Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Good Smell
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*Slap slap slap slap!*
"Oh."
As I opened my eyes, there was the finned creature, mumbling "Oh" while passionately smacking my mask.
Its fin slaps were so relentless that my mind cleared right up.
"Urk."
I grimaced and picked the thing up.
Then I hurled it far away, nice and hard.
*Whoosh!*
"Kweeeh?"
Ignoring the finned creature's distant shriek, I sat up and opened my status window.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Adel ]
Limit Break: ★★☆☆☆
Attributes:
: 「Abyss」
: 「Space」
: 「Nothingness」
Unique Skills:
: 【Disaster Devourer】
: 【Silent Walker】
: 【Word of Command】
: 【Bloodfall Blossoms】
: 【…】
Unique Traits:
: 【Ten Thousand Disasters Under Heaven】
: 【Laplace's Eye】
: 【Interpreter of Tongues】
: 【Stigma】
: 【…】
Stats:
: Vitality: 14 (D)
: Strength: 4 (F)
: Intellect: 28 (B)
: Willpower: 31 (A)
: Mana: ■ ()
Talents:
: 【All talents are fixed at ‘Lowest’ due to ‘Stigma’.】
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
No anomalies.
There were no signs of my stats being cut or traits malfunctioning after what the witch did to me.
*Swish.*
I stepped in front of the mirror and examined my body.
Faint red traces lingered here and there on my skin.
That dream... in other words, the deep violet cracks that had spread across my entire body in that reverse world...
They weren't here in this reality... at least not right now.
"What are you doing, human?"
The finned creature stared at me pitifully from afar, but I brushed off its gaze without a care.
‘...Was the mask a suppressor?’
The reason I couldn't use mana... maybe it was because my body couldn't handle it.
Mana had definitely been there in my body in the reverse world, faint but real... and my body had started breaking down at the same time.
‘Then...’
The 【Mask of Silence】 I'd worn all this time...
It wasn't just a simple shackle. It was more like a stabilizer keeping my very existence intact.
Yeah.
I could understand that much.
‘Then all I need is mana suppression.’
If it had just been 【Mana Suppression】... I would've happily worn the mask every day.
I would've kept my mouth shut for life without a single complaint.
But.
‘Then what's with the 【Stigma】, exactly?’
It blocks stat growth and locks all talents to lowest.
Even a single word rips through my insides like my organs are being torn out, making me vomit blood.
"You slept forever, human."
Before I could even finish pondering, the finned creature spoke up.
My cheek still stung.
Just from fin slaps, and it hurt this much.
How many times had it hit me?
More importantly...
‘How long was I out, anyway?’
Honestly, it felt like I'd just closed my eyes and opened them again.
Wasn't that a bit harsh?
"You were out cold for at least a week, you idiot human."
I nodded in understanding for a moment, then realized something.
‘Wait...’
That meant... this damn finned creature...
Had been slapping my cheeks every single day for a whole week.
Without fail.
To wake me up.
"..."
"...What are you staring at, human?"
The sheer shamelessness in its eyes was infuriating.
In that instant, I was certain.
Throwing it wasn't enough.
Time to steam it or fry it—deal with it as food.
***
The invasion of corrupted spirits that had blanketed the Delbar Ducal House had quieted down like a midsummer night's dream.
The duke could finally sit at his desk after a week.
"Your Grace... perhaps it's time to rest."
Thanatos suggested cautiously, but...
"It's not over yet."
The duke shook his head firmly.
He knew.
It wasn't truly over.
He couldn't say it was finished.
"The witch is insidious..."
Witches were always like that.
Disasters were always like that.
They always exploited humanity's weakest cracks, leaving regrets that only hit later.
"There has to be more."
The duke was all but certain.
No way the witch would retreat this easily.
And...
"Your Grace..."
Thanatos spoke up cautiously once more.
"The Madam... her condition has worsened."
"..."
Bad news always came in waves.
He already knew.
Amelia's illness showed no signs of stopping.
After groaning in bed for seven days, she still couldn't rise, and her breaths grew ever weaker.
"...How much time is left?"
"At this rate... she won't last a full year."
"..."
The duke drew in a slow breath, then let it out.
Long-accumulated fatigue and pain rode out on that exhale.
He turned his chair to gaze out the window.
The blue sky, the now-calm garden, and the unseen darkness lurking within.
...Amelia would die within a year.
"Haa..."
He hadn't told Carnel that truth.
He'd only tried to reassure her that it was a minor illness.
But now, he had no idea how to bring it up.
Should he have been honest from the start?
If he'd told her sooner... could she have prepared her heart earlier?
The duke asked himself.
But the answer... he could never know.
*Knock knock.*
A sudden knock at the door.
The duke looked up.
"...Enter."
The door opened, and Carnel walked in.
His pupils trembled faintly.
"Carnelia... I heard you collapsed."
"...Ah, I'm fine now, Father."
Carnel smiled calmly in reply.
But that smile felt somehow unfamiliar.
She should have been bedridden for days as payment for tampering with causality...
Yet here she stood, as if nothing had happened.
"Have you dealt with all the spirits, Father?"
"...Yes."
"Hmm... Any chance more will come?"
"...I'm considering that as well."
Carnel smiled brightly, then bowed silently and turned to leave.
The duke watched her retreating figure without a word until the end.
*Click.*
Only after the door closed did he speak.
"Thanatos."
"Yes."
"Is it confirmed that the witch's invasion hit more than just Delbar?"
"Yes. From the Iris Ducal House to Spade, Ayrin... several houses have taken damage."
The duke rested his chin on one hand and began tapping the desk with the other.
He looked deep in thought, suppressing his rage.
"Relay this: I'm going."
"...Pardon?"
Thanatos thought he'd misheard.
The duke hadn't stepped foot outside the estate in decades.
External events, festivals... anything off-site.
His seat was always empty or filled by a proxy.
"You're going yourself?!"
"Yes. In person."
"Why...?"
Instead of answering, the duke stared at the door Carnel had just left through.
"They dared touch my guest... and now my daughter too. They've crossed the line."
"The young lady..."
"Thanatos, does Carnel look normal to you?"
"...She seemed fine, as far as I recall."
*Tap. Tap.*
The duke's fingers stopped drumming the desk.
"Carnel doesn't smile at me like that."
"..."
From that one smile—something others might dismiss as trivial—the duke hadn't missed his instincts as a father.
***
‘Scram.’
"Why, human?"
The finned creature stubbornly crawled up my body again, trying to climb onto my head once more.
I gritted my teeth and reached to pull it down.
‘You're just uncomfortable,’
"I'm comfy."
So what if you're comfy?
I'm not.
*Slap.*
This time, it stuck right onto my mask.
Clinging to the mask's edge with its fins...
It was plastered so flat I couldn't pry it off.
I shook my body, tried peeling it with my hands...
My body just jolted around, but its fins wouldn't budge an inch.
That was when it happened.
"Oh, Adel?"
Carnel's voice came from behind.
I turned to see her striding down the hall toward me.
Seizing the moment, the finned creature leaped onto my head and...
Lazily sprawled out on its belly, as if it had been waiting.
"..."
The squishy, damp sensation on my mask.
...It was seriously annoying.
"Are you feeling okay?"
Carnel approached with worry in her eyes.
I pressed my lips tight and lifted my whiteboard.
[Yes]
I wrote it simply and showed her. She nodded silently.
But by then, my gaze had drifted to her waist.
‘No sword.’
Carnel in the reverse world had wielded a sword.
The image of her freely swinging a blade made of starlight was still vivid.
But the Carnel before me now... was unarmed, as always.
‘Something's off.’
Maybe because I'd spent a week in that dream... that reverse world.
Something felt wrong.
Carnel using magic, not holding a sword.
None of it felt familiar.
‘This isn't good.’
The boundary between reality and dream was blurring.
Everything felt slightly out of alignment, bit by bit.
I walked down the hall like that, carrying on a casual conversation with Carnel, who tagged along naturally.
"How's your magic training going these days?"
[Same as always]
Truth be told, it hadn't even been a full day since I woke up... no time for training.
I gave a vague answer.
"Hmm! The essence of magic is in diligent practice, after all!"
[Sure is]
"Your mana control gets more refined the more you hone it!"
In that exchange... I sensed a discrepancy.
It wasn't just the crumbling boundary between dream and reality.
Something more fundamental... instinctual unease.
[President]
"What?"
[Not carrying your sword around anymore?]
"Hmph! Too heavy, so I ditched it!"
In that moment...
I was certain.
The Carnel I knew had never wielded a sword.
It was a truth I'd seen with my own eyes, confirmed even in ‘Akarejang’.
[ The player's rage causes 【Wrath Fragment】 to react. ]
I seized Carnel's wrist on the spot.
"Ah, Adel? That hurts...?"
[ The player's stats rise. ]
I refused to let go of that wrist, drawing mana with my free hand.
Lines intersected, and deep violet mana bloomed.
《Abyss / Intermediate Magic》
「Engulfing Water Stream」
A small abyss bloomed, black water streams wrapping around Carnel's body.
And then...
"Heh... caught me?"
Carnel's lips curled up.
[ The player's rage causes 【Wrath Fragment】 to react. ]
- *Crackle...*
I pulled 【Leviathan】 from my inventory.
"How'd you figure it out~?"
If it was just a disguise on the surface, 【Laplace's Eye】 would've seen through it ages ago.
But she'd infiltrated the ‘inside’, not the shell.
She'd nestled into the deepest crevice of my mind, the real Carnel's gap...
That's why it took time to notice.
[ The player's stats rise. ]
"Hmm... so what now? Gonna kill me?"
The witch tilted her head and grinned.
I gripped 【Leviathan】 and stared at her silently.
That body was the real Carnel's.
...I couldn't cut it.
"Puhuhu... You can't do a thing, so why the threats?"
The witch giggled mockingly.
But... there was one thing she didn't know.
*Tap.*
I slowly touched the mouth area of my mask.
Truth be told... using 【Word of Command】 in my current state was reckless.
It hadn't even been a day since I woke, and the backlash would surely make me vomit blood.
But... in this situation, excuses like that didn't matter.
"...Begone."
─────!!
In that instant, pitch-black darkness exploded out from Carnel's body.
"Wh-what...!"
I could sense the witch inside panicking.
Crimson eyes churned in the darkness.
It tried to retreat back into Carnel's body...
[ The player's rage causes 【Wrath Fragment】 to react. ]
[ The player's stats rise. ]
But without hesitation, I gripped 【Leviathan】 tight and swung at the darkness.
- *Boom!*
A blow that sent it crashing into the hallway wall.
No holding back.
"Ahh... so it was you."
Crimson pupils.
Even as they faded, they pierced right through me.
"...The reason Hubris came all the way here... it was you."
‘Hubris’.
A name I absolutely shouldn't have encountered right now—a disaster's name.
But...
The witch laughed to the end.
A venomous, satisfied laugh.
Vanishing with the darkness.
That was when it happened.
[ Unique skill 【Disaster Devourer】 is now available for use. ]
The system announcing 【Disaster Devourer】 was usable.
I reached out without a second thought.
"Hah... won't work, kiddo?"
[ Using 【Disaster Devourer】. ]
[ Piercing the essence of 「Witch」. ]
The darkness roiled.
"Wh-what...!"
That voice carried clear panic, unlike before.
I thrust my hand out and seized the darkness.
It rippled like waves, sucked into my hand.
The crimson pupils shook, losing their light.
But then...
[ … … … ]
[ Failed! ]
"You little...!"
The darkness thrashed wildly, slipping from my grasp and vanishing into the deep shadows once more.
‘Tch.’
【Disaster Devourer】 had activated, so I'd hoped to erase the Disaster of Lust right here...
But as expected, it failed.
...I hadn't expected much anyway.
Even so... there was an unexpected gain.
[ Partially absorbed 【Lust Fragment】. ]
[ 【Lust Fragment】 is subsumed into unique trait 【Ten Thousand Disasters Under Heaven】. ]
Partial success on the absorption.
Before the witch vanished... the crimson light in one eye had gone out.
She'd taken some damage, it seemed.
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【Lust Fragment】
■■■■
: Spirits hold ■■■ love for you.
■■■■
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘Spirits hold love for you...’
Unconditional love didn't sound bad.
But it was vague.
I didn't know how to handle spirits, and I'd never really interacted with them.
...And that was the moment.
*Swish.*
Something collapsed nearby.
‘...Ah.’
Carnel's body tilted limply toward me.
I tried to dodge in a panic, but since she was falling straight at me, I worried she'd get hurt and caught her instead.
*Thud!*
The stat boost from 【Wrath Fragment】 had already reverted.
Plus, the backlash from 【Word of Command】 had wrecked my body to near-death; I couldn't move.
I collapsed right along with Carnel.
...That was when it happened.
*Step step.*
The finned creature, flung away by the impact, sauntered back casually.
Without a hint of hesitation, as if it were the most natural thing, it shoved its nose against my body.
*Sniff sniff...*
And then it said one thing.
"Hmm... human. You smell good for some reason?"
Yeah.
Instead of yapping about good smells, couldn't it help the collapsed person first?