The People's Revolt, Itō Hidetaka's Execution

[Enemy of the World Event: The challenger's stubborn insistence on having his own way has completely enraged Eagle Sauce. Under pressure from Eagle Sauce Country, Eastern Ocean Island has become an enemy of the world!]

[Eastern Ocean Island's bilateral trade has been completely blockaded! You cannot engage in any import or export activities!]

[Eastern Ocean Island's external transportation has been completely blockaded. No ships can enter nearby waters! No aircraft can leave its airspace!]

[Eastern Ocean Island's currency has depreciated by 1,000%!]

[All residents of Eastern Ocean Island are unable to travel to other countries, and its citizens abroad will be forcibly repatriated!]

[...]

Another dark mass of sanctions had descended, and judging by their severity, they were far more terrifying than Eagle Sauce's first round of sanctions.

But to Itō Hidetaka, none of it mattered anymore.

The mission had failed anyway. All he had to do now was wait for the final settlement. No matter how many more sanctions they imposed, they wouldn't affect him much.

But then another notification came from the Firmament.

[Dear challenger, because you triggered the Global Enemy Event, the instance missions have been changed accordingly!]

[Mission two: Economic Overtaking] has been upgraded to [Mission two: Global Hegemon!]

[Mission two: Global Hegemon]

[The challengers must lead Eastern Ocean Island to become the largest economy on Earth! The time limit for this round is 600 hours!]

[If the mission succeeds, all challengers will receive 1,500 points!]

[If the mission fails, all challengers will have 5,000 points deducted!]

Itō Hidetaka's expression hardened when he saw the mission change again.

The time limit had actually been extended to 600 hours!

But it was meaningless now, because they had already lost control of Eastern Ocean Island.

Let alone 600 hours—even 6,000 hours would do them no good.

What truly terrified Itō Hidetaka was that the penalty for failure had increased tenfold.

Five thousand points! In Azure Star's entire instance system, that was an astonishing number.

After all, advancing from Level 0 to LV1 only required 100 points, and even that was beyond the reach of 90% of Azure Star's population.

To most people, 5,000 points was an astronomical sum, enough for them to die dozens of times over.

Even for Itō Hidetaka, it was a sufficiently "lethal" penalty.

Last time, Lin Ye had led 2,000 challengers through his Battle of the Imperial Sea, costing him a great many points.

Before entering this instance, Itō Hidetaka had a reserve of about 13,000 points in total.

If 5,000 points were deducted, he would fall below 10,000 and be demoted from Level 2 to LV1!

"Firmament... will the mission settlement this time be based on the previous mission, or the changed one?"

Itō Hidetaka's voice had already begun to tremble.

If he really was demoted, it would mean he could no longer use the weapons from his own instance, and that he would be cast down from his pedestal for good.

As he was now... he simply could not bear such devastating consequences.

[The challenger is not currently undergoing mission settlement. The final mission settlement will be based on the final mission requirements!]

"Why?!"

"This is so unfair! We've been following the original mission all along, so why should the settlement be based on the latest one?"

"The mission has already failed, so what gives you the right to make the penalty even worse?!"

Alone in the command room, Itō Hidetaka was already flying into a rage.

[Firmament notification: The challenger's loss of control over Eastern Ocean Island is not linked to the Global Enemy Event...]

"Baka!"

Itō Hidetaka roared, then clasped the back of his head helplessly and sank into a crouch on the floor.

But the Firmament's voice showed no sign of stopping.

[People's Uprising: Due to the challenger's mistaken decisions, the people of Eastern Ocean Island have risen in full revolt. A large crowd has now surrounded the arsenal where the challenger is located. Please deal with the uprising as soon as possible!]

"What?"

"You mean those NPCs have already reached the arsenal?!"

Before Itō Hidetaka could fully process it, he heard a commotion outside the command room.

"Down with the demon Itō Hidetaka's rule over Eastern Ocean Island!"

"Down with the demon Itō Hidetaka's rule over Eastern Ocean Island!"

"We want democracy, we want equality, we want freedom!"

"We want democracy, we want equality, we want freedom!"

Wave after wave of shouts reached Itō Hidetaka's ears.

Then came the cries and screams of the challengers outside.

A cold sweat broke out all over Itō Hidetaka. He thought of nothing else, sprang to his feet, and rushed outside.

In the distance, a surging tide of people had already gathered beyond the barracks' iron fence.

There were so many of them that, at a glance, the densely packed crowd seemed to form a single dark ocean. There were at least a million.

Boom!

A tremendous crash rang out.

The heavy gates of the barracks had actually been smashed open by the furious crowd!

The enraged people charged into the arsenal like zombies! They carried clubs and long blades, and it looked as though they were determined to execute every last challenger.

"Damn Lin Ye!"

"Damn unruly rabble!"

"Everyone, take up arms and kill this rabble!"

"You are the people of Daiwa! You cannot be cowards! Have you forgotten the Bushido Spirit?"

Itō Hidetaka shouted, trying to get the challengers to take up arms and suppress the crowd.

But on second thought, what weapons did they have? They had long since been locked away.

The people at least had clubs, while the challengers had nothing at all.

"Execute Itō Hidetaka!"

"Execute Itō Hidetaka!"

"Execute Itō Hidetaka!"

Countless people of Eastern Ocean Island shouted furious slogans as they brandished their weapons and struck out indiscriminately throughout the barracks.

With such an enormous gap in numbers, the challengers were no match for these NPCs.

Like a small boat in the Raging Waves, they were overturned by the waves in an instant!

Some challengers were knocked straight to the ground, their heads split open and bleeding.

Others were seized by groups of people, bound hand and foot, and thrown into the sea to await death amid the raging waves.

Some were even trampled to death by the surging crowd.

"Help!"

"Emperor, save me! Emperor, save me!"

Screams instantly filled the air, one after another.

Then the data displayed by the Firmament in the instance showed the number of challengers plummeting.

[Instance population: 19000/20000]

[Instance population: 15000/20000]

[Instance population: 7000/20000]

At the sight of the carnage, Itō Hidetaka felt his whole body tremble, his legs as heavy as if they had been filled with lead.

His stomach churned, and he nearly threw up on the spot.

It wasn't as though Itō Hidetaka had never seen war. The Firmament's instances were all themed around warfare.

But it had been a very, very long time since Itō Hidetaka had experienced such bloody close-quarters combat.

The savage fighting, every punch landing on flesh, filled him with an indescribable fear.

And... for some reason.

This popular uprising felt extraordinarily real to him, as though the NPCs before him were not virtual entities, but living, breathing people.

This instance was simply too cruel!

Many challengers in this instance were already certain to be directly erased, yet before their real deaths, they still had to experience a gruesome death in the instance.

During that moment of distraction, Itō Hidetaka saw a group of people rush up to him and surround him.

Then they wound hemp ropes around him, pulling them so tight they left bloody welts in his flesh.

"You unruly rabble! Let me go!"

Itō Hidetaka grimaced in pain, cold sweat rolling down his forehead like pearls from a broken string,

He could only curse to vent his anger, but the people answered him with a flurry of punches and kicks.

Then the crowd lifted him up and tossed him into the sea like a dead dog.

His vision began to blur. All he felt was a powerful force hurling him forward!

The seawater was bitterly cold, soaking his body!

Bound all over with ropes, Itō Hidetaka had no way to swim. He could only let the icy seawater gradually engulf his consciousness.

Cold...

Numbness...

Suffocation...