Chapter 423 - 423: The end of the illusion

[What just happened?]

[Why is the feed gone?]

[Come back! I want to see the ending!]

The messages continued pouring into the stream's chatroom even though the video player had gone black.

[Did the power go out?]

[There was a thunderstorm outside his house.]

[The timing was too perfect.]

[Is he coming back online?]

While everyone was talking about what happened and wondering if Lucen would return, the person himself was still in a state of shock.

Victory was within his reach; he was about to witness a new route no one had ever seen before.

"F*ck!" He almost threw his controller, but he held back as this was the only one he had.

Lucen took several breaths and carefully placed the controller on his desk. Throwing it would not bring back his progress. It would only leave him without a controller.

His computer had already restarted, but he had not reopened the stream. Hundreds of notifications continued appearing on his phone as viewers demanded to know what had happened.

Lucen opened his streaming program and restored the broadcast. He saw the chat in a frenzy on his second monitor.

[He's back!]

[So what happened?]

[Did you watch the ending cutscene by yourself?!]

Lucen stared at the messages for a moment before answering.

"The electricity went out right before the final attack landed. I did not see the ending."

[NO!]

[Did the game save?]

[Can you access that route again?]

"I don't know if I can access that route; we'll find out now."

Lucen launched Aerok and loaded his save.

Alexander appeared on the road leading toward the Academy. It was the last place Lucen had saved before the thunderstorm, and the strange area appeared.

The black landscape was gone. There were no corpses, violet cracks, or enormous rifts waiting ahead. The road continued normally through the forest as though the hidden route had never existed.

Lucen immediately checked Alexander's inventory. Varkun's Greatsword, Velmira's Tear, Kalderos's Masterpiece, Thalara's Judgment, and Naerith's Blessing were all gone.

"It didn't save anything."

[THE ENTIRE ROUTE IS GONE!]

[You lost all five divine artifacts!]

[Try going back along the road.]

Lucen retraced Alexander's path several times. He approached the Academy from different directions, reloaded the save, and waited for something to happen.

Nothing happened. The mysterious area could no longer be found. Lucen glanced toward his window. The thunderstorm had already ended.

"So I lost several hours of progress and the route that caused it."

[Maybe it only appears during thunderstorms.]

[You'll need to wait for another storm.]

Even though what the chat was saying sounded ludicrous, Lucen had no choice but to believe that maybe the storm had something to do with the change in the game.

"Sorry, guys, but I'm ending the stream here. I don't feel like playing anymore."

[Yeah, I get it]

[Rest up]

"Thanks. I'll see you guys next time."

Lucen ended the broadcast.

For once, the chat did not pressure him to continue. Most of the viewers had heard the frustration in his voice and understood that forcing himself to play would only worsen his mood.

Even after the stream ended, messages continued appearing on his phone.

[Get some rest.]

[Don't break your controller.]

[The route appeared once. You'll find it again.]

[I'll always be waiting for your next stream]

Lucen placed his phone face down on the desk and leaned back in his chair. He remained there for several minutes, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the hidden route he had just experienced.

It was the most excited he had been gaming, and this was also the most frustrated he had been in a while. Still, overall, he felt happy that he got to see such a hidden route.

By the following day, clips of the hidden route had spread across the internet.

The most popular clips showed Alexander's sudden appearance beneath the black sky, surrounded by the bodies of his fallen companions.

Others focused on the five divine artifacts he had already been equipped with or the violet cracks leading toward the avatar.

The final battle received the most attention. Viewers uploaded slowed-down recordings of the true avatar, attempting to count the faces moving beneath its body. Others enhanced the voices coming from its tentacles.

Some listeners claimed the whispers belonged to Alexander's dead companions. A few even insisted that they had heard their own names. Most people dismissed those claims as imagination.

Theories about the route spread across gaming forums. Some believed the thunderstorm had activated an event hidden inside the original game. Others claimed the old console had malfunctioned and accidentally loaded unfinished content.

That explanation failed to satisfy anyone who had watched the battle. The hidden area had contained new enemies, divine equipment, several cutscenes, unique dialogue, and a boss with multiple phases.

It was far too complete to be discarded content that no one had discovered in fifteen years.

Lucen read a few more discussions, but after a while he closed them. He could not continue to read, as he was still irritated whenever he remembered the final attack.

"I'm not touching that game for a while." Instead, Lucen spent the day catching up on anime.

He had accumulated several series on his watchlist, including sequels he had waited years to see. He ordered food, closed the curtains, and watched episode after episode until the sunlight outside disappeared.

The following morning, Lucen continued reading the manga adaptation of one of the series.

He intended to read only a few chapters, but whenever he reached the end of one, starting the next was too easy. Before he noticed, several hours had passed.

Lucen checked how many chapters remained, then purchased the rest of the series.

"I'm already this far. I might as well finish it."

Still, reading digitally was not the same as collecting physical volumes. After seeing the artwork on several covers, Lucen decided to visit a nearby mall and buy actual physical copies of the ones he liked.

The mall was crowded, but Lucen did not mind. He walked through several stores before finding one that specialized in manga, figures, and other anime merchandise.

He bought the physical volumes he wanted, along with a figure from one of the series he had finished the previous night.

A keychain and a few acrylic stands were added to his purchase after he saw them near the counter. Lucen looked at the bags in his hands after leaving the store.

'I spent more than I planned.' Still, even this simple act, which he does most of the time, felt more satisfying than usual.

When he returned home, he placed the new figure beside his monitor and arranged the manga volumes on a shelf. He spent the rest of the evening reading until he became tired.

The next few days passed without anything unusual happening.

Lucen watched anime, read manga, streamed different games, and occasionally checked discussions about the hidden route. No one had found a way to reproduce it. Before long, most people began treating it as an exceptionally rare glitch.

Lucen still believed there was more to it, but he was no longer interested in thinking about Aerok. Remembering how close he had come to winning only irritated him again.

Instead, he focused on the Dungeons and Dragons session he had arranged with his friends. Their group chat became more active as Saturday approached.

[Who's going to be the DM?]

[You're obviously the DM.]

[You suggested the game.]

[Congratulations. You volunteered.]

Lucen did not really care, as he had already accepted that he was going to be GM a few days ago. He already had a game in mind with a dream he had about Aerok as inspiration.

Lucen spent the rest of the week preparing the game.

The campaign took place in a kingdom threatened by war. The players would begin as ordinary adventurers before becoming involved with a cult attempting to awaken an ancient being.

The idea had come from the strange dream he had experienced before playing Aerok. He remembered broken skies, divine warriors, and something enormous watching from beyond the stars.

Lucen used the fragments he could recall as inspiration for the locations, the enemies, and the plot twist.

By Friday evening, most of the campaign was complete. Lucen purchased additional dice, printed several maps, and prepared enough snacks for the following day. His friends had already confirmed that they would arrive after lunch.

He spent the rest of the night reading manga and occasionally adding ideas to his notes. The following morning, Lucen woke to the sound of his phone vibrating.

He expected another message from the group chat. Instead, several emergency alerts covered the screen.

[Unusual atmospheric disturbance detected.]

[Remain indoors and await further instructions.]

[Do not look directly at the sky.]

Lucen could not make sense of what he was reading. "Don't look up at the sky? What does that mean?"

His phone continued vibrating as more messages arrived.

[What's happening outside?]

[Did anyone else get that warning?]

[The sky is turning black.]

Lucen approached the window but stopped before opening the curtains.

A low sound echoed outside. It did not resemble thunder. It was closer to something breathing, except each breath seemed to pass through the entire city.

Lucen felt like he had heard a similar thing recently. Lucen carefully moved the curtain aside.

People had gathered in the street. Some were recording with their phones, while others simply stared upward despite the warning.

The morning sky had disappeared beneath black clouds. A thin violet line stretched across them. Lucen recognized it immediately. It was the same color as the rift from the hidden route.

While Lucen was thinking about the similarities, the violet line widened, and within it countless pale eyes opened.

Lucen stepped back from the window as screams rose from the street. His phone continued vibrating with videos and emergency reports from different countries.

Every recording showed the same thing. No matter which part of the world the camera faced, the pale eyes were visible.

Something enormous moved behind them. Lucen could only see fragments of its body, yet each one appeared large enough to coil around a world. Mouths opened between its limbs, revealing places where no light had ever existed.

It reminded him of world-eaters from comics and the world serpent from myth, yet both comparisons suddenly felt laughably small.

Something began emerging through the opening. The second he saw it happening, Lucen swallowed.

Lucen could not understand its shape. Whenever he tried to focus on one part of it, that part changed. Countless eyes covered limbs too large to belong beneath Earth's sky, while enormous mouths opened between folds of darkness.

The longer Lucen stared, the harder it became to breathe. The true avatar had been a shadow compressed into a shape the game could contain. What descended through the clouds possessed no such limits.

His phone rang. When he answered, he heard one of his friends screaming.

"Can you see it?"

The call vanished beneath static. Outside, people collapsed. Others continued staring upward as blood ran from their eyes.

Then every pale eye in the sky turned toward Lucen. The walls groaned, as everything seemed to be getting twisted. His windows bent inward without breaking. Something pressed against the world, and Lucen knew the creature had noticed him among billions.

Behind its countless eyes, another presence stirred. A single colorless pupil began opening within the deepest darkness. Compared to it, the entity covering Earth's sky suddenly seemed flat, like an image reflected upon black water.

The Martial God's hand jerked away from Lucen's forehead. A violet crack had appeared above his unconscious body. Hairline fractures spread across the temple floor as the surrounding space twisted toward the opening.

For the first time since entering the temple, a frown appeared on the Martial God's face. "The illusion recreated it too accurately. The real one noticed its imitation and is attempting to take its place."

The Heavenly Demon grinned viciously as his battle spirit was rising. "Heh, if this thing dares manifest itself, I want to have a go at it! It's been a while since I've been in an actual life-or-death battle!"