NOVEL WEB Chapter 79
Chapter 79 – The Northern Wind (9)
“Lately, there have been unsettling rumors going around. It was to be expected, now that the demons have truly begun to stir.”
“…”
Regnor stopped the cart after letting them down and delivered his line that signaled Chapter 3.
He could see the complex expression on his face, staring at it from beyond the screen. Entrusting the hunt to Naroo and Dune, he entered together with Riena to check on the news he had just heard about the Dark Blood he cleared in Chapter 2.
If bugs were to appear in the game, they wouldn’t just show up in one game. However, Regnor, an important NPC in Creature Hunting, hadn’t given any indication that something was wrong just yet.
“What’s the issue here?”
“This land used to belong to the fortress ruled by a duke of a nation. He was a brave general and a fine, benevolent lord. However, as the cold winter approached, the area completely cut off all news. Quite a few have come to seek the truth, but rarely have they returned from the fortress with accurate information.”
Feeling awkward seeing Regnor’s face again after several days, Riena asked, and Regnor pointed at the gloomy land in the distance with a slight smile.
Just like the village in Chapter 1, the lord’s fortress, shrouded in cold air and thick dark clouds, exuded an abnormal, sinister aura at a glance.
“If you are indeed the ones achieving great feats while chasing down demons, perhaps you can uncover the truth.”
Regnor shrugged his shoulders at the sight of him looking like a restless dog eager to ask something. It seemed he hadn’t picked up on what he wanted to ask.
‘I can’t just outright ask if there are bugs. Should I have brought Riena to hear the news from the hunters? But then again, it wouldn’t change anything.’
Frustrated that his intentions weren’t conveyed, he soon gave up. Even if Regnor did know about the bugs, their task would ultimately remain the same.
They just needed to eliminate the enemies and reap the rewards. Those enemies included demons and bugs appearing in the game.
‘It’s just a game after all. Otherwise, they would have already overrun every corner of this place.’
Despite becoming reality for the residents as they entered, at the end of the day, the game was just a means to an end.
The bugs aiming to erode the world were no different. They were intent on infiltrating the game world to kill residents, not turning it into their own nest, which he could also infer.
Of course, the variables introduced by the bugs’ intrusion were a bad development. With the game transitioning into reality, numerous variables had already emerged, and this was yet another complication.
‘Is something wrong?’
Even while moving his character across the map, his thoughts were in disarray. The unease was evident enough for Riena, who was following behind, to catch on.
Typically, his character would have been jumping or rolling around in a flurry of excitement, but this time, it was just running steadily, establishing her suspicion.
‘It doesn’t matter. Whatever the problem may be.’
Yet Riena bit her lip. At the moment, she was following him, unaware of where he was taking her.
Still, she held not a shred of doubt. She trusted him that much. The time spent fighting alongside him had proven that.
And that belief only made Riena stronger. This world was one where fighting with him made her even more powerful.
‘Frost Wraiths.’
The first enemies of Chapter 3 appeared before them. The wraiths, imbued with the cold of the Northern Region, advanced with decaying bodies and swung their weapons in attack.
Once farmers, they wielded farming tools like hoes and shovels, but those items radiated a chilling malevolence to the bone.
As he unleashed a defensive spell to guard against their strike, Riena exhaled a white breath and leaped into the fray, slicing the enemies in half with one stroke.
With her progressing through the game, gaining more than one could typically attain, it was akin to an expert breezing through a beginner level.
“Did they not appear here?”
As he watched Riena shine in her prowess, he muttered quietly while manipulating the keyboard. So far, things resembled the original game. He was scanning the surroundings that he’d usually ignore, but did not find any signs indicating bugs.
‘Those demons aren’t weaklings.’
Feeling slightly relieved, he considered that perhaps the intruding bugs may have gotten the upper hand over the demons in the game. The demons represented strong adversaries.
*
‘There’s no need to overreact.’
While making their way through the early stages of Chapter 3 alongside Riena, I felt a bit at ease once I organized my thoughts. Although bugs had appeared in the game’s world, what I had to do remained unchanged.
If bugs show up, I just need to face them and take them down.
“—.”
“–, —.”
As Riena, who had been tirelessly battling dozens of enemies alongside me, took a brief moment to catch her breath, I minimized the game window and opened up another.
Now that they were handling it themselves, the hunters I had left to their own devices in Creature Hunting were tracking down prey and taking it down on their own.
As they equipped themselves with better gear, these capable warriors could finally hunt higher-tier enemies comfortably.
Their status reports showed that they had already blossomed with the hunter talents they possessed.
“You’ve all improved quite a bit. Your movements, while orthodox, seem oddly efficient.”
One peculiar sight was Tina, who had been injured, sticking close to them, watching their hunts. As one of the main NPCs, it was quite fascinating to see her participate in the hunt like this.
“—.”
“The strongest and highest-tier mutants found in the vicinity are Drakes. Among them, the Red Drake is the strongest and most rare.”
Since I wasn’t actively controlling anything, Naroo, who was lugging me around like a sack of potatoes, mentioned what she’d said, nodding as she supplemented knowledge that they lacked.
Her guidance was certainly a great help to the residents who used to know nothing about the world of Creature Hunting.
Details about enemy behaviors, weaknesses — she generously shared insights that seasoned hunters knew.
“To dive deeper, you’d best prepare thoroughly.”
“–, –.”
It seemed like it was almost time to wrap up the hunt. With Tina’s words, the hunters prepared to head back to the city.
“Uh?”
However, at that moment, a variable popped up. Noise began interfering with my game, and both the residents and Tina looked around in confusion.
“W-What? It’s a new variant!”
The enemies soon made their appearance. Unlike typical beasts, they too were different like the mutants. Rather, they were more straightforward.
There was no particular ferocity; only a strangely cold and dry aura suffused the air.
‘Indeed, their goal seems to be the residents.’
Grabbing my keyboard quickly, I got off Naroo’s back and got ready for battle. The massive scorpion that revealed itself charged at us, swinging its thick pincers and stinger to try and kill us.
Its movements were as fluid as a program executing commands.
“Danger!”
Tina, who couldn’t join due to her injuries, shouted urgently, but it felt like it was already too late for everyone to escape safely. The hunters, including myself, drew their weapons to confront it.
‘Thank goodness I can still use my body.’
In that process, I snagged a large bone hammer from Naroo’s back while wielding a bow. The hammer was bigger than me, who had taken on the form of a bipedal raccoon, but surprisingly, I could wield it just fine.
“—!”
We attacked the bug collectively. Dune with his great sword and Ulka with his spear blocked the creature’s pincers, and when Naroo’s arrows struck its stinger, Lua kicked off the ground and trees in succession, launching into the air and chopping off its tail with the battle axe she wielded.
In that situation, I rushed forward, wielding the hammer and unleashing consecutive strikes on the bug’s face, which was encased in a black carapace.
“It’s poison!”
“— –!”
As if making a desperate final push, it counterattacked with black tentacles sprouting from its carapace, spraying a thick poison. The residents recoiled in shock and hurriedly covered their faces.
Unsurprisingly, my character’s HP began to plummet as I was poisoned. But I didn’t stop attacking, chowing down on food from my inventory to recover HP.
This was a reckless act only I could pull off, moving while ignoring pain and injury. Yet it was incredibly effective and destructive.
“You’re something else, raccoon.”
After I entered commands and executed a strong attack while flipping in mid-air, smashing the bug’s head, Tina muttered in awe.
Surely, to them, seeing me disregard their attacks while just focusing on offense would seem strange.
– So the bugs appeared in the game too…
“Their goal is to kill the residents active there. It doesn’t hurt to be cautious.”
After the fracas subsided, I turned my attention to the multiple game windows I had open and informed Lee So-Yeon about what had happened today.
Since she was later to the game than I was, she would eventually end up battling the bugs that had infiltrated the game world too.
“In terms of the game, that’s one thing, but we should also consider the real-world ones, meaning the ones appearing on the desktop.”
– True, it seems we can’t figure out where they’re coming from.
Our conversation now shifted to the bugs appearing on the desktop.
Even as we continued to fight them, we still didn’t know where or how they came about. While the cracks in the area known as their nest had been discovered and we tried to close them directly, it felt more like a temporary fix rather than a fundamental solution.
These bugs would undoubtedly spread to the places where residents don’t live, hunting local people to grow stronger and rush back to attack residents again.
As they intruded into the game, the battles with these creatures would only become more intense.
[Desktop Breaker Level 2]
I fiddled with the mouse. The next level of one of the powers I could exert in that world, from a hammer to a chainsaw. The effect of this chainsaw capable of tearing through screens was that it could also be used against bugs for a short time.