The Gamer's POV

A loud crack suddenly ran through the air, spiderwebbing across the sky before the entire reality shattered and fell away, revealing the world as it truly was.

When that happened, Cedric saw himself standing somewhere different from where he had been lying when he reached out to touch the weapon.

At that moment, he was hit with a wave of intense pain because he was in no condition to stand. But the adrenaline rushing through him made him ignore it as he quickly looked around.

The battle which had been raging everywhere continued in the same manner as it was in the fake reality, as if nothing had changed.

But something had indeed changed.

In the fake reality, Goldie had been holding onto Uriel some meters away, but now, Goldie was suspended several meters in the air near him. She seemed to just regain control over her body, which had been floating on its own.

As for Uriel, she stood not too far from him, and like Goldie, she too just regained control over her body. When she did, she collapsed to the ground because she felt too weak to stand.

Looking at her, Cedric could see that both her eyes were pale, which meant she was now blind. Her bearer, Leon, stood several meters away on the other side behind Cedric. When he regained control of his body, he quickly took one look around and in the next heartbeat, he was already darting towards Uriel, who couldn’t see and was utterly terrified.

Turning back, Cedric could see his bond, Aika. Her sword was drawn and her body was tilted forward at an unnatural angle. When she regained control, her body tipped over, but she quickly regained her composure.

Some meters from Aika, Celeste stood motionless with her head tilted back as if she were admiring the sky. When she too gained control of her body, the smile that had been on her face vanished as she tilted her head down to look around.

Everyone was in a state of utter confusion, shock, and disbelief. Their minds and eyes raced to process what was happening. Cedric, too, began to quickly analyze the situation.

Through the eyes of his raven, he could see Lee Lim standing atop the cliff with one hand in his pocket and a confused expression on his face.

’What the hell?!’

When Cedric saw that, it didn’t take long for him to make an educated guess of what had happened.

’’It seems that after that Lord threw his weapon, both Aika and I, who were the closest to it, fell under the false reality where we had to battle a fake version of him. Celeste, Goldie, Uriel, and Leon must have seen me and Aika standing like we were in a trance and came to check on us. But when they got in close proximity to the weapon, rather than seeing us in a trance, all they saw was us in a heated battle with the Lord as they, too, fell under the reality.

’That explains why no one outside, including Athena, came to snap us out of it. Because even if they saw us in a trance from a distance, the moment they got close, they’d see us in a battle. And since Athena was observing us using the daffodils she had around, she must have seen the fake battle instead of the truth.

’Also, since I couldn’t notice it despite using my ravens, it seems that those stuck under the reality cannot see through it no matter what.

’That’s scary as hell!’

Cedric cursed under his breath at the absurdity of it. His heart was racing, and his eyes were wide as he continued to look around. They were all really in deep trouble had it not been for the timely intervention of Gamer Privileges.

Because no matter what strategy they used or how hard they fought, they would never have been able to defeat Lee Lim. The bastard had not moved an inch from where he had been standing atop the limestone cliff far away.

***

Meanwhile, atop the cliff, Lee Lim’s thoughts were also racing.

’Tsk. This is not good. Normally, The Dolos’s Whisper should have returned to me by now, but it hasn’t. No matter how I call for it, I can’t reach it. It’s almost as if the weapon has been completely hidden from existence. What sort of magic is that?’

Lee Lim’s frown deepened. ’I heard him say inventory. Does he have similar skills to us? How is that even possible? There are so many things about this man that are strange, and I do not like this. He also seemed to speak Korean, and he even knew my name. What is going on? I get that I am a pawn in a game that I do not even understand, but it would have helped if this God of Unearned Misfortune had at least told me what I’m dealing with.’

Lee Lim let out a heavy, tired sigh. Then, he looked down at his open palm. The blue globe that had been in his hand had shattered and had already begun to dissipate into smoke that drifted into the air.

He dropped his hand and his eyes traveled, zooming in on other parts of the battlefield.

’So-young is dead. Dae-hyun is dead. Somehow, Min-hyuk has been turned into a tree. We are falling one after the other.’

Lee Lim felt a growing bitterness.

These were people he had worked with for years. They were his friends as well as his colleagues. They had shared so many company dinners together that he knew their lives as well as his own.

Take Dae-hyun, for instance. He had a wife to return to. A wife who was pregnant by the time they were brought to this world. Lee Lim remembered how Dae-hyun used to talk to him every day, telling him there was nothing he wanted more than to see his child — the child he had been waiting years for.

Now, he was dead. Dead in a horrible world and a war that he didn’t even understand.

What a meaningless death.

’They all died meaningless deaths.’

Lee Lim took out his other hand, and both hands clenched into fists. He turned his gaze back to Cedric and his unit on the sand. His hatred and anger boiled over, burning intensely in his chest. They were the cause of all this.

He would kill them.

Oh, he would kill them all in the most brutal way possible!