Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Red-Eyed High Elf (2)
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《 ~Field Stage~ Deep Forest North of Asral 》
"...Is this the place? The spot Cyan mentioned."
Louis, pushing through the forest.
After hearing Cyan's words, Louis headed to a location several kilometers from the dungeon he'd visited yesterday.
[Take this stone and head east into the forest. You should have a good idea of the place I'm talking about.]
Before leaving with the heresy inquisitors, Cyan had handed Louis a white gem and used telepathy to direct him toward the eastern forest.
'Still, this is pretty mysterious.'
As he crossed the forest, Louis kept glancing at the gem in his pocket.
It emitted a pure white light, suggesting it was some kind of mana stone, but even Louis—a dragon who'd lived about ninety years, young for his kind—had never seen anything like it.
Not only its origin was unknown, but its purpose was a complete mystery.
No way to figure out what it was for, even if he was curious.
In the end, he was just heading to "that place" as ordered.
-Rustle...!
"Huh? A barrier?"
Then Louis felt a slight stinging sensation.
Like static electricity, so he was definitely inside some kind of barrier.
The mana aura felt familiar, so the barrier's owner was probably Cyan. Its purpose: to hide whatever was inside.
"What is this?"
The reason for hiding the place made sense.
A massive crater came into view.
And in its center, the half-shattered corpse of what seemed to be a demon lay sprawled.
If they didn't hide it, there'd probably be absolute chaos.
(Looks like you've arrived, Louis.)
('Ah, yeah. I just got here. What the hell is this place?')
No particular mana aura lingered.
For a crater this size, it'd take a wide-area spell smashed right into it, but the surrounding mana was too intact and stable. It was as if the demon had been subdued with bare-handed martial arts.
A demon taken down with just physical prowess? Even against another demon, that seemed implausible.
Probably handled with magic, then the traces erased.
Cyan could probably pull it off.
(No need to worry about it. Anyway, go ahead and stick what I gave you into that corpse. I've made the preparations.)
Following Cyan's distant voice, Louis cautiously approached the demon's corpse.
Even though it had been dead a while, a faint poison lingered, but it wasn't too intense.
"Ugh, what is this? Its head's smashed."
Honestly, he didn't want to get close or touch it, but orders were orders.
-Stab!
Louis pulled out the white gem Cyan had given him and slowly embedded it into the corpse.
(Once you've done that, you should run away from there immediately. Well, if that's your thing, it's fine.)
('What? Is the demon gonna come back to life or something?')
Louis blinked in confusion at Cyan's words.
Run away all of a sudden? Was the dead demon going to revive? He checked the corpse.
But there were no signs of the demon reviving.
So why tell him to flee? The added "if that's your thing" nagged at him, so he slowly backed away.
The demon stayed dead, unmoving.
-Squelch... Gurgle!
"Huh?"
Instead, a sticky, clinging, eerie sound reached Louis's ears.
"What...?"
A chill ran through him for no reason. He looked around, but nothing seemed to be making the noise.
Yet the sound persisted, like a kraken from the sea mixed with a forest slime.
Extremely creepy.
-Squirm...
"Eek!"
Then something touched his ankle.
"What is this?!"
Startled, he looked down. A black, slimy unknown something was wrapping around his leg.
-Rumble...!
"...Huh?"
And that wasn't the end.
-Squelch! Gurgle!
The ground shook as the supposedly dead demon's corpse swelled, surrounded by black tentacles.
Its size grew endlessly, dwarfing even average dragons.
-Thud!
Overwhelmed by the size, Louis collapsed to the ground.
(Sorry if you're too late. Good luck.)
Before Louis's eyes loomed an enormous beast, extending disgusting tentacles.
"Y-You could've warned me about something like this..."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
-Boom! Boom! Boom!
Quite a commotion outside.
Probably Louis had done his job right, but the silence since suggested he hadn't escaped.
If so, regrets.
Well, it wasn't a bad experience anyway.
"A demon? What happened?"
"It was hiding quietly, like I said. I've never encountered any demon."
The heresy inquisitor before her was visibly flustered.
Which made sense.
He'd probably scoured the area before entering the village, confirming no demons.
Yet despite such thorough checks, a demon pops up? Not strange for even a cool-headed inquisitor to be shocked.
'Well, this gets me off the hook somehow.'
Now the inquisitor wouldn't pay her any more attention.
The demon was still alive, and nothing pointed to her being one.
Plus, the adventurers who'd entered the dungeon had all passed out, so nothing memorable.
The inquisitor contacting them yet still interrogating her proved it.
...If he'd learned something from their testimonies, he'd have struck first from the start.
That was the type of heresy inquisitor she knew.
"So, can I go now? I can't stick around this mess forever."
"...S-Sorry. I made a big mistake. If you inquire with the church about this, I'll compensate you personally. Truly sorry."
"No big deal. Humans make mistakes now and then."
Once realizing his error, he'd apologize politely and recompose himself.
Just like in the game.
When human players reported her, drawing inquisitors, her spine had tingled.
Her specs back then couldn't handle them. Even simple inquisitors needed double her level due to matchup issues.
'Now? Just a bit annoying.'
She eyed the inquisitor closely.
A sharp holy power incomparable to the hero's, maybe rivaling transcendents in raw output.
'...Without Archmage spells, a bit risky.'
Face hidden by the mask, but he was surely biting his lip in frustration over his blunder.
Recalling how he'd shredded her gleefully in the game back then? Pretty satisfying.
"Even a 'mixed' one isn't much different."
"..."
The inquisitor fell silent at her words.
With that, she left the shop.
That shop's coffee was surprisingly good.
Might drop by again...
-Boom! Boom! Boom!
'Anyway...'
She turned toward the east of the city at the booms.
There, a demon so huge the 30-meter walls looked like neighborhood stone fences loomed. Hundreds of tentacles on its legs were off-putting.
"R-Run! It's a demon!"
"Don't let those weird tentacles touch you!"
Now with tentacles added.
'Pretty big.'
Come to think of it, it was called the "Lord of the Wraiths"? A demon controlling the dead at will—basically a zombie demon.
'...Good it had this use.'
How a surely dead one revived? Using the "soul stone" taken from it.
A truly useless one at that.
▶ Item – Soul Stone 『Soul of the Wraith』 ※Revives the dead as wraiths (undead). ※Cannot be equipped on gear. The soul stone she'd gotten was total trash.
Reviving the dead as wraiths. Sounds decent at first, but it wasn't just revival—it was as weakened wraiths.
Wraiths had half stats, plus further debuffs under sunlight, making it trash-tier in Novel Online.
Reason necromancers got phased out.
Summoned wraiths via necro magic or items counted as summons, always lower level than the summoner, then wraith debuff, sunlight debuff—useless.
Without debuffs, it'd be broken, obviously.
'Better to invest points elsewhere.'
Simply put, she'd drawn a dud.
Days invested for a trash necro soul stone...
'At least it makes a decent demon fake.'
Good thing she had decent reinforcement materials, or it'd be weaker.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 【Holy Cursed Undead Demon – Lv.300(★)】 Hero and demon as base, plus level 100 cursed tentacles—decent wraith beast.
On the way back from the labyrinth, she found the passed-out hero. Figured useful, so brought him—didn't expect this use.
Stuffed the hero into the demon corpse, added labyrinth tentacles. Prepped in case inquisitors eyed her, to divert attention.
Smart thinking, even if a tad oversized.
-Clack!
"So that's the demon..."
A woman's voice.
The heresy inquisitor's attendant. Not the judge, but the aide-type.
[Heresy Inquisitor (♀) Lv.200] Looks similar, but that one was male, so probably.
"Sorry about before. The judge made a mistake."
She bowed, mask on, and drew a thin longsword from her bosom.
Heresy inquisitor armament: bayonet sword.
Bonus damage vs. demons, throwable despite looks. Rare and cool.
"Leave that demon to me. Apologies again for wasting your time, adventurer."
-Whoosh!
With that, the inquisitor charged the beast.
Level gap favored her, and matchup-wise, she could solo mid-tier demons like yesterday's.
Assuming plain demon.
"...Demon, I won't allow you to disturb humanity further."
Crossing dual swords into a cross—cool, but kinda cringy.
"Grrr!"
The beast roared at the human, extending massive tentacles at the inquisitor.
"Such filth...!"
She swiftly parried with her sword.
Inquisitors were raised as human weapons from childhood, able to crush average adventurer parties solo.
The church's power.
Hundreds of level 200-300 human weapons—true "elite few."
Trained in holy power from youth, they could hold against upper demons. Why the mighty demon army couldn't expand freely.
'Kinda disappointing.'
She sat in a chair to watch.
Thinking of what came next, a shame.
If she were male instead of female, the upcoming spectacle would've been thrilling.
-Clang!
A dull sound.
"What?!"
The inquisitor panicked at the sight.
Her sword had snapped.
Without even slicing a squishy tentacle, it broke easily—utterly bewildering.
"Impossible! A demon immune to holy power?!"
-Squelch!
"Kyaa...!"
The tentacle engulfed her.
Inquisitors were human weapons by human standards.
Against a demon immune to their holy power, just ordinary humans.
'Wish we could've done this in the game.'
Necro magic looked decent like this.
Necro properties varied by materials.
Demon corpse, tentacle beast, and "hero" for this one.
Yes, the hero with blessed holy power.
Couldn't use undead materials in Novel Online, but she did here.
Holy power halved against itself, plus hero's passive ignoring holy damage—OP.
Passed to the beast.
'In short, immune to holy power demon.'
No matter how skilled inquisitors, couldn't beat it.
"No, no! Get away...!"
Proof: her scream from the tentacles.
Probably getting something intense now.
Those tentacles—book said usable as aphrodisiac ingredients...
'What a spectacle.'
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