Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Cursed Extra
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Valburk unleashed a roar of fury amid a storm of swirling black magic.
The air trembled as if a dragon were roaring, putting every human in the vicinity on edge.
The wrath of a knight who had lost his lord.
Never had I seen Valburk consumed by such rage, not even in the game.
"I'll kill you all right now... and appease the king's anger."
After muttering those brief words,
he vanished from sight, leaving only faint traces of black magic behind.
'He's coming...!!'
He had vanished.
But he hadn't truly disappeared.
He had merely kicked off the ground at a speed beyond perception.
Claaang!!
I spotted him the moment Rapne thrust her spear from my arms to block his greatsword.
"Out of my way, wench...!! You filthy thing, I'll kill that bastard and shatter every bone in your body...!!"
"If you try anything weird to Ken just one more time... I'll kill your mother, your father, and your father's mother too."
It was a clash between the mightiest of the demon race and the mightiest of humanity.
The moment their spear and sword met and repelled each other in midair,
only whirlwind sword strikes filled the space.
"Ngh...!"
I shielded my face from the raging winds and urgently scanned the area.
'Where's Jerry.... What is Jerry doing...?'
Now that Arleus was dead,
Valburk wouldn't be the only one rampaging.
I frantically turned my head to find her, the one who might lose her reason and do something unpredictable.
And there she was, collapsed on the ground, cradling her lord's severed head.
Her vacant eyes stared emptily at her master's coldly cooling face.
'First things first...!'
Jerry seemed to have lost her will to fight.
In that case, what needed doing now was clear.
Deal with the berserk Valburk.
"Ken!"
"If you're alive, say something quick! I thought your heart stopped!"
Just as I moved to join Rapne,
Emily and Mary, who had been watching from afar, rushed over and threw themselves into my arms.
They hadn't dared approach amid Valburk's rampage, but now they clung to me, feeling with their own bodies that I had survived.
"Ken.... Sniff, I'm sorry. ...I did something foolish."
Mary looked up at me with a tear-streaked face and apologized.
I didn't know the full story, but it seemed she'd fallen for Jerry's scheme and ended up helping her.
Mary, who wasn't even wet from the rain, was choking back sobs.
I cherished that rare expression from her usually impassive face and pulled her close.
"I'm just glad you're safe. Really glad, Mary."
"K-Ken...."
Mary clutched my collar tight and buried her face in my shoulder.
"I'm sorry. For doubting you, Ken.... I'm glad you're safe too. ...Sniff, really glad...."
I realized it every time, but surprisingly, she had the softest heart of the three.
Jerry must have targeted that weakness.
She was innocent.
If anyone's guilty, step forward. I'll rip them limb from limb.
"Anyway, from here on, we help Rapne take that guy down."
"Yeah, that black bastard?"
"Should we all four attack at once?"
I shook my head at Mary's suggestion.
This guy was the strongest in the demon king's army, even holding the final boss spot in the game.
Of course, raw stats-wise, he couldn't match the demon king.
But in pure combat ability, no one surpassed the commander-in-chief.
And the most annoying part was his armor.
It nullified all magic damage and weakened curses and seals—a cheat-level item.
Even Emily's 'Target Seal' skill could only block his 'Death Sentence' temporarily because of it.
So mages like Mary or the ambiguously combat-capable Emily would be at risk jumping in together.
"Same as always. I'll support Rapne up front, you two provide rear support."
"Got it!"
"Understood."
No matter how strong the opponent, it wasn't different from enemies we'd faced before.
He swung his greatsword wildly in rage,
and Rapne and I blocked it together.
Then Emily from the back cast buffs, including health recovery, on us,
and Mary created openings with ice magic rather than direct attacks.
If we all worked together, we could fell even an ancient dragon.
Kaboom!!
"May the curse of the demon god be upon you. Even if you die of old age, your end won't be peaceful!!"
Valburk gnashed his teeth, showering us with empty curses as our four-pronged assault battered him.
When his swings failed, he slammed his massive sword into the ground
and extended one hand toward me.
"Exserient―!!"
Rapne moved with neural acceleration, and I struck the gaps in sync with her—our flawless close-quarters combo.
Amid that fierce battle, Valburk cast a spell out of nowhere.
Black magic gathered in his outstretched hand, activating the pre-formed spell in an instant.
But.
This might be his first time fighting me, but it wasn't my first time fighting him.
A game I'd cleared countless times.
And at the end, he always awaited Emily.
His ambush was no ambush to me.
"Rapne!"
I blocked Rapne as she lunged at Valburk.
And opposite to him, I reached back.
'Swift Fabrication...!'
Countless categories flashed in my mind.
Weapons that had all passed through my hands.
But the one I chose was the most special to me.
The first weapon I'd ever made for someone else.
'Siegfried.'
Mana became elements.
Elements became steel.
The transformed mana solidified into a jet-black sword in my hand.
The mana-absorbing Black Blade.
And the hand I'd extended backward slashed through empty air, thrusting forward.
The Black Blade cleaved nothing but air.
But it had severed something.
"Tch...."
Valburk's life-drain spell shattered against the summoned mana-absorber, and he trembled in frustration at his failed plan.
I didn't miss the opening. A red streak flashed past me.
Not magic, but superhuman movement through pure physical enhancement.
Neural Acceleration.
Rapne spun like a dancer, halting in the air before Valburk's face,
and in that frozen instant,
her golden spear pierced his obsidian helm.
Kwaaaak―!!
"......"
With his head skewered, Valburk fell silent.
He must have judged the distance out of reach.
After countless exchanges in that brief time, he'd learned the reach of her spear with his body.
At least in that moment, he hadn't thought it could touch him.
Shuuuuk.
Thud.
Rapne retracted her extended spear to its original length, pulling it from Valburk's head.
His body collapsed without support.
His rage was gone, nowhere to be felt.
"...Lord Arleus, ...Lord Valburk."
The last one remaining.
Jerry stared vacantly at the fallen Valburk, still clutching Arleus's head.
And I approached her to end this tangled karma once and for all.
The battle was over.
Arleus and Valburk were dead, and Jerry had lost her will to fight.
She couldn't face us alone.
As proven in the temple basement not long ago.
"What do you want me to do?"
I considered killing her.
But I still didn't want to stain my hands with the blood of a weakened foe who'd lost the will to fight.
So I asked her wish.
And I'd grant it.
"He... was my life. I pledged my loyalty to him."
Jerry hugged Arleus's head close to her chest.
"You all made such faces when that guy died earlier."
She lifted her vacant gaze to me and the girls at my side.
Then, with an emotionless expression, she asked,
"Hey, do I... look like you did back then?"
We didn't answer.
I'd been dead and couldn't see their faces,
and they just watched her with subtle expressions, silent.
That must have been answer enough, as Jerry bowed her head with empty eyes.
"Good. That's a relief."
Her voice was that of someone who had let everything go.
"I won't make it painful."
Sensing further talk was pointless, I swiftly fabricated Tyrpione.
The sharpest, deadliest weapon in my arsenal.
This would end her in one strike.
Just as I moved to sever her neck painlessly,
"No, no need for that."
Jerry suddenly looked up at me.
Her transparent black eyes, shrouded in inky darkness like Valburk's armor.
The moment those sucking voids met mine,
her hand covered my face.
"Keeeen!!!"
Jerry's sudden move, despite having lost her will to fight.
Everyone reacted too slowly.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't beat anyone here.
Rapne reacted first, eyes snapping open as she triggered neural acceleration and reached for me.
But no amount of physical enhancement
could outpace spatial teleportation magic.
Shooosh!
Jerry, gripping my face with one hand, teleported
to the magic circle that had summoned Arleus and Valburk.
Right in the center.
"Hey, when this guy died... you fought like you'd lost your own life, right?"
"Ngh! What the hell...!!"
My strength was draining away.
Succubus magic?
I grabbed her slender arm to pry her hand off,
but bizarrely, no power entered my body.
What kind of spell was this?
I didn't know, but one thing was clear.
"That's why it's good. I got to see in advance... what to do when you lose someone like your life."
Jerry's body was crumbling.
Everything but the hand rippling with magic.
Cracks spiderwebbed her skin, her flowing hair scattering like dust.
Her eyes lost all life, her warmth cooling rapidly.
Clearly dying, Jerry smiled for the first time since Arleus's death and looked at me.
"This is my curse. The worst curse I, who watched your love up close, can give."
Her mocking words reached the three pounding futilely against the barrier.
"I'll pray to any god. Demon god or goddess, doesn't matter."
Her cackling laugh echoed softly through the magic-shrouded space.
"May your happiness never come true. May this seed of mine bloom into a massive, beautiful flower."
My mind was fading.
I burned the images of the girls outside the barrier into my eyes with my last strength.
A foul sensation, unlike Valburk's curse moments ago.
"This is Jerry Ban Perlion's greatest dream: a space magic of illusion and reality."
And in my fading vision,
Jerry's crumbling sneer was the last thing etched.
"May you meet the worst possible end."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I stared at the thing before my eyes for a while.
It was what people called a status window.
A kind message someone sent me.
As I'd heard, the translucent blue rectangle didn't vanish no matter how much I rubbed my eyes or slapped my cheeks.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ [Name: ■ ■■■■■] Unique Skills: ■■ ■■, ■■■ ■ Unique Traits: ■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■ Owned Traits: Freak Hel■ Current Body Specs: 1■5cm, ■2kg But as I examined the contents, I tilted my head.
The status window I knew was supposed to be friendly.
This one wasn't friendly to me at all.
I couldn't make sense of it.
I shifted my gaze downward.
And there, perfectly visible, were some impressively ideal abs.
"Fuck yeah."
The so-called six-pack every guy dreams of at least once in life.
I touched them.
Whoa, hard yet smooth.
A total nice body.
Who the hell was this guy? Athlete? Model?
In this situation with zero info, the only thing clear was,
"Damn, he's hot as fuck."
I'd possessed this mystery hunk in the mirror.
And....
🔊 ROAR 🔊 [Uwaaaaaah―!!!]
A small iron-barred window in the ocher wall.
Through the narrow gap, a vast dirt arena.
Two muscular men were locked in a bloody duel there.
Swinging swords thicker than arms, blocking with axes bigger than heads.
The savage fight had crowds in the surrounding stands screaming in ecstasy.
'This has to be...'
In this barren world where no one explained shit to me,
the one thing matching my memories came into view.
The stands outside.
At the center, a roofed VIP section.
A flag planted there.
Proving which colosseum this was.
And I remembered that flag's emblem.
"No way...."
This was the otome game I played a lot, Epiris Academy!
Why would a guy like me play an otome? The villainess was... anyway, not important.
The desert nation of Rendil.
Perion Arena, where lives were wagered.
I'd possessed some nameless gladiator.
Usually it's the protagonist or at least an extra, right?
"...Fuck my life."
I cursed without thinking.