Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 85

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Player of the Ruined World – Episode 085
Even the Hunting Dog Alliance might struggle going forward.
What then of ordinary Survivors without an alliance….
‘Many will die.’
Many had already lost their lives, but from now on, truly… countless more would perish.
I couldn’t do anything about their fates.
Ending the game as quickly as possible before more died.
That was the best I could do.
After finishing my explanation, I checked my points first.
“Tell me my current points.”
Ding—!
[Current Stats: Health 60(+15), Strength 60(+15), Agility 60(+15), Epidermis 175, Mentality 400]
[Damage Reduction: 10%]
[Points Held: 98,450]
[Coins Held: 33]
Episode clear rewards, points earned from processing Zombies, and coins on top of that.
Since each episode mostly progressed through three stages, I could earn three coins each time I skipped a main episode.
“Raise my Health, Strength, and Agility to the current episode maximum.”
[Episode #12-0 is currently in progress.]
[The physical ability maximum for the twelfth episode is 150.]
[Will you use points to raise Health, Strength, and Agility stats to 150?]
“Yes.”
One stat increase required 100 points.
Numbers climbed rapidly before my eyes as the stat investment completed.
[27,000 points consumed to increase Health, Agility, and Strength by 90 each.]
“Raise Epidermis by 425 and Mentality by 200.”
[42,500 points consumed to increase Epidermis by 425, and 20,000 points consumed to increase Mentality by 200.]
Ding—!
[Current Stats: Health 150(+15), Strength 150(+15), Agility 150(+15), Epidermis 600, Mentality 600]
[Damage Reduction: 10%]
[Points Held: 8,950]
[Coins Held: 33]
With Mentality raised to 600, I could now use Frenzy while maintaining my sanity.
And with Epidermis raised to 600 as well, if my prediction is correct…
Ding—!
[Epidermis stat has reached 300!]
[Epidermis stat has reached 450!]
[Epidermis stat has reached 600!]
[Baster’s hidden function activates.]
[Select a desired Skill.]
Ding-!
[Baster’s Epidermis stat has reached its maximum.]
[A unique skill is being generated.]
Ding-!
[You have already learned Frenzy.]
[Another unique skill is being confirmed.]
Ding-!
[You have acquired the passive skill ‘Regeneration’.]
So reaching 600 Epidermis does generate a unique skill.
In the game, hitting 600 Epidermis unlocked Frenzy, but now a different skill has opened instead.
“Show me the description for the skill ‘Regeneration’.”
[Regeneration: Recovers accumulated fatigue in your body at 100 times the normal speed.]
[Wound recovery speed increases by 100 times.]
[Regenerating severed body parts requires 48 hours.]
[The brain, heart, and lungs cannot be regenerated.]
The brain, heart, and lungs cannot be regenerated.
In other words, if I die, I cannot be regenerated.
Still, acquiring a skill with this level of performance as a passive ability…
‘It’s similar to the Zombie King’s ultra-regeneration.’
I’ll be able to engage in combat far more aggressively than before.
“Show me the skills that unlocked when I achieved 300, 450, and 600 Epidermis.”
[Displaying the list of newly unlocked skills…]
Bzzzzt- Bzzzzt- Screeeech-!
At that moment, the text began to blur as if noise had erupted in the System Message.
Then a mysterious message appeared.
[An error has been detected in player ‘Baek Doyun’.]
[Illegal point acquisition has been confirmed.]
What?
Illegal point acquisition?
Me?
When?
As I parted my lips to protest, System Messages flooded in as if denying me the right to speak.
[Character ‘Baster’ will acquire significantly reduced points when trading points with League Members.]
“I’ve never traded points with League Members.”
[The same applies to point distribution. When a League Member defeats a Zombie and acquires 10 points, Baster should receive 3 points.]
Suddenly?
Now of all times?
I’m aware that Baster’s abilities decrease the Maker’s equipment performance.
The same applies to point trades with League Members.
Since I already knew this information from playing No Way Home, I accepted everything instead of protesting my unfair treatment.
So now I’m supposed to accept that my Zombie Points were reduced as well?
“Gaia, this isn’t right, is it?”
Bewildered by the absurdity, I stared at the System Message and questioned it, and the system responded with another message as if it were nothing.
[Player Baek Doyun has acquired unfair points by exploiting a loophole in the system.]
“When did I ever exploit the system?! I only did what the system told me to do!”
They say administrative law is the most vicious law of all.
So just because the system acknowledged it, I’m supposed to obey without a word?
[All points of Player Baek Doyun will be confiscated, and restrictions will be placed on the currently acquired skills…]
“Hey, Gaia.”
[….]
“Answer me, you bastard.”
Is this what it feels like when blood rushes backward through your veins?
My fists clenched with force, and my arms trembled with rage.
Not long after, a message appeared—not an ordinary one, but from Gaia herself.
{How arrogant.}
“Shut up, you filthy thing.”
{Filthy? Me?}
“You created the system and made the rules, yet you’re the one breaking them. Isn’t that arrogance and negligence?”
{….}
“You say nothing all this time, and now you want to confiscate everything? Are you joking?”
{Even so, you cannot deny that you obtained those points unfairly. In the world I envision, creatures like you are…}
“I don’t give a damn what kind of world you want. No matter what you say, you are absolute evil itself—not just to me, but to all of humanity.”
I wanted to speak as rationally and calmly as possible.
But the more I spoke, the more my rage boiled up.
Is this how Asura, the embodiment of wrath, felt?
I wanted to devour everything, and it felt like my heart would burst at any moment.
{How could a human who lives less than a hundred years understand the profound intentions of the creator?}
“Who asked you to share your repugnant thoughts? I’m not interested.”
I spoke without blinking, and not long after, Gaia’s message appeared.
{The balance of survival. Everything that defies it must be…}
“You’re spouting nonsense, you insane bastard.”
{Bark all you want. One day you will understand, and you will come to realize it yourself.}
After hearing Gaia’s response, I gripped the curved sword in my hand and spoke.
“So what you want is balance, is that it?”
{…?}
“I’ll show you what destruction really means, you son of a bitch.”
{What? Are you now threatening me…}
“I’ll kill every human you’re so desperate to destroy with my own hands.”
{I’m not trying to kill humans. I’m merely…}
“Lies. Whether it’s Zombies, Mutants, or humans—I’ll kill them all.”
{You fool. You don’t even have the courage to do it.}
“Watch what happens when a human becomes an Eye Monster. Damn it, Creator.”
{….}
“I followed the system as ordered and obeyed the rules. And now? A recall? Do I look like a sucker to you?”
{….}
“From now on, the virus enters. Catch it with both hands.”
I kicked open the Common Entrance door, the curved blade gripped in my hand.
Though I showed nothing on the surface, countless emotions churned within me.
Killing every human meant… I would kill my own companions with these hands.
I was bluffing for now, but I had no idea how far Gaia would tolerate this.
Yet I couldn’t simply comply either.
If things continued like this….
‘I won’t be able to see the ending.’
I’d already skipped through to the twelfth episode in one go.
If I saw the ending in the shortest possible time, it would be around the fourteenth or fifteenth episode.
But if restrictions were placed on my current situation… I’d have to consider the clear as lost.
Because overwhelming power was necessary to see this game’s ending.
Even having the Zombie King wouldn’t help.
Having the Zombie King as an ally only made the path to the final episode smoother and created an opportunity to see the ending—nothing more.
Gaia knew this, which is why she was placing restrictions on me.
Because I’d caused most of the main episodes to be skipped, and the game appeared to be ending.
But the mistake was Gaia’s from the start.
If she hadn’t made the foolish choice of releasing the Mutant in the first episode, the situation wouldn’t have come to this.
I pushed open the Common Entrance of the 1st Floor and stepped outside.
The heavy downpour that had been pouring had stopped as if it were a lie.
Only thick fog pressed down upon the world.
{Where are you going in such a hurry?}
Gaia’s message appeared before my eyes.
“I’ll kill the Zombie King first.”
{Fool. Don’t you know better than anyone that if you kill the Zombie King, you can’t end this game?}
I stared blankly at Gaia’s question like someone half out of their mind before answering.
“Why would I see the ending?”
{… What?}
“You said Another World, right? The new game you prepared.”
{….}
“If I see the ending here, I’d have to play that garbage game too. Why would I?”
{You…!}
“Forget it. Rather than play a damn game like that, I’ll kill everyone and die too.”
{A pathetic human daring to defy the Creator’s will…!}
I swung the curved blade at Gaia’s message, and the text split in half.
I flipped off the empty air with my middle finger and strode toward the Apartment Entrance.
{Stop!!}
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-
Gaia’s command reached my ears, and a crushing force pressed down on my entire body.
But what was this?
Before, I couldn’t even lift my head, but now my body merely felt heavy—I could still move.
Was it because I’d raised my Mentality stat to 600?
I broke into a triumphant smile and raised my middle finger at the empty air once more.
“Screw you.”
{Didn’t I tell you to stop!}
“There are things in this world that don’t bend to your will. Learn it well.”
{How can you be so reckless!}
“I’m curious myself. How far can I really go?”
The gravity crushing my entire body began to intensify.
Thick veins bulged across the back of my right hand gripping the curved blade, and veins rose on my forehead as well.
But it wasn’t enough to stop me from moving, so I poured strength into my legs and continued forward.
{Stop! I understand!}
In that instant, the gravity crushing my body vanished and Gaia’s message appeared.
{Speak what you desire.}
“Do you know what kind of human is the most dangerous in this world?”
{….}
Gaia had no answer.
I smiled coldly and opened my mouth.
“A human with nothing left to lose.”
{You have companions and family. You’re saying their deaths don’t matter to you?}
“I don’t have a family.”
{….}
“This balance you created—did you really think balance could ever exist in human life to begin with?”
{I gave all living beings equal abilities….}
Equal?
An ideal that could never exist as long as humans existed.
Laughter burst from me unbidden.
“Wow, is this really the level of a so-called god?”
{… What did you say?}
“You sit there sucking honey and think you’ve created a perfect world?”
{What world could be more perfect than this? The natural order where all things cycle….}
“Ah, I get it now.”
I snapped my fingers and stared at the message.
From everything that had happened so far, it seemed that no matter how absolute Gaia was, she couldn’t read my thoughts.
And while she could apply crushing pressure to my body, she seemed to lack the ability to directly take a life.
Then….
‘Gaia was bluffing just like I was.’
If she couldn’t directly harm me… then Gaia was the one growing anxious in this situation.
“You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”
{…!}
“You’re uneasy because I’ve grown far beyond what you anticipated. Isn’t that right?”
{How dare you…!}
“But the main episodes are already set by the system’s structure, so you can’t modify them either.”
{….}
“So all you could do was place restrictions on me. But what about this? Even that’s become impossible now that my Mentality stat has grown so high?”
{….}
“That’s why you appeared the moment I hit 600 Mentality to threaten me. Isn’t it?”
All the pieces were falling into place.
When I first hunted that Giant Zombie, I couldn’t resist harshly because I feared Gaia’s existence.
After all, she was a divine being who created this game.
But now….
‘The situation is different.’
A situation where I could afford to push back.
I smiled mockingly and gazed into the void.
“I’ve become a virus in the game you created. Haven’t I?”
{….}
“Since you can’t touch the system itself, you thought that if you just tormented me somehow, the remaining episodes would proceed as planned?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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