#011. City of Lament (5)
Flaming javelins flew from the direction of the library and lodged themselves in the ghouls' bodies.
The sound of bursting flesh and a rotting stench filled the air.
—Screeeech!
Several of them flew toward Virgil, but they weren't difficult to dodge.
Now that he had some breathing room, he looked toward where the javelins had come from.
The wide-open library, the guard captain throwing spears, and about ten soldiers.
Beside them, the Player stood with eyes closed, muttering a spell.
Virgil found the corners of his mouth rising before he knew it.
He had been worried that the rescue window had already passed, but she had avoided the ghouls and rescued people on her own.
Virgil, who usually enjoyed nothing but solo play, felt a strange emotion.
“Hm.”
He subtly gave the Player a thumbs-up, then focused again on slaughtering the ghouls.
Thanks to the Player's unexpected performance, the lord's castle was quickly cleared.
“Hoo….”
Soldiers and townspeople approached Virgil as he caught his breath.
They endlessly expressed their gratitude, wiping away tears.
Virgil nodded briefly out of courtesy and approached the Player.
Raising a weary arm, he patted her shoulder three times.
“You did well.”
“Thank you….”
At this first praise, the Player's shoulders trembled.
***
Inside the sewer, the gathering place of the Laughing Ones.
Jake, realizing that everything was his fault, was on the verge of losing his mind.
The others, including him, also said nothing.
They had only exchanged the necessary words while fixing the broken iron door; otherwise, there was no conversation to be had.
The only sounds were people's sobs and deep sighs.
In such a dark and gloomy chamber, visitors arrived once more.
Thump, thump.
Someone knocked on the iron door leading toward the lord's castle.
The people flinched at even the small noise and pressed themselves against the opposite wall.
Thump, thump.
The iron door rang again, and from beyond it, a familiar voice was heard.
“Everyone, it's me.”
At the Player's voice, a man near the door ran to open it.
With a most welcome face.
But what he faced was not the Player, but Virgil's greatsword, just before it would have struck the door.
Had he opened it slightly later, the iron door they had painstakingly repaired would have been shattered once again.
“Hm.”
Virgil slung the greatsword on his back with a disappointed expression.
Only then did the people discover the Player and the townspeople standing behind him.
“Ah! Captain!”
The people recognized the guard captain and soldiers and welcomed them gladly.
They congratulated each other on being alive amidst the chaos and asked after those around them.
Expectation soon turned to disappointment.
Soon, only sorrow remained in the chamber.
“Mister….”
The Player and Virgil approached Jake, who was crouched in the corner.
When there was no answer even after waiting, Virgil growled.
“There's no time, so listen to me carefully.”
Only now did he raise his head to look.
The old man's eyes were different from before.
Filled with nothing but weakness, without passion or hope.
“Hide here with these people until I return. Do not open the door for anyone, and do not go out. No, just don't do anything at all. Do you understand?”
“I am no longer these people's representative….”
Jake met Virgil's blazing eyes and nodded heavily.
“…I shall keep it in mind.”
Virgil turned toward the exit as if he had nothing more to say.
It was finally time to see the end of this accursed Javelin.
As he was leaving the chamber, he sensed the Player naturally following him.
He turned his head to look.
“Why.”
“Yes?”
“What.”
“What is it?”
“Why are you following me?”
“Ah… yes…. Isn't that why you leveled me up?”
That was indeed the case.
But now that it came to it, he worried.
Would bringing this woman along really be helpful?
Wouldn't she just hold him back?
He had liked how quickly she reloaded her gun.
Plus, she used the status window.
'She's somewhat useful, but….'
Still, he felt she wasn't enough to be entrusted at his side.
If there was even a slight chance she would be baggage, it was better not to bring her from the start.
The Player, noticing his internal conflict, muttered to herself in a stiff, loud voice.
“Oh my! What is this! A new quest has appeared!”
Virgil tried to ignore her but reluctantly took the bait.
“…Tell me.”
“You're going to take me, right?”
“Maybe.”
“Close quest window….”
He could see her eyes beneath the mask curve slightly into crescents.
Virgil snorted.
He had a rough idea of what the quest was.
“I don't need it.”
“Yes?”
“I know what it is.”
“Ah… I… Ah! Aren't you curious about what reward you got for the lord's castle quest?”
“Not really.”
“Don't be like that, take a look at this.”
The Player extended her staff toward Virgil, and her new spell was cast.
“Hm….”
The corner of Virgil's mouth subtly changed.
“…How is it?”
“….”
Virgil, who had been silent for a moment, slowly opened his mouth.
“For now, if you get in the way while we're together, I'll abandon you.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Tell me the new quest.”
“One moment. Uh… to you, who have become the savior of the city, now….”
“Just the gist.”
“Go to the Temple of the Sun and meet Sophia Javelin. Time limit: twenty minutes.”
A time limit?
In his memory, this quest didn't have a time limit.
A variable?
As expected, relying on memory alone had its limits.
This was the moment the Player's usefulness was proven.
“As I said before, if you fall behind….”
“Yes, yes, I'll do my best so I won't be abandoned!”
“Let's go.”
***
The two ran through the sewers for quite a while.
Along the way, strangely, no ghouls were to be seen.
Virgil, who had been running ahead, stopped before a door.
A large, thick-looking iron door.
“This is the place.”
The Player surveyed the surroundings.
Bloodstains splattered everywhere and wounds of unknown origin.
A terrible stench and bone fragments that must have been human.
All of these pointed toward what lay beyond the iron door before their eyes.
As if warning them never to enter.
It was far too ominous to be called a temple passage.
'I-I'm scared….'
Fear welled up inside the Player, but she didn't show it outwardly.
But Virgil saw through her.
“Turn back even now.”
“…I don't want to.”
'I can't do that….'
She knew that if she gave up here, she wouldn't be able to follow this man in the future either.
She needed this man's help to escape from this game.
Through their brief time together, she had realized Virgil was no ordinary person.
“I'm fine.”
“Well, suit yourself.”
Seeing the resolve in her eyes, Virgil didn't say more.
“Once inside, do exactly as I say.”
“Yes.”
Virgil slowly opened the iron door.
And thunderous bell sounds rang out.
Bong! Bong! Bong!
Beyond the door was not the temple.
A soaring ceiling and a massive bell hanging at its peak.
Intertwined gears and a gigantic glass clock illuminated by moonlight.
This was the interior of the city's tallest clock tower.
“Huh?”
A new window floated before the bewildered Player's eyes.
--------------------
Chapter 1 – Closing.
The Ghoul Matriarch That Swallowed the Sun.
After a long investigation, you have discovered the cause of the darkness hanging over Javelin. All of this began from the vengeance of one who converted to the Cult of Blood.
Mission - Capture the Ghoul Matriarch in the clock tower, and you must speak with the black sorcerer who created it.
Reward – Seed of the Sun.
Warning!
The item required to proceed does not exist.
Required item - Cursed Blood of Sophia.
--------------------
What in the world was all this about?
The Player could not understand.
She looked at Virgil with eyes seeking an answer, but received none.
He was looking up with a grave expression.
The Player followed his gaze upward.
Before the glass clock, in the place where moonlight shone down, she discovered a human figure.
“You have come…. Demon Hunter….”
Hearing the strange figure's voice, the Player felt an odd sense of familiarity.
Where had she heard it before?
She wandered through her memories for a moment.
The strange figure flew through the air and landed on the ground.
Because he wore a black hood pulled low, his face could not be seen.
Virgil raised his greatsword and pointed it at the strange figure.
Looking at him, the figure gnashed his teeth.
“I should have killed you the moment I saw you.”
“I think the same.”
“…It sounds as though you know my true identity.”
The figure threw back his hood.
At the revealed identity, the Player cried out in shock.
“H-Head Butler Sherman?!”
Unlike her, Virgil was indifferent.
At that sight, Sherman tilted his head and asked.
“Ho, you really knew.”
“I told you so.”
“Then why until now….”
“Head Butler, why are you here!”
Sherman glared at the Player.
How dare she interrupt his words.
“Tch, are you the mercenary who stuck by Jake's side? Hiding the fact that you're a witch, how ridiculous.”
The Player had only thought of Sherman as a good person.
He had helped the Laughing Ones, and Jake had praised him to high heaven, so it was only natural.
“Why….”
“Thanks to your efforts, things went smoothly. Especially that foolish old man, he did his part very well.”
“You were the sorcerer that Mister Jake talked about!”
“Sorcerer? Tsk tsk, to think you believed those words completely. Think about it. Would the Lord of the Six Towers care about a ruined Javelin?”
“Six Towers…. Anyway, why on earth did you do such a thing!”
At the Player's question, Virgil frowned and looked at her.
This woman clearly didn't know what the Lord of the Six Towers of Mule was.
“Why…. Would you understand if I said it was to save Sophia?”
“Lord Sophia?”
“Yes, to break my daughter Sophia's curse.”
“Your daughter? Why would the lord be your daughter?”
She was completely immersed.
To Virgil, who usually skipped such conversations, this was an extremely torturous moment.
Thinking this couldn't continue, he tried to raise his hand gripping the greatsword, but the Player extended her arm to block him.
As if telling him to wait.
Virgil frowned and looked at her as if asking what she was doing.
Her eyes, visible through the gaps in her mask, sparkled.
As if she were dying of interest.
“Sophia is my daughter, born from my lover Rebecca before that bastard Dimitar violated her.”
Virgil quietly whispered to the Player, who wore an expression of incomprehension.
“Rebecca is the lord's mother.”
“Ah… don't tell me this is… an affair?”
“Well, basically.”
“Then….”
The Player clapped her hands together and looked at Sherman.
“Dimitar Javelin was your doing!”
The story she had heard from Jake about the Javelin family.
The previous lord who had met an inexplicable death ten years ago.
“Yes, he was the first offering I made to my master. That so-called superhuman let his emotions lead him and showed me an opening.”
“Then shouldn't your revenge have ended there!”
“No, no…. The bystanders are accomplices too…. When she, my beloved, was deceived by them… when she was forcibly violated… those who did not stop it in the least also deserve to die.”
A purple aura gathered around Sherman's eyes.
“Furthermore, this city that bears the name Javelin must disappear. It must be erased in utter agony and suffering. I will erase the history of Javelin and make Sophia and Rebecca mine once more!”
The moment his words ended, bell sounds echoed through the entire clock tower.
Bong!
'Already.'
Virgil raised his head and looked at the bell.
Beside it, something about the size of the bell was clinging to the wall.
It looked almost like a giant spider.
'Damn it….'
He had tried to kill Sherman before that thing appeared.
Dealing with the boss while intermittently fending off the black sorcerer's curses was more than just annoying.
But he had missed his timing.
“Ooh! My Rebecca! The spell is finally complete!”
Sherman raised his hand high toward the sky and shouted.
At that sight, Virgil pushed the Player back and gave her orders in a low voice.
She nodded and hid behind a collapsed wall in a corner of the clock tower.
“Oh! My beloved Rebecca!”
Sherman's body rose slightly from the ground.
It was a sign that the boss battle was about to begin.
“Once this matter is concluded, you shall finally become one with me!”
As Sherman's calls continued, the monstrosity began crawling down the wall.
The black silhouette grew larger and larger, and at around the halfway point, it kicked off the wall and leaped.
It fell at high speed.
Virgil gripped his greatsword tightly and watched above.
The first attack had to be avoided no matter what.
Being crushed by mistake meant instant death.
Virgil swallowed from intense tension, while Sherman swallowed from extreme excitement.
“My Rebecca! Bring judgment upon Javelin!”
'Damn it!'
Splat!
The blood and flesh of a human crushed by the monstrosity splattered in all directions.