justification.

Invaders were usually like that.

'A force other than Erosion, huh....'

He now had a rough understanding of the current situation.

The scale had grown astronomically!

It was a world-building expansion worthy of Arsilan Saga.

The Kalsus Dimensional Empire was just as dangerous as Erosion.

Jinwoo designated the Kalsus Dimensional Empire as an enemy of Arsilan.

"Captain."

"Hm?"

Ignis showed Jinwoo his info window.

As befitting a Reincarnated Hero, his level was 280.

He had leveled up massively while fighting the Lord of Despair, but hadn't gained even a single level since. His soul required far more Experience Points to grow further. At this point, leveling up through the currently available Arsilan Saga content was virtually impossible.

"My Experience Points went up?"

"Hm?"

It was a small amount, but his Experience Points had indeed increased.

"Want me to pop another one?"

When Jinwoo nodded, Ignis removed the helmet of a soldier who had completely lost his mind and was convulsing.

POP!

The moment the helmet came off, the suit became an empty shell and crumpled to the floor. Upon examination, the energy had been absorbed as if it were nourishment for the soul.

A truly fascinating species.

"Perfect."

If the enemies had been humanoid, he would have had to use large-scale computation to alter their appearance through illusion magic.

That was for the mental health of the Heroes.

This vile species that sought to annihilate entire dimensions gave generous Experience Points, and their deaths didn't feel cruel at all.

They were enemies the Heroes could unleash their full fury upon without reservation.

"We'll need to take the rest as research specimens."

"Tiris is going to love this."

Jinwoo sealed the commander and the soldiers.

Since they would become content to be released to the Heroes, thorough analysis and research were necessary.

Ignis grinned.

"Episode 6 is going to be insane, isn't it?"

Jinwoo felt the same way.

A powerful new enemy faction debuting in Episode 6!

It would bring a fresh sensation to Arsilan Saga, where Erosion had been the only antagonist!

And within that excitement, what was being carried out was nothing less than perfect salvation.

* * *

Jinwoo gathered with the crew members in the conference room aboard the Dimensional Transit Ship. The ship hovered above Luzen while cloaked. Though the Dimensional Transit Ship had concealed itself, the sounds of prayer from Luzen continued without pause.

Looking toward the city, they could see the inhabitants had kept their lights burning all night, constructing a temple.

Jinwoo shared the investigation results with the crew members.

"According to our findings, the Luzenians are a species as pure as a blank page. In tens of thousands of years of history, wars have been virtually nonexistent. They're a species that loves harmony and guards against greed."

This was fact, confirmed through analysis of numerous records Informationized via the drones.

"Pure, you say?"

A crew member pointed at the info window.

The current scene in the city was being displayed on it.

The Luzenians were draped in black cloth, chanting ominous words, and captured soldiers of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire were bound to an altar. It looked exactly like they were being offered as sacrifices.

A woman who appeared to be a Priestess was leading the whole thing.

The expression on her face sent a chill through Jinwoo.

"...A blank page is easily stained with other colors."

At Jinwoo's words, the crew members felt a pang of guilt.

The Luzenians' appearance was remarkably innocent. With their cute features and large, clear eyes, just looking at them felt healing.

Their actual personalities were probably the same.

"It's most likely because of the invasion."

Jinwoo attributed the cause of that horrifying spectacle to the Kalsus Dimensional Empire. The crew members quickly nodded in agreement.

"Those bastards from the Kalsus Dimensional Empire!"

"To turn those sweet Luzenians into something this terrifying!"

"They really are the worst!"

"Sob..., those innocent Luzenians...!"

"The invasion must have ravaged them in body and mind."

Mm, the guilt had lightened.

For now, the plan was to use Luzen as a base and gradually expand Arsilan's territory. Protecting the Luzenians while seeking their cooperation seemed like the way to go.

When Jinwoo laid out the plan, everyone nodded.

"Whoa! The dawn of dimensional warfare!"

"The scale is crazy."

"The Heroes are going to lose their minds."

A dimensional war waged against both Erosion and the Kalsus Dimensional Empire!

As content, it was outstanding.

The scale was fitting for Arsilan Saga Episode 6, Part 2.

"But how do we get their cooperation? Given... that situation...."

Ignis said, pointing at the info window.

Jinwoo looked at the info window again. When he turned up the volume, the eerie voices of the Luzenians filled the room.

[Ahhh!]

[Accept our offering!]

[Our devotion is lacking! More, a greater fire...!]

The altar was set ablaze with blue-burning flames.

The soldiers were unharmed thanks to their armor, but the Luzenians looked like they would reach their limit first. The Priestess before the altar danced without rest, praying to the sky.

Her feet were raw and bleeding, and she collapsed from exhaustion more and more often, but she did not stop.

[I shall offer my soul as a sacrifice.]

The Priestess said this, removed her black cloth, and tried to climb onto the altar.

[We shall join you.]

[We offer our souls to the Evil God.]

[I, too, shall become part of evil.]

Many Luzenians followed the Priestess.

They all sang as they tried to leap into the flames.

"This is insane...! D-don't do that!"

"W-we should probably stop that ritual first."

"They're all going to die at this rate."

Jinwoo was flustered too.

The Luzenians were smiling as they tried to throw themselves into the fire.

"Put out the fire and bring all the soldiers on the altar back here!"

[Executing orders.]

The drones on standby extinguished the raging flames and teleported the soldiers placed on the altar to the prison. The Luzenians shed tears of joy.

[The Evil God has answered us! We are now apostles of the Evil God! As apostles of the Evil God, we must burn everything in this world! The one true god who saved our souls! Do you believe in the Great Evil?]

[OHHH!]

[We believe!]

[Our savior! The end of the world!]

[Destroy all worlds for us!]

Ignis nodded and looked at Jinwoo.

"The blank page has been dyed pitch black."

As Ignis said, the situation had grown far more serious.

The patron deity of Arsilan, who had come to spread light and hope, was being called the Evil God!

Jinwoo squeezed his eyes shut.

"The Kalsus Dimensional Empire! We need to wipe them out!"

At Jinwoo's words, the crew members all wore strained expressions.

Somehow, a cult brimming with madness had been born.