Chapter 145 – District 2 (24)
16. District 2 (24)
“Don’t come, don’t come, don’t come, don’t come…”
“Shay.”
“I hate it, I hate it… !!”
Quadduk-!
[Everything according to God’s will]
[A sharp blow!]
[Kaya deals 22 damage to the Horror Eye.]
[Remaining HP 70/173]
[In the hearts of the warriors… ]
It seemed that Kaya had landed a fatal blow. She was lucky After confirming the damage, I ignored the message below. I forcibly hugged Shay. She fussed at first, then got mad. Scratching her with her fingernails, swinging her fists, shedding tears and screaming, she bit my arms and neck.
It was fucking painful. But the fact that she didn’t recognize me and that she was broken hurt even more than her physical pain. In The Long Terror, I could clearly see why the warriors whose mentality was attacked by the eyes of fear had such terrible expressions.
“Shay. Our Shay.”
“Aaaaagh!”
“Pretty Shay, kind Shay, reliable Shay, brave Shay.”
“Leave this!!!”
[Eugene mentality -3]
[Eugene mentality -4]
My mentality continued to deteriorate. The brightness was even lower. Kaya should have returned to her place right away, and originally, she would have given orders to Shay at this point.
‘Anyway, with Shay’s current state…’
The next turn after Shay was, unbelievably, another turn of the eyeball. If Shay gets another attack while she’s out of her mind, then she might be truly irreversible. Even if he kills him here and returns to Salem.
So even if I was attacked again, I had to come to my senses at least a little.
“Shay!”
“Ah ah ah ah ah!”
“Your captain is here. There is your captain in front of you.”
“Aaaaagh! Stop, no…”
“It’s me. It’s your boss. Here it is. It’s in front of you don’t go anywhere I’m with you. I’m behind you. I am by your side.”
“Ahhh…”
“Sorry. It was hard. I was lonely. You’ve held up well. You did a good job. Shay, I’m so glad you’re here. Because of you, we can stand like this.”
“Ah…”
“Nothing can break you. The Shay I know is that kind of woman. Look at me look me straight in the eye.”
“…”
“You’re not just a girl who’s going to give in to that snow-eyed monster. Because Shay is strong.”
She wiped Shay’s face from her bloody tears. She didn’t freak out anymore. Blinking her eyes, she kept looking at me.
“You bastards who made you that way.”
“…”
“Did I tell you last time? I’ll cook it all up.”
“…”
She straightened her upper body and slowly raised her body. But she couldn’t get up completely. Shay was holding me.
“Shay… ?”
“Ugh… !”
Shay leaned on me and raised her body little by little. It was similar to when she woke up alone after being attacked by the Horror Harvester. She had Claymore as her support then, but now she has me as her support. She shuddered uncomfortably, but she somehow managed to get up. Shay, who was half-reclining on me, fumbled my face. She carefully looked at her every nook and cranny, as if a blind man was trying to remember her form…
Her heart throbbed every time Shay’s fingers brushed my eyes, nose, ears, and her lips. I can’t see myself with her eyes, it seems like she’s trying to recognize me with her touch… Even so, I could feel her heart for recognizing me, relying on me, and following me…
Took-
Her hand fell from her face. The sound of the Claymore being dragged to the floor was especially loud.
“Big… Blind…”
“Shay!”
“Scared… Yo. This…”
“Shay.”
“Alone… Too…”
Shay, sobbing for fear, struggled to drag the claymore with both of her hands.
[Judgement of Justice]
[Shay deals 5 damage to the Horror Eye.]
[Remaining HP 65/173]
[The eyes of fear resist judgment.]
[The eyes of fear resist the status ‘stunning’.]
[The eyes of fear are branded with the mark of judgment.]
[Stigma lasts for 3 turns.]
She cried and swung her sword. Up until now, I had never felt that I was small or thin when I saw her from the back, but not now. It looked so dangerous that it would break if touched.
[Crush the head]
[Eugene deals 9 damage to the Horror Eye.]
[Remaining HP 56/173]
What I feared happened. The ax rattled in so much rage. I thought I was going crazy with Shay.
“Hendrick…”
“…”
“What can I do… ?”
“…”
Kaya and Illumina were nervous as they alternated between me and Shay. Even though his eyes were dripping with blood, he always had a relaxed spirit.
‘Calm down. If I make a mistake, I’ll go through everything.’
I forced my anger to subside. And right now, I calculated the expected value of her damage when Illumina activated Superbly.
‘Even if it’s assumed that only MacDam is showing up.’
It was terribly lacking. At that time, the reason why I was able to break through the last gatekeeper’s terrible defense and gimmick and inflict terrible damage was because I received the damage compensation for the Melody of Courage. The current melody was the attack melody, and the correction for the activation of Extremity was ‘reduce the speed of the enemy hit by the attack’.
In other words, in order to finish with Superb, I had to switch to a Melody of Courage (corrects Superb damage) or a Melody of Vitality (reduces the defense of enemies hit) this turn, which meant that the speed and crit buffs I was currently wearing would be gone forever.
‘There are 56 left. It is an established fact that even if the current speed is maintained, Kaya and Shay’s attacks alone cannot reduce that stamina. Then…’
Regardless of whether the melody was changed or not, no matter how quickly he killed it, he had to be hit by that bastard’s attack at least once.
If Shay was hit again with the same single skill as before, Shay was guaranteed to be encroached on, and Illumina, which was currently below -70, was also almost encroached on. If that happens, the mentality of Kaya and I, who were quite good, will be drastically reduced like a domino falling, and a lot of negative elements will be added to the battle.
“Still, I’d rather stand up and be beaten than sit down and be beaten. Illumina.”
“Ugh, ugh!”
“To the first string.”
“… Okay.”
The melody of the third string, which was fast and cheerful, began to push away the gloomy air with the melody of the first string, which was magnificent and gave courage to the listener.
“Like that one step taken on uncharted territory, like a captain facing the waves.”
[Melody of Courage]
[The melody of Illumina soothes the hearts of the warriors.]
[All warriors’ mentality +2]
[Recovers an additional 1 point of mentality due to the ‘Natural Songwriter’ feature.]
[Attack power of all warriors +3.5]
[All Heroes Accuracy +9]
[Due to the ‘Natural Songwriter’ feature, attack power increases by 1.]
[The effect of Melody of Assault (2) is gone.]
The mood has changed. It wasn’t just because several numbers changed.
It was the melody of “Courage.”
Illumina, who barely escaped her fears, played with all her might for Shay, who had to suffer even greater fears in her place. It was a melody to shake off her own powerlessness, her guilt about her comrades, her fear of monsters, and her fear of death. Her will spread through the strings. It felt different from the melody of courage I heard the other day. Courage embraced the anger that was hard to control.
[Speed check]
Shay: 3
Kaya: 4
Eugene: 7
Illumina: 5
Horror Eyes: 5
[The turn of the eyes of fear will precede Kaya and Shay’s turn.]
However, the renewed speed again poured cold water on the mood to reverse. Rolling her eyes again, slowly appreciating the despair and fear we feel, the eyeball brushed her lips.
“To think that no one has yet succumbed to his power… That’s great. Let us pay homage to that tenacious will. Even bugs are not without survival instincts.”
“What are you talking about, you fucking bastard!”
“If it doesn’t work once, just knock twice, and if it doesn’t work twice, just knock three times.”
The color of his red eyes changed again. This time it was a dark purple. His eyes looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then he looked down at us. No, to be precise, his eyes were getting closer to the ceiling.
‘Ah. Chew. It’s a wide area.’
With one blink of an eye floating well over 10m, most of the room, including where we were standing, was filled with purple light.
Unidentified substance in front of us who naturally cringe, not knowing what kind of shit is going to happen… Should I say, anyway, something like a strange mass appeared.
‘Ah. No way.’
“See for yourself the piece of him. Know by glory, do not resist, but obey. Don’t judge. Finally, with a feeling of awe.”
“Fuck, hold on everyone!!! And you can’t face that!!!”
“Keugh!”
[Gaze of awe]
If the gaze of fear was to intensively suppress the mentality of one person, the gaze of awe was a skill that forgot the mentality of the entire corps of warriors.
To be precise, destroying the spirits of the warriors who faced it by showing a lump called ‘The Longest Fragment of Fear’ possessed by the Eye of Fear.
Why isn’t there such a thing
In Greek and Roman mythology, there is a story about a certain human woman who saw the original form of Zeus and was burned to death because she could not overcome the situation.
It was a similar principle.
That something that could only be described as a ‘lump’ was only a small part of the longest horror. That alone made the eyes of fear look so terrible, but looking at it differently, it was only that much of a change. Unlike those who turned into beasts and lost their intelligence, they were able to become one of the strongest among fear worshipers just because they endured and accepted it, albeit weakly.
If the long-time worshipers of fear do, what if we, who were completely unrelated, suddenly recognized it?
I knelt down on my own and lifted my head, barely restraining my body from trying to harm myself. The awkwardly bent knees, waist, and neck somehow tried to lift the head, and the eyelids were wide open, but the eyes were somehow directed towards the floor… From a third person’s point of view, it was a very comical pose, but the presence that the lump exuded was no joke. It was best to endure it anyway.
However, in my incomplete field of vision, I saw two people kneeling. It was Shay and Illumina. Kaya was on the brink of her knees too.
“Ah…”
I couldn’t help it until I got down on my knees. Because I don’t know how I’m holding on right now. But seeing that lump was a really important matter.
Shay and Illumina already had their eyes fixed on that lump. Kayana and Nana were watching, but there was no way to help them. The moment I moved, I felt like I was going to face it right away.
“Be in awe. It must be the fate you will reach, the dust of truth.”
“…”
“…”
“She… This… ! First base… Mina… !”
He groaned and called out the names of his teammates, but they didn’t seem to reach him. Let’s hold on Isn’t Kaya still enduring? Me and Kaya will hold out until the end, somehow survive this attack and crush its head…
Thud-
“… Ah.”
The moment I heard the sound of Kaya’s knees hitting the floor, I unknowingly turned her head towards it… My thoughts ended there.
Before I knew it, my knees were on the floor and my eyes were fixed on the mass.
“Listen to ■P.”
「■□■㱊■せせ□つ■■■」
「■■■ び■■□■■■□■■ thump ■■”
「■■■■■■■■■□■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■”
「■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■”
“Aaaaa!!!!”
