Chapter 124: Questions & Answers and Collapse (1)
“Confronting target. Pending suitability determination. Awaiting response from ‘Mother Goddess’.”
The humanoid alien was speaking Korean, my native tongue, but it muttered something I couldn’t make out… Goal, suitability… It mumbled something unintelligible.
He seemed to be communicating with a ‘Mother Goddess’.
More than that, I wondered how he came to speak Korean.
I was now in a situation where I was Zetto, a game character I created.
Even though I didn’t speak Korean or anything else, he started to speak Korean after scanning me.
[What is he muttering about…Disciple, why don’t you break it?]
His mumbling was getting on her nerves, so Sierra asked me.
“…”
But I didn’t make a rash move.
I still hadn’t gotten any information, let alone their intentions.
“…Checking for conformity. Recognizing the conformist with the ‘crown’ as the ‘king’ as of this time. Changing the chain of command.”
The otherworldly species is quiet for a moment, and then he turns to me and bends to one knee.
“Airframe number X-05, greeting the King. As commanded, I will take the ‘king’ to the ‘Mother Goddess’.”
He holds out his giant palm to me, as if to say, “Climb aboard.”
[…]
“…”
Sierra blanched at his behavior, and I did the same.
I wasn’t even wearing a ‘crown’, but from his words and actions, it seemed that I was the king the humanoid aliens were looking for.
It wasn’t entirely unexpected, but it did take me a moment to realize that he wanted to take me somewhere.
Who is ‘Mother Goddess’, and why are they looking for the king?
The only thing that came to mind when I thought of the Mother Goddess was Mother Earth, the world tree of the elves.
However, it is unlikely that their mother goddess, who seems to be quite distant from nature, is a world tree.
Their destination is an ancient ruin.
If they had a base, the “Mother Goddess,” might be there.
I wondered if I should follow them or not.
My senses picked up a sense of someone approaching this place at breakneck speed.
“Detecting energy response. Appears to be the hostile faction ‘Pantheon’. Unable to survive if engaged in combat due to the magnitude of energy measured. I will not be able to fulfill my orders….King, make your choice.”
The humanoid alien who called himself ‘X-05’ bowed his head, urging me on.
Yeah, I didn’t have much time left.
When he said “Pantheon,” he must have been referring to Aizel, who was racing toward us.
If he was right, he would most likely be torn to pieces when she arrived.
Having finished thinking about it in the blink of an eye, I pulled out my sword.
There was not much time left so I quickly climbed up his arm and landed on his shoulder.
“……”
I whispered, barely loud enough for Sierra to hear. If he’s a futuristic robot, my whisper won’t reach him. Then my outstretched arm flicked out, flowing like water.
A flat chunk of metal is neatly sliced off.
Kugung…
His arm falls to the ground with a heavy thud, kicking up sand and dust.
“Order confirmed. Execute evasive maneuver and rejoin the base.”
After moving his massive body quite acrobatically to distance himself from me, he utters those words, unfazed by my sudden hostility.
I wonder if there is such a thing as ‘frightened’ when they are nothing more than machines in the first place.
The otherworldly species bows to me. I guess that’s a farewell.
A moment later, a blast of magic from behind me hits him, it was Aizel’s magic.
He shifts again, narrowly avoiding Aizel’s magic and his body pushes off the ground, emitting a small puff of smoke, and with an iron clang, the propulsion mechanisms of his body are revealed.
‘It could fly.’
It looked so different from the humanoid aliens I’d seen in the game, and I wondered if it was a higher-level individual.
-KEEEEEE!
The roar of its engines filled my ears as blue flames erupted from its thrusters, and before Aizel could unleash another blast of magic, it leaped.
Boom!
Kicking off the ground, the creature soars through the air at a phenomenal speed.
High, high in the sky, he pierces the clouds and disappears from view.
“Zetto!”
I turn at the urgent call and see a platinum-haired girl sliding down the dune.
Aizel, who has made it all the way down the dune, rushes over to me and wraps her arms around me.
I wonder if she was worried since her body trembles slightly as she gasps for breath after running so fast.
“…Are you hurt, are you hurt?”
Aizel asked, lifting the robe from around my body to inspect my condition.
“You can’t be hurt, can you?”
She looked worried, but I smiled at her.
“”Zetto!””
Then I saw the others over the dunes and Lucia ran to me, still groggy from sleep.
When they asked me what happened, I shrugged and opened my mouth.
“… unfortunately I missed it. I didn’t realize it could fly.”
I didn’t miss or regret it, but the severed arm of the otherworldly creature lying at my feet reinforced my words.
They had witnessed the otherworldly creature soar into the sky.
Sierra, who was standing with her arms crossed in response to my answer, shakes her head.
…Sierra might need some clarification.
“An alien species that flies. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Ismir, who was rubbing her chin, said with a slightly more serious face.
So far, there had been no flying aliens, and they had somehow managed to keep them out of the desert, but the moment they took flight, the story changed.
As we talked about the alien species, my mind was filled with other thoughts.
The otherworldly races that had come from a place called the Otherworld, a supposed future Earth and the king they sought was an Earthling that transmigrated in a game world.
Unintelligible descriptions of conformity, crowns, and a “flying” humanoid alien species I’d never seen in a game before.
Questions rolled in like waves but they will be answered soon enough.
***
A ‘knight’ with a missing arm led his massive frame into a darkened room.
The knight approached a dimly lit sphere.
Embedded in one of the walls, the black orb appeared to be connected to a long cylindrical tube that fed something into the orb.
“…Mother Goddess.”
The knight dropped to one knee and bowed his head.
The knight was imitating a human knight since it was programmed that way.
Soon, a voice came from the sphere that called itself Mother Goddess.
“Unit number X-05, confirmation of return. Reviewing data.”
A long cord from the sphere retracted itself and lodged itself in the back of the Knight’s head.
As if on cue, the cord snaps into place and the sphere receives the ‘data’.
Normally, this ‘classical’ method would have been unnecessary, but now that they’re out of their normal environment, it’s a cumbersome but necessary step.
Soon, the sphere looked at the data.
The ‘data’ was a memory and a video of the knight’s encounter with the ‘king’ through the knight’s eyes.
The knight held out his hand to their King, who wore a pure white crown and the being that had brought them here.
Sadly, the king did not answer the knight’s call.
Gently cutting off the knight’s arm, the king whispers in a low voice in the language of their old country, a language they had forgotten.
“Stand down. I will find you.”
The king’s order is followed by the knight’s retreat and the video is cut off but that was all the information the sphere needed.
The sphere replayed the video a few more times, quickly analyzing and calculating the situation. But it was a small amount of information, and since this was my first contact, it required a lot of calculations.
The sphere merged it with the information it had, pruning and organizing the myriad branches one by one.
“…”
The sphere finally understood the king’s intentions.
“I rescind my previous order to track the ‘King’. All units are to go into cloaking mode for the time being, prohibiting combat with hostile forces.”
The sphere issues orders to the units under his chain of command.
To await the King’s visit.
The sphere thought for itself and made judgments. There was a clear difference between it and the other machines.
Soon, the sphere’s invisible gaze rested on the ‘knight’ in front of it.
“I see damage to the left arm of unit X-05. I’m going to request procurement of parts …You’ve had a hard time.”
It understood the meaning of the word difficult but that was all it knew.
The knight inclined his head once more, then pushed himself to his feet then left the room.
The sphere looked at the knight and pondered his words.
Just seeing the video footage of the knight encounter with the king had changed it and the same emotions that humans possessed were sprouting in the sphere.