◈ Episode 18. How Undignified (2)
『Manifestation』.
I altered the form of the stone statue.
I made the muscular legs supporting its massive body slender.
Kudddddk—!
Then the statue lost its balance and sank to its knees.
It was all possible because the statue was not a monster.
It wasn’t a monster.
How could I be so sure?
Because I had checked the update notes.──────A new rift, “The Count’s Citadel,” will be added.
New named monster, “Count Askyura” : Lv.430──────The Count’s Citadel.
The only monster that appeared there was Count Askyura.
In that case, perhaps direct interference would be possible…….
That judgment had hit the mark.
The fact that it wasn’t a monster also meant it wasn’t of the demon race.[Natural Enemy Relationship]
had not activated.
There had been a slight consumption of mana, but that was fine.
“What was that sound just now……?! Hyaaah?!”
“……
Did everyone see that? He took down that monster in one blow!!”
“Everyone, move! This isn’t the time to be distracted!”
Even without me, there were plenty of players.
My entering through the main gate had become the signal flare.
Toppling the statue that had been acting as the gatekeeper drove the nail in.
Players were pouring into the castle like a flood.
I couldn’t just stand still either.
Click—Above all, I had a clear objective.─Hunt the vampire. (In progress) ▲●Announce that the hunt has begun. (Success)●Make it feel the fear of being hunted. (In progress)
Take down Count Askyura by myself?
That would be arrogance itself.
Even looking only at levels, it made no sense.100 levels VS 430 levelsHowever, I had a card called [Exorcism Ritual].
I had also properly brought a demon item to serve as the sacrifice for the Exorcism Ritual.
So what I had to do was simple.
Through the Exorcism Ritual, make Count Askyura feel even the slightest bit of fear.
As for the rest of the process…….‘I’ll leave it to the other players.’A certain degree of contribution would be acknowledged.
Not only would I gain experience points.
If I was lucky, I might even obtain some spoils.
Yes, so…….
How about walking a little more slowly, my legs?
Even though I had made a rational judgment based on evidence……!
I was overflowing with even greater confidence than that.
As if I were on a runway.
I was striding proudly through the interior of the castle.
“Can food truly pass your throat while looking at such a portrait? You have quite the stomach, Askyura.”
Suddenly, upon reaching a massive dining table, I poured out a harsh critique.
On the wall opposite it hung a portrait.
It seemed to be a depiction of Count Askyura.……
Wasn’t it painted too realistically?
Putting aside the fact that he was skin and bones.
The red eyes, the protruding fangs.
Askyura in the painting was a vampire itself.
On top of that, the gloomy atmosphere of the castle made the portrait look even more terrifying.
Of course, I was viewing even that portrait from an aesthetic perspective.
“The detailed depiction and expression of light and shade are clumsy. It is embarrassing to even call it a painter’s work.”……
Somehow, it felt like I had barged into someone else’s house only to spit venom.
But let’s consider it fortunate.
If I weren’t this rude.
I probably wouldn’t have been able to act alone like this.
“Like the statue, it fails.”
Click—*
Count Askyura’s Citadel.
As expected, it was not a rift to be taken lightly.
Cold sweat covered the players’ faces.
With faces full of tension, they carefully looked around.
“……
It feels like I’m suffocating.”
“Even with buffs on, the pressure is this bad.”
“Does it look like it wouldn’t be? Every single thing here is creepy.”
It was not an exaggeration.
In truth, from the moment the players entered the castle.
They had been suffering from all kinds of status abnormalities.[Count Askyura is watching you.][Your mental strength is too low.][Status Abnormality: Fear has occurred.]
They had not even faced Count Askyura.
Count Askyura’s portraits were hung everywhere.
All that had happened was that the red pupils in those portraits had watched the players.
“……
Found it!”
Whoosh—!
They discovered the portrait.
Only after burning it with a skill did their breathing ease a little.
The players clicked their tongues.
“Damn it. The castle, the interior, everything is a trap.”
“I thought it was just a terrifying bit of staging. But it wasn’t.”
“Is this what it means to live up to its level? It’s tricky. Seriously.”
That was right.
It was not mere staging.
Statues.
Portraits.
Even the books on the shelves, down to a single volume.
“……
What the hell? ‘Human Cuisine’? What kind of title is that?”
“Hey! Don’t touch that!!”
“……?!”
All of it.
Everything was causing status abnormalities in the players.
The guild, Gaon.
The analysis was delivered to Nam Taemin.
—So in other words, everything inside the castle is a trap.
“It’s vicious, seriously. I can feel the malice.”
—It’s a vampire’s castle for a reason.
Nam Taemin looked back on his experiences so far.
Including the time when Arcana had been a game.
No matter how he thought about it, this kind of concept was new.
“In the old days, I would’ve really liked this.”
Because the trickier it was, the more satisfying it would have been to clear.
But not anymore.
Failure to clear it no longer meant logging out, but death.
The weight of responsibility for that was immense as well.
Perhaps he had noticed the anguish contained in that small breath.
Nam Cheolmin’s voice came through.
—Don’t get too frustrated over something you have no way to deal with.
“……
What are you talking about? All of a sudden.”
—I figured you were probably blaming yourself again. I’m telling you not to.
Nam Taemin’s class was Barbarian.
Except when [Berserk] was activated, his resistance to status abnormalities was low.
Given the characteristics of warrior-type classes, it could not be helped, but…….‘No matter what, the healers can’t help feeling burdened.’Instead of being of help, he was becoming a burden.
Nam Taemin’s worries were not something he could simply shake off.
—The roles you’re each in charge of are just different. Everyone understands that. I’m telling you not to get ahead of yourself and overdo it for no reason. Nothing good will come of it.
Blood truly could not be denied.
Nam Taemin let out a wry laugh.
“What, you know that so well? Anyone listening would think you were speaking from experience.”
A laugh came through in return.
—Haha. You catch on fast, don’t you?
“……
Catch on fast? What, is it really from experience?”
—Who knows? In any case, I’m saying this as your senior in life, so take it to heart.
It was then.
All of a sudden, he sensed a presence up ahead.
He wondered if it was another guild, but there was only one presence.
“Who is it?”
Hawkeye.
One of the guild members used his enhanced eyesight to identify the owner of that presence.
“It doesn’t seem to be Count Askyura……. It’s a woman? Her blond hair comes down to her waist……. Wait, she’s incredibly pretty?! She has her hat pulled down low, so I can only see the lower half of her face. But that means she’s a beauty even from just the lower half……?! Ow, why’d you hit me?!”
Phew—What was he supposed to do with that guy?
Nam Taemin shook his head in disbelief, but only for a moment.
Nam Cheolmin’s voice came to his ear.
—You said she was alone, right?
The words that followed sounded as if they were only natural.
—Recommended level, 400 to 450. On top of that, status abnormalities are going off everywhere in this castle. Who could possibly wander around alone in a place like this? There’s only one person.
Nam Taemin nodded.
“Yeah, there’s only one person.”
A mage beyond mages.
Jesse Heinness.
It was definitely her.*
My scathing evaluation continued.
“The structure, too, shows not the slightest trace of deliberation.”
Anyone watching would think I had come to view real estate.
Let’s consider it fortunate that there were no eyes on me right now.
I recalled the structure of the castle I had passed through.
Entrance → Garden → Corridor → Banquet Hall → LibraryAnd the stairs visible before me.
While progressing this far, there had been no particular problems.
There had been nothing especially strange either.
Ah, if I had to point something out, there was one thing.
There were far too many portraits of Count Askyura.
Thanks to that, I had been spitting out venom nonstop.
Judging from the structure.
These were probably the only stairs leading to the upper floor.
There would be no need to check the path on the other side.
If Count Askyura had appeared, I would have heard some kind of commotion. In that case, there was a high probability that Count Askyura would appear on the second floor.
“Your attitude in receiving an honored guest also fails.”
It seemed no players had entered the second floor before me.
No players had discovered these stairs either.
I could be certain of that.
Even by my own standards, my footsteps had been incredibly fast.
Full of confidence.
Perhaps it was thanks to the fact that I had walked with my legs stretched straight ahead.
It was when I was approaching the stairs with that unwavering gait.
“Ah!”
A delicate, single cry rang out.
When I turned my head, there was a large pointed hat.
To be precise, it was a woman wearing a pointed hat pulled low.
Before I could even describe her, she approached me.
But what was this? This speed.
Wondering if wings had sprouted on her legs, I checked.
And I was even more surprised.‘……
Levitation.’Her legs were floating in the air!
I felt like crying.‘Some people have to drag science into it just to conserve mana……!’And here someone was using mana as if it were water.
It was because I had felt the gap between the mana-rich and the mana-poor.
But I did not show it.
The pointed hat looked up at my face.……
Just as I was wondering whether she could even see like that.
The hat tipped back, revealing the woman’s face.
Blond hair.
Green eyes.
Snow-white skin.……
It was a face I felt like I had seen somewhere.
If it was a face I felt I had seen, that probably meant she was an extremely famous player. Once I thought that, the ache in my chest lessened.
Right, not just anyone could use levitation like that.
“I saw you!”
“?”
“You, that really amazing magic!”
She said that to me out of nowhere.
Anyone listening would think my name was “Really Amazing Magic.”
However, judging from her sparkling pupils.
It seemed to be sincere, with no malice.
“What skill was that, exactly? It was a skill I’d never seen before! I watched that video dozens of times! But I still couldn’t figure it out! Until now, there hadn’t been a single magic-type skill I didn’t know!”
So that was what she meant.
The video she had watched dozens of times must refer to the battle in the plaza.
If it was the magic I had used there, it was the very simple magic of raising walls and pillars.
However, it was only natural that she hadn’t recognized it. Because that had been 『magic』, not a [skill].
“I was so curious I really couldn’t stand it!”
Suddenly—!
I looked at the face she thrust toward me.
It was probably an action born from pure curiosity.
Regardless of whether she understood it or not, in the old days I might have answered her. Even if only because I was bewitched by her attractive appearance.
“Could we talk about that amazing magic!”
But not now.
I opened my mouth.
“Observe proper etiquette.”
“……
Pardon? Etiquette?”
“That is the foundation one who seeks to learn must possess.”
That alone should have been enough.
But I insisted on adding one more remark.
“Unqualified. You fail.”
“Gasp…….”
An exclamation point became a question mark.
Then a period.
Would that describe it?
The vitality had vanished from her face.
Would someone even make that kind of expression if they failed to get into university?
For a brief instant, an icy silence flowed.
Then, suddenly, words appeared in my field of vision.[The skill, “Natural Enemy Relationship,” activates.]
What that message meant was simple.
The Count’s Citadel.
The only monster that appeared here, Count Askyura.
It meant he had appeared.
I reflexively looked up the stairs.
And there stood Count Askyura.
A vampire who looked exactly like the portrait.
“Askyura.”
When I said that, he replied.
“It is Count Askyura. Frail human.”
The smell of rank blood wafted from his breath.
How many lives had those fangs taken?
The density of it was incredibly thick.
Clench—The woman, who had been dazed, pulled her pointed hat down and gripped her staff again.
But at that same moment.
The emotion I felt was only one.
I laughed.
“Count? That joke passes, Askyura.”
“……
Joke? I clearly said it. I am Count Askyura……!!”
“No. You are no noble.”[Necklace Imbued with the Curse of Blood].
I took out the demon item.
“To disguise an ugly curse as authority. To share such a curse, calling it your own power, only to take it back again. Furthermore, even every decoration within this castle, from which not a speck of dignity can be felt.”
“……
What?”
“I mean that not the slightest bit of pride as a noble remains within you, Askyura. And yet…….”
Finally, I fired the last shot.
“Why is an ugly vampire still calling himself a noble?”
That provocation was the signal flare.
“Shut your mouth!! I’ll kill you!! You vermin human!!”[“Necklace Imbued with the Curse of Blood” has been selected as the sacrifice.][The skill, “Exorcism Ritual,” activates.][Inviting the vampire, Count Askyura, to the “ritual.”]