61: Chapter 61 Flash is assassinated; the scene is sealed off!
On the official "FGO" forum, the wails and revelry regarding the "Leap of Faith" and "Good Attribute Ineffective" continued to ferment, but inside the Uruk temple in the game, the atmosphere was exceptionally solemn.
PD moved his gaze from the semi-transparent floating bullet chat window and refocused his attention on the virtual world before him.
After successfully winning over the big sister Quetzalcoatl, the combat power of their faction had been unprecedentedly strengthened.
At this moment, this tall, blonde goddess was sitting in a corner of the hall without any divine airs, playing with Uruk clay tablets with great interest.
On the throne in the center of the hall, the incredibly arrogant Wise King, Gilgamesh, was supporting his chin with his hand, looking down at PD and the others from his high position.
"Hmph, to actually make that stubborn winged serpent god yield, as a mere mongrel, you've done a barely passable job."
Although he still called them mongrels, any normal player could hear the praise in this tsundere king's tone.
The bullet chat in the livestream room immediately erupted in joy:
"Tsundere Gil is online! He praised me, he has me in his heart!"
"This move, this move broke a leg of the Three Goddess Alliance! We're going to steamroll the Singularity!"
"Don't get ahead of yourselves, is Old Thief Gu's game really that easy to clear?"
Just as the players thought they were about to enter the much-anticipated "rewarding the meritorious" phase, Gilgamesh's expression suddenly darkened, and his originally lazy posture instantly tensed up.
"Don't be happy too soon, foolish mongrels."
The King's majestic voice echoed in the hall, carrying a chilling pressure.
"Quetzalcoatl's defection has indeed made the 'Three Goddess Alliance' exist in name only. But don't forget, the remaining two are the real blades hanging over Uruk's head!"
"In the north, the Monster Mother Goddess [Gorgon] is frantically breeding those disgusting demonic beasts. The pressure on the Absolute Demonic Beast Front is approaching its critical limit..."
"And beneath our feet, the Mistress of the Underworld [Ereshkigal] is still continuously harvesting the souls of Uruk's citizens!"
Along with Gilgamesh's narration, the system's holographic projection automatically generated two suffocating images in mid-air.
One was a demonic beast army that blotted out the sky, crashing against the city walls like a tsunami; the other was a bottomless abyss, exuding deathly silence and ghostly cold.
The players, who were just feeling smug about winning over Quetzalcoatl, were instantly doused with a bucket of cold water by this oncoming sense of despair.
"Holy crap, I almost forgot this game is still a desperate tower defense..."
"The sense of despair is back. Old Thief Gu's atmosphere building is amazing; we're dancing on the edge of a knife."
"Therefore, now is not the time to rest!"
Gilgamesh suddenly stood up from his throne, his kingly aura exploding. "Listen well, Master of Chaldea! I am now issuing the highest command. We must immediately split our forces and head to..."
Before he could finish his sentence...
"Bang!"
Under the gaze of millions of eyes across the internet, humanity's oldest Hero King, who was just majestic and radiating endless dominance, suddenly rolled his eyes without warning and fell straight down from the steps of the throne!
He didn't just fall; he tumbled and rolled down the hard stone steps twice, and finally landed face-down at PD's feet, completely motionless.
Dead silence.
The entire Uruk hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
After a full five-second pause, the bullet chat in the livestream room exploded like a volcanic eruption!
"?????????"
"What the hell?! What's the situation?!"
"Gilgamesh was assassinated?!"
"Is it Gorgon's curse or did the Underworld army break in?!"
"Enemy attack! Protect our Gil!"
PD and Mash were also terrified by this sudden turn of events. Mash even pulled out her giant shield, guarding the surroundings like she was watching for a thief.
Just then, Dr. Roman's voice came through the communication channel, sounding exceptionally terrified, even cracking slightly:
"Oh... Oh no! Emergency! King Gilgamesh's vital signs... have completely disappeared!"
"He... He's dead!!!"
Boom! It was as if a heavy hammer had smashed into the brains of all the players online.
The boss of their faction, the absolute ceiling of combat power, had died just like that... during a strategic meeting on the eve of the final battle, without even seeing the enemy's face?!
"Doctor! Scan quickly! Which goddess did it?!"
PD was sweating profusely with anxiety. "How are we supposed to fight now?! The commander-in-chief just dropped dead!"
In the Chaldea control room, Dr. Roman's hands became a blur on the keyboard as he frantically retrieved Gilgamesh's physical data.
A few seconds later, the doctor's voice came from the other end of the communicator, sounding like he had seen a ghost, filled with an unbelievable sense of absurdity:
"There's no... no curse, no magical reaction, and no signs of poisoning..."
"According to the physical data feedback... for the past six months, he has spent more than twenty-one hours a day handling government affairs. He's severely sleep-deprived, and combined with being overly agitated just now..."
"He... he died of heart failure. In common terms..."
Dr. Roman swallowed hard and squeezed out a few words:
"He died from overwork."
...
As soon as the words "died from overwork" came out, PD's livestream room fell to the brink of collapse.
Countless players scratched their heads in frustration in front of their screens, and the style of the bullet chat completely went off the rails:
"Screw you, Old Thief Gu!!! The NPC leader of your epic masterpiece died from being tired of work?!"
"What kind of 'death from overwork' is this?! The dignified oldest Hero King didn't die on a battlefield that split heaven and earth, but died on a desk reviewing official documents?!"
"Even capitalists would weep! Where is the Uruk labor law?!"
"Let's disband, there's no hope. Let this broken world be destroyed or not, I'm quitting!"
Watching the players being tortured by this absurd way of dying until their resolve shattered, Gu Yi smiled contentedly.
This was exactly the effect he wanted.
Great sorrow and great joy, the constant switching between extreme despair and extreme absurdity—this was the core charm that allowed the "FGO" plot to reach god-tier status.
"Don't be in a hurry to curse, everyone."
Gu Yi crossed his hands and rested his chin on them, looking at a new map displayed on the screen.
On the map, a cold and dark light flickered, and the gates of the abyss had slowly opened to all players.
Since Gilgamesh was dead, his soul would undoubtedly fall into the domain controlled by one of the "Three Goddesses."
To resurrect this indispensable king, the only choice for players was to take the initiative to step into that hair-raising land of death.
"Go, face that dark and deep Underworld, and meet that legendary cruel and heartless Mistress of the Underworld who harvests souls."
The corners of Gu Yi's mouth curled into an evil "plan accomplished" smile.
"When you get there and find that the terrifying reaper you're prepared for is actually a blonde, twin-tailed tsundere big sister who blushes so hard she smokes just from being praised..."
"How many people will shamelessly stay in the Underworld and not want to come back then?"