Translator: Dreamscribe

The subjugation squad left Evanth Village and headed straight into the forest.

Even without Jinwoo leading them, the subjugation squad naturally advanced toward the Corrupted Goblin village. They had already roughly grasped the location of the village.

It was at the heart of the forest.

Perhaps the send-off ceremony held by Heina, the guards, and the NPCs had been quite moving, as the players were filled with a sense of mission.

Jinwoo was satisfied as he observed the atmosphere.

‘Yeah, that’s how you get immersed.’

If you force someone to fight, they are no different from a puppet.

The only result would be stifling their potential.

He hoped that the millions and tens of millions of heroes who would enter in the future would choose and grow of their own will and fight for Arsilan.

What if the process of fighting the Erosion was enjoyable?

What if they enjoyed everything?

There would be no revenge more powerful than that.

Emotions and determination that opposed the despair and fear brought by the Erosion would once again bring radiant light to this land.

In other words, players, heroes, should simply enjoy themselves without any worries.

“Kyah! The view is crazy~”

UruBear, who was walking beside Jinwoo, spread his arms and shouted like that.

“View? What does that mean?”

“Ah, um..., it means the scenery. Haha!”

When Jinwoo asked as if he didn’t understand, UruBear answered flustered.

“I see. The view..., is crazy.”

“Uwaah! Don’t teach Leon nim weird expressions!”

As Jinwoo mimicked UruBear’s words, Haebyul yelled while jabbing her fist into UruBear’s side.

“It is truly beautiful with the heroes gathered like this.”

Ah! Leon nim!

The surrounding players were touched by Jinwoo’s words.

The players were consciously filtering their language as if self-regulated. That was because they couldn’t tolerate using slang or community expressions in front of Leon nim.

‘...Nice.’

Jinwoo saw the backs of the players.

802 heroes were laughing and chatting as they advanced toward the forest. And beyond that forest, which served as the background, lay the land of Erosion. Even now, the Erosion scraped at the Magic Barrier, creating a dreadful aurora.

That aurora was the most terrifying disaster and curse to the people of Arsilan, an irresistible despair.

“Oh, that’s pretty.”

“Keuh! Makes me crave some booze.”

“I brewed some fruit wine, want some?”

“Oh! Ugh! Damn, did you make it with poison berries?”

“Killer, right?”

“It’ll kill me.”

However, to the players, to the heroes, it was simply a beautiful view. Nothing more than a playground to be enjoyed.

There were times when Jinwoo fell into helplessness, watching his comrades sacrifice themselves. When those precious comrades were captured by the Erosion’s core and returned as enemies, even he nearly lost his mind.

‘Good thing I held on.’

He once again became certain, right here and now, that the years spent striving to save them, to save Arsilan, had not been in vain.

With the players, with new comrades by his side, his heart was filled with strength.

It was a rare moment of sentimentality for him.

“Ahh! Inspiration is rushing in!”

Romantic Bard pulled out a notebook and began scribbling something. It was a fairly decent-looking musical score. A player watching from the side glanced at him.

“Hey, but don’t you have a weapon?”

“Music is my weapon, though?”

The player fell into thought for a moment, then nodded.

“...That does count as a weapon.”

“Would you like to hear it?”

“No. Please. Put it away.”

Just as the player said, it was indeed a powerful weapon.

In many ways.

Jinwoo snapped out of his sentimentality all too quickly.

‘The number of viewers keeps going up.’

A good sign.

This scene was being watched by countless viewers through Arsilan Worlds App. Since it was also being streamed on YouTube, the total number of viewers had likely surpassed ten million with ease.

-Kyah! The whole world is watching!

-Not national pride. Just the grace of the Creator God.

-K-games were dying, but this just killed all games worldwide ㄷㄷㄷ

-If it’s like this now, what happens when official service begins?

It hadn’t even officially started yet, but the response was already explosive.

Since they were all future heroes, it had to be shown properly.

Jinwoo opened the notice board.

[Subjugation Party Direction Notice Board]

Jinwoo (Leon): Everyone ready?

└Tiris: Yes. We scaled up the production according to the number of heroes. We've rerouted all support from the Magic Tower as well, so there’s no problem.

└Tia (Hero Slayer): We’re ready too. We’ve even upgraded, so it should be worth watching.

└Baron Hasman (Village Chief, Mastermind): My condition is perfect. Haha! I’ll show you something proper.

└Hallon (Dark Priest): Finally! At last! Ultimately!

└Airi (Saintess): My body’s already heating up.

└Tia (Hero Slayer): Airi? (Emoticon: Surprised Tia)

└Heina (Guard Captain): (Emoticon: Cheerful Heina cheering)

From the looks of the notice board, everyone had completed their preparations flawlessly.

Even the Magic Tower was giving its all, and the NPCs who had finished work in Evanth were observing from the Secret Base.

‘Then, let’s begin.’

Jinwoo immersed himself even more into the role of Leon.

The subjugation party passed through the peaceful fields and entered the forest.

“What...”

“Huh?”

In an instant, the atmosphere reversed.

The goblins that frequently appeared in the forest had left not a trace. No birdsong, no occasional sounds of wild animals, nothing.

Even though it was daytime, the forest was dark, shrouded in a thick fog. The deeper they went, the darker it became, as if swallowed by night.

To the players, the forest of Evanth was all too familiar. Hunting and gathering mostly took place here, so it was no different from a part of their everyday life.

Yet now, the forest had completely changed.

Darkness had polluted the forest, and the corrupted forest devoured the subjugation party.

Trees melted like wax and dripped to the ground. The once earthy, fragrant soil had turned into a swamp. A low, humming sound faintly echoing in their ears stirred a growing unease.

-So scary!

-Can’t see a thing

-This doesn’t feel right

Even on broadcast, the scene was chilling.

It was the scenery of Erosion. To the people of Arsilan, it was something they could never get used to. But to the players, it might be different.

“Ugh! Which way are we supposed to go?”

“We’re lost.”

“Keh! Now it’s getting serious? Looks like they prepared a lot.”

It was Direction Preset No. 5.

As those at the front stopped, the rest of the subjugation party naturally halted as well.

Jinwoo put on a deeply serious expression.

“It appears we are being affected by the Erosion. For this to happen within the Magic Barrier...”

“Leon nim?”

Haebyul and the players nearby looked at Jinwoo.

Jinwoo subtly dropped a clue.

Among the viewers following Arsilan Saga, there were already dedicated chroniclers. Even during Early Access, every word and action of the NPCs was being meticulously documented.

Given that this was reality, the volume of content was naturally vast, and the result was the birth of the Arsilan Wiki.

*Magic Barrier: A protective shield that guards Arsilan and Evanth from the Erosion. Its creator is unknown, but it appears to be related to the Goddess Ella.

[Goblin Subjugation Quest, Statement by Leon nim]

*He stated, “The view is crazy.”

*He mentioned that they are being affected by the Erosion even within the Magic Barrier.

(This topic is under discussion. Participants: 522)

When Jinwoo dropped subtle clues like that, they were eagerly recorded, reviewed, and interpreted like clockwork.

‘Hmm?’

On the Arsilan Wiki, there was an entry titled NPC Affinity.

*Tia

Likes: Literary works, sweets, cute items, calm and diligent speech and behavior, completing requests within deadline, hamburgers, coffee, sandwiches...

Dislikes: Loud music, irrational behavior, bugs with many legs, low reputation...

Everything was documented in detail, NPC by NPC.

Jinwoo remained silent for a moment, then stepped forward to the front of the formation.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Jinwoo.

As he drew his sword and raised it into the air, a brilliant light burst forth, illuminating the surroundings.

“A barrier... It seems they knew we were coming. This is no ordinary intrusion. There is no doubt that some powerful entity has intervened. For now, we should retreat-”

Jinwoo’s voice rang out clearly to everyone in the subjugation party.

At that moment.

“What is this?!”

Jinwoo urgently looked straight ahead. He quickly swung his sword, releasing a slash of light made of energy,

Srrrk!

But it was devoured by darkness and disappeared.

“Fall back!”

Jinwoo shouted urgently at the players. The players flinched, but it was already too late.

Darkness approached.

A massive darkness, undulating like tentacles, surged forward like a wave and swallowed Jinwoo and the players.

They could see nothing.

They could hear nothing. The players were disoriented, stumbling at a sensation they had never experienced before.

Fwaat!

Light burst forth from Jinwoo’s sword and clashed against the darkness.

Only then were the players able to grasp what was happening. A thick, black curtain was trying to consume them.

Creak creak creak creak!

The one resisting the black curtain was Leon!

As Jinwoo forcefully swung his sword, the black curtain split apart and the surrounding landscape came into view.

“Wh-what is this!”

“Haaah!”

Not only Haebyul and UruBear, but every player froze in place.

Had they been teleported?

The scenery had changed completely.

Just a moment ago, they had been in a forest, but now a completely different view unfolded before their eyes.

A crimson sky.

The sun, darkened as if during an eclipse, looked like a black hole torn into the sky.

No, it might be more accurate to say that it really was a black hole.

From the black sun, a viscous liquid was flowing out and spreading across the sky.

The ground was gray, as if covered in volcanic ash.

A vast plain stretched out before them, and sharp rocks jutted up as if encircling the plains.

“Keeek!”

“Kruk!”

On that ashen land, countless Corrupted Goblins had formed ranks. Even Normal Goblins were mixed among them, easily bringing their number past a thousand.

Kugugugugugu!

Behind the goblins, an ominous black pillar rose into the sky. From that pillar, enormous tentacles reached out and made contact with the Magic Barrier.

Glurp! Glurp!

The tentacles rippled as if they were consuming the Magic Barrier.

The players who witnessed this scene swallowed hard.

“Guys, I think we’re seriously screwed.”

“There’s way too many of them.”

“T-this is, this is real war.”

-Insane....

-What is this scale even?

-Who the hell planned this? Wow.

-Yep, it’s totally dark fantasy. ㄷㄷ

Haebyul was no different.

Overwhelmed by the horrific environment and the vast battlefield, she stood frozen.

Jinwoo’s expression hardened.

“...It’s a trap. They’ve been waiting for us. To prepare a trap of this scale... they must have known our departure time and the size of our party in advance.”

At Jinwoo’s words, the Northern Grand Duke’s face twisted with anger.

“You’re saying there’s a traitor in Evanth.”

It was a thoroughly prepared trap.

Retreat was not an option.