The elderly group finally saw how their boss was going to take them up to floor 100 without them climbing up the stairs.
He just blows up the whole 'problem', buries it, and turns it to ashes so they don't feel the hardship of going up the stairs...
Basically, the floor came down instead of them going up.
Did he really do that for them?
While they knew he didn't, tears gathered in their eyes anyway.
It was clear that he saw the 'line of hope' in the system guide, and obviously, if the tower falls, those connected to it will fall alongside it.
Even though it was an impossible task for others, for him, it was the fastest and most effective way to make the hope, the tower, and the participants fall altogether.
Two normal sun cards and one evolved sun card were used to accomplish this impossible task.
The two Normal Sun cards erased the first 10 floors and made the tower fall,
And one evolved Sun card destroyed the foundation of the tower, which was all the way to the planet's core.
This way, the tower, before rebuilding its lost floors, was doomed to fall into the endless lava pit below with all the so-called 'Alien monsters' inside it.
That's why today's outfit was like this.
But they weren't constructing anything, instead 'demolishing' a tower that could cause a possible disaster if the tower fell towards the cities!
They needed to stay on guard around it to prevent it from falling if it leaned to any side for any unexpected reason.
But none of that happened, and the tower went straight down as if a professional demolition man planted the bombs...
At the top of the mountain,
Little Mortal ate some snacks and watched the hell-like scene blow.
The ring-shaped mountain range was now like a bowl of lava.
Meanwhile, all around him, the participant's cards were being shucked to his InfoPad.
Then he glanced at his newborn army and frowned,
"Why are you guys still out?
I thought that at the end of every planet's event, you are forced to go back into your cards!"
The newborns, at a loss for words from how this planet's event ended, looked at each other in confusion.
The wise-looking elderly said,
"We didn't even know if the event ended, and only one participant remains; all of the remaining cards on the planet will be retrieved for that participant.
We just experienced it with you recently.
But it is indeed unusual for us to still be out of our cards."
On the last three planets, everything was retrieved.
What was the reason for them to be excluded this time?
*Wooosh*
At this moment, something suddenly flew out of the 'bowl of lava'.
Everyone’s gaze turned to the object that came out just now.
The old lady recognized it on the spot, and so did Little Mortal and his invisible teammates.
Lilith on his shoulder chuckled,
"It's a half-cooked chip.
Probably, there was more of it on the top floor of the tower to take care of the rank 1 participants from the second planet.
The Queen, because charm won't work on the rank 1 participants, couldn't find an opportunity to plant a chip on them."
The damaged chip, as if scanning the crowd around it, suddenly moved.
The old lady shouted,
"Boss, be careful!
It's one of those chips Queen was planting!"
Little Mortal glanced at the chip that was locked onto his face and dodged to the right.
The chip passed by his head like a bullet.
Little Mortal, while speechless, asked,
"Does anyone know why in the world this thing chose to attack me between so many targets?"
Millions of newborns were around, so why him?
The crowd that saw him bring his gun out while asking the question shivered.
Is he going to kill us until someone answers him?
Or he thinks we are all traitors?
The old lady immediately answered,
"Because we don't need it!"
While the answer was confusing for the newborns who didn't even know what this chip was,
Little Mortal nodded in understanding.
"So that's why..."
And separated the handgun card from the other card that it was merged with, and *Bang*.
He fired at the chip, which was coming back towards him.
*Poke*
The chip exploded, and the newborns were sucked to their cards the moment after that.
Lilith, on Little Mortal's shoulder, frowned,
"If you hadn't separated the 'chain strike' card from your handgun, I think the bullet would blow up a bunch of newborns' heads..."
Because the handgun was a special card, the invulnerability card couldn't stop it either.
The bullet, after destroying the chip, was going to target 72 more chips in a 100-meter radius.
All of these newborns naturally had a chip planted on their bodies without them knowing,
which is why the chip ignored all of them and targeted the one who didn't have one.
Little Mortal looked at the silent world around him and shrugged.
"So the system delayed us for this thing to see who is chipless, and enter his or her body?
Are these agents underestimating me?"
Then he gritted his teeth, and his eyes turned cold while muttering to himself,
"You dare to play this kind of dirty game with me?
Then just wait for me to come out of here with my army.
I just burn your disgusting civilization to ashes in the name of my Dictator Queen, Lilith the infernal!"
Lilith was speechless...
Is he trying to simultaneously annoy her while acting for that big brain?
Little Mortal then chose to summon the elevator and go to the next planet while mumbling,
"Hmm, I wonder if there is a way to bring my adorable army under my protection?"
Lilith, who knew he was talking to his teammates, said,
"It should be possible.
I can take them to planet Lubo with the citizens from here, and ask the guardian token to let them join your guardian territory and register their name there.
This way, they will be protected by your Frontline effect, and in your domain, they are safe at least."
Little Mortal, as if talking to himself, said,
"I wonder if these agents can track down the coordinates of these chips?"
Lilith raised an eyebrow,
"Oh, I get it, we can't let their coordinate changes,
Or Hypermind will know something is wrong immediately if their location changes to somewhere outside this Exiled zone..."
Then she thought for a moment and said,
"Well, inside your head is like a waste universe, and your current location is the same as this place.
We can do it there while I put them to sleep the moment they are out of the storage card."
The Crystal vibrated, saying,
To show his approval, Little Mortal secretly shrank his storage card with the citizens' card to a tiny version and placed 2 tiny Mortals on it.
One responsible for turning the card back to normal on planet Lubo, so Lilith can transfer the citizens to planet Lubo, and then make the card tiny again.
And the other one was responsible for shrinking the guardian token, so it could enter the gate with Lilith and come to his side.
Lilith left after receiving the tiny card and tiny Mortals.
The dark world law was supposed to 'hide' any activity related to the guardian,
So it might even be fine if they let the newborns out on planet Lubo.
But Little Mortal didn't want to risk it.
Not long after, Lilith was back again with an empty storage card.
Little Mortal received the card, transferred the newborns to it from his InfoPad inventory, shrank it, and placed another tiny Mortal on it.
Then, he shrank the Crystal too.
Lilith left with the storage card and the tiny crystal this time.
When she entered Little Mortal's ear, she went straight to the tiny guardian token, which was waiting for her at the underworld gate.
The Crystal made an illusion of the fifth planet that it already had from before when they installed the security cameras in there,
And after Lilith said 'here', the tiny Mortal turned the storage card big again.
After taking all of the newborns out, Lilith tried to keep them unconscious while the guardian Token registered everyone as the citizens of Guardian territory.
Not long after, Lilith was back with the tiny crystal.
"It's done.
The newborns, the ones from this planet included, are guardian territory's creatures."
Little Mortal, without any reaction, turned the storage card and the invisible crystal back to normal.
The only thing they forgot was the guardian token, which was stuck in its tiny form even after going back to planet Lubo.
[...]
Having nothing to do, Little Mortal checked his InfoPad to see his season-end reward.
The season-end reward was a 'separation card'.
"Hmm, I can 'separate' the source of the emotions affecting mortals with this card in a 100-meter radius?
I don't understand what the use of it is...
It should be related to the next planet."
Then he checked his inventory to see if there was any season-end reward belonging to the rank 1 participants here.
And sure enough, he found 5 batches, each belonging to a rank 1.
All 5 of them reached the fourth planet as rank 1 in their previous planets, and stuck here.
Little Mortal gritted his teeth when he saw their cards,
"Are you kidding me?
I thought each season was going to be different.
But all of these people's season-end rewards are the same as mine...
5 chain strike, 5 duplicate, and 5 evolution cards...
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
For five seasons, these people were stuck here?"
While disappointed, he merged all 8 chain strike cards he had with his handgun to hit 48 extra targets.
Now with 7 duplicate cards, in total, he could hit 338 more targets after the first shot if he merged them with his handgun.
He wondered to himself,
"Let me see what kind of special card these rank 1 tycoons have that they might use their season rewards on them."
Looking through their cards, he mostly found defensive cards, like the bounty hunters, that he didn't care about, except for an interesting card.
"Oh, what's this 'Cancel card'!
Let me read its description.
This card can cancel any cards being used in a 100-meter radius around you..."
Little Mortal stroked his chin and added an evolution card to it.
"What about now?
Oh, it's 10 kilometers now!
Let me add another one!
Woah! 100 km? And it says max evolution reached...
So I can only evolve a card twice.
Now I still have another 3 evolution cards.
I use it for my handgun.
And... Another one for my handgun again to see what its max evolution looks like!"
After adding the two evolution cards,
Little Mortal saw that it takes 30 seconds for the system to evolve the handgun to a mini-gun and then to its max evolution.
"Why do you need 30 seconds, you stupid system?
Is it because the first evolution is already too strong?"
And the evolution finally ended.
"Oh, it's done!
Look at you! you have your own intro sentence now?
'When hope turns to fury, even bullets learn to hunt.'
Alright, that's cool, but the mini-gun still looks the same...
Let me read the changes.
'futuristic firearm that combines the raw firepower of a mini-gun with precision technology.
It fires tracking incendiary rounds — each bullet locks onto the nearest target within range, bending slightly mid-air to chase enemies.
The tracked targets are not the same as 338 extra targets each bullet can hit under the 'chain strike' card's effect.'"
Little Mortal's breathing turned heavy.
'Cancel card' that can basically remove the newborns from the scene, combined with this?
He didn't even need to be worried about possible friendly fire in a 100km radius...
Lilith felt pity for the future enemies.
The Crystal thought an interesting future scene to record is on the way.
The notebook deemed the new gun slightly worthy for his boss to use.
Little Mortal took a deep breath and put the card away.
Then he checked the number of newborns.
Participants were stuck on this planet for so long, and even though many newborns were 'used', many more were bought outside and added to them.
Close to 10 million of them were here.
Little Mortal nodded,
"My 'strongest army' has +20,000,000 soldiers now.
Maybe after I have enough fun here, I'll go back and conquer the underworld?"
Lilith, the Crystal, and the notebook
"-_-"
The participants who didn't even find the opportunity to enjoy their 'random ability', as a certain secret guardian promised at the beginning of the season, not to let them,
">_<"
Hypermind,
[Good idea. Only after I install a chip in your chaotic head.]
Hypermind, who was watching this minion's fast progress and saw many signs of personality disorders,
predicted something interesting and beneficial to Xyron is going to happen in the future based on his behavior.
......
A while later,
The pillar of light disappeared.
Little Mortal found himself in a big hall with 5 doors.
He first wrote his bullet count in his notebook.
[.......
Fourth planet (Hope) ?
Bullets used:
1 bullet used on the silly chip
999,999,990 bullets left]
Then he checked his system message for the Fifth planet.
[ - SYSTEM GUIDE: WELCOME TO NYX-47 -
Planet Designation: Nyx-47 — The Planet of Sadness
Current Population: +1,400,000 Participants
- Setting:
The event takes place on Nyx-47, a world covered in eternal twilight.
1.4 million Immortal participants descend to the planet, each seeking to prepare for the Eclipse of Mourning in 11 years.
During this time, participants compete to gather "Sorrow Points"—a resource that determines their rankings in the final event.
- Ways to Earn Sorrow Points:
1. Personal Experience (Suffering & Loss)
2. Lose followers, territories, or allies
3. Witness tragic events
4. Inflicting Suffering (Manipulation & Control)
5. Drive mortals to despair, war, or destruction
6. Betray alliances, cause devastation
7. Alleviating Sorrow (Empathy & Defiance)
8. Help mortals find meaning despite suffering
9. Defend against sorrow-inflicting participants
10. Historical Influence (Writing myths, creating new religions, or leaving behind cultural legacies)
The Final Event:
-The Eclipse of Mourning
After 11 years, the Eclipse of Mourning begins, triggering a massive world-altering event.
-The final event continues for 100 years.
-A 10x multiplier will be applied to the sorrow points gained in this time period.
Ending:
The World Succumbs:
The Eclipse fully consumes Nyx-47, leading to eternal despair after 100 years.
The participant, or the faction with the most sorrow points, will be the winner of the planet's event.
Season end reward: Challenge card ]
Little Mortal read the information and summoned the elderly group.
One look at the five doors around them, and they felt depressed.
"It's this sinful planet..."
The crowd shook their head with gloomy faces.
Little Mortal frowned,
"I just read the system guide.
Isn't the best way to play here just to set up a sad plot in this 11-year cool down and then trigger it when the final event starts?
This way, you receive the 10x multiplier for 100 years straight.
This is the best way to gather the most points out of this event by starting tragic events."
The old lady smiled bitterly,
"You were right if Newborns didn't exist.
Because our emotions towards living creatures are too strong, especially when we see their suffering,
the participants can use us as 'point generators' from start to finish by torturing the citizens in front of us.
It goes like this for 111 years nonstop..."
Hearing the answer, Little Mortal first gasped, then started clapping,
"Such a brilliant idea!
I have 20 million of you guys now,
Lots of citizens!
And I am a master in the art of torture myself!
We have all the tools!
So we should do the same!"
The crowd turned pale.
"No, boss! You can't do that to us!"
"We are your soldiers, boss, let's find a better way!"
But it didn't matter how much they begged, Little Mortal didn't listen, and even threatened them,
"Listen to me, you brats!
I am Mortal, the most famous torturer from the underworld!
If you don't behave, I will display my skills from hell in full display for all of you to watch for 111 years straight!"
Hearing his words, the group of elderly started shivering.
They forgot about his real identity for a moment!
This guy was actually worse than those participants if he really 'displayed his art of torture'...
The place became quiet.
The elderly group sighed helplessly.
Little Mortal snorted,
"Alright.
First question, where do these 5 doors lead to?"
The old lady calmed herself and answered,
"To the 5 cities that participants can start their journey."
Little Mortal nodded,
"Can I come back to this hall if I enter one of them?"
The old lady shook her head,
"No."
Little Mortal rubbed his chin,
"Can I send you guys in groups to each door?
And can you send messages to me with your infopad while I'm here?"
The old lady nodded.
"We can go to different doors, and while we can't come back, we can send messages."
Little Mortal announced the result of the meeting,
"Alright, we are done here.
Here's what we do.
Form groups of 20 elderly; each group takes 4 million newborns.
Infiltrate the city as citizens, and identify every single participant in each city.
I don't want to see you miss a single one!
How dare they use my lost soldiers to farm points?
They are mine, and I am the only one who should use them to farm points!"
The crowd nodded.
They didn't know what he was planning, but the robbery and the growth of his strongest army were still his priorities.
That would delay his torturing plan.
Little Mortal continued,
"Meanwhile, I stay here.
Let's give each of the cities and doors a name first.
The Doors' names are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5,
And the city's names are city number 1 to 5.
Is that clear?"
The crowd nodded.
The cities had their own names, but nobody dared to say them.
Little Mortal continued,
"While you are looking for the participants, the group that finds the bounty hunters should notify me immediately.
Just say which door you entered, so I can join you on the other side."
The crowd nodded again.
The bounty hunters and their sun-card were an unpredictable factor that needed to be eliminated first.
Little Mortal distributed the newborns between them and the elderly group, after disguising themselves as citizens and activating an invisibility card,
left in a group of 20 through each door.
.....
Fifth Planet - Day 14.
*Ding*
Little Mortal, who was taking a nap, jolted awake from the sound.
"The group who entered door number 3 found the bounty hunters? Alright, time to go."
And he immediately went to the door and appeared on the other side.
He first took a look at the environment.
The sky above was gray, with a thick, unmoving canopy of clouds that stretched from horizon to horizon.
The clouds weren't like storm clouds, but the soft, oppressive kind that seemed to suffocate the sun, leaving the world in a perpetual state of twilight.
The light that filtered through it was dim and cold, casting the city in a soft, silver light that made you feel depressed for no reason.
Little Mortal's gaze moved to the city in which he appeared.
A dense mist coiled through the streets, clinging to every surface, giving it an eerie feeling.
Looking around, he saw many weird statues of weeping figures crumbling away as if time itself had lost the will to preserve them.
He took a deep breath.
The air was heavy — not just with the mist, but with sound.
A soft, unrelenting symphony of sorrow was echoing through the streets.
Distant cries drifted from unseen alleyways, soft sobs whispered from behind closed doors,
and sometimes, a wail of unfiltered agony pierced the silence, echoing off the stone walls until it faded into a pained silence.
An old man suddenly landed from the sky beside him and said,
"Greetings, Boss."
But Little Mortal ignored him.
Hearing the sound of crying, begging, agony, and sorrow echoing through the city, he smiled, opened his arms, and took a deep breath.
"What a pleasant sound and weather...!
I feel back at home!"
The old man, who was here to take him to where the bounty hunters were, after hearing what he said, suddenly felt angry.
But he wasn't angry at him; he was just angry in general, as if something suddenly affected him.
Lilith, on Little Mortal's shoulder, who suddenly felt angry too, said,
"Partner, control yourself!
Your emotion is affecting your surroundings!"
While smiling on the surface, Little Mortal was ready to explode with anger inside!
Lilith saw through his act immediately.
She knew if he let loose now, nothing could stop him,
But if that hypermind was fast enough to act and analyze the situation, he would be exposed in a moment, and they were done for!
Hearing her, Little Mortal's smile disappeared, and he shook his head.
The feeling of anger disappeared as fast as it appeared.
"Old man, are our people already in position?
I don't like to see others using my soldiers for free!"
The old man from the elderly group, who felt normal again, nodded,
"There are fewer than 300,000 participants in each city.
We have around 10 units for each of them.
But there is a problem, Boss."
Little Mortal asked impatiently,
"What?"
And the old man explained,
"It's about the citizens and newborns here.
The citizens are bound to participants by their emotions.
Anyone forced by participants to feel 'sadness' and gain points from, is connected to them.
So killing the participants is equal to killing the citizens connected to them.
We can't listen to your kill order in this case."
Little Mortal nodded,
"I know, I should affect their emotions to break their 'bond' with other participants.
It was one of the ways to gather sorrow.
And what about the newborns?"
The old man sighed,
"This planet is a good place to farm points..."
And didn't continue.
His meaning was clear.
The newborns here had probably experienced this season many times and were used as 'point generators' for a long time.
Little Mortal raised an eyebrow,
"You mean they might be 'broken' under the constant usage?"
The old man, while gritting his teeth, said,
"It's hard to break us, but the effect is there."
Little Mortal shrugged,
"I don't care.
Crazy soldiers have their use too, you know?
And about the matter you said, killing participants is going to get the citizens killed, too.
That's easy to solve."
The old man asked in surprise,
"How?"
Little Mortal chuckled,
"What do you mean by 'how'?
You already know each 'season-end reward' might give you an advantage in the next season.
I used the chain strike card from the first planet to break that seal on the second planet.
I don't remember what happened on the third planet.
But on the fourth planet, you saw it yourself; I used the evolution card to evolve the sun-card and bring down that tower, so you old people don't need to climb the stairs.
Which means?"
The old man was speechless.
He was right about the chain strike card, and maybe the third planet, on which they really didn't know how he triggered a special event.
But he was sure the evolution card wasn't supposed to be used that way on the fourth planet!
He used it to evolve a sun-card, a card which shouldn't be on any planet regardless...
While at a loss, the old man asked,
"Boss, if you are talking about the 'separation card', its area of effect is limited.
It takes ages to clear all 5 cities.
How about we gather everyone in one place?
It will be faster that way."
Little Mortal chuckled,
"You forgot about my 'P2W' ability, didn't you?
Let me show you how we, rich people, solve our problems with money!"
And he separated the two evolution cards he used on his handgun and added them both to the 'separation card'.
Then he showed it to the old man,
"Look, it can cover a 100km radius now."
Only now did the old man remember that many rank 1s were killed on the fourth planet!
They left so many season-end rewards for him...
Little Mortal then showed him another card,
"Look, I even have a 'cancel card' with a 100km radius effect."
The old man could only look at his 'collection' blankly...
Who could stop him with these cards?
Only the system itself!
Little Mortal, seeing him silent, said,
"Now that we are done with our problems, tell me:
Where are the bounty hunters?"
The old man, with a blank face, pointed at a tall building far away near the center of the city.
Finding the 'address', Little Mortal started running towards it.
The old man took out his info-pad and, while telling the army soldiers about what he saw, ran after them.
They needed to know about the two cards and their effect, so they wouldn't 'rebel' when there was a kill order.
Before this little minion separated the evolution cards from his handgun, he saw a glimpse of its information!
This thing could actually blow up 338 extra targets with each shot, and one mistake from them was enough to anger him and force him to just fire one random shot.
That single unstoppable bullet could erase 338 random body parts from random targets.
The old man took a deep breath and was going to fly, but saw his boss running on the ground!
So he ran after him and asked,
"Boss, we can fly while using our invisibility card.
No one can see us in this weather."
Little Mortal glared at him and asked,
"Do you have wings?"
The old man, who didn't understand why he asked that, said,
"No, I don't."
Little Mortal nodded,
"Yes, you don't, and neither do I.
Now, tell me, did you ever see me fly?"
The old man shook his head,
"Never."
Little Mortal nodded again,
"Indeed, you didn't.
Do you know why?"
The old man shook his head in confusion.
"I-I don't..."
How did their conversation change to wings suddenly?
Little Mortal snorted,
"Because the sky belongs to birds with wings, not us wingless creatures!
So, how about we don't pretend to be birds when we don't even have wings? Hmm?
Let's leave the sky for the birds and don't make fools of ourselves by flying in it without wings.
You might not know, but once I ended up making a bird confess to his sins, and guess what?"
"W-What?"
"Let me tell you!
That bird actually confessed that they are laughing at us flying around in the sky without wings!
We are like clowns in their eyes; that's how embarrassing flying without wings is.
After that day, I never flew in the sky because I didn't want to ruin my reputation because of a random bird that might see me..."
Little Mortal sighed at the end, as if feeling sentimental, sad, and embarrassed at the same time...
The old man was dumbfounded.
Was such a thing really true?
Were they being mocked by birds every time they were flying around in the sky?
While doubtful, he nodded repeatedly to show his understanding, took out his info-pad, and sent a copy of his new finding to all of the elderly members.
They were all in agreement to share any crucial information about this psychopath that might make him angry.
Not long after, all of the invisible flying newborns in the city landed on the ground.
Everyone received a message that from now on, flying is prohibited if the Boss is around!
Soon, the two arrived at the location where the bounty hunters were.