The Anti-Intellectualism Demon King’s World Invasion

Chapter 20. Clash of Worlds -Fourth- 2

Experiencing the fourth clash means being in the top 12.5%.

The structure allows capable individuals to advance to the next stage. If one were truly incompetent, they would have exited at the third stage. Thus, those remaining in the fourth clash are somewhat guaranteed to be competent.

And Soon’s world did not challenge the world of the ‘dropouts’. There were two main reasons.

First, the number of dropouts was much smaller than expected. Out of the remaining 67 million players, it was thought that about one-third would drop out, but surprisingly, only 100,000 did.

Unless there was an attractive world among the 100,000 dropout worlds, there were only impoverished worlds with almost no population due to repeated wars. The worlds were broken and unfit for habitation, making it clear why they had dropped out.

Therefore, instead of challenging the dropout worlds, they decided to face other players. Players who would ‘logically’ cooperate with their world. Whether the opponent was good or evil, weak or strong, they decided to ‘cooperate’ first. That was the plan.

However, there are always ‘illogical players who love combat’ in the game. And encountering such illogical players was also within the ‘logical situation’.

Thus, ‘logical countermeasures’ were also prepared. Control of creations using high 〈Politics〉. Structures like palisades and earthen fortresses built through 〈Technology〉 and 〈Industry〉 derived from the population. In dangerous situations, the weak would be evacuated inside, and the warrior class would come out to systematically face the enemy.

In other words, the village they inhabited was essentially fortified, and there was even a class trained in professional combat. With fortifications and elite combat troops, they could win even if the actual combat power difference was three or four times. This was their territory.

Even from this explanation alone, one can see how systematic and excellent Soon and his world’s countermeasures were.

Soon and the seven allied gods, who were practically his subordinates, also judged this countermeasure and completed system to be truly rational, and they acknowledged Soon’s behavior as their leader, allowing him to freely exercise his political power.

However. Even Soon, who had prepared so thoroughly.

Had not anticipated dealing with such an ‘illogical enemy’.

“Enemy spotted!”

A trained scout shouted. Among the eight tribes, a bipedal rabbit-like species with good eyesight and fast legs was in charge of scouting.

It was an elite scout. They were not surprised by the enemy’s appearance. Although the enemy’s 〈Charm〉 was close to 0, making it easy to let one’s guard down, those insane spiky round creatures had already impaled and killed several people.

And that spiky round creature. The carnivorous dessert named Camel-Eating Candy by its creator quickly approached the rabbit scout. It seemed to have several leg-like appendages and was faster than expected.

‘Still, at that speed, it’s not impossible to dodge…’

At that moment, the candy suddenly accelerated to nearly 2.5 times its running speed.

The speed was a whopping 70 km/h. Of course, it wasn’t that fast. With sufficient reflexes, it could be dodged.

But its diameter was 30 cm. Almost the size of a human head. Even a graze would tear flesh with its spikes and horns, which spread out despite the air resistance during the charge.

Yet it was moving at 70 km/h.

Crash!!!

It struck directly into the chest. The candy weighed only 4 kg. But considering its shape and speed, the impact was no different from throwing a 4 kg greatsword, dumbbell, or weight at 70 km/h…!

Thus, a precious elite soldier died.

“Another one is coming!”

And about ten candies charged straight ahead. The rabbits rolled and dodged using their jumping ability, taking elite-level countermeasures.

When they dodged the attack once and regained their stance, they discovered a shocking fact.

“What the…?”

The ones who charged all died. No, to be precise, they seemed to be alive. Their mouths were just moving slightly, or their muscles were completely relaxed and limp.

The elites could easily deduce.

“These guys, are they done after one charge?”

“Seems like it?”

“They only think about killing the enemy with one charge. What a dreadful creature.”

Then the countermeasure is quite simple. Just lure the attack and avoid it.

This countermeasure was quickly shared, and they were able to block about 50 of the candies that first came out of the dimensional gate with minimal sacrifice. A few elites got hurt by mistake, but that was it.

The next day. The dimensional gate opened again, and 50 candies were reintroduced. The livestock died. Still, they were all eliminated.

The next day. The dimensional gate opened again, and 50 candies were reintroduced. These guys jumped around everywhere, but they didn’t kill anyone.

However, the corpses were not found, and the reason is unknown.

And the next day. On the fourth day since the dimensional gate opened. When the candies that first came out of the dimensional gate succeeded in eating, splitting, and reproducing, becoming adults.

They had to face 200 candies that reproduced on their own, eating water, grass, and rocks, along with the 50 candies that came out of the dimensional gate.

“What…?”

Desperately avoiding their charges and killing them, the next day, they saw 350 candies roaming the world.

The livestock were massacred in groups. They desperately killed the candies, but the larvae of the candies jumped and disappeared at an incredible speed as soon as they were born, hiding in corpses, dung heaps, even fortified houses, nibbling on meat, and even nibbling on fences, growing rapidly while eating all organic matter.

On the fourth day. All their elites were now mobilized only to catch the candies. And it was estimated that there were about 2,300 candies in the world.

“What is this!!!”

Avoiding the charge physically is possible only when there are about five or six candies, but when about 30 of them gather and try to body slam from all angles, it is impossible to lure and avoid.

They just ran frantically, avoiding the charges of those crazy candies.

“Everyone, raise your shields!”

“Right! Instead of avoiding, the physically strong tribe should wear armor and take it! You won’t die even if you get hit!”

But even that is uncontrollable when there are about 2,300 of them.

If you avoid 100 and run to the other side, 100 will come from the opposite side.

These insane creatures, which can eat anything from rocks, plants, animals, corpses, excrement, and even live in water, charge and eat anything, lay eggs, and the larvae hide, and when they become adults, they appear and attempt suicide charges on everything they see.

“Call the shamans!”

The shamans tried to control the enemies using their mystical spells. It was quite effective. They seemed extremely vulnerable to magical damage, as they were instantly cooked when struck by lightning.

But there weren’t many shamans. All the shamans with attack spells came out to control the candies, but at this world’s level, they couldn’t stop the charge of hundreds of candies.

“Reorganize the units by race! It’s a divine revelation!”

Still, the resistance continued. New warriors were recruited by size, class, and race, and even temporary wooden shields were made, and when they saw the candies, they lured the charge, rolled anywhere, and before the candy could lay eggs, they beat it with clubs.

It was quite efficient, but the casualties continued to rise.

“Mi, even the civilians, those who are strong, come and fight with me!”

Fortunately, thanks to high ＜politics＞, many people could be conscripted even with this measure. The number of deaths increased, but the candies were decreasing rapidly.

However, every day, that guy kept dropping 50 candies every day. The candies didn’t even need to eat people; they kept body-slamming every living creature in existence.

The only ones who could survive were the creatures called Pimakjo, which were a fusion of bats and birds with flying abilities. They could fly and were light enough to avoid the candies’ charges.

And among the eight races here, none had flying abilities, and even the livestock were slaughtered mercilessly. They devoured their corpses.

This dessert apocalypse continued for ten days.

At this point, survival was not the only concern.

“Um, my lords? What about this year’s crops? Those crazy round things are roaming around?”

“……”

“Gods? Please respond! What are we supposed to do!”

The eight gods devised all sorts of measures. They used divine power to grant mystical abilities to the talentless, heal the wounded, and make the strong even stronger.

However, unlike the protection period, during the world collision stage, time flows extremely slowly. Therefore, divine power also accumulates slowly.

In contrast, during the dimensional gate stage, the dimensional gates open regularly every day. This side is barely managing defense, let alone attacking. The enemy seems to be using all their divine power to open the dimensional gates.

And finally, the tragedy began.

“The crazy round things have entered the village!”

It seemed that the ones they couldn’t catch had eaten something like food waste in the village and reproduced. The crazily multiplied ones massacred civilians within the city.

Still, they couldn’t get over the palisade, so if they could just catch them all… But before they could think that, the next batch of small candies with a diameter of 20 cm could leap nearly 2 meters, and even though their power was lower, their faster charges could pierce people’s stomachs.

“Face them with sturdy soldiers!”

And the next batch of candies with a diameter of 50 cm was even heavier, charging at only 50 km/h, but weighing a whopping 8 kg. Even the large races with shields were being shattered by the heavy attacks.

“Gods! What are we supposed to do with this!”

“Tell us the way!”

“We will follow everything you command!”

But there was no way.

Now, trained soldiers, untrained civilians, even children were using their quick movements to block the jellies’ charges as much as possible, burning all the corpses, and recklessly granting mystical powers, wasting their authority.

In just 30 days, their world was filled with candies. Wherever they went, crazy candies appeared and charged, and this year’s crops were completely ruined.

And it seemed difficult for them to even face tomorrow, let alone the next year.

‘Even if we mobilize the army, we can’t catch them all. We can’t catch them with mysticism either. The moment we miss even one, they multiply dozens of times. We can’t farm, and the walls are meaningless. They easily jump over 2 or 3 meters. Even if we mobilize all civilians, their combat power is insufficient, and we will reach our limit. At this rate, all the stored food will be consumed, and famine will occur. Even if we kill them all in one day, we can’t survive on this devastated land this year.’

So-on thought further.

‘And even if we miraculously endure that, we are only at the dimensional gate stage. When the dimensional rift stage begins, ＜that＞ will come. That demon! The demon with tentacles floating in the sky! When it comes, we can’t do anything. So what should we do?’

No matter how much he thought, no answer came.

So-on’s vision went dark.