The Nebula's Civilization

From far away, Shunen saw the Frogmen warriors at the banquet getting defeated in an instant without even having the chance to fight back.

‘I can’t believe they made the first move!’

Even though this was a surprise attack, the Lizardmen’s spears were way too violent. There was no denying that Shunen would’ve been pierced in an instant if he were there. That left him with two choices, and he chose the second one.

‘In this case, run away rather than fight back.’

The thirty Lizardmen warriors didn’t decrease in number at all, while Shunen only had fifteen warriors with him. Truthfully, it wasn't much of a surprise attack as they could get properly equipped and fight from afar with their bows, but…

‘Why would I have to take such a risk? I’ll be the next tribal chief if my father dies, won’t I?’

Shunen couldn’t find a reason to risk his life fighting back. If he fought now, he would have to fight at the very front due to his reputation as a warrior, and that meant he had a higher probability of dying. Shunen was a coward, but until now he had led a life that allowed him to conceal his cowardice.

One of the warriors exclaimed, “Mr. Shunen! They just killed our warriors!”

“Shut up. We’re at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, aren’t we? They’ll be preparing for a counterattack, so they won’t be able to move recklessly. We’re going to find reinforcements in the meantime.”

“Are you talking about warrior Oboi? A-Alright.”

Shunen didn’t give a positive or a negative answer. While he did think of Oboi, there was something he was more certain about.

‘Damn Owen. You’re a Lizardman, and you think you had the right to deceive me?’

Shunen wasn’t sure how, but Owen was definitely involved in Lakrak coming to their village and suddenly attacking them.

‘You’ll regret this, Owen. And all the other Lizardmen too. Because of the choice you made.’

Shunen led the fifteen warriors away from the lower rank village. They headed to the island in the middle of the lake.

***

Sung-Woon watched the battle taking place in the village and was satisfied.

‘There’s no way they’ll lose.’

In reality, Lakrak’s Clan was strong enough to defeat the Frogmen without much damage even if they fought equally head to head. On average, the warriors of Lakrak’s Clan were two levels higher than the Frogmen, and there was also a big difference in their Abilities and Blessings.

‘Thanks to the Blessings, the poisonous arrows had no effect.’

Lakrak’s Clan were already eating poisonous frogs as part of their meals.

‘And they have Manun.’

With Zaol and the errand boy riding on its back, Manun completely eliminated Oboi and his warriors. Then he ran to the village and excitedly chased the Frogmen away. The Frogmen put up a poor resistance and ended up stomped to death by Manun.

‘I didn’t know Zaol would be the first to acquire Husbandry. Did she already have some talent for it?’

Eventually, the only advantage the Frogmen had were the new weapons called bows and arrows, but Lakrak handled it well by gathering wisdom from members of the clan. The crude shield seemed in need of improvement, and there was no telling how long it would last as there was no technology to permanently preserve organic matter yet, but it was useful for now.

‘So it seems there’s no casualty so far.’

The thirty warriors, as well as Manun and the two riding on Manun’s back, were rampaging all over the Frogmen village. In addition to that, Owen had faithfully carried out Lakrak’s orders, and the Lizardmen persuaded by Owen stopped resisting Lakrak and his warriors and instead set fires to the houses like Owen had told them to. There were even some who got inspired by Lakrak’s warriors and started attacking the Frogmen.

‘This is an obvious development.’

The emotions they had been suppressing deep down had exploded once they saw with their own eyes the collapse of the system that brought them to their knees. Lakrak didn’t stop those who were doing so.

Even though they weren’t warriors, there were a lot of noncombatants among the Frogmen as well. Excluding the older and younger Frogmen, if the leader of the group coaxed and gathered the remaining Frogmen to fight back, there was a chance Lakrak could fall into danger even now. However, Lakrak was skeptical about that part.

“Where even is this great Auloi that we’ve only heard of? Also, why isn’t Shunen returning?”

Sung-Woon grinned sheepishly at Lakrak as he murmured to himself.

‘It’s because of me.’

***

The Lost World was a complicated game.

As nature’s complex ecosystem evolved, and civilization developed, the relationship between cities as well as the relationship between countries would begin to reflect the various complex mechanisms of a capitalistic society, in addition to developing magic and Divinity.

‘Therefore, tactics and strategies used to beat opponents were almost endless.’

Sung-Woon was good at following the meta which was becoming the trend, but he also had what it took to create strategies to destroy meta. This was because following the trend wasn’t enough to maintain a high winning score. And among one of the countless strategies Sung-Woon created, there was one that used a disease.

‘This might be one of the most powerful weapons throughout this game.’

A disease worked effectively at any era. It was powerful with lower level civilizations since treatment would be difficult, and even if the level of civilization was high, the rate of contagion would be too fast. Nevertheless, it was a weapon that would burden the player using it.

‘Diseases are complicated, and they don’t pick and choose who gets infected.’

If one wasn’t sure if they could properly control the disease, it would rather be a dumb move to use it. Of course, Sung-Woon was confident.

‘The disease was easily transmitted among the same species, and then variants would be created among similar species. But of course, it could also be contagious to a completely different species…’

Sung-Woon only had one disease in mind anyways, and if he was able to find it, that would be enough. It was only a matter of time for Sung-Woon to find the disease he wanted using the many swarms of insects he had.

Sung-Woon knew that the maps of The Lost World were randomly generated, but he was also aware of the overall shape of the continents, the variety of special terrains, the distribution of living things, and more importantly, he knew that the diseases wouldn’t be distributed too far from specific locations.

Sung-Woon began searching for the disease he had in mind the moment he thought he would need to get rid of the courteous Frogmen tribe one day. In the meantime, Lakrak had knocked down Beauer of the Blue Skin tribe and followed the star catcher towards the southeast. And Sung-Woon found the disease in time.

[Disease ACO-023731 has been found!]

[Disease ACO-023731: Mycelium, applies to amphibian mucosa, highly contagious, slow onset, fatal.]

All diseases have variants, but this disease had all the attributes Sung-Woon wanted.

‘The most important thing is the fact that mycelium diseases only apply to amphibian mucosa.’

A virus would be a different story. This particular disease wouldn’t have any effect on other species even if it did develop variants. It was only fatal to amphibians because of the fact that amphibians breathed through their skin.

But the disease was found at a location about a hundred kilometers away from the Frogmen village. A god would need to reach a certain level of Divinity to have the choice to move a disease elsewhere, and Sung-Woon had not yet met the requirement.

‘I would need to raise my levels for a loyal vassal.’

However, there was no need to do so. Sung-Woon already had countless beings that could run his errands for him. There were beetles that could fly for long periods of time, and right now, they were rubbing themselves against a sick and dying salamander like a honey bee coating themselves with honey. The mycelium did get transferred to the beetles’ bodies, but it was hard for the antigens to securely stay on the bodies due to the smooth surfaces. And then the beetles began to fly.

As one of the beetles’ life cycle came to an end and died, Sung-Woon created a dragonfly which could fly longer, and this dragonfly bit the legs of the dead beetle with mycelium on it and flew with the other beetles. The number of beetles did decrease as some of them became exhausted, some got eaten by birds, and some flew into trees, but a small number of mycelium hosts eventually made it to the Frogmen village.

Sung-Woon infected Auloi first. This took place at about the time Lakrak discovered the Orcs in a place not too far away.

[‘Small Area: Insects’ has reached level 4!]

[Now you are able to use the skill: Make Insect’s Creature]

***

Once Shunen got to the island, he realized there were a few Frogmen that got there before him.

“Father!”

“Oh…Shunen…I heard the news from the errand boy Oboi sent. The lower village is on fire? Because of the Lizardmen?”

“Yes! You also know of Owen, right? I think he tricked us.”

“Huh, I knew this would happen. I knew it. There is not a single one to trust out of those long tailed Lizardmen.”

Shunen was talking to his father, Auloi. Old Auloi had a solid build, but his whole body was covered in a layer of white mucus, which painted a macabre scene. Auloi, who couldn’t breathe well, was shaking. The elders and warriors that had gotten the itching disease after Auloi were also covered in white mucus.

Shunen could tell what Auloi’s intentions were. 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝒏𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡．𝙣𝒆𝙩

‘Oboi would have called for more warriors for backup. However, father can’t wait any longer. Oboi, you’re gonna have to buy us some more time.’

It would have been good if Oboi could be here to hear this, but there was no other way. Shunen believed he had the authority to be arbitrary.

“Are you going to start the ritual right now?”

“Yes. I will start to call God. Shunen, you’re bringing and preparing the offerings. First I’ll ask for all the Lizardmen at the lower village to be killed using the offerings here. Then…then we’ll…”

“There's the Lizardmen village they came from. I’ll send our warriors to go there tonight and enslave and bring back the other Lizardmen there. Before dawn, you and all the other warriors with the disease will be cured.”

“Alright. Thank you, Shunen. You’ve grown to be a reliable warrior just as I expected.”

Shunen smiled.

***

The Frogmens’ lower rank village was almost done with. No more Frogmen challenged the Lizardmen. The soil of the village had turned red from all the blood the Frogmen shed, and Lakrak felt a sense of exaltation at the smell of wood burning and the pools of blood.

“Lakrak! Lakrak!”

Lakrak saw Owen run to him from far away. The ashes covering him had turned him black.

“You’ve done a great job, Owen. What is it?”

“W-We need to go to the island in the middle of the lake right this instant.”

“Why?”

Lakrak knew that the Frogmen at least had two more villages. But he wasn’t in a hurry. They just had to keep up what they were doing now, and they would achieve victory. Moreover, the Lizardmen weren’t hurt, let alone tired after their first win. They could go around the lake to destroy the other village at the crack of dawn.

“Is there something on the island in the middle of the lake?”

“My…my son is there.”

“Ah, that’s how they threatened the Lizardmen, isn’t it?”

Lakrak was already aware there were no grayish-brown Lizardmen children in the lower rank village.

“Y-Yes. And now they are going to sacrifice my son as an offering.”

“How come?”

“They have a god!” Owen cried out.

“Really?”

“If they offer a sacrifice, their god will come and do them small favors. It won’t be able to help cure the disease they have, but it’ll likely attack you and your warriors.”

Owen hoped his words would convey to Lakrak his feelings, but Lakrak sighed.

“You should have told me that earlier.”

“What?”

“My warriors chased after the Frogmen just now and were searching the shores. Most of the Frogmen took boats or were too good at swimming, so we couldn’t catch up and follow them. I thought they would just go to the upper village, so I didn’t order my warriors to secure any boats. We can’t go to the island.”

“If…if we swim…”

“It’s too dangerous. They have bows. Each and everyone of us will be defeated once we start heading toward the island. We also can’t swim as well as them, and it’s harder for us to breathe, so we might get attacked in the water.”

“But...but my son…”

Lakrak punched Owen in the jaw. Owen collapsed, and his nose started to bleed.

“Stupid! You should have told me sooner! You should have trusted me sooner! I’m confident that we can beat the god that these crude frogs believe in with our own strength. If their god appears from the island and attacks us, I’ll show you that my warriors and I can destroy the thing they call god.”

Lakrak was angry, but then he looked down at Owen with pity.

“...Don’t you think you should have told me sooner, even just a little sooner, to save your son?”

Owen didn’t think Lakrak had said anything wrong.

‘...Everything would have changed. If only I knew of Shunen’s intentions just a little sooner. No, if only I trusted Lakrak before the fifth, the fourth, the third time we met… No, that’s not it. Perhaps…everything could have been changed before I met Lakrak. It’s just that I acted too late.’

Zaol and the other warriors came at the sound of Lakrak shouting. Lakrak warned the other warriors to prepare for a fight against a big monster.

“Something is getting started.”

The island was visible from the edge of the lake. The Frogmen began making a strange shout, held torches up high, and shook their bodies. There were small things that weren’t moving. They were young Lizardmen who had been tied up.

“There is something under the lake! Everyone, get ready to attack at any point.”

“Understood!”

Soon, something emerged from the water. It was the Two-Headed Fiend.

***

This was a type of Fiend that Sung-Woon was familiar with.

‘Was it the Serpent Fiend? I’m pretty sure two heads meant double XP.’

According to the setting of the original game, fiends were one of the ancient evils. If the Ancient Coleoptera was like a field raid boss, fiends were AI-controlled monsters that would appear every now and then to rule over tribes, and those tribes were considered more difficult enemies compared to tribes with no god.

‘But its Divinity level is lower than the Ancient Coleoptera. And I thought there were no stronger fiends to balance out the strength of the larger tribes that come with them, but since this is the real world, there should be some kind of a reason.’

Fiends sometimes grew as well, and there were players who lost the game when the fiends grew quite a bit by midgame.

‘But they’re still only AI.’

In the end, the only issue to be considered when targeting fiends was how much resources one could take from them without suffering losses. And in that regard, Sung-Woon was perfectly ready.

‘It was worth doing some work behind the scenes.’

Sung-Woon got into a good mood because Lakrak’s Clan had gained XP, technical skills, and other resources without much loss. The resources gained this time would be enough to create a gap between himself and the other players.

‘Alright. Lakrak has done enough. It’s my turn to take over.’

There was enough Divinity accumulated, and it was a chance to use the new skill.

[Would you like to use the skill: Make Insect’s Creature?]

[Yes / No]

Sung-Woon clicked ‘Yes’.

***

Lakrak thought the fight with this fifteen-meter-long two-headed serpent would be worth a try, and he soon discovered something which made his eyes shine.

“Hey, trickster,” said Lakrak.

“Yes?”

Owen, who had his head lowered in frustration, looked up.

“Do you believe in Miracles?”

The shadow of a large mantis cast over the Two-Headed Fiend.