Season 2: Chapter 191: The Background (1)
The flapping continued. Almond passed the root layer, stem layer, and then the leaf layer. He rose above the earth, yet the flapping did not stop. It had nothing to do with his will.
'Is this a cutscene?'
This body was already out of his control. It seemed like the possession had been lifted.
While Almond continued to rise, he stopped flapping at some point. This had nothing to do with his will either.
As if brakes were applied, he suddenly stopped.
Bang!
Suddenly, the wings burst and blades scattered everywhere. The force holding them together vanished. The power bestowed by the sanctuary had disappeared.
'I've come this far.'
He was losing consciousness and his vision blurred.
Blue sky, white clouds, green trees, red sun, and crimson sand all mixed together like paint. The world spun around him and kept spinning faster.
Thump!
He felt a strong impact and soon collapsed.
***
For a moment, his vision blacked out and returned.
'Where am I?'
He was in the middle of some unknown land.
A human was lying on the sandy floor of a yellow desert.
'Huh?'
Then, Almond realized the human lying in front of him was that archaeologist.
'The perspective changed.'
Almond was looking down at the archaeologist from a third-person perspective, which meant he had left that body.
'Is he dead?'
The archaeologist he saw for the first time was in tatters. He was covered in wounds with blood stains that clung to his face. His clothes, blackened with dirt, were so dirty that it was hard to tell their original color. He seemed even more miserable with the desert sand covering him.
"Huff... Gasp..."
He seemed to be in pain and twisted his body. Fortunately, he was still alive. He didn't seem conscious though and was just making spontaneous movements.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
A camel's footsteps could be heard from within the sandstorm.
"Father! There's someone lying there!” a youthful voice shouted.
And the screen shifted.
***
The archaeologist got up with confusion in his eyes.
"Ah. Have you awakened?"
The old man who saved him smiled kindly.
"You collapsed in the middle of the desert."
"Thank you for saving me. I am..."
The man hesitated to introduce himself.
"What is it?"
"I can't remember... My name is..."
"Your name?"
The old man clicked his tongue sympathetically and his white eyebrows twitched.
"Name, that's no problem. Do you not remember anything from your life?"
"No."
"That's a pity..."
The old man pondered momentarily and went into his room to bring something. He brought out two swords that didn't look like desert swords.
"These two swords. You had them with you. Maybe the name written here is yours?"
"Ah..."
"Sw… ift. Swift is written here."
Yes, those swords belonged to Swift. The very weapons he fought with until the end, so he brought them out with him.
"I'll give you the swords once you've fully recovered, Swift."
From then on, the archaeologist became known as Swift. And that was the end of the story mode.
The screen gradually darkened and returned to when Almond first spoke to Swift.
"The story was too long."
Swift sat across from him, looked away, and stood up.
"After that, I lived as Swift for a while. I was always curious about who I was or where I came from, so I became an archaeologist to interpret the letters written on my body. It was the only clue."
— Woah.
— He really became an archaeologist.
— Huh??
"And when I interpreted all the letters written on my body, I speculated that all these events happened in a place called the abyss. I wanted to find Luna again."
Indeed, the intuition Almond felt while flying with wings was correct.
"I realized while I was going back in that I couldn't do anything with my power. In the end, I had to act as the letters on my body dictated."
He drank the potions, borrowed someone else’s power, and tried to find Luna again.
"How many times did I repeat this? I don’t know whether it was unfortunate or fortunate. At some point, I remembered again that this had happened several times."
"..."
"Those administrators, even if they’re killed, a new replacement would come and take their place. Once a sanctuary's power was fully collected, another sanctuary would replace its position. Luna's guess was correct. The goal was to fill all the sanctuaries with power. Bastards."
Swift sneered bitterly.
"Now I've become part of that bastard."
"Then Luna..."
"Eventually, she died. If one dies in the sanctuary's room, their life is saved. However, if someone who is not a contractor dies before that, it's over. They die there."
“...”
"It's strange to say she survived through that many iterations. Anyway, after she died... there were no more instances where memories disappeared after escaping the abyss. Strangely enough."
— Sob sob..
— Wow...
— Unbelievable.
— Damn police dogs, why did they make the story like this?!
— Bring Luna back!
Luna ultimately died within the abyss. Despite several rescue attempts, she always sent Almond ahead of herself and was never saved.
"Are those letters written by Luna?" Almond asked.
Swift couldn't say anything for a moment.
"It doesn’t matter to me. I just wanted to save Luna. And I failed. That's all there is to it."
He wanted to save Luna even if she had manipulated him with those letters. Perhaps he loved her.
'So that was it.'
Now, it was visible to Almond who could roughly read the rune letters. While most other tattoos had been replaced by different letters, the command to find Luna was the only one that remained in its original state.
'Find Luna.'
Swift declared, “The story is really over now,”and returned to his place.
[Story Mode Cleared!]
[★★★ Acquired!]
A notification popped up that the story mode had been completed.
[Your specific skill has been enhanced as a reward.]
The enhancement reward for a three star clear followed.
[The damage type of the Sword Energy skill has changed to True Damage.]
— Wow.
— This is somewhat overpowered.
— OMG~
— The damage buff is crazy.
True damage was a fearsome damage type that ignored the opponent's defense, reducing health exactly as stated. Since Sword Energy dealt damage proportional to the enemy's lost health, dealing true damage was a significant buff.
The rewards didn't end there. Almond also received a unique skin.
[Special Task Achieved!]
[You have been awarded a special skin reward for an item.]
Did he achieve a special task? Almond didn't remember doing such a thing. It probably occurred during the game.
"Wow..."
[You may now use the new sword, Luna.]
One of the two swords used by the Flash Blade had been changed to a sword named Luna. This sword looked distinctly different from the ones previously used. The name Luna was engraved at the tip of the sword's spine.
— Wow!
— Oh, the design is pretty.
— Wow, what's this limited skin!?
— For real? What's this?
— Luna… sob sob…
Now that Almond received all the rewards, he officially declared the end.
"The story mode is all completed, right? Then, the mission money is..."
He finally pressed the success button for achieving three stars without dying.
— AMAZING~
— Chikicha~
The mission money wasn’t awarded immediately.
Ding!
[RubySword has donated 100,000 won!]
[Wow, congratulations! It was a long fight!]
"Ah. RubySword, thank you for the generous donation of 100,000 won."
[Bow has donated 10,000 won.]
[Wow~ Three stars without dying, for real?]
"Ah. Thank you, Bow. But where is the mission money? It must be lagging due to the donations."
— Donation lag, lol.
— Wow, it's settlement time!
— It’s almost like hitting the jackpot.
— Donations are piling up so much that the messages can't keep up, lol.
— Is there a place where people line up to give money?!
The mission success award was overshadowed by donations celebrating the end of the story mode.
[ThisIsPossible has donated 50,000 won!]
[Congratulations! What's the next game for part 1 of the stream!?]
[Doraemon has donated 10,000 won!]
[The story mode was so fun~ Do it again~~]
[Potato has donated 10,000 won!]
[Save Luna… sob sob…]
Almond received a backlog of donations for a while.
***
"Aaaaaah! Lunaahhhhhhhh!!!" OrangeKing wailed into the microphone.
— Oh, my ears…
— OrangeKing seems like he's seeking attention.
— Lol, lol, the expression lol!
OrangeKing seemed sadder than expected, so someone skeptical donated.
[DownFall has donated 10,000 won.]
[Isn't this about a different Luna?]
— Investment failed? LOL.
— LMAO.
— Brother-in-law, he’s right here!
— The hidden foreign girlfriend?
— If that's it, I understand.
"Ah. Thank you for the 10,000 won donation, DownFall! But it's not like that!"
OrangeKing dispelled their suspicion and changed the topic.
"Ah. Anyway, it was fun. I came here today to do a rank up guide for Civil Empire. I suddenly ended up doing this too. Nice, found my juice again~"
— Do it again.
— I never thought OrangeKing would take advantage of story mode too.
— He took too long to bring his juice back.
"What do you mean? I would never do such a thing... Pffft. Crazy."
OrangeKing laughed for a while, finding the idea funny.
— Hahahahaha.
— The juice he recovered after years and years...
— The journey for Orange Juice ends here~
— But fighting the memory of JeonJaPa didn't last long, so I’m a bit disappointed.
— How do you feel about getting your juice back?
The juice that viewers were talking about referred to the tears that OrangeKing shed in the past. Back in the day, OrangeKing shed tears after being harshly defeated by a rookie JeonJaPa’s Flashy Blade.
He felt happy that Almond had avenged him.
"Ah. Anyway, it feels good to have my juice back."
[DragonSeller has donated 3,000 won.]
[JeonJaPa would probably die laughing after seeing others use his data, lol.]
— LOL, for real.
— Yeah, lol.
— Hahahaha.
"Wow. Thank you, DragonSeller for the 3,000 won donation. What's this reward that Almond got?"
OrangeKing turned the conversation to the reward that Almond received.
"He got a sword skin? Was there such a thing? This must be related to Luna taking hits for him, right?"
— Yes.
— Seems like it.
— I've never seen it.
— Maybe because he refused Luna and survived.
— Wow, I’m so jealous!
According to OrangeKing and the viewers, the sword skin engraved with the name Luna was not a standard reward.
"Wow. This is... quite the thing, isn't it? It looks like it will become an issue.”
— It’s already an issue just clearing 3 stars with no deaths, lol.
— Probably.
— Already spreading on international sites.
— Almond's second rise? Then the orange rises too!?
— Almond coin to the moon?!
"It might not skyrocket, but it'll certainly get a lot of attention. Right?"
Saying so, OrangeKing carelessly checked Almond's viewer count. His eyes went wide and he suddenly fell silent.
"Wait... what?"
— ??
— Why?
— What are you trying to say this time?
— He’s overreacting again.
The viewers didn't know what shocked OrangeKing.
"The 40,000 mark..."
They only realized after OrangeKing exclaimed.
"The 40,000 mark! Almond surpassed 40,000! Almond~!!"
— ?
— 40,000!?
— :O :O :O
— Why are you commenting on this too? lol
— Holy moly~
— 40,000... OMGGG.
— Wow, he’s going crazy…
Almond had surpassed 40,000 viewers for the first time.