Season 4: Chapter 229. Your Hero (1)
Almond simply wanted a chance to shine a little more.
“Looks like luck wasn’t on my side.”
He scratched his head, full of regret. It had been the greatest deduction in Almondoyle's history. And it turned out to be a complete miss.
— Luck?
— Blaming bad luck lol
— What even is this guy? LOL
The viewers clearly didn’t buy his explanation.
Almond elaborated. “If I’d been just a little luckier, Paprika’s people would’ve come out of the portal...”
— ?
— ??
— His thought process is on another level!
— He was never trying to be right in the first place
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
As criticism of his deduction piled up, Almond earnestly laid out his so-called evidence.
“I watched a video on quantum mechanics on YouTube. Until you open the box, what’s inside isn’t physically determined yet. The portal too...”
— Holy shit this guy
— Athletics major quantum mechanics
— Nice
— Technically not wrong
— ‘I watched it on YouTube...’ lol
Almond continued engaging the viewers in this cerebral debate.
ForeverAlone, who had just arrived through the portal, delivered urgent news. “My lord! Cheese Village is being completely destroyed!”
“Cheese Village?”
“Yes! The Dragon of Streaming Destruction has appeared! We can’t fight it at all!”
At ForeverAlone’s words, Miho and Cutie Pie chimed in as well.
“It’s true! If you get hit by its breath, your character gets deleted!?”
“It’s terrifying!”
The Expedition Squad all stiffened at the mention of character deletion.
“Deleted?”
Takoyaki stepped forward to organize the situation. “The Dragon of Streaming Destruction is an existence that can erase this entire world... It was far too strong for us to handle, so...”
He looked around at the Expedition Squad.
“In my opinion, the Expedition Squad needs to go and kill the Dragon of Streaming Destruction using relics.”
Orange immediately objected. “Wait, hold on. Takoyaki, we still haven’t figured out how to bring the city of Treevy up.”
“Bring the city... up?” Takoyaki looked around.
The illuminated scenery of Treevy City stretched out before them.
“How are we supposed to raise something like this?”
“I checked all the facilities. This city... can fly.”
Orange had studied the structural records and personally explored the city. Traces of levitation devices were embedded throughout Treevy.
“This could be a massive vessel, which means raising Treevy up is definitely connected to defeating the Dragon of Streaming Destruction!”
Shk.
Orange had come prepared. “I’ve got the blueprints too.”
“Hmm.”
Takoyaki nodded after looking them over, and so did everyone else.
“Whoa... This was a flying city?”
“That’s insane.”
Everyone marveled at Orange’s solid reasoning.
“Tch...” For some reason, Almond looked sulky.
— ?
— Why’s he pouting all of a sudden
— Huh?
— LOL He wanted to do the deduction himself lol
— Orange is actually smart tho ^^
“Then we split our forces,” Takoyaki concluded. “We need a Combat Team and a Strategy Team. The Dragon of Streaming Destruction’s breath is too dangerous. Sending half-ass fighters would be suicide.”
Lackey ForeverAlone, Orange, Takoyaki, Cutie Pie, Miho, and Acorn Jelly stayed behind in Treevy as the Strategy Team. Almond and the Knights headed up as the Combat Team. The two groups separated to distinguish themselves.
Almond glanced over his own group and frowned, clearly dissatisfied.
“No matter how you look at it, this side is full of idiots.”
— LMAO
— You’re just realizing that now?
— Radish Servant is innocent
— You’re the worst one
— Are you really the one saying that??
Dumbfounded, Takoyaki replied, “Those are your Knights... Almond...”
“Oh...”
— So true LMAO
— Aren’t these the guys you always ran with? LOL
— They just look dumb compared to the other side
— LOL
— Holy shit that’s true
Almond nodded and headed for the portal. “R-Right. Well... let’s go.”
Miho shouted, “My lord! Please protect Cheese Village!”
Lackey ForeverAlone waved right after her. “We’ll save the city and come back! My lord!”
— Lackey ForeverAlone!
—Miho the best waifu
— This is totally a hero’s send-off ceremony
— For real
— Miho knows how to stage a scene for sure!
Almond bowed his oversized head in acknowledgment and stepped toward the portal.
Whoosh.
He entered first and vanished, followed by the rest of the Combat Team. Only the six tasked with saving the city of Treevy remained behind.
“All right.” Orange spread out the blueprints. “I think we need to repair these devices. There’s probably... a puzzle involved. It just so happens that there are exactly six of them...”
And so, the Cheese Village Restoration Project began simultaneously underground and on the surface.
[06:39:15]
The timer continued ticking away until the Treevy server shutdown. Roughly six hours and forty minutes remained.
Squirm.
Saintess Treeana’s body began moving again.
***
Whoosh.
Almond appeared in Cheese Village. The portal connected to an underground tunnel beneath the village. It wasn’t as deep as where Treevy lay buried, but still far below the surface. The villagers had dug this shelter to avoid the Dragon of Streaming Destruction’s breath.
Kwarakwarakwang...!
Even now, sounds of destruction echoed faintly from afar.
Zelu, no, Zela rushed to greet Almond the moment he appeared. “M-My lord! Ooooh! My loooord!”
“Th-The legend my father told me says that when the village falls into crisis, my lord and his four knights would appear! Y-You really came!?”
“Zel... What was it again?”
— LOL
— It was Zela!!
— “Zel... what was it...” wow
— You already forgot Zelu’s last words?
“It’s Zela!”
“Oh, right. Zela, you’ve grown a lot. You look just like your father.”
Tap. Tap.
Almond patted his shoulder.
“M-My lord... I’m sorry to ask when you’re so busy, but... what kind of person was my father?”
“Your father was...”
Kugugugung...!
The Dragon of Streaming Destruction’s breath shook the world once more. The tremor rumbled deep underground.
After a brief pause, Almond answered, “A hero.”
Zela’s eyes sparkled with awe. “Whoa...”
“He was a dictator for a bit, though.”
Zela froze, eyes still wide.
— ?
— LOL
— So true
— Hahahahaha
— A hero’s brief deviation
— Ah...
“He was a miner, a rebel, a terrorist, and even a dictator... In the end, he was still a hero.”
Zela’s eyes trembled again. “Sniff... M-My lord...!”
— Awww
— So touching...
— Damn it, my lord!
— What is that expression on Zela? LOL
— How much did Zelu spend on the circus anyway? LOL
— In the end, still a hero
Radish Servant advised him from the side. “My lord, you should go now.”
Potato Servant chimed in as well, “You must stop the Dragon of Streaming Destruction’s rampage at once! M-Myyy looord!”
“Right.”
Zela quickly grabbed onto them. “M-My lord! And sirs! If you die to the Dragon of Streaming Destruction, you’ll be deleted permanently! You won’t even be able to leave descendants! S-Shouldn’t you at least leave some last words?”
Tap.
Almond placed a hand on Zela’s shoulder and said one final line, “Just don’t end up like your father.”
— Damn...
— Those are his last words??
— ???
— Being a hero hurts way too much before the end LOL
— ??? Heroes don’t die
— The “I won’t die” mindset
— Nice
— M-My lord
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Thunk!
Potato Servant and Radish Servant took the lead, carving out steps with their pickaxes. Almond and the four knights began ascending.
Zela, left with nothing but his father’s legacy of chakra, could only stare blankly as they climbed toward the light at the surface.
“The sun has risen over Cheese Village. It was night when we came down here.” Zela simply clasped his hands and bowed his head. “This, too, must be by the Lord’s grace.”
— Three generations, three different political leanings
— Damn
— This too is the Lord’s grace
***
The surface of Cheese Village lay in ruins. From the ground, a small hand suddenly popped out.
Pop.
“Ugh... Phew.”
Then, Almond’s massive head emerged.
“Wow. You really dug a lot.”
He shaded his eyes with his palm and looked up.
“That’s the Dragon of Streaming Destruction?”
“Seems so, my lord.”
“Whoa... It’s huge.”
The four knights swallowed dryly as they stared at the dragon. They had never imagined facing an enemy of such size.
Radish Servant analyzed the situation. “It’s not just the size. It’s flying too high. We’ll have to stack blocks up to match its altitude before we can fight, my lord.”
Even as they spoke, the Dragon of Streaming Destruction’s breath continued to erase Cheese Village.
Kwarakwarakwang!
Another section vanished from the map.
Almond objected. “Hmm... What if it notices us while we’re climbing?”
Stacking blocks would take time. They’d be impossible to miss.
Potato Servant said, “At least for now, it’s so high up that it can’t see us.”
Almond didn’t look convinced. “But once we’re up there, it’ll see us.”
Once the blocks reached a certain height, the dragon would surely destroy them.
“Th-Then... what do we do?”
Whooong!
Thunderous wings filled the air. Another dragon had appeared.
“Huh?”
The Dragon of Streaming Destruction was also clearly up there.
“It’s that crazy dragon!”
“Gah!?”
‘Oh.’
Almond recognized that dragon.
“EggPlant...”
“Huh?”
— ?
— ??
— A shoutout!
— That’s a bannable offense
— Holy shit
— That dragon!?
— No way, it came now???
The dragon that had tried to kill Almond back in Paprika, only to slaughter the innocent Paprika players instead. That dragon had returned.