Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Garden Stained with Blood
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Thankfully, there weren't many trash mobs inside the castle. At most, a few of those human sculptors I'd fought 1v2 last time wandered around, but I tested the rapier's performance on them as I passed.
Puk!
The range was perfect. A light thrust was enough to land a solid hit on the enemies, and when they tried to strike back at me, I could immediately retreat—
Puk!
Still, the weapons I'd collected so far flashed through my mind. It felt such a waste to discard Veronine's greatsword or that romantic longsword.
"Kee, keeyat! As expected of you, sir!"
Clap clap clap.
Doren, oblivious to my inner turmoil, kept praising my rapier techniques. He'd seen my longsword, greatsword, and now rapier, but this one seemed to impress him the most.
"A-amazing, sir! You wield it far better than that monstrous flowerhead!"
"Is that so?"
"Of course! J-just watching makes my legs go weak!"
But I didn't stick to one weapon. Even in regular games, I'd mix and match, so I'd probably do the same here.
Of course, in the world of Deathcall, performance came first. Dying to a boss meant real strain on my body.
Still, I couldn't let go of the romance.
What to do...
As I pondered while swapping weapons, somehow both the longsword and rapier ended up in my hands at the same time.
"Huh?"
Then, an idea suddenly crossed my mind.
No matter how brutal this world was, I still had several game-system buffs left. Along with the invincibility on rolls, even now, when switching weapons...
The one I chose as my main weapon instantly appeared in my right hand, while the other one I'd been using slowly faded away.
Just like bosses dissolving into blessings, the weapon scattered like smoke and returned to my inventory.
The key was how the weapon switch worked. If I recalled its form and name in my head, it immediately equipped to my right hand.
"..."
I might be able to make good use of this. Especially in boss fights.
...But before I could experiment further, Doren and I stumbled upon an unsettling sight in the corridor.
Flowers began sprouting one by one in the castle's quiet, desolate, and eerie hallways.
It was no place for flowers to grow. There wasn't even any soil in these corridors.
Yet they grew up to our thigh height, swaying slowly in the still air...
...Kiaak.
and let out low, dark screams.
"S-s-sir..."
Doren grabbed the end of my red scarf in fear. I could feel his trembling hand indirectly.
But we couldn't stop. Despite the darkening corridor and the rising screams, we had to press on.
A light shone ahead. The only light left in this long, dark hallway.
The exit. That had to be the garden.
True to its name, more flowers appeared the closer we got to the garden.
I didn't want to look closely, but they bled bright red like all the enemies we'd seen, writhing in agony.
Humans. Each flower pulsed with human life.
They wouldn't die without a mortal's touch. Maybe this was the curse of immortality.
"..."
Walking was hard. The flowers twitched like they were begging for mercy, tangling at my feet, but I ignored them, focused only on reaching the gardener...
"Doren. Is that the garden up ahead?"
"Y-yes? I-I think so..."
"Then we're almost there. No harm in a short delay."
I stowed my weapons and snapped the flowers one by one with my bare hands.
Blossoms carved from torsos and brains alone, limbs removed.
Bodies so mangled they barely seemed human anymore.
Spines as stems, heads as flowers...
begging us to kill them.
I had no idea how tough the boss would be.
But true to his title, the path to the gardener boss was filled with countless flowers, and Doren and I were already overwhelmed by emotion before even reaching him.
"Urk—ugh—"
Doren finally vomited onto the floor. With nothing in his stomach, only pale bile dripped onto the stone.
If I hadn't helped him, he might have ended up like this someday, fully turned to a flower, begging for death day after day.
The flowers even clustered like starving beasts, bending their spines and slamming buds into the vomit to devour it.
In endless torment, craving death, yet the will and instinct to survive remained.
They'd eat anything. Blood, vomit, filth.
"..."
I didn't fully grasp Deathcall's laws, but I couldn't just walk past this.
Crack.
I advanced, snapping their spines one by one.
In this dark corridor reeking of foulness, I finally confronted the true brutality of the Deathcall world.
Until now, I'd overcome obstacles with my longsword and rolls, but they had no such means.
So I crushed them all on my way to the garden.
Not leaving a single one, ending every flower by hand.
Reaping the wretched lives and fates of these suffering beings with my own hands.
In a way, the title Doren gave me fit perfectly.
Executioner.
Bringing death to those tormented by immortality and such.
We finally reached the end of the corridor. A cozy garden unfolded before us, sunlight filtering through the open ceiling.
But it brimmed with red flowers.
Counting them was agonizing. The spacious garden overflowed more with the dense writhing of groaning red blooms than with warm sunlight.
And in the center...
a massive figure stood.
"Mortal?"
It spoke without even turning to us, gently stroking a human in its grasp.
No, the touch was gentle, but...
the gardener tore flesh with bare hands. After ripping off limbs, it meticulously peeled away even the things clinging to the spine.
Kieeeek!
The human became a flower. Writhing in agony while alive, petals quivering with screams, yet growing ever more flowery.
"How did you get here? The knight captain surely..."
The gardener finished turning it into a flower and placed it on the garden floor.
"Ah, I see."
Only then did it finally look at Doren and me.
"Belmont. So you went after all. Before me, even."
The battle didn't start right away. I even got a chance to engrave my name on the gravestone in preparation for the boss fight.
A gravestone stood in one corner of the garden. After carving our names there, Doren and I faced the gardener fully.
Well, strictly speaking, excluding Doren. He was trembling behind the stone, avoiding the gardener's gaze.
"...Oh, Doren. Is that you?"
But the gardener looked at Doren first, before me. Despite his grotesquely huge, burly frame, his eyes held surprising purity.
"Why are you still like this, Doren."
"Eek! N-no! I'm not Doren!"
The conversation continued. Sword in hand, I etched every detail of this bizarre scene into my eyes and ears.
"Doren. The lady is still waiting for you. Why?"
The gardener's face, smiling innocently like reuniting with an old friend, began to twist. From this giant three or four times my size emanated a hatred too raw to describe lightly.
"Why! Why are youuuu still heeeere!"
"Eek! Hic!"
Doren now trembled with tears, thin arms clamped over his ears, but the gardener's voice shook the entire garden, making even the flowers scream.
"You should stay by the lady's side. Doren, you too should be with the lady! Why! Why aren't you!"
The gardener was clearly mad. Yet his voice brimmed with mournful resonance.
"...And what are you?"
"Executioner."
Finally wrapping up his reunion with Doren, the gardener turned back to me.
His fists, pounding the ground in excitement, crushed flowers and splattered blood, but neither he nor I cared.
"You. Are you after the lady? Sent from the monastery."
My eyes drifted to a beautiful blossom at the garden's center.
Unlike the repulsive forced flowers we'd seen...
it was like gazing at a true rose.
Beautiful. Perhaps the very embodiment of blessing.
"I won't give up the laaaady!"
But even that brief glance sent the gardener into a frenzy.
Muscle-bound bulk. Far too savage and grotesque to guard that single beautiful flower.
"Lady, I'll protect youuuu!"
He charged, hideous form on full display.
And so, our boss battle began.