61 - Taicheonsa (2)
I surrender my body to instinct and sprint at full speed. My muscles ache fiercely. The pain from the duel still lingers throughout my entire frame.
But it doesn't matter. The writer has finally thrown the first stone.
Main Event: ???
Mission Objective: Until Yeriel's Taicheonsa Transformation - 13:37
Mission Objective 2: Prove that you are no longer a side character
Rewards: 'Lev Denek's common trait 'Side Character' will be deleted. Anonymous feedback (real-time) will no longer occur
Time Remaining: 13:37
Is it really... because Kaeran His is being held back?
Judging by the rewards, if I endure this writer's intervention, it seems like the bastard won't meddle with me anymore.
Even if that's the case, the game's difficulty is already hell+@, and the story has started twisting bit by bit because of my existence.
Anyway, the writer's final quest for me is... 'Stop Yeriel's Taicheonsa Transformation.'
According to the fanfic, Yeriel's first forced Taicheonsa Transformation doesn't happen in Chapter 2—right now—but in Chapter 3.
After the academy's first semester ends, during the break, she sees Aria and Edwin together, misunderstands their relationship, and takes some time alone.
That's when a Taicheonsa approaches and tries to forcibly twist her mind into corruption. It's also foreshadowing that realizing her true feelings is her corruption condition.
And through the floating MacGuffin character 'Umberto,' this subplot has been pulled forward.
'Time remaining... already 13 minutes...'
The difficulty of this quest right now is the worst of the worst.
The reason is simple. Regardless of what happens after Yeriel becomes a Taicheonsa, there's no time.
Even taking the express loop train from here in the Colosseum of Struggle to the remote Selafi Black Dorm tucked in the corner would take over 40 minutes.
Waiting for the train, or on a crowded day like today? Forget it.
Asking someone else for help is the same. Most academy personnel are around the Colosseum for ranking battles week, and I don't have time to grab anyone and convince them that "Something's happening at the Black Dorm!"—nor do they trust me.
"So you're showing your hand like this, huh?"
My guess is that the writer set such an ambiguous limit like 19 minutes because this might be the full extent of his intervention authority or power dumped into this.
If he really wanted to screw me over from the start, he could've made it 1 minute or 1 second.
So this is his limit. Though 19 minutes is still insanely difficult...
"If I see the ending, you're first on my list."
...I didn't need to rack my brains over how to overcome this impasse.
The answer was right nearby for a veteran like me.
Tadadak!
The place I reached by furiously working my legs was the Evolution Chamber.
"Still here!"
Sinatis. The wind monster, Sinatis.
She was yawning as she lowered the chamber's shutter.
"Professor!"
??, ??, ?!
Her expressionless face showed pupil earthquakes upon seeing me. I caught my breath two or three times, then grabbed Sinatis's hands and pleaded.
"Give me a ride, please."
* * *
Drip.
In the Selafi Black Dorm basement, water drops one by one from the ceiling.
Drip.
Like these perilously falling droplets,
Flutter, flutter...
a woman with snow-white purity trembled as if she might shatter, bound in restraints.
"Being naive has its limits, you know."
"…"
"Did they teach you it's okay to bring strange men home? Or that it's not?"
"…!"
The war hero, sorcerer, Umberto is not here. He's already dead.
Wearing his shell is a demon who became a fallen angel at Belial's call.
Tobiel.
Once a high angel, he wasn't noteworthy as just one among many, but he derived a clear answer himself.
Deceive humans, tempt them, drag out their vile desires, and use that as fuel to grow.
How could there be such an easy path to strength?
Having mastered humanity's endless craving for power, he didn't hesitate to choose the path of corruption.
And finally, he found her.
A girl who, though human, possessed the qualities of a Taicheonsa.
"It's okay. I've been watching you for a long time."
"……"
Yeriel couldn't respond to his sticky, repulsive words.
Not just her arms and legs were bound.
To her, who merely frowned and closed her eyes, Tobiel whispered in her ear.
"Yeah, just stay that quiet, okay?"
Snap!
As he snapped his fingers,
Flash!
"!!"
Yeriel's vision went pitch black, as if cut off.
But she was calmer than she appeared. This was just a demon's illusion magic to scare her.
So, stay calm. There'll definitely be a chance. She clung to hope.
And Tobiel, silently watching this, grinned chillingly.
What's the easiest way to draw out a human's true nature?
Fear of death? Half right, half wrong.
Death certainly makes humans honest. But humans are so prone to self-hypnosis that sometimes they steel themselves for it.
So Tobiel's method was simple.
Strip away even the right to death.
The curse of sensory deprivation.
One by one, block the target's sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell—sever their nerves, and thrust them into an empty void.
A black space where they see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing, can't move, can't even scream—but their mind stays perfectly intact, unable to lose consciousness.
Not primal fear of death, but confronting an endless solitary world where they can't even die.
'Kuk... At that moment, show me your true self...'
This would surely draw out her true nature.
…Yet even with her sight blocked, Yeriel remained still.
"Holding up well?"
Most girls her age would be screaming their lungs out.
That's why he'd botched things in anger more than once or twice.
"Then..."
Snap!
Next came hearing and touch.
After Tobiel's disgusting finger snap, Yeriel could hear nothing anymore.
'…!!'
Slowly...
Strength drained from her limbs. No—as if it never existed, sensation vanished from the ends of her body inward.
Facing this sightless, soundless situation for the first time,
'Sca… scary?'
Terror began to creep from deep within Yeriel.
It felt like her very existence would vanish like this.
The moment that thought crossed her mind,
"Hic... ha... ah. Haa."
unconscious ragged breaths escaped her lips.
Tobiel, as if waiting, brought his face right before hers, inhaling her breath through his nose, savoring it deeply.
"Snuuup... haa..."
"……"
"Prime quality. If not for the Taicheonsa potential, I'd have taken you myself... So regrettable..."
"……"
Watching her fragile body tremble harder, Tobiel smacked his lips repeatedly.
Too hasty. He should've checked her reaction before blocking hearing.
How long had it been since he got aroused over a mere human girl?
"Hic, ha. Haa..."
Yeriel's breaths quickened.
"This means you want me too, right? Are you deliberately driving me crazy?!"
Her purity, angelic enough to believe she was one, flipped him like Othello—he wanted to dye that white with lust's black.
"Can't hold back anymore?"
Slide. Slide.
A filthy hand trailed over Yeriel's abdomen, where sensation hadn't fully vanished.
'Eut…!'
At the groping disgust, Yeriel instinctively tilted her chin up.
Drip.
Her unfocused eyes moistened, on the verge of forming ceiling-like droplets.
"Yes, cry like that, all feisty. Stimulate me more..."
Did this girl not realize her very appearance provoked the demon?
'No good... Can't hold it. Time to brand her lower abdomen with the demon's mark...'
As Tobiel resolved on his final horrific play,
Piiiing!
A clean, taut sound rang out, and light seeped in.
"…?!"
A single beam illuminated the basement.
"Ah...?"
It evoked memories of his baptism in his angel days.
"!…!"
By the time he snapped to awareness, it was too late.
The light's path targeted only Tobiel's heart.
"Wha—what...? Gahk!!!"
Grrrk!!!!
With agonized coughing, thin blood boiled up.
Sizzzle!!!
The pierced spot burned as if engulfed in purifying flames.
"Th—this...!!"
Piii—ing!
The mysterious red light gave no respite.
"Gaaaaahhh!!!"
The instant he staggered up, another beam struck—through his head, his right eye.
* * *
Agility-proportional bonus damage
Holy attribute enchantment bonus damage
Water Dragon Poseidaros tendon effect: Water attribute bonus damage
Damage multiplier: 950%
Aggro +99
Aggro: 100
Recluse passive deactivated
Remaining wind energy: 0/160
"…"
I'd depleted all my wind energy in the match with Kaeran, so no more afterimages from now on.
The two shots just now deactivated my Recluse trait too.
Time until Yeriel's Taicheonsa: 2:18
'Time's razor-thin too.'
So all that's left to me is Mainhwa.
I have to annihilate him with this.
"Graaak... graaaaaah!!"
The demon in Umberto's form writhed in pain, reverting to his grotesque true appearance.
Hideous black wings, red skin. No different from a devil.
"...What iiiis thiiiis!!!???"
Only now noticing me, he clutched the crossbow bolt in his right eye and wailed.
I ignored him and first checked on Yeriel.
Shiver, shiver...
Regrettably, no vitality from her.
As in the original, he'd already cursed her with sensory deprivation.
'No chance of being spotted...'
I immediately activated Mainhwa.
Expected duration: 51.55 seconds
Unaccustomed mana clings chaotically to my body.
Kikikikikigig!!
"…!"
Is it because my condition's off? The pain hits harder than expected, my whole body screaming in protest.
But I forcibly shoved the black mana radiating around me in ash-gray dispersal back in, cramming it down.
'Feels like shit...'
Controlling corruption was more grueling than I'd thought.
Felt like Leraje behind me, Andras gaping in front.
I gripped my crumbling mind and aimed the crossbow at him.
Click.
"W-wait a second!!"
"…"
The demon bastard started blubbering like a pathetic villain.
"Th—this place has a demon illusion spell on it, right?"
"…"
"Filthy creature like you has no right to enter or judge me!"
Why do demons and fiends always call humans "creations"?
"It's fine. I'm a demon too."
With that, I pulled the trigger.