Revelation and Trial (3)
Adelia witnessed it clearly.
Every single step of that man passing the trial of the ancient god.
Rumble!
The moment he shattered the crystal, an ominous energy surged out like a tidal wave.
A force so powerful it shook the entire cavern.
As it condensed, it began to press down on the man's entire body.
"..."
Adelia's eyes widened. Alarm bells began to ring in her head.
It was dangerous.
A trial of this magnitude would surely bring death to even most of the strong.
But...
—That's enough. A crude illusion like this won't work on me.
...Contrary to her worries, the man passed the trial as if it were nothing.
Whoosh!
The moment the man finished speaking, the ominous energy vanished in an instant.
What?
Watching this from a step away, Adelia fell into deep shock.
T-This makes no sense...
The pressure of the trial had been threatening enough to freeze even Adelia in place.
Yet, the man had overcome this trial so easily.
"..."
Meanwhile, his expression was perfectly calm.
It was hard to believe he was someone who had just passed a terrifying trial.
Soon, the man, who had been staring blankly at the cavern ceiling, spoke.
"My business here is finished. Let us head outside."
Step, step.
The man retraced his steps as if nothing had happened.
Watching his retreating back, Adelia could not hide her bewilderment.
Just who on earth is he...?
Adelia's pupils trembled.
A Sword Master.
A seeker who moved according to the will of the Elder, a genius who had realized the absolute peak of the sword.
She knew they were beings of an entirely different caliber, but she had never imagined he would possess such an overwhelming, monstrous power.
...Or perhaps this man was just exceptionally unique.
Pause.
At that moment, the man walking ahead stopped.
He turned around and spoke in a dry voice.
"What are you doing? Aren't you coming?"
"I-I'm coming right now...!"
Snapping out of it, Adelia hurriedly scrambled after him.
Step.
Having finished all our business, we walked out of the abandoned factory.
In the pitch-black night, a cool breeze began to blow.
I had never once thought the air in the lawless city of Dawnguard was good, but stepping outside after being in the damp underground made me feel refreshed.
After observing Adelia's expression for a moment, I spoke.
"Is it bothering you?"
"...Pardon?"
Adelia, who had been staring at the abandoned factory with a complicated expression, suddenly raised her head.
Ever since she heard the truth about the abandoned factory from me, she hadn't been able to shake her unease.
She was likely pitying the children and spirits sacrificed in the experiments.
True to her Good-aligned nature, she cared deeply about these things.
"If it weighs on your mind that much, prepare a Requiem."
Adelia hesitated for a moment.
"Would that be alright? It will take some time..."
"It is fine."
"..."
"Our next schedule is not that urgent anyway."
A Requiem.
A ritual to soothe the souls of the dead.
This was a skill that only a select few characters, like those from Holy Families, could perform.
The vengeful spirits of the victims are still trapped inside the factory.
Of course, now that the trial was cleared, nothing bad would happen even if we just left...
But I knew.
With her naturally good heart, Adelia wouldn't be able to let go of her lingering regrets about this abandoned factory for days.
Rather than having her distracted by the past, it was better to get it over with quickly.
That way, Adelia could focus on the present.
And above all...
...There was also something I wanted to verify, even if it meant spending some precious time.
"Thank you for your consideration."
Adelia bowed deeply to express her gratitude.
She immediately began preparing the Requiem to honor the victims of the factory.
Hum, hummm—
Whoosh!
The cyan flames rising from Adelia's body spread to the factory. Before long, the sacred aura began to consume everything in sight.
Mumble, mumble...
With her eyes closed, Adelia began to pray, whispering under her breath.
Thick smoke rose above the brilliantly burning factory. The shimmering air high in the night sky looked as if the souls of the victims were drifting away.
...No, it didn't just look like their souls were drifting.
[Thank you.]
[Thank you.]
[Thank you.]
The widely dispersed smoke began to take the shape of children, one by one.
The ash-colored boys and girls floating in the night sky looked down at us and smiled warmly.
The very next moment, a new notification popped up.
Ring!
You have consoled the vengeful spirits trapped in the abandoned factory.
The vengeful spirits express their gratitude to you and your party.
Whoosh, crackle!
The surroundings were covered in cyan flames.
The factory, where the most horrific experiments in Dawnguard had once taken place, slowly began to banish the deep darkness.
It was a sight I had never seen once in my 200 playthroughs.
And for good reason. By the time a player usually arrived in the lawless city of Dawnguard, the members of the Holy Family who knew how to perform a Requiem had already been completely wiped out.
To make matters worse, the sole survivor, Adelia von Goldheart, had been excommunicated from her family long ago and had lost her holy power.
Thus, I had never once seen a Requiem performed in Dawnguard's Hidden Dungeon II.
I had felt sorry for the children who were unjustly sacrificed, but there had been no way to console them.
[...Thank you so much for not abandoning us and comforting us instead.]
But not anymore.
The worldline had changed, and the ominous future that lay ahead would slowly be rewritten.
I fell into the world of a game.
The open-world dark fantasy RPG, Lost Elder.
I knew this game inside out.
I had memorized the dungeon strategies, monster patterns, and even the backstories of important NPCs.
But I shouldn't blindly trust all the information I know.
This world had already undergone a massive change.
The player, who should have been killed by the Human Butcher Barba, was walking around the lawless city of Dawnguard perfectly fine, armed with a 12-star Mythic-tier skill.
And he was doing so with the help of Lea de Karayan, an NPC he should never have met at this point, and under the protection of Adelia von Goldheart.
No one knows what kind of butterfly effect my actions will bring.
It was only natural.
I had said it to the point of exhaustion, but this was something I had never experienced once in my 200 playthroughs.
Whoosh, crackle!
Perhaps the abandoned factory burning brightly before my eyes was also part of that anomaly.
Of course...
...As was the case now, anomalies didn't always bring negative results.
I read the notification window that appeared before me with a faint smile.
Ring!
'The Lord of the Second Hand and the Moment' expresses gratitude for your good deed.
The authority skill Ritardando Jin has been unlocked.
I received a special reward.
The 'true form' of Ritardando, which no one had obtained in 200 playthroughs, had fallen into my hands.
...And that wasn't all I gained.
A resolve.
Watching the souls laughing and flying freely in the night sky, a single resolution took root in my heart.
I will change everything with my own hands.
An anomaly had occurred in the world I observed for 200 playthroughs.
As the catalyst of that anomaly, I would set everything right.
So that this world wouldn't face a damn bad ending.
And so that, finally... I could reach the true ending that no one had seen for the past twelve years.
At this point, I had done everything I could in the lawless city of Dawnguard.
So now, it was time to head to the next destination.
To a place where I could achieve more and gain more.
"Adelia."
On the path leading out of the lawless city of Dawnguard, I asked Adelia, who was walking beside me.
"My next destination is the free city of Vertas."
"..."
"It will be a long and tedious journey. Do you still intend to follow me?"
Adelia nodded without a single moment of hesitation.
"Yes. As I have said before, I will do anything if it means I can gain enlightenment."
Good.
It was exactly the answer I wanted.
Having extended my contract with my bus driver, I grinned inwardly.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but my steps felt a bit lighter.
Well, that aside...
Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.
...The Undead.
My originally scheduled future.
As a player, I was destined to be killed by the Human Butcher Barba and then reborn as an Undead by a necromancer.
In other words, that's what would have happened if I didn't have the Soul of the Sword Master.
But I survived and walked out of the underground arena.
If so, now that the future has changed, what action will the necromancer take?
Will they just leave the corpse pit without doing anything?
Or will they create another Undead?
If a completely unexpected person is reborn as an Undead...
...That would be a major problem in its own right. The Undead are a threat to this world by their very existence.
The destruction of the boundary between life and death causes great harm to the balance of this world.
If an Undead is born, the apocalypse will be accelerated even further. That was also the reason I grit my teeth and fought to survive against the Human Butcher Barba.
I should prepare just in case.
Conveniently, a power capable of countering the Undead is hidden in the free city of Vertas.
Let's get it quickly. And prepare for any unforeseen dangers.
To survive in this wretched world, I had to eliminate minor risk factors one by one like this.
Above all...
Because I might encounter that 'crazy Sword Master' someday.
I absolutely had to obtain the power hidden in Vertas.
"Hmm, hmmm!"
Hop, hop!
A hooded girl was skipping around the dark space, humming cheerfully.
All around, abandoned corpses, skeletons, and various wastes were piled up like mountains.
"Huh?"
Pause.
It was then.
The girl stopped. Her face, which had been wearing a bright smile, turned expressionless in an instant.
"Fate... has changed...?"
Tsk.
Losing interest in an instant, the girl clicked her tongue and kicked an innocent skull away.
Clack! Clatter, clatter—
The skull, flying forcefully through the air, crashed into a pile of corpses. The precariously stacked tower collapsed with a rumble.
"...Oh?"
Just then, a fresh ingredient revealed itself from amidst the collapsed pile of corpses.
Seeing this, the girl's eyes began to sparkle once again.
"Hmm... Well, at least there's still a usable toy left."
The girl skipped over to the corpse. Poking it, she grinned.
"Hey, what's your name?"
Hum, hummm—!
New life began to sprout over the cleanly severed neck. Muscles, bones, and flesh squirmed, beginning to form a new 'head'.
How much time had passed? Finally, the body that had regained its lost head slowly opened its mouth.
"Barba..."
His dry voice was cracked and raspy.
"...The Human Butcher, Barba."
The girl asked once more.
"What do you want to do?"
Barba's eyes flashed. His blood-red eyes burned with sinister hostility. From the moment he gained new life, there was only one thing he wanted.
"Revenge."
Ring!
The twisted causality has given birth to the 'Undead Barba'.