Pick Me Up!

With this, the hurdle of the 80th floor was safely cleared.

Both Anytng and Townia had only 10 missions left until the final clear.

“Normally, this is where interference comes in…”

That’s how it was during Niflheimr.

As soon as the news spread that I cleared the 80th floor, rankers immediately started pressuring me.

But now, it was utterly silent. Anytng didn’t even receive a single note congratulating her for clearing the 80th floor. The reason could be one of two things: either Seris had dealt with all the troublemakers, or most of the rankers had quit due to the dire state of the server.

Now, I could feel it directly.

When I played, Pick Me Up’s server had been clean, running without a hitch. But now, it was in a catastrophic state.

Disconnects occurred at least once a day. While Anytng could simply reconnect without concern, how were other players handling it?

If it were just server disconnections, players could bear with it until they reconnected. The real problem was the severe bugs that came with it: heroes disappearing from inventories, items and skills randomly appearing and vanishing, and even reports of fragments spawning during the 10th-floor missions and massacring entire hero parties. There were screenshots as evidence, leaving Möbius with no room to deny it.

“How much longer can it hold?”

According to Yurnet, if the server collapsed, every waiting room would descend into chaos in an instant.

The goddess functioning as the server was suppressing countless billions of fragments lying dormant within the boundary. However, her suppression wasn’t perfect, and fragments exceeding capacity were slowly leaking out. The large-scale operation of handling these fragments seemed to be the essence of Pick Me Up’s major event: the World Raid.

But even knowing the truth, nothing would change.

After some basic preparations, Anytng continued getting ready to tackle the next floor.

Since Niflheimr was secretly reinforcing the external defense, it was easier to focus solely on missions.

From the 81st floor onward, not many troops were needed.

Anytng gathered intelligence and sent an elite party to undertake the mission.

Floor 81.

Mission Type: Exploration

Objective: Investigate the designated location!

I opened my eyes.

The first thing I noticed was the ashen sky.

Below it, the ruins of a city stretched out before me.

The capital of the empire, Vardia.

Parts of it had been destroyed during the 80th-floor mission.

Apparently, missions were still centered around this location.

“It’s still a mess,” Jenna remarked, shaking her head.

Her face bore an expression of weariness.

“I thought clearing the 80th floor would change something, but it’s all the same. Wasn’t the revival of Townia supposed to happen? So many people died for nothing.”

“Let’s move.”

Pulling my cloak tighter, I walked along the shattered main road.

A few NPCs, who looked like mercenaries, were cleaning up the wreckage of buildings.

In the distance, people who appeared to be refugees shuffled down the street.

“Brother…”

A timid voice.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

I glanced to the side.

“I’m… hungry. Food… please…”

A girl who looked no older than ten stood there. She wore tattered clothes dirtied with dust and ash, clutching at my sleeve and tugging at it desperately.

“If you don’t want to die—”

“Stop.”

Pushing Velkist aside, I rummaged through my belongings.

A small piece of jerky came out. Handing it to the girl’s dirty hands, I whispered quietly.

“Run away as fast as you can.”

The girl nodded silently before vanishing into an alley.

Soon after, dozens of beggars followed in her direction.

Velkist scoffed.

“Pointless.”

“Better than starving to death.”

I looked around the ruined capital once more.

A broken city overflowing with beggars and refugees.

The harsh cries and screams of mercenaries, mingled with sobs, occasionally pierced the air.

“It’s not a pleasant sight. I hope it gets resolved soon,” Jenna sighed.

We passed mercenaries, beggars, and refugees on our way toward the city center.

A command tent for the princess’s army was set up atop the ruins of the imperial palace. A guard who recognized us stepped aside to let us through.

“How much food is left?”

“If we distribute it three times a day, it won’t last a month.”

“Reduce it to once a day. Halve the supply.”

“But the citizens will revolt…”

“Tell them to wait a week. We’ll secure more food by then.”

“…Understood.”

A mercenary carrying orders from Yoshua passed us by briskly.

Outside the command tent stood Yoshua, a burly man with a thick beard, wearing leather armor. He turned around with a deeply furrowed brow. His rough voice greeted me.

“Hyung.”

“He’s so… uncle-like,” Jenna muttered awkwardly, forcing a laugh.

Yoshua’s beard extended down to his neck.

He burst into hearty laughter when he saw Jenna.

“Embarrassing, isn’t it? But I haven’t had time to shave. Anyway, come in.”

Yoshua pulled back the entrance flap to the command tent.

Inside was a bare room, consisting only of a large table with a single map and a few chairs.

“You’re here.”

The woman seated at the head of the table stood up.

The leader of the princess’s army, Pria. She wore a simple leather outfit, unfitting for her noble status.

“Take a seat.”

I slouched into a chair by the table.

Jenna and Velkist sat beside me.

“It’s noisy outside,” I remarked.

“We decided to take in refugees. It couldn’t be helped.”

Pria sighed deeply, her eyes fixed on Townia’s ruins.

She turned to Jenna.

“Do you know how many died during the first invasion?”

“Didn’t we stop them? There weren’t any citizens in the capital then.”

“Some of them escaped the capital. That’s why I sent Yoshua.”

“…I’m sorry. It’s my fault for being incompetent.”

“No, there’s no need for you to apologize. It’s only natural that we couldn’t handle it.”

Pria gave a bitter smile, biting her lip.

“Thirty percent of the empire’s population died.”

“…”

“Just letting a hundred or so escape caused tens of millions to perish.”

It made sense.

Conventional weapons and magic were ineffective against the fragments. Their characteristics were entirely different from those of normal monsters, making them difficult to deal with on a first encounter.

The image of burning cities and citizens being massacred involuntarily came to mind.

“So, what’s your plan?”

Pria closed her eyes for a moment before replying.

“If we had the dimensional sword left by my brother, we could confront them.”

“That’s true. It could seal the gaps.”

“For now, the only option is to gather all refugees into one place. If my reach cannot extend to them, I can’t save them. Together with the heroes, we will have to protect the capital.”

I swallowed a bitter laugh.

A purely defensive strategy. Closing one gap wouldn’t be the end of it.

As time passed, more and more gaps would inevitably appear.

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!