God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 251: Episode _A Born Swindler (1)

1.

The black mages, who had been blustering so loudly, suddenly began to retreat.

It was such a clean retreat—without a shred of hesitation, without the slightest lingering attachment—that the Continental Army watching them was left dumbfounded.

These were the same bastards who, just a few days ago—no, even just an hour ago—had been charging in, swearing they would drag at least one more person down to the underworld with them. Their about-face was so extreme it made you wonder if they were really the same people.

They simply ran, without even looking back.

The Continental Army was so stunned that they didn’t even think to give chase. Of course, they had their own suspicions, but that hesitation gave the black mages the time and space they needed to escape.

“Your Majesty, what are your orders?”

“Why are they fleeing?”

“At present, it appears they intend to activate a magic circle connecting to the Demon World using the blood spilled in this war. However, the upper-rank celestial on our side created a variable in the process, preventing them from achieving their goal.”

“Hm. And the possibility of a trap?”

“We cannot rule that out. With no information, it is difficult to make a hasty judgment. But if we pursue immediately, we can greatly reduce the number of remaining black mages.”

“But if it is a trap, we will suffer tremendous losses.”

“Judging from the way they are using monsters as shields while they flee, the former seems more likely. However, if the black mages who slipped away are elites and have laid an ambush, it could indeed be dangerous.”

“Send scouts. We pursue only after they have thoroughly reconnoitered the area.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Even with a reasonably cool-headed decision, the lack of information inevitably meant falling behind.

Thus, the black mages escaped. Though the Continental Army eventually gave chase, they failed to inflict as much damage as they had hoped.

The Emperor, however, did not care.

“We have won the war. No matter how long it takes, no matter what losses we must endure, we will exterminate the black mages from this continent.”

The outcome of this massive war had always been destined to decide the overall victor. On top of that, it appeared the black mages had failed to open the Gate to the Demon World. Of course, if left alone, they would surely try again, but all he had to do was deny them the time.

“Bring me black mages! I shall bestow great rewards!”

The Emperor’s charismatic declaration swept across the battlefield.

“Waaaaaaah!”

Users and NPCs alike roared.

This was an opportunity. Rewards came with victory in war.

As if to prove it, a hologram appeared before the users’ eyes.

[‘Scenario Quest: Act 3’ has been cleared.]

[‘Scenario Quest: Act 4’ has opened. Adventurers have proven sufficient strength to earn the right to proceed to the fourth act.]

[You have received the Emperor’s recognition.]

[You have received the Emperor’s decree.]

[When hunting black mages, kills that meet the conditions will be counted.]

[You can receive rewards commensurate with your achievements by visiting the relevant NPC.]

Unlike Act 3, which had required at least level 100 to participate, Act 4 was given to every user on the continent—from those who had just started the game to those who had sided with the black mages in this war.

Not a single person was left out.

A Main Quest handed out with no stinginess at all.

Naturally, the users went wild. The meaning of this quest was obvious.

—Wow. Most games, the further you go, the more they only take care of high-level users, but Fantastic World did the opposite. They slapped a level cap on early to make people grind, then later turned it into content everyone can join. Truly a god-tier game.

—For low-level users, this quest is basically meaningless right now, but at least they no longer have to stand way in the back, staring enviously at a Main Quest they could never catch up to. Now that the level cap is gone and the condition is “all users,” the odds are high they can participate in the next Scenario Quest too. Low-level users are gonna get the itch to grind.

—The craziest part to me is that they’re giving the quest to the black mage side too.

—That’s why people say this game feels so real. It’s basically telling the black mage-side users to betray them and hunt them down.

—I’d actually given up on leveling because I thought I’d never catch up to the Main Quest, but I’m gonna start grinding again now.

Embracing all users.

And a pseudo-patch that highlighted the game’s realism by showing that level wasn’t everything in this other world.

The users, more fired up than the NPCs, dove into hunting black mages.

Of course, separate from that excitement, there weren’t that many users strong enough to actually hunt black mages. But they had NPCs on their side. Some users tagged along with black-mage-hunting expeditions, while others of sufficient level banded together and moved in sync.

If this had been the black mages of before, it would still have been difficult. But the current black mages were fugitives, desperate to escape and prepare for the future. On top of that, they had burned through a lot of mana in the war, and the true elites among them had vanished without a trace.

The season of storm-leveling and spec-ups had arrived.

At the same time, Goggle Corp launched a massive promotion: discounted Fantastic World account fees and an event tied to the release of a new capsule, drawing in a flood of new users.

This, in turn, led to a skyrocketing gold exchange rate. Item prices went without saying. As the $160 per 1 gold line shattered, people were screaming that Fantastic World had entered yet another golden age.

It was doing so well that no one could even keep track of how many “golden ages” it had gone through.

In the midst of all that, people didn’t notice.

No, they couldn’t afford to notice the existence of a massive black crystal and the magic circle drawn around it, discovered near the battlefield, or the fact that Scenario Quest Act 3 had been cleared.

The former because the Emperor hadn’t revealed it, and the latter because there was no need for them to care.

But one thing was certain.

There was no way a Scenario that users knew nothing about had passed by without meaning.

*

[You have completed the quest.]

[‘Scenario Quest: Act 3’ has been cleared.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

Just like for the other users, countless holograms popped up.

But the Specialists were a little different.

“...My level really shot up.”

“You’re already 106.”

“How did we clear the quest when we didn’t do anything?”

“We did clear Act 3. Open the Gate to the Demon World.”

“Didn’t we fail that?”

“If you look here, it doesn’t exactly say we failed.”

A desolate landscape spread out before them along with a flood of bewildering rewards.

Anyone else might have been confused, wondering where the hell they were, but the ever-composed Jeong Seolah deduced their location in one go.

“Looks like the Demon World.”

Silence followed.

It was an astonishing thought. If this really was the Demon World, how had they gotten here? It was something worth pondering, but she stayed calm.

In truth, there was no reason to be surprised.

“It’s just a game anyway.”

So what if the Demon World and the Human Realm were different dimensions? It wasn’t like they had actually crossed dimensions in real life. They had just ended up here somehow while playing a game.

She could roughly guess why they had crossed over as well.

“Because the magic circle misfired, maybe.”

“Damn it. Either way, that means we’re stuck here, right?”

“...That’s true.”

No matter how you looked at it, the situation was grim. Because of that, none of them paid much attention to the many rewards that had appeared with the holograms.

What good were great items, higher levels, and new skills for Kang Yeseul? They couldn’t think of any way to get out of here right now.

Still, if they looked around, there was at least one reason not to fall into total despair, even if all they could see was a barren wasteland under a pitch-black sky.

“Looks like Simin made it too.”

“Grokile’s here as well.”

“Why does that bastard always look like that?”

Aria, nearly naked, had passed out on top of Han Simin, who might have been savoring the moment or might simply have been too exhausted to push her off. Grokile stood there with his face twisted into a deep scowl, staring at the scene.

It felt like a bunch of troublemakers had been dragged along with them, but at the same time, it was oddly reassuring.

“Grokile should know the Demon World well, and if anything happens, Simin will figure it out.”

It was a strange situation where they trusted Han Simin more than Grokile, who was actually a native of the Demon World.

While they were assessing the situation and adjusting, Aria let out a faint moan and regained consciousness.

“Can you stop trying to seduce me and get off already?”

“...Why am I like this? Ah!”

Rather than feeling shame at her nakedness, Aria first chased after her memories, then sprang to her feet and glared down at Han Simin.

“What is the meaning of this? Why were you working with the black mages on the magic circle...?”

“Well. It just turned out that way.”

Betrayal!

She confronted him, recalling how she had regretted misunderstanding him when she saw him enhancing the Sanctuary. Unfortunately, she didn’t get the reaction she wanted from Han Simin.

“Anyway, thanks to you butting in, we got dragged off to some weird place.”

She was speechless.

To make matters worse, he had the gall to act like the victim. For Aria, who never hesitated to do good, it was a shocking scene that left her speechless.

Han Simin, however, didn’t care in the slightest and turned to Grokile.

“Hey. What the hell happened? You said that thing was a Gate to summon demons.”

“...That is correct.”

“And?”

“That celestial bitch caused an error. The black crystal, which should have twisted the Demon World’s dimension and spat out demons, instead sucked in everything on top of the magic circle in the Human Realm.”

“Then what about the black mages who were on the circle?”

“They were always meant to be sacrifices to activate it.”

“Ah.”

That was none of Han Simin’s concern.

Having roughly grasped why they had crossed over, he asked the essential question—the single most important question in this situation, so important that he didn’t care even when a naked Aria was in his face, demanding answers.

“So this really is the Demon World?”

“It is.”

“Then how do we get back?”

Grokile remained silent.

The way home.

The Demon World definitely had its merits. He might become the first user—no, the first human from the continent—to cross into the Demon World, and the ways to make money off that were endless. Just thinking about how to monetize it made his heart race.

But more important than any of that was whether he could get back.

What was the point of doing all kinds of crazy things here if he couldn’t return? Sure, he could make money. He could start a stream and run Demon World content; the viewers would be guaranteed. But Han Simin wasn’t the type to be satisfied with just that.

What about the foundation he had built on the continent? The money? The Princess? The Emperor? The treasures?

Han Simin grabbed Grokile by the collar.

Grokile shook his head.

“Demons can cross over through Gates opened by black mages. But humans... there is no precedent. I do not know. And in the current situation, there is no guarantee the black mages can open another Gate...”

Han Simin said nothing.

Han Simin looked up at the sky.

A pitch-black sky.

It felt like that sky was laughing at him.

For some reason.

Probably just his imagination.

But it felt like he had been screwed over by BetaGo again for the first time in a while.

His vision went dark.

*