Chapter 158: Rubberpunk

Chapter 158: Rubberpunk

In The Lost World, Dragons were considered a special existence when compared with Abominations, divine beings, and even fiends.

A majority of Dragons were the reclusive type who just slept in their lairs. Dragons were considered one of the main suspects for the destruction of ancient civilizations, and their lairs were undoubtedly filled with valuable treasures. While some were discovered along with ancient ruins, they were typically buried underground, making them difficult to find. These reclusive Dragons would also usually sleep throughout the whole game and remain undiscovered.

As civilizations advanced, of course, Dragons could be found through geological investigations or deep-sea explorations, but most players didn't bother to wake them up on purpose. The reason for this was that some of the reclusive Dragons, when awakened through external interference or random encounters, turned into Volatile Dragons. Volatile Dragons were filled with anger from being awakened, and they were contemptuous of mortal beings while harboring baseless hatred for gods, making conversation or persuasion impossible. They also vented their emotions through only actions, thus becoming literal disasters.

When civilization reached a higher level, specialized departments would be created within countries to locate Dragons or predict the direction the Volatile Dragons would move in once they woke up. Therefore, it wasn’t just a metaphor to call them disasters.

Other Dragon types included the growth type, known as hatchlings, and the unusual type, which displayed exceptional behavior. Generally, Dragons, excluding hatchlings, were at level 70 to 80, which was higher than the average player level, making them extremely challenging to kill.

Sung-Woon said, “It must be a Volatile Dragon. Some players may have encountered them before, but in some cases, instead of directly doing things themselves, they act like deities and use Abominations or divine beings as their subordinates."

Crampus replied, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them acting on such a wide scale though...”

Sung-Woon said, “But this kind of exception isn’t really that surprising, is it? I think it could be explained to some extent. As of now, Sha-Cha has been the only player seen on the fourth continent. Normally, there are many players on one continent, so they would attack the Dragon if they discovered one, but that wasn’t the case this time. With the continent unoccupied, the Dragon acted like a player to expand and dominate more territory, which would help the Dragon prepare for players that would come along in the future.”

The other players seemed to accept Sung-Woon’s explanation.

Crampus asked, “But would we be able to defeat the Dragon?”

“Well...it’ll probably be a bit risky. But it won’t be impossible since matchlocks have been developed.”

“What if we intervene directly?”

“We would surely kill it, but...”

In The Lost World, there existed the concept known as the principle of causality, and the players, or gods, existed outside of that causality. Therefore, in order to break causality and intervene themselves, they had to use resources called Faith points.

However, there were moments when causality weakened, and that was during fights between players. When two players fought each other, one player would spend Faith points to generate natural phenomena within causality, resulting in a strong penalty. However, if one player had already intervened, the other player fighting against that player would be fighting from outside causality, thus receiving a weaker penalty. As a result, fights between players often escalated beyond natural battles into divine battles, which led to power escalation on all parts.

However, when a player was only facing natural phenomena and not a player outside of causality, there was no need to use significant amounts of Faith points and bear the strong penalties. For example, Sung-Woon only intervened for a short time on special occasions like now.

“Dragons are natural phenomenons.”

Surprisingly, Fiends were treated as gods and thus considered beings outside of causality, but Dragons, which were more powerful than fiends, were considered to be within causality. As a result, it would take a player a lot more Faith points to deal with a Dragon through direct intervention. That was why Dragons could be more troublesome than players.

Jang-Wan said, “But this time...the situation is a bit different, isn’t it?”

Sung-Woon nodded.

“We could use Gordius.”

Gordius the Deceiver was classified as a parasite among creations. Parasites actually accounted for a bigger percentage among creations, and Jang Wan and Wisdom could use parasites to enhance the power of their apostle or simply to gain information. Moreover, creations in the form of parasites were widely used in The Lost World.

Gordius, in particular, could serve various special purposes among those parasites.

‘Of course, the production cost was expensive, and it would be more like gambling under normal circumstances. Gordius could have gotten crushed between Koprik’s teeth, just like the Pangolins that were sacrificed as offerings.’

Sung-Woon said, “I can’t guarantee it’ll succeed though. Dragons are very intelligent, and it won’t simply put any sacrifice in front of them into their mouths like the Black Panther did. Additionally, it’s very likely that it’ll use magic, so we would need to be prepared for that too...”

“But what if we just steal it...?”

Sung-Woon shrugged.

“Is there a need to say?”

***

After the Rakshasas got defeated, unlike what Vasen Lak Orazen thought, they actively participated in the prisoner exchange and freed all the Pangolins enslaved in other regions. However, it seemed to be more about preparing for the next battle by getting at least one more warrior back than maintaining peace with the Pangolins.

The Rakshasas seemed unwilling to meet the Pangolins’ demands.

“It can’t be helped.”

Even though they had hoped for a peaceful resolution, there was nothing Vasen could do if the Rakshasas didn’t even want to have a conversation.

Margo, the crowned king of the Pangolins, gradually expanded the Pangolin civilization with Sion in the center. And once Katuru's wounds healed to some extent, it treated the white spider, Hillove, as a guardian on equal footing. Thanks to that, more and more Pangolins came to follow the gods of the Pantheon.

Margo didn’t actively support the Pangolins to do so considering their tendency to be cautious of unfamiliar things. However, Margo still showed enough consideration for the believers of the Pantheon, even openly mentioning the name of Night Sky.

Meanwhile, the players used Vasen and the expedition team to investigate the surrounding terrain and identify the tracks left by the Moving Castle. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Moving Castle still seemed far away and not moving immediately, giving them enough time to wait for the second expedition team from Black Scale.

It was during this time that the information assets of the Pantheon spread across the fourth Continent detected something unprecedented.

[Clash of Civilizations!]

[Two different nations have come into contact. Experience points (XP) are rising for both nations.]

[Warning: The opposing nation has Faith.]

They were platypuses.

***

More precisely, they were Platys, a species that clearly derived from platypuses[1]. These Sapiens had dark gray fur and broad vivid yellow bills, and just like most species outside of Garudas, they didn’t have wings. However, the Platys were flying in the sky.

Sung-Woon gathered the players of the Pantheon.

“It’s a player, right? Any response to the Whisper Conversation request?”

Lunda answered Sung-Woon’s questions, “No, no response.”

“Where were they found again?”

“In the east.”

"We thought there would be no Rakshasa attacks all the way to the large river and the mountain range. We let our guard down."

"But we couldn't have predicted that something would appear via air... By the way, that thing they’re flying with...what is it called again?”

Sung-Woon suggested, “Doesn’t it look like something from a painting of a famous artist? It looks very similar to it.”

“I’m not sure.”

"It was a sketch.”

"Leonardo da Vinci? Da Vinci's Aerial Screw? Is that an Aerial Screw?"

Sung-Woon instructed Wisdom to give a revelation so that soldiers could be gathered on the eastern outskirts of Sion. Then he zoomed in on the things that the Platys were riding on. The structure seemed to be designed to handle air resistance, as it was composed of a wooden framework and only carried two Platys inside. However, above the Platys’ heads, there was a vigorously rotating helical wing, and perhaps because that alone wasn’t enough for stabilization, small secondary wings were attached on both sides.

Sung-Woon then agreed and said, “I guess...they should be called helicopters.”

Wisdom laughed quietly; the other players didn’t hear it because they were anxious.

Crampus said, “What? How are helicopters appearing already?”

Then Wisdom controlled his system window and calmly said, “It’s called Rubberpunk.”

“Rubber?”

“Yes, rubber. Or more specifically, rubber bands. I guess it could be said that they’re powered by rubber. But in The Lost World, it was a custom to add ‘punk’ when describing civilization, so...”

Wisdom lightly flicked his finger and created a rubber band. Craftwork made from natural materials could easily be created with the power of a god. Wisdom placed one end of the rubber band on the ground and stepped on it with his foot, then he pulled on the other end and rubbed his hands together in one direction to wind it.

"Rubber bands have strong elasticity, right? By winding one like this, the power is stored in the rubber band. And when you release it?"

As Wisdom let go of his hand, the rubber band quickly unraveled.

"That's the power being released. In addition to the machines, The Lost World has rubber trees that can provide a level of elasticity that doesn't exist on Earth. That's why Rubberpunk is possible."

Sung-Woon said, “Explanations can wait. We were late to discover it. I think they’re just a reconnaissance team, but they might launch an attack. We need to be prepared."

Wisdom replied, "Preparations... Well, I think we're done."

***

Naturally, Vasen, Theone Itimo, and the Pangolins were much more surprised than the players of the Pantheon. As not one, but about fifteen wooden helicopters approached Siol, the Pangolin gunners quickly came together.

Vasen was especially shocked when he saw the Platys’ helicopters.

‘They fly in the sky?’

Vasen suddenly thought of all the strategic and tactical advantages of soldiers flying in the sky, making him somewhat dizzy.

‘Not to mention the difficulty of hitting flying birds. Facing enemies that fly in the air would undoubtedly be a difficult task.’

Vasen armed the Pangolins with shields to prepare for attacks from the air and positioned them on steep slopes for possible escape in case of an emergency.

Soon afterward, the Platy helicopter units approached the Pangolins.

‘Huh? They’re coming down slowly. ...Is it for an attack?’

Vasen believed it would be safer to attack from greater altitude, but at the same time, accuracy would suffer in that situation.

‘Still, if they attack like that, wouldn’t they be within the range of the Pangolin gunners...?’

While Vasen pondered the question, the Platy helicopters began attacking.

Vasen shouted, “Raise your shields!”

Clang! Tang! Ting!

As the Pangolins raised their iron shields, the sound of projectiles hitting metal could be heard.

Vasen then checked what had firmly struck his shield before falling onto the ground.

‘They’re...rocks?’

Obviously, dropping fist-sized rocks from a high place could be a deadly attack, especially if one were to get hit on the head without any armor. But the Pangolins were holding shields and wearing helmets. Moreover, the bombardment didn’t last long. The rocks that poured down like hail soon stopped.

‘What’s going on?’

Vasen moved his shield and looked up at the sky. The Platy helicopters seemed lost about what to do and began to retreat.

“Aim!”

Vasen then ordered with a slightly uneasy feeling.

“Fire!’

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A few rubber-powered helicopters failed to stabilize and crashed into the forest.

1. Platys are a species similar to Platypuses. Specifically, it is a fictional species derived from ????? (Platypus) but called ??? so we have also shortened its name to something similar to the actual animal, which were made up by the author. ????