Chapter 128 – District 2 (7)
16. District 2 (7)
‘Crazy, what did I do?’
I couldn’t accept reality for a while.
How can I admit that I tried to gouge my own eyes out of my knees.
‘Ah. Kaya and Shay!’
He raised his head. Shay was thrusting her neck into the blade of her blade, and Kaya was clattering with her mace.
“Kaya! Shay!”
“Whispers… A whisper…”
“Wake! Come to your senses!”
“Ah… ?”
They, like me, who were about to attempt self-injury, stopped moving at the sound of my voice.
Kang-!
The sound of claymores and maces hitting the ground was unusually loud. It seemed that they couldn’t believe it either.
“Uh, why… Even when I was about to die, there was never anything like this.”
“…”
[The fear from the enormous ghosts devastates the hearts of the warriors.]
[Shay Mentality – 22]
[Kaya Mentality – 12]
[Eugene mentality – 21]
[Illumina mentality –23]
[Shay resists ‘brainwashing’.]
[Kaya resists ‘brainwashing’.]
[Eugene resists ‘brainwashing’.]
[Illumina resists ‘brainwashing’.]
[Illumina’s HP is reduced by 1.]
[Remaining HP 11/15]
She got up with strength on her knees. Like me, Kaya and Shay, who had been denying reality for a while, jerked their heads toward me. Their expressions looked very desperate. It seemed like he wanted me to say something.
‘No. At least this time I don’t deserve it.’
I was just like them. Had it not been for Illumina’s cries, she would have been immobilized by her brainwashing. When I shouted at them to come to their senses, it was more like an innate reflex. Instead of talking, I pointed forward. Their heads turned helplessly.
“Illumina…”
“Illumina sister…”
Illumina was stretched out like her corpse, as if she hadn’t screamed like that before. I don’t know how she got through that insane chorus, but she temporarily overcame the terrible pain that slowly pierced her body and urged us to come to our senses. Her mental strength was never weak. It’s the first time, so it can be, it’s funny how she kept advising me to be careful, alert, and vigilant.
Her stamina was also rapidly declining, but she did not die. Her state of mentality also became very dangerous, but did not explode.
Still.
I will risk my life for this blow.
“The end of an unbearable ordeal is death, but if you succeed in enduring the ordeal… They say it gets stronger.”
Calmed down No, I was forced to keep calm emotions. To do so, I suppressed all my emotions, including fear and anger. The suppressed emotions came together and raged.
“I will make you regret not killing me right away.”
Using the raging rage, she strained her entire body to the limit. I don’t think it has anything to do with the strength I give and the damage, but I don’t think I’ll be able to properly contain this anger in the ax without doing so. It was not a berserker who could not tell the difference between a frenzied man and a man, but a bounty hunter who could only accurately break the head of a bastard.
‘You insulted me and my colleagues.’
[Crush the head]
I tried to ignore the smell of Illumina’s blood stinging my nose and jumped with all my might. The moment when my body, united with the axe, reached its apex in order to take a picture of the head of an artist who looked a little less than 2m tall.
“Search!!!”
I felt a thrill in my arm swinging the axe.
[Overwhelming blow!]
[Eugene deals 55 damage to the horror artist.]
[Remaining HP 22/113]
[The atmosphere is reversed with a blow that overwhelms the fear-stained monster.]
[Shay Mentality +6]
[Kaya Mentality +6]
[Eugene mentality +7]
[Illumina mentality +5]
“Huhhhhh… !!!”
“You look good, you fucking bastard!!!”
The image of the guy who was always leisurely cosplaying as an artist was broken for the first time. Seeing her holding onto my bloody head and screaming, I was satisfied that I had finally found myself, and looking at the damage, I felt a little relieved that I had finally done my part.
“Ah…”
“Illumina!”
“Illumina sister!!”
[The Dread Artist’s health has fallen below 50%.]
[The exhibition stand is unlocked.]
[Illumina escapes from ‘detention’.]
And the good news of all, Illumina was freed from her cursed hook.
Shay and Kaya quickly supported Illumina from both sides as she fell helplessly to the floor and crawled over here.
“You held up well. It held up really well. Therefore.”
“Ah, yet… No, it’s over… ? Me, only me… Shh, can’t rest…”
Of course, Illumina’s turn came next. She was able to act because she had just been released from detention.
If it wasn’t for the hole in her back the size of her fist, she wouldn’t have felt so sad… Kayado, Shaido, and I have all been through it, and as Illumina said, it was impossible to just skip her turn.
‘You can’t change the buff. It’s nonsense to use Superb with that stamina.’
It was impossible, but it had to be. If you change to another buff, the speed drops and it is dangerous, and it is not possible to maintain or overlap the current melody due to the overlapping penalty.
“There is nothing you can do now. Rest.”
“Ha, but.”
“Rest.”
The figure of Illumina lifting her vapa while her blood dripped from her mouth had a different feeling of despair than Kayana or Shay.
[Illumina passes the turn.]
She slumped down. She wanted to hug and comfort him, but the perfect opportunity to kill the artist was right in front of her.
Because.
Because I finally landed her critical blow, the artist guy was finally pulled into second row as the Illumina display vanished.
“Kaya.”
“Yes. Leader.”
As Shay’s mentality went below -50, her speed decreased by 1, so it was Kaya’s turn. She currently has 2 stacks of the Raiding Melody and the Battle Sister’s Vow buff applied. It wasn’t something I could do right away that my overall mentality was damaged by the cruelty that Illumina had suffered, but I hoped that I could fill her stamina considerably.
“You know what I’m trying to say.”
Nod-
The tendons on the back of Kaya’s hand popped out.
“Joe.”
“As the captain wishes.”
Kaya lifted her mace with more force than ever before. The mace struck the artist’s mouth. Dirty teeth protruded with flesh.
[Everything according to God’s will]
[Fatal blow!]
[Kaya deals 33 damage to the Dread Artist.]
[Remaining HP -11/113]
[The horror artist is dead.]
[The warriors gain great courage from the monster’s death.]
[Shay Mentality +6]
[Kaya Mentality +5]
[Eugene mentality +6]
[Illumina mentality +5]
[Kaya’s vow restores 7 HP to Shay, who has the lowest HP.]
[Remaining HP 18/24]
[Kaya’s vow restores 3 HP to Illumina, who has the second lowest HP.]
[Remaining HP 14/15]
Was it Kaya’s intention to attack the mouth?
The artist, who was taking a fucking slack, couldn’t say anything after 2 consecutive critical hits and left.
“Fucking bastard.”
He spat into his chapped mouth.
**
[Reward: 15 Gold, Bandages (2), Random Skill Scroll, Mask of Deception]
2-2 was not a resting place. But it was too much to force forward. It wasn’t like my mentality was about to explode right away, or thanks to Kaya’s last-minute heal, my stamina wasn’t in danger, but my mental energy was consumed enormously. He ordered his comrades, who were about to head to the next room, to rest. It was a room I wanted to get out of even for a second, but I couldn’t help it. It was safer here than in the passage.
“Illumina. Please bear with me a little longer.”
“Yes… Sorry to bother you…”
“No. Shay. Please hold tight.”
“Yes, sister. Illumina sister. Please bear with me a little longer. Kaya’s sister. Let’s start.”
“Uuuuu!!!”
According to the system, Illumina’s health was 14/15, but she was actually seriously injured with a large hole in her back. While Kaya and Shay removed the Illumina’s robes and cleaned and sanitized her wounds, I checked her reward and rummaged through the disgusting corpses to see if I’d missed anything.
‘It’s a mask of deception…’
[Mask of Deception]
– Applies to: all classes
– Damage +10% when attacking monsters affected by status ailments
-Def -2 when attacked while affected by status ailments
Although there was a condition of abnormal status, the 10% bonus was quite good. But there were also penalties. Defense when attacked -2. Considering that the highest max health was 24 and the highest defense was 12, this was also a significant penalty.
‘It would be better to wear this depending on the situation.’
In a situation where Shay or Kaya were stunned, there would surely come a time when I needed my extreme damage.
[Found Artist’s Record (1).]
[Found the artist’s record (3).]
Searching through corpses and workbenches was of no use to us. What about the freshness of ingredients, the sweetness of screams, the difference between male and female ingredients, and the difference between believers and unbelievers… No wait, did this bastard believer also ‘sculpture’?
Suppressing disgust, I put it in my backpack. It’s useless right now, but when you return to Salem, that’ll all be converted into gold coins.
“Illumina.”
“First aid was given somehow, but he passed out midway through the pain.”
“What about you? Especially Shay, you must have gone through the same pain Illumina went through.”
“I’m fine. It’s not the first time I’ve experienced it, and I’m not really hurt… I just have to hold on.”
“… Okay. Anyway, I did everything I could.”
“Yes.”
“I will carry Illumina. We must move on now.”
I carried Illumina as carefully as possible. She weighed quite a bit because of her great height, but she was able to carry it because she was unarmed. Unlike before, she said that Kaya would carry her instead, and she wasn’t jealous.
[Mentality]
Shay: -66
Kaya: -36
Eugene: -55
Illumina: -70
[Health]
Shay: 18/24
Kaya: 16/20
Eugene: 20/20
Illumina: 14/15
She followed Kaya and checked her condition. Her physical condition was fine. It was effective to fill Shay and Illumina’s physical strength with Kaya’s self-inflicted healing at the last minute. She cut 4 stamina and filled up 10 stamina, so in terms of pure healing, it was like 6 heals.
However, the mentality was smashed.
She had hoped for a secure start with the joining of the bard, but when the bard threatened her death, her stability vanished like a lie. At least Kaya’s mentality was stability, but she was the only one who had stability, so it didn’t mean much.
‘The artist’s pattern was too vicious… It was too late to make an excuse. From now on, I have to ask Illumina to protect her, even if it means giving up dealing damage and possibly exchanging her stamina.’
“Huh… Ugh…”
“Illumina?”
“Hen… Drick… ?”
“Okay.”
“Yes…”
Illumina awakens. Just in time, doors 2-3 came into sight.
“Let me down…”
“Can you stand?”
“I have to stand… I don’t want to be a burden…”
“What is luggage? If it wasn’t for you, I would have been in big trouble. Let’s just go there like this. I’ll drop you off at the door.”
“Aww.”
Arrived at her door and dropped her off. And she helped quickly. Kaya Langshey said she had to look at her wounds again, but Illumina shook her head.
“A little bit, the longer you stay, the worse it is, you said… Like this… I’m going…”
“Okay.”
Despite her first dungeon journey, we respect her will to show her mental strength stronger than she imagined.
We all opened the door together.
Kiik-
[You have entered 〈 Crossroads 〉.]
