“Ha… Hahah… haha. Is this really a game, A GAME? Why create this cheat of a character? If you want us all to die, then just log us off, you shitheads.”

“We are done for.”

As I look forward, I question myself as to where I get the confidence to even take part in this ridiculous quest.

The rankers who were thinking of a way to fight were now overwhelmed by what appeared before their eyes. What welcomed their sight was an army of millions of undead. The Players and NPCs who stood beside them were now undead that they have to fight.

While everyone was complacent about what to do, the NPC sneered as he saw the paled faces of the rankers.

“Did you all think that this is it? I think I should unleash more of my powers now.”

An evil grin appeared on that bastard’s face. What more is he planning to show? Isn’t it enough now?

The NPC stretched his both hands and recited a spell.

“Dragon Magic x Demon Magic: Transformation!!”

Whoosh

Mana swirled around him and then spread across the place like a wave.

“Gruu…”

“Guakkk…”

The dead bodies trembled and then slowly stood up, while their appearance changed to of an undead. The dead grumbled, roared, and cried as if they were agonizing over their fate.

Soon, the undead formed wings on their back and layer of black scales all over their body. Two horns grew on their forehead.

“Those undead…. they are transforming?’

The undead transformed into dragonoids…. but why do they exclude demonic energy?

The undead then excluded dark, malice-filled aura which made the rankers think of only one thing.

“N-no way…’

“The undead transformed into demonic dragonoids!!”

Their face paled even more. The shock was too much for them, but for one, it was too much.

“Ha… hahahah… HAHAHA… AAAAAAARRRGGGHHH. Stop playing with us, you shithead of a NPC. Why did you use your powers now, huh? Are you playing with us? It’s unfair!!”

LonerNecro666, a ranker famous for being a powerful necromancer who is feared by the other fellow rankers, is now fuming while watching an army way grandeur than his, becoming even more grandeur.

The moment he stepped into the battlefield with his undead army and faced the NPC, his army kneeled, not for him but for the NPC.

It baffled him, shocked, but most importantly, scared him.

His undead now turned their blades towards him, and his army disappeared in an instant.

Controlling an army of undead was not an effortless task, as someone who is proficient in multi-tasking is suitable for necromancer class. Controlling the movements, the view, and the attacks of the undead while also defending and attacking by themselves is something that few can achieve.

He, who from childhood is praised for being a multi-tasker, took the necromancer class on a whim.

“Heh… pretty easy. I guess they destined this class for me.”

That’s what he thought when he played ‘Apocalypse’. He overpowered other players using his undead army, made many NPCs who were powerful undead under his command and slowly reached the pinnacle of the player.

But now he faces a wall, who mocked him by stealing his own army. No matter how many times he resurrects a body in the battlefield, the moment the body becomes an undead, it attacks him. Even if the enemy is the NPC, it is still too much for an NPC to do this well with an undead army.

‘Even the God of Death cannot rival him. Who the hell is he to have this much power?’

Overwhelmed by the emotion called failure, he spouted everything that came to his mouth, but…

“Are you dumb? Do I look like some 3rd class villain to you, huh? Did you seriously think that I will fight you bastards seriously from the start?”

“You 90 million players vs a single me. Don’t you think this is unfair, huhhh?”

“You have a fucking undead army. You even stole my army!!”

“They are dead with only 50% of their original capabilities. Whereas you people have various powers, armor, weapons, even legendary weapons, and you call this unfair HUHH?”

“And about stealing your army. Why is it my fault? The dead know who to serve. I am better than you, and will be better than you.”

The NPC rained the rankers with facts, causing some to lower their heads.

On the other hand, the revelation of the stats of the undead shocked the necromancer ranker.

‘50%!!? It’s impossible!!’

How can a mere NPC, who doesn’t even have a name, can resurrect a dead with 50% of their capabilities while us user can get as much as 25% with legendary rank equipments? While the necromancer pondered, the NPC spoke.

“And here I am, even giving you enough time to recover your mana too. How much fairness do you need now, HUHH?”

“Grrr…”

Hearing this, the necromancer growled. His pride was hurt and this unknown bastard shattered his reputation, and now he was lecturing them about fairness.

The necromancer was going to speak something when the Spear Master intervened him.

“Stop it now. It was all those supreme beings who created this mess.”

“And isn’t this just a game? He is just a boss mob and we have to clear him. There must be a way.”

“That’s right.”

The rankers, hearing the words of Spear Master somehow regained their confidence. No matter how hard a game is, there is a way to complete it. At the end of the day, all it takes is strategy, teamwork, and lots of patience to complete a game.

“KUHAHAHA”

“…??”

‘Why is he suddenly laughing?’

The NPC, hearing the words of Spear Master laughed.

“A game? Hahaha… You know nothing now…”

A glint appeared in his eyes as he looked towards the rankers.

“… do you?”

Every ranker then gulped, with beads of sweat rolling from their forehead.

‘Why do I feel like something serious is about to happen?’

Everyone there get the same thoughts as they looked towards the NPC.

***

“Hmm’

These players… they are powerful, powerful indeed.

For them to be reaching this level in such a brief span of time is indeed marvelous.

I always thought, how are these ‘players’ who appeared one day with great potential, strategies, power differ from us? They talk like they were from some another world, know each other, use some gibberish language, bring rather unimaginable technology, work together, build kingdoms, wage war between each other, kill each other.

I know that even the people of Grandia fought and killed each other, built kingdoms together, but for people who can come back alive with no magic, I always wondered…. why do they even fight?

They can make the lives of people here better with their knowledge, can live happily, but then why?

And then one day, I found the answer.

[YOU AND WE WERE NOTHING BUT MERE PIECE OF DATA.]

[THOSE ‘PLAYERS’ WERE THE ONES WHO CREATED US.]

[THEIR GREED IS ENDLESS.]

[THEY EVEN PLAN TO MERGE THEIR WORLD WITH OURS.]

[SO WE WILL MAKE THEIR WISH COME TRUE….WITH THEIR OWN LIVES.]

(Note: Different Supreme Beings are speaking here.)

‘The fuck they all blabbering about, merging the worlds, killing those players.’

Weird chains tie me, as I listened to these Supremes told their lullabies to me.

“Hey you Supreme Beings, if you want to kill the players then go ahead, but why am I got dragged in this mess?’

The Supremes then looked towards me, even though what appeared before me were their astral forms, the feeling of absurdness was felt in their gaze. It felt like they were looking at like I am a bug who was never supposed to speak.

Then, one of the Supreme spoke as he came towards me.

[YOU ARE THE KEY.]

[THE ONLY KEY THAT WILL LEAD US TO THAT WORLD.]

“But you all promised me to get rid of this body if I give you the key!!”

[DID WE PROMISE SOMETHING LIKE THAT?]

[NO]

[NEVER]

“These shits….”

[WE NOW KNOW THAT THE KEY WAS YOU. THE BODY THAT YOU ARE TRYING SO HARD TO THREW IS THE ONLY WAY FOR US TO CROSS OVER TO THAT WORLD.]

[BUT WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE ACHIEVEMENTS YOU HAVE GAINED TILL NOW]

[YOU GAINED AN IMMORTAL BODY]

[YOUR POWER HAS THE POTENTIAL TO RIVAL OURS.]

[YOU WERE THE PERFECT SUBJECT FOR OUR PLAN.]

[SO DON’T RESIST AND BECOME THE FOOTHOLD OF OUR GREAT PLAN.]

“Supreme Beings my ass… you all are nothing but a bunch of lunatics”

[CALL US WHATEVER YOU WANT BUT IN THE END YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PAWN OF OURS.]

[SO JUST DO WHAT WE ORDER YOU IMMORTAL]

And just like that, my fate was decided to become the foothold for these shits.

***

And so time passed.

They experimented on him for years, combined his body with other bodies, merge the powers and magic belonging to every species, and one day, they succeeded.

But what they created was an entity that is way out of their reach and so they sought to kill him, but the moment they thought about it, their astral bodies were destroyed in an instant.

Even though they themselves were not there, they experienced fear for the first time in their life, fear that sent shivers down to their origin and a wall that they never imagined stood tall before them, wanting to crush them anytime.

The birth of the first Apocalypse rank NPC, even though he is semi apocalypse rank, his power increased at a rapid rate that will not be long before he completes his awakening and becomes reaches the Apocalypse rank.

Fearing the NPC, who was dead-set on killing them, the Supreme sought the Supreme Goddess, their leader.

“What is done is done. Defeat him and regain the peace of Grandia.”

Hearing the order of their leader, the supreme beings sought the humans known as ‘players’, the same players they sought to kill. And that brought forth this massacre.

***

Sigh

“These players…. trusting those supreme beings so easily. They could have at least questioned those shits.”

But now I understand why these humans are so confident in themselves.

“These 20 humans, they have reached their limits and are close to become a demigod. No wonder they all are so confident”

But did they se-

“And isn’t this just a game? He is just a boss mob and we have to clear him. We all are legendary rank players. There’s no way we will lose. There must be a way”

A game?!

[YOU AND WE WERE JUST PIECES OF DATA]

Yes… now I remember. Those supreme beings said that I am just a mere piece of data.

A vein popped as he heard a ranker. His eyes became bloodshot, and he got infuriated.

“Right… RIGHT. You all think this will be over by killing me, right? Because I am just a mere piece of data? Did you seriously thought that you can defeat me so easily?”

“Remember, I will hunt those humans and those supreme beings who used me and made me like this. Stand how many times before me you want, but I will kill you all”

“BE IT REALITY OR THIS GAME!!”

Some rankers, when heard from the NPC, laughed.

“Hahah… those developers really made this game really well.”

“AI now is really advanced, huh?”

They ridiculed the NPC, not because of the way he spoke but because of what he spoke.

“Did you hear what he said just now? Be it reality or game? HAHAHA!!”

“This program thinks he can come to reality, HAHAH!!”

“Shut up and concentrate. We have little time left.”

The Spear Master refuted them. He who looked upon technology and knew that making a game like this was a feat close to impossible knew it may be possible to merge the two worlds.

He kept aside his thoughts and looked towards the rankers with a serious face.

“There is only one way now. We have to use our ultimate if we want to defeat him”

Hearing him, the faces of the rankers looked like they licked a sour lemon.

“He left us no choice now.”

“Arghh… My Experience Points.. Argh, damnit.”

Many shouted, but still accepted the situation.

“Stop whining. Let’s focus on our ultimate. Half of us will use our ultimates to destroy his undead army. And the other half uses yours on him.”

“And check if Cecilia is awake now?”

“I am awake now.”

Cecilia, who fainted before and was at the sidelines, woke and slowly walked by Spear Master’s side. The Spear Master, worried about Cecilia, asked her about her condition.

“Is that skill still affecting you?”

“D-don’t worry about me. Tell me your plan.”

Even though she was weak, she still insisted on knowing Spear Master’s plan. The Spear Master reluctantly let her hear his plan.

“Okay. Listen Carefully. Use your remaining mana to summon the lower tier gods. Meanwhile, I will confront him directly till you finish summoning them.”

“And also keep this.”

The Spear Master gave her something, which shocked the Saintess as soon as her eyes looked at the item.

“What is thi-”

“Shh… use this if everything fails.”

“Do you even known what you are asking me to do?”

“We have no choice. We either die or somehow finish this quest. So please, only you can somehow use this item perfectly.”

The Spear Master explained to Saintess about the item and requested to Saintess to use it. The Saintess reluctantly agreed, but…

“Okay, but you will have to fulfill one wish of mine.”

“As long as it’s within my capabilities”

I don’t even know what she is planning, but let’s focus on finishing this quest first.

The Saintess then moved back and prepared the summoning ritual. Meanwhile, the 19 rankers prepared themselves for their ultimate.

“Is everyone ready?”

“Yeah!!”

The rankers shouted as the Spear Master lead them.

“System, show how much time is left.”

Ding

[Remaining time: 00:30:44]

“All right everyone!!”

The Spear Master shouted as he pointed his spear towards the NPC.

“Let’s get this quest finished”

***