Chapter 63: Chapter 64: Pit of Bitterness (2)

Thud, it was the moment the paladin’s body collapsed.

The soldier and the Spartan both had disgusted expressions on their faces, as if they had just drunk spoiled water.

The sudden assault that had come out of nowhere had taken control of their bodies.

However, not everyone was like that.

“Uwaaaaaaah!!!”

The barbarian leaped onto a tree.

With a thumping sound, he raised his heavy body high into the air and swung his axe down onto the tree’s forehead.

Crash!

“Ouch…”

“Shut up!”

Crash!

The barbarian’s axe did not stop.

With a grim expression filled with rage, he tore the tree’s face apart, and each time, one of the branches that made up the ground shook violently.

The counterattack had begun.

What blocked the branches that were flying towards the barbarian was the Spartan’s shield.

“You too, block them!”

The soldier, who had been frozen in place until now, finally moved.

Noise filled the silence.

Screams, the groaning of the tree, the clanging of metal, and gunshots were followed by the sound of the tree falling to the ground.

It was only then that silence returned.

The only remaining sounds were the heavy breathing of the exhausted warriors.

With wide eyes, everyone’s gaze was fixed on the barbarian.

He wiped his bloodstained axe on his waist.

Then, he drew a sword from the fallen paladin’s corpse.

The sword was silent.

“Tsk tsk, he won’t come out. He is scared.”

The way he spoke to the sword might have seemed ridiculous to those who didn’t understand the warriors’ relationship with their weapons.

However, there was no one here who didn’t know that.

The soldier and the Spartan looked at the sword with a resigned expression.

There were many emotions hidden in their silence.

Perhaps they understood the paladin’s feelings.

In the silence, the barbarian suddenly spoke.

“Are you scared?”

Startled, the two men trembled.

At that moment, in the barbarian’s eyes, there was not the savagery that had been seen so far, but a resolute wisdom reminiscent of a strong leader.

What followed were words filled with teachings.

“If you don’t kill, you’ll die. My tribe, me, and all of us.”

“You…”

“It’s a choice, life. You can’t avoid it. You can’t undo it.”

He said.

“I killed, and I saved. It’s a choice. I’m not evil.”

It was a story about choices.

Perhaps many people had faced it, and some had already made choices they couldn’t take back.

What he was recalling next was the original purpose.

“We must move forward.”

I, too, pondered.

If war is essentially friction between groups, then surely they must have protected smiles just as many people as they had killed.

For them, war was merely a choice.

The barbarian was likely saying that good and evil couldn’t interfere with that choice.

In this moment of contemplation, the answer had already become clear.

“Frightened ones, step aside. I seek answers.”

I am human.

I understand human emotions, empathize with their perspectives, and even sympathize with their physiology.

I judged that the laws of Hell were at the peak of irrationality.

The thoughts of the parties involved were no different.

···Come on.

“You’re quite clever on this subject.”

The barbarian chuckled and shouldered the paladin’s sword.

The three of them moved forward.

They continued to encounter screaming trees,

“Aaaahhh…!”

“Mooommmmyyy…!”

They pressed on, shouting and crying, just as they had lived their lives.

At some point, they could no longer see the entrance to the swamp.

That’s when the three of them stumbled upon another corpse.

“It’s a woman.”

It was the body of a woman.

A tall, skinny body with black hair, much like a mirage, and next to the corpse lay a flag larger than her own body.

“…I think I know who this is.”

The soldier said.

“Joan of Arc. A war hero from France. It doesn’t quite match what I’ve heard, but…”

I, too, observed and confirmed that the soldier’s words were accurate, from my modern perspective.

To the barbarian, however, it seemed unimportant whose corpse it was.

“A female, fits with our little demon.”

The barbarian said, then drew the paladin’s sword.

Swoosh!

The sword pierced through the woman’s chest.

After a moment of silence, tentacles emerged from the sword and enveloped the woman’s body.

Eventually, the paladin opened his eyes.

One thing Ilearned was that the appearance the cursed sword assumes is not influenced by gender.

“…”

“Speak.”

“You wretched…!”

I also learned that even while trapped within their weapons, they could still perceive events outside.

The paladin clenched his fist and then relaxed it, as if expressing his discomfort with his new body.

“If this woman is a war hero, the future looks quite bleak.”

“And religiously.”

“What kind of hero…”

“Little demon, he suits as a female.”

“Enough of that. You wretched one.”

For a while, the paladin, who should still be referred to as ‘she,’ stood up and said,

“She looked quite pitiful.”

“Little demon, are you coming with us?”

“Will you stop then? I was momentarily tempted by the devil, but my faith in my heart remains. As the saying goes, He knows our every step, even when we falter. No matter how much I am tested, I will remain pure as gold. Just as Jesus resisted the temptation of Satan and proved his faith, I will do the same.”

The paladin said with conviction.

The soldier’s face showed some frustration.

“It’s serious, isn’t it? Do you still believe in God?”

“For unbelievers, death is the only end. Whether its for the flesh or the soul.”

The paladin’s eyes burned with clarity.

His unwavering faith was the way he lived his life.

As if erasing his hesitation, the paladin drew his sword.

-Let’s go.

Once again, the four of them moved forward.

Their progress through the swamp was smoother than before.

There was no more hesitation as before.

Was it observation, or was it a mission?

Watching them from a distance, my thoughts focused on the meaning of this journey.

‘…I see.’

Walking in search of salvation, it’s a penance.

In essence, it’s an escape from hell.

In the end, what they seek is an answer, a pilgrimage.

So, the four soldiers escaping from hell were portrayed as pilgrims by me.

Worrying about the narrative is not enough.

It was like the setting that a mise-en-scène has in visual media, and Hellic was a game that actively adopted such elements.

So, at this time when modelling was in full swing, from the narrative in tooltips to the expression of design narrative, and even the placement of heroes depending on the location of the corpses in Hell, it was necessary to consider level design elements together.

It was the moment I came to the art team to discuss that.

“This is not right…!”

Jo Yumi looked desperate.

I pointed to Jo Yumi and asked Han Seorim.

“Why is she like that?”

“She doesn’t like the design of Joan of Arc.”

“?”

“She says it doesn’t match her image.”

“What do you mean?”

“How should I know?”

Han Seorim shrugged, and Kim Hyeji, who approached, explained.

“Both of you are ignorant.”

“?

“Do you know how important this is right now?”

With a sudden turn of her head, Kim Hyeji had an unusually stern face.

It was a wake-up call for me.

“Oh! Joan of Arc is the only female character in the game!”

“…”

“Even if we divide it by class, she should look like a woman! But she’s a knight, so she shouldn’t be too delicate! Don’t you know this suffering?”

My body froze for a moment.

Certainly,

‘There’s a point…’

…to it!

“Is that important?”

Han Seorim asked with a questioning look.

“Well… it is important.”

I almost made a mistake.

I had missed the details while looking at the bigger picture.

My head was spinning.

“The freedom of customization includes changing gender.”

User preferences vary greatly.

And customization had to offer that kind of freedom to satisfy all those users.

Why not have such a feature?

In a game where different jobs were divided by gender, there were people who didn’t choose high-performance jobs just based on a character’s gender.

The game was not meant to discriminate against them; it was meant to satisfy them all.

I was deep in thought.

“Should I add more female characters?”

Of course, it wouldn’t be possible to change the gender of existing characters.

Modifying characters with well-established concepts would only add work without providing significant benefits, and it could even become a barrier to those who found it uncomfortable.

So, there was only one option.

“Adding a new customization element.”

Hellic 3, fundamentally, was a system where different parts could be customized on one body.

Moreover, all the parts obtained had their own unique traits.

In the end, adding a new element meant making the system more complex or creating parts that deviated from the concept when viewed from the perspective of farming and collecting parts for levelling up.

However, there was a way.

“Visual items.”

In other words, adding items solely for customization.

Where could they get those items?

“From monsters.”

What if we made monsters drop visual items?

“It would seamlessly integrate.”

To sum it up, that’s how it was.

War Hero’s corpses would provide parts with special traits.

Monster corpses would provide appearance-related parts.

Users would naturally learn this during the farming process.

So, what kind of monsters should we use as customization elements?

I thought about it, and the answer came to me.

“It doesn’t have to be human.”

Since we were already creating non-human customization elements, it might be interesting.

Thinking about it from an assembly perspective, it was quite intriguing.

There were quite a few monsters that had a female form, but there were even more with grotesque forms.

If players thought that these could be attached to their playable characters, it could be quite interesting.

For example, a body made of wood attached to a human body, or a mechanical body with just a spine could work as well. Even parts with only bones might be fine.

As I thought about it, I suddenly realized something.

“Is this fun?”

Assuming that we could customize characters in various ways, I was naturally imagining, “If I were playing the game, I would like to try this.”

Imagination, in other words, interest.

It was one of the factors that determined the fun of the game and one of the factors for aligning myself with the character.

But that wasn’t all.

Upon deeper reflection, I realized there was another effect beyond just increasing interest.

“It could give players one more reason to hunt monsters.”

In other words, creating an expectation in players like, “If I defeat that monster, I can use its parts?” could be possible.

It would make battles more exciting.

This idea was confirmed emotionally before logically, and when I examined it more deeply, it turned out to be a great idea logically as well.

The possibilities of customization were surprising, and as I thought about it more deeply, I said,

“Seorim.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s add modelling for customization. Including monsters.”

The answer came from Kim Hyeji.

“Huh?”

She didn’t seem to understand.

So, I explained it to her.

“Thanks to you, I came up with a good idea. It would be even more interesting if we used monsters as customization elements. Please think about it on your end. Create some modelling drafts and send them to me.”

I praised her.

In a joking manner, I patted her on the shoulder and said to Han Seorim,

“Oh, Seorim. About map modelling”

“Let’s talk outside. Oh, it’s time for exercise, so let’s get ready together. We can do it while talking.”

Han Seorim suddenly dragged me out.

Her face was unusually cold.

As I was being dragged out, I suddenly felt the gaze of the art team on me.

“Why are they looking at me like that?”

The question remained unanswered.

However, as I stepped out of the partition and left the company, I heard faint voices from the other side of the door.

“Hey, you crazy woman!!!”

“Aaah!!!”

Screams could be heard.

Now, it was the beginning of winter.

Gradually, all the pieces for Chapter 1 were coming together.

At this time, there was something I needed to start.

“Let’s hire voice actors.”

For AAA-level game Hellic 3, we needed voices now.

Yang Gilsang replied, “That’s right. The timing seems quite early though.”

“Since we’re making a demo version.”

Since the script was often changed during development, we had planned to start hiring voice actors around the time when the overall story was finalized.

However, due to recent developments, we needed to secure characters in advance.

“Have you thought of anyone?”

“For sure, one person.”

Hiring voice actors had been a decision made since the moment I thought of this.

“Who is it?”

“Voice actor Lee Suchang.”

“Huh?”

He looked puzzled, and I couldn’t help but sigh.

“He’s the voice actor for Black War Tyrannomon.” [TL Note” Sorry mates but I still havent figured out which game is this.]

Yang Gilsang had no /RomanceMTL