Ending Maker Chapter 3
Ending Maker Chapter 3
Chapter 1 - Pleiades #3
The Nine Yin Meridian Blockage referred to a constitution in which one's innate yin energy was so overwhelming that it caused abnormalities throughout the body's meridians, preventing the proper circulation of qi.
Therefore, to treat the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, it was necessary to first dispel the yin energy obstructing the body's meridians, and what was needed for that was a force of extreme yang to counter the extreme yin of the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage.
"You know what Yuder eats half a year from now, right?"
"I know. It's the Sunfire Carp."
"Oh, as expected of the server's #2. You're second for a reason, huh?"
"Heh heh, well, I am rather—no, wait. Are you going to keep poking at me with that #2, #2 stuff?"
Cordelia narrowed her eyes and warned him, but Yuder just grinned slyly.
Teasing her in the chat window had already been fun, but now that Yellow Storm had become a beautiful girl and he could even see her expressions, it was even more entertaining.
"Well, anyway, as you know, the Sunfire Carp is a carp that carries the power of extreme yang."
"So, are you saying we should go fishing to catch the Sunfire Carp?"
"Are you really #2 on the server?"
"I am! I'm #2 on the server, okay?"
"Right, and I'm #1."
When Cordelia's clenched fist began to tremble, Yuder immediately moved on to the next topic. Knowing when to push and when to ease off mattered in everything.
'And besides... this one's specialty was a bit different from mine.'
Outboxer009 and Yellow Storm had held the top two spots on the server rankings side by side, but their actual play styles had taken completely different paths.
'I was a strategy player, and she was just a brawler.'
If Outboxer009 was a strategy player who delved into the characters, events, items, and everything else that existed in the game to the absolute limit to earn achievement points, then Yellow Storm was an extreme combat player who simply hunted a lot and raised her score that way.
Of course, since both of them were rotten fossils, Outboxer009 was also good at combat, and Yellow Storm likewise knew Hero Legend 2 inside and out, but even so, their areas of expertise were clearly different.
'Anyway.'
Yuder cleared the idle thoughts from his head and quickly continued.
"If we get our hands on an item with the power of extreme yang, we can treat the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage much faster."
"I get that, but is there anything like that around here?"
Cordelia furrowed her brow and racked her memory.
When it came to extreme yang items, as Yuder said, there were quite a few besides the Sunfire Carp, but it was questionable whether there was anything that Yuder and Cordelia could obtain on their own at this point in time.
"There's one. And it's nearby. By now, you should know too, right?"
"Huh? Uh... um... Ah, that thing. That. Hmm, right, that existed."
Cordelia nodded with the stiff expression of someone reciting straight from a textbook.
"Right, that thing. So help me deal with that thing. Since it's that thing, you know what we need to prepare, right?"
"Ah, I know. Yeah, I know."
Know, my ass. It was obvious she didn't know a single thing.
Clicking his tongue, Yuder decided to just tell her the answer. Teasing her was fun, but time wasn't infinite.
"We can use the Sun's Necklace that Leisegang has."
"Right, Leisegang's Sun's Necklace—Leisegang?! The demon Leise—mmph!"
Startled, Cordelia shot up from her seat and tried to raise her voice, but fortunately, he managed to cut her off in time.
Yuder hastily clamped his hand over Cordelia's mouth and spoke in a low voice.
"Hey, we're meeting in secret right now, you know?"
And at midnight, in the dead of night, no less.
It was fortunate that most of the household had gone on campaign with his father, because otherwise someone would have come over after hearing that shout just now.
"Calmed down? If you've calmed down, I'm taking my hand off, okay?"
At Yuder's question, Cordelia nodded.
"Good, letting go."
"Pwah—! Hey, did you really just talk about Leisegang? The Red Moon demon Leisegang?"
As soon as Yuder removed his hand, Cordelia asked rapidly in a low voice. Her face was one of utter disbelief.
"That's right, Leisegang of the Red Moon."
"Are you insane? How are we supposed to catch him right now? Don't you know his level is absurd?"
Leisegang of the Red Moon.
A demon sealed in the northern part of the Saelun Kingdom, and one of Hero Legend 2's midgame bosses.
As Cordelia said, even rotten fossils like Outboxer009 and Yellow Storm had almost no chance of defeating him with their current strength, which was practically no different from having just started the game.
Yuder acknowledged it too.
"Right, how would we beat him? But that's Yellow Storm for you. Your brain goes straight to figuring out how to take things down."
"You said we need the Sun's Necklace. That's Leisegang's drop item."
Five hundred years ago, the one who sealed Leisegang of the Red Moon was Garius, the Holy Knight of the Sun.
Just before being sealed, Leisegang took Garius's life in a final desperate struggle, and in the process, the Sun's Necklace—the holy relic of the sun god that Garius had carried—was sealed together with Leisegang.
Since Garius was already dead, the priests of the sun god completed the sealing array believing that the sun god's holy relic would weaken Leisegang's power, and thanks to that, the Sun's Necklace ended up becoming Leisegang's drop item.
"We don't kill him. We just steal the item."
"How? And isn't it true that we'd have to break the seal for Leisegang to come out in the first place? What are you going to do about the aftermath? I'm still only a 1-star mage, you know."
"Right, and I'm worse than Villager A because of the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage. So we use Bellastin's Magic Circle."
"Bellastin's Magic Circle?"
"Bellastin's Magic Circle. If we use that, it should be possible to summon only Leisegang for a short time while maintaining the seal's power. We just steal the Sun's Necklace from him while he can't move a muscle because of the seal, then seal him again."
"That... sounds like it makes sense...."
Bellastin was a powerful barrier mage who made a name for himself in the latter part of Hero Legend.
If his barrier magic circle was properly applied, it should indeed be possible, as Yuder said, to summon only the bound demon's main body for a short time while maintaining Leisegang's seal.
"But... um."
"But?"
"Um... isn't it incredibly complicated? That magic circle?"
Cordelia had seen it once in passing on a strategy site before.
It was rumored to be a perfect magic circle for messing with sealed demons, but it was so complex that even copying it with the original right next to you was difficult, so she had given up on it.
At Cordelia's question, Yuder nodded.
"Of course I know. I've already mugged Leisegang a few times. Ah, don't tell me you can't draw it?"
"N-no, I can't—I mean, I can, okay? I can draw it, okay? I've drawn it several times, okay? I've memorized all of it, okay?"
"Right? Yeah, I figured. You're #2 on the server, after all. No way you couldn't memorize something like that."
When Yuder patted her shoulders and looked at her with complete trust, Cordelia forced an awkward smile, looking as though she might cry.
'Wow, it's written all over her face.'
He also felt like he understood why she had never used voice chat. She seemed like the type who absolutely could not lie.
"Right, since you're the mage, I'll leave the drawing to you. You're really reliable, so reliable. I'm counting on you, Yellow Storm."
"U-uh... yeah. J-just count on me. Yeah. Just on me...."
The sight of Cordelia forcing a smile while sounding so uncertain was quite something.
"Anyway, let's make Leisegang's Sun's Necklace our first quest objective, then."
"But isn't it a bit far? Going there and back in the middle of the night seems impossible."
The place where Leisegang was sealed was an abandoned temple halfway up the Belcain Mountains.
Even though it was considered close to the frontier city where the Count Bayel and Count Chase households were located, it was still about half a day's journey by carriage.
"Yeah, so I thought about it. There's a solution for this too."
"What is it?"
"You and I are engaged, right?"
"W-well, we are, but?"
At the word "engaged," Cordelia subtly leaned her body back, and Yuder also made an incredibly awkward expression.
Engaged to Yellow Storm.
A relationship where marriage had been promised.
He felt a little dizzy, but in any case, making use of everything available was exactly how a true strategy gamer should think.
"So let's go on a date."
"A date?"
"A carriage date."
"Who? Y-you and me?"
"You and me. Outboxer and Yellow Storm. #1 and #2, getting along nicely."
What would the people in the chat room say if they saw this situation?
Cordelia's already pale face turned even paler—in short, she wore an expression of sheer horror and stiffened up, and Yuder made a similar expression in return.
"Ah, but it seems like my time limit is coming up soon."
"Time limit?"
"Yeah, I have the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, remember."
Having been out in the night air for a while, his hands and feet were already growing cold, and if he stayed out in the night dew like this, he felt like he would collapse on the spot.
"A-are you okay? Want me to cast a heal or something?"
"I'd appreciate it if you did. But how do you use magic? What's it like using magic? Is it good? It must be a bit different from the game, right?"
"It's very different. It's amazing. Hmm, it's truly fantastic."
Unlike Yuder Bayel, who had been frail from birth because of the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, Cordelia Chase had started with a solid foundation as a mage.
She had even used Fly magic to get over the wall just moments ago.
Cordelia, who had looked fed up or dispirited after being pushed around by Yuder ever since they arrived in the garden, now smiled brightly and confidently.
"Heh heh heh, receive this body's heal."
"R-right."
Cordelia placed her hand on Yuder's forehead, closed her eyes, and chanted a spell. Her beautiful features bathed in the green light rising from her hand made for a truly enchanting sight, just as she had said.
"How is it? It's effective, right?"
"Yeah. Breathing got a bit easier."
At this rate, he felt like he could make it back to his room safely.
"Then I'll head back for now."
Cordelia pulled her hood back over her head. The Count Bayel and Count Chase households were neighbors, but they weren't right next to each other, so it seemed like it would take quite a while for her to get back.
"Sorry. Once I cure my meridian blockage, I'll be the one climbing over your house's wall."
"No thanks, okay? J-just do the date proposal properly. Got it?"
Asking her on a date.
"Hey, if we're going to do this, can't we call it the Leisegang strategy quest instead?"
"Y-yeah. That would be better for our mental health."
Yuder and Cordelia stood up side by side and exchanged awkward farewells.
"Well, I'm going. Sleep well."
"Yeah, you sleep well too. Dream of me."
Cordelia responded to the habitual farewell with her middle finger, then leaped into the air and flew over the wall.
"Ha, it really is magic."
A world where not only magic but angels and demons actually existed.
After staring for a moment at the wall where Cordelia had disappeared, Yuder turned toward the Belcain Mountains.
Leisegang of the Red Moon and the Sun's Necklace.
Their plan had begun in earnest.