Hallucinatory Experience
Much like the first area, the second map wasn't particularly difficult.
At least, that was true for us.
While the first map had tried to overwhelm us with sheer numbers and grotesque horrors in a mindless offensive, the second map leaned heavily into emotional manipulation. A deluge of sob stories poured out from every direction.
A nobleman who had perished trying to subjugate a field boss in the Wyrm Mountains for his fiancée.
An adventurer betrayed and murdered by his own comrades.
A mercenary who died by accident, fretting over the family waiting back home.
Et cetera, et cetera.
As we trudged through the dense forest, every ghost we crossed paths with boasted about how pitiful, how profoundly tragic their demise had been. Listening to each and every one grew utterly exhausting.
Worse still, every single tale inevitably ended with them wheedling and coaxing us—begging to borrow our bodies, demanding a sliver of our life force, or pleading for us to avenge them. Honestly, none of it was worth lending an ear to.
That was why I wanted to blast through as quickly as possible. Unlike the first map, which had extracted memories to manifest physical threats, the second map onward followed a standard dungeon layout. I could navigate it easily using my own memories and the lore from the setting guide.
"Ugh, hic...! Orabeoni, they're so pitiful..."
"There, there. I know. But there's nothing we can do for them, so don't pay it too much mind."
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that having an emotionally sensitive child in our party would be what held us back. Listening to every ghost's lament, taking each word to heart and empathizing with them, Vivian clung to the hem of my trousers with fat tears dripping down her cheeks.
"*Sniff*, ugh... Is there really no way we can help them...?"
"Right. None at all. And while it might sound harsh to say... you shouldn't take what those things say at face value."
"Huh...? *Sniff!* Th-then... were they lying to me...?"
"Maybe not entirely, but most of it."
"How could they...!"
Patting Vivian's shocked shoulder, I glanced sidelong at the battle Muriel, Rebecca, and Lira were handling.
"Listen to my plight! I was wronged! Wrongoed...!"
Slash.
"Avenge me! Avenge my deaaath!"
Cleave.
"A body! Just lend me a body! I have to deliver the message! I have toooo...!"
Sever.
The women casually carved through every approaching stray spirit as they advanced, their expressions practically dripping with boredom. Rebecca's face was an absolute spectacle; her lips pouted like a child forced to do chores against her will, which made her look surprisingly comical and cute.
"Rebecca. You look bored out of your skull."
"Pardon? Ah... to be completely honest, yes. There's no satisfying weight to cutting them down, so it feels utterly empty. It makes me wonder what on earth I'm even doing..."
Slice.
Imbuing her blades with aura, she swept through a stray ghost with a careless wave of her arm, then gave her swords an irritated flick. Watching her, a spark of mischief flared inside me.
"Hmm. Want to try fighting without the relic's effect, then?"
"What? Uh... wouldn't that leave me defenseless against psychic attacks?"
"Yep. In fact, I'd bet good money you'd be dead within thirty seconds."
When I smirked provocatively, her temper flared, and she bared her teeth.
"You underestimate me far too much. I'll have you know I'm quite confident in my mental fortitude."
"Oho. Then I'm releasing the relic's protection, alright? You sure about this?"
"Hey, fooling around in the middle of a dungeon is—"
"Fine by me. Go right ahead and try. Just don't complain that it's boring when I hold out without a scratch!"
Weller tried to intervene before things went too far, but Rebecca raised her twin swords with blazing, confident eyes. Seeing that stubborn resolve, Weller merely let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head.
Chuckling, I gripped the relic and focused my awareness. In that instant, the protective ward suffusing Rebecca's body drained completely away.
"Uh, hm? Ah... well, I suppose I do feel a slight bit dizzy...?"
"Kyeheheheck!"
"Kyahahahahaha!!"
Immediately, chilling laughter filled with manic glee echoed through the air.
In the blink of an eye, Rebecca's pupils dilated into a hazy, vacant daze. After a few violent shudders, her jaw dropped in absolute despair.
"N-no...! Leona, Leona...! Why, why would you...!?"
Choking out fragmented cries, Rebecca shuddered once more. A look of agonizing remorse overtook her face, and without hesitation, she brought her blade directly to her own throat.
"My revenge is finally over. I'll be with you shortly... Leona..."
"Kyehehehe!"
"Mine! She's mine!"
"I'm going to devour her entrails! Tender, succulent entrails!"
"Get out of the way! This body is mine! She belongs to me!"
Sensing the scent of imminent death faster than anyone, Specters swarmed in droves, spiraling frantically around Rebecca.
From start to finish, it had taken exactly twenty seconds.
"Alright, that's enough. Muriel, clean them up."
"Understood."
Admiring Muriel's breathtaking, blade-dancing execution, I swiftly manipulated the Holy Guardian Fortress and channeled its divine energy back into Rebecca's frame.
Whoooosh!
"...Huh?"
With every curse and mental assault forcibly purged, Rebecca blinked her tear-filled eyes, locking gazes with me.
"Rebecca. How was it?"
"Ugh...!"
"Hm?"
Tightening her grip on her hilt, she swung her sword straight at me with a face contorted in sheer bloodlust.
Clang!
Fortunately, Muriel stepped into the breach and intercepted the strike.
"Rebecca. What do you think you are doing? Get a hold of yourself."
"Shut up...! I'll kill you, I'll slaughter every last one of you! I'll make you pay for Leona's life!"
"Leona is alive, you know?"
"Wh-what...? Don't screw with me! I saw it with my own eyes! I felt her warmth fading cold in my own arms! It was all because of that counterfeit cure...!"
"Just what the hell did you see? She's completely lost her marbles. Yeah, we're definitely never doing that again."
At my muttered conclusion, Weller let out a heavy sigh.
"*Haaah*... Playing foolish pranks right in the middle of a perilous dungeon... Vivian, are you watching this? You must never grow up to be like that."
"Y-yes... But will Rebecca really be alright...?"
When Vivian peered over with genuine concern, Rebecca flinched violently.
"Th-the little fiend...!"
"Excuse me? Did you just say that to Vivian?"
I mean, anyone else was one thing, but I never dreamed she'd aim an insult like that at Vivian.
"Good grief... Rebecca, calm yourself down and drink this."
I held out the holy water and potion I had prepared. She stared at me, her expression a storm of bewilderment.
"Just... what is going on...? Why are you giving me..."
"What's the last thing you remember, Rebecca?"
"My last... memory...?"
"...This won't do. Everyone, take five until Rebecca sorts herself out. Big Sis, lend a hand."
"Good grief..."
Retrieving a magic stone from her robes, Weller erected a barrier powered by the gem, pushing back the endless tide of swarming Specters.
"Rebecca. Drink that first and get some rest."
"Uh, yes...? Ugh, uuurgh..."
Wincing in torment, she eyed the holy water and potion with conflicted hesitation before tightly shutting her eyes and gulping them down in ravenous mouthfuls.
"*Haaah*..."
Immediately after, a look of profound relief washed over her features. Her eyelids fluttered shut, and she slumped forward, instantly asleep.
Looking as gaunt and haggard as a woman who hadn't slept in years.
"I am so terribly sorry! I must have lost my mind for a moment!"
The moment Rebecca woke, she threw herself into a textbook full-body prostration, her face burning a vivid scarlet.
"Rebecca, dear. Are your wits about you now?"
"Y-yes... It felt as though I'd awakened from a protracted nightmare. Until just moments ago, I couldn't separate reality from the illusion, but I'm completely fine now!"
"Well, that's a relief. I was genuinely fretting over what to do with you if you stayed like that, you know?"
Glancing meaningfully between Muriel and Lira, I applied subtle pressure through my tone. Cold sweat broke out along Rebecca's temple.
"Ah, ahaha..."
"In any case, you're fine now, right?"
"Y-yes! I swear I will never boast again! I was nothing more than an Ordinary Human fool!"
"I'm glad you came to your senses... But there's one thing I'm curious about. What kind of hallucination did you even see?"
"Ah, that is..."
Hesitating, she awkwardly averted her gaze.
"It is... rather difficult to speak of..."
"Now, now, out with it. I'm dying to know. Tell me, and I'll pardon the crime of swinging your sword at my throat."
"Ugh...!"
Clearly troubled by the fact that she had indeed drawn steel against me, guilt and humiliation flooded her expression.
"...U-understood. If that is to be my penance..."
And so began Rebecca's account of her hallucinatory experience—a tale of truly epic, depressing proportions.
It started, she said, with our very first meeting.
Having somehow regressed back to that point in time, Rebecca naturally accepted the illusion as absolute reality. Just like before, she received the medicine and hurried back to Leona.
However, unlike reality, the medicine in her hallucination had been a counterfeit.
It merely offered a temporary alleviation of symptoms.
Yet even that fragile hope was something to cling to desperately, leaving Rebecca with no choice but to submit entirely to me to keep securing the doses.
From then on, it was an agonizing catalog of wretched misery that turned the stomach just listening to it.
In her illusion, the figures of the ducal house—especially Alzen—boasted a character so vile it would make Satan weep in envy, paired with the intellect of an unruly toddler. He slaughtered commoners merely for amusement, stole fortunes and women on a whim because he couldn't control his base urges, committed every conceivable crime, and spent his days rotting away in alcohol and narcotics. An utterly irredeemable scoundrel.
Throughout all of it, Rebecca had been forced to carry out every manner of filthy, sordid deed just to protect and clean up after that version of Alzen.
Nor was it just Alzen; she had to cover the tracks of Urtega Pitra, Berga, Weller, and Vivian as well, leaving her worn down to the bone with barely enough hours in the day to survive.
"Sounds like you had it rough."
"Even knowing it was an illusion... yes. It was truly agonizing. Just dredging up the memory turns my stomach. I am so profoundly grateful that this is reality..."
Looking as if she had aged several years in that brief span, Rebecca sighed wearily and shook her head.
"...In any case, within the hallucination, the one who dealt the decisive blow leading to my sister's death was Lady Vivian."
"Huh? Me?"
Startled, Vivian pointed at herself with wide, innocent eyes. Rebecca offered an awkward, apologetic laugh.
"Only within the illusion, of course. Well... Lady Vivian in the hallucination was practically a little devil incarnate. She would commit horrifying atrocities with a blank face, entirely for the sake of watching others squirm in agony."
"I-I would never do that! I don't like things like that at all!"
"Ahaha. Yes, I know. And so, one day, wishing to see me plunge into despair, she swapped the medicine I had secured with a poison that looked identical. If an Ordinary Human ingested it, it would cause intense suffering without being fatal... but Leona was different. Her frail body couldn't withstand the toxin, and..."
Clench!
Rebecca's fists balled up tightly.
"And so... I resolved to seek vengeance. To wipe the ducal family from the face of the earth... What followed was an unending succession of hellish battles. Years passed, and though I finally achieved my revenge, it left me completely hollow. Just as I was about to end my own life to follow Leona into death, my consciousness snapped back to reality. And after that, well... you saw what happened."
Watching her self-conscious smile, I chuckled and patted her shoulder.
"Even if it was just an illusion, you went through hell. Exactly how many years did you live through in there?"
"Well... I cannot recall with certainty, but... roughly six... no, perhaps eight years, I believe."
"That long? Your sense of time must be completely wrecked."
"No. Surprisingly, that isn't the case. Right now, it merely feels as though I've woken from a terrible nightmare."
"Really? How curious..."
"A rather intriguing tale," Big Sis Weller murmured, her eyes glittering with scientific curiosity. "An experiential hallucination induced by psychic assault... That provides plenty of practical applications to research."
While Weller pondered its academic merit, Vivian tiptoed closer, nervously glancing up at Rebecca.
"Rebecca. Um... you don't hate me, right?"
"Ahahahaha! Me? As if I ever could! Please do not fret, Lady Vivian! An illusion is merely an illusion. I swear upon my honor that I will never confuse it with reality!"
When Rebecca forced a hearty, boisterous laugh, Vivian's face brightened instantly, and she threw her arms around Rebecca in a tight hug.
"What a heartwarming sight... But has everyone rested enough? Shall we get moving?"
Gulp!
Tossing back a swig of liquor, I swayed slightly on my feet and placed a stabilizing hand on Rebecca's shoulder.
"*Hyaahk*!?"
"Hm?"
Her reaction was decidedly bizarre.
"Ah... Lord Alzen, it was only you. My apologies. I was startled because a hand touched me so suddenly."
"......"
I narrowed my eyes, glaring at her with blatant suspicion.
"Rebecca. You're absolutely positive you aren't confusing hallucination with reality?"
"O-of course! Yes! Please do not worry!"
The words sounded firm, but Rebecca's face was flushed a scorching scarlet, her breath came in ragged gasps, and for some inexplicable reason, her thighs were restlessly fidgeting and rubbing against each other.
"Hmph...? Looks like the aftereffects of that mental assault are still lingering. Sit out of combat for the time being."
"Pardon!? No! There is no need for such consideration! I am more than capable of fighting!"
"Silence. It's an order. Just follow along quietly for now."
"Ugh... Understood."
She stole cautious glances at me while stubbornly refusing to meet my eyes, squirming in utter disarray. I gave her an odd look before leaning my weight against Muriel's shoulder instead.
I'm getting a bad feeling about this... Nothing weird is going to happen, right?
Rebecca had to fight with every fiber of her being to suppress the uncontrollable, scalding heat surging through her body.
"Nnngh, ahhh...!"
Merely feeling his hand touch her shoulder had pushed her overheated frame into extreme, throbbing sensitivity.
On top of that, an ache radiating from deep within her lower abdomen caused her thighs to tremble, throwing her entire stride completely off balance.
Because she understood what that sensation meant... no, because she had learned what it meant, the sheer mortification made it impossible for her to lift her head.
'Is this an aftereffect of the hallucination...?! Damn it, what on earth is happening to me? I'm a virgin, for heaven's sake...!'
In truth, Rebecca hadn't told the party everything.
She had confessed to almost all of it, but one single detail—that in the hallucination, she had spent those years as Alzen's personal sex slave—she had desperately kept buried within her heart.