I Made a Game Featuring Constellations - Chapter 9



Character Orpheus

“Disappear.”

The Crown Prince, who soared with the wings of the [Elder Guardian], swung the holy sword imbued with the power of [Knight Ren].

Boom!

The massive divine power of the sword swept through the horde of monsters.

“Thank you for your hard work, Hero.”

As the battle ended, Saintess Cartesia approached him and handed him a towel.

“Ah, thank you.”

The Crown Prince took the towel and wiped his sweat.

‘…Too easy.’

What was fundamentally given was the hero’s body and the holy sword.

Using the essence absorption and utilization abilities obtained in the last episode, along with the power of the characters he had defeated, there was no enemy that could stop him.

It was in stark contrast to Act 0, where he had to unfold the story with an ordinary spear and the body of a common soldier.

“At this rate, the recovery of the surface is not far off, Hero!”

The Crown Prince, along with the cheering Saintess, returned to the sanctuary using spatial teleportation magic.

‘Come to think of it, didn’t they say that the minions of the abyss had infiltrated this story? Why haven’t they appeared yet?’

Already, about 60% of the monsters on the surface had been exterminated.

If the battle continued like this, the complete recapture of the surface was not far off.

The Crown Prince scratched his head as he entered the sanctuary.

To think that the story would end so blandly and boringly.

That couldn’t be.

The Crown Prince was convinced that there would be a twist, given that the minions of the abyss had infiltrated.

“Kyyaaah!”

As he stepped into the sanctuary, a piercing scream echoed.

-Kieeeek!

-Kirrrk!

“Ma, monsters!”

“Save us!”

“Holy Knight! Holy Knight!”

“When will the hero return!”

Despite being humanity’s last bastion and the safest sanctuary from monsters, it was already filled with them.

“This makes no sense! The sanctuary has a barrier personally erected by the Celestial, monsters shouldn’t be able to enter!”

The saintess was frozen in shock at the sight.

The Crown Prince calmly assessed the situation.

A passageway in the sanctuary filled with about seventy monsters.

Only one Elder Guardian-level monster.

They weren’t particularly difficult opponents.

‘Could it be that their target was the sanctuary, bypassing me?’

The monsters appeared at the edge of the sanctuary, emerging from the Department of Magic Engineering.

‘There must be the servant of the abyss.’

As expected, it wouldn’t end boringly, the Crown Prince murmured with a smile, gripping the holy sword and leaping towards the monsters.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Fighting alongside the saintess, the Crown Prince annihilated the monsters and cut down the last remaining Elder Guardian, then threw open the doors of the Department of Magic Engineering.

As the doors opened, the Department of Magic Engineering, soaked in bright red blood, greeted the Crown Prince’s party with a fishy smell.

“……Such.”

Even the saintess, who had experienced countless battles, covered her mouth at the horrific sight of fragments of those who were once human scattered everywhere.

“……You came faster than I thought.”

In the center of the Department of Magic Engineering

stood a man with slicked-back white hair, wearing a mask, gripping Ian Carlyle by the collar.

“Nice to meet you, hero… no, the new director of the Archive. I am Orpheus, Orpheus of the Abyss.”

‘Orpheus….’

The first intelligent enemy of the abyss they had encountered.

Is he a member of the abyss who will become the main antagonist in the future [Akashic Archive] narrative?

“Why don’t you put down the person you’re holding first? He’s not even participating in the battle.”

The Crown Prince, feigning a relaxed attitude, made a suggestion.

‘I understand why they targeted this place in the raid. With the Department of Magic Engineering annihilated, we cannot afford to lose that person.’

The Department of Magic Engineering was responsible for the repair and enhancement of weapons and armor, but it had been annihilated except for its head, Ian.

If they were to lose him as well, it would be a significant blow to the sustainability of future battles.

“That’s an interesting sound.”

Orpheus grabbed Ian’s head, which was limp and unconscious.

“Stop-!”

Crack!

Before the warrior could say anything, Ian’s head shattered like a watermelon, spraying blood and brain matter.

“But I can’t let this sinner live.”

Ian’s headless body collapsed helplessly.

At the same time, a crumpled candy wrapper fell from his pocket.

“Ian, no! Ian!”

“…There’s no room for negotiation.”

“Ridiculous. The deputy director of the Archive is talking about negotiating with the Abyss.”

“If you insist on drinking the punishment wine.”

The crown prince infused his holy sword with sword energy.

Losing the entire Department of Magic Engineering was a significant blow.

But the opponent overlooked one crucial fact to deliver that blow.

‘All I have to do is eliminate that guy here.’

The only agent of the Abyss in this story was Orpheus right in front of him.

If he eliminated him, there would be no one left to oppose him in this story.

‘Considering that he used a cumbersome method like a diversionary tactic with monsters instead of a frontal assault, his combat power shouldn’t be that strong.’

“Deputy Director. Let me tell you one thing.”

Orpheus’s body began to blur as he chuckled behind the mask.

“Teleportation! Are you trying to escape?”

Thunk!

The Crown Prince swiftly surged forward and swung his sword, but it only sliced through an illusion.

“Such a complacent method won’t suffice against the Abyss. You’d better remember that.”

Otherwise, you’ll just be devoured by the Abyss.

Soon, he became completely blurry and then vanished.

“Orpheus!”

Only the Crown Prince’s shout echoed above the pool of blood.

From noble mtl dot com

* * *

The Crown Prince fell into thought as he watched those who were dealing with the unprecedented disaster caused by the Abyss’s attack on the sanctuary.

At this point, when repairing and strengthening equipment had become impossible, could the story still be cleared?

Considering the level of the monsters he had seen when he ascended to the surface, it didn’t seem entirely impossible.

‘But the problem is that Orpheus fellow.’

He had been right in front of him, yet he failed to land a single proper hit and let him escape.

If such an opponent were to disrupt the battle through guerrilla warfare, it would be quite troublesome given the current lack of combat endurance.

“If it were the usual me, I would have thought of such hardships as fun and charged right in, but….”

He couldn’t afford to delay clearing the story.

The Crown Prince had a reason to clear this story quickly.

[Would you like to end the game?]

[Unsaved progress may be lost.]

“It doesn’t matter. That’s the goal.”

Beep

The Crown Prince terminated his connection to the [Akashic Archive] using the forced shutdown button.

As the virtual reality faded away, the familiar ceiling of his bedroom came into view.

Reconnect.

When he rebooted the [Akashic Archive], his vision was engulfed in darkness.

[Would you like to start Story Mode?]

“Yes. Begin.”

Erasing unsaved progress through forced shutdown and continuing the game as a pseudo-regressor with only the information gathered so far, making the gameplay easier.

Although this technique wasn’t commonly used on the continent of Rayphania, where the game wasn’t as widespread as on Earth, some quick-witted individuals like the Crown Prince discovered that they could exploit it to play the game more easily.

In his previous playthrough, the Crown Prince hadn’t used the save function at all, just in case.

“Hero! You’ve awakened!”

[A Hero born to stop the invasion of the Otherworld]

– You have been summoned to the underground sanctuary as a hero to fend off the monsters of the Otherworld. In this world, humanity has hidden underground to escape the Abyss, the invaders from the Otherworld. Reclaim the surface from the Abyss and stop the minions of the Abyss who have infiltrated the cracks of the Abyssal erosion.

Thanks to the last autosave point being at the beginning of the story, the Crown Prince could return to the point where he first started the story.

Orpheus of the Abyss.

“This time will be different.”

With a sly smile, the Crown Prince’s steps were unhesitant.

He repeated the actions he had taken in the previous playthrough.

In order to prevent the butterfly effect caused by the changed course of action from affecting Orpheus’s behavior patterns.

‘Was it at this point?’

And the moment when Orpheus attacked the Department of Magic Engineering in the previous round.

The Crown Prince gathered all the forces of the Holy Land and blocked the path located at the boundary of the Holy Land where Orpheus had invaded, and waited.

Waited and waited.

“……Why. Why isn’t he coming?”

But even after waiting for a long time, Orpheus did not come.

In the end, the Crown Prince had no choice but to withdraw the troops. He couldn’t keep people with many tasks gathered in one place meaninglessly.

He said he would definitely come, but what is this? Is this what a hero is? The Crown Prince scratched the back of his head as he received such looks.

‘I must have acted exactly the same as in the previous round. Was there any part that could have influenced Orpheus?’

The Crown Prince disbanded the gathered forces with the thought of returning to the Department of Magic Engineering first, and then sought out Ian Carlyle.

The Department of Magic Engineering he found like that.

Drip drip

“Oh. Have you finally come, Acting Director.”

It had been devastated by Orpheus.

* * *

-What the hell is this crazy Orpheus? Why does he remember even after turning it off and on?

-The high-ranking followers of the Abyss are not bound by [the story], so they remember even the unsaved content.

-Wasn’t this a game? Is [Akashic Archive] reality?

-It’s a total scam! How do you win!

I laughed as I watched the players’ reactions in the community, Aperaio.

The Seven Stars of Destruction, appearing for the first time.

They are the highest-ranking officers of the Abyss, functioning as the main villains in [Archive Saga]. As such, they are independent entities that can ignore the save & load regression power that only players can use and share memories…

That’s the setting.

It’s a setting devised with inspiration from a brutal dating sim game I played in a previous life.

As part of the device to give impact to the appearance of Orpheus, strictly speaking, it doesn’t completely follow the player’s regression.

The moment the player reaches the sanctuary, the player’s memories are injected into the Orpheus character.

Through this, Orpheus learns what the player did in the previous rounds and can act as if he regressed together.

It was possible because it was a world created through the power of the Constellation’s dream.

A villain character that breaks the fourth wall.

Of course, it’s limited to the [story] within the archive, not breaking the game itself, but it will come as quite a shock to the players.

Since the first act itself focuses on the villain’s narrative, it was necessary to prevent the story from feeling chaotic.

From the players’ perspective, it might seem questionable whether it’s even possible to clear the game.

But in terms of final difficulty, it’s actually simpler than the tutorial.

As long as the player has the will, it’s impossible not to clear it.

Because what the character Orpheus wants is his own death.