Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: To the Garden
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Only a sorrowful voice lingered in the old pendant.
Young lady.
It's not the strong who survive. Those who cling desperately to life are the ones who ultimately grow strong.
Never die. Promise this old butler, please.
No matter what it takes, survive to the end.
Live. No matter what.
"...Damn it."
My gaze and Belmont's snapped toward the intruder at the same time.
The cowardly woman who threw a poisoned dagger.
"I'm not fighting. No. I wasn't gonna fight. I wasn't gonna play this stupid game..."
But her face showed even more bewilderment than mine or Doren's. She didn't even understand why she'd thrown the dagger herself.
She clearly had no intention of joining this bloody battle.
But the die had been cast. There was no turning back now.
Belmont wouldn't let the woman who dared attack him so vilely go unpunished. The aggro had pulled to the ranged attacker first.
Especially since she was an annoying foe inflicting status ailments—it was only natural to take her out quickly, or the fight would turn against him. A rational decision.
But unfortunately for him, Belmont had already shown me an opening.
Gulp.
My mouth was already full of potion. I restored my health immediately, gripped my longsword, and...
Whoosh!
Charged at full speed to close the distance...
Stab!
...piercing Belmont's body with my longsword. Before he could raise his rapier toward the woman who'd thrown the poisoned dagger, I struck first.
Not only rapiers could thrust among all those weapons. My longsword forced its way into his heart area, prying it open.
Crunch.
A crack spiderwebbed across Belmont's skull, which had been battered wildly until now. The hatred and killing intent he'd directed at the 1800s woman refocused on me.
"You don't need to help anymore...! Both of you, get back!"
I had no intention of accepting help twice. Her single thrown dagger was enough. Honestly, the fact that I'd received help at all left a bad taste, souring my mood.
But for now, I risked it all diving into close quarters, drawing his attention fully to me.
Belmont's health was down to less than 15% now. Even in a clinch, victory was within reach.
The edges around his cracked, split skull's round eyes sharpened like blades, and his worn teeth rained down. The whole thing almost looked like an enraged human face.
Scraaaape!
The rapier that had stubbornly only thrust until now swung wildly at me without hesitation.
Forcing his limbs to stretch and swinging with all his might doubled its power.
Thrusting, slashing, hacking like a madman—
Belmont thrashed to the end. The poison must have really pissed him off.
But I stayed calm again. I wouldn't allow a single counter.
The moment he thought to strike me, I'd roll away to dodge, then thrust hard again.
Flashes of all the times I'd died to his thrusts crossed my mind.
Stab—!
I mimicked his thrusts exactly, but only at the safest timings.
Belmont was the one getting desperate. Slowly losing health to poison, he resisted the [Death] he felt for the first time in his life.
But.
Regrettably.
My longsword didn't stop.
Kraaack!
This time, I drove it hard into his back from behind.
The longsword shattered ribs and pierced through, showing Belmont death right before his eyes.
Death bursting from his own chest.
Kraaaagh—!
Belmont flailed his arms and rapier like a tantrum, trying to pull away from me. Then he desperately compressed all his muscles, flesh, bones, and innards again.
Just like when he'd landed that solid hit on me earlier, using momentary repulsion and elasticity.
However.
Swoosh!
My longsword was already there to greet him.
That tiny dot would swell massively at some point.
I knew it. That feeling, that sight.
After all, I'd suffered it twice already.
Crunch.
The longsword tip burrowed into the empty inside of his skull.
Deeper inside.
To the deepest part of his skull.
Splurch!
The Screaming Forest echoed with its usual ear-shattering screams.
But today, amid those screams and wails, an unprecedented [Scream] of agony joined in.
His skull's mouth gaped open. From deep in its throat, from vocal cords not yet fully rotted, came a torrent of desperate cries.
Kraaaaaah... Gaaack...
This was the end.
Our battle ended with that death rattle.
The familiar message shimmered before my eyes.
The battle was finally over, and the sun rose.
I still stood on both legs, longsword in hand...
"S-Sirrrrr!"
Doren shouted from way back there.
Unlike before, his wail overflowed with pure joy.
"Y-You killed iiiit! You killed it!"
Doren bellowed for me, who had no room to savor victory.
Exhausted, I just panted heavily, feeling the afterglow of battle.
That was enough.
Yeah, enough...
Kiiiieeeek— Aaaah—
"You really killed it."
Through the fading screams, the 1800s woman approached slowly and spoke. Her voice held more inexplicable sadness than relief or pride.
Belmont's shattered blessings gathered slowly around us. Thankfully, no mishap where they split unevenly between us two.
Most of the blessings from Belmont's death went to me, the one who'd contributed the most.
But truthfully, she could've just killed me here and taken all the blessings—no one would bat an eye.
That's how she'd survived this long.
Targeting weakened players, looting frail NPCs, avoiding boss fights entirely, just scraping by in this Blessed Land.
"Too bad, but killing the flower head changes nothing. You're just another chess piece from the monastery. All us humans dragged here are messed up. You, me, everyone else..."
Yet strangely, she left me be.
"...Coward. Bitch. Trash. Fucking bitch."
Instead, she finally introduced herself to me.
"Pick one. Or call me Marie. Whichever you like."
Coward Marie.
Her daggers always coated in poison, her belt packed with vile bombs that inflicted status ailments.
"Thanks for the help, Marie."
I gasped on the ground and expressed my gratitude.
Now seemed the time to tell her my name too.
"My name is—"
"No. Don't wanna hear it."
But Marie kept her cold demeanor and walked away.
"No point remembering idiots like you. You're gonna die soon anyway."
She even scattered the share of Belmont's blessings she'd taken onto my navel...
"Pocket change. Good luck from here. 2036 guy."
She shook her hands clean without farewell and vanished.
With Coward Marie gone, Doren belatedly made a huge fuss in front of me.
"Th-That Mortal lady was a coward?!"
Marie seemed pretty infamous in this Blessed Land.
"Sir! D-Don't get close to her! She's a fearsome Mortal who carries all the bad rumors...!"
"I see."
But I wasn't particularly bothered. Mortals weren't treated well here to begin with.
The natives here despised us, yet feared us too.
I needed to learn more about this world's twisted lore. But first priority: loot Belmont's corpse I'd taken down.
Doren and I circled Belmont, gathering what he'd left behind.
Not much loot. The rapier he'd used and one round medallion.
"Huh, this is..."
I eyed the rapier, but Doren cradled the medallion in both hands, staring intently.
"Lord Magius's..."
Something clicked for him.
"S-Sir. You should take this first... I-It might help you a bit."
A stat-boosting accessory. Huge gain.
On top, Belmont's rapier that he'd swung wildly now fell into my hands.
It took ages to kill Belmont, but loot-wise, it was a great haul.
I equipped the accessory and rapier.
The rapier that had just been stabbing in and out of me became my weapon.
"O-Oh. Heh heh... It suits you p-perfectly!"
Doren clasped his hands, flattering to butter me up. Sweating bullets, he must still feel bad about not throwing that stone to help earlier.
"No need to flatter so much."
"N-No! What are you saying...! It really suits you!"
Anyway, we chatted amiably, wrapping up the battle with Belmont at the castle gates.
Now only blood-soaked grass remained here, singing of our fight. Even in the screaming forest, one Mortal's tale of valor would echo.
One thing left.
"Let's go execute the Gardener too."
The boss waiting for me in the garden.
We stepped into the castle entrance, dyed red like autumn leaves. Leisurely talk only victors could enjoy.
"Ooh... 'Execute' sounds so cool. Ah! I thought of a title for you, sir! How about Executioner!?"
"...Usually don't people decide their own titles?"
"Pshaw! Who cares! Names are sacred and noble things! From now on, please use the title I've bestowed upon you, Doren!"
Our faint shadows deepened under the dawn twilight.
Now it was time to head to the heart of the Screaming Forest, the deepest part of the castle.