Chapter 157 - Taking It Offline (1)

The chase after our runaway Lackey began, but it was over in no time. It wasn't as if he'd planned an escape. He'd just gotten excited and wandered around.

After always seeing the world as a blur, he was bound to be amazed when it suddenly became clear. He'd lived his whole life with congenitally poor eyesight, and now he could finally see the world with his own two eyes. Even for me, that would be more than a whole new world. It would be practically a miracle.

"Well, aren't you doing a wonderful job. How long have you even had those glasses, and you've already broken them?"

"..."

Absurdly enough, what ultimately got Lackey caught was his broken glasses. Even without mana, a gorilla was still a gorilla, with muscles far stronger than a human's. Glasses, meanwhile, were easy to break with just a little force. Throw his excitement into the mix, and breakage was inevitable.

'At least it's only the frame.'

I looked between the glasses, snapped clean in half, and the dejected Lackey. Seeing that expression on a face usually occupied with fierce scowling felt strange. That was how happy he'd been to gain clear vision, even if it hadn't lasted long.

"Just wait. I'll see if I can fix them."

"..."

Lackey looked at me, his expression full of desperate hope, asking if I really could. I chuckled at his face and immediately logged on to the forum.

[Wild Grylls: Sir, about those glasses you gave me earlier.]

[All Hail the Sun: What about them? Wrong prescription?]

[Wild Grylls: No, Lackey broke them. I think he got excited.]

[All Hail the Sun: How did he break them? Do they need to be completely remade?]

[Wild Grylls: No, they just snapped down the middle.]

[All Hail the Sun: That's a quick fix. Hand them over for a moment.]

Not long after I sent the glasses back, All Hail the Sun returned them repaired, along with a joke about charging for repairs next time. If Lackey broke them again, I'd have to request repairs and pay a fair price.

"Here you go. Break these again, and I'm putting a padlock on them."

"Xie xie."

That probably meant thanks, more or less. Lackey put the glasses on right away.

Maybe it was the extremely strong prescription, but he looked much gentler now. Without glasses, he was a foul-tempered gorilla. Now he was the opposite. They made his eyes look smaller, highlighting that uniquely apish stupidity.

'I'm surprised they fit so perfectly.'

Gorillas had virtually no bridge to their noses. I'd worried the glasses would slide off, but that fear proved unfounded. His head was so oddly large that wearing them was much like wearing goggles. They barely shifted at all, even during vigorous activity.

'He only broke them earlier because he kept taking them on and off.'

With Lackey's eyesight sorted out, I checked my question sheet one last time. There was something else I wanted to ask after Lais Kraone. It might be a very sensitive question for him, too.

"Lackey, could you look at this?"

"Ooh."

Perhaps because the glasses had corrected his vision, and I'd even had them repaired, Lackey read the questions without scowling like before.

"..."

I take that back. His face crumpled the instant he read them.

His face was full of displeasure. Honestly, given the sensitive subject, I'd expected that reaction.

'I'd be upset too.'

The questions concerned the gorilla chief, who I suspected was his brother: whether they had learned martial arts together from Wi Hochang, and why Lackey had left the troop. The chief was on the kinder side as beasts went, but I wanted to hear the details.

"...#%@!%"

After deliberating for a while, Lackey spoke. Apparently, since I'd even given him glasses, he was willing to tell me this much. I recorded everything he said and sent it to Heavenly Demon. I wanted to post it on the forum, but decided against it. It would probably just cause a fuss.

[Heavenly Demon: Quite an interesting tale. He says that one day this Wi Hochang arrived, and the troop's leader changed as well.]

[Wild Grylls: You mean he killed the leader and took over?]

[Heavenly Demon: More or less. More surprising still, it appears the Blood Demon ultimately attained the Realm of Life and Death and ascended to immortality.]

[Wild Grylls: The Realm of Life and Death? Ascended to immortality? What does that mean?]

They sounded vaguely familiar, but I had no idea what they meant. If even Heavenly Demon was surprised, it must be an unimaginably lofty realm.

[Heavenly Demon: The Realm of Life and Death is the realm beyond the Profound Realm, which I currently occupy. It qualifies one to ascend to immortality and allows one to accomplish everything through will alone.]

[Wild Grylls: What does ascending to immortality mean?]

[Heavenly Demon: Casting off one's physical body and becoming an immortal. Yet this is strange. The Blood Demon's martial arts are far removed from Taoist practices, and he himself ought to have many lingering attachments to this world. Did living in the forest turn him into a Taoist sage?]

Heavenly Demon kept asking whether the Blood Demon had truly ascended. I didn't understand it myself, but asked as she wished. Lackey apparently didn't know the term "ascension to immortality," though. All he said was that the man had risen into the sky, adding that this happened "from time to time." Whenever the Blood Demon started rising, the alarmed troop would grab his trouser legs.

[Heavenly Demon: Hmm. From that description alone, I cannot tell whether he truly means ascension to immortality. Still, it is highly likely that the Blood Demon did ascend.]

[Wild Grylls: Probably, right? The gorilla chief was wearing clothes.]

Ascension or not, the Blood Demon, Wi Hochang, was no longer in this forest. I didn't know the details, but it seemed he'd lived quite an eventful life before departing.

"#$%%!!"

When we got to what happened after the Blood Demon's ascension, Lackey flew into a rage. I requested a translation, and the gist was that he'd been driven out of the troop as soon as the Blood Demon disappeared. The troop's opposition had been so fierce that even his brother Wi Heuk, the gorilla chief, had had no choice. It was only natural that he resented them.

'They did have to survive, though...'

Lackey was an albino gorilla, conspicuous wherever he went. Since he could potentially endanger the others, his banishment made sense. Given how fierce the opposition was, he should have been expelled long ago, but it turned out the Blood Demon had prevented it. Apparently, he'd killed the original leader because it had tried to expel Lackey despite his warning.

'Did he have some trauma related to that?'

There was the story about his massacring a particular ethnic group for revenge, and the way he'd protected Lackey. Perhaps he himself had belonged to a persecuted minority, making him sensitive to such things. Of course, that was only my hypothesis. I couldn't be sure.

To find out more, I'd have to visit the gorilla chief, Wi Heuk. Wi Hochang might have written a book during his stay, or left some other trace behind.

[Heavenly Demon: You should post this story on the forum.]

[Wild Grylls: Huh? Wouldn't that get the weirdos all worked up again?]

In the middle of our conversation, Heavenly Demon made a strange suggestion.

Ascending to immortality meant becoming an immortal. Put simply, an "ascension." The Blood Demon's disappearance was the reason the Blood Cult was currently scattered and confined to making trouble on the forum. What if it turned out he'd ascended? That would give them legitimacy they hadn't had before. It wouldn't be surprising if they started treating him as a martyr.

'All sorts of terrorists pull crazy shit back on Earth. It'd be even worse here.'

Would Heavenly Demon have brought this up without realizing that? I didn't think so. She must have some scheme of her own.

[Heavenly Demon: You need not worry about that. This will be an opportunity to crush all the vermin.]

[Wild Grylls: Vermin?]

[Heavenly Demon: As you have seen, my honored friend, those Blood Cult wretches run rampant even on the forum.]

There were countless malicious users on the forum, but apparently the Blood Cult was the worst of the lot. Worshipping the mass murderer Blood Demon wasn't enough for them; whenever they got bored, they committed copycat crimes. The reason no related posts came up in searches was that the admin and Heavenly Demon had thoroughly deleted them and handed out bans.

Unless they were registered users, though, filtering out anonymous posts was practically pointless. Unlike registered users, anonymous users came back soon after being banned. According to one person's theory, this was because the mana they absorbed changed. Just as the water you drank each day wasn't exactly the same water, the same applied to mana. That made banning anonymous users largely meaningless.

Why were registered users different, then? Didn't the mana they absorbed change too? You might well ask. There was a slight difference: anonymous users were identified by mana, whereas registered users were identified by their dantians. Of course, plausible as all this sounded, it was ultimately just a theory, so it was best not to put too much stock in it.

'Uh... Anyway, I think I get the picture.'

I'd seen plenty of them online. Users who made you wonder whether they were genuinely mentally ill. Some were just playing a character, but there were also the real deal, with their chilling rhetoric and logic.

One question, though. Was it really strange to idolize someone from decades ago?

'There are assholes who worship Hitler, so the Blood Demon isn't much of a stretch.'

The internet had made exchanging information faster, but it had also spread vile ideologies. And as quickly as information spread, it was distorted in subtle ways. Yet when you looked at the people behind it, most were nobodies.

Perhaps that was what Heavenly Demon was aiming for, like exterminating cockroaches in hiding.

'Luring out the cockroaches is all well and good...'

But who would exterminate them? That was a problem in its own right. Since she'd brought it up herself, she must have a plan.

Frankly, all I had to do was shitpost and walk away. Pleasure without responsibility, as they called it. I'd grown more cautious after the Undying King crisis, but I'd always been in the eye of the storm.

[Wild Grylls: I don't mind posting this, but can you handle the fallout? It could cause serious problems in real life too.]

[Heavenly Demon: I shall handle everything. You need not worry.]

Was the forum alone no longer enough to ease her loneliness and boredom? After thinking over her words for a while, I made my decision.

[Wild Grylls: I'll get the admin's permission first. I don't want to get on their bad side.]

[Heavenly Demon: Do so.]

Getting banned over this would be a real headache. I immediately informed the admin.

[Don't Abandon the Hero: That much is fine! It isn't an inflammatory post!]

[Wild Grylls: Isn't provoking international tensions and conflict prohibited?]

[Don't Abandon the Hero: I think anyone who takes a gorilla's words at face value is an idiot!]

[Wild Grylls: Um...]

Come to think of it, fair point. Anyway, with permission secured, I uploaded the videos as they were.

Title) Apparently that Blood Demon guy ascended to immortality?

Wild Grylls

(Video of Lackey talking about the Blood Demon's ascension)

(Video of Lackey angrily recounting his past)

From what he's saying, that Blood Demon guy already ascended? He keeps mentioning him rising into the sky.

Does that mean Wi Hochang counts as alive? How does this work?

└Sword Masta) He ascended to immortality? Just how strong was this man?

└Wild Grylls) Heavenly Demon says he reached the Realm of Life and Death. What do you call it in the west?

└Sword Masta) We don't really have a term for it. Most of them ascend, so they can't influence the mortal world.

└Hey, does that mean those two gorillas are the Blood Demon's official successors?

└Lmaoooo his successors are gorillas lolol

└Those Blood Cult fucks spent all that time sucking off the Blood Demon, only to end up beneath gorillas lmaoooo

└Wasn't the gorilla chief strong as fuck? He even used internal heavy-hand techniques.

└That's just those bastards being strong, dude.

└Aww, are the Blood Cult assholes shaking with rage? Doesn't change the fact that you're worse than gorillas, does it?

└Your precious Hochang's gone now lmao

The die was cast. I quietly closed the forum. Both the comments and the posts were about to become quite a mess. It was nearly dinnertime anyway, so I wrapped up my work.

"Lackey, come up with me. The rest of you, too."

"Kyuu!"

"..."

I went up to the river with my animal friends to get dinner.

Normally, I'd have collected the traps alone, but now I had Lackey. Once I showed him how to retrieve them, he copied me with ease.

'This is why you need a worker.'

Having an extra pair of hands made things unbelievably convenient. Of course, I'd still have to handle all the delicate tasks, like cleaning and cooking the fish.

"Kyaang!"

"What herbs did you bring today?"

There were Papa Raccoon's herbs to collect as well. He'd brought a whole bunch this time. They had striking snow-white flowers, but I'd have to ask about their properties later.

Once we'd finished eating and cleaning up, I logged on to the forum, hoping the Blood Cult crowd would be throwing a fit by now.

'Just as I expected.'

As expected, the Blood Cult and the other users were locked in a bitter battle for ground. Well, given how utterly rotten the Blood Cult was, it didn't mean much. Still, their ability to get under people's skin was impressive, and they were unleashing tremendous firepower.

[Yeah, and you're still below gorillas lmaooo]

Of course, that one line had them all shaking with rage. It was an attack firmly grounded in fact, so none of them could refute it.

'Can Heavenly Demon really pull this off?'

With that thought, I opened the top posts. One title caught my eye, and I clicked it as if drawn in.

Title) I'm going to kill those fucking gorillas.

Blood Demon Returns, All Blood Bows

(Photo of a palm stained red)

(Photo of the Blood Cult's emblem)

(Photo of a secret manual passed down in the Blood Cult)

I shall never acknowledge those witless beasts as his successors.

I shall go there myself and claim their heads.

Lastly, the one who dared mock the Blood Demon shall not escape unscathed either.

I couldn't tell whether it was an act or genuine. An anonymous post would've been one thing, but they'd even registered a username, lending it a little more credibility.

'There are more insane fuckers out there than you can imagine, so...'

I wasn't bothered. Let them come. I was just about to leave a comment.

└Heavenly Demon) I thought you were only good at empty boasts. It seems you are good at coloring, too.

└Blood Demon Returns, All Blood Bows) Who are you to accuse anyone of running their mouth? If you do not fear me, show yourself in person.

└Heavenly Demon) Wait. I shall send it by private message.

Heavenly Demon's comments were sitting right there.

'Isn't this an actual challenge to an offline fight?'

Something wildly entertaining was about to happen.