Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Ch. 71 .｡.:✧ The Transcontinental Train (1) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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He had obtained Tay’s special mana stone (though it was something that wouldn’t show effects immediately, whether it “bloomed” or whatever).
He had also set up an address to receive communications from Cornelia, Mia, and Alicia.
Now he could finally depart.
“I smell the sea. We must be nearing the strait soon.”
They were on the transcontinental train that crossed the continent.
When he opened the window, the breeze carried a hint of salt.
In the first-class compartment of the transcontinental train he had boarded after a long time,
“Does it taste good?”
“…Nom nom nom.”
He was once again offering his nape to Undecided.
Undecided was biting his neck frantically, too busy to answer.
Looking at how fiercely she was biting, it seemed like chunks of his flesh should be torn off.
But thanks to her lack of fangs, such a gruesome scene didn’t unfold.
There was only the light sensation of gentle nibbling along with blood being slightly sucked out.
This had become a part of his daily routine now.
Deciding to let her suck as she pleased, he turned his gaze back to the window.
‘How long has it been since I last went north?’
Since the Clockwork City was located in the northern continent, he had no choice but to use the transcontinental train.
He hadn’t set foot in the north at all this round, so it had been about 5 months.
It had been a while.
Culturally speaking, the north felt a bit more familiar to him.
But at the same time, a tingling anxiety enveloped his whole body.
Perhaps it was because he had been burned by Yerina too many times.
Every person he made eye contact with in passing seemed like a surveillance agent from Palana.
That’s why he had uncharacteristically booked a fully enclosed, private first-class compartment today.
He was too conscious of people’s gazes.
It seemed he had developed some paranoia.
‘Well, Yerina isn’t to blame. It’s my fault for trying to seduce her 12 times even knowing she was a psycho.’
Of course, this was paranoia he had brought upon himself.
Normally, one would avoid a landmine once they knew about it.
He was the idiot who kept ramming into it over and over, torturing himself.
“…Slurp.”
Undecided wiped her mouth as she finally detached from his neck, seemingly finished feeding.
She even took out a bandage and applied it to his neck.
She was well-trained.
By the way, it felt a bit cold after getting some air.
Even after closing the window, the chill lingered in his body.
“Cold. Heater.”
“…Okay.”
No sooner had he spoken than Undecided wrapped her arms around his waist and clung to him tightly.
Then she shivered, and his chest started to feel warm and toasty.
It was 2nd tier magic.
Heating.
It was magic mainly used for low-temperature cooking of meat.
If he fell asleep like this, he might become sous vide meat himself.
But as long as he was careful about that, it was perfect as a substitute for a heater.
“Whew. Nice and warm. This massage chair works great.”
He was so thankful Undecided had learned magic.
In winter, he could use her like this as a heater.
In summer, as a cool body pillow.
She was like a multi-purpose home appliance.
“Did you suck enough blood?”
“…Yes. Belly. Full.”
“Then keep watch for a bit. I’m going to get some food.”
“…Okay. Come back, soon.”
Leaving Undecided, who was staring at him intently with glowing red eyes, he left the first-class compartment and headed for the dining car.
Now that Undecided had filled her stomach, he needed to fill his too.
The moment he reached the dining car after passing through the corridor,
The sounds of a band playing soft music and people chattering could be heard from all around.
As the train took nearly a month from start to finish crossing the continent, the dining car was quite large.
“One omurice. And a beer.”
“Yes, sir.”
He sat down at a suitable spot and placed his order.
He chose a menu item that could be prepared and eaten quickly.
The quality of expensive, luxurious food tended to drop significantly in such train dining cars.
It would be much better to eat at a proper restaurant after getting off at the Clockwork City.
“That bastard’s drunk. Drag him out.”
“Aw, come on, Vice Captain. I only had a few drinks.”
“No excuses. Go back to your compartment. We absolutely cannot tolerate causing a disturbance on the train. Got it?”
“Yes, Vice Captain!”
In one corner, a group of burly men had taken over the space.
Judging by their appearance, they were mercenaries.
There were about 8 of them, led by the vice captain.
Since he didn’t recognize the face of the so-called vice captain, they must have been an obscure or newly formed mercenary group.
‘Their discipline seems quite strict. They probably won’t cause trouble.’
They appeared to be under control to some extent.
There didn’t seem to be much cause for concern.
Deciding not to mind them, he soon received his food and drink and began his meal.
“What’s the main thing to be careful about in the north?”
“Vice Captain! I won’t forget! It’s to be careful not to tarnish the honor of our mercenary group, right?”
“Right. Just remember that. Since we’re inevitably going to the northern continent because dungeons have become scarce in the south, conflicts with local forces there may arise. Try to avoid violent clashes as much as possible. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
He couldn’t help but tilt his head at the conversation he overheard from the mercenaries’ direction.
Dungeons were scarce in the southern continent?
What on earth could that mean?
There should still be over a hundred dungeons spread across the south.
“You’re all too excited. Calm down a bit. We’re challenging the Black Star Dungeon, after all.”
“Aw, don’t worry so much. There’s even a guy who’s been clearing all the Black Star Dungeons in the south single-handedly. Our elite team should be more than enough.”
“You fools must have a death wish!”
So that’s what it was about.
They were a party aiming for a Black Star Dungeon.
He had heard that people targeting Black Star Dungeons had been increasing recently.
It seemed the perception that they weren’t so dangerous had spread after seeing him clear Black Star Dungeons.
While those who had actually entered Black Star Dungeons and gotten crushed would be furious at this, it couldn’t be helped.
Most people were those who had never even entered, scared off by the “Conquest Abandoned” judgment.
Then suddenly one day, some nobody starts clearing Black Star Dungeons left and right?
He would be suspicious too if he were them.
He might wonder if the mercenary council was lying about the difficulty to hog all the profits for themselves.
‘You have to experience it yourself to know.’
No amount of persuasion would work on guys like that.
They’d only come to their senses after getting their heads cracked open once.
Still, the revitalization of dungeon conquests that had been somewhat subdued was good news for him.
It would take quite a while for him to clear all the Black Star Dungeons alone.
The value of top-grade mana stones from Black Star Dungeons had long since depreciated.
Now his main mana stones weren’t from dungeons, but made from the demonic energy of the Four Heavenly Kings.
The black mana stones far surpassed ordinary top-grade mana stones in both basic performance and additional effects.
If he were to change his mana stones in the future, he would replace them with ones from defeating other Heavenly Kings, not from dungeons.
Moreover, if the speed of dungeon conquests increased, the day he would face the final boss would also be brought forward.
This was the key point.
Time was truly a precious resource for him as he was doing a timed attack while being chased by the main heroine trio.
“But you know what? About that madman who keeps clearing only Black Star Dungeons.”
“The Black Star Slayer?”
“Yes, that guy.”
The Black Star Slayer.
It was the alias given to him for clearing only the “Conquest Abandoned” dungeons with Black Star in their names.
He had hoped for a cooler English alias like Black-Slayer, but…
He had considered sneaking into the mercenary council to stir up trouble and change his alias to Black-Slayer, but gave up.
He didn’t have time to waste on such things.
It was a bit, no, very regrettable.
The moment they witnessed his brilliant naming sense, he could have seen the mercenaries applauding in admiration.
“There are even rumors about adding him to the Three Sword Saints to make it the Four Sword Saints.”
“Who’s spouting such nonsense…”
“The Captain said so.”
“On second thought, it seems to make sense.”
The Three Sword Saints.
It was a term referring to the three strongest swordsmen in the world.
However, as the name suggested, it was merely an unofficial list created by armchair experts.
Unlike the Sword Master hierarchy with its strict evaluations and witnesses, the Three Sword Saints was purely speculation.
Of course, there were certainly strong individuals on par with Sword Masters even among those who weren’t Sword Masters.
For example, Yerina.
Or Transylvania, the blood ghoul.
Yerina was from the northern continent, so she had no interest in being included in the southern Sword Master hierarchy.
Transylvania was a blood ghoul who had regained her sanity, so she couldn’t even be treated as human, let alone qualify as a Sword Master.
Considering such points, the Three Sword Saints could be seen as having some objectivity in its own way.
Of course, since no one had ever pitted those three against each other, nobody really knew if they were truly that strong.
It was no different from gossip like “Top 3 Sword Skills Ranking for Fun!”
Even if he were included in that list, he wouldn’t gain any benefits or have his honor heightened, but…
It just felt good.
That was all.
He secretly felt the desire to push for inclusion as the Fourth Sword Saint using his connections with Cornelia or Mia.
“Come on. No matter what, how can you include the Black Star Slayer whose identity is unknown in the Three Sword Saints? We don’t even know if he uses a sword.”
“We have evidence for that. All the monster corpses found in the dungeons he swept through were cut by a sword.”
“So he must be a swordsman?”
“Yes.”
It seemed quite a bit of analysis about him had been done without his knowledge.
They seemed to have figured out at least that he was a swordsman.
But not much beyond that, it appeared.
That was fortunate.
He had been careful to thoroughly erase his traces, but he had worried there might be evidence he had carelessly left behind.
It seemed that wasn’t the case.
His training in hiding his whereabouts to avoid Yerina’s suspicion over the past 12 rounds must have paid off.
Thank you, Yerina!
“I’ll take your plates.”
“Okay.”
Having gathered enough information by eavesdropping,
He finished his meal and stood up.
The train would soon cross the strait and enter the northern continent.
Then it wouldn’t be long until the Clockwork City.
They would arrive by this evening, so he should get a bit of sleep.
“Vice Captain! We have an emergency!”
“What? What’s going on?”
Just as he was about to leave the dining car,
Before he could even grab the door handle, the door burst open and a mercenary rushed past him.
Panting heavily with a pale face, he seemed quite shaken.
“The rookie, the rookie lost consciousness!”
“How much did he drink?”
“It’s not because of alcohol. He suddenly developed a fever, then collapsed, and won’t wake up.”
“What the… Ugh.”
The vice captain, who had been snapping back irritably, staggered.
A look of bewilderment spread across his face.
He soon realized it too.
‘Huh? Why does my head hurt so much?’
The fact that his physical condition was very off right now.
His head was throbbing, and he felt nauseous.
Now that he looked around, the previously noisy dining car had become much quieter.
Several people were already slumped over listlessly.
‘Was it poison?’
At first, he glared at the chef, wondering if poison had been added to the food.
But the chef was also in a daze, unable to come to his senses.
At least it wasn’t the chef who had poisoned them.
Then what could it be?
‘Don’t tell me…’
He had a hunch.
An ability that could spread such a quiet, eerie, and wide-ranging effect.
As far as he knew, there was only one thing like that.
He knelt down on one knee and placed his hand on the train floor.
Then he activated the Inspect trait.
[Transcontinental Train]
› Status: Cursed
› A large passenger train that operates from Gallia in the southern continent to Palana in the northern continent.
*It is cursed.
A status ailment debuff is applied to all passengers.
As expected.
The one causing this abnormal phenomenon was a curse caster.
Unlike magic which consumed mana, curses used demonic energy.
In terms of using demonic energy, it could be considered in the same category as necromancers who used necromancy.
‘Their skill is considerable.’
While he was sensitive to the movement of mana, he wasn’t very sensitive to the movement of demonic energy.
Still, it wasn’t that he couldn’t sense demonic energy at all.
He had been able to sense Belphegor and Kali emitting large amounts of demonic energy from afar.
To cast such a curse over the entire train must have used quite a lot of demonic energy.
Yet he hadn’t noticed it at all.
This curse caster was clearly very skilled.
‘Damn. It seems to be getting stronger.’
Currently, only he and the mercenaries were maintaining their senses in the dining car.
It seemed that because of their large builds and muscle mass, the curse’s effects were spreading more slowly in them.
But even the mercenaries soon couldn’t hold out and started collapsing one by one.
He felt like he was about to go down too.
“This is crazy…”
There was only one way to stop this.
They had to catch and punish the curse caster.
If a totem had been set up, they would have to destroy that totem even after catching the caster…
But if they caught the caster and interrogated them, they could find out the totem’s location too.
“Ah, damn it.”
But he hadn’t gone far from the dining car when his legs gave out.
It felt like he had drunk about 8 bottles of whiskey.
His sense of reality was fading, and the world was spinning.
‘The Heavenly Armor Plate probably wouldn’t work either.’
For a moment he considered activating the Heavenly Armor Plate trait, but decided against it.
The range of this curse was the entire train.
The Heavenly Armor Plate only deflected physical forces, it wouldn’t block curses, so it would be useless.
This was bad.
What if he woke up with a sealing device on him in a northern slave market?
Or what if he regained consciousness on an operating table with his organs being harvested while someone said “Boss, this bastard is smiling”?
As such terrifying thoughts crossed his mind, he vaguely saw someone walking heavily from the end of the corridor.
As they got closer, his vision focused and their outline became clear.
“…Why. Lying down.”
Undecided’s puzzled expression came into view.
She tilted her head and crouched down in front of him.
I can see your panties, you silly girl.
“You…”
He was about to tell her to run away too.
But at that moment,
“…This. Keeps, moving.”
Undecided held out a wooden box to him.
That was the box containing Kali’s dead soul.
It was shaking violently, while emitting an ominous aura.
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