The Nebula’s Civilization

Crampus’s final rank was 1430th, and Lunda’s was 38,702th.

In reality, Crampus knew more about the game, so he was in charge of the operation. At least Crampus thought he was.

Crampus said, “Let’s try talking to them.”

“Do you think it’ll be okay to do so?” replied Lunda.

Crampus understood Lunda’s concern because he knew that Eldar had a loose alliance with Nebula. Therefore, Eldar would have also noticed Crampus and Lunda’s attack, which was evident in that the request for a Whisper Conversation was made to Lunda, not Crampus. Lunda’s fox species, the Renards, were moving across the wilderness. There was a chance that she would run into Eldar if Eldar led his army down south from the northern coast.

‘So this chat might be intended to cause bad blood between us.’

In The Lost World, it was not possible for players to freely form and break alliances supported by the game system. This was because if several gods were incorporated into one myth, the tribes under their control would find out about the alliances. So players relied on their mutual trust with each other and made loose alliances.

‘Those kinds of loose alliances always have the danger of breaking.’

Trying to create bad blood between others was a common tactic among players, and Crampus and Lunda were both aware of this.

Crampus said, “Let’s do things this way then. Talk to them by yourself, Lunda. And act like I’m not here.”

Lunda nodded and said, “Okay. So if Eldar thinks I’m alone and tries to appease me with tributes, you’ll know as well.”

“Yes. I think the chances are high.”

“How high?”

“At least fifty percent, don’t you think so?”

“Fifty percent, huh?”

Crampus did not know much about the fight that broke out in the northern coast, but he knew two players had disappeared. In order for a player to deal with two or more players by themselves, it would be a must to sow discord among the enemies.

“And we’ll turn that on its head.”

“How so?”

Crampus explained, “First, accept Eldar’s conditions and relax their guard. Then we’ll wait for the opportune time to raid and defeat them at once.”

Lunda nodded.

“I felt anxious to have Eldar watching from behind on the northern coast while we went down south, so if only we could do that…”

“We could secure our victory.”

“Alright. Let’s get started.”

Lunda accepted Eldar’s request for a Whisper Conversation.

Eldar said, “Nice to meet you, Lunda, God of the Renards.”

“...Hello?”

“I am God of the Elves, Eldar.”

“I already know that because I can see your ID.”

Lunda furrowed her eyebrows, which showed she was thinking about the kind of player Eldar was.

Crampus knew the answer right after he heard Eldar’s way of speaking. He opened a memo tab and wrote something down.

‘It seems like he’s a Role Player.’

After reading Crampus’s memo, Lunda’s eyes widened, and she slightly nodded.

Then she said, “For what reason did the god of the Elves contact me?”

Eldar briefly looked down and hesitated for a moment.

He then raised his head back up and said, “I am requesting for your help.”

“.....”

Surprised, Lunda met eyes with Crampus. Crampus had not expected this either, so he was also puzzled.

Lunda slowly said, “...What do you mean exactly?”

“I, Eldar, am in an alliance with Nebula because I couldn’t overcome his coercion.”

“So you don’t want to be in an alliance with Nebula?”

“That is so. He used an overpowering strategy and defeated Solongos and Lim Chun-Sik, the gods of the Centaurs and Ogres.”

“Without your help?”

“Yes.”

Lunda shook her head in disbelief.

“Usually in a fight of 2 against 1, the side with greater numbers would win. Especially in the beginning of The Lost World since the amount of supplies is very important.”

“The level difference between them was big. And Nebula’s overpowering in battle. Have you never heard of the ID?”

“Oh, no way…”

“Yes. He has gotten to his supreme position as he fought and defeated gods in numerous worlds.”

“...In other words, he is ranked 1st?”

“That’s another way to put it.”

Lunda gulped, and Crampus furrowed his eyebrows. They had hoped that wasn’t true. While Nebula was the ID of the player who had remained first in rank for a long time, it was possible for different players to have the same ID in The Lost World. Crampus and Lunda weren’t top players in the first place, so they had assumed this Nebula would be someone lower ranking but happened to have the same ID.

Crampus thought to himself, ‘Hegemonia, who we met not long ago, was ranked second. I can’t believe we’re in the same game, on the same continent.’

However, he could not just complain about his bad lock. Since a problem had arisen, it needed to be solved.

Eldar said, “Anyways, I threw away my pride and begged him to spare my life. That’s how I’ve survived until now. But that was my only choice. Please allow me to help you.”

“Um.”

Lunda made eye contact with Crampus, silently asking what she should do. Then Crampus wrote something on the memo tab again.

‘If that is true, I couldn't be happier, but there’s a chance it might be a trap. Ask for more information.’

Lunda nodded.

“Eldar, I would like to believe your story, but I need some information in order to do that.”

“Okay. I am willing to provide as much as you need in order to gain your trust. That should tell you how much I have suffered due to Nebula…”

Providing information meant exchanging information within the system; it was not possible to lie since everything would be revealed. Therefore, this kind of information sharing was a sensitive matter, and generally, even among loose alliances, information other than what was strictly necessary usually was not shared.

Lunda was surprised when Eldar agreed to share their information without reservation. And she was even more surprised when she checked the information on her system window.

“...Nebula took so much from you.”

Even though it was Eldar who had attacked Nebula first, in Lunda’s opinion, Nebula’s revenge was terrifying. Lunda shared the information she received from Eldar with Crampus, and Crampus checked it.

Eldar had not revealed all their information, but there was not a need for that.

‘After destroying Eldar’s main force, Nebula burned down the Elf village, kicked out the Elves again only a few years after they ran to his territory…and he even followed the Elves to where they had just about settled down at and demanded all the resources that they would obtain going forward. Nebula did spare their lives, but only barely.’

It was a relationship that could not be defined as a loose alliance, let alone proper allies. There was no reason to treat even NPCs this harshly. Anyone who had suffered such treatment would dream of revenge. And there was only one reason for going this far.

‘Nebula is going to use and abandon Eldar. Nebula probably intends to use the Elves to develop the northern coast and then take the village for himself.’

Crampus suddenly felt chills run down his spine.

‘Is he the devil? Has he lost all his Human emotions after becoming a god?’

Crampus nodded to Lunda, indicating her to continue talking.

Lunda asked, “Then how would you help us?”

“With all due respect… I don’t really have anything that could be called an army.”

“Yes. I was able to confirm that with the information you shared.”

It seemed that the Elves were exhausted by the struggle to survive on the northern coast. And those who could use weapons were already working hard to protect their village from Goblins and Ogres. Even if they formed an alliance, it was questionable if Eldar would be of much use in this battle.

“Fortunately, I am not useless. Nebula still trusts me because I acted servilely.”

“Which means…?”

“I know Nebula’s plan.”

***

The plan Eldar told them about was simple.

A preemptive strike. Instead of fighting on two battlefronts at the same time, Nebula would attack one side first. This way, Nebula would not run into the trouble of facing two units at the same time.

After the conversation with Eldar, Lunda asked, “Do you think we can trust him?”

“You’ve also seen the information Eldar shared. To be honest, there is no reason not to believe Eldar.”

“...That’s true. There’s no way they would have any goodwill left for Nebula after all that.”

“And a preemptive strike is a plan that Nebula could have definitely come up with. There’s nothing unusual about it.”

Eldar told Lunda that Nebula was planning to gather troops at Automation and attack Crampus’ territory, which meant the territory of the Satyrs. It stood out to Crampus that Nebula would be giving up on the defensive advantage Automation provided, but he could understand the reasoning somewhat.

‘I guess Nebula judged that if my territory was attacked, Lunda would retreat as my ally.’

The main Lizardmen force Eldar mentioned consisted of 1500 soldiers. The number wasn’t too different from what Crampus and Lunda had already checked.

‘It is a threatening number. But if I can pick the battlefield, I could defend against the attack with my strength and troops alone in this siege.’

Deimerit, the capital of the Satyrs’ land, was not a castle, but it could be called a natural fort. Deimerit sat on the basin between surrounding mountains. There were three access points, one of which was a river, while another was a tunnel that was an Ancient Ruin.

‘The bridge and tunnel can collapse at any time. With those two blocked, the only place left to defend would be the path with wooden fences. Though it’s not as impenetrable as Automation, it would be a kind of fort. I can win this siege.’

But there was a minor issue. Crampus had originally planned to deploy his troops to the village near the border to attack Automation while the Renard troops attacked the Lizardmen. However, it would take a few days to get from Deimerit to the border. In order to properly defend his fort, there was a need to have the troop stay at the capital.

‘Satyrs have an aggressive side to them. They wouldn’t ever retreat if the Lizardmen attacked the capital. Especially because Pav is king.’

Crampus had recently been performing Miracles to make the Satyrs more hostile towards the Lizardmen and Nebula, and he had to live with the repercussions.

‘It’s only a difference of a few days.’

Lunda agreed with Crampus’s idea.

“So we’re going with the original plan?”

“Yes. There’s no major setback.”

“Wouldn’t Nebula notice?”

“The chances are low.”

Even gods were not omniscient.

The five gods had designated insects and birds as the most hateful organisms for their species. And for the past few months, those with strong religious beliefs had been killing insects and birds whenever they were spotted. In addition, reconnaissance wasn't solely a god’s effort.

Satyr merchants traveling to and from Automation would constantly bring intelligence. They said that the Lizardmen troops were gathering at Automation.

‘Even when Faith points are consistently used for scouting, the most valuable information comes from the people.’

This information reassured Crampus and Lunda that Eldar was right.

“In addition, Eldar said that although he could support us with an army, he would support us with supplies once we crossed the border. Then we can take the shorter path rather than the longer one like we’ve originally planned. It would take us less time to get to the peninsula.”

“And that small difference will allow us to win this battle.”

The difference Eldar would make by betraying Nebula was very small. The Satyr troop would pull back by the distance of a few days’ travel, and the Renard troop would cross the border a few days earlier.

‘It’s a small difference.’

When it came to critical moments, Crampus always found himself ruminating over the small differences rather than the big ones.

‘You’re ranked first? But I see you’ve eventually turned a 2 vs 1 fight into a 3 vs 1 fight, Nebula.’

***

However, Crampus could not even imagine what was actually happening.

While he was listening in on Lunda’s chat with Eldar, Sung-Woon had been next to Eldar as well.

Once the conversation with Lunda ended, Eldar looked up at Sung-Woon, “...Well...will this be enough?”

“Yes. Good acting. Maybe it’s because you act all the time.”

But Eldar did not think that was the reason. They thought it was because the information they shared with Lunda was too convincing.