episode_0028

The protagonists in subculture gacha games usually have ambiguous genders and their appearances are left to the players’ imagination. Characters like ‘Admiral’ or ‘Producer’ are examples of this.

However, some recent games have presented users with male and female protagonists with clear appearances, giving them the chance to choose their gender.

*Crimson Scholar* was also such a game.

But the method it used was truly shocking, becoming a small topic of conversation.

When starting the game, you would see a black-haired man and woman hanging precariously from a cliff. Within a limited time, the user could click to choose either the man or the woman.

Once the selection was made, the cliff would collapse. The chosen character would tumble a few times before falling onto a gentle slope and fainting, but the unchosen character would fall by a hair’s breadth and disappear into the deep abyss below the cliff.

Users eagerly awaited the reappearance of the unchosen character, but later, dialogue from other characters confirmed they had even held a funeral.

Afterward, the screen would darken for a moment, followed by a few seconds of silence…

“‘Scholar-nim’? Please wake up, ‘Scholar-nim’. The Academy City needs you.”

After a voice calling the protagonist was heard, the screen brightened, and the brown-haired girl who was the game’s face would greet them, beginning the tutorial.

“…The place we’re walking right now is that very tutorial area!”

No. 5 chattered excitedly.

“Now we just need to find the path the Scholar-nim took and go down in reverse!”

Passing the initial entrance to the dungeon where the hunters had gathered, a graveyard of buildings, jutting out like cemetery headstones, unfolded before our eyes.

As the monotonous scenery stretched endlessly, we chatted for a while to alleviate the boredom.

“But hey. Can we just take the protagonist’s items?”

“It’s fine. There are three in total. The Scholar-nim takes one of them. The others are kept at their workplace, so there’s no big problem. Besides, it’s five years in the future anyway.”

Hearing No. 2’s explanation, No. 5 nodded as if understanding.

No. 1, who had been examining something with a hammer on the left, asked another question.

“But I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“What would the Scholar-nim be doing at this time?”

“Who knows. They were siblings, weren’t they? An older sister and a younger brother. They’d probably be working in the central part of the Academy City.”

We all shrugged our shoulders.

Didn’t everything get twisted the moment the Witch of Immeasurable Power became dorm roommates with the Saint of Salvation?

What happens five years from now is none of my business anymore!

Thirty minutes passed since the exploration began.

“Are we going the right way? I don’t know what’s what.”

We were fumbling our way through a strange terrain made of buildings, roads, and concrete fused together, heading towards the bottom of the canyon.

The was a typical canyon with massive cliffs, slopes, and deeply carved terrain between them.

The only difference was that scattered large and small buildings and cracked roads took the place of rock and soil.

The gray, desolate landscape, with jumbled skyscrapers, utility poles, and signs haphazardly erected, brought to mind Beksinski’s surreal paintings.

Through this forgotten ruin, this city that had met its demise and been distorted, the Violets marched in two columns.

“This shield is too heavy! Do we really need to carry it all the time? Can’t we just duplicate it and take it out when we need it? So far, we haven’t even seen a trace of monsters, except for other hunters.”

No. 6 grumbled.

Only peculiar mineral crystals clinging to the floor and walls like mushrooms were visible; no other moving beings were in sight apart from us. Perhaps it was because we were at the entrance.

“It’s the first dungeon, isn’t it? Safety first. Even though it’s a place with only low-level monsters, we need to be careful as we don’t know when or where they might pop out. Remember that weapon duplication takes a while.”

No. 1 admonished.

“Our fights so far have been like primitives, right? Now that we have proper equipment, we need to use tactics to properly utilize our numerical superiority. That means we have to stay armed at all times.”

No. 2 calmly explained afterward.

“Like medieval or ancient armies?”

“Roman Legion!”

“Sparta!”

Each of them raised their weapons and said something. As we continued down the sloped path, surveying our surroundings, a sound like tape being peeled off a wall, a *rip*, was heard.

“Do you hear that sound?”

“Is it another hunter team?”

“It’s strange for that. It doesn’t sound like footsteps!”

We stopped and scanned our surroundings.

The repeated sound grew closer. With tense eyes, we scrutinized a wall, a building, a single window, when a round, gray head suddenly popped out from a corner of the wall.

“Grrrroak?”

“What is it?”

“Look over there, it’s a Skrax!”

A stunted monster with rough, concrete-like gray skin peeked its head out and stared at us.

As our gazes fixed on it, the creature let out a crude shriek and began to flee.

“Kwoak! Kwoo-o-oak!”

“That one’s getting away!”

“It drew aggro! Catch it!”

Immediately, No. 10 and No. 11 pursued it. No. 10 threw a sword at the creature fleeing into the distance.

The flying sword, after traveling a certain distance, scattered into sparkling dust before it could reach the creature’s back. The Skrax used its small stature to flee through gaps in the buildings.

“We lost it!”

“I could have hit it…”

The Violets who had belatedly followed No. 10 and No. 11 scanned their surroundings with bewildered faces.

“This is bad. Wasn’t that one a scout?”

“That’s right! We couldn’t eliminate the scout, so a swarm of Skrax will be coming soon!”

“Should we retreat?”

Amidst the chaos, a rough roar echoed from afar. No. 2 aimed her sword and shouted.

“It’s too late to retreat. Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!”

Immediately, crude and rough cries from the alley echoed the previous roar. More sounds like tape ripping grew closer from beyond the wall.

A number of gray dwarf monsters, seemingly similar in size to us, swarmed through the passage.

“Grrrroak! Grrrro-o-o-o-oak!”

“They’re coming!”

“Shield unit! Advance! Spear unit, stand by behind them!”

“Impact unit, wait! Not yet!”

Five clones holding riot shields moved in unison and stepped forward.

We slammed our shields onto the ground with a *clank*, blocking the passage. Doing this somewhat eased our fear.

With a *rip-rip* sound, the Skrax drew closer. They were coming. Their drooling mouths and murky yellow eyes were clearly visible.

The monsters charged without hesitation, even after seeing our formation.

“Beware of impact!”

Five individuals armed with long spears immediately behind the shield unit gripped the shoulders and backs of the shield unit. The monsters’ bodies crashed into the shields.

-*CRASH!*

“Grrrroak!”

“Kng!”

“They’re so small! Why are they so strong!”

“Hold tight!”

They foolishly slammed their entire bodies into the shields. The shield unit nearly fell from the impact.

As we endured the first impact, the Skrax now swung their weapons and struck the shields.

-*CLANG! Clang! Clang!*

“Aargh! My shield is denting!”

With brutal strength, they swung thick iron pipes wildly, striking the shields. They also jabbed with spears made of haphazardly woven rebar. The hit areas were deeply dented. The power coming from their small bodies was immense.

While the shield unit held, the spear unit immediately launched a counterattack.

“Stab!”

“Die!”

“Kwoo-o-o-o-o-oak!”

No. 12 thrust her long spear with all her might. The spearhead, imbued with sword energy, flew towards the forehead of a Skrax that was holding the shield and roaring from the front. The creature’s yellow eyes rolled back as it fell.

“It works! Keep stabbing!”

“Shield unit, begin attacking!”

Long spears thrust repeatedly from behind the shields, and the shield unit also drew their swords and stabbed, instantly sending more than seven Skrax twisting their limbs and falling to the ground.

“Kuh… kwoak!”

Frightened by our menacing momentum, the Skrax hesitated and backed away. But it was too late.

“Now! Impact unit, begin attack!”

-*Clang!*

-*Slash!*

[By attacking from behind, the synchronized trait: Backstab was activated. Damage is increased!]

A hammer flew into the back of the retreating Skrax’s head, and a knife was plunged into its back.

While the Violet shields confronted them from the front, three of the remaining members had flanked them, approaching the rear of the Skrax swarm undetected!

“Kwoo-o-o-oak! Kwoak!”

“Kwoo-o-o-oak…”

Realizing they were surrounded, the Skrax cried out in despair, trying to escape in every direction, but there was nowhere to run. The Violets, breaking formation, stabbed with spears and cut with swords, slaughtering the rest of them.

“We won!”

“Victory is ours!”

As the last Skrax was impaled by three or four spearheads and fell, we shouted in excitement. It was our first battle and first victory since entering the dungeon.

We bounced up and down on the monsters’ corpses.

“Is anyone hurt?”

“My cheek got scratched a little earlier, but I’m fine!”

“My shield got dented.”

“Discard the dented shield. You can just copy another one.”

Once the battle ended, we immediately took time to regroup, then pushed forward.

Afterward, we continuously encountered Skrax swarms similar to or larger than the previous one.

The pattern was the same. If one of them, wandering alone or hidden, shrieked and fled, a swarm would rush in like bees shortly after.

However, we realized that our first battle had been beginner’s luck.

We had forgotten that Skrax were monsters with high intelligence. The fighting gradually became harder.

“Rocks are coming! Raise your shields and duck your heads!”

And then, the first casualty occurred.

“Screech! I’m being dragged away!”

While we were blocking the raining rocks, No. 4, a member of the shield unit, was dragged out of formation, shield and all, by a Skrax.

The pain of the Skrax mutilating No. 4 with their claws and clubs swept through all of us.

“Aaaargh!”

Clenching our teeth and struggling, we barely managed to drive them back, but No. 4 had already died and scattered into dust.

“Uwaaah… I want to stand at the back…”

“No way. Let’s switch places.”

We rotated the regenerated No. 4 into the spear unit.

In the ensuing continuous battles, we repeatedly fell into crisis. We were forming a shield wall and smoothly stabbing the creatures with spears, when they suddenly infiltrated from the rear.

“Aaaah! They appeared behind us too!”

They were also monsters capable of using their minds, albeit clumsily.

As we engaged in a chaotic battle with Skrax appearing from all directions, I saw a Skrax whose right arm ended not in a hand, but a long, translucent cylinder below the elbow.

“Look there! It’s a ranged attacker! Be careful!”

“It’s a Skrax Caster!”

As it raised its arm, a yellow orb of light gathered inside the translucent cylinder with a sound like a vacuum cleaner activating.

-*Fwoosh!*

“Die!… *Gasp!*”

The light projectile fired from the Skrax Caster’s arm blew off the head of No. 2, who was swinging her sword.

“No. 2 got hit..! *Kng!*”

While No. 3 stared in shock at what happened, the Skrax, capitalizing on No. 2’s absence, struck No. 3, knocking her down.

We reeled under the barrage of attacks from all sides.

Is this the end? Is it our fate to be defeated by such low-level monsters?

“We can’t lose to these petty mobs!”

Suddenly, anger surged. We fought with fury.

“I’ll open the way!”

No. 1 drew her one-handed sword and powerfully cut down the monsters blocking the way ahead.

Without forgetting the method learned from that old-fashioned instructor, she put her anger into it, swinging the sword imbued with sword energy violently.

“Be split in two and die!”

“Kwoooak!!”

Red sword energy cleaved this ugly dwarf, weapon and all. It split in two with a *crack* from the crown of its head.

The Skrax Caster in front of me had its right arm aimed. The light projectile was about to be fired.

It’s too late to run! Then what?

I received the real long spear from the dormitory.

“If a replica won’t do! Use the real thing!”

The long spear, imbued with sword energy, flew through the air and grazed the Skrax Caster’s side. Its arm aimed in the wrong direction, and the light projectile flew over my head.

Confusion was plastered on its face.

“Eee-yah!”

-*Slice!*

The Skrax Caster’s head fell below its shoulder. At that moment, the surrounding creatures began to waver. It seemed this was their leader.

We managed to drive away the entire monster horde.

“We won…!”

Our appearance was a mess.

“If it’s too painful to wait for reversion, I’ll just euthanize you immediately. Is that alright?”

“It’s not that bad…! We need to save magic, I’ll just revert!”

This was their fifth assault. We were utterly exhausted after fighting for several hours.

“Alright, everyone! Let’s go rest now. We’re almost at the location where the inventory is!”

Still, joy comes after hardship, and we were close to our target area.

For rest, we entered a seemingly safe abandoned building. Each of us took out bread, chocolate bars, and water to eat.

Reviewing our losses so far: we had regenerated clones more than 10 times after suffering severe injuries, and had died 6 times.

“I’m exhausted. We’ll still make it today, right?”

“Well, maybe we were just lucky.”

We reviewed our battles so far.

“Our goal is to secure the , not to hunt! If we had caught the lone scout wandering around first, we could have passed without fighting.”

“But… its skin color is similar to the surroundings, and it’s small, so it’s hard to see.”

“We don’t have any ranged weapons either. Against that Caster, we’re always going to take the first hit.”

No. 10 picked up a stone, duplicated it, and threw it with a *whoosh*. Everyone’s gaze followed the trajectory of the stone. The duplicated stone glided for about 5 to 6 meters before turning into light and disappearing.

“At this rate, we won’t have any ranged attack methods other than throwing spears or swords right in front of us.”

“Would a similar effect occur with duplicated bullets or crossbow bolts?”

“Maybe so. We might have to consider them consumables and buy them separately.”

No. 5 suddenly coughed loudly, and we all turned our heads in unison. No. 5, who had expelled bright sparkling dust, held up a chocolate bar.

“Look at this! I duplicated food! Watch closely, breath!”

No. 5 duplicated a chocolate bar, put it in her mouth, and chewed. A moment later, No. 5 exhaled sparkling particles.

Our curiosity piqued, we tried to imitate it. Indeed, glowing dust poured from our mouths. It had no taste.

“Ugh, what is this? It has no taste and probably no nutritional value. As expected, item duplication has its limits.”

“But sparkling stuff is just pouring out of your mouth?”

No. 4 sneezed. Glowing dust poured from her nose. The sight was so funny that we giggled.

“Achoo!”

“Hahaha! Look at that! Sparkling stuff is coming out of her nose too!”

“Wahahaha!”

We forgot about our meeting and had fun for a while, eating fake chocolate bars.

***

After finishing our rest, we continued descending to the bottom of the canyon. Before long, we saw a familiar abandoned building, one we had seen in the game. The building was three stories tall.

“If it weren’t for the fighting, I would have enjoyed it like a tourist attraction.”

Experiencing the game’s scenery firsthand was deeply moving in many ways. It would have been great if there wasn’t all the bloody fighting.

Upon reaching the destination, I had two clones wait at the entrance, then searched the interior in teams of three.

“Is this it? According to the description, you enter here and get an item.”

“Just shut up and search! The floor, the ceiling, everything!”

We diligently searched everywhere. We scoured every floor but found nothing.

“There’s a door leading to the basement here!”

“Open the door!”

Concentrating sword energy at the tip of my hammer, I blasted the doorknob off and entered the basement. The Violets with riot shields took the lead.

“Be careful, it’s five years ago, so there might be strange traps.”

“Everyone inside!”

Relying on smartphone lights, meager flashlight beams, and ether glow, we searched the dusty basement, and then saw a floor with complex patterns engraved on it. The gaps in the floor were wide, looking suitable for inserting something.

“Is this it?”

“It looks suspicious at a glance, doesn’t it? Let’s try prying it open first.”

I inserted the spear tip and pushed with all my might to open it. With a *creak*, the thick tile lifted, revealing a black duffel bag engraved with complex patterns underneath.

I immediately checked the status window.

[Multi-Dimensional Storage Bag ?????]

[* Cannot determine rank.]

“We found it!”

We rejoiced at our success. As we were about to exit the basement with the bag, No. 2 suddenly looked at the floor with eyes full of doubt.

“Wait, look there…”

When I shined a light in the direction No. 2 was pointing, another open floor tile was visible.

Another tile was left lifted, with an empty space visible beneath it.

“Wait, there were three bags in total, right?”

“What the…?”

An ominous feeling ran down my spine at the unexpected situation. We scrambled out of the basement in shock.

“Get out first!”