Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Dawn Breaks the Curse
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"I can do it."
Woojin replied in a calm voice.
"If it's for my family."
It was probably the answer the game wanted.
No matter how important Chayson and Harterwin were, the ones conquering the dungeon were still the players.
And protagonists always had to walk the path of righteousness.
When the quest updated, Woojin had already anticipated it.
The goal extended all the way to killing Chayson.
"Hey, just one question."
[Kekeke... What is it?]
"Does morning come here too?"
[Of course. The sun rises and sets every day. We will live here eternally.]
"...I see."
Woojin gazed out the hall's window at Gilbert's response.
The twilight was lifting.
Dawn was breaking.
'Time...'
Woojin bit his lip as he stared at the system window.
"Luen, I'll handle those two. You take that guy. He probably won't be much trouble."
"Got it."
"Everyone, pray."
"Pardon?"
"That the sun rises in time."
Fwaaah―!!!
Luen and Setsuna watched Woojin dash off with baffled expressions, unclear on what he meant.
[Kekeke...! Foolish human blinded by desire!! In the end, you'll kill your comrades to bring down our family!]
"Desire my ass... Watch your mouth. You started this fight. And―."
Kwaaang―!!
Woojin's sword clashed with Chayson's.
"This mess is your doing too, summoning Harterwin."
[Kekeke, so what?]
Gilbert sneered at Woojin from atop the jade throne, utterly relaxed.
"Just wait there."
Kaaang―!!!
Woojin parried Chayson's sword upward and continued.
"I'll make you fade away nice and slow."
[Krahahaha―――!!! Let's see you try...!]
Kwaang―!!
An explosion erupted above Gilbert's head as he shouted.
"You talk too damn much."
Luen said, nocking another arrow.
[Damn... you bastard...!!]
Gilbert yanked the arrow from his forehead and screamed at Luen.
Kwaang―!!
[Kraaaak―――!!!]
Luen, who had appeared behind Gilbert using Mist Step via Setsuna, shot another arrow into the back of his head.
Gilbert tumbled forward from the throne, rolling across it.
Luen flashed a thumbs-up at Setsuna, who had cast Mist Step.
[You little...!!]
Gilbert scrambled up from the floor and began chanting a spell at Luen.
Shuu―!!
But in that instant, an arrow pierced the hand holding his staff.
Fwoosh...!!!
Double enchant: fire and wind attributes.
The flames on his hand snaked up his arm, engulfing his entire body in seconds.
[Kraaaak―――!!]
Another arrow plunged into the screaming Gilbert's mouth.
[Guhk...! Kehuk...!!]
With an arrow in his throat, Gilbert flailed and collapsed forward again.
"He's really nothing special?"
Luen let out a hollow laugh, surprised at how easily Gilbert was folding despite her earlier tension.
"Master! Should I just make this guy vanish?"
"Do whatever. But it probably won't work."
"...Pardon? Why not?"
"Killing him would make Harterwin disappear too."
Harterwin was the spirit Gilbert had summoned.
Naturally, summoned beings vanished when their summoner did.
'But we can't clear the dungeon's core that way...'
Gilbert was likely a monster skewed toward health and defense over attack power.
Or perhaps a special entity immune to normal attacks.
"Still, we can harass him at least."
Woojin told Luen.
"Shoot him all you want."
[Hng... Hiiik?!]
Luen immediately drew her bow as if she'd been waiting.
"Hraaaah...!!"
That was when Chayson charged at Woojin.
The five-meter gap closed in an instant.
With erratic strides disrupting his vision, Chayson unleashed a barrage, ignoring his wounds.
Kaaang―! Kang―!!!
Tricky swordplay mixing feints and strikes.
The opposite of Dragon Heaven's clean cuts, it was harder to block than expected.
[Kraaaak―――!!]
On top of that, Harterwin's sword targeted Woojin too.
Chaja ja ja jak...!!
Sharp cuts appeared all over his body in a flash.
"Chayson. So what do you want to do?"
The black mist dungeon tested the player.
Could they commit murder to conquer it?
Yes.
Murder.
Unlike respawning players, NPCs were gone forever once killed.
That was the dungeon's question.
Could you kill your companion NPCs for the clear?
'Perfect AI, my ass... What a stupid setup.'
Could you kill NPCs?
It seemed profound, but for players, it wasn't hard.
Clearing the dungeon mattered more than some program.
'Players kill each other all the time. NPCs wouldn't faze them.'
But ironically, Woojin was different.
Was it his otherworld experience?
The NPCs here felt like real people to him.
Overimmersion, maybe.
But thanks to that, he hadn't killed Chayson, reaching the black mist unconquered for years.
The AI's dumb setup wasn't entirely pointless.
Perhaps [Ethan] knew from the start only those who couldn't easily kill NPCs would reach here.
But why set it up like this?
Treating NPCs as full persons?
'...Overthinking it.'
Woojin clicked his tongue and refocused.
"Is handing me your sword really what you can do for your father?"
He asked Chayson.
"You know too. Those waves churning outside the gates, the ones that terrified you. They're destroying the city bit by bit."
Kaaang―!!
Woojin's strike deflected Chayson's sword; he spun, blocking Harterwin's attack.
"I... "
Chayson hesitated to respond.
Fwaat―!!
That was when Woojin reached out, twisting Chayson's wrist.
Chinggrang―!!
Chayson let out a sharp cry, dropping his sword.
"It's hard, right? It's hard for me too."
Woojin's words seemed directed not just at Chayson.
"No idea why they made a dungeon like this, acting like some god testing players."
It was aimed at [Ethan].
"Don't know the answer, but I won't play these stupid games."
-Master!! We're out of time!!
[Kraaaa―――!!!]
Just before Harterwin's sword reached Woojin,
[Burning Flames]
▶ Recent damage returns as flames.
The damage he'd taken moments ago turned to flames, engulfing Harterwin.
"Father...!!!"
Chayson urgently rose as Harterwin rolled on the ground, clutching his face.
"...Guhk!!!"
But Woojin grabbed his throat, slamming him against the wall.
"Kk, kugh...!"
That was when the dark hall blazed with white light.
The sun was rising.
"A full day has passed at last."
Standing with sunlight at his back, he seemed haloed in light.
Chayson couldn't look directly at Woojin in the blinding rays.
[Kraaaa―――!!!]
As the flames on his body died down, Harterwin charged Woojin again.
[Pilgrim's Cross]
▶ Purification activated.
Woojin pressed the cross to Harterwin's forehead.
"Snap out of it, Harterwin."
Sssizzle...!!
Light poured from the cross, and thick black smoke erupted where it touched Harterwin, as if burning him.
[Kraaaaak―――!!]
A more agonized scream than from the flames burst out.
"At least say goodbye to your son."
In that moment.
[I... I...]
Human words came from Harterwin for the first time, instead of just roars.
Harterwin Bolton.
He felt like he was dreaming.
His vision, once pure darkness, now showed what he longed to see.
"The Bolton family is cursed. Someday, the black mist will devour everything precious to you."
He hadn't believed it at first.
He thought he could overcome any curse.
But no.
When he lost his wife, he realized he couldn't escape the family's curse either.
And it hit him.
What about his remaining son?
He couldn't lose his son too.
What to do?
He thought and thought.
Then reached a conclusion.
If the curse took the head's treasures, then at least the head himself wouldn't die, right?
'I'll go first... die.'
He sailed madly into the black mist.
Pierced it and arrived here.
A dying city.
But seeing it, his mind eased.
Good.
Now his son could live.
[...Chayson.]
He missed his son.
"...Father!!"
Harterwin halted his sword at the voice.
[Am I still dreaming?]
Something crashed into his arms.
"Father...! Father...!!"
Harterwin gazed at him blankly.
Clang―.
He dropped his sword.
[...You've grown so much.]
With bony fingers, Harterwin embraced his now-grown son.
-Hng... Huee.
Setsuna sniffled, watching them.
"Waiting for a day to pass meant this."
Luen said happily, impressed by Woojin's thinking.
"Right. I used the cross once on the first floor. Had to wait a full day to use it again."
"If... I'd been stronger and held off the other heads longer, could we have purified them too?"
"Hm?"
An unexpected question.
"Maybe... But that wouldn't revive the dead. We'd still have to make them vanish in the end."
Woojin glanced at Harterwin as he spoke.
"But how you end your final moments still matters."
"Hmm..."
Woojin pondered her response.
Being killed.
Ending your own life.
Maybe that was what [Ethan] wanted to say.
[K... Kekeke... Talking like it's over.]
That was when Gilbert, collapsed on the floor, let out a sinister laugh at them.
[The city falls anyway. You won't escape alive... Guhk!!]
"Harterwin's curse is broken. You can die now."
[...What?]
Kwajik―――!!!!
In that instant, [Sea Water Sword] burst through Gilbert's chest.
"Because of you...!!!"
It was Chayson.
[K... Kekeke... Damn you.]
The torrent from the blade swallowed Gilbert.
"Hahk... Hahk..."
Chayson panted, looking at Woojin.
"Even if bloodline ends, the holy power in the sword remains."
He offered his sword to Woojin.
"Thank you. I got to see my father again because of you."
His voice trembled.
"I'll stay with my father."
His eyes trembled too.
"I'm head of the Bolton family too... To end the curse, I must die as well."
Luen glanced at Woojin, as if expecting this.
"No time! Hurry!!!"
But Woojin gave a wry smile.
"Yeah. Just one minute left now. Instead of wasting words on me, talk to your father more."
"Pardon?"
"It really is the last time."
Harterwin slowly nodded to Woojin.
"Looks like your father knows the cross's other effect too."
"What do you... "
"Curse removal only works on the living."
[Pilgrim's Cross]
▶ Curse removal activated.
Woojin placed the cross on Chayson's forehead.