Malphegor
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MoP: Ch 44
🕑 Added 2025-01-31 22:28:47 +0000 UTC---Viktor's POV---
Too Heartbreaking.
Here we were—myself, once so feared that children wouldn't dare cry in my presence, and Edgar, the knight once renowned for single-handedly clearing high-level monster lairs—now utterly powerless.
Given our current state, I found it laughable to think of us saving anyone. We couldn't even be sure we'd make it past the Church's prying eyes and reach the Sea of Mist undetected!
After a long silence, under the curious gazes of the players, I forcefully patched things up.
"Having hope isn't wrong. Claire is in trouble, and we can't just stand by and do nothing."
"As soon as Honeyvale's defenses are strong enough to hold off the winter monster tides, we'll set out immediately to find her in the Sea of Mist!"
Who could have guessed that in just half a month, the roles of savior and saved between Claire and me would be reversed?
The divine power from this recent god-resurrection ritual was disturbingly abundant.
With such an important matter as a god's resurrection at stake, I had to personally go to the sirens to investigate.
But before that, it would take considerable time to recover enough to leave Honeyvale.
I could only hope that she was still alive, had successfully hidden herself, and could wait for our rescue...
I sighed deeply, lost in thought.
"The destructive force of the God of Sea's power is overwhelming. I need time to recuperate."
I then turned my gaze toward the players loitering at the doorway.
---Logan's POV---
I watched as ProGamer_Daddy squatted in a corner, likely eager to hear more about the new character, Claire.
"What's going on? Keep talking!"
I was curious as well.
Who exactly was Claire?
What was the God-Resurrection Ritual?
Where was the Sea of Mist?
Was it an upcoming new map? We needed answers!
I leaned against the wall, stretching my legs that had fallen asleep. "Let's go. The NPC said he needs to rest, so I guess this part of the storyline is over."
"Really?" ProGamer_Daddy asked suspiciously.
As he turned, Edgar stood, effectively "shooing" us away with the same reasoning Viktor had just given.
Of course, we didn't want to leave. What if there were hidden quests afterward? But given our lack of magical skills, there was no way for us to match Edgar, and we were semi-forcefully ushered out of the church.
Only I, prepared for this, left voluntarily with ProGamer_Daddy and Garble, preserving our dignity as veteran players.
Bang!
The church doors slammed shut from the inside.
Nine players were left bewildered in the evening breeze.
I watched as LootGoblin pushed at the door forcefully, but it didn't budge. "Wait, so we're not even allowed back into the church anymore?"
ProGamer_Daddy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Does this mean we have to find a place to log off until Viktor recovers?"
Hedgehog joined in, pushing the door with no success.
It was as if the door had been welded shut—it didn't move an inch.
"This doesn't make sense. Didn't you guys say the faction leader already had a severe injury debuff? Why are they suddenly staking out territory?"
"No clue... Maybe his injuries really are that bad?" I speculated.
"Anyway, the save point is inside. It can't stay locked forever. It'll probably open back up soon."
Seeing we truly couldn't get in, everyone's enthusiasm began to wane.
"Let's scatter!"
"Time for some questing!"
"I don't believe I can't get back in today! I'm going to try the windows!"
The players quickly dispersed, each with their own ideas.
I wasn't particularly fixated on re-entering the church.
I led the other veteran players to a relatively intact abandoned house near the church.
In addition to us, Hedgehog tagged along. He greeted us confidently, "Hey there!"
I glanced at Garble. "Why'd you bring him along?"
"I want him to join our squad, so I brought him to meet you all."
ProGamer_Daddy excitedly patted Hedgehog on the shoulder. "Great! We finally have a newbie! Are you a combat player? What's your build?"
"Warrior," Hedgehog replied. "Perfect for filling our squad's need for a frontline tank."
Garble chimed in. "But since the game just launched, it's too early to talk about builds. Our combat system is still a mystery—anything could change."
Hedgehog nodded eagerly. "I'm not picky about builds, as long as I'm on the frontlines. I've played healer, assassin, and warrior in other games, and I did well in all of them. I pride myself on being adaptable!"
ProGamer_Daddy gave a thumbs up. "Nice, I like meta players!"
Speaking of newcomers, I remembered a familiar name from the nine players.
"By the way, where did LootGoblin just go? Didn't he say before logging in that he wanted to join our squad?"
"Oh, him." ProGamer_Daddy's expression turned complicated. "That guy unlocked a special race and had a personality shift. He's off doing quests now!"
"He thinks leveling with us is too slow and plans to go solo. He even said he'd surpass us and make it into the first-tier players!"
He then spilled all the details from that morning, like LootGoblin's racial traits, both advantages and disadvantages, and how he had been flaunting his knowledge of the game.
Hearing the story, Hedgehog burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! A jack-of-all-trades who even fooled the game devs! Your friend would've been a great spy a century ago!"
Garble frowned thoughtfully. "He won't get away with that for long, right?"
With so few players, it'd be easy for others to notice LootGoblin's unusual traits.
Even the NPCs knew his special setup, so there'd probably be a highly technical exclusive quest for him soon. If he couldn't complete it, his cover would be blown.
I sighed, spreading my hands.
"That's his problem to deal with. Maybe 'coming clean' would be his best bet."
When signing up for the beta, players had exaggerated their skills, a fact everyone knew but didn't mention.
But this game was too hardcore.
I suspected the devs had taken our claims seriously when assigning roles.
If that were true, it was a huge issue. It'd be up to the devs how they handled it.
I'd known LootGoblin for two or three years, though only online.
He had a great personality and decent gaming skills, but he was overly obsessed with impressing girls.
Now, his character's appearance had probably crushed his spirits, leaving him to rely on his skills to make up for it.
Given the dwarf race's unique traits, he might genuinely have a chance to catch up and surpass others.
My eyes showed a trace of envy. "Starting with two innate talents, both versatile and scalable—what kind of ridiculous luck is that?"
Who cared about being ugly? That just meant you had character!
For all we knew, he might be a handsome dwarf within his own race!
Hedgehog nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Starting with good relations in the dwarf faction is insane!"
Aside from the constant threat of being banned, it was basically a perfect start.
Garble cleared his throat. "Some are working hard, so let's not slack off. Let's analyze the new plotline we just got."
Relying on blind questing to become first-tier players was a pipe dream. We'd need to dig into the NPC dialogue and uncover hints about the next update.
Only by preparing in advance could we maintain our edge.
---
The house, abandoned for decades, had long since weathered away beyond recognition.
I observed the crumbling walls around us, noting the damp structures where moss and vines ran wild through the cracks, with patches of mold appearing in some areas.
We sat on the rough stone slabs, forming a circle in the corner of the room—all four of us gathered to discuss our findings.
Being a game blogger, I'd developed my own methodical approach to summarizing key points of any storyline. So, I spoke first, laying out the foundation of our discussion.
"First, they've added a background involving the gods. The gods of Aeltia are divided into factions, primarily the Old Gods and the New Gods. There's some division between the factions, but it's not insurmountable. For instance, the God of Sea and the Goddess of Water are actually married—they even share authority over certain domains."
"Is that property sharing?" ProGamer_Daddy clicked his tongue. "Gods sure have an interesting way of dating!"
"I'll add something," Garble continued. "Judging from their names, the Old Gods and New Gods are probably categorized by when they ascended to godhood."
I frowned slightly, considering the implications. "Old Gods are easy to understand, but the New Gods..."
Hedgehog suddenly sat upright. "Could it be that if we reach max level, we can ascend to godhood ourselves?"
"What the heck, becoming god-tier veteran players? That would leave nothing for new players!"
ProGamer_Daddy dismissed the idea verbally, but I noticed his legs betraying him, bouncing excitedly. His voice rose with enthusiasm. "If this game goes far enough, could we actually create worlds and life?"
Garble shook his head in disagreement. "That's way too far-fetched. I think it's unlikely."
I nodded in agreement: "If all players could become gods, the game would probably end up with tens of thousands of gods. Guild wars would literally destroy the world!"
"And don't forget, we're on the anti-god faction," Garble added.
I watched as ProGamer_Daddy and Hedgehog immediately deflated.
"Man, that's boring."
"Not even in the game can I fully live my dream?"
I rubbed my temples in exasperation. We couldn't even make it out of the village gates, and they were already dreaming of becoming gods.
Wasn't that a bit too far ahead?
"The truth about the gods' factions isn't the point." I insisted, scratching a rough diagram into the crumbling wall, drawing symbols representing the Old and New God factions. Then I connected them to a circle below. Pulling out a magicoin, I pressed it firmly into the circle, leaving the imprint of a skull.
"The point is, since there are factions, there must be irreconcilable conflicts between them. But when it comes to Viktor, they're completely unified!"
Hedgehog thought for a moment. "Maybe it's just something about his constitution."
I shook my head. "That doesn't make sense. Don't gods usually have a setting of being loving and benevolent toward all people? Why isn't there a single god opposing this?"
"That's easy—if they really loved humanity, we wouldn't be in the anti-god faction. Besides, who says gods can't be selfish and afraid of death?" ProGamer_Daddy questioned.
"Gods afraid of death..." Hedgehog curled his lip in disdain. "With all this sanity loss and cowardly gods, aren't the gods in this game just eldritch horrors?"
ProGamer_Daddy gave him a sideways glance. "You're only realizing this now?"
"If the God of Sea could revive from afar using Viktor's body, it shows his constitution is truly unique—one in a billion!"
As they continued their excited discussion about potential gameplay mechanics, I remained deep in thought, frowning. I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't so simple. It wasn't just the gods' unified stance.
A constitution compatible with all gods for possession—it sounded suspicious no matter how I looked at it. From my extensive gaming experience, this seemed like a potential setup for the final boss battle.
I still couldn't let go of the mystery of Viktor's constitution and the gods' attitudes. However, even Garble didn't side with me this time.
"It's probably just a lore-heavy feature meant to flesh out the background," he said, patting my shoulder consolingly. "We can revisit this topic if we ever encounter god-tier enemies."
"Hm... Fair enough." I sighed. I was probably overthinking it. Even if there was an issue, it wouldn't affect our current progress.
Pulling myself together, I redirected the discussion to closer plot developments. "Besides that, they've added a new map: the Sea of Mist. It's probably the territory once ruled by the God of Sea, Sel'Kanus."
"And there's still an NPC from our faction there—Claire. Based on the name, she's likely a woman?" Garble speculated.
"A woman?" ProGamer_Daddy repeated, his eyes lighting up as he slapped his thigh in realization.
"I knew that name sounded familiar!" He exclaimed, practically bouncing in his seat.
"The humming voice in the trailer's background music—the singer's name was Claire!"
Hedgehog clenched his fists, and I could see the excitement building in his expression. "That's right! I specifically checked the credits at the end!"
I remembered how he'd been drawn into the game by that very trailer. He'd mentioned before that the credits listed only a handful of names, and he could recite them all by heart. He'd even tried searching for Claire online, only to find countless unrelated names.
"So the foreshadowing was there from the start!" Hedgehog grew more excited the more he thought about it.
ProGamer_Daddy nearly applauded. "That's some top-notch detail!"
I watched as Hedgehog propped his chin on his hand, grinning foolishly. "I wonder if she sounds the same in game as in the trailer. Maybe she can sing?"
Garble raised an eyebrow at him. "You're hoping to flirt with her, just like LootGoblin, aren't you?"
"Of course not!" Hedgehog bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. His reaction was exactly what I'd expected.
"I'm merely appreciating beauty. Assassins don't deal in emotions!"
We all jeered in unison. "Ohhhh~~~"
Before he could explode in embarrassment, I decided it was time to steer the conversation back on track. We had more pressing matters to discuss than Hedgehog's potential virtual romance.
"The next map will likely take us to the Sea of Mist to rescue Claire. How great are your swimming skills?"
