Episode 176: Dream in the game becomes reality

42. Dragonland (2)

There are two main ways to break illusion magic.

The first is to find and destroy the magic circle or artifact that maintains the most basic fantasy magic.

This is exactly what Blake wants me to do.

The second method is a bit drastic, but it involves destroying the magic itself with force.

That's why Blake pulls out his sword and says he will try to kill the people on Gangnam Street in front of him.

"What, what? movie?"

"Let's avoid it for now."

When Blake pulled out a long sword that spread a cool air, the people around him hurriedly widened their distance.

React like a real person.

I stopped Blake first.

I knew this couldn't be real, but I still didn't want to stain the scenery of my hometown, which I had come across so long ago, with blood.

"I leave that as a last resort. "It's a relic from the mythical era, so you never know what kind of unexpected situation might occur."

"Um, is that so?"

Blake said he understood what I said and took the sword back.

So I used search magic.

The magic wave spreads in all directions, and information about the surroundings enters my head.

But I didn't feel anything.

No, to be precise, the search magic told me that everything in front of me was real.

[Minyoung Lee / 2nd year student at H University] [Seokhoon Ahn / unemployed] [Hyungtae Kim / Manager at L Display]Mangyeong also recognized the illusion as real.

'The technology of the Mythical Age is indeed amazing.'

I shook my head.

Blake said he could feel the door behind us.

Therefore, it is clear that this place is not real, but even the magnificence, which is thought to be Archduke Lucas' greatest invention, cannot tell whether it is real or not, so there is no way to describe it other than that it is amazing.

However, I wasn't too worried because Mangyeong didn't lose its function, just because it couldn't distinguish between real and fake.

"It doesn't look easy."

"I guess I'll have to check everything I can find."

"Is it possible? "This field looks quite large."

"Yes, exploration is my specialty."

I lightly snapped my fingers in the air.

-Quick!

Then, an auxiliary supporter, Black Eagle, appeared in the empty space at the rear.

"Aaaah!"

"W-what!?"

When an eagle the size of a car suddenly flew in, the surrounding area went into chaos.

Many people were watching us from a distance, as if they were spectators, and when the black man appeared, they were all frightened.

"It's a mutation!"

"Don't mutations only occur in insects?"

Mutant?

Are you referring to the monster that Benjamin spoke of that arises from poison?

Dokji refers to a special area that appeared after a natural disaster occurred on Earth.

I heard that bugs mutate in that poisonous area and become monsters, and I heard what people around me were saying. It seems that this fantasy follows that setting.

'Is this a place created based on my knowledge?'

I couldn't help but think that way.

"I think it would be better to move to a quiet place first."

"Sure."

I immediately flew up using magic, and Arcia and Blake chased after me, stepping on traffic lights and street lights.

"omg!?"

"Did you fly?"

I think the rooftop of the building would be the quietest.

I lifted Arcia and Blake up using float magic and headed to the rooftop of a nearby building.

"It's mom!"

"What are these people?"

There was a smoking area on the roof of the building we flew into, so there were a few people there, but it was still very quiet compared to the main street.

I lightly used light magic like a flash to drive away even those few people.

People were frightened by him and ran away.

"The air is too thick."

"That's how this world is. But, you implemented something like this for no reason."

Not only sight and hearing, but also touch, smell, and taste all seemed real.

I mobilized Black Eagle to explore the ruins covered in illusion magic in earnest.

"Negro, please."

-Kikluk!

Black Eagle flew in different directions using the self-immolation skill.

I scoured the Gangnam area, sharing visual information with those three birds.

"The space is quite spacious, isn't it?"

"is it?"

"Yes, the area we have looked at so far is the size of a small city. "The search is not over yet, so it may expand further."

"Not bad."

"Not bad?"

"Wouldn't that mean that the value of the ruins is high because they are unusual? Then, the reward you can get will naturally be great."

That makes sense.

However, even in this situation, his distribution of compensation is just amazing.

'Well, it certainly doesn't seem like a life-threatening system.'

But it didn't take long for my expression to harden.

The official name of the Negro is the Black Eagle of the Speed ​​of Sound.

In other words, it means that it is a golden eagle that flies at the speed of sound.

Those guys are zigzagging through the sky, searching, and their area expands beyond Gangnam-gu to Seocho and Jamsil, and soon even the surrounding cities of Gyeonggi-do are included in the area.

It would have been nice if it ended there, but as the scope of activity began to extend beyond Bucheon to Incheon, my expression couldn't help but harden.

"The scale has surpassed that of a large city."

"okay?"

The search proceeded with the mindset of "let's see if you win or I win," and the territory eventually reached Gyeonggi-do, Gangwon-do, Chungcheong-do, and Kaesong in North Korea.

3 hours passed like that... … .

After finishing exploring the Korean Peninsula, I massaged my temples.

"I didn't find any artifacts or any sign of magic."

"hmm… … ."

It is difficult to be underground in Dragon Land, an area the size of the Korean Peninsula.

The judgment I can make about him is… … .

This is either a real different world or a virtual world like Chronicle Online.

"First, I will try to fly one of the clones in a straight line. "I need to find out if the end of the world exists."

This was a precautionary measure in case what we are seeing now is real.

"Even if it wasn't related to magic, was there anything special?"

"There is. "It is an abnormal landform called Dokji, or an unusual form of feature that does not originally exist on Earth."

According to the search, a total of 25 poisonous spots and 12 unique features were discovered.

"Let's at least explore there first. "Maybe there is some task to break through here."

If this world is not just a fantasy, but a virtual world, it might be better to approach it in a game-like way, like Chronicle Online.

We headed to the nearest location, Dokji in Hanam, Gyeonggi-do.

The dock we arrived at was so large that it took up half of Hanam City.

It was full of mutated plants and monster bugs, and its other characteristic was that there were a large number of soldiers surrounding the pond and people wearing protective clothing walking around the pond from time to time, looking for something.

"uh? What are you guys? "Didn't you just fly in the sky?"

"Dangerous! "You can't go in there with your bare body!"

We headed inside, ignoring the people clinging to us around us.

"It's a pretty strong poison. But it's not even close to Gwangan Elementary School."

Gwangancho was a poisonous plant from Dragon Land that was said to not be easily cured even with 7-circle magic.

Anything lower than that will not cause any damage to us.

I cast a 7th circle wide-area detox spell.

'Great Cure.'

Then, the fog-like poison that covered the poisonous area slowly cleared, and the mutated poisonous insects that had been guarding the inside like their own home appeared.

I, Arcia, and Blake took out our respective weapons to deal with the poisonous insects, and it only took less than a minute for what appeared to be thousands of poisonous insects to be eliminated.

"What is this?"

People in protective gear who were walking between the soldiers and the camp were so shocked that they fell to their knees on the spot.

This makes me feel like Superman.

We observed the changes with the attitude that we didn't care what people around us reacted to, but nothing changed.

-bang!

No, should I say that it wasn't really there?

This is because the bullet fired by a soldier flew towards Arsia with a single gunshot sound.

"huh?"

But the bullet did no damage to Arsia.

This is because Arcia caught the bullet with her bare hands, asking what this was.

Even if you didn't catch it, you wouldn't have been able to break through the brute force that you get when you become an Aura Master anyway.

Arcia sent the bullet back, and soon the bullet went back the way it came and hit the muzzle of the soldier who fired.

-bang!

-Fit!

"Oops!"

"evil!"

But the force was too strong.

This is because the bullet, which seemed to have been lightly bounced, passed through the main body of the gun, penetrated the body armor of the soldier who fired, and lodged in the chest.

Additionally, an automatically loaded bullet struck the gun while penetrating it, resulting in a misfire accident.

The soldier next to me with a dumb expression on his face was pierced in the neck by a bullet sticking out of the shell discharge port.

"uh? sorry."

When the two soldiers fell down bleeding, it was Arsia who was embarrassed.

"Corporal Kim!"

The surrounding area was in chaos.

They shot first and then all of them got excited and pointed their guns at us.

However, after seeing that the soldiers' emotions were tinged with fear, I let out a small sigh and used recovery magic on the two people who seemed to be about to faint at any moment.

"uh?"

"Are you hurt?"

"Oh my god... … ."

The recovery magic worked too well to be an illusion.

Blake scolded me for my actions, asking why I was alive.

"Why don't you just let him die?"

As he said, when a human dies, some changes may occur.

But that is something to check at the end.

"If it's a relic from the mythical era, it could be from the gods. "Wouldn't it be better to refrain from killing humans, let alone monsters?"

"is it?"

"We can try that at any time, so let's leave it for last."

"Well, if you are… … ."

Blake looked dissatisfied, but nodded that he understood.

"Oh, it's a miracle."

"It's a miracle."

After treating the soldiers, the hostility disappeared as if washed away.

They kept saying the word miracle, and some even bowed down to me.

I had little tolerance for such cringe-worthy situations, so I led my companions and took off again in the sky.

Afterwards, we headed towards the ideal location.

"The building style is definitely different."

A tower soaring high into the sky.

Such a tower stood in the deserted mountains of Gangwon-do.

'Hellfire.'

After confirming that there was nothing in the tower, I used the strongest attack magic of the 8th circle to destroy it.

"No change."

"What about the eagles?"

"Still no change."

At this point, I started to wonder if this was real.

Nevertheless, in my head, I kept denying denial after denial, because it seemed like an offense to touch the Earth that Archduke Lucas wanted to return to in this way.

"Can I go somewhere for a moment?"

"Where?"

"This is where I lived when I was alive."

"Well, that's not a bad idea. "If this fantasy was created based on your memories, it would be a good idea to look back on where you lived when you were alive."

I simply wanted to see my family, but Blake was able to interpret it in a positive way.

Next, I headed to Bucheon, where I lived with my family.

I heard that the Earth was completely destroyed by a catastrophe, but in Korea, everyday life was maintained very well.

In particular, major cities were no different from before.

I heard from Benjamin from Singapore that there was very little damage in Korea, and I felt good to see that my hometown was so unharmed, and I couldn't tell if it was an illusion or real.

After a while, we arrived in Bucheon and saw an old apartment complex in Bucheon Jung-dong.

I thought I had forgotten a lot of my memories of Earth after living in Rondel for 21 years, but when I actually encountered it, it came back to me.

-Ding dong.

Then, stand in front of the front door you remember and ring the doorbell.

"who are you?"

A familiar voice was heard in a familiar scene.

It was my mother's voice.

"huh?"

And when I saw the typical Korean woman peeking out from the house, tears came to my eyes without me realizing it.

It was the mother of memories that was gradually being forgotten.

This kind of emotional reaction doesn't suit me.

"What are foreigners doing here?"

Arcia and I have an appearance similar to Eastern Europeans in this world, but Blake is clearly not human.

It was motherly to call him a foreigner.

"This is Mingi."

"yes?"

Korean came out of my mouth.

Perhaps thanks to the great wizard's abilities, even his vague Korean came out fluently.

"My name is Min-gi Kim. "An unfilial son who died just before being discharged from the military."

"You're kidding me… … ."

Of course, even if a foreigner wearing strange clothes suddenly appeared and claimed to be his son, it wouldn't work.

But my mother trails off.

Did he feel something?

Suddenly, my mother opened her eyes wide and stroked my cheek.

"Is it true?"

"yes. "My son drank too much on his last vacation and came back and drew a map on his blanket."

And then a touching reunion follows.

My mother burst into tears as she hugged me, wondering what she believed and what she thought of me as her son.

Arcia had tears in her eyes, and Blake poked my butt with the sheath of his knife and told me to come to my senses.

"Hey, come in first."

My mother, who cried bitterly for a while, led me and my group into the house.

Soon I arrived at a house that felt cozy.

however… … .

-Fit!

Suddenly the surrounding scenery changed.

The mother I had just met had disappeared like fog, and the simple apartment, which seemed to be smaller than my room in Rondel, had turned into a pure white space.

"This?"

"Oh, it's like escaping from a fantasy! "I guess your memories were really a hint to escape."

Of course, I couldn't help but be embarrassed by this situation.

I'm angry too.

"It was all really an illusion?"

It seemed too real to be dismissed as fake.

"There's a device over there that looks like a controller!"

Blake may or may not have known how I felt, but he was excited and walked around the pure white space.