Episode 86
I jumped down into the hole that appeared after the World Tree's roots shattered.
As my feet touched the ground, I felt a squishy sensation.
The foul smell had intensified even more.
Though darkness swallowed the interior making it impossible to see clearly, if I focused all my nerves into my eyes, I could vaguely make out outlines.
The shapes of people who appeared to have collapsed.
The problem was that they weren't in the state of intact bodies.
'Even without looking, they're probably damaged to the point where I'd feel bad calling them corpses. I should ask Kyla to create some light when she comes down.'
Thump.
Kyla arrived right behind me.
As soon as she descended, she muttered.
"...I've rarely been this happy to see darkness as I am today."
"I feel the same way."
Both of us instinctively thought we didn't want to turn on the light.
This smell, sensation, atmosphere.
Anyone could tell this was a place where turning on the light would mean seeing things we'd rather not see.
"Hoo..."
Kyla let out a deep sigh and eventually created light.
A sphere made of light formed behind her and began radiating illumination in all directions.
"Ugh... Can we even consider this an experiment? It's just disgusting."
"Even at a glance, it's clearly for the purpose of inflicting pain."
The corpse right in front of us had wounds all over its body, with the lower half torn apart as if ripped away.
Red lines were drawn in front of the collapsed body.
It matched the appearance of someone who had tried to move with both arms to survive but died.
'Did they watch while slicing up someone trying to escape? Why bother? I don't even understand the purpose.'
When I checked the ears, they were an elf's.
That meant the Elf Queen had some intention behind torturing elves like this.
"What a disgusting hobby. Even among the Demon King's army, those who enjoy torturing people like this are rare."
Kyla kicked the corpse with her foot.
The body rolled away weakly, revealing the front part.
"...Shouldn't have kicked it."
"...Yeah."
We shifted our gaze to the dark path ahead.
We averted our eyes from the corpse that offered nothing good to see and stared into the endless darkness.
"What we're sensing is coming from the end there, right?"
"Yeah, Eri is definitely at the end there... but can we get her out? That strange liquid was gradually approaching."
"Right."
Kyla briefly looked at the hole we had entered through.
After a moment of contemplation, she looked forward again.
"We need to hurry. But we can't just abandon Eri either."
"Then I'll run."
With those words, we ran without speaking.
The sphere of light drove back the darkness ahead of us, while iron bars stretched endlessly on both sides.
'Are there corpses inside all of them? Judging by how squishy the floor is, it seems like they haven't been dead long.'
If they had been dead for long, the blood should have dried long ago.
But with each step, I could hear squelching sounds from below.
"Left."
At my words, Kyla turned left with me without any hesitation.
"Right this time."
I followed Eri's mana that prickled at my skin like needles, and her faint scent that was the only one I could detect.
After running non-stop through this disgusting path, we arrived at a small room.
Kyla, who had been staring at the door, walked forward first.
"Open it?"
I nodded and prepared to dash out at any moment.
Kyla also enveloped herself in divine power and slowly turned the doorknob.
Creak...
The old hinges made an unpleasant sound as the door slowly opened.
"Huh? Mia! Kyla!"
When the door opened, I could see Eri imprisoned behind iron bars.
The room interior looked intact.
It was an ordinary room except for the iron bars, collar, and shackles.
Her arms were bound by shackles that looked like World Tree roots, and an iron collar was fastened around her neck.
"What on earth happened? To be bound in a place like this."
Kyla grumbled as she approached her.
Eri spoke urgently.
"This isn't the time for that! Where's Aron? Aron mustn't fight the Elf Queen. That's what she's aiming for. It's a plan to bind Aron!"
"What?"
"Say what?"
Eri continued explaining without pause.
"The Elf Queen plans to kill all humans through the Cult of the End and preserve only the World Tree within herself. That way the elves will somehow be reborn. But she needed a way to restrain Aron, the biggest obstacle. That's why she created the barrier."
"But a barrier would be useless against Aron. How could you restrain that monster."
At Kyla's calm voice, Eri glared at her.
"Do you think I don't know that? You saw the corpses on your way here, right? Those are all elves she killed. By killing elves and corrupting the World Tree, she's using that power. Of course a barrier made by mere humans or elves would be useless. But what about a barrier using the World Tree's power?"
"..."
Strictly speaking, the World Tree is also a divine being.
After all, it's a god born from the elves' faith.
Unless it's Aron at full power, the current Aron wouldn't be able to break free.
"He probably can't escape."
At Kyla's muttering, Eri asked again.
"So where's Aron? He's not here? Don't tell me he fought the Elf Queen?"
Kyla was muttering as she slumped to the floor.
Eventually, I nodded.
"He fought. And... disappeared."
"You should have stopped him...! Haah, as if you could have stopped him. I was the only one who knew. Then by any chance, have you met Seoryeong?"
"No. Why Seoryeong unni?"
"She's probably in danger too right now. Maybe even more danger than me."
It seems the beastkin side has also joined the Cult of the End.
"Then let's get out of here as quickly as possible. Kyla. You get up too. We need to get out of here if we want to save Aron or do anything else."
When I grabbed Kyla's arm, a sticky liquid touched my hand.
Looking again, I saw she was dripping black liquid from her entire body.
It was the same appearance I had seen at the forest house before.
'...I thought she was a yandere since she's called the Obsessed Saintess, but was she actually the mentally fragile type? Her mental state seems to have completely collapsed as soon as she heard the truth from Eri.'
She was muttering quietly while tightly hugging herself, so I finally picked her up.
The black liquid flowing from her body touched my entire body.
"I'll rescue you too, Eri-ssi."
I focused aura on my foot and kicked the bars.
Bang! Crack!
The bars shattered like twigs.
I walked right up to Eri and broke the restraints binding her arms and neck.
"They're not as sturdy as I thought. I expected them to be much harder to break."
"They were meant to prevent spirit usage from the start. The one on my neck was to block mana usage."
Eri slowly got up from her spot and moved her body lightly.
She must have been bound for quite a while, as cracking sounds came from her joints with each movement.
"Let's get out first. I'll leave the obsessed saintess to you, Mia. I can't properly use my power right now either... It would probably be too much for me to carry Kyla out too."
Spirits gathered in Eri's hand, but there weren't many of them.
Understanding her situation, I ran first.
"Please just light the way ahead with spirits. We need to follow at full speed since we might not be able to get out if we're any later."
With those words, I began running at full speed.
We ran for a long time without speaking.
We had many things we wanted to ask and confirm, but there was no time for that.
If we were even a little later, we might get trapped by that strange liquid and die.
'But what on earth happened? There was no such development in the game. At most, humans were somewhat divided and other races...'
All died.
Having come this far, I can speculate two possibilities.
Either the content changed in Black Nightmare 2 to create this development, or too many things have changed due to me and Aron.
"Tch."
Whichever it is, nothing is certain and Aron has disappeared.
For now, all we can do is get out of here and try something.
On the way out, I saw stairs.
Position-wise, it seemed like the door we initially intended to enter was over there.
From there, black liquid was flowing through the door cracks.
"Over there."
Fortunately, the entrance we came through was still intact.
We quickly ran toward it, and the black liquid had reached right in front of it.
"If we were any later, we would have died right there."
"Let's get out of the forest first. The elves won't have time to follow us because of the World Tree."
"Right."
And so we left the Blue Forest.
While continuously trying to call Aron with the hand wearing the summoning ring.
*
We ran blindly out of the forest and kept running for a while longer.
Only after we had gotten far enough that the forest was no longer visible did Eri stop running.
"Haa, haa..."
"Hoo... Are you okay? We seem to be far enough now. Tell us slowly. Why did you suddenly run away, why were you captured, and where did Aron go?"
I sat Kyla down on the ground and looked at Eri.
After taking several breaths in and out, she answered slowly.
"First of all, if we had stayed there, the elves would have targeted us. They probably think we're the ones who destroyed the World Tree. And I was captured because of the Cult of the End. When I warned the Queen about the cult, she immediately subdued me."
"But why weren't you killed? The other elves... well, how should I say it... were all dead in such cruel ways you couldn't even describe."
"The Queen likes me. That's why she didn't kill me and just imprisoned me."
I didn't know that.
Accepting that as plausible, I continued questioning.
"So where did Aron go?"
Eri thought for a moment.
Just as worry began to creep up that she might not know either, she answered.
"I'm not exactly sure, but I think he's inside the World Tree. Since she stole the World Tree's power, creating one space inside it would be nothing special."
"Is there a way to get to that space?"
"I don't really know either. My communication with the World Tree was only formal at the beginning. Except for the Queen, no one directly communicates and converses with the World Tree."
"So there's just no answer."
I kicked at empty air in frustration and made a disgusted face.
"How about we go to the Great Plains first and rescue Seoryeong? She might actually die."
"Right. No, and just speak casually. Why are we using formal speech with each other uncomfortably? I saw you speaking casually with Kyla just fine."
"Shall we? Then while we're at it, carry me too. When the spirits start responding to my voice again, I'll call spirits to carry us then."
"...What should we do with her though."
I pointed at Kyla who was squatting on the ground muttering to herself.
It wasn't like Hansel and Gretel, but the black liquid remained on the path we had run along.
"This isn't the first time something like this has happened but..."
Eri grabbed Kyla by the collar.
And swung her hand.
Slap!
"Hey. Snap out of it. Why are you like this, you girl who did all sorts of things to stay by Aron's side? Snap out of it! No matter how depressed you get, Aron won't come back."
"B-but... Aron... sh-should be... by my s-side..."
"I'm anxious too. But if we fall into panic, who's going to save him? Get a grip. Don't fall into despair alone, you so-called Saintess."
"E-even if you say that..."
Eri clicked her tongue and released Kyla from her grip.
"Then give up. I'm going to save Seoryeong with Mia and then go save Aron. After that, we'll somehow resolve things, have babies, have sex with Aron every day and share love, whatever. One less competitor, good for me."
Eri said that and grabbed my arm.
"Let's just go. Leave that trashy girl behind."
As I was being pulled away, bewildered by the too harsh and violent words, Kyla stood up.
Covered in tears and snot, she said.
"Sniff... I, I'm... coming too... I'll also... have passionate passionate storm sex... and have... lots of babies..."
A Saintess crying while talking about "passionate passionate storm sex."
This is really insane.