Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Necromancer King Necredin (7)
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The girl's mother prayed.
For her newborn child to have red hair.
That way, she could bask in the light on stage.
Her prayer was answered.
Alicia Cyrus was born with beautiful red hair.
People prayed for the girl.
For her to be brilliant enough to bear the empire's sun.
But the girl wasn't brilliant enough.
What she truly desired was not the throne, but the stage as an actress.
The day she first confessed that to her mother, she would never forget the expression on her mother's face.
That day, the girl realized.
She could never become an actress.
So she donned a mask.
The mask of the brilliant princess.
The masked girl learned the palace's etiquette, and mastered hiding her emotions and concealing her true feelings faster than anyone.
Masks piled up on her face, one by one.
She did things she didn't want to do.
She let go of the things she desired, one by one.
By the time she was around ten, the people of the empire began to revere and fear her.
But that wasn't what she wanted. She just longed for someone to see her as she truly was.
Yet the more she wore the princess's mask, the more people fixated only on the mask.
The emperor saw a successor in her, the attendants saw a flawless master, and her political rivals saw a ruthless red scale.
No one tried to see the girl behind the mask.
She realized.
On the stage called the palace, she could never become an actress.
Even so, she couldn't leave the stage.
Then.
If she couldn't leave the stage, she would dominate it.
She became not an actress, but a director.
And others became the actors ascending her stage.
She wrote scripts, directed performances, and designed stage setups while switching through dozens of masks.
Her presence must never surface above the water.
It would shatter the immersion of the work.
One day, she cast off all her masks and faced the mirror.
Inside the mirror was a single girl.
She felt relieved. She had worried that after piling on so many masks, they might stick to her skin and refuse to come off.
The girl in the mirror was still dreaming.
Of a stage lit by thousands of lights shining on her, revealing her true self in the most radiant glow.
She repeated that dream in her heart.
"When the lights come on."
Cue sign sounds.
Curtain rises.
Song flows.
Then, not as the princess, but as Alicia.
She would entrust everything to the most radiant light.
When the curtain falls, people will say.
"What a clichéd happy ending."
A resolution known only to her.
"What if someone says that to you?"
"Then..."
It won't happen.
Only she knows of her existence.
But if such a moment comes.
The words 'lights on' are the director's language.
If someone says that to her.
He must be the one who will place her on the greatest stage.
"If such a moment comes."
The two girls' mouths opened in unison.
"I will devote everything to that person."
⁎⁎⁎
[Why that...]
As soon as they entered the boss room, Alicia used Crimson Binding.
Crimson Binding stole away Necredin's freedom of movement.
The battle that should have begun with Halibal's first strike and Necredin's summons.
Alicia had seized the first turn.
"Senior?!"
"Kuhuhuhuhu! Didn't I tell you to call me Alicia!"
The words only she could understand, spoken to her by Halibal.
And at the timing right before the boss fight began.
Alicia reached a conclusion.
'It was me speaking to myself. Devote everything to Halibal and turn this situation around.'
She didn't know how it was possible.
But it was possible.
And that was the absolute principle she had set for existing as Alicia.
What madman in the world would say something like 'lights on' to a princess?
There were many possibilities.
A world she didn't know about.
Seeing the future.
Having experienced the past once.
Or simply layers of luck stacking up.
Or perhaps all of it.
It didn't matter.
Alicia simply had to do her utmost to make this stage end in a happy ending.
The moment she flung open the boss room door and stepped in.
For some reason, she 'saw' it.
The opponent's information.
[Party Member Bonus: Script Direction]
[When partying with Alicia Cyrus, Alicia can view some information on the opponent's attack patterns.]
On top of that, what problem would arise soon, and how to resolve it.
It all drew itself in her mind.
"Flowers don't stay red for ten days!"
Red lights descend.
The curtain rises.
⁎⁎⁎
In this round, I didn't tell anyone my secret.
No, before I could even say it, Alicia had burst through the door.
I was bewildered by her inexplicable confidence.
'She can check the opponent's information?'
Alicia's party member bonus was groundbreaking. Especially against a boss with patterns different from the original.
With her power, there was no need to probe patterns with scouts.
It was as if her unique analytical ability had manifested as a skill.
But why give it to Alicia instead of me?
Well, she's a buffer anyway, so it doesn't matter...
Her reason for taking the first strike made sense too.
She probably read the info and judged it safe.
Necredin summoned wraiths.
As Logia took the attack, Alicia shouted.
"Mana is still full, so swing away!"
"...Understood!"
'No way she planned this.'
To activate Crimson Flame Ghost Formation, it requires one turn each from me and Alicia.
But if Alicia had already spent her turn, I could activate it with just mine.
In other words, halving the turn cost. A classic cost-efficiency maximization in turn-based games.
It was such a rational judgment, I wondered if she could even see turn-based combat.
Alicia knew the dungeon's absolute ironclad rule better than anyone.
Buff first, fight later.
With buffs placed before every action.
"Holy Calling!"
Kwa-gwang!!
The turns needed for victory advanced by one.
Thus, on the 5th turn.
Necredin's shell peeled away, entering phase 2.
"Halibal."
"Yes."
"If the chance comes, don't miss it."
'She really knows.'
She even seemed to know I'd use Harvest.
But there was still one unresolved issue.
The Road Companion pattern.
I had no idea how to break it.
'There must be some way.'
No matter what, the goal of defeating the boss remained unchanged.
I gritted my teeth and swung my sword.
And finally.
[Attack!]
That moment arrived.
Groggy timing.
This was definitely the chance.
But...
'If we use a joint attack, won't we all die together?'
A joint attack would be a technique where four act simultaneously.
It was possible.
'Even if not, one of us will die anyway. Whether me, Mina, Aren, or Alicia.'
There was no turning back now.
As my hand froze in hesitation.
"Halibal. Trust me and move."
Alicia's voice rang out.
Her eyes could see even Necredin's Road Companion pattern. There might be a strategy I didn't know.
'Yeah. There's only one choice anyway.'
I gripped Rene.
And focused my will on the [Attack!] prompt above its head.
[Special Ability: Harvest activated.]
In that instant, blue lines flowing from Rene bound our four bodies as one.
"What is this?! Enemy attack?!"
"What happened...?!"
"Don't panic."
Alicia smiled.
"The time for the finale has come, that's all."
Soon, between the four gems floating above our heads, a massive colorless gem manifested.
The faint aura emanating from it.
It was Rene's.
At that moment, Necredin looked up at the sky as if it could see the gem.
The instant it swung its hand, the boss room flooded with blue light, and a blue gem rose above Alicia's head.
Mana flowing from her fan shaped into Crimson Binding, restraining Necredin.
In that moment, the gem above Alicia's head shattered into fragments and flew into the massive gem.
Absorbing the fragments, the gem faintly tinted blue.
Next was Mina.
As she raised her hand entranced, the dungeon ceiling split, and a pillar of light fell from the heavens.
Kwaaaang!!
Sacred radiance stabbed down at the lich bound by the veil, as if to incinerate its soul.
Mina's gem was absorbed, filling with color.
[Kieeeeek!]
Third was Aren.
Before the light even faded, she threw herself into the flash.
Swaeaeaeak!
Sword strikes too fast for the eye to follow.
Countless golden sword lines etched into the bones.
Aren's gem was absorbed too.
Finally.
At the center of the cracks bound by Alicia, burned by Mina, and etched by Aren, I thrust my sword swirling with ashen energy.
Kwajik!
With a sound like shattering glass, Necredin's body began to crumble along the sword lines.
Soon, the fully colored gem roared like a beast, scattering blue light everywhere.
Rene's voice echoed in my mind.
The name of the joint attack.
『Climax』
[Harvest - When the user has partied with three or more bonded individuals and groggies the opponent, consume all party members' turns to unleash the powerful 『Climax』.]
The violently pulsing gem gathered the blue light into one and plummeted like a meteor onto Necredin's head.
Kwaaaang!!
The entire dungeon flickered blue, and all sounds ceased.
"Haa... haa...!"
Only ragged breaths could be heard.
Gazing at the dust-filled space, I clung to hope.
'Maybe one-shotting it skips the pattern?'
Perhaps that's what Alicia read.
But that hope was short-lived. In the settling dust stood Necredin, still barely alive.
'Damn...!'
Either it didn't die in one hit.
Or the pattern triggers regardless.
"Everyone, stay in place..."
As Necredin bared its eerie smile again to use Road Companion.
Puk!
"...Huh?"
Alicia mercilessly smashed its skull with her fan.
"That should do it."
I blankly turned to Alicia.
In the previous round, it was Mina's turn right before Necredin used Road Companion.
So Mina landed the finishing blow and fell to it.
But now?
Alicia took the first strike and buff upon entering the dungeon.
That action tangled the turns differently from before.
So now, after 『Climax』 ended, the turn went not to Mina, but to Alicia.
"For some reason, it popped into my head. This thing has a very annoying skill."
Alicia said calmly, looking at Necredin.
"No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn't see a way to counter it. But..."
"...Senior?"
She turned to me with a faint smile.
"Switching roles is always possible."
In that instant, black chains erupted from Necredin's body, binding Alicia.
"...As expected. It ends like this."
"What's this?! You knew?!"
"I knew."
"Then why!"
"What else could we do?"
Alicia looked at me.
"Were you going to? Or Mina? Or Aren?"
"That's...!"
"You're all protagonists, unlike me. My role can be replaced by anyone."
"No, you're a protagonist to me too. Far more than... I mean!"
"Yet you couldn't fill the role of lead actor."
The chains began to coil around her neck.
Her voice trembled faintly.
"But I... already... had my fun."
Her gaze turned to me.
"The last script with you... I quite liked it."
"Alicia..."
She whispered a code only I could understand.
"...The lights are out."
Her eyes slowly closed.
"Kuhut. Truly... a clichéd... happy ending, isn't it..."
The gem extinguished.
Chalalak.
With her final breath, the chains binding her lost power and fell to the floor.
Alicia's body collapsed before me like a doll with cut strings.
I blankly caught her falling form.
She was so light.
The heat and dignity that commanded the battlefield moments ago were gone, leaving only a cooling corpse.
"Se-Senior...?"
"Princess...?"
Aren and Mina finally grasped the situation and rushed over.
Just before, in the last round, I had looked down at Mina's cold body in the exact same spot.
[Unique Ability - Action Rewind 3 / 3]
I'd already used the final chance.
No turning back.
'Is this... reality?'
"Lies...! How could this...!"
Aren collapsed where Alicia had stood moments ago.
I looked down at Alicia's closed eyes.
'Truly... a clichéd happy ending, isn't it...'
Her final words wouldn't leave my mind.
She knew.
The ending of this stage.
And she had volunteered herself as the final sacrifice.
To complete this clichéd happy ending, the director herself gladly ascended the stage and drank the poisoned cup.
'The lights are out, senior.'
As I carefully lifted her body.
"No."
Mina's clear voice rang out.
"I don't... want to part with the princess yet..."
"Mina."
"All this time... I've only been a burden."
Mina's voice echoed through the empty temple.
"I couldn't protect injured Alicia, couldn't fight at the front like Aren, couldn't think of anything like you, Halibal. I just kept being scared, wanting to run..."
Tears flowed from her eyes.
"Yet... you all brought me this far. You never gave up!"
"..."
"But...! Why only the princess...!"
I stared at her, entranced.
"I saw it in plays. I absolutely won't accept this ending. So..."
Eyes filled with resolve.
"As the empire's saintess, I will bring us all back together."
It was then.
'...Why?'
The blue gem above her head.
It hadn't disappeared; it remained.
Even above me and Aren.
Necredin's red gem was gone.
The battle was over.
So why were our party's turn gems still active?
'No way...'
[Dual Arts - Halibal & Mina]
[Conditions not met. Cannot use.]
The Dual Arts with Mina that hadn't activated then.
If those conditions were...
With trembling hands, I gripped Rene.
And focused my will on Mina once more.
[Dual Arts - Halibal & Mina]
[Available]
[Resurrection]
[Consume a special Abyss Core to revive one party member once.]