Season 4: Chapter 206. Ancient Ruins (1)
“NONG! HYUP!”
“Listen to this nonsense.” Zelu scoffed as if it were ridiculous. “Do all of you need to get stomped to come to your senses!?”
“Hahaha! We don’t care!” Horn Ramen shot back. “We don’t have any items.”
— OMG LOL
— The invincibility of having nothing to lose
— Kyaaa
— This is it~
— What are you gonna do, kill them? That’s literally all you can do lol
— I’m dead
“We just came to sprinkle some chili powder on things!”
Fwaaash!
He really did throw some chili powder.
“Wind Style! Mouth Art!”
[Air Pop]
PUH-ONG!
A gust exploded from his mouth and hurled the chili powder everywhere.
“Gahhh!”
“Urk!”
— LOOOOOL
— Wind Style: Mouth Art I’m crying
— Horn Ramen is unhinged
— Never thought these old dudes would look this cool
— Damn you, Cheese Village! It’s you again!!
***
Not everyone in Cheese had betrayed the Lord, and a few in Paprika also refused to become rebels.
[Orange]
Orange was the prime example.
— This miner is so sweet
— The embodiment of side-hustle grinding lol
— This is the good stuff
He had once rallied with the miners as a Scrub and vowed to flip the world together.
“Mining is actually pretty good. Hahaha!”
However, with his strategic and efficiency-obsessed personality, he ended up loving the productivity that the Knights had created.
“Honestly, I could just succeed like this.”
— LMAO true
— You gotta learn advanced tech from invaders
— Stockholm syndrome
— I mean you’re not wrong
— This too is the Lord’s blessing...
He was now richer than he’d ever been in Paprika. As he dug deeper in search of rarer minerals, he also discovered something unusual.
[Only those who stare at darkness the longest shall see the light first.]
He found the Sealed Saintess.
“Oh...?” Orange became interested in this content. “Damn. The dev team really put a lot in here.”
— For real
— What is this??
— Damn
— Holy
— What even is this??
Knock, knock.
He tapped the blue ore that sealed the Saintess.
“Saintess? How can I get you out of there?”
“It is blue.”
“Sorry? What’s that supposed to mean?”
The Saintess looked at him for a long moment, then murmured, “Unless you are my monk, I cannot say more. Look around you. Become my monk.”
“Look around...?” He checked the surroundings. “Huh?”
Near the seal, he found a blue and red ore bar stuck side by side. The long, rod-like pieces looked suspicious at a glance.
“What are these?” He tried to pull them out.
Ding!
[Uninteractable Object]
“Huh?” Orange couldn’t move or alter them. “This is weird. Why?”
He leaned closer and touched them.
Vmmm...!
The red rod reacted and glowed faintly. Like a gauge, a small red bar filled at the bottom before stopping.
“It barely filled. So, I need to max it out? But what about the blue one?”
The blue rod did nothing. It didn’t react even when he touched it again.
“If we trigger the blue one and fill it up, maybe that’ll unlock the seal?”
— Yeah sounds like it
— Ooooh
— But what is this??
— What’s supposed to react to it?
“Right? But I have no idea what it wants.” Orange scratched his head. “I’ll figure it out.”
By then, the rebellion had already started in Paprika. Orange had no clue.
[Cheddar: Village residents can now watch Cheese Craft episodes 1 to 4.]
“Mm~ I’ll watch it later~.”
Orange barely even glanced at the announcement about the embargo lift. He just wanted to uncover the Saintess’s secret.
“A hidden secret, let’s gooo~!”
Kaang!
His pickaxe sparked with each strike.
Kang!
Orange mined everything around the sealed Saintess.
‘The real protagonist is the one who solves this.’
He felt sure that the devs had buried something big here on purpose.
‘They wouldn’t go this far for nothing, right?’
In the Cheese Village content, the protagonists were obviously the Lord and Zelu. Stealing their spotlight was nearly impossible. Orange didn’t have that kind of star power.
‘This might be my only shot.’
However, he excelled at digging, analyzing, and solving puzzles. Finding and solving the devs’ hidden secret aligned with his specialties.
Kaang! Kang!
Who knew how deep he’d dug at this point?
“Huff... huff... What the hell...?”
Orange had mined a ridiculous amount, but no major hint appeared. He had found a lot of weird items.
“What is all this?”
These mystic minerals and rare herbs didn’t exist on the surface.
“And what are you?”
Pop.
He pulled out a root that immediately shrieked.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
“Whoa. My ears.”
[Mandragora]
==== ====
A legendary herb born from soil soaked in the dead’s despair. It can plunge a target into deep sleep or awaken one from deep slumber. Upon waking, the target is fully restored in better condition than before.
==== ====
From the description alone, it seemed incredibly valuable.
— That’s a goldmine
— Yeah, go sell that ASAP
— Holy crap lol
— “Wanna dig for money?” “Yes.”
— This is wild
Why was something like this underground? He tossed the Mandragora into his inventory and checked the other items.
“Hmm...”
Something felt off.
“Some of these mineral descriptions say... people died here or souls are sleeping here... It keeps saying stuff like that. Did something massive die here?”
That seemed a bit weird. When did people ever live down here?
“Did a ton of people live here once...?”
— Holy
— NO WAY
— Ohhhh
— For real???
— I’ve got chills
‘This is it.’
This world held a secret. If people truly lived deep underground long ago, then Orange’s theory was probably correct.
“No way...”
Something clicked in his mind, and he started running.
Tatadadak.
Orange entered a cavern with a noticeably higher ceiling than the others and looked around.
At first, it just seemed like a lot of rocks. However, the shapes and lines of the stones all felt... familiar.
“This looks like... a village? No, a city?”
— Oh damn
— Whoa lol
— An ancient city
— Atlantis vibes
— This is crazy
— Is this Pompeii? lol
“There’s lava flowing nearby. It used to be a town. The lava turned it all to stone.”
He walked up to a wall and swung his pickaxe.
Thunk...!
Something was inside the rock.
Clang! Clang!
Excited, Orange mined like a madman.
“Wh-What is this? Huh? Whoa!!”
Then, it appeared.
Du-dung~!
A player always saw a title when discovering a new area.
[Ancient Ruins]
It really was a city from ancient times. The buildings seemed to be built of strange black-violet stones. The current villages couldn’t even begin to reach such technology. Dense, cold, and immovable black stones stood in front of him.
Orange struck it again.
Clang!
Nothing happened.
“What is this rock...? Damn. It won’t even chip.”
[?????]
Nothing appeared in the info window.
— uhhh
— what the hell? lol
— what IS that??
— I came here because the world above is on fire and someone said you found something weird LOL
— What is he even doing? lmao
— The news is spreading in the forums, Orange
— Explorer Orange!
Word of his discovery had spread, and viewers began pouring in.
‘I knew it.’
Orange grinned.
‘People are coming.’
***
After exploring the ruins for a while, Orange returned to the Saintess.
“Saintess, there’s an ancient city down here. Were you a resident of this place? Since I discovered it, am I your monk now?”
She didn’t answer.
Was this a bug or an AI error?
“That... is not so. That is far beyond... even my liberation.” She sounded stiff as if reading a line she hadn’t prepared.
This all seemed strange since Survival Craft never had AI this advanced.
“Saintess... are you a player? Not an AI?”
“Huh? Ah... No. I... um... yes? Ah...” The Saintess panicked at the unexpected question.
— LOOOL what
— so she IS a person???
— she was just waiting to say her scripted lines???
— what is happening? LOL
— I’m losing it
— LMAO is she for real?
She cleared her throat and returned to using her scripted tone. “I cannot reveal any more to one who is not my monk.”
“Ah... right.” Orange generously let it slide.
He approached the two ore rods with the red and blue gauges.
“I know this is the key... Huh?”
Vmmm...!
The red one reacted again like before. This time, the gauge climbed much higher.
Vvvvvvmmmm!!
“What the...? Why is it rising more now?” Orange thought about what had changed. “Is it because I discovered the ruins?”
— maybe because he learned something??
— why does the blue one still not react tho?
— is this a quest???
— what the hell?
— lmaoooo
“No, wait...”
He noticed tiny numbers engraved on the ore. They could only be seen when the light hit just right.
==== ====
300k
200k
150k
100k
50k
10k
==== ====
“This... is the viewer count, isn’t it?”
Each milestone kept track of the viewership by the thousands. The old Treevy platform had used numbers just like this.
Orange finally understood exactly what these numbers meant and why the gauge had risen.
“Holy crap. This thing is measuring chakra?”
— OMG LOL
— it WAS chakra???
— I can’t breathe
— so THAT’S what it was
— then what’s the blue one?
Still, he had to figure out what the blue bar represented.
“Hmmm...”
Vmmm...!
A faint ripple of blue light stirred. The thin blue current drifted like a thread and trailed off somewhere far away.
“Huh? What’s that? Where is it coming from?”
The blue energy was flowing in from somewhere.
“I guess we follow it, right? Guys?”
***
“Air Paaaaang!”
“Farmer-farmer~ punch!”
BOOOOOM!
The three Nonghyup Union members held the line and bought time.
“Black Tea! Get on!”
The transformed GreenTea squawked and lowered his great bird form. Black Tea hoisted the Lord up, and the knights climbed onto Green Tea’s back.
“Let’s gooo!”
FWOOOM!
The massive wings beat and lifted them into the air. Most of the rebels were too distracted by the Nonghyup Union’s chaos to react.
“Not so fast!”
SHWAAA!
A black-winged silhouette shot up.
[Black Pepper: Dark Knight]
Black Pepper was different.
‘I only have twenty minutes left at the capsule cafe!’
She had fully awakened.
[Dark Swarm]
As her wings spread, swarms of bloodthirsty bats poured out.
“D-Damn it, cut them down!”
“ROAR, MY BLADE!!!”
CRAAASH!
Radish Servant’s slash turned countless bats to dust.
“Kik! Kik!”
“Kiik!”
There were far too many.
Green Tea shouted, “I’ll drop you somewhere safe!”
“What!? What do you mean!?”
FWOOOM!
Green Tea desperately dove to escape from the Governor’s Hall.
THUD.
He landed in an open area.
[Shapeshift]
Sssrrrk.
And returned to his human form.
“I’ll hold her off.”
“Green Tea...!” Black Tea’s eyes trembled.
— Oh my...
— holy... is he actually the boyfriend??
— Was he the boyfriend all along?
— the man, the myth, the Saintess
— he was on Black Tea’s side the whole time, an undercover spy...
“Go.”
Even now, a black figure rained down from above. Black Pepper ignored Green Tea and dove straight for the Lord.
“Vines!”
[Vine Bind]
WHIP!
Plant vines shot up and pinned her in midair.
“DAMN IIIIIIT!” Black Pepper thrashed wildly, unable to break free.
Meanwhile, the Knights sprinted off with the Lord on their backs.
***
“Wh-Where are we going!? Where!?” Potato Servant shouted.
“Haah... We’re going somewhere I know. We’ll treat the Lord there.” Radish Servant, carrying Almond, ran at the front.
He stopped at a small hole in the corner of the Governor’s Hall grounds.
“Here!”
He jumped inside. The tunnel stretched out underground.
“W-What? A burrow?”
“Wh-What is this? Why is there a tunnel here?”
The other knights were stunned.
“You don’t remember? When we came for the Working Holiday, Onion Worker went ahead as the reconnaissance unit to mark coordinates.”
Right, Onion Worker had dug a tunnel long ago for their first Paprika infiltration. Radish Servant remembered because he’d planned the mission.
“It won’t reach Cheese Village, but it’ll take us far enough.”
Radish Servant lit a torch.
WHOOMF.
The long, straight tunnel revealed itself.
“Let’s go.”
“Wow. Amazing. As expected of Sir Radish Servant.”
“Hehehe! This is like camping!”
The Knights walked excitedly down the tunnel.
‘Somebody... heal me. I can’t even talk.’
Almond wanted to speak, but still couldn’t in his near-death state.
“Why isn’t the Lord saying anything?”
“Yeah?”
“Uh... Lord? Is something wrong with him??”
Only now did the knights realize it.