Chapter 141: The Strongest Weapons.

The FPS gamer aimed his gun and held his breath.

Carefully, he pulled the trigger so the muzzle wouldn’t shake.

Bang.

The bullet fired from the gun pierced straight into the sea monster’s eye.

The bullet exploded, destroying its brain, and the sea monster sank to the ocean floor.

“Tch.”

The gamer clicked his tongue.

He had defeated the enemy, but had used up a precious bullet.

“Couples really are the bane of the world.”

The FPS gamer grumbled.

The nuisance crybabies wouldn’t stop crying, and the world overflowed with water.

For a moment, he thought things like the Star Festival event didn’t matter at all.

Monsters that had risen from the deep sea rampaged, and the sea dragon expanded its territory.

Prices soared, and there were disruptions in the bullet supply.

Now, every single bullet had to be used with care.

Battles had to be avoided as much as possible, and if unavoidable, he had to use his special saved bullets to finish things in one shot.

Otherwise, the sound of fighting could attract a swarm of sea monsters.

Trying to save powerful bullets could end up depleting his entire stock.

In fact, after experiencing that a few times, his already scarce supply of bullets dwindled even more.

“I really hope it’s there this time.”

The FPS gamer arrived at the undersea temple rumored to house a humanoid giant weapon.

So far, he had drawn blanks several times.

Sometimes the intel was wrong, sometimes the weapon had already been destroyed, and sometimes he just couldn’t find a way inside.

Still, the information he’d gotten this time seemed pretty reliable.

-They say the first completed weapon was offered to God.

If it’s here, it’s a one-off.

It was a masterpiece made with no regard for cost-effectiveness.

The overwhelming performance of the first completed machine is the dream of all mecha stories.

Since the Water Land event followed the format of a game, it wouldn’t have betrayed that dream.

But since Alchemy Slime doesn’t always follow those conventions, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Even though the Star Festival has passed, the rain won’t stop.

Some items labeled as ‘ancient’ have inferior performance.

Still, the item here is said to have been offered to God.

Items dedicated to God are always the most special.

‘It might just be an ornament, though.’

The FPS gamer suppressed his anxiety and entered the temple.

The temple was so clean, it was hard to believe it had been abandoned for ages.

He felt a surge of anticipation.

As he went deeper inside, a group of golems appeared.

His anticipation grew even greater.

Those golems are guards deployed to protect extremely valuable facilities.

Every facility guarded by those golems held massive rewards.

The FPS gamer threw a grenade at the approaching golems.

The grenade, packed with tremendous power, turned all the golems into scrap metal.

The gamer loaded a magazine filled with powerful bullets into his gun.

‘I’ll clean this place out.’

He resolved to use every precious weapon he’d gathered during his explorations.

If the robot turned out to be useless, he wouldn’t even be able to make it back.

He’d have no choice but to get eaten by a sea monster and respawn.

Now that gear was hard to come by, it would take a long time to regain this level of firepower.

The event would end before then.

‘If you save it, you just end up with crap.’

But if he failed here trying to save his gear, the game would be blocked just the same.

All or nothing.

The gamer decided to gamble.

With overwhelming firepower, he blasted his way straight to the deepest part of the temple.

And then, he reached just before the very core.

Blocking the door where the most valuable thing was surely kept was a giant golem armed like a Holy Knight.

The gamer ran around the boss room, pouring everything from bombs to bullets at the golem.

The pursuing golem’s shield shattered, its armor broke apart, and its sword became ragged.

Still, the golem’s eyes kept glowing.

‘It’s still standing?’

The gamer tossed aside his gun and drew his pistol.

Inside was a single bullet.

It was a bullet crafted from the fang of a monster he’d found deep in the sea.

It was the last resort the gamer had prepared, his final round.

If this missed or failed to finish the golem, that would be the end.

“Come on.”

The golem gripped its sword with both hands and raised it high.

Thud.

The golem stomped the ground.

Freed from its armor and shield, the golem accelerated instantly.

The gamer waited.

He waited and waited.

The moment the golem swung its sword down.

Bang.

The golem, its forehead pierced, stopped moving.

The light faded from its eyes.

Having fulfilled its duty for countless years but ultimately failing and shutting down, the golem was left behind as the gamer pushed open the double doors.

“Found it.”

A humanoid weapon, kneeling and waiting for its pilot, was waiting for the gamer.

***

The Grade D Hunter, who wanted attention, gathered a pirate crew.

On Pirate Island, they were tormented by ill-tempered penguins.

After being sunk by the Seagull Slime Pirates, they were tormented by the penguins on Pirate Island again.

After being sunk by a human torpedo, they were tormented by the penguins once more.

When they tried to raid a trade ship and got sunk by a cannon, they were tormented by the penguins yet again.

They realized something.

‘Piracy isn’t easy, huh.’

They gave up on their dream of becoming Pirate King.

Instead, they decided to do what they were good at.

Rather than fighting people, they would raid the dungeons under the sea.

Their ranking wasn’t that high, but they were still veteran Hunters in their own right.

Their dungeon raiding skills far surpassed those of ordinary people.

“It’s kind of amazing, but don’t these monsters seem really real?”

“Exactly. You can tell they did some seriously hardcore research.”

The movements of the monsters inside the dungeon were extremely similar to real monsters.

Of course, for the sake of game convenience, there were many differences from actual dungeons.

Forcing ordinary people to dismantle monsters would be too harsh.

The Hunters didn’t want that level of realism either.

Still, since they were familiar with the monsters’ behavior, they could perform even better inside the dungeon.

That’s why they quit being pirates and formed a mercenary group.

“Wow… Are there really monsters like this in the world?”

“I thought I was going to die.”

“I came here to have fun, but it feels like I’m just training and heading back.”

“At this rate, aren’t we going to rank up?”

After defeating the boss and claiming their rewards, they traveled by boat.

The dungeon they got this time was quite a difficult one.

When they let their guard down a bit because of fatigue.

“Yeehaw! Torpedo delivery service!”

“Hey, you bastards! Is it you guys again?!”

“Thank you for the compliment!”

The gamer pirate crew ambushed them.

Even in the deep sea, there were currents. Using those flows to launch human torpedoes at enemies was still an effective tactic.

The mercenary group was good at dungeon raiding and had plenty of good loot, but their skills in fighting people were lacking.

To the gamer pirate crew, they looked like delicious prey.

“Hey! Aren’t you afraid of payback?!”

Kwa-rurung.

At the moment when one Hunter couldn’t hold back and shouted, the ground rumbled.

“Hey!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I was so angry I just blurted it out!”

Those who try to drag reality into the game.

For them, Slime Land’s divine punishment awaited.

To be specific, a relentless scolding would begin.

-Hey. I heard you threatened an ordinary person? The great senior just called, asking what kind of education you’re giving the kids.

It was common knowledge that many retired Hunters worked inside Slime Land.

Every Hunter has someone above them-a drill instructor, a team leader, or a guild leader. And at least one person who could give those superiors a piece of their mind was working at Slime Land.

Plus, many Hunters nearing retirement hoped to get a job at Slime Land.

To get on Alchemy Slime’s good side, they were even more ruthless with jobs related to Slime Land.

If you messed around in Slime Land, your life would get a lot more exhausting.

“I was just going to take a little, but I guess that’s not happening.”

The gamer pirate crew bombarded the Hunter mercenary group with human torpedoes.

“We surrender! We surrender!”

The mercenary group had to grit their teeth and hand over their loot.

“See you next time.”

“Get lost!”

The gamer pirate crew checked the weapons they’d plundered from the Hunters.

“Hey, this is Robin’s gear. Congratulations!”

“Mm!”

The barbarian warrior called Robin screamed internally.

‘Why…?!’

The barbarian concept was fun, in its own way.

But why did barbarian outfits keep dropping in a world where guns existed?!

‘I even put my stat and skill points so I could switch classes anytime!’

He focused his stats and skills on strength.

He didn’t need archer skills.

As long as he could hit his mark with skill.

He was always planning to switch classes as soon as archer gear dropped.

But the barbarian gear that kept dropping was just too good to refuse.

“This is it! Robin, you can clear the quest now.”

“Mm!”

“Your weapon’s gotten pretty nimble, but it’s about to get even nimbler.”

“Mm!”

“The stone axe was cool too.”

“Mm.”

If there was one hope, it was that the stone axe he found at the start kept getting upgraded as the game went on.

As the unnecessary parts were chipped away, the stone axe grew smaller, but the power it held only increased.

“Beautiful. I can confidently say I’ve brought out the true power of this stone.”

The stone axe’s final upgrade was completed in the undersea city.

The gamer pirate crew cheered, and a bunch of achievements popped up.

But Robin’s gaze was fixed on the stone axe.

By now, it looked more like a spear than an axe, but to Robin it appeared differently.

‘It’s turned into an arrow?’

It was way too big to be called an arrow, though.

***

The trading company led by the old man presented the Jade Emperor with local specialties gathered from all over.

The old man, who was as large as a mountain, smiled in satisfaction.

“In recognition of your devotion, I will permit the two of you to meet.”

At last, the rain stopped.

But that alone wasn’t enough of a reward.

When you clear a quest in a game, there should be a reward fitting the quest’s difficulty.

So, for them, one more reward had been prepared.

“Until the sun rises and sets twice, a favorable wind will be with you, and all disasters will pass you by.”

The trading company received a blessing.

It was a buff that boosted movement speed and made the chance of unfortunate events happening zero.

How they used this buff was up to them.

“Pretty stingy, huh.”

One of the trading company’s sailors grumbled.

Of course, it was a very convenient blessing.

Even in regular sea zones, the boat sailed smoothly, and once they entered rapid current zones, steering the ship became easy.

They could sail and trade at a faster speed than anyone else.

Just because the rain had stopped didn’t mean the sky-high prices would plummet overnight.

At this point, it was still a time when goods sold for high prices.

Even without gouging people, it was a chance to earn more goodwill than usual.

Plus, on the sky island where the Jade Emperor resided, there were special items only available there.

If they sold those on land, they could make a fortune.

With so many achievements unlocked, the overall haul was huge.

Still, the blessing felt a bit stingy.

Now that the rain had stopped, the relentless typhoons would end, and as the waters returned to normal, the odds of running into monsters would drop too.

And the blessing didn’t protect them from pirates.

By now, the pirates were probably desperately searching for whoever stopped the rain.

A fast-moving trade ship was sure to attract attention.

“No, that’s not it. If we can avoid monsters, that means we can enter even the sea god’s domain.”

The sailor, who’d been talking to the elder, realized something.

The sea god’s domain. There’s a legend that the mightiest pirate ship, which even sea dragons couldn’t sink, exists there. And according to what they’d learned, that pirate ship was originally a trade ship brought up from the ocean floor by the very first president of Water Land’s biggest trading company.

It was originally a trade ship, but it was a versatile vessel that could be used for piracy too.

The final reward of the Star Festival event was the strongest ship in the event.

***

The Water Land event was also nearing its end.

The strongest weapons of the event are being discovered one by one.

The Lily Raid looks like it will end up being a success after all.

Since the Water Land event runs until Sunday, I guess the Lily Raid will probably happen around Saturday.

Everything that’s happened so far has unfolded exactly as predicted.

If you set up the right environment, things proceed as expected inside it, even without any special intervention.

And if something goes off-script, a little nudge is all it takes to fix it.

Conversely, it means you can also make people act exactly as you want them to.

All you have to do is create an environment that encourages a specific behavior. It might be hard for an ordinary person, but I have the power to change the world.

I could just force my way through people who try to get in my way.

But ideally, it’s best if they never try to stop me in the first place.

I need to push the Slime that’s already seeped into people’s lives even deeper.

Deep enough that they don’t even think about pulling it out.

I need to create an environment where everyone sees Slime as a good thing.

Then, even if they don’t understand my actions, they won’t try to interfere.

With that in mind, I released the Frame Slime.

This time, instead of making a big splash with advertising, I quietly launched it and held a product showcase.

Instead of sending Hans, I took the stage myself.

Because I have something I want to say.