Chapter 61: Endless Trials in an Unfinished Game

“Yurim-san, while it’s fine for me because I have ultra-fast internet, dropping a game on someone so suddenly like this could be problematic, you know? What if people have to cheer themselves up for a 12-hour grind?”

“I’ll be more careful next time.”

“What kind of game did you make, I wonder?”

“You’ll know when you run it. I’ll connect automatically.”

Without much expectation, Akane launched the game.

Doon Doon! Yurim Company!

The signature sound played, followed by the game’s title screen:

<Akane’s Tower Climb>

The game’s title alone made it evident that this was indeed an unreleased project.

Is this an RPG Maker game? But the file size was too large for that.

What on earth is this?

Curious, Akane pressed the start button.

“The girls desire to stand at the peak of the tower.”

“And they wish…”

“…to shine brightly at its summit.”

With this brief message, the game began.

Inside a dark tower, Akane’s character materialized, and she gasped in admiration.

The quality was astonishingly high for an unreleased, self-made game supposedly developed by one person.

“Yurim-san, how long did it take to make this game?”

“……”

“Yurim-san?”

Turning her head, Akane realized that Yurim, who claimed she would connect automatically, was nowhere to be seen.

And then—

BANG!

A massive club descended from above.

Startled, Akane barely managed to dodge the attack and readjusted her stance.

She recognized the silhouette in the distance.

Is that Ormal?

A character from Eternal World had appeared, leaving Akane bewildered.

But there was no time to process her surprise, as the enemy swung its club again, obliterating the tower floor.

Shards flew, grazing Akane’s cheek. It was then that she noticed a sword hanging from her waist.

Unsheathing it—a simple arming sword—she aimed it at the enemy and assessed the situation.

And then—

CRUNCH!

She was crushed.

[You have died.]

[Conditions met.]

[Authority: Spiral of Recursion (EX) acquired.]

Back in the dark tower, Akane found herself alive once more, mouth agape.

What just happened?

Everything had occurred so quickly that she was stunned.

“Yurim-san?”

BANG!

Her carelessness earned her another club to the face.

Just like before, Ormal appeared, swinging its weapon along the exact same trajectory.

Akane was good at games.

Not quite a “gaming prodigy,” but certainly better than the average person.

She excelled particularly in PvE games where the challenge was deciphering an AI’s patterns.

Memorization was her forte.

Having already seen the attack once, she deftly dodged it and swung her sword at the enemy.

[Dodge Lv.1 acquired.]

[Swordsmanship Lv.1 acquired.]

Swoosh. The blade bit into Ormal’s hide. Landing a clean hit, Akane followed up with more strikes.

But before she could deal any significant damage, Ormal’s right arm swelled unnaturally.

In an instant, the club smashed into the ground with near-sonic speed.

THUD!

The tower reverberated violently—

And Akane was back in the dark tower once again.

Or rather, time had rewound.

So that’s the kind of game this is.

Akane’s eyes grew calm and focused.

Thud. Ormal, clutching its club, slowly approached.

Akane smirked and drew her sword.

“Akane’s switch is ON!”

Why does Akane’s vibe feel like a shonen manga protagonist?

This was deeply tied to her personality.

Akane never gave up.

No matter how hard a game was, she always tackled it with a smile.

The same applied to real life.

Back when she only had ten viewers, or even when there were none at all, and when Novella Live was about to shut down her branch after deeming it a failure, Akane continued streaming with a grin.

As though she was someone who didn’t even know the meaning of despair.

Akane wasn’t acting like a shonen manga character.

If anything, the authors who met Akane wrote debut novels featuring protagonists like her.

Third attempt.

• Achievement: Slashed Ormal’s ankle.
• Result: Died to a flying club from the side.

Fourth attempt.

• Achievement: Discovered Ormal had multiple patterns.
• Result: Froze in place due to Ormal’s roar and died.

Fifth attempt.

• Achievement: Awakened magic.
• Result: Crushed by Ormal’s club.

Attempts 6, 7, 8…

Thirty-third attempt.

Standing atop Ormal’s severed neck, Akane cheered.

“Akane wins!”

“As expected of Akane-sama! I knew you could do it!”

“Yurim-san!”

Elated, Akane turned around—then blinked in surprise.

Hearing a voice, Akane turned toward it.

Standing there was a small version of Han Yurim—or rather, the character “Han Yurim” from A Retaker’s Need for Love, the game she had played just a few days ago.

“Yurim-san?”

“Yes. Speak your mind.”

“Akane’s curious about what this form is supposed to represent.”

“It’s a gameplay mechanism.”

Though Akane didn’t quite understand what that meant, she let it slide.

By now, she had already grasped how to deal with Han Yurim.

“That was fun, Yurim-san.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Since it’s an unreleased game, I didn’t have to worry about copyright, so I borrowed bits and pieces from everywhere.”

Ah, so that’s why Ormal was in the game. One mystery resolved, but another arose.

“Yurim-san.”

“Yes?”

“I was curious when I saw it earlier—this avatar… is it Thierry?”

“No.”

“No?”

“If you look closely, you’ll notice the differences.”

Upon closer inspection, it certainly wasn’t Thierry.

But it felt like comparing identical twins; you could only notice the differences if you looked hard enough.

Still, if Yurim said it wasn’t, then it wasn’t.

Akane clapped her hands and adjusted her focus for her stream.

“Now that I’ve cleared the game, let’s get back to the main content. A question for Yurim-san, first of all!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“It’s not over yet.”

Akane tilted her head in confusion.

The game isn’t over?

“Is there another boss?”

“There’s no such thing as a Souls-like game with only one boss monster.”

That made sense, but since it was an unreleased, self-made game, she’d assumed it ended there.

“Go in that direction,” Han Yurim instructed, pointing toward a newly-appeared blue portal.

“Does that mean you’ll be fighting alongside me now, Yurim-san?”

“Nope. I’m more like an NPC, akin to the guiding fairy in mission-based games.”

A guiding fairy?

What’s that supposed to mean?

Oh well, it seemed like she was just a helper character who followed the player around.

That much Akane could understand.

“Alright! Let’s give it a shot!”

If the game wasn’t cleared yet, she wouldn’t stop. That was Yukimura Akane’s way.

She stepped through the portal and moved on to the next stage.

[2nd Floor]

[The Red-Haired Gunner]

Bang!

A fiery bullet ripped through the air, followed by a loud explosion as the spot where Akane had just been erupted into flames.

She rolled to dodge the attack, clutching her sword while searching for the attacker’s location.

The assailant was a red-haired gunslinger—Lee Sahyang.

Akane quickly recalled Lee Sahyang’s skillset. This was no opponent to attack recklessly.

First, she activated the magic within her body.

Her physical capabilities were enhanced, allowing her to move faster and hit harder.

Crack!

An ice bullet struck Akane, slowing her movements.

This wasn’t the kind of attack one could dodge just by reacting.

It required memorizing the timing and trajectory to evade it.

After barely managing to get close, Akane swung her sword, leaving a trail of blue light.

Magic had imbued the blade.

However—

Clang!

Lee Sahyang crossed her guns to block Akane’s attack using [Gun Guard].

At that moment, a red aura enveloped Lee Sahyang’s body.

It was obvious—this was the animation for an ultimate skill.

Boom!

With a massive explosion, Akane died and respawned on the empty first-floor stage.

“You don’t need to re-kill bosses you’ve already defeated. The game’s story explains it as them being banished from the timeline.”

“Well, that’s a relief for Akane, at least.”

She headed back through the portal.

Lee Sahyang was a tougher opponent than Ormal, with more damage and complex patterns, but…

This was manageable.

Attempt 2, Attempt 3, Attempt 4, Attempt 5… Attempt 46.

Finally, Akane managed to predict the timing of [Gun Guard], evade Lee Sahyang’s ultimate skill, and unravel her countless patterns.

Akane threw her arms up in victory.

“Akane has triumphed!”

“As expected of Akane-san. I always believed in you.”

“Yurim-san!”

Han Yurim, who had returned at some point, clapped her hands and greeted Akane with a smile.

Akane grinned and spoke up.

“That was fun, Yurim-san.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Since it’s an unreleased game, I didn’t have to worry about copyright, so I borrowed bits and pieces from everywhere.”

“Wait, does the dialogue loop, too?”

“That’s part of the design.”

If that was the case, then next…

Zzzing.

As expected, another portal appeared.

Han Yurim curtsied, lifting the sides of her gothic lolita dress slightly.

“Please, enjoy yourself.”

“Of course!”

Akane stepped through the portal.

[3rd Floor]

[The Wandering Knight]

The stage had changed.

The dim cave-like setting transformed into a colosseum.

From across the colosseum, a fully armored knight approached with heavy footsteps.

It was Marvin Flail, another character from Eternal World.

“Close-quarters combat with swords? This should be doable—”

Boom!

The colosseum floor shattered as Marvin Flail suddenly closed the distance at lightning speed.

Akane hurriedly drew her sword, but Marvin swung his blade with the same momentum as his approach.

Slash!

Akane’s head flew off, and she respawned on the empty second-floor stage.

Han Yurim approached with a relaxed stride. She stood over Akane, staring down at her for a moment before flashing a bright smile.

“A question for Akane-san. First one! How many boss monsters do you think this game has?”

“…37?”

“Wrong! The correct answer is…”

Han Yurim raised both index fingers.

“…191!”

That was the exact number of characters currently featured in Eternal World.

Akane chuckled nervously to herself.

“What the heck kind of game is this? Will I even be able to clear it today?”