‘Ah, this is driving me crazy.’
He muttered to himself as he walked around the second basement floor. His mind felt a bit blank. He had felt something was off ever since he came here, and he was only just now realizing why.
Will I still get the proper reward like this?
The whole reason he had come here on purpose to do this quest was to stop Count Jinmu and get some stat points as the reward. In this world, nothing was more valuable than raw stats, so it was only natural.
‘It was around here…’
With no monsters to get in the way, his actions were bold. He scratched his head and pushed against the bricks.
His groping hand suddenly slid inward. At the same time, he heard the sound of a mechanism moving and the surroundings shook like an earthquake. Not far away, the ground rumbled. The path to the third basement floor had opened.
“Amazing. Did you learn how to do that from Zentia as well?”
Jeanne, watching from behind, asked in genuine admiration.
“No. There were a lot of things like this in novels.”
“For that, you found all of them in one go…”
Sharp question. He wondered how to explain it, but giving some pseudo-scientific excuse would just tire his mouth out and would not be convincing anyway, so he gave up.
“Coincidence. You know how sometimes things just stand out to you?”
“For example?”
“Like when you are fighting an enemy and you can see the path of their attack?”
Yuda tilted his head, feeling like his own explanation did not quite make sense. But to his surprise, she slowly nodded as if she understood.
“I see. I understand.”
He wanted to seriously ask what exactly she understood, but he settled for an awkward laugh and stepped out of the room.
Even after leaving the room, all he could see were brick walls, brick corridors, a brick ceiling. It felt suffocating, like he was boxed in on all sides. He wondered if he had claustrophobia.
He sighed and walked toward where the ground had rumbled earlier. A staircase leading further down had revealed itself.
“I smell blood.”
“I hear wraiths screaming too.”
He had a strong feeling that the moment they went down, they would run into enemies. Jeanne naturally stepped past him and took the first two steps down ahead. Her back looked very reassuring.
Their footsteps and the clank of armor echoed, sometimes alternating, sometimes together. The stairs were longer than the ones from the first to the second basement. By the time they reached the bottom, he understood why.
A vast cavern opened up before them, wide and tall enough to blow away the claustrophobia he had felt on the second floor.
The first thing that caught his eye as he came down the last steps was a red magic circle drawn on a smooth floor, polished like asphalt.
Inside the large circle was a triangle, and within that triangle were three more magic circles. At the center of each circle, a sphere floated about a meter above the ground. Those spheres were absorbing the red aura seeping out from the magic circles. Even at a glance, it looked dangerous.
At the very center of it all, where the three circles overlapped, there was an altar, and Count Jinmu sat upon it. He waited without speaking until Yuda finished scanning the magic circles and looked his way. Then, when their eyes met, he waved as if greeting an old friend.
“Hello.”
“Your voice is awful no matter how many times I hear it. Not that something like that would change in a few hours.”
Listening to hundreds of people talk at once was painful. Especially when most of those voices were deep adult men. There was not even a hint of pleasant harmony.
“Kya ha ha! What a cheeky brat. If we had met you while we were alive, we would have treated you quite well. A shame. Are you really that dissatisfied with our voice?”
“Of course.”
“Then how about this?”
Suddenly, a clear and beautiful female voice came out of his mouth. Yuda’s brow furrowed.
Hearing the voice of a stunning beauty coming out of the face of a scruffy, bearded man was… chilling.
“I preferred the old one.”
“See? I told you he would complain.”
It was unclear who he was talking to. Perhaps the other souls inside the body. Jinmu rose from the altar, tilting his head from side to side as if loosening his neck.
“Now that you are here, I should ask. Had any trouble getting this far?”
“It was rough. There were no signs, you know. Your hospitality is terrible.”
Jinmu snorted at that and slowly stepped down from the altar.
“For that, you arrived quite fast. You had plenty of chances to turn back, yet you did not, which means you intend to stop us. So you have no regrets, even if you die here?”
He snapped his fingers. Wraiths erupted from the floor as if they had been hiding there, spraying their nasty energy like perfume. The unpleasantness was enough to make his head throb.
“The summoning ritual is still in progress, so shall we have a little fun in the meantime? We happen to have a Blue Lance Knight among us as well.”
Violet Mana rose and wrapped around Jinmu’s body, forming armor, a cavalry lance, and a shield that were even more ornate than Jeanne’s.
Possession, huh…
High level really was different. His level and stats had been cut down heavily, but that did not make his traits and skills disappear. So this display was not surprising. Jeanne, however, was frozen in place, clearly shocked.
“Now then, let us see how our junior performs. If you survive, it will be a valuable lesson.”
-Lesson, my foot. Just kill them.
“You are noisy. It is my turn now. Do not interfere with whatever I say.”
-Fine, fine. You have listened to us all this time, so we will stay quiet just this once.
“That is better.”
Unlike before when hundreds spoke at once, now only a single voice came out. As he walked forward, Jeanne adopted a defensive stance, and Jinmu mirrored it. Shield forward, lance pulled back. Their expressions were hidden behind their helmets.
“Let us begin. And you, boy, should not try anything strange. It would be better if you came at me together.”
Yuda took a small step, planning to slip toward the magic circle guarded by the wraiths, then flinched. Jinmu charged, shield raised.
As Jeanne braced herself to meet Jinmu’s charge, Yuda slipped out to the side and threw Altemia.
The dagger, launched with a snap of his left wrist and aimed at the gap in Jinmu’s visor, was caught by the shield and deflected.
It bounced off?
This was the same strange weapon that had absorbed wraiths and bored straight through Jinmu’s body before, so it made sense to be wary of it. But how much Mana had he shoved into that conjured equipment to give it that kind of defense? Shocked, Yuda could not even throw another dagger. In that time, Jeanne and Jinmu collided. With a loud bang, Jeanne was pushed far back.
“Haha. Your strength is still lacking, junior.”
“Kh…!”
The soul possessing Jinmu laughed and thrust his lance. Jeanne staggered and backed up a few steps, lifting her lance to block, but Jinmu’s lance moved like a snake, sweeping her weapon aside and slipping into her guard, aimed at her heart.
Yuda could not just stand and watch. He rushed forward and activated 〈Shadow Sorcery〉 and 〈Shadow Swordsmanship〉 at the same time. Mana drained all at once as black energy wrapped around his bastard sword, shaping it into a thick cone-like spear. Jinmu twisted his body and blocked Yuda’s Shadow Swordsmanship: Single Point with his shield.
Part of the Mana forming the shield scattered, then re-formed, and Yuda’s spear of energy peeled away like clothing and dissipated into the air. He slipped in close, trying to slash upward with Altemia, but Jinmu swung his cavalry lance from the side like a club.
Block or dodge?
He chose the latter. The moment he moved left, Jinmu’s lance smashed into the ground. Jinmu spun his body, and the heel of his left foot swept toward Yuda’s jaw. Thinking that if that hit, he might be out in a single blow, Yuda stomped down hard and bent his back, leaning away. The heavy leg passed just in front of his eyes. As he retreated in a hurry, Jeanne struck Jinmu from behind.
What is with this guy?
Cold sweat ran down his back.
Even with Demon Eye, Shadow Spread, and Potential Unleash all active, he could not keep up with the chained attacks. If he underestimated Jinmu, he would lose even with a Fragment in his possession. He tried to push in again while Jeanne was clashing with him, but the result was the same. Jinmu smoothly handled their coordinated attacks and countered with ease.
The difference in combat experience was beyond huge.
The shield techniques and lance work that only a Blue Lance Knight could use were incredibly threatening.
One wrong move would mean death.
-Wow, not bad. You had this kind of skill and still lost to Jinmu?
“He had skill too. Now he is weak enough to be devoured by us, of course.”
He even had the leisure to chat with a wraith mid-fight. He landed a solid blow on both Yuda and Jeanne and pushed them back.
“You two are more talented than I thought. It is no wonder you came this far without fear. But if this is all you have, then sadly, this is where it ends.”
“I am not planning to end it here.”
Yuda threw Altemia at Jinmu and activated 〈Liberation〉. The moment the dagger reached his shield, the same technique that had shredded wraiths and ghouls like a blender kicked in. Jinmu did not even have time to speak. The Mana forming his shield was ground away by Altemia.
“Jeanne, hold him for a bit.”
“Do not worry.”
She did not ask why. She did not even consider that Yuda might be planning to run. She simply stood in Jinmu’s way. Meanwhile, Yuda sprinted toward the magic circle. In the game, the strategy for Jinmu was simple. Destroy the magic circle summoning Bel-Terza. Three Altemias appeared between the fingers of his left hand.
-Stop him!
The wraiths clinging to Jinmu’s body screamed from behind. The wraiths that had been merely watching from atop the magic circle finally moved. Their numbers, surging in a dense wave, were enough to make anyone flinch, but Yuda only smiled and threw the daggers in his hand.
The blades of Altemia, cutting through the air, gleamed an unusually deep crimson.
* * *
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Setting 6. 「Bel-Terza」
The sixth Monarch, 〈Bel-Terza〉, is the embodiment of death itself.
The King of Spirits, the Eternal Monarch, the One Who Chews on Solitude. He is called by many names, and any living being cannot help but fear him.
Of course, the other Monarchs do not fear him.
To them, death is something unfamiliar, something they can overcome with their power.
That is, unless they remove their own heart like Fernlern did.
His authority may not be frightening to beings on the level of Monarchs or Holy Kings, but to anything weaker than that, it is absurdly powerful and terrifying.
Even demons and monsters, who rarely feel fear in the first place, hesitate to enter his domain, and there is not a single demon or beast that desires the seat of the Sixth Monarch.
He lives in an eternal skeletal body, and no matter how much he suppresses his power, he still drains the life around him little by little. The land of the Demon Realm where he first settled had once been overflowing with life, but now it is a barren wasteland.
As a way to seal his own power, he chose to stop absorbing the life of other beings, but the land that had already turned to wasteland became a place where living things could barely survive.
It is said that at some point, wanting to see life overflowing within his own domain, he began creating fake flowers and trees to plant, and dolls into which he tried placing souls.
The dolls he makes are so detailed that unless you stare up close, they look almost truly alive. Part of that is due to the solid foundation he learned from Fernlern, but after investing dozens of years into this hobby, he naturally reached the level of a master. Humans, elves, monsters… there is nothing he cannot recreate.
Rumor has it that Fernlern once fell in love with the weapons forged from his own heart and asked Bel-Terza for one of his creations, only to be flatly refused.
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***Author’s Note***
Sob.
Everyone.
Good night.
– A line from a Lost Ark GM –
//
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There are a few edits I made.
Episode 86 – Someone commented, “The part where he attacks Jinmu feels really lacking in logic. From Jeanne’s point of view he is just suspicious, she is still on guard, then Yuda suddenly picks a fight and charges in.” So I revised it to make the flow more natural.
Episode 87 – I deleted the line at the end that said, “So we will not get to meet Bel-Terza?” I had written it while thinking of future developments, but I decided it would be better to remove it.
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