Is This Child Loved, or Unloved?
The Hidden Scenario Quest.
Just as the name suggested, it was a quest that only triggered once certain conditions were met.
And one of those conditions was that the target had to be a major character from Eldron Symphonia.
‘But this is a first.’
It was the first time I’d ever seen a major character appear as a boss.
Right now, Rien’s condition went beyond unstable. She felt like an entirely different person.
‘It’s probably Rien’s Abl, the Unconscious, running out of control.’
I’d never seen it before, but considering Rien’s Abl, it was easy enough to guess.
“Erara.”
“You called?”
“There should be a summoner nearby. Go find them.”
“Got it. But what about you, Ijun?”
“I’ll try to hold Rien back.”
I left the task of locating the summoner to Erara.
She hesitated for a moment, then dashed off to find the summoner responsible for the illusion—Elysis. I stepped in front of Rien.
“Am I Rina? Rien? No, Rina. No, it’s Rien.”
“Identity confusion?”
The ■□ had been muttering the names Rina and her own interchangeably while staring at the ground. I started turning the situation over in my head, trying to understand what was happening.
‘I should’ve communicated properly with her earlier. If I knew the story behind why she’s acting like this, I might be able to find a solution.’
This was exactly why being a hikikomori wasn’t always a good thing.
‘Wait, no. I don’t actually need to think this hard.’
Suddenly, I realized there was no point in agonizing over it.
After all, didn’t I have one ridiculously overpowered ability?
“I can peek into Rien’s past.”
[ERROR: Target designation does not match.]
“Huh?”
When I tried to use my Lie to peek into Rien’s past, an error window popped up.
It seemed that if the name of the target I was trying to affect with my Lie didn’t match the name I actually spoke, it would fail.
“The names don’t match?”
Did that mean this being wasn’t actually Rien?
“Then I can peek into Rina’s past.”
[ERROR: Target designation does not match.]
Another error message.
“What the… what the hell is this?”
Not Rina either?
Then who the hell was she?
A chill ran down my spine. Every hair on my body stood on end.
“Ugh!”
“Don’t look. No, look. No, don’t look. Look, don’t look, look, don’t look.”
Until now, the ■□ had been staring at the ground, muttering the two names in confusion. Now her gaze was fixed directly on me.
[Due to the effect of the Eye of Envy, you have fallen into the abnormal status: Paralysis.]
Eye? Did she just say Eye?
‘She was a possessor of an Eye?’
In Eldron Symphonia, there weren’t many beings who possessed an Eye.
The only ones I knew of were the ones who held the eyes of the Seven Great Demons of the Beginning—who were either dead or sealed away. The ones I knew about were the Dean of Eldron Academy, the Pope of the Apocalypse, and Eldina.
Leeb possessed the Eye of Phantasm, the dreamlike eye that belonged to the progenitor of Astaroth, one of the Great Demons of the Beginning.
The Pope of the Apocalypse had the Eye of the Red Dragon, Satan’s eye that they worshipped.
And Eldina held the Eye of Fire that belonged to the progenitor of the Mammon family, the Golden Duke LK.
‘The Eye of Envy… why does the princess have that?’
The Eye of Envy belonged to WE, the World Jaw, the progenitor of the Leviathan family.
I couldn’t understand why a member of the imperial family like Rien would possess the eye known as the Eye of Envy or Jealousy, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.
“Interference, no, it’s not interference. That guy has to die. No, if I kill Ijun… He’s unnecessary. Ijun isn’t an unnecessary child.”
“Fuck…”
At least my mouth could still move. That was a relief.
And now that it was clear she possessed an Eye, I finally understood the penalty written in the Hidden Scenario I’d seen.
The part that said “???’s resurrection through ■□ as a medium.” Now I knew what ??? was.
‘So WE is trying to resurrect using Rien as a vessel.’
If I failed here, this wouldn’t just stay a Hidden Scenario Quest. It could turn into a full-blown Day of Destruction quest that would flip the entire world upside down.
There were seven Day of Destruction quests in Eldron Symphonia, and every single one was related to the Great Demons of the Beginning.
The one considered the biggest threat was the resurrection of 666 that the Apocalypse would cause, but personally, I thought WE’s resurrection was the absolute worst.
‘At least 666 has some sense of reason. WE literally devours everything in sight.’
True to its title as the World Jaw, it looked like a gigantic crocodile. It felt hatred toward anything alive and swallowed up everything that touched its mouth. A real pain in the ass.
“Huu… I can peek into the past of both Rien and Rina.”
I called out both names at the same time after the previous failures.
If this caused an error too, then I’d be out of options, but it was worth a shot.
Lie successful.
Abl: Alteration activated.
[Alteration Content: Han Ijun can now peek into the past of the two sisters, Rien and Rina.]
[Alteration in progress.]
[Alteration complete.]
[Upon completion of the alteration, Han Ijun’s mind will link with the sisters’ past.]
[Caution: Any major damage sustained in the past will also heavily affect your real body. Proceed with caution.]
And then my vision went completely dark.
While Ijun was dealing with that, Erara was racing through the third floor in search of the summoner.
“Is it that one?”
She turned toward the sound of humming and spotted a woman with orange hair.
“Oh my, there’s a child who isn’t caught in the illusion?”
“An elf?”
The woman turned around and met Erara’s eyes. When Erara got a proper look at her, her expression turned slightly surprised.
The woman looked almost exactly like the elves described in old texts.
“I’m not just any elf. I’m a High Elf.”
“High Elf? I don’t give a damn. Dispel the illusion right now!”
She was a little surprised to see a supposedly extinct elf, but that wasn’t what mattered to Erara.
She leveled her weapon at the woman and shouted for her to release the illusion.
“Judging by that weapon, you must be a Dancer. Is that why my illusion didn’t work on you? A Spirit Clan member?”
“If you won’t dispel it, I’ll use force.”
Although Erara was someone who craved fun, she still had her limits.
And more than anyone else, she absolutely loathed those who used mental magic to harm others.
“Force, huh… Hey, little Spirit Clan girl. You should only say you’ll use force against someone weaker than you.”
The woman closed the distance in an instant and swung her spear down at Erara.
But Erara had already sensed it with a Dancer’s unique intuition and blocked the attack with her weapon.
Clang—!
Clang—!
Clang—!
Erara blocked the continuous barrage of attacks, then retreated while catching her breath.
‘She’s strong.’
Setting aside the fact that she was a villain, her opponent was an incredibly powerful fighter.
If ranked within the academy, this woman would easily be in the top tier.
‘Is that my only option?’
Even though she was the successor of the Dancer, after leaving Spirit Island for the academy she had sworn never to use that.
She had sworn it, but in this situation, there was no other way.
‘Breaking a vow is my specialty anyway.’
A truly heretical way of thinking for a Spirit Clan member.
Erara unraveled the threads of mana she had knotted and sealed inside her body.
The elf woman—Filippo… Elysis—had been about to launch another attack when she suddenly stopped.
“How interesting.”
The corners of her mouth curled upward.
She hadn’t expected to see this sight again.
Long ago, when she had led the elite elf forces to colonize Spirit Island, she had witnessed the first Dancer display this exact power. Now it was about to be reproduced through Erara.
Spiritization
A technique passed down only to the Dancers and their successors of the Spirit Clan. It borrowed a portion of the power of the Radiant Star—the deity the Spirit Clan worshipped, the one who had slain a dragon—and invoked it into the body.
Erara’s weapon transformed. A halo appeared, along with wings that spread wide.
Whoosh—!
Erara’s figure vanished. Countless cuts began appearing all over Elysis’s body at terrifying speed.
“You’re fast. You might even be faster than the first Dancer.”
Elysis spoke in a tone that almost sounded like praise for Erara’s speed.
“But you see…”
A storm began to rage around Elysis’s body.
“You’re not the only one who can use the power of a god.”
Elysis was a spearwoman, an illusionist, and also a summoner.
Moreover, she was a High Elf—the contractor of an Elemental King and the one said to possess the highest affinity for elementals in existence.
Sylphind descended upon her spear. The blade of the storm sliced straight through Erara’s halo.
Normally, no ordinary attack could even scratch the halo, but a strike from a High Elf—who were said to be even closer to the gods than the Spirit Clan—changed everything.
Sylphind’s spear split the halo cleanly in two. The Spiritization dissipated powerlessly.
“How…?”
Erara could only stare in utter disbelief as her trump card disappeared without even showing its full strength.
“It’s all about the level of power, you rookie.”
Elysis’s spear pierced straight through Erara’s stunned body.