ALL NOVEL Chapter 204
Chapter 204: Epilogue （4）
The administrator of the status window?! It was a story even harder to believe than Tteunteuni on the verge of ascension.
Well, there is a way to find out if it’s true or a lie.
[If you’re the real administrator, give Close-Range Spy a 30-day community ban.]
[Skynet: Ah. There seems to have been a misunderstanding.]
[Skynet: I don’t manage the community, but the transcendental system called the status window. My job is to maintain and repair the data center that underpins the status window.]
[Skynet: If I could ban people from the community, I would have banned guys like Atomic Rex and Karon first.]
That’s true.
By the way, a data center? Does that mean there’s something like a server room? It’s confusing to suddenly have a modern concept pop up.
[So the status window is being run by a machine?]
[Skynet: No. A giant tree imbued with magical power is the status window’s data center.]
[Skynet: I call it Yggdrasil.]
Since it’s a fantasy world, I guess they replaced it with something natural. Goddess Ishtania might be a concept freak.
[So]
[Why is the status window administrator looking for Malak’s messenger?]
This is the important part. Why did you hide this important fact until the dimensional gate closed and only now reveal it to me?
[Skynet: I would like Malak-nim to decide whether the status window should continue to exist.]
…What?
[Skynet: I will tell you the location of Yggdrasil.]
[Skynet: I will accept whatever decision Malak-nim makes. Please see it for yourself and judge.]
▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄
Due to Skynet’s sudden proposal, a new schedule was set. ‘Visit Yggdrasil’.
I couldn’t take many people with me. It was quite a long way, and since everyone had their own roles to play, it was a bit difficult to pull them away.
So I decided to take only one person, my dedicated bodyguard, Rake.
Ah, of course, I’m not going with Rake. I’m injured, and my body is weak.
Although the possibility is small, this proposal could be a trap set to kill me, right? Rake is the strongest in the world and can use the ‘Follower Summoning’ for a self-teleport skill, so she’s fine, but I’m not.
Just like I did with Rake before, I decided to transfer my consciousness to Totem No. 3 and go on the journey.
“Be back safe.”
I waved my healthy left hand to Rake who was packing her things and getting ready to leave.
“…Did it have to be that Paladin?”
Rake glared at the Paladin standing next to me, Hanna.
No, I couldn’t help it. Hanna was the fastest to volunteer for my temporary bodyguard position.
Her Paladin level is a whopping 8. As long as super strong players like Close-Range Spy or Princess Dina don’t attack me, she can block them all.
It was the most rational decision, so I hope Rake, who dislikes Hanna, will understand…
“Be back safe~!”
Seeing Hanna smiling brightly and waving to Rake, and Rake gritting her teeth at the sight, it seemed like that understanding was far off.
Hmm. I should transfer my consciousness to Totem No. 3 in a bit and talk to her. I need to soothe her anger.
After sending Rake off, Hanna and I were left alone.
“…What do we do now?”
Hanna, feeling awkward, scratched her head.
“Nothing much. Just follow me around and help me out sometimes. And if someone gets too close, block them.”
“Is that all? But I’m a bodyguard, shouldn’t I be doing something more professional? Like eating the food first…”
Pfft. This friend, she’s watched too many dramas and movies. It’s not like she’s a food taster.
“We can receive healing and purification just by being near the totem, so why bother? You don’t have to do things like that.”
It’s enough to just go near the totem before meals and cast ‘Healing Totem’.
“Don’t overthink it.”
“Okay.”
She’s called a bodyguard, but she’s just someone who moves in my place when there’s something that requires strength. She’s like a well-trained younger sister who brings food when I say ‘food’ and brings water when I say ‘water’.
“…What were you doing on Earth?”
As we were both looking for something to say, Hanna opened her mouth first.
“I just…graduated from college, was preparing for a job, and doing some part-time jobs. You?”
Preparing for a job is a lie. It’s just a bit embarrassing to say I was a convenience store worker.
Since I’m already pretending to be a messenger, this small lie should be fine, right?
Chuckling, Hanna proudly said,
“Programmer.”
“Pro gamer?”
“No, programmer! Web developer.”
Web developer?
“Ah! That coding? Thing?”
Actually, I don’t know much about it. I was a local college student following the ‘Humanities ━ Liberal Arts ━ Chicken Restaurant & Unemployed’ tech tree.
“Well, similar.”
“Wow. So you were an engineering student?”
“Right?”
Hanna was an engineering girl? Doesn’t really suit the awkward and nerdy Hanna I know.
Anyway, with the conversation flowing, we chatted away, losing track of time.
How much time passed? When the conversation was winding down, I transferred my consciousness to Totem No. 3. I explained to Hanna that I was going to contact Malak.
━ Guardian Rake.
“Ah, Malak-nim. We’ve almost reached our destination.”
Rake decided to call me Malak when I’m in the totem state. I also decided to use a stiff tone.
We matched our speech beforehand to avoid making mistakes later.
━ I see.
Rake was running like the wind. The surrounding scenery was whizzing by, showing how fast she was running.
It was practically Fast and Furious.
━ Anything happen on the way?
“There were a few demons dying from lack of demonic energy. I made sure to end their lives.”
━ Well done.
“…What happened to that Paladin?”
━ She’s guarding the messenger.
It’s definitely awkward to be called in the third person. It feels like roleplaying.
“She might do something strange to the messenger’s body.”
Come on, no way. Hanna wouldn’t be so sneaky.
I was having a casual conversation with Rake when,
“Ah, we’ve arrived.”
Rake, who had been running diligently, stopped in front of a giant cliff.
Did she say to send a message when we arrive? I sent it right away.
[We’ve arrived. Open the door please.]
[Skynet: Confirmed.]
After a while, the space between the cliffs split open, revealing a new space.
This is where Skynet and Yggdrasil are, right?
“Let’s go in.”
━ Alright.
Rake slowly, but without a hint of fear, moved forward.
The inside of the cliff was, how should I put it, like an ecological park where structures and nature were mixed together. There was a stream flowing and houses.
“Hello. I’m Skynet. You must be Malak-nim and his Guardian, right?”
A woman wearing a shabby cloak appeared in front of Rake. A very strict-looking woman.
Skynet, you were a woman? It seems concept freaks exist regardless of age or gender.
The woman, who introduced herself as Skynet, led us to Yggdrasil.
“Ah, hello! I’m Seonggiseonggisa!”
“Meow!”
An unfamiliar face and a familiar face passed by. Love Death Cat… I wondered where she went after the war, but she was living here.
Then where did the unicorn Love Death Cat used to ride go? Did it just fly away because it was the Goddess’ sacred beast?
I didn’t bother asking.
“This is Yggdrasil.”
A giant tree greeted me and Rake. It was a tree rooted deep into the ground.
I feel like I’ve seen something similar somewhere… Ah, right.
Sesu, the creator of the Spirit World. That tree and Yggdrasil were very similar.
━ Divine power surrounds it. It’s a divine object.
It was divine power, but it felt different from the Goddess’ divine power. It was closer to a Loa, if I had to say.
While I was feeling puzzled,
Neighhh━!
With a whinny, a unicorn appeared from behind Yggdrasil. A beautiful white horse stared at me.
And then,
[It seems Malak is gone.]
It suddenly spoke to me!
━ …What.
[Don’t be alarmed. Malak’s representative. Only you can hear my voice in your head.]
━ …!
How did it know my identity? How is it talking?
“Please speak. Then…”
Skynet stepped back, and Rake drew the Meteor Sword and glared at the unicorn.
━ You, you were a Loa.
After a brief moment of confusion, I alternately checked the unicorn and Yggdrasil, and I could understand their identity.
The divine power surrounding Yggdrasil was connected to the unicorn. This white horse was Yggdrasil, and Yggdrasil was this white horse.
The true administrator of the status window was not Skynet, but this animal. Or should I say, the status window itself?
…Was it because I only saw the unicorn that I didn’t notice when I met it in person?
The unicorn, looking at Rake, sent another telepathic message.
[In the distant past, the world was in danger because of the Evil God. The God of Games and the Evil God had a long war.]
I listened quietly.
[I, like Malak, loved this world, my followers. But I wasn’t as strong as him. Even if I descended directly or manifested, my limits were clear.]
The unicorn looked up at Yggdrasil.
[I made a deal with the God of Games. I stole a branch of Sesu and fled to the material world, becoming mortal. To establish the system you call the status window.]
━ …
It was the moment the truth of the status window was revealed.
[That was the best I could do.]
━ What do you want from me?
I asked out of pure curiosity. It didn’t seem like it had called me with bad intentions.
[Now that the demons and the Evil God have fallen, and Ishtania has been banished, the status window has served its purpose.]
The unicorn continued.
[Take all of my divine power. Then I and the status window will disappear.]
[You are worthy of that.]