I Became the Only Reptile in the Community

Chapter 34

—–CROW—– 

-El, put your hands up!

“[I don’t have any hands to put up…],” El thought.

-What?

“[Ahem.]”

He avoided Silphy’s icy glare and curled up in a corner.  He wondered if Silphy was actually an Ice Spirit instead of a Wind Spirit.  How could a single look be so chilling?

-You’re crazy! Absolutely crazy!

“[This was a mutually agreed upon…]”

-Quiet!

Why was he being so wary of Silphy? It was because of the aftermath of Eclipse Nova, the skill he’d unleashed during his final showdown with Cheong.

-Oh dear, what are we going to do with Cheong?

“Meeeow…”

First, regarding the outcome of the match, it was his victory.  The final Eclipse Nova had secured his win, and it was absolutely overwhelming.  Cheong’s final attack? To put it bluntly, it wasn’t even a contest.

‘It’s amazing, even though I created it.’

Honestly, he hadn’t expected it to be this powerful.  He had simply combined all his powers, but perhaps the ratio and sequence had an effect, or maybe there was something else.  How could it neutralize his opponent by distorting the surrounding energy without even a direct hit?  Thanks to that, Cheong was still lying limp on Silphy’s lap, unable to get up.

*Hmm*

“[Ahem. Yes, it was my mistake. Stop it, Ceres.]”

He agreed with Silphy and Ceres’s reprimanding sentiment.  He admitted his mistake and quietly curled up, acknowledging that he had gone too far.  And if you were wondering who Ceres was, it was the name he’d given to the tree that had shared its life force with Cheong. Silphy had said he would name the tree as a penalty if Cheong won, but that was something he could do anytime, regardless of the outcome.  So, he named it Ceres.  The atmosphere wasn’t great, so Ceres wasn’t making it obvious, but it seemed to like the name, secretly rustling its leaves.  It would have hurt a little if it had disliked the name he gave it.

*Ding*

“[Hmm?]”

What was this?

While he was quietly curled up, trying to read the atmosphere, a sudden comment from the gallery caught his attention.

-Hey Gallery Master, are you going to destroy the original story?

The comment was on his previous post praising Ceres, the one where the gallery users had dismissed the possibility of it becoming a World Tree.  The comment had nothing to do with the content of his post, but the word “original story” piqued his interest, and he unconsciously replied.

└(Author): What do you mean?

└Literally, are you going to destroy the original story? Unlike us, you’re much further back in time than the original story. If you wanted to, couldn’t you use the original setting to change the story however you like?

Changing the future as he pleased? He had never even considered that.  He had thought about how to survive until the time of the original story, or what he would do then, but the idea of twisting the original story itself was something he had never considered until this comment.

Twisting the story before the original.  Honestly, it wasn’t a bad idea.  There were characters and events in SEH that bothered him.  It meant he could fix the tragedies that had already happened by the time the game started.

‘But it’s too early to think about that now.’

Even if it was before the original story, thousands of years would still pass between his current time and the game’s timeline.

└(Author): Sorry, but I think focusing on getting stronger is the right decision for now.

└Isn’t that too complacent? You should plan ahead so you can handle situations without making mistakes. What if you miss the timing because of that decision?  Not utilizing your advantage is the same as deceiving us. If you have any sense, you should be using your head and working towards a better future.

‘…What’s wrong with this weirdo?’

Suddenly picking a fight. He had humored the irrelevant comment, and now they were being rude.

└Why is that guy so angry?

└Seriously lol

└Dude, calm down.

He wasn’t the only one thinking that.  Many gallery users were also showing interest in the mysterious user who was suddenly picking a fight.

└I wonder if things would have been different if I were in that time period.  I’m envious. I wish I had started from ancient times too. Then I could have created a world where everyone is happy. Why are you wasting the opportunity you’ve been given? Why are you messing around and throwing away a world you can change with enough effort?

He was dumbfounded by the absurdity.  So, he was supposed to rack his brains and plan for events that would happen thousands of years in the future?

└Are you delusional?

└Seriously, what’s wrong with this guy?

└Did the world end or something?

└Hey, why are you picking a fight with the Gallery Master?

Other users, seemingly annoyed, started replying to the long-winded user with increasingly sharp and aggressive comments.  However, the aggressive remarks soon stopped.  It was because of a new post.

└Damn. Gallery Master, did you see the post that just went up?

└Crazy. Is it real?

└Whoa. This is a bit much.

└This is going to drive me insane.

└The situation is serious.

Flooded with sudden comments, he refreshed the gallery.  He found a post with an unusually high number of comments. It was highly likely that this post was the cause of everyone’s distress.

[Don’t let this be your end.]

-Author: YOLO Swordmaster

(Picture of a dark, collapsing world)

See? This is our world right now.

There were many causes, but basically, a series of misfortunes overlapped.  While I was solving one problem, a chain reaction of incidents occurred elsewhere, snowballing out of control.

The story was progressing smoothly like in the game, and I thought it would reach a normal conclusion, but when I came to my senses, the world had become like this.

It was so absurd that I unknowingly picked a fight with the Gallery Master’s post. But I wrote that post so you wouldn’t end up like me.

‘So what?’

He coldly assessed the post.  This could be taken sensitively, but what did that guy’s world ending have to do with him?

‘And that guy… He was always slacking off on training and just playing around.’

The guy who only complained and didn’t train.  His world ending? Honestly, anyone who had read his posts could have predicted it.  A series of problems snowballing out of control? Then he should have acted before the problems escalated.

‘What was he doing all that time instead of addressing the root causes?’

If he truly didn’t know, he should have searched the gallery or asked around to understand the story and find solutions.  This was simply reaping what he sowed.  And now that his world had ended, he wanted to vent his frustration and targeted him, the Gallery Master, as an easy target.

-Damn.

-Sigh…

-I’m sorry.

-ㅠㅠ

-Is there any way to dimension-hop in our worlds?

└(Author): Unfortunately, no.

Unlike him, the gallery’s reaction was quite sympathetic.  Right, despite everything, he was a comrade from the same Earth as them.

-Could this happen to us too?

-Damn. Why were we dragged here?

-Should we just kill all the traitors?

-Sigh. What should we do to avoid this?

The end of the world.  The newbies, experiencing this for the first time, were posting comments, wondering what they should do to avoid such a fate.  Increase their own strength, or gather enough power to compensate for it.  If they identified and solved future problems in advance, such a thing wouldn’t happen.  But what good was that? Those who had read the post wouldn’t be able to easily shake off their worries.

He frowned as he read the worried and anxious comments.  Yes, it was regrettable.  Whatever the reason, his world had ended.  But was it right to create this kind of atmosphere?

‘Raising awareness is good, but this is…’

It was too much, excessively stirring up emotions.  Like the typical behavior of those who regress, right?  “Oh, this guy will become a villain in the future. He’ll make my life difficult. He’ll cause trouble. So, for the future, let’s eliminate all future problems now.”  Those who acted based solely on future outcomes without considering the past circumstances that led to those choices.  The newbies in the gallery were showing symptoms of such behavior.

‘He’s a real troublemaker.’

To think he would shake up the gallery by announcing the destruction of his own world.

*Click*

‘I’ll have to seal the gallery for a while.’

How could he turn this atmosphere around? This was a dark and heavy topic, incomparable to the previous incident.  Even if he worked hard and tirelessly, he couldn’t change the current situation.  On the contrary, he might even face backlash and ruin himself.

So, he decided to stay away from the gallery until the annual gallery maintenance check, which would happen when he reached his one-year mark.

—–CROW—–