Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game

Chapter 134

Its appearance was sudden.
The sky hadn't been dyed red, and no demon had appeared to cause a ruckus. It simply appeared one day and stood before the kingdom.

"Who are you!"

Despite the lack of grand effects, the mere appearance of the being was enough to impose an overwhelming presence.
Its body was made of flesh without skin, with a grotesque face and an extraordinarily large frame. It moved, wriggling and grotesque in appearance.
It was an unknown creature, but people would now refer to such horrifying and monstrous beings with one term.
A demon.

As the kingdom's knight saw the being, he rushed forward.

"Damn... how is it that this demon comes from our side? We need to hold out while gathering the extermination troops!"
"Yes!"

While the empire's knights were the strongest, that didn't mean the knights of other nations were weak.
In particular, the Lurian Kingdom, located near the empire, had significant combat prowess. To survive beside the empire, some level of competitiveness was essential.
Because of that, Lurian's forces were strong, with both physical strength and mental fortitude.

Yet, despite this, the knight trembled as he stepped forward.
Upon facing the enemy, a chill fear gnawed at the knight’s mind.

This demon had not only a grotesque appearance but also an intangible atmosphere that overpowered anyone in its presence.
It had the charisma of a ruler, or the malice of a murderer.
The demon spoke.

"The disgusting human stench fills the air..."

Its voice was coarse, like scraping metal.
The demon extended its hand, and its flesh expanded, crushing the knight's arm.

Crack—!
A horrific sound echoed as the knight's arm was crushed.
The sound of a pained scream filled the air.

"Kneel. And be afraid. The king has come to this land."
"Damn!"

Some knights, terrified, raised their shields.
The demon thrust its arm into the ground.
Flesh began to wriggle, and red spikes emerged from beneath the earth.

"You shall live bowing your heads, trembling in fear like cattle. I am the one who rules the north."

Thud! Thud!
The knights were impaled by their shields and arms.

‘This is insane…’

It was hard to believe, even after seeing it firsthand. They hadn’t been unprepared, yet nearly half of the troops were taken out with just two attacks.

"Ugh, aaah!"
To make matters worse, several soldiers waiting in the back fled in terror. They feared they would die here.

The demon, who called itself the king, continued its slow attacks as it spoke.

"The Lord of Terror, Beleth."

The demon didn't retreat even a single step, and it walked straight, decapitating the king.
In just two days, the Lurian Kingdom was brought to its knees.

[Russian is so difficult]

[Bad news under the rain! Bad news under the rain!]

[Thanks, as always, for reading]

[What are these Soviet bastards saying right now?]
[Looks like the developers' parents went to heaven or something?]
[Yeah, seems like they’re pissed off]
[With the update, their country that was running smoothly got wiped out, it makes sense]
[And now they're taking the NPCs to the empire, asking for help?]
[Oh, lol, does that mean we can meet the bears from the bear country?]
[Is that the important thing right now? The hunting grounds are about to get overcrowded, damn it.]

Whether it was an update or not, something huge had happened with the game’s second anniversary. Naturally, the aftermath had the community on fire.
This time, it was bad news, for both the players and the NPCs.

The news of a country’s destruction was enough to make the players aware of the dangers.
They never expected a server, one of the most successful, to be shut down like this.
The users hadn't expected this at all—such a thriving server to be shut down.

What was even more terrifying was that the danger was still ongoing.
The demon was still rampaging, causing havoc.

[So what’s that demon doing now?]
No one knows. Normally, players would gather information from the vicinity, but everyone was running away, so no one could confirm anything.
[One user who escaped said it was collecting the dead bodies.]
[Really a creepy bastard from start to finish.]

[What about our server's knights?]
[They probably just received the news and are discussing what to do.]
[Must be quite the shock for them.]

[An official message was posted on the guild board.]

They’re actively receiving refugees.
They mentioned that it's too dangerous to send troops, but they’ll be organizing an extermination force.
They’re asking for a lot of support, especially from the otherworldly beings.

[When are the Russian guys coming?]
[It’s a long way, so it’ll take quite a while to get here on foot.]

[Are these bastards trying to use us as cannon fodder again?]
[They’re fighting for their lives, so it’s understandable.]

For the first time in a long while, the community was filled with a serious atmosphere.
This demon felt different, and everyone sensed it instinctively.

A demon had appeared.
Not long after hearing the news about the Russian server’s fall, I received the full story.

Honestly, I had expected it. It wasn’t like a meteor just fell from the sky. No country would start a war at a time like this.

“Yor, what are you going to do?”

Chaerin, who had brought the news, asked. I answered.

"First, I’ll have to sign up for the extermination team. I have the adventurer faction after all."
"And after that?"
"Well..."

Honestly, there wasn’t much I could do after that. The knights had decided to focus on defense for now.
A country had fallen, but from my position, it didn’t feel real.
The demon hadn’t appeared before me yet.

"For now, I’ll keep going like usual. I’ll still go to the arena."

Now was the time to keep my combat instincts sharp. And in my opinion, there was no better place for that than the arena. I could fight as much as I wanted, and it was relatively safe.

When I said that, Chaerin nodded.
But she seemed to still have something she wanted to say. I noticed her lips twitching.
I tilted my head and asked her.

"What’s up?"
"Well... I’ve been curious about something for a while. Can I ask you?"
"Ask away, don’t keep me guessing."
"Now that you have an ID badge, why do you still live in the cave? It’s not like you’re short on money."

It was a somewhat random question, but at the same time, it was understandable.
It had been a long time since I received my ID badge. If I wanted, I could have gotten a house in the city by now.

Even though I had grown fond of the cave, it wasn’t exactly more comfortable than a house in a city.
When the wind blew, dirt would come in, there was no heating or cooling, and even when the area was fortified, sometimes predators would sneak in... It was uncomfortable.
To someone else, it might seem foolish to insist on living in nature.

But I had my reasons. I scratched my cheek and answered her.

"Well... I live there because people would be uncomfortable if I stayed elsewhere."

As for otherworldly beings, it was one thing, but for the Gaia people, there was still a lot of hostility.
Sure, some had loosened up, but changing deeply ingrained beliefs about manifestors wasn’t an easy task.
Normally, they would have been executed at the age of 10, but suddenly being told to accept one...

The emperor was too radical, and for the average medieval person with a closed mindset, it wasn’t something that could be easily accepted.

After I explained this, Chaerin apologized, looking embarrassed.

"I’m sorry, I asked a pointless question."
"No, it’s fine. I don’t mind."

After that, we chatted like usual and parted ways.

I continued to visit the arena after that.
Perhaps because of the news, the audience in the stands had noticeably decreased.
But fortunately, it didn’t interfere with the matchmaking.
Shin Hanbyeol, who came with me, even preferred the smaller crowd.

For a few days, I continued to visit the arena. During that time, I heard some news from outside.
One person who had fled on horseback reached the empire, trembling in fear.
The scouts had gone out but couldn’t find the demon, though strange things were roaming around.
They saw a masked group from afar, probably from Remegaton...

All the rumors were like ghost stories.
The only relief was that, after investigation, it seemed there were fewer casualties than expected.
Most seemed to have gained some trauma from the fear, but many had joined the ranks of refugees.
Because of that, there was now a concern about whether there would be enough space left to house them.

With a reasonable sense of tension, I was listening to the rumors about the demon when...

"Ah, hey? Long time no see... Hehe."

One day, a new guest arrived at my forest.
A slender figure, long white hair, and red glasses with red eyes behind them. A beautiful woman awkwardly greeted me.
It was her first time in the forest, but we had a long connection.
She said we had both come from the same orphanage.

The 3rd faction leader, Liya. She spoke to me.

"Today, I came to take you to Remegaton."
"Sigh..."

I sighed before answering.