Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Rose and Lirian (1)
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It looked like a mansion on the outside, but this place was still inside a dungeon.
The staircase leading to the rooftop was a narrow straight shot, and as we climbed, the space transformed into something like the interior of a spire.
And finally, a weathered wooden door with a latch appeared before us.
A horrifying demonic energy, on an entirely different level from what I'd sensed from Alain, seeped out through the cracks in the door.
‘This is the waiting room. The boss is beyond this.’
A sharp gaze pierced through from the other side of the door.
It wasn't just my imagination.
The bosses were definitely watching us too.
For a final check, I returned White Paper and Black Cloud to Cecilia, then confirmed the Flying Edge I'd newly equipped.
Flying Edge was a finisher shard focused on critical hits, boosting critical hit chance by 5 and attack power by 1.
Considering that a stage-5 green shard gave critical hit 5, Flying Edge—which added attack power 1 as a bonus—was an essential item for me with my crit-focused build.
I'd actually planned to farm it through grinding later, but luckily, I'd picked it up this time.
It probably wouldn't be coming out of its socket anytime soon.
Next up was the special ability I hadn't checked yet.
[Edge Dance - When partying with someone you've formed a bond with, you can spend one extra turn to use a special dual art.]
Half surprised, half flustered, my brow furrowed.
‘Dual art? I had something like this too?’
Doomsday Academy had a special move called dual arts.
It was a technique where, while a player used an art, inputting a specific command triggered a cutscene with one party member, unleashing an even more powerful joint attack.
In the original story, they unlocked based on Aren's bonds with his party members, so I'd thought it was something I'd never get to use in my lifetime.
Who knew it'd come about through a special shard like this.
That said, one phrase stuck in my mind.
‘Spend one extra turn, huh.’
A penalty that didn't exist in real-time combat was attached solely to me.
With endless actions possible between turns, a turn was as good as life itself for me.
And this technique consumed a whole precious turn.
On top of that, it didn't even explain what art it was.
I'd have to try it in actual combat to find out...
If I used it wrong and it flopped, wouldn't that just screw everything up?
The dual art Aren and Cecilia used in the original was called [Song of Sun and Ice].
A technique that combined the sun-symbolizing Extreme Divine Sun Sword with the ice-symbolizing Lapis Lazuli's power to unleash a mighty flash.
Cecilia was using Lumen now, so even if we triggered a dual art, it was ninety percent likely to produce something different from the original.
No matter how much of a luck totem Cecilia was, I couldn't plan around luck.
‘Better to seal off unpredictable variables as much as possible.’
Having reached that conclusion, I explained Rose and Lirian's core mechanics to Cecilia.
Once combat starts, the space splits in two, and we'll each face one of them.
Rose mainly uses close-range physical attacks, Lirian uses long-range magic attacks. They sometimes swap positions, so we had to watch out for that especially.
When their HP drops below half, the space merges, shifting to a 2v2 battle.
From then on, they'll launch joint attacks, and we clear the dungeon by reducing both their HP to zero almost simultaneously.
“I'll take Rose, you handle Lirian.”
I kept the pattern explanation simple.
With her skill, giving too many details would just poison her.
“Rose and... Lirian...”
Her face darkened at the names she'd seen in Alain's journal.
But she nodded soon enough.
She wasn't the type to let emotions ruin things.
Even if I hadn't stepped in on the third floor, she would've gritted her teeth and cut down all the dolls. Her mood would've soured, sure.
Finally, I handed her a few herbs I'd gotten from herbology class.
She'd handle things situationally on her own.
“But eat the night orchid ahead of time. It'll block the fear status the bosses use.”
Barhatan had it too, no guarantee Rose and Lirian didn't.
The night orchid's bitterness clawed at my throat as I chewed and swallowed it.
Even Cecilia dry-heaved, so how the hell did Mine chew these casually?
After that, we poured the remaining potions over our wounds and scraped up every last Lumen grain from the first and second floors to get into peak condition.
“Let's go in.”
“......Okay.”
With all preparations done, we unlatched the door and flung open the creaking wooden portal.
But the message that popped up the moment we stepped through utterly betrayed my optimistic expectations.
[Unique Ability - Action Rewind 1 / 3]
[※Unique Ability can only be used in boss fights.]
‘...Shit.’
No reset.
I'd assumed it would.
Looks like the uses only recover after fully clearing the dungeon.
Felt like I was down an opportunity from the start.
The moment Cecilia and I fully crossed the threshold, the wooden door behind us vanished silently.
The sun had set, and a moon hung in the sky.
Bathed in moonlight, two silhouettes emerged from the darkness ahead.
Blood-red dresses.
Golden hair sparkling in the moonlight.
Red eyes.
One small in stature, the other tall—beautiful women.
But what stood out most were their arms and legs, segmented like a jointed doll's. Crudely made compared to the other wax dolls.
The Doll Dungeon bosses as seen in the original.
Rose and Lirian, exactly as they appeared.
Except for the alien red gem embedded in their chests, which I didn't remember from the original.
But I didn't panic.
After Alain's journal, I was starting to think I needed to erase the word "original" from my head entirely.
The two, who had been sitting on the floor staring at us, slowly rose.
Cecilia and I drew our swords in response.
That was when it happened.
[You're the ones who took down Klaus and Alain, right?]
A clear voice flowed from Rose's mouth.
[Are you dogs of the Church of the Main God come to interfere with us?]
A dry tone devoid of emotion. But the hostility within it came through crystal clear.
Cecilia jumped in surprise and looked at me. She clearly hadn't expected the boss to speak.
Well, I hadn't told her ahead of time.
Not that there was any special reason.
I didn't know either.
Instead of answering, I stared at the red gem embedded in her chest.
That thing oozing creepy demonic energy.
It was the only change from the original, so this alteration was likely its influence too.
‘...Should I try talking?’
I'd had no intention of chatting, but this might be an opportunity.
“You two are...”
I blocked Cecilia as she reflexively opened her mouth.
Not getting swayed by emotions and having no emotions were different things.
Given what she knew of their past from Alain's journal, just conversing could shake her composure.
In a situation where I might extract info, better to keep her out of it.
“I know Alain, but not Klaus.”
[He's an elderly priest. He was the one who took us in during our lifetimes.]
Lirian's voice was a touch colder than Rose's.
‘So the elite monster's name was Klaus.’
“They attacked first, so we had no choice.”
[You stepped into the temple, so that's to be expected. We would've left you alone if you'd just stayed put.]
[Even after taking down Alain, you could've left anytime. No need to come all this way.]
“We have our own circumstances. The holy knights camped below were trying to kill us.”
Rose tilted her head at that.
[Oh? Then we're not enemies. If your enemies are those hypocrites below, wouldn't cooperating be better?]
[We'll even let you leave quietly through the door you came in.]
Hm, really?
I turned to look at my proposal.
‘No door?’
When I faced them again, their lips had split up to their ears in grotesque grins.
[What, were you actually thinking of going back?]
[How amusing. Stepping in here with feet caked in dirt, thinking you can leave alive.]
Tch. I clicked my tongue inwardly.
From their reactions, they'd never planned to give info freely from the start.
They were fully geared to kill us outright.
[You hear it too, right? That voice in your head endlessly echoing, commanding you to kill intruders.]
[We, the true servants of the god, shall offer you as sacrifices to Him, to console the souls of those who died first.]
“Sacrifices...!”
Cecilia ground her teeth.
Considering their kind pasts from Alain's journal, she couldn't stomach them casually uttering "sacrifices."
Monsterfication's effect, probably.
Yeah, those two weren't tragic victims anymore.
They could talk and had wills, but they were monsters through and through.
Actually made my mind feel clearer.
Whether the Church of the Main God had trash or the dungeon had a sad backstory, my goal didn't change.
To take down the Evil God, I need Aren's Abyss Core. To do that, I need to clear this dungeon. Unchanged.
Enemies I had to beat anyway.
Decision made, time to move.
First-turn advantage.
Without hesitation, I kicked off the ground toward Rose, and the two pairs of red eyes flashed at us.
The gems in their chests spewed red flashes, and black fissures began spreading from the rooftop floor.
Kwaaaa—!
A curtain of dark-red demonic energy erupted like a wall of flames, instantly splitting the rooftop in two.
“Cecilia!”
“Don't worry!”
Just before the curtain closed, I saw Cecilia, pushed to the other side, aiming her sword at Lirian.
She'd handle her side fine.
I focused all my attention on Rose standing before me.
Now alone with me, Rose tilted her head.
The clacking of joints sounded eerily loud.
[Big brother... I'll play with you.]
Her eyes weren't smiling at all.
[Don't worry. I'll turn you into a pretty wax doll... just like us, so you can stay here with us forever.]
That was when it happened.
Sunlight, impossible in the nighttime darkness, began shining down.
Rose's Sun Domain deployed, filling the surroundings with sweltering heat.
In the Sun Domain, HP drained with every movement. I had to cut her to half health and enter phase 2 before that.
[True servant of the god. Priestess of the Tartarus Cult, Rose Iliyas, hereby pronounces divine punishment.]
The moment she finished speaking, Rose's body vanished like smoke.
No, not vanished.
She'd kicked off the ground and charged at speeds hard to track with the eye.
Feeling the chill at my back, I spun reflexively and swung my sword.
Kaaang—!
A metallic clash rang out.
Somehow, a dark-red spear had formed in Rose's hand—one that hadn't been there before.
The corrupted holy spear, Kallos.
The sacred relic, once imbued with holy energy, now brimmed with demonic power, radiating a ferocious glow.
The instant the fallen holy spear clashed with Jester's Sword, a blue gem floated above my head.
⁎⁎⁎
I looked beyond the barrier, but Haribal's figure was obscured by the demonic energy.
‘Haribal... is he okay?’
But she soon shook her head.
Haribal had already explained the bosses to her.
She didn't know how he knew, but if he was right, her role in this fight was crucial.
‘Right. I need to focus on my opponent.’
Only then did Cecilia clear her mind and face the doll before her squarely.
Lirian opened her mouth with a soft smile.
[True servant of the god. Priestess of the Tartarus Cult, Lirian Iliyas, shall grant you eternal rest.]
The already dark night grew even blacker, like pitch.
In the sky, a sinister crescent moon replaced the full moon that had been there.
‘This is... the Moon Domain Haribal mentioned...!’
According to him, physical attack power decreased in the Moon Domain, but magic-infused techniques amplified in power.
Proving it, pure white mana boiled around her body like lava.
If Cecilia had honed purely physical swordsmanship, she'd have been defenseless here.
‘Amazing... it's like he knew all this long ago.’
Suddenly, the seven white shards Haribal had given her in the past came to mind.
As his first gift to her, even after replacing everything with stage-2 shards, she'd kept those precious ones without synthesizing them.
Infusing mana into her sword swings had never even occurred to her before receiving the shards.
All the changes had started after getting them.
What if it was all for this moment?
What if Haribal had guided her here from long ago... for this instant?
More than doubt, gratitude welled up first in her heart.
He'd always shown her the path forward, the way to grow stronger. Without him, she wouldn't be who she was now.
‘So I have to repay him.’
His faith, his plans, everything about him.
“Haaaaah!!”
Cecilia raised her sword high to the sky with a resolute shout.
Holy light wrapped around the blade.
Shatter Light.
But right then—
Behind Lirian, a sinister inverted sun emblem appeared.
“Ah......!”
Immediately after, black darkness bloomed from Lirian's fingertips, igniting into black flames.
‘Mom... Mommy...?’
The black flames used by the cult followers.
The horrific memory from that day resurfaced, and the light faded from Cecilia's eyes.
Her resolute face paled, her powered grip on the sword wavered, and her Shatter Light stance crumbled.
Lirian didn't miss that split-second opening.
Puuubububung—!
The black flames shooting from her fingertips struck Cecilia's defenseless body head-on.