Before the Fruits of Choice (5)

"Damn it…"

After more than five hours of watching the horses, Deathbringer spat out a curse. His own situation had suddenly become unbearable.

"Maybe I should've gone with them."

Was it because guarding and protecting the horses was so mind-numbingly dull? Or was it because of what the mage had said—that they might have to abandon the city?

A certain figure's back kept flickering through his mind. Mostly the back of someone who never once looked behind him as he walked away.

"No. What help would I even be if I followed?"

The Demon Knight himself had said as much, hadn't he? That he was too weak. That he would only get in the way!

"…Shit."

Even so, the tightness clamping down on his chest refused to ease.

In the end, Deathbringer scrubbed his dry face with both hands. Nothing washed away.

"What the hell am I even doing?"

The city was in danger, so why was he stuck here staring at horses? If the others failed, wouldn't he die too? That was how dangerous they had said the situation was.

But he also knew his place well enough not to join them. His specialty was cutting human throats—not demon ones.

"This is all Skyla's fault."

He had only asked to borrow some horses. Instead she had grilled him with questions and then told him, "You go with them too." If not for those words, he would be resting comfortably in Somon right now.

Safe and sound, without being called a nuisance, without being told to get lost, without being branded a criminal!

"Help, my ass…"

He ground his teeth as he recalled the conversation he had had with Skyla when they left Somon.

Help my future? He had followed them to keep watch, and now he was about to die—how was that supposed to help anything!

And he still had no idea why she thought the rest of his life would resemble the Demon Knight's. He had not the slightest intention of becoming a demon hunter.

"Ha, shit. Should I just run now…"

His heart truly wanted to, but he still lacked the confidence to break through the encirclement alone. Damn it. He never should have come along in the first place.

"Why didn't I even think of refusing? This is seriously pissing me— huh?"

Then, for a moment—he hurriedly dropped down from the temple wall.

Why he had been up on the wall in the first place was a long story, and not important right now, so it will be omitted.

"…Who the hell are those guys?"

What demanded his attention now was a suspicious group slipping into the alley.

How many demon contractors had gathered beneath the city?

Every time I tried to catch my breath, more enemies came pouring in, and the stifling closeness of the sealed underground only wore me down further.

The sheer sense of endlessness—no idea how much time had passed, or when it would end—was just as bad.

I had even considered leaving midway and coming back later…

Of course, between the roleplay concept and that peculiar gamer stubbornness of "let's see who wins," the stubbornness had won out. Going all the way back would have been more of a hassle anyway.

"Hah."

Thankfully, it was almost over. I had explored nearly half the map and had finally found a path leading deeper down.

The newly acquired tracking skill also confirmed that the trail continued underground, so I was certain.

"…Let's rest for a bit."

Once I reached the destination, a boss fight would almost certainly break out. So this once, I decided to take a moment to regroup. Not that there was much I could do—just wrap my wounds with bandages and sharpen my blades.

"My pain sense… the mobs' pain sense."

With my pain sensitivity dulled, finding the injuries was difficult.

I temporarily raised the pain value. Only by ten percent, and maybe that was why it barely felt different from before. Or maybe I just wasn't that badly hurt.

Raising it further seemed like it would hurt too much, so I simply groped around until I found a couple of spots.

For reference, the remake of Legend of Heroes had no items that restored HP in an instant—nothing like potions.

Maybe they existed and I simply hadn't found them, or maybe they only appeared later in the game, but for now it meant I had to rely on natural recovery.

That didn't make the bandages useless. Bleeding was a status condition that either reduced natural recovery or outright drained HP depending on its severity, and bandages fixed that.

They weren't instant, but they weren't worthless either.

Riiip.

Bandages wound snugly around my left forearm and right thigh. Around then, the HP that had been oscillating in place began to climb, little by little.

Next came the blades.

I wiped the sword body clean with the hem of my coat. With nothing better to clean off the blood, this would have to do as a temporary measure. The clothes auto-washed themselves anyway.

Shhk, shhk.

Hands relying entirely on system correction, without any real knowledge, mechanically tended the blades. Since it required no thought, my head went a little blank for a moment.

But this dungeon refused to leave my head alone.

I gathered the nearly finished pair of swords and scanned the surroundings. No markers in sight.

Then why had the alert gone off?

Tick.

Along with the sound of falling grit, I lowered my gaze. Markers showed through a hole in the floor.

However many of them there were, they were climbing up again to stop me.

"Fuck. Why aren't the ones who went ahead coming back?"

Who knows? I quietly set the lantern on the ground and eased myself back beyond the reach of its light. As bright as the lantern was, the zone outside it was unnervingly dark—dark enough to hide a single person.

"There's no one left to send out now…"

"Stop whining. Just hold out a little longer."

Soon one of them climbed up through the hole.

"But who left a light here? If we get spotted like this—!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"I don't know. Move it after I get up. We're almost all here."

And then another one.

From within the darkness, my hand gripped the Two-Hander like a lance.

"Everyone's up, right? Then let's clear that—?"

Ah. He saw it. Not that it mattered.

"Huh?"

It wasn't an official skill, but if I had to name it, something like a charging thrust. I put power into my legs while thinking useless thoughts.

Thoom. With a slight tremor, my body launched forward.

"What are you—?"

Shunk!

This was what people usually meant by killing two birds with one stone.

Looking at the two of them skewered side by side on the Two-Hander, I swung the blade hard to the right. Slash! A little brutal, but it left both enemies with unmistakably fatal wounds.

"Guh—!"

One of them started to fall back down the hole, so I hurriedly grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up. If the corpse dropped, it would alert whoever was waiting below—an obvious call.

Well, given the Three-Eyed Ghouls, they would probably notice either way.

And just like that, the count hit two hundred.

I thought back on whether I had really killed that many, then realized the goblins and skeletons had inflated the numbers. The demon contractors and tougher-looking demons I had actually killed down here didn't even add up to forty.

Still, the total volume was genuinely high.

"…Ugh, my eyes feel gritty."

I pressed my knuckles into the corners of my eyes, then grabbed the rope inside the hole.

From the way those guys had been talking on the way up, time was running short—I needed to hurry. After coming all this way, if I failed just because I dithered a little, I would be too pissed to sleep.

"Once this is over, screw the concept—I'm taking a long rest."

I would find the finest inn money could buy, no matter the cost. Sleep twelve hours under a thick blanket on a soft bed. Then buy something delicious when I woke up.

Just imagining it felt good.

"Alright. Let's go."

Dreaming of a comfortable bed and good food, I began the descent.

I had switched off the recovered lantern, so darkness so complete I couldn't see an inch ahead pressed in from every side.

"Kill him!"

And the moment my feet touched the ground, an attack came. Close range—a vampire, by the feel of it.

"Pointless resistance."

Ah. I had been a little hopeful, but of course they noticed.

I couldn't help feeling disappointed, but I kept my voice composed and swung my blade. With the detection skill and the sounds of movement, gauging their positions wasn't particularly hard.

And if things got bad, I could always use Survival Instinct to find an opening.

Grrrrr!

Guaaaaah.

"Die, you vermin."

From the way presence pressed in from every direction, the space had to be fairly large. With that in mind, I opened with a Ground Crash, then seized the True Two-Hander and swung.

Slash!

In the invisible dark, the wet sounds of flesh parting and screams echoed. The mixed cries of all kinds of demons and humans.

"Damn it, we can't even attack!"

"Vampires to the front! Put the demons forward! Just hold out a few more minutes!"

Right. Only a few minutes left. Then I needed to move even faster.

"Do you truly believe you can…!"

I fired Chamgyeok in every direction like a wild barrage. The mana required for the skill drained rapidly, but it was better than letting time pass and something powerful get summoned.

Of course, it might be structured so a summon was guaranteed, like in Somon—but I would deal with that when it happened.

More importantly, my mana recovery was reasonably fast, so I could afford to burn through it. Being too exhausted to think carefully about it probably helped.

"Aaaagh!!"

"I can't see!"

"Gah!"

Good. But was there a separate boss room? Was this it?

With nothing visible, it was hard to tell. True to form for demons and their contractors, they hadn't lit a single light. Creepy as hell.

"There you are!"

Even so, I wasn't completely without a clue.

I finally spotted a faint flow of light. On the far floor, light was seeping out in the shape of thin lines. Its form closely resembled a magic circle.

And from above it came the thick stench of blood and rotting flesh. Even a nose pickled numb by every foul odor of the sewers could still smell it.

A sacrificial ritual, without question.

"I will kill every last one of you…!"

So I charged straight toward the light. This time, determined not to repeat the Somon disaster, I launched Chamgyeok as I ran.

I meant to wreck the magic circle and take at least three heads from whoever was performing the rite.

"Now!"

Except—yes. The next moment was when I realized I had been mistaken about something.

"Bind him!"

This magic circle was not for summoning a boss.

Fwoosh!

Even after I killed two of the people forming the circle with Chamgyeok and stabbed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a third myself, the circle activated all the same. The light of the thin lines composing it intensified until it faintly illuminated the surroundings.

Piles of corpses stacked in the darkness came into dim view, and as the magic completed, it spat something out.

Clatter-clatter!

Not some high-ranking demon—white and crimson chains.

"…!"

Curiosity about what they were, and the unease born of gamer experience, drove me to scramble free of the circle.

But that was when my second mistake revealed itself.

"You're not going anywhere…!"

One of the vampires I had stabbed had stubbornly survived and seized my ankle.

Slash!

It was a weak thrashing I could have broken free of with a single hard pull—but it cost me at least a second.

That was enough for the chains to reach me, coiling tightly around the arm I had raised to resist.

My empty right arm was bound fast in chains.

"I will not be caught by the likes of—"

Still. I had broken the Archmage's Binding easily enough, so it should be fine, right?

Thinking that, I tried to use a skill. Clatter-clatter. In an instant my left arm was bound as well.

"What…!"

I wanted to tear free, but a firmness incomparable to Binding locked my arms in place. Using a skill was useless.

And after my arms, the chains wrapped my throat. My breath caught short. Not quite strangling—more like a choker fastened far too tightly.

"Did we get him?!"

"It worked…!"

Next came my waist, my thighs, my ankles. The surroundings brightened around the same time.

A magic circle in the center, oil lamps spaced around it. It really did look like some cultist altar.

Separately—was "oil lamp" even the right word? Rectangular blocks of marble with the tops hollowed out, filled with oil, and set alight. Did that still count as a lamp?

I briefly pondered the terminology, then snapped my focus back. I was about to die; I didn't have time to think about that. I needed to get these chains off, fast.

Wherever ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the last save point was, I had no desire to repeat this whole ordeal.

"You dare, you insect bastards…!"

"We've got him!"

"Originally this was prepared for the Hero, but…"

They had to be out of their minds. Judging by the dialogue alone, I might as well have been the final boss.

In a game, the most vicious and strongest thing was the player, so it wasn't entirely wrong.

"The Hero has entered the underground tunnels as well, so it hardly matters."

"Ha, at last we can kill that monster…!"

"Do you think mere chains can bind me!"

I intermittently strained against the chains while racing through my thoughts.

The Hero had entered the underground tunnels, so it didn't matter? And this circle wasn't a summoning array but a binding type.

From what they were saying, this circle had originally been meant for the Hero… so was their real goal to bind the Hero here? And if that was true, then the remark that it was fine even without binding him, now that he had entered the tunnels…?

Ah, my head was too sluggish. I couldn't think. This was driving me insane.

Grrrrr.

Just then, two Three-Eyed Ghouls I hadn't managed to kill and five skeletons slowly approached. But freeing myself from the chains was still impossible.

I wanted to use a skill, but my body was bound so tightly I couldn't swing a weapon, rendering it meaningless.

I was certain the dark energy of my weapon would cut the chains if I could bring it down on them—but that one simple thing was beyond me.

Truly infuriating.

Wait. Was I actually going to die here? Wow. That's rough. Dying itself was fair enough, so I didn't mind that—but this wasn't going to be a full restart from the beginning, right? The save points were solid, right?

Or was it… really…?

I exhaled a drowsy breath through my constricted throat.

You know, something I had been wondering about ever since I got trapped in the game.

If the player character died, or a city fell, or something went wrong and GAME OVER appeared—

Would it log me out? Would it be a Retry? Or…

Grrrrr.

I let out a hazy breath while staring at the Three-Eyed Ghoul in front of me.

Ah. Retry was probably the most likely, right? Logging out would be ideal for me, but honestly that possibility seemed far too low.

Which meant it was the former. Retrying after getting killed by a dog and some bones?

Wow. That would look so pathetic. If I was going to die for a retry, at least let it be a boss—not trash mobs like these.

So, so I…

Stopping here just didn't sit right with me.

I resumed the resistance I had briefly paused. If only skills worked with bare hands. Then I might have found an opening to put strength behind a swing. That thought came as a bonus.

Even I had to admit it was shameless. I was already exploiting a bug for free power, and now I wanted the skill application range expanded on top of it. No conscience at all.

Ssssss.

But the game actually granted it.

From the gauntlet on my right arm, the black effect that only rose when I used skills began to climb in streams.

"No! Kill him now!"

"This is a binding that cost forty people as sacrifices…!"

"Ha—!"

What? What? What the hell?

But I was not the kind of person to miss an opportunity, so I immediately put strength into my arm. A concept-appropriate laugh was thrown in for free.

"I told you, didn't I…!"

The chains that had not budged an inch began, for the first time, to creak. The feelings of "this game's bugs are insane" and "except for the logout issue, this is a god-tier game" crossed paths in my mind.

"Do not think something like this can stop me!"

Clang!

With an incongruously clear, ringing sound, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chains around my right arm shattered into pieces.