To Some, a Curse (3)

I rose, feeling the peculiar stuffy air that was unique to the Altar of Grief.

I had sworn never to come back here and fled as fast as I could, yet here I was again — and what I felt wasn't anger so much as an empty, hollow resignation.

“….”

As I stared blankly at the tiny motes of dust glittering in the light, a thought of Eirin drifted unbidden across my mind.

A girl who had been devoured by the monster called guilt, and in turn had become another monster herself.

Her first life, ruined because of me, had been ruined in exactly the same way because of me again in the second.

“Eirin….”

I'd managed to escape her successfully, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the look in her eyes as she watched me die was still flickering at the edge of my vision.

That expression of hers — as if she wanted the person named Dean to forgive her for the sin she had committed….

“…Don't think about it.”

…Whatever the case, my goal right now wasn't Eirin or anything else. It was Fer-de's Fang.

If I didn't want to be crushed by the NPCs who would one day come for their revenge, I needed at least one piece of equipment to protect myself.

Forcing the thoughts from my head, I rose quickly, stepped out of the Altar, and set off toward the Rift Labyrinth, where Fer-de's Fang awaited.

Unlike the past, when I'd sprinted with my eyes fixed only forward out of sheer terror of being chased by Carmen, now I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moved with a definite destination in mind.

A vague anxiety gnawed at me — what if I ran into Eirin or Carmen? — but I coaxed myself into believing nothing would happen and kept walking.

…I should look for a shoe, too.

Scraped and bruised by stones and tree roots, my soles had blistered over, and at some point every one of my toenails except the big toes had torn away.

Gritting my teeth against the searing pain with every step, I managed to reach the entrance to the Rift Labyrinth faster than I'd expected.

“Good….”

When the window announcing the checkpoint appeared, the tension I'd been holding finally loosened, and a smile crept across my face.

I had no reason to return to the Altar of Grief, which meant I'd never see Eirin again, lurking around its perimeter as she surely would be.

But even as relief washed over me, cold sweat beaded on my skin at the sight of the colossal stone walls looming so high I couldn't see their tops.

The Rift Labyrinth — a place built, so the lore went, to imprison the calamity-beasts that defiled the order of the world.

…Somewhere inside that maze, which had existed even before the Ruin, waited Fer-de's Fang — the thing I needed.

“Ugh….”

The moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I took a step, tension coiled in my body, my worn-out soles apparently reached their limit. A searing burn shot through them, I lost my balance, and I crashed to the ground.

THUD!!

The back of my head struck the hard stone floor, and in an instant my vision flashed white, the whole world spinning.

I had clearly hit the back of my skull, yet a dull ache welled up from my nose. I touched it immediately and saw a translucent fluid tinged with a little blood trickling out.

“Ghhk…!”

When I left the fluid to drip unchecked, it wasn't long before a pain came, as if a giant needle were skewering straight through my brain.

I must have damaged something, hitting the ground headfirst like that.

…Come to think of it, it was about time I died once.

My soles were worn completely raw from walking so long, and my stamina had hit its limit — there was no way I could finish crossing the Rift Labyrinth in this state.

I sprawled out on the ground, arms wide, accepting death as I gazed up at the sky stitched across above me — an offensively, aggravatingly blue sky.

Just how many deaths was this for me, now?

Counting only the times Eirin and Carmen had killed me, the number had long since passed fifty; deaths had become so meaningless that tallying them was pointless. A hollow, silent laugh slipped out of me.

“…Let's go.”

As that incomprehensible force pulled my life back into the world of the living, I lay flat on the ground catching my breath and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pieced together what I knew about the labyrinth.

As its name suggested, it was a maze — and all that filled my vision was wall upon towering wall.

Unless I kept constant track of my position, I would lose my way within moments of pressing deeper.

My heart pounded at the thought that once inside, I might not come out until I died — but in the end, this was a dungeon that could be cleared.

If I navigated the paths without a single wrong turn, I would come face to face with the labyrinth's boss: the Giant Snake Fer-de.

The only worry was how exactly I was supposed to deal with a boss I had once crushed under an overwhelming level — now at a measly Level 10.

“…Not the time to worry about that.”

Recklessly telling myself that if I could just reach the boss, I'd find some way to handle it with these infinite lives of mine, I stepped into the maze.

I didn't remember it perfectly, but the layout was familiar enough to my eyes that, thankfully, I never got lost.

Straight ahead, then left, then halfway along, bear right.

At the fork, take the right path….

If I went that way, a giant spider would appear, so I'd have to loop around to the left in a wide arc….

“Shh—.”

Just then, I spotted a giant spider crawling along the walls in the far distance and hastily hid myself.

With Arachne — those colossal spiders — patrolling the walls like that, I couldn't afford to let my guard down for even a second.

Concealing myself as best I could, I carefully passed the final corridor, only to see two Arachne stubbornly guarding the entrance to the boss room.

“…Right, there were gatekeepers.”

Truly worthy of a Souls-like — fury welled up at the sadistic level design of the developers, who had planted two Arachne right in front of the boss room.

To enter the boss room from here, I had no choice but to take down both of them.

But the only weapon I'd been given was my bare fists. If I recklessly charged in, I'd end up as one giant spider's dinner.

“Shh—?”

At that moment, the Arachne caught the faintest noise. Their eyes rolled grotesquely and, in unison, locked onto me with perfect precision.

“…!”

When dozens of hideous, vein-laced eyes fixed themselves on me, terror overwhelmed me in an instant. I couldn't even run — my body froze completely solid.

RATTLE-RATTLE—!

“AAAAAGH!!”

Only when the Arachne began hauling its massive body up the wall toward me did I finally snap out of it and bolt.

HISSS!!

“Ghhk! My leg!! MY LEG!!! AAAAGH!!”

I'd barely started running when the venom an Arachne spat struck my leg dead-on. I lost my balance and tumbled across the ground.

“GGAAAAH!!!”

Along with the horrific agony of my leg being set aflame, the smell of cooking meat flooded my nostrils.

Before long, the leg could no longer endure the venom. It melted away entirely, vanishing from the world without a trace.

“AAAGH…! Help…! Please, somebody help me!!!”

Begging meant nothing to the Arachne. It wrapped me — my melted leg dripping blood and fluids — in spider silk, dragged me off somewhere, and fixed me in place as a cocoon.

“Mmph… ghhmph!!”

With my face sealed completely under the sticky webbing, every breath I drew shrank the paper-thin passage through which air traveled.

Three breaths later, I died of shock from losing too much blood.

The lesson awaiting someone who had charged into a dungeon naked and unprepared was nothing short of devastating.

“…What?”

When I revived, as I always did, my eyes wouldn't leave the perk notification hanging in the air.

Something I had believed absolutely impossible ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had just happened.

The level of the Arachne that killed me… went up.

If the perk activated when I was killed by an NPC, fine — but monsters counted among the things that could gain levels by killing me too?

“…Ha, hahaha…. That's just… such bullshit.”

I was too dumbfounded to even get angry. I just cackled, wheezing out the laugh in broken little bursts.

I had naturally assumed Defeat Addiction applied only to NPCs.

But in reality, it unconditionally raised the level of everything that killed me by ten.

I'd thought that if I just fought through the Rift Labyrinth, felled the boss, and claimed Fer-de's Fang, things would somehow work out — only to find a wall even bigger than the one I'd climbed, and I sank to my knees in despair.

Scraping madly at the ground under the crushing stress, before long my nails snapped and my fingers tore open, painting the floor a vivid red.

“….”

The dull sting of it calmed my head a little — a head that had been on the verge of snapping entirely.

Just as despair was settling over the reality that none of the paths open to me would work, a single fact suddenly came to mind.

What if I recruited a companion?

What if I shared my knowledge of the first playthrough with them, so we could grow strong together?

Wouldn't we be able to raise each other's levels, helping one another along?

And if my companion's level fell short… well, I could always conveniently die a few times for them, and….

“…That's insane!!!”

THUD!! I slammed my fist into the ground.

How would a companion react if they learned that every death of mine raised their level by ten?

They wouldn't shed tears of gratitude and revere my sacrifice as something noble. They'd track down whatever checkpoint I resurrected at and murder me over and over to farm their own levels. It was obvious.

I had tried to twist my passive reality into something active, but my own weakness refused to permit that kind of future.

With tears streaming down without my noticing, I listlessly pushed myself up.

Fer-de's Fang was now beyond my reach, so all I could do was pray I never crossed paths with an NPC who'd carried their memories over.

If I did meet one… should I beg them to be my companion, offering to die for them as many times as they liked?

But I didn't want to concern myself with any of that anymore.

Blankly, I rose to my feet, left the Rift Labyrinth behind, and began trudging away, one heavy step after another.