Season 2: Chapter 187: Icarus (1)
A catastrophic event occurred when Swift died in the story mode.
"Did... he die?"
Ju-Hyeok's eyes flickered beyond his glasses.
"Is this okay?"
Since events in the story mode could affect reality, it was natural to be bewildered. If Swift died like this, then what happened to the real Swift?
However, it didn’t seem to matter much judging from the community's reaction. No, it seemed like it was supposed to be this way.
[This motherfucker finally bit the dust lol]
[Ah, I'm so touched~~~ Sniff sniff!]
[Wow, this is the real game]
[Politician K.O.!]
[Breaking News: Jungler Swift from Yeouido dies]
They celebrated Swift's death and similar comments appeared.
— Killing Swift is a rare sight, isn't it?
└ Yeah, among streamers, it's really rare.
└ The problem is what comes next. The next part will be hella difficult.
└ The reincarnation of JeonJaPa, whoa~
— Native jungler from Yeouido, lol.
└ LOL.
— Why would a politician dare to fight a combatant?
└ Back then, there was a martial arts tournament at the National Assembly. You didn’t know that?
└ LMAO, so true.
└ Haha, that's where filibusters were held. Nowadays, these babies don't know.
It was now clear that Swift's death was part of the original storyline.
"Then is Swift someone else?"
That meant the current champion Swift was someone else. The likelihood of Almond being Swift was the highest.
Considering gender issues, Luna was unlikely to be Swift. Of course, Luna could be the Swift too if it was a world with a very liberal mindset about gender. Luna probably wasn’t it considering Ran's storyline.
"Then who is Luna exactly?"
Was Luna like Raina's Damien? Or was she another villain? Discussions about Luna also appeared in the community.
[What's this about Luna taking the hit instead??]
[Wow, Luna is sacrificing herself. What's going on?]
[Luna! You didn't have to do that to me!]
Overall, they appreciated Luna taking the hit for Almond. It seemed like something that didn't happen too often. No, the opposite was usually the case.
— Wait, did that girl actually save someone?!"
└ Oh, I didn't know that.
└ It’s a well-known fact in the academic world that Luna can see the faces of trapped beings.
— You were cold-hearted to me back then, but now you love someone here. Yeah, that's right…
└ Haha.
└ Just sing a few love songs.
— It was all because he rejected the offer earlier…
└ Actually, he had been rejecting it until now.
└ That's what I'm saying.
It seemed like rejecting Luna's offer, as the LIL Pro users said, had a significant impact. Maybe Luna took the hit for Almond to regain his trust. Or maybe she treated Almond in a special manner.
Either way, Almond undoubtedly chose an interesting branch from the many possibilities. Now, all that was left was to see the flower bloom on that branch.
[Here comes the big one.]
[Almond vs. JeonJaPa! Let’s goooo~]
[If Almond wins this, he'll be the strongest nut specialist for at least a week.]
The community users were eagerly anticipating the final showdown.
Since they always mentioned it, Ju-Hyeok predicted it would be an indirect confrontation with JeonJaPa. He didn’t know how it would play out.
'This must be the final boss.'
He could tell that the next showdown would be the last. It would probably result in the most YouTube views.
***
Thud.
Swift fell.
[HP: 0%]
His health had clearly reached zero. He was dead.
Boom! Bam!
[RubySword has donated 30,000 won!]
[Wow! Amazing!! Congratulations!]
Donations started pouring in as soon as the boss was defeated.
[LunaSword has donated 10,000 won.]
[Wow! Finally saw Swift get killed after ages!!
[EggStir has donated 10,000 won.]
[Wait, then who's the Swift in LIL?! Almond's real body???]
— ???
— LunaSword lol
— It’s the fake sword, lol.
— Thanks to LunaSword, that’s why we got him~
— Congrats!
— It's really been ages since Swift was last killed.
— It’s definitely three stars.
"Thank you for the donations RubySword, LunaSword, and EggStir."
It seemed very rare for someone to even defeat Swift. That was because the difficulty was quite high. It wouldn't have been easy if Almond hadn't leveled up a lot beforehand and properly enhanced his weapons.
"Swift wasn't easy to beat."
— Yeah.
— He wasn’t designed to be beaten after endlessly repeating the dungeons.
— Enemies acknowledged by Almond: Swift
Even Almond admitted that defeating Swift wasn't easy. If Luna hadn't intervened at the end, Almond would have taken much longer to beat him.
Then, he heard Luna's voice.
"Sigh... I'm fine. Thanks for your concern."
"..."
Luna seemed annoyed or sarcastic that Almond didn’t thank her. She struggled to get up.
Thump. Thump.
After dusting off her dusty clothes, she took out a potion hidden in her pocket and gulped it down. The wound from the sword that stabbed her cleared up, but something was strange.
'!'
Almond realized something and exclaimed, "Wait a minute. Didn't you say you didn't have any potions?"
— Huh?
— Yeah, for real lol!
— WTF, lol.
Just before reaching the last floor, Luna clearly said she had no potions. At the time, Almond's health was below twenty percent. If it hadn't been replenished over time and remained as it was, he probably would have died while fighting Swift. Even then, she didn't give him a potion, but she had one for herself.
"Oh. I don't. I didn’t have any to give you," Luna responded shamelessly with a smirk.
— LOL.
— I'm impressed, lol.
— My bro, Almond. Let’s kill her too!
"It's a joke," Luna said so and tossed him another potion.
Thunk.
"Wow."
Almond quickly accepted it. Since his left arm was almost unusable right now, it would be fatal to encounter an enemy in this state.
[HP: 89%]
The potion significantly restored his health and completely healed his arm.
"Thank you."
"Whatever."
Luna shrugged and extended her hand. A moment of silence enveloped the sanctuary.
Now, they didn’t know how things would unfold from now on.
"Guys, what do we do now? Why isn't the three star clear showing up...?"
— Um, IDK?
— Good question.
— Why are you asking when we’ll get banned for answering? Lol!
— It’s a trap!
He couldn't get an answer from the viewers.
"Maybe because we haven't resolved the questions related to Luna?"
Almond took a guess and approached Luna.
"Luna."
"... Yes?"
"About what Swift said earlier. Do you have anything to say about that?"
When he brought up this topic, Luna seemed bewildered.
"What... do you mean? That I wrote that on your body?"
"Yeah."
"Do you believe such nonsense?" Luna snapped back at him.
"Well, there was some logic to it."
"You’re insane..."
Luna spat out harsh words as she walked briskly toward Swift's corpse.
Thud!
She kicked his face.
"This damn bastard! Even in death, he’s a pain in the ass!"
— Whoa.
— WTF LOL.
— This is hilarious, LOL.
"What logic are you talking about!? I'm not an archaeologist! Anyone can be a guide!"
"But why you then?"
Luna's face turned pale.
"W-Well... I was the most useful as a guide."
Apparently, Swift did not include Luna in the party unless she acted as a guide because she didn't have much combat ability.
"That's a convenient excuse."
"What did you say!?"
Then, it happened.
"Hey... guys."
Rustle.
A voice echoed from where the bodies were piled up.
"Ben?"
The voice belonged to Ben, who had been discussing strategies around the campfire with the others. He crawled out and stood between Luna and Almond.
"Don't... don't fight... this is what he wants..."
"Ben, this is my business. Don't interfere."
Although Almond warned Ben to step back, Ben didn't budge.
"Almond, Luna isn't that kind of person."
— ??
— You’re the one who said Luna was weird.
— Ben's friend is crying, LOL.
Almond was puzzled.
"You're the one who said Luna was acting weird."
"No. Th-That was my misunderstanding. You know, Luna is just as I thought initially. An angelic being."
What angel cursed while kicking a corpse's face?
— LOL.
— They're experts at changing their stance, LOL.
— How many floors did he fall from to manipulate his memory?
— No, Ben, WTF haha.
— Angel?! LOL.
"Looks like Ben really likes Luna. Haha..."
— LOL.
— Well, you can't help it if you like someone~
— Ugh, poor thing.
Ben had liked Luna while also suspecting her. Since Luna turned out to not be the culprit, he naturally took her side. He vehemently defended Luna.
"Almond, you, you saw it, right? Luna fought against Swift."
"What? Who said Luna fought against Swift…?"
— ??
— She just landed the finishing blow, LOL.
— Almond is the one who fought Swift. This guy… smh.
— He's obsessed with the girl... tsk tsk.
— Almond even lost his arm.
Almond was dumbfounded. He lost an arm, yet Ben claimed it was Luna who killed Swift. That wasn’t completely wrong since Luna delivered the final blow. It was the truth.
Luna chuckled and added, "You heard that, Almond? Stop these strange misunderstandings."
— LOL.
— What a smug Luna LOL.
— I love Luna!
Almond couldn't continue the conversation. No matter what he said, she just kept repeating, “Stop these strange misunderstandings.”
This was a phenomenon that occurred when NPCs couldn't continue their dialogue.
‘Then, what about the three star clear…?’
His head throbbed. How could he achieve the three star clear?
"Anyway, now's not the time. We need to figure out how to get out."
Ben pointed to the sky. The sanctuary's area was pierced from the roots to the stems and the floor. It was like a deep well.
"We have to go out there."
"But how?" Luna muttered.
"Do you mean we should fly in the sky or something?"
Fly in the sky? Almond instantly remembered the name of the three star clear condition.
‘Icarus.’
Icarus was a mythical figure who escaped the labyrinth by making wings. How did he make the wings? By killing a bird.
Then, it happened.
Kiiiiiiii!
A chilling high-frequency pierced their ears. The sound descended from above. It came from the top floor of the sanctuary.
Thud!!!
"Oh no. What's going on?"
Wings spread out over the giant's shoulders.
Shwaaak!
Each feather was forged like a blade on the monster's wing.
"Summoning the boss wasn’t enough..."
It was a bird. He was the administrator of this place. It wasn't an illusion this time, but the real one.
"Did you kill the chosen contractor?"
His eyebrows rose as if in anger since the chosen contractor Swift had been killed.
Luna and Ben froze.
However, the bird said something completely unexpected.
"Fine. Fight until one of you remains."
He ordered the remaining people to kill each other.
"The last one remaining will take this sanctuary."
That was right. The bird had stated the rules from the beginning.
[If there are no remaining contractors, one non-contracted individual will win. The non-contracted individual's comrades will not be considered.]
If the person wasn’t a contractor, only one could leave this place alone.
Kiririk.
Almond pulled back his bowstring.
"Ah... Almond? Are you serious?" Luna asked in surprise.
"Are you... going to kill me?"
Tears welled up in Luna's eyes. They were filled with confusion and betrayal.
"No."
Almond shook his head and released the bowstring.
Whoooosh!
The arrow, which seemed to be heading toward Luna, swerved and struck the bird instead.
Crash!
The bird quickly folded its blade-like wings and deflected the arrow.
"Interesting choice."
The bird frowned.
Luna and Ben panicked, but Almond knew this was the only way.
"Luna. Ben. Kill this thing and let's get out of here."
The only way to get the third star clear was to kill this bird and fly away. Just like Icarus in the myth.
***
[Beginner Tip: There is a saying that you may escape by remaining still in the face of danger, but don't use the teachings of our ancestors lightly in the abyss. All those who stayed still died. Haha!]