Hard Carry Support Chapter 104

Chapter 104 - The Darkness Planted in a Pure White (2)

Hyun imagined Louise's death.

He suddenly felt strange.

It was as if a cold, sticky liquid had gone through his body. He had never felt sothing so unpleasant since he’d started playing the ga.

"Oof…"

He'd seen enough NPCs dying. In Asrian, humanoid NPCs could die.

He was surprised when he’d seen the soldier committing suicide, but it wasn't shocking enough to be embedded into his mind.

But what about now?

Why was he feeling so agitated at the thought of an NPC dying?

Was it because of the ti they’d spent together while he was trying to protect her? At the thought of Louise dying, he felt as if a close friend was about to die.

"How…"

"Yes?"

"Can I save her?" Hyun asked without realizing it.

He really wanted to overco the current situation.

"Is there a way to save her…?"

A level 100 user couldn't influence the result of the battle.

That's how strong the Abyss army that was invading Iluna was.

"You think that the Heavens will lose?"

"Yes…"

"I see."

It looked as if Rutia was thinking about sothing; then, as if she'd made a decision, she began speaking.

"I may be able to help you a little bit."

Hyun slowly raised his head after hearing Rutia's words.

"Follow ."

Soon, Rutia began walking toward sowhere.

Ain looked at her suspiciously.

Louise also couldn't hide her anxiety.

'What if it’s a trap?'

Hyun was also startled for a mont but shook his head.

'We have no other choice at the mont.'

The party began following Rutia and walked through the Symtrical World.

They crossed nurous portals and even walked through a bridge that went over a red lake.

The scenery around changed quickly as if they were in the middle of a dream.

"Where are we going?" Hyun asked Rutia after they'd been walking for a while.

“In the two worlds, the opposing one looks distorted,” Rutia answered with a smile.

"What?"

"One step here doesn't equal one step in the other world—it can be longer or shorter."

Rutia's answers were vague and hard to understand.

Hyun, who more or less caught what she wanted to say, assud that what she ant was that they could use the Symtrical World to shorten travel distance.

Although he didn't know the exact theory regarding the difference in space density yet.

Hyun was about to ask for more details when Rutia asked a question.

"If you could use Teleport, where would you want to go?"

"Teleport? Can you use it?!"

"To be more precise, it isn't Teleport, but it’s very similar. I can send you anywhere on Iluna."

"Really…?"

At Rutia's words, Hyun's head began working faster.

The reason why he was feeling so helpless was that he couldn't do anything.

What did it matter if they got out of the Symtrical World? By the ti they returned to the city, the whole situation would probably be already over!

But what if they could be sent anywhere?

Hyun tried to rember the battle that’d taken place in Asra Online.

'We must go there!'

The largest battlefield was, of course, where the last magic circle was located, but small battles were happening all over the place.

But even among them, there was a place where a battle that could be called a turning point happened.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that one of the reasons why the Heavens had lost was because they had made a huge mistake.

If he could change the result of that battle, maybe he could find a way to save Louise.

'If I can buy enough ti…'

He glanced at Louise, who was next to him, and started to make so calculations.

'If it's us… Maybe we can do it…!'

The chances of Louise surviving were slim, but that was a huge difference from having no chance.

Was it possible or not?

He wouldn't know until he tried, but it was worth trying.

To make this possibility real, Hyun began thinking about nurous things.

All without realizing the stares everyone else was giving him.

* * *

While the last city was noisy because of the battle…

Steel Rock, who had been a ranker in Asra Online, was at the top of the tower located in the main temple.

Usually, there would be so high-ranking Priest NPC guarding the place, but it was silent.

Maria had sent the people who couldn't fight back to Asra, and the rest were busy fighting, so that's how Steel Rock had been able to climb up the tower without anyone bothering him.

'Just as expected, there isn't anyone here.'

After climbing up the stairs, Steel Rock finally reached the top and looked around.

There, the last magic circle was beaming a light toward the sky.

It was the city's heart.

The mont that magic circle went off, the Heavens would imdiately lose.

'I'm glad it's safe.'

Steel Rock sighed in relief.

According to the previous ga's story, Iluna's Quest was supposed to happen three years after the main story.

But why had the incident been moved forward?

No one knew the reason.

Steel Rock was worrying about if sothing unexpected had happened because of the circle, but after looking at the magic circle, it seed like things hadn't changed yet compared to the past.

'I guess he will soon appear.'

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

The reason why the Heavens lost in the previous ga wasn't that the defense lines had been defeated.

—It was because the magic circle had suddenly lost its light.

It happened because of a spy.

Because of that guy's betrayal, the final light had been extinguished, which had made the Heavens’ army lose their morale as they had been defeated shortly after.

'Haha, how much contribution rate will I receive?'

Unlike back then, Steel Rock knew the future.

If he could eliminate the spy that would soon appear, he would receive a lot of rit.

Asrian's rit system was precise and escalated.

The end result probably wouldn't change, but there probably wouldn't be a user who could match his contribution rate thanks to him having protected the last magic circle.

In the guild he was part of, easy strategies like that were shared fairly, and now, it was Steel Rock's turn.

"Hmm? Did he already appear?"

He was spending ti while sitting down.

Steel Rock felt that soone was getting closer.

A shadow reflected on the walls was drawing near.

Steel Rock took out his weapon.

According to his mory, he should be able to deal with the spy.

By killing him, he probably would be able to increase the life of the magic circle a lot, and thanks to that, he would probably receive a lot of contribution.

But it didn't take long before his expectations went wrong.

"What…?!"

As the figure of the spy erged from the shadows, Steel Rock's sword fell from his hands in surprise.

Although he could only see his silhouette, he knew who that person was.

The Magic Swordsman wielding a blue longsword was soone every Asrian user knew.

He could feel a sharp energy that couldn't be felt through screenshots.

—It was Lattice.

The user who had never lost the 1st position in the rankings after starting to play Asrian.

"Hmm? Is anyone here?"

Lattice laughed after seeing Steel Rock.

"So you're an Asra user."

Surprisingly, Lattice knew Steel Rock's face.

Because they'd never seen each other, Steel Rock replied in surprise.

"Why are you…"

"What? Is there any reason why I shouldn't have co here?" Lattice said sarcastically.

His voice was as cold as the blue longsword he was wielding.

"I don't know what you're doing here… But if you don't want to die, move on. I don't want to be pursued by the guard again, so I'll let you go."

Steel Rock understood what was going on.

He never thought Lattice would take on the spy role and appear there! That was the worst possible outco.

"Or do you want to die? I don't care either way."

"N-no… Wait…!" Steel Rock shouted after seeing Lattice approach him.

Steel Rock thought it was unfair.

Why did sothing like that happen when it was his turn?!

According to the guild's policy, it was entirely his fault if sothing unexpected happened.

If he gave up there, he would lose a huge amount of contribution rate.

With the hopes of saving himself, Steel Rock proposed sothing.

He tried using the information as bait.

"Wait! I'm going to give you information worth as much as the contribution rate of this quest…! So can you just let have this one?"

But Lattice just laughed at Steel Rock's words.

"That's funny."

Swish-

Lattice took out his sword.

"I just wasted ti."

Lattice's sword was about to cut Steel Rock.

A word ca out from Steel Rock's mouth, which made Lattice stop his sword.

"Hyun…! Do you know who Hyun is?"

The mont he heard that na, Lattice's hands stopped.

The blue longsword stopped at Steel Rock's neck.

—His last resource had worked.

'As expected, he knows him…!'

If it was a user like Lattice, he’d probably heard that na before.

Just like he thought, Lattice reacted the mont he heard Hyun’s na.

Steel Rock took that opportunity and kept talking.

"I'll give you information about Hyun… You'll probably end up fighting against him one day."

"Hyun…"

Steel Rock's last card made Lattice think.

He silently thought for a while.

After a while, he answered back with a smile.

"What information?"

"What about things like fighting style or weakness…?"

The truth was that even Steel Rock didn't know the answers to those things.

Although he rembered Hyun's fighting style, the only weakness he could think of was that he'd lost a couple of tis against Ain.

"No… It doesn't matter who it is. No one can be my opponent. I guess you don't have any other useful information."

After refusing that last offer, Lattice's eyes shone.

Steel Rock's eyes changed.

"This damn guy!"

Even until the end, he couldn't give up on the quest.

He thought that, maybe if he landed a surprise attack on him, maybe he would be able to win.

In a fight among users, there were cases of a victory being decided in an instant.

If he was lucky, he would be able to kill him and monopolize the contribution rate. After thinking that, Steel Rock began moving.

Paf-!

Steel Rock's weapon drew a huge line.

'Damn, did it miss…?'

After feeling his sword cut through the air, he imdiately backed off.

Even though Steel Rock didn't enjoy PvP, he knew the main movents people used back then in Asra.

An average user would've probably died imdiately, but the opponent was Lattice.

Imdiately after that, Steel Rock felt strange.

[You've received 33% of your HP as damage!]

[Your waist has been cut!]

[You've died!]

[You won't be able to log in for the next 48 hours!]

Steel Rock discovered he'd died after reading the system ssages.

While his field of vision was tilting, he could hear Lattice's voice.

"It isn't only you who knows about those silly techniques."

Lattice had managed to cut him from behind.

His blue longsword had cut Steel Rock's body in half.

He wouldn't have been able to do that if he hadn’t been able to guess what his attack would be.

Swish-!

"Boring."

After ensuring that Steel Rock had died, he sheathed his sword.

He knew about the top 50 rankers from the previous ga.

The first Asra Online user he’d t had been easier to defeat than he’d initially thought.

"Was he soone who only focused on hunting?"

According to his information, Steel Rock had once reached the 20th place in the rankings.

He was too weak, even considering that was the best possible ranking he had been able to achieve.

He naturally thought of sothing.

The ID that guy ntioned before dying…

Hyun, the forr number one, what kind of person was he?

Lattice tried to think rationally.

Had he overestimated him?

He thought that was a possibility.

The number of players in Asrian couldn't be compared to the previous ga, which was why the number of talented players was low as well.

'Maybe he's weaker than expected.'

After ordering his thoughts, he approached the magic circle.

The lives of the Heavens’ forces were at Lattice's hands.

- Destroy the 7 Magic Circles that exist on Iluna! (Amount Destroyed: 6)

He was finally about to finish the quest that he had dragged out so much.

Destroying the magic circles was an easy task.

He had to put the stones he’d received from a Demon in the middle of the magic circles; once he did that, the heavenly light started to die down.

Lattice suddenly found the situation funny.

The result of the battle would be decided there and not at the city's walls.

Countless lives were being lost pointlessly.

'A useless struggle.'

Lattice didn't doubt for a mont and slowly walked toward the magic circle.

At that mont, a red light shone from behind him.