“…It’s quite serious in many ways.”
-That’s right.
With the Kraken and his clones, an unknown demon, and Scorpio all showing up, now the ‘Water Spirit’ has become our enemy…
Of course, we can’t say the Water Spirit is that powerful, but the problem is that it has allied with the Kraken.
Naturally, the battlefield is the sea.
To head out to battle, users or the residents here must take a ship to hunt the Kraken.
Even if nature, including the sea, assists us, it’s going to be a close match; instead, it seems the ‘sea’ itself is straining to kill us.
Even in areas unaffected by domain control, storms will arise, preventing the ships from reaching their destination.
However, this sudden spiritual resonance phenomenon indicates that after thousands of years, the Spirit King has finally revealed itself.
“Just like other Spirit Kings.”
“The Water Spirit King. She must have awakened somewhere.”
“That’s right. The Water Spirit King, ‘Arrowna,’ is somewhere in the sea.”
Arne replies.
“Lord Naphras and Lord Nord noticed the anomaly of the Water Spirit first and searched for her, but they couldn’t find her at all.”
“I haven’t seen her either.”
“No wonder.”
The Spirit King is the king of spirits, but their influence is limited to the lower spirits of their own attribute.
Just as Naphras wasn’t able to find Nord, who was trapped in the Magic Lord’s lab for 300 years.
The sea is not the realm of wind and earth.
I can guess why I was summoned.
“You want me to find Arrowna, right?”
“…It would be quite a difficult task. The Water Spirit King is already in a semi-transformed state, and the Water Spirits who could inform us are all like this…”
The Water Spirit sleeping inside Arne’s droplet.
The Water Spirit writhing in pain seemed about to die or cause an anomaly at any moment.
Creak.
Arne stands up and bows her head.
“Please. I beg you to find the Water Spirit King and prevent the spiritual resonance. I will give you any reward you desire.”
“It won’t be as easy as you say. We might not find her within a week.”
The reason I stopped going to the sea dungeon and returned.
During the remaining week, I need to prepare overall defenses and meet various guilds and rankers through broadcasts to find ways to minimize damage.
I can’t just wander around searching for the Water Spirit King, who is likely to leave no trace at this time.
Arne nodded as if she understood.
“We’ll have to endure the damage. As the day approaches, if you happen to discover even a trace, I would be grateful if you could inform me through my disciple here.”
“Thank you for letting me know.”
“Huh?”
Leo, who was crazily devouring pudding, suddenly lifted his head.
“Right.”
“Thanks. If a specific monster invades the continent, I’ll actively move to defend. I’ll join in too.”
“Is it okay for you to move?”
The Spirit Lord is a duke who divides the empire’s power and can only be called to action in case of a major war.
Just moving could attract the attention of nearby factions and Duke Huangyeol.
Arne smiled faintly.
“You can’t gain anything just by holding it in your hands. I’m prepared to bear losses on this side as well.”
“…I see. Understood.”
After a brief tea time, I left Arne’s castle with Leo.
I wondered why Leo was following me, but since he came often to the academy and I had to inform him about things, I let him tag along.
“Where to now?”
“Today, I’m going back to Elbrite to do some maintenance and rest a bit before I start moving from tomorrow.”
December 24th.
In just a few hours, the day would change and there would be exactly six days until the Great Cataclysm update begins.
During that time, I planned to give warnings and check content with the top guilds through a kind of ‘visit’.
“By the way, tomorrow is Christmas.”
“Really? Oh no! I’ve been so busy that I forgot! There has to be an event for Christmas!”
Even though Christmas is quite an important day, with the Great Cataclysm and Kraken matters, I had temporarily buried it in my memory.
In the past, there was no reason to care about Earth’s holidays.
But it is a special day; should I take it easy for just one day tomorrow?
“What event?”
“It was the same last year; on December 25th, trees appear all over the continent. There are boxes under them that give some buffs and items. But nothing too grand.”
“Hmm…”
“It’s not that important for rankers, but for regular users, there are quite useful things that come out. Rankers can benefit from the buffs too, right? Hehe.”
Buffs… right.
“I should plant one separately in Elbrite.”
“Oh! I want to check it out! Do they give gifts too?”
“Come on over. I’ll give you buffs.”
“Yes!”
I swiftly headed toward the largest plaza in Elbrite, secretly planted the tree, and made it grow.
Then I hung a few ornaments and engraved a pure white pattern right under the center of the tree.
This would help in the upcoming battles.
And the next day.
Deoen’s third Christmas had arrived.
■
December 25th.
In Deoen and even in reality, trees and Christmas decorations adorned the streets, and carols filled the air everywhere.
Users and even the residents here enjoyed the festival while the starry night sky was continuously lit up by fireworks.
The night sky was filled with light, and fireworks burst continuously.
On such days, most people sought reality rather than a virtual world, but Deoen was a second reality.
The beautiful scenery of fantasy combined with the landscape of Christmas allowed even more people to enjoy Christmas in virtual reality than usual.
While everyone was delighting in Christmas…
[Wow]
[There’s a freaking huge tree in Elbrite?]
[Mucho Tamo Mucho Tamo]
[Hahahahahaha]
[Is this for real? It’s as big as a building.]
[What’s the buff?]
[What’s this “Blessing of Faith”? Lasts a month and keeps going even after death?]
[Is this spec-up insane? It boosts stats by 30% lol]
[Isn’t it awesome?]
[This must be all thanks to Lady Lily’s grace.]
[Wow!]
[No one’s missing out on the blessing because they couldn’t come to Elbrite, right? lol]
[Great Lily! Great Lily! Great Lily!]
[The rewards are insane, how many magical stones… ]
“I’m so jealous…”
Sigh…
Yena scratched her head in frustration and switched off Deoen’s official broadcast.
It had been almost two months since she started this damn hidden quest.
Still, still! She couldn’t clear the quest!!
“Hahahahaha…”
She was seriously going insane.
While everyone else was laughing and enjoying Christmas, she was stuck alone battling a crazy cat beastman.
“Hehe…”
Of course, she didn’t have to be here.
On such a special day, especially Christmas, it was incredibly important for streamers.
This day, you had to stream, and particularly for female streamers like Yena, if you didn’t, the interaction could flood your channel with negativity.
It would be better to log out and do a cam stream like old times or start a new character and broadcast that.
But she couldn’t do it.
“If I don’t clear it before the Great Cataclysm, I’m screwed…!”
If she played around on Christmas and got delayed, getting stuck here when the cataclysm started would be the least of her worries.
Besides, Yena was a ranker; to miss out on such a monumental event like the Great Cataclysm because she was stuck here?
She would genuinely hate herself then.
Christmas comes every year, but the cataclysm update was the first and last of its kind.
She had to rush to relay countless updates in real-time, and she couldn’t just be trapped here.
“…Damn.”
But she had to stream.
So there was only one option.
_Christmas hahahahaha
Let’s just do both.
[Yena-dang]
[Oh]
[Yehah]
[LOL Did you think I wouldn’t turn it on?]
[Yena-dang resurrection?]
[I was preparing for the flood of negativity lol]
[Are you still here?]
[Yena-dang streams on Christmas, huh.]
[Passed]
[LOL]
[Fortunately, before 8 o’clock, Kine]
[Are you still doing this? LOL]
[Ah, there’s no way Yena would betray us!]
[Have you been to Elbrite? The tree is insane!]
[Elbrite, let’s go!]
“Hey, guys. Didn’t you know I’m stuck here?”
Yena glared at the camera while also watching Myeosin, who was blankly staring at a butterfly flying by.
Then the chat window was flooded with LOLs.
“Ugh… This is crazy. I mean, there are only 6 days left, and we’re only halfway! When will it all end…?”
[Yena, nooo!]
[You can do it!]
[It’s really pitiful; you can’t even enjoy Christmas.]
[LOL]
[Have you contacted Lily?]
“Lily? Isn’t she on a broadcast?”
I saw something about a sparring broadcast and checking out Christmas trees.
I couldn’t help but feel jealous watching the giant tree that appeared in Elbrite.
‘And she’s playing with Leo too…’
It seemed like they were doing content together, not even for academy classes.
Yena grumbled, grabbing her head.
“I saw her turn off the screen, saying she was going to eat.”
[Still hasn’t come back.]
[Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.]
[Call Lily.]
[If Lily doesn’t come back, it’s serious.]
[Ah, I’m with Lily, my bad, I’ll send her back soon LOL.]
[Lily, why isn’t she here?]
[Shut up, nah nah.]
[Lily not coming is really serious; I might start to ‘suspect.’]
[LOL]
“…Well, she’ll be here soon.”
Regardless of whether Lily comes back or not, the important thing is that we’ve only reached halfway.
And that I need to keep applying for sparring on Christmas day too.
Heave-ho!
After getting up from my seat, I swung the Green Hermit around.
Certainly, after fighting daily against a World Boss-level enemy, my combat sense had improved multiples.
“All right! Guys, let’s refrain from mentioning things, and I’ll do the broadcast. It wouldn’t be good if we keep mentioning stuff.”
“Are we not going to mention anything?”
“No, I mean it’s not that we can’t mention it, but each of our broadcasts… Oh?”
I turned my head.
Before I knew it, Lily was there, wearing a red robe and carrying a red bundle.
Next to her was someone with a weird red nose…
[?]
[????]
[??????????????]
[Whoa]
[Leo??]
“Santa has appeared.”
“Rudolph has appeared too!”
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