Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Grave King Necredin (3)
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Alicia's turn.
The wailing wraiths instantly reverted to their original forms.
Shellop, who had been gasping for breath, opened his mouth.
[...It seems we've become demonic beasts.]
[Ah...! How could such a tragic thing happen!]
The wraiths each wore expressions of profound grief.
One of them, named Shusha, was even shedding tears.
It was all psychological warfare. When shaking Mine failed, they switched targets to Alicia.
She was someone who, despite appearances, never lost respect for the empire's soldiers.
Alicia opened her mouth.
"Two days ago, Pasha came by."
[......Pardon?]
"I delivered your belongings to her. She accepted your death and wished us victory."
[......Pasha, that child came all the way here?]
"But will it do for you, her father, to stand in our way?"
The wraiths all turned to look at Alicia in unison.
She continued without paying them any mind.
"Brave souls who gave your lives for the empire. I, Alicia Cyrsa, princess of the empire, command you."
Then she unfurled her fan and drew upon her mana.
"Die once more for the empire."
Flowers Fade in Eleven Days.
At Alicia's unhesitating dance, the wraiths visibly wavered.
After staring at her for a long while, a light that shouldn't exist returned to the wraiths' eyes.
[...For the empire.]
They began dismantling their own forms of their own accord.
They weren't disappearing.
The shells that had maintained the appearance of soldiers simply peeled away, revealing the squirming true forms of the Wraiths beneath.
No matter how mingled the wraiths were, preserving their appearances from life required at least a sliver of consciousness.
In life, they had been soldiers who threw themselves into the Demon God's Dungeon, not knowing what awaited them.
That was no act for the mildly loyal; it demanded true devotion to the empire.
Alicia's words and actions must have rekindled their long-forgotten loyalty.
Arren's turn.
Arren gripped Sun Shine.
"Kahk...!"
At that moment, blood erupted from her mouth.
Her pallid face suggested her condition was steadily worsening.
Arren hadn't entered the dungeon planning to throw her life away. Collapsing on the third floor—what then of the remaining four?
That's why she'd directed Mine to attack as well; she must have judged she still had some leeway.
In truth, though she'd taken three hits, none were fatal wounds.
So why?
Just then, dark crimson stains spread from her wounds.
Alicia murmured.
"...Corpse Poison."
Attacks from undead beasts carried a chance of inflicting Corpse Poison. Skeleton soldiers and zombies were all corpses, after all.
But who would have thought even a wraith's attack could inflict it.
This must be that damned bishop's doing.
Corpse Poison spread slowly through the body, unlike virulent toxins.
Arren probably hadn't noticed until just now.
Emotional ploys, psychological warfare, and now poison to boot.
They'd gathered every filthy trick in the book.
Arren seemed to realize it too, her gaze shifting to the bag containing the antidote herbs.
However, Necredin twitched his fingers in sync with her movement.
He was predicting her actions and preparing his next attack.
Even pulling out the antidote herb, consuming it, and expelling the poison would count as part of her turn.
If the turn passed straight to Necredin, her recovery would be for naught.
Here, Arren threw caution to the wind.
"Sun Shine."
Activating a core's ability consumed tremendous stamina. In her poisoned state, the burden would double.
In such a condition, Sun Shine's physical enhancement was like borrowing from the future—a debt.
A halo appeared above Arren's head, and she assumed the stance of the God-Slaying Single Sword.
"No Mind."
The God-Slaying Single Sword's sole mob-clearing art.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!
A barrage infused with solar radiance began shredding the wraiths.
[Kiaaaaaak!]
But the range fell a bit short.
The original game was built around taking down single-target bosses.
Naturally, AoE skills were trash-tier, and Arren's No Mind couldn't hit all five at once.
The God-Slaying Single Sword was a 1v1 specialized sword art from the start.
'Not enough range to wipe them all at once.'
And it wasn't just Arren's problem.
My only AoE was the underwhelming Backlight.
Deathblow was decent enough, but wasting a turn charging against a boss with unknown patterns felt risky.
Mine's heals and Holy Calling were single-target, and Alicia wasn't attack-oriented to begin with.
The original Necredin wouldn't have required such deliberations.
"Cough...!"
The moment the flurry of light ceased, Arren's body swayed violently.
"Lady Arren!"
"Arren!"
She collapsed to the floor, vomiting dark crimson blood.
[Ah... How regrettable. Behold. Your pitiful friend.]
Necredin's turn.
Necredin crooked a finger toward Arren.
'Pitiful my ass.'
The four wraiths moved as one once more.
This time, to sever Arren's lifeline completely.
Full of openings, she couldn't possibly withstand the assault.
'Mine...'
Kwa-duk! Seok!
"Kuh...!"
Alicia stepped in front of her.
She was the only one among us with a defense-oriented build.
The damage wouldn't be as severe as it was for Arren.
But that was just by my standards.
In reality, there was no way it didn't hurt.
How many times in her life had a noble princess like her endured the agony of blades piercing her flesh?
Blood fountained from her back and shoulder, but Alicia didn't so much as groan, let alone scream.
"Princess!"
"If you fall here, it'll be trouble. You and Halibal—both of you must endure."
She was right.
Our firepower was already lacking; we couldn't afford to lose one of them.
Still, who would have thought she'd throw herself into the fray.
To her, perhaps Arren, I, and the empire's other soldiers were all the same.
My turn.
No room for choice.
I'd more or less grasped the gimmick.
I immediately fed Arren the antidote herb.
Black fluid began seeping from her body like sweat.
The detoxification was underway.
Come to think of it, Alicia must be poisoned too.
"Senior, you need to take an antidote herb as well."
"I know."
Mine's turn.
"Raphael!"
As planned, she summoned Rozia.
Rozia appeared and, as if reading Mine's mind, rushed to Arren and began healing her wounds.
In the following Alicia's turn, she consumed an antidote herb too.
In Arren's turn, she steadied herself, gripped her sword anew, and charged the wraiths.
Necredin's attack came again.
Thus, the protracted exchange of blows dragged on.
Attack, take hits, detoxify, recover.
But the situation wasn't as hopeless as it seemed.
'It's not impossible.'
Unlike us, Necredin showed no signs of recovering health.
Arren's mishap stemmed purely from carelessness and the unexpected poison. Once recovered and regrouped, she wouldn't fall for the same trick.
Plus, we had Rozia now.
As a summon, Rozia required no separate care, boosting our odds further.
So, 100 turns. 200 turns.
No telling how long it would last.
But if we dragged it out as long as possible, we could win by attrition.
In that way, we gradually whittled away at Necredin's vitality.
And after about 10 turns.
[Very well. That's enough.]
Necredin suddenly clapped.
The ominous gesture made all four of us flinch simultaneously.
"...Enough of what?"
[Don't you know? The time limit is up.]
Hearing that, I realized something was off.
Why had I only noticed now?
The area had long been shrouded in demonic energy.
It was then.
[......No... don't...]
A single tear streamed from Necredin's eye.
......Sister?
This wasn't Mine jumping the gun.
Even to me, that tear looked genuine.
In her tear, I glimpsed not Necredin, but the consciousness of Sister Arisha.
[No! Please, everyone, run! Hurry!]
"Run?"
[Why! Why must I...! Why must I be the one to reap these precious children with my own hands?! Why?!]
With her scream, a sinister shockwave erupted centered on her.
[Truly... I'm sorry... If not for me... if only I weren't here...]
The surrounding demonic energies began to swirl, and the wraiths spilling from the jade throne merged into the form of a massive scythe.
Gripping the scythe was a shadow emerging from behind the throne.
A familiar silhouette.
'Necredin...!'
The true form of Necredin, as seen in the original game.
As Necredin raised the soul-forged scythe high into the sky, instinct told me:
The moment it swung, something irreversible would happen.
But I couldn't stop it.
Couldn't dodge.
It wasn't just me who sensed it.
"Rozia!"
Mine cried out desperately.
She took a defensive stance with Rozia out front, but her hands trembled mercilessly.
Alicia, bleeding, unfurled her fan and squeezed out her last mana. Her expression twisted for the first time.
Arren regripped her sword and gritted her teeth.
But her eyes stayed glued to the scythe.
We all knew.
It was futile.
[Reaper's Scythe.]
As the scythe swung, the world turned ashen.
At the edge of my vision, my comrades crumbled to dust.
'Ah.'
As consciousness faded, a word surfaced.
Berserk Mode.
The sudden-death gimmick: surpass the enrage timer, and it wipes the party with an ultimate.
Ah, so that's why the attacks felt lax.
Who knew they'd tucked this away too.
'Pour every AoE we have into wiping all five within 10 turns... That was the key.'
But how?
I had to think.
Next time, for sure...
My vision went black—
[Unique Ability - Action Rewind 1 / 3]
With the familiar sensation, time rewound.
⁎⁎⁎
I stood before the door leading to Necredin's jade throne.
Thup.
"Eek?! Wh-what's wrong all of a sudden?"
I first covered Mine's ears.
I parted my fingers slightly and whispered into her ear.
"For now, summon Rozia first."