Episode 16
Episode 16
Forest of Bewilderment.
In Bluna, it was considered endgame content alongside the Demon Realm and the Forest of Night.
In fact, if you actually went all the way to the center, there was a hidden boss that gave endgame-tier equipment, so many strategies were posted, and it was common for parties to form to challenge it.
And the hidden boss at its center was none other than the ancient weapon, Antikythera.
A monster said to be created with ancient technology currently impossible to replicate was guarding that place.
Though it had a human form, its entire body was essentially a weapon, and it drew upon all the mana from the Forest of Bewilderment, so it never ran out of mana.
'In the game, the most common strategies were either overwhelming it with DPS or inducing an overload...'
First, overwhelming it with DPS was impossible.
By game standards, you needed to be max level, have a top-tier party, and endgame equipment to even attempt it. So the remaining method was to induce an overload.
But trying to induce that feels like my shield is going to get shredded.
Watching the steel fragments slicing through the air with a fierce sound, I couldn't help but think that.
'I'll be able to react, right?'
In the game, the player controlled it, but now I had to react myself.
Objectively, my level was around the early 70s.
Considering I was about 20 levels short of the required level, I'd die after just a few hits.
I focused all my nerves and blocked the incoming fragments.
Fwoosh! Kwa-gwa-gwang...
Just blocking a few of the flying fragments, my aura tore apart with an explosive sound.
"Kuh!"
The hand gripping the shield trembled, and my body was thrown back violently.
Fortunately, the shield didn't shatter. It was badly dented, and a few more blocks would break it, though.
"Should we run even now? I don't see an answer."
I let out a scornful laugh and looked at the cloud of dust.
As the wind swept the dust away, a beautiful woman was floating there in front of me.
Her silver hair fluttered, and her cold blue eyes flashed as they turned toward me.
Judging by her elegant dress and appearance, she was unmistakably human, but the moment I heard her mechanical voice, I was reminded once again.
"Target confirmed. Judged to be the same species as the tracked entity. Commencing elimination."
The exact same boss fight opening line as in the game.
A feeling ambiguously mixed with joy and terror welled up from deep within my chest.
At that moment, a massive black mace flew toward Antikythera with a tremendous sonic boom, and with a deafening roar, dust exploded upward.
And red hair fluttered beside me.
"Captain, you're here? Do you think we can win against that?"
"Absolutely no way."
"Then are we running? All the other members have come out to fight too. At this rate, what do you think will happen?"
"Seems utterly hopeless... but since we can't even run, we have to try and hold out."
The Captain was trembling too.
By game level standards, the Captain was around the late 80s, so it wasn't unreasonable.
The Captain tightened her grip on the mace. Veins bulged from her heavily scarred hand.
In the heavy silence, she took a deep breath in and out, then muttered.
"She probably killed everyone in the other sectors too on her way here, right?"
"Most likely. I think this is why we lost contact with the Red Tide unit that was in the sector right next to us. Don't you?"
"Looks that way to me too. I've never seen a monster like this, even in the deep areas. Where did it come from?"
"From the center... probably. No one's ever been there, you know."
"Then it's a truly absurd monster."
I nodded lightly and tightened my grip on the shield.
"I think the Hero's party must have provoked it. They mentioned a tracked target, and besides the Hero's party, no one would go all the way to the center."
"Oh? Those damn bastards. If they messed with it, they should've finished the job."
The dust cleared, and Antikythera, who had blocked the mace unscathed, summoned weapons.
Guns, cannons, missiles, floating blades.
Weapons that shouldn't exist in a medieval era emerged from its body and all aimed at us.
"All entities confirmed. Switching to combat mode. Commencing combat."
*
Boom! Cra-crack! Thud-thud-thud-boom!
A vicious sound echoed, and I saw two women exchanging attacks.
One flailed her silver hair, launching blades and firing magic indiscriminately, while the other blocked and attempted to counter.
Even now, thinking I've gotten stronger, it seemed like a level I couldn't possibly approach.
I got up, using a cloth to staunch the cleanly pierced hole in my left shoulder from a magic cannon.
"Ugh!"
Feeling the pain as I stepped on the ground, I checked my right leg.
Blades I couldn't block in time were embedded deep in my thigh and calf.
"Huu... Huu... H-heup..."
I'd lost so much blood that my consciousness was already blurry, and my body was shaking uncontrollably.
Every muscle and nerve was warning me.
If I moved any more, I would surely die.
'But I can't just let the Captain fight alone and die...'
The other members were already dead or collapsed.
The relatively unharmed members were moving the survivors as far away as possible, clinging to the belief that they might somehow be saved.
I let out a self-deprecating laugh and muttered.
"What's the use of knowing the strategy? My body can't keep up."
I managed to react to the larger, telegraphed attacks.
But for the smaller, quicker techniques, I barely blocked them or only avoided vital spots.
"Huu... Huu... H-heup..."
Catching my breath, I watched their battle.
Hundreds of attacks exchanged in mere seconds. The openings that occurred in between.
My dynamic visual acuity and reflexes, my only real talent.
Trusting in that, I had to charge in one more time.
Crack! As my foot hit the ground, my body moved.
The ground I stomped on with all my strength crumbled, and fragments sprayed backward.
'I'll block it just once!'
In an instant, I reached the center of the battle.
Boom! I blocked one of Antikythera's attacks with my nearly depleted shield.
The impact sent my arm flying upward, and the shield shattered into fragments and flew away. My body, shocked by the recoil, screamed.
Attacks I couldn't block embedded themselves in my body, some piercing straight through.
"Ghak!"
Blood poured from my mouth, and the blood I'd barely staunched from my shoulder burst forth.
The Captain didn't miss that opening and charged.
"Die now, you damn bastard!"
Mana condensed once more, glowing red.
The mace, filled with all her remaining mana, was swung toward Antikythera.
Kwaaang!
An intense impact and vibration powerful enough to shake the entire area.
Amid the rising dust, something charged and shoved me hard.
"Ugh!"
The force sent me flying, and I tumbled across the ground.
"What hit me? Still, it must have connected properly..."
I held onto a sliver of hope.
Even though it was a game world, there were definitely parts different from the game.
I thought that maybe, like other magical beasts, if I smashed its head, it might die in one hit.
"Judged impossible to eliminate in combat mode. Employing additional equipment. Increasing power and mana consumption. Switching to annihilation mode."
That hope shattered along with Antikythera's Phase 2 opening line.
Phase 2 of Antikythera, which had up to 4 phases.
That was the result of fighting with all our might.
"Captain! Keup... Kek! Captain, Kehek!"
Perhaps my organs were damaged from the earlier impact; hot blood gushed from my mouth like a waterfall, soaking the ground.
My body wouldn't move.
When I tried to shout, an extreme pain shot through my throat and lungs, and blood kept spurting out.
Lying face down on the ground, the dust cleared, revealing Captain Karen's figure.
"Uhp! U-weeeek..."
The Captain vomited an enormous amount of blood.
She was standing where I had been.
Protecting me, her stomach had been pierced.
Antikythera's murderous blades had impaled the Captain's abdomen.
Her red hair flowed down powerlessly from her body suspended in the air, looking like a waterfall made of blood.
Then, Antikythera's cruel voice was heard.
"Highest priority threat. Executing termination."
"Tss... H-heu... Fuck..."
I couldn't see the Captain's burning eyes or her smile anymore.
Eyes gradually losing their vitality and dimming, the corners of her mouth drooping slightly.
A magic cannon was aimed at the Captain's pierced abdomen.
At its tip, a blue light condensed, looking ready to explode at any moment.
"Please... Captain-nim..."
I don't want to die.
I don't want to lose someone important.
I've already lost family, a teacher, and friends.
"Someone, please help... I'll give anything, please... please help... please save my unni..."
Furious at my helplessness, I clenched my fists and sobbed.
The developer who brought me here, the damn Hero's party, an easter egg, really, anything was fine.
Please, just save Karen unni.
"Oh? Then you'll really do anything?"
Then, a voice was heard.
A deep, low-pitched voice.
Along with the sight of him walking toward Antikythera, my consciousness sank into a deep abyss.
*
For someone who had possessed a game character from the past, there was frustratingly little I could do.
Bluna 1 and Bluna 2 were just too different.
There was too little a girl could do.
I couldn't monopolize all the opportunities and easter eggs either.
Perhaps it was because I lost my confidence after losing the village and after Ivy became the Saintess.
Because from some point on, such thoughts filled me completely.
'Maybe none of the information I know is useful. Maybe this isn't Bluna at all. Is it just my delusion?'
Around the time all my self-confidence had vanished.
I met Karen unni, and while working as a mercenary, I lived forgetting all those things.
I improved my skills, learned things one by one under Karen unni, built my identity as a mercenary, and regained my confidence.
'It's all thanks to Karen unni...'
Even though I called her 'Captain' out of embarrassment in front of others, in my heart, I wanted to call her 'unni'.
Even though I was embarrassed because I was a man, I wanted to express that I cared for her that much.
If I knew it would come to this, I would have called her 'unni' before I died.
Karen unni liked 'unni' more than 'Captain' too.
'But, but like that... with her stomach pierced...'
The final image of her, stomach pierced, pouring out blood.
That image rose vividly in my mind.
"Karen unni!"
I jerked upright, finding myself on a soft bed.
Startled, I looked around, but it looked like an ordinary medieval fantasy house.
Just as I was trying to grasp the situation.
A deep voice came from right behind me.
"You're finally awake? Even after using recovery magic, your healing is slow."
Startled, I jumped out of the bed and turned around.
My body, which had been completely wrecked, moved just fine aside from some pain.
"You, who are you!"
With no shield, I clenched my fists and turned to look.
A large man was standing behind me.
He was considerably taller than me, a muscular man.
His hair was long enough to somewhat obscure his eyes.
Leaning casually against the wall, he answered me.
"The person who saved you. Didn't you see me at the end? That Karen? Kare? Anyway, the red-haired woman you care about, I saved her too."
"Karen unni? What did you do to Karen unni!"
"This one really can't control her excitement... Follow me, I'll show you."
The man turned his back to me and slowly opened the door.
His attitude suggested he could handle any sneak attack from me with ease, so I followed him, staying as alert as possible.
Exiting the room, I found an ordinary living room.
Passing through it and entering another room, I saw several massive blocks of ice.
"She's here. See her inside the ice?"
Inside the ice the man pointed to, the real Karen unni was frozen solid.
Seeing her body still covered in wounds, I forgot all about caution and ran to her.
"Unni! What did you do to her! Is she dead? Or is she alive?"
My excitement subsided, replaced by worry.
Rational judgment returned, and I immediately adopted a respectful posture. I immediately used honorifics and bowed my head.
"Could you please save unni too? I'll do anything I can."
"There's nothing I can't do."
"Then right now...!"
The man cut me off.
"But it takes time. I already used my power to heal you. I can't just repeatedly use that level of recovery like it's nothing."
"That's... true, but..."
I couldn't refute it.
To save someone on the verge of death, you needed several high priests or high mages working together.
Even with many people giving their all, they could barely save one person.
Seeing my flustered attitude, the man continued.
"And you're asking me to save her for free? What can you do for me?"
"I'll do anything I can."
"Oh? Then want to give it a try?"
"...Pardon?"
Despite my bewildered expression, the man continued nonchalantly.
"If I just say let's do it, you'll dislike it, so I'll add a condition too."
I wanted to curse right away, but I held it back and asked him in a calm voice.
"What's the condition?"
"From now on, if I caress you for 30 minutes and you don't climax, I'll just heal her."
"Just caressing, right? No insertion."
"I absolutely won't insert. I'll just use my two hands to touch you for 30 minutes. I won't use magic either. Just ordinary caressing."
"What's the standard for climax? If it's just up to you, it's unfair to me."
"If you squirt, we'll count it as one time."
The man smiled and added.
"Of course, refusal is refusal. You said it yourself, didn't you? That you'd do anything if I just saved her."
"That was..."
It was something I said out of desperation, but the fact that I said it didn't change.
'Still, it's not like I can't do it.'
Honestly, since becoming a woman, it's not like I've never even masturbated.
I have a sex drive; I've never been with a man, but I've taken care of myself a few times.
What I realized then was that my body is quite numb.
While masturbating, I often tremble, but I've never once squirted.
'Besides, that stuff is mostly fabricated in porn to make it more stimulating.'
Whatever, I'll just endure 30 minutes, do some housework for a month, and then get out of here.
And if getting felt up once could save Karen unni, it was a bargain.
"Alright. Let's do it that way."