The Apocalypse Has Been Downloaded – Chapter 28

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Eun-ji buried her face in my chest and cried for a long time while Ha-rin, who looked as if she had aged ten years, repeatedly clutched her chest in relief.

Kang Ha-young… was frowning and wiping her tongue. She looked like she had been forced to eat something disgusting, but according to Ha-rin, she had sucked the poison out of my body.

‘She doesn’t have any skills… How did she know there was poison in me, and how did she manage to extract it?’

The only thing that came to mind was her Carnage Vampire class.

‘Do classes that transform you into other species naturally awaken racial traits? Hmm… Anyway, she unintentionally proved herself to be quite useful. As expected, she’s too valuable to discard.’

The fact that she was able to slightly resist my Slave Brand skill was also intriguing. I had high hopes for her future.

As I stared at Kang Ha-young, Eun-ji, whose tears had soaked my chest, looked at me reproachfully.

“Oppa… please. Stop doing things on your own. This isn’t the first time. What are you going to do if you keep suddenly dying like this? How are we supposed to live without you? Who am I supposed to rely on if you die…?”

“Sorry. I’m sorry.”

Eun-ji’s tearful complaints were strangely cute.

She was so cute and pretty that even her whining was bearable.

Besides, what she was saying wasn’t wrong at all. In fact, it was all true, so I had no other response than to apologize.

Honestly, this had happened because of my greed. I had been blinded by the prospect of 500 Magic.

Of course, if an ugly slave had said these things, I would have given them a good beating.

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

I simply listened to Eun-ji’s worried complaints and stroked her hair.

“Master. Sigh. It’s okay.”

Ha-rin was quiet. She just said she was satisfied that I had returned alive, held my hand, and kneaded it for a long time. It was as if she would never let go of me again, her grip gradually tightening. It kind of hurts…

“Um, Ha-rin. That’s enough now. It already feels painful…”

“Bear with it. My heart hurt more than this. And this has acupressure benefits.”

“Uh… okay. Thanks.”

I had nothing to say about that. In reality, the reason I had stopped breathing so suddenly was because Indikron, having predicted that I would eventually consume the Twisted Core, had orchestrated it. However, I was still the root cause of this whole mess, having recklessly consumed the core.

“Haha… Don’t worry too much, everyone…”

Ignoring my words, Eun-ji and Ha-rin continued to cling to me. Their childish behavior wasn’t entirely unpleasant, so I laid down with them on either side of me.

Feeling their warmth, I truly felt like I had returned alive from that insane Abyss.

‘More than that, I’m quite worried about what Indikron said…’

Indikron’s revelation about the good gods sending their champion to kill me added a chilling tension to my complacency from having 745 Magic.

‘The champion will definitely be a player like me. And he said he didn’t know their class, level, or even how many would come…’

Objectively, champions of gods wouldn’t have normal classes like Warrior or Archer.

At least someone with a rare class like Mage or a hidden class like mine would come. The thought of hidden class players coming to kill me was irritating and infuriating to me.

Why were they messing with someone who was just minding his own business? Hatred for the good gods naturally built up within me.

‘I don’t even know how many opportunities those guys trying to kill me have stumbled upon…’

I had consumed the Black Serpent’s Core and the Twisted Core in a single day, boosting my Magic to 745. There was no guarantee that I was the only one who experienced such explosive growth, so they might have also gained some opportunities and became strong enough to kill me.

‘Indikron told me to prepare for them. That means I could be annihilated by them in my current state. He’s saying I can’t guarantee victory.’

If they weren’t that dangerous, he wouldn’t have dragged me down to the Abyss in such a crude manner to warn me directly. He must have summoned me by faking my death because the enemies were that dangerous.

‘The items sold by the peddlers they found could be incredible, or the rewards they received from achieving unknown achievements could have tremendous power. It’s frustrating not knowing anything.’

I literally couldn’t predict or anticipate how they would come or how they would try to kill me.

Since Indikron had already warned me, I had no choice but to build up my strength and create variables to ensure that I wouldn’t die and could turn the tables on them in any situation.

It was somewhat comforting that I still had nine achievement rewards to claim. Just as they might have unknown variables, I also had to create as many variables as possible, so I could take them by surprise.

‘Still, it’s a relief that the good gods aren’t descending directly to kill me.’

Indikron had mentioned the word “causality.” That was probably a mechanism and a game rule that prevented the direct intervention of the gods.

A minimum safety measure to prevent excessive intervention or proliferation of the gods, which would ruin the players’ game.

From this, I could infer that there was another neutral entity or group besides the good and evil gods.

‘The game system window that pops up before me. This suggests the existence of a game operator or operators. And they would be neutral.’

Whether they were game operators or game masters, I didn’t know their titles, but those who set and adjusted skills, achievements, status windows, and so on wouldn’t be on the side of either the good or evil gods. Perhaps they were the ones who created the mechanism of causality.

‘Those who toy with not only the players, but also the gods. They are the most dangerous ones.’

The fact that there were beings who could impose rules on the good and evil gods while being wedged between the two sides sent shivers down my spine. In that sense, I was just a pawn on the game board they were playing on.

‘Phew… That’s dizzying. Let’s clear my head for now. I’m not in a position to worry about that yet.’

My thoughts had digressed a bit. For now, I had to finish assessing those who were coming to kill me and the good gods who hated me for no apparent reason.

‘Those coming to kill me are champions of the good gods… Yeah. He specifically said “good gods.” That means the good gods are united… Those damn evil gods aren’t all individualists, are they?’

Indikron had clearly stated that the champions of the “good gods” would attack me.

That meant multiple good gods were allied, not just one. This showed that the good gods were actively cooperating with each other.

‘On the other hand… do the evil gods not care about each other? Well, there’s one who doesn’t even care about his servant.’

Kashnax was a prime example.

That damn evil god didn’t seem to care much about me except when it came to human sacrifices.

‘No, wait. Let’s not jump to conclusions. When I asked Kashnax if I could take the core, he told me to do as I pleased, but he also clearly conveyed the will to try it. Maybe he knew from the beginning that Indikron would invite me to the Abyss. In that sense, the evil gods aren’t necessarily all lone wolves. And since it ultimately led to my benefit, I can’t say he was completely indifferent.’

It was difficult to conclude whether the evil gods were completely playing solo.

‘Anyway, those damn good gods seem to be more united and better at multiplayer than the fucking evil gods. This is troublesome.’

I realized one more thing.

‘And the good gods can observe me.’

Indikron sensed the disturbance in causality and became aware of the good gods’ scheme. But he didn’t know anything about those who were coming to kill me.

That meant Indikron had only glimpsed the near future and couldn’t see the detailed information of the enemies.

‘On the other hand, the champions of the good gods are already moving to kill me. This means that the good gods have already detected and identified me, a Cultist.’

This was very dangerous. I didn’t know the enemy, but the enemy knew me, at least roughly, and was coming to kill me.

‘If causality is working properly, it wouldn’t allow such an absurdity as openly observing the champion of the opposing side. If it were allowed, Indikron should have been able to observe the enemy’s strength as well.’

Therefore, I concluded that the good gods wouldn’t be able to see every single move I made.

Of course, this was just an assumption.

Perhaps the good gods had also paid a considerable price in causality backlash to find me. That would make the balance right. If the game masters were neutral, they would care about balance, wouldn’t they?

And if the fight had been completely advantageous for the good gods, Indikron wouldn’t have bothered summoning me and giving me a heads-up about the future. He hadn’t given up on me because he thought I had a fighting chance. This further confirmed that the game masters were neutral beings.

‘So, the good gods are all on the same side and in cahoots… They even have the power and resolve to identify me and send assassins to deal with me. Damn it. Survival has become even more of a pain in the ass.’

The future looked bleak in many ways.

It was already hard enough dealing with the ever-strengthening zombies, and now some damn proselytizers were after me.

Wasn’t the world just screwing me over?

That was what I thought.

‘Well, maybe this was inevitable from the moment I sided with the evil gods.’

A dark and uncertain future…

Well, it was only fitting for a Cultist, a worshiper of the evil gods.

‘Of course, I didn’t choose to worship evil gods. But I’ve gained a lot thanks to them, so it’s normal to endure this much backlash.’

I was just given the Cultist class. I didn’t actively seek to worship the evil gods.

I could be considered a victim.

Of course, the skills I gained as a Cultist were all ridiculously overpowered, so it was hard to simply call myself a victim.

Well, it was just my bad luck… Or was it strangely good luck?

As expected of 666 luck.

Shitty, yet good. It was inconsistent.

“Have you both calmed down a bit?”

“Yes, Oppa. I’m okay now.”

“Me too.”

Eun-ji and Ha-rin were now playing with my chest. If I told them that proselytizers were coming to kill me soon, even though I didn’t know when exactly, it would make the atmosphere serious again, so I kept quiet for now.

It would be fine to tell them after I received all my remaining achievement rewards. I should have enough time for that.

Indikron had said they were coming soon, not immediately.

Since he told me to prepare, it meant I had enough time to prepare. I didn’t think they would come and cause trouble today.

I wasn’t being careless. Rather, I was analyzing Indikron’s words and making reasonable deductions.

“Then, shall we choose my achievement rewards together? After we choose the rewards, let’s decide on your skills.”

“Okay!”

“Yes, Master.”

I turned my head and saw that Ha-young had fallen asleep again, probably from exhaustion.

Since she was a bit out of it, I let her be for now.

“Now then…”

I had nine achievements remaining.

In order, they were ‘A Gamble with Your Life,’ ‘Mana User,’ ‘Encounter with the Unknown,’ ‘The Unforgivable One,’ ‘Servant of Kashnax,’ ‘Polytheism,’ ‘Servant of Indikron,’ ‘Overflowing Magic,’ and ‘Life on the Line.’

“Let’s check the reward for ‘A Gamble with Your Life’ first.”

“Okay!” “Yes.”

Just by looking at the names, it was hard to tell what they did.

‘This is an item I can use on a peddler. But since it says merchant NPC, I guess there will be other merchants besides peddlers in future updates.’

According to the description, if I rolled a 6, I could change all the items on display. I could change them if I didn’t like the items.

‘And if I buy five items from the peddler and then roll a 6, the remaining item will be replaced, and five more items will be refilled.’

Since the peddler would leave without hesitation if all his items were sold out, I had to leave at least one item on display.

If I rolled the dice in that state and got anything higher than 1, the remaining item would be replaced, and new items would be refilled based on the remaining number. This was a very good reward.

Though I didn’t like that it was a one-time use item.

‘Wow.’

I didn’t know what kind of class the ‘Gambler’ was, but judging by the way it could be acquired, it didn’t seem like an ordinary class.

‘If I get this and manage to find a peddler, I could change Koo Ji-hwan or Kim Do-kyung into a Gambler.’

It was a waste to change an existing Awakened person into a Gambler since their level would be reset. If I were to give it to someone, I would rather choose between my two non-Awakened slaves.

‘Hmm… This is like an American Express Black Card.’

It was a reward that allowed me to buy any item, regardless of its astronomical value.

‘I don’t know what kind of amazing items will appear. This is also a tempting reward.’

I would keep it and use it when an item appeared that I couldn’t afford with my coins.

‘Which one should I choose?’

While I was reading the reward descriptions, Eun-ji and Ha-rin, who were playing with my nipples, asked me what I was going to choose after I explained the rewards to them.

“Which one do you think I should choose?”

“Um. I recommend the Joker Card.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because the dice and the coin are one-time use, but the class is permanent as long as the person doesn’t die.”

“Eun-ji has a point. What about you, Ha-rin?”

“Um… I recommend the coin.”

“Tell me why.”

“Well… I have a feeling that if you get the Gold Coin now, you’ll ‘definitely’ need it later. There’s no specific reason… It’s just my intuition.”

Ha-rin’s intuition. It sounded convincing when coming from Ha-rin, who was strangely perceptive.

“Hmm…”

“Oppa. Since Ha-rin said that, I think you should choose the Gold Coin.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Ha-rin has good intuition.”

She immediately noticed when I stopped breathing after I chose a skill and was pulled into the Abyss. She seemed to have a lot of insight. Was it a barbarian’s intuition? Perhaps it was a racial trait of the Barbarian class, just like how Kang Ha-young’s Vampire class had racial traits.

“The Gold Coin. Okay, let’s go with this one.”

A gold coin engraved with the face of a smiling Shiba Inu appeared before me.

What was this? Was it a hint that Dogecoin was going to skyrocket?

“Wow. That puppy is cute.”

“Unnie, let me see.”

“Here you go, Ha-rin.”

“Oh… It’s really cute.”

Perhaps because of the cute puppy engraved on it, they couldn’t take their eyes off the gold coin. They liked it so much, but it felt awkward to give it to only one of them since I only had one. As someone who loved them both, I felt like I would be neglecting the other if I favored only one of them.

“Anyway, that’s one achievement reward chosen. Next is the reward for ‘Mana User’…”

So, Cultist was also considered a mage-type class. Because of that, Mage-specific items appeared.

That meant warrior-type classes would receive different rewards when their Magic exceeded 100.

‘Magic of 100… It’s a number everyone can reach eventually if they grow without dying.’

Since stats increased randomly by 1 to 5 each time you leveled up, as long as you leveled up properly, your Magic stat would eventually exceed 100. As long as you could survive until then, that is.

This was an item that turned a regular fireball into an enhanced fireball.

‘Can I use this? No. I don’t have any magic skills that use a staff. Most of my skills involve hand gestures. It’s not for me. It would be perfect for Hwang Soo-min though.’

This meant I could reduce my chanting time or skip it altogether.

‘I could use this.’

With this pointed hat, I could unleash tentacles without even having to shout “R’lyeh”.

‘Hmm… But I don’t really want to walk around while wearing a witch’s hat.’

Since my chants weren’t that long, I decided to pass on this one.

It literally meant I could float in the air and perform aerial bombardment.

This seemed like an item I should definitely give to Hwang Soo-min, the Mage.

The image of Hwang Soo-min floating in the air with this necklace and firing Magic Missiles in all directions was quite appealing.

‘Hmm. All three of these items are better suited for Hwang Soo-min, the Mage, rather than me. It would be perfect if she chose a different reward and used them as a set after her Magic stat exceeds 100.’

So, which of these three did Hwang Soo-min need right now? I asked the two beside me.

“Um… Soo-min is lacking in Magic, right?”

“That’s right.”

“As expected. We need to do something about her Magic stat first.”

With that in mind, the Floating Stone Necklace was regrettably eliminated.

I couldn’t ask someone who barely had enough Magic to cast Fireball to consume Magic to float in the air.

“Then there are two left…”

“Oppa, I recommend the staff. Since she can’t cast many spells anyway, it’s better to increase their power instead.”

“I agree.”

“Then let’s go with the Oak Staff.”

A typical wooden staff with a rounded end, like the ones mages used in games, fell from above.

“Ugh…!”

“O-oppa!”

“R-right in the…”

I grabbed my groin, which had been hit by the head of the falling staff. It hurt quite a bit.

“Phew… I’ll have to give this to Hwang Soo-min later.”

“Yes… Oppa… You seem to be hurting everywhere…”

“Master, be careful.”

“Yeah… Thanks for your concern…”

I rubbed my lower back and moved the staff aside.

“N-next…!”

Next was the achievement reward for ‘Encounter with the Unknown,’ which I got by encountering an evil god for the first time.

I may be mistaken, but some of those names seemed familiar.

‘This is… Let’s… put this on hold for now.’

I had clearly realized after meeting Kashnax and Indikron that evil gods were dangerous to encounter casually.

At least Kashnax had been indifferent to me, and Indikron had been relatively friendly because he wanted me as his champion. But there was no guarantee that the other evil gods would react the same way.

Of course, most of them would probably like me because of the Favor of the Myriad Demons, but if they liked me too much and became obsessed with me, it would be quite troublesome. An evil god’s inhuman obsession… It terrified me just imagining it.

‘N-next…’

‘Oh…’

I had felt a sense of losing my existence in the Abyss. This was an item that would prevent such an abnormal situation.

‘This is good for now. Next.’

“This is it.”

An evil god’s favor.

I didn’t want to meet a new evil god right now, and I could just avoid going to an evil god’s domain.

I would get the pillar and curry favor with Kashnax instead, who was currently indifferent to me. Wouldn’t he become a little friendlier then? Indikron already seemed to have some favorability towards me!

“I choose the pillar!”

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T/N – I don’t know about you guys, but I always feel excited whenever it’s time to receive multiple rewards in these system novels. This is doubly so for lucky MCs like Ja-joon here. I always look forward to what sort of BS the author would give their MC to make them even more OP.

Also, it’s so hard to comment on chapters like these because they’re so long. I always forget about the stuff I want to comment on by the time I get to here. 😅

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.