Chapter 57

Chapter 57
“Are you saying you can genuinely halt the Second Apocalypse… entirely on your own?”
Sunken Eyes inquired once more, wearing an expression of utter disbelief.
I responded with a lazy smirk playing at the corner of my lips.
“Still doubting my words?”
“N-no, that’s not it! I simply had no idea such a thing was within reason… Does possessing the All-Area Conqueror privilege truly grant the power to block the Second Apocalypse?”
Of course, my All-Area Conqueror privilege was nothing more than an inherited title. I possessed zero knowledge regarding how to actually stop the Second Apocalypse.
Yet, there was virtually no possibility that every single meteor item holding divine revelations would gather in my hands right at this exact moment, meaning there was also no way anyone could prove my statements false. For the time being, I was the sole person aware of what All-Area Conqueror privilege I had genuinely obtained.
Even a player who had unlocked the system could only verify a single title by inspecting my status window: Friend of Luna Moon.
Consequently, if I asserted that my All-Area Conqueror privilege consisted of “the authority to halt the Second Apocalypse by collecting nine meteor items,” the truth or falsehood of that claim remained my secret alone.
Even “Shin” from Love Area, who had exploited the ignorance of fellow players to pass off the system as a “divine revelation,” likely never imagined that exact same trick would be used against him. Because he lacked any means to inspect my privilege, he could not entirely dismiss the possibility that I was telling the truth.
Furthermore, every single one of us needed to survive the Second Apocalypse. To average players, the assertion that I could halt it would undoubtedly sound remarkably appealing.
Players who already possessed meteor items, however, would likely find it far less charming.
I relaxed my imposing posture slightly and adopted a softer tone.
“Believe me or don’t—that choice is entirely yours. Regardless, I am hardly refusing cooperation. I have been assigned a specific mission, and I am merely moving forward to fulfill it.”
“Ah… a mission…!”
The phrase seemed to leave a profound impact on him. The hope that had previously brightened his expression at the prospect was palpable.
“B-but… what exactly is this object that holds a divine revelation?”
“You’re a player, so you should already know. I require meteor items.”
“Meteor items? Then that would mean the earring currently in Manshin’s possession. He claims he utilizes it to converse with the divine…”
Sunken Eyes went quiet, his face clouding over as he grappled with the dilemma of how to report these developments to Manshin. Observing him for a brief second, I casually tossed out another inquiry.
“So, care to explain why you were pretending to be injured?”
“Pardon?”
He glanced up, completely bewildered, as though the question had come out of nowhere.
“Before you were caught. You were faking that physical injury, weren’t you?”
“Ah… about that…”
“No need to worry. Just give me the honest truth.”
“I was attempting to capture an NPC to gather information regarding Dopamine Addict. My attempt failed, though…”
“With a physique like yours, you honestly planned to take on two of them?”
“W-well, my plan was to eliminate one and permanently cripple the other so movement became impossible.”
Had I not trained those two individuals beforehand, someone would surely have ended up bleeding.
“Those NPCs possess insanely sharp instincts, though! It was as if they had anticipated that exact scenario…”
He trailed off mid-sentence, then stared at me with the expression of someone who had suddenly pieced the puzzle together.
“Come to think of it… you knew I was heading this way all along, didn’t you?!”
I replied smoothly without a single muscle in my face shifting.
“Indeed I did.”
“No wonder they felt far too intelligent for ordinary Cola Area NPCs…!”
“You can consider yourself lucky. Had you actually harmed them, I wouldn’t have been able to simply let you walk back out.”
At those words, tension rushed back into his pale complexion as though he had only just remembered he was trespassing within another player’s controlled territory.
“I… I should probably make my way back now to deliver this report to Manshin…”
Clearly, he remained terrified that I might change my mind and deny him a safe exit.
I could easily have interrogated him further to squeeze out intelligence regarding Love Area… but keeping him around merely amplified the danger of exposing my own player status. If he began blabbering recklessly about divine revelations in front of the local NPCs, things would descend into chaos. Playing the role of the gracious host and dismissing him quickly was by far the wiser choice.
I opened my storage inventory and withdrew a handful of surplus legacy-style combat rations. The moment they materialized out of thin air, Sunken Eyes let out a soft noise of awe. The fact that he looked impressed rather than utterly shocked implied that Shin had already flaunted his own inventory capabilities to demonstrate his superiority.
I tossed the food packs directly in front of him. They were the older models that tasted remarkably like boot leather rather than the modern Star Candy, but since none of us possessed the ability to taste anything anyway, the distinction hardly mattered.
“Take them. That should be plenty to sustain your recovery on the trip back.”
“Th-thank you so much…!”
I left him scrambling frantically to gather the rations for a brief moment, then spoke up in an offhand tone.
“In return, there’s just one little thing I’d like to ask…”

—

“Are you entirely certain it’s wise to let him walk away like that?”
Meursault questioned, his eyes tracking Sunken Eyes’s bewildered, retreating figure.
“For someone who claimed to be simply lost, he carried himself with far too much composure when we apprehended him. It leaves me unsettled.”
“Relax. He’s just a kid.”
“…Lately, children happen to be what terrifies me the most.”
And why on earth are you glaring directly at me while making that comment?
“Anyway, I handled the conversation. I untied him, talked things through, and he never once attempted to harm me. Isn’t that proof enough? We didn’t venture out here to hunt suspicious children—our objective is monsters.”
“That may be true, but…”
“Just a kid after all. What a relief.”
“What on earth was that clueless brat doing lurking around a location like this!”
If those two ever discovered that the very same clueless brat had nearly eliminated them, they would likely faint on the spot.
“There’s nothing else of interest left on this side besides that youngster. Let’s head back.”
“No signal flares yet. It appears the other squads haven’t located a target either.”
Every team had mutually agreed to launch a white flare the exact moment they spotted a large-class monster. Yet even after wrapping up my discussion with the Love Area player and stepping back outside, the sky remained entirely devoid of a single spark.
In situations like this, either the previous winter had been unusually mild and thinned the local population, or the beasts had learned that warm weather signaled a purge and consequently gone into hiding. At the very least, since I had inhabited this body, the winters had been harsh, meaning the monsters were likely just concealing themselves. If that were the case, they would eventually emerge in search of food, and our only duty was to kill time and wait.
Even so…
“Not laying eyes on a single one remains remarkably strange.”
“You think so?”
“It isn’t just large-class beasts. We haven’t encountered a single mid- or small-class creature either.”
The sole discovery our sweep had yielded was a single player disguised as a child. That outcome was undeniably abnormal.
Meursault and the remaining junior officers, however, merely wore blank expressions.
“…Never mind. What was I even thinking, dragging a bunch of rookies along on their maiden purge.”
“This happens to be your first one as well…”
“Did someone say something?”
“We’ll handle cleaning up the perimeter!”
Lucas swiftly clamped a hand over Bones’s grumbling mouth and hurried away to dismantle the temporary shelter tent.
Meursault watched them depart for a moment before shifting his gaze back toward me.
“Is the situation genuinely that peculiar? While I’ve rarely participated in a purge myself, I’ve read through plenty of official reports. They typically indicate that mid- and small-class monsters grow frightened and scatter, which is why they avoid detection. The squads searching the other sectors reported finding the footprints of fleeing monsters racing away as if paralyzed by terror, too.”
“I’m aware of that report. However, there are only ten of us total.”
Under normal circumstances, the disappearance of mid- and small-class beasts made logical sense. Hundreds of heavily armed humans marching out into—
“Yet such a massive quantity of monsters fled in a coordinated panic as though genuinely terrified. That particular detail bothers me.”
“Hmm… aren’t monsters naturally sensitive creatures?”
“They certainly are. Why do you ask?”
“They must have sensed it from a great distance away. Ah—something exceptionally dangerous has departed the Area…”
I lost my train of thought for a full second and simply stared blankly at him.
“Was that supposed to pass for a joke?”
“…Hey, over there! You really shouldn’t be hauling equipment that way.”
Meursault sidestepped the inquiry utilizing some thoroughly unconvincing acting. I watched him spout absolute nonsense while pretending to assist the soldiers, then let my expression tighten slightly.
Joke or not, an unnamable chill had firmly settled over my mind.
The atmosphere is far too quiet…
This particular region had never been densely populated with monsters to begin with. Therefore, perhaps my sense of unease lacked any real foundation. My primary objective had been to inspect the boundary barrier expected to be in this vicinity, and having personally witnessed a Love Area player cross right over it, I had already accomplished that goal. Even with the naked eye, there was zero trace of the glowing blue wall I recalled from the video game.
A Unicorn Area player had crossed over as well, and I had previously worried that perhaps only exceptional individuals could bypass the zone borders, making this realization a modest relief.
However, if that truly was the case…
Home Protector, who still had failed to establish contact, was increasingly looking like the victim of some malicious scheme orchestrated by Love Area’s “Shin.” Naturally, he might simply be preoccupied clearing out content or keeping a low profile because he viewed me with suspicion. Still, my gut instinct heavily leaned toward something having gone wrong on his end.
Anyone willing to dispatch a player all the way deep into my home zone would almost certainly have paid a direct visit to the closest territory as well—
Tobacco Area.
Not that I possessed the slightest inclination to launch a rescue mission for Home Protector. I was, however, deeply intrigued by the meteor item he happened to be holding.
I need to observe firsthand how that shaman reacts to the All-Area Conqueror privilege.
The most predictable reaction would be outright disbelief. Yet certain indicators regarding the Love Area player suggested he might act with far more audacity than anticipated. I was genuinely looking forward to it.
Then—
One of the men hauling gear stared out toward the distant hills and let out a vacant exclamation. Every individual possessing sharp senses, myself included, snapped their heads around instantly.
And right then, our entire field of vision flooded with them.
Brilliant white sparks scattering wildly across the upper atmosphere.
“Magnificent…”
A handful of the greenhorn officers, entirely lacking real combat experience, stood utterly transfixed by the spectacle, their faces painted with wide-eyed wonder.
My own expression alongside Meursault’s, by stark contrast, instantly turned stone-cold and rigid.
“Those are undoubtedly…”
White flare signals, fired specifically to announce the discovery of a large-class monster.
And the direction from which they bloomed was precisely the central sector where Commander’s Team One had departed to conduct their search.