A Village Appeared on My Desktop

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Chapter 68 – Situation (8)

‘Is there anything left?’

Even though the gruesome corpses and the stench of blood remained, the excitement of the battle had somewhat subsided.

Riena moved her steps towards him, who was walking somewhere in the lead. He was already aware that the situation was resolved, but Riena still couldn’t let her guard down.

Not knowing when or where another enemy might spring up, she followed him with her sword drawn, vigilantly looking around.

“What is this…?”

The place he stopped at was the underground of the temple, a warehouse storing the Order’s relics. He had come here to collect the rewards.

As they approached, the heavy stone door slowly opened automatically. Once inside, he plunged deeper without hesitation, as if he knew something.

‘This is the place where the treasures of the Order, the heritage of the God, are slumbering.’

With a slightly tense expression, Riena also knew what kind of place this was. Through the people she had met and conversed with, she had accumulated knowledge about this world.

Just before, the fallen bishop had raved about how they intended to target this place.

‘God.’

She swallowed hard. Perhaps her life hadn’t been that long, but she hadn’t gone through it without considering the existence of divine beings.

The tribes of the grassland also had foundational myths and folk beliefs. They worshipped ancestral spirits. However, her thoughts had changed significantly from those that weren’t much different from other tribes recently.

She had encountered an actual divine being. Through her father, Chieftain Balun, she realized that he was a divine being, and in this world of Dark Blood, characterized by the opposition between heaven and hell, she was heavily influenced by the concept of God.

Her true rage directed at the fallen chapter boss, the bishop, stemmed from the anger and disappointment in the God she believed in.

“Is this it?”

At least the God she believed in truly cared for her. As he paused in front of a box, Riena awkwardly pointed at it.

He repeatedly performed his unique gesture of sitting and standing rapidly as a sign of agreement. Seeing this, she hurriedly opened the box.

Inside, there were items that couldn’t be compared to mere precious metals; rings and bracelets made of platinum, objects radiating a divine power at first glance.

He instructed her to take all of them without placing them in his inventory, as that was the only way to bring the items outside.

‘Oh, no way.’

Riena recalled Shura, who had rushed back after being injured. She had also heard of Vansi through Rakum’s testimony. Understanding that he intended to resolve that issue using these items, Riena hurriedly gathered them.

“This is the place! The incursion here… this can’t be!”

“Oh, traces of demons. Could that be the bishop!”

As they exited the Order they had laid waste to, reinforcements arrived a beat too late and ambushed the scene. What they witnessed were the blatant traces of demons left all around and the magic book of the Demon Lord fused with the bishop’s hand.

Thanks to this, the identity of who had committed such acts remained unknown, but the rumors of demons invading the Order began to spread.

“Long time no see. I just finished my business in this town. Would you like to board?”

As they moved to the outskirts of the town, which had turned upside down after leaving the Order, someone appeared before them.

Riena flinched upon seeing the friendly face of the coachman. He looked like an ordinary coachman and cart, but he certainly had extraordinary abilities to transport through space.

“I’ll board.”

Riena nodded, glancing at him. They now had a tacit understanding. Regnor chuckled and offered a seat on the cart.

After crossing into Chapter 3 and preparing to log out of the game, he boarded first, followed closely by Riena.

For him, it was just a fleeting moment with a loading screen and the shift of the display, but the cart actually set off.

“I heard there was quite a commotion last night. Rumor has it a demon corrupted the bishop of the Order.”

“…That’s correct.”

“Oh heavens. The messengers of God, who should be the last bastion against blatant invaders, are collapsing first—what an end of days.”

Regnor spoke to Riena. She felt unnecessarily tense, but he continued without stopping.

“However, God has already devised a way forward. It is you, after all. Please save the world with unwavering faith and strength.”

“Uh, there seems to be a misunderstanding.”

Regnor didn’t hide anything. To begin with, he wasn’t even listening to this conversation, merely folding his arms and looking at the loading screen beyond.

Riena shrank back at the gaze Regnor directed toward her and instinctively denied it.

“I don’t know what you think, but the God I believe in is a different being.”

“I know that too. But my little lamb, what matters is not which God you believe in. Just keep your faith as you do now. The benevolent ones already know everything.”

Regnor chuckled at Riena’s flustered reaction. And while saying not to mind, implying to believe in her own God, she flinched as the cart was engulfed in light, arriving in an entirely different space.

*

“Oh.”

As Riena stepped off Regnor’s cart, she sighed and looked around. With a familiar tug on her body, she found herself in the middle of a village.

He had let her out after logging off from the game.

“You’re here early today. Has your schedule wrapped up?”

Chieftain Balun, who was busy working around the village on foot, spotted her and approached. Riena then took out the items she had brought in her arms.

Like consumable items such as potions, her items could be taken out this way.

“What are those? They look valuable.”

“These are gifts from that person.”

Upon seeing the holy talismans, Balun spoke with a faint smile. Using these, they could protect allies from powerful debuffing enemies.

“If that person’s intentions are genuine, we can’t delay. Hurry and take them. Fortunately, Shura has fully recovered. Go and proclaim that it is a gift from him, and express our gratitude.”

Balun pointed towards the house where the injured Shura was.

‘There are definitely many things happening in places we are unaware of.’

After sending Riena off, Balun gazed at the sky. He could see several people screaming as they flew through the air.

Most of the residents, however, were unfazed by such sights. This was because they recognized that those actions were part of how the divine looked after them.

As Balun had anticipated, he was busily moving around trying to derive the optimal outcome from what they had observed and heard.

“Is it really true that wearing this will prevent those horrendous attacks?”

“Definitely.”

Riena handed the ring to Shura. The mystical ring fit snugly on the wearer’s finger and blocked the evil powers attacking with its divine strength.

Shura, under the impression that this was an item he received from him, accepted it with a tense expression.

“What kind of attack did that black ghost use?”

Seeing Shura’s complexion rapidly brighten after wearing the ring, Riena cautiously brought it up.

It was hard to believe that Shura, who had experienced the fear passive of the Soul Devourer during hunting mode, had fallen to such an extent.

“It didn’t just frighten me; it darkened my vision and forced me to recall nightmares.”

Shura explained to her about the debuff he had suffered. In the game, it merely slowed down speed and continuously drained HP.

However, the banshee’s curse in reality was a destructive one that blinded the target’s eyes and brought forth their most horrifying memories as nightmares.

Shura’s unyielding determination to fight monsters, fueled by revenge against his parents’ enemies, was fiercely stirred. Yet the banshee’s power, which forced him to relive the events of that fateful day, manifested into an endless loop of nightmares, severely shattering his spirit.

“Are you really alright? I don’t think I can muster the courage to stand and fight that monster again.”

“If your heart truly wavers, it would be better to change your mind.”

The fervent motivation of vengeance that had been shaken by the banshee’s curse caused Shura to lose some of the venom he had previously possessed.

Without that venom, Shura was just an ordinary girl. Riena knew this and felt pained. So, she spoke up to present him with an alternative path.

Motivation can be generated. The first image that came to her mind was that of the paladins who fought for God.

“Don’t weaken. Fight for that person. Having already received kindness, it is your duty. In return, that person will protect you just like now.”

“Ah…”

If one doesn’t possess the resolve to fight with a personal flame, being told to create one and fulfilling their duty made Shura sigh.

Just as she stated, Shura had already received considerable investment as one of the initial members. Furthermore, based on that investment, her strength that she had trained was among the best of the village’s warriors.

Running away in such a state would be an act of blasphemy. She had to fight without hesitation, even for the one who had believed in her.

“I have to prove myself.”

With newly determined eyes, Shura stood up. At that moment, she thought about going right back to confront the banshee for retribution.

“Oh, don’t you think it’s better to rest today? You were seriously wounded!”

“Then step aside. I’m going to fight.”

Shura handed the items she received from Riena to the brothers Rasen and Rakum, who were paired on assignment per his suggestion.

Rasen was aghast at Shura’s determination to go after the banshee again, but her conviction was resolute.

“We can’t help it. Let’s go for now. Having already received that person’s grace, we won’t be helpless like before.”

Acknowledging that he couldn’t dissuade them, Rakum wryly smiled and led the two back toward the game world. Simultaneously, he thought that if it turned out to be too much, he himself would throw himself into danger to save them.

“That divine being is watching us as well.”

As soon as they entered the game world, a square block figure stood quietly watching them.

Having confirmed that their conditions were normal, he did not stop them. Instead, he took up a pickaxe and led the way into the underground dungeon.

“There it is…!”

As he cleared away the stone blocks he had placed to block their path with the pickaxe, the banshee wandering in the passageway spotted them and let out a ghastly scream.

Quickly readying themselves, they gritted their teeth. The banshee’s curse immediately engulfed them, trailing from the echoes of her wails.