Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Ch. 28 .｡.:✧ Basel (5) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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[Strength: 11(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Stamina: 12(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Mana: 13(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Agility: 18(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Luck: 14(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
As strength surged through my swollen calves, my body sprang forward. With Guardian Knight and Mana Control applied, my body felt as light as a feather. However, it was still insufficient to grab Undecided as she fell into the spike pit.
“Reach out your hand!”
There was no other way. I had to jump in after her. I immediately kicked off the cliff and accelerated downward.
Catching up to Undecided, I grabbed her hand and swiftly pulled her up, wrapping my arm around her waist.
“Ngh!”
Ka-kak.
I drew a dagger with my left hand and stabbed it into the wall, barely managing to slow down and stop. But I was a bit too late.
Despite bending my legs as much as possible to avoid getting pierced by the spikes, my shin was shallowly punctured.
“Phew. That was close.”
Looking down, it was quite a gruesome sight. If I had been a little slower, my shins would have been turned into a proper beehive instead of just a small hole.
Of course, getting stabbed even once was dangerous due to paralytic poison and bacterial infection, but this was a fantasy world setting.
Just sprinkle some cheaply sold low-grade healing potion from anywhere and it would heal quickly.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“…No.”
I examined Undecided, who was barely supporting herself by wrapping her arms around my neck.
She didn’t seem to have touched the spikes. There were no visible wounds on her body either.
Since her body had difficulty healing, I needed to pay special attention. If I went around with a child covered in wounds, wouldn’t my image become strange?
I didn’t want to end up in a holding cell after being reported for child abuse.
“You look alright. Let’s go up now. Get on my back.”
“…Yoo-jin?”
Undecided, who had been nodding her head obediently and trying to move behind my back, hesitated. Her gaze was directed at my shin, which was bleeding profusely.
Then, in a slightly panicked voice, she called my name.
Her usually dry, husky voice seemed to contain a bit of moisture.
“I told you to hurry and get on. My arms hurt.”
“…Yoo-jin, Yoo-jin!”
“Ow. My ears. Why do you keep calling me?”
“…Your leg. Your leg!”
“I know I’m injured too. So let’s hurry up and go.”
Undecided’s voice began to tremble, and she soon buried her face in the nape of my neck and started sobbing. No matter how much I told her it was no big deal, it was no use.
She just kept calling my name endlessly. How embarrassing. It was as if she was worried about me. Was this really the same girl who usually didn’t give a rat’s ass about me?
“…Yoo-jin. You can’t, die.”
“I won’t die.”
“…I don’t want you to die. No more, I can’t take it. Not you, Yoo-jin…”
“Tsk.”
Undecided spoke while burying her face in my chest, trembling and sobbing as if her emotions were out of control. It was the first time I saw her like this.
It looked as if her emotions were welling up and she couldn’t control them.
‘This is troublesome.’
I had decided to think of her as an emotionless monster. It would be a bit harder to do that from now on.
Since it seemed it would take some time for Undecided to calm down, I adjusted my grip on the dagger to a more comfortable position. Then, as I turned my head, I discovered something unexpected.
“Oh?”
Deep inside the spike pit. There was a suspiciously-looking door embedded in the cliff that anyone could tell was fishy. A dungeon within a dungeon.
I had succeeded in discovering the double dungeon I had only heard rumors about. Who would have thought I would find it by falling into a trap?
It was something you could only find in a game where you respawn after dying. For me, it was virtually impossible to find. I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity.
“Are you okay now?”
“…Yeah.”
“I told you this isn’t a fatal injury. Why are you making such a fuss?”
“…What. Do you mean.”
Undecided turned her head, feigning ignorance. Her usual emotionless, blunt voice and expression.
She’s pretending not to know.
“Hurry up and get on my back. We need to go inside there.”
“…Okay.”
Still, thanks to Undecided, I had discovered the hidden dungeon. Now that the object was starting to look more human, I should quickly dispose of her, but…
I decided to acknowledge her contribution and keep her around a bit longer.
“What kind of room is this?”
Entering the hidden dungeon with Undecided. No, I began to doubt if it even qualified as a dungeon in the first place. It was just a single wide room with no other doors or passages.
For the time being, I sprayed low-grade healing potion on the wound and wrapped it with bandages while examining the room. It hurt quite a bit, but not enough to hinder walking.
I could probably endure it and walk fine.
“What are you doing?”
“…”
Feeling a gaze boring into me, I spoke. Undecided, who had been kneeling beside me and intently examining the afflicted area, finally turned her head.
Usually, unless I specifically spoke to her, she would just stand there blankly. The kid had become strange.
Was she broken? It was truly unreasonable that I couldn’t send a defective product for repair or get a refund.
“Is the double dungeon like a bonus reward concept?”
It was a room with just a treasure chest in the center, without any other passages. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like a final reward room, but I had to be cautious.
This was my first time coming here.
“…”
Without letting my guard down, I brought my hand to the treasure chest. The ceiling could suddenly come down, spikes could rise from below, or a monster could jump out from inside the chest.
Carelessness was forbidden. Concentrating all the mana in my body to maintain peak condition, I opened the treasure chest.
“Phew.”
What was revealed inside were three vials. It seemed to indeed be a bonus room concept. There was no need to agonize over whether it was poison or elixir. With ‘Inspect’, I could identify it right away.
[Stat Boost Potion of Choice (Owned: 0)]
[Permanently increases the stat of your choice by 10.]
Jackpot. The item that was given only once in the beginning and never appeared again until the end of the game – there were three of them here.
Stats could only be raised little by little through arduous training and rare hidden items. I was lucky.
“Now, what should I raise? A happy dilemma to have… Huh?!”
Suddenly, the strength left my legs and my body collapsed. Before I knew it, I was sprawled on the ground, kissing the floor. What on earth happened…
‘Mana exhaustion!’
Damn it. My mana had already hit zero. I had never thought my mana was lacking until now.
‘Ah. Tay’s mana stone…’
Thanks to the top-grade mana stone, using Mana Control had become easier. That must have caused my mana to be rapidly consumed. I would probably need a little, no, a lot more mana in the future.
“Gulp, gulp! Cough, ack! Khkk!”
“…Are you okay?”
With trembling hands due to exhaustion, I dumped all the potions into my mouth.
[Mana stat increases by 10.]
[Mana stat increases by 10.]
[Mana stat increases by 10.]
Good. Since it came to this, I’ll go with a magic swordsman concept. Why can a magic swordsman only use magic suitable for a petty thief?
I’ll learn it properly later. Anyway, that’s how it’ll be.
“Oh. Already?”
Upon returning from the dungeon to the hotel, I found a note at the counter. It said the mana stone processing was complete and to come pick it up. It hadn’t even been 10 hours yet, so it was extremely fast.
I wanted to go retrieve it right away, but my body was a mess right now. I wanted to change out of my dirty clothes, take a shower, and change the bandages.
Undecided was also tired, judging by her narrowed stride despite not showing it outwardly.
I had to feed Undecided too. So resting for a bit in the room came first.
“Thank you for keeping the note for me.”
“Sure.”
I gave a dry greeting to the innkeeper and left my seat.
“…My back. Hurts.”
“Why does your back hurt?”
“…Yoo-jin. You were, too rough.”
[T/N: 0_0]
Was it because of the impact when I caught her as she fell earlier? Undecided walked while holding her back and furrowing her brow. But the gaze the innkeeper was shooting at my back was uncomfortably sharp.
He was looking at me like I was some insect. Puzzled, I climbed the stairs and opened the room door.
“Do you want to wash up first?”
“…Wash me.”
“Wash yourself, dude. But are you okay with water when washing?”
“…Still water. Is fine. Flowing water. Scary.”
So she says. I thought she was afraid of water altogether.
I sent Undecided into the bathroom first, then took off my sweat-soaked top and tossed it aside.
“Status window.”
[Stats]
[Strength: 11(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Stamina: 12(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Mana: 43(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Agility: 18(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Luck: 14(x5) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
The mana stat was a whopping 43. Multiplied by 5 with the Guardian Knight buff, it became 215. Just looking at it made my teeth rot from the sweetness.
Of course, it was abnormally high compared to other stats, but it wasn’t actually that high. Jill’s base mana stat reached 200.
Yerina’s strength and stamina stats easily surpassed 200 as well. If intelligence was also displayed as a stat, I thought Yulia would be around 300.
Moreover, the Four Heavenly Kings, the final boss’s close associates, all had stats exceeding 500 if I remembered correctly. I was strong now, but not at an overwhelmingly dominant level.
‘Although my mana tripled, if I use it recklessly, it will quickly disappear.’
Furthermore, if I used Mana Control at maximum output, my mana would drain like water.
The increase in mana was significant, but not to the point where I could use it carelessly without worry.
From now on, I had to pour every stat potion I obtained into mana.
“Oh.”
I turned off the status window and picked up today’s newspaper. A familiar face was on the front page.
The person towards whom my feelings were a mixture of hatred and affection, to the point where I wasn’t sure what emotions I held anymore. The saintess, Jill Diner.
The news was that the anti-saintess faction had attempted to assassinate her but failed, and Jill had survived unscathed. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as soon as I saw it.
If Jill had died, the Pope’s Office would have gone berserk, causing much turmoil in the world. It was a relief.
“What is this?”
However, the moment I turned the page, I had to doubt my eyes. On the second page, there was a single photograph.
-The ruins of Hameln Cathedral. All the pillars had snapped due to an unknown explosion, causing the ceiling to collapse. The assassins all died on the spot.
It was a photo of the cathedral with the ceiling collapsed and touching the floor. It looked just like the cathedral I had destroyed in the 1st playthrough.
“What the hell…”
My pupils trembled, having lost their focus. An ominous possibility came to mind. The possibility that Jill might have regained her memories from the 1st playthrough…
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