Praise the Orc!

Somewhere in the north, in the temple of a fallen god, there was guarding an unknown being, Phymon. He was one of the survivors of an ancient, but now fallen race.

Phymon suddenly looked up at the sky.

The sky was opening up.

The firmament tore apart, revealing an unknown darkness from which white snowflakes began to fall.

No, they were not snow, but ashes. At the same time, a colossal beam of light burst forth from the hole toward the temple. Ash flurried, and light poured out in a magnificent spectacle, filling his view.

Phymon's mouth dropped open.

Without realizing it, he let out a cry and stretched his arms toward the sky.

Tears streamed down his face.

"Ahhhhh...!"

He fell to his knees.

And he shouted toward the sky.

"I knew you would return!"

He banged his head on the ground.

"I knew you would return!"

The beam of light that was initially as big as a mountain range soon faded to become a white cylinder of light visible to the eye.

From its midst, someone was descending.

An image of a woman.

The mother of reapers, caressing all deaths, with her white hair fluttering.

The Ashen God.

It was her.

She slowly descended toward Phymon.

"I have returned."

Her hand caressed Phymon. After the fall of the Ashen God and the demise of the demons, he had endured for what seemed an eternity, an amount of time that was long enough to wear down his mind nearly completely. And today, through her touch, that tattered mind was fully revived.

Now, the aura of the Ashen God flowed evidently from him.

"I have been waiting! I waited and waited for a long time, believing you would come, "

"Thank you. And I am sorry," the Ashen God spoke for the first time.

"No...To be able to wait for you was a joy of mine."

"Your words make me smile," the Ashen God said with a smile.

"Phymon."

"Yes, mother."

"I wish to finish the job that I could not finish a long time ago."

Phymon lifted his head.

Above him, the Ashen God was smiling brightly. It was a dazzlingly beautiful smile.

Amidst swirling ashes and flowing light, the Ashen God's eyes were as straight and unchanged as they had always been.

To save the world, and for a better beginning of it, she intended to end the world.

The demons that witnessed the world's end with her fought by her side.

But every single god of this universe retaliated.

And they were defeated.

The Ashen God was cast into another dimension by the gods.

The demons were wiped out.

The amount of time that passed by was long enough for all this to be forgotten.

But Phymon never once doubted the infinite compassion of the Ashen God who had wanted to reset the cycle of the world with deep even if it meant abandoning her own existence, and her noble intention.

Her sincerity in accepting all the disgrace and hatred in order to save the world that was plummeting toward nothingness.

The Ashen God asked Phymon.

"Will you help me?"

"Yes," he answered without any hesitation.

Phymon bowed his head.

"I will help."

"Thank you."

The Ashen God waved her hand again.

A vast barrier began to unfold around the column of light.

"The other gods cast me into an unknown dimension, where I saw a new world. It was so different from this place. Its universe was so young and had so much time left. It was beautiful and fleeting. The longer I stayed there, the more pitiable our world seemed to me. I could not stand it."

Her divine power caused an earthquake. The earth shook.

Then, all powerful beings in the world must have felt her arrival. It was a divine power so vast it could engulf the world.

"That's why I returned. I am sorry to the humans of that world I used, but I had no choice."

"I will simply follow you, Mother."

"This time, I will not fail."

The power she emitted gradually congealed into a bright white orb, hovering in the air.

A white sphere.

A mass of power.

It hovered in the middle of the light column. Simultaneously, the strand of power that emanated from her enveloped the area around the fallen god's temple.

Now, the area has become a domain ruled by the Ashen God.

She started her monologue.

"I am sorry, world. It is nobody's fault to be born in times like these. It's just that life and death are such."

The white sphere began to rise into the sky. And then it slowly expanded. Doubling, tripling, gradually increasing in size.

In time, it would cover the sky of Elder Lord.

"For a new beginning, not an eternal end."

The countdown to the world's destruction started.

* * *

That immense power was impossible to ignore even if one were to try.

As the war ended, too much had changed.

At the exact moment the timer ended, Crockta could feel that he was bound to this world. He felt it with his entire body, with his whole being.

Though he had already reached the highest level of synchronization, the moment he truly belonged to this world, everything around him transformed once again.

It was as if he had taken off an uncomfortable pair of glasses and could now see the world clearly with his own eyes. fr(e)ewebnov(e)l.com

"Crockta."

The War God called out to him.

His face was also stern.

“Just now... was that..."

"That’s right," the War God confirmed.

It was unclear what had happened.

But one thing was certain.

"She has returned."

The Ashen God had returned.

All the gods, including the War God, could feel it.

From the north, a mighty aura was felt. It was her distinct, chilling power that kept growing exponentially, amplifying her strength.

"She tore through the dimensional rift and came back..."

The War God clenched his fist.

Crockta and the War God looked into each other's eyes.

The two men, who had just been fighting for their lives moments ago, now exchanged glances and agreed on something.

"If you were sincere about what you said..." the War God spoke.

"We will stop her."

The moment Crockta responded, a new message appeared.

The influence of the Ashen God on the users was still in effect.

[Do you wish to return?]

[Defeat the Ashen God.]

[The final quest has begun.]

That was all.

To Crockta, it felt as if the message was one directly from the Ashen God herself.

He thought of the Ashen God. He had never felt malice from her. Instead, she had expressed remorse for the fate of the world and its inevitable doom. A brief glimpse into the 'Ashen God's perspective' was devastating enough to eat up Crockta's mind just by being immersed in it for a second.

And now, she was calling him.

To defeat her.

Crockta spoke again to the War God.

"We will stop her no matter what."

Crockta could vaguely picture her heart.

At the base of her desire to destroy the world was remorse. Therefore, in one part of her heart, she hoped to be stopped, so that even as the world slowly entered an irreversible path, the beings living in it could enjoy their finite lives to the fullest.

In the end, the task given to the world was once again a battle.

They had o clash with everything on the line and accept the outcome.

The stake of the bet was the fate of the world.

Crockta looked around.

The faces of the gods were grave, the expedition forces unaware and joyous of the end of the war, and the orcs were puzzled. Those who had reached a high level of mastery realized something was going terribly wrong and looked toward Crockta and the War God.

And among them, a man was walking toward Crockta.

A man robed in a cloak.

He slowly removed his hood.

It was a familiar face.

Crockta called out his name.

"Gordon."

The man smiled.

But within that smile was a mix of profound emotions.

It was a sad smile.

* * *

"No, this doesn't make any sense, how could..."

Laney was broadcasting the war while hidden using stealth techniques. With most of the unskilled streamers and cameramen dead, only the professional cameramen of the Under Games channel and Laney herself were still broadcasting the situation after the war had ended.

When Crockta showed mercy toward the War God, she sensed a massive scoop developing and silently cheered for Crockta, clenching her fist.

But then, a bizarre system message suddenly appeared, announcing that the game would end, followed by an unusual timer. This series of unusual events left her confused and perplexed.

Even after the timer ended, nothing notable happened. She shrugged her shoulders and continued to film the aftermath.

However, strange messages began to appear in the live chat of her broadcast on the Youvids channel.

「SadAndSlow: I came here from another streamer’s stream, and it's chaos over there right now. People can’t connect to Elder Lord and they can’t log out either. The logout window is gone. Laney, please check it ASAP T.T T.T

YouareYouIamMe: Wtf are you saying? How’s that even possible?

SadAndSlow: It's true. Streamer Xylitongtong is having a breakdown and crying in the middle of his quest right now. Go see for yourself.」

Elder Lord, despite being a virtual reality game, had never experienced issues with stability. Moreover, users not being able to log out of the game was unfathomable.

Even in cases where users were forcefully extracted from the capsules, the worst aftermath was just a bit of dizziness, nothing serious.

Laney scoffed internally and involuntarily tried to summon the logout window.

It did not appear.

No matter how much she called for the logout window, it did not respond.

Becoming anxious, she stood still. Bringing up her status or quest windows was not an issue.

However, the logout window did not appear.

A chill ran down her spine.

"Eh, it's probably nothing. The server’s probably unstable right now."

With that thought, she tried to shake off the ominous feeling and continued her job, filming Crockta and the gods, the orcs, and the expedition force.

Then...

[Do you wish to return?]

[Defeat the Ashen God.]

[The final quest has begun.]

A message window popped up.

At that moment, she realized something was terribly wrong. From then on, thoughts of her own broadcast went out the window and she attempted to log out over and over again. She concentrated hard on summoning the logout window.

Still, there was no response.

Even the chat in her broadcast gradually filled with ominous messages.

「BreakingNewsMan: ★★Breaking News★★ People playing Elder Lord have died inside the capsules ★★Breaking News★★ Check the news

ScaredyCat: ???? Is something actually wrong?

BreakingNewsMan: ★★Breaking News★★ More and more reports of people dying while playing Elder Lord are coming out worldwide ★★Breaking News★★

SadAndSlow: I told you it's true... Laney, please be careful」

Following were incredible claims that forcibly extracting someone from the capsules resulted in a vegetative state, or that dying in Elder Lord meant dying in real life.

Though she didn't show it, she wanted to cry. She fixated solely on the logout window, but it never appeared.

Then, another message appeared.

「The chat has been disabled.」

This message appeared, and the chat went silent.

Then, one message popped up.

「Admin: Ms. Laney. Please calm down and read this message carefully. Move to a safe location and follow our instructions. This is a real situation, not a drill. I repeat, this is a real situation, not a drill. A serious issue has occurred. The safety of the user is at risk. Please move to a safe location.」

Laney realized there truly was a problem.

She clenched her trembling hands into fists.

She might have been a fearless fighter, covering all sorts of crimes as an assassin in Elder Lord, but in the real world, she was just an ordinary person. The ominous information that had flooded the chat right up until it was disabled swirled in her head.

"This can't be happening..."

After rubbing her eyes a couple of times, Laney hurriedly left the battlefield and started running toward a safe city.

* * *

The "Elder Lord Crisis", where users worldwide became trapped in Elder Lord, erupted.

The entire world was plunged into shock.

As accidents occurred across the globe, federal governments around the world recognized the severity of the situation and hastily formed response committees to dedicate their full efforts to resolving the crisis. However, with Elder Lord and reality now completely separated, their capacity to act was limited.

Despite dispatching some of the world's finest engineers to dismantle the Elder Saga Corporation’s ‘Albino’, the efforts bore no fruit.

Only time was passing with no real progress on the solution.

The silver lining was that through the broadcasters and streamers who were running live streams, it was possible to establish a connection between the real world and Elder Lord.

Just like that, a week passed.

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