Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Leviathan
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“Eek…!! Can’t you just stop already!!”
“Already?”
It had only been about ten minutes since I began Leviathan’s… no, her training.
“Feels like not even ten minutes have passed.”
“No matter the minutes, I’m telling you to end this humiliating situation now, human!!”
“Get down.”
“Guh!”
Thud.
In an instant, Leviathan flattened herself against the sea.
I plopped down onto her back.
“This seat… isn’t great.”
“How dare you…!! Don’t treat this body like a chair!!”
“Is it worse than a leather sofa?”
“…Eek!!!”
Her body shuddered, and I could feel tension building in Leviathan’s back.
“Move, and you’re doing push-ups.”
“…”
Splat.
Leviathan flattened out again.
“What should I do with you?”
She didn’t seem like the type to obediently admit defeat.
Nor the type to submit easily.
But here’s the thing.
“Hmm… Staying here too long doesn’t seem great.”
…Or does it?
This is the mental world, so time in the real world should be frozen, right?
There were no worries about being late for the next class, then.
“Hey. Why not just follow me obediently?”
“What nonsense is that, human!!”
“Let’s make it good for both of us. I’ll unseal you, and in return, you help me out.”
“…”
“Win-win, right? I think it’s the ideal collaboration in this modern age.”
“…”
No response at all.
Is she ignoring me?
“Ticklish?”
Press.
I poked Leviathan’s side with my finger.
“H-Hihik…!! W-What are you doing, human!!”
She jolted upright in surprise.
“Sit.”
“Uwak!”
And flattened again.
“…Ugh, this kind of humiliation is a first for me….”
“First times are important.”
I placed my hand lightly on top of her head.
“Just do as I say?”
“…Die, human.”
“Yeah. If this were reality, I’d already be dead five times over.”
Can’t she see my blood flowing down her back?
It’s way past a lethal dose.
“What’s got you so upset? Tell me.”
“…”
Ignoring me again?
She still hasn’t come around.
I raised my finger and moved it toward her side.
“…Wait! Wait, human!!”
A quick reaction.
Honest. I like that.
“I… I won’t serve a human like you, human!”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“It’s not about you… I already have a master I serve!!”
Oh?
That’s new.
‘Come to think of it….’
I definitely saw it in 【Leviathan】’s description.
‘The sword once held by the “Silent King” Laplace.’
“…That master of yours… is it Laplace?”
“…How do you know that name, human.”
“…”
Laplace.
The worst catastrophe.
The madman who once twisted this world.
‘And Leviathan as Laplace’s pet….’
What a setup.
That gives me even more reason to win her over.
“Ditch that worthless master and come to me.”
“…How dare you insult my master, human?!”
“Huh? Why cling to trash like that? Come to me, and I’ll show you the world, buy you tasty stuff. I’ve even got tuna cans for cats.”
“Eek…! You beggar-looking wretch, what makes you say such things!!”
“Beggar-looking? Huh…? What’s that supposed to mean?”
My beauty’s just sealed behind this mask.
The moment it’s unsealed, you’d fall to my charms in an instant.
“Someone like you would be erased in a flash the moment my seal breaks and my master returns! Human!”
“…”
Laplace will return and erase me in a flash…?
“…Hey.”
Is she seriously clueless?
“Laplace? He vanished a thousand years ago. What are you talking about?”
The story I encountered when ‘Aka Catastrophe’ updated.
Laplace disappeared a thousand years ago.
“…What?”
Laplace reappearing was only in the ‘after’ where Klaus defeats all catastrophes.
Even that’s not certain.
“…What did you say, human.”
Her voice cracked.
The vast mental sea, that immense abyss, churned silently.
“What did you say!!!”
A shout.
The sea rippled with it.
Her emotions spread like waves, the surface surging wildly.
The entire abyss wailed like a scream right before my eyes.
“What else? Exactly what I said.”
“…”
“Laplace vanished a thousand years ago and hasn’t been seen since.”
Leviathan fell silent.
In her eyes lingered an emotion unfit even for a ‘dragon.’
‘This is bad….’
In this state, no submission or cooperation would happen.
‘But I can’t give up….’
I desperately need Leviathan’s power right now.
With only the body-gnawing 【Word of Command】 as my attack, she’d be my one true power.
“No way… That… No way that’s true….”
Leviathan reached out a trembling hand.
“My master… My master wouldn’t abandon me! He said… he said he’d come get me….”
Her fingertip pointed to the empty space before her.
The spot where someone she’d waited and waited for should stand.
But no one was there.
An abyss emptier than the sea filled that space.
“It can’t be a lie… It can’t be….”
She knew it was a lie.
Deep down, she knew she’d crumbled countless times already.
But that one fact alone—she desperately wanted to deny it.
That was when.
Tap.
I placed my hand on her outstretched fingertip.
I reached the spot no one else had.
As if denying the truth she wanted to ignore once more, my hand enveloped her groping fingers.
[ ! ]
“Yeah.”
[ Anomaly detected. ]
“That’s why I’m here.”
The mental world shook.
And at the same time, blood surged up in my mouth again.
Bitter metallic tang.
Burning pain.
But even as I spat blood, I met her gaze head-on.
[ The Imaginary World ‘Abyss’ is unstable! ]
Enduring unimaginable agony.
To utter one word, drawing closer to death each time.
Still, I stand before you.
Dragging my endlessly crumbling body, in this moment, I reach for you more desperately than anyone.
“So serve me, Leviathan.”
[ Entity ‘Leviathan’s mentality is unstable! ]
This is her mental world.
Her belief, the prison confining her.
The belief that Laplace would return.
That thread of hope had sustained her, yet chained her too.
[ Danger! Imaginary World collapsing! ]
And now, cracks formed in that prison.
The truth of the lie cracked the walls, and my outstretched hand pried them open.
A single ray of light over the abyss.
“I…”
I gripped her hand tighter.
My bloodstained hand.
Smeared entirely in my own blood.
It was far from clean.
But the sincerity within burned clearer than any other.
“I’ll set you free.”
Severing those chains of belief.
“I’ll fulfill your wish.”
So you can truly face the world of your own will.
[ Imaginary World fully collapsing. ]
The ink-black abyss split with fissures, waves reversed, and the silent sea lost direction for the first time.
[ Returning ‘Player’ to reality. ]
***
[ ! ]
[ Victory achieved against Leviathan. ]
‘….’
I opened my eyes.
The mental world had collapsed, and I awoke once more in reality.
Leviathan said nothing until the end.
But.
‘Not resistance, but acceptance. Not rejection, but submission.’
My words had clearly shaken her heart.
[ ‘Player’’s ‘Limit Break’ successful. ]
[ Leviathan awakens from slumber, unsealing 【Leviathan】. ]
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
【Leviathan】
Rank: Mythic
The sword once held by the “Silent King” Laplace.
The slumbering abyss opens its eyes for a new master.
Unique Skill
: 【Toward the Abyss】
For 5 minutes, the abyssal sea unfurls, and the will of the sea 「Leviathan」 manifests.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘Summons Leviathan for 5 minutes….’
Normally, summoning familiars requires mana.
The natural law of equivalent exchange.
But using 【Leviathan】’s unique skill 【Toward the Abyss】 lets me summon her without any risk.
‘Broken.’
Yeah, utterly broken. Insanely so.
[ ! ]
[ You have achieved the impossible. ]
[ Subjugated entity ‘Leviathan’. ]
[ Acquired achievement ‘King of the Sea’! ]
[ Error occurred! ]
‘…?’
A sudden error message.
The system flickered for a moment.
[ Entity ‘Leviathan’ now serves a new master! ]
[ Achievement ‘King of the Sea’ evolves to ‘King of the Abyss’! ]
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
【King of the Abyss】
Leviathan awakens for a new master.
: Attribute 「Abyss」 activated.
The abyss kneels before the king.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘…Insane.’
No, insane doesn’t cover it.
‘Whoa….’
In the game ‘Aka Catastrophe,’ the attribute system is a vast universe.
Basic attribute ‘Water.’
Above it, ‘Sea.’
And at the top, ‘Abyss.’
Even the same spell varies wildly in power by attribute.
‘Same frame, different materials.’
And now, I’ve gained the top-tier ‘Abyss’ attribute.
‘I need to figure out mana-based spellcasting ASAP.’
Spells require mana.
‘But I have no mana.’
Still, I found a clue.
When Veronica fired that magic… laser-like blast at me.
Through 【Laplace’s Eye】, I observed her mana and mana.
Veronica wielded both mana and mana simultaneously.
‘There’s definitely a way.’
To cast spells with mana alone.
‘…I’ll just ask Veronica later.’
She’s Class S’s homeroom teacher.
She wouldn’t block a student seeking knowledge.
‘…Nah.’
With her personality, she’d probably come charging in with sparkling eyes.
[ ! ]
‘…Not done yet?’
Another system message.
[ Due to ‘Player’’s ‘Limit Break,’ a hidden skill reveals itself. ]
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Adel ]
Limit Break: ★☆☆☆☆
Attributes
: 「Abyss」
: 「Nothingness」
Skills / Traits
: 【Colorful Playtime】
: 【…】
Unique Skills
: 【Disaster■ ■■#!@^%–】
: 【Silent Walker】
: 【Word of Command】
: 【…】
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Unique skill 【Disaster Eater】 unlocked. ]
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
【Disaster Eater】
Only you can ‘understand’ disasters.
: Pierces the essence of disasters.
: Makes the power of disasters your own.
At the end of forsaken ruin, only you can reach out.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘….’
Should I… be happy about this?
‘…Yeah.’
Pure power-wise, it’s broken, as always.
But.
‘…This makes me feel like the protagonist.’
The truth I’d ignored.
This world’s protagonist was ‘Klaus.’
It had to be.
The main scenario, he was at the center of it.
The world revolved around Klaus.
‘But.’
The system says I… ‘Adel’ should take that spot.
‘Then….’
Another fact dawned on me.
‘The reason Klaus had no disaster-exclusive skills….’
I remember.
During playthroughs, Klaus had absurd traits like ‘50% increased damage to disasters’—protagonist buffs.
Plenty more too.
But in reality, he had none of that.
‘…I saw it with my own eyes.’
Through 【Laplace’s Eye】.
This world’s Klaus wasn’t flashy like the game’s.
‘Ah, a headache again.’
I press my throbbing temples.
‘Seriously, what is this?’
This world’s too harsh on me.
No… way too unfair?
Look, it’s already past 11 on the clock from all the suffering.
‘…Huh?’
Clock.
The wall clock silently tells the truth.
11:06.
‘….’
Silence.
‘Ah.’
Reality snaps back.
I left Class S at 10.
The next class gap was one hour.
‘I'm late.’
I changed out of my blood-soaked clothes, bracing for the second bout of despair due to my tardiness today.