episode_0106

The relentless attack of countless humanoid monsters.

Dealing with them one by one was already challenging enough, but if more than ten of them were to swarm in at once.

“Rage.”

I grabbed onto Rage’s sleeve.

Rage, understanding the significance of it, tightly held onto my hand.

“We can’t go now.”

We need to stay close to the Academy.

Since the support from the Academy always arrived a step late, if we were to stray far from the Academy in a situation like this, it wouldn’t be surprising if we ended up dead.

“What about Yeongchang?”

“Is Yeongchang the issue right now?”

“It’s not my problem. Anyway, they’ll probably send disciplinary action.”

“Surely not in a situation like this?”

It had to be extremely dire.

But such worries were meaningless.

A massive circle emerged, covering the vast square in front of the hospital, before tearing apart to reveal a giant figure clad in heavy armor, with huge arms bursting out and striking the ground.

Slowly, the rest of the arms emerged from within, as the heavily armored giant, like a tank, made its way out of the pool.

A tiny head on the massive body moved slowly.

“Is this the world of ‘Kkobjap-Dwipang’?”

How the hell would they know.

Oh, right, they all mentioned being authors. In the universe, there were countless beings like us and Rage, who created worlds.

So what.

The answer was clear.

“What development didn’t sit well with you, you bug-like bastards.”

After spewing curses, I set down the bags on my shoulders.

The creature roared and thundered towards me, like a tank charging in.

I’ll have to use the anti-tank weapon.

“Rocket launcher.”

Simultaneously, I aimed the black lump that appeared with a flash of light on my shoulder at the creature.

And as I aimed and pulled the trigger.

Kwaaaang!!

Mana condensed into a bullet was fired, and fierce flames erupted from the muzzle.

*

Let’s rewind time a bit.

The time when everyone was asleep.

Lina Frilwood sat on her dormitory bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Her unfocused, hazy eyes.

In reality, she was only physically sitting there.

Her consciousness had traveled elsewhere.

A black landscape, neither Ecant nor Earth, stretched out emptily in all directions.

In the black landscape like ink, occasional small and large lights twinkled like stars.

A vast number of tables spread out around Lina in a fan shape, like a parliament building, with the central chair left empty.

Over two thousand seats were filled to the brim.

The owners of the seats, including Lina, all had a translucent appearance and emitted a faint light.

The council of gods.

Editors from all over Earth had gathered for the preliminary judging of the ‘Universe’s Strongest Contest.’

While Lina sat still, absentmindedly staring into space with a bored expression, the many gods in their seats engaged in various conversations, passing the time.

With two thousand people chatting simultaneously, the noise was quite overwhelming.

“Everyone seems to be here, let’s begin.”

The bustling assembly hall fell silent at the resonant, calm yet grand voice.

Soon, a human silhouette began to take shape from the empty central seat, the figure gradually becoming more distinct like a waveform.

After a moment, a clear male figure appeared in the seat, and the semi-transparent silhouette scanned the entire assembly before opening its mouth with a calm, low voice.

“Editor 1,937.”

It was the sound of someone calling out to Lina.

“Oh, yes?”

“Do you have any intention of changing the guardian world?”

“No, why?”

Seeing Lina respond naturally, the editor let out a soft sigh.

“Are you willing to entrust the lives of 8 billion people to the 49th ranked world? Look at how other editors are making their choices.”

“There’s no rule saying we have to pick the number one.”

“Well, the creator of that world made a universe with no fights at all. The works of Earth 1,937 are not like that.”

A competition held once every thousand years to leave only one Earth in the universe. It was a place to select the representative work to go to the finals.

The ranking of each world or work is determined by the votes of the authors themselves, excluding their own works. As the authors understand the significance of this competition, they vote for the world view that is expected to be the strongest, rather than creating harem-like worlds just to benefit themselves.

While the editors of each world refer to this ranking when selecting the “guardian world,” there is no law prohibiting them from judging what is the most advantageous world for survival. It’s all up to the editors’ discretion.

However.

“Even so, is picking the 49th world really acceptable?”

It was like saying they would ignore all the voting results.

“Do you know that the authors of the works not selected will return to their original world?”

“I know.”

“If all those people start cursing the works and then jump into the world you selected as villains, can you handle that? Do you think such a thing won’t happen?”

“I have to handle it.”

“Why do you do things you have to handle?”

A man standing at the chairman’s seat kicks his feet in frustration.

At that moment, some of the editors sitting in their seats raise their hands to speak.

“Chairman, just leave it. It’s their freedom.”

“There are already editors who have thrown in the towel besides Editor 1,937.”

“As long as we don’t kill them all, it’ll be fine somehow. Do you think that’s the plan?”

If the guardian world is destroyed, that Earth will start to be attacked directly.

However, editors who find it troublesome to manage them individually sometimes use their defeat in this competition as a pretext to exterminate Earth’s life forms, leaving only the minimum units alive, like formatting a computer.

“Editor 1,937. Are you really going to do that?”

At the chairman’s question, Lina closes her lips tightly and lowers her head.

“Please select the guardian world with a sense of responsibility. There’s no turning back.”

“No turning back.”

“Are you really going to choose the 49th world?”

As the chairman asks again, laughter breaks out here and there. Why so serious? If they kill everyone, they won’t have to manage anything for a while. Such playful remarks are exchanged all over the place.

It seemed like they didn’t feel any burden about the possibility of causing the instantaneous death of 8 billion, or even more lives, with their choices.

But Lina was serious.

“My choice remains unchanged.”

A repeated affirmation.

In response to the chairman’s reproachful gaze questioning why she would make such a foolish choice, Lina offered a brief reason in a single sentence.

“They are the strongest.”

*

“Oh, he’s dead.”

Before the flames rising from the rocket launcher could dissipate, the giant’s body was torn apart by a single shot, leaving a large hole.

In an instant, the head, left shoulder, and lower ribs of the armored giant were blown away, and it lost its strength and slowly fell forward.

With a thud, a dense cloud of dust rose up.

Startled, Ael tried to cover his eyes, but Lager blocked his way.

“Close your eyes!”

“Ugh…!”

Lager shielded Ael from the dust, taking the brunt of the sandstorm on his back.

Aeil tightly embraced Lager’s back, burying her face in his broad chest.

The storm passed.

When Lager relaxed his grip slightly, Aeil lifted her head from his embrace.

“Are you okay?”

“And you?”

“Just me. You protected me.”

“You took down that monster in one shot. I should at least block some sand, right?”

“Of course.”

The back-and-forth banter between the two seemed surprisingly relaxed and sweet, almost unbelievable that they had just been attacked by humanoid demons.

As Lina had said,

“They’re the strongest.”

Representing the 1,937th Earth.